After Tali disappeared to analyse the data, Garrus tracked down Joker and Miranda and brought them to Anderson's office. Joker made a show of complaining about losing his shore leave, but it was clear he was glad to come along. Shepard and Joker were close, and he didn't want to be left behind if he had the chance to help he. Garrus made an excuse to explain Tali's absence, although he doubted anyone would have noticed if he hadn't drawn attention to it. Joker was busy looking anxious at the prospect of meeting Kaidan again, and Miranda and Anderson were both absorbed in work.

Everything was prepared. The crew had been found places to stay for the time being, Miranda was putting the finishing touches to their plan and Kaidan had sent word to Anderson that his crew was ready to leave as soon as he gave the word. Now there was nothing to do but wait for the commander to finish his analysis. Unbeknownst to anyone but Garrus, he also waited for Tali to finish interpreting the data they had stolen from under Kaidan's nose.

He had nothing to do but worry, mostly about where they would go once Kaidan declared it time to leave. Miranda had spent the last few hours trying to decide where to begin their search. For obvious reasons many Cerberus officers weren't aware of facilities outside of the one they worked in. As a high ranking officer Miranda knew about more than most, but even she was never told about all of them. Garrus suspected that only The Illusive Man was privy to that sort of information. If Shepard had been taken to a facility that Miranda didn't know about, he had no idea how they would find her. He didn't want to think about what they would do if Miranda turned out to be a traitor.

But he would deal with that crisis if it happened. Right now he was going to focus on manageable, less terrifying, problems such as the tension that existed between the Normandy crew and Kaidan. He obviously would never trust Miranda, and he clearly resented Garrus and Tali out of a feeling that he had been wronged somehow by being excluded from Shepard's confidence. Garrus felt a flash of anger remembering the revelation of that particular resentment. Worse than personal issues, he could foresee a problem with command. Anderson was right: Garrus needed to command the mission but Kaidan couldn't appear to lose control in front of his crew. They were going to clash, it was almost inevitable given the scene in Kaidan's apartment.

He was growing restless, constantly throwing glances at the door in the hope that he would see Tali walk through it. He had no idea where she had gone, she had simply disappeared with the promise that she would contact him as soon as possible. If Kaidan returned before her it would be difficult to explain her absence. He could only keep the commander at bay with vague excuses for so long before his suspicions turned on them.

"Garrus?" Tali's voice piped up over his comm.

He held back a sigh of relief. "Give me a moment," he murmured. To the others he said, "Tali needs my help with something." Anderson nodded in acknowledgement but the other two didn't even glance over. He tried to walk slowly from the room, making sure the door slid shut firmly behind him. "Okay, we can talk."

"Can you come and see me?"

"Sure. Where are you?"

"C-Sec."

"C-Sec?"

"Captain Bailey let me use one of their terminals. He'll tell you where I am."

"Got it."

He made his way down from the Presidium, glad that Tali had been fortunate enough to find Bailey. He liked the captain. He couldn't say he approved of him taking bribes off men like Elias Kelham, but at least he wasn't as rigidly by-the-book as most of the officers at C-Sec. Not to mention the fact that he had helped Garrus track down Harkin and Thane his son. When Garrus found him at his desk, he greeted him with a weary smile.

"Garrus," he said, rising immediately. "Good to see you."

"You too, Bailey."

"Looking for Tali?"

Garrus nodded. "She said you helped her."

"It was no problem ," he said, setting off down a corridor and motioning for Garrus to follow. "There are enough empty offices around at this time of night." He gave Garrus a sidelong glance. "Shepard not with you?"

"No," said Garrus shortly.

"I get it. You can't talk about it. Send her my regards, anyway." They came to a stop in front of a closed door protected by a keypad. He punched in the entry code and stepped aside as the light glowed green. "She's inside," he said, jerking his head towards the door.

"Thanks," said Garrus. As Bailey nodded and turned to leave he added, "Hey Bailey, do you want to get a drink next time I'm on the Citadel? I still owe you one for helping me with Fade."

"Sure. Bring Shepard along." He raised his hand in farewell and disappeared.

Bailey hadn't just let Tali use a terminal, he had set her up in a private office. The desk she sat behind was littered with papers and empty food containers. He guessed they belonged to the office's owner, who was probably not due to arrive for a few hours yet. She looked up as the door opened and greeted him with a relieved, "Garrus!"

"What have you found, Tali?" he asked without preamble.

She gestured him over to stand next to her. "I think Miranda was telling the truth," she said grudgingly. "She has passed along some real information to The Illusive Man, but everything important is false. Look." She tapped a few keys and a couple of messages flashed up on screen. "She told him when we would be at Omega and the Citadel. But here..." Several more strokes of the keys and this time the screen was dominated by a set of schematics. "You see?" she asked.

