J2P and P2J Ver 1

By Drew Karpyshyn

BALDUR 'S GATE II , THRONE OF BHAAL TEMPLE HILL STAR WARS, DARTH BANE, PATH OF DESTRUCfIO STAR WARS, DARTH BA E, RULE OF TWO MASS EFFECf, REVELATIO MASS EFFECf, ASCE SIO

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DREW KARPYSHYN

BALLANTIN E BOOKS· NEW YORK

Mass Effect : Ascension is a work of fiction . Names, characters, places, ami incidents are the products of the author's imagination o r are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. A Del Rey Books M ass Market Original Copyright © 2008 by BioWare Corp. All rights reserved. used Under Authorization. MASS EFFECT <0 2008 BioWare Corp. Mass Effect, BioWare Corp., the BioWare Corp. logo, BioWare and the BioWare logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of BioWare Corp. in the United States and other countries. All R ights Reserved . M icrosoft, the Microsoft Game Studios logo, Xhox 360, and the Xbox 360 logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Mi crosoft Corp. in the United States and other countries. All Rights Reserved. Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random H ouse Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon trademark of Random H ouse, Inc. elS BN: 978-0-345-50775-4 www.delreybooks.com www.bioware.com

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To my wife, Jennifer. I couldn'r do this without your never-ending love and su pport.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thi s is the second Mass Effect novel, and once again I want ro thank the entire BioWare Mass Effect team for helping ro make all this possible. I consider it a n honor a nd a privilege to work with such incredibly talented men and women. Without their creativity, hard work, brilliance, and p assion , Mass Effect would n ot exist.

PROLOGUE

The news repo rt on the vid screen fl ickered with a consta nt stream of images capturing the death and destruction Saren 's att ack had wrought upon the Citade l. Bodies of geth and C-Sec officers were strewn

haphazardly about the Council C hambers in the a fter math of the battle. Entire secti ons of the Presidium had been reduced to scorched, twisted metal. Melted,

blackened chunks of debris that ha d once been ships of the C itadel fleet floated a imlessly throu gh th e clouds of the Serpent Nebula-an ast eroid belt horn from the b lood shed and carnage .

The lllu sive Man watched it a ll with a cool, clinical detachmenr. Work had already begun to rebuild and repair the great space station, but the re percussions of the hattIe wem far beyond the widespread physical damage. In the weeks s ince the devast ating geth assa ult, every ma jo r m edia outlet across the galaxy had been dominated with the g raphic-an d previously unthinkable-images. The a ttack had shaken the ga lactic powers that be to their a lien cores, stripping away their naive sense of in vi nc ibility. The C itadel, seat of the Council and the symbol of their unassailable power and position,

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had very nearly fallen to an enem y fl eet. Tens of thousa nds of lives had been lost; a ll of Cou nc il sp ace was .

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. mourn m g.

Yet where others saw traged y, he saw opportunity. H e knew, perhaps better than anyone, that the galaxy 's sudden awareness of its own vulnerab ility could benefit huma nity. That was what m ade him specia l: he was a man of vision.

Once he had been just like everybody else. He had marveled with the rest of the people on Ea rth when the Prorhea n ruins were discovered on Mars. H e had watched the vids in amazement when they reponed on humanity's fir st, violent contact with a n inrelligent alien species. Back then he ha d been an average man, with an average job and an average life. He had friends a nd famil y. H e even had a name. All those things were gone now. Sttipped away by the necessity of his ca use. He had become the Illusive M an, aban d oning a nd tra nscending his o rdinary existence in pursuit of a far greater goal. Humani ty had slipped the surly bonds of Earth , but they had not found the face of God. Instead, they had discovered a thriving galactic com mu nity: a dozen s pecies sp read across hundreds of solar systems a nd thousands of worlds. Newcomers thrust into the interstellar politica l arena, the human race needed to adapt and evolve if they wanted to survive. They couldn 't put their faith in the Alliance. A b loated coalition of government offici a ls and disparate military branches, the Alliance was a clumsy, blunt instrument weighed down by laws, convention, and the c ru shing weight of public opinion. Too interested in appeasement an d kowtowing to the various

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alien species, they were unable--or unwilling-to make the hard decisions necessary to thrust humanity toward its destiny. The p eople of Earth needed som eone to cha mpio n their ca use . They needed patriots and heroes willing to make the necessary sacrifi ces to elevate the human race above its interstellar riva ls. They needed Cerberus, a nd Cerberus could n't exist without the Illusive M an. As a m an of vision, he unde rstood this. Without Ce rberus, humanity was doomed to an existence of groveling subservience at the feet of a lien masters. Still , there were those w ho would ca ll what he did crimina l. Unethical. Amoral. H istory wou ld vin dicate him, but until it did he and his followers were forced to exist in hiding, working toward their goals in secret. The images on the vid cha nged, now s howing th e face of Comma nder Shepard. The first hu ma n Spectre, Shepard had been instrumental in defeating Saren and his geth ... or so the official reports claimed. The Illusive Man couldn 't help but wonder h ow m uch th ose official reports left out. He knew there was more to the attack than a rogue turian Spectre leading a n army of geth aga in st the Cou nc il. There was Sovereign, for one, Saren's magnificent fl agship. The vids mainta ined it was a geth creation, but only th e blind or the foolish would accept that expla nation. Any vessel able to withstand the combined power of the Alliance and Council fleets was too a dva nced, too far beyond th e capabilities of any other ship in the ga laxy, to have been created by any of th e known species.

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It was clear there were certa in things those in charge didn 't wam the genera l public to know. They were afraid o f ca usi ng a panic; they were spinning the fac ts a nd distorting the truth w hile they began the long, s low process of hunting down and exterminating the la st pockets o f gerh resistance sca ttered across Cou nc il space. But Cerberus had people in the Alliance. H igh-ranking people. In ti me, every cla ssified detail of the a ttack would fi lter down to the Illusive M an. It might take weeks, may be even monrhs, before he knew the w ho le truth. But he could wa it. H e was a panent ma n. Yet he couldn 't deny these were interesting times. For the pa st decade, the three sp ec ies seated on the Cou nc il-sa larians, turians, an d asari-had fought to keep hu manity a t bay, slamm ing door after d oor in its face. Now th ose d oors had been b lown off their hinges. Th e C itadel fo rces had been decimated by the geth, leaving the Alliance fleet u ncha llenged as th e galaxy's single most dominant power. Even the Cou ncil , fu ndamenta lly uncha nged for nearly a thousand years, ha d been radically restructured. Some believed this ma rked an end to the tyranny of the alien triumvirate, and the beginning of humani ty's unstoppable rise. The lIlusive Man, however, understood that ho lding o n to power was fa r more difficult than seizing it. Whatever politica l advantage the Alliance m ig ht ga in in the short term wou ld be temporary at best. Little by little, the impact of Shepard 's actions and the heroics of the Alli a nce fleet would fade in the galaxy's collective consciousness. The a dmiration and gratitude of a lien governments would slowly wa ne, replaced by suspicion a nd resentment.

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Over time they would rebuild their fl eets. And 10ev itably, the other species would once agai n vie fo r power, seeking to elevate them selves at humani ty's expense. Huma nity ha d taken a bold step fo rward but the journey was far from complete. There were many mo re harries still to he fought in the struggle fo r galacti c domi na nce, on many different fronts. The attacks on the Cita del were just one sm a ll piece of the greater puzzle, and he would dea l wi th them in their proper ti me. Right now there were more im medi ate concerns; his attention needed to he focused el sewhere . As a ma n of vision, he understood the necessity of having mo re than one plan. H e knew when to wait, and when to push forward. And the ti me had come to pu sh forward with their asset inside the Ascension Proj ect.

ONE

Pa ul Grayson never u sed to dream. As a young

ma n he had slept unrrou bled through the night. But those days of innocence were many years gone.

Th ey were two hOl/rs into the flight; another four lI11ti/ they reached their destination. Grayson checked the status of the ship's engines and mass drive, then confirmed their route on the navigation screens for the fourth time ;n the past hOllr. There wasn't milch else a pilot needed to do en route; everything was

fully automated while a ship was in FTL flight. H e didn't dream every nig ht, b ut almost every other n ight. It might have been a sign of adva ncing

age, or a by-produ ct of the red sa nd he dosed himself with on occasion. Or maybe it was just a gui lty conscience. The sala rians had a sayi ng: the mi nd with ma n y secrets can never rest.

He was stalling; checking and rechecking the instruments and readouts to hold what was to come at bay. Recognizing his own fear and reluctance allowed him-forced him-to confront the situation. Deal with it. He took a deep breath to collect himself, his heart pounding in his chest as he rose slowly from his seat. No sense putting it off any longer. It was time.

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On some level he a lways knew when he was dreaming. There was a stra nge haze over everyth ing, a bleary film that left the fa lse rea lity feel ing washed out and muted. Yet through this obscuring filt er, certain elements would register with exacting precision, minor deta ils indelibl y etched into his subcon scious mi nd. The juxtaposition a dded to the surrea l nature of h is dreams, yet also made them somehow more vivid , more inten se, than his waking world.

His feet padded softly over the carpeted aisle as he made his way aft from the cockpit toward the passenger cabin. There, Pel and Keo occupied two of the four seats, sitting kitty-corner across from each other. Pel was a big man with broad shoulders and olive skin. His hair was cropped in a tight afro, and he had a thin black beard extending along the length of his jaw. Seated in the chair facing Grayson as he came into the cabin, Pel was swaying gently back and forth in time to the song coming over his headphones. His fingers tapped lightly against his thigh, his perfectly manicured nails rustling softly against the dark material of his suit pants. His tie was still tight around his neck, but his jacket was unbuttoned and his mirrored sunglasses were tllcked away inside the right breast pocket. His eyes were nearly closed; he'd lost himself in the rhythm s of the mllsic-a peaceful, easy image at odds with his reputation as one of Terra Firma's top personal protection agents. Keo wore the same suit as her partner minus the tie, but she lacked the imposing physical size one typically expected in a bodyguard. She was a full foot shorter than Pel and maybe half his weight, though

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there was a tautness to her wiry muscles that hinted at the violence she was capable of inflicting. Her exact age was difficult to pin down, though Grayson knew she had to be at least forty. With advances in nutrition and gene therapy to reduce the effects of aging, it was common for people to look as young and healthy at fifty as they did at thirty, and Keo's unusual appearance made it even harder to estimate haw old or yotlng she might be. Her pale skin was the c%r of chalk, giving her a ghostly appearance, and her silver hair was shaved short enough to

glimpse the pasty-white flesh of her scalp beneath. Intermarriage between the variolls ethnicities of Earth over the past two centuries had made alabaster skin a rarity, and Grayson suspected Keo's stark complexion was the result of a minor pigment deficiency she had never bothered to reverse . .. although it was entirely possible she had undergone elective skinlightening for cosmetic purposes. After all, visibility was a key aspect of her job: let people know you're on duty, and they'll think twice before doing anything stupid. Keo's odd appearance definitely made her stand out in a crowd despite her stature. She was facing away from Grayson, but she twisted around in her seat to watch him as he entered the cabin. She looked teme and coiled, ready for anything-a complete contrast to Pel's easy calm. Unlike her partner, she seemed incapable of relaxing, even under the most mundane circumstances. "What's wrong?" she demanded at his approach, eyeing the pilot suspiciously. Grayson froze and raised his hands in the air so

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they were level with his shoulders. "Just getting a drink, " he assured her. His body was charged with nervous anticipation, the tips of his fingers were actually tingling. But he was careful to betray no hint of this in his voice. This particu lar dream was all too familiar. Over the past ten years he had relived his first kill hundreds, if not thousands, of times. There had been other ass ignments, of course; other deaths. In the service of the greater cause he had taken ma ny, many lives. If huma nity was to survive-to triumph over a ll the other species-sacrifices had to be m ade. But of all the sacrifices, of a ll the lives he had taken, of all the missions he had completed, this was the one he dreamed of more than a ny other.

Satisfied the pilot posed no immediate threat, Keo turned away from him and settled back down in her seat, though she still seemed ready to lash out at the slightest provocation. Grayson made his way behind her toward the small fridge in the corner of the passenger cabin. He swallowed hard, his throat so dry and tight it actually hurt. He half-imagined he saw her ears twitch at the sound. From the corner of his eye he saw Pel remove his headphones, dropping them casually into the seat beside him as he stood up to stretch. " How long till we land?" he asked, his words partially stifled by a yawn. "Pour hours," Grayson replied as he opened the fridge and ducked down to inspect the contents, struggling to keep his breathing calm and even. "No complications?" Pel asked as the pi/at rummaged around in the chilled contents of the fridge. "Everything's right on schedule," Grayson replied,

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wrapping his left hand around a bottled water while his right grasped the handle of the long, thin serrated

blade he had stashed inside the icebox before the journey began, Even t hough he knew this was a dream, G rayson was powerless to change anyth ing t ha t was a bo ut to happen. T he ep isode would conti nue withou t va riance or a lteration. H e was trapped in the role of passive observer; a witness fo rced to wa tch t hrough his own eyes as events unfolded along t heir origina l course, his su bconscious refusing to a llow him to alter his own personal history.

"Guess I'll go check on sleeping beauty," Pel said nonchalantly, giving Grayson the code phrase for the final go. There was 110 fuming back now. There was only one other passenger on board: Claude Memleau, one of the highest ranking members of the pro-human Terra Firma political party. A man of vast wealth and power, he was a charismatic, though not necessarily likable, public figure; the kind of man who could afford a private interstellar vessel, complete with his own pilot and a pair of full-time bodyguards to accompany him on his frequent trips. In what had become a familiar routine, Menneau had locked himself away in the V IP room in the aft of the vessel just after takeoff There he would rest and prepare for his upcoming public appearance. In a few hours they were scheduled to touch down at the civilian spaceport on Shanxi, where Menneau would address a fevered crowd of Terra Firma supporters. In the wake of the Nashan Stellar Dynamics kickback scandal, Inez Simmons had been forced to step down from her role as party leader. It was clear either

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Memwau or a man named Charles Saracino would succeed her at the Terra Firma helm, and both were making frequent trips to the various human colonies to dmm up support. Menneau was currently ahead in the polls by a full three points. But things were about to change. The Illusive Man wanted Saracino to win, and the Illusive Man always got what he wanted. Grayson stood up from the fridge, shielding the knife from view with the bottled water in case Keo happened to be looking his way. To his relief, she was still seated facing away from him, her attention focused on Pel's back as he made his way with long, easy strides toward the VIP room in the tail of the vessel. The chilled condensation on the water bottle made his left palm cold and damp. The right was damp, too--hot and sweaty from being clenched too tightly around the handle of his weapon. He took a silent step forward so that he was standing only inches behind Keo, her bare neck exposed and vulnerable. Pel would never have been able to get this close to her; not without raising suspicion and putting her on guard. Despite nearly six months working together as bodyguards for Menneau, she still didn't completely tmst her partner. Pel was a former mercenary, a professional killer with a murky past. Keo always kept half an eye on him. That was why it had to be Grayson. She might not tmst him-Keo didn't tmst anybody-but she didn't watch his every move like she did with Pel. He held the weapon poised to strike, took a deep breath, then stabbed forward with the blade, slashing

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at an upward angle toward the soft spot in the skull just behind Keo's ear. It should have been a quick, clean kill. But his momentary hesitation cost him; it gave Keo a chance to sense the attack before it came. Reacting with a survival imtinct honed over countless missions, she feaped fram her seat, spinning to face her attacker even as the blade plunged home. Her incredible reflexes saved her fro m instantaneous death; instead ofsliding smoothly up into her brain the knife buried itself deep in the flesh of her neck, where it stuck fast. Grayson felt the handle slide free from his sweaty palm as he stumbled backward, away from his would-be victim. H e stopped when his back sIm ek the wall near the small fridge; there was nowhere to go. Keo was on her feet now, staring at him from across the seat. He saw the cold certainty of his own imminent death in her eyes. Without the advantage of surprise, he was no match for her years of combat training. He didn't even have a weapon anymore: his knife still jutted awkwardly alit from the side of Keo 's neck, the handle quivering slightly. Ignoring the pistol on her hip-she wasn't about to risk firing her weapon inside a passenger vessel during flight-she yanked a short, savage-looking knife from her belt and leaped over the seat separating her and Grayson. It was a critical mistake. Grayson had botched what should have been a quick kill, showing his inexperience. That had led Keo to underestimate him; she came at him too aggressively, trying to end the fight quickly instead of holding her ground or coming cautiously arol/nd the seats. Her tactical error gave her

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opponent the split second he needed to take back the advantage. The instant she left her feet Grayson lunged forward. Flying through the air Keo couldn't stop her momentum or change her direction, and their bodies crashed together in a tangled heap. Grayson felt her knife slicing across his left bicep, but in the close quarters the small woman couldn't get enough leverage, and the wound was superficial. She kicked at him and tried to roll away, looking to disengage so she could take advantage of her speed and quickness. Grayson didn't try to stop her. Instead, he reached aut and seized the handle of the knife still lodged in her neck. He yanked it aut in one long, smooth pull as she scrambled back up to her feet. As the blade slid free, a crimson geyser came gushing out of the wound. The serrated edge had tarn open her carotid artery. Keo had just enough time to register a look of surprised disbelief before the sudden drop in blood pressure to her brain caused her to black out and collapse, her limp body falling to the floor beside Grayson. A gout of warm, sticky fluid splashed across his face and hands, and he scampered to his feet with a grunt of disgust, backing quickly away from the body until he struck up against the wall by the fridge once again. The blood continued to pour from the hale in her throat, the intensity of the stream increasing and decreasing with each beat of her still pumping heart. When the muscle gave aut a few seconds later, the pulsating flaw was reduced to a slow but steady trickle. Pel retumed from the back room less than a minute

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later. He raised one eyebrow at the blood covering Grayson, but didn't speak. Moving calmly, he approached Keo's body all the floor and bent down to check for a pulse, stepping carefully over the expanding pool of blood so as not to stain his shoes. Satisfied, he stood lip and settled back into the seat he'd been relaxing in earlier. "Nice work, Killer," he said with a soft chuckle. Grayson was still standing against the wall beside

the fridge. He had watched Keo's life rapidly bleeding away without moving, transfixed by the gruesome scene. "Menneau 's dead?" he asked. A stupid question,

but as the adrenaline rush of his first kill faded his mind felt dull and slow. Pel nodded. "Not nearly as messy as this, though. I like to keep my bodies neat. " He reached for the headphones still sitting on the seat beside him. "Should we clean lip the blood?" "No point," Pel informed him, sliding the headphones over his ears. "Soon as we rendezvous with the pickup team, they're just going to dump this whole ship into the nearest sun. "Don't forget to claim your trophy," the big man added as he closed his eyes, his body beginning to rock in time to the music's rhythm once again. Grayson swallowed hard, then forced himself into motion. H e pushed himself away from the wall and made his way over to Keo's body. She lay half on her side, the pistol on her hip easily within reach. He stretched out a trembling hand toward the weapon . .. T he dream always ended in exactly the same place. And each time it did, Grayson woke w ith his heart

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pounding, his mu scles tensed, and his palms sweating, as if his body had been rel iving the experience along with his subcon scious m ind. H e didn 't know then-and he didn't know noww hy M ennea u had to die. H e o nly knew that it served th e greater good in some way. Yet that was enough. H e was dedicated to the ca use, comp letely loya l to Cerberus a nd its leader. The Illusive Man had given him a n order, a nd he had followed it without question. Apart from the mistake of a llowing Keo to briefly survive hi s initia l attack, Grayson 's fi rst mission had been an u nq ua lified success. The pickup team had met w ith them at the designated rendezvous, and the ship, along with the bodies of Keo an d Menneau, had been disposed of. There were su spicions and theories surrou nding the disa ppeara nce of Menneau and his crew, b ut with no evidence to back them u p they had amounted to norhing . And with hi s chief riva l removed from the race, Charles Saracino had claimed the lea dership of the Terra Firma pa rty ... tho ug h how that played into the long-term p la ns of the Illusive M an was a nyone's guess. G rayson's performance had impressed his superio rs w ithin the Cerberus organization, leading to dozens o f ass ignments over the next decade. Bur that all ended o nce Gillian was accepted into the Ascension Proj ect. H e d id n 't like to think about Gillian. Not like this, alone in his apartment wi th the darkness pressing in. H e pushed her face from h is min d a nd rolled over, hoping to fall back asleep. H e froze when he heard a noise coming fro m beyond the bedroom door. H is

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ears p ricked up intenrly, and he could just make out voices coming from the living room of his sma ll apartment. It was possible he had simply left the vid screen on when he'd staggered into bed, too sand-

blasted to shut it off. Possi ble, but not likely. Moving silently he ro lled out of the bed, leaving a tangled mess of covers behind. Wearing only a pair of

boxers, his thin body shivered in the chill air of the room as he ca refully opened th e drawer of the night-

sta nd and pulled out his pistol. Keo's pistol, his mind corrected , dredging up her memory once again. Suitably armed, he crept barefoot across the bedroom a nd through the half-open door into the hall beyond. The apartment was dark, though he could see the soft glow of the vid screen spilling out from the living room. H e moved forward in a low crouch, presenting less of a target s hould the intruder attempt to take a shot at him. " Put the gu n away, Kill er," Pel 's voice ca lled out as he approached." It's just me." Cursing under his breath, Grayson stood up stra ight and m ade his way into the living room to meet his uninvited guest. Pel was lounging on the overstuffed couch in front of the vid screen, watching o ne of the news channels. H e was still a big, powerful figure but he had ga ined weight over the p ast ten years . He looked somewhat soft now, a man who was clearly enjoying a life of luxury a nd indulgence. "Jesus, you look like hell ," Pel noted when Grayson came into view. "Stop spending a ll your money on red san d an d buy yourself a goddamned meal once in a while."

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As he spoke he reached out with a foot a nd kicked at the sma ll coffee table in the center of the room. Grayson had been too high to bother cleaning up before going to bed-a mirror, a razorblade, and a sma ll bag of red sand sat in pla in view atop the table . " H elps me sleep," Grayson mumbled. "Still having nig htmares?" Pel asked. There was someth ing mocking in his tone. " Dreams," Grayson replied. "About Keo." " I used to d rea m about her, too," Pel a dm itted with a lopsided grin. "Always wondered what she'd be like in the sack. " G rayson tossed the pistol down o n the table with the drug paraphernalia a nd slou ched into the cha ir oppos ite the couch. H e wasn't sure if Pel was joking with him or not. With Pel he was never sure. H e glanced over a t th e vid screen . They were showing images of the newly repai red C ita del. Two months ago the a tta ck had dominated the media, along with the thoughts a nd awareness of every being in Council s pace. Now, however, the sh ock and horror were beginning to fade . Norma lcy was returning, creeping in slowly but surely from a ll sides. Aliens and hu ma ns alike were falling back into their everyday routines: work, school, friends, family. Ordinary people moving on. The story still ha d life in the m edia, but now it was left to the pundits and politicians to a nalyze a nd dissect. A panel o f political experts-a n asari ambassa dor, a volus diplomat, and a retired sa laria n intelligence operative-appeared o n the vid screen, debating the political sta nces of the various ca ndida tes huma nity was conside ring for the Council.

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"You think the Man has any pull in who we pick?" Grayson asked, nodding toward the screen. "Maybe," Pel answered, noncommittal. "Wouldn't be the nrst time he got involved in politics." "You ever wonder why he wanted Menneau dea d? " The question was o ut of Grayson's mo uth before he even realized he was asking it. Pel shrugged indifferenrly, though there was a wary

look in his eye. "Could be a ny of a hundred reasons. I don't as k questions like that. And neither should you. " "You think we owe him blind obedience?" " } just figure it's done a nd there's n oth ing you ca n do to cha nge it. People like us ca n 't afford to live in the p ast. Makes a ma n sloppy." " I've got everything under contro l," Grayson as-

sured him. "Clea rly," Pel snorted, nodding a t the red sa nd o n the table. "Just tell me why you're here," Grayson said wearily. "The Man wants to hit the girl with another batch of meds." "She has a name," Grayson muttered. " It's Gillian." Pel sat up and leaned forward, his hands on his thighs as he shook his head in exasperation. " I don't want to know her name. Names make things persona l. You get messy when things get personal. She's not a person; she's just an asset on the inside. Makes it easier when the lIlusive Man decides she's expendable. " " H e doesn't want that," Grayson countered. "She's too valuable." "For now," Pel grunted. " But down the line some-

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one might fi gure they ca n learn more if they cut her sku ll o p en and poke around insi de her brain. Then what happens, Killer?" An image of Gillia n 's butchered body lying on a med ica l gurney sprang to Grayson's mi nd, but he wasn't about to rise to Pel 's bait.

Besides, that's not going to happen. They need Gillian. " I'm loya l to the ca use," he said o ut loud, not wanting to argue the point with Pel. " I'll do what's necessary. " "Glad to hear it," Pel a nswered . " H ate to think you've gone soh." " Is that why you're really here?" Grayson wanted to know. "Did he bring you a ll the way back from th e Terminus System s so you could check up on m e?" " You don't answer to me anymore, Killer," Pel assured him. " I'm just passing through. H ad to come in to clean up some business on Earth, so I vol unteered to stop by on my way back out to drop off the supp lies. " The big ma n pulled a sma ll via l of clear liquid fro m his coa t pocket and tossed it to Grayson, who caught it clean ly w ith one hand. There was no label on the via l; nothing to mark w hat it was or what it migh t do; no indica ti ons of w here it came from. H is work done, Pel rose from th e couch and turned to go. " You going to report the red sand?" Grayson ca lled o ut after him just as he reached the door. "Nothing to d o with m e," he said without turning around. " You ca n get dusted every night for ali i care.

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I'm off to meet a contact o n Omega. This time tomorrow I'll be up to my ass in a liens." " It's part of m y cover," Grayson added defensively. " Fits my character. Troubled father."

Pel passed his hand in from of the door panel and it swooshed open. "Whatever you say, man. This is your assignment. " H e stepped out into the apartment hallway, then turned back to deliver a parting warning. "Don't get sloppy, Killer. I hate cleaning up someone else's mess."

The door swooshed shut, perfectly timed with the end of his words and cutting off any chance fo r Grayson to reply. "Son-o f-a- hitch always has to get the last word," he muttered. With a groan he pulled himself out of his cha ir and set the via l on the small table beside the bag of red

sa nd, then wa ndered reluctanrly ba ck to bed. Mercifully, the only dreams he had for the rest of the night were of his daughter.

T\NO

Kahlee Sanders moved with quick, confident steps down th e halls of the Jon Grissom Academy. A space st atio n constructed seven yea rs ago in orbit around

the human colony of Elysium, it had been na med after Rear Admiral Jon Grissom, the first man to travel throu gh a Mass Relay a nd one of huma nity's most revered and respected living heroes. Grissom a lso happ ened to be Kahlee's father.

Her shoes, sensi ble, half-inch wedge heels, clacked softly as she made her way down the dormitory cor-

ridor, a nd her lab coat swished faintly with every ste p. It was almost a n hour after supper, and the students were in their rooms, studying in preparation fo r tomorrow's classes. Most kept their doors closed, thou gh the few who preferred to leave them open looked up from their e- books and computer screens as she passed, their a ttention drawn by the sound of her footsteps. Some smiled or nodded to her; a few of th e younger ones even gave her a n enthusiastic wave. To each she replied in kind. Only a handful of people actuall y knew Jon Grissom was her father, an d their relationship, if it cou ld be ca lled rhat, had nothing to do with her position

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here at the Academy. She didn't see her father often; the last time she had spoken t o him was over a yea r ago. And that had ended, as every visit seemed to, in an argument. H er father was a difficult man to love. Grissom was approaching seventy, a nd unlike most people in this era of modern medicine, he actually

looked his age. Kahlee was in her early forties, but her appearance was th at of a woman a t least a decade younger. Average in both height and build, she was fit enough to still m ove with the spryness of you th. Her skin was sti ll smooth , apart from a few tiny w rinkles around the creases of her eyes when she laughed or

smiled. And her shoulder-length hair was still blond with darker, sa ndy streaks; she wouldn't have to worry about gray hairs for another thirty years at least. In contrast, her father looked old. Hi s mind-and tongue-were still as sharp as eve r, but his body seemed d ry and withered. His ski n was leathery and hard, his features sunken and drawn, his face lined from decades of dealing with the pressure and stress that ca me with being a living icon. Grissom's thinning hair was mostly white, a nd he moved with the s low, deliberate actions of the elderly, even walking with the hint of a stoop. Picturing him in her mi nd , it was hard to imagine the great hero the media and history books portrayed. Kahlee couldn 't help but wonder how much of that was intentiona l, a facade Grissom maintained in order to keep others at bay. H er father had turned his back o n h is fame, unwi ll ing to allow himself to be held up as a sym bol for Earth or the Alliance. H e'd refused t o a ttend the consecration of the Jon Grissom

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Academy, and over the past seven years he'd declined dozens of invitations from the board of directors to visit the faci lity, despite the fact it was orbiting the p lanet where he made his home. Probably for the best, Kahlee th o ug ht to herself. Let the public cling to his memo ry; it served as a better sym bol of nobility a nd cou rage than the mi sa nth ropic old bastard he had become. Besides, she had p lenty to keep her bu sy here a t the Academy w itho ut having to deal w ith her father. She p ushed the thoughts of Grissom aside as she reached her destination. She rapped once on th e closed door. "Come in, " a you ng boy's voice grudgingly ca lled out, a nd a second later the door whooshed open. Nick lay on his back in his bed, scowling up a t th e ceiling. H e was twelve, though somewhat small fo r hi s age. Despite this, there was somethi ng about him-an a lmost u nconscious air of arroga nce and cruel ty-that marked him as a bully rather than a vic£1m. Kahlee stepped in a nd closed the door behind her. N ick stubbornly refused to look ove r and acknowledge her p resence. His school computer sa t, closed and igno red, o n the sm a ll des k in the corner of the room. It was obvious he was pouting. "What's the ma tter, N ick?" she asked , comi ng over to sit o n the edge o f his bed. " H endel put me in lockdown for three weeks!" he excla imed, sitti ng up sud denly. H is express ion was one of o utrage a nd utter indignation. " H e won 't even let m e play on the ' net! " Students at the Grissom Academy were well taken

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care of, hut when they misbehaved certain privilegesaccess to ga mes on the Extranet, watching favorite shows on the vid screens in their rooms, or listening to popula r music---could be taken away. N ick, in particu lar, was very familiar with this form of punishment. "Three weeks is forever!" he protested. " That's totally not fair!" "Three weeks is a long rime," Kahlee agreed with a somber nod, struggling t o keep th e him of a s m ile

from playing across her lips. "Wha t did you do ?" "Nothing!" There was a pregnant pause before he

continued. " I just ... I kind of ... pushed Seshaun." Kahlee shook her head disa pprovingly, her urge to smile completely gone. "You know that's not al-

lowed, N ick," she sa id sternly. All the students at the Grissom Academy were remarkable in som e way: ma thematical geniu ses, technica l savants, brillia nt arti sts, world-class mu sicians and composers. But Kahlee only evet dealt with those students involved in the Ascension Project-a program designed to help children with biotic aptitude maximize their potential. Once fitted with m icroscopic a mplifiers wired throu ghout their nervous system, it was possible for biotic individuals to use electromagnetic impul ses genera ted in the brain to create mass effect fields. With years of training in ment a l focus a nd biofeed back techniqu es, these fields could become strong enough to a lter their physical surroundings. A powerful biotic could lift and throw o bj ects, freeze them in place, or even shred them apart with nothing but the power of the mind. Given such dangerous potentia l, it was no surprise that

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there were strict ru les against the students using thei r abilities o utside of properly supervised serrings. " Did you hurt him?" "A Iirrle," N ick admirred , grudgingly. " H e banged his knee w hen I kn ocked him down. Ir's no big deal." " Ir is a big deal," Kahlee insisted. " Yo u ca n't use biotics on the other kid s, N ick. You know that!" Like a ll the Ascension Project students in his age group, Nick ha d undergone his implantation su rgery a lirrl e over a yea r ago. Most of the children were still st ruggling to access their new fou nd abilities, p racticing the drills and lessons that would a llow th em to coordinate their new biotic amps with their own biologica l systems. In the first two years, the majority could barely lift a pen a few inches off the sur face of a desk. Nick, however, was a quick learner. Ba sed o n initia l testing, m ost of his classmates would almost certainly ca tch up to him ove r the coming years; seve ral might even surpass him. But right n ow he was far mo re powerful tha n a ny of his pee rs ... strong eno ugh to knock another twelve-year-old down. " H e started it," N ick protested in his own defense. " H e was m aking fu n of my shoes. So I just pushed him. I can't help it if I'm good at biotics!" Kahlee sighed. N ick's arritude was completely normal, and completely unaccepta b le. The Ascension Proj ect had two primary ob jecti ves: to work with biotic individuals in an attempt to maxi mize human potentia l in rhe fi eld, a nd, more imporrant in her eyes, to help biotics integrate themselves into so-called normal hu ma n society. The students were not just t rained in biotic techniques, they were also exposed to a cur-

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riculum of philosophical a nd mora l instruction that would help them understand the responsibilities and o bligation s that came with their remarkable talent. It was important the chi ldren didn't grow up with a sense of entitl em ent, or the belief they were somehow better than others beca use of their ab ilities . Of course, this was often the hardest lesson to teach. "Sesha un's bigger than you, isn't he?" Kahlee noted after a moment of thought.

"All the boys are bigger than me," Nick mumbled, crossing his legs. H e hunched forward to rest his el-

bows on the bedspread, then balanced his chin on his hands in an amazing display of the flexibility that all young children possess. "Before you gar your implants, did he pick on you? Did he push you around just beca use he was bigger than you?" "No," N ick answered, rolling his eyes as he sensed a lecture coming. " That would be wrong," he dutifully added, kn owi ng it was what she wanted to hear. "J ust beca use you're bigger or stro nger or better at biotics doesn't mean you ca n do whatever you want," Ka hlee told him, knowing he was only half-listening. Still , she h oped enough repetitions might get the message through som eday. " Yo u have a special gift, but that doesn't make it okay to hu rt other people." " I know," the boy admitted. " But it was mostly a n accident. And I sai d 1 was sorry. " "Sayi ng so rry is n't always enough," Kahlee answered. " That's why H endel put you in lockdown. " " Bur three weeks is 5000 long!" Kahlee shrugged. " Hendel used to be a soldier. H e believes in discipline. Now let's check your readings."

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The boy, still resting his chin in his hands, tilred his head further downward to expose the nape of his neck. Kahlee reached out and touched him gi ngerly just above his collar, bracing against the tiny spark that jolred the tip of her finger. N ick jumped slightl y, thou gh he was mo re used to it tha n she was. Biotics often gave off sma ll, sha rp discharges of electricity; th eir bodies naturally generated static, as if they had just walked across a carpet in wool socks. She pinched the skin on h is neck between the thumb a nd forefinger of her left hand, while her right drew out a small need le from the pocket of her lab coa t. There was a tiny, ball-shaped transmitter on the needle's head. "Rea d y?" she asked. "Rea d y," Nick said through tightly gritred teeth, and she pushed the needle into the gap between two of his vertebrae with a firm, steady p ressure. The boy's body tensed up and he let out a so ft grunt as it entered, then relaxed. Kahlee pulled a n omnitoo l from one of her other pockets a nd gla nced at the readout to make sure Nick's data was transmitting properly. "Did you used to be a soldier, too?" Nick asked, head still bent forward. Kahlee blinked in surprise. The Grissom Academy was a joint Alliance-civilian facility. Much of the funding ca me from the Alliance, but for the most part it was modeled after a boardi ng schoo l ra ther th an a milita ry academy. Parents were free to visit their children at any time, or to wi thdraw them from the curriculum for any reason. Secu ri ty, custodial, and support services were provided by fully uniformed

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military personnel, but the majority of the instructors, resea rchers, a nd aca demic staff were civilian. This was particularly important fo r the Ascen sion Proj ect, as it helped allay fea rs the Allia nce was trying to transform children into biotic superso ldiers. " I used to be in the Alliance," Kahlee admitted. " I' m retire . d now. "

A brilliant progra mmer wi th a knack for synrh etic and arrificia l intelligences, Kahlee had enlisted at the age of twenty-two, shortly after her mo ther died. She had spent fo urteen yea rs working on various topsecurity-clearance pro jects fo r the Alliance before returning to civilia n life. The next few yea rs she had served as a freelance corpora te consul tant, cementing her reputatio n as o ne of the foremost experts in her field. Then, fi ve years ago, she had been offered a lucrative positi o n o n the Ascension Project by the Grissom Academy board o f directo rs. " I figured you we re a sold ier," Nick sa id a little smugly. "You look all tough, like you're ready for a fi ght a ll the time. Just like H endel." Kahlee was momentarily ta ken aback. She had basic comba t training; it was mandatory for all Alliance p ersonnel. Bur she didn't imagine herself bearing any resembla nce to a battle-hardened veteran like H ende l. The majority of her service had been spent in research labs surrounded by com p uters and other sc ientists, not our o n the battlefi eld.

Except for that time you helped Anderson kill a krogan Battlemaster, a sma ll p a rt of her mind chimed in. She tried to push the memory away. She didn't like to think about Sidon a nd everything that came after it: too ma ny fr ien ds lost there. But with Saren 's face

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consta ntly appearing on the news vids over the pa st few months, it was hard not to dredge the memories up. And every time she saw images of Sovereign attacking the Citadel, she cou ldn't help but wonder if there had been some connection between Dr. Shu Qian's illega l research at Sidon a nd the massive a lien starship Saren ha d used to lea d the geth assault. " Miss Sanders? I think I'm done. " Nick's voice snapped her thoughts back to the present. The transmitter in his neck was beeping faint ly. "Sorry, N ick," she muttered, withdrawing the need le. N ick sa t up straight, rubbing the back of his neck. She pocketed the needle, then checked the readout on her o mnitoo l again, verifying she had the data she needed. This was the core of her work on the Ascension Proj ect. The newest biotic impla nts, co llectively ca lled the L4 configuration, were equipped with a network of virtual intelligence chips. The VI chips monitored the brain wave acti vit y of a biotic, lea rning the compl ex thought patterns of their host and adapting their own performance to maximize biotic potential. By a na lyzing the data collected in the chips, Ka hl ee and her tea m could a lso make subtle, customized a dju stments to the VI program coo rdinating an individual's a mps, resulting in even greate r ga ins. So far tests showed a 10 to 15 percent increase in biotic ability over the older L3 configurations in 90 percent of th e subj ects, with no apparent side effects. But, like most research in to the field of biotics, they were only beginning to scra tch the surface of what was possible. Nick lay back on his bed aga in , dra ined by the or-

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deal of having his spine rapped. " I'm getting stronger, right?" he said softly, smil ing ever so slightly. " I can't tell just by looking at the readout," Kahlee replied, evading the question. " I need to get back to the lab a nd run the numbers." " I think I'm gerting stronger," the boy sa id confidently, closing his eyes . A little alarmed, she patted him genrly on the leg and stood up from the bed. "Get some rest, Nick," she sa id, leaving him alone in his room.

THREE

As the door to N ick's room closed behind her, Ka hlee noticed Hen del coming down the hall, wearing his custom a ry attire of tan pants and a black, snug fitting, long-sleeved shirr. H e was a ta ll man, a few inches over six feet, a nd thick through the nec k, chest, and arms, with a cl osely cropp ed beard and m ustache that covered his chin a nd upper lip hut left his cheeks hare. H is f usty-b row n hai r and first name were clear evidence of his Scandinavian a ncestry. H owever, the da rker tone of his ski n and his last

name, Mitra, hinted at his mixed heritage, and he had actually been born in the suburbs ju st outside of New Calcutta, o ne of Earth's wealthiest regions . Kahlee assumed his parents still lived there, tho ug h they were no longer a part of his li fe . H er dysfunctiona l rela tio nsh ip with Grissom was nothing compared to H endel a nd his fam ily. H e hadn't sp o ken to th em in over twenty years; not since th ey'd aba ndoned him to the Biotic Acclimation and T ra ining program when he was a teenager. The BAaT program, in contrast to the openness th e Ascension Project en joyed at the Grissom Academy, ha d taken p lace in a top-secret military facility before it was shut

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down as a dismal fa ilure. The minds behind the program had wanted the BAaT in struc tors to act w itho ut inrerference from the fa milies, so they had m ade ever y effort to convi nce the parents that hiotics were dangerous. They tried t o make them feel asha med

and even afrai d of th eir own children, hoping to drive a wedge bet ween the students a nd their fa milies. In

Hendel 's case they had done a wonde rful job. H e was approaching with both speed and purpose, propelled by his long, quick strides. H e ignored th e chi ldren peering curiously o ut at him from their rooms as he went by, a frown et ched on his face as he st ared intently at the fl oor. Now there's someone who walks like a soldier, she tho ught. " H ey !" Kahlee ca lled out in s urprise as he blew past her, seem ingly o blivious t o he r presence. "Wa tc h w he re you 're going!" " Huh? " he sa id, pulling up short and glancing back over his sh o ulde r. Only then did he seem t o notice her. "Sorry. In a hurry." " I'll walk with you ," she offered. H e ndel resumed his pa ce, a nd Kahlee fe ll into st ride bes ide him. Every few steps she had t o break into a quick jog t o keep up. " You were just with N ick?" he asked. " H e's s ulking," Kahlee replied. " Thinks you' re being unfair." " H e's lucky," H endel gru mbled. " Back in my day he would've gotten a smack u pside th e hea d hard enough to ma ke his ears b leed. Now a ll we have are lockdowns and lectures . No won der hal f these kids leave here as a rroga nt, snot -nosed punks."

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" I think that has more to do with being a teenager than being a b io tic," Kahlee noted w ith a small smile. H endel ta lked tough, bu t she knew he'd never allow any harm to come to the children he worked with. "Some body needs to st ra ighten that kid our," H endel warned. "Or he'll end up as o ne o f those guys w ho goes into a bar, hits on a nother man's date ... th en uses b iotics to knock the other guy on his ass w hen he ta kes a swing. " H e' ll think it's a ll just a big joke ... u ntil someone in the ba r freaks out a nd bashes him over the head w ith a bottle when he's not looking." Kahlee liked H endel , but this was an example of hi s pessimistic, often bleak view of life. Of course there was som e truth to what he sa id- there were biotics who acted as if they were indestructible, b lessed wi th super powers. Bur there were limits to their talents. It took time to generate a mass effect field, as well as intense mental concentration and focus. Fatigue set in quickly. Afte r one or two impressive di sp lays a biotic was drained, leaving them as vulnerable as a nyone else. There were several documented cases o f biotics fl aunting thei r power: cheating at dice or roulette in a casino; altering the trajectory o f the ball in the middle of a ba sketba ll game; even playing practical jokes o n people by ya nki ng their chairs our fro m un der them. And the consequences for these actions were often severe. Enraged mobs had been known to assault or even kill biotics in reta liation for such m inor offenses; driven to extrem e ove rreaction by their ignorance and fear. "That's n ot goi ng to happen to N ick," s he assured

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him. " H e'll learn. We'll get through to him eventu-

,lIy." "Maybe one of the teachers needs to hit him with a stunner," he deadpan ned.

"Don't look at me," Kahlee objected with a laugh, taking two quick ho p -steps to keep from falling behind. " I never carry mine." The stunners-sm a ll electroshock weapons manu-

factured by Aldrin Labs a nd capable of rendering a student unconscious-were sta ndard issue to a ll personnel on the Ascension Proj ect; a precaution in case any of the students ever unleashed a seriolls biotic atrack against a sta ff member or classmate. For legal reasons, all non biotic personnel were supposed to ca rry a stunner while o n duty, bur Kahlee openly defied the rule. She hated the stu nners. They seemed to hearken back to the mistrust a nd fear prevalent during the da ys of the BAaT program. Besides, in all th e years of the Ascension Project, no st aff member had ever needed to use one. God willing no one ever will, she thought. Out loud she asked, "So where are we headed in such a hurry?" "To see Gillian." "Ca n it wait?" Kahlee asked. "Jiro's taking her readings. " H endel raised a c urious eye. " You 're not supe rvis. ;l " mg. " H e kn ows what he's doing." For some reason, H endel had never warmed to Jiro. It could have been the age difference-Jiro was one of the youngest m embers on the staff. Or it cou ld have s imply been a clash of personalities-Jiro was

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cheerful, extroverted, and talkative, whereas H endel was, in a word, stoic. " I've got nothing aga in st Jiro," he assured her, thou gh she knew that wasn't completely true. "But Gillian's not like the other students." "You worry about her too much." "Th at's funny," he replied, "coming from you." Kahlee let the comment slide. She a nd Hendel both spent a lot of extra time an d attenti on o n Gillian. It wasn't really fair to the o ther students, but Gillian was special. She needed more help than the others. "She likes Jiro," Kahlee expla ined. " He' ll do fine without you hovering around like an overprotecti ve parent. " "This has nothing to do with getting her readings," H endel grunted. "Grayson wants to come for a nother . .

VIS It.

"

Kahlee stopped and grabbed her companion by th e elbow, kn ocking the bigger man off stride and spi nning him ha lfway around to face her. "No," she said firmly. " I don't want her hearing that from you. " " I'm in cha rge of securi ty for this wing," H endel replied defensively. "All visitation requests go through me fo r approval." "You' re not se rio u sly thinking of denying his request?" Ka hlee asked , horrified. " H e's her father! H e has rights!" "If 1 think the vis it poses a danger to the child 1ca n deny a parent's request," Hendel replied coolly. "Dange r ? What kind of danger?" " H e's a d rug addict, fo r Christ's sakes!" " You can't prove that," Kahlee warned. "And you

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can't deny his request based on suspicions. Not without getting fired." " H e wa nts to come the day after tomorrow! " H endel objected. " I ju st need to see if Gillian's up to it. It might be better if he waits a few weeks so she can get used t o the idea. "

" Yeah, right, " Kahlee replied sarcastica lly. " It's a ll about what 's best for her. Your persona l feelings about Grayson have nothing to do with it. " " Gi llian needs routi nes a nd consistency," Hendel in sisted . " Yo u know how upset she gets if her schedu le's dis rupted. If he wants to be pa rt of her life, he can come see her eve ry month like the other parents, in st ead o f o nce or twice a year whenever it's convenient fo r him. These u nexpected visits are too hard o n

h
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Gillian's room was at the far end of the dormitory, where there was less noise to disturb her. By the time Ka hlee reached the door, she had plastered an expression of cheerful expectation on her face. She raised her fi st and rapped lightly. Her knock was answered not by the girl, but by Jiro. "Come in. " The door sl id open to reveal Gi llian sitting a t her desk. She was thin a nd angular, the tallest child in her age group by severa l inches. She had fin e b lack hair that hung down a lmost to her waist, a nd eyes that seemed too wide a nd too far apa rt for her long face. Ka hlee suspected she took after her mother, as apart from her slender build she didn't bea r a ny real resemb lance to Grayson. Gillian was twelve, the sa m e age as Nick. In fact, almost half the children in the Ascension Proj ect came from the same approximate age group . Thirteen years ago three major industrial accidents, each at a different human co lony, ha d occurred over a fourmonth s pan. The circumstances were suspic iou s, but in vestiga tions had uncovered no connection between the incidents. Of course, this had done little to quell the conspiracy theorists o n the Extranet who refused to believe it was a ll just a tragic string of neg ligence and coincidence. The third accident was by far the most devastating; some reports had initia lly ca lled it the worst toxic disaster in human history. A fully loaded Eldfell-Ashland tra nsport ship had exploded in atmosphere, killing th e crew and spewing a deadly cloud of element zero over the entire Yandoa colony, exposing thousands of children in utero.

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Whi le the majority suffered no long- lasting harm-

ful effects, several hundred of the unborn chi ldren developed significant sympto ms ranging from cancer to o rga n damage, birth defect s, and even spontaneous abortion. H owever, som e good did come from the otherwise tra gic statistics: thirty-seven of the ex posed

chi ldren had been diagnosed as not only hea lthy, but also with significa nt biotic potential of va rying degree. All of them were now here at the Grissom Aca demy. Gillian was staring with a disturbing intensity at the assignment on her computer screen. Sometimes

she wou ld sit like this for hours, motionless. Then , as

if som e undetectable switch went off in her mind, s he would explode into a flur ry of action, typing out a nswers so quickly her fin gers were no th ing but a blur. H er a nswers were, without variation, 100 percent correct. "All done here?" Ka hlee asked, directing the question a t her assistant gatheri ng up his equipment in the corner of the room. "Just fini shed," Jiro rep lied with a smi le . H e was only twem y-fi ve, handsome, and well put together. H is features were a pleasing mix of both his Am erican a nd Asian a ncestry, a nd he wore his hai r, dyed a dark red, in a spiky, tousled style that ma de it look as if he'd ju st ro lled out of bed. An easy, confident charm an d impis h smi le m ade Jiro ap pea r even younger than he actua lly was. Cradle robber, a s ma ll corner of her conscience chided. She pointed ly ignored it. "G illia n did very well today," Jiro added, turning his sm ile toward the girl. " D id n't you, Gillian?"

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" I guess," the girl muttered softly, though she didn't turn her head from the screen. Gillian had good days a nd bad days, and the fact that s he was spea king hinted to Kahlee that this might be one of the good ones. " I have some exciting news," she sa id, coming over to sta nd beside Jiro. With a ny other child Kahlee would have sat on th e edge of the desk, or rested a comforting ha nd on their shoulder. But for Gillian even the softest brush of a fingertip against her skin could sometimes cau se her to react as if she'd been touched with a burning ember. Other times she seemed ob livious to a ll sensation, as if her nerve en dings were completely dead. Thi s m ade it difficult to get the daily readings Ka hl ee needed fo r her research. Fortunatel y, Gillian seemed to react well to Jim, and he was u sua lly able to get the data without causing her signifi cant discomfort. " Your father's comi ng to vis it. H e'll be here in two da ys." She waited for a reaction, a nd was relieved to see the faint hint of a smile touch the g irl 's lips. Jiro picked up o n the subtle change in Gillian's mood and reacted to it quickly. " I bet he ca n 't wait to see you again," he sa id, his tone overflowing with exuberance. The g irl turned her head to them, her face n ow sporting a full-blown grin. " I ca n wear the dress he gave me," s he sa id, her voice distant and dreamy. Grayson had given his daughter the dress on his last visit, a lmost nine months ago. Kah lee doubted it would still fit , but she didn't want to bring it up and spoil the moment.

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" I bet he'd rather see you in your schoo l un ifor m, " J ira chimed in without missing a beat. " Let's sh ow him how hard you're working on your classes ." Gillian furrowed her brow a nd scowled, processing

the informati on. Then her brow relaxed and the smile returned. " H e likes to talk abour school." "That 's because he's so proud of how smart you

are," Ji ra added. " I need to fini sh my assign ment," Gi llian said abruptly, the mention of her stu dies bringing the concept of academics to th e forefronr of her thoughts. H er mind latched on to the idea, fix ati ng on it to th e exclusion of everything else. She turned back to the computer screen, st aring at it once m ore wi th unwave ring focu s.

Kahlee and Jira, familiar with her unusua l behaviors, didn't bother to disturb her by saying good-bye as they left. " Wha t say we get a litrle a lone time? " J iro whi spered as they wa lked down the ha ll, sliding his a rm around Kahlee's waist. "Nor where the kids ca n see," she chided, elbowing him playfully in rhe ribs. H e fli nched, but d idn't let go. " We could go back ro G illia n's room," he suggested, pu lling her closer. "She won't even notice we're there. " " Nor funny !" Kahlee gasped, givi ng him another, m uch sharper, shot with her elbow. H is hand fell away as he gave an exaggerated grunt and d oubled over, preten d ing to gasp for air. Kahlee ro lled her eyes and kept walking. "Ca reful sold ier," he sa id, standing up stra ight and

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trotting to catch up with her. "You ca n 't go around beating up innocent civilians like that. " "You hardly qua lify as innocent," she to ld h im. " Bes ides, I' m a civilian now, too." "You can rake the girl out of the army, but you can't take the army o ut of the girl ," he countered with a grill. Ir was a harmless jo ke; Jiro was a lways teasing her about her military background. But it m ade her th in k back to N ick's comment comparing her and H endel. "G illia n seemed to be doing well today," she sa id, eager to change the subj ect. Jiro shrugged , his expression becom ing more serious. "S he still doesn't interact with the other kids at a ll. And she's way behind the rest of the class." Kahlee knew he was referring to biotics, rather than academics. Even a mong the remarkable children of the Ascension Proj ect, Gillian was special. At age three she had been diagnosed with a mild form of high-functioning a utism; it had almost caused the board to reject her app lication to the Academy. Ultimately they had relented, pardy because of a large donation Grayson had generously provided and pard y beca use Gillian had shown far greater potential tha n a ny of the other students ... or any other individual in the shorr history of recorded human biotics . Accepted science held tha t biotic potential was established in ea rly childhood as a fixed and unalterable rating. The purpose of a program like th e Ascension Project was to teach biotics how to fully utilize their talent so they could get the most from

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their inherent abil iti es. With Gillian, however, regula r testing at the Academy charted a rati ng that was continuing to rise in erratic, but undeniable, fits and starts-a previou sly unheard-of phenomenon.

