Jack sat in lotus next to Samara as she tried to relax. She knew Samara would tell her it wasn't a matter of trying, but a matter of just doing. Whatever. The 'blind spot' bombshell from Marcus still buzzed in her head. After he'd left last night, she had stretched out on her bed and simply reveled in the thought that no prying eyes peered at her. There was no more poking and prodding by invisible forces. Did the engineer truly realize what a gift he'd given her? Probably not. But she was going to show him. Oh yes, she was going to give him such a memorable time. It gave her a warm glow just to think about it.

"This is not a time for thinking about sex, Jack," said Samara.

"Dammit, Blue, you said you weren't going to do the mind reading thing on me."

Samara chuckled. "I didn't have to. Your breathing and heart rate were enough to tell me where your mind was." The asari looked over and winked at Jack. "I don't blame you," continued Samara. "He's certainly someone I would have gone for during my maiden years."

Jack shook her head in amazement. "I figured you would have gone more for our fearless leader, Blue."

"Oh, I would have had Shepard as well. I might have even convinced the two of them to have a session with me at the same time." Samara smiled at the look of shock on Jack's face. "I could be very persuasive, back in the day," she added.

"I'll bet," said Jack. Wow, just when she thought she knew somebody. She tried to wrench the conversation into a new direction. "So this meditation stuff lets you hear somebody's heart rate? Or is this some other asari voodoo thing?"

"Sufficient mindfulness through meditation will allow such a feat, eventually. First, however, you will be able to hear your own heart rate."

Jack felt her forehead wrinkle. "So what? I can do that already."

"I mean truly hear it. And also influence it. Having biotic powers allow you to control your body's basic functions to a degree which most people cannot."

"Great. So I can give myself a heart attack, or something?"

"No," said Samara. "You will be able to influence your metabolism, to speed it up or slow it down on command. Actually, I suspect you have already done this without thinking."

"Says you. When?"

"During the incident over Haestrom, when you attacked Marcus. You were under the influence of powerful sedatives mixed with alcohol. However, you were able to shake off their influence and mount a successful biotic attack. You must have sped up your body's metabolism to quickly suppress the drugs' effects."

Jack sighed. "I already apologized to him, you know. I don't like thinking about that. It was a bad mistake, I fucked up."

"And you should learn from it, as one does from mistakes. What was going through your mind, just before your attack?"

Jack rubbed her face. "Christ, Blue. I told you, I don't like thinking about it." She paused. "I wasn't thinking anything. I was just in a haze. Everything was very far away. I'd heard some alarms or something, but it was like it was happening somewhere else. And then there was somebody right in my face, and he looked like one of...of them." She was surprised by the sudden hot spurt of fear in her stomach. "Oh, no. I almost killed him." Jack felt her breath coming ever faster. "I was going to hurt him so badly..." Her hands clenched tight on her knees.

Jack felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and that touch made her panic evaporate. "Jack," said Samara. "You didn't follow through. You stopped. The control is yours, as it always was. Take yourself back to the moments before then. When it was all far away."

The slender human closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. She kept getting flashes of different images. Marcus's green eyes behind his helmet visor, the skin around them all crinkled with scar tissue. Those eyes kept changing, into other eyes which were hard and unkind. She remembered the armored guards with their stun batons, and remembered how when she resisted they would get out the plain nightsticks and really go to work on her. More images, more memories of being strapped down, of being held. She remembered when she was clamped face-down onto a table with many needles approaching her back...

She wanted to stop, to simply force it to all stop. But somehow she knew that wouldn't work. Jack just let it go on.

She let it go.

The memories of blood and pain eventually just became images, as if seen on a vid screen. And then they faded away to nothing.

Jack stirred, and raised her head. For a moment, she was confused as to where she was. Then she checked the time. "Two hours? What the..."

Samara was not smiling, not exactly, but Jack still got the impression that the justicar was very happy and proud. "You aren't there, Jack. Not yet. But you've just taken the first and most difficult step."

There was a soft ping. Jack thought it was from her omni-tool, at first, but it was actually from Samara's. The asari tapped her wrist, and the holographic display formed around her forearm. The proud look on Samara's face drained away, to be replaced by an emotion Jack really couldn't fathom.

