"And you're sure you can't see anything?" asked Shepard for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Yes, John," replied Tali. "I have my visor set to opaque. Just don't steer me into a wall or something."

She had to admit that she was curious. Shepard had (very) apologetically asked her to move back into her old tube-quarters for a couple of days while he and Donnelly performed their Oh-So-Mysterious modifications to his cabin. Tali couldn't figure out why the Commander wanted to keep it a surprise, but since it made him happy she figured she'd go along with it.

Tali felt John place her hand on his elbow. "Just walk beside me, and I'll guide you."

They walked out of the elevator towards his cabin, and Tali managed to avoid bumping herself into the doorframe as they walked in.

"Okay," said Shepard. "Ta-da!" He sounded like a little kid with a brand new toy.

Tali cleared her visor. The front half of the cabin was unchanged. The rear half was now split in two. The bed had been divided down the middle by a clear partition. The partition ran past the foot of the bed and then angled into the wall, creating a smaller separate space in the cabin. She could see a small hatch set into the end of the new space.

She turned to Shepard. "Okay, so there's now a smaller room in your room. For me, I assume. What am I missing here?"

He was grinning as if he was ready to burst. "The room is the least of it. That new section has the same sterilizing system that we use for the airlocks, so it can be keep clean. It'll be at least as clean as the inside of your suit."

Tali's eyes widened. "Oh! I could actually sleep without my suit. I could..." She trailed off as her mind whirled. She could perform maintenance on her suit without worry. She could get more of those solid quarian rations and actually eat. It was like she'd been given a little patch of freedom. She wrapped her arms around Shepard's neck and squeezed tight.

He laughed. "I take it you like it, then?"

She couldn't trust her voice right now, so she only nodded her head against his chest.

"Would you like to try it out?"

She nodded again, and looked up. "I guess this means we're...what's the human phrase...'going steady'?"

"And how," replied Shepard.

"It's going to be a big change for me, you know," she said with a wink. "I'm so used to sleeping in my suit. I might need some company during the night to make me feel more comfortable."

He slid his hands down to her rear and lifted her up and against him. "I think I might be able to provide that, Ms. vas Normandy."

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

Upon her previous visits to the Citadel, the Normandy's presence had been the source of much curiosity. A famous frigate, resurrected and sporting a Cerberus logo, also helmed by a hero thought dead? It obviously caused tongues to wag. Now she was back, proudly bearing the symbol of the Spectres instead and looking as if she'd fought a major action. It sent the gossip network on the docks into overdrive.

The buzz got even louder when Shepard himself strode off of the ship with a mixed crew of humans and aliens. The group carried a slew of unconscious humans. They'd been stopped for about ten seconds at the entry before Shepard had exercised his privilege as a Spectre and simply waved them all past the now-apoplectic security agent. The unconscious ones had then been taken up to Huerta Memorial Hospital in the Presidium.

And in the wake of Shepard's group, rumors spread. He had been in the Terminus systems, that much was known for certain. But in the absence of any other hard facts speculation ran wild. Shepard had blown up a major Cerberus base. Shepard had deposed Aria T'Loak and now was in charge of Omega. Shepard had fought a major battle with the geth. Shepard had become a geth.

The tabloid websites on the Citadel went to work, and their reporters dashed out to find out what had happened. Or at least to get some juicy pictures.

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

Donnelly had his impassive 'Chief Engineer' face on as he stared at a point in space above Councilor David Anderson's head. This was his first time meeting the man face-to-face, and he couldn't help but notice how the Councilor seemed like an older and slightly grayer version of Shepard in both build and in temperament. Anderson's dark-skinned face set in a concentrated frown as he read through Shepard's report.

The report itself had been gone over by the whole crew, including EDI. All references to the AI or to Legion had been scrubbed out. As far as anyone else knew, the Normandy simply had a very advanced virtual interface. And Legion was good at making itself unseen in case any curious Councilors or their agents came on board.

The engineer had to admit that Anderson's office was very nice. It had a large balcony behind the Councilor's desk which looked out onto the Presidium, and the room was awash with artificial sunlight.