The gap between Gillian's biotic ability a nd the rest of her classmates had been large t o begin with; now it was en or mous. Despite this adva ntage, however,

Gillian had difficulty trans lating her potential into o bservab le results. Because of her u niqu e cogni ti ve processes, she struggled to grasp the m enta l focusing techniques necessa ry to coordinate her amp s with the

electrical impulses of her brain. In short, she didn 't know how to tap into her power, and none of the instructors seem ed to know how to teach her. "Maybe the board was right in the fi rst place," Ka hlee said with a sigh. " This might be too mu ch for

he,. " "Seeing her father might help," Ji ra suggested, without much hope. After a moment he added , " H ow did H endel react when he found out Grayson was coming?" " Like you'd expect," she a nswered . " H e was trying to figure out som e way to deny his request." " Let me guess," Jira chimed in with another sm ile. " Yo u pulled ran k on him. " "En ough with the army talk," she said wearily. "So rry," he apologized, his smile disappearing. A second later it was back in full force. " H ey, why don't you knock off early tonight?" he offered. " I ca n run your num bers for you. Yo u go back to my room, ma ke yourself comfortable, and relax, a nd I'll meet you there when I' m done." "Now that's rhe best idea I've heard all day," she

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said with a suggestive smile, hand ing over her omnitool. She glanced around to make sure they were a lone in the co rridor, then gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Don't keep me waiting all nig ht. "

FOUR

"Watch where you 're go ing, human."

The krogan Pel had inadvertently bumped into glared down at him , clearly looking for any excuse to start a fight. Pel didn't normally hack down from a nyone, especially an alien, but he was smart enough to make an exception fo r a n angry, eight-foot-ta ll mou n-

rain of sca led muscle. "Sorry," he mumbled, avoiding eye contact until the oversized reptile thumped away to satisfy his b loodlust somewhere else. Normall y Pel would n 't have been careless en o ug h to bu mp into a talking lizard the size of a sma ll tank, even on the crowded streets of Omega. But he had other things on his mind at the mom ent. Ce rberus had sent him ro meet a new Terminus Systems contact, but the contact had never showed. That alone was enough to make Pel nervous. Then, as he was making his way back to his rented apa rtment in a neighbor ing district, he had the feeling he was being watched. H e hadn't noticed anyone s uspiciou s following him, but Cerber us taught its agen ts that ignoring their in stincts was a good way to end up dea d. Unfor-

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tunately, Omega wasn't the kind of place to walk around w hile constantly looking back over your shoulder. You had to pay attention to where you we re going if you didn't want to end up w ith a knife in your belly. An enormo u s s pa ce station located deep in the Termi nu s System s, O mega was u nlike any other facility in the known ga laxy. Bu ilt from the remains of a massive, irregu larly shaped asteroid, the heavy-meta l- rich core had been mined until the asteroid was a lmost completely ho llow, providing the initial resources used to const ruct the facil ities that completely covered every exposed inch of its s urface . Its exact age was u nknown, a ltho ugh everyone agreed the station had originally been built by the Prothean s before they di sappeared. H owever, nobody agreed on which had been the fi rst s pecies to resettle it o nce the Protheans were mysteriously wiped o ut. Several groups had tried to lay sole claim to it over the station 's long history, but none had been able to maintain control for more than a few years. Now it served as a m eeting p lace and interstellar hub of commerce for those un welcome in Citadel space, like the batarians and the salarian Lystheni offshoot, as well as mercenaries, slavers, assass ins, and crimi nals from all races. Despite the occasiona l war between occupying species, Omega ha d developed into a de facto capita l of the Terminus Systems. N u merous factions had settled on the station ove r the centuries, wi th each new arrival building our section s of the station to su it their specific needs. Th eir efforts had t ra nsfo rmed Omega into the equiva lent of a massive floating c ity divi ded

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into n u merou s independent districts, each marked by mismatched a rch itecture and haphazard design. From a dista nce, the exterior o f the station looked uneven o r even lopsided. Arm s added to the ma in hub jutted out at all angles fro m the asteroid's surface, with furth er add -oIls extending out from these arms at bizarre

angles. And within the various districts the buildings seemed to have been con structed withou t plan or purpose; streets twisted a nd tu rned unexpectedly, and someti mes curled back on themselves to fo rm in fur iating dead-ends. Even residents o f the station could quickly become lost o r disoriented, an d the overa ll effect was highly u nsettl ing for new arrivals. Pel had been to Omega enough times to get over the disturbing randomness, but he still hated th e place. The station teemed w ith individuals from every alien species; even humans had become a noticeable presence. And in contrast to the ordered, harmonio usalmost sterile-coexistence fo un d o n the C itadel, the st reets of O m ega were crowded, dirty, a nd dangerous. There was no law enfo rcement; the few ru les that existed were enforced by ga ngs of hired thugs employed by those w ho conrrolled each sectio n of the statio n . Pet ty crime was rampant, and killings we re commo n. Tha t didn 't actua ll y bother Pel; he knew how to look after himself. H e ha d o ther issues with O m ega. Every corner of the sta ti o n sta nk w ith the mingled odors of a dozen different al ien species: sweat and pheromones poorly covered up by the gaggi ng scent of un fam iliar perfumes; the reek of u nidentifiab le foods wafting from o pen windows and doors; the pu-

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trid stench of uncollected garbage that littered the back alleys . As ba d as the smells were, the sou nds were even worse. Un like Cou ncil sp ace, most a lien s here refused to speak the common trade language un less abso lutely necessa ry. An endless cacoph ony of grunts, squawks, a nd sq ueaks assailed his ears as he ma de his way through the crowds, his a uto ma ted translator useless in the face of obscure interstellar d ialects it wasn't programmed to decipher. The a liens cou ldn't even agree o n a single name fo r the station. Each speaker ca lled it something different in his or her na ti ve tongue. The u npronou nceable asari na m e loosely tran slated as " heart of evil," th e turia ns referred to it as "worl d without law," the sa larians called it "place of secrets," and the krogans knew it as " la nd o f opp ortunity." For the sa ke of convenience, the automated tra nslator Pel wore strapped to his belt tra nsla ted a ll these terms into the human word "O mega"-the absolute end of a ll things. As m uch as he didn 't want to be here, he had a jo b to d o. Cerberus had sent him to broker a deal with his contact, and Pel knew ben er than to cross the Illusive M a n. O f course, that ha dn't stopped him and his team fro m taking o n a few freelance projects over the pa st year tha t his s uperiors might not app rove of. That's w hy it was so important to do things right: complete his missions as instructed; keep a low profil e a nd don't make a mistake that might draw ext ra anemion to his una uthorized activities. Unless they a/ready know, Pel tho ug ht, wondering if his ta il was a Cerberus operative. Maybe the w ho le mission had been a p loy to get him alone on Omega 's

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streets, where a dead human wouldn't attrac t a ny non ce. "Only one way to find out," he muttered, breaking into a run , tha nkful he wasn't wearing a ny kind of

body armor that could slow him down. He darted a nd dodged through th e crowd, spi nning and wheeling his way past sta rtled a liens, ignoring th e unintelligible threats an d curses they shou ted after him. H e veered sharply down an empty side street lined with garbage ca ns, trash bins, a nd piles of refuse. R acing past severa l closed doorways, he

ducked behind a large trash bin, crouching low. From his pocket he pulled out a small mirror, angling it so he could see back down the length of the alley without having to peek his hea d o ut and expose himself. A few seconds later his pursuer skidded into view, coming around the corne r from the ma in street into the deserted a lley at a fu ll run. The figure was sma ll, about a foot sh o rter than Pel , a nd covered head to toe in dark clothing. His pursuer's face was completely o bscu red by a tightl y wrapped scarf. The fig ure stopped a nd stared down the length of the alley, head turning from side to side looking fo r some sign of where Pel might have disappeared to. His follower pulled our a pistol, adj usted the setting, then began to move forward cautiously, weapon ready. Pel could have drawn a weapon of his own; he had severa l to ch oose from: the trusty Hahne-Keder pistol strapped to his hip, the knife in his belt, or the small emergency zip-gun in the hee l of his boot. The figure didn't app ear to he wearing a ny kind of combat suit that might be equipped with kinetic shields, so a si n-

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gle well-placed shot would be lethal. But killing his pursuer wouldn't tell h im who was following him, o r why. Instead, he simp ly waited silently for his adversary to approach . The figure contin ued to advance, stayi ng in the middle of the a lley, obviously trying not to get too close to the doorways or refuse containers where a n enemy might be waiting to leap out. But his pursuer's head was still turning side to side, hesitating to sta re at each potential hiding sp ot a fraction of a second too long. H is target was close n ow, maybe ten feet away. Peering in the m irror, he waited until the figure's head turned away from him a nd then cha rged out, com ing in hard an d focusing his attack o n the weapon hand of his too slow to react opponent. Grabbing th e forearm with his left hand, he used his right to bend the wrist h o lding the pistol inward, redirecting the weapon so it was pointed back at th e owner. The whole time he kept his legs churning, using his m o mentum and size to d rive his sma ller adve rsa ry backward a nd off-balance. They crashed to the street, the pistol jarring loose, and Pel heard a distinctly male gru nt from his opponent. They wrestled briefl y, but Pel was bigger, stronger, and had the adva ntage of being on top when they hit the grou nd. H e twisted the other man so he was lying facedown, then Pel looped his forearm under his ch in, applying pressure in a choke ho ld. His free hand still clutched his enemy's wrist, and Pel bent the arm up behind his prone opponent's back. The man beneath him struggled and squirmed. There

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was a wiry strength to his limbs, but he couldn't overcome the advantages of Pel's size and leverage.

"Who are you?" Pel hissed in his ear, using the common trade language . "Who sent you?" "Golo," came the strained reply.

Pel loosened his choke hold slightl y. "Gola sent you?" " I am Golo." Pel 's translator relayed the words in English, but he recognized the speaker's native tongue, and th e unmistakable sound of words being spoken

from behind a sealed enviro- mask . With a gru nr of disgust, Pel rolled off the quarian and stood up. " You were supposed to m eet me in th e bar," he said, not bothering to help his contact up from th e ground. Golo got to his feet gingerly, checking to see if anything was broken. H e looked pretty much th e sa me as every other quarian Pel had meet. Slightly s horter and sma ller than a human, he was wrapped in several layers of mismatched clothing. The dark scarf that had covered his face ha d been torn away during their scuffle, revealing the s mooth, reflective visor of a helmet that obscured his features . "My p a rdo n," the qua rian a nswered, switching to English. " } set up the m eeting so I could watch you from a safe distance, to make sure you were alone. I've had too many meetings in the past where the person I was s upposed to meet was only a lure ro draw me out into an a mbu sh." "Why is that?" Pel wondered aloud, his irritation growi ng. "You ma ke a habit of double-crossing peo-

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p ie?" H e was too pissed off to be impressed by Golo's excellent comma nd of a hu ma n dialect. " M y word is my bond, " Golo assured him. " But there are many who dislike quarians. They think we are nothing but scavengers and thieves." That's because you are, Pel th o ught to himself. " } was go ing to follow you back to your apartment," the quarian continued. "And then make faceto-face contact with you there." " Instead you drew a weapon on me." " Only for self-defen se," Go lo o bj ected. " When you ran I knew I had been spotted. I was afraid you would try to kill me." " } sti ll might," Pel replied, but it was an empty threat. Cerberu s needed the qua ria n a live. Golo must have sensed he was o ut of danger, because he turned his back on Pel and retrieved his weapon from rhe ground. "We can go to your home a nd continue o ur bus iness in private," the quarian o ffered, securing h is pistol somewhere inside the folds o f his clothes. "No," Pel replied. "Somewhere public. I don't wam you to know where I'm sta ying." YOII '1/ proba-

bly came back later and rob me blind. Golo shr ugged in d ifferently. " } know a place not far from here." The qu arian took him to a local ga mbl ing hall 10cated in the district. A heavily armed kroga n sta nding at the door nodded slightly as they entered. The sig n above h is head said " Fo rtune's Den" in ma n y la nguages, though Pel doubted anyone ever got rich in this place.

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"You come here often?" he asked as Golo led him to a booth near the back .

"The owner and I have an arrangem ent. Nobod y

will disturb us here." "Why didn't you just tell me to meet you here in th e fir st p lace?" "As I sa id befo re, I ha d to make sure you were alone. O lrha r would he ver y unhappy if I led a group of human mercenaries to his esta blish m ent. " The inflection he put on "Olthar" m ade it sound like a valus name to Pel , but he couldn 't he sure. Not that it ma rtered. Taking the seat opposite Golo, Pel was surprised to see the p lace was a lmost empty. A pair of four-eyed bararians were throwing dice, a few rotund va lus were playing some kind of ga me that resembled backgammon, and a handful of humans were clustered in the ce nter of the room playing ca rds under the watchful eye of a shifty-loo king sa larian dealer. H e would have preferred a strip bar-one with human or even asari dancers-but he didn't bother to compla in. "No quasar machines," he noted. "Too easy ro hack, roo expen sive to rep a ir," the quarian explained. A waitress-human--came over and word lessly set a mug on the table in front of him, then scurried away without making eye contact. She might have been attractive once, long ago. As she left, Pel noticed she wore a sm a ll electronic locater on her ankle; a device commonly used by slavers to keep track of their property. His jaw clenched involunta rily. The idea of a human

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enslaved by alien m asters sickened him, but there wasn't a nything he could do to help this woman. Not right now anyway. Soon a day of reckoning will come, he reassured himself. And justice will rain down on all these sick

alien bastards. "My treat," Gala told him, nodding to the g lass in front of Pel. It looked like some a lien variant of beer, but he'd learned the hard way to avoid huma n food prepared in nonhuman establish m ents. If he was lucky, it would sim ply be fl at and bitter. If he was unlucky, he might spend ha lf the night puking his guts out. " I'll pass," he sa id, pushing the glass away. "Wh y aren't you drinking anything?" he asked after a moment, suddenly su sp icious. "Germs," Go lo expla ined , tapping the face shield of his helmet. Pel nodded. Since being d riven from their homeworld by the geth, virtu a lly a ll quarians n ow lived o n the Migra nt Fleet, a flotill a of several thousand ships wande ring aimlessly through space . Generations of living in such an isolated , carefu lly controlled env ironment had rendered the quarian immune system all but useless against the viruses and bacteria swarm ing over every inhabited planet in the galaxy. To avoid exposure, they wore form-fitting enviro-suits beneath th eir ragged clothes a nd never removed their airtight visored helmets in public. This had led to rumors that the quarians were in fact cybernetic; a mix of organic a nd ma ch in e beneath their cl othes and visors. Pel knew the truth was m uch less sinister-a quarian si mply couldn't survi ve

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outside the flotilla without a hermetica lly sea led suit and mask. " Let's get down to business," Pel said, turning to the task at hand. " You sa id you ca n give us transmission frequencies and commu nication codes for the M igra nt Fleet." The Migrant Fleet had become of great inte rest to the llIu sive Man a nd Cerberus, particularly in th e wake of the geth attack o n the C itadel. Most thought of the quarians as n othing more than a nui sa nce; nearly seventeen million refugees eking out a hanclto-mouth existence on th eir fleet of o utda ted and substa ndard ships. For three centuries they had traveled from system to system, searching in va in for a suit-

able uninhabited pla net they could use

to

establish a

new homewo rld. The common belief was that the greatest threa ts the quarians posed to a ny established colony were th e consumption of loca l resources-such as stripping a system 's asteroid belts of precious m etals or element zero deposits-and the disruption of communications and starshi p travel inevitably ca used by severa l thousand u nscheduled a nd unregulated vessels passing throug h. These inconveniences ma de the quarians unwelcome in a n y c ivilized region of space, but it couldn 't be sai d anyone actuall y feared them. The Illusive Man, however, was able to see past their motley garb and jury-rigged ships. Technologica lly, they were easi ly th e equi va lent of any other species. The qua ria ns had created the geth, who had become a scourge upon the ga laxy. And they had ma naged to s ustain a civiliza ti on numbering nearly

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seventeen million individua ls over hundreds of years without the benefit of any planetary resources. Who knew what else they were capable of? The Migrant Fleet was also the largest single armada in the known ga laxy: tens of thousa nds of ships, ranging from tiny shurrles to cruisers to the three enormo u s Liveshi ps-marvels of aerospace and agricultura l engineering that provided the primary source of food for the entire flotilla. It was accepted fact that a significant portion of the ships in the fl eet were armed, tho ugh h ow m a ny and to what extent was unknown. In fact, very little was known about the quarian flotilla at a ll. They were a com pletely insular soc iety; no outsider had ever set foot on one of their vessels since their exodus three centuries ago. The Illusive Man didn't trust aliens with so many ships and secrets. Getting the quarian codes and tra nsmission frequencies wou ld a llow Cerberus to monitor communications among the vessels of the Migrant Fleet . .. provided they could somehow get one of their own ships close enough to rap into tightbeam messages without being seen. Pel wasn't sure how the Illusive Man planned to pu ll off that part of the plan, but it wasn't his conce rn. H e was just here to acq uire the codes a nd frequencies. " I can't actuall y give you the transmission codes," Golo informed him. " They've cha nged since I was last part of the fl otilla." Pel bit his lip to keep from sweari ng out loud. H e should have known better than to t rust Golo. H e was an exile from the Migrant Fleet. The quarians didn't have the space o r resources on their ships to house a prison population, a nd th erefo re criminals were dealt

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with by expelling rhem from quarian society, aba ndon ing them on t he nearest in habited p lanet or space st at ion . In Golo's case, Omega.

What kind of sick, twisted deviant do you have to be to get exiled by an entire race of beggars and thieves? he asked himself, wonder ing if Go la was a m urderer, rapist, or just a com pl ete sociopath . " H owever, I do have somet hing to offer YOll ,"

Golo continued, seem ingly obliv ious to Pel's barely contai ned rage. " I willtead you to someone who can prov ide you wi t h t he info rmation you want. For a pn.ce. "

Dirty, double-dealing son-of-a-bitch. "T hat wasn't our dea l. "

"You need to learn to be fl exible," he sai d with a shrug. " Improvise. Adap t. T ha t is t he way o f my peop le. It was how I survived when I first fo u nd m yself on t h is station ."

You mean when they dumped you off here. just another piece ofgarbage for someone else to clean up. Despite his u nspoken disd ai n, Pel had a gru dging respect for Go lo. Quaria ns we re as unwe lco me o n Omega as anywhere else in the galaxy; the fact t hat he had ma naged to survive o n t he station was a testament to his cunning a nd resourcefulness. An d a wa rning t hat he couldn 't be trusted. Pel wasn 't will ing to report back to the Illusive Man em pt y-h anded, but he also wasn't quite ready to t rust the qua ria n yet . Not wi t hout knowing a little more about h im . "Tell me w hy you were exi led." Golo hesi ta ted. A soun d t h at might have been a sigh of regret ca m e from beh ind his mask, an d for a second Pel thought t he q u arian wasn't going to re-

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spond . "About ten yea rs ago, I tried ro m a ke a dea l w ith the Collecto rs." Pel had heard of the Collecrors, though he'd never actually seen o ne. In fact, ma ny people, including Pel, weren't sure they really existed . From the stori es, they sounded more like the interstellar equiva lent of a n urban legend th a n a real species . By most accounts they had first appeared on th e galactic scene roughly five hundred years ago, a llegedly emerging from an uncharted region of sp ace somewhere beyond th e otherwise inaccessible Omega -4 relay. And while, if the stori es were true, they had been around for fi ve centuries, al m ost nothing was known about the enigmatic species or their mysterious h omeworl d. Isolationist to the extreme, the Co llectors were rarely seen a nywhere bur Omega a nd a few of the nearby inhabited worlds. Even then, decades could pass with no reported sightings at the station, only to g ive way to a few years marked by severa l dozen sporadic visits fro m envoys looking to barter and trade w ith other s pec ies. On those rare occasions when Co llectors did venture into the Termin u s Systems, they reportedly m ade it clear that similar vis its by other sp ecies into thei r territory would not be tol erated. Despite this, countless vessel s had dared to attempt the pa ssage throug h the Omega -4 rela y over the centuries in search of th eir h ome planet. None o f them had ever returned. The staggeri ng n u mber of ships, expeditions, and exploratory fleets that had disappeared without explana tion into the Omega-4 relay had led to wi ld speculation abou t wha t lay hidden beyond the portal. Some believed it opened into a black ho le or th e heart

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of a sun, th ough this didn't explai n how the Col1ectors cou ld use the relay themselves. Others claimed it led to the futuristic equivalent of paradise: those who passed throug h were now living lives of decadent luxury on an idyllic planet, with n o desire to return to th e violent st ruggles of the lawless Terminus Systems. The most widely acce pted explanation was that the Collectors had some manner of defensive techno logy, unique a nd highly a dvanced, that utterly destroyed any foreign vessel passing through the relay. But Pel wasn't sure he believed any of the stories. " } thought the Co llectors were just a myth." "A common misperceprion, particularly in Council Space. H owever, I can assure you from personal experience that th ey are very rea l. " "What kind of deal did you make w ith them?" Pel asked, his curiosity piqued. "They wanted two dozen 'pure' quarians: men and women who had spent their entire lives on the fl eet, uncontaminated by vis its to other worlds." " I thought every quarian had to leave the fleet during their Pilgrimage," Pel remarked, referring to the quarian right of passage into adulthood. "Not a ll quarians make the Pilgrimage," Golo exp lained. "Exceptions are m ade for th ose too sick or infirm to survi ve o utside the colon y. And in rare cases an individua l with a val uable s kill or talent ca n receive a dispensation from the Admiralty. " I knew from the sta rt I' d probab ly get ca ught," he added, almost regretful, "but the terms of their offer were too good to pass up." Pel n odded: this fit wi th the stories he'd heard. When the Collecto rs came to barter, they typically

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sought to excha nge m erchandise or technology fo r living beings. They were, however, far more than simp le slavers. The tales of their requests were always unusual or bizarre: two dozen left-handed salarians; sixteen sets of batarian twins; a krogan born of parents from feuding clans. In return, the Collectors would offer incredible technology or knowledge, such as a ship with a new mass drive configuration th at increased engine efficiency, o r a cache of adva nced targeting VI mods to ra dica lly improve weapon accuracy. Eventually this technology wou ld be adapted by galactic society as a whole, but for several yea rs it wou ld p rovide a significant edge fo r a nyone smart enough to take the deal. Or so the ta les told. In the absence of any t rue name for the species, their willingness to pay so extravagantl y to have their odd but highly specific requests satisfied had earned them the generic title of Collectors. Similar to the conj ecture spawned by the mystery of what lay beyond the Omega-4 relay, numerou s theories had evolved attempting to explain the motiva ti on behind their illogical demands . Some believed there was a religious significance to the requests, others saw it as ev idence of deviant sexua l predilectio ns or gruesom e culinary appetites. If the Collectors actua lly did exist, as Go lo claimed, then Pel tended to support th e most generally accepted belief that they were conducting genetic expe riments on other species, though he could n 't even beg in to g uess at their exact nature or purpose. Certainly it was enough to make any reasona ble person SUSp iCIOUS.

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"If the Co llectors are real, why hasn 't more been done to try and stop their activities?" he wondered

aloud. "As long as you ca n profit from the deal, who ca res?" Golo replied, his rhetorica l question encapsulating the general attitude of the entire Terminu s Systems in a si ngle breath. " They sh ow up and offer something worth a few million credi ts, an d all yO li have to do is give them a couple dozen prisoners in exchange. They're no worse than the s lavers, but they pa y a lot better." Slavery was illegal in Council Space, but here in the Termin us Systems it was an accepted---even a common-practice. H owever, it wasn't th e morality of what the Collecto rs were doing that concerned PeL " Isn't anyone worried abou t what they're doing behind that relay? They could be making powerful new genetic weapons. What if they're studying species to learn our weaknesses and vulnera bil ities so they can invade?" Golo laughed, the sound reverbera ting off his mask with a distant, hollow timbre. " I have no doubt they are up to som ething tmpleasant," he admitted. "But they've been d oing this for five hundred yea rs. If they were planning an invasion, it would have happened by now." "Bur aren 't you even curiou s?" "The curious try to go rhrough the Omega-4 relay," he remi nded his human compa n ion. "And th ey don't come back. The rest of us here on Omega are more worried about getting killed by our neighbor than what's happening on the far side of the galaxy. You need to stay focused to survive out here."

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Good advice, Pel tho ught. The Collectors were definitely intriguing, and he would n 't be su rprised to learn that the lIlusive Man a lread y ha d agents looking into them somewhere. But that wasn't his mission. " You sai d you could lead m e to people w ho ca n give me those tra nsmission codes." Golo nodded eagerly, glad the s ubj ect had t urned back to their current bu siness. " I can set up a meeting with a crew from one of the scout shi ps from the Migrant Fleet, " he promised. "J ust make su re you take o ne of them a live."

FIVE

The fl ight attendant greeted him with a cheerful smile, her voice warm a nd in viting. "Welcom e

aboard, Mr. Grayson . My name is Ellill. " H e didn't recognize her, hut she could have been a recent hire; he did n 't use the corporate s huttle very often. Ellill had striking green eyes-probably timed-

and long, lustrous golden hair-probably dyed. She looked to be in her ea rl y twenties, though of course th ere was no gua ra ntee she was a nywhere close to that young.

"Pleased to meet you, Ellin," he replied with a nod. H e rea lized he was smiling a t her with a goo fy grin.

Always was a sucker for blondes. "We won't be leaving fo r a few minutes yet," she informed h im , reaching out to take the briefcase from his hand, "but your room is ready. Please follow m e and we ca n get you settled while the pilot m akes his fi na l preflight checks." H e studied her figure appreciatively from behind as she led him down the narrow corrido r toward the private VIP cha mber in the aft of the vessel. " I ho p e everyth ing is to your liking," she com-

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mented o n reaching their destination, steppi ng forward a nd holding the door open so he could enter. The room bore a lmost no resemblance to the simp le, often crowded bunks found on military vessels o r the common sleepi ng rooms of long-distance ma sstra nsit shuttles. Equipped with a luxurious bed, stateof-the-a rt vid screen, private shower a nd h ot tub, full wet bar, and just about every other conceivable amenity, it compared favorably to any suite in a ll but th e most expensive planet-side hotels. "We' ll be arriving a t the Grissom Academy in about eig ht hours, Mr. Grayson," Ellin continued, setting his briefcase in the corner. "Can I get you anything before lift-off?" " } think I just want to rest," he sai d. Every joint in his body ached, a nd his head was pounding-classic signs of red sand withdrawa l. "Wake me a n hour before we arrive." "O f course, Mr. Grayson," she replied, then turned and left him a lone, closing the door behind her. H e stripped o ff his clothes, suddenly aware of h ow much he was sweating. There was a fa int tremor in his left ha nd as he unbuttoned his shirt. But the idea of dusting up never crossed his mind; he wouldn't let Gillian see him stoned. Naked, he collapsed on the bed, too hot to bothe r crawli ng under the soft, silk sheets. H e heard the deep rumble as th e pil ot fired up th e engines. Grayson could have flown himself, of course ... he still knew how to handle a vessel like this. But Ce rberus needed him to playa different role now. His cover was that of a high-level executive with Cord-Hislop Aeorospace, a midsized starship manu-

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facrurer based on El ysium. This allowed him

to

travel

across the ga laxy in p ri va te vessels without drawing undo attention , and offered a reasonable way to exp lain the large donation he'd given to the board of the Grissom Academy in order to get Gillian acce pted into the Ascension Proj ect. The days of pretending to be a private pilot for upand-coming politicians were long gone; now he was th e o ne enjoying the luxurious room and service from a personal flight attenda nt. The Illusive Man looked after th ose w ho p leased him.

I bet

Mell11eall

thought that, too. Right before Pel

killed him. Grayson sat up in bed, his mind going back to Pel 's

recent visi t. Maybe his old friend had told the Illusive M an about th e red sand a fter a ll. Cerberus wouldn't ju st sit by if they felt h is addictio n jeopardized the miSSion. Was EHin rea lly just a flight attenda nt ? Thou sa nds of everyday people worked ordinary jobs fo r CordHislop without ever su specting it was a corporation controlled by a shad owy paramilitary group. H ardly anyone at the company-or anywhere else, fo r that matter-eve n knew an organization like Ce rberus existed. But hidden within the rank a nd fil e of employees, scattered across all rungs of the corpora te ladder, were dozens of the l1lu sive Man's agents. M aybe Ellin was one of them. Maybe she was waiting outside th e door to stick an ice pick in h is neck, just like he'd done to Keo. H e rolled out of bed and pu lled on the terry-cloth bathrobe hanging o n the wall, then pushed the ca ll button. A few seconds la ter there was a gentle rap o n

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the door. Grayson hes itated, then waved his hand in front of the access panel. H e resisted the urge to jump back as the door slid o pen. Ellill was sta nding there, a rmed o nly wi th her relentlessly cheery smile and perky attitude. " Is there something you need , Mr. Grayson?" "My clothes . . . ca n you have them cleaned and pressed fo r me?" "O f course, sir. . " She st e pped into the room a nd collected his disca rded garments, picking them up with a cool, practiced efficiency. There was a confidence about her; a professiona lism that could be a sign of specialized military training ... or it could have simp ly been part of her job. H e tried to watch her without bei ng seen, hoping t o catch her s urreptitiou sly watching him. If she was working for Ce rberus, she'd have been instruc ted t o keep close tabs on her passenger. EHin stood up a nd turned to face h im , the bu ndle of clothes in her a r ms. The well-practiced smil e fell away from her face, and Grayson realized he was still st aring a t her intently. H e shook his head to clear away the dark thoughts. "Sorry. M y mind was somewhere else." H er smile reappea red, though her eyes looked nervous . " Is there anything else, Mr. Grayson? " H e pick ed up the s lightest waver in her voice. Either she's just a scared little stewardess, or she's very, very good at pretending to be one. The thought was quickly followed by another: The red sand's

making you paranoid. "Th an k you , Ellin . Tha t will be all." The relief on he r face as he stepped aside t o let her

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exit was obvious. Once she was safel y outside the door, she hes itated, then turned back. "Do . . . d o you still want me to wake you a n hour

before we land?" "That will be fin e," he sa id abruptly, closing the door before she cou ld see the flush of embarrassment creeping up his neck an d into his face.

Cet it together, he chided himself, removing th e robe and falling back onto the bed. Quit jumping at shadows. This mission's too important to screw lip. The sound of the engines had cha nged. Sta ring up

at the ceiling, he could feel a slight pressure on his chest pushing him down into the soft mattress. The ship was taking to the sky, battling gravity and atmosphere as it headed fo r the stars. The room that had seem ed so hot before was su ddenly cold; he shivered and crawled in under the b lan kets. The artificial mass effect fiel ds genera ted inside the ship 's hull dampened the turbulence a nd g-forces of their lift-off, but his pilot's instincts could sti ll feel the motion. It was familiar, reassuring. Within mi nutes it had rocked him to sleep.

"We have a new assignment for you, " the Illusive Man said, and Grayson realized he was dreaming once agal1l. They were alone in Grayson's apartment, just the two of them . .. and the infant sleeping quietly in the Illusive Man's arms. ""I was impressed with your work on the EldfellAshland job. I know it was a difficult mission..""It was for the greater good," he replied. Even if he wanted to, there was nothing else he could say. He had be/ieved it back then, with every

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fiber of his being. He still believed it, though the part of his mind that knew he was dreaming realized things weren't as simple as they used to be. "[ have a special assignment for you," the Illusive Man said, handing over the child. "She's biotic. " Grayson took the little girl in his arms. She was warm and soft, and lighter than he'd expected. Disturbed by the transfer, her eyes popped open and she began to fuss. Grayson shushed her gently, rocking her in his arms. H er eyelids drooped, she blew a small bubble, and then she was asleep again. Based on her age he had no doubt as to how she had been exposed to element zero. "You're going to be working for Cord- Hislop as part of your cover," the Illusive Man informed him. "Sales for now, but you'll climb to the executive ranks over the next few years. We want you to raise the girl as your own. " "Who's my partner?" "None. Your wife died when your daughter was born. You never remarried. " Grayson wondered what had happened to the girl's real mother and father, but he wasn't foolish enough to ask. "Do you understand how important this mission is?" the Illusive Man asked. "Do you see what biotics can ultimately mean to humanity?" Th e younger man nodded. He believed in what he did. He believed in Cerbems. "We went to a lot of trouble to find this particular girl. She's special. We want her to look up to you. To tmst you. Treat her as if she is your own flesh and blood. "

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Karpyshyn

"[ will," he promised. He had offered the vow without understanding the collSequellce of what it really meant. Had he known the true cost, he might not have been so quick to reply . .. although in the end the answer would have been the same. The baby gurgled soft/yo Grayson stared down at her scrunched-lip little face, fascinated. "You won't be a/one;n this," the Illusive Man assured him. "\Ve have top experts ;n the field. They'll make sure she gets all the proper training. " Grayson watched, transfixed, as the girl fidgeted;n her sleep, her hands balling up into tiny fists that traced tight little circles ;" the air. The Illusive Man turned to go. "Does she have a name?" Grayson asked without

looking lip. «A father has the right to name his own daughter," he said, closing the do or behind him. G rayson woke, as he a lways did, w ith the echo of the clos ing door from his dr eam still in h is ears. " Lights-di m ," he called out, and a fa int glow from the bedside lamps cast the dark shadows from his room. Only an hour had passed; seven more until they reached t he Academy. H e climbed o ut of bed and pu lled on t he robe, then p icked up his briefcase. H e carried it over to t he small desk in the corner of t he room an d set it o n top, t hen settled into t he accomp anying ch air a nd pu nched in the access code. A second la ter t he case opened with a soft, dep ressurizing hiss . Insi de were severa l d ummy d ocu ments to help with his cover as a Cord-H islop executive-contracts and

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sales reports, mostly. H e pulled them out and dumped them on the floor, then lifted up the case's false bottom to reveal the contents underneath. Igno ring the vial Pel had given him-he wouldn't need that until he actually saw Gillian-he reached for the sm a ll celloph ane bag of red sa nd. Grayson wondered how much the Illu sive Man had actually known about the girl on that night he'd given him Gi llian. Did he know a bout her menta l condition ? Did he know the Alliance was o ne day go ing to start a progra m like the Ascension Project ? H ad he given the little girl to Grayson, fully aware he was o ne day going to order him to give her up aga in ? H e opened the baggie and ca refully poured out a sma ll pile of the fin e dust. Enough to ta ke the edge off, nothing m ore. Besides, he ha d plenty of time to come down before they reached the Academy. It was easy in the beginning. Gillian seemed like any other normal young girl. Every few months she was visited by Cerberus experts: taking blood sa mp les and a lpha-wave readings; checking her health; testing her reflexes a nd responses. But even with all the doctors, Gillian had been a happy, hea lthy child. H er symptoms began to m a nifest sometime between the ages of three a nd four. An unnamed dissociative disorder, the experts told him. Easy to diagnose but difficult to treat. Not that they hadn't tried, unleashing a barrage of drug a nd behavior therapies on the young girl. Yet their efforts had been in vain. With each year she grew more distant, more closed off. Trapped inside her own min d. The growing emotional g ulf between them should have made it easier on Grayson when Cerberus de-

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cided to give her ove r to the Ascension Project. It

hadn't. Grayson didn't have much he could cling to, apart from his dedication to Cerberus and his devotio n to his daughter. The two were inextricably linked; after Gillian had been given into his care he had been pulled from active-duty missions so he could better focus on raising his daughter. Caring for the helpless infa nt had filled the void in his life. And as she had grown-as he had raised her from a baby to a beauti-

ful, intelligent th ough troub led young girl-she had become the center of his world ... ju st as the Illusive M an had wanted. Then, two years ago, they had ordered him to send her away. H e resealed the plastic bag, stashing it safely away in the false bottom of his case. Then he got up, went into the bathroom a nd returned wi th the blade from his Ever-Sharp razor. Using the edge, he d ivided th e pile o f red sand into two long, thin lines. The Illusive Man had wa nted G illia n to join the Ascension Proj ect so Cerberus could piggyback thei r own research o n the Alliance's cutting-edge work. And whatever the Illusive Man wanted, he got. Grayson knew he had no cho ice in the matter, but it was still hard to let her go. For ten years she had been an integral part of his life. H e m issed seeing her in the mornings a nd tucking her in at night. H e missed the rare moments when she broke th rough th e in vis ible walls th at sepa ra ted her from the outside world a nd showed him genu ine love and affection. But, like any pa rent, he had to put his child's welfa re above his own.

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The program was good for Gillian. The scienrists at th e Academy were pu shing the boundaries of biotic resea rch. They had made advances that went far beyond a nything Cerberus could have achieved on its own , a nd it wa s the on ly place Gillian could be properly fitted for the revolutionary new L-4 a mps. Sending his daughter away wa s a lso necessary for the greater ca u se. It was the best way for Cerberus to study the absolute limits of human biotics; a powerful wea pon they would one day need in the inevitable struggle to eleva te Earth a nd its people above the alien races. Gillian had to play her part in the Illusive Man 's plans, just as he did. And one day, he h oped, people would look back o n his daughter as a hero of the human race. Grayson und erstood a ll thi s. H e accepted it. J ust as he accepted the fa ct that he wa s now merely a gobetween; a proxy who allowed the Cerberus researchers to get access to Gillian whenever they needed it. Unfortunately, acceptance didn 't m a ke it any easier. If it was possible, he would have visited her every week at the Academy. But he knew constant visits were hard on Gi llian; she needed stability in her lifeshe didn't deal well with disruptions and u nexpected surprises. So he stayed away, a nd did his best not to think about her. It made the loneliness easier to bear, turning th e constant pain into a dull ache hovering in the backgrou nd of h is thoughts. Sometimes, however, he couldn 't help but th in k about her-like now. Knowing he was going to see her made him acutely aware of how much it would hurt w hen he had to leave her behind again. At times

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like these, he couldn't dull the pain. Nor without help. Bending forward in the chair, he pinched his left nostril closed and inhaled the fi rst line of red sa nd. Then he switched nostri ls a nd s norted the second. The du st burned his nasa l cavities and made his eyes wa ter. Sitting up straight, he blinked away the tears. He gra bbed the arms of the chair, clenching so tighrly hi s knuckles went w hite. H e felt his hea rt beating, slow an d heavy: thump . .. thllmp ... thump. Three beats was all it took before th e euphoria washed over him. For the next severa l min utes he rode the wave, eyes

closed, his head lo lling back and forth. Occasionally he would make a soft ngh sound in the back o f his th roa t, a n inarticulate m oa n of pure pleasure. The initia l rush began to fade quickly, but he fought against the urge to take a nother hit. He could sense the unpleasant emotions-fear, paranoia, lonelinesslurking in the dark corners of his consciousness, still there but momentarily kept at bay by the narcotic's warm glow. H e opened his eyes, no ting everything in the room had taken o n a rosy h ue. This was one of the side effects of red sa nd ... but no t the most significant one. Giggling softl y a t n othing in particu la r, he leaned back in his chair, balancing it on the two rear legs. His eyes cast about the room, searching for a suitable target before fin a lly noticing the documents he had scattered across the floor. Careful not to tip over in h is sea t, he reached o ut wi th his left hand and twiddled his fingers. Th e papers rustled, as if flutterin g in the breeze. H e struggled

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focus-never easy when fl oating in the red clouds. A second late r he swip ed at the empty air with his hand, and the papers leaped from the floor and swirled wildly a bo ut the room. H e kept them in the air as long as he could, h is temporary, drug-induced biotic abi lity making the papers dance like leaves before a storm. to

By the time Ellin knocked o n the door seven hours later, he was sober once again. H e ha d slept for a few hours, showered and sha ved, and clea ned up the room, ca reful to leave no evidence of the red sand behind. "One hour until we touch down , Mr. Grayson," she reminded him, handing him his cleaned and pressed clothes. H e took them w ith a nod o f tha nks, then closed the door. Alone in the privacy of his room he made one fi na l check to ma ke sure he hadn't mi ssed a nything . .. . mCrl m matlng.

That's the difference between an addict and a junkie, he reminded himself as he began to d ress, his hands n ow stead y as they butto ned up his shirt. Both need their fix, but an addict still makes an effort to hide what he's doing.

SIX

Kahlee couldn't sleep. She told herself it was pardy because she preferred her own bed, and partly because Jira was snoring loudly in her ear. She didn't bother to wake him, though-she was used to it. Their lovemaking u sually ended this way, despite the fact that he was almost two decades her junior. H e a lways started strong, full of p assion a nd fire, but he

didn't know how

to

pace himself.

"You' ll learn eventually," s he whispered, patting

him lightly on his bare thigh. "And all your future gi rlfriends will thank me for it." Moving quietly so as not to wake h im , she rolled out from under the covers and stood, naked, by the side of the bed. Now that they weren't generating body heat, the air in the room felt cool en o ug h to make her shiver. She began to hunt around for her clothes, no easy task. In his exubera nce, Jiro rended ro ross each piece haphazardly abour the room as he undressed her. She located her shirr an d pu lled it over her head, then heard J ira mumble something. G la ncing over, she realized he was srill as leep, his words nothing bur u nintelligible dream-talk. Kahlee sta red a r him for a

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long, linge ring moment- he looked so young when he was curled up in his bed, a nd she felt a momentary twinge of gu ilt and em barrassment. There was no thing illegal about what they were doing; they were both of age, and even tho ugh she was technically his boss, there was no th ing in either of their employm ent contra cts sp ecifica lly forbidding th eir relationsh ip. It was, as Ji ro liked to say, a n ethica lly gray area. Kahlee sometimes got the impression that Jiro was on ly using her to advance his ca reer, though there was a cha nce this was her own guilty conscience t rying to suck all the fun o ut of the relationship. If he actually did believe sleeping with the boss would somehow help him , he was sadly m istaken. If a nything, s he tended to be harder on Jiro than the o ther researchers. But he was good at his job; the staff respected him, a nd the students a ll liked him. That was one of the things that had attracted her in the fir st place. That pills his fine ass, s he thought with a w icked grm . She' d had other sexua l part ners over the years, of course-probably more tha n her fair share, to be honest. But like J iro they were a ll just fl ings. Not that she'd ever been looking fo r anything serious. While she was in the m ilitary the Alliance had always com e first, a nd once she became a civilian she'd focused o n buildi ng her career rather tha n a long-term relationship. Forrunately, there was still p lenty of time. Tha nks to med ica l adva nces over the last century, women no longer had to sta t t their fa mili es before fo rry. If s he

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really wanted to, s he could wait another twenty years

and still give birrh to a perfectly healthy ch ild. Kahlee still wasn't sure what she wanted, though. It wasn't that she didn't like kids; the opportunity to work closely with biotic children was o ne of the reasons she'd accepted the position with the Ascension Proj ect. She just couldn't see herself settling into a life

of domestic bliss. Get over yourself, she tho ug ht, and find your damn clothes. She pushed th e thoughts away. Spotting her pams dangling over the back of a cha ir, she pulled them on. She was still looki ng for a missing sock when Jira woke with a sputtering yawn. " You're leaving?" he asked, still groggy. "J ust back to my own room. I can't sleep here with you snoring like a sick hippo." H e sm iled and sat up, propping his pillow behind him an d leaning ba ck against the headboard. " You sure this doesn't have a nything ro do with Grayson's visit?" She didn't bother to deny it, instead saying nothing as she continued to look for her missing sock. Finding her prize, she sat down o n the edge of the bed and pulled it on. Jira watched her si lentl y, patiently waiting for her to speak. " I'm more worried abou t Gillian," she fin ally confessed. "Nothing we do seems to help her. Maybe the program isn't right fo r her. " "Whoa, just a mi nute!" Jiro excla imed, suddenly ve ry awake. H e crawled across the ma ttress quickly and put a hand o n her shoulder. "G illia n's got more

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biotic potentia l than ... well, than a nybody ! The Ascension Project was meant for someone like her." "But she's not just a biotic," Ka hlee objected, vo icing the arguments that had been ru n ning through her mind. "She's a girl with a serious mental condition. " "You' re not th in king of asking th e board to expel her, are you?" he asked , looki ng horrified. She turned and scowled at him. " That's a decision her father need s to make." "So you're going to talk to Grayson about it ?" Much of th e anxiet y had left his voice. " I'll let him know what his options are. Gillian might be better off if she wasn't trying to develop her biotic abilities at the Academy. H e cou ld get her a private tutor; someone trained to deal wi th her condition. Lord knows he ca n afford it." "What if he doesn't wa nt to pull her out of the program?" "Then I' ll have to start wonde ring if he really has his daughter's best interests at heart. " She regretted the words as soon as she said them. "Now you're starting to sound like H endel," he chastised her. The remark stung more tha n it should have; Nick's comparison of her and the security ch ief yesterday was still fresh in her mi nd. "So rry," she apo logized. " I'm just tired. I can't keep comi ng here night a fter night. " Trying to m a ke light of it, she a dded, "When you get to be my age, you need you r sleep." "You' re kidding, right?" he asked , incredulous. " I hardly ever get to see you. You're always working ... or sp ending time with H en del."

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" H e likes to keep tabs on the stude nts," she ex-

plained. Especially Gilliall. " I'm starting to think you two are more tha n just

friends," Jira sa id darkly. Kahlee actually laughed out loud. She saw Ji ra stiffen, a nd he turned away from her. " I'm so rry," she sa id , wrapping a comforting arm

around his shoulder. " I di dn't mea n to laugh. But tru st me, I'm not H endel's type. You m ig ht be,

th ough. " For a second he seemed puzzle, a look of confu sion

on his boyish face. "Ohhh," he sa id a moment later, grasping what she m ea nt.

The phone in the bedroom beeped before either of them could say a nything else. Jira looked at the ID o n the display, and his eyes went wide. "It's Hendel!" "So?" Kahlee sa id with a shrug. "Answer it. " H e reached over and hit the button for the sp ea ker phone. " H endel?" " Grayson 's shu ttle just pinged u s," the voice on the other end o f th e line sna rled. " He' ll be here in a n hour. " Figures th e son-of-a-bitch would be running o n his own cl ock," H endel added. Kahlee rolled her eyes. It was common for people visiting a pla net or sp ace station to schedule thei r visits so they would arrive a t a con venient hour by th e loca l time. But G rayson traveled a lot fo r his job, and consta ntly ad justing to diffe rent ti me zones could take its toll o n a person. Gillian's fa ther wasn 't the

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only parem to show up in the middle of the nig ht; he was just the only o ne H endel complained about. "Uh, yeah, okay," Ji ro answered. " I'll get ready." " I tried Ka hlee's room, but she wasn't there," Hendel added. " I assume she's with you. " Ji ro turned to her wi th a shrug and a look that seemed to say, What should I tell him? " I'm here," she a nswe red after a long, awkward silence. " I' ll come down with Jiro to the lan ding bay to meet him." "Meet you both there in fo rty-fi ve m in utes." The phone ca ll ended with a click . " H ow did he know about us?" Kahlee wondered out loud. She didn't think anyone knew; she and Ji ro had always been di screet. "Wouldn't be much of a security chief if he didn't," Jiro ch uckled, getting out of bed and heading fo r the sma ll shower in his en suite. H endel was gruff a nd surl y, and he tended to be overprotective toward his charges, but no one cou ld ever accuse h im of being bad at his jo b. Still, Ka hl ee wasn't sa tisfied. "What do you think tipped him off?" she ca lled out, stripp ing off her shirt. Ji ro popped his head out from the bathroom. " Yo u, probably. 1 bet he can read you like an open book. You' re no t th at great at keeping secrets." " Maybe it was you," she countered as she u nbutroned her pants . " Yo u're not much good at keeping secrets either. " " I might be bette r than you think," he sa id mysteriously. Then he la ughed and disappeared back into

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the bathroom . A second later she heard the shower runnmg. Now completely naked, Ka hlee crossed the room and entered the en suite. Jiro raised his eyebrows suggestively when she opened the sh owe r sta ll door and squeezed in with him. "Forget it," she to ld him. "We need to get there before Grayson's shutrle touches down. I'm afraid of what migh t happen if we leave him alone with H en-

del. " "Why d oes he hate Grayson so much?" Ji ro asked, rubbing shampoo into her hair from behind. Because he thinks Grayson is so prejudiced against biotics that he can only bear to see his own daughter twice a year. Because Hendel's own parents du mped him off with the BAaT program when he was a kid, basically disowning him. Because part of him thinks helping Gillian leam to cope with her biotics might get rid of the memories of his own abandonment and childhood isolation. " It's complicated" was all s he sa id. " Maybe Hendel 's got a crus h on h im ," Jiro teased. Kahlee let o ut a disapproving sig h. " I just pray to God you aren't stupid enough to eve r make that joke where he can hea r you. "

SEVEN

Grissom Academy was a medium-sized space sta-

tion with half a dozen small docking bays built along its exterior, each capable of accommoda ting s mall- to medium-sized vessels. Most of the a rrivals were supply ships bringing in necessary resources from Elysiu m to keep the Academy running, along with twice-dail y runs of the public passenger shuttle down to the surface of the planet below.

When Kahlee and Jira arrived, Hendel was waiting for them, staring intently out the observation window toward the docking bays. She was d isappointed to see that the station was currently oriented with the observation window looki ng our away from the planet th ey orbited; she a lways found the image of Elysium hovering below th em in sp ace to be pa rticularly awe. .. in spiring. Most visitors to the Academy-parents a nd fr iends of staff, typically-would come through Elysium, booking passage to the planet a nd then transferring to the passenger shuttle. Only those important o r wealthy enough to have access to personal shuttles had the option to dock their vessels right on the sta-

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rion itself, eliminating the time and ha ssle necessita ted by going through the public spaceports. This direct access also a llowed them to bypass the customs a nd security checks found planet-side, so by law there had ro he a security officer on ha nd to clear th em on arrival. This was more a formality than anything else, a nd H en del normally delegated the task to one of his underlings. But on th ose rare occasions when Grayson arrived, the security chief was always th ere to greet him in person. Ka hlee knew it was Hendel's none-roo-subtle way of letting Grayson know he was being watched. Fortunately, Grayson's shuttle hadn 't shown up yet. H endel turned to look at them as they ap-

proached, breaking his vigil. " I was starting to wonder if you were gomg to make it in time." His comment was directed at Kahlee; it a lmost seemed as if he was intentionally ignoring Jiro 's presence. She decided to let it slide. " How long befo re they arrive?" " Five, maybe ten mintues. I'll sign Grayson in, then he's yours to deal with. Take him to the cafeteria fo r a few h ours or something." " H e's goi ng to want to see his daughter right away," Jiro protested. H endel glared at the younger m an as if he had interrupted a private conversation , then sh ook his head. "These surprise visits are hard enough o n Gillian. I'm n ot goi ng to wake her up in the middle of the night just beca use her father's roo selfi sh to wait until mo rning to see her."

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"Wanting to see his daughter right away isn't being selfish," Kahlee countered. "The last few months she's been getting up early anyway," Jiro a dded. "S he only sleeps a few hours a night. The rest of the time she just sits up in bed with th e lights off and stares at the wall. I think it has something to do with her condition. " A sour grimace crossed Hendel 's face. "Nobod y told me that." H e took his jo b serio u sly, and he didn't like it when other people knew more about th e habits and behaviors of the students than he did. He 's looking for a fight, Kahlee thought. She'd have to keep a close eye on him; she wasn't about to let him ruin this visit for Grayson or Gillian. "Th ere wasn't anything you could do a bout it," Ka hlee answered coolly. "Besides, Dr. Sanchez sa id it's nothing to worry about." H endel picked up on the unspoken warning in her tone a nd let the matter drop. For a few minutes they stood without speaking, just staring out the window. H endel broke the silence with a seemingly in nocent comment. "So, it sou nds like your o ld friend is in the running for one of the Council seats," he noted. "Old friend?" Jiro asked, curious. "Captain David Anderson," the security chief exp lained, seem ingly oblivious to Kahlee's reflection in th e window, scowling a t him. "They served together in the Alliance." " H ow come you never mentioned him before?" J iro wondered, turn ing to her. " Ir was a long rime ago," she replied, trying to sound b lase abour it. "We haven't talked in years."

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There was an uncomfortable silence, and Kahlee could only imagine the questions running throug h Jira's head. H e was a confident young man, but it still m ust have been u nsettling to rea lize his girl friend had a previous relationship with one of humanity's most

well-known mi litary heroes. When he fi na lly spoke again, she was caught completely off-guard by what

he said. " I'd rather see Ambassador Ud ina on the Council." " Interesting to see how that all p lays Ollt, " Hendel replied, though he did raise a curious eyebrow. Further con ve rsation was cut off by a sharp beep ema nating from the intercom above their heads, warning of an incoming vessel. Th rough the o bservation window they could see red lights fl ashing outside, on the peri meter of one of th e docking bays. A few seconds later Grayson's ship-a sma ll , hig h-end corpora te shuttle-drifted into view. The shuttle maneuvered into position, moving silently in the vacuum of space. It settled into one of the hangars, and Kahlee felt the slightest bu mp under her feet as a pa ir of large, automated docking clamps locked the ship into p lace. A fully enclosed platfo rm extended out from the station to connect with the shuttle's doors, latching tight. The p ressurized , oxygenfi lled tunnel a llowed passengers to go from vessels docked at the exterior la nding bays directly into the confines of the station without having to go through th e bother of putting on spacesuits. "All right, let's go down and meet our guest," H endel muttered, making no effort to hide his displeasure. Passengers exiting their vessels would come down the tunnel into the waiting room , a large amecham-

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ber with transparent, bulletproof walls. Several waisthigh poles linked at the top by heavy red rope snaked their way back a nd forrh through the room, creating an area where visitors lined up when they arrived en masse. At the end of the queue a yell ow line had been painted on th e floo r. Beyond the line stood a pair of All ia nce guards, both armed-a reminder to anyone coming a board that the G tissom Academy was a joi nt milita ry-civ ilia n operation. Behind the guards, a single door led from the waiting room into th e reception area beyon d , where a nother Alliance soldier sat a t a computer to register a ll arrivals and departures. The door was kept closed until the soldier working the registration desk was satisfi ed that the individua ls in the waiting room had authorization to come onto the station. Grayson was already in the waiting room when they reached reception, pacing impatiently back and forth just behind the yell ow line. The guard s inside the room with him sim ply stood at a ttenti on, seeming not to notice his urge ncy. The young woman behind the registra ti on desk glanced up as H endel approached, her face brightening when she recognized the Ascension Project's security chief. YOl/ 're wasting your time, sister, Kahlee thought. "One visitor, as scheduled ," she said, her voice a little too light an d breezy to sound completel y professional. "Ju st waiting for clearance." " Let him through ," H endel said with a sigh. She smiled, a nd punched some buttons on her keyboard. A sma ll green light above the glass door fli ckered on and there was an au dible click as the lock

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disengaged. A moment later the door swung silently op en. "Go o n in, Mr. Grayson," Kahlee heard o ne of the guards inside the waiting room say, but Grayson was practically through the door alrea d y anyway.

