Lt. Commander Kaidan Alenko liked Horizon. With its lakes, streams, plains, and abundant wildlife, it really wasn't all that different from colony that he had been a boy on. The only drawback seemed to be the people. Many of those on the colony had moved out here to be away from the regulations and oversight of the Alliance. In the years that had followed his departure from his own home world, Kaidan Alenko had become one of the most recognized faces in the Alliance. He literally had become a poster boy for the Alliance, its beliefs, and its principles. So it hadn't come without a few raised eyebrows and suspicious glances when he arrived at Horizon under the guise of a goodwill ambassador. Few of Horizon's residents were buying that story. In truth, Kaidan was on Horizon because it fit a profile; a profile that was created by Admiral Anderson in the investigation of several missing human colonies. Anderson had sent Alenko to find out what was happening and do whatever was necessary to see that it didn't happen again. He'd vowed to do his job, even if the locals were less than accommodating.

Kaidan never wanted to be a soldier. The warrior's life had never appealed to him. As a boy, he sought a life of art and design, a life similar to the ones led by his parents. Wherever he looked, he saw colors, lines, and shapes that brought life to the world. He loved his home and his family's life. The idea of leaving and traveling through the stars had never appealed to him, not the way that it did for so many others. Of course that was all before the dreams began. At the same age when most boys were beginning to dream about girls and the like, Kaidan dreamt about chaos. His dreams were filled with disaster; winds that blew buildings apart, waves that capsized large sailing crafts, and tremors that forced the ground to crack open. More often than not, the dreams would pass without incident, just a minor headache or nosebleed, but it was on rare occasion that he would wake up to find everything in his room circling him as if in orbit around his body. He himself would always radiate with a blue-tinted fire. Kaidan was only a boy, but he knew enough to recognize that this wasn't normal. He was truly terrified, but what scared him more was the reaction of his parents. They didn't seem to look at him with fear, but more so with sadness.

After several months of the dreams and awaking to the blue flame, a man came to see the Alenko family. The man's name was Dagget and he represented something called the Alliance. Kaidan's parents listened to Mr. Dagget as he told them about a special program for kids like Kaidan. The Alliance was willing to foot the bill for educating Kaidan. In exchange he would be required to serve a small period of time in the Alliance military. Mr. Dagget called him a biotic. He had no idea what the word meant, but his parents showed no sign of confusion. His mother told the story of her 'exposure'. Mr. Dagget took notes as the story was shared. After he'd heard enough, Mr. Dagget thanked the Alenko's for their time. He then shook Kaidan's hand and wished him well. It wasn't long after Mr. Dagget's visit that Kaidan found himself on a transport ship headed to 'Brain School' as a few of the other children called it. He'd never blamed his parents for making the decision to send him to the BAAT program, but often he wished they'd spent more time examining the small print.

The darkness of Alenko's living quarters was quickly burned away by the brightness of the morning's first light. Instinctively, he threw up his hands protecting his maladjusted eyes from the overwhelming glare. Through the haze of his slowly clearing vision, he stared at the woman dressing at the end of his bed. Slowly, he sat up.

"You weren't thinking of sneaking out of here in the middle of the night, were you?"

The woman finished snapping the buckles on her work boots. "Its morning Commander, and I have a colony to run." Lilith smiled as she tossed his shirt at him. "And don't you have some secret government spying to do?" Kaidan grumbled as he climbed out of the bed and began the search for his pants.

Lilith had proven to be a breath of fresh air for Kaidan Alenko. She was one of the few that believed that the Alliance soldier was truly at the colony with a good goal. While a majority of the colonists didn't believe the claims that he was there to spy on the burgeoning settlement, they still remained suspicious of his intentions. The Alliance Commander tried his best to assuage the fears of the people in the colony, but there was a hurdle that he couldn't ignore. Kaidan hadn't come to Horizon alone. He'd arrived with a wide assortment of Galaxy class defense turrets. These 'gifts' from the Alliance, had drawn a large amount of criticism from many. A large group of settlers thought that the turrets would bring unwanted attention to the colony. Everyone had heard the rumors of colonies going missing, however few truly believed in the legitimacy of the claims. Kaidan however knew the truth in the stories of the missing colonies, and he was determined to make sure that Horizon didn't share the same fate.

Kaidan snapped the last piece of his armor into place. Lilith waited patiently at the door. Stepping out of his habitat he saw that the colony was already very much alive. Men and women moved about, all heading to their many destinations. The shutters of store shops rolled open, various machinery could be heard in the distance, and children grumbled in the early morning as they headed to school. In all the activity, Kaidan found himself walking alone. He turned and saw Lilith standing among a small group of people, their attention all turned to the sky.

"Lilith?"

The woman pointed to the sky. "Kaidan what is that?" Alenko drew his weapon and looked through the scope. What he saw would haunt him forever.

~o~0~o~

Garrus and Grunt had had their hands full. The sparring session they'd agreed to had suddenly taken a different turn. Humans were by nature a weaker species, but the amount of force behind Shepard's strikes, was quickly disproving that notion. Even Grunt had been sent reeling back on more than one occasion. Jack had come down to the loading bay to take part, but after seeing the anger that was behind Shepard's eyes, she'd simply resigned to watching. The mission on Horizon had been a partial success. While stopping the Collectors from taking all of the colonists, there had still been casualties. But what had set Shepard off, had been the bitter reunion with Kaidan Alenko.