Finally Anderson set the datapad down. "This is very thorough, John."

Shepard nodded. "I've learned from the past. Ilos was a panic run since Saren was already on the move. We never had time to get proper data from Vigil or to get corroborating video and samples."

"And by the time we got back to Ilos, Vigil wasn't functioning," replied Anderson. "You wanted to avoid that this time, I assume."

"You bet," said Shepard. The Spectre indicated the containers at his feet. "Now we've got enough data to ram the truth down the Council's throat. Helmet vids of the Horizon colony mission, not to mention a full reverse engineering of the Collector Seeker insects plus our countermeasures. We have tissue samples and a full analysis of the Collectors themselves. From the Collector base, we have lots of helmet vid plus isolated samples of the nanomachines they were using to...process their captives."

"And the end result of this 'processing'...the Collectors were building a Reaper," said Anderson, in a tone of a man who doesn't want to admit an unpleasant truth.

"Yes, sir," replied Shepard. "We didn't get physical samples from the Reaper itself, unfortunately. But we do have plenty of images and scan data of the machine they were constructing."

"And these people you rescued, can they help corroborate your report?"

The Commander nodded. "Two of them can. They were awake during the rescue. The other thirteen are being slowly brought out of a medically induced coma. Dr. Chakwas is overseeing their physical well-being at the moment, and one Dr. Hanna Bledsoe is trying to ascertain their mental health. Dr. Chakwas said that she's the best in her field." Shepard indicated Donnelly. "Chief Engineer Donnelly was also one of those taken by the Collectors, so when we present this to the Council he can give his testimony as well."

Anderson stood and looked Donnelly in the eye. "Marcus Donnelly, isn't that right?"

Donnelly nodded. He was sure that Admiral Hackett and the Councilor spoke on a regular basis, and was also certain that Anderson knew the exact circumstances of his departure from the Alliance. "Yes, sir."

Anderson gave an amused little grin. "I should mention that Admiral Hackett is here on the Citadel. I'm sure he'll want to speak to both of you."

Shepard smiled while Donnelly felt his heart drop into his guts. But he kept his face stoic as the Councilor turned away and gazed at the bright view outside.

"I'm not gonna lie," he said without turning around, "this is a real shit-show you brought me, John. But fortunately not as much as when you first turned up. Now that you've broken all ties with Cerberus, the other Councilors should be more comfortable as to your true motives. Cerberus was never acceptable around here, and now those bastards are on the move in earnest."

"What are they up to?" asked Shepard. "As you can imagine, we've been too busy to keep track."

Anderson turned back to face them. "The Illusive Man is setting himself up as the head of a proper quasi-governmental entity. Armed forces, ships, manufacturing networks, the whole business. The Alliance is leading the effort against them, for the PR angle if nothing else. We want to make sure that the other races know Cerberus is an aberration, and doesn't speak for humanity in general."

Shepard smiled. "Well, we do happen to have quite a bit of data on Cerberus command structures and such. A lot of it will be out of date, but I'm sure some of it will be useful."

Donnelly noted that the Commander was not bringing up Miranda or Jacob. Whether or not they wanted to turn 'state's evidence', so to speak, had been left strictly up to them.

"And you have a Cerberus ship as well," said Anderson. "A teardown and analysis of this new Normandy would also reveal a lot. Unless you think that it isn't necessary." He peered at Shepard, and Donnelly realized that the Councilor must have figured out that some things had been left out of the report.

A teardown would, of course, reveal the presence of EDI. That in turn would ignite a further firestorm with the Council. Shepard kept his face neutral as he replied. "I would prefer not to, sir. Sentimental attachment aside, we've had a full systems sweep of her and have removed any possible Cerberus backdoors or surprises."

"And who performed this sweep?" asked Anderson. He didn't look suspicious, exactly, but he didn't look comfortable either.

"The main software check was performed by Tali'Zorah," replied Shepard. "She and Engineer Donnelly oversaw the physical check."

Anderson's face broke into a warm smile. "How is Tali doing, anyway?"