He looks like hell, Ka hlee th ought. Grayson was wearing a si mple business sui t and carrying a n expensive-looking briefcase; his clothes were clean an d freshly pressed, and it was obvious he had recently shaved. Despite these efforts, there was an unhealthy, almost desperate look about him. Always a thin m an, he looked positively skeleta l now;

his clothes seemed to be hanging off him. His face was drawn and haggard, his eyes sunken and bloodshot, his lips dry and cracked. She still wasn't willing to completely concede to H endel's accusation that he was a drug add ict, but he certainly looked like a du ster. "Good to see you again, Mr. Grayson," Kahlee said, stepping forward a nd offering her introduction before H endel could say something inappropria te. " It's been a long time," the security chief added, undeterred by her efforts . "We were sta rting to th in k you'd forgotten where to find us ." " I'd come m ore often if I could," Grayson replied, sha king Kahlee's hand but looking at H ende l as he spoke. H e didn't seem a ngry. If anything, he sounded almost apologetic. Or g uilty. "Things have been ... complicated ... lately." "G illia n was very excited when we told her yOll were coming, sir," Jiro chimed in from over Ka hlee's shoulder. " I'm looking forward to seeing her, Dr. Toshiwa," he replied , smil ing. Ka hlee n oticed his teeth were dis-

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colored, as if cove red with a faint ly luminous sheenanother tellta le sign of a duster. " Do you want me to take your case?" H en del asked, a lmost gru dgingly. " I'd prefer to keep it with me," Grayson replied, and Ka hlee n oticed a faint look of disapprova l cross H endel's features. "Come on," she said, taking Grayson by the forearm and gently turning him away from H endel. " Let's go see your daughter." " I'm so rry about the poor timing of my arrival," Grayson sa id to her as they ma de their way throug h the Academy toward the Ascension Project dorms. " I always have trouble a djusting my schedule to loca l . " time. " It's not a problem, Mr. Grayson," s he assured him. " You're welcome to come see Gillian anytime, day or night." " I feel bad about waking her up, " he contin ued. " But 1 have to leave again in a few h ours." "We' ll just let her sleep through her classes tomorrow," H endel remarked, walking a few steps behind them. Grayson didn't acknowledge him, and Ka hl ee wasn't sure if he'd even heard the comment. But it put an end to the conversation until they reached Gillian's room. Kahlee waved her ha nd in front of the access panel, and the door slid open. " Lights-on," she sa id softly, a nd illumination fill ed the room. Gillian wasn't sleeping. As Ji ro had warned them, she was sitting cross-legged on her bed, on top of the

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covers. She was wearing a faded pink pair of pajamas th at looked to he a size too sma ll; Kahlee remem-

bered they had been a gift fro m Grayson o n her birthday a few months ago. " H ey, Gigi ," Grayson sa id, stepping forward into th e room, calling her by his pet na me. H er eyes lit up and she held out her arms toward him, hut didn't move from her sitting position.

"Daddy!" Grayson came to the side of the bed a nd lea ned in, but pulled up short of huggi ng her. Instead, he

clasped his daughter's ha nds tightly in his own, which was what s he had been expecting. " You ' re getting so b ig!" Grayson sa id in amazement, releasing one of her ha nds to rake a half-step back and get a better look at her. After a lo ng m oment of silence, he added softly, " You look just like your mother." Kahlee tapped H endel a nd Ji ro on their elbows, then nodded toward the door, indicating they should leave. Th e three of them slipped out of the room, and the door swooshed sh ut behind th em. "Come on," Kahlee sa id once they were ou t in th e hall. " Let's leave them a lone." "All vis itors have to be attended by someone o n staff while a t th e Academy," H endel objected. ''I'll sta y here," Ji ro offered. " H e sai d he can only stay a few hours, so I don 't min d ha nging arou nd. Plus I know Gillian 's fil es. In case he has a ny ques. " nons. "That' ll work," Kahlee an swe red. H endel looked as if he were going to argue, but in-

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stead he only said, "Ma ke sure you sign him out and let me kn ow when he leaves ." "Come on," Kahlee said to H endel. "Wa lk me down to the cafeteria and I'll buy you a coffee." The cafeteria was empty-it would still be severa l hours before the staff a nd students made their way down for breakfast. H endel settled himself at one of th e tab les by the door while Kahlee made her way over to the beverage dispensers. She swiped her emp loyee card through the slot and ordered up two cups of coffee, both black, then ca rried rh em back over to rhe table and offered one to H endel. "Son-of-a- bitch looks worse than ever," rhe securiry chief sai d , taking rh e cup from her hand. "M ight be high right now." "You' re too hard on him," she sai d with a sigh, settl ing into the seat across from H endel. " H e's not the first pa rent of a biotic child to experiment with red sa nd. It's a way for us ordinary people to understand what it's like to be biotic." "No," he said sharpl y. "Getting high an d fl inging paper clips around with your mind for a few hou rs isn't anything like being a bio ric." "Bur it's the closest someone like Grayson ca n ever get. Put yourself in his shoes. H e's jusr trying to connect w ith his daughter." "Then maybe he should come see her more tha n . a year. " tWice "This ca n't be easy on him ," she reminded H endel. " Hi s wife died during childbirth. H is daughter has a menta l condition rh at makes her emotionally distant. And then he find s our she has rhis incredible a bility, and he has to send her away to a private schoo l.

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" H e's probably on an emotional roller coaster every time he sees her: love, guilt, loneliness. H e knows he's doing what's best for her, hut tha t doesn't mean it's easy on him. " "I just get a had vibe off him. And I've lea rned to tru st m y gut." Rather than answer, Kahlee took a long drink from her cup. The coffee was nice and hot, hut it had a mildly hitter aftertaste. "We need to petition the board fo r better coffee," she muttered, hoping to c hange the subject. " H ow long have you and Jira been together?"

Hendel asked her. " H ow long have you known?" "A couple months." "Then it t ook you about two months to find out."

"Be carefu l with that kid, Kahlee." She laughed. " I'll make sure I don't break him." "That 's not what I meant," he said, his voice serious. " There's something I don 't t rust about him. H e's too slick. Too smooth. " " Your gut agai n? " she asked , holding her cup up close t o her fa ce to hide the s mile on her lips. Apparently H endel wasn't just protective of the students. " You saw h ow he reacted when I mentioned your history with Anderson." "Thank you very much for that, by the way," she said, arching her eyebrows. " It didn't seem to rattle him," H endel continued, ig noring her verbal jab. " Like he a lready knew." "So what if he did?" "Well, it was pretty o bvio us you didn't tell him. So how'd he find out? The records from that m ission

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were sealed. H ell, even I only know because you to ld me. " " Peop le talk. M ay be I mentioned it to som eone o n staff who mentioned it to him. You're making too much of this." "Maybe," he conceded. "Just be careful. I' ve learned to tru st my instincts." Grayson spent the next four hours with Gillian. H e let her do most of the talking, cycli ng between extended bursts of eager, a lmost frantic conversation and long stretches of silent withdrawal where she a lmost seem ed to forget he was there. H e liked listening to her voice, but he didn't mind the silences, either. It was good just to see her again. When she did talk, it was mostl y abou t school and the Academy: which teachers she liked and which ones she didn't; her favorite sub jects; new things she'd learned in her cou rses. Grayson noticed that she never mentioned the other students, o r anything to do with her biotic training. H e decided not to push her. H e'd get a ll the information he needed soon enough. It was a lm ost time for him to go. H e'd learned the lo nger he stayed the harder it was to leave. So he a lways set himself a limit for each visit; having a mission parameter made it easier to do what he had to do. "G igi?" he sa id so ftl y. Gillian was staring at the wall, lost in side herself agam. "G igi?" he said a little louder. "Daddy has to go. Okay?" La st time he had left, she hadn't even acknowledged him when he sa id good-bye. This time, how-

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ever, she turned her head slightly and nodded. He didn't know w h ich was worse.

He stood up from her bedside and leaned in to kiss her on the to p of her head. "Get into bed, honey. Under t he covers. Try to sleep. " Moving slowly, like som e kind of au tom aton powered by his words, she d id as in st r ucted. O nce she was settled and had closed her eyes, he crossed t he room an d op ened the door.

" Lights-off," he whispe red. The room went dark as he closed the door behind him. Ji ra was wa iting for him out in the ha ll. " Is it safe here?" Grayson asked him, his vOIce gruffer than he'd inte nded. "S hould be," t he young ma n a nswered, speaking quietly. " Everyone's sti ll in bed. We ca n go hack to my room if it's going to take awhile." " Let's just get it ove r w ith so I ca n get the hell off this station," Grayson said , dropping to o ne knee and laying his briefcase o n t he fl oo r. H e teleased the lock, opened the false bottom, and removed the via l Pel had given him. T hen he stood up an d h an ded it to J iro. The scientist took it from h im, holding it u p to the lights in the corridor ceiling. " Looks like they switched com pou nds agai n. The Man mu st wa nt to try something d iffe rent." H e sli pped the via l into his pocker. " T his isn't goi ng to show u p on any of her m edica Is, is it ? I mean, it's untraceable, right?" "What do yOll th in k?" G rayson asked him coolly. " Yeah, okay. Same doses as befo re?"

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"They didn't give me any new instructions," Grayson replied. "Any idea what this new stu ff is supposed to do to her?" " I don't ask questio n s like that," Grayson a nswered sha rp ly. "Neither w ill you, if you' re smart. " Christ, he thought, as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Now I sound like Pel. H e honestly didn't know if that was good or bad, though he figured his o ld partner would find someth ing humorous about it. "They're not going to do a nything to harm her," Grayson a dded, though he wasn 't su re if he was trying to convince Ji ro or himself. "She's too va lu ab le." Ji ro nodded. " H ere are the latest resu lts on a ll the stu dents in the Ascension Project," he said, pulling a n optica l storage d isk from the pocket of h is lab coat and handing it to Grayson . " Plus my private research on our star pupil in there." H e nodded his head toward Gillian's door. Grayson took the OSD without a word and hid it away inside his briefcase. "Are you sleeping with Sande rs?" he ask ed once the disk was secured. " Fig ured it fell within m y mission parameters," Jiro answered w ith a grin. " I' m supposed to pump her for info, so I' m pumping her every chance 1 get. " "Just wa tch you don 't get emotiona lly involved," G rayson warned him. " It makes th ings m essy." " I've got it under cont rol," the kid assured him w ith an infuriatingly cocky grin. Somewhere Grayson imagined Pel was laughing his ass off.

EIGHT

Feda'Gazu vas Idenna a djusted th e pisto l hanging

from her belt as she climbed down from the land rover. She never wore a weapon back o n th e flotilla, but every quarian who left the safet y of the Migrant Fleet was armed at all times. Lige and Anwa, the two mem bers of her crew she had picked to accompa ny her to this meeting, climbed o ut of the vehicle to st a nd o n either side of her. She could sense their nervous ness. It mirrored her own . She didn't tru st Golo. He was a fellow quariao, but he was a lso a crimi na l so vile a nd dangerous he had been exiled from the Fleet. That was why she had refused to meet with him at Omega: t oo many p laces for an am bush. H e had objected at first, but in the end he' d agreed to meet her here on Shelba, a desolate, uninhabited world in the nearby Vinoss System . The atmosphere on Shelba was breathable-barelybut th e tempera ture was a lways we ll below freezing, making it unsui table for habitation or farmi ng. And th e crust consisted of only common, low-value m eta ls and m inera ls, ma king it uneconomical for m ining. The world was ignored-undeveloped and em pty. If

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Golo was going to try and double-cross her, setting up their exchange here might make him reconsider whether it was worth the trouble. Feda shi vered, despite the fact that her enviro-suit protected her against the worst of the chill. Part of her wanted to forget this deal; just turn around and leave. But Go lo had promised to sell her a shi pment of air-filtra ti on coils and reaction catalyzers, and several of the ships in the fl otilla were in desperate need of replacement parts. Des pite her personal reservations, she couldn 't in good con science turn his offer down. "There," o ne of her compa nions called out, pointing across the vast, o pen expanse of blue plain and gli ttering green rock formations that ma de up th e barren p la net's su rface. A small rover was app roaching in the distance, th rowing up clouds of turquoise dust as it sped toward them. Feda too k a nother look at their surroundings, scanning the ho rizon for signs of other vehicles. To her relief, she saw nothing. Perched atop a tall outcropping of emerald-hued rock over a m ile away, Pel watched the quarians arrive through the scope of his Volkov sniper rifle. H e'd had his doubts about whether th ey'd even show up, given Go lo's reputation among his own kind. But the quarian ha d assured him they'd be there.

Looks like the little bastard was right. The quarians step ped down fro m their vehicle. "We ha ve three targets," a voice said over the headset built into the helmet of his enviro-suit.

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"Alpha squad take the one on the right," he responded fl arly. "Beta squad take the o ne on the left. Leave the one in the middle to me." "Alpha squad-target acquired," the voice answered

back. "Beta squad-target acqu ired," a second voice con-

firmed, this one female. Peering through the scope, he was confident his team could hit their targets, even from this range. But th e quarians were all wearing a rmor, and the odd s of a round penetrating the kinetic barriers of their

shields before they could make it back into the safety of the vehicle were low. Golo still had to do his part if the plan was going to work.

"H old fire umil my signa l," he ordered, taking a bead o n the quarian in the center. The quarians waited patiently as their conta ct approached. Soon Feda could hear the w hine of th e rover's engine and the cru nching of its ti res over the rough, uneven terrain, the thin atmosphere giving everything a sha rp, brittle soun d. Once the rover had come within fifty meters, Feda held up her ha nd, palm forward. The vehicle rolled to a stop. A few seconds later a quarian emerged and began to walk slowly toward them, ha nds held a bove his head. H e stopped ten mete ts away, just as she had instructed when setting up the details of the meeting. Lige and Anwa had drawn their assault rifles, pointing them at the newcomer. "Golo?" she asked, confirmi ng the identity o f th e ma n behind the m ask.

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"Are you here to rob m e?" he sa id by way of reply, nodding toward the weapons pointed at his chest. H e kept his hands high. Unlike Feda and her crew, he , . wasn t weanng any armor. " I'm not taking a ny chances," she answered. "Not with you." There were severa l crimes that could result in exile from the Fleet: murder, repeated violent offenses, va nda lism or sa botage directed at th e Liveshi ps or the food supp lies. But Golo's offense-attempting to sell quarians to the Collectors-seemed pa rticularly heinous. Loyalty was a corne rstone of quarian culture; survival on the Migrant Fleet requi red every member of the community to work together. Trying to sell a nother quarian for personal profit was a betraya l of everything Feda believed in; an unforgivable Sin.

" You came alone?" she asked. Golo nodded. " The parts are In the back of th e truck, if you want to see." Feda pulled her pistol and used it to cover Golo, nodding at Lige to go check out the vehicle. H e approached slowly, weapon still drawn. The rover was a simpl e ca rgo carrier, with a small two-person cab and a freight trailer o n the back . The tra iler was little more than a rectangula r box, with a vertical sliding door for loading and unl oading. Lige pressed the panel o n the side o f the trai ler, but instead of the door rising up the panel beeped sharply and fl ashed red. " It's locked." "What's th e access code?" Feda demanded, waving her pistol menacingly in Golo's direction.

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"Seven two six nine," he a n swe red, an d Lige punched the nu mbers in.

Then all hell broke loose. "Get ready," Pel muttered into his transmitter as one of the quarians approached Golo's veh icle. An instant later there was a brig ht flash as the

bomb inside the back of Golo's rover exploded. The blast threw the quarian standi ng beside the vehicle

th rough the air and kn ocked the others, including Golo, ro the grou nd. "Fire, " he sa id, his voice calm as he pu lled the trigge r of hi s sniper rifle with a smooth, even pressure. Feda was thrown from her feet by the explos ion.

She hit the ground wi th a jarring thump, bur quickly rolled to her feet and brought her pistol up to fi re at Golo, w h o was still on the grou nd, cowering with his hands ove r his head. She squeezed the trigger, but nothing happe ned. Glancing down, she saw the status indicator o n her weapon fla shing red-the automated targeti ng system had ove rloaded. C ursing, she sla pped the ma nua l override on the handle, knowing full well the pulse that had disabled her weapon ha d probably scra mbled her kinetic shields as wel l. A fl ash of agonizing fi re erupted in her shoulder as a hyperaccelerated projectile no b igger than a pi n sheared effortless ly through the a bla ti ve p lates of her body armor before exploding in the fle sh and bone underneath. The impact spun her arou nd and sen t th e pi stol fl yi ng from her ha nd. She felt her kneecap d isintegrate a nd she collapsed to the grou nd, her scream

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nsmg Up to meet the unmistakable zip-zip-zip of high-powered rounds slicing through the thin air. She could see Lige's body, laying where the blast had thrown it. H is m ask had been shattered by the close range impact o f th e detonation, turning his face into a bloody mess. She could see one eye clearly; it stared at her, lifeless and unblinking. The body jerked and jumped as it was stru ck by enemy bullets, rounds wasted on a corpse. Get to the vehicle! her mind screamed a t her, a nd in response she began to crawl on her belly toward the rover. She never felt the round tha t entered the back of her skull and ended her life. Pel continued firin g, pumping round after round into the motionless body until he heard Golo's voice in his helmet. " I think you can stop now. They're all dead." Standing up, Pel collapsed his weapon and snapped it into the quick-release clasp o n his back. " Beta squad , meet me down at the rendezvous point. Alpha squa d , keep a n eye out for reinforcements. " The gravity on Shel ba was .92 Earth standard, so he was able to ma ke good time, even with the restrictions of the enviro-suit. It took him just over fi ve minutes to get down to the scene of the m assacre. Go lo was there waiting for him , as were the t wo women from Beta squad. Th ey were a lready stripp ing th e clothes and gear from the dead quarians. The dark clothes were torn with bullet holes an d sta ined with blood , but it was unlikely anyone would notice these details until it was too late.

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Pel was too big to pass as a quarian, but the women

were about the right height an d build. With their faces obscured by helmets and bund led up in cloth and rags, it would he difficu lt to tell them apart from their victims.

"Did you locate their sh ip ?" Gola asked him as he approached. Like the women, he was usi ng strips of clothing from one of the bodies to o bscure his identity.

"We spotted the m when they t ouched down," Pel

told him. "Maybe ten clicks from here." " Proba bly three or fouf m ore on boa rd," the quar-

ia n informed him . "They' ll most likely be armed, hut they won't he wearing combat suits. Remember, yO ll wam to ta ke one of them alive . The pilot, if possible ."

H ilo'Jaa vas Idenna, the pilot of the scout ship Cyniad of the fl eet s hip Idenna, was surprised to see Feda's rover coming roward them from over the edge of the horizon. H e reached out an d flicked the transmit button o n the radio . "Feda? This is Hilo . Do you read me?" A second later the reply came through, but it was o bscured by static so thick he couldn 't ma ke a nything out. " I ca n't hear you, Feda. Is everything okay?" This time the answer was a piercing shriek of radio feedback th at made H ilo wince as he shut off th e tra nsmitter. "Get ready," H ilo said over the shipboard mtercom. " Feda's on her way back."

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"Why didn't she ca l1 a hea d ?" a vo ice responded over the speaker a few seconds later. "Sounds like the rover's got some radio t rouble." " I just fi xed it last week !" the voice o bj ected. "Guess you need to fix it again," Hila replied with a smile. " Be alert, just in case." It wasn't u ncommon for things to break down o n the CYlliad. Like all ships, vessels, and veh icles associated w ith the Migrant Fleet, their rover had seen bener days. Most species would ha ve decommi ssioned it long ago, or relegated it to the scrap hea p. The quarians, short of materials a nd resou rces, had no such luxury. H ila wondered how m uch longer their m akeshift repairs could keep the rover running before they'd fina l1y have to admit defeat and st rip it d own fo r parts. H opefu lly a few more mo nrhs at least. Maybe a nother year if they were lucky.

Lucky's not a concept usually associated with us quarialls, he thought as the rover rolled to a stop beneath the loading doors. Three figures jumped our. One was using hand gestures, signaling to the s hip to open the loading bay doors so they could drive the ca rgo conta iner inside. Hila got up from his chair and m ade his way down to the hold so he coul d help get everything sto red away. H e was halfwa y there, squeezing his way pa st th e table and chairs o f their tiny mess hall , when he heard th e sounds of gunfire a nd screaming. G rabbing the pistol at his belt, he kicked aside the cha irs in his way a nd raced to the aid of hi s crewmates. H e half-climbed , half-slid down the ladder

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leading to the cargo h o ld, his mind never stoppi ng to think that he might get there too late.

He burst into the hold and froze, boggled by the scene before him. The cargo container was open, hut there was n othing inside. The crew were dead, scatrered ahout the

hold where they had been gu nned down. Several armed and armored figures, too large to be quarian, were searching the room, looking for other survivors.

All of this his mind registered in an instanr. What th rew him, however, was the sight of Feda, Lige, and An wa standing w ith their weapons drawn and pointed at him. Even up close, it took him a secon d to realize they were imposters. By then it was too late. One fired, the bullet shredding the meat of the muscle as it tore th roug h his thigh. H e screa med a nd dropped his wea po n. Then they were on him, two of the figures pinning him to the floor while the third loomed above him, gu n drawn and ready. Hi lo thrashed wi ld ly against them, his grief-nu m bed min d oblivious to the agonizing pain shooting up from his thigh o r the imp lied threat of the pistol pointed at h is head. "Stop a nd we'll let you li ve," the figure sta nding over him said in flawl ess quarian. Even in his agitated state, his min d was able to piece together who was speaking. Feda had warned th em abou t the ma n they were going to meet: a n exi le w ho had betrayed his own people. Now th e crew of th e Idemw had fallen into his trap. Hilo's body went lim p as his min d gave in to hopelessness and despair. The quarian leaned down close to him, his gun held casually in his hand. "Who are you?"

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H e didn't a nswer. " I asked your na me," he repeated, slamming the butt of his pistol against the side of Hilo's head. His vision fill ed w ith stars. " Who are you?" Again, he didn 't a nswer. The pistol slammed his head again, and his teeth bit down o n his to ngue. H e tasted blood in his mouth, but he didn't lose consciousness. " I a m Golo' Mekk vas Usel a. I wi ll ask you one la st time. Who are you?" Gala, crew of the Usel a. " You have no rig ht to that name!" H ilo shouted, hi s words echoing inside his helmet. " You are vas Ned as ! Golo na r Tasi!"

Crew of nowhere; Gala child of 1/0 one. Ol/teast. A/aile. Reviled. This ti me the pi sto l smas hed into th e facep late of hi s helmet, ha rd en ough to crack the glass. The u n familiar, terrifying scent of unfiltered air-a ir infected wi th bacteria a nd germs-flooded in. An adrena line surge of pure, instinctive fear gave new strength to Hilo's limbs, and he bucked himself free o f his captors. H e spun to hi s knees and tried to sta nd and ru n, but the bullet he had ta ken in his thig h had turned the mu scle into a useless m ass of pulp and tissue . H e fell forward instea d , slammi ng face- fir st into the steel deck of the landing bay. Someone landed on his back, hard enough to knock the wind out of him. A second later he felt a sharp pinprick of pain in the back of his neck, and th en his mi nd was drowning in a warm, blue haze. H e felt himself being rolled over, but he was powerless to res ist. H e lay o n the grou nd, staring up into

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the ove rhead lights, un able to move o r speak. T he b lue haze was growing thicker, swa ll owi ng him up as

the world slipped away. The last thing he heard befo re he slid into unconsciousness was a huma n spea king. " You cracked his mask. If he ca tches something an d d ies, my boss won't he happy."

NINE

Gillian made her way through the ca feteria with slow, uncertain step s. The other children were ta lking and laughing; a wall of overwhelming, terrifying, non sensica l sound she did her best to ignore. She held her lunch tray out in from of her, carefully balancing it with each trembling step as s he advanced cau ti o usly to the empty table in the back of the rOOIn. She sat there every day, a lone, as far away from th e sound and fury of the other kids as possible. Occasiona llya particularl y loud noise-a shrill laugh, th e clatter of a lunch tra y falling to the floor-wou ld cause her hea d to twitch a bruptly, as if she had been slapped. Yet she was a lways careful not to drop her tray when this happened. When she was you nger she had stayed behind in the classroom when the lunch bell rang while the others ran off to the cafeteria. H endel or Miss Sanders would bring lunch to her an d she would eat at her desk in the blessed silence of solitude. But she didn't do that anymore. She was tryi ng to fit in . Gillian was painfully aware that she was different, and more than anything, she wanted to be normal. But the other kids scared her. They were so quick. So

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loud. They were a lways touching. The boys slapped one another on the back or traded punches in th e shoulder; sometimes they pushed and shoved each

other, laughing loudly at jokes she didn't understand. The g irls would lea n in close together, cupping a hand to their lips then press ing it aga in st a friend 's ear to whisper secrets. They would squea l and g iggle, clutching one another's wrist o r forearm, or clasping a friend 's ha nd between their own. Othe r times s he saw them braiding each other's hair. She couldn't imagine what that was like; to live in a world where phys ical contact didn't ca use the fl esh to erupt with burning fire , or sting with freezing co ld . At least nobody teased her or made fun of her-not to her face, anyway. They mostly avoided her, keeping their distance. Yet Gillian couldn't help but notice their expressions when they looked in her directionconfusion, mistrust, bewilderment. She was some kind of freak, best left a lone. But she was trying. Every day she suffered the ordeal of walking across th e cafeteria, ca rrying her tray slowly a nd ca refully to her table in the corner. She hoped it would get easier over time, become more bearable through repetition and routine. So far it ha dn't. Reaching her destination, s he sa t down in the sa m e cha ir she sat in every day, with her back against th e wall so she could look out over the cafeteria. Then she began to eat with slow, deliberate bites, staring out at the other children with terror and yearning, unable to comprehend their world, yet hoping she could one day be like them.

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Nick watched Gillian as she made her way down the central aisle of the cafeteria. As she passed by their table, he let out a sha rp, yelping bark, like a dog that had been stepped on. The girl flinched, but otherwise didn't acknowledge him. And, much to his dismay, she didn't drop her tray. " H a ! Told you!" Seshaun gleefully cackled. G lu mly, N ick handed over his chocolate cake, th e forfeiture for losi ng the bet. "What's her problem, a nyway?" he asked, a general qu estion thrown out to the ha lf-dozen boys assemb led at the table. "S he's got like a mental condition or something," one offered. " I heard H en del ta lking a bout it once." Nick grimaced at the name. H e was still mad at H endel for putting him into lockdown. "Why is s he in o ur class if she's retarded?" he wanted to know. "S he's not retarded, jack-wad," Seshaun answe red. "She's just weird." " I bet s he's not even biotic," Nick continued, staring at her. She was sta ring back, tho ugh he couldn't actually tell if she was looking at him or someone else in the room. "S he comes to a ll the tra ining sessions," one of the boys cou ntered. " Yeah, but she just sits there. She never d oes any of th e exercises." "Th at's because she's weird!" Seshaun repeated. H e was pretty sure she was staring a t him now. H e waved his arm wildly above his head, hut it elicited no reacti on.

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"Waving to your girlfriend?"

Nick replied by flipping Seshaun off, a gesture he had only recently learned. "Why don't you go ove r and give her a kiss?" Seshaull taunted him. "Why don't yOll lick my nut-sack?" "J ust go s it down a nd talk to her. See what she does. " " H endel said n o body's allowed to bother her," o ne

of the others chimed in. "Screw Hen del," N ick replied automatically, though he did gla nce back over his shoulder to the front of the cafeteria , where the security chief was sitting with some of the teachers. "Okay, then," Sesha un p ressed him. "Go over there. Talk to her." Nick looked around the table a t the faces of th e other boys, grinning eagerly as they waited to see if he'd accept the dare. "Do it a nd I'll give your cake back," Seshaun of-

fered, literally sweetening the dea l. Nick hesitated, uncertain. Then his stomach grumbled, making the decision for him. H e pushed himself away from the table a nd jumped to his feet before he could cha nge his mind. He glanced back quickly to make sure Hendel was still bu sy talking with the other teachers, then ra n down the aisle to Gillian's table. Skidding to a stop, he plopped himself down in th e cha ir across from her. She looked straight at him but didn't say anything. Suddenly he fe lt awkward and embarrassed. "H ey, "h e Sal·d .

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She didn't reply, but merely kept chewing the food in her mouth. H e noticed her p late was still mostly full: a howl of soup, two sandwiches, a n apple, a banana, a piece of vanilla cake, and half a quart of milk. The a m o unt of food o n her plate wasn't unusualone of the nrst things the kids learned was that biotics needed to eat more than other people. But Nick couldn 't believe the manner in which she was consuming her mea l. Every item on her plate had a bite taken out of it, even the ca ke. H e watched in fascinated disbelief as she took a bite from one of her sa ndwiches, set it down, chewed her food slowly and deliberately, swa llowed, then picked up the second sandwich to repeat the process. After a single bite she m oved on to the apple, then the banana, then the cake, then a drink of milk, then the soup, then back to the nrst sandwich aga in. She didn't say a word the entire time . "Why are you eating like that? " he fin a lly asked , bewildered. " I'm hungry," she replied. Her voice was flat and toneless, leading Nick to believe she hadn't meant it as a joke. "Nobod y eats like that," he told her. When she didn't rep ly he added, " You 're supposed to eat th e soup a nd sandwiches nrst. Then the fruit. The cake comes last." She stopped m id-bite, the apple poised ha lfway between her lips an d the tab le. "When do I drink th e milk?" she asked in the same monotone voice. N ick just shook his head. " You canllot he for rea l. " The nonanswer seem ed to satis fy her, because she

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resumed ea ting, holding to the familiar pattern of o ne bite from each item before moving on.

Turning around, N ick looked hack at th e table with Seshaun and the others. They were laughing and making obscene gestures at him. H e turned back to Gillian; she hadn't seem ed to notice. " H ow come you never do a nything in biotic

class?" he asked her. She looked uncomfortable, hut didn't a nswer. "Do you even know how? I'm pretty good at bia ries. I can sh ow you a trick, if you want."

"No," she sa id simply. N ick scowled. He felt like th ere was something going on that he didn't quite understand, like she was

making fun of him somehow. Then he got an idea. "Careful with your milk," he sai d, a nasty grin sp read ing across his face . " Looks like it's going to sp ill. " As the words left his mouth , he reached out with his mind and pushed. The milk toppled over, drenching the sandwiches a nd slo pping over the t ray onto the table before ru nning off the edge to spi ll o n Gillian's lap. And then N ick found himself flying backward. Jacob Berg, the Academy's ma th professor, was in the middle of telling a joke about a n asari a nd a vol us who walked into a krogan's bar when, out of the corner of his eye, Hendel saw something that was simultaneou sly incred ible a nd terrifying. Near the back of the cafeteria, Nick was hurtling across the room. H e flew twenty feet through the a ir before slamming down on one of the ta bles. The force

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of the landing la unched lu nch t rays into the air and snap ped the table's legs, send ing it crashing to the fl oor. Severa l students seated at the table scream ed in surprise, and then a stunned hu sh fe ll over the room as everyone loo ked to see who was responsible. H endel was as s hocked as any of them to see Gillian standi ng in the back of the room , her ha nds raised to the sky and her fa ce twisted into a m ask of rage a nd fury. And then, to his horror, he rea lized that she wasn't done. The table in front of her flipped over, the empty cha irs surrounding it cartwheel ing away like they had been kicked by some inv isible g iant. Lunch trays a ll around the cafeteria shot stra ig ht up to the ceil ing, sending a shower of food a nd cutlery over the students as they ca m e back down. Pa nic set in. Screaming students leaped from their seats a nd raced to the exit at the far end of the cafeteria, knocking one another down in their scrambling haste to esca pe. Their now-empty chairs were swept up and tossed haphazardly a bout the room, add ing to the chaos. H endel was on his feet, moving aga inst the tide of the crowd in a desperate attempt to get closer to Gillian. As big as he was, it was still difficult to wade throug h the sea of bo dies trying to flee the scene. "G illia n! " he shouted, but h is voice was drowned out by the screams o f the mo b. Nick was still lying on the floor amid the ruins of th e table on w hich he had la nded. H en del dropped to one knee to check on h im: he was unconsc ious, but breathing. Leaping back to his feet, he continued to press for-

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ward, shoving kids roughly as ide in his desperation until he broke free of the crowd . Less than thirty feet now separated h im from Gillian. The spa ce between them looked like a tornado had passed through: overturned tables and chairs were

strewn abour, the floor was slick with spi lled food, milk and juice. Gillian still stood at the back wall, her hands still raised up. She was shrieking; a highpitched, keening wail that sent a shiver down H en-

del 's neck. "G illia n! " he cried out, running toward her. "Stop this right now! " H e jumped over a downed table, his feet a lmost

sliding out from under him when he la nded on th e slick remains of someone's lunch on the other side.

He pinwheeled his arms for balance, only to be knocked down by a fl ying chai r that st ruck him from his blind side. The b low stung but it wasn't disabling. H e scra mb led back to his feet, his sleeve and knees covered in milk and bits of crushed, soggy bread. "G illia n! " he shouted again. " You have to stop!" She didn't respond, didn 't even seem to know he was there. H e sta rted m oving forward again, his hand dropping down to the stunner at his belt. But he hesitated, and instead of drawing it, he tried one last time to reach her. " Please, Gillian! Do n 't make m e-" his words we re cut off as he was struck by an invisible wave of biotic force. It hit him in the chest like an anvil dropping from on hig h, knocking the breath from h is lu ngs. H e was lifted off h is feet and shot stra ight back like he was on a rope being pulled from behind. H e crashed

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throug h toppled tables and chairs, banging his head and slamming his elbow so hard it made his right hand go numb. H e ca me to rest twenty feet later, a mid a pile of cha irs and lunch trays. Groggy, he struggled to his feet. The effort m ade him cough, a nd he tasted blood in his mouth. H endel took a mom ent to gather himself, then drew upon his own biotic abi lities, releasing them a second later as he threw up a powerful high-gravity barrier to shield him from flying furniture and further biotic attacks from Gillian. Crouching behind the shimmering wall of the barrier, H en del fumb led w ith the stunner at his belt. H is right ha nd was sti ll n um b fro m the blow to his elbow, and he had to reach across with his left to grab th e weapon. " Please, Gillian, don 't make me do this!" he ca lled out one more time, but the girl could n't hear him above the sou nd of her own screams. There was a sudden burst of light and heat a few feet to his si de. Snapping his head around, he saw a n astonishing sight: a swirl ing vortex of concentra ted dark energy was launching vertica lly in a pilla r toward the ceiling, bui ld ing to a critica l thresho ld before collapsing in upo n itself. A biotic wi th a dvanced milita ry training, H endel in sta ntly recognized what had happened: Gillian had created a si ng ularity-a su batom ic point o f nea rly infi nite mass, with enough gravi ta ti onal force at th e center to warp the fabric of the space-time conti nuum. The nearby tables and chairs began to slide across the floor, drawn inexorably toward the epicen-

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re r of the cosmic phenomenon that ha d suddenly ma nifested in the mi ddle of the space sta tio n's cafetena. Moving on instinct, H e ndel popped up from behind the barrier, fighting to aim his weapon aga in st th e rapidly mou nting gravi tational pull emanating from the si ng ularity. Loc king on his t a rget, he fired. The stunner found its mark an d the s ingularity vanished wi th a loud clap a nd a sharp outrush of trapped air. The girl 's scream s cut off instantly as electrical impulses s hot through her. She appea red to st an d up on her t oes, her head th rown hack as her muscles

went rigi d. Then her body convu lsed, sending her lim bs into a brief spastic dance before she collapsed unconscious t o the floor. H e ndel rushed ro her s ide, ca lling on his radio fo r med ica l backup. Gillian muttered something in her sleep. Ka hlee, si tting on the edge o f he r hospital bed, instinctively reached out to place a comforting hand on her brow, only remembering at the last second to pull it back. She wondered if the girl was waking up. Nearly te n hours had passed since she'd un leashed her biotic powers in the cafet eria, and the doctor said it would take six t o twelve hours for he r to rega in consciousness after bei ng hit with the stunner. Kahlee lea ned in and softly w hisp e red , "G illian? Ca n you hear me?" The girl responded to her voice, rolling over from her side onto her back. H er eyes fluttered then snapp ed open wide, taking in th e unfamiliar surroundings wi th confused terror.

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"It's okay, Gillian," Kahlee assured her. "You're in the hospital." The girl sat up slowly, looking around, her brow wrinkled in confusion. "Do you know how you got here?" Kahlee asked her. Gillian fold ed her hands in her lap a nd nodded, her eyes lowered so she wouldn't have to look at Kahlee. "The cafeteria. I did something bad. I hurt people." Kahlee hes itated , uncertain of how much detail rhe gi rl could handle. There had been a lor of properry damage, a nd a number of twisted ankles and swollen fingers from people in the fl eeing crowd who had fallen and been stepped on. The most seriou s injuries were to Nick, who ha d suffered a concussion and a bruised spine, though he was expected to make a full recovery. "Everybody's okay now," Kahlee assured her. " I just want to know what happened. Did someone make you a ngry?" "Nick spilled my mi lk," she a nswered, th o ug h Kah lee alread y knew this from talking to the boy. "Why did that make you so a ngry?" The gi rl didn 't a nswer. Instead, she said, " H endel was yelling at me." She frowned and crinkled up her brow. " He was mad at m e." "Not ma d. Ju st scared. We were a ll scared." Gillian was silent, then nodded, as if to say she understood. "Do you remember a nything else about what happened, Gillian?" The girl 's face went blank, like she was slipping deep inside herself, trying to dig up the a nswers.

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"No," she finally answered. "I only remember H endel ye lling at me. "

Kahlee figured as much. They'd taken readings from Gillian while s he was unconsc iou s, pulling the da ta from her sm art chip s to see if it could tell them anything. But what they'd seen didn't make any sense. There was a sudden sp ike in her al pha wave activity in the days leading up to her outburst, but no logica l explanation for th e increase. Persona lly, Ka hlee thought it could have been some emo tiona l

trigger: her alpha levels had climbed the day after her father's visit.

"How come H en del's nor here?" Gillian asked, her voice guilty. Kahlee a nswered with a half-truth. " H e's very busy right now."

As the security chief, he was still dealing with the fallout of what had happened in the cafeteria. All attempts were being made to downplay the incident: a statement had been released to the media, staff and students were being debriefed, and parents were being notified. As a furth er precaution, Grissom Academy was still in full emergency lockdown. Yet as busy as he was, she knew there was something else keeping him away right now. It could have been anger, disappointment, or even g uilt ... quite likely it was a mix of all three . However, s he wasn't about to try and explain all th at to a twelve-yea r-old. "When will he come see me?" "Soon," Kahlee promised. ''I'll tell him you're .. " waiting. Gillian smiled. " You like H endel. " " H e's a good friend."

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The g irl 's smile broadened even further. "Will you two get married some da y?" Kahlee laughed out loud in spite o f herself. "1 don't think Hendel wants to get married. " Gillian's smile slipped, but didn 't disappear completel y. " H e should m arry you," she insisted, ma rterof-factly. " You' re nice." This wasn't the time to expla in why that wou ld never happen, so Ka hlee decided to cha nge the subJect. " You have to stay in this room for a few days, Gillian. Do you understand?" This time the smile vanished com pletely and she nodded. " I want to sleep now. " "Okay," Kahlee told her. " I might not be here when you wake up, but if you need anything you pu sh that red button over there . A nurse wi ll com e help you ." The g irl glanced over at the call button da ngling from the side of her bed and nodded agai n. Then she lay back down a nd cl osed her eyes. Kahlee waited until Gillian was asleep before she stood up a nd left her a lone in the room.

TEN

Kahlee remained seated at t he desk in her room and ig nored th e kn ock at t he door. She continued to st are at the computer screen trying to make sense of the numbers they'd pulled from Gi ll ian's implants. T here was going to be fallout from what had happened in the cafeteria. Over the next few days people would he screaming for answers. They'd expect Ka hlee to tell them what had happened, a nd why nobody had seen it coming. So far, she hadn't found any explanation to g ive them. The knock came aga in , more insistent. " D oor-open," she sa id, not bothering to get up. She expected to see H endel, hut it was actually Jira w ho had come ca lling. H e was dressed casua lly, in a

blue, long-sleeved button shirt a nd black slacks. H e had a bottle of wine and a corksc rew in o ne hand and a pair of long-stemmed glasses in the other. " H eard you had a rough day," he sai d. "Thought you could use a drink. " She was on the verge of telling him to come back later, but at the last second she nodded. H e stepped in , waving th e bottle in front of the access panel so the door slid shut behind him. Setting the glasses

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down o n the table, he set a bout using the corkscrew to open the wine. "Any idea what hap pened?" he asked as the cork broke free wi th a soft but a udible pop, his question a preview of th e endless inquiries to come. " I really don't wa nt to talk about work right now," she answered , getting u p from her chair a nd crossing th e roo m as he poured the w ine. " Whatever my la d y desires," he sa id wi th a wink, handing her a glass . She took a sm a ll sip, letting the wine's fl avorful bouquet fill her palette . She tasted fruit, though it was mo re earthy tha n sweet. "That's nice," she sa id, ta king a n other, somewhat larger sip. " } picked it up last time I was groundside o n Elysium, " he rep lied w ith a m ischievous smile. " I tho ught it might be a good way to loosen up my boss." "This could get me pretty loose," she confessed, downing the rest o f the wine and holding out her glass for a refill. "Now that the bottle's open, no sense letting it go to waste." Ji ro obl iged by refilling her g lass. As he turned to set the bottle d own , Kahlee leaned in and gave him a quick kiss . H e resp o nded by w rapping hi s a rm around her waist and pulling her in close, so their hips pressed tight against each other. " I didn 't know this st uff would work so fas t. " H e laughed. " I can 't help it if I' m a quick study," she answered, deftly undoi ng the top button of his shi rt with her free hand.

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"They say you sho uld let wine breathe before you

drink it," he whispered, nuzzling her earlobe. "Works fo r me," she answered, setting her glass down on the table then leaping up to wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her over to the bed.

Their lovemaking didn't last long. Kahlee set the pace, fast a nd fi erce as she tried to work off the stress and tension of the day, an d Jira was happ y to follow her lead. When it was ove r they sim ply lay intertwined atop the sheets, na ked an d sheened with sweat as they tried t o catch their breath. " You rea lly know how to ma ke a girl work up a thirst," she panted.

Taking the hint, Jira disenta ngled himself and rolled from the bed. H e ret urned a few seconds later with the wine. "Read y to talk about it now?" he asked as he handed over her g lass and crawled back into bed besi de her. " It m ig ht m ake you feel better." " I wasn 't actua lly there," s he reminded him, taking the wine a nd snuggling up close aga inst his body. " I only know wha t I've heard ." "D id you talk to H endel ?" As he spoke he ran his fi ngers a long her shoulder and up the side of her neck. The soft caresses caused tiny goose bumps of pleasure to form o n her flesh. " H e d idn't have much time. I only s poke to him fo r a few minutes." "Then you know more th an me. So w hat happened? " "G illia n tore up the cafeteria," she sa id simply. " H endel had to disa ble her wi th his stunner." "Any idea how it sta rted? What set her off?"

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"We think Nick was teasing her." Jiro sh ook his head. "Always looking for trouble, isn't he?" "Got more than he bargained for this time. H endel figures Gillian threw him twenty feet." "Was he hun?" " Roughed up. Nothing too serious." "That's good," he rep lied, but the words seemed hollow, an a utomatic response. "Did you run Gillian's numbers?" Kahlee nodded. " H er alpha waves began to rise the da y after Grayson ca me to see her. They're comp letely off the charts." "Do you know what ca u sed the increase?" Something a bout his tone made Kahlee uncomfortable . H e seemed more excited than concerned. "Not a clue," she admitted. After a moment's hesita tion she added, " Hendel sa id she created a singular. " Ity.

"Jesus," he gasped in amazement. "That's incredib le!" She sa t up quickly, sha king his tender hand from her shoulder and g laring down at him as he lay on the

bed. "What's wrong with you?" she snapped . " Yo u sound like you're gla d this happened!" " It's pretty exciting," he admitted, with no hint of sha me or apology. "A g irl with no advanced training unleashes one of th e most powerfu l biotic ab ilities? Damn . I kn ew she had potential. But nothing like this. " " You realize what kind of a PR nightm are this is going to be fo r the Academy, right?"

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"Let the hoard worry abour that," he told her. " We have to look at this as an opportu nity. We've always wondered what Gillian could do if s he learned to tap

into her power. Thi s could he the kind of breakthroug h we've been wa iting for! " Kahlee scowled at him , then rea lized he was ju st being honest. And he was o nly giving voice to th e idea a small part of her was a lready thinki ng. She was worried about Gillia n , of course, hut the scientist inside her was a lready trying to figure out what this could mean for their research. She let the scowl slip from her face, a nd took a nother drink from her glass before settling hack down against Jira's bare chest. She couldn't get mad at him ju st because he had been honest with her. H e was pa ssionate a bout hi s work; still you ng and impulsive. The people ru nning the Grissom Academy, however, were older and wiser. " Don't get too excited ," she cautioned him. "After all this, the board will pro bably decide it's too da ngerous to keep her in the program. " " You ' re not going to let them kick her o ut, are you? Not when she's fin a lly beginning to sh ow progress !" " Gillian's not the only student in the Ascen sion Proj ect. We were lucky this time, but another outburst and someone could get seriously hurt. Or

bl1ed. " "That's why we have to keep her here," Jiro insisted. " Where else ca n she go to get the kind of help she needs? Who else is going to teach her to control her power? "

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" H er father can afford to hire private biotic tutors," she countered. "We both know it's not the same," he answe red, his voice getting louder. " They won't have access to the kinds of staff and resources we have here." " You don't have to convince me," s he told him, her voice rising to match his. " I don't get to make this decision. It's up to the board. And her father. " "Grayson will want to keep her in the program," he a n swered with absol ute ce rtainty. "Maybe he could make a no ther donation to con vince the board to let her stay." "This comes down to more than money." " You can talk to the board," he conti nu ed, still pressing the issue. "Tell them the Ascension Project needs Gillian. Her numbers are so far a head of every other kid here it's like she's a whole different species. We need to stu dy her. If we can identify th e sou rce of her power we could adva nce the science of human biotics to places we ca n 't even imagine!" Kahlee didn't answer righ t away. On some level, everything he sa id was true. But Gillian was more than just a test subject; she had an identity beyond the numbers on their cha rts. She was a person; a young gi rl with a developmental disorder, and Kahlee wasn't convinced that keeping her in the program was th e best thing for her in the long run. " I'll ta lk to the board," she fin a ll y promised, choosing her words carefull y. " But I ca n't g uarantee what my recommendation will be. And they m ight not listen to me, anyway." " You could a lways get your father to ta lk to

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rhem," he said with a wry smile. " I think they'd listen to him . After all, they na med the schoo l after him. " " I'm nor bringing my father into this," she sa id

with cold finality. For several min utes they sa t there in silence, but th en Jira spoke again, not quite wi ll ing to let the topic

of Gillian die. " I heard they're keep ing her in the quarantine ward. "

"J ust for a few days. Hendel thou ght it wou ld be sa fer until he's had a chance to sort this a ll our." There was a n other long silence, broken when Jira

said, "She's probably scared. I'd like to go see her." This was the other side of Jira: the compassionate young man who was wo rried abour th e feelings of a twel ve-yea r-o ld gi rl rather than his research. Kahlee ro lled over and kissed him on his bare chest. "S he'd like thar. You can go tomorrow. I'll m ake sure you have clearance."

When Kahlee woke the nexr morning her head was pounding from the aftereffects of rhe wine. Jiro was gone, a nd she was sh ocked to see from her bedside clock that she had overs lept by a full hou r.

You know you're getting old when half a bottle of wine makes you sleep through your alarm, she thou ght as she slowly rolled o ut of bed and stood up. It was th en she noticed a note on the table, held in p lace by the empty botrle of wine. Pressing her ha nds against her throbbing templ es, she staggered over to read it.

Gone to see Gillian. Turned off your alarm. Figured you could use the sleep. J.

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She crumpled up the note a nd dropped it into the recycling bin as she made her way to the bathroom. By the time she was showered and cha nged , the last of her hangover was gone. She wanred to speak to Gillian again and see if she remembered a nything else, but first s he needed to check on H en del. Glancing at her watch, she knew she'd find him in his office. " H ow you do ing, kiddo?" Jiro asked , poking his head into Gillian's hospital room. She was wearing a hospita l gown a nd si tting up in her bed, staring stra ight ahead at an empty wa ll. But when she heard his voice, she turned toward the door and smiled. Early on, when he'd first started treati ng her, Jira had worried she'd get a bad vibe off him. H er condition m ade her more perceptive th an other children, and he was afra id she might sense the ulterior motive behind his interest in her. As it turned out, however, Gillian's reaction was just the oppos ite-she genuinely seemed to like h im. Jiro had developed his own personal theory to exp lain her reaction. H e was fascinared by the research Ce rberus was conducting in the fi eld of human biotics; he couldn 't wait to see what results their latest seru ms wou ld have on Gillian. As a result, he was a lways upbeat when he came to check her numbers. H e suspected she was feeding off this energy and excitement, making her more responsive to him th a n most of the other techs. "Nice place you got here," he sa id, coming over to sta nd by the side of her bed.

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" I want to go back to my own room," she answered in her familiar monotone.

He studied her carefully as she spoke, looking for signs she was somehow different n ow. No visible changes in alertness, he noted silently. "You can't go back to your own room quite yet,"

he raid her ou r loud. "Everybody's still tryi ng

figure ou t what happened to you in the cafeter ia." Including me. When Grayson had given him the vial of unfamiliar fluid last week, he'd had a feeling something major was going to happen. H e couldn't expla in it, to

but somehow he'd known th ey'd made a breakth roug h. Something they wanted to test on Gillian right away. But he hadn't expected anything this soon ... or this big. There was no doubt in his mind that the girl's remarkable display was linked to the myste rious Cerberus elixir. Unfortunately, the incredible success of the treatment had thrown a wrench into the experiment. He was su pposed to give Gillian another dose of m edication today, but he couldn 't g ive it to her here. Too many people, and too ma n y security ca meras. " I hate this room," Gillian informed him. "Wou ld you like to go for a wa lk ?" he suggested, seizing o n the opportunity to get her our of the quarantine wing and somewhere m ore private. "We cou ld go to the a trium. " She pondered the offer for a good fi ve seconds, th en n odded o nce, definitivel y. " You get d ressed ," he to ld her. ''I'll tell the nurse where we're going."

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Leavi ng the room, he made hi s way over to the admissions desk. H e recognized the nurse on duty from seeing her around the faciliry, but he didn't know her name. However, that hadn't stop ped him fro m flirtin g with her when he'd first arrived and signed in. " Leaving so soon ?" she asked, smiling brightly. She was sma ll, with dark skin and a round, pretty face. " I'm going to take Gillian down to the atrium. A little break from that room will be good for her." She frowned slightly, wrinkling her nose. " I don't think we're supposed to let her leave," she said, apologetica lly. " } promise to b ring her ba ck when I'm done," he joked, fl ashing his most charm ing grin. The frown fell away, but she still looked uncertain. " H endel might not like thaL" " H endel's as bad as an overprotective mother," he told her with a n easy laugh. " Besides, I'll have her back before a nyone even knows we're gone." " I don 't want to get in trouble." She was wavering, but she wasn't quite there yet. H e reached over the admissions desk and set a reassuring hand on her arm. "Don't worry, H endel and 1 are good friends. I'll protect you from him," he sa id with a sly wink . After a moment's hesitation, she relented and handed him the patient register. "J ust don't be too long," she warned as he signed Gillian out. H andi ng the register back, he gave th e nurse one last smile, then turned to see Gillian stan ding si lently at the threshold of her room, watching them intently. "Time to go," he told her, a nd she obediently moved forward and fell into step beside him.

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• • • Kahlee wasn't surprised to find the door to H en-

del's office closed when she got there. She could only imagine all the things he'd had to deal with over the past twenty-four hours. "Door-open," s he heard him call out in response to

her knock.