"I'm sorry, Jack. I must go speak with Shepard. I have something I need to do."

----------------------------------------

Kasumi daintily seated herself on the mat and took a sip of water. She wanted to swallow down the whole bottle in one go, but she had her feminine mystique to uphold. Jacob sat opposite her on the mat, his breathing slowing. He began gulping his own water down. The man was clearly not interested in looking genteel. Kasumi's eyes flicked again over his shirtless torso, trying to be not too obvious in her ogling. Damn, if Cerberus had sent her a picture of that she would have come on board for free. They could have saved themselves a lot of money.

"Good match, Kasumi," gasped Jacob. "You really are a handful." He rubbed absently along his ribs. "I'm gonna feel that side-kick in the morning."

"Always a pleasure, Jacob," she replied, and smiled. She could feel a couple of twinges from her left elbow and right knee, respectively. Jacob was really good in the clinch, and she'd foolishly let him get too close a couple of times. Although that meant she'd also gotten up close and personal with that glorious chest. Oh, the sacrifices she made in the name of proper training. She smiled inwardly and took another dainty sip.

A rhythmic thrumming noise started off to her right, and she shifted herself a little to look. Donnelly had arrived, and was now methodically working on one of the speed bags. He nodded a greeting at them both as he punched. The speed bag whacked against its platform like a metronome.

Kasumi had gotten to know the engineer well enough to know that he was thinking through some deep technical problem. He had an absent thousand-yard stare which she'd come to recognize. The thief took a little larger sip and regarded Donnelly. The engineer was definitely wider than Jacob. Not fat, but just wide, with a build like a door. He was certainly in shape, though. She smiled, thinking of last night's dinner when Jack had bitten him. The attraction between Donnelly and Jack was one of those things which somehow everybody else on board knew about well before the two in question knew themselves. Kasumi hoped they would figure it out before too long. Otherwise, she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. It was almost like a sacred duty.

"So, where did you train?" asked Jacob. She shifted her attention back to him.

"Oh, here and there." Kasumi waved a hand absently. "I usually don't go in for anything as brutal as hand-to-hand, you know."

Jacob laughed. "Lady, I saw you shank an Eclipse merc hard enough to lift his feet off the floor. I actually felt some sympathy pain for the dumb bastard."

Kasumi smiled and tilted her head. "I was provoked."

The door to the hanger deck hissed open, and Garrus walked in. For once, he was out of his trademark blue armor. He only wore a pair of sweatpants and no shoes. The turian was in the midst of pulling on a pair of three-fingered gloves which were heavily padded at the fingertips. Kasumi figured that the padding was to cover up Garrus's talons. The turian took up a position at the other speed bag, facing Donnelly. He began to hit his bag in a rapid rhythm, matching the human's tempo.

She saw Donnelly glance at Garrus. Some unspoken communication passed between the two, because suddenly the human started to hit faster. Garrus cocked a mandible in a turian grin and matched the pace. They held like that for a bit, then Garrus started going a little faster still. Kasumi thought that the turian's speed bag was going to simply rip off of its mounting. But it held. Donnelly grinned, and matched Garrus for speed. She couldn't see how they could go any faster. A damp spot of sweat appeared in the middle of Donnelly's shirt.

They held that speed for a bit, and Kasumi found herself staring at Garrus. Donnelly was in shape, and both Shepard and Jacob were Olympian ideals made flesh. But Garrus was something else entirely. He looked primeval, he was a machine built for murder. His chest had a jutting keel in its center which reminded Kasumi of bird skeletons that she'd seen in books. The rest of him was all hard armor plates and sharp edges and pebbled skin. Even his three-toed feet looked dangerous, with curving talons where a human's toenails would go. She imagined that they could do such damage if unleashed.

Kasumi took a larger swallow of water.

