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"First round of drinks is on me," Hannah Shepard said as the group filed into the bar on the Silversun Strip. "As promised."

"Thanks." Chula stepped aside to let everyone else enter and took a slow look around. Much of the Strip was loud and bright and flashy, but this place appeared much more relaxed. The whole room was illuminated by indirect lighting from under the bar, tables, and panels lining the walls, giving everything a soft look, and equally gentle music drifted from speakers in the ceiling. "I haven't been here before, but I like it already."

"A lot of the bars around here are more like Flux or Chora's Den -- rowdier, or at least louder. But I figured a more mellow atmosphere would be better after the scare we just had."

Chula nodded and glanced over at her parents. "I definitely needed a place where I could have a conversation without having to shout at the top of my lungs."

"I imagine you three have a lot to talk about. I won't hold you up. I'll go ahead and apologize in advance in case they don't have anything safe for quarians to drink."

"That's quite alright, Captain. My parents and I probably should have clear heads for this, anyway."

Hannah nodded, gave her a reassuring smile, and led the others to the bar. Chula turned to her parents, motioned at a table in the far corner, and walked over to it. Once they took their seats, several seconds passed before they could look her in the eye.

"I should congratulate you on not being arrested," she said before either of them could speak. "Even though the Council doesn't have jurisdiction over us, they could've made up an excuse to lock you up and throw away the key."

"I'm grateful for their restraint," Eriya said softly. "Even though we may have had it coming."

"No 'may have' about it. Sneak attacks on geth ships are acts of war. The Council has no reason to trust the geth or believe the two platforms I've been working with are reasonable enough to let it go. They're probably afraid the geth could decide all organics should be wiped out if attacks like these continued." As relieved as Chula was that they'd remained free and at least appeared to be coming to their senses, she wasn't about to let them off the hook. Not completely, anyway. She wanted them to understand that their actions had consequences. "Luckily, the Council seems to finally trust Shepard enough to accept it when he told them the geth don't want to fight us. The Admiralty Board might not be as lenient if you return to the Migrant Fleet, though."

Eriya let out a long sigh and stared at her hands. "That's occurred to us both."

Seeva clasped her hand for a moment before looking up slowly to meet his daughter's gaze.

"If we return?"

"Are you saying we shouldn't go home?" Eriya stared at her. "Exile ourselves?"

"The Admiralty Board already knows you tried to start a war with the geth that we couldn't win. They'll probably put you on trial and exile you. They tried to do the same to Tali'Zorah for something she didn't even do." Chula took a slow breath. "I'm saying, maybe if you stay out here and find a way to make up for what you did, you'll be welcome back in the Fleet someday. But if you're forced out …"

"We'll never see our home again." Seeva slumped over and propped his helmet on his palm.

Eriya put her arm around him and appeared to ponder the options. Finally, she took a quick breath and raised her eyes. "Alright, then. If we stay away, at least we'll have a chance. Any ideas as to where to start?"

Chula let out a long breath and reached out with both hands to hold one of theirs before speaking. "Well, a recent client hired us to help him bring some artifacts to the Citadel for study. His husband found them in a cave on Bekenstein. Among them were vid records of previous Reaper invasions, data files, and indications of other information depositories scattered around the galaxy. He's working with a team of scientists to put together some expeditions to track them down. Those depositories could contain information on Reaper tactics, advanced technology that can give us a fighting chance when the next invasion starts, or places to hide from them if all else fails."

"Okay. So we try to get our hands on a ship and search for these depositories?"

"That, or join one of the teams Malcolm is setting up. Maybe talk to the rest of your crew and see if you can convince them to join one of the expeditions. It'd give them a positive way to make up for what they did and, hopefully, keep them from making the same mistake all over again." Chula shrugged and tried not to get her hopes up. "Just a suggestion. If you want to try this, I'll give you his contact info and put in a good word for you."

"Thank you." Eriya gave Chula's hand a gentle squeeze and turned to Seeva. "I think it's worth a shot. It'll almost be like a second Pilgrimage."

"I suppose you're right." He sighed. "Even what little we know about the Reapers paints a pretty grim picture. Everyone in the galaxy needs the advantage those depositories would give us, and we need to find redemption."

Eriya stroked the side of his helmet and turned back to Chula. "I guess it's settled, then. Let's get started."

---

Alone again. Lia watched the crews divide up into pairs or small groups and shrugged to herself. Chula and her parents had claimed a table in the corner, Garrus and Kelly grabbed the first vacant one they found, Commander Shepard sat down at another with Tali'Zorah and his mom, and the rest from the Normandy and the Sulaco spread out across the bar.