When he saw her standing there he motioned for her to come in before saying, "Doo r----<:lose." H endel 's office was a mess, but that in itself wasn't unusual. H e didn't like paperwo rk, and it tended to pile up quickly. H e always had stacks of printed reports piled on his desk, with a few more piles stacked on the floor beside it, waiting for his review. The tops of the tall metal cabinets along the back wall were covered with all ma nner of forms, requests, and waivers needing signatures or waiting to be fil ed in the proper folder. The security chief was sea ted behind his desk, staring intently at his computer screen. She crossed the room and took one of the two chairs across from his. H e reached out and fl ipped off the monitor as she sat down, let out a long, weary sigh, then leaned back in his chair. H e'd changed his soaked , food -stained clothes since she'd seen him yesterday outside Gillian's hospital room, but it looked like he hadn't taken the time to shower. She could sti ll see tiny bits of brea d ca ught in his hair a nd clinging to the short, reddish brown whiskers of his beard. There was a day's growth of stubble on his cheeks, a nd his eyes were bloodshot and baggy. "Were you working all night ?" she asked him.

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"Damage control ," he answered. "Some anonymous jackoff on staff a lready leaked the story. I've got calls coming in from m edia, sch ool a d mi nistrators, govern ment officials, and a ngry pa rents. Th e parents are the worst." "They're just worried about thei r kids." " Yeah, I kn ow." H e nodded. " But if I find out who lea ked the sto ry I' ll make damn sure their ass gets fired." H e sat forward in his chai r, thumping his hand hard on the desk to punctuate his words. "Did you get in touch with Grayson yet ?" H endel shoo k his head disapprovingly. " I left a message, but he didn't call back ." "Maybe he's not ava ilable." "An emergency conraer number's no damn good if you're not there during an emergency," he snapped back at her, then immediately apologized. "Sorry. I' ve got a lot of things on my mind. " "Anything you want to talk about?" "No," he sa id, resting his elbows on the desk and placing his head in his hands. Kahlee stayed silent, waiting patiently. A few secon d s later he looked up at her and said softly, " I think we m ig ht have to pull Gillian out of the program." " I was thinking th at m yself," she said with a sympathetic nod. H endel leaned back in his chair aga in a nd put his feet up on the desk, tilting his head back to stare up at the cei ling. " I'm thinking of offering the board my resignation," he sai d , the casualness of his voice a t odd s with the bombshell he'd just dropped.

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"What?" Kahlee exclaimed. "You ca n't quit! The children need you! " " Do they?" he wondered out lou d. "Yesterday I let them down when they needed me the most."

"What are you talking abour? Nick and Gillian were the only ones hurt, an d they' ll both be nne in a few days. You did everything right! " H e swu ng his feet d own from the desk and sat up, lea ning forward intently.

"No, I didn't," he to ld her, his voice gravely serious. "When I realized Gillian wasn't going to stop, I should have hit her with my stunner without a second thou ght. But I hesitated." " } think that's a good thing," Kah lee protested. " I'd be more worried if you didn't think twice a hou t it." "Everyone in that ca feteria was in danger," he exp lained, speaking slowly. "Every second I let her keep going there was a cha nce someone else coul d get hurt. Or wo rse." " Bur that didn't happen. There's no p oint beating yourself up over it." " You don't understand," he said, shaking his head in frustration. " I put the safety of Gillian ahead of every other student at this Academy. I can't afford to do that in my position . I'm tra ined to react in emergency situa ti ons, and I can't let my personal feelings get in the way." Kahlee didn't say anything right away, her m ind reeling as she processed the information. She thought he was overreacting, but he wasn't a man prone to empty comments; she had no doubt he was serious about leaving. "What will you do?"

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" I was thinking of asking Grayson to hire me as a private tutor for Gillian." Suddenly eve rything made sense . Kahlee realized this wasn't about H endel feeling guilty over what had

happened. Not rea ll y. Hendel ca red about all the kids in the program, but Gillian was different. She needed mo re help th an th e other chi ldren . She needed more time and atrention. Because of this, H endel had grown mo re attached to her than the o th ers. It wasn't fair, but who ever sai d life was fair?

Gillian was special to him. Hendel cared for her. H e loved her. And he was willing to do whatever it took to st ay in her life, even if it m ea nt throwing away his career.

"Hold off on that resignation for a while," Kahlee said, reaching o ut t o pat him gently on the hand. "At least u ntil we know for sure if the board w ill let Gillian stay." "They're not going to let her st ay. We both kn ow t hat. " " Pro ba bly not," she a dm itted. " But there's always a chance." H er m ind went back to her conversation w ith Jiro from the night before. " If I have to, 1 could get m y fa ther invo lved ." " Your father?" H endel asked, confused. "Admiral J o n G rissom." H endel 's jaw gaped . "Grissom's your dad? 1 ... 1 didn't know that." " I don't like t o ta lk about him," s he sa id. "Jiro's probably the only one who knows." "What did he say when you told him ?" H en del asked, still st un ned. " } ... I don't remem ber," Ka hlee answered uncer-

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[ainly, trying to think back. Funny. I should remember telling him something like that. " I actually can't remember telling him. Bur he knows. We were ta lking ahout it last night." But if I didn't tell him, then how does he know? H endel 's express ion changed from disbelief to one of concern. " Ka hlee? What's the matter? What's wrong?"

"Nobod y knows who my father is," she sa id slowly, still trying to work out the implications fo r herself. " It's not even listed in my Alliance p ersonnel fil e. There's o nly one document that mentions my father: the classified repo rt Anderson filed twenty years ago. To p secret clea ra nce required. " "An d you 're positive you never mentioned it to him? Why the hell would one of your lab techs have top secret clearance?" H endel asked, worried. "Somerhing doesn't add up. " Kahlee could only nod, numb from the p oss ib ility rhat the ma n she'd been sleepi ng with had been lying to her all a long. Lying about how much? And why? " I need to ta lk to J iro. Now !" H endel to ld her, ya nking open the drawer of his desk a nd pulling out a pistol. "Where is he?" he demanded, strapp ing the pistol onto his hip. " H e went to see Gillian." H endel sla m med the buttons of the sp ea ker-ph one on his desk, moving quickly, bur still stay ing cal m and focused. Kahlee was upset as well, bur even so, Hendel's urgency surprised her. Perhaps he was eager to get back to being in contro l, a nxious to focus o n something other tha n the events of the past day. "Quaranti ne ward," the nurse's voice a nswe red.

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"This is Security C hief Mitra. H as D r. Toshiwa come to see Gillian yet ?" " Yes, si r. H e took her to the atriu m. Would you like me to-" H endel killed the ca ll , barking out, " Doo r-open!" as he sprinted from the roO In. H e moved so fast it took Ka hlee a full second befo re she reacted and took off after him.

ELEVEN

"We're a lmost there," Jira sa id encouragingly. "J ust a little fa rther and then we can sit down." G illian was moving slowly, taking one painfully measu red step at a time as they m ade their way down the walking path of the Grissom Academy's at rium. H e shou ld have anticipa ted this. She was dist racted by a ll the t rees an d pla nts; leaves in a myriad of shapes and fl owe rs in a kaleidoscope o f colors were too much for her limited sensory perception to process all a t o nce. They hadn't seen anybody else in the atrium so far; not surprising as most of the staff a nd students were in class. But the trails that wound their way throug h the wooded park were popular spots for ru n ners looking t o get in som e exercise during their free time. H e didn't want to st art giv ing her the medica tion only to have some off-duty Alliance so ldier com e jogging around the corne r a nd catch h im in th e act. So he was doing his best to hurry her along, careful not to touch her or upset her by getti ng overly anxiou s. "We ca n rest over by the waterfall, Gillian. Com e on. Not m uc h farther." The atrium was a five-acre woodland that had been

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ca refully constructed at the heart of the s pace station to provide a place for faculty a nd stu dents to comm une wi th na ture. The glass roof wa s equipped w ith adju stable m irrors to refl ect a nd redirect light fro m Elys iu m's sun down o nto the trees below, m imicking th e duration of the day-n ig ht an d seasona l cycles found on the p la net. Local fl ora ma de up the major ity of the plant life, th o ugh a few exotic species imported from other human colonized worlds were found in specially tended gardens scattered througho ut the park. It was also home to carefull y monito red populations o f insects, birds, and small ma mma ls ind igeno us to Elysium , as well as n umerou s fi sh species in the small st rea ms that wound their way through the land scape. The stream s were artificial, the water pumped through them in a continuou s circuit tha t both began and ended at a large pond ato p a g rassy knoll that rose up from the center of the p ark. At the ba se of the knoll wa s a sma ll clearing where water spilled down from the pond in a makeshi ft waterfall-a popular place for picnics and lunches. Thi s ea rly in the day, though , Jiro sus pected the cleari ng would be empty .. . and it was located sa fel y o ut of sight of the running t ra ils. "That's good, G illian," he cooed when she started moving agai n , her head turning slowly from side to side in bemused wonder at the spectacle surrounding her. "Oka y, let's turn right now," he sa id to her when th ey reached a branch in the trail. It wa s warm beneath the artificia l sun light; he was swea ting under hi s lab coa t.

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She stu mbled o nce as he led her down the path toward the waterfall : unlike the ca refully tended fu n ning trails, the grou nd here was a llowed to grow over w ith roots, making it rough and uneven . H e reached out to grab her elbow to keep her from fa lling. Fortuna tely her attention was focused on what he guessed to be the Elysium equi va lenr of a chipmun k chattering at them from a branch above their heads, and she didn't seem ro react to his tOllch.

Still keeping his grip on her elbow, he propelled her quickly down the path u ntil they reached their destina tion. H alf a dozen benches were situ ated around the edges of the clearing, each positioned so that a nyone seated on them could watch the water t umbling off the fifteen-foot-high ledge inro the pool below. H e was relieved to see the benches were empty. Lu nch was still over a n hou r away, a nd it was n't likely anyone would arrive before then. But he didn't want to take any mo re of a chance than he had to. Still gripping G illia n by the elbow, he led her over to one of the benches in the shade and helped her sit down, letting go of her arm. Then he wa ited, g iving her time to a djust to her new surrou ndings. H e hoped the gentle splashing of the waterfa ll would have a soothing effect on her. After a few mi nutes she m uttered, " Why d id you bring me here? " H e rea lized she mu st have picked up on hi s sense of urgency. H e chose his next words carefully. H e didn't want to sca re her or upset her; not after what s he'd show n s he was capable of. " I need to check you r readings, Gillian," he sa id, keeping his tone professional.

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She frown ed, and his hea rt began to beat a little faster. " Miss Sanders checked them yesterda y." " I know you don't like it, but 1 need to check them again," he explained. " Beca use of what happened yesterday. " Gillian chewed her lip, then nodded a nd bowed her head forward, exposi ng the nape of her neck. H e reached into the pocket of his lab coa t and pulled out the via l Grayson ha d given him. From a nother pocket he produced a long syringe. "This might hurt," he warned her as he filled th e sYringe. Pulling the back co lla r of her T-shirt down slightly, he eased the long needle into the flesh between her shoulders, carefull y sliding the tip between the vertebrae. As per the in structi ons from Cerberus, he had administered the last dose to her ora lly, mixing it in with a glass of water he ha d brou ght to her room. However, as part o f their ongoing experiment, every a lterna te dose was to be administered through direct inj ection into the ce rebrospina l fluid. Gillian whimpered softly as he pressed his thumb down on the top of th e syri nge. Jiro didn't know exactly what kind of drugs Gillian was being given, but he understood enough to guess they were some kind of neurological stimulant. The previous dose would have been di luted by passing th roug h her digestive system before being absorbed into her circula tory system a nd then fin a ll y transferring across the blood-bra in barrier. In contrast, an in-

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jection directly into the cerebrospina l fluid should have mo re immediate, and dramatic, effects.

"All done," he said as he pulled the needle free. Gillian brought her head back up, her gaze fixating on the waterfall. One hand absently went up to rub th e back of her neck where he had injected her. Strange. She's never done that before. "Does it hurt ?" he asked. The girl didn't answer, th o ugh her hand fell away from her neck. It dangled a t her side, limp a nd useless.

"Gi llia n ? What's wrong?" Her head lolled to the side, her eyes rolling back inro her skull. Her body began to shiver, then tremor, then bucked hard en o ug h to throw her fro m her seat. She toppled forward, Jiro just ma naging to catch her before her head struck the ground. H e turned her onto her side as her a rms and legs began to twitch, gripped by the spasms of a fullblown seizure. "Oh , Jesus!" he swore as her mouth bega n to foam. H endel 's feet pounded hard o n the dormitory floor, the sou nd echoing down the hall as he raced toward the atrium. Even as he ran, his mi nd was trying to evaluate the situation.

Jiro may not be who we thought he was. Tha t didn't necessari ly make him an enemy, but until H endel knew what was going o n he had to assume the worst. H e pulled his g un as he ran, his hand snapping it free from the holster on his hip in one quick motion without ever breaking stride.

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H e debated ca lling for backup, then quickly di smissed the idea. Ji ra didn't know his cover was b lown; H en del didn't want anyone sou nding a n alarm and tipping him off.

Wh y did he take Gillian to the atrium? H e didn't know how Ji ra was connected to Gillian, or if he was somehow resp o nsible for what had happened in th e cafeteria. But he intended to nnd our ... one way or a noth er. Skidding arou nd a corner, H en del sla mmed into the wa ll, absorbing th e blow with his hip and shoulder so that he lost a lmost no momentum.

Too many people in the quarantine ward. H e wanted privacy. But for what? H e rounded another co rner, sprinted down a short hallway, then took the corrid o r bra nching off to his left that led into the wooded serenity of the at rium. If Jiro needed privacy, he'd have to get Gillian somewhere o ff the paths. But he couldn't just drag her o ut into the woods: she'd frea k out every time a branch brushed agai nst her.

The clearing by the waterfall. With G illia n in tow, Jiro would ha ve to stay on the trails, follow ing the long, w inding path that eventually led to the clea ring. H endel didn't have to worry about that. Tru sting his sense of direction, he veered off the tra il, crashing through the brush as he carved his own d irect path. Branches slashed at his face and tore at his clothes. H e swatted away a w iry limb from an El ysi um n r, only to have it spring back so tha t th e need les scra tched across his cheek, leaving bright red furrows.

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Hendel simply blocked o ut the pain, cha rging forward until he exploded in the clearing. Jira was kneeling on the ground , over Gillian's body. "Get away from hed" Hendel shouted, aiming his pistol a t the young scientist. The other ma n looked up, fear and confusion o n

his face. "St a nd up and back away !"

Jira did as he was told, moving slowly, his ha nds raised. " 1 don't know what happ ened. She just starred having a seizu re."

Hendel dared a quick glance down at Gillian, who was convulsing on the ground. "Over there," H endel said, gesturing with his weapon. "On your stomach. Facedown. Don't move."

Jira did as he was told, moving quickly. When he was in position, H en del stepped forward and dropped to his knees beside Gillian, his attention focused enti rely on her. Daring to shift his head slightly, Jiro could see th e security chief huddled over the unconsc ious girl. Slowly, quietly, he reached down and unclipped th e stunner from his belt. When Hendel set his pisto l on th e grass beside Gillian to check her vita ls, Ji ro aimed his stunner a nd fired. The shot took the securi ty chief square between the shoulder blades, caus ing him to arch his back and cry out before slu mping forward across Gillian's body. Ji ro scram bled to his feet a nd ran forward, crouching down to pick up Hendel 's gu n with his left ha nd, his stun ner still clenched tightl y in his right. As his

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fingers closed around the butt of the pistol, the security chief's hand shot o ut a nd seized him by the wrist. Cryi ng o ut in surprise, ji ro tried to pull away. H ende l-disoriented but somehow still conscious after a direct hit fro m 100,000 vol ts of electrica l current-held on, twisting jiro's wrist up a nd in, forcing him to drop th e pistol. ji ro kicked at h is p rone opponent. The first blow hir him sq uarely in rhe ribs, ca using the bigger ma n ro gru nr in pain and roll o nto h is side, releasing jiro's wrist. A second kick caught him in the sto mach, hut H endel managed to wrap his arms around jiro's leg. Throw n off-balance, jiro fe ll to the ground. Then H endel was on him. They w restled briefly, grappling at close quarters as they rolled away from w here Gillian lay. The security chief was bigger, stronger, and better trained. But j iro still had his stu nner. H e jammed the weapon agai nst the o th er ma n 's ribs a nd fired again, just as H endel brought his elbow u p hard into the side of jiro's temple. ji ro recovered first, woozily scrambli ng to his feet. Swaying to keep his bala nce, he saw that H endel, unbelievably, was struggling to rise. The you nger ma n still had the stunner cl utched in his hand, a nd he used it for a rhird time, completely draining the battery. H endel fell face forward o n the grou nd , where he lay motionless. Unwilling to take the chance his enemy might not be o ut completely, jiro turned a nd ran into the surrounding trees. Tossing as ide the now useless stunner, he ran with a n uneven, stu mbling stride through rhe trees, still trying to sha ke off the lingering effects of the sha rp elbow to his hea d.

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• • • Kahlee's lungs were burning by the time she reached the entrance to the atrium. She had tried to

keep up with Hendel in the race from his office, hut with each of his long, powerful strides she'd fallen farther an d farther behind. Within seconds he was out of sight, and a m in ute later even the sound of his footsteps had vanished. She'd continued on, racing through the halls and stairwells until s he reached the atrium ... and n ow she didn't know where to go. So s he simply stopped and waited, trying to catch her breath and wondering what to do next. Calling for backup was a n option; there was a n emergency ca ll box at the entra nce to the atrium. But

if Hendel was the security chief, and if he wanred backup, he would a lready have called for it. You're probably overreacting, she rold herself. All

you know for sure is that Jira lied to you. It might piss you off, but that doesn't mean you should call in security. She began ro pace back and forth, frustrated by her inactivity, but sti ll not having a n y useful plan. She could go look for them, but there were several paths and tra ils; she could easily ch oose the wrong one and miss them. However, there was only one entrance to the atrium, so as long as she stayed put they would all eventually come to her.

And when they do, I'm going to get some answers! H endel couldn 't feel his body. H e didn't know if he was asleep, awake, alive, or dead. His hea d was a bubbling cauldron of disconnected, incoherent thoughts

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and sensations. And then one clear image came bubb ling to the s urface .

Gillian. H e took a deep breath and held it for three second s, then slowly let it out. The action was pure insti nct; a n exercise to calm and focus th e mind ingra ined by yea rs of biotic rraining. Anorher deep brearh and the world around him beca me still , rh e fragmented pieces of his awareness settling into position. H e was lying facedown on rhe grou nd. Every mu scle in his body burned with lactic acid, exhau sted and utterly spent.

He hit you with a stunner. Th e sOll-of-a-bitch hit yOIl with a stunner. H e was tired. H e needed to sleep it off. Nothing else he could do.

Don't bitch!

yOIl

dare black out, you worthless son-of-a-

The words were his own, but the voice in his head was that of his fir st drill sergeant from basic training. Whenever he faltered during his Alliance careerpushed to the limits of endura nce by a 20k run, or exhausted after hours of biotic training-he would hear that voice, relentlessly driving him onward. But those days were over. H e'd retired. He wasn't a so ldier anymore .

Don't give me that BS! Once a soldier, always a soldier! Now get your lazy ass up off the ground and move! Somehow he found the strength to pu sh himself up onto his ha nds and knees. That's when he saw Gillian, still lying on the grass. She wasn't convulsing

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anymore. She wasn't moving at all. She wasn't even breathing. H e reached down and pressed the emergency a lert button on his belt. Security and medical teams wou ld dispatch immediately, homing in on the signa l. Response time to the waterfall in the a trium was seven mInutes.

Too slow. She can't wait that long. H e sta rted crawling toward Gillian, h is muscles screa mmg in agony, too weak to even a ttempt to st a nd. Jira uttered a prolonged string of p rofanities in his na tive tongue, cursing the thorn-covered branches that were tearing at his clothes as he tried to pick his way through the atrium's forests. But he didn't sto p;

he didn't know how long H endel would be down, and he needed to find a way off the sta ti on before the security chief woke up. There was an emergency shuttle at the docking bay that could take h im d own to the pla net 's surface. If he thou ght up a good excuse he m ig ht be a ble to cha rm o r bribe the pilot into making the trip. Failing that, he'd need to hij ack or stea l it. It was a crazy, desperate plan, bur he was a despe rat e ma n. H e ha d known from the moment H endel found him in the clearing that his only option was to get clear of the facility. H e burst from the undergrowth back onto the ru nning tra ils, less th an twenty feet from the atrium's exit. H e didn't notice Kahlee standing off to th e side until s he called o ut to him. "Jiro? What happened to you?" she asked, coming down th e path toward him.

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She was staring with guarded curi osity at his torn shirt, the scra tches on his face a nd hands, the welt o n the si de of his head from where H endel had elbowed him. "Jiro," she sa id agai n, her voice stern. " I want some a nswers. Where's H endel ?" " H ow should 1 know?" he sa id, with a n easy laugh. " H e's your friend, remember?" If she came just a little closer he might be able to gra b her, overpower her before she could run fo r help. Instead, she stopped just o ut of reach. " You signed Gillian out of her room. Where is she?" H earing the accusation in her voice he rea lized he wasn't going to talk his way out of this o ne. "Get out of my way," he said coldly, dropping a ll pretense. "Or you're going to get hurt. " " You' re not going anywhere," she to ld him, setting her feet and dropping into a fi gh ting crouch. "Not until 1 kn ow what's going on." Jiro quickly weighed the situation. H e had shaken off the effects of his fight with H endel; he was young, fit , a nd he o utweighed Kahlee by fifty po unds. H e knew she'd ha d combat training in the m ilita ry, but he figured the odd s were still in his favor. H e sm iled and shru gged , pretending to give in. Then he leaped at her. H e'd h oped to catch her off-guard, but she hadn't fallen for his simple ruse. Instead, she met his charge with a hard kick to the knee as she spun out of the way. Staggering and off-balance, he swung at her with a fist but ca ught only air as she slid under his

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clumsy b low. H e whirled to face her, preparmg to lunge once aga in. H e never got the chance. Kahlee shot forward, her left fist jabbing toward his face. H e ducked to the side, into the pa th of an uppercut delivered with her right. It caught him on the side of his jaw, an d he grunted in pain, stu m bling backward. H is opp o nent wasn't ahout to let him get away that

easily. She followed up with a flu rry of short, quick kicks a nd punches, deftly blocking a nd redirecting his ham-fisted cou nterattacks. A cho p to his throat left him gagging for a ir, a leg sweep sent him crashing to the groun d. As he attempted to rise to his feet s he landed a knee to his groin , ending the savage, onesi ded confrontati on. Kahlee stepp ed forward and stared down at him where he lay cru mpled on the grou nd, curled up into a fetal ball a nd clutching a t his wounded p rivates . H e tried to beg for m ercy, but when he opened his mouth all that came o ut was a long, low moan of unintellig ib le pain. She knelt down beside him , reached o ut with two fi ngers, hoo ked them into his nostrils and gave a sl ight pu ll. The pa in was excruciating, and he whimpered in terror. "Now, darling," Kahlee sa id in a tone d ripping with m ock sweetness, her finge rs sti ll hooked into his nostrils, " I' m going to ask some questions. And , .. " you re gomg to give some answers .

Pain is a good thing, m aggot! Lets you know you're still alive! Reaching Gillian's body, H endel tilted her head

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back and forced two hard puffs of air down her throa t, then compressed her chest ten times in rap id success ion, pressing ha rd w ith the heels of his palms just above the borrom of her breastbone. H e forced two m ore puffs of air down her throat, then resumed compressIOns. H e knew C PR wouldn't start her heart or get her breathing agai n- those kind of miraculous recoveries only happened on the vids. All he was trying ro do was keep the blood circulating and oxygen reaching her brain until real help arrived.

Just keep her alive. Keep her here. The compress io n s were exhausting; a nything less than one h u ndred per mi nute was roo low to save her. Ir was nearly impossible to keep up the grueling pace for more than a few minures, even under normal conditions. In his present cond ition it was hopeless.

DOIl't YOI/ dare quit on me! Nobody quits ill my army! H is breath was coming in wet, ragged gasps. Beads of sweat from h is brow were crawl ing down his forehead to sting his eyes. The muscles in his arms twitched and trembled , threatening to cramp up with each compression. The world around him dissolved into a hazy cloud of pain a nd exhaustion as he pumped Gillian 's heart for her.

a ne Two Th reeFoltrFiveSixSeven EightNineTellBreathe-Breathe a ne Two Th reeFoltrFiveSixSeven EightNineTellBreathe-Breathe a ne Two Th reeFoltrFiveSixSeven EightNineTellBreathe-Breathe And then hands were on his shoulders, pulling him

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away. H e fought them for a second, feebly, befo re realizing they were there to help. As soon as he was

clear, the two EMTs dropped down by Gillian's side. The first ra n his omnitool over her, ta king her vitals.

"Code Twelve," he noted, his tone clipped a nd effi cient. H is words spu rred both men into acti o n, their efforts perfectly coordinated through hundreds of hours of trai n ing. The fir st sna pped open his medic's

kit, yan ked our a syringe and injected Gillian with a hyperoxygenating compou nd to replenish the dwindling supp lies in her bloodstream.

The other pulled a small, palm-sized device from his belt--even in his hazy condition , Hendel recognized it as a portable defib rillator-a nd then pressed it against her chest. The EMT hesitated just long enough for his partne r to finish injecting the needle and pull clear before flipping the switch, jolting Gillian's heart with a series of conce ntrated electrical impulses in a n effort to restart it. " I've got a pulse," his partner sa id a second la ter, announcing the readi ngs com ing off his omnitool. "Oxygen levels look good . I think she's goi ng to pull throug h! " H endel, still half-sitting, half- lyi ng on the ground where the EMTs had dragged him away fro m Gillian's body, didn 't know whether to laugh with joy or cry with relief. Instead , he collapsed onto his side and sl ipped into unconsciousness.

T\NELVE

Grayson staggered into his living room. H e was wearing only his hou secoat, with nothing on beneath. His head was still floating from the lingering effects

of the red sand he'd taken last night, but when he tried to make the pen on the coffee ta ble dance it just sat there motionless, mocking him. YOl/'re coming down. Can't even move a pen.

YOI/'ll be sober in another hour if you aren't careful. H e wanted another hit, but in stead he forced himsel f to check for incoming messages. H e wasn't surprised to see that Grissom Academy had tried to contact him yet again while he was sleepi ng. Or maybe yOIl were so stoned you just didn't hear

the call. This was the fou rth time they'd ca lled. He didn't want to listen to the message; the first three had all been about the sa me thing. Something ha d happened to Gillian, some kind of accident in the cafeteria. Something to do with her biotics. The news hadn 't come as a s urprise. H e'd been expecting something like this ever si nce Pel had s hown up with th e new dosage. The Illusive Man was patient, but Cerberu s had poured too much time and

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roo ma ny resources into Gillian with too few results. The new drugs were evidence that they were esca lating the program . Som eone had made the decision to push the envelo pe, to test his daughter's lim its in the hopes of fo rci ng a breakthrough. It was inevitable something would happen , good or bad.

YOl/'re pathetic. You knew this could harm her, bitt yOIl went a/ong with it anyway. H e'd accepted th e decision beca use he believed in

Cerberus. He believed in what they stood for. He knew there were risks, but he a lso knew that Gillian might be cr itica l to the long-term su rvival of the race. The abi lity to unlock new and amazing biotic potential could be the a d va ntage humans needed to rise above the other species. Risks had to be taken. Sacrifi ces had to be made. The Illusive Man understood this better tha n anyone, w hich was why Grayson had fo llowed his orders wi tho ut question. This m orni ng, however, he couldn't help but wonder if that ma de him a patrio t, or just a coward.

That all depends on who gets to write the history books, doesn't it? H e made his way over to the vid screen o n the far wa ll , then reached down and pressed the button to activate the message p lay back. " Mr. Grayson? This is Dr. Kahlee Sa nders from the Grissom Aca demy." By defaul t he ha d video con ferencing capab ilities d isabled; he preferred th e privacy o f a udio-only comm unica ti ons. But even wi th o ut vis ual cues, he could tell fro m her tone someth ing el se ha d happened. Something bad.

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" I'm not sure exactly how to tell you this, Mr. Grayson. Gillian was in the hospita l, recovering from her episode in the cafeteria when ... well, we th in k there may have been an attempt on her life. We think D r. Toshiwa tried to kill her. "She's a live," Kahlee's voice quickly a dded. " Hendel got to her in time. She had a seizure, but she's okay now. We're keeping her under medical o bservation. Please, Mr. Grayson, con tact the Academy as soon as you get this message ." The recording ended with a click. Grayson didn't move o r react, but m erely stood frozen in p lace as his mi nd tried to wrap itself around the implications of her words. We think Dr. Toshiwa tried to kill her. jiro's only contact w ith Cerberus was through Grayson; they had no way of reaching him directly ... at least, none that he knew of. This was sta ndard operating procedure : fewer operatives with direct access meant less chance of a security breach. And if one of their own people compromised the mi ssion it was easier for Cerbe ru s to figure out who the traitor was.

Jiro's not dumb enough to turn on the Illusive Man. And even if he did, trying to kill Gillian doesn't make any sense. There was a n other possible expla nation: the new medication. If it had ca used the seizu re, a nd if they caught jiro giving it to her, then they might think he was trying to kill her. But did that mea n they ha d jiro in custody now? And if they did, how much had he already told th em? H e pushed the burton to play the recording again. "Mr. Grayson? Thi s is Dr. Kahlee Sanders from the Grissom Academy. I'm not sure exactly h ow to tell

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you this, Mr. Grayson. Gi llian was in the hospita l, recovering from her episode in the cafeteria when ... well, we think there may have been an attempt on her

life. We think Dr. Toshiwa tried to kill her. "S he's a live. Hende l got to her in time. She had a seizure, but she's okay now. We're keeping her under medica l observation. Please, M r. Grayson, contact th e Academy as soon as you get this message." All th e other calls had come from the security chief. H e didn't know if it was s ign ificant th a t this one was made by som eone else.

Did Jiro rat you out? Are they setting a trap? Trying to lure you in? H e couldn 't put it off any longer; he had to m ake the ca ll. And this time he'd need to reactiva te visual communication. H e made a quick sca n of the room to ve rify he hadn't left a needle o r a baggie of red sand in view of the vid screen. Then he checked himself in the mirror-he loo ked ti red a nd disheveled, his eyes b lood shot. Bur if he sat in the c hair on the far side of the room it shouldn 't be noticeable. At least, that's what he hoped. With eve rything in posi tio n he sat down a nd placed the call. A few seconds later the image of the Illusive M an appea red, filling the vid sc reen. H e had a face born for the screen: his silver gray hair was c ur sh ort , fra ming a nd accentuating his perfectl y symmetrica l features, which were highl ighted by the sharp line of his clean-shaven jaw a nd a perfectly proportioned nose. "Grayson ," he sa id by way of greeting, his voice smooth. If he wondered about the fac t that Grayson was s itting on the far side of the room for the call,

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rather than the customa ry six to ten feet away from the screen, he didn't show it. "Something's happened with Gillian," Grayson said, studying the llIusive Man's reaction carefully. Is this new information ? Is he surprised, or does he a/ready know? Of course the llIusive Man's steely-blue eyes gave nothing away; his face was an emotionless, unreadable mask. " Is she a ll right?" he asked, his voice s howing just th e slightest hint of conce rn , though that cou ld have been for Grayson's benefit. It was possible he alrea d y knew everything that had happened. "S he had a seizure. The new medication was too m uch for her." " Is that what jiro said?" His face showed just enough care a nd worry to make the question not seem callous. Again, Grayson wasn't sure if it was a n act. "The Academy called to tell me . jira's been compromised. " There was a flicker of emotion across the Illusive M an's face, but it was gone too quickly for Grayson to identify it. Anger? Surprise? Disappointment? " How much has he told them?" " I don't know. The message ca me in last night. I called you as soon as I hea rd it." "We need to play this o ut," the llIusive Man to ld him after a moment's consideration. "Assume he hasn't b lown you r cover yet. " It was a reasonab le assumption. jiro was new to Cerberus-they'd only recru ited him a few years ago-but he understood how things worked. Two things would help ensure his silence, fo r a w hil e at

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least: his loyalty to their cause, and h is fear of the Illu sive Man's retribution. It was inevitable he'd tell them something-sooner

or later the Alliance would break him. Bur the longer he could hold out, the more time he gave for someone to clean up the mess. If he held out long enough for th e mission to be salvaged then he didn't have to worry about Cerberus comi ng after him to extract its revenge. As long as he kept his mouth shut, he cou ld even cling to the hope that the Illusive Man might send someone to rescue him. It had happened with key o peratives in the past, though Grayson figured

Jiro would ultimately he deemed expendable. "Contact the Academy," the Illusive Man instructed him. " Tell them you're coming to ta ke Gillian out o f the program. We've gotten everything we can from the Ascension Project. It's time we too k direct control of her tmining." " Yes, sir. " H e'd hesitated only a s plit secon d befo re answering, but this was enough for the llIu sive Man to pick up on it. "What happened at the Academy was a n accident. A mi stake," he said, his face morphing into an expression of sincere apology and regret. "We don't want Gillian to get hurt. She's too valuable. Too important. We care what happens to her. " Grayson didn 't answe r right away. " I kn ow," he finally replied. "We a lways feared there could be side effects with th e new trea tment, but we didn 't think a nything like this would happen ," the lIlusive Man continued to explain. "Moni toring her from a distance, a nalyzing all the results after the fact ... it increases the risks of

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something going wrong. Once you bring her in , we'll keep her under constant observation. We ca n be more cau ti o us with our tests. Bring her a long slowly." H e was saying a ll the right things, of course. And Grayson knew there was at least some element of truth in his words.

He 's just telling playing you!

YOll

what you want to hear! He 's

" I give you my word this won't happen again," the Illusive Man vowed. Grayson wanted ro believe him. He needed to believe him. Beca use if he didn't, what options were left ? If he didn't turn Gillian over to Cerberus, if he tried to ta ke her a nd run, they'd find him. And even if they somehow managed to stay hidden , what then? Gillian needed order and routine to function. H e couldn 't even imagine how she wou ld cope if she had to live the life of a fugitive, constantly fl eeing from one location to another in an effort to stay o ne step ahead of their pursuers. And what would happen as her power contin ued to grow? Cou ld she ever learn to control her abilities? Or would she always be som e kind of biotic time bo mb, waiting to go off? " I know Gillian is different," the Illu sive Man added, as if he was read ing Grayson's thoughts. " I don 't know if we ca n cure her condition , but the more we lea rn about it the more we can help. We won't turn our backs on her. She m ea ns too much to us. To me. " " I'll ca ll the Academy," Grayson answered, "and tell them I'm on my way."

Gil/ian needs expert help. Cerberus understands

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her condition better than anyone. This is what she needs.

rationalizing, a bitter voice from the dark corner of his mind chimed in. j ust admit the fYl/th. What the Illusive Man wants, the Illusive Man gets. YOl/'re

The bag Pel was carryi ng was heavy; he kept switch ing it from hand to hand bur he couldn 't deny his arms were beginning to get sore. Fortunately, he was only a block away from the sma ll two-story warehouse Cer berus was using for th eir base of operations on Omega. It was conveniently located along the edges of a sma ll, unregulated spacep ort in a di strict controll ed by the Talons, a predominanrly ruria n mercenary band.

On principle Pel didn't like dealing with any nonhuman group, but th e Talons were one of the best options for freelance rs loo king to gai n a foothold o n Omega. The warehouse was in a prime location: their proxim ity to the s paceport allowed sm a ll ships to come and go without drawing undu e a n ention, and they were within walking distance o f a monorail linked to several other sectio ns of the city. The Talons charged hig h ra tes for rent and protection, but they didn't ask any questions or stick their beaks in where they didn't belong. They were a lso o ne of the few factions st rong en o ug h to keep a fi rm ho ld o n their territory, reducing the chances of riots o r uprisings that sometimes swept through Omega's less stable distncts. Although the district was officially classified as turia n, there was a smattering of other species on the streets as well. A pair of bata rians walked toward and

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past him, casting a wary g la nce at the hated human and the bag he was carrying. A single ha nar floated up from behind and brushed by his shoulder, moving quickly. He instinctively shied away from its long, trailing tentacles. There were even a handful of humans scattered about, though none of them worked for Cerberu s. The five men an d three women assigned to Pel 's team tended to stay inside the warehouse; especia lly now that they had a prisoner to interrogate. H e was on ly a few feet from the door to the warehouse when a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows. "What's in the bag, friend?" Golo asked. " H ow did you find this place?" Pel demanded, setting the bag down and letting his hand rest casually on his hip, just above his pistol. " I have been keeping tabs on you," the quarian admitted. " It wasn't all that hard to discove r this location. " H e didn't know if quarians smirked, but Pel imagined a smug look on the a lien 's face beneath his visor. H e wasn't really that concerned ; Golo didn't pose much of a threat to what they were doing. But he didn't like being spied on. Especially not by the alien equiva lent of a gy psy-thief. "Why are you here?" " I have another business proposa l for you," Go lo replied. Pel grimaced. " I'm still pissed off a bout the last deal we cut with you," he told him. " That pilot we captured on the quarian ship isn 't giving us the codes we need." " You have to understand the culture of the Mi-

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grant Fleet," Go lo explained. "Q uarians are reviled by a lmost every other race. They can o nly rely o n each other to survive. Children learn at a young age to value fami ly a nd community, and loyalty to your home ship is prized above all else." "No wonder they kicked you out." Pel couldn't tell if his jab stung or not; the quarian's reaction was hidden behind his m ask. When he spoke, he continued on as if he hadn't heard the insuit. " I'm surprised you haven't been able to pry the information out of him. I assumed you would be well ve rsed in getting prisoners to ta lk." "Torture's not much good if you r subject is delusional and hallucinating," Pel a nswered, a little more defensive tha n he intended. " H e caught some kind of viru s or something. Now he's mad with fever," he continued, his voice becoming dark an d dangerous. " Probably hap pened when you cracked his mask." "Allow m e to make amends," Gala replied, u nfazed. " This new offer is one I don't think you'll want to turn down. Perha ps we can go inside and talk?" "No chance," Pel shot ba ck. "Wa it here. I'll be back in five minutes." H e picked up the bag again, then stared pointedly at the qua ria n until he turned away. O nce he was sure th e a lien wasn'r loo king, he punched in the access code for the door and stepped in side. It was actu a lly closer to ren minutes when he reemerged, bur Gala was sti ll waiting for him. Pel was half h o ping he would have grown frustrared and left.

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" I'm still curious, friend," the quarian sa id by way of greeting. "Wha t was in the bag?" "None of your business. And we're not friends." In actuality, the bag ha d contained nothing mo re than o rdina ry groceries. There was a fu ll stock of rations a nd emergency supp lies inside the base, and w hile they were n utritio nally adequate for survival, th ey were bland and tasteless. Fortunately, Pel had d iscovered a s hop in a nearby district that stocked traditional human cuisi ne. Every three days he took the mo n orail to the store and bought eno ugh food to keep his team well fe d and happy. It wasn 't cheap, but it was a n expense he had no troub le justifying to Cerberus. Hu mans deserved rea l h uman food, not some processed a lien mishmash. There was no harm in sharing this information wi th the quaria n, of course, but Pel wanted to keep their relationshi p adversaria l. It was to his advantage if Ga la wasn 't s ure w here he stood. " You said you had some kind of proposa l," he prompted. Golo looked around, clearly nervous. "Not here. Somewhere private." " What a bo ut that ga mbling hall you took me to last time? Fortu ne's Den ?" The quaria n sh ook his head. " Th at particu la r di strict is currentl y under a n ownershi p dispute. The batarians are trying to push the vol us out. Too ma n y shooti ngs and bombings for my taste." Par for the damn course, Pel thought to h imself. "Violence is inevitable when diffe rent species try to live side by side," he sa id aloud, sp o uting a com mon Ce rberus axiom. If the Alliance could ever figure that

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aut we wouldn't need someone like the Illusive Man to watch alit for I/S. "T his opportu n ity is q u ite tem pting," Golo assured him. "O nce you hear the terms I'm sure you' ll be inte rested. " Pel just crossed his meaty a rms an d sta red at the qua n a n , wa ltmg. " It involves t he Collecto rs," Gola whis pered , leaning in slightly.

After a long pause, Pel sighed a nd turned back to t he warehouse door. "All righ t. Let's go in side."

THIRTEEN

" You a re cleared for a pproach on dock four. Over." Grayson made a slight course ad justment to comply with the traffic control tower's instructions, and brought his sh uttle in to the Grissom Academy's exterior landing bay. The mediu m-ra nge passenger vessel he was piloting on this visit was slightly smaller, and far less luxuri o us, than the corporate shuttle he norma ll y used for his visits. But these were hardly normal circumst a nces. For this journey he had come a lone, in the guise of

a frantic father ru shing to the side of his gravely ill child. It wasn't a hard role for him to play, given how he felt about Gillian. His concern for her was gen-

uine. Bur depending how much Jira had told them, it might not m atter. H e waited impatiently a t the sh uttle doors for the docking platform to connect, then went quickly into the large, glass-walled waiting room. There were no other passengers waiting for clearance, and the two Alliance guards posted by the exit signa led him to come forward. He could see Dr. Sanders a nd the Project Ascension secu rity ch ief waiting for him o n the other side of the transparent, bulletproof wall.

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"Go on in, Mr. Grayson," one of the gua rds to ld him in a sympa thet ic voice, not even bothering with a cursory search as he waived him through. G rayson chose to t ake t hat as a good sign.

"Are you sure you 're up fo r t his?" Ka h lee whispered to H endel as Grayson made his way throug h t he security screen ing room . "You still look a little unstea dy o n you r feet. " " I'm fi ne," he w hispered back . "Besides, I want to see h ow he reacts w hen we tell h im the news." Kahlee wanred to say something back to him , like, YOII can't seriously think Grayson won't care about his daughter almost being killed! But Grayson was t hroug h security now, a nd he wou ld have heard her.

So she bit her rongue and prayed that Hendel would have the good sense to trea t his a rr iva l with the proper cou rtesy. "Mr. Grayson," H endel said with a curt nod. "Where's G illian?" he asked immed iately. " I want to see my daughter." Not surprisingly, he looked much worse than t he last time t hey had seen him . H e wasn 't wearing a su it this time, but was d ressed in a pa ir of denim pa nts an d a sim p le short-sleeved sh irt, revea ling h is t hin, sinewy arms. H e had wha t looked to be at least a few days wort h of stubb le growing on his ch in. There was a desperate gleam in his eye and an air of nervous apprehen sion h ung about h im ... not surprising, given w hat had happened. "Of course," Ka h lee sai d q uickly, before H endel could offer any objections. She wasn't abour to let Grayson wai t around here in the hall. There would be

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time enough for discussion later, after he had seen Gillian. H endel cast her an annoyed glance, but all he sa id was " Follow me." Nobody spoke as they made their way to the hospital room, though she could see the muscles along H endel's throat fl exing as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. When they reached the hospita l room Grayson stopped. One hand slowl y came up to cove r his mouth at the sight of the you ng girl lying in bed, hooked up to half a dozen m achines. "Oh, Gigi," he whispered, and the pain in his voice wrenched at Kahlee's heart. "What are a ll those m achines for?" he asked a moment later, his voice shaky. "They're just monitors," Kahlee explained , trying to keep her voice professiona lly optimistic. "So we can keep a n eye on her." Grayson stepped inro the room, moving slowly, as if he was suddenly underwater. H e knelt down a t th e si de of her bed an d reached out with a hand, placing it not on her head but on the sheets just above her shoulder. "Oh, Gigi ... w ha t did they do to you?" he muttered. At the sou nd of his voice Gillian's eyes fluttered open a nd she turned her head to face him. "Daddy," she sa id, her voice weak but obviously happy to see him. H endel a nd Kahlee kept their distance, giving him time with his daughter.

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" I heard what happened, " he told her. " I wa s so scared. " " It's o kay," she assured him , reaching over to pat

him on the hand. " I'm okay now." It was hard to say which of the a dults was more stunned by th e simple gesture. In a ll the years Gi llian had been at the Grissom Academy, Ka hlee had never seen her actu a lly initiate physica l contact wi th a nother person. Gillian herself seemed oblivious to their reaction, as she let her ha nd drop back down to her side and closed her eyes. " I'm tired, " she mu mb led. " I need to sleep now." A few secon ds later she was snoring softly. Grayson sta red a t her for several long m o ments before standing up a nd turning to face them. An awkward silence hung in the a ir. Kahlee broke it by saying, " The doctors say she's going to make a com plete recovery. They ju sr want to keep her here for a few days to m onitor her. Beca use of her condit ion." " You sa id D r. Toshiwa d id this to her?" Grayson 's face had lit up when G illia n patted his hand. Now, however, his expression was one of dark, barely contained anger. Kahlee no dded with her head toward the door, indicating they shou ld step o utside t o contin ue the conve rsation so their words wouldn't disturb the sleeping girl. The two m en took the m ea ning a nd the three of th em went out into the hall, far enough that they were o ut o f earshot. She d id notice, however, that both H endel and Grayson stopped ju st before they rounded the corner that would have taken them o ut of sight o f the room.

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"Jiro was condu cting some kind of unauthorized expe riment on her," H endel explai ned, picking up where they had left o ff. "We have him in custody." Grayson nodded slightly. "Good. " " H e was working for a group ca lled Ce rberus," H endel suddenly shot out, firin g the words quickly. Ka hlee could see he was looking to provoke som e kind of reaction. "Cerberu s?" Grayson sa id quizzically after a moment, turning his head slightly to the side. "A radical pro-human terrorist group," H endel replied. "Well funded. Jiro was o ne of their agems. We think he infiltrated the Ascension Proj ect to get close to Gillian." "Never heard of them. Was he wo rking a lone?" H endel hesitated before a nswering, an d Kahlee worried he might be trying to play some kind of ga m e with Grayson. To her relief, when the security chief fina lly replied he did so honestly. "We don 't kn ow yet. Interroga tions take time. H e's giving it up bit by bit. Probably figures he can negotiate a better deal on his prison time by holding something back." "You should try torture instead of negotiation." Grayson's voice was fl at and co ld, but the anger was impossi ble to miss-the primal rage of a father defending his only child. "Th at's not how the Alliance does things," Kahlee told him. "We' ll get th e answers soon enough," H en del added, though Kahlee wasn't sure if he m ea nt it as comfort to a concerned parent, or a threat. Grayson began to pace ba ck and forth in the nar-

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row con fines of the hospital corrido r, one hand reaching up to scra tch at the stubble on his chin. "So fo r a ll you kn ow, there could still be more of these Cerberus agents working in the facil ity."

"That's not likely," H endel assured him. " 1 had some run-ins with Cerberus during my years with th e All ia nce. I picked up a few things a bo ut their methods. Th eir undercover operatives tend to work alone. " " Bur yO li don't know for sure," Grayson pressed,

stoppi ng directly in fro nt of him. " Dr. Toshiwa worked here for years, and w ith them. "

yO li

had no idea he was

The security chief didn't rep ly, but shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Anyone could he working for them. Another researcher. A teacher. One of the nurses. Even you !" H e punctuated his accusa tion by jabbing his finger in H endel 's muscula r chest. The bigge r ma n bristled, but held hi s tongue. Kahlee stepp ed forward and put a ha nd on Grayson's wrist, gently lowering his hand. " H endel saved Gillian's life," s he rem inded him. The father dropped his head, chagrined. " I fo rgot. I'm sorry." H e looked up agai n and extended his ha nd. " Thank you , C hief Mitra ." H endel shook it without comment. " I appreciate everything you two have done fo r Gillian," G rayson to ld them, his voice taking on a mo re businesslike tone. "Not just now, b ut in a ll her years here at the Academy. And I' m grateful s he had th e opportunity to be part of the Ascension Project. " But after a ll this, I ca n 't let her stay here. She

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needs to be with me. It's the only way I can be sure she's safe." Kahlee nodded. "We're sorry to lose her, Mr. Grayson, but we understand . We'll find a place fo r you to stay here on the station u ntil she's well enoug h to travel." " I don't th in k you understa nd," Grayson sa id, sha king his head. " I' m leaving. Now. And I' m taking my daughter w ith me." " I ... I' m sorry, sir," Ka hlee replied , momentarily caught off-guard. " Bur that just isn't possible. She needs medical attention. Until we release-" " You sai d there's nothing physically wrong with her," he protested, curting her o ff. "S he's still weak from her o rdeal ," H endel cou ntered, his voice rising. " Biotics require an ext remely high caloric intake to-" " I've got food on my ship." "S he needs a specia lly balanced diet because of her condition," H endel stressed. " I'd ra ther have her miss o ut on a few optimally nutri ti ous meals than leave her here wi th you peop le !" Grayson s houted , his anger boili ng over. " The last time she was in this hospital somebody tried to kill her!" Kahlee held her hand up to cut off H endel before he responded. "We' ll make s ure there's a gua rd posted ours ide her room at all times," she assured Grayson. "What if the guard is working for this Cerberus group ?" he shot back. "What abour the nurses who check on the monitors? Or the people who fix th e meals? Do n 't tell me she'll be safe here!"

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"S he won't be safe anywhere!" H endel shot back. " Do you have any idea who you're d ea ling with? Cerberus probably ha s agents on every All iance wo rld and colony. They've got operatives in every level of the government a nd the military! If you take her away from here, they' ll find you !"

" Damn it, Hendel! " Kahlee shouted, smacking him hard on the shoulder to shut h im up. H e looked over at her angrily, but kept quiet when he saw the expression on her fa ce. "Why don 't you go tell Gillian you' re leaving," s he suggested to G rayson. "We' ll find someone to unhook the machines."

"Thank you," Grayson rep lied, with a sma ll nod of acknowledgment. Then he tu rned a nd m ade his way back £Oward Gillian's room. Kahlee waited until he disappeared inside the door before wheeling on H endel. "What the hell is wrong with you?" s he demanded. "Did you rea lly think you could scare him into letting Gillian stay?" " H e should be scared," the security chief replied. "Cerberus is d angerous. You can't let them leave." "We don't have a ny other choice," s he told him. "Gillian's not a prisoner here. If her father wants to take her, we ca n 't stop him." "Then sta ll him ," he insisted. "At least until we learn more from Jira. " "An d how long is that going to take ?" s he asked, incred ulou s. "An h our? A day? " "That little punk wasn't ca lling th e shots," H endel told her. "We've got to keep Grayson around until we find out who was giving Jiro his orders."

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"You can't possibly think he's involved?" Kahlee asked in disbelief. " I get a bad vibe from him," the security chief to ld her. " There's something off about that guy. And even if he isn't working for Cerberus, he's still a drug addict! I'm no t turning Gillian over to him without a

fi ght. " She knew H endel well enough to realize he wasn't going to back down. She a lso knew Grayson was scared for his daughter's life, an d he wasn't goi ng to let Hendel bully him. If she didn't com e up with a solution, something bad was going to happen. H er mi nd was racing, shuffling through ideas, trying to so rt out some way to resolve the situation. As if o n cue, she saw Grayson and Gillian, still wearing her hospita l gown , exiting the room. H endel saw them, too, and headed straight for them. And that's when a wild plan hatched in Ka hlee's frantic brain. Grayson's heart was pounding as he waited in th e hospital room for a nurse to come and disconnect the machines monitoring Gillian's sta tus. H e had p layed his part well enough so far, but he knew it was o nly a matter of time before the Alliance interrogators got Jiro to cough up the na me of his contact. H e needed to be well away from the station before that happened. H e began to pace anxiou sly in the room, back and forth at the foot of Gillian's bed.

Th e nurse isn't coming. Th e security chief is you. He's stalling. You're out of time.

011

to

H e made a quick turn, breaking o ff his pacing, and

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ste pped quickly over to the bed so he could lean in close to Gillian's ear. "Come on, Gigi. Wake up, honey. It's time to go."

She stirred a nd sat up, her eyes bleary and still halfasleep. "Where a re we going?" H e didn't answer, but instead turned his attention to the machines. Everything loo ked straigh tforward enough.

"We have to hurry, Gigi," he sa id, turning back to his daughter. " I need to unhook the machines, okay?" She looked concerned, the a nxiety on her face mir-

roring his own, hut she nodded. It only took him a mi nute to disconnect her: he just had to remove a few simple electrodes t aped to her head, a mo nitor stra pped to her wrist, a nd anoth er strapped to her abdomen. She flin ched each rime his fingers touched her bare skin, her face twisting into a grimace of discomforr . The moment when s he had reached out and vo luntari ly touched his hand n ow seemed long, long ago. "All done," he said when he was finished. H e cast around the room frantically until he located a pai r of sanda ls in the corner. Picking them up, he brought them over to the side of the bed and set them on the floor. " Put your sh oes on. Quickly, now. " Gillian did as she was to ld, a nd a few seconds later th e two of them were out in the hallway. They didn't get more than ten feet before Grayson felt a heavy hand come down on his sh oulder, hard enough to make him wince. H e spun arou nd, not at a ll su rprised to see it was

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Hendel who had stopped him. Kahlee was sta nding just behind the big security chief, looking confused and uncertain. " You were supposed to wait for the nurse," H endel said in a n angry voice. Grayson shru gged his hand off. "Every second we stay here Gillian cou ld be in danger. I'm done wait. " mg. "Where a re you goi ng to go?" H endel cha llenged. "Where do you think you can take her that Cerberus won't find you ?" " } know people in the Terminus Systems," he a nswered quickly, knowing he had to tell them something. " People I trust." "Who's that? Your dust dealer?" Grayson didn 't a nswer, but si mply turned away. H endel g rab bed him again a nd spu n him around, gra bbi ng his shirt and sla mm ing him up agai nst th e wall. Pinned there, he saw Gillian watching the confrontation with a look of pure terror. "Wa it! " Kahlee said, stepping in to separate them. "What if we ca me with you? " Both men just looked at her like she was crazy. "You want to get Gillian o ut of here," she said to Grayson, spea king quickly. "What if we come with you? I ca n monito r G illian 's implants, a nd H endel has basic medical tra ining." Neirher man rep lied, though H endel did let go of Grayson's sh in and took a step back. "If you're really hiding from a terrorist group then you'll need a ll the help you can ger," Kahlee added. " H ow do I know I ca n trust you two?" Grayson asked in a guarded tone.

