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"So, what do you make of this? Is it 'indoctrination?'" Dr. Michel leaned back in her chair and watched as Dr. Chakwas finished reading the file on her tablet. Chakwas passed it to Mordin, who read the file in mere seconds and handed it back to Michel.

"Unlikely. Exposure too brief. Symptoms not indicative of indoctrinated behavior." Mordin cocked his head. "Brainwave patterns different from known victims."

Chula glanced around Michel's office. Chakwas and Mordin sat in front of Michel's desk, with Commander Shepard directly behind them. Malcolm Takahashi and Goresk stood behind him, and Chula leaned against the wall in the corner with her hands in her pockets.

"Kolos was only exposed to the artifact for a few seconds," Goresk said. "So were all the others, but that was enough to drive them to suicide. If the team from the Sulaco hadn't arrived when they did, he would've blown his own head off like all the others."

"What we've seen of the Reapers' indoctrination process takes a few hours to set in and doesn't cause instant suicidal urges," Chakwas said, and Mordin nodded.

"Hallucinations, headaches, paranoia, feelings of being watched, worship of Reapers in final stages. Victims lose ability to think for themselves. Become mindless puppets. Effects irreversible."

Shepard shook his head slowly. "We found some salarian soldiers on Virmire two years ago, while tracking down Saren. They were test subjects, kept in cells in a laboratory. Several of them just stood there, staring straight ahead, even after we opened the door for them. Their minds were completely gone. In another cell, one of them kept babbling about voices whispering to him. When I wouldn't let him out, he hurled himself into the door with enough force to knock himself out."

_Shit._Chula shivered.

Chakwas glanced at Shepard and pointed at the tablet. "The brainwave patterns there are similar to yours after your encounter with the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime."

"So the artifact was a memory-storage device like the beacon?"

"Not Prothean," Mordin said. "Artifacts on Bekenstein far older than beacon. Similar function. Recorded memories transferred into recipient."

Goresk sighed. "From what Kolos was babbling about, it sounds like a memory of a civilization falling to the Reapers. It drove him insane. He kept going on about something coming for us all and how we're all doomed."

"When the beacon shoved that vision into my mind two years ago, it nearly killed me." Shepard grimaced.

"The recording was encoded specifically for Prothean minds," Chakwas said. "If the commander wasn't as strong-willed as he is, it probably _would've_killed him."

"Hmm." Malcolm glanced at her and then Goresk. "So, was Kolos's brain unable to handle the transfer, or was the vision itself such a shock that his cork popped?"

"Could've overwhelmed him, emotionally." Goresk shrugged. "He was nearly paralyzed by despair, grief, and terror."

Another chill rippled through Chula's chest. I know this information could be important, but if I hear much more, I might never sleep well again.

"I'll keep him for observation until we have a better handle on this. Once he's lucid enough, he may be able to describe the vision more clearly." Michel glanced at Goresk. "Unless he has family who'd want him sent back to Khar'shan for treatment?"

"I don't know if he has any family or not. The Batarian Hegemony has the whole planet locked down so tight, you probably couldn't contact them." He shrugged again. "I'm pretty sure he'd receive better care here, anyway."

"We'll do everything we can for him."

Mordin stood. "Keep us updated. Would like to examine artifacts. Go over details with Dr. T'Lura's team. Much to learn. Fascinating."

"I'll continue working with Dr. Michel while we're here," Chakwas said.

Chula pushed away from the wall and nudged her hat into a slightly different angle. "I think I'll report in to my captains and check on Lia and Sidonis." She managed a quick chuckle. "Between this and the meeting a while ago, I believe I've got enough nightmare fuel to last a month or two, anyway."

Shepard's Omni-Tool beeped. Its interface appeared around his left arm and he raised an eyebrow. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder and said, "I'll take this in the foyer. Carry on."

Chula nodded at everyone and walked ahead of him. The foyer was still empty. Shepard sighed, tapped a button on his Tool, and aimed a wary gaze at the asari who appeared on its interface.

"Aria."

_Huh. Aria T'Loak?_Chula hurried to the door. The "queen" of Omega was one of the reasons she'd been so eager to leave the entire Omega Nebula after the rescue of Kenn and Sidonis ended with a hangar door blown clean off.

