"Are you sure you want to do this?" the shadowed individual asked her through the video link.

Kelly Chambers nodded resolutely. She knew this was a decision not to be taken lightly and had lost a few nights sleep over it. However, if the conditions given to her were true, then this was more than merely the chance of a lifetime, this was the chance to ensure the safety of everything and everyone she held dear.

Her parents, her sister, her relatives, her friends. All of them were at risk from a threat that the Council had all but dismissed as fantasy.

Days after the conclusion of the Battle for the Citadel, she had seen through interviews, letters, extranet articles, and more of Shepard and her crew's experiences on the hunt for the rogue turian, Saren and how it seemed the seemingly unstoppable Specter was merely a puppet for something far more sinister. While Kelly had never met the Commander in person, she found herself believing what Shepard had said and her evidence, backed up by a Quarian named Tali'Zorah, pointed to that the Geth could never have built something so gargantuan.

It was not long before the Council had started a smear campaign against the very hero who had saved all of their lives. Even with the battered and broken husk of Sovereign, the Council's media spin doctors had sown doubt and criticism in the crew of the Normandy, never minding the fact that were it not for Shepard's efforts, they would all have died by now.

What angered Kelly most was when people had started invoking the infamous nickname, the Butcher of Torfan. With such a claim, they even began to doubt her sanity and the sanity of the Council for putting such a ruthless woman at the forefront of human progression. Kelly had studied and gone over Nora Shepard's psych record, which she had access to due to her degree and license, with a fine toothed comb and her actions then seemed to point at an individual capable of such actions, the fact she had ordered the fleet to save the Council threw all accusations of mental instability in their ugly faces!

Regardless, Kelly's support for Shepard went unheard and she was ready to return to her newly established practice, despondent that someone she had admired was considered nothing more than a Talk Extranet troll. An easy target for talking heads which knew nothing of the dangers that threatened them all.

That all changed when she received a request for a video communication from an address that could not be identified. While certainly not tech savvy like her father was, she was able to discover that the source of this communication was originating from the Terminus systems! What shocked her even more was when the person on the other end had informed her of the tragedy which all extranet news sources would be talking about for the next few days before the news would even reach the feed.

Commander Nora Shepard was dead.

She had even called doubt into the other individual's credibility when she said that and had cut off the call, thinking it to be a prank from some trickster. Two days later, the stranger's words had not only rung true, but had been all the news for the following few days. The funeral, the biography about Shepard and her checkered past, everything within the public sphere was disseminated and discussed, bringing new hope that the Reaper threat was a real thing and that Shepard's warnings were finally going to be taken seriously.

However, the instant the Council's press secretaries had said that her demise was the result of Geth, despite the fact that there had been neither sight nor sound of them since the Battle of the Citadel, all hope seemed lost. The only person who seemed to be aware of the danger was being tossed aside, her team scattered and discredited, and completely ignoring the threat that was not going to wait for them to react.

The unnamed individual had called once more and had given Kelly, to coin the phrase, an offer she couldn't refuse.

For all intents and purposes, Commander Nora Shepard was dead. However, her body had been recovered and was now in the possession of a group known only as Cerberus. Kelly had heard only rumors about the group. From what she could gather, they were a slightly more well funded and organized version of Terra Firma, which was just a human supremacy group whose actions rarely exceeded minor acts of vandalism on alien controlled worlds.

What caught Kelly's attention, however, was that Cerberus had vast resources. Resources which gave Kelly pause. And they were using those resources to revive Commander Shepard from the moment she had perished. Kelly was naturally doubtful of such a feat. However, the fact that the stranger had shown her evidence of Shepard's body being sound enough and what Cerberus intended to do.

As eager as she was to assist, she also had to realize that she was merely a psychologist and a xenopsychologist. The stranger had noted that while Cerberus had the expertise to restore the body, the restoration of mind and spirit were not as easily remedied. Cerberus would need her. Cerberus would contact her. They would recruit her specifically for her talents to ensure that when Shepard would return, her mental condition would be as sound as possible.

It was then Kelly realized that this individual, whoever it was, was not a member of this group. And they wanted Kelly to be a spy for them! All of a sudden, her courage vanished and she made it quite clear that she was not the kind of person that could be expected to maintain a front while working within a group that she had little to no information about.

The individual had assured her that their loopholes, techniques, and programs would enable Kelly to hide in the open. They were more familiar with Cerberus than the extremist group realized and that Kelly's safety was first and foremost, knowing that Kelly was not a combatant. It also made Kelly realize that this person also had knowledge about her.

It ultimately led her to ask this person, whoever they were, why they were doing this. She had hoped that this would give her an idea as to whom or what this person was. However, this stranger had made it clear that who they were was not important and their identity would remain secret. They did, however, promise to reveal themselves when the time was correct, should Kelly survive, she ended sarcastically in her head.

What had changed her mind, however, was the individual had given her a promise that Kelly would be protected. As a measure of good faith, the individual had said when and where Cerberus would contact her and implored her to go along with it. If she would accept their invitation, then they would contact her again and see if she had agreed to assist this person in their endeavors, since Cerberus could not be trusted, and had admitted that they were not much better.

Kelly took a long moment to consider this individual's proposal. She would be in danger, no matter what she chose. Whether being discovered by Cerberus or the far distant threat of the Reapers. She had a choice to make.

She accepted.