Miranda stood in the doorway to the loading bay. She carried a folder and a look of concern on her face. On the surface of Horizon Shepard had stood up for her in the face of Alenko's taunts and threats. It was a strange feeling, one that she'd never experienced. After a moment the Commander took notice of the worried look on his XO's face.

"Miranda, is there a problem?" He stepped out of the way of a charging Grunt. The momentum of the krogan couldn't be stopped and he crashed into a stack of food stores.

"Jackass." laughed the ex-con. Jack and Grunt shared a quick stare down before Shepard dismissed them all. Waiting for the bay to empty, Miranda stepped towards Shepard.

"Commander, I have a problem. And I need your help." Shepard looked at her confused. In the time He'd known her, she wasn't the type that asked for help.

"What do you need?"

Miranda handed him the folder. "It's my sister."

~o~0~o~

Miranda had grown tired of being pranced around like one of Henry's prized show ponies. This is why her latest protest seemed aptly appropriate. It had come at the unveiling of the newest biotic implant developed by Lawson Industries. Henry claimed that the implant would increase reaction times with minimal fatigue output. Miranda knew that the implant was capable of meeting Henry's claims, but she was one of the few that knew of the implants side effects, side effects that her father had gone to extreme lengths to hide from the general public and his military contracts. Miranda assumed that it was this neglect and exploitation over desperate biotics, which finally had pushed her over the edge. And so as it came to pass, Miranda chose Henry's big night to stage her rebellion.

Dr. Lawson was being thanked and congratulated by another in a long line of military brass, when he first noticed that something as amiss. The guests in the large reception hall began to fall silent, their attention on the newest arrival currently standing in the large entryway. On the surface Henry remained calm and stoic, however inside he was raving mad. In the entryway of the large room stood the Doctor's fifteen year-old daughter Miranda. The girl stood wearing what appeared as a horse blanket and a wreath of roses around her neck. Henry motioned for one of his guards. The man nodded and then hurriedly escorted Miranda from the party. The party goers returned their attention to their host. Henry Lawson put on his best smile and simply explained.

"Teenagers."

With a laugh and smattering of light applause, the guests went back to their activities. Henry continued to smile and shake hands; he imagined all the ways he would make his dear daughter regret her little stunt.

Unlike her father's, Miranda's smile was very real. As was her satisfaction in knowing that she'd managed to disrupt, however brief, her father's night. While she was being escorted back to her room, she took time to greet all that she passed. Most continued to look at her in shock mixed in curiosity. The man in charge of returning her to her quarters gave her a small cough.

"I'm betting it took you most of the afternoon to come up with that one?" Miranda finally took notice of the man walking with her in stride. It was Tinsley, her father's chief of security. The man, while approaching his fifties, didn't appear a day over thirty-five, an obvious benefit to being in the employ of Henry Lawson. Tinsley was unrivaled when it came to running and executing the security procedures of all of Lawson's holdings. But as talented as he was, Miranda knew the man was a sadist, a fact that Henry overlooked due to Tinsley's abilities to get results. Miranda was afraid of the man, but it wasn't a fear for her own safety, but for the safety of Tinsley's son Niket. Niket was a quiet and reserved young man, who despite being a capable security officer in his own right, was often bullied by his father. Tinsley often assigned Niket to duties that ill fit his talents and highlighted his weaknesses. Miranda had always assumed that the older man got a perverse pleasure in the boy's humiliation. Yet despite everything his father had tormented him with, Niket remained a good hearted individual. While she didn't share in his naiveté, Miranda had struck up a friendship with the boy.

Miranda gave a false smile to the security chief. "I wouldn't say all afternoon, I did have a shooting lesson after all." Tinsley gave her a humorless chuckle, the type that chilled Miranda to the bones.

When they arrived at her quarters, Tinsley surprised her by grabbing hold of her arm. The taller man then closed the gap between the two of them.

"You play a dangerous and stupid game child. Henry Lawson is a powerful and ambitious man." He looked around, seemingly making sure that they were alone in the corridor. "If we don't play by his rules, we can all be replaced. Even you Princess." With those words he released her and made his way back to the party. Miranda watched the man and was confused more than ever.

~o~0~o~

It took Miranda almost six hours to hack through the many firewalls of her father's private network. It had proven to be a little more difficult than she'd originally planned. It had been a year since she'd left Sydney and her father, in which time it seemed that Henry had spent a remarkable amount of time beefing up his security protocols. After navigating through terabytes of some of his deeper perversions, she stumbled upon a file that piqued her interest. The file was simply titled "Project Miranda". Knowing that her hack could be detected at any moment, she copied the file onto her local drive. Still feeling a little vindictive, she forwarded some of the more salacious contents to Alliance officials. Miranda knew enough to know that no legal action would be taken against Henry, but he would be made uncomfortable for several hours having to explain the contents of some of those files. Dr. Lawson would probably have to make several "donations" to make it all go away.