"Shepard, I've got some news that should make your day. Are you alone?"

"I am." Shepard smirked and Chula stopped at the door. If she opened it now, the Tool would pick up the sound.

"I've just heard about your meeting with two of the Councilors, Lidanya, and a couple of admirals."

Both of Shepard's eyebrows shot upward. "How did you find out about that? It wasn't even that long ago."

"I have my sources. You'll be happy to know that the Council will be much more cooperative from now on."

"Really? And why is that?"

"I know something Sparatus and Tevos won't want to become common knowledge."_Aria chuckled. _"Goddamn kinky, those two."

Shepard's brow furrowed. "Yeah, I'll probably sleep better if I don't know what kinds of things politicians get up to when they're off the clock."

"It's actually pretty funny. A little over a year ago, Sparatus paid a hooker to fuck his wife while he sat there and watched. Kinda creepy, but whatever. Turns out Tevos has employed the same hooker on occasion. That's scandalous enough, but the worst part is, he's underage. They won't want that getting out."

_Holy shit._Chula folded her arms over her chest and leaned on the wall.

Shepard stared at his Omni-Tool interface. "Um. Yep, I was better off not knowing any of that."

"Hah. I never intended to make them stop. It's not really my concern. Hell, if the kid operated on Omega, I'd probably fuck him just to find out if he lives up to the word-of-mouth I've been hearing. But I've just finished a conversation with Tevos and Sparatus, during which I made_damned _sure they know the consequences of continuing their stubborn bullshit. If they don't stop blocking you and start giving you whatever you need, I'll make sure Emily Wong, Khalisah al-Jilani, Battletits, and every other journalist with a modicum of influence are all over both of them like flies on a week-old corpse."

Chula had to hold her breath to suppress a burst of laughter.

Shepard continued staring with his mouth hanging open slightly.

"I've been sitting on this information for over a year, waiting for something worth using it on. Act grateful."

"I am. I can't help wondering why you're doing this, though."

"I've learned a lot about the Reapers since you first turned up on Omega. I don't care all that much about the rest of the galaxy, but if they invade and nobody's ready to stop them, I'm just as dead as everyone else."

"Fair point. Thanks for the help."

"You owe me one, Shepard." Aria cut the connection and Shepard's Omni-Tool faded out.

"Huh. That wasn't at_all_ what I expected to hear. Still, I'll take it."

"No kidding. I haven't had any direct experience with the Council, but from what little I've seen, I doubt you would've gotten them to cooperate without something like this coming out of nowhere. Those guys have their heads so far up their asses, they can lick their own tongues."

Shepard burst into laughter, snorted, and then took a few breaths. "That's pretty accurate. At first it was a minor annoyance, but it's gotten to the point where it's endangering the lives of everyone in the galaxy. I really do owe Aria for this." He raised an eyebrow at Chula. "It has to stay in this office for obvious reasons."

"What has to stay?" Chula pointed at the side of her helmet and laughed. "I didn't hear a fuckin' thing."

"Much appreciated." Shepard grinned.

Chula smiled and tipped her hat before reaching for the door control. Heh. The galaxy may have just been saved by a crime boss on Omega. I love it.

#

"Interesting place for a conversation," Quint said as he, Dakka, Garrus, Kelly Chambers, and Magnum stepped through the door into the target range.

"I come to places like this to think." Dakka grinned and rubbed her hands together.

"Heh. So do I, every now and then," Garrus said.

"When you're not busy calibrating the Normandy's guns." Kelly winked at him and picked up a set of auditory dampeners from the rack on the wall. Everyone else grabbed a set, activated the mics, and locked them on the same private channel.

"So, what's the story with Sidonis?" Garrus led them through the door, picked a booth, pulled the sniper rifle from his back, and tapped a control on the panel to his left. A target silhouette dropped down from the ceiling at the far end of the range.

Right down to business. Okay. Dakka stepped into the booth beside his, ordered a target, and watched it descend into place. In the corner of her eye, Quint took the adjacent booth, and Magnum chose the slot on his other side.