He did. They were the Reaper schematics EDI had obtained, and at first glance it seemed that sharing this information with The Illusive Man was enough to condemn Miranda. Closer study revealed that many details had been altered dramatically, effectively rendering the schematics useless. This made sense: to gain his trust she had passed along relatively unimportant, easily verifiable information, but had falsified data that Shepard would not want in his hands. As for disclosing their location, it was ultimately unimportant. With the amount of operatives under The Illusive Man's control, it would have been easy to find out anyway. Shepard had probably even authorised it.

"You're right," said Garrus. "There's nothing here that Cerberus could use against us. Come on, we need to get back to the others."

He lingered in the doorway while Tali swiftly erased the files. In the hallway he set a demanding pace, hoping to beat Kaidan to Anderson's office, and neither of them spoke. He was grateful for the silence, for the chance to sift through his conflicted feelings.

When he had seen the evidence that exonerated Miranda, there had been a small and unexpected surge of bitterness. It hurt that Shepard hadn't confided in him about Miranda. He wasn't naive; he knew that relationships with superior officers came with their own unique set of complications. In this case he knew Shepard was right not to tell him. The fewer people who knew about her communications with The Illusive Man the better. Shepard could not have foreseen that she would be abducted and Garrus would be thrown into command. Still, he could not quite shake the feeling that he had been betrayed in some way.

By the time they reached Anderson's office Kaidan was there waiting for them. Garrus studied his face intently for any signs that Tali had failed to delete all of the incriminating data, or that somehow he had discovered what they had done. But there was only the now familiar weariness and a mild annoyance that was easily explained as soon as Miranda opened her mouth.

"The commander was just telling us how he wasted our time," she drawled.

Kaidan glowered at her. "It was necessary." To Garrus and Tali he explained, "I found nothing on Lawson's omni-tool to suggest she still works for Cerberus. That doesn't mean I feel comfortable about allowing her onboard my ship. But if you insist..."

"We do," said Miranda forcefully.

Kaidan looked to Garrus, who nodded his support of her comment. Narrowing his eyes Kaidan said, "Fine. As I can find nothing incriminating, Ms. Lawson can come."

"Great!" said Joker, half rising from his seat. "Now that the drama's over, can we leave?"

"There are still a few things to discuss," said Anderson, and Joker rolled his eyes and flopped back into his chair. "If the Alliance or Council – or worse, the media – finds out about this, all of us will be in deeper trouble than I care to imagine. Joker's presence we could just about explain, but no one outside of the crew can know that Tali and Garrus are onboard your ship. With four members of the team that brought down Saren on the same ship, it wouldn't take much of a leap to figure out that Shepard is involved somehow."

"My people can be trusted," said Kaidan firmly. "They wouldn't be under my command if they blurted out classified information after a few too many drinks. But the ship is small and so is the crew; there's no question of sneaking you onboard and keeping you out of sight. They will ask questions."

"It would be easier to issue you with false names and papers but it's not feasible," said Anderson wearily. "With the exception of Ms Lawson, all of you are too likely to be recognised. As for why they're there, you're going to have to keep it vague, Kaidan. Say you've received new orders; hint that it came from someone very high up. I would advise telling them the Alliance has received information about important intel of a sensitive nature. The additional crew are there in an advisory capacity. Allow them to interpret that however they want. "

"Aren't you forgetting something?" interjected Joker. "I left the Alliance to team up with Cerberus. How are you going to explain that?"

Anderson waved his hand impatiently. "People only know that you left, not where you went. I'm sure you know you weren't the only Alliance soldier who went over to Cerberus. The Alliance viewed their defection as an embarrassment and did their best to cover it up. Your file says that you took early retirement."

"Retired?" Joker said, outraged, but was ignored as Tali put forward a more pertinent question.

"What about Shepard?" she said quietly. "How do we explain it when we find her?"

"Hopefully we'll recover the Normandy when we find her," said Miranda before Anderson had the chance to respond. " Then we can stop troubling Commander Alenko."

"And if we don't find the ship?" asked Tali.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Garrus. "We can't afford to waste anymore time here."

"Smartest thing I've heard all night," muttered Joker.

"Garrus is right," said Anderson. "You need to begin the search for Shepard." Kaidan nodded in agreement, saluting the Councilor and promising to contact him the moment they had news. "See that you do," said Anderson. "I want to be kept informed."

Anderson wished them luck and escorted them from his office. Kaidan took the lead, talking quietly with Tali, while Garrus lingered at the rear of the group. "Miranda," said Garrus quietly, crooking a finger to signal her over. She fell in step beside him. Catching the gesture, Tali threw herself into conversation with Kaidan. He allowed them to pull ahead just far enough to be out of earshot before beginning. "Tali made a copy of the data you asked me to delete."