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" H endel a lready saved Gillia n's life once," Ka hl ee remi nded him. "As for m e, you'll just have to go with . your . inst incts. " G rayson nodded, this unexpec ted scena rio a lread y playing o ut in his head. It wasn 't the idea l situation, but every second he was still on the st ation brought him closer to being exposed. All he need ed to do was

get clea r of the Academy, then he coul d deal with these two on his own terms . But first he had to sell it. " You understan d w hat

this mea ns, right ? You' ll probably both lose your jobs." Kahlee exchanged glances with Hendel. She turned back to Grayson a nd nodded solemnl y. " Fine. You two ca n com e," he sa id. " But we have to leave right now, a nd we don 't tell anyone w here we're goi ng. If there are o ther Cer berus agents here at the Aca demy, I don 't want to g ive them a chance to follow us." " Fair enoug h," Ka hlee agteed, then turned to H endel. "Are you in? " H e hesitated before responding . " If I'm going to keep an eye on G illia n-and you-then it loo ks like I don 't have a choice." H e met Grayson's gla re. " I'm . " m. G rayson turned back to Gilli an, crouching down slightly so tha t their eyes we re level. She still looked terri fied. " It's okay, Gig i," he sa id so ftl y. "Nobody's mad a n ymore. Now we're a ll going to go o n a trip together, okay?" It too k several seconds for her mind to process the

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si tuatio n , then the fear slipped away, replaced w ith her t yp ical neutral expression. She nodded. The four of them made their way through the hospital and down the corridor toward the la nding bays. Fi ve minutes later they were a t security. Despite several curious looks from the guards on duty, they got throug h with a quick word from H endel. Ten min utes after that they were o n board the sh ip and pulling away from the station , Grayson at the controls whi le H endel, Ka hlee, and Gillian were strapped into the pa ssenger seats near the back. H e had Gillian, and he was away fro m the Academy. And as soon as they accelerated to faster-tha nlight s peed, it would be impossib le for anyone to track them. Of course he still had to figure o ut a way to deal with his two u nwa nted tagalongs, but he was already working on a p la n for that. A physica l confrontation was o ut of the question. Not o nl y was the security chief bigger than him, he was also a biotic w ith a pistol st rapped to his hip. An d he knew from the personnel file s he'd studied that bo th Mitra and Sande rs had a dvanced hand -tohand combat training.

If you hadn 't been half-stoned when you started this trip you might have been smart enough to pack a weapon of YOllr own up here in the cockpit. H e didn't have a nything to dru g them with , and even if he did he doubted H en del woul d let down his guard long enough to take any offered food o r drin k wi th o ut ma king sure it ha dn 't been ta mpered w ith. Fortunately, Grayson wasn't a lone in this. H e typed in a quick coded message, th en sent it off befo re p lotting a course for Omega.

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Let's see how Hendel deals with Pel and his team, he thought, feeling the fainr push of g-forces pressing him into his seat as the ship accelerated to FTL. Only then did he allow himself a long, slow sigh of

relief.

FOURTEEN

Six standa rd weeks ago Lemm 'S ha] nar Tesleya had chosen, like many young and !la"lve quarians be-

fore him, to visit Omega during his Pilgrimage. Foolishly romanticizing what life must he like outside the rigid confines of the Migranr Fleet, he had been fascinated by the idea of millions of inhabitants from all the different s pecies a nd cultu res living in such close proximity, unfettered by laws or gove rnment. H e'd expected to find adventure and excitemenr around every corner, as well as the freedom to do whatever he wanted. It hadn't ta ken him ver y long to di scover the harsh reality: Omega was a cesspool of violence and de-

pravity. Poinrless, random death lurked in the sha dows and alleys. The station was a haven for slavers, and he witnessed firsthand weeping men, women, and children being bought a nd sold like cha ttel. Within a week he'd come to understand that the soca lled freedom of Omega was a perversion of the word. With no laws or government, Rule of Force was the order of the day; the strong thrived and th e weak su ffered horribly. But nobod y ca n stay strong

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forever, and he knew that even those on top wou ld one day find themselves brought low. H e had also learned that the inhabitants of Omega lived in consta nt fear, wrapping themse lves in cloaks of anger and hate to keep it at bay. Driven by selfi shness and greed, their lives were bruta l, short, and m iserable. He pitied their wretched existence, and gave th anks to his a ncestors for the strong sense of belonging an d commun ity fostered among his own p eople.

And so he had left Omega behind, continuing his journey across half a dozen worlds in the Terminus System s. H e realized now that the new appreciation he had gained for quarian society, and its underlying tenets of al truism a nd sac rifice for the grea ter good , was at the core of the Pilgrimage. Many left the Migrant Fleet as children, inexperienced and rebell ious. After seeing how other societies li ved , most returned as adults: w iser a nd dedicated to upholding the cherished idea ls of quarian cul ture. Of course, th ere were always a few who chose not to return, rejecting the flotill a's co llectivism for the tria ls and tribu la tio ns of a lonely, solitary existence. Lemm had no intention of bei ng one of those, but he couldn't go back to the Fleet yet. For though he had learned an importa nt lesson, his Pilgrimage was not yet complete. In order to return he first had to find something of significant value to quarian society, th en present it as a g ift to one of the sh ip captains. If his gift was accepted , he wou ld lose the surname of nar Tes leya, and take the vas surna me of his new capta in 's vessel. Tha t was w hy he had come back to Omega, despite

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his contempt for the place. That was why he was here prowling the streets, looking for a quarian na med Golo. The na me was infamous a mong the inhabitants of the Migrant Fleet. Unlike those who chose to leave th e flotilla of their own accord, or those who never returned from their Pilgrimage, Golo had been banished by the Admiralty. Branded a traitor to his peop le, Go lo had gone to the one place in the galaxy that most m ocked everything the quarians stood fo r and believed in. Somehow he had survived a nd even profited during his exile, though in Lemm's m ind this only reaffirmed the decision to banish him. Anyone who could carve a life for them selves out of the vile fabric of Omega's tattered society had to be cruel , ruthless, and completely untrustworthy. Lemm was traveling light. H e wore a sim ple armo red enviro-suit equipped with sta ndard kinetic barriers, and a ba ckpack of su pplies slu ng over his shoulder. His most prized possession-a gift bestowed upon h im before embarking on his Pilgrimage by the ca ptain of the Tes/eya-was his shotgun: a turia n manufactu red Armax Arsenal high-caliber weapon, cu stomized with a dvanced a utotargeting and reduced kickback mods. H is shotgun wasn't a ll he was armed with, however. Before leaving the flotilla , a ll quarians were given a rigorou s, six-month progra m to prepare them for the weeks, months, or even years they m ight need to survive on their own before th eir rite of passage came to an end. The va ried curriculum included weapons an d combat training; lesson s in the history, biology, and culture of all major known species; basic

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first a id; rudimentary in struction on piloting a nd naviga tion for a wide variety of common spacecraft; and specifi c technologica l skill s such as decryption, electronics, and computer hacking. Every quaria n who left the safety of the Fleet was well prepared to face the dangerous situations they would encounter. More important, they were taught that the best way to survive trouble was to avoid it whenever possible. So when Lemm heard the sound of gu nfire coming from severa l b locks away, his fir st

in stinct was

to

whip his shotgu n off his ha ck and di ve

for cover.

Crouched in the darkened doorway of what he hoped was a deserted building, he thought back to the last time he had come to this world. The streets of Omega ha d been busy and crowded everywhere he went, despite the constant threat of robbery, beati ngs, and even mu rde r. H ere, however, in a district caught in a bloody war between two riva l factions, th e streets were virtua lly empty. H e had o nly seen a handful of people, scurrying from one build ing to another, hunched over and crouching low in the hopes of avoiding notice . Their apprehen sion was understandable. Lemm himself had already been s hot at twice by snipers hidden away in the upper floors of bui ldings lining th e streets. The first had m issed him completel y, striking the ground near his feet. The second had launched a bullet that would have pierced his skull had it not been deflected by his armor's kinetic barriers. In both cases Lem m had res po nded with the only sane course of action- he'd ducked around the nearest corner,

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then fl ed the scene in sea rch of a new route to his destination. Doubling back throug h the twisting, confusing st reets of Omega was a good way to end up lost; it was a ll too easy to accidentally wander d own the wrong back a lley a nd never come out again. Fortuna tely Lemm, like most q ua ria ns, had an excellent sense of d irection. The haphazard, a lmost random way in which the cit y had been built up over the centuries was similar to the environ ment of h is home. M any of the ships in the Migrant Fleet ha d evolved into convolu ted mazes where eve ry inch of available space was valued and exploi ted. Temporary walls were often used to transform halls or corridors into rooms, an d everything was held together with makeshift repairs and jury-rigged materials. The sound of gu nfire continued, but to his relief it grew softer as the tide of barrie drew the conflict to st reets and bui ldings in the op posi te direction of where he was headed. Stepping warily back out into th e open street he contin ued o n his way, weapon still drawn. A few m in utes later he arrived at his destination. The entra nce to the Fortu ne's Den ga mbl ing ha ll showed evidence of severa l recent battles. The sig n above the door was scorched with burn marks and hung a t an awkward angle, as if someone ha d quickly replaced it a fter ir had been shor down or blown o ff by an explos ion. The door, m ade of reinforced mer'll, was sruck ha lf-open. Pockmarked fro m rhe impacr of srray rou nds, it had been warped and rwisred, probab ly by rhe sa m e explosion rhat had dis lodged rhe sign.

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Karpyshyn

As a result it had jammed ha lfway between open and shut, unable to travel freely on its tracks. He slid his pack off, letting it fall to the ground just outside the entrance . Taking a deep breath, and still clutching his shotgun , he turned sideways a nd slipped throug h the partially obstructed doorway. There were five hatarians inside-one behind the bar, the other four seated around a table p laying ca rds. H e n oticed th ey a ll had weapons either strapped to their sides or resting on the table within easy reach. On the back wall someone had mounted the hea d of a krogan and

a val us. They looked fresh. Everyone of the hata rians turned to sta re at h im, thou gh none made a move for their weapons. Holding his sh otgu n casually in one hand, Lemm crossed the room toward the bar, trying to igno re the twenty eyes watching his every move. " I'm looking for the owner. Olthar." The bartender fl ashed a cruel grin, and nodded in the direction of the heads on the wall. "We're under new management. " Behind Lemm, the other bata ri ans laughed loudly. " I need to find a quarian na med Golo," Lemm said, unfazed , offering no reaction to the gruesom e joke. He did bring his shotgun up and set it on top of the bar, keeping one hand casually resting o n the stock, inches from the trigger. The last time he'd been on Omega, he'd n oticed th at an air of cold certainty and unshakab le confidence could make others think twice before allowing a situa tion to escalate into violence. It didn't always work, of course, but that was why he had brought out the s hotgun.

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"Golo doesn't come here anymore." " I'll give you two hund red credits if you tell m e where to find him," he offered. The batarian tilted his head to the right-a gesture of contempt among that particular sp ecies. H is two u pper eyes slowly blinked , while the botto m pair continued to sta re at the interlo per. " You sound young," the bartender noted. " Do you want Golo to help you on your Pilgrimage?" Lemm didn 't answer the qu estion. Despi te a ll their training and preparation, quarians o n their Pilgrimage were genera lly regarded by other species as inexperienced or vulnerable. H e couldn't afford to sh ow any weakness. " Do you wa nt the credits or not ?" " H ow about instea d of telling you where to find Golo, we just take your credits and that fa ncy weapon of yours, a nd mount your head u p on th e wa ll wi th O lthar and his pet? " H e hea rd more laughter behind him, and the sound of sliding cha irs as the batarians rose to their feet in anticipation. Lemm didn 't even bother to move; there was no way he could survive a fight in the ba r. None of the batarians were wearing armor, but it was still five agai nst one. H is kinetic shields might keep him alive for a few seconds, but under a hai l of gunfire they'd be drained before he even ma de it back o ut the door. H e had to be sm art if he was go ing to make it out of here a live. Fo rtunately, batarians could be reasoned with. They were merchants by natu re, not warriors. If this had been a room full of kroga n, he'd have been dead the mom ent he wa lked in.

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"You could kill me," he admitted, staring straight at the bartender's unblinking lower eyes while tapping his fin ge rs gently on the stock of the shotgun resting o n the ba r. "But I'd make sure to t a ke at least one of you d own with me. "The c h oice is yours. Give m e Golo's location and let me leave quietly. Or everyone starts shooting and we see i f you can survive a shotgun blast to the face from point-blank range. Either way, all you end up with is two hundred credits." Both sets of the hatarian's eyes drifted slowly down to the shotgun, then hack up to Lemm.

"Check the markets in the Carrd district," he sa id. Le mm r eached into one of the exterior pockets of his enviro-suit, moving slowly so as not to sta rtle anyone into thinking he was go ing for a hidden weapon, and pulled out two o ne-h unclred-cred it chi ps. H e dropped them onto the bar, picked up his shotgun, and slowly backed o ut the d oor into the street, keeping his eyes on the batarians the entire time. There he retrieved his pack and headed back the way he had come, toward the mo n orail that, if it was still operationa l, would ta ke him where he needed to go.

Golo wasn't su rprised to find the markets in the Carrd district far busier than us ual. With the ongoing war between the volus a nd the batarians in the neighboring district, merchants and custo mers a like had moved their business over to the nea rby section of the statio n controlled by th e e1cor. The extra crowd s were a n inconvenience, but there were few other places he could go. Quarian food was a rarity o n Omega. While it was possible for him to

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safely consume a va riety of turian products-the two species shared the same dextro-amino-acid-based biology-he still had to be wary of contami nation. Bacteria a nd germ s that were completely harmless to turia ns could be fatal to his own virtua lly nonexistent Immune system. Quarians leaving the flotill a had the option of packing travel rations: containers of highly concentrated nutrient paste they could ingest through a sma ll , sealable feeding tube on the underside of their helmer. The paste was bland a nd tasteless, but it was possible to store a month 's worth of rations in a si ngle backpack, and it was com mercially available th roug hout both the Terminu s Systems and Council Space. H owever, Colo, a n exile with no hope of ever returning to the Fleet, didn 't relish th e idea of consuming nothing but tubes of paste for the rest of his life. Fortunately, he had struck a long-term deal with a n elcor shopkeepe r willing to bring in regular shipments of purified turian cuisine. H e had to fi ght his way throu gh the crowd for several mo re minutes before he fina lly ma de it to the shop. Stepping inside, he was su rprised to see another quarian on the premises . H e was wearing armor over his enviro-sui t-a surefi re way to a ttra ct unwanted attention, in Colo's mind-a nd he had what appeared to be a very expensive shotgun strapped to his back. It was impossible to tell his age beneath his clothing and mask , but Colo suspected he was young. It wouldn't be the first time he'd encountered another of his own species who had come to Omega as part of their Pilgrimage .

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He nodded by way of greeting. The oth er didn't speak hut returned the nod. Golo proceeded to pick up his order a t the cou nter. When he tu rned back he was surprised to see that the other quarian was gone. Golo's finely honed surv iva l instincts began to sound an a larm. His species were highly socia l beings. Their first inclination when seeing a fellow quarian on a n al ien world wou ld be to in itiate a conversation, not vanish w itho ut saying a worcl.

"I'll

com e

back for th ese later, " he sa id, ha nding

his sack of groceries to the e1ear sho pkeeper. " Genuine concern: is something w ro ng?" the e1ea r asked him in th e deep, toneless voice common to the specIes.

"Mind if I leave through the back door? " "Sincere offer: You are welcome to do so if you w ish. " Golo moved to the rear of the store an d slipped o ut the emergency exit into the alley. H e hadn't gone five steps when he heard someone speaking in quarian from directly behind him. " D o n't move or I b low your head off." Knowing the s ho tgu n he'd seen ea rlier could literally decapitate him from this range , Golo froze. "Turn around, slowly." H e did as instructed. As he'd suspected, the young quarian from inside the shop was sta nding in the center of the a lley, p ointi ng the sh otgu n squa rely at his chest. "Are you Golo?" " You wou ldn't be ho lding a gun on me if I was someone else," he a nswered, seeing no hope in trying to lie his way o ur of the situ ation.

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"Do you know why I'm here? " "No," he answered truthfully. Over the past decade he had committed dozens of acts that might have ca used another quarian to hunt him down in search of vengeance. There was no point in trying to guess which one had set off this particular young man. "A scout shi p from the Ideflna was brokering a deal here on Omega last week . The Cyniad. They disappeared. I think you know what hap pened to them. " "Who are you? Are you part of the Ide1l11a crew?" Golo as ked, stalling until he could come up with a p lan. "My name is Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya," the other replied. Golo wasn't surprised to get an answer to his question. Even on the flotill a, quarians tended to wear their enviro-suits at a ll times: a n extra layer of protection aga inst hull breaches a nd other disasters that could befa ll their rickety ships. As a resu lt, excha nging na mes at every meeting was a deeply ingrained habit. He'd been counting on this, and knowing his adversa ry's na me gave him something to work with. H e didn't recognize his Shal clan name, but the nar in Lemm's s urname marked him as technica lly still a child, which meant he was most likely here o n his Pilgrimage. Furthermore, he was associa ted with the vessel Tes/eya, not the Idenna, which meant he didn't know the crew persona lly. He must have heard about th em secon dhand, possibly from a nother qu arian he had run into during his recent travels. Golo quickly fo rmed a likely scenario in his head.

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Someone had mentioned the disappearance of the Cyniad to him in passing. Now Lemm believed that if he could locate the missing scout ship and its crew-or at least discover their fate-then he cou ld g ive this information to the ldemw's captain . In return, he would be accepted into the Idelllla's crew and his Pi lgrimage would be over. "What m akes you think I know anyth ing about the Cyniad?" he as ked, hoping to bluff the young man

into backing down. "Th e Migrant Fleet doesn't do business with Omega," Lemm answered, not lowering the barrel of his sh otgu n. "Somebody mu st have initiated contact with the Cyniad to propose the deal that made them come here. Only a noth er quarian would know how to do that. And you 're the most infa mous qu arian o n this station." Gala frowned behind his mask. The kid was simply p laying a hunch; it was only dumb luck that it happened to be right. H e briefly cons idered denying his in volvement, then rea lized he had a n easie r way out. " I guess my reputation proceeds me," he a d mitted. " I contacted the Cyniad, but I was only the middleman. The individua l actually behind th e d eal was a human. " "What human?" " H e to ld m e h is na me was Pel," he said with an indifferent shrug. " H e was willing to pay me to contact th e Cyniad, and I was happy to take his money. I didn't rea lly want to know more than that. " "Weren't you worried he was setting th e c rew of th e Cyniad up ? Luring them into a trap ?" "The Fleet turned its back on me. Why should I

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ca re what hap pens to a n y of them as long as I get paid?" It was the best kind of lie; o ne s pun with a thread of unp leasant truth. By honestly owning up to his ca llousness and greed it made his denial of direct involvem ent seem more believable. " You sicken me," Lemm sai d. If he hadn't been wearing his visor, Golo sus pected he would have sp it on the ground. " I should ki ll you where you stand!" " I don't know what happened to the crew of th e Cyniad," Golo sa id quickly, before Lemm could work up his anger enough to actua lly pull the trigger, " but 1 know how you can find out." H e hesitated, then added, "Give me five hundred credits and I'll tell you . " Lemm brought the shotgun up so he could sight down th e barrel, then stepped forward until it was pressed hard aga inst the other qu aria n 's mask. " H ow about you tell me fo r free?" " Pel 's renting a warehouse in the Talon district," Golo sputtered out. Lemm took a half step back, lowering the shotgun. "Take me there. Now." "Don't be stupid," Golo snapp ed , emboldened now that the weapon was no longer pointing directly at him. "What if he has lookouts? What do you think they'll do when they see two quarians strolling down the street toward their hideout? "If you want to do this, you have to be smart," he said, his voice slipping into a slick merchant's patter. " I can tell you where the warehouse is, but that's the easy pa rt. You ' ll need to scout it out. Figu re out

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what's going on before you try to get inside. You need

a plan, a nd I ca n help. " " I th o ug ht you didn't care what happened to the Migra nt Fleet. Why do you suddenl y want to help ?" Lemm asked , clearly suspicious. " I could pretend it's because I feel gu ilty that I might have accidenta lly led the CYlliad inro a trap," Golo explained , spinn ing another half-truth. " But honestly, I just fi gure this is the best way to keep you from shovi ng that shotgun in m y face agai n. " Lemm seemed satisfi ed with the expla nation. "Okay, we'll try it your way." " Let's get off the street," Gola suggested. " Find somewhere more private. Like my apartmenr." " Lead the way," Lemm a nswered , collapsing his shotgu n a nd sla pping it once aga in into the cli p o n

the small of his back. Gala smiled under his mask as he led the young ma n from the alley. Pel and his team will rip you apart, boy. Especially when I warn them that you're coming.

FIFTEEN

"Are you ever goi ng to tell us where we're going?"

Ka hlee asked, sta rtling Grayson from a fitful doze. With the adrenaline rush of their escape fading, his body had crashed a nd he'd fallen asleep in the pilot's chai r. Not that it really ma ttered; once the course was p lotted there was nothing for him to do during FfL travel. Knowing an a lert from the ship would wake him once they got within range of the mass relay that would take them from Counc il Space into the Termi-

nus Systems, he had simply let his mind drift away. "Sorry," he mumbled, his mouth dry and his tongue thick and woolen, "guess I drifted off." Kahlee sat down in the seat beside him, and he saw her nose wrinkle as if assailed by a pungent odor. Grayson looked down at his shirt a nd rea lized he was soa ked in swea t; the sour perspiration of a duster going into the fir st stages of withdrawal. Embarrassed, he did his best to lean away from her witho ut being obvious about it. " I was just wondering where we're goi ng," Kahlee said, t actfully pretending not to notice the smell. " I was wondering rhat, too," H endel added from behind him.

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Twisti ng in his chai r, he saw the security chief sta nding at t he cockpit doorway, his broad shoulders al most completely blocking the view into the passenge r cabin beyond.

" I thought yO li were wa tching Gillian," Ka hlee said, pointedly. "She's sleeping," Hendel replied gruffly. "She's fine." " I have a contact on Omega," Grayson said, turn-

ing his attemion back to Ka hlee. "Om ega?" H er voice was a mixt ure of alarm and surprise. "We don 't h ave any other cho ice," he said grimly.

"Maybe we do. I have frie nds who ca n hel p li S," Ka hlee assured him. " 1 know Captai n Dav id Anderson persona lly. I t rust him with my life. I g uarantee he can protect you a nd you r da ugh ter."

To Grayson's rel ief, Hendel actua lly shot the idea down. " Th at's not an option. Cerberus has peop le in the All iance. Maybe we can trust Anderson, b ut h ow are we supposed to get in touch with him? H e's a n im po rta nt ma n now, we ca n 't just show up on the Citadel and walk into his office. "Cerberu s probably has agents repo rting on every move people like the captai n make," he contin ued. " If we send a message, t hey'll k now we're coming long before he ever will. We'd never reach h im ." " I neve r t hought you'd take my side," G rayson said, studying t he other ma n carefu ll y as he tried to figu re out w ha t a ngle he was playing. " I just want w hat's best for Gill ia n . Right now, t hat mean s getti ng her o ut of Council Space. But Omega woul dn't have been my fi rst choice. There a re plenty of other places to hide in the Term inu s Systems."

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"We ca n 't go to any of the hu ma n co lonies," Grayson insisted . " The Alliance has people stationed there, an d they track a ll incom ing vessels. And we'll stick out like sore thumbs on any of the aliencontro lled worlds. Omega's the one place we ca n go to blen d in." H endel consi dered his arguments, then sa id , " I still want to know who your contact is." It appeared to be the closest he would come to admitting Grayson was right. "A custo mer of mine named Pel," Grayson lied. " I've so ld him almost two dozen vessels over the past twenty years." "What kind o f bus iness is he in?" Ka hlee asked. " Import, export " was his evasive reply. " Drug runner," H endel grunted. "Told you he was taking u s to his dealer." " H ow do we know he won't tu rn us over to Cerberus?" Kahlee wanted to know. " H e d oesn't know anything about Gillian being biotic, or why we're really coming," Grayson exp lained. " I told him 1 was caught with a stash of red sa nd during a t rip to the Cita del. H e thinks I'm on the run from C-Sec." "An d how do the rest of u s fit into this?" H en del asked. " H e a lrea dy knows I ha ve a daughter. I'll tell him Ka hlee's m y girlfri end, and you 're the crooked C-Sec officer I bribed to get me o ff the statio n. " "So he's expecting u s?" H endel asked. Grayson nodded. " I sent him a message when we left the Academy. I'll log into the comm network

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when we drop o ut of FfL a t the next mass relay to see if he sent a reply." " } want to see the message he sen ds you ."

"H endel!" Kahlee objected, offended at the violation of Grayson's privacy. " I'm nor taking a ny chances," H endel answered. "We're purring our lives in his hands. I wanr to kn ow who we're dealing w ith. " "S ure," Grayson sa id. "No problem ." H e took a quic k peek at the readouts to get a sense of where they were on the jou rney. "We should reach the relay in anoth er hour." "Tha t g ives you time to take a shower," H e ndel

told him. "Try to wash the stink of the drugs off before your daugh ter wakes up." The re really wasn't anything Grayson could say to

th at. He knew Hendel was right. Sixty minu tes later he was back in the pilot's chair, cleaned an d wearing a fres h set o f clothes. H e'd stopped sweating, but now there was a s light tremble in his hands as he a djust ed the contro ls. H e knew it would only get worse the longer he went without a nother hit. Kahlee was still s itting in the passenger seat , and H endel was once again sta nding behind him, leaning on the cockpit's door frame. Gillian contin ued to sleep peacefully in the back; Grayson ha d checked o n her before an d after his shower. A soft electronic chime from the naviga ti on panel warned them a second before the ship dropped from FfL flight. They felt the faint surge of decele ration, and then the navigation screens ca me al ive as their

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vessel began picking up nearby ships, sma ll asteroids, and other objects large enough to register o n the senso rs. The enormous mass relay showed up as a blinking blue dot near the center of the monitor. Despite the m uscle tremors, Grayson's hands moved with a quick confidence over the controls as he plotted th eir approach. " You going to check the messages?" H endel as ked, th e qu estion a none-too-subtle remi nder of his su sp icion. "Just need to locate a comm buoy . . . okay, got one. Linking in." There was a s hort beep, and one of the mon itors fli ckered to indicate a new message had been downloaded from the interstellar netwo rk of communication buoys used to transmit messages across the vast expa nse of the galaxy. " Play it," H endel told him. Grayson punched a button, and Pel 's face app eared on the screen , his voice filling the cockpit. "Got your m essage. Sorry things fell a part, but I warned you about getting sloppy," he sa id, raising one eye brow. " Lucky fo r you I think I can help. I'm sending the coordinates for a lan ding pad nea r my warehouse on Omega. I'll be there with some of my crew to meet yOli when you touch down." There was a brief pause, and then Pel laughed. " YOli understand th is is going to cost yOll , right ? YOli know how mll ch I hate clea ning up som eone el se's mess. " There was another beep from the monito r, a nd the

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image froze, the message ended. In h is mind, Grayson breathed a sigh of rel ief, though he gave no outward in d ication of h ow he felt. H e'd expected Pel's message to he discreet; Cerberus ope ratives were well versed in the art of ambiguous double talk when u sing nonsecure bandwidth. But w ith H endel loom ing over

him, he'd still felt a tingle of app rehension when he'd pu shed the playback. " Pretty vague," the security chief muttered.

"This is a public chan nel," Grayson sna pped back at him , his nerves still o n edge and begging for a

quick hit of red sa nd. " Did

yO li

rea ll y think he'd

admit to being a drug baron?" " } think that's as mu ch confi rma tion as we' re going to get," Ka hlee to ld her partner. H endel con sid ered for a long momem , then nodded. "Okay, but I sti ll don't like it. Ta ke us th roug h the relay." Grayson bristled at being g iven what sou nded like a direct order; this was his ship, after a ll. But he did as he was told , initia ting the cou rse he had programmed before picking up th e message. " You look like you need some sleep," Kahlee sa id to the security chief. " Yo u go lie d own. I'll keep a n eye on Gillian." And 0 11 me, I'll bet, Grayson thought. But he wasn't about to try a n ything now. H e could simply wait umil they landed at Omega, and Pel and his team would take care of everything. As their ship shot forward to be sna tched up by a twisting, shimmering bolt of energy unleashed fro m the m ass relay, he couldn't help smiling at how well

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things were going to work our. H e noticed Kahlee, unaware of what he was rea lly thinking, smil ing back. Lemm peered through the binoculars at the nondescript warehouse. H e'd been watching it for severa l hours now, p erched atop the roof of a tall, four-story building on the next block . So far, he'd seen little to indicate anything unusual was going on, though a ll th e windows were m ade of tinted one-way glass, making it impossible ro see inside. " } haven't n oticed any gua rds on duty," he muttered. "They' re there," Golo assured him. " Heavily a rmed. Pel doesn't trust nonhumans." Lemm didn't bother to ask why a xenophobe would set up operations in a place like Omega; greed could overcome almost any prejudice . The warehouse, like most of the s urrounding b uild ings, was a sho rt, squat structure only two stories

h;gh.

"If I can get close enough to scale the wa ll , maybe I can sneak in through one of the second-story windows," he sa id, thinking our loud. "They'll have security cameras on the street," Go lo warned him. "You'll do better coming in fro m above. " H e real ized the other quarian was right. From their current perch he could leap over to the neighboring three-story building, dropping down one floor to land atop it. With the way the block had been laid o ut, he could continue o n from there, hopping from rooftop to rooftop until he reached the warehouse.

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"Good idea," he admitted. He still didn 't like the other quarian; Golo would always be a despicable traitor in his eyes. But he had to

admit that he had been extremely helpful in plan-

ning Lemm's assa ult on the warehouse. It was a lmost enough to m ake him start trusting him; almost, but not qUite.

Golo seemed determined to prove himself, however. H e'd even managed to acquire architectu ra l plans for the warehouse's interior: a mind-boggling mess of twisting halls and stairwells that doubled back and fonh, seemingly in an effort to confuse and disorient a nyone inside. Despite the convol uted layout, Lemm had a lready m emorized the bl uepri nts. In

simple terms, the fro nt hal f of th e building was divided into two floor s. Offices had been converted into barracks on the grou nd level; the second sto ry consisted primari ly of small storage rooms. Th e rear of the building was an open, high-ceilinged garage large enough to h o ld scores of s hipping crates an d severa l vehicles. As he watched, the garage door rolled up a nd a pair of rovers s ped o ut, heading toward the nearby spaceport. H e didn 't bother moving; there wa s virtually no cha nce they would s pot him lyi ng fl at on a rooftop hundreds of yards away. " What are they doing? " " Picking up a shipment, maybe?" Golo s uggested. Lemm briefly considered his chances of trying to sneak in to have a quick look around before they got back. Golo had told him there were fi ve m en and three women working fo r Pel-nine hu ma ns in total. H e had no idea how ma ny had gone off in the vehi-

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cles, but it was likely only a few had been left behind to guard the building. If the c rew from the CYlliad were being held as prisoners inside, as he su spected, this might be his best opportunity to rescue them . " I'm going in." " D o n't be stupid!" Golo hissed , grabbing him by th e shoulder as he tried to sta nd up. " It's broad daylight ! They' ll see you comi ng!" "There's probably only two or three people in there now. I like those odds better than nine agai nst one." "Those vehicles could com e back at any time," Golo reminded him. " Then you'd still be o utnumbered, and they'd be the ones ca tching YOll by su r. " pnse. Lemm hesitated. H is g ut was telling him to m a ke his move, even though everything the older quarian was saying made logica l sense. "Stick with the original plan. Go in to morrow night. You'll have more time to prepare. Plus, it'll be dark a nd most of them will be asleep." With a sigh, Lemm settled back down a nd resumed his vigil. H e didn't like si tting around doing noth ing, but Go lo was right yet again . H e ha d to be p atient. The vehicles returned less than thirty minutes later. They disappeared into the ga rage, the heavy steel door sla mmi ng sh ut behind them. "We've seen all we're going to see," Go lo to ld him. " Let's go. You need to get some rest so you're ready for to morrow night. You ca n sleep at my apartment. " Clearly sensing Lemm's hesitation, Gala added , " I know. You still don't trust me. Ju st keep your shotgu n under your pillow if it makes you feel safer. "

• • •

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Grayson brought the shuttle in to land with a long, slow approach. The sensors picked up two vehicles parked just beyond the wall separating the docks from the interior of the station; he assumed they be-

longed to Pel and his team. They landed with the softest of bumps. H e sh ut down the controls, killed th e engines, then ma de his way from the cockpi t back ro where the others were waiting. H endel a nd Kahlee were sta nding o n either side of

Gillian, the three of them waiting for him in the ship's airlock. Gillian had changed our of the hospital robe into one of her old swea ters and an old pair of her

pants th ey'd found in the back of the ship. She'd obviou sly grown si nce she last wore the clothes-rh, sleeves stopped halfway down her forearm, and th e pant cuffs stopped several inches above her ankles. She was still wearing the sandals from the h ospital. She smil ed as Grayson a pproached, and he stepped in beside her, intentiona lly placing himself between his da ughter and the security chief, w ho scowled. " Let me do the talking," Grayson warned him as he activated the airlock. The door behind them snapp ed shut, seal ing them in. There was a rush of air as the ship's systems equa lized the interior and exterior pressure before op ening the outer door and extending the covered la nding p latform th at would take them safely through the vacuum of the docks and into the breathable air of th e station. With Grayson and Gillian in the lead and Kahlee and H endel following, they wa lked slowly down the ramp until they were standing on the level grou nd of

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Omega's surface, where Pel a nd five people Grayson didn't recognize were waiting for them: three men and two women, all wearing armor a nd carrying guns. Despite the mil itary gea r, they seem ed relaxed and at ease. A few of them were even smiling. " H ow's it going, Killer?" the big man sai d , coming over to greet them. "Killer?" Grayson heard H endel mutter, but he ignored the comment as he stepp ed forward to shake Pel 's offered ha nd. "This is it?" Pel asked with a toothy grin, his hearty g rip nearly crushing Grayson's fin gers. "Everyone's off the ship an d ready to go?" "J ust the four of us," Grayson confirm ed , wincing slightly as he pulled his hand free a nd took a step backward. " Let me introduce ... " The words d ied in his mouth as Pel a nd the others all brought their weapons up simulta neous ly, pointing them at the new arrivals in a n unmistakable gesture of hostility. Their casua l attitude had va nished, replaced by one that was hard a nd dangerous. Grayson swore silently to himself; he'd to ld Pel to act with discretion so he didn't upset Gillian. H e was about to say som ething to this effect when he suddenl y rea lized one of the women was polntmg a weapon at him , as well. "What's going on, Pel ?" "Everybod y stay calm a nd nobody gets hurt," Pel warned. To one of the men on his tea m he said, " Th e big m an and the g irl. They're biotics. Put them out first. " The ma n ho lstered his weapon a nd pulled out what looked like a n a uto ma ted, multica rtridge hypoder-

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mic. H e stepp ed up to H endel , moving with welltrained precision. " Hold out your wrist," Pel ordered.

Hendel simply glared a t him. " H old out your wrist or I sh oot the woman," Pel

clarified, aiming his pistol at Kahlee's face. Th e security chief reluctantly complied, exten ding his arm

wi th his palm up. The ma n grabbed the tips of his fin ge rs and bent th em down slightly, then reached o ut with th e hypodermic and pressed it aga in st the exposed underside of his wrist. There was the sharp sou nd of a hightension spring releasing, a nd H endel gru nted softly as the rip of an unseen needle penetrated his skin, injecting him with some unkn own drug. A second later he swooned and collap sed, unconscious. " H endel!" Ka hlee shouted, leaping to catch him before his head sm acked the grou nd. She staggered under hi s weight a nd fell at the feet of the ma n w ith the hypodermic, H endel 's body sprawled on top of her. The ma n reached down and pressed the hypodermic aga in st her neck. There was another sharp recoil from the sp ring, a nd a second later Ka hlee slu mped over uncon scIous. "Daddy?" Gillian ca lled out, her voice trembling. H er eyes were w ide with fear and incomprehension. "The girl! " Pel snapped. " Quickly!" " Please, don't," Grayson plea ded, but his fo rmer partner wouldn't even t urn to look at him. The woman holding the gun o n him gave a slig ht sha ke of her head, warning him not to move.

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The man gra bbed Gillian's wrist and roughly exten ded her arm. Her face twisted in agony at his touch and she let out a long, wailing scream. Ob livious, the ma n jammed the device aga inst her skin and released another dose of the fast-acting na rcotic. Gillian's scream was cut off an d her features went sla ck as she passed out in the ma n's arms. H e lowered her until she lay on the grou nd, not gently bur carefully. Then he ca me over to Grayson. " Did he at least say why?" Grayson asked , sta n ding motionless as the man reached out with the hypodermic a nd pressed it against the side of his neck. "We d on't take orders from the Illusive M an anymo re," Pel replied. There was the n ow familiar sou nd of the spring's recoil, a nd the world slipped away before Grayson had time to ask what he mea nt. H e had no idea how much time had passed befo re he finally woke up, but it felt like he'd been out fo r severa l hours a t least. The familiar cravi ng to dust up was there waiting for him, bur it was more mental than physical. Red sand was a d rug that ten ded to clear the body's system quickly; the physical symptoms of withdrawal u sua lly faded within twelve to sixteen hours. Tha t was probably a good thing, considering that he now found himself lying on the floor in what appeared to be a makeshift holding cell. There was a door, presumab ly locked, o n the far wall, and the only illum ina tion ca me from a high-efficie ncy LED light overhead . The room was devoid of a ll furniture

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and decorations, though there was a sma ll ca mera up in the corner to keep an eye on him. Pu shing himself inro a sitting position, it took a moment for his still groggy min d to register the fact that he wasn't a lone. Ka hlee was sitting with her back against the wall in th e opposite corner. "Guess you r fr iend is going to ha nd us over to Cerberus after a ll," she said. H e was confused for a m o ment, until he realized

she hadn 't heard his fina l conversation with Pel. She still thought he was a drug dealer, an d she had no idea who Grayson was rea lly wo rking for.

"} don't think he's wo rking with Cerberus," he admitted, figuring th at sm a ll bit of information could do no ha rm. "Do yO ll know what happened to Gillian?" She shook her hea d. " I haven 't seen her or H endel. " G rayson chewed his lip, thinking hard. " Pel knows they're biotics," he mutte red. " H e mu st be taking extra precautions with them. Probably keep them both u nconsciou s until ... " he trailed off, rea lizing he had no idea what Pel had pla nned fo r them. " You checked the door?" he asked her. "They disconnected the access panel. It o nly opens from the outside ." She shifted and crossed her legs, trying to find a more comfortable position on the hard floor. "Any idea how we ca n get o ut of this?" The o nly a nswer he could give her was a shake of his head. There wasn't anything more to say, and so th ey sat like that for a good ten mi nutes before th e door o p ened with a loud swoosh, startling them both. Pel came into the room, accompa nied by a pair of

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armed g uards, a nd set a small wooden chair d own in th e center of the fl oo r. As he settled into h is sea t the gua rds took up p osi ti o ns on either side of the door, which rema ined open. "Fig ured l owed you an exp la nation after a ll we've been through," he sai d. "Where's my daughter?" Grayson demanded a ngrily, not ca ring to listen to Pel's attem pts at justifying his betraya l. "Don't wo rry, she's safe. We wouldn 't want to hurt her. She's too va luable. Same with your friend," he added, turning to Ka hlee. " H ow much is Cerberu s paying you? " she asked. Pel laughed, and Grayson felt his stomach clench. "Cerberus pays pretty well," the b ig m an a dmitted. " Isn't that right, Killer ?" Kahlee looked over at him, but Grayson could n't meet her gaze. "So H endel was right," she sai d , her voice ho peless and defeated rather than angry as the truth dawned on her. "You and Jiro were working together. H ow could a fath er do that to his own child ?" Grayson neve r even con sidered defending himself by claimi ng that he wasn't Gillian's rea l father. There was no biologica l link between them, but he had raised her from infancy. For ten years he alone had ca red for her, teach ing and n u rturing her until s he'd been accepted into the Ascension Project. She had been, and still was, the center an d totality of his world. There was no doubt in his min d she was truly his daughter; if she hadn 't been, everything would have been so much easier.

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"It was never meant to be like this, " he sa id sofrly. "Gillian is specia l. All we were trying to do was hel p her tap into her biotic abilities. We just wanted her to reach her full potentia l. " "Kind of sou nds like your Ascens ion Proj ect, doesn't it? " Pel sa id to Kahlee, grin ning. " We would never do a nything to endanger the life of a student!" she shot hack at him, finall y showing some a nger. "Nothing is wo rth t hat risk !" "What if it meant helping d ozens-o r even tho llsa nds---of other li ves?" Grayson asked quietly. " What if your child had the potential to be a savior of the enti re human race? W ha t is that worth ? Then w hat wou ld you risk? " "In other words," Pel chimed in, still grinning, " if you wa nt to make an omelet, you h ave to break a few eggs. " "They're no t eggs!" Kahlee shouted. " They're children! " "Not everyone can be saved ," Grayson said, repeating the words o f the Illusive Man, though he stared down at the fl oor as he s poke. " If humanity is to s urvive, sacrifices mu st be made for the greater good. The Alliance doesn't understand this . Ce rberus does. " " Is that w hat we are?" Kahlee demanded, her voice fill ed with contempt. "Martyrs to the ca u se?" "Not really," Pel sa id, gleefully interrupting once mo re. "See, Cerberus pays well. But the Collectors pa y better." " I thought the Co ll ectors we re just myth," Kahlee m uttered, as if s he s uspected Pel was toying w ith her.

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"Oh , they're real. And they're paying good money for healrhy human b io tics. We'll ma ke enough o ff that girl and your friend to live like kings for the rest of our lives." " What do the Collectors want with them?" she asked. Pel shrugged. " I figure it's probably bener if I don't know all the grisly details. M igh t give me nig htmares. You know w hat th at's like, right, Killer? " " You ' re a traitor to the cause. A t raitor to the enti re human race." "Cerberu s really su nk their hooks into you," Pel sa id w ith a laugh. " You know, if a ll their agents we re th is dedicated, the Ma n might acru ally accom plish something. But the fact is, it's human nature to look out for nu m ber o ne. Too bad you never figured that our. " " What's going to happen to the two o f us?" Kahlee asked. " I figure the Collectors w ill pay us a linle bo n us fo r you, sweet-cheeks, seeing as you 're something of a n expe rt o n h uma n biotics. "As for myo id friend over there, we'll throw him in for free. Should help buy u s some time to disap pea r before Cerberu s fi gures out w hat hap pened." "T he lllu sive Man will hunt you down like dogs," Grayson sna rled . Pel stood up fro m his cha ir. " With th e ki nd of rewards they're offering, that's a cha nce I'm w illing to take. " H e nodded toward Kahlee. " Throw her in wi th th e other two. If we leave the two of th em alone together she' ll probably scra tch his eyes o ut."

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One of the guards stepped forward and hauled

Ka hlee to her feet, dragging her from the ceiL Pel , cha ir in ha nd, paused just before cl osi ng the door. "Nothing personal, Killer," he sa id, getting the last word in as always.

SIXTEEN

Pel fo llowed the guard and Kahlee down the hall to the room on the far end, then opened the door so they could ross her in. The woma n gasped w hen she saw the two figu res lying m otionless on the floor.

" Relax, sugar," Pel sa id with a wink. "They're just . " unconscIous. The guard shoved her into the room and the doo r

slid shut befo re she could reply. " Keep a close eye on the ca m eras," Pel warned th e two guards charged with watching the monitors that

showed the inside of each cell. " If either one of those biotics even rolls over in their slee p, you hit them w ith another dose of the night-n ight juice. We' re not taking any chances with them. "

They nodded in acknowledgment, a nd Pel left them there, heading for his bed o n the ground floor. It was already past midnight, and he wa s ready for some shu t-eye. Of course, he first had to traverse the ma ddening labyrinth of th e building's interior. As if mirroring the streets in the district o utside, the warehouse had been constructed as a confusing maze of corridors and stairwells. It was actually necessa ry to take one flight

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of sta irs down to the g round floor, weave throug h severa l alternating left and right turns of branching hallways, then climb up another flight of stairs to a sma ll landing that overlooked the garage, before finally ta king a third set of stairs down to the la rge common room they had converted in to a barracks. " Message came in from Gola awhile ago," Shela, th e woman who was his unofficial second in com-

ma nd, told him once he fin ally reached his destinanon. She was sitting on the edge of her cor, removing her boots as she got rea d y to bed down for the n ight. Apart from the two g uards statio ned to keep an eye on the prisoners and the one patro lling the garage, everyone el se was a lready sleeping . " H e have an update on when the Collectors are supposed to show? " She shoo k her hea d. "When I asked he ju st sa id they'll come to us when they're ready. H e told m e we have to be patient." Sitting down with a weary sig h, he asked, "So why'd he ca ll? " " H e wanted to warn us. H e says there's another qu a ria n who's going to try to sneak into the building tomorrow night. H e sent us a ll the details." Pel raised a n eyebrow in s urprise. Golo might be a cowardly, backstabbing, double-dea ling little qua ria n, but he was damned resou rceful. "Okay, we' ll set something up to ta ke care of him tomorrow. " "Wha t about the other o ne down in the basement?" Shela wanted to know. In a ll the excitement of Grayson's arrival, Pel had

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almost forgotten a bout the quarian pilot they had ca ptured from the Cyniad. They had fina lly managed to make him give up the info they wanted, but he doubted they'd get much more out of him. Between the to rtu re a nd the fever fro m whatever diseases he had contracted w hen Golo had broken h is mask, th eir quarian prisoner ha d been reduced to a barely coherent babbling m adm a n. Of course, now that they were breaking off a ll ties with Cerberus it had a ll been a waste o f time ... though it had allowed Shela to show him som e rather inreresting new inrerrogation tech n iques. "We've got no use for him now. Put h im down in the morning," he said. " H e looked pretty bad last time I saw him," Shela remarked. " I don't think he'll make it until morning." "Care to put your money where your mou th is?" "Twenty credits says he doesn't see the su nrise." " D o ne." As Pel lea ned over to shake on the wager the entire building was rocked by the sound of multiple sho tgu n b lasts fi red in quick succession. The noise ca me fro m the fl oor above them . Lemm was you ng, but he wasn't stupid. H e knew better than to trust Go lo, so after the other quarian had fallen asleep Lemm ha d sn uck out of his apartment a nd made his way back to the rooftops in th e Ta lon dist rict. H e fi gured there was a fifty-fifty chance Golo was in deeper w ith the humans tha n he admitted, and he ha d n o inrention of walking into an a mbush. The best way to avoid the possibility was to st rike a day ea rl y. If Go lo hadn't tipped off the hu-

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mans, it made litrle difference. But if he had alerted them, Lemm would n ow have the upper ha nd , as they wouldn't be expecting him until tomorrow. H e moved quickly over the rooftops, blood pumping with adrenaline as he worked his way toward the sma ll two-story building he'd been scouting earl ier in the day. Space was precious on Omega, so traveling from one building to the next required little more than a leap of fifteen o r twenty feet to cross the empty air between them. Even with his pack full of gea r stra pped to his back, the greatest danger wasn't that

he would fa ll. Rather, it was the chance he would run into the inhabitants of one of the buildings o ut to enjoy the night air a bove the stink of street level. If that happe ned, the encounter would almost surely end with someone getting shot. Fortunately, he made it there without running into anyone, rolling to absorb the impact and muffle th e sound as he m ade the final jump from the three-story building beside the warehouse to the rooftop ten feet below. H e got to his feet and paused, listening for sou nds that would indica te he'd been s potted. H earing n othing unusua l, he m ade his way to the edge of the roof, peering d own at the large window beneath him. It was impossible to see through th e o ne-way glass. But he wasn't interested in what lay beyond the window-at least not yet. In stead, he pulled h is omnitool from his belt and flipped o n the fla shlight. The thin beam of soft illumination allowed him to loca te the tiny infrared emitters along the outside of the window frame . Adjusting a setting o n the omnitool, he

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used it to tap into the wireless signal, overriding the alarm system. There was no latch on the window, so Lemm would have to make h is own opening. H e slu ng his backpack from his shoulder and set it down o n the roof, then rummaged arou nd until he found th e glass cutter. Th e tight-bea m ed laser sl iced th roug h the window with a barely a udible, high-p itched whine. H e ca rved off a tiny piece in th e upper corner; just large enough for a sma ll video camera on the end of a stiff wire to poke through and loo k arou nd. Images from the camera were tra ns mitted back to the readout on his omnitool, a llowing him to see what awaited him on the other side. The window was at one end of a co rridor. Several doors that looked to be storage rooms lined either side. At the far end was a sma ll table, where a pair of armed gua rds p layed cards and cast occasiona l gla nces at a bank of monitors resting on the table. Using the ca mera magnification , he zoomed in to get a close r look a t the images on the m o nitors. There were six in a ll: four sh owed only empty rooms, but one of the rooms ha d a lone figure huddled in a corner, and another showed three occupants, two lying on the floor a nd the thi rd sitti ng between them. Lemm withdrew the ca mera quickly; it was obvious the storage rooms ha d been converted to holding cells, and these gua rd s were in charge of watching th eir prisoners. There were no police or law enforcement officia ls on Omega, so that left only one reasonable expla na tion. S/allers. And he had a pretty good idea who th e slaves were.

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Enraged at seeing hi s fellow qu arian s caged like a nima ls, Lemm stashed the camera, strapped hi s pack

back over hi s shoulders, readied his shotgu n, then lowered himself down from the rooftop u ntil he was balanced precariously o n the window's narrow bottom ledge . H e didn 't bo ther to use the glasscu rter this

time, but simply threw himself forward , relying on the tough fabric of his enviro-suir to protect him fro m the shards of glass. H is momentu m carried him into the corridor, w here he hit the fl oor, tucked into a forwa rd role and came up firin g . Neither guard was expecting the attack a nd he ca ught them completel y unprepa red. M ost of th e nrst two b lasts from his s ho tgun were defl ected by the kinetic s hields in their com bat s uits, keeping them a live just lo ng enough to jump to their feet. But the thitd an d fo urth blasts killed the men before they had a chance to draw their weapons, hurtling their bodies back w ith such force that they slammed into the tab le, sendi ng th e monitors crashing to the floor. Knowing he had to wo rk fa st, Lemm turned his attention to the ce lls. Four of them stood empty, doors op en. H e slapped his ha nd agai nst the access pa nel of th e nearest closed door, hoping it wasn't protected by a security code. To his relief it slid open, revealing the room with the three fi gures in side. And th at's when Lemm rea lized he'd made a horrible mistake. They weren't quaria ns at a ll- the prisoners were human! A m an and two women. No, his m ind corrected: a man, a woman, and a girl. The wom a n sprang to her feet when she saw him, b ut the others

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didn't move. To his great surprise, Lemm thought he recognized her. "Are you Kahlee Sanders?" She nodded quickly. "Who are you? " "Not now," he told her, his mind casting back to th e achitectural plans he had memorized. "We only have a minute or so until reinforcements get here. Come on." " I ca n 't leave them," she said, nodding to the two on the ground. The girl was s mall enough that she could be carried, but the other one was far bigger than either Lemm or Kahlee. H e rushed over to the man's side and dropped to one knee, sca nning him quickly with his o mnitool. " } think I ca n wake him up," he said. "Gra b th e guns from the guards outside and let your fri end out of the other cell. " " Leave him behind," she sa id, her voice dripping with venom. " H e's one of them. " Lemm pulled a booster shot from his pack and administered it to the unconsciou s m a n as Kahlee di sappeared into the ha ll. By the time she returned with the guards' assau lt rifles, the man was moaning and try. . 109 to Sit up. " Hel p me get him to his feet." Kahlee set the weapons d own a nd ca me over. Together th ey managed to lift the big man off th e ground. To Lemm 's relief, he was actu a lly able to sta nd on his own. "What's his na me?" " H endel. " " H endel!" he s houted , hoping to penetrate the nar-

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caries that were still clouding his m ind. " M y na me is Lemm! We' re goi ng to get you o ut of here! Do you understa nd ?"

