A/N

Wow it's been a long time since I posted on this. Sorry to everyone who was waiting for a chapter, and thank you to the encouragement and gentle reminders I have received. It's nice to know people are still interested more than a year later. I wrote chapter 18 best part of a year ago and hit the dreaded writer's block thoroughly and repeatedly. I finally decided to post chapter 18 as is and try to move the story along. If this isn't as good as you hoped, it's probably the same for me as well. I am hoping that getting this section done will get me some momentum again. Here goes nothing. Feedback is very welcome.

So, work the problem as they say. It had taken me a couple of minutes to tell the group the basics of what I know of Serah's history. Balicus grunted in disgust before challenging me.

"Okay so if your friend is ID'd on Illium then I Sec will be all over everyone in minutes - she's hot property here. We don't know how many are moving her only at least 2 Turians, or the numbers waiting to meet them at the Port if any, but they could include elite troops I really don't want to fuck with unless absolutely no other choice. The transport destination is manned by I-Sec and a complete cluster fuck waiting to happen with civilians everywhere, and we don't know shit about the security there. That sound about right?"

I grimace. "Yeah sounds right, though I might be able to hack the airport systems to get info on the security," Furti gives me a look at that "What? I have a pretty good hacking VI okay?" She nods.

Balicus looks at Edistur and they hold one of those fucking irritating silent stare conversations before my Weapons instructors shakes his head.

"No way ground side, not going to..."

"I'm not leaving my friend!"

"Shut the fuck up Stern. I didn't say you were." He looks at Furti "Only way you're pulling this off with so little information, resources and time is intercept the ship, if you can."

I have to admit I hadn't even thought of that. I glance across at the Asari. I don't even get to open my mouth. "Shut up Nat. Boys give us some room for a minute okay?"

The Turians shrug and wander off out of hearing range.

"The Dartfish is not ours to use Stern, it's Aria's. The pilots are Aria's and any cargo or personnel on board are Aria's. We were sent here to be discrete, and using one of the Queen of Omega's known corvettes to intercepting a civilian ship then assaulting it and probably killing an unknown number before removing a person from the ship and leaving is NOT DISCRETE!"

"Then give me another option! You have another ship you can pull out your ass?"

She sighs. "No. With time and more warning I could probably get a ship but it wouldn't be ideal for the job which the Dartfish is. You understand if you do this, if Aria didn't already own you she does now and your friend as well. She could just kill you both for the problems this will cause her."

"I know"

"Goddess's moonless tides, this is fucked."

"True enough… What about those two?"

"Planning only, they won't be on the ship."

"Huh, why not?"

"Their business, but Aria wouldn't be pleased to see them and if we do this the Dartfish won't be docking again before we leave the system."

"Okay, fair enough I guess, what about Aria's troops?"

"Well doing this will implicate Aria anyway so I don't think she will be more pissed if we use them as backup. If we get them killed though she'll probably shoot us both instead of you and Serah."

ANLWAB

With a burst of artificial lightning from the relay the mass effect tunnel from the Sahrabarik system collapsed, spitting out the Thursti V 2700km into the Tasale system. Pilot and owner of the hauler cum passenger ship Ilnius Vernovak gave a small grin at his proximity to the relay, 2700 klicks wasn't too bad at all, glancing at his consoles to confirm the ships immediate vicinity was clear and his velocity and heading before checking the fuel tanks, wondering for at least the 7th time whether it was better to fuel up now inbound to Illium which would save him fuel, or wait until the cargo and passengers were debarked and the credits were in the account. The pilot in him wanted to head for the fuel depot to save fuel and avoid the ridiculous prices on Illium while the cash strapped owner was counting credits, and wanting to avoid buying fuel on credit.

An alarm flared on his console and his head jerked up at the audible tone, even as his hand slapped it off as a targeting system painted the ship while a tight beam comms laser demanded his attention. Where the? He was being painted from…fucking Emperor, bearing 185% high, classically in the ship's blind zone. Who though? He glanced across at his co pilot, the Salarian grimacing as his hands flew across the ship's systems console.

