A/N: Yes, yes, I'll be getting back to Alia in due time. I hadn't written in awhile and tossed this up as a practice. Thought "Eh, what the hell, I'll run with it." So this'll be what I shift my focus to once the other story is all wrapped up. Yes, Alia and Regala are here. Yes this technically takes place before the other story. Don't think too much about it and you'll be fine.

"Commander Shepard. Admiral Hackett is on the line." EDI's orb appeared on Mara's desk, causing her to jump slightly in surprise. "I apologize for startling you, Commander."

Mara set her pistol down and shrugged, "Not a problem. I'm just jumpy. A side effect of the job, I imagine. Put him through, EDI."

The clear display case slowly darkened and went opaque before giving way to a video feed of Admiral Hackett. "Commander. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

A shrug, "Not at all. Really isn't much we can do at the time, Sir."

"I think I might have a remedy for that. Eldfell-Ashland contacted fleet headquarters. A few hours ago, an experimental mining vessel sent a message reporting large-scale equipment malfunction-"

Mara snorted, "Guess that experiment went wrong."

"Possibly." Hackett glared at her, making sure she knew further interruption wouldn't be tolerated, "They dispatched a repair vessel to ascertain the extent of the damage a few hours ago. Both vessels have gone silent and aren't answering any hails."

"Does Ashland suspect foul play, Admiral?" Mara leaned forward, tenting her fingers.

Hackett shrugged, "They can't say. All they know is that they don't want to risk sending another unarmed recovery vessel in until they know what is going on. This is where you come in. You and the Normandy are currently the closest ship, plus you have a knack for handling odd situations."

"I'm under investigation, remember? The investigators made it quite clear I wasn't available for official duties." Although she tried to hide it, her distaste of the whole investigation was apparent.

"Which is why this is not an official assignment. This is a... notification about a mission that might interest a Spectre, nothing more. The missing vessel is home to 300 people, after all." Hackett grinned wryly.

Mara laughed, "Admiral, if you ever entered politics you would be president in a month, I know it. Thanks for the heads up, we'll take a look."

"I can't order you to do anything, but helping Eldfell-Ashland with this problem would greatly improve our relations with the company. Hackett out."

Mara stood and stretched, letting out a loud yawn and cracking her neck bones.

"You know I dislike it when you do that." Liara leaned against the display case and crossed her arms disapprovingly, "Another mission, then?"

Mara kissed Liara on the cheek, "I wish. Either the ship was taken by slavers and they're long gone, or whatever this new tech they're playing with went critical and took half the system with it. I'll go tell Joker to get us in system. At the very least this is a distraction." She winked and headed for the door, snatching a data-pad with the mission info from Hackett as she left.

"Hey Joker, we need to make for the Tyr system." Mara bounded into the cockpit, leaning against Jeff's seat, "Make it happen, mister."

"The Tyr system? You looking to explore a thoroughly useless system for giggles, Commander?" Jeff quipped.

"You know it. Nothing gets the blood flowing like a bunch of empty rocks circling a yellow sun." She smacked him lightly with her data-pad, "A mining ship went missing there a few hours ago. We're going to poke around."

"Missing mining vessel? Again with the bitch details, Commander? I dunno who you pissed of at command, but make sure they know it was your fault and not mine, okay?" He tapped his controls and set a course, "By the way, the FTL drive has been acting up. We might want to have that looked at."

"Well..." Mara tapped her data-pad, "the Tyr system isn't too terribly far from the Asgard system. We can put the Normandy in for a looky look at Terra Nova and I'll take the team to poke around for our missing miners with the Kodiak."

"If you want to run into a bunch of mercs with an unarmed shuttle, hey, I'm not going to stop you. Just remember the Illusive Man isn't going to put humpty-dumpty back together again this time."

Mara glared at him, "Was that a fat joke, Lieutenant?"

Jeff froze and glanced up, "Uhhh... no ma'am, not at all. I was just quoting a nursery rhyme." He fidgeted slightly, "So, ahh, what do you know about this ship you're trying to find?"

"Not much." She looked back at her data-pad and scrolled up and down, "She's some experimental mining ship. Everything about her is extremely hush-hush. A skeleton crew of 300, full expected crew of 1,000... has the designation PCS, whatever that means."