Garrus began to shift his punching. Instead of a steady, metronomic beat, the turian began to drum out a particular rhythm against the backboard. He looked over at Donnelly in obvious challenge The engineer grinned wider and began to match the turian's beat. They went on like that for a little bit, then Donnelly switched it up and began to beat out a syncopation in time with the main beat from Garrus. The turian nodded and laughed. Kasumi glanced around, and saw that the rest of the ground team had stopped their training to watch. Even Shepard was looking from off near the shuttle. The Commander leaned against one thruster pod and watched with a smile on his face.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The turian and the human kept going, and Kasumi was trying to place the music that Garrus was beating out against his speed bag's backboard. Suddenly it dawned on her. It was 'Die For The Cause'.

"How many verses are in this damn song, Garrus?" asked Donnelly. It was the first words that they'd spoken to each other since starting.

"I don't know, maybe twenty or so," replied Garrus. "What's the matter, Marcus, getting tired?"

"Nah, just want to make sure we get it right. I know how fussy you turian chaps are." They kept going, Donnelly throwing in a few more deliberate off-beat flutters here and there. Garrus didn't falter, he just kept up the same beat. His gloved three-fingered hands were a blur. Kasumi drank a larger draught from her bottle, not caring anymore about appearing ladylike.

"Aaaand that's it!" cried Garrus. Donnelly beat out a 'shave and a haircut' rhythm, and Garrus answered with the 'two bits'. The two laughed and shook gloved hands. Donnelly's shirt was drenched in sweat by now, and Garrus was breathing deeply. Kasumi found herself entranced by the rise and fall of that keeled chest. The two turned to the rest of the shuttle bay. Everyone began clapping and hooting. The engineer gave a little bow, and Garrus spread his arms wide. "No, that's okay," said the turian. "No applause, just throw money."

"How about some underwear?" called Kasumi. She all but blushed. Had she really said that?

Garrus grinned at her. "From you, monkey-girl, I'll take whatever I can get."

Kasumi grinned back, and finished her water with another single gulp.

----------------------------------------

The next night, Jack and Donnelly went through more of the files she'd received from Miranda. "Like I told you," Jack said, "Cerberus has been chasing me for years. I figured they had files on me. Getting ahold of 'em is the only reason I agreed to come on board."

"It looks like you did find out almost everything you needed." Donnelly made notes on a scrap of paper, paying particular attention to possible trade depots both in and near the system cluster which Jack had found. He didn't want to use his omni-tool, not yet. He didn't want to have this anyplace where EDI might get ahold of it.

"Yeah, Cerberus had backtracked that first bunch of pirates pretty well, and I combined some of their guesses with what I remembered. A lot of these files are incomplete. I'm sure she-bitch Miranda took out a bunch of stuff she didn't want me to see. But there was enough there to at least narrow down to the Nubian Expanse." Jack flopped back onto her bed. "But now I'm out of ideas. And Shepard doesn't want to get involved, for some reason."

Donnelly ran a hand through his hair. "He knows he can't be trusted."

"Really? He's a fuckin' Boy Scout!"

"Sorry, poor choice of words. Shepard himself is a rock. I've talked with everyone from the original Normandy. Joker, Chakwas, Garrus, and now Tali. They knew him from before, and they all agree he's just like he was. But...did you see that video from Horizon? With the Alliance officer?"

"Shit, dude, I was on Horizon. Right at the end, I nearly got skewered by this huge flying beetle bastard with heads for teeth. Grunt and I tag-teamed that sonofabitch into paste. Yeah, I remember that Alenko fucker. I wanted to kick his ass so bad. Hell, I thought Garrus was going to rip his head clean off."

"Alenko was...sort of right," said Donnelly. There followed a short silence as Jack narrowed her eyes. "Not about the Collectors and the Reapers," he added hurriedly, "but about Cerberus having their hands on Shepard for two years. That's why Shepard took Alenko's accusation so badly. He may be his own man mentally, but physically? He weighs about fifteen kilos more than he did before he died. That's all cybernetics and synthetic replacements."

"Huh. So that's why the Boy Scout is so damn fast."

"Shepard could be bugged or monitored a hundred different ways," Donnelly continued. "Christ, he could have a kill switch in his head for all we know."

Jack gave a general sneer at the ceiling. "And I'm guessing she-bitch and The Illusive Man have sworn up and down that Shepard is bug-free, right?"

"Yep. For the bucket of spit that's worth. That's why we can't tell Shepard about our little blind spot here."