Well, not quite. I'm among friends here. Not like the time I was stuck on the Citadel, when I had no one else.

The table between Shepard's and the one Quint and Dakka had taken remained empty. Lia walked over to it, sank onto the soft seat, and let out a slow breath. After everything going on in the past few days, it would be a relief to just sit here for a while and let her thoughts wander. Even the recent quiet times hadn't exactly been restful, as filled with shock and tension and outright fear as they had been. Maybe, now she could finally relax for a brief time.

"So," Hannah Shepard said, "I couldn't help noticing there appears to be something going on between you two. Well, if I'm not misreading anything, that is."

"You're not," Shepard said. "We probably made it kind of hard to miss."

"A little bit, yeah." Hannah laughed softly. "So, tell me all about it."

Tali spoke next, a bit hesitantly. "I wasn't sure how you'd react to the news. I mean, most people look down on quarians, so …"

"They probably haven't met any, and just blindly accept whatever people tell them. I try not to believe things without solid evidence backing them up. From what I've seen, you and Kal'Reegar and Admiral Han'Gerrel are good people. Gerrel made a terrible mistake, but everyone does at times, and he's trying to make up for it." Hannah chuckled. "Which is more than a lot of people do, regardless of species."

That's a relief. The memories of being sneered at and spat upon -- mostly figuratively, but a couple of times literally -- during her Pilgrimage were still too fresh for Lia. Especially that C-Sec clown who'd threatened to arrest her even though he'd just seen proof that she hadn't done anything wrong.

If Shepard and his team hadn't come along when they did, I'd probably still be in a cell.

"I'm really glad to hear you say that." Tali let out a relieved sigh. "Your son was one of the first people I ever met outside the Migrant Fleet who talked to me like I was an actual person rather than some vermin that needed to be chased away."

"I've never had any patience with bigotry. Glad that rubbed off on him. Besides, from what I remember of the reports I read on the incident, you were shot while trying to bring vital information to the Council, so I would've been pissed if he hadn't given you the respect you'd earned."

"That information saved the galaxy from the Reapers," Shepard said. "Tali pointed us in the direction we needed to go, and she was by my side all the way to the end."

A motion in the corner of Lia's eye caught her attention and she glanced up as a human female walked by. Garrus and Kelly spotted her, waved her over, and pulled out a chair for her. Kelly grinned, gave her a quick hug, and said something to Garrus. His mandibles spread apart slowly and took a few seconds to return to their normal position -- the turian equivalent of a blush -- but he reached out to hold the woman's hand despite his visible discomfort. Lia realized she'd seen the woman before, but almost hadn't recognized her out of uniform.

Ah, that's Dr. Michel. Take it easy, Garrus. You've got two people who don't mind sharing you. Just go for it.

"So." Hannah's voice drew Lia's attention again. "Is that where it started? You two, I mean?"

"I think so, yeah. Not sure of the exact moment, but not long into the mission, I realized I kept heading down to Engineering to talk with her more often than I talked with anyone else. At first it was her voice. I just loved hearing it. Then it was everything else about her. I found myself talking to her even when there was nothing new to talk about." He paused a second before mumbling, "I hope that doesn't make me sound like a stalker."

"I never thought so," Tali said. "Those conversations were among the first bright moments in my Pilgrimage. It was a refreshing change from what I'd grown accustomed to. A few of the Normandy's crew members seemed to be a bit racist, but most of them welcomed me and Garrus and Wrex. And even the few exceptions warmed up to us after a while. I miss those lost when the Normandy was destroyed by the Collectors, and I'm still friends with many of the survivors. And Shepard … if I hadn't discovered him alive on Freedom's Progress, I don't think I would've ever recovered from his loss."

"Hearing about it through official channels was hard enough," Hannah said softly. "It nearly killed me. Everything from that moment on was just me going through the motions. I was offered a promotion, but I turned it down. I told them it was to honor my boy's memory by continuing to command a ship, but a big part of it was that I just didn't care anymore." She took a slow breath. "But you were right there when it happened, right? That had to be almost unbearable."

"Not 'almost.' Being certain we were all about to die, then surviving, then being told that the man I'd fallen in love with was among the casualties … I tried to move on eventually, because I thought he would've wanted me to, but you never completely recover from such a loss. Every new mystery I encountered, every new discovery, I wished I could've shared it with him." Tali drew in a long, shaky breath. "Then, to find him two years later, working with Cerberus, and not be able to stay with him because I had my own mission to complete …"

Damn. Lia shook her head slowly. As awful as the past year or two has been for me, I'm lucky I never experienced anything like that.