"If they want to keep details quiet, why ask for outside help?" Joker looked over his shoulder, "And wouldn't patents keep their competitors from stealing their ideas? Most companies jump at the chance to brag about their new tech. Makes you think they're hiding something."

Mara stood and patted him on the shoulder, "Well, we'll know for sure once we reach the Ishimura. Let me know when we're approaching Terra Nova." She turned and made her way back to the elevator, whistling softly.

"Another mission laced with adventure and intrigue, Commander?" Alia jumped up from her seat, "You're usually happiest when we're about to kick someone's face in. Or when Liara is visiting."

Mara laughed, "Rescue mission. Shouldn't be any fighting, which makes for a nice change."

"Albiet a boring one." Alia snorted, "Can I regain my off-ship privledges for this one?"

"Will you punt another volus?"

Alia let out an exapserated sigh, "Oh come on, like you didn't want to kick that little bastard. Besides, it was hilarious."

Mara rolled her eyes, "Fine. You can come. And your guardian angel."

"She's not-" The closing elevator door cut off her response. Mara sighed and leaned against the wall, smiling to herself. A nice easy mission. Just what she needed to break the stress of this bullshit investigation.

"Commander Shepard?"

"Last time I checked." Mara spun and regarded the speaker; a tall, serious looking gentleman in standard Hahne-Kedar medium armor.

Alia whispered to Garrus, "She took off her name-tag last week and hasn't forgotten yet. I'm so proud." Mara pretended she didn't hear the snarky comment and smiled at the gentleman before her.

He chuckled and offered his hand, "Marcus Osiris. Eldfell-Ashland security division." He shook her hand firmly, "When the bosses said they were asking the Alliance for assistance in finding our ship, I thought they'd be saddling us with some two-steps from decommissioning scout and a wet-behind the ears commanding officer."

Mara laughed, "Truth be told, you might have been better off with the newbie. Even the simplest of missions have the nasty tendency of going pear shaped when I'm around."

"Either way, glad to know the Alliance is taking our problem seriously. What did they tell you?"

Mara shrugged, "Not much. Experimental ship went missing, recovery vessel disappeared and neither have made contact. Other than that, I know nothing."

Marcus laughed, "I'm surprised they told you that much, honestly. The higher ups prefer to keep people in the dark if it means their secrets stay quiet."

"Sounds alot like three people I have the 'honor' of working for." Mara commented dryly, "Hackett didn't mention we'd be working with anyone from the company."

"Technically, you aren't. We're supposed to wait for your go ahead before we go in." He laughed, "But I'm not exactly the type to follow orders when my people are in trouble."

Mara turned to look at the Normandy, grinning to herself, "Sounds like you and I have that in common. We can't take my girl though, her FTL drive picked today of all days to start acting up. I don't suppose you have a ship we could use."

"Yep. Room for you and 6 friends too." He turned and called over his shoulder, "We launch in an hour, so don't take too long with your makeup. I'll have my pilot send you our berth."

Garrus and Alia promptly hunched over with stifled laughter.

Her eyes narrowed as he strode off, "Cheeky bastard."

Mara took a swipe at Garrus, rolling her eyes and stepping off the elevator. Trying to ignore the laughter of her squad behind her, "Stow it, ya bunch of hyenas..." She glanced at her omnitool, looking at the sign above her, "Alright, this is the place. Which means thaaat... must be our ride." She pointed to a standard fare rescue and recovery vessel, sporting Eldfell-Ashland markings, docked at the end of the pier.

"You're late, Commander!" Marcus stepped off the pier and waved, "What took ya so long?"

Mara shrugged and tilted her head, "You know how us girls are with our mascara. It just has to be perfect or I simply cannot be seen." She stepped onto the boarding bridge and followed Marcus in, motioning for her squad to follow her. Marcus' crew was assembled inside, shooting the breeze as they waited.

"Shepard, meet my crew." He pointed around the room, "The ugly one over there is Alicia, my second in command. The twins are Jason and Jenson. Security detail."

"I'm the handsome one." Jason bowed.

"You're both ugly." Marcus gestured to the other four, "This is Trent, Amy, Natasha and Victor. They're the gearheads."

Mara waved and gestured over her shoulder, "Garrus, Grunt, Regala, Alia, Tali and Mordin. First three are muscle, last two are smarts."