"Okay," said Jack, "so he can't help me find the facility, because Cerberus might be listening in...I see, he doesn't want Cerberus to know the hospital location before we get there."

Donnelly nodded. "Yeah. If Cerberus wasn't behind the hospital, they would want to get their hands on any remaining test data before we can find it. They know Shepard would just shred anything he found."

"Got it." Jack rubbed her head. "And if the hospital was run by Cerberus, and we find proof...it's gonna be bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Shepard doesn't strike me as the forgiving sort for things like that. Neither am I, for that matter. And if he is bugged, then they'll know that we know. They could try to claim it was a 'rogue operation' or something like that. But that's what they said about all the crap they pulled back when Shepard was commanding the original Normandy. I don't think Shepard will buy it anymore. It will pretty quickly turn into an armed confrontation between Shepard and The Illusive Man. And honestly, I don't know who I'd put my money on in that case."

He turned to Jack. "We need to be able to take on Cerberus when we're ready to, not before. There is a way I can see to keep this all from blowing up prematurely. That's why I'm going to ask you do something, once we find the facility. And I hate asking, because it's not going to be easy for ye."

----------------------------------------

Donnelly looked around with some trepidation. He didn't see any Eclipse mercs, but he worried that there might be some around that were out of armor. He didn't know why the Normandy was back at Omega; it was one of those last-minute detours by Shepard that the crew had quickly learned not to question. In spite of the altercation he'd been in during his last time here, Donnelly still felt reasonably safe. This was one of the more brightly-lit areas of Omega, after all. He entered the shop and tried to look casual.

The massive elcor behind the counter shifted its weight to face him. "Enthusiastic greeting. Hello, sir. How may I assist you?" The alien's leaf-like nose quivered as it spoke in a monotone. Donnelly nodded in what he hoped was a polite manner.

"Hi. I'm looking for older maps of trade routes and supply depots in and around the Nubian Expanse." He placed a paper map on the counter. The map was really nothing more than a quick sketch with some notations. "A friend of mine is looking to set up a trade route through there. I'm trying to get an idea of what's been previously done so he doesn't wind up reinventing the wheel."

"Genuine query. There are other sources for this information. The Extranet is a valuable resource." The elcor's face remained impassive.

"I know, but the Extranet tends to show current routes. We're looking for older information, say around ten or fifteen years ago. And using the Extranet also leaves traces, you know? We were hoping that there is something available that was more self-contained. I hope you understand."

"With dawning understanding. You think there is the possibility of the competition gaining knowledge of your planned routes."

Donnelly smiled and shrugged. "Perhaps. Can't be too cautious, eh?"

"Inclusive wink. I agree completely, sir."

He was able to procure a couple of OSDs with the needed map information, and paid without haggling for once. Just as he was leaving the shop, his comm pinged.

"Marcus, where are you?"

Doing your job, Boss, is what Donnelly wanted to respond with. "Getting a few odds and ends, Shepard," is what he actually said.

"Can you set up a tracking beacon? I need something small and unobtrusive. Something which will be detectable for at least a couple hundred meters everywhere on Omega."

Donnelly kept walking back towards the Normandy while he thought the problem over. "I think so. I've got some off-the-shelf components that should work."

"Good. Get it put together and meet me by the entrance near Afterlife."

Donnelly got back to the ship without incident and stashed his purchased OSDs in his quarters. He hoped that nobody would be too curious about them. He tried to look casual on the way down to Engineering, and after a little scrounging and soldering had a little bean-sized capsule. He then headed back out to find Shepard.

He was surprised at how worried Shepard looked, and also surprised by the presence of Samara. They both huddled in a little alcove near the entrance to Afterlife, and Samara looked...well, if Donnelly didn't know better, he would have sworn that she looked worried as well. The Commander was also dressed out of character, in a leather jacket and pants unlike his usual jeans-and-a-shirt casual wear.

"Here you go, Shepard," said Donnelly. He held out the tracker. "Stick this in your pocket, and you should be good to go. Um, who's doing the tracking?"

Shepard nodded towards Samara. "She is." The asari nodded at Donnelly. He held out the tracking beacon near her arm.