"One of the worst things about it," Tali continued, "was that I'd never told him how I felt. I assumed it wouldn't work out because of my immune system and because of how most of the galaxy views quarians. I was afraid to say anything. Then he died, and not telling him was one of the things I regretted most for the next two years."

"We got a second chance, though," Shepard said. "Most people don't."

"Pretty fucked-up that we have Cerberus to thank for that, huh?" Hannah laughed, but it sounded strained, as if she was holding back tears.

"Very. I was horrified when I found out he was working for Cerberus. When I was finally able to join him, I found myself on a Cerberus ship with a Cerberus crew and an AI built into the ship. I couldn't handle it very well. I'm ashamed to say I was really hostile to everyone."

"Well," Shepard said, "I think they understood. They were all aware of Cerberus's attack on one of your ships. Jacob said himself that Cerberus earned their reputation as terrorists."

"As it turned out, they were the right people in the right place, and they all kicked Cerberus to the curb the instant the Illusive Man revealed his true intentions for the Collector base. They're good people, and I'm still kicking myself for being so rude to them in the beginning. Even EDI turned out to be firmly on our side, and she's a big part of the mission's success. And one of the reasons the whole crew survived what everyone expected to be a suicide mission."

"Then I'm glad my son has found a solid crew. It's probably the only bit of good that's ever come out of Cerberus. You all saved the whole galaxy again. Not a bad courtship for you two." Hannah laughed softly. "So, what're you doing for your honeymoon?"

---

"Oh, boy," Quint muttered. Dakka glanced at him and then turned in the direction she'd found him staring. A human man and woman had just stepped through the door and were taking a slow look around.

"Something wrong? Are those two gonna cause trouble?" She leaned forward, flexed her muscles, and prepared to launch at them at the first provokation.

"That … remains to be seen." Quint sighed. "Those are my parents."

She turned abruptly to him and burst out laughing. "I didn't know they were on the Citadel."

"Neither did I. Could be here for a business thing, or maybe they found out I was here, somehow."

"They might've seen a snippet of my interview with Emily Wong. I mentioned having a boyfriend named Quentin, so maybe they put two and two together." Dakka grinned and waved to get their attention. They turned toward her and she pointed at Quint and beckoned them over.

Quint sighed again and Dakka giggled and nudged his shoulder.

"Whatsa matter? You embarrassed to have a krogan girlfriend?"

"No, not at all. I just don't know if they'll understand." He shook his head. "I can already hear Dad saying, 'If you're gonna date an alien, why couldn't it be an asari? At least they have titties.'"

Dakka snorted. "Eh, tits are just another thing an enemy can grab in a fight -- as Tela Vasir discovered in her sparring match with Chula."

"Hah. Wish I could've seen that. From everything Valeria's said about Vasir, she's a horrible asshole. Even the other Spectres were rooting for Chula just because they hate Vasir so much." He smiled up at his parents as they reached the table. "Mom, Dad, hi! Have a seat."

They sat across from him and Dakka. Before Quint could figure out a graceful way to introduce her, she stuck her hand out to them.

"Hi! I'm Dakka. Well, my real name is Kalana, but I picked up the nickname a few years back." She shrugged. "Because I have a fondness for huge guns, I guess."

"Um … hello." Quint's dad hesitated and then shook her hand. "My name's Maximilian and this is Beatrice."

"Pleased to meet you, Max." She shook hands with Quint's mom. "Bea."

"How'd you guys find out I was here?" Quint stared at them and arched an eyebrow.

"Angelica saw an interview on the news and sent us the link." Beatrice gazed back at him for several seconds without blinking.

"My sister," Quint said with a glance at Dakka, and she nodded while Beatrice continued.

"Your … uh, friend, here … mentioned someone named Quentin. The show notes in the sidebar had your full name and occupation, so we knew it was you."

"Since the interview was at a restaurant on the Citadel," Maximilian added, "we figured there was a good chance of finding you here."

"We've been coming and going a lot recently, and just got back a few hours ago." Quint glanced at Dakka, and she guessed he was wondering whether to tell them about their recent close call and the loss of their ship. She made an effort not to jump the gun. They were Quint's parents, so that had to be up to him.

"Lucky we got here when we did, then." Bea aimed a brief, nervous smile at Dakka before turning back to him. "It's been so long since your last visit, we just had to see you and catch up on things."

"Well, there's definitely … a lot to catch up on."

