Author's Note: My is live! If you like this and my other stories, please donate through the link in my profile. Enjoy this chapter; it's not the whole Samara mission, but all the fluff and conversation just got away from me. And with NaNoWriMo just around the corner, I probably won't write another chapter for this story until December.

Angela looked at her group. "Alright, so we have to collect a Justicar, which from the dossier and a five minute extranet query, is something like a priest and a cop rolled into one."

Garrus nodded. "They don't usually leave asari space, but on the rare occasions one came to the Citadel, C-Sec was usually tasked with staying ahead of them and keeping people out of their way. They tend to have a very inflexible moral code."

"Well that sounds lovely," Jayne said. "What with the whole shipload of criminals and low-lifes we've got."

"Hey!" Senka complained.

"What? You're clearly in the first category." He got slapped in the face as Senka took to the air, gliding above them in the tall corridors. "Freaking crazy aliens," Jayne muttered.

"Yes, you are," Ishell said. "Certain she will work with us, Commander?"

Angela shook her head. "I don't know. I would love to get some more powerful biotics on board, but it's not going to work well if I'm having to drag them away from burning the Zeroes at the stake, or putting the Massanis on trial, or whatever they do."

Garrus coughed. "They don't usually bother with anything more complicated than their biotics and a bullet to the face."

"Sounds like my type of gals," Jayne said. "So where do we find her?"

Tali just shook her head. "Angela, I'm with Ishell. Is this a good idea?"

Sighing, the Shepard opened the last door to the market area, turning towards the small police booth set into a corner of the plaza. "We'll talk to her. If she can't accept the crew, then she doesn't come along. Hopefully we can accomplish that without violence."

"Accomplish what without violence?" the asari asked, standing up from her desk, and totally not conspicuously hovering her hand above the pistol on her waist.

Garrus snickered, covering his mouth with one hand. "Quiet, you," Angela admonished him. "Hi. I'm Commander Shepard, of the Normandy. I'm looking for Justicar Samara."

"Oh Goddess, please don't. I'm not getting enough money to get in a pissing match between a merc squad and a justicar." Jayne started laughing as Angela shook her head and tried not to turn around and punch him.

"That's not why we're here. We're actually looking to ask for her help."

The cop stared at Angela for several long seconds, as Jayne's laughter got louder, until Tali finally zapped him in annoyance. "You're going to a Justicar voluntarily, with this crowd, and asking for help." The asari pointed specifically at Jayne, still rubbing his butt, and Garrus, who looked down to scrutinize his still shot-up armor. "You'll get some kind of help, that's for sure."

Sighing again, Angela masterfully managed not to head-butt the asari. "Can you help us, or not?"

"Well, I suppose. I haven't had any direct dealings with the Justicar, but my supervisor has. She's at a different part of the spaceport. Detective Anaya." The officer accessed her omni-tool, and Angela's beeped. "Good luck, and I hope your wills and life insurance are all up to date."

"It's refreshing to see everyone taking us so seriously," Garrus said as they walked towards a nearby taxi stand. "It's like we're hardened warriors or something."

"Sarcasm is not helping right now," Tali said. "Do they even have taxis large enough for all of us?"

Senka landed on the walkway, managing to again swat Jayne in the face with a wing. "I can fly along with." He looked out past the alcove, towards the steady streams of aircars, buses, and transport barges filling the skies. "On second thought, never mind."

Ignoring the byplay, Shepard summoned an autovan, and they all piled inside. It was actually a short flight, only two towers away to a more industrial section of Nos Astra. Disembarking, they watched another asari wearing a similar police uniform threaten a volus before storming back into the station. "Must be our contact," Ishell said.

"Yeah, that would be her," Garrus said.

"What, have you met her before?" Angela asked as they walked towards the doors.

"No, I zoomed in on her nametag with my visor," he said.

"I should have expected that," Tali said.

They opened the door, spying Anaya sitting at her desk, and walked over. The asari looked up as the six of them formed a loose semi-circle around the desk, tensing up slightly. "Hold on," Angela said, "we're not here to cause trouble."

"And next you'll tell me Aria's dead and left Omega to me in her will," Anaya said. "You can't be anything but trouble."

"We ain't even started yet," Jayne complained.

Angela gave him a short glare before turning back. "We're looking for the Justicar, to ask for her help."

Anaya stared at her for several seconds. "Uh-huh. Illium's not exactly noted for our psychiatric care facilities, but I'm sure I could look up something."

The glare now turned on the asari officer. "I'm Commander Shepard. Just point us in the right direction."

Shaking her head, Anaya stood up. "Sorry, but that would compromise a crime scene. I'm not in the habit of letting crazy people traipse around in those, so if you don't mind, I'm escorting you out of my office so I can get back to work." Several other officers, mostly asari, were also on their feet, facing the group.

Holding up her hands placatingly, Angela turned around. "Alright, we'll leave. Just remember, you turned down help from a Spectre." They walked out, Jayne's fingers twitching until they were back on the street.

"That was a failure," Ishell noted. "Now what?"