The big man nodded, tho ugh the action caused him to sway o n his feet. Lemm realized that even

if he

woke the girl, she pro ba bly wouldn't be strong enough to wa lk fo r a good twenty mi n utes. " We'll move quicker if I just carry the litrle o ne,"

Lemm sa id. Kahlee nodded, a nd the quarian ad justed hi s backpack, bent down, an d scooped the girl up with his left arm, carrying her over his shoulder like a sack of fl o ur. She was heavier than s he looked, and even with

hi s right hand free and the weight o f his pack offsetring the load , he knew it was going to be rough fo r him to carry her and still shoot effectively. " Did the Allia nce teach you how to handle o ne of those?" he asked Kahlee, tilting his head toward the assault rifles on the ground. She nodded and ben t to pick them up. " H ow did you know I wa s in the Alliance?" " Later," he answered. "We need to move." Kahlee ha nded one of the weapons to H endel, but it slipped through his hands and clattered to the floor. " Forget it," Lemm sa id. He couldn't hit the broadside ofa building right now anyway. " Follow me !" he added, s houting in the hopes the drugged m a n would respond to his voice. H e led them through the twisti ng hallways, knowing their best chance was to get to o ne of th e vehicles in the ga rage. Unfortunately, the enemy probably knew that, too. When he reached the stairs leading down to th e

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ground floor, he cast a quick peek behind him. H endel was keeping up, thanks in part to Kahlee ha lf pulling, half carrying him a long . With the g irl still draped over his shoulder, the four of them stumbled awkwardly down the stairs, across a small landing and into the ga rage. Various conta iners and shipping crates of all sizes were piled haphazardly a bo ut th e room; perfect cove r for any guards waiting to a mbush them . "Over there," Kahlee sa id, pointing to a pile of meta l boxes stacked in the co rner of the far wa ll. " Yo u th ree make a run for it. I'll lay down some covering fire. " Lemm nodded and took off, moving as quickly as possible while carrying his awkward load. For a brief moment he was aware of H endel lumbering a fter him, and then move ment on the other side of th e room drew his attention. A woman popped up from behind one of th e crates, taking a bead o n him . H e rea lized with horror that while his kinetic shields gave him some protection, the gi rl a nd H endel were completely vulnerable. Before the woman managed to get off a shot, however, Kahlee let loose with a spray of bullets that forced her to duck back down aga in. From the corner of his eye, Lemm saw a m a n halfhidden in the boxes off to the right. The human fired his pistol as they ran by less tha n a dozen feet away, concentrating his fi re on Lemm rather tha n taking aim at H endel or the girl. Th e quarian retaliated with a pair o f wi ld ly a imed shots that echoed like thunder in the cavernous warehouse. At this cl ose range accuracy barely mattered; th e

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autotargeting syst ems of both weapons e nsured direct hits. Lemm's kinetic ha rriers d efl ect ed all the rounds from the pistol except for one tha t em bedded itself

harmlessly in the padded shoulder of his combat suit and a nother that ripped through the co rner of his backpack. His opponent wasn't so lucky. Th e concentrated sca tter of the s hotgu n blasts overwhelmed his

shields, a nd a handful of pellets penetrated the kinetic barriers. The impact t ore great holes in the ex posed

flesh of his face and hands, an d the man dropped lifeless t o th e floor. And then they were sliding into the safety of th e cover behind the containers. Lemm quickly shook the pack loose from his shoulder a nd lowered the girl to the floor, then popped up to provide cover for Kahlee. Seeing what he was doing, she s prinred across th e warehouse toward them, keeping her head low. A shotgun wasn't the best weapon for laying down a field of cover fire. Unlike an assa ult rifle, it d id n't sp ray a nearly endless stream of bullets. But Lemm remembered where the woman who had popped up before was hiding. If she was foo lish enough to peek out again without changing position, he'd have her right in his sights. The woman did exactly that, and Lemm pulled the trigger the instanr her hea d came inro view. The echo of the shotgun ra ng out once more, and the crate she was using for cover actually shifted from the impact of his shot. H er kinetic barriers saved her life, absorbing the tightly packed cloud of incom ing projectiles, and she du cked behind cover once again. Lemm doubted she'd make th e mista ke of showing herself in exactly the sa me place a third time.

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Kahlee skidded to a stop beside him, breathing hard. At a lmost the sa me instant two more gua rds, a man and a woman, burst into the warehouse thro ug h the same entra nce they had come through only a few seconds before. A coo rdinated barrage of shotgun and assa ult-rifl e fire sent them scurrying back around th e corner. "They'll go around to the o ther side," Lemm warned, recalling tha t there were two entra nces to the warehouse, along with the landing up above a nd th e big vehicle doors o n the far wa ll. " Try to flank us." " You think you ca n get to those rovers?" Kahlee asked him, pointing at the two vehicles parked out in the open near the center of the garage. "Th ere's not much cover. I' ll have to work my way around to the far side . Can you hold posi ti o n here?" "For a little while. Any idea h ow many we're up against?" "They starred with nine, as far as I know. Two dead upstairs, one more down here." "Six against two," she muttered. "With o ut one of those rovers we d on't stand much of a chance." H endel mumbled something neither of them understood. H e seemed to be more alert, but his words were still incomprehensible as the booster fought against the drugs still coursing through his system. " You stay here with me and Gillian," Kahlee to ld him, patting h im on th e thigh. "An d keep your head down. " Peering through a s ma ll gap between the wall of boxes shielding them from enemy fire, Lemm tried to p lan a route from cover point to cover point that would eventua lly lea d him to the vehicle. It was there,

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but he'd have to keep movi ng. And Ka hlee would need t o stay sharp. Even as he was wondering if she was up to th e task, another slave r appeared in the door they had u sed to enter the garage . Ka hlee popped up from behind her cover and took him down with a short, well-ai med burst from her assa ult rifle.

Two against five now. "Okay, I'm ready," he said, ta king a deep breath. "Good luck," she replied. She didn't turn to look at him, hut kept her attention on the battlefield.

As he broke fro m the boxes, she sta rred firi ng. G rayson heard the s hotgun blasts in th e hall outside, but wa sn 't sure what to make of them . A few mi nutes later he heard gunfire coming from a di s-

rance, though he guessed it was still in side the build mg. Somebody's assaulting the base. Now's your chance to get out of here. H e was trapped in a sto rage room, not a rea l jail cell , and the walls imprisoning h im were nothing but the turian equivalent o f drywall. Standing up, he went over to one o f the s ide walls and began to slam the bo tto m of his foot hard aga inst the surface. If the gua rds were still out there they'd see wha t he was up to on the cameras. But G rayson wa s banking on them being otherwise distract ed. After a few hard kicks his foo t broke through to th e other s ide. H e put his eye to the hole to see what lay beyond. It appeared to be a no ther m a keshift cell, m uch like his own. But thi s o ne was empty, a nd th e st eel d oor lea ding o ut to the hall was open.

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H e continued his assa ult on the wall, and five minutes later he had broken away enoug h of the material to crawl through. No one had come to check on him during his slow-developing escape, so he assumed none of the guards were around. Based o n the continuing sound of gu nfire from somewhere else in th e building, he guessed they had gone to help fight off th e attackers. As he stepped out into the hall a nd saw th e two bodies, he realized he was wrong. A quick look around told him just about everything he needed to know. All the other cells were empty; Gillian and the others were gone. Someone had obviously busted them out ... though he couldn't even begin to guess who it might have been.

Whoever it was, they were kind enough to leave me an assault rifle, he thought, picking up the discarded weapon from the fl oo r of one of the ce lls. Grayson didn't know where he was, but he knew where he wanted to go-he needed to find Gillian. The most logical way to do that seemed to be to fo llow the sound of the gu nfire. It didn't take him long to rea lize that this task was harder than it seemed, a nd he quickly became hopelessly lost in the building's nonsensica l floor p la n. Lemm darted back and forth between the containers, constantly changing direction, stopping and starting without warning, and neve r staying in one p lace too long. His hands clutched his shotgu n tightly, but he wasn't looki ng to fire at anyone-he was simply trying to make it to the vehicles. Kahlee was doing her best to cover him, but she was badly overmatched. The one time he'd dared to

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stop long enough to loo k back, he saw two slavers firing at her from cover positions behind a pile of containers on the floo r, and another two, newly arrived, shooting down at her from the small la nding overlooking the garage from above. The two teams coordinated thei r attacks, never giving her a clear opening to retaliate. But that didn't stop her from occasiona lly popping her head our and

firing back. Brave thing to do, considering she doesn't even have any shields. With Kahlee occupying four of the remaining five slavers, that left only one more for him to dea l with. Unfortunately, he had no idea where his enemy was. Every time he ran out into the open he could be stepping into a spra y of lethal assau lt-rifle fire.

Don't think about it. Just stay focused cle. You're almost there.

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the vehi-

Only a s hort stretch of bare floor still separa ted him from the rovers; a quick sprint a nd it was all over, o ne way or the other. H e broke from cover and dashed for the vehicle. The fifth slaver was waiting for him, popping up from behind a crate nor twenty feet away as he ran p ast. She opened fire from close range on his fl a nk; clouds of concrete flew up from the floor as she fired low, where his barrier s hields were most vulnerable, trying to take his legs our from under him. H ea d down, Lemm knew h is best s hot at surviva l was just to keep running. H e was ha lf a step away from sa fety when a hollow-point round entered his left ca lf. It mushroomed then splir apart on impact, sending a spray of meta l fragments through his lower

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leg, shredding the muscles and tendons . Screaming in agony, he pitched forward, his shotgu n falling from his hand. H is momentum a llowed him to ma nage two mo re stu mbling, off- ba la nce steps that carried him far en o ug h to put the metal-plated rover between him and his attacker before he collapsed to the grou nd. H e rolled over onto his back, clutching at the b lood y pulp below his knee that used to be his leg. H e heard footsteps coming towa rd him , and he realized his shotgun had been left behind, skittering across the floor when he'd dropped it after being hit. A second later the woman materia lized from around the front of the vehicle. She smiled a nd aimed the weapon at him. Then suddenly she was fl ying across the room. Lemm followed the path of her body as it arced high through the air before sla mming into o ne of the walls and c rashing down to the fl oor. She lay there motionless, her neck twisted at a gru esome angle. It was o nly when he heard H endel sc rea m ing at him that he rea lized w hat had happened: the man was biotic! "The rover! Hu rry !" The quarian knew it would ta ke thirty or forty second s before H endel recovered en ough to use his biotics agai n . . . time they didn't have. Gritting his teeth and hoping he wouldn't pass out from the pain, he used the rove r's front b umper to haul himself up. Stan ding o n his one good leg, he pulled the driver's side door open and crawled inside. Blocking o ut the pain as best he could, it took him half a minute to override the operator codes and get the engine fired up. There was no windscreen on the vehicle; it was

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more like an armored transport carrier, with a navigation screen on the inside to give him the layout of his surrou ndings. Organic creatures picked up by the vehicle's infrared an d ultraviolet sen so rs s howed as sma ll dots on the nay screen, revea ling the locations of everyone in the warehouse, both friend and foe. The rover wasn't equipped with weapons, but it was four tons of bulletproof metal. He threw th e vehicle into gear, the tires leaving patc hes of smoking black rubber on the garage floor as he peeled our and spun in a crazy circle, fighting with th e steering in his haste. H e careened into a pile of crates, sendi ng the heavy meta l boxes fl ying. H e s pun the wheel and stomped on the accelerator. Ignoring the agonizing jolt of pain as his wounded left leg bumped against the sid e door, he headed stra ight for Kahlee and the others. Along the way he plowed through th e containers providing cover for the remaining two slavers on th e ground, mowing them down under his wheels before bringing the rover to a skidding halt, o nly inches shorr of running over H endel. Lemm threw open the door and the biotic clambered up into the backseat of the vehicle, the still unconsciou s g irl gripped tigh tl y in his arms while Ka hlee lay down another strea m of cover fire at th e last two surviving slavers atop the landing. They returned fire, the sound of thei r bullets ricocheting off th e armored roof an d hull in a metallic, staccato symphony. "They're loading up a rocket launcher!" Kahlee shouted, tossing Lemm 's bag into the back with H en-

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del as s he leaped into the front of the vehicle. "Get us the hell out of here!" "You better drive," Lemm p anted through clenched teeth as he tried to slide awkwardly over to the passenger seat. She g lanced down a t his mangled leg, then shoved him out of the way as she slid behind the wheel, cau sing him to sc rea m in pain. "So rry!" she sh o uted , sla mming th e door shut and throwing the rover inro reverse. She pinned the accelerator and they took off backward. A fast-moving projecti le appeared on the nav screen: an incoming missi le fired from the rocket launcher. Lemm thought th ey were all dead, but Ka hlee wrenched th e wheel to the right at the last possible second. Instea d of blowing the rover a pa rt, the mi ssi le struck the grou nd beside them. There was a deep boom as it detonated , an d th e vehicle bucked hard from the explosion, the wheels on the near side lifting hig h into the a ir befo re crashing back down to the grou nd. Somehow Kahlee kept control, using the nav screen to steer as they raced in reverse across the length of the ga rage, quickly building up speed. Lemm was horrified to see she was about to send them full tilt into the garage's heavy metal loading door. "Everyone hold on!" she warned them . " This is going to hurt! " They hit the door with enough fo rce to wrench one side p artially off its rails, the metal twisting in its frame. The back end of the rover crumpled , absorbing the brunt of the impact. Everyone inside was thrown against the rear of their seat as the sudden de-

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celeration of the crash brought them to an immediate stop. Lemm's leg slammed against the dashboa rd as he was bounced around, and he screamed again, struggling n ot to lose consc iou sness . He glanced over at Ka hlee, who was lolling to the si de in her seat, momenta ril y dazed from the crash. "Ka hlee!" he shouted. " Yo u have to d rive!" His voice seemed to snap her back to full aware-

ness. Sitting up with a shake of her head, she slammed her foot down on the accelerator once mo re. The vehicle lurched, still traveling in reverse,

and sla mmed inro the door again. Kahlee kept the engi ne revv ing as they tried to force their way throug h the twisted met al sheet blocking their escape. "Come on, you son-o f-a- hitch!" she swore. "Give me all you've got!" The door bent a nd buckled under the relentless push of the rover's six ch urning ti res, bur it refu sed to give way comp letel y, leaving them sitting ducks fo r the next inevitable assault from the rocket lau ncher.

Th is is NO T happening! Pel had been thinking this one thought over and over, ever since he'd heard the first of the shotgu n blasts down in the barracks. Screaming a t his team to get out of their bunks and over to th e wareh o use to cur off that avenue of escape, he a nd Shela, the only other member of his crew not a lready in bed, had grab bed their weapons and raced upsta irs. They'd arrived to find the gua rds dead and their biotic prisoners gone. Ra cing back down t o the landing that overlooked

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the warehou se, they'd taken a high point a bove the batrlefield, firin g d own at where the woman, Kahlee, had ta ken up a defensive position. There was a ha lfassembled rocket la uncher o n the landing; a new addition to the warehou se's defenses. H e briefly debated slapping it together, then decided agai nst it; he still wanted to try an d recapture one of the biotics alive so th ey could sell them to the Collectors. It wasn't long before he regretted th at decis ion. From his va ntage point above the action, Pel had a perfect view as the rest of his tea m was sla ughtered by a mix of Kahlee's gun fi re, H endel's biotics, a nd one of their own ra m paging rovers. Th is is NOT happening, he thought o nce aga in. Out loud, he shouted to Shela, " Get that rocket launcher ope ratio nal! Take out the vehicle!" She scram bled to put it together even as he fired in vain at the prisoners pil ing into the rover, the position of the vehicle preve nting him from getti ng a clea r shot. Th ere was only one way to stop them now, and it didn 't involve tak ing a ny of them a live. "Armed and ready!" Shela cried our as the rover began to speed away from them in reverse . "Fire, damn it! " The rocket shot toward the vehicle, but the target swerved at the last second a nd the missile explo ded harmlessly into the fl oor o f the garage. The rover continued to accelerate, then crashed into the reinforcedsteel loading door wi th a deafening crash. The door buckled, but held. "Finish them! " Pel shouted, a nd Shela took a im wi th the rocket launche r for a secon d , and fina l, sho t.

• • •

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Grayson wound his way through the unfamiliar halls and stai rwells for nearly ten minutes, hopelessly lost. Maybe all that red sand over the years messed lip your sense of direction. The only thing that kept him going was the fact th at the sou nd of gunfire was getting stea dily closer, and the knowledge that whoever had broken the others o ut had taken Gillian as well. H e was on the verge o f slammi ng his fist through another wall in frustration when he heard an incredibly loud explosion, like a grenade or rocket launcher, followed by a tremendous crash coming fro m beyond the corner just up a head. Moving quickly but quietly,

he rounded the bend to find himself stan ding on a sma ll landing overlooking a large, two-story garage. Crates and containers were strewn about on th e floor beneath the landing, a long with several bodies. At the far en d a vehicle had obviously just sla mmed into the garage's door. And on the landing not ten feet away, their backs to him , stood Pel and a woman he didn't know. The woman had a rocket launcher braced o n her shoulder. The vehicle's engines began to rev as it tried to force its way through the doo r. Given the situation, Grayson was al most certain that Gillian a nd the others were inside. "Finish them!" Pel shouted, and the woman aimed her weapon. Grayson opened fire with the assa ult rifle; he had no hesitations about shooting a woman in the back. The st ream of bullets ripped through her shields, shredded her body armor, and turned everything be-

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tween her shoulder blades a nd belt into hamburger. The rocket launcher fell from her nerve less hands and she staggered fo rwa rd aga in st the landing's waisthigh rai ling. Another burst fro m Grayson sent her flippi ng over the edge to the floor below. Pel was a lready spin ning around, trying to bring his own assault rifle to bea r, when Grayson fi red again. H e concentrated o n Pel 's right arm, the spray of g un fi re nearly severing it from his shoulder as it b lew the rifle from his grasp and senr it hurtling over the railing. H is form er partner fell to his knees, his eyes glazing over in shock as sprays of arteria l b lood spurted from his ma imed limb. H e opened his mouth to speak, but another burst from Grayson silenced him forever. It was the fir st ti me in a lmost twenty years Pel hadn't been able to get the last word in. The horrible shriek of wrenching metal from th e far side of the ga rage d rew his attention. G lancing over, he saw th e rover had ma naged to pu sh itself against a corner of the loading door so th at it bent up and out. Grayson watched, motionless, as the vehicle squeezed throug h the opening, the rover bu rsting forth to the other side as if the garage were som eh ow giving birth to it. For the next sixty seconds he d id n't move, listening ca refully for sounds of other survivors. All he heard was the rover's engines growing ever fainter as it raced off into the night.

SEVENTEEN

In si de the rover, Ka hlee heard the meta l doo r screeching across the armored roof as the vehicle forced its way past a nd out into the dark streets of

Omega. Still driving in reverse, she went half a block before locking the brakes a nd turning the wheel, sending them into a 5 40-degree spin. It ended w ith them hea ding in the same directio n, but they were no longer traveling backward. They had escaped the warehouse, bur their getaway wou ldn't be complete u ntil they'd left Omega

well behind them. "Do you have a ship ?" she asked, directing her question to the qu aria n in the passenger seat. " H ead to the spacepo rts," he answered. " Right at

the end of the block. Take the thi rd left, then the next right." Hi s voice sou nded stra ined a nd thin from behind his mask . Kahlee pulled her attenti on away fro m the nay screen t o sneak a qu ick gla nce at his injured leg. Th e wound looked bad, but not life th reatening. " H endel," she called out to the backseat. "See if you can fi nd a med-kit back there." "There's medigel . . . in . . . my backpack," th e

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quarian managed to pant out, struggli ng against the pam. Kahlee didn't dare stop while they trea ted the injury. Fortunately, H endel had basic medical field training; fixing up a bad leg while bouncing along in th e rover would be easy enoug h. Following the quarian's directions, they quickly cleared the close-packed buildings a nd emerged o n th e outs kirts of the district's docking bays. Racing along the open groun d , th e nav screen picked up three small starships clustered together at the far end of the spaceport. " Lemm, which shuttle is yours?" Kahlee asked. "Whichever one you want." H is voice soun ded stronger now. She n oticed H endel had splinted his leg and wrapped it in steri le bandages to minimize germ exposure, and the m edigel would have dulled the pain even as it began to hea l and disinfect his wounds. She brought the rover to a halt a few dozen feet away from the closest vessel's airlock an d hopped out, then turned back to help the injured qu arian. H e slid gi ngerly across the seat to the door, then leaned on Kahlee for support as he stepp ed out of the vehicle with his good leg. H endel em erged a few seconds later, carrying the still unconscious Gillian in the crook of one arm and clutching Lemm's bag in his other hand. " I'll be damned," he muttered, sta ring through the station 's viewport at th e shuttle docked just outside. Ka hlee couldn 't help but smil e when she realized what he was looking at: they we re about to stea l Grayson's ship. The qu arian set to work on overriding the vessel's

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security system. It took just over a minute before the

airlock opened with a faint click and the la nding ra mp descended with a so ft whoosh of hydra ulics.

In side the ship, Hendel set Gillian down in one of the pa ssenger sea ts. H e reclined the seat a nd buckled

her in as Kahlee helped Lemm hobble hi s way up to th e cockpi r. "Ca n you fly this thing? " she asked him. H e studied the controls for a few seconds, then nodded. " I think so. Everything looks pretty sta n-

dard. " The qua rian settled into the p ilot's sea r and reached out towa rd the console with a gloved, three-fi ngered

hand. Kahlee was suddenly reminded that, though qua rians might look vaguely hu ma n , u nder their

enviro-suits a nd filtration masks they were definirely aliens. And rhis alien had risked his life ro save rhem. "Th an k you, " she sa -d l . " W> we owe you our I-lves. " Lemm didn'r ack nowledge her gra rirude, bur insread asked, "Why were rhey ho lding you prisoner? " "They were going ro sell us ro rhe Co llecrors." He shuddered, bur did n'r say anyrhing else . A second larer rhe display screens ca me onl ine. "No sign of any immed iare pursuir," he murrered. "Cerberu s won'r give up on us rhar easy," Hendel wa rned him as he enrered rhe cockpir. "They aren'r working for Cerberu s," Ka hlee explained, remem bering rhar Hendel hadn'r been parr of rhe conversarion in Grayson's cell. "Nor anymore. I guess rhey figured rhey could ma ke more by going freelance. " Ir was only rhen she realized Hendel hadn'r yer borhered ro ask why Grayson had been left behind.

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He must have hated him even more than I thought. Given how things turned out, she cou ldn't rea lly blame him. " You were right about G rayson," she told him. " H e was a Cerberus agent. H e m ust have been working with Jiro the whole time." The ship trembled slig htly and there was a low ru mble as Lemm fired up the engines. The news of Grayson 's true identity didn't seem to surprise H endel at a ll. To his credit, the security chief didn't take the opportunity to say " I told you so." Instead, he only asked, " Did you kill him?" " H e's still a live, as far as I know," Kahlee a dmitted. " They were holding him prisoner, just like us. 1 left him in his cell. " "If they turn him over to the Collecto rs, he' ll w ish you had killed him ," Lemm chimed in. Kahlee ha dn't thought about that, but the idea brought the hint of a g rim smile ro H en del's lips. The quarian ma de a few final a djustments a nd rhe thrusters engaged, lifting the shuttle slowly into the mr. "What course shou ld 1 set? " he asked. Good question, Kahlee tho ught. "Nothing's changed," H endel sa id, giving vo ice to her own concerns. "Cerberus will still want to get their hands on Gillian, an d we still can't risk goi ng to the Alliance. Grayson a nd his for me r friend s may be out of the pictu re, but Cerberus has p lenty of other agents. "No ma tter w here we go, they're going to find us sooner or later."

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"Then we have to keep moving," Ka hlee sa id. "Sta y one step ahead of them. "

"It'll be hard on Gillian," Hendel warned her. "We don't have much choice. For a ll we kn ow, they could have someone stationed on every human accessible world, colony, and s pace sta tion in the galaxy." " I know one place you can hide where Cerberus is guaranteed not to find you," Lemm sa id, turn ing in his seat to join the conversation . " The Migrant

Fleet. "

In the a ftermath of the barrie Grayson made a thorough exploration of th e warehouse from top to bottom. For a moment he had debated racing down to the second rover on the garage floor a nd trying to chase after Gillian, but he knew the other vehicle would be long gone by the time he got there. If he wanted to find Gillian, he had to be patient and sma rt. An examination of th e warehouse floor revealed severa l bodies, including the woman he'd shot in the back. Two more had been shot, two had been run over by the missing vehicle, and o ne woman lay crum pled agai nst a wa ll , her neck broken. Grayson recognized the corpse as a telltale sign of biotics, and he suspected it was H endel , not Gillian, who ha d infli cted the damage. H e a lso found a shotgun si tting in the middle of the floor. It app eared to be of turian manufacture, but the mods on it were of a n improvised yet effectively cu nning design that was the ha llma rk of the quaria n specIes. Recognizing the value of the weapon, he pi cked it

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Up and ca rried it with him as he left the garage and went to explore the remainder of the base . H e became lost several times in the confu sing halls, but eventually he found himself back on the main floor, in a room that had been converted into a barracks. There were twe lve bunks, but on ly nine showed signs of use . Grayson had fou nd seven bodies in th e warehouse; adding these to the two gua rd s in the hall near his cell ex plained why he hadn't run across a nyone else during his search. With a ll the occu pa nts of the warehouse accounted for, he was able to relax his guard. On any other station or world he would have been worried about law enfo rcement res po nding to th e sounds of the battle. But Omega had no police, and gunfire a nd exploding rockets genera lly encouraged the neighbors to mind their own business. Someone would com e to investigate the premises evemu a llyprobably w hoever had been renting the loca tion to Pel and his team. H owever, Grayson didn 't expect anyone for a t least a few days. The barracks led down a shorr hall to several offi ces Pel had set up as intel and comma nd p osts. Looking through the com puters a nd OSDs, Grayson found the reports from their original assign ment. They were coded , of course, but only with a basic Ce rberus cipher, and Grayson ha d n o problem making sense o f them. Pel ha d been sent to Omega to try and find a way to infiltrate the quarian fl eet. Unfortunately, the reports were incomplete. They m entioned a ship they had captured called the Cyniad, a nd a single prisoner that ha d been taken for interrogation, but the results

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of the interrogation weren't recorded. Pel had obviously given up keepi ng the logs once he threw his lot in with the mysterious Collectors, and he wasn't stupid enough to keep a ny records, electronic or written, of his plan to betray the llIusive Man. The mention of the quarian shi p a nd prisoner, com-

bined with the discovery of the quarian modified shotgu n, left little doubt in Grayson's mind as to who had busted the others Ollt. A quarian rescue team must have come for th eir compatriot, a nd for som e

reason they had decided to take Gillian, Kahlee, and H endel with them as they shot th eir way to freedom.

Satisfied he had learned as much as he could from the fil es, he resumed his slow, ca reful sea rch of th e premises. In another office, this one located near whar he guessed to be the cenrer of th e building, he discovered a small door bui lt inro the floor. It was primitive in design; ra th er tha n sliding on rails it simp ly swung upward on a pair of metal hinges. It was closed and locked with a simple dead bolt latch. Grayson took aim at the door with his newly acquired shotgun and used the toe of his boot to slide the d ea dbolt aside. H e waited for severa l seconds, and when nothing happened he leaned forward ca utiou sly and threw open the door, ready to fire if a target presented itself. The cellar beneath was completely dark. A rickety wooden staircase descended into the blackness. Grayson flicked on the flash ligh t bu ilt into th e shotgun's barrel, usi ng its powerful beam to pierce the gloom as he made his way slowly down the stai rs . When he reached the bottom he cast about in a quick circle, sen d ing the illumination into eve ry cor-

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nero The room was squa re, maybe twenty feet on each side. The walls were fin ished with brick and mortar, the fl oor was bare cement. It was completely empty except for a motionl ess figure lying o n its back nea r one of the walls. Training the beam of his fl ashlight-and th e muzzle of the shotgun--on the body, Grayson approached. H e was w ithin a few feet befo re h is m ind finally recognized w hat he was seeing; he had found th e quarian capti ve . Ru nning the fl ashl ight slowly from head to toe, he saw that the prisoner was boun d hand and foot, and had been st ripped com p letely naked. Grayson had never seen a q uarian wi thom its enviro-suit and helmet before, though he doubted this individ ua l could still be ca lled anything close to a rep resenta ti ve examp le of his species. His face was a deformed mess of lu mps, bruises, cuts, and burn marks--dear ev idence of the torture he had endured. Someone had knocked out a ll his teeth and caved in one cheekbone. The other cheek gaped wide, as if someone had slit it lengthwise from lip to wha t passed for the quarian ve rsion of an ear. One eye was swollen completely sh ut. The other had both upper and lower eyelid s missing, the ragged edges of the flesh left behind attesting to the fact that they had been savage ly torn off with a pair of p liers. Grayson reca lled w ith distaste how much Pel had enjoyed that pa rticular meth od of torture: in addition to th e excruciating pain of the b ruta l removal, the victim would go slowly and agonizingly blind as the exposed eyeball became dehydrated. The rest of the body showed simi lar signs of abuse.

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The fingers and toes were all broken, a nd several had been yanked from their sockets. Every inch of exposed skin s howed s ign s of being beaten, cut, burned o r dissolved by acid. However, there was something even more unu sua l about the body that caused Grayson to crouch down for a closer loo k. There a ppeared to he some kind of loa my, gray growth spreadi ng out from the quariao's wounds to crawl slowl y across the s kin. It t ook Grayson a moment to realize it was some kind of bact erial fungus; in addition ro the sadistic torture, the qu arian mu st have contracted a stra nge a lien disease. H e gave a grunt of disgust and stepped hack from the body. To his surprise, the quarian reacted with a shorr yelp of fear.

Jesus Christ, the poor bastard's still alive! H e was actually trying to talk , saying the sa m e phrase over a nd over in a shaky, raspy voice. Th e words were di storted from his missi ng teeth and misshapen face, a nd it too k Grayson's automated translator severa l repetitions befo re it could decipher what he was trying to say. "Frequ ency 43223 .... My body travels t o dista nt st ars, but my soul never leaves the Fleet. . . . Frequency 43223 .... My body travels to di stant stars, but m y soul never leaves the Fleet. ... " H e ke pt repeating the sam e ph rase over and over, his voice ris ing a nd fa lling in a trem bling, terrified warb le. Grayson crouched down close to him, though he was careful not to touch the infected fl esh. " It's okay," he sa id so ftl y, knowing his translator would repeat the words in the quarian's own la nguage. "Nobody's going to hurt you now. It's okay."

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The quarian didn't seem to hear him, but continued babbling, his words coming more and more quickly as his broken mind spewed out the information in a desperate a ttempt to avoid continued torture. " It's over n ow," Grayson shu shed, hoping to ca lm th e frantic captive d own. " It's over." H is words seemed to ha ve the opposite effect, as the quarian began to thrash agai nst the bonds holding his wrists and a nkles. H e let out a c ry of frustration, then began to sputter and cough. A fine mist of b lack, fou l-smelling ichor spewed from his lips and the gash in his cheek, causing Grayson to jump back to avoid the sp ray. The fit ended with the quarian letting out a series of hitching, gurgling sighs, and then he finally went still and silent. Steeling himself again st the fecund stench th at was now em anating from the body, Grayson got close en ough to verify that the quarian had stopped breathing. H e left the body in the b lackness of the ce llar and climbed the stai rs back to the ground floor. Closing and bolting the door beh ind him, he then scrounged up eve rything of va lu e he could carry. Fifteen minures later he was behind the wheel of Pel's second rover, making his way down the unfa miliar streets of Omega with a pack full of su pplies a nd the shotgu n resting o n the seat beside him. Staying focused on his true purpose a ll owed him to ignore the little voice in the back of his skull tell ing him to t rack down a dust dea ler for a quick hit. Instead, he set off to locate a tra nsmit station so he could link into the comm network and send a message

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off to the Illusive Man, tell ing h im eve ryth ing t hat

had happened. Pel had turned his back on Cerberus, but Grayson was sti ll loya l to the cause ... and he knew t hey could

help him find Gillian again.

EIGHTEEN

Six hours had passed since Kahlee and the others had esca ped the warehouse o n Omega . Lemm had managed to find the currenr location of the qu arian flotilla by linking into the camm network and scan ning the news updates. The Migranr Fleet was passing through a remote valu s-conrrolled system near the edges o f Cou nc il Space. According to the news reports, severa l valus di plo mats were petitioning the Citadel to do eve rything in its power to hasten the quarians' departure.

Kahlee doubted their political appeals would have any noticea ble impact. The C ita del was sti ll coming to grips with the changes wrought by Saren and his geth army. Their primary foclls was on elim inating the few rem aining pockets of geth resistance scattered across the galaxy; an objective being pursued by a n emergency coalition force headed up by humanity and the Allia nce. Once the geth were pus hed back beyond the Perseus Veil, she suspected the next order of business would be to a ddress the restructuring of th e Cou ncil, along with the m assive po litica l fallout that would entail. The last thing anyone o n the C itadel wanted to dea l with was the Migrant Fleet.

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Kahlee knew that even during the long period of interstellar peace that had preceded humanity's arrival, the various species of the galaxy tended to view the activities of the Fleet as Iitrle more than a mi nor inconvenience o r n uisance ... until they passed throug h one of th eir systems. Then the most effective course of actio n was to offer unwanted resou rces in the form of decommissioned ships, raw ma terials, a nd s pare parts to the quarian Admiralty. The qu aria n s allowed themselves to he bou ght off with such gifts, with the understa nding the flotilla would quickly move on to become a thorn in someone else's side . Kahlee hated to pass judgment, hut she couldn 't help hut see it as the interstellar equivalent of panhand ling.

And in another forty hours we'll be hoping to join up with them, she thought, shaking her head in disbelief a t the course of events over the last few days. Lemm had plotted their course into the na vigation, then gone to lay down in the sleeper cabin in the back once they'd m ade the ju mp to ITL fli ght. Kahlee still had p lenty of questions for him-like how he knew who she was-but in light of all he had done for them, she could affo rd to be p atient. She'd g ive him a few hours to rest and start recovering from his injury before she began peppering him with questions. Besides, s he was anxious to check on Gillian now that the girl had woken up. The nrst words our of her mourh upon gaining consciousness had been , "I'm hungry." H endel had easily so lved that problem by preparing a dou ble-portioned serving for her from the ship's rations.

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With the ship's navigation following the preprogrammed course, there was no need for a nyone to keep a n eye o n the helm. So the three of themKa hlee, Gi llian, and H endel- had gathered in th e passenger cabin, the two adults sea ted side by side facing her, while the girl ate from th e hard pla stic tray of food on her lap. She was just now finishing the last of her mea l. As she had d o ne back at the Academy, she chewed with focused determination, never pausing o r brea king rhythm as she steadily con sumed her food o ne methodical bite at a time. Kahlee, however, noticed s he didn't stick to her normal pattern of taking only one single mouthful fro m a dis h before moving on to the next item o n her plate. In fact, she didn't even touch the apple cru mble dessen until everything else was gone. Once she was done she carefully set the tray on the seat beside her and spoke for the second time since regammg conscIOusness. "Where's my dad?" There was no emotion in her voice; it was flat a nd monotone, like the primitive speech synthesize rs from the twentieth century. There was no sim ple a nswer to this question. Fortu nately, she and H endel ha d discussed what to say while Gillian was sti ll sleeping off the drugs their captors ha d g iven her. " H e had some business to take ca re of," Ka hl ee lied, figuring the truth would be too much for the girl to handle right now. " H e's going to catch up with us later, bur for now it's just you, m e, and H endel, okay?"

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"How will he find us if we took his ship?" "H e'll find another ship," she assured the girl. Gillian stared at her a nd squinred her eyes slightl y, as if she su spect ed deception a nd was trying t o peer throug h her to the truth. After a few seconds of this she no dded, accepting the situation. "Are we going back to the school?" "Not yet," H endel told her. "We're going t o meet up wi th some other ships. Quarian. Do you remember w hen yO ll st udied the quarians last year in history class?"

"They ma de the geth ," she sa id simply. " Yes," Ka hlee ad mitted, hoping this wasn't the sole fact she associated wi th the species of their rescuer. "Do you rem em ber anything else about them? " " Driven fro m their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most qu arian s now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a fl oti lla of fi fty thou sand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to m obile space stations," s he a nswered, and Kahlee realized she was reciting the entry verbatim from her history e- book. " H ome to seventeen m illion qu a ria ns, the fl o tilla understa nda b ly has sca rce resources," the girl continued. " Becau se o f this, each quarian must go on a rite of pa ssage known as the Pilg rimage when they com e of age. They leave the Fleet and o nly return once they have found something of va lue-" "That's o kay, G illia n ," H endel sai d gently, cutting her off before she gave them the enti re chapter. "Why are we m eeting a quaria n ship?" Kahlee wasn 't sure how much Gillian remembered about the violent greeting they had received upo n

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landing at Omega, so she was intentionally vague in her answer. "We met a quarian named Lemm while you were sleeping. H e's going to help us hide from some people who are trying to find us." "Cerberu s," s he sa id, a nd the ad ults cast a nervous glance at each other, uncertain where s he had picked up the name. "That's right," H endel said after a moment. " They want to hurt you , and we won't let that happen." Gillian frowned a nd bit her lip. She was silent for severa l long seconds before she asked the sa me question that had been bothering Kahlee. "Why is Lemm helping u s?" Neither of them had a ready a nswer for that o ne. " I guess we'll have to ask him when he wakes up," Ka hlee finally admitted. Fortunately, they didn't have long to wait. Less than a n h our later she heard the un even, clumping steps of Lemm coming down the hall. Hi s leg was covered by a hermetically sea led, hard-shelled boot th at protected and supported everything from the tips of his toes up to the joint of his knee. H e was still wearing his mask and enviro-suit, of course; Kahlee suspected he wouldn't take them off again until they reached the flotilla. " Lemm," she said as he entered the passenger cahin and stopped. "This is Gillian. Gillian, this is Lemm." The quarian stepped forward and bowed slightly, extending his gloved hand in a gesture of greeting common to both species. To Kahlee's amazement Gillian reached out and s hook it.

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"Nice to meet you," s he sa id. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm gla d to see you up and about," he replied, releasing her hand and sitting gi n-

ge rly down in the seat beside her, facing Kahlee and Hendel. "Why are you helping us?" Gillian asked him. Kahlee winced. They hadn't been able to warn th e qu aria n about Gillian's condition , a nd she hoped Lemm wouldn't take offense at the girl's lack of tact. Fortunately, he too k her question in stride. " Yo u get right to the p oint, don't you ?" he said with a

laugh from behind his mask. " I'm autistic," Gillian replied, agai n with abso lutely no hint of emotion. It wasn't clear if Lemm fully understood the meaning of the word, but Kahlee figured he was smart enough to grasp the basic concept. Before he could formulate a response, Gillian repeated her earlier questIOn. "Why are you helping us?" " I'm a little curious about that myself," H endel added, lea ning back in his chair and bringing his right leg up so he could rest it on his left knee. " I'm on my Pilgrimage," the quarian began. " 1 was on the world of Kenuk when I met two crew members from the Bavea, a scout ship for the cruiser Idenna. They told me another scout s hip, the Cyniad, had gone to Omega to broker a deal and not returned. " I came to Omega in search of the Cyniad crew. 1 hoped I could rescue them, or at least discover their fate. On Omega a nother quarian, a man na med GolD, told me the Cyniad had arranged a deal with a small group of humans.

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" I broke into their warehouse hoping to find the crew. Instea d, I found you." "But why risk your life to save us?" H endel asked. " I s uspected your ca ptors were slavers. No species deserves to be bought and sold. It was my mora l o bligation to free you. " Kahlee had no doubt he was being si ncere, but she also knew there was mo re to the story. " You recognized me," she said. " Yo u knew my name. " "Th e name Ka hlee Sanders has become very well known a mong my people in the past few mo nths," he admitted. "And I recognized your appearance fro m an old image we picked up off the Extranet. You ha ve hardly cha nged in eighteen years." The pieces began to click together in Ka hlee's mind. Eighteen years ago she had been involved in a n illegal Alliance AI project headed by a ma n na m ed D r. Shu Qian. But Qian had betrayed the project, forcing Ka hlee into a desperate fli ght for her life. It was h ow she had met Captain Anderson ... and a turian Spectre na med Saren Arterius. " It's beca use of my con nection to Sare n," s he sa id, looking for confirmation. " Your con nection to him, and his connection to the geth," Lemm clarified. " The geth revolt was the single most significant event in the history of my people. They drove us into exi le; an army of synthetic machinesruthless, relentless, and unstoppable. "But Saren led an army of geth aga inst the Cita del. H e found some way to make them fo llow him. H e found a way to control them and bend them to his

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will. Is it any wonder we are so interested in him , and anyone who has ever had a nything to do with him ?"

"Kahlee?" Hendel asked, uncrossing his legs and si tting up straight, his muscles tensing. "What 's he

talking about ?" "Back when I was with th e Alliance, Saren was the Spectre sent to investigate a research project I worked

on." She had never really talked about what had happened on that mission with a nyone other than Anderson, a nd s he didn't want to start now.

"How did the quarians find our ahout all this?" she demanded. Her voice was rising; she was begi nning to get a little hit scared, and that in turn ma de her angry. "Those Alliance files were classified." "Any information can be acquired for the right price," the quarian reminded her. It was hard to read his expression behind his mask, but his tone see med calm. "And as I sai d , we have an understandable obsession with the geth. "Once we knew Saren was leading their armies we began to gather all the information we could on h im: personal history, past missions. When it was discovered he had close dealings with a human scienti st working on an illegal AI research project, it was only na tural we would delve into the scientist's backgroun d as well." " Illega l AI?" Hendel muttered, shaking his head in disbelief at what he was hearing. "That was a long time ago," Ka hlee told the quarIan. "The Capt ain of the Idelllla will want to s pea k with you."

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" I can't help you," she insisted. " I don't know a nything about Saren or the geth." " You might know more than you think," Lemm replied. "You make it sou nd like we don't have any choice in the matter," H endel n oted , his voice dark. " You are n ot prisoners," the q uarian assured them. " If I take you to the Fleet it will be as hono red guests. If you do n ot w ish to go, we ca n cha nge course right now. I ca n ta ke you to a ny world you choose. " H owever, if we do join up with the Fleet, it is possible they won't allow you to leave right away, " he admitted. " My people can be overly cautious when it comes to protecting our ships." The security chief gla nced over at Kahlee . " It's your ca ll. Yo u' re the cele brity." "This will end your Pi lgrimage, won't it? " she wanted to know. "Meeting me is your gift to the cap. " talll.

H e nodded, but did n't speak. "If 1 don't do this, you can't go back to the Fleet yet, ca n you ?" " I wi ll be force d to continue my journey u ntil I fi nd something o f value to bring back to my people. But 1 will not force you to do this. The g ift we bri ng mu st not be won through ca using harm or s uffe ring to another-quarian o r nonquarian." " It's okay," she sa id after thinking on it. " I'll talk to them. We owe you our lives, an d this is the least 1 can do. Bes ides," she added, " it's no t like we'll be sa fer anywhere else."

• • •

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Forty hours later they dropped from FTL travel less

then 500,000 kilometers from the Migra nt Fleet. Lemm was once agai n occupying the pilot's chai r,

with Kahlee seated beside him . Hendel was in his now typica l spot, sta nding just inside the door heading hack to the passenger cab in, a nd even G illian had come up to join th em in the cl ose confin es, sta nding

directl y behind th e quarian's cha ir. The girl seemed to have taken t o Lemm. She had started following him around , or ju st sitting and staring at him w henever he sat down or caught a few hours of sleep. Gillian didn't initia te conversations with him , but she answered promptly whenever he spoke to her. It was unu sua l, but encou raging, to see her res po nding so well to someone, so neither Kahlee nor H endel had tried to stop her when she'd come up to the cockpit to join them. The Migranr Fleet, w ith its thou sa nds upo n thousa nds of ships flying in tight formation, showed up o n the nav screens as a si ngle, large red b lob as they approached. Lemm punched up their thrusters, a nd they began to move steadily toward the flotilla . When they reached a ra nge of just under 150,000 kilometers the nav screen showed severa l sma ller ships detaching themselves from the ma in armada, arcing around o n a n intercept t rajectory with thei r own course. "Navy patrols cha llenge every shi p approaching th e Fleet," Lemm had infor med them earlier. " H eavily a rmed. Th ey'll open fire on any vessel that doesn't identify itself or refu ses to turn back." From what Ka hlee knew of quaria n soc iet y, their reaction was com pletely understandable. Deep in the

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heart of the Migrant Fleet floated the three enormous Liveshi ps: gigantic agricultura l vessels that supplied and sto red the majority of the food for the seventeen million individua ls living on the fl otilla. If an enemy ever da maged or destroyed even one of the Liveships th e inevitable result wou ld be a ca tastrophic famine, and the grim prospect of slow starvation for m illions of quarians. Lemm responded to the quickly app roach ing patrol by thumbing open a comm cha nnel. A few minutes later it crackled with a voice speaking in quarian, thou gh of course the tiny tra nslator Kahlee wore as a pendant o n her necklace automatica lly converted it into English. " You are entering a restricted area. Identify." "This is Lemm 'Sha l nar Tesleya, seeking permission to rejoin the Fleet." "Verify a uth orization. " Lemm ha d previously expla ined to them that most qu a ria ns who left o n their Pi lgrim age tended to return to the flotill a in newly acquired ships. With no records of the registra ti on or ca ll signs for the vessel, the only way to confirm th e identity of those o n board was through a unique code phrase system. Before leaving on his righ t of passage, the captai n of the Tes/eya, Lemm 's birth ship, had made him m emorize two specifi c phrases. One, the a lert phrase, was a warning that something was wrong, such as hostiles on the shi p fo rci ng the pilot to try a nd infiltrate the Fleet. The alert phrase would cause the heavily armed patrols to open fire on their vessel immediately. Th e second phrase, the a ll clear, would get them safely

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past the p at rols, where they would join the densely packed mass of other ships, shuttles, and cruisers. "The quest for knowledge sent me away fro m my people; now the discovery of wisdom has brought m e

back. " There was a long pause as the patrol relayed the exchange back to the Tes/eya, somewhere deep inside th e fl otilla, for confirmatio n. Kahlee's palms were

swea ring, and her mouth felt dry. She swallowed hard in the silence a nd held her breath. Grayson's sh uttle was built for s peed and long-distance travel; it had no weapons, no CARD IAN defense system s, a nd virtually no armo r on its hull. If Lemm had mixed up the alert an d all-clear codes, or if som ething else went wrong, the pat rol would tear th em apart in seconds. "The Tes/eya welcomes you home, Lemm" cam e the reply, and Kahlee let her breath out in a long, low sigh of relief. "Tell them it's good to be back," he responded, then added , " I need to contact the ldenna." Again there was a long pause, but this ti me Kahlee didn't feel the sa me unbearable tension as she waited. "Sending coordina tes a nd hai ling frequencies fo r the Ide1l1w," they finally replied. Lemm verified receipt of the message, then disconnected the comm chan nel. They continued their approach to the Fleet, and the single gia nt red blob o n th e nav screens became countless tiny red pixels jammed so close together Kahlee wondered h ow th e vessels they represented avoided crashing into each other. Moving with a steady, expert ha nd their quaria n pilot ma neu vered them into the mass of ships, work-

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ing his way slowly toward where the Idenna floated along with the rest of quarian society. Twenty minutes later he fli cked the comm channels open again and sent out a hailing call. "This is Lemm'Shal na r Tesleya requesti ng permission to dock with the Ide1l11a." "This is the Ide1l1w. Your request is gra nted. Proceed to docking bay three." Lemm's trifingered hands fl ew over the controls, making the necessary adjustments to bring them in. Two minutes later they felt the sligh t bump as docking clamps fastened o nto their ship to hold it in place, followed by a s harp clang as a universal airlock connected to the ai rlock of th eir own ship. " I'm requesting a security a nd quarantine tea m," Lemm said into the comm channel. "Ma ke su re they wear their en viro-suits. The ship is n ot clea n." "Request confirmed. The tea ms are on the way." The qua tian had warned them about this, too. The qu ara ntine ream was a necessa ry step whenever a new vessel was fi rst brought into the flotilla . Th e quarians couldn 't risk bacteria, viruses, or other impurities from former nonqua ria n owners accidentally being released into the flotilla. Similarly, requesting a security team to inspect your ship upo n fi rst arrival was considered a com mon courtesy a mong the qua rian peop le-it showed you had n othing to hide. Typically, th e team would com e aboard, introductions would be exchanged, and no search would ever actuall y be conducted. H owever, this situation was as far from t ypica l as it could get. In the three hundred years of their exil e, no nonqu a ria n had ever set foot on a flotill a ship. As

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m uch as Lemm wanted to bring Ka hlee before the ca pta in o f the Idef/Ila, it simply wasn't in his p ower. An d the u nexpected sight of h umans o n a ship that had slipped past the Fleet's patro ls was likely to ca use

shock and ala rm. There was no protocol for this unp recedenred event, hut Lemm had exp lained that there were procedu res that could be followed ro minim ize the risk to both the crew of the ldenna and th e humans o n hoard th e shuttle. " Let's go m eet our guests," Lemm said, sta nding up awkward ly on his injured leg. " Remem ber, just stay calm an d everything will he fin e. We just need to take it slow." The four of them ma de their way into the passenge r cabin, and the three hu ma n s sat down in the seats. Lemm ma de his way to the airlock to greet the security a nd quaranti ne teams coming o n board. Agai n , Kahlee fel t the stress o f being fo rced to sit and wai t. What if Lemm was wrong about how th e other q uaria ns would react to their presence? What if some body saw the hu mans and pa nicked ? They we re putting a lot of faith in someone w h o was, technicall y, not even a n a dult yet in the eyes of his own peop le.

I think he's earned a bit of trust after everything he's done for us. Kahlee could n't argue with the infallible logic of her own m ind, but it did little to quell her fears. She could hear voices com ing from the airlock, thoug h th ey were too far away to p ick up w hat was being said. One of the voices was rising, either in anger o r fear. Someone-it sou nded like Lemm , though she

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couldn 't be sure-was tryi ng to ca lm the upset speaker down. And then there were footsteps com ing throug h the airlock and into the ship. A few second s later four masked quarians, one female and three m a les, entered the passenger ca bin, armed with assa ult rifles. The one in front, the female, actually did a d o ub le take on seeing the humans, th en turned back over her shoulder to sp ea k to Lemm, who was standing ju st behind them . " I thought you were joking," she sa id. " I really thou ght you were joking." "This is unbelievable," one of the others muttered. "What were you thinking?" the fema le, clearly the one in cha rge, wanted to know. " They could be sp ies !" "They're not spies," Lemm insisted. " Don 't you recognize the woman? Look closely." The three huma ns sat silently as the fema le quarian stepped up to get a better loo k. "No ... it can't be. What's your name, human?" " Ka hl ee Sanders." There was a n involuntary gasp from the other qu a ria ns, and Kahlee thought she hea rd Lemm ch uckle. " M y name is Isli' Feyy vas Idenna," the female quarian sa id, bowing her head in what seemed to be a gesture of respect. " It's a n honor to meet you. These are my ship mates, Ugho'Qaar vas Idenna, Erdra ' Zando vas Idenna, and Seeto'H odda nar Idenna. " Kahlee bowed her head in return. " These are my friends, H endel Mitra and Gi llian Grayson. We are hon o red to be here." " } brought Ka hlee here so she could speak to th e

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captain ," Lemm interjected. " This meeting is my gift to the Idelllla. " Isli glanced over a t Lemm , then turned her mask

back

to

Kahlee.

"Forgive me, Kahlee Sanders, but I cannot permit you to board the Idenna. That decision must com e from the captain , a nd he will want to consult with the

ship 's civilian council before deciding." "So what are you saying?" H endel asked , judging th e mood to be cal m enough for others to join into the conversation. "We have to leave?" "We ca nn ot a llow yO li to leave yet, either," Isli to ld him after a moment's consideration. "Not without the capta in's approval. Your shuttl e must stay here in the dock, a nd yO li mu st stay aboard your own vessel until a ru ling is reached on this m atter." " H ow long wi ll that take?" Kahlee asked. "A few days, I wou ld guess," Isli a nswered. "We're going to need some su pplies," H endel said. " Food, p rimarily. Human food." "An d they will need s uitable enviro-suits when the ca ptain finally decides to let them o nto the ship," Lemm added, taking the optimistic view. "We will make every effort to accommodate your needs," Isli told th em. "We don't have any stores of nonqu a ria n food aboard the ldemw, bur we will contact the othe r s hips to see what we ca n find." She turned once more to Lemm. "You will have to come with me. Th e captain will want to spea k to you in person." Then she turned back to the humans. " Remember, you a re not to leave rhe confin es of this vessel. Either Ugho or Seeto will be posted outside

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your a irlock at all times. If you need anything, they can help you." And with that, the quarians, inclu ding Lemm , left them alone. A minute la ter they heard a loud cla ng as the door to the Ide1l11a'S external airlock sla mmed shut, seal ing them inside the sh uttle. " Hmph," H endel gru nted , " that's a hell of a way to treat a celebrity."