She stared at him in silence. When he showed no sign of continuing, she rolled her eyes and said impatiently, "And?"

He looked at her quizzically. "You're not angry?"

"Checking my story was sensible. I would have been angry if you had passed up the opportunity."

Anyone else would have been angered that he hadn't trusted them. He should have known Miranda was too pragmatic for that. "I know you haven't given any important intel to Cerberus. For what it's worth, I believe you."

"Good," said Miranda shortly. "Then perhaps we can continue with the mission without anymore interruptions."

"There she is," called Kaidan suddenly as they entered the docking bay. "She's small, nothing compared to the Normandy, but the Alliance invested her with some pretty advanced technology."

A couple of men in Alliance uniform stood talking near the ship. When they caught sight of Kaidan they sprang to attention, saluting him sharply. He grinned. "At ease. There's still five minutes of shore leave left. Might as well enjoy them."

"Thanks, commander," said one, returning his smile. He peered around Kaidan to stare at the strange group behind him with unconcealed curiosity.

"Ah," said Kaidan. "I should make introductions. Commander Garrus Vakarian and his team: Jeff Moreau, Tali'Zorah and Miranda Lawson." He pointed to each person in turn as he gave their name. Garrus noticed he had left out the 'vas Normandy' part of Tali's name. It might rile Tali, who was proud to bear the name, but it was probably wise. The Normandy was a well known ship and anyone with the slightest understanding of quarian names would find it strange. Kaidan continued, "I'll explain the details when the whole crew is onboard, but we've been reassigned. Commander Vakarian and his team are here as advisers."

One of the men nodded in acknowledgement but the other seemed more interested in Joker than his commander. "Jeff Moreau," he said contemplatively. "Hey, I know you! Didn't you lead the fight against Sovereign?"

Garrus met Kaidan's eyes . It only lasted a brief moment but it was long enough for him to know that Kaidan was just as worried. They were only a minute into the mission and already someone had made a connection to Shepard and the Normandy. Joker, apparently oblivious to the tension, grinned and said, "I see my fame precedes me."

"What was it like?" he asked eagerly.

"Find me a comfortable seat and put a decent drink in my hand and I'll tell you the whole story."

"Sure!" said the crewman, turning and motioning for Joker to follow. They disappeared into the ship, the other crewman trailing behind. Tali and Miranda exchanged a brief glance before following inside. Before Kaidan could go after them, Garrus laid a hand on his shoulder. "A moment of your time, Kai –Commander?"

Kaidan nodded and glanced around, making sure there was no one in sight before saying, "What is it, Garrus?"

"I appreciate what you're doing for us. For Shepard."

"Of course I-" He broke off, grunting in exasperation. "I'm not just going to leave her in danger. You might not believe it, but I don't hate her."

"But you don't trust her."

"She disappeared without so much as a word for two years and then resurfaced working for a terrorist group. Of course I'm having trouble trusting her!" His voice began to rise but he checked himself, and when he spoke again he made an effort to remain calm."I don't understand how you and Tali could just jump onboard her ship as if nothing happened."

"This will explain it," said Garrus, producing a datapad from his pocket and holding it out to Kaidan.

"What is it?" asked Kaidan, eyeing it almost warily.

In between stealing from Kaidan and Tali finishing her analysis, Garrus had made discrete inquiries. Shepard was all too aware of the rumours about her sudden and unexpected return. Most did not believe the story of her resurrection by Cerberus. Instead they believed she had been deep undercover, working on a mission given by the Alliance or the Council, or based on her own obscure motives. She had intended to put them to rest for good. From Miranda she had obtained every scrap of information about the long process of putting her back together – reports, images, even recordings – and included it in her report to Anderson. A quick conversation with Anderson confirmed that he had received the frankly harrowing data, and it had only taken a little persuasion for him to relinquish a copy to Garrus.

He explained none of this to Kaidan. He would never believe the truth until he had seen it himself. Instead he said, "Just look at it. After the crew is settled and we're on course, find somewhere private and go through every file." He paused and, almost as an afterthought, added, "I'd advise having something strong to drink close at hand."

Kaidan reached out. He opened his mouth, on the verge of questioning Garrus further, but snapped it shut and shook his head. Reaching out, his fingers hesitated over the datapad before gently curling around it. He looked down at it with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. Garrus hoped for Shepard's sake that Kaidan would take his advice and set the mission in motion before investigating it . They couldn't afford delays.

"After you've seen everything, find me and tell me whether you still think Shepard is a traitor."

He stepped around Kaidan and walked onto the ship, leaving the commander to stare down at the datapad in his hands.