Shepard matched his smile. "She's doing well, sir, and she sends her regards."

The Councilor laughed. "You know, the gossip mills have been churning non-stop since you arrived. Rumor has it that you and she were seen holding hands as you came onto the Citadel."

The Commander actually blushed a little. "Well, we wanted to keep it low-key, you know?"

Anderson laughed louder. "For once, I am very happy to hear that a scurrilous rumor is true." He held out a hand, and Shepard shook it. "My congratulations go out to the both of you. You take very good care of her, or I will hunt you down and kick your ass myself."

"I don't doubt that, sir," replied Shepard.

The Councilor looked down at Shepard's report and sighed. "Okay. Let me call a meeting of the Council so we can drag them kicking and screaming into the light of truth." He looked up with a piercing glare at Donnelly. "Are you ready to be grilled, son?"

Donnelly had never felt less prepared in his life. But he figured that after all of the nonsense he had just survived, dealing with a bunch of stuffy bureaucrats would be a bit of a lark. "I'm ready, sir." He turned towards the holographic display which was set against one of the walls.

Anderson chuckled. "This is too momentous for a phone call, Mr. Donnelly. This calls for a face-to-face meeting. We're all heading for the Tower."

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

Turians were usually hard to read, but Councilor Sparatus was downright statue-like as Shepard gave a verbal summary of his full report. Sparatus and the two other Councilors were busy paging through the report. Shepard had told Donnelly that the turian was going to be the hardest one to convince. But to the engineer, the salarian also looked to be less than open to what this report was saying.

Anderson stood at the far end of the line of Councilors. He had already stated his belief in the report's veracity, and that it was up to the rest of the Council to decide. The four Councilors faced the two humans, who stood on a little dais that was separated from the Council by a short gap.

Donnelly couldn't stop looking around. This was the legendary Council chambers, the seat of political power for a good chunk of the galaxy. It had been more-or-less rebuilt after Sovereign's attack. There was one section of rubble which had been left alone with a plaque mounted above it. It must be some memorial to those who died in the attack. Nobody else was in the place; the Council had insisted that this report be treated as top secret for the moment.

Finally Shepard finished, and then it was Donnelly's turn to stand in front of the four. He gave an edited summary of his recruitment by Shepard, of his time aboard the Normandy, and of his experiences while held captive by the Collectors. The latter was hard for him. It brought up traumatic memories in him while at the same time it sounded ridiculous, even to his ears.

When he was done the asari Councilor, Tevos, gave him a dazzling smile that didn't reach her eyes. In spite of her outwardly friendly manner, Donnelly knew she was a politician all the way through. "Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Donnelly. I'm glad to see you safe and sound after such an ordeal. If you don't mind, I would like to get clarification on a few points..."

The grilling that followed was polite but very thorough. Fortunately the cross-examination never strayed into either the existence of EDI or Legion. The Councilors initially seemed interested in both his own service record as well as how he had been approached by Shepard and Cerberus.

They eventually switched to his experience in the Collector base. The main interest seemed to be what the Collectors were actually doing with all of their captives. Donnelly was able to report on the 'half-woman' he'd seen, and showed them vids of it as well. That made all three of the non-human councilors look grim.

"But you did not see with your own eyes this claimed Reaper construct?" asked Valern, the salarian councilor.

"No, sir. I was in no fit condition for anything other than getting the hell out of there. I helped as best I could with the other captives, but that was all. I did see the helmet cam footage afterwards, however. And we also have detailed scans of the thing."

Valern nodded, but he looked like he'd bitten into something sour.

Sparatus sighed. "In spite of my own opinions in this matter, I do have to commend Shepard on his thoroughness. It does seem that the Collectors were building something horrific. But even if, and I say if, this entity under construction was an embryonic Reaper, then I fail to understand why."

"If you turn to Appendix B of my report, it will become more clear," said Shepard. "We analyzed the signals broadcast by the Omega Four relay during our two transits through it. We've found evidence that there is an entire other level of access in the mass relay network. Our own use of the relays is limited to the most simple level, which allows point-to-point transference. But this other level...think of it like gaining administrator privileges on a computer system. You can go anywhere and do anything in the network."