"Apparently." Max flicked a look at Dakka, turned back to Quint, cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, me and Dakka. Well, it's pretty recent. We'd known each other about a month before we … uh …"

"And he kept saying 'no' throughout the entire month." Dakka giggled. When they looked confused, she added, "I was hot for him almost since we met. See, we were hired to protect some colonists on Virmire from pirates. Almost had 'em safely out of the combat zone when we ran into a small army of geth platforms. Most geth aren't hostile, but this was the remnants of a faction that attacked the Citadel two years ago. They had a Colossus platform -- if you've never seen one, they're fuckin' huge. Quentin, here, hacked the thing with his Omni-Tool and caused its main cannon to explode. The blast took out most of the smaller platforms and we finished off the rest." Dakka grinned and put her arm around Quint's shoulders. "That was the most awesome, sexiest thing I'd ever seen. Total turn-on. Luckily, my persistence paid off."

"So … you didn't give him a choice?"

"It wasn't like that, Dad." Quint sighed.

"I'm not the 'rapey' type. If he'd said no, I would've respected his wishes. He matters that much to me."

"So …" Max stared at Quentin. "You wanted to …?"

"Not at first, but she grew on me. At a certain point, the idea became kind of intriguing." He slipped his hand into Dakka's. "I'm glad I finally stopped resisting."

"Well, uh … glad to hear that, I guess." Bea flicked another nervous glance at her. "I just … well, from what I've heard, krogan are quite … violent. I -- I hope you can understand if this is a little …"

"No worries," Dakka said. "You're right, most krogan are total assholes. Well, most of the ones I've met, at least. All they really care about is being paid to hurt or kill someone. I turned my back on that kind of life decades ago. I mean, I'm a merc, but I do it for very different reasons. I still enjoy a good fight, but I do what I do to help people, not hurt them."

"She's a total sweetheart," Quint said.

"I really am!" She put both arms around him and cuddled. He laughed softly.

"Well. Huh." Max seemed to force a smile. "You certainly appear to be very friendly."

"I've been making an effort to be as different from the rest of my species as possible. Their violent nature caused me a lot of pain, back when I still lived on Tuchanka. It's why I left and have no desire to ever return."

"There are other ways you're different. I mean, most krogan I've seen have solid head plates and are … well … kinda ugly."

"That's because I'm young. Really young. My head plates haven't grown into a solid piece yet. Probably be another few decades before they do. Other than that, I'm probably just as ugly as they are, but the one positive thing I can say about my people is that they're more interested in accomplishments than what you look like. Which is how Quint caught my attention. I mean, he's cute as hell, but seeing him take on that Colossus was what really got me interested."

"Well. That's, uh, good to hear." Bea leaned forward to put her hand over Quint's. "As long as you're happy, Quentin."

"I am, Mom."

So am I. Smiling and thankful that meeting his parents had appeared to go so smoothly, she leaned back and took a slow look around the room. She liked the raucous atmosphere of most bars on the Silversun Strip, but this was kind of nice, too, just as a chance of pace.

Her gaze landed on Valeria and Irving, in the far corner, holding hands and talking softly, just as something seemed to catch Val's attention. She glanced up sharply and her eyes tracked a human male as he entered the bar and walked across to the counter at the rear. He appeared to be trying to watch Val from the corner of his eye.

Uh-oh. Dakka nudged Quint's shoulder and nodded at the new arrival. "Hey, looks like Valeria recognized that dude, and she doesn't seem happy to see him."

Quint hunched forward, looked down at the table, and flicked his eyes upward for a quick glance at the guy. "Could be someone she went after the last time she was a Spectre. Or maybe one of the hitmen Elias Kelham hired to go after her grandmother-in-law."

"You guys probably should get out of here," Dakka whispered to his parents. "Or, at least, get ready to take cover behind something. It looks like some bad shit is about to go down."

The guy leaned on the bar, ordered a drink, and poked at his Omni-Tool interface. He quickly pointed it at Val and Irving while trying to look like he was just waving it casually around, and Dakka caught a glimpse of an image of them on its glowing surface, with text scrolling beside it. Dakka took a slow breath and tensed up.

"Aw, fuck."

---

"You know that guy?" Irving whispered, and Valeria nodded.

"Garrett Watson. Used to be an enforcer for one of Elias Kehlam's rivals. Last I heard, he became a hitman. Still small-time, as far as the galaxy's notable assassins go, but anyone who murders people for money is cause for concern."

"Wonderful." Irving groaned. "Think he's here for you?"

"Maybe. Could also be here for Shepard. The guy's probably got a long list of people wanting a shot at him." Val took a slow breath and turned back to her husband. "Watson could also be here for the contract on Nana. I put the word out that I'll butcher anyone who makes a run at her, but not everyone is smart enough to back off."