"Three quarians on the same team? I've only ever seen one or two at a time." Marcus walked down the line, shaking hands and introducing himself.

Alia tilted her head, "You've only seen us in our pilgrimage mode. Outside of that, we prefer to travel in packs. Makes scavenging and general mischief easier."

"Fair enough. Well, let's make the full introductions en-route. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get those celebratory drinks."

"I like the way you think." Mara took a seat and made herself comfortable, "You're buying, right?"

The cockpit was bathed in the soft blue glow of FTL travel, accented by the gentle hum of the engines and producing a very drowsy atmosphere. Mara stretched and yawned loudly, spinning in her seat to face Alicia, "So what can you tell me about the Ishimura?"

Alicia shrugged, "I think you know more than me. I just know it's a cutting-edge mining ship. Very hush-hush. They put out a transfer notice a few months ago, asking for crew-members. Apparently the non-disclosure agreement was twenty pages long."

Marcus flipped a few switches and called over his shoulder, "We'll know in a minute. Buckle up folks, FTL disengaged in ten."

The cockpit bustled for a moment as everyone jumped into their appointed seats, double-checking their equipment as they did so. The glow of FTL faded as the ship disappeared, revealing the Tyr system.

Alia whistled loudly and Mara leaned forward, "I don't remember this asteroid field being here. When did that happen?"

Marcus shrugged, "Beats me. This system was stable too, whatever happened her wasn't natural." He surveyed his monitors, "The Ishimura should be on the other side of that big chunk there."

As he spoke, the rock in question drifted out of the way, revealing thier target. To say the Ishimura was big would be a clossal understatement. Even from this distance, the ship's sheer size was evident, outclassed by only the largest of dreadnaughts. The ship appeared to be attached to a gigantic chunk of rock, anchored by massive cables stretching from the ship to the surface.

"Goddess above... that's what's left of the planet!" Mara sat back in disbelief, "Did she do all of this?"

"That would take a massive amount of energy." Regala noted, "I would've loved to see this in action."

"Fascinating." Mordin rubbed his lower lip, "System deemed unprofitable for mining. Deposits too far down to be valuable. Destroying planet removes that problem. Reckless. Destructive. Still, gets results."

"So... they destroyed an entire planet to get the minerals?" Mara shook her head, "Thats destructive even by human standards."

The vessel weaved through the debris field, drawing closer to the Ishimura, "Running lights are on, so they have power. Still no answers to our hails." Alicia called from her station, "I'm getting strange readings on the sensors, I can't tell if there is anyone down there or not. The power seems to be fluctuating wildly too. Whatever happened down there, she's hurting bad."

Tali took the station next to Alicia, tapping away quickly, "Mass effect core is still online. That ship is putting off enormous eezo readings, I've never seen anything like it."

Marcus reached for the auto-dock, "Her docking procedures should be active. Engaging auto-dock."

Mara lunged forward and grabbed his hand, "Don't! If the power is fluctuating like our sensors say it is, their auto-dock could be damaged. Might want to play it safe and bring her in manually."

"Near a mass-effect field this size? That'd be suicide." Marcus snapped.

"I vote 'no' on suicide. Just sayin." Mara shot Alia a stern glare.

"I can vary the external thrusters." Tali turned to face Mara, "I've been watching the field readings and picked up a pattern in the pulses, I can configure the thrusters to automatically adjust for the varying gravitational pull."

"If she says she can do it, she can do it." Mara looked at Marcus and grinned, "Besides. What good is a mission without a little excitement?"

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the controls with both hands, "Might as well. Ready when you are."

"Now!"

The ship accellerated towards the Ishimura, the ride getting rougher and rougher as it entered the mass effect field. Tali worked the controls fantically, keeping the ship as steady as she could and negating the massive forces that would've otherwise dashed the ship against the Ishimura's hull. Marcus gritted his teeth as the docking bay approached rapidly, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Alicia! When I say now, I want emergency reverse!" He shouted, not daring to take his eyes off the approach lights.

The bay loomed larger and larger, the cavernous doors opening slowly. As the ship cleared the threshold, the ride smoothed suddenly.

"NOW!"

Mara felt her body jerk forward and strain against the seat harness as the ship bled off speed at an alarming rate. It slid into the docking cradle with a loud clank, the pistol compressing fully and hissing as it absorbed the remaining momentum. A light on the command console flashed red for a few cycles, then turned a steady green. They were in. Regala and Garrus high fived while everyone else let out a relieved sigh.