Councilor Tevos rubbed her tentacled crest. "I think I see what you're driving at. Accessing this 'admin priviledge' might require a very high-level artificial intellect."

Shepard nodded. "If the construct we found is any indication, then a Reaper's mind is a biomechanical gestalt mentality comprised of millions, perhaps billions, of once-living organic sapient minds. The processing power available to such a being is something that we can only guess at. And that is what's required to access this other level in the mass relay network."

Sparatus didn't look convinced. "If, and again I say if, the large geth ship that attacked the Citadel was indeed a Reaper, then why didn't it use this massive brainpower during the attack? Such an entity would be capable of hacking into numerous control systems. Sovereign could have turned half of its attackers on the other half."

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"It was trying to open the Citadel's mass relay," said Shepard. "It appears the Citadel relay requires that 'higher-level access', and as such it required much of Sovereign's intellect during the battle."

Sparatus's face finally showed an expression. He gave a little twitch of a mandible in the turian equivalent of a grim smile. "If I may use a human saying, then Sovereign was fighting us with one hand tied behind its back. And it still managed to nearly win."

Donnelly noted that the turian didn't use any 'if' qualifiers this time.

Valern spoke up. "So your theory is that this Collector construct would have made another attack on the Citadel?"

Shepard shrugged. "Perhaps. Or there might be other long-range relays that we know nothing about hidden away in the network. But that's all speculation. What isn't speculation is that the Reapers have backup plans in case they can't activate the Citadel relay. And they probably have backup plans for those backup plans."

Tevos looked worried. "That means we can't assume they'll give up."

Shepard shook his head. "No more than we could stop breathing. The Cycles are how Reapers reproduce. They make more of themselves out of the bodies of those which they destroy. And they also view it as a kind of religious calling. From some of the statements made by the Human-Reaper, they view themselves as the ultimate type of intelligence. To them, becoming a Reaper is the one true path for all sapients."

The asari councilor nodded. "May we have a moment to confer?"

Shepard nodded, and the Council became hidden from view behind an opaque holographic wall. He turned to Donnelly. "Good job, Marcus."

Donnelly shrugged. "If ye say so, sir. I'm not sure what they were getting at with half of their questions for me."

Shepard gave a grim smile. "If I had to guess, they were trying to determine just how tightly I was aligned with Cerberus at the beginning. And I think Valern was hoping that you had contacted us first, so he could paint you as some kind of nutty radical who was itching to run off and join Cerberus at the first excuse."

Donnelly regarded the holographic wall with a faint shudder. "Politics. Ugh. I'm glad I'm an engineer. I'd be daft inside of five minutes with that kind of job."

After a little while longer, the wall flickered off. The four councilors stood as if at attention, and Donnelly almost unconsciously adopted the same posture. Shepard stood relaxed in parade rest, ready to receive their judgement.

Councilor Tevos spoke. "Commander Shepard, we are once more indebted to you. Both you and your crew have risked life and limb to uncover and destroy this effort by the Collectors to build a dangerous Artificial Intelligence." Her eyes flicked over to Councilor Sparatus' stony face. "Whether we call them 'Reapers' or not, it seems that these powerful AIs constitute a clear and present danger to Council space, and perhaps to the rest of the galaxy as well. We know all too well the dangers that come with unrestricted opening of relays in the network. The possibility of a sufficiently powerful AI doing so at will is even more disquieting. Therefore, your next assignment will be to determine if any such high-level AIs currently exist in galactic space. You are also to develop a means for defeating them should they be discovered."

Shepard gave a nod. "Thank you, Councilor. In order to carry out this assignment, may I assume that my full Spectre status has been reinstated?"

The asari nodded. "We see no further need to confine you to the Terminius Systems, Commander. Any former alliance you had with Cerberus was clearly a matter of convenience. Consider yourself reinstated. You have the full support of the Council...as long as certain names are not used to refer to these high-level AIs."