Irv glanced over at his grandmother, leaning on the bar and still wearing her armor. "Better if you get your hands on him than Grandma, then. She'd just straight-up execute him as a message to anyone else who might want the price on her head. You'd at least question him first."

"I'll see if I can lure him into the can. If he doesn't follow, he's probably here for someone else."

"I'll let you know what he does." Irv leaned closer to give her a kiss as she stood.

"Spread the word to everyone else. We may need to clear the place out."

"On it. Good hunting, babe."

She stroked his cheek and sauntered over to the restrooms, yawning and pretending not to pay any attention to Watson. She pushed through the door and glanced around. The only other occupant was a turian pissing into the nearest urinal. When he looked up at her, she raised a talon to her mouth, nodded at the door, and stepped aside to keep out of the line of fire. His eyes opened wider and he glanced down as if begging his bladder to empty faster.

Val's Omni-Tool beeped softly and she found a message from Irv on its glowing interface.

Looks like he took the bait. She waited for the door to ease open. It blocked her from Watson's view, but would bump into her once it had opened far enough, and then he'd know she was there.

He stepped into view and turned toward the stalls before the door nudged her. He yanked a knife from his belt and spun around as the turian hurriedly zipped up and darted out the door, almost knocking Watson off his feet as he passed. Valeria braced her palm against the door and slammed it into him, knocking him off-balance again. He recovered and thrust the knife at her, but she snapped to the side and whipped the edge of her hand into his wrist. The blade slipped from his fingers and she swatted it away before it could fall more than a few centimeters.

Grimacing, he shoved his other hand under his jacket and pulled out a pistol. She charged him and his eyes and mouth opened wide. She clamped her hand around his gun and twisted it out of his grip, then she spun and rammed her elbow into the end of his nose. He screamed and staggered away, holding both hands to his face.

Hah, M-3 Predator, Val noted as she ejected the gun's thermal clips and tossed it over the nearest stall door. The pistol bounced off the wall and splashed into the toilet. Fuckin' amateur.

Still trying to pull himself together, Watson leaned on the stall door beside him -- and it swung open and he stumbled inside. Valeria lunged after him, shoved him against the wall, and kicked the door shut before turning her attention back to him. He threw a punch at her and launched at the door, trying to squeeze past her. She deflected the blow and snapped her elbow into his jaw. He slumped to the left and the back of his head struck the divider between stalls. He somehow kept both feet under him and pushed himself upright.

"I'm guessing someone hired you to kill me, since you followed me in here and pulled a knife on me."

He jabbed his fist at her and she slapped it away and drove a foot into his left knee. His leg buckled with a sharp crunch and he collapsed, twisting his face up and clamping his mouth shut on another scream. Val sighed, grabbed the back of his jacket, slammed him into the divider on the left, then into the one on the right.

"Start talking."

"Fuck you!"

Is that the best any of these nitwits can do? She grabbed his neck and pushed him toward the toilet. He groaned and braced his hands on the seat. Val let go of him just long enough to punch him in the back of the neck. He flopped over the toilet, sobbed, and raised his hands to his head. Valeria shoved his head into the toilet bowl, stopping a few centimeters above the water.

"If you don't want to drown in this toilet, you'll answer my questions."

"Alright," he whimpered, and raised his hands. "Alright!" He sucked in several deep, ragged breaths.

"Good. Now, why did you follow me in here?"

"I was hired to take you out. You and your husband, both."

"Why? Who wants us dead?"

"I -- I don't know why, I swear! The job was from a fixer I've worked with a few times. A volus named Bidox Omt. Someone had him set this up. Ask him who and why."

Valeria snorted. "No fixer who knows what the hell he's doing would ever hire a pussy like you to whack someone. You should be careful what kinds of jobs you take from this guy, because it sounds to me like he might be trying to get you killed."

She planted her left knee between his shoulder blades and leaned on him, pinning him to the toilet while she loaded a tracking app on her Omni-Tool. She scanned Watson's DNA and saved the data before letting him up.

"I'll be able to find you anywhere in the galaxy with this. If you're lying, you and I will have a much longer conversation. Try to kill me or my family or friends ever again, and I'll hunt you down and spend a month skinning you alive with a potato peeler. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes! Crystal clear!"

"Good." She pulled the door open and left him sprawled across the toilet. She emerged from the restroom and found Irving and the others standing in a semicircle around the door. Irv threw his arms around her. She hugged him back and then glanced around at the others.

"So." Chula pushed her outback hat into a slightly different angle. "Trouble?"

"Looks like it."

"Shocking," Lia muttered.

Dakka grinned and thumped her right fist into her left palm. "Where do we start?"