"We were on Omega recently. Not for anything specific, just looking around for a quick job or two. We overheard Sidonis sending out a call for help over the PA system. Turns out he'd run into a bunch of thugs beating the crap out of a quarian kid on his Pilgrimage. He rescued the kid, tried to get him away from the goons, but they chased him and Kenn into one of the shuttle bays and cornered them there."

"Hmm. I remember Shepard mentioning a quarian named Kenn a while back. Said he was running a salvage shop, trying to save up enough money for a ticket off Omega, but was just barely staying afloat. Shepard gave him a thousand credits for the ticket." Garrus squeezed his M-29 Incisor's trigger and put a three-round burst through the center of the target's head.

Behind him, Kelly raised both eyebrows, grinned, and slipped an arm around his waist.

"Yeah. He got mugged on the way to the docking port. They stole the thousand credits and he ended up right back where he started."

"Oh, the poor kid," Kelly said.

"Yeah, he's been having a rough time." Dakka lifted her huge rotary cannon from her back, pointed it at the target, and blasted it into molten pieces with a one-second burst.

Garrus and Kelly leaned into view, peeking around the partition between their booth and Dakka's. Both of them gaped at her gun.

"That's...pretty impressive," Garrus finally said. "Not too precise, though."

"Hmm. Good point." Dakka linked the gun's targeting system to her visor, ordered a new target, and twitched the trigger. A single round drilled into the target's head. She popped off another twenty shots over the next few seconds and touched a button on the panel. The target slid up to her booth and she smirked at the pattern of holes she'd punched through it--two eyes and a sneering mouth.

Garrus opened his eyes a little wider before shifting them from the target to Dakka. "Heh.Nice."

"Thanks." She ordered a fresh target, hung the gun on her back, and plucked the Claymore shotgun from her right hip. "Anyway, Sidonis returned to Omega after you let him go, and I guess he was trying to figure out how to atone for what he did to your team. Just before we got there, he found those guys working the quarian kid over, and saved his ass. Then we ended up saving both of theirs."

"Huh." Garrus's gaze drifted off to point at nothing in particular. "Well, I guess it's good that life keeps surprising me."

"I don't know the details of what happened between you and Sidonis, but he's trying to make up for it. He almost got himself killed saving Kenn."

Garrus stared for a few more seconds before focusing on her again. "When I tracked him down here on the Citadel, I had Shepard draw him out so I could get a clear shot at him. Shepard blocked my line of fire, but there were a couple of moments when I had Sidonis in my sights. I could've blown his head off easily." He closed his eyes and sighed. "But I just couldn't pull the trigger, even though I thought I'd convinced myself that I could live with it."

"Well, if you'd killed him, he wouldn't have been there to save Kenn. The kid probably would've died that day."

Garrus's eyes snapped back to her and his mandibles twitched. "Huh. That's a good point." He sighed. "Ah, hell. I guess you just never know, huh? You set out for revenge, and not only does it not bring your dead friends back to life, it might actually prevent your target from doing some good later on."

"Yeah. Well, you run into people now and then who'll never do anything but harm others, but you can tell from talking with someone like Sidonis that what he did was a mistake, not a deliberate act."

"Yeah. Shepard only spoke with him for a minute or two, but that was enough to give me some serious doubt. I thought the situation was more black-and-white than it turned out to be. Like I told Shepard, I don't know what to do with gray."

"Well, you gave him a second chance, and he's not wasting it."

"I'm glad to hear that." Garrus let out another slow breath, gave Kelly's hand a pat, and turned back to the panel to order another target. "For what it's worth, I hope things work out for him."

#

"Ah, there you are." Bailey stood from his desk as Valeria, Irving, and General Kurakova stepped through the entrance into Citadel Security Headquarters. He handed a tablet over to Valeria. "I think you'll find the info here, well, pretty goddamned disturbing."

"After what I saw this morning, that's saying a lot." Valeria skimmed through the text on the tablet. Her jaw dropped and her mandibles spread apart in surprise. Holy shit. "Well, I was expecting to spend the rest of the day dragging information out of Elias Kelham, but this looks pretty thorough."