"Canta?"

"We're jammed, wide band and military grade, no way to burn a message through."

"Status?"

"Reactor output at 98%, capacitors at 34% and climbing. I can give you shields but only directional, and anything military will blow straight through anyway."

"The passengers?"

"All still locked down for transit."

"Better take this I guess."

"Yeah boss, before they get impatient."

Glumly Ilnius looked at the flashing comm accept request, before deciding he had no choice. He tapped the accept. The message came in audio only.

"Thursti V, bring your velocity to a halt relative to the relay, power down your engines, disable your shields and weapon systems and prepare to be boarded."

Fuck this isn't random pirates. The thought flashed through his mind as his ship was addressed by name even as Canta looked at him with wide eyes and jaw dropped. His finger stabbed transmit.

"Who are you, what do you want with this us?"

"That will be obvious in a few minutes, and nothing. Heave to as ordered or I will fire and disable your primary ventral thruster."

The repair cost on that alone could cost him 2 years on his ship payments. Bastards.

"I…will comply. Any other instructions?" He nodded at Canta who sighed and then flicked the ship's shields to standby only and its piss poor weapons to inactive while Ilnius kicked in a burst of reverse thrust to reduce their velocity.

"Your passengers, crew and cargo are to stay in full transit lockdown, I'm sure you don't want a firefight on board your ship."

"Firefight? What do you want?"

"To collect someone who shouldn't be on board. Nothing else. Obey instructions and your cargo and other passengers will be fine. Resistance will be met with lethal force and will undoubtedly mean your ship gets severely damaged. If transit lockdown is broken you will be held personally responsible Ilnius Vernovak, do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good, transmit your passenger roster and cabin manifest, keep your internal comms closed down. Boarding in t minus 3 minutes 80 seconds GST."

The comm channel clicked off. Canta looked at him. He sighed and waved the Salarian to get on with it.

"Do what they say, transmit the passenger roster and bring it up here as well, let's see who they might want. Keep the cabins locked down. I'm not getting the ship trashed over whatever the fuck this is about, so we do what they say and stay in one piece."

"You think they mean it, pick up a passenger and let us leave?"

"Ancestors I hope so, there's nothing we can do if they're lying."

"What do we tell the passengers?"

"Nothing now. Keep the internal comms closed."

ANLWAB

Serah hugged her left arm around her knees as she twisted and hid as best she could in the bank of 4 large seats opposite her captors on the side wall of the 8 person cabin the bounty hunters had reserved for the trip to Illium. Her right arm was attached to the seat by a short tether. Glumly she wondered what was going to happen to her. The relay trip was over which meant the rest of the journey into Illium wouldn't take long, a few hours and then as soon as the Port's ID scanners picked her up she was either gonna be detained by I Sec or whoever her 'escorts' were bringing her to for the temple bitch. Neither was good but she didn't honestly know which was worse. She hoped the pilot unlocked the cabins soon, she needed the facilities, assuming she could persuade someone to untether her and take her. Not that she would have any privacy, the Salarian or one of the 2 Turians would be there to keep an eye on her. Pervy bastards, like she could do anything with no weapons and her amp taken. She muttered curses to herself, the low sound making the Turian who had cold cocked her on Omega glance across with cold hostile eyes, while the others ignored her self-pity. Bounty hunters she thought they were, but these were more professional and competent than some of the others she'd avoided in the past. There was a small shudder through the ship, and she looked around. What was that? The bounty hunters looked around as well, and Serah thought one of the Turians looked concerned as he fiddled with the cabin's controls for a moment.

"Doors are still locked, and comms are down."

"Normal during relay- should release soon." The Salarian seemed unconcerned, but the Turian wasn't impressed.

"That shudder could have been a ship docking."

The Salarian looked like he wanted to argue how unlikely that was but the other Turian pulled rank with a growled instruction and instead he started tapping furiously on his omnitool. There was a minute of activity before the Salarian spoke again.

"Can only check systems status, have no control. Ship board systems still locked down, not under thrust, external comms negative… they're being jammed... airlock has cycled. System Intrusion expelled."