Shepard smiled. "Understood, Councilor. My thanks to you all."

Tevos smiled back at both Shepard and Donnelly, and this time it was a genuine smile. "It is we who should be thanking you. All of you. Go in peace."

Shepard was practically bouncing as they made their way down the steps towards the elevator. "We did it, Marcus!"

"We did?" Donnelly was still confused. "But they never acknowledged the Reap-"

The Commander waved a hand to cut him off. "Nonono, don't say it. As long as we don't use that name for them, we're free to go hunting...certain dangerous AIs. And the Alliance can now get involved too, since they won't be bucking official Council policy."

The light went on in Donnelly's head. "I get it. The Council can't lose face. They have to maintain their image of being all-wise, so they can't admit they were wrong about the Rea...that word. But now at least they're willing to actually do something about them."

"Yep." Shepard looked like he was going to explode from excitement. "There's a lot to do. So much to do."

Donnelly shook his head. "Politics. I'd rather have a bullet in me head."

As they reached the elevator, the doors slid open. It turned out that the car was already occupied by just about the last person Donnelly wanted to see. Pale gray eyes looked out from a craggy face and scanned over them both. Admiral Steven Hackett gave Shepard a smile. "John! I was just heading up to see you. How did it go?"

Shepard was grinning as he walked in. "Great. We got the go-ahead, as long as certain names are not used."

Hackett nodded. "Got it." His eyes flicked over to Donnelly, who stood in front of the elevator in frozen terror. "Going down?" he asked mildly.

Donnelly nodded in a daze and stepped in. He promptly faced the front, away from the Admiral, and tried not to panic. The man hadn't said anything. Why not? Maybe he'd forgotten what Donnelly had said to him. No, that was nonsense. This was Hackett. He probably remembered what he'd had for breakfast six years ago.

The engineer realized he was tapping his hand nervously on his thigh, and grabbed it with his other hand to stop. He tried to make the move look casual.

"So what about you?" asked Hackett. For one heart-freezing moment Donnelly thought that the admiral was addressing him, but then Shepard replied.

"I'm back to full Spectre, no strings attached. What about my status with the Alliance?"

"It's complicated," replied Hackett. "There's still some question as to the extent of your involvement with Cerberus. Having the Council vouch for you will help a lot, but it will still take some time to reinstate you as Commander."

"Hmm. No offense, Admiral, but it might be better for me to just go ahead and resign my commission. We're going to need all of the races in on this. If I'm still seen as an Alliance tool that might make it more difficult."

"That is a decision I leave to you. I trust your judgement, John." Hackett sounded supremely confident. "I've always said that you would make a good politician."

Donnelly managed to avoid laughing at the notion. He could feel Hackett's eyes boring into his back.

"And then, of course," said Hackett, "there is the question of what to do with this new Normandy and her crew."

Donnelly looked up at the indicator and saw with a sinking heart that they were only halfway down the Council Tower. This was the longest elevator ride in his life. He willed it to move faster.

Shepard's voice was firm. "I want to keep the Normandy. I need a ship, after all. I know a lot of the crew have questionable backgrounds, but they're damn good people. I'd like to keep them on as well."

"Of course. But perhaps they wouldn't want to stay? There's no substitution for getting it straight from the horse's mouth, as it were. Tell me, Engineer Donnelly, do you have any future plans?"

Donnelly realized he had to turn and face the music, so to speak. So he turned, half expecting the admiral to have grown fangs. But instead Hackett wore a very mild expression.

Donnelly wetted his lips. "Well, sir, speaking only for meself...I never actually expected to survive the Collector mission, so I'm honestly at a loss."

Hackett actually chuckled. "An honest opinion is always appreciated. I suppose you are now free to do as you wish. You have no other ties, correct?"

Donnelly's breathing was difficult. He was sure the Admiral was just waiting for his opportunity to strike. "None, sir. Oh, except for Jack. And I have no idea what she has planned for the future."

"Jack?"

Shepard leaned forward. "The human biotic we picked up from Purgatory. She was instrumental in that final fight against the Reaper."