Angela pulled up her omni. "Now we go find the Justicar, whose location was helpfully pulled up on the display on Anaya's desk."

"If that was deliberate, I like her style," Garrus said. "If it wasn't, how the hell did she make detective?"

They walked over towards the back of the station, where an entry into a small passageway was blocked off by police pylons and a holographic display. Angela walked up confidently, waving her omni over the nearest pylon, and the holographic barrier shifted from orange to green. "Afternoon, detectives," she said. The two cops nodded politely, and let the whole group pass, though Senka was stared at until they rounded the corner.

"Huh, that was easy. Wonder why they didn't make more of a fuss about us being back here?" he asked. A moment later, a trio of Eclipse stepped out of a nearby building, spotted them, and opened fire. "Forget I asked!" he cried, leaping into the air and zigzagging back and forth between the walls to dodge bullets.

The fight was vicious and short, with the Eclipse outnumbered and outgunned. They continued down the street cautiously, Senka scouting from above, until they turned a corner and saw another police hologram blocking a door into a shipping warehouse. "Think she's in there?" Tali asked.

Shrugging, Angela opened the door. They moved inside slowly, looking around at the stacks of shipping crates, before a screaming asari came flying through an office window above them, crashing to the floor. Another asari, dressed in skintight armor resembling red leather, leapt down after her, her own landing cushioned by her biotics. "You will tell me the name of the ship," she said, voice multiplied as smoke started to coalesce around her.

"What the fuck? I can't tell you that, she'll –"

Any further conversation was cut off as Jayne stepped forward, pointing his assault rifle at the Eclipse asari's knees. "Hey, an interrogation! I've had some experience with that. Most people talk when you start talking about chopping their fingers off." He stomped one foot on the asari's wrist before she could start summoning her biotics, and put the muzzle right in the middle of her palm. "Then there's the ones who need you to prove you're willing to do it before they'll answer."

"Are you crazy? I'm Eclipse!" the asari protested.

"We noticed," Angela said. "But I forget. How many of them did we kill on Omega avenging Archangel?"

"Around a hundred or so," Garrus said. He slid his sniper rifle away. "And the three we just killed. Plus however many Neville and Victor are killing right now."

"Right. So, listen, you can talk, or someone, maybe Jayne or maybe the Justicar, is probably going to start taking pieces off," Angela said. "And I'd really rather not see that. So I'll be outside watching the new Blasto trailer that was released this morning, in case anyone needs me." Turning partly away, she took one step closer to the justicar, who was staring in a mixture of admiration and bafflement. "When you're done in here, I'd like to talk to you."

She calmly walked out the door, ignoring Jayne's chuckle, and both Tali and Senka fell in behind her. The door was almost closed before the first gunshot echoed through the warehouse. "Think they'll be in there a while?" Tali asked.

"Nah, I doubt it. Either the crazy asari or Jayne is going to have her talking in about two minutes, or they'll kill her," Senka said. "What the heck is Blasto?"

Tali turned to look at him. "Er, have you been using the extranet? Do you know who the hanar are?"

"Oh, yeah! The pink jellyfish things! I think they're this universe's version of our seaponies." Senka's face dropped into a musing frown. "Joker showed them to me. Why are they all doing tentacle porn?"

Angela's helmet met the doorframe with an audible thunk. "There went that mood. I have to get that image out of my head before I can watch it." Straightening back up, she looked down the little street. "Hello, Detective. I wondered how long that would take you."

The scowling asari stormed over, halting in front of them. "I ought to slap you in restraints for violating my crime scene. What is going on in there?"

"Trust me, you don't want to go in there," Senka said. "It's all too shocking!"

Glaring at him, the asari shoved him aside as he laughed, and opened the door. Jayne was wiping purple blood off the muzzle of his rifle, while the justicar stared at Garrus and Ishell debating how many points the psychopath deserved for the execution. "-telling you, not worth more than seven of ten. Well done, but clichéd and expected. Ah. Detective."

Anaya stood in the doorway, taking in the dead Eclipse lieutenant laying partially dismembered and holey on the floor, then stared hard at the smoky figures flanking the other asari. "Justicar Samara, my superiors have asked me to bring you to the station, and … politely escort you off-planet before you kill anyone else."

"I am afraid that is not possible," Samara said. "I have not yet found the information I seek. I will not leave until I have been able to track my quarry."

Anaya shook her head. "I'm afraid that's not acceptable. If you don't come with me, I am under orders to utilize the entire police force under my jurisdiction to bring you in."

Angela cleared her throat. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Anaya asked.

"Well, I'm assuming that the justicar doesn't want to cause a bloodbath among the police, right?" She watched for a moment before Samara nodded. "You don't really want to go up against her. So how about she goes with you, temporarily, while I track down her lead?"

"You don't have jurisdiction here," Anaya protested.

"I'm a freaking Spectre! And if Illium doesn't like that, remind them that I killed the Reapers by talking to them." Angela stared down the detective for several seconds. "Would that work, justicar?"

Samara took several steps closer, examining the human more closely. "My code will allow me to cooperate with the police, but only for one local day, and only if they do not attempt to actually restrain me."