"All my guys had to do was tell him that Arana Nelvos had just arrived to avenge her husband by killing Kelham and his entire family, and he spilled_everything_ in exchange for placing his family into witness protection." Bailey grinned. "He didn't even argue the charges against him. Entered an immediate guilty plea on all of 'em. I guess he figured the deeper his cell is buried, the safer he'll be from Nelvos and her Eclipse division." His grin shifted into a smirk. "We neglected to tell him about your friend talking Nelvos down and convincing her to let the court handle it."

"Just a minor oversight." Valeria chuckled. "It's good to have all this intel and know Kelham will still get the prison sentence he deserves for everything he's done." Valeria ran through the file again and shivered. "So, Cerberus really was getting ready to stage a coup on the Citadel."

"Yeah, they'd taken over Kelham's operation and were working their way into several other criminal organizations. Seems Cerberus has spread itself so thin lately, it's looking for new recruits as well as new resources and funding. If they could take control of the Citadel--well, it's a long shot, but I don't like thinking about how things would've turned out if they'd succeeded." Bailey sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "They sure had me by the balls. Thinking where they could've spread after getting a foothold in C-Sec is enough to give me nightmares."

"Same here, but you helped stop them, and your son is safe." Valeria put her hand on his shoulder for a moment and then pointed at the tablet. "Kelham made some disturbing remarks about Kai Leng. Says here he often stared at something only he could see, and looked as if he was listening to someone even when the room was otherwise empty. He talked about the Reapers on occasion, and spoke in a reverent tone about being prepared for their 'glorious arrival.'"

Kurakova turned and raised an eyebrow at Val. "Indoctrination?"

"Sounds like it, Nana." Valeria shook her head. "Makes my fucking carapace crawl. It's a good thing Dakka took him out."

"There's a bounty on Leng's head." Bailey nodded at the console on his desk. "If your friend sends proof that she's the one who killed him, I can transfer the reward to her."

"I'll let her know." Val continued perusing the file. "Hmm. This is interesting--Leng also talked about making a move against the Illusive Man."

"I'm not clear on who that is. Leng's boss, I assume?"

"Jack Harper. He's the one who runs Cerberus." She took a slow breath. "At least that means the Illusive Man hasn't been indoctrinated. He can still be useful. If Leng had been able to take over, the Reapers would've had control of Cerberus and all of its deep-cover agents."

"Hmm." Nana ran a finger over her chin. "You know what that means? The Reapers aren't invincible. As much as it took to bring Sovereign down two years ago, they can be beaten. If they were unstoppable, they wouldn't need to indoctrinate people and infiltrate criminal organizations and governments."

"That's a good point. There's still hope." Val turned to Bailey and transferred the file to her Omni-Tool before returning the tablet to him. "Thanks, Captain. Kelham is all yours."

"My pleasure." Bailey reached out to shake her hand. "We'll make sure his family is protected, and then we'll throw the book at him. He won't get away with killing Nelvos's husband, or any of the other crimes he committed."

"Glad to hear it. I hope we'll have a chance to work together again soon." Valeria clapped him on the shoulder. She turned to her husband and his grandmother as Bailey walked back to his desk. "I'll give Shepard a copy of the report. I'm sure he'll find it fascinating."

She slipped her hand into Irving's, ran the highlights of the report over in her head again, and shivered.

I almost wish I didn't know about any of this. I was much happier when Irving and I were making porn vids for Fornax_._

#

"Hello!"

Lia turned at the sound of Chula's voice and found her approaching with Commander Shepard alongside. Lia waved at them and stood, as did Sidonis.

"How is Kenn doing?" Chula glanced in the direction of the quarian kid's room.

"He's awake, last I heard. He has a lot of recovering to do, but he's well on his way. His family should be arriving shortly, so that should boost his spirits quite a lot."

"Glad to hear it." Chula reached out to pat Lia's shoulder.

"I'm sorry things didn't work out for Kenn," Shepard said.

"Omega is just that kind of place. I heard you tried to help him when you were there recently. I'm sure he's grateful for your effort."

"He's not the only one," Sidonis said. "I should thank you again for stopping Garrus, even though I deserved to get my head blown off."