"Ah!" Hackett looked pleased for some reason. "Well, Mr. Donnelly, if Ms. Jack is looking for a future there is one I can suggest. There's a First Lieutenant Khalee Sanders who is always looking for new biotic talent. I can forward her contact information to you."

"I'll pass it along to Jack, sir. It's up to her if she wants to do anything with it."

"Obviously," replied Hackett. He assumed an evil grin on his face. "In a way, I envy you both. It must be nice to be able to choose your own path. Some of us are constrained by disgusting politics, and we can't act as freely as we might wish. Wouldn't you say that's a harder path, Mister Donnelly?"

"I would, sir." In a way, Donnelly was relieved. He was sure the Admiral was going to drop the hammer now.

Hackett nodded. "Yes, we all have our roles to play. For myself, I have had to follow along with the Council's decisions. Which have now changed in actual content if not in name, thanks to a supreme effort by Shepard and all of you." The Admiral's eyes flicked down to Donnelly's right leg...the artificial one. "Speaking freely, I must say I'm impressed that you backed up your previous words to me with significant action."

And then the Admiral simply stopped talking. The engineer realized that was it. There was going to be no ass-chewing. "Sir," replied Donnelly. He snapped out a crisp salute, the first real one he'd given since leaving the Alliance.

Hackett returned the salute with equal crispness. "Keep up the good work, Mr. Donnelly."

"I shall, sir." The elevator doors mercifully opened, and Hackett strode out past Donnelly without another word.

Shepard smiled with an ironic air at Donnelly. "He has an effect, doesn't he?"

The engineer blinked. He'd entered that elevator in mortal terror of Hackett, and now he was quite ready to take a bullet for the stony-eyed bastard. "That he does, sir. That he does."

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Jack stood and fidgeted. She was dressed about as conservatively as she ever had. A clean tee shirt with no vulgarity or obscene images printed on it, along with pants which were actually made out of cloth. "You're going to be on the lookout for any bullshit, right?"

"Both me and Garrus, lass." Donnelly indicated the turian seated next to him on the bench. "If anybody tries anything, he'll shoot 'em in the eye and then I'll run up and punch 'em in the yarbles."

"But he doesn't have a gun," said Jack. She looked uncharacteristically nervous.

Garrus gave a turian smile. He was out of his ship-board blue uniform and back into the loud orange shirt he'd worn on Illium. Donnelly had decided to match him with an equally garish floral-print shirt. "No gun that you can see," said Garrus. "I don't need a rifle, not at this range."

Jack nodded. Her jaw was tight. "Okay. Just don't be careful, okay Assface?"

"You neither, lass," replied Donnelly. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and walked off towards the cafe.

Donnelly stretched out on the bench. The sunshine still felt nice, even if it was artificial. It was a lovely day on the Presidium. Of course, in this place every day was a lovely day.

"Who is this she's meeting?" asked Garrus.

Donnelly shrugged. "Somebody with some sort of institute. They do biotic training."

Garrus gave a honking laugh. "The last thing Jack needs is more training. I saw the vids from the Collector base. She yanked Grunt up to the ledge like he weighed nothing."

The engineer gave the turian a smile. "Oh, she wouldn't be training. She'd be teaching."

Garrus's deep-set blue eyes met his. "Oh, spirits."

"You said it." Donnelly looked more closely at the turian. Garrus had a somewhat distracted look on his face. There was also a bit of a heat-shimmer in the air on the other side of the bench.

Donnelly looked over towards Jack. She was sitting down at one of the cafe's 'outdoor' tables, across from a blonde woman with pale blue eyes. They held their heads together while talking very quietly.

The engineer looked back to Garrus. The turian was definitely looking as if his mind was elsewhere. "Kasumi," he said aloud. "Are you molesting Garrus?"

"Mmmmaaaybe," said a cheeky voice from the heat-shimmer next to Garrus. "He's mine to molest, after all."

Garrus cleared his throat. "A little hip-fondling never hurt anyone, right Kasumi?" Then the turian twitched. "Hurk. Kasumi, that's not my hip..."