Anaya met the pointed look by shrugging. "Hey, I like my arms where they are. Your word of cooperation is good enough for me."

"Sounds wonderful. So, I'm going out on a limb to guess that your lead is tied up in Eclipse hands somewhere here, right?" Angela asked.

"Yes. They have smuggled my target off-world, and I seek the name of the transport and its destination," Samara said.

"That sounds simple," Garrus muttered.

Angela shrugged. "Alright. Detective, where's the best place to find a whole bunch of high-ranking Eclipse members around here?"

Anaya stared at her, gave a pointed look at the shattered office window and the several other Eclipse corpses laying inside, and glared back at Angela. "Maybe you should ask someone who trades with them," she said.

"Lovely, thanks," Angela replied. "Come on, guys. Back to the docks."

They walked out, Samara and Anaya following well behind them. "Why are we heading back to the taxi, Angela?" Tali asked.

"I'm going to bet that the volus we saw Anaya yelling at earlier is involved somehow," she said.

Garrus immediately pulled up his omni, running programs. "Pitne For, import/export business. His partner was just killed last night, suspected Eclipse involvement. Shepard, that's bad."

"Why?" Jayne asked. "They don't seem like much. Better equipment than Blue Suns, I guess, but still not very tough."

The turian shook his head. "Most of them, you're right. But the ones in full Eclipse armor, stylized symbol? To join the top ranks you have to go out and murder someone in cold blood."

"Good. No innocents in crossfire," Ishell said. His shotgun made the typical cha-clack noise of a shotgun being pumped.

"Alright, really. What the hell was that?" Jayne protested. "You didn't move anything!"

The salarian looked down at his shotgun, and pressed the button on the stock, producing the sound again. "Wasteful. Pump not needed with heat sinks. Sound effect known widely thanks to Blasto and similar movies. Same effect by pressing button."

"No. No no no. Angela, make the salarian stop taunting me by ignoring the sovereign rules of gunplay!"

Turning to Tali, Angela shook her head. "Remind me why I brought them again?"

The quarian shrugged. "Jayne will murder anything that looks at him funny, and Ishell is the only other biotic?"

They walked another few steps. "Sure, we'll go with that." Stepping out onto the docks, she looked around, spying the volus and his pair of turian bodyguards on a loading slip. "Alright. Pitne For, right? I don't have a whole lot of time, so let's cut to it. Why did Eclipse murder your partner?"

"Why should I talk to you, human?" he asked.

A moment later, Senka had him dangling in the air, five meters from the edge of the loading slip, both bodyguards caught too off-guard to risk firing as he dangled, eighty stories from the ground. "I'd really advise answering her questions. I'd hate for my hooves to start slipping."

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Pitne said hurriedly, remaining as still as possible until the pegasus had him back on the deck. "Eclipse. My partner. Yes. Ah, we're in the business of importing a number of things."

"He means smuggling," Garrus said.

Pitne stared at him for a moment. "Yes. Well. As the company wanted, we brought them a drug to increase biotic power. Except … it might have been a bit more toxic than Dakni told them."

Angela shook her head. "Save me from merchants. Fine. You did business with them, so point me in their direction. Before we waste too much more time here."

"I, ah, happen to still have a copy of a keycard for their private elevator," Pitne said, reaching back for a pocket, only to freeze as Ishell whipped out his shotgun.

"Really? He can't hide a gun in that!" Tali complained.

"Gun, no. Trip mine, yes. Slowly," the salarian ordered, keeping the weapon pointed until the hand emerged from the pocket with the promised keycard. "Good," he said, putting the shotgun away.

"Right. Well, stay here, hope these two are better against the yellow-bellies than they are against a Spectre and her friends, and don't go anywhere until I get back," Angela said.

"I was, ah, just leaving," Pitne said, taking one slow step backwards.

"No. You weren't," Angela insisted.

"… No, I wasn't," Pitne agreed, slinking back to his loading slip.

Tali looked around the docking area. "So, back to the warehouse?"

Ishell pointed into one corner, where a door was almost hidden behind a stack of shipping crates. "Back there."

"Nice," Garrus said. "Why would they keep it here, rather than somewhere more defensible, though?"

"Quick loading of suspicious cargo," Jayne said. "Have to get it from the ship, or a barge, into their own property. The elevator won't go anywhere near the head honcho's office, but into some warehouse space or maybe a workshop."

"And you know this how?" Garrus asked.

He snorted, scratching his head through the cap he wore. "Before the Reapers arrived to burn down the whole fucking galaxy, I spent fifteen years on the run from Cerberus. You get real familiar with how people like to hide things real quick, and it turned into good knowledge to have when you needed to avoid husks. Or run from them."

"You ran from something?" Angela asked.

The man just nodded, rubbing his eyebrows. "Did you ever see what a husked hanar looks like? Trust me, you don't want to. Ever."

The keycard fit into a slot right next to the door, and it slid open, revealing a freight elevator. "All aboard," Angela said softly. They filed inside, letting the door closed and whisk them downwards towards the waiting Eclipse soldiers. This asari had better be worth all this headache, she thought.