NINETEEN

Even with a ll he had done for Cerber us, even a fter hundreds of missions and a lmost s ixteen years of service, Grayson could count on one ha nd the number of times he ha d met the Illus ive Man face-ta-face . As cha risma tic a nd impressive as he a ppeared over a vid screen, he was far m ore impos ing in person. There was a seriousness about him, an air of authority. H e possessed a cool confide nce tha t made it seem as if he was completely in control of everything that

unfo lded around him. There was unmistakab le intelligence in his steely eyes; coup led with his silver-gray hair and his da unting presence, it gave the sense that he had wisdom far beyond that of ordinary men. This impression was further enhanced by the surroundings of the office the Illusive M a n used for his persona l meetings. The room was decora ted with a classic dark-wood finish, g iving it a serio lls and subdued, a lmost somber, feel. The lights were soft and a little dim, leaving the corners obscured by sha dows. Six black m eeting cha irs surrounded a fro sted glass table on the far s ide of the room, a llowing him to accommodate larger groups. This meeting, however, was a private sessio n. Gray-

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son was seated in one of the two oversized leather chai ts in the center of the office, directly across from the Man himself. H e'd noticed a pair of guards posted just outside the door as he entered the room, but inside the office it appeared to be just the two of th em. "We haven't found a ny hard evidence to back up your story yet," the Illu sive Man said, leaning forward in his own chai r with his elbows resting o n his knees and his ha nds clasped before him. H is features were sympathetic and his voice understa nding, but there was a hard edge just below th e surface. Grayson once again found him to be compelling yet intimidating at the sa me time. H e made it so that you wanted to confide in him. Yet if you chose to lie, his eyes seem ed to say, he would know ... and there would be grave consequences. Fortunately for Grayson, the truth was on his side. " I stand by my report. I pulled Gillian from the Ascension Project as ordered. During the mission, 1 was forced to alter the plan because of interference from Kah lee Sande rs and H endel Mitra, who insisted o n coming with Gillian. 1 made arrangements with Pel to deal with them, but when 1 arrived o n Omega he imprisoned us a ll so he could sell us to the Collectors." The Illusive Man nodded as if agreeing with every word. "Yes, of course. But I'm sti ll not clear on what ha ppened next." The question was innocent enough, but Grayson recognized it as a potentia l trap. Within two days of receiving his message, Cerberus had sent an extraction team to bring him from Omega back to Ea rth to meet with the organization's leader. Considering Pel

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and his e ntire team were dead-some of them by his hand-it was an invitation he wasn't given the option

of refusing. Upon la nding they had hustled him into a waiting ca r and taken h im directly to the nondescript office rower that served as the corpora te headquarters of Cord-Hislop Aerospace, the legitimate business front

for Cerberus. Virtually the enri re bu ilding was sta ffed wi th everyday men an d women engaged in the bus iness o f ma nu facturing an d sell ing ships and sh uttles. None of them had any idea they were really wo rking

for an anonymous individual who inhabited the secure penthouse at the very top of the building, a bove the priva tely accessed suites o f the more well known corporate executives. Grayson had been irching for a sand hir during rh e seemingly endless e1eva ror ride ro rh e rop of CordHislop. Bur ir would have been sheer idiocy ro du sr up before a meering as important-and dangerousas rhis o ne. H e had o ne chance ro convince the Illusive Man that Pel was a traitor. If he fa iled , he likely wouldn't leave rhe bu ilding alive, meaning he' d never see Gillian agai n. " I've to ld you everything I know about Pel's death. An unk nown person or persons, probably qua ria n , broke inro the warehouse. I presume they helped rhe others escape. Mosr of Pel's team were killed during rh e escape. During the batrle I broke o ur of my cell. I killed Pel and o ne s urvivi ng mem ber of his tea m myself. Th en I contacted you." The Illu sive Man nodded again, then srood up slowly. At ju sr ove r six feet tall, he towered a bove Grayson, still sea ted in his cha ir.

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" Paul," he said softl y, gazing d own on him from o n high, "are you addicted to red sand? "

Don't lie. He wouldn't be asking if he didn't already know. " I wasn't high on this miss ion. 1 wasn't hallucinating when 1 shot Pel , and 1 didn't ki ll him a nd his team to cover up some mistake 1 m ade while stoned . 1 ju st did what was necessary." The Illusive Man turned his back to him and took a step away, po ndering his words. Without turning back to face Grayson, he asked, "Do you care fo r Gillian?" " Yes," he a dm itted. " 1 care for her as much as any father ca res for his child. You told me to raise her as my own , so I did. It was the o nly way to get her to tru st me." And you already knew the answer to that

question, too. The Illu sive M a n turned back to face him again, but rem ained sta nd ing. " Do you ever have d oubts about wha t we do here at Ce rberus, Paul ? Do you ever feel conflicted over w hat's been done to Gillian?" Grayson didn't speak for seve ral mo m ents, trying to carefully fo rmu late his response. In the end , he couldn 't find the words to answer while eva ding the qu estion, so he replied as honestly as he could. " It tears me a part whenever 1 think a bo ut it. " Then he a dded with convictio n, " Bur 1 unde rsta nd why it m ust be done. I see how it serves the greater good. 1 believe in our cause ." The Illusive Man raised o ne eyebrow in surprise, tilting his head to fix his gaze o n the ma n si tting before-and beneath-him. " Your former partner would never have given m e

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an answer as ho nest as yours. " Grayson wasn " t s ure f I the words were mea nt as a compliment or an in sult.

" I'm not like Pel. He made a deal with the Col1ectors. H e betrayed humanity. He betrayed Cerberus. He betrayed you." Grayson felt a sm a ll hint of relief when the Illusive M an sat down agai n. "We've had no reports on your sh utrle's location since it left Omega. Not a si ngle sig hting at any space station or colony in either Council Space o r the Termi nus Systems." " } think I know why," Grayson a nn ou nced , exha ling a breath he didn't even know he was h olding as he

played his trump card. " I think they're hiding amid the quarian flotilla." Again, the l11u sive M a n raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I'm curious as to what led you t o this rather unlikely conclusion. " H e didn't have a good answer. His theory was based on a few pieces of highly circumstantial evidence: the shotgu n he'd found at the warehouse, th e prisoner in the basement, and the unshakable certainty that he just knew where Gillian was. " Instinct," he finally replied. " I feel it in m y gut. The quarians took m y daughter." "If they did ," his boss replied, " then she is beyond our reach. " Grayson shook his head, silently refuting the other man's statement. " I found Pel's mission rep orts in the warehouse. 1 know he was gathering information to infiltrate the Migrant Fleet, and 1 think th at's what drew the quarian rescue team to the warehouse . But they left one of their own behind; a prisoner Pel had

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tortured to the brink of insa nity. H e gave m e a transmission frequency and what I believe to be som e kind of p ass code before he died. " Pel 's reports also m enri oned a quarian scou t ship he'd acquired, the Cyniad. I think we can load a team onto the ship and use the frequency and code to get insi de the flotill a a nd get Gillian back." The Illusive M a n didn't try to deny the purpose of Pel's mission. Instead, he considered Grayson's plan, most likely weighing the risks agai nst the potentia l rewards. " It could work . . . assuming you 're right about the qu a ria ns taking Gillian." H e stood up aga in, but this time the action seemed to signa l a n end to their meeting, as if he'd gotten what he wanted out of Grayson. " } will have some of our ope ratives in the Terminus System s see if they can find any information to support your theory. If they do, we'll send an extraction team to get her out. "We have a quarian conta ct o n Omega who could help us," he added. " I will give him the code to see if he can verify the authenticity." Grayson had achieved ha lf of what he wanted from this meeting: Cerberu s was sending troops to bring Gillian back. Bur that wasn't enough for him this time; he was done letting others control his da ughter's life while he sat idly by. " I wanr to be p a rt of th e extraction team." The Illu sive Man simply shook his head. " The m ission will requ ire exacting precision and fl awless execution. The sma llest mistake cou ld put the entire team at risk. And I'm concerned your feelings fo r Gillian have compromised your judgmenr."

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" I need to be p art of th is," Grayson insisted. " I need to get my daughter back." " I give you my word no harm will come to her," the Illusive M an assured him, his voice slippi ng into a low, soothing register. "We' ll do everything to keep her safe. Yo u kn ow how important she is to us."

That's what I'm counting 011. Gillian represented over a decade of intense Cerberus research. Tens of thousands of hou rs and bil-

lion s of cred its had been invested in his little girl in the hope she wou ld o ne day become the key to un-

locking new frontiers in th e field of human hiotics. The l1Iusive Man wanted Gillian back ju st as much as Grayson, though for d ifferent reasons. And that gave the father something few people ever had when dea ling with the Illusive Man: leverage. "You d o n't have any other choice," Grayson warned him, delivering his ultimatum in a sure, steady tone. " I won't give up the pass code . Not until I'm on a ship heading right into the hearr of the Migrant Fleet. If you want to get Gillian back, then I'm your only shot." It was a d angerous ga mble. They could a lways torture him for the information, a nd their techniques would make the methods Pel had used on his quarian prisoner seem merciful by comparison . But Grayson could sti ll be useful, especially when it came to Gillian. Cerberus knew of his da ughter 's condition; th ey knew she cou ld be unresponsive to stra ngers. H er father was worth keeping arou nd ... or so he hoped. "You are very dedicated to her," the Illusive Man said with a smile that didn't quite hide the rage be-

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neath it. " I hope that does not become a problem 1a ter all. " "So I can go?" The Illusive M an nodded . " I will set up a meeting with GolD, our quarian contact on Omega." H e motioned with one hand a nd Grayson stood up, fighting to keep his elation well hidden. It was quite likely there wou ld be repercussions for his defiance somewhere down the road-the lIlu sive Man had a long, long memory. But he didn't care about that now. H e was willing to pay any price if it mea nt

he could get his daughter back.

T\NENTV

"Remember what I told you, Gillian," Hendel said. "Get the image in your mind, then clench your fist and concentrate." Gillian followed H endel's instruction, scrunching up her face as she focused a ll her a ttention o n the pillow at the foot of the bed they were sitting crosslegged o n. Kahlee watched them with interest from the other side of the bedroom, leaning against the frame of the open door.

Though Kahlee wasn't biotic, she was familiar w ith the techniques H endel was teaching. The Ascension

Proj ect used si mple biomechanica l feedback, such as clenching a fi st or thrusting a hand high into the air, as a tool for unleashing biotic power. Associating basic mu scle movements with the necessa ry complex thou ght patterns crea ted a triggering mechanism fo r specific biotic feats. Through practi ce a nd training, the correspon ding physical action became a catalyst for the required mental processes, increasing both the speed and strength of the desired biotic effect. " You can do it, Gillian, " H endel urged. "Ju st like we practiced."

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The girl began to grind her teeth, her fist clenched so tight it began to trem ble. "Good girl," H endel encouraged. "Now throw your arm forward and imagine the pillow flyin g across the room. " Kahlee thought she saw a faint sh immering in the air, like the rippling heat rising off a su n-scorched b lacktop. Then the pillow launched itself from the bed, hurtling toward Kahlee a nd smacking her square in the face. It didn't hurt, but it did catch her offguard. Gillian laughed-a nervous bark of excitement and surpri se. Even H en del cracked a sma ll smile. Kahlee scowled a t th em both in mock exasp eration. "Your reaction time's a little slower than it used to be," H endel commented. " I think I better leave you two a lone befo re 1 ca tch a lamp in the teeth ," she replied before exiting the room an d making her way aft toward the seats in th e passenger ca bin. Three days ha d passed since their shuttle had docked with the Idelllla, and they were still waiting for the captain to give them clearance to come aboard his shi p. During that time they had been well looked after, but Kahlee was starting to develop a serious case of cabin fever. Gillian a nd H endel had fought against the boredom by focusing on developing her biotic ta lents. She had made astou nding progress in a n incredibly short time. Whether that was from a ll the o ne-on -one t raining H endel was giving her, or if it was because her outburst in the cafeteria back at the Academy had broken through some kind of internal m enta l ba rrier,

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Kah lee couldn't say. And though she was glad to see Gillian making progress, there was little she could do to

help.

It was clear, however, that Gillian was coping surprisingly well with their si tuation. She had always had good a nd bad days; the severity of her condition had an irregular ebb and flow. Over the past severa l days there were still times when Gillian seem ed to simply zone o ut or disconnect from what was happening around her, bur overa ll she seemed more consistently aware an d engaged. Again, Kahlee wasn't sure of the exact reason. It could be the fact that s he was receiving far more personal attention tha n she ever had at the Academy. It might have had something to do with their inab ility to leave the tight confines of the shuttle; Gillian was intimately fami liar with every square inch of the ship. She likely felt safe and protected while on board, as opposed to being exposed a nd vulnerable while wandering the classrooms and halls of the Grissom Academy. Or it s imp ly could have been the fact that she had to interact with fewer p eople-apart from H endel a nd Kah lee, the only visitor to the shuttle had been Lemm . H e stopped by once or twice a day to g ive them updates on what was happ ening aboard the Idenna, and sha re a ny important news coming in from the rest of the vessels in the Fleet. With almost fifty thousand ships-ma n y of them frigates, sh uttles, and sma ll persona l craft-there was a constant st ream of information and traffic within the flotilla. Fortunately, in the quarians' endless efforts to seek out resources for their societ y, th ere were a lso d ozens of vessels arriving and departing from nearby worlds

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on a daily basis. As promised, the Idclllla had requested from the other vessels foo d stores that were suitable for humans, as well as human en viro-suits. One day after their arrival supplies began to come in, and the shu ttle's hold was n ow stocked to overflowmg. Not surprisingly, the request ha d set off su sp icions and ru mors among the rest of the Fleet. As Lemm exp lained it, that was one of the reasons the decision was taking so long. The capta in of each ship was given a bsolute authority over his or her vessel, provided that a uthority wasn't abused and didn 't en da nge r the rest of the flotilla . Apparently the harboring of nonqua ria ns defin itely fell beyond the sco pe o f w hat was permitted. In the wake o f the Idclllla's strange request fo r human-centric s upplies, the Conclave a nd the Admiralty-the respecti ve civilian and mil itary lea ders of the quarian government-had become involved in th e discussions of what was to be done. Ultimately, Lemm had explained to Kahlee, the fi nal decision would be given to the Idclllla's captain, but not before everyone else had weighed in with their opinions and recommendations . To pass the time between Lemm's visits, Kahlee had begun s peaking w ith the qua rians posted at the airlock as their guards. Ugho, the o lder of the two, was polite, but som ewhat col d. H e responded to her questions w ith short, al m ost clipped, a n swe rs, a nd s he soon gave up bothering to speak w ith him w hile he was o n duty. Seeto, however, was the exact oppos ite. Kahlee guessed he was abou t Lemm's age, though hidden be-

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hind his m ask and enviro-suit her only clue was the "na r" identifier in his name. But for some reason Seeto seemed more naive and youthfu l than their rescuer. Lemm spe nding severa l m o nths away from the fl otilla on his Pilgrimage no doubt had something to do with that, but Seeto a lso struck her as having a

chi ldlike exubera nce abour him that she simply chalked up to a n excitable, outgoing persona lity. She learned very quickly that he was a talker. One or two questions from her were a ll it would take to get the words flowing, and then they came o ut in a gushing river. Kahlee didn't mi nd, however. It helped pass the time, a nd she had learned a lot about the quaria ns in genera l, a nd the Idenna in particula r,

from Seero. At only thirty years ol d , he had ex pla ined, the Idemza was still considered a new ship. Understandable, considering som e of the ships in the flotilla were ma nu factured over three centuries ago, befo re the quaria ns' defea t and exile at the hands o f the geth. Over time they had been upgraded , repaired , and retrofitted to the point they hardly resembled the o rigina l vessel anymore, but they were still seen as less reliable than newer ships. Seeto also told her that the Idemza was a mediumsized cruiser, large enough to have a sea t on the Conclave, the civilian board that advised the Admira lty on setting Fleet policy and passed rulings on s pecific di sputes an d decisions within the fl otilla. She learned th at there were 693 men, women, and children who ca lled Idemza home-694 if Lemm 's proposed gift from his Pi lgrimage was ultimately accepted by the captain a nd he joined their crew. Kahlee was asto n-

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ished by that number; in the Alliance, a medium-sized cruiser would have a crew of 70 or 80 at the most. In her mind's eye she env isioned the inhabitants of the Ide1l11a living in squalid, overcrowded mise ry. The mo re she had ta lked with Seeto, the more comfortable he'd become. H e'd told her abou t Ysin'Mal vas Idenna, the ship's captain. Ship captains tended to be men and women bou nd by t rad ition; Mal, however, was generally rega rded as a n aggressive proponent of change an d progress. H e'd even, Seeto had confided in a low whisper, put forth a proposal fo r the flotill a to start sending out cruisers on long-term exploratory missions to uncharted regions of space, in the hopes of discovering uninh a bited , life-bearing worlds the quarians could settle as their own. This particular view had often brought him into conflict with the other sh ip captains and the Conclave, who believed the quarians needed to remain united in the M igra nt Fleet if they were to ensure their survival. H owever, from the way the young quarian spoke, it was clear to Kahlee that Seeto supported his captain's position, rather tha n commo n conventIOn. As s he passed through the passenger cabi n on her way to the airlock, she hoped it would be the m ore interesting Seeto, and not the stoic Ugho, who was sta nding on duty o utside. Still forbidden to leave the ship, she was about to use the airlock's intercom to contact the gua rd outside a nd ask him to com e aboard when the sea ls on the door suddenly released on their own. Surprised, she stu mbled back from the door as it op ened and a group of seven qu a ria ns entered.

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Kah lee felt a brief moment of alarm as they marched onto the shuttle, hut when she realized none of them had thei r weapons drawn she relaxed. She recognized both Seeto and Ugho a m o ng them. And she thought the one standi ng at the head of the group was Isli, the leader of the security patrol that had fi rst greeted them. Th e other four she didn't know. "The capta in has agreed to meet with you," Isli said by way of greeting, confirming her identity.

About damn time, Kahlee th ought. Out loud she only asked, "When ?" "Now," lsli told her. "We will escort you to the bridge to see him. You will need to wear your envirosuit, of course."

"Okay. Let me tell Hen del and Gillian where I'm . " gOing. "They need to com e, roo," Isli insisted. " The caprain wants to m eet with all of you. Lemm is alrea d y there waiting." Kahlee didn 't like the idea of forcing Gillian to leave the shuttle a nd dragging her through the crowded decks of the ldenna, bur given the circumsta nces s he didn't see how she could refuse. H endel shared her concern when she told him, but Gillian didn 't seem bothered by th e idea. Five minutes later, once they had a ll d onned their enviro-suits, they were off. Isli, Ugho, and Seeto went with them as th eir escorts, while the other four quarians stayed behind. "They need to sterilize your shuttle," Isli told them. " It's better if you a ren't on the vessel while they' re working. "

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Kahlee wondered if they were really decontaminating the vessel, or if this wa s just an opport unity for the quarians to thorough ly search the shuttle fro m top to bottom without o ffen ding them. Not that it ma de a difference; they had nothing to hide. Isli led them throug h the ship w hile Ugho marched silently a long beside her. Seeto fell back with the huma n s so he could provide the occasiona l comm ent o r explana tio n o n wha t they were see ing during th e Journey. "This is the Idenlla's trading deck, " he sa id as they pa ssed from the docking bays into what would have served as the cargo hold on a n Alliance vessel. The room was packed with quarians, all in their enviro-suits, milling about. Each o ne carried a bag o r backpack. Sto rage lockers lined the wa lls. Most of them were open, revealing the contents to be a m ishmash of mu ndane items, from clothes to cooking uten sils. Si mi lar p iles of goods were loaded into large, op en -topp ed steel crates and oversized meta l storage containers sca ttered hapha zardly abou t the floor, fill ing the room except for the narrow aisles that ra n back and forth between them. The quaria n s were m oving from conta iner to container and locker to locker. They would ru mmage throug h them, occasionally picking up an item and exam ining it befo re either keeping their fin d o r putting the item back an d resu ming their sea rch. "Anyone who has un need ed goods a nd items stores th em here," Seeto explained, "so o thers can com e and take w hat they need." " You mea n you ju st let a nyone take anyth ing from anyone else?" H endel asked in su rprise.

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"Not if someone else is using it," Seeto said, his voice making it clear th at, to him, the answer was b lata ntly obvious. "But if you're no r using it, you 're ju st supp osed to b ring it here and give it away for free to someone else?" "What else would you do w ith it ?" the young quaria n asked, the q uestion m aking it clea r that the concept of sell ing surplus mercha ndise to you r neighbor was completely foreig n to h im . "What if som ebody hoards t hei r possessions?" H endel asked. "You k now, keeping everything fo r

himself?" Seeto laughed. "Who would d o such a thing? Your living space wou ld becom e so crowded you 'd have to sleep sta nding up, just for the sake of having items you don't even lise ." H e shook his head a nd c hu ckled softly a t H endel 's foo lish ness. As t hey passed t hrough the tra d ing deck, Ka h lee cast a q u ick glance over at Gillia n . Ir was hard to read her e m otiona l state be h ind her m ask, but she seemed to be okay. Satisfied, Kahlee turned he r attent ion back to the qua ria ns hu nt ing through the me rchan d ise. At fi rst glance the scene resem bled the crowded market squa re of a ny colo ny world. A closer look, however, showed it was very, very different. It lacked t he aggressive, b ustl ing energy o f a typica l bazaa r. D espite t he crowd-fort y or fifty people by her guessnobody was pushing, shoving, or fig hting over it em s. Ofte n , two o r t hree people would stop and ta lk, though they were a lways ca reful to move aside so they didn't block the a is les when t hey d id so.

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It took her a moment to realize what else was missing: the noise . There were no mercha nts loudly hawking their wares, and no angry shouting of customers and proprietors haggling over prices. Only the so ft sounds of people searching through the lockers and bins, a nd the low, good-na tured conversation of neighbors a nd frie nds. They were nearing the large freight elevator that would take them up to the next level of the ship when Ka hlee noticed something else. A sma ll desk fa shioned from a n unidentifiable a lien hardwood had been set up in front of a door leading to a s upply room o ff to the side of the ca rgo hold. A female quaria n sat at the desk behind a computer, where a line of five or six others stood waiting. Two male quarians stood behind her. The man at the front of the line said som ething to the wom an, who punched some information into the computer. H e ha nded her a n em pty pack, which s he passed to one o f the m en behind her. He disa ppeared into the room, then emerged aga in a few seconds later and handed the p ack, now fill ed, back to the m an in line. "What's going on over there?" she asked. "Essentia l items, such as food or m edici ne, are stored separately, " Seeto expla ined. "We need to keep track of our reserves to make sure we always have enough fo r everyone in the colony." "What happens when the rese rves run low?" H endel asked. "If we ma nage them carefully, they never w ill," Seeto replied. "Weekly ship ments arrive from th e Li veshi ps to provide for our bas ic needs. And specific

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o r luxury items are acquired by the scour s hips we send out to explore the worlds of the systems we pass throug h, or throug h trading with other vessels in the

Fleet. " They boarded the elevator and began to ascend,

leaving the trading deck behind them. When they reached the next level the elevator d oor opened, and Ka hlee's jaw dropped at the sig ht before her. They were on what would have been the crew deck of an Alliance c ruiser. But instead of the expected mess hall, sleeper pods, medical ba y, o r ree room, she got her first good look at how the vast majority of qua rians lived. Most of the interior walls of the deck ha d been torn out ro m axi mize the use of space. Replacing them was a m assive grid of cubicles, arra nged in grou ps of six: three ru n ning fore a nd aft a long the sh ip's deck by two running port to starboard. Each individual cu b icle was maybe a dozen feet on a side, wi th three walls fashioned from steel plates that ran three quarters of the way up to the ceiling. The fourth side, the o ne facing out toward the aisles that crisscrossed fore to a ft and port to starboard betwee n each group of cubicles, was open, though most had heavy sheets of bright, multicolo red cl oth hanging down from the ceiling like curtains to cover the opening. The noise that had been absent from the markets seemed to have migrated here, a general din of sound and voices th at rose up from each cu bicle. "This is the deck where I live," Seeto told them proudly as Isli led them down one of the a isles ru nning through the cente r of the cubicle grid. As on the trading deck, the lanes running in both directions

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were crowded with people. These individua ls moved with more purpose than the idly browsing shopp ers, thou gh they were still unfailingly courreou s in making way for others. As they passed cub icle a fter cub icl e, Kahlee wondered if the colors and intrica te designs sewn o nto the cloth curtains that served as the doors had a ny significa nce, such as identifying individua ls from a s pecific clan or family. She t ried to look for sig ns of commo n or repeati ng parrerns in the artwo rk that might h int at m ea ning, but if it was there it eluded her. Many of the cloth curtains were only partially drawn, an d Kahlee couldn't resist th e urge to glance from side to side at each cu bicle as th ey passed, ca tching occas iona l glimpses of ordinary quarians living their everyd ay lives . Some were cooking on sma ll electric stoves, others were tidying up their cubicles. Others were playing ca rds or other ga mes, or watching persona l vid screens. Some were gathered in sma ll groups, sitting on the floo r while they visited a fri end's or rela tive's space. A few were even sleep ing. All of them were wearing their en viro-suits. "Are they wearing their suits beca use of u s?" H endel wondered. Seeto shook his head . "We rarely take off our enviro-suits, except in the most private settings or in. nmate encounters . " "We work hard to maintain o ur ships," Isli added from up a hea d , "but the chance of a hull breach or engine leak, remote th ough it may be, is something we must be con sta ntly and acutely aware of." On the surface her explanati on ma de sense, but Ka hlee su spected there was more to it. Hull breaches

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and engine leaks would indeed be ext remely rare, even in o lder, run-clown vessels. And si mple airqu a lity monitors, com bined with element zero detectors, could a lert people on board to don their suits in the event of an em ergency long before any serious harm was d o ne to them . It was quite likely wearing the enviro-suits had become a deeply ingra ined tradition , a custom born from the inescapable lack of privacy o n the overpopulated ships. Th e m asks and layers of materia l could ve ry well he a physica l, emotional, and p sychologica l buffer in a society where solitude was virtua ll y im-

possible to find. " H ow do you go to the bathroom?" Gillian asked,

much ro Ka hlee's surprise . She had expected the girl to withdraw into herself in an effort to escape the

crowd s and overabundance of noise in the unfamiliar surrou ndings.

Maybe she's getting some kind of psychological privacy from her mask and eflviro-suit, too. "We have bathrooms and showers in the lower decks," Seeto expla ined , in answer to Gillian 's query. " The room is sea led and sterile. It is one of the few p laces we feel comfortable removing o ur enviro. SUItS.

"

"What about when you' re not on a quaria n ship ?" Gillian wanted to know. "Our suits are equipped to store severa l days worth of waste in sea led com partments between the in ner and o uter laye r. Th e suit can th en be flu s hed, discharging the waste into a ny com mon sa n itation facility-like th e toilet on your shuttle-wi th out exposing the wearer to outside contam ina nts."

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Seeto suddenly da rred up ahead a nd pulled back the curtain on one of the cubicles . " This is my li ving qu a rter," he said excitedly, us hering them over. Peering inside Kahlee saw a cluttered but tidy little room. A sleeping m at was rolled up in one corner. A sma ll cooking stove, a personal vid screen, and a computer rested aga in st one of the si de walls. Several swatches of brigh t orange cl oth h ung o n the walls, th e color matching the curta in th at was used to block th e open entrance. " You li ve here a lone?" Kahlee asked , and Seeto laughed aga in at the foolishness of humans. " } share this space with m y m other and father. My sister lived here for m any years, too, until she left o n her Pilg rimage. Now s he is with the crew o f the

Rayya. " "Where are your parents n ow?" Gillian asked, and Ka hlee thought she heard a hint of longing in her vOice. " M y fath er works on the upper decks as a na vigator. M y mother is usually part of the civilian Council that advises Captain Ma l, but this week she is volu nteering o n the Liveships . She will be back in two more days." "What about a ll the orange cloth hanging from the walls," Kahlee asked, cha nging the topic away fro m missing p arents. " Does it mea n a nything?" " It means m y m other likes the color orange," Seeto chuckled, letting the curta in fall back into place as th ey contin ued on their way. They made their way through the remaining cubicles until they reached a no ther elevator. " } will escort the hu ma n s alone from here," Isli in-

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formed Seeto a nd Ugho. "You two go report back fo r norma l work deta il. " " I'm afra id this is where we part comp any," Seeto said with a courteous nod. " I hope we shall see each other again soon. "

Ugho nodded, too, but didn't bother to speak. The elevator opened and th ey followed Isli aboa rd. The doors closed and it whisked them up to th e bridge. As they step ped off, Kahlee was surprised to see several m ore cu bicles built a long one side of the hall running from the elevator. Apparently space was so va luable tha t even here, o nly a few dozen feet fro m

the bridge itself, every available inch was used. "Those are the capta in 's quarters," Isli poinred out as they walked past o ne of the cubicles roward the bridge, filling the role of tour guide now that Seeto was no longer with them. The blu e and green curtain was completel y drawn, b locking a ny view inside. But based on the width of the corrido r and the two steel p lates that formed the side walls, Kahlee estimated the captain's room was the sa m e size as ever y other. When they arrived on the actual bridge Ka hl ee noted with some surprise that this was the one p lace the ship didn't seem unusua ll y crowded. There were still a lot of bodies crammed into a small area-o helmsman, two navigators, a comm operator, and various other c rew-but the sa me could be sa id of any Alliance vessel. The captain was sea ted in a chair in the center of the bridge and Lemm, his in jured leg still encased in the p rotective boot, stood just behind him. The capta in rose a nd ap proached as they entered, while Lemm clumped along behind him. "Captain Ysin'M a l vas Idenna," Lemm sai d , mak-

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ing the introductions, "a llow me to present Kahlee Sanders, and her companions H endel Mitra and Gillian Grayson." "You and your friends are welcome aboard the Ide1l11a," the captai n said, extend ing his ha nd to each of them in tu rn. Once again, Gillian didn't fli nch or shy away from the contact, though s he didn 't find the courage to speak this time. It has to be the enlliro-suits, Kahlee thought. Ca ptain Mal looked, to Kahlee's eye, exactly like every other male quarian she had met. She knew her o bservation was more tha n just interspecies bias. Even accou nting for the fact that many of the physica l differences were obscured by their environmental suits, it was a safe generaliza tion to say that quarians all tended to look prerry much the sa m e. They were of an a lmost u niforml y si mila r size an d build, with far less variety than what was found in hu ma ns. Apart from Lemm , who was easy to identify because of his boot, she had learned to rely on specific subtle differences in their clothing to tell the quarians apart. For exa mpl e, Seeto had a sm a ll bur noticeable disco loration on the left sh o ulder of his enviro-suit, as if it ha d been rubbed or worn at constanrly over ma n y m o nths. H owever, if H ende l and Grayson were both wearing enviro-suits, it would have been easy to tell them apart without rel ying on si milar tricksH endel was half a foor taller a nd seventy pounds heavier than Gillian's father. That same degree of varia nce simpl y didn't exist in the quarian populanon. It's like that with all the other races, Kahlee thou ght to herself. For some reason, humans just

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have more genetic diversity than the rest of the galaxy. She hadn 't rea lly noticed it before, not consciou sly, bur here on the bridge of the Idemla it seemed to strike home.

It's happening to

ItS,

too, she realized as Hen del

shoo k the captain 's hand. The big man's mix of Nordic and Indian a ncestry was the n orm o n Earth now, a nd the inevitable genetic by-product was a more physica lly homogeneous popu lation. In th e twem y-second century, b lond hair like hers was a rarity, and naturally blue eyes were non existe nt. But

with hair dye, skin toning, and colored contact lenses, who really cares? " } extend to each of you th e warm welcome of my ship and her crew," the ca pta in was saying, causing Ka hlee to s nap her mind back to the present. " It is a n honor to m eet you." "The honor is ours, Captai n Mal," Kahlee replied. " You have taken u s in when we had n owhere else to go." "We are wanderers ourselves," the captain replied. "We have found safety and community here in the Migrant Fleet, and I offer that safety to you now, as well. " "Thank you , sir," Kahlee replied. The capta in bowed his head in acknowledgment of her gratitude, then reached o ut and placed a hand on her shoulder, d rawing in close so he could speak to her in a to ne so so ft she could barely hear it throug h th e voice modu lator of his m ask. "Unfortunately, the safety o f the Migrant Fl eet is a false one," he whispered. Kahlee was caught off-guard by the c ryptic warn-

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ing, too surp rised to give a reply. Fortunately, he didn't seem to expect o ne. H e took his ha nd from her shoulder a nd stepped back, resuming the conversation in his norma l voice. "Representa tives from the Conclave and the Admiralty are comi ng to the Idemza to speak with you," he told her. " This is a great honor for my ship a nd my crew. " From the tone of his voice, Kahlee suspected he felt th e honor was more of an inconvenience. "Sir," one of the crew members informed the captain, "the Lestiak is requesting permission to dock." "Send them to bay fi ve," Mal replied. "We'll meet them there. "Come," he said to Kahlee and her companions, "we shouldn 't keep s uch important visitors waiting."

T\NENTV-ONE

Once aga in Kahlee and her com pan ions were led th roug h the shi p by three quarians. This time, however, their escort con sisted of Isli, Le mm , and the captalll.

They rook them back down

to

the lower levels and

over t o the docking bays. Instead of going back to Grayson's shuttle, however, they made their way to one of the other occu pied bays, where the Lestiak, along with its crew of VIPs, was already waiting fo r them. Conside ring the po litica l statu s of those on board, Ka hlee was su rprised to see the captain didn 't request permission before opening the airlock and e ntering the vessel. " I guess the capta in gets to go wherever he wants

on his own ship," Hendel whispered

to

her, making

note of the stra nge behavior as we lL Insi de the sh uttle they were brought into a large conference roo m that a ppeared to be set up fo r what looked t o be som e type of official inquiry. Or a caurtmartial, Kahlee thought. There was a long, semicircular table with six c hai rs behind it. Five of th e c hai rs were occupied by quarians, though one on the end

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was empty. Several armed guards stood at the back of the room, behind the seated dignitaries. Mailed them to the center of the room, where they stood whi le he made a full round of introductions. Kah lee didn 't bother trying to remember a ll the names as they were tossed out. She did, however, make a point of noting which three of the quarians in attendance were elected representatives from the civi lian Conclave, and which two were members of th e military's Admiralty board. She also noticed that when Mal introduced Lemm, he referred to him as " Lemm 'Sha l vas Idenna"; apparently the young quarian's Pilgrimage was o fficiall y over, and he ha d been accepted into Mal's crew. When the introductions were finished, Mal went over and sat down in the lone un occupied seat at th e table. Isli went a nd stood behind him, joining the other honor g uards watching over the scene from the back wall. Lemm didn't move, but stayed with the humans who remained standing in front of the table. "Ka hl ee Sanders," o ne of the Admira lty representatives asked, beginning the proceedings, "do you understand why we have brought you here?" "You think I might know something about Saren Arterius and how he was a ble to control the geth," she rep lied. "Could you describe your relationship with Saren?" another representative asked , this one from the c ivilian Conclave. "There was no relationship," Kahlee insisted. " I only met him briefly two o r three times. As far as I knew, he was just the Spectre ass igned to investigate the acti vities of my mentor, D r. Shu Qian."

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"And w hat were those activities, exactl y?"

"Qian had d iscovered some kind of alien artifact," she said, ch oosing her words carefu ll y. " It might have been Prot hean. Maybe it even p redated t hem . None of us really k new. " H e t hought it was t he key to crea t ing a new kind of artificia l intell igence. Bur he kept the rest of u s in t he dark; we were just lab monkeys for h im, runn ing da ta he gathered fro m his tests a nd experiments. Qian was the only o ne w ho knew a ny of the details about the artifac t: w here it was, w h at it was, what it

d;d. "Bur Qian wem missing, and he was never fou nd.

Neither were his files." " Is it possible Sa ren fo und his fi les?" one of the Conclave asked. " Is it possi ble he fo und this artifact, and used it to gain control of t he geth?" " It's poss ib le," Kahlee answered, somewhat relucrantly. The idea had occurred to her before, but she didn't like speculating rh at she h ad played some role, howeve r small, in the devastation wrought by the geth. " H ave you ever hea rd of a species ca lled the Reapers?" the first quaria n wa nted to k n ow. Kahlee shook her head. "T here is wo rd com ing from t he C itadel t hat Saren's fl agshi p, Sovereign, was actu ally an ad va nced AI. It was a live; just one of an entire race of enormous, sen tient ships ca lled the Rea pers." "Those are just rumors," H endel inter jected. "There's no proof to s upport those theories ." "But it could explain why the geth fo llowed Saren ," the q u aria n cou ntered. "An advanced AI might have

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been ab le to override the geth 's rudimentary intelligence systems." " I can 't really say," Kahlee answered. " I d o n't know anything about the geth , other than what I' ve seen o n the vids. And 1 have no idea why they fol lowed Sa ren." " But if Sovereign was a Reaper," one of the Admiralty m embers pressed, "then there could be more of its kind. They could be lying dormant in unexplored regions of space, just wa iting fo r someone to accidentally discover and awaken them." "Maybe," Ka hlee sa id with a n indecisive shrug. " It seems obvious to me that this is something we would want to avoid at a ll possible costs," one of the Conclave rep resenta tives chimed in . "One Reaper nea rly destroyed the Cita del. Another could fini sh the job. The galaxy already b lames us fo r the geth. We don't need to give them a nother reason to hate us." "Or maybe if we found one of these Reapers," M a l countered, joining the conversa ti o n for the fir st time, "we could u se it as Saren did-to take control of th e geth ! We could return to our h omeworlds and reclaim what is rightfully ours!" There was a long silence, then one of the Admiralty asked Kahlee, " Is Captain Ma l correct ? Do you believe it m ight be possible to discover a dormant Reaper a nd use it to gai n control of the geth? " Kahlee shook her head, bewildered. " I can't say. There a re too many unk nown va riables." " Please," the quarian urged , though his request seemed more like a command, "speculate. You a re one of th e galaxy's foremost experts in synthetic intelligence. We a re eager to hear what you think. "

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Kahlee rook a deep breath a nd considered the problem carefully before answering. "Given what I knew of D r. Qian's research, if Saren's flagship was the alien artifact we were studying, it might have been possible to use it to control the geth. And if there are more ships out there like Sovereign, then yes, it is logical ro assume they could also be used to contro l or influ ence the gerh . . . assum ing that's what Saren

d;d." It was difficult to read the body language of th e qu a rians a t the t ab le while their express io n s were obscu red by their masks. But Kahlee thought she derect ed anger o r frustration in several of their postures. M a l, however, seem ed to he sitting ta ller than before. " Is there anything else you ca n t ell li S, Kahlee Sa nders?" one of th e Admiralty asked. "An ything about Saren, or the geth, or D r. Qian's research?" "There's really nothing to tell," Ka hlee said a pologetically. " I wish 1 could be more helpful." " I believe we ha ve everything we need," Mal sa id, st a nding up. " Thank you, Kahlee." Rea lizing they weren't goi ng to get a nything more out of their guest, the rest of the participa nts deferred to his decision and similarly rose from th eir seats. "We thank you for your time," one of them sa id. "Ca pta in Mal, we would like to contin ue this discu ssion with the rest of the Conclave. We hope you will accompany us." Mal nodded. " I am eager to speak with them." "We should leave as soon as possible," one of th e other qu a ria ns noted. " Perhaps you could have your security chief escort the huma ns back to thei r shuttle?"

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"Ka hlee a nd the others are honored guests of the Idemla," Mal said poinredly. "They do n ot need a security escort. They are free to come a nd go as they p lease. " There was an awkward sile nce that was finall y broken by one of the Admiralty. "Understood , Captain." H av ing won his point, Mal turned to Kahlee and th e others. "As long as you a re careful n ot to interfere in the operations of the s hip, I am granting you free run of my vessel. Should you wish to have a guide, Lemm would be honored to show you around." "Thank you, Captain," Kahlee sa id, eager to get off the Lestiak a nd leave the increasingly tense situation behind. " Perhaps when I return from the Conclave, we ca n speak again," he said. "O f course," she rep lied. " You are always welcome o n our sh uttle. " Unsure if there was som e kind of formal protocol still required before they were dismissed, Kahlee simp ly stood the re unril Lemm gave her elbow a gentle tug. "Come on," he whispered, "let's go. " Mal and Isli stayed behind as he led them away. Once they were beyond the a irlock a nd back on the Idemla, H endel turned to Lemm. "What the hell was that all abou t? " " Pol itics" was the sh ort, a nd uninfo rmative, a nswer. "You can't be a little more detailed?" Ka hlee pressed. " I'm sure the ca ptain will make everything clear when he returns from the Conclave," Lemm assured her. " Please, just be patienr for a few more days."

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"It's not like we have any other ch o ice," H endel said with a grunt. " But my patience is growing awful

thin lately." Grayson didn't like Golo. The Illusive Man had a rra nged a m eeti ng between Grayson an d the quarian on Omega to plan their assa ult on the Migrant Fleer. The meeting was taking p lace in a small rented apartment in the Ta lon district, not two blocks away from the warehouse where he had killed Pel. The room was empty except for two chai rs, one table, and the two of them. "You might as well give up," Gola declared to start off the conversation. " Infiltrating the quarian fle et is

impossible." "They have my daughter," Grayson replied, keeping his voice neutral despite the bile in his throat. " I wam her back. I was to ld you could help us." Golo may have been an ally of Ce rberus, but he was a traitor ro his own people. Grayson couldn 't respect anyone who would turn on his own kind simply to make a profit. It went aga inst everything he believed in. "There are fifty thousand ships in the Migrant Fleet," Gala reminded him. "Even if th ey do have her, how are you going to figure out which vessel she's on?" "The pilot of the scout ship , the one Pel tortured for information, sa id his name was H ilo'Jaa vas Idenna. I think the Cyniad was a scout sh ip for the Idemw. Whoever ca me looking for him was part of the sa me crew. They're the o nes who took Gillian."

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"That makes sense," Golo admitted. Something about th e way he sa id it m ade Grayson feel as if he were being played, as if Golo alrea d y knew a ll this. " But it hardl y matters. Yo u won't get a nywhere nea r the Idellna. Even if you ' re in the Cyniad, the patrols w ill sh oot the vessel down if you don 't use the proper codes and hailing frequencies. " " I have the frequency an d the code," Grayson assured him. " The pilot gave them to me befo re he died ... Golo laughed. " H ow do you know they' re rea l? What if he gave you a fa lse code?" Grayson th o ug ht back to the qua rian he had di scovered in the cellar. Pel had possessed a sixth sense for knowing w hen his victi ms were lying unde r torture; interrogation had always been o ne o f his strong SUItS.

"The in format ion's good," he sa id. " It' ll get u s pa st the p at rols." " Your confidence is inspiring, " the quarian replied, and Grayson cou ld hear the smirk in his voice. H e knew Golo had been Pel's contact on O m ega. H e'd been instrumental in acquiring the CYlliad, and Grayson couldn't help but wonder w h at else the qua ria n an d Pel had been invo lved in together. " We're offering ten times what you were paid fo r the last m ission," Grayson sa id , struggling to kee p his rising anger in check. H e needed Go lo. H aving th e codes wasn't enough ; if the mi ssion had a ny ho pe o f succeeding they had to have someo ne fa milia r with the protocols o f the Migrant Fleet o n the ship to kee p them from making a

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mistake tha t would expose them. And they needed someone fl uent in the qu arian tongue o n the ra d io to relay the codes back a nd forth w ith the pat rols; a n automa ted transla tor w asn't going to cut it.

"Ten times?" Golo sa id, considering the offer. "Generous. But is it wo rth risking m y life for?" "This is a lso a chance for revenge," G rayson reminded him, sweetening the pot. He' d read Golo's profile in Pel 's mission reports. H e knew the qua ria n harbored a deep hatred for the society that ha d exiled him , an d he w asn't above exploiting that hat red. Not if it helped him get Gillian hack.

"The Fleet bani shed you. They cast you out. Thi s is your chance to strike back at them in a way they will never forger. H el p us a nd you can make them pay." "A ma n after my own heart," Golo sa id with a cruel laugh , a nd Grayson felt his stomach t urn. " Does this mea n you 're in ?" Grayson demanded . " We still ha ve severa l problems to consider," Go lo sa id by way of confir mation. "The Cyniad a n d the co d es will get us past the patrols. Bu t we' ll need some way to disrupt the Idemw's commu nicatio n s after we dock so they don't a lert the rest of the flotilla once the assault begins." " We can ta ke care of tha t," Grayson sa id, knowing Cerberus ha d that technology readily ava ilable. " What else?" " We' ll need b lu eprints of the ship's interior layout. " " It was origi na lly a d ecommissioned bataria n Hensa class cruiser," Grayson replied, relaying information the Illusive M a n 's agents ha d a lready gath-

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ered in preparation for the mission. "We have the layout. " " Impressive," Golo replied. " There is a cha nce this could work, after all. Provided you a nd your team do exactly as I say." "O f course," Grayson sa id through gritted teeth, offering his ha nd to symbo lically seal the dea l. " I wouldn't have it any o ther way."

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Three more days passed befo re M al returned to the Idemw. Kahlee had spent much of that time exploring the quarian sh ip, becoming more fami liar with its

inhabirants and their culture. She had come to rea lize that most of her previous beliefs abou t the quarians were either outright wrong or gross distortions of the truth. She ha d a lways considered them to be scavengers, beggars, and thieves: a culture of petty crimi nals not to he trusted. Now s he saw them simply as resourceful a nd determined. They were a peop le stru ggli ng to su rvive with limited space and resources, yet they refused to a llow their society to degenerate into selfish ness a nd anarchy. To accomp lish this, they clung fiercely to their powerful sense of community. There was som ething noble in this unity, enforced thou gh it might be by their ci rcu m stances. Every qu a ria n truly bel ieved th ey needed to work together to survive. The strong fa mily bonds among shipmates, an d the willingness of individua ls to sacrifice for the greater good, were val ues Kah lee thought other species could aspire to . . . should they ever

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learn to see p ast their own prejudices and preconceived notions about th e quarians. Whi le Ka hlee was exploring the ship, H endel and Gillian spent most of their time o n Grayson's shutrle practicing biotics. Even while wearing her envirosuit, Gillian still wasn't enti rely comfortable around strangers, an d she preferred to stay isola ted in th e mo re familiar surroundings. Occasionally Lemm o r Seeto would come to visit, thou gh both were closed lipped when Ka hlee o r Hendel tried to pry information from them about the qu a ria n politica l situation. It was frustrating, being a pawn in a game she didn't fully unde rsta nd, but Ka hlee was confident they wou ld get some answers soon: Ca ptain Mal was finally coming to speak with them. Kahlee, H endel , and Gillian were a ll wearing their enviro-suits in preparation for his visit to th eir shuttle. Lemm had suggested the idea yesterday as a way for them to show res pect for quarian customs and tradition s in honor o f th e capta in 's arriva l. Until they knew more about the pur pose of this meeting, H endel had noted, it was proba bly best to do whateve r they could to stay on his good side. With some reluctance, Ka hlee had agreed. She didn't like wearing the su it if she didn't have to, a lthou gh she couldn't quite say exactly w hat she di sliked about it. The suits were fully climate cont rolled, so she never felt hot or sweat y while wearing it, and the thin, p li ant ma teria l ba rely restricted her movement. And with the vis-glass o f the faceplate and the audio enhancem ents in the helmet, she cou ld actually

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see a nd hea r better while wearing the sui t than without It.

Still, she never fel t comfortable in it. The sui t comp letely cut her off fro m normal tactile sensations, like the feel of the warm leather under her pa lm when s he p laced her hand on the arm o f her seat, o r the cool, hard meta l of the tabletop as she d r ummed her fingers against it. It even ma de it imposs ible to run her fin ge rs through her hair. In contrast, Gillian seemed to love wearing the su it, on ly taking it o ff o nce since their m eeting with the captain o n the bridge. She even wore it during her biotic trai ning with H endeL Ka hlee knew the secu rity

chief fou nd her behavior odd, bur he put up with it for her sake. H e did, howeve r, in sist that s he rem ove the helmet a nd mask during their sessions. Gillian had complied , though not w ith o ut some g rumbling and compla ining . The m ere fact that she gru m bled a nd complained, rather than mutely o beying, wa s fu rther evidence of how much she ha d changed. Kahlee had comm ented to H endel on how m uch improvement Gillian had shown, a nd she' d even shared her theory that the suit might m a ke the gi rl feel psychologica lly safe and mo re confident. H endel , however, had offered a different theory. " I think she's just getting better beca use Ce rberus isn't drugging her anymore." The thought was disturbing, but Kahlee was surprised she ha dn 't come up with it on her own. It was doubtful Gillian 's conditio n could be blamed solely on whatever chemica l concoctio n s J iro had been feeding her, b ut it wa s very possible they had ma de her

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symptoms worse. Somehow that knowledge made what Grayson had allowed them to do to his daughter seem even more monstrous. The sound of the airlock opening starrled her out of her recollecti ons. "Not big on kn ocking, are they?" H endel muttered, rising from his sea t to greet their visitors. Ka hlee a nd Gillian did the same. Kahlee ha d been expecting some kind of honor guard or security detail to accompany the ca ptain, but if they came they must have stayed o utsi de the ship. Apart from Lemm, Mal was alone. "Thank you for this invi ta ti o n," he sa id, once handshakes had been exchanged all around. "We're honored to have you here," Kahlee replied. "Please, sit down and make yourself comfortab le." There were only four chairs in the passenger ca bin, so once a ll the adu lts took their sea ts, Gillian hopped up into H endel's lap. Yet again, Ka hlee was a m azed at how fa r she had come in a little less than two weeks. Before a n y of them could speak, they were interrupted by a shorr, muffled beep comi ng from behind Mal's mask-the sound of an incoming message tra nsferred to his in-helm et radio. H e held up o ne hand, asking the others to be silent as he listened to the message . Kahlee couldn 't hear what was being said in his ear, but she saw him nod. "Send them to docking bay seven ," he instructed. "And tell th em it's good to have them back." "Forgive me," he said a moment later to Kahlee and the others. " I have to approve all arriv ing vessels before they ca n dock."

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"Do you have to go?" she asked.

He shook his head. " Isli a nd her tea m will greet them. We can continue our business ."

"And what exactl y is that bu siness?" Hendel sa id, casting tact and decorum aside. Kahlee could n't b lame him ; she was abour ready to d o the same th ing. Forrunately, Ma l seemed willing to be completely

candid. "The Migrant Fleet is dying," he said flatly. " It is a long, slow, a lmost invisible death, hut the facts are undeniable . We are nearing a rime of crisis for our species. In another eighty or ninety yea rs, our population will he too large fo r our ships to support. " " } thought you had zero population growth," Ka hlee said, remembering Seeto describing the unive rsa lly enforced po licies of birth control during o ne of her tours of the lower decks. "Our population is sta ble, bur the Fleet is not," the ca pta in exp lained. "Our ships contin ue to age and break down faster than we ca n replace or repair them. Little by littl e we are running out of livable space, yet neither the Conclave nor the Admiralty are willing to take action . I fear that by the time they finally realize som ething drastic mu st be done, it will be too late to stem the tide." "What d oes that have to do with me?" Ka hl ee wanted to know. "Why we re they asking me a ll those qu estions about the geth and Rea pers?" "There is a small but growing coalition of ship capta ins who believe we must take immediate action if th e quarian nation is to surv ive," Ma l explained. "We have proposed that severa l of the Fleet's largest vessels be equipped for long-di stance voyages. We want

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ro five-year jo urneys into uncha rted regions o f space or throu gh unexp lo red m ass re 1ays. " "Sounds dangerous," H endel n oted . " It is," Ma l admitted, "but this could be our only hope t o secure th e long-t erm surviva l o f the quaria n [W O-

species. We need to find life-bearing, uninhabi ted worlds we can call o ur own. Or, fa il ing that, we need to find some way t o return t o the Perseus Veil and reclaim our ho me from the gerh. "

" Do you rea lly believe you' ll find one of these

50-

called Reaper ships somewhere on the fr inges of u n-

explored space?" Hen del asked. " } believe it is better than doing no thing, and waiting fo r o u r numbers t o begin an irrevers ib le decline. " "Seems log ica l," Kahlee a dm itted. "So why is there so much opposition to sending out these ships?" "Our society is extremely fragile," Ma l explained. " The small est cha nge can have huge re percussions. Sending away several o f our larger vessels will weaken the Fleet as a whole, at least u ntil they return. M ost of the representatives in the Conclave are not w illing to take that risk. "Thei r caution is underst a ndab le," the ca ptain a dmitt ed. " For nea rly three hundred years the Admiralty and the Conclave have fought to protect what little we have from crumbling away. They had no choice but to a do pt careful an d conser va ti ve policies. "Those policies served us for a time," he conti nued, " but now we need to adapt. We need new policies if we are t o survive. Unfortunately, the weight of tradition hangs heavi ly over the Fleet, and there is a wi desp read fear of change.

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"Tha t is why your t esti m o ny before the representatives was so important, Kahlee," he added . "We need to win others over to our cause, t o make them see tha t taking a risk is o ur best c ha nce to survive. Even if we don 't find the Reapers or discover a way to drive th e rema in ing geth from the Perseus Veil, we still might fi nd new worlds we can settle." " Bur m y testi mony was m ea ningless," Kahlee objected. " It was a ll s pec ulatio n and maybes. I don't know a nything u seful about the gerh or the Rea pers. And I never sa id sending shi ps into the uncha rted

void would help yO ll fin d them. " "That's beside th e point," Mal explai ned. " People believe you have knowledge that ca n defeat the geth; it doesn't ma tter if yO ll really do. You have become a symbol of hope for the future among our sociery. If other captain s see you a llied with me, it will w in su pport to our cause. That is why those who oppose us want to see you leave the I dellfla." " Leave?" H endel sa id worriedly. " You mea n they' re kicking u s out of the Fleet ?" "They won 't do that," Mal assured him. " It wou ld turn you into ma rtyrs for my cause, dru mming up even more support for those of us w ho advocate change. " But there are many captains w ho oppose us," he contin ued . "Severa l have offered to give you sa nctuary o n their vessel s, should you choose to leave th e I demw. They believe if you travel with them , it w ill gain support for their side." " I d o n't like being a po litica l pawn, " Kahlee muttered darkly. " } u ndersta nd," Mal sa id sympathetica lly, "and 1

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am sorry I have put you in this position. If you really don't want to be involved, you are free to leave the Fleet. " Kahlee frowned. Leaving the Fleet wasn't an option; not while Cerberus was still looking for them. " Please, Ka hlee," Lemm added. "Sending out th e exploration sh ips is the best hope for my people to survI.ve. " Lemm probably could have gotten her to agree sim ply by saying she still owed him for saving them on Omega. But Kahlee had learned enough about qu aria n culture to rea lize he would never try to force her like that. Still , she did owe h im. And Mal's arguments made sense to her. Before she could answe r, however, they heard the distant but un mistakable soun d of the ldenna's shipboard ala rms. "We're abou t to find out if your information is reliable," Golo whispered as the Cyniad's nav screens showed severa l patro l frigates breaking off from th e ma in body of the Migrant Fleet. The quarian shuttle was packed with ten highly trained Cerberus comm a ndos, a long with Golo, Grayson, a nd a pilot trained to fly the qua rian modifi ed vesse l. Everyone on board was wearing a full combat hard-suit equipped with kinetic dampeners, and they each carried a heavy assault rifle. "Open the hailing chan nel," Golo instructed, and th e Cerberus pilot did as he was told. Grayson was technically in charge of th e mission, but for much of it he would be deferring to Golo and his greater understanding of th e quarians.