Donnelly smiled and looked back towards Jack and Sanders. The biotic's face looked concerned as the lieutenant talked. But so far everything seemed to be going well.

"Really, babe, this is a public place," muttered Garrus. "And I have to concentrate!"

There was a chuckle from nowhere. "Fine, I'll go see if there are any loose valuables."

Donnelly cleared his throat once he was more-or-less sure that Kasumi was gone. "So I guess she's going to, er, keep on with her profession?"

Garrus shook his head. "She doesn't steal little things like that. She just moves them around to mess with people."

"And you?" asked Donnelly. "It looks like Shepard is going to have an ongoing assignment to deal with...certain issues. Are you staying?"

The turian looked pensive. "I'm not sure. Kasumi has some good friends on the Normandy, but she's also worried about keeping busy. There might not be much need for her particular skills on this new mission. And she wants to see Palaven. I do too, honestly. I still have family there, and it's been far too long since I've seen them."

Donnelly thought for a while. "Personally, I think you should make the trip to Palaven while you can. I have some family of my own I need to get in touch with." He sighed. "I'm gonna have to introduce me poor mum to Jack."

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Miranda promised herself that she wouldn't cry. But it was a hard promise to keep. This was almost like she was losing her sister all over again. She and Oriana were standing against the wall of a bustling market in one of the Wards of the Citadel.

"And you're sure they're coming?"

Oriana squeezed Miranda's hand and smiled. "Of course. They arrived two hours ago. Some generous and anonymous benefactor suddenly dropped a bunch of money in their account. Enough to buy express flights to the Citadel for all three of them. I wonder who it could have been?"

Miranda matched her smile. "It's a mystery for the ages, I'm sure."

They stood and watched the traffic around them for a little while. "What will you do?" asked Miranda. "I mean, you've gotten a taste of several different professions. I know you hadn't made up your mind yet..."

"Robotics," said Oriana with finality. "Working on those drones for EDI was very satisfying. But after seeing Legion's hardware, I know they were just the beginning. I think I can make EDI an avatar with some real capability. But I need to get more education first."

"So you're coming back to the Normandy?"

"Eventually. Shepard said I'll be welcome anytime. The Collector threat is dealt with, but there will be other ways for the Re...for those guys to come in. We need to stop them before that happens."

Miranda blinked away a tear. "I'm proud of you...sis." It felt like a weight was lifted from her chest as she said the last word.

Oriana's response was cut short by a cry from across the market. "Oriana!" It came from a small girl who led a man and a woman into the market's center. They had the weary look of people who'd been crammed into small spaces for too long of a time. Now, all three of them were staring with relief at Oriana.

The young woman's head snapped around. "Helen!"

Miranda knew that she shouldn't interfere with this. She'd already done too much of that in the past. And so she tried to drop Oriana's hand.

But Oriana wasn't having any of it. She looked back at Miranda and gripped her hand tighter. "Oh, no. You don't get to slink back into the shadows with a melancholy smile. You're meeting them."

Miranda felt a little bit of panic and shook her head. "Please, I can't. It's too dangerous for them to know..."

"You don't have to tell them anything. Let me do the talking. Now come on, sister. Come meet our family."

Miranda let herself be towed out towards the waiting trio. She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry. And she managed to keep that promise for almost one whole minute after being introduced.

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Jacob thought it was nice having your own personal giant krogan to navigate through a crowded area like Zakera Ward. Everyone got out of your way. Grunt looked a little downcast. The armorer realized how far he'd come in recognizing krogan facial expressions; a few months ago, he wouldn't have picked up a thing.

"Are you feeling okay, Grunt?" he asked.

"I never got a chance to say I'm sorry. I lost your gun. I liked it."

Grunt looked so hurt that Jacob wanted to give the big alien a comforting pat on the shoulder. But that would lead to Grunt giving him a hug; for some reason the krogan had gotten very 'huggy' after the escape from the Collector base. And even though Jacob was much stronger than the average human, he was still mere flesh and bone. His ribs could only take so much.