The other hunters cursed and grabbed for their weapons, shotgun and submachine gun activating and unfolding in eerie synchronicity, as the Turians tried to take what little cover was available in the big seats on either side of the room, while the Salarian began trying to open the door which was still illuminated overhead as locked. He tapped furiously at his omnitool, scanning the door controls while muttering to himself.

"No, not that, try this…. code locked still… maybe by rerouting…."

"You got it! Well done Yeshur" one of the Turians commented as the door status flashed unlocked.

"Huh? What? Was…" The door slid open, "not me."

A pair of objects flew through the doorway, and Serah cringed in recognition, squeezed her eyes shut, jerking her face away as the flashbangs detonated.

She screamed at the pair of deafening noises with flashes of light bright enough to be painful and dazzling through her eyelids, then opened them in time to look and blurrily see armoured figures checking the bodies of her captors they had stormed and shot in a seeming blink of time.

She couldn't hear but blinked her streaming eyes clear and the vague figures cleared into a trio of Asari in the green and black combat suits of Omega's despot and another figure in a familiar black and crimson Colossus suit moving towards her. Relief surged through her as Stern pulled a blade and cut her restraints.

ANLWAB

Ilnius sighed as he reviewed the security footage as Corta kept track of the departing corvette. Troops in Aria T'Loak's colours with another in a black and crimson Colossus suit blitzing their way through his ship, stacking on the entry to the cabin that had been hired in full – and wasn't that a relief that no one else had been in there- before storming in, executing the Salarian and Turians – you couldn't really call it anything else it was over so fast - before freeing the Asari maiden that was in restraints and extracting themselves as quickly as they had entered, returning to one of Aria's ships and leaving the rest of the passengers and cargo untouched. They had then disengaged and pulled away as promised leaving his ship intact, which he still wasn't quite sure he believed.

"Keep that cabin locked down, no one goes in, I- Sec will want it intact."

Canta nodded. "And the others?"

"Release them from transit lockdown and restore comms. No point in keeping them cooped up. When someone asks about the noise just tell them there's been an incident, it's been resolved and I-Sec will deal with it when we land. Also let them know their own journeys shouldn't be inconvenienced by this unfortunate event."

"Not going to mention Aria then?"

"Not to the passengers – they don't need to know someone broke Omega's rule that hard. Patch me though to I-Sec so I can report this, it's gonna be a shitstorm. Where's the corvette?"

"Taken the relay back already."

"Then I guess we should be thankful Aria was being merciful. Full speed for the port, we'll fuel up there, let's get planetside before something else happens."

ANLWAB

"Hey Sergeant, how was the patrol?" The precinct's watch officer asked her.

"Quiet mostly Sir, a couple of muggers and a domestic abuse, much better than yesterday."

"Oh yeah you had that taxi crash landing and a biotic going nuts didn't you?"

"Yes. By the Tides I'm glad that worked out as well as it did, I had a whole squad with me and I doubt we could have got through her shields before she pulped us if it had gone bad."

"Well equipped then?"

"Yeah that armor suit easily cost most more than our entire squad's gear, a custom Colossus Light."

"Oooh nice, not something you see every day… hold on a moment…, wait here Sergeant, I need to check something."

Niora nodded her assent with a frown and stopped to wait beside the watch officer's counter as the Salarian punched a comm channel, and waited a moment for the responder before holding a conversation behind a privacy screen, that went on for a couple of minutes, followed by a pause and another 4 minutes of conversation. The privacy screen flickered out.

"Sinu, a description on that suit?"

"High end custom light at least grade 8, with enhanced shield emitters and an exoskeleton, in black and crimson, with full seals."

"What set your biotic off yesterday?"

"She described that she had a received a call from an acquaintance with bad news and she was going to have to resolve the situation. I asked for more information but she declined to explain."

The watch officer repeated her answers, listened and then nodded. "Yes Sir, right away."