"Okay, Samara. If you would please activate your omni-tool..." She did so, and Donnelly pressed a little button on the capsule. It gave out a quiet bong noise, which was mirrored by a second bong from Samara's omni-tool.

"Right," said Donnelly. "You're synced to the transponder. That should have the range you need, even through a couple of decks worth of metal."

Samara nodded. "Thank you, Marcus." Shepard also nodded his thanks, but didn't say anything. His eyes were fixed on the floor, as if he was nerving himself for some Herculean task.

"Um, right," said Donnelly. "Let me know if you need anything else." He handed the transponder to Shepard and walked off, suddenly glad that he had no idea what was going on.

----------------------------------------

A few days later, he found Shepard and Tali in the little alcove right next to the Normandy's drive core. Tali was chattering in her usual fashion, and her arms waved as she described to Shepard her plans for upgrading the Normandy's shielding. The Commander had a warm and happy smile on his face as he listened, but Donnelly also saw the glazed look in Shepard's eyes which meant that the poor man was only understanding about one word in three. Donnelly sidled up, intent on hustling Tali away. Jack was off training in the hangar, and this was a golden opportunity to get Tali in on their plotting without it looking suspicious.

"Hello Shepard, Tali. Sorry to interrupt, but Tali and I need to do some measurements in the subfloor space. For the planned drive core and shield upgrades, ye ken? We need to see if we can fit the new conduits in. Time critical decision, you understand." All of which was true, should anybody be listening. He touched Tali's shoulder and began gently steering the quarian out of the alcove.

"Um, sure, I guess?" said Shepard with a little confusion. "Wait, is Jack down there?" he added. Tali froze a bit at the mention of the biotic's name.

"No, I checked," said Donnelly. "She's off training with Samara. We'll be in and out in a couple'a minutes, no worries."

He managed to get Tali all the way down into the subfloor space before the quarian turned and regarded him with a suspicious eye.

"What's going on, Marcus?"

"Only what I told you, Tali. We need to plan for these new conduits. Oh, and there's a couple of other changes down here I should also tell you about..."

----------------------------------------

Donnelly felt Jack rest her chin on his shoulder as he set up a search program on his datapad. Ten systems showed on the display, corresponding to the main stellar systems in the Nubian Expanse.

"So tell me about logistics," she said. Donnelly tried not to think about how close her mouth was to his ear. Her warm breath distracted him in a very welcome way.

"It's all about support," he said. "Logistics. Based on what you told me about the facility, I guarantee that there were at least ten or fifteen additional staff who you never saw. Custodians, building maintenance, cooks, mechanics, pilots to make supply runs. Now add in the other material they needed. They had to bring in food, clothing, medical supplies, replacement parts, tools, maybe water if the local sources were poisonous. That's a hell of a lot of stuff for sixty-odd staff and thirty-odd kids. Ye don't just throw a few crates out the door of a shuttle now and then. Ye have to set up a regular supply."

"And you have the other supply routes through the cluster, right?" said Jack.

Donnelly nodded. He touched a few commands on the datapad, and six systems became highlighted.

"Okay," he said. "So this shows all of the systems which have planets with a breathable atmosphere and which have at least one area with a jungle biome-"

"I already looked for that," interjected Jack.

"Right, so now we add in the trade route information. We want to find a place that is close enough to commercial routes or trade depots so that they could transport people and supplies. It's a statistical problem. We need it close enough for supply, but not so close that it could be easily discovered. Based on that data I picked up on Omega..." Donnelly touched a few more buttons, and the systems highlighted narrowed down to one single highlighted marker.

Donnelly grunted in satisfaction. "There you go. This is where I'd start. Pragia, in the Dakka system."

He felt her gentle bite on his ear. "Okay," said Jack, "you can only impress me so many times in one week. You're already getting good and laid, you know."

"Don't get too excited, this is really just an educated guess. We'll have to go and look. Speaking of which...what are you going to do once we find the facility?"

Jack snaked her arms around his chest and hugged him from behind. "I'm going to walk through that fucking place, I'm going to make sure it really is where they did all that horrible shit to me, and then I'm going to blow it the fuck up while I watch."