"It's okay, Grunt. These things happen." He smiled. "And besides, that's why I asked you to come along today."

"Oh?"

They had reached their destination, and Jacob indicated it with a sweep of his arm. "Rodam Expeditions. They specialize in high-end hunting equipment and weaponry. I called around and found out they have an item you might be interested in."

Grunt's face now looked puzzled. "Me?

"Well, Miranda tells me you're the one who actually got me out of that damn cylinder. I thought a little thank-you gift was in order."

The krogan lit up. "A new gun?"

Jacob nodded with a grin. "C'mon in, let's give it a look..."

The turian in charge of the place, one Etarn Tiron, was gleeful at the prospect of helping out members of Shepard's crew. It was a little disconcerting to hear the Commander's recorded voice playing his little endorsement every so often, but the two crewmembers quickly became more fixated on the gun that Tiron toted out.

"And here we are," he said, placing it gently on the counter. It was as big as the OMFG, but there the similarities ended. Grunt's old shotgun had been a crude, rough object formed from a 3D-printing prototyper. It had worked flawlessly, but that was its only redeeming feature.

This gun, on the other hand, was art. It looked as if was carved from a single block of chromed metal, and its lines flowed seamlessly from the stock through the grip and then to the barrel. Even though the bore was almost big enough for Jacob to put his hand in, the shotgun somehow seemed just the right size.

Tiron patted it with one clawed hand. "This is one-of-a-kind. It's a specialty item I had made for a previous customer. He was a high-ranking krogan warlord who wanted to try his hand at hunting thresher maws. And then the silly bugger goes off and hunts a thresher maw before picking up the gun and gets himself bitten in half. I've tried to sell it, but most people would just break their arm if they tried to fire it."

"I can imagine," said Jacob. He rolled his shoulder and shuddered at a painful memory.

"May I...may I hold it?" Grunt sounded like he was going to pass out from restrained excitement.

Tiron waved his hand to the back. "We have a small shooting range in back, if you want to try it."

The krogan reverently picked up the gun and nodded.

Once they were in the range, Grunt took it through its paces. The first target dummy became vaporized with one shot. Grunt looked a little surprised at the gun's power, and tried again with the next dummy. It met the same fate as its partner.

"Sorry," he said to Tiron.

The turian laughed. "Don't worry, dummies are cheap. It's actually nice to see the old girl get taken out for a spin, as the humans say."

Grunt looked down at the gun. "It fits me well." He turned to the human. "But I cannot accept this, Jacob."

"Why not?" Jacob was hoping he hadn't committed some sort of blunder of krogan etiquette.

"This is a custom gun," replied Grunt. "It will be far too expensive."

Tiron grinned. "It's cost is less than you think. My now-deceased warlord customer put down a substantial deposit for me to make it. Really, I just want to make sure she goes to a good home." The turian put an arm around Grunt's shoulders. But because this was Grunt, it wound up being more like a shoulder-and-a-half. "I'm sure we can come to some mutually beneficial agreement. Now, the rumors say that Shepard went and killed himself another Thing-Which-We-Are-Not-Calling-A-Reaper. They also say that you were instrumental in achieving that kill."

Grunt actually looked embarrassed. "We all did our parts. My Battlemaster has a strong krantt."

"I don't doubt it for a single second. But it would mean the world to me to get an endorsement from one of the people who struck down the, er, Not-A-Reaper."

The krogan now looked giddy. "I tell people to come get big guns here, and then I can have this big gun?"

Tiron nodded. "If you don't mind, I have a little recording setup over here..."

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"Hi, I'm Grunt. Do you like guns? Of course you do. Guns are fun. Killing things is fun. What is more fun than killing things? Killing BIG THINGS! Ha! If you want to kill big things too, and of course you do, then come to Rodam Expeditions. Ask for the nice turian guy, he's a nice guy. He will sell you big guns like THIS one! And then we can all go out and kill BIG THINGS together! I'm Grunt, and this is my FAVORITE store on the Citadel!"