"Sergeant, you are to hand over your patrol's wrap up to your second in command, ensure you have all the recordings from yesterday's taxi incident and then immediately take the first available shuttle to Head Quarters. Once there your are to go to Incident Room Theta and report to Colonel Chikov who is waiting for you."

With a sinking feeling Noira walked off rapidly to catch her squad and hand over before heading to the landing pads and a fast shuttle headed for I Sec HQ. By the time she made it to IR Theta under 20 minutes she was wishing she'd caught a bite to eat on the way as well as very curious. Arriving and being buzzed in she found it occupied by couple of her officers examining footage. The more senior, the Turian Colonel Chikov was with a Salarian Major she didn't recognise but his uniform precinct flashes marked him as being I Sec Intelligence.

"Sergeant Suni, 8th Precinct reporting as ordered Sir."

"Come in Sergeant, stand easy," Chikov instructed. "This is Major Owtis. We have a situation I am told you may be able to shed some light on. Earlier today a hauler arrived from the Sahrabarik system and was immediately intercepted by a corvette registered to Aria T'Loak's organisation. A demi squad of Asari Commandoes boarded the hauler with no damage, then breached a single cabin, killed 2 Turians and a Salarian and removed a captive Asari from restraints before they extracted with no further casualties and the corvette jumped back through the relay."

"How can I help Sir?"

"Come and examine this footage Sergeant."

Niora stepped up to the display and watched the security footage from the hauler. Remarkably it was colour and high resolution. If the footage she normally saw in her precinct was anywhere near as good life would be easier all around. 3 Asari in commando leathers and another. She immediately realised why she was there and mentally groaned.

Major Owtis commentated as the footage ran showing the boarding team's progression through the ship.

"The captain's report confirmed they were targeted and jammed immediately after exiting the relay before both he and his ship were identified by name. They were instructed to keep the passengers locked down and all internal communications shut off. The Corvette docked with them in under 4 minutes GST and then 4 Asari boarded before very efficiently locating and breaching this cabin…"

The Salarian blinked as Noira interrupted. "Major Owtis?"

"Sergeant?"

"3 Asari and a human Sir, not 4 Asari. I recognise the Colossus suit from an encounter yesterday, the markings are very distinctive. She's a potent biotic, far more so than I expected from a Human, and identified herself as Natalia Stern. I cannot prove she is Human, her visor was opaque but she spoke a Human language and did not dispute my implication she was human when we spoke. I have the footage both of the incident and my conversation with her."

"Let's see it."

As Niora and Chikov examined the footage, the Salarian major began digging into Natalia Stern, rapidly discovering the identity was in the system but there was precious little other information that was verifiable. As he was reaching the unwelcome conclusion he would probably end up contacting the Human Alliance for more information, they usually kept track of their biotics, the facial recognition program he had running pinged for his attention. He surprised grunt caught the Colonel's attention.

"Yes?"

"Have identified Asari maiden removed by boarders Sir. Serah 'Kyrlatis, estranged daughter of Temple priestess Matriarch Laetatia 'Kyrlatis and Alanis 'Camistaie. Listed as wanted for terrorism here, after an explosion killed 13 people over 2 years ago. Strange case, seemed very odd for a medical student to set explosives. She was traced off world then vanished. The family have employed bounty hunters to try and locate her in the past. The 3 killed were licenced bounty hunters. Will have to liaise with their contact in Nos Astra."

"So we have a human linked to Aria T'Loak, being informed of an issue here and reacting strongly to that, followed by one of T'Loak's corvettes leaving Nos Astra with some of her commandos, intercepting the vessel bounty hunters were bringing her on from Omega, freeing a wanted criminal, whose family have been searching or hunting for her with bounty hunters, said family being linked to the Temples. This is going to be a mess, I just know it. Okay Sergeant make sure you have transferred all your footage and then you're dismissed, and can return to your duties. Owtis let's get these incidents linked and reported and then begin tracking anything we can to do with Stern's movements, and the Corvette as well. With T'Loak involved enough that her vessel and squad are used for the intercept the Republics will need informing, so it's going to get political as well, it always does."