"I'm just glad you were able to be there for Kenn. You may have saved his life."

"So am I. It's a start, at least."

Something behind Lia caught Shepard's eye and he smiled.

"It was good to see you again, but if you'll excuse me, I've got another friend to speak with."

"Of course." Lia nodded. "See you around, I hope. And thanks again for everything."

"Happy to help." He smiled again and walked over to a sharply-dressed drell who'd begun heading in their direction.

"Shepard," the drell said, "I apologize for missing the meeting."

"It's quite alright. The whole thing was recorded; you can play it back at your convenience. What matters is that you're okay."

"The doctors said my deterioration has slowed a bit, so the news was generally good. I'm still dying, but perhaps not as fast as I was before I started the new treatments."

Shepard nodded and put his hand on Thane's shoulder. "Is there anything I can do? Are you sure you want to continue working with me, given the circumstances?"

"The Collectors were merely tools of the true enemy. Our task is not finished yet. I intend to remain useful until the moment I depart this body, if it's at all possible." Thane's large, almost completely black eyes flicked toward the entrance to the waiting area. "I didn't recently begin to mend my relationship with my son just to lay down and finish dying while he and everything he holds dear are torn asunder."

"Excuse me," a soft asari voice said, and Lia tore her gaze from the commander and his friend.

"Yes?"

The asari nurse glanced from her to Chula. "I'm looking for Lia'Vael nar Ulnay."

"That's me. What can I do for you?"

"Kenn asked to speak with you. Uh, you and Lantar Sidonis and..." The nurse glanced at a note on her Omni-Tool and then up at Chula. "Chula'Raalga vas Sulaco. I'm guessing that's you?"

"Yep. How's he doing?"

"Much better. He'll need to stay a while, but we expect him to make a full recovery."

"That's good to hear." Lia, Chula, and Sidonis followed the nurse across the waiting area. "I just hope he and his family won't have to turn themselves over to IndentuTech to pay off the costs of his medical treatment."

"Actually, that won't be necessary at all," the nurse said. "Someone has already arranged to cover all of his costs." She glanced at another note on her Tool. "Someone named Charles Bishop Weyland."

Lia and Chula glanced at each other.

_Weyland?_Lia flicked her eyes around until she spotted Yutani standing at a kiosk near the huge windows. She wondered where the geth had gotten their hands on that much money. Maybe they had learned to play the stock market or had been hitting the casinos recently.

Doesn't matter. At least Kenn won't have to worry himself sick over the costs._Lia pulled her gaze away from Yutani and followed Chula through the door into Kenn's room. _Another gesture of goodwill from the geth. Huh.

"If you need anything, just call the nurses' station." The asari smiled, walked through the door, and closed it.

"Hello." Kenn's voice was a raspy mumble. "I'm told you three rescued me."

Sidonis nodded. "Well, us and the geth."

Kenn stared at him and his glowing eyes opened wider. "You mean th--the geth really were there? I--I thought--I thought I was hallucinating."

"Nope." Chula laughed softly. "Sidonis rescued you from those goons who were beating you up, then got into a bit of a pickle, and we happened along at just the right time. The two geth platforms you saw were real, and they're with us."

"Oh. Okay." Kenn shook his head slowly. "Holy shit."

"I know exactly how you must feel. It's a lot to take in--the geth helping us, I mean."

"My curiosity is definitely piqued. How did it happen?"

"Kind of a long story."

"Well, it'll be a few more hours before my family gets here, and I'm not going anywhere in the meantime. If you leave me in suspense, I might need to be sedated."

Lia laughed. "Okay. It's a hell of a story."

"Better start at the beginning, then." Kenn waved a trembling hand at the chairs lined up along the wall behind them, and let it plop back to the mattress.

"Well." Lia pulled one of the chairs over and sat. "For me, it started on Illium, when I had to sell myself into indentured servitude to continue my Pilgrimage, and the geth bought my contract."

"What?" Kenn stared at her. "The geth own you?"

"Like I said, a hell of a story."

He stared at each of them for a long moment before settling his gaze back on Lia.

"No shit."