After severing the connection, to Henry's files, Miranda opened the file that shared her namesake. Inside were countless intelligence reports about possible locations, sightings, and known associates, most of which were fake and inaccurate, plants put into place by her new employers. But it was one report that drew her attention. A report titled "Legacy" was three times larger than anything else she'd managed to copy. As she read its contents she became horrified and appalled. For the last thirty years, Henry Lawson had been working on a project in which to create the perfect human genome. A genome that in time, would serve as a marker of perfection, and generate billions in revenue from people seeking to imprint their own offspring with the "perfect" gene. Miranda sat back in her chair. None of what she'd read had made any sense, if anything, it proved that Henry Lawson was above all else, insane. She returned her attention to the files, this time reading her father's own notes.

"I think I've done it. Test subject #16-C, designated "Miranda" appears to be a success. In utero, brain capacity is 3 times any of our previous attempts, and 8 times that of a 'normal' human. Bonding exposure to the Element Zero was a complete success as well. I expect that the subject's biotic capabilities will be substantial. Perhaps not as powerful as my first attempt with Subject Zero, but at least this one won't be a risk to go insane. Of course all physical traits have been carried over from previous attempts. I was always fond of the anomalous nose shape from "Annabelle" (test #7-F) so I've continued that particular caveat from the original design. Unfortunately with the success of "Miranda", that means that all other existing tests will have to be terminated. I will let Tinsley handle the exterminations. After the "Jennifer" incident, it's best not to leave the researchers responsible for cleanup."

Miranda reread Henry's notes several more times. Each time she hoped for some sign of fabrication from the man she hated so much. Slowly however, the truth began to sink in. Miranda had been created in a lab, the last in a production line to create Henry Lawson's idea of the 'perfect' human. She quickly searched the records to find how many had come before her. The best she could get was an approximation of thirty-three cases before her own "birth". She curiously looked up the "Jennifer incident" but found no record. The revelation of her creation had almost proven too much for Miranda. She was about to close the file when she noticed another of Henry's notes, this one dated only eight months ago.

"Miranda has continued to elude her pursuers. I can only assume that she has received assistance. I've made inquiries, albeit quiet ones, into Alliance channels that owe me a few favors, all have come up empty. Terra Nova doesn't have the resources to keep her hidden for more than a few days, and no one within that pitiful collation is going to risk making an enemy out of myself. This leads me to believe that Jack and his outfit might be protecting her. If that is the case, than her retrieval might prove to be difficult. I am as of this moment giving up my goal of capturing Miranda with the intent of reassimilation into the 'Legacy' project. Therefore, I have submitted new orders to both the Blue Suns and Eclipse mercenary bands. Their new orders have been expanded to include a kill order to the standing capture request. I have decided to move forward with "Project Margaret". Unlike previous incarnations, I will not be exposing this subject to Element Zero. I learned my mistake with Miranda, and it nearly cost me my life. "Margaret" will begin immediately.

For the second time Miranda sat in shock. Not only had Henry known that she was with Cerberus, he had begun the Legacy project again. She flipped through the files until she found what she was looking for.

~o~0~o~

Miranda remained hidden in the tree line, just out of sight of the roving security cams. She'd used her contacts within Cerberus, to find where her father had been spending most of his time. Unfortunately, her plan of action just happened to coincide with a date that he had traveled off world. It was no matter, it wasn't Henry that Miranda had come for, at least not today. Checking the schematics to the facility one more time, she waited for her opening. Staying low, she sprinted towards the main gate. Using her biotics, she vaulted herself over the fence, taking out two patrolling guards in the process. She didn't bother taking the time to hide the unconscious men, yet stopped to swipe one of their passkeys. She swiped the passkey at the door to the main building. Slowly and quietly she ducked into the corridor. She made her way deep into the building until she found her objective.

There in the middle of the lab, lay a small infant sleeping in a plexi-glass crib. Cautiously, she approached the sleeping baby. She reached down and touched it on the cheek. Reactively, the baby cooed, causing Miranda to jump.

"I told you that even you could be replaced." She turned to find Tinsley in the room, his weapon trained on her. He cocked the gun and fired. Miranda instinctively threw up a barrier protecting herself and the child. Tinsley kept the pressure on. Miranda used the remaining power to knock the security chief against the wall, Tinsley's weapon falling to the wayside. She threw herself atop the downed man and used a biotically charged punch to pacify the man. The baby had woken up, its cries filling the lab. Miranda picked up the child, it stopped its fit. She took notice of the small band around the small girl's wrist.

"Margaret? Who bloody came up with that terrible name?"

"You-you'll never get away with this." Tinsley crawled across the floor towards the pair, too weak to stand. "We'll find you. And when we do…you're gonna wish you'd died." Miranda held the child tight and stood over the beaten man.

"Perhaps. But I'm afraid you'll not be present on that day." Miranda pressed Tinsley's own weapon against his head and pulled the trigger. She returned her attention to the infant. "Margaret? Well we'll have to do something about that. What do you think about…Oriana?" The baby gave her a giggle. "Oriana it is."