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A few seconds later the radio crackled with the cha llenge of the qu aria n patrols. "You are entering a restricted area. Identify."

"This is the scout ship Cyniad, of the Idemw," Golo responded, "seeking permission to rejoin the Fleer. " "Verify authorization. "

Grayson held his breath as Go lo recited the code phrase . "My body travels to distant stars, but my soul never leaves the Fleet. " Several secon ds passed before they got their response. "Idemza confirms your idenrity. Welcome

back, Cyniad." Golo flipp ed off the comm channel. "Bring us in nice a nd slow," he in structed the pilot. "We don't want to spook anyone." Locating the Idelllla a mid the armada of ships was surprisingly sim ple. Every vessel in the Fleet transmitted a sho rt-range homing signal on a unique frequ ency. As a scout ship, the Cyniad was preprogrammed with the Idenna's frequency, so that the vessel showed up as a green pixel on the nav screen, in contrast to the red of the other ships. As they drew close, Go lo opened the comm channel again. " This is the CYlliad, requesting permission to dock with the Idemza. " There was a delay of several seconds before the radio crackled with, " Th is is the Idel111a. Your request is granted. H ea d to docking bay seven. And th e captain says it's good to have you back." " It's good to be back," Golo replied. " Better send a security and quarantine team," he a dded , before clicking the comm channel closed.

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"A secu rity team?" Grayson asked, suspicious. "Sta ndard protoco l," Golo replied. " If I didn't request o ne, they'd get suspicious." "Wi ll they be a rmed? " " Probably, but they won't be expecting any troub le. Your sq uad should be ab le to take them down without too much difficulty. " Grayson fe lt his stomach clenching as they drifted into the docking bay. For the first time in severa l days he felt the sudden craving to dust up, but he pushed it aside by focusing on the mission. The three men in the cock pit were silent until they heard the docking cla mps secure th e shi p in p lace . " Lock onto your target," Grayson instructed , and the pilot nodded. "But hold fire until my order." Cerberus had m ade some additions to the Cyniad, includ ing the addition of a s ma ll but powerful sho rtrange laser. One well-p laced shot could knock out the Idemza's tight-bea m transmitter, killing the s hip's externa l communications a nd preventing them from alerting the rest of the Fleet. The timing ha d to be perfect, tho ugh. The Idemza would still have internal communications, and as soon as the transmitter was knocked out the bridge would a lert everyone on board. Grayson wanted to wait until the security tea m com ing to meet them had been dealt with before that happened. "Alpha tea m ," Grayson sa id into his combat helmet's transmitter, "you're going to have compan y when the airlock opens. Report in as soon as you take th em out." A few seconds later they heard several sha rp bursts of gunfire coming from just o utside the ship.

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"Enemy is down ," the Alpha ream leader replied.

"N o casua 1. tIes on our e n d. " "Take out the transmitrer," Grayson sai d , a nd the

pilot fired the laser, shearing off the dish in a quick, clean cut. The shipboa rd a larms kicked in a lmost immediately. "Now the fun begins," Golo sa id, and behind his mask Grayson knew he was grinn ing.

T\NENTV-THREE

"What's happening?" Kahlee demanded, shouting over t he di st a nt alarms. The capta in listened intently to a n incoming message, then relayed the news to the rest o f them. " The Cyniad, o ne o f our scout ships, just docked with us. They knocked out o ur tight-bea m transmitter." " I was searching for the crew o f the Cyniad when I found you in that wa rehouse," Lemm to ld them, speaking quickly. " I thought your ca pto rs ha d som e connection to the scout ship."

"Cerbe ru s," Hendel sa id. "They're coming for Gillian ." "What about the security team you sent t o meet them ?" Kahlee asked , remembering the captai n 's earlier instructions. " Isli and the others?"

"No response," Mal sa id , his voice grim. They all knew what that likely meam. "If it's Cerberus, they'll be coming straigh t fo r this shu ttle," H endel warned them. " They'll want ro grab Gillian and get out quick, before yOll can o rga nize . any resista nce. " "Do you have a ny weapons o n board?" Lemm asked.

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Kahlee shook her head. "The rifle we took from the warehou se is nearly o ut of ammo. H endel's biotic, but t ha t 's a ll we've got." "Ca ll fo r a secu rity detail," t he big man said.

"T hey won't get here in time," Mal repl ied. "The Cyniad's o n ly two bays over." We can't even seal the shuttle and make a run for it, Ka hlee rea lized. We'd never disconnect the docking

clamps in time. "Come on," she said, ju m ping to her feet . "We can't hold them off in here." T he five of t hem-two quaria ns and three humansraced from the sh ut tle t hrough the airlock o ut into

the landing bay o f the Idenna. Hendel had to hal fdrag and ha lf-ca rry Gill ian to keep up; the alarms were disorienting her, and she was moving with s low, dist racted steps. "T rading deck !" Ma l shouted. "We have weap o ns in t he st oreroom." As they ran throug h t he crowded halls a nd corridors of t he ship, Kahlee couldn't help imagining w hat wou ld happen w hen the Cerberus t roo p s arrived to fin d G rayson's sh uttle e m pty. T he q uarians h ad no reason to ever expect an att ack inside t he confin es of their Fleet vessels, and ready access to firearms in such crowded living cond itions was n o r mally a reci pe for d isaster. As a result, no o ne except a h a n dfu l of security details carried wea pons. If armed Cerberus agents st arted searching for Gi ll ian through the populated decks, it would t u rn into a massac re. Mal was shouting inst ructions into his radio, tryi ng to organ ize reinfo rcements to drive back the e nemy. "We need to ma ke a stand!" Kahlee shou ted. " H o ld

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rhem on the trading deck. If we don't, hu ndreds will

· " d,e. H e nodded, and relayed the instructions to t he

bridge. How did they find us here? Kahlee wondered as she ra n, fo llowed quickly by, Is there nowhere in the galaxy Gil/ian can escape them? The Cerber us tea m arrived a t Grayson 's o ld shut tle to fin d it a bandoned. "T hey mu st have gone into t he ship to h ide," Go lo guessed . " How many q uarians on board?" Grayson demanded. " Between six and seven h u ndred," Golo estimated. " But o nly a couple dozen will be a rmed. You stay here w ith a sm a ll tea m to secure the shuttle, and I'll

take the rest w ith me. We' ll find Gillia n and bring her

back here." Grayson shook his hea d. "She's my daughte r. I'm com ing with you." "Forget it," Go lo rep lied. "We don 't need you in t here. " " I'm in charge of t his m ission," Grayson rem inded him. "An d I' m the o nly one w h o knows h is way around a qua rian ship," Golo countered. "You can't do this wi thout m e, a nd I'm not going in there w ith you as part of m y team. " You' re too em otion ally involved," he contin ued, al most apo logetic. "You 're n ot thinking straight, and you're n ot ready fo r t his." G rayson didn 't argue the point. H e'd barely slept

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since escapi ng Pel's warehou se; he was ju st a duster ru nning on ad renal ine a nd desperation. Exha ustion and withdrawal would slow his reaction time and impa ir his judgment, putting the entire team in jeopardy. "If you really want your daughter back," the qua ria n a dded in a sensiti ve whisper, "the best thing yO li can do is wait he re a nd get th e sh uttle ready for o ur escape. " Golo was playing him; pushing his emotiona l buttons. The quaria n didn't care what happened to

Gillian. He was just a lying, ma nipulative, son-o fa-bitch who was on ly looking out for his own selfinterest. But that didn't m ea n he was wrong.

Th ey're better off without YO II. For the sake of the mission-for Gil/iall's sake-you have to sit this one out. " You, you, and you," Grayson said, pointing to the pilot a nd two others. "Stay here with m e. The rest of you go with Golo. Re me mbe r, we only have thirty minutes to get off this vesse l. " "If the humans went into the sh ip they're probably wearing e nviro-su its," Golo noted almost casua ll y. Grayson swore s ilently a t the extra complication. " The Illusive Man wants Gillian alive and unharmed," he remi nded the eight so ldiers going with Golo, stressing the point to make sure they un derst ood . "Don 't shoot at anything smaller tha n a fullgrown qua n.a n. " "Not unless you 're close enough to cou nt th e fin ge rs," Golo added w ith a laugh. "The bridge is sea ling o ff section s of the ship," M a l told them as he passed out the gu ns stored in th e

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stockroom with th e food, med icine, and other carefully tracked su pp lies. " It won't stop them , but it might slow them down. The civilia ns are being evacua ted to the upper decks, a nd I've ordered all security teams to meet us down here. " Kahlee took the assa ult rifle he ha nded her, hefting it to test the weight. It was a cheap volus knock-off of a tu rian desig n-a substa nda rd wea po n, but it was better than nothing. G lanci ng around the roo m , she considered their chances. There was o nl y one entrance o nto the trading deck from the loading ba ys: Cerberus would have to come straight down a long, narrow hall right to them. But if th ey got past that first door, they wou ld fi n d plenty of cover among the oversized crates and bins u sed to store mercha ndise that were scattered a ll about the room. A well-orga nized strike team would have no problem spreading out and trying to fl an k M a l's people. And if they had to fall back there was only one place to go--up to the heavily populated living quarters of the deck above. Two quarian security teams were already o n the trading deck. By the time Ma l ha d fini s hed passing out weapon s to Kahlee, Lemm, and H endel, fo ur mo re secu rity teams had arrived fro m the decks above. " Everyone spread o ut and find cover," the captain o rdered. " H old the doors to the la nding bay for as long as you ca n . If I give the order, fall back to the level above." The quarians scrambled to find their positions, and Ka hlee turned to G illia n. She wasn't moving or look-

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ing around; she simpl y stared straight ahead a t n othing, her arms hangi ng limp by her sides. "Do you remember where Seero's room is?" Kahlee asked, trying nor to think about the fact that the young quarian, along with lsli a nd Ugho, was proba-

bly already dead. Gillian didn't a nswer her at first, but simply stood still and quiet, gazing off into the di stance from be-

hind her mask. "Gi llian!" Kahlee shouted. "This is important! " The girl turned her hea d slowly toward her. "Do you remember when Seeto showed us his

room?" Kahlee repeated. The girl nodded once. " Do you know where it is?" "Th e deck ahove u s," she answered, in a flat monotone that indicated she was slipping farther a nd farther away from her surroundings. " The first cubicle in the group along the fourth colu mn and the sixth row. " " I need you to go th ere and wait for me or H endel to come get you!" Kahlee shouted. " Do you understa nd? Go to Seeto's room and hide!" Gillian gave the familiar single nod, then turned and walked slowl y over toward the freight elevator. "The stai rs, Gillian," Kahlee sh outed after her, knowing the elevator wouldn't be operational with the ship in emergency lockdown. "You have to ta ke th e sta irs!" The girl didn't look back at her, she simply al tered her course and headed fo r the stairs. "You sure about sending her off a lone?" Hendel asked, checking the sights and a utota rgeting system on his own weapon.

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Kahlee wasn't sure. In fact, she hated it. But s he didn't see any other option. "S he can't stay here," she sa id. "And we can't send anyone with her. M a l's going to need every possible body if we have a n y hope of holding this position." H endel nodded, agreeing with her assessment of the grim situation, then ran off to find a cover spot behind o ne of th e overflowing metal b in s that gave him a clear s hot at anyone coming in from the landing bay. Kahlee did the same, hunkering down behind a large steel c rate filled with pots a nd pans. Cerberus didn't keep them waiting long . The assau lt began with a handful of grenades lobbed through the door and into the trading deck. None of M a l's team were positioned cl ose en o ug h to the entrance to be ca ught in the blast range, but when th e grenades detonated they sent severa l of the crates, and their contents, flying through th e air. No one was injured, but it served as a distracti on as the fi rst wave of two Cerberus soldiers pushed forward to the edge of the door. Kahlee and the others opened fire, trying to drive them back. Trusting in their armor's kinetic barriers, the enemy returned fire as they sprinted forward through th e entrance toward o ne of the nearby crates that prom ised them cover. The p la n would have worked if not for H endel. While Kahlee and the quarians were unloading round after ineffective round into the enemy shields, the biotic had been ga thering his strength. Ju st as the Cerberus soldi ers ducked behind the cra te they assumed would give them shelter, H endel lifted it high into the

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air, expos ing them to another barrage o f concentrated assault- ri fle fi re.

Their shields, still depleted from their initia l charge throug h the door, couldn't save t hem fro m a second ha il o f bu llets. Both men were to rn to shreds, and Ka hlee felt a burst of t ri um phant exultatio n . H er euphoria was short lived. T he second wave of Cerberus soldiers-this ti me a group of threefo llowed only a few seconds after t he first, usi ng the sa me tech niques. H en del needed more time to recharge before he cou ld u nleash h is powers aga in, so this t ime t he trio ma de it safely ro the cover of o ne of t he bins. Protect ed from enemy fi re, t hey were able to regroup an d recharge their sh ields, t hen quickly strike out agam. They burst from their cover at the same ti me, a ll three movi ng in d ifferent direction s as t hey scattered to a nd fro among the maze of crates an d containers. Ka hlee focused on the nearest enemy, losing track of the other two. She t ried to take him down with wellai med bursts as he m oved from cover point to cover point, but he k new t he lim its of his shields, and he a lways m a naged to du ck out of the line o f fi re just before they were completely d ra ined . She saw he was try ing to wo rk around to the fa r side o f t he room , attem pting to get to a position w here he could sneak up on the defenders fro m behind. From the corner of her eye Ka hlee saw one of t he q u arians st ep out fro m the crate he was hidi ng behind t o try and c ut him off, only to get m owed down by the weapons of t he t hird wave of four Cer berus t roops charging through the door. It was then t h at Ka hlee realized how hopeless t he

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si tuatio n was . Despite having a two- or three-to-one edge in numbers, the ta ctica l a nd technologica l adva ntages o f the Cerberu s agents were too much to overcome. They had better weapons, better armor, and better training. H alf of M a l's team-inc luding Lemm, the captain, H endel, a nd Kahlee herselfweren't even wea ring body armor. And Cerberus had grenades. As if o n cue, she heard a lou d boom over on the far side of the deck. Whipping her head around she saw the smoke from the explosion clearing to reveal the burned a nd lifeless bod ies of two q uaria ns who had been caught in the deadly bla st. At least they had H endel o n their side. Th e big ma n poked his head out from behind his crate and u nleash ed another biotic a ttack, this o ne hurling two Ce rberus so ldiers backward fro m their hiding places, sending them both crashing agai nst a nearby wa ll. One landed hard, quickly scrambling to her feet and making it safely back behind cove r. Kahlee squ eezed the t rigger of her weapon and ma de sure the other one didn 't. An instant later, however, H endel was the one flying backward through the air-Cerberus apparently had a biotic o n their tea m , too. H e shouted out in surprise, then sla mmed hard against the wa ll beh ind the desk o utside the stockroom where they had grabbed th eir guns. H e crump led to the ground a nd didn 't rise. " H en del!" she cried out, fi ghting agai nst the suic ida l urge to leap up and rush over to check on him. Instead she turned her a ttention back o n the enemy, drawing on her years o f Alliance training to stay focused. Soldiers went down in combat, even fri ends.

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Usually there wasn't a nything you could do to help them until the enemy was neutralized. She held her position, picking her targets carefu ll y. She saw one m ore Cerberus soldier go down-by her

counr that left five, including the biotic. But all around her she could hear the screams of Mal's people. When the Cerberus biotic launched another at-

tack, batting aside the bin shielding a quarian armed with a sniper rifl e so she could he gunned down, th e captain finally gave the order Kahlee had known was com mg.

"Fa ll hack!" he shouted. "Fa ll hack!" She didn 't want to leave H en del behind, hut attempting to reach him now would a lmost g uarantee her getting shot. Blinking away the harsh tears in her eyes, she lay down a line of cover fire as s he began to make her retreat. Gillian wandered back an d forth a long the grid of cubicles, silently cou nting unti l she reached rhe o ne blocked by the bright orange curtain. Fa r away she could hear the sha rp retorts an d ricochets of sou nds she couldn't-or didn't want to-consciou sly identify. She knew something was wrong, and she knew it was somehow her fault. But though she fought to piece together what was goi ng on, the truth eluded her. Shocked inro a trancelike state by the st ress of the si tu ation , a ll her fractured m ind could latch on to were disconnected bits and pieces. For example, she realized that there sh ould have been more p eople around. She had hazy, incomplete memories of crowds movi ng in and among the cubi-

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cles. She could reca ll the buzz of chatter; it had circled around her head like a swarm of angry bees. Now, however, the cubicles were empty. Everything was still and si lent. Again, she knew this was wrong. She ju st could n't quite figure out why. Kahlee said hide in Seeto's room, she th o ug ht, as she reached out and pulled the curta in aside. Th e room didn't look as she remem bered it. The sleeping mat had been moved half a foot to the si de of where it had originally been p laced, and someone had turned the cooking stove ninety degrees since the last time she was here. Gillian knew that people moved things around sometimes. But she didn't like it. Things should a lways be put back in the sam e place.

I do n 't like it here. I want to go back to the shuttle. She let the curtain fall from her hand and t urned away from the cubicle. Walking with slow, uncertain steps she began to m ake her way back through th e crisscrossing ais les toward the sta irs leading to th e deck below, taking a long, mean dering route far different from the one that had broug ht her here originally. Kahlee fell back up the stairs, knowing a ll hell would break loose when Cerberu s fo llowed them and th e figh t spilled over into the cubicle gri ds. Even with all the civilians cleared o ut, the batrle would become a run-and-gun skirmish up and down the crisscrossing aisles, g iving Cerberu s and their su per ior weaponry an even greater advantage . Whi le severa l of M a l's people took up positions

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around the co rners of cubicles near the staircase, a iming their weapons at the door Cerberus wou ld have to come through, Kahlee made her way straight to Seeto's room to grab Gillian. By the rime she got there, she could already hea r steady bursts of gunfire being thrown back a nd forth. She knew she didn't have long; as easy as it had been for Cerberus to break through the quarian defenses on the lower deck, it would he even harder to ho ld position up here. There were simply too many options; the quarians wou ld have n o h ope of pinning a n enemy down when they could simply doub le back to one of th e other aisles an d com e at them from the opposite side. She pulled the orange curta in back, only to discover a n empty room staring hack at her. Gillian was sti ll wandering up and down the halls when the loud noises her m ind had refused to identify earlier began to ring out even louder. She saw a quarian run across the far end of the ais le she was standing in, a nd the gun in his hand forced her to recognize the sou nds as gunfire. I don't want to be here, her mi nd screamed at her.

Go back to the ship. Gillian intended to do just that. She could hear the gunfire all around her now, spo radic bursts coming from in front, behind, and off to ei th er s ide. But her overwrought m ind simply b locked it out an d she continued to make her way toward the st airs. She took a left turn and came face-to-face with a ma n and a woma n. She cou ld tell right away they weren't quarian-they had no environmental s uits.

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They were wearing helmets, but the visors o nly covered the first three quarters of their faces, and they had big, bu lky vests that hid their chests, sh oulders, and a rms. Each was ca rrying a g un , a nd when they saw her they raised their weapons up and pointed th em in her direction. Gillian sim ply conrinu ed to walk toward them, as if oblivious of rheir presence. " H old fire!" the woman shouted, lowering her gu n as rhe girl approached. "It's her! Grayson's daughrer! " The ma n lowered his weapon and rushed fo rward, reaching o ut to grab her. Withour even rhinking about it, Gillian made a fist and snapped her hand out, just like H en del ha d ta ug ht her. The man hurtled away from her, slamm ing his back against the edge of one of the cub icle walls. There was a sharp crack and he bent in a fu n n y way. " H oly morher-" the woman gasped, bur Gillian cut her words off. M oving on pure in stinct, she reached out with an open ha nd, palm upward, and fli cked her wrist. The woman launched up to the ceiling, sm ashing agai nst ir so hard her helmet cracked. She dropped down at Gillian's feet, her eyes roll ing back into her head and b lood trickling from her nose, mouth, and ears. H er leg twitched once, her boot kicking agai nst the side of a nearby cubicle, then went still. The girl simply stepped over her and continued o n her way. She reached th e stai rcase without running inro a nyone else, then went down to rhe lower deck. She could still hear th e gunfire from up a bove, but it was quierer down here. Feel ing a lirtle berter, she

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began to hum a tuneless song as she headed toward the shuttle.

Kahlee was in a near panic as s he raced up and down the aisles, desperately searching for Gillian. Forrunately, her training allowed her to keep her wits together just en o ug h no t to d o anything stupid , and

instead of dashing blindly around corners, she would poke her head o ut at each intersection , taking a quick peek for enemy com batants.

All arou nd her she could hear the sounds of fighting, bur she didn 't encounter any Cerberus troops until s he ca m e across two dea d soldiers lying in the middle of one of the a isles. For an instant she thought

she'd found proof that H endel had survived being th rown twenty feet through the a ir: it was obvious the soldiers had been killed by a biotic attack. Then another thought occurred to her.

Gillian. Since coming to the ldenna H endel had worked closely with the girl, teaching her to develop and control her biotic abil iti es. But despite the remarkable improvement in her condition over the past few weeks, she was still a n emotiona lly fragile, easily disturbed little girl. Som ething had set her off in the cafeteria back at the Academy, unleashing a storm of biotic powers. Now Ka hlee had clear evidence that th e storm had been unl eashed yet aga in. She's scared, Kahlee thou ght to herself. Confused.

She's going to want to go somewhere she feels safe. An insta nt later she had it.

She's heading back to the shuttle. Leaving the two dead so ldiers where they lay,

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Kah lee continued to work her way carefully through the aisles back toward the stairs. Golo was thoroughly enjoying the battle against his former people. While he hadn't been a crew member of the Idemta, he had no trouble imagining the quarians he gu nned down as being the ones who had banished him from the Use/a, his old ship. H eavil y armed a nd armored, he had alrea d y notched six kills during the battle-two o n the trading deck an d four more hunting through the cubicles up above. Given the superio r weaponry Cerberus had provided him, it wasn't even a fair fight ... which was exactly how Golo liked it. In fact, he was enjoying himself so m uch that he nearly lost track of the time. It was o nly when the timer in his hel met began beeping softl y that he rea lized they had only ten minutes left. They hadn't found the girl yet, but that didn't really matter to him. It was time to hea d back to Grayson's shuttle and get off the Idemta. H e knew the rest of the team would keep fighting and searching for Gillian for another five m in utes before pulling ba ck, hut he didn't like cutting it that close. With a sigh of regret he aba ndoned his hunt a mo ng the cubicle maze, and made his way quickly and ca utiou sly back toward the stairs leading to the deck below. Insi de the passenger cabin of the nameless sh uttle th at had been stolen from him on Omega, Grayson paced a nxiously. Checking his watch, he realized they were down to just under ten min utes .

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"You and you," he said, pointing at two of the

three soldiers left behind to help him secure the shut£Ie. "Get o ut there and find the controls to release the docking clamps." H e intended to wait to the last possible second before leaving, but that didn 't mean he couldn 't ha ve everything ready beforehand.

The two soldiers ru shed out to the airlock, while Grayson and the other ma n- the pilot who had flown th e quarian vessel in-wai ted in silence . H e heard a loud, heavy thump coming from outside the ship. Curious, he m ade his way cautiously toward the airlock and saw a sm a ll, fema le figure covered head to toe in an envieo-suit sta nding in the cente r of the landing bay.

"Daddy?" the figure sai d. Though the voice was partially obscu red by the m ask and breath ing apparatu s, he recognized it instantly. "Gigi," he sa id, dropping to one knee a nd holding out his hand to her. She approached him in her familiar, stiff- legged walk until she was close enough for him to to uch. Kn owing her condition well, he dropped his hand without m aking contact. And then, to his great surprise, she lurched forward another step a nd hugged him. Only when he was clasping his da ughter to his chest did he notice the two so ldiers he'd sent out only moments before-they were pinned beneath a n overturned forklift the quarians would have used to load and unload cargo vessels. It loo ked as if the six-ton vehicle had somehow been picked up and dropped o n

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them, crushing them like ants an d killing them insta ntly. Their private reu n ion was broken an insta nt later

when he hea rd the copilot spea king behind him. "S-s-sir," he sai d in a stuttering, tremb ling voice, staring at t he mangled bod ies of the two dead soldiers

peeking out from beneath the forkl ift. "What happe ned to them ?" "Never m in d," G rayson said s harply, releasing his hold o n his da ug hter and standi ng up. "Ju st get o n boa rd a nd fi re up the engines. It's t ime to go." "We can't go yet," Gi ll ian said. Grayson was su rprised to hear rea l emot ion in her vo ice, rather tha n the flat mo n otone he was used t o. "We have to wa it

for my friends." "Your frien ds?" he asked, hu moring her. " H endel and Kahlee and Lemm," she answe red. " Lemm's a qu arian ." "We ca n ' t Walt . for them , honey," he told her gently. She crossed her arms an d stepped away from him-a gestu re he'd neve r seen her use before. " I'm not going withou t them ," she said defia ntly. G rayson blinked in surprise, then nod ded. "O kay, honey, we'll go fi nd them." As she turned away to head back toward t he Ide1l11a'S interior, he step ped u p beh ind her and drew a sm a ll stun ner from his belt. O ne qu ick shot between t he shoulder b la des an d she slouched over into her father's wa it ing arms. Feel ing gu ilty over using the weapon o n her, but knowing t hey had p recious li ttle ti me to sp are, he scooped her up and carried her aboa rd the shu t tle.

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Once inside, he rook her to the bedroom, setting her gently down on the bed. H e removed the enviro-suit helmer, and for a long moment he just stared at her face, only glancing up when he heard the pilot addressing him agai n.

"Sir?" he sa id, standing at the door. "The docking clamps are still attached." "Go release th em ," Grayson orde red. " I'm not leaving my daughter's side." The man n odded, then turned a nd left them a lone. "Don't worry, Gigi," he whispered. " I'll make sure they take good care of you from now on."

T\NENTV-FOUR

Kahlee ran through the deserred trading deck, heading for the shuttle Gi llian now thought of as her home. She was so focllsed on finding th e girl before something happened to her that she didn't even think to

check on Hendel behind the desk.

She slowed down as she moved through the hall separating the trading deck a nd the landing bays, moving quietly in case any of the Cerbe ru s troops were waiting for her. H er ca ution proved well founded; th ere was a si ngle guard just outside th e shuttle. H e was sta nding with his back to her, one hand punching at a control panel to disengage the docking clamps on the vessel while his other hung at his side, casua lly grippi ng his assa ult rifle. Gunfire might alert anyone else nearby, but that didn't m ean she couldn 't use her assault rifle as a weapon. She knew his armor was eq uipped with kinetic barriers, but they were progra mmed to respond specifica lly to speed. If you sat down or slapped someone on th e back th ey didn't activa te; it took a high-velocity round to trigger them. A s harp incoming blow to the head wouldn't be fast enough to set them off.

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Moving quickly, Kahlee crept up behind him, wrap ping her arms around the end of the barrel and holding the gu n like a baseball bat. As soon as s he got w ithin range she took three quick r unning steps to build up m o mentum , then swung her ma keshift club as hard as she could. The sound of her feet clanging against the meta l fl oor of the land ing bay during her quick charge gave th e soldier just enough warning to react. H e ha lfturned toward her, bri nging o ne arm up and ducking

his head so that the blow landed on his shoulder rather tha n the side of his helmet. The force of th e impact knocked his assault rifle from his grasp, a nd it clattered to the floor as he was knocked sideways, staggering to keep his balance. Kahlee swung aga in, but s he was in too close to get the leverage s he needed. The blow st ruck him on th e side of his helmet, but not hard enough to knock him out. Dazed, the soldier stum bled away from her, his hands fu mbli ng for the pisto l on his hip. Spinning th e assault rifle in her hands, Kahlee rep osi tio ned her grip so that she could jab forward w ith the heavy butt of the gu n. She came in low, just beneath the edge o f the three-qua rter visor, smashing in the front teeth of his lower jaw. His head snapped back and he fe ll over. Kahlee leaped o n top of him, driving the butt of the ri fl e down on his head with both ha nds. Even his hel met couldn't protect him from the savage force o f repeated impacts. After six consecuti ve blows Ka hlee was certain he would never get up agam. She gave him two more shots just to m ake sure.

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Rising to her feet, she saw the assa ult rifle had been bent out of a lignment by the attack. Useless piece of lIa/us crap, she thought as she grabbed the pistol from the dead soldier's belt. With her enemy down , she took a quick glance around the rest of the landing bay. When she saw the bodies of the two Cerbe ru s troopers beneath the fork lift, she knew the girl had been by. She crept into the shu ttle, moving as quietly as possible. The pa ssenger cabin was empty so she headed up to the cockpi t, only to discover it was deserted as well. When she made her way to the sleeping quarters in the ba ck, she was only mildly surprised to find Gillian lying on the bed, her father protectively sitting over her. Raising the soldier's pi stol, she pointed it at Grayson. "Get away fro m her, you son-of-a-bitch. " H e glanced up a t the soun d of her voice, an d his eyes widened in shock. It took him a moment to recognize her behind the enviro-su it and mask. " Kahlee? " he muttered. She nodded and gestured with the pistol, and Grayson slowly stood up and backed a way from the

bed. Kahlee gla nced down at Gillian and realized she wa s unconsciou s. " What did you d o? Drug her again?" she dema nded. "Stunner," G rayson whispered , an d Kahlee tho ught he actually sounded ashamed of himself. She realized th at, despite everything he had done, he tru ly cared for his daughter. Som eh ow it made his devotion to Cereberus seem both m ore terrifying an d more pathetic.

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Then she felt the hard jab of a pistol digging into th e side of her ribs. "Drop the gun," a voice from behind her sai d. For a split second Kahlee cons idered shooting

Grayson. But killing her father would n't save Gillian, and it woul d almost certainly get Kahlee killed. Instead, she let the pistol fall from her ha nds. " Lay facedown o n the ground , hands behind your head," the voice ordered, jabbing her again with the pistol. She did as ordered, and then she heard the soun d of her u nknown assaila nt walking past her over toward

the bed. "Don't touch her, Golo," Grayson warned, the cold anger in his voice causing the footsteps to stop.

Fla t on her bell y, Kahlee dared to tilt her head to look up. She was stu n ned to see he was s peaking with a q ua nan. The world ca me back to H endel in a wave o f pain. Every bone and m uscle in his body ached fro m being slammed into the wa ll , and as consciousness slowly returned, he just lay there, t rying to get his bearings. After a few seconds, it a ll started to come back to him. H e was on the trading deck, where the quarians had been battli ng Cerberus. H e could still hea r gu nfire, but it was com ing from far away.

The fight moved to the deck above. Ig noring his protesting muscles, he fo rced himself to stand up. There were a few seconds of vertigo before he steadied himself. Looking arou nd, he loca ted

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his assault rifle where it had fa llen o n the fl oo r and picked it up.

Gotta go help Kahlee and the others. Before he could clamber out from behind the desk, however, he heard heavy footsteps running down the stairs. Two Cerberu s g uards bu rst into view from the deck above, th ei r arrention not focused on H endel, but rather on the quarians pursuing them. Th ey're retreating! H en del realized. We've won ! Bi otics were o ut of the question. His head was still spinn ing slightly from being thrown, and he su spected he had a mild concuss ion. But he was feeling well enough to use his assault rifle. Relying on the weapon's a utotargeting systems to overcome any lingering unsteadiness he might be feeling, he lined up the nearest Cerberu s soldier and op ened fi re. From this range, the bullets made sho rt work of his shield s. They lasted just long enough for him to turn toward H endel, but n ot long enough for him to bring his weapon up a nd return fire. The secon d soldier wheeled o n him as the first fell to the ground , a nd H endel ha d to duck behind the heavy desk for cover. The first burst from his enemy chewed away huge chunks of hardwood, but the cover held together in time for H endel to dart into the safety of the stock room. H e poked his head through the door to return fire, only to see that the Cerberus sol d ier was a bout to be caught in a crossfire. Hen del o pened fi re, as did several qua rians coming down the sta irs from the deck above. With enemies both in from and behind, the so ldier didn't last more tha n three seconds.

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"It's me, H en del !" he shouted out fro m t he stockroom, not wanting to su ddenly pop into view and get accidenta ll y shot. " H endel!" he heard Lemm shout. "You're alive!" H e wa lked o ut from the storeroom a nd climbed gi ngerly over the desk. Lemm, Mal, an d fou r other quaria ns were gathered at the foot of the stairs.

"Is that the last of them ?" Hendel asked, nodding toward t he dead Cerberus t roo pers on the grou nd. H e fig u red the figh t was over, as he didn 't hear anymo re gunfire. "T here might he one o r two left," the ca ptain a n-

swered, "fa lling back to the Cyniad." "T hey ha d us o n the run, when a ll of a su dden they broke into a full retreat," Lemm added.

"Why would they-" Hendel bega n, then stopped short. "Where's Kahlee? Where's Gi ll ian?" Nobody an swered. "Cerbe ru s has her!" H endel shouted. " Th at's w h y they're pu lling out!" As a grou p, they broke into a ru n, heading for the landing bays. "S hould I shoot her ?" Gala asked. Grayson looked at Kah lee, still lying facedown o n the grou nd in her en viro-suit. T he q uarian ha d his p isto l pointed a t the back of her head. "N 0, "G rayson sal. ·d "K eep her a 1·Ive. She 's an expert in b iotic a m p configuration s. Cerberus might want her to help with G illia n 's new trai ning." " I'll never hel p you wit h your sick experim ents," Ka hlee spat o ut fro m the floor.

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"Quiet," Golo warned, kicking her hard in the ribs. Grayson w inced. Kahlee gru nted and rolled over onto her back, her hands clutching at her side. " Gillian will hate you fo r this," she gasp ed, trying to catch her breath. "S he' ll never fo rgive you." The quarian ha u led off a nd kicked her aga in, ca u sing her to pull her knees up into a fe tal pos ition to try and protect hersel f. " Enough!" G rayson snapped. " H ow can you let them do thi s to your own daughter ?" Kahlee asked through gri tted teeth, still balled up from the pain. " Did you see the forklift out there? " Grayson dema nded. " Do you see w hat Gillian is cap able of? That's beca use of what Cerberus did!" "They wa nt to make her into a weapon," Kahlee countered, panting behind her mask. Grayson guessed severa l of her ribs were broken. " They're turning her into some kind of monster." "They're transforming her into a savior of th e human race," he countered. " We don 't ha ve time for this," Golo warned. "They're destroying her," Ka hlee sna rled, her words fill ed w ith pain and anger. " Those drugs made her con dition worse. Without them, she has a chance to be a lmost normal!" Unb idden , the m em ory of Gillian actually hugging him outside the airlock fill ed Grayson's m ind. H e remembered her words, and her surprising defiance .

We have to wait for m y friends. I'm not leaving without them.

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"G illian was happy here," Kahlee continued. " H ave you eve r seen that before? She was actu a lly happy!" "S hut u p! " Golo sh o uted , kicking her aga in . This ti me he didn't stop, hut contin ued to beat o n her until Grayson sna pped, "No more! That's enough. It's over."

Golo looked over at him, panring sligh tly fro m th e exertion , a nd shrugged. On the ground Kahlee was

ro lling feebly from side to side, moaning a nd whimpering from behind her mask. G rayson's eyes flicked away from her a nd over to

Gillian on the bed. She looked so sma ll, vulnerable and helpless. Sall/ation comes with a cost, he seemed ro hear th e Illusive Man saying in his head. His mind fl ashed back to the mutila ted qu arian in the cellar of Pel 's warehou se.

judge us 110t by our m ethods, but by what we seek to accomplish. " We're a lmost out of time," Golo reminded him. " We have ro leave now. We can't wait for the others." Grayson was s uddenly struck by the si milarities between the quarian and his fo rmer parrner. Both were sa distic and cruel. Both had n o compu nction about rorturing o r killing others for personal ga in. And both were trairors to their own p eople. It sickened him to think about the kind of indi viduals he had allied himself with.

We tak e terrible burdens 0 11 ourselves for the greater good. This is the price we must pay for the cause. " Get the engines fired up and get us out of here," Grayson o rdered.

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As the quarian turned to leave, Grayson calm ly bent over and picked up the pistol Ka hlee had let fall to the floor. H e stepped up behind the quarian and ja mmed the barrel aga in st the back of his helmet, too close for the kinetic barriers to save him. And then he shot Gala once through the head, the bu llet exiting th roug h th e from of his m ask and lodging itself in the shuttle's bulkhead . As the quarian toppled forward, Grayson let the pistol fall from his hand. H e turned a nd loo ked down at Kahlee, but he couldn 't tell what she was thinking behind her m ask. "The ship we a rrived on is filled with explosives," he to ld her. "We have a bout two m inutes before they detonate a nd rip a h o le in the side of the Idemza . I'll need your help if we want to sto p it. "Ca n you walk?" he as ked, reaching down a nd offering a hand to help her to her feet. She hes itated for a split second before g rabbing it and hauling herself up with a groa n. " I ca n damn well try," she a nswered. H endel and the quarians were running at a full sp rint as they burst into the loa ding docks. The Cyf1iad was in bay seven, on the far end past a ll th e other ships. The form er security chief's long strides had pulled him slightly a head of the others, but they caught up when he stopped to stare in amazement at th e two figures coming out of the airlock in bay three. Kahlee, still in her envi ro-sui t, and Grayson, wearing Cerberus armor, were exiting the shuttle. She had one arm wrapped around Grayson's neck, and he ap-

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pea red to be ho lding her up, as if she couldn 't stand on her own. Neither one of them was armed. " H endel!" Kahlee shouted , bur her voice was c ut off in a gasp of pain and her free hand clutched at her

side. "The CYlliad," Grayson called out to them. " Th e ship in bay seven. It's filled with explosives!" Hendel, bewildered by the scene before him, could

only shake his head. "What's going on? Where's Gi llian?" "S he's safe," Grayson answered, spea k ing quickly. " But you have to get to the Cyniad. Disarm the bomb before it detonates !" "Wha t the hell are you talking about?" "Cerberu s. We never inte nded to escape on the Cyniad. We were going to take m y shuttle. Th e CYlliad is filled with explosives a nd set to go off on a timer to provide a distraction as we escaped." " H ow m any explos ives, and how much time?" Hendel demanded. "Two min utes, a nd enough to rip a h ole in th e Idemza's hu ll." "Watch him!" H endel sa id, pointing a t Grayson as he turned to go. "Wa it! " Grayson shouted, freezing him in his tracks. " It's a dual sync arming syste m. You need two people to enter the code s imulta neously or it'll detonate. " "What's the code?" M a l demanded. "Six two three two one two. " "Everyone else evacuate the loading bays," th e ca pta in ordered, the n turned to H e ndel. " Let's go." It took them less than thirty secon ds to reach th e

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Cyniad's airlock. The bodies of Isli, Seeto, and Ugho lay just beyond it. The airlock itself had been sealed . "Wait," Mal sai d , grabbing H endel by the arm. "What if it's a trap? " The security ch ief ha d been thinking the sa m e thing. " That's a chance we have to take." They o pened the a irlock and raced up into th e qu aria n shuttle. The cargo hold was fill ed with enough explosives to b low apart a sma ll asteroid. At least fifty drums of liquid rocket fuel, each as high as Hendel 's shoulder, were clustered in the center of the floor, held together by a mess of wires. From somewhere in the m iddle of the canisters, completel y inaccessibl e, he heard the rhythmic beep-beep-beep of a timer counting down. "Find the overrides!" H endel shouted, and the two of them split up, one go ing clockwise around the ring of explosives, the other counterclockwise . H endel tried to sync the high-pitched beeps with the imaginary clock ticking down in his head. H e figured they ha d maybe thirty seconds to spare when he fin a lly found what he was looking for: a sm all keypad attached to the side of one of the drums. Two wires ran from the base into the co rds woven around the explosives. H endel had n o doubt that detaching either of the wires would set the whole mess off. " I've got mine!" Mal shou ted from the far side of th e canisters. "Me too," Hendel called back. " Enter the code o n three? Ready? One ... two ... three!" H e punched in the numbers, knowing there was a lag of on ly a couple seconds for M al to do the same. If they weren't in sync, if either one of them hesita ted

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o r made a mi stake, they'd both be instantly vapor-

ized. The steady beep of the timer suddenly cha nged to a single long, shrill whistle . Hendel instinctively closed his eyes as he braced himself for the boom ... And nothing happened. The shrill whistle slowl y faded away, a nd Hen del reached up to wipe the sweat from his brow, o nly to

have his gloved hand bump against the mask of his .

.

enVl rO-sult. " H ell of a n a ll-clear signa l," he muttered to him-

self. And then he began to laugh.

T\NENTV-FIVE

In the aftermath of the bartle, the qu arian s had taken Grayson into cusrod y. For nea rly a week his

fare hung in the balance as the Admiralty, the Conclave, a nd the c ivilian Cou ncil of the Idenna weighed in on what was to be done.

He had saved dozens, possibly even hundreds, of lives by warning them ahout the explosives. But Ka hlee, along with everyone else, knew that the only reason their lives were ever in dange r was beca use of

what he had done. And there was still plenty of blood on his hands to be accounred for. Over twenty of the Idemza's crew had been killed in the attack, along with eleven Cerberu s soldiers and Go lo, the quarian trai tor. The cost was high, but it was far less than it could have been. Mal understood all this, and he took it into accounr while passing the fina l judgment on Grayson, as was his right as captain. Kahlee had feared there could be consequences for her an d H endel, as well; none of this would have happened had the quarians not taken them in when they first arrived. H owever, she had underestimated the value quarian culture p laced on community a nd crew. They had been ac-

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cepted as g uests on his ship, Mal had explained to her. They were part of the Idellna family. H e wasn't about to cast them o ut n ow, a nd he wasn't going to hold them accountab le for the action s of Cerberus. In the end, the captai n even agreed to a llow Kahlee to take Grayson back to the Alliance as her prisoner, giving them Grayson's own sh utrle for transportation. Lemm agreed to accompany her as the pilot, and to help her keep a n eye on their captive. Hendel a nd Gillian, however, would not be going with them. "Are you sure you know what you 're doing?" she asked Hendel as they stood in the landing bay, saying their good-byes. "G illian needs this," he sa id. "You saw how far she's come since we've been here. I don't know if it's the ship, the enviro-sui ts, the lack of d rugs ... a ll I know is that she's happy here on the ldenna . "And soon she'll be beyond the reach of even Cerberus," he added after a moment. Kahlee nodded, accepting the fact that she could n't change his m ind. The news of a n enemy force infiltrating the Migrant Fleet had shaken the quarian society to its very core. Faced with the shocking rea lization that they were vulnerable even within the flotil la, many of the ship captains had changed their views on the idea of sending exploratory vessels o ut into the depths of space on extended missions. The Conclave had fiercely debated the matter, but in the end those who favored the exploratory m issions, like M a l, were the ma jority. The Admiralty could have overrurned the Conclave's ruling, but

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they, too, seem ed to have had a change of heart. They acquiesced to the decision, though they did impose st rict rules an d restrictions on h ow ma ny vessels could go, a nd when they could leave. Not surprisingly, the Idelllla was chosen to be the first of those vessels. In three weeks it would set o ff throug h a recently activated mass relay in an uninhabited system , heading into pa rts unknown. Even now it was being refirred wi th new technology to allow it to survive on its own for up to fi ve years w itho ut any ou tside contact o r resources. To m ake such a journey feasi ble, however, the crew wou ld have to drop fro m its current populatio n of nearly seven hu n d red to just over fifty, a ll handpicked by M a l himself. The ca pta in had already given H endel and Gillian permISS ion to go. " D o you rea lly think Cerberus will stop looki ng fo r her a fter five years?" Ka hlee asked. H endel shr ugged . " I don 't know. But a t least it'll give her a chance to grow up som e befo re she has to deal w ith them again. " H e glanced over at the sh urrle, w here Gillian was in side saying a last, private good-bye to her father. H ende l had opposed the idea initially, bur Kahlee had worn him down. G rayson deserved that much, at least. " What do you thin k he's telling her in there?" th e security chief wondered. " I d on't know. " She cou ldn't even imagine what Grayson was going throug h. Everything he had done in his a dult lifeevery action, eve ry decision he had made-had been

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in the service of Cerberus and their so-called great and glorious cause. But in the end he had fin a lly chosen his da ughter over these nebulous ideals. Unfortunately, that choice meant it was impossible for her to

stay with him. "What are you going to tell Gillian

if s he ever asks

about him?" she asked Hendel. " I'm goi ng to tell her the truth," he sai d. " Her fath er is a complicated man. H e made some mistakes. But he loves her very mu ch, an d he only wants what's

best for her. And in the end he did the right thing." Kahlee nodded again, and pulled Hendel close for a hug. "You two he careful our there," she whispered.

"We will." They broke the embrace when they heard the familiar clump of Lemm's boots coming foward them. "Are we ready to go?" he as ked her. Kahlee knew the young quarian was eager ro take her and Grayson to the neatest Alliance colony so he could drop them off and get back in time to rejo in the Idemza. Like H endel and Gillian, he had a lso been selected by Mal to be part of the long and da ngerous Journey. She'd a lread y said her good-byes to Gillian, and as m uch as s he hated to take Grayson away from his daughter it was time for them to go. " I'm ready," she said. They were only a few hours away from decelerating from light s peed in the vicinity of C uervo, the nearest Alliance co lony. Lemm ha d a lready programmed their destination into the nav system s, and Ka hlee had sent off a comm message: there would be

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a security p atrol waiting when they landed to take Grayson into immedia te custody. Now the quarian was taking a quick nap in the bedroom, while Ka hlee a nd Grayson sat in the passenger cabi n, facing each other. Grayson's hands were cuffed in front of him, resting in his lap. As a further precaution , Ka hlee was a rmed with both a stunner and a pistol just in case he had a change o f hea rt. She could tell he was getting scared. H is eyes kept darting around the cabin as if he was loo king for a n escape, a nd his fingers fidgeted nervously in his lap. " You realize this is a death sentence for m e," Grayson told her. "The Alliance will protect you," Kahlee assured him. " Yo u have valuable information on Cerberus. They' ll want to keep you arou nd. " "They can't protect m e," Grayson answered , shaking his hea d. " It might take a month , or maybe even a year, but sooner or later one of their agents inside the Alliance will get to me." "What do you expect me to d o?" Ka hlee asked him. " I can't let you go." "No," he sa id softly. "No, I suppose you can't. " " You had to know this was go ing to hap pen, " she told him. "But you helped us a n yway. I think you wanted to atone for your past." " I'd like to think I ca n atone without dying," he said with a grim smirk. " Remember why you' re doing this," Ka hIee sa id, hoping to improve his mood. " It's for Gillian." The mention of his daughter brought a forlorn smile to the thin man's lips. " You were right," he sa id. "Wha t you told me be-

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fore I killed Go lo . Gillian's happy now. I guess that's all I ca n rea lly h ope for."

Kahlee nodded. "You did the right-" H er words were cut off as Grayson suddenly th rew himself a t her. He moved quick as a snake, throwing hi s head forward to strike at her unprotected nose. Ka hlee du cked to the side a t the last possible insta nt

and he butted her in the shoulder. H is weight was bea ring down on her, pinning her in her seat. His cuffed ha nd s were trying to grab at

her, unti l she jabbed her fingers, held flat and stiff, sharply into his windpipe. Gasping and choking he fell away from the seat,

then curled up in a hall on the floor. Kahlee leaped out of her chai r and stood over him, her muscles coiled in case he lunged at her a second time. "Try that again a nd I'll shoot you," s he warned, but there was no rea l venom in her threat. H er hea rt was pounding and her blood was racing with ad rena line, but he hadn't actually hurt her. She'd been expecting som ething like this for some time now; he was getting despera te. If anyone was to b lame it was her for not recognizing he was still da nge rous. "Come o n," she sa id in a so fter voice, taking a step back from him. " I didn't hurt you that bad. Get up." H e ro lled onto his side, and Kahlee rea lized he had something clenched between the fingers of his sti llcuffed ha nds. It took her a second to rea lize it was a stunner-he must have torn it from her hip during the scu ffl e ! She tried to s hout o ut a warning to Lemm, but Grayson fired a nd everything went black .

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When she woke Lemm was standing over her, looking concerned. She rea lized she was in the shuttle's bed, but the effects of the stunner had left her feeling disoriented and confused. "Where a re we?" she asked, struggling to sit up. " Daleon," Lemm answered. "A sma ll volus colony. " " I thought we were supposed to land o n C uervo," she sa id, her foggy mind sti ll purring the pieces together. Lemm shrugged. "A ll I know is that somebody knocked m e o ut with a st un ner. When I ca me to we were sirring here at the Da leon spacep ort. " "Where's Grayson? What happened to Grayson?" "Gone," Lemm replied. "We could search for him, if you want. It's possible he might still be here on Daleon. " Kahlee shook her head, realizing what had happened. " H e's long gone by now. We'll never fi n d him. " "So what n ow?" the quarian asked. "Take the shuttle a nd head back to the Idemta," she told him. " You 've got a lot o f preparations to make fo r your journey." "What about you ?" "Just dro p m e off at the Grissom Academy," she said. " There are a lot of kids in the Ascension Program who still need my help." With a s mile, she added , " I'm pretty sure I ca n convince the board to take me back."

EPILOGUE

The vid screen beeped to indicate an incoming message. The Illu sive Man looked up from the report he was studying at his desk a nd noted the call was coming over a secure line. "Answer," he sa id, and a n image of Pa ul Grayson fli ckered into view.

The Illusive Man blinked in mild surprise. He had assumed the mission to infiltrate the quarian flotilla was a failure, sim ply beca use two weeks had passed

and he hadn't heard anything. With most Cerberus assignments he could get general updates by watching the news vids, but with no media coverage of what went on in the confin es of the Migrant Fleet, it had rendered him as clueless and ignora nt as any ordinary, average CItizen.

" Paul," he sa id with a slight tilt of his head. " H as the asset been recovered?" " H er name is Gillian," the man a nswered. The hostility in his tone was un mistakable. "G illia n, then," the Illusive Man conceded, his voice cold. "What happened on the mission?" "The team's dead. All of th em. Golo. Everyone." "Except you. "

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" I'm as good as dead," Grayson replied. " I'm a gh ost now. You'll never find me." "What about your daughter?" the l1lusive Man asked. " H ow long will she be able to survive as a fugitive? A life on the run is no life for her. Bring her in, Pa ul, and we can talk about what's best for Gillian." Grayson laughed. "She's n ot even with me. She's o n a quarian deep-space exploration vessel out in the middle of some uncharted system beyond the edge of th e galaxy. You'll never find her." The Illusive Man's jaw clenched ever so sl ightl y as he realized the girl was beyond his reach. The fact that Grayson was willing to tau nt him with the information was clear evidence of how impossible it would be to track her down. H e rel ied o n a network of Cerberus informants throughout Counci l Space and the Termin us Systems to supply him with a consta nt flow of information. Out beyond that network he was literally blind. " I thought you were loya l to the cause, Paul. " " I was," Grayson answered. " Then I saw the kind of people who sha re your vision, and I had a cha nge of heart." The lIlu sive Man sneered a t th e screen. " I'm in the business of savi ng li ves, Pa ul. Hu ma n lives. You used to understand that. Now it seems you're suddenly trying to save your soul. " " I think my soul is too far gone to save." "Then why are you calli ng?" the Illu sive Man demanded, the smallest hint of fru stra ti on creeping into his voice. " I'm giving you a warning," the man on the other end of the vid screen answered. "Stay away from

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Kahlee Sanders. If you come after her, I go to the Alliance with everyth ing I know." The Illusive Man studied the image o n the vid screen ca refully. H e n oticed the familiar signs of Grayson's

red sa nd use-the bloodshot pupils, the faintly luminous sheen on his teeth-were missing. And he realized the man wasn't bluffing. "Why is she worth so much to you ?" " Does it matter?" Grayson countered. "She's hardly worth a nything to you. Not com pared to all the dirty little secrets I have. I figure my si lence in excha nge fo r her safet y is a bargain."

"We will find you, Paul," the Illusive Man promised in a menacing whisper. "Maybe," Grayson admitted. " But that's not why I

called. Kahlee Sanders-do we have a deal?" After taking a moment to weigh the offer, the Illusive Man nodded his acceptance. Gillian's loss would set their biotic research back a full decade, but Cerberus had too man y other projects on the go to ris k them a ll fo r this. On the screen Grayson s miled. An instant later the image went blank as the call was disconnected. H e didn't bother trying to trace the ca ll-G rayson was too smart to slip up on something that simple.Instead, the Illusive Man just stared at the blank screen for a long, long time, slowly clenching and unclenching his jaw.