"Hot damn." Marcus sighed and slumped into his seat, spinning around to face the crew "That was insane."

Alicia punched his shoulder, "Nice flying, Ace! A few non-critical systems got shaken up, but other than that we're green across the board."

The crew moved towards the exit hatch, pausing to gather their various gear items as they left. Mara hopped out of the hatch, glancing around the docking bay. "Looks like something exploded here..." she glanced over the opposite edge and blinked, "Hey Marcus! I found the other ship... sort of..."

Marcus whistled and leaned against the railing, surveying the wreckage, "That's the Kellion alright. What the hell happened to her?" He stood up and looked around, "And what happened to her crew?"

Mara gestured to the Kellion, "I'll take Mordin, Tali and Alia down there to see if we can drum up anything interesting." She glanced around the docking bay and pointed at the observation window, "Maybe you can try the Ishie's logs." Alia peeked over the railing, scooting sideways until she found the access ladder.

"Worth a shot. Amy, Trent, go with the Commander. Alicia. You and the big guy stay with the ship, we'll let you know if we need ya." Grunt gave Mara a questioning look and received an approving nod from Mara. "Everyone else on me. Let's go people."

The teams split up, Mara leading her's down the ladder and through the wreckage field towards the Kellion. Amy glanced over the ship's hull, clicking her tongue as she pondered, "This is strange..." She ran her hands over a scorched tear in the side of the hull, "The scorching and this tear looks to be from the He3 tanks exploding... but this one..." she ran a finger along another one, "This wasn't a result of any explosion or collision."

Mordin examined similar marks farther forward on the ship, "Hmm. Bears resemblance to claw marks. Fascinating. Even rachni not stong enough to tear ship hull." He scanned it with his omni-tool, "No viable organic residue. Curious."

"It looks almost like what happens to a Varren victim." Alia noted, "Only whatever did this was a hell of a lot stronger."

Mara shrugged and jumped up to the access hatch, pulling herself up into the doorway, "If the who is still around, we'll find out soon enough. Let's see if we can find the how, when, and why."

She pushed the half-closed door open a few more inches, then kneeled to help the others up. She felt a sudden chill down her spine and jerked her head towards a vent on the ceiling, wondering if she actually saw something or if her imagination was running rampant again. "C'mon girl, calm down." She mumbled to herself, shaking her head and forcing herself to relax. Amy and Tali had already descended on the ship's computer, while Mordin was carefully analyzing gashes similar to the ones on the ship's hull. Alia descended into the engineering hatch to investigate the small engine room.

"Dammit." Amy threw her hands up in diguist, "The diagnostic computer is toast. I can't get anything usable."

Tali sighed, "The data logger is pretty beat up too. A few sectors here and there are intact, but the rest is gone. I'll see if I can patch together something usable, but it'll take some time."

As if on cue, Alia's head popped up from the hatch, "Nothing. The entire bay must've been ablaze. The only thing left down there is some melted equipment, soot and a piece of slag that may or may not have been a table at one point."

"Shepard." Marcus' voice filled her ear, "No welcoming party in the processing room, although it looks like someone was here not too long ago and lifted the quarantine." He paused a moment, "We're trying to crack into the ship's computer now, anything at your end?"

Mara caught Amy's attention and jerked her head towards the exit, "Nothing much. The Kellion is about as dead as can be, her computers are fried. If we're going to figure out what happened, the Ishie is going to be the one who tells us."

"Acknowledged. Cya in a few."

Mara dropped off the platform, landing with a loud clank on the metal floor. She glanced back at the vent, still feeling a slight tingle in her neck hairs, but shook it off and weaved her way through the debris back to the access ladder.

"Welcome to the PCS Ishimura." Mara jumped slightly as the automated greeting activated, "If you are here, you've been hand picked to advance the science of mining as we know it. On behalf of everyone at Eldfell-Ashland, we hope you enjoy your stay."

"Disclaimer: You might experience a slight case of mysterious disappearance and possibly death," Mara mimicked the speaker, "should this unfortunate event occur, rest assured we will dispatch an Alliance representative to ransack your belongings and sell them so she can feed her exotic fish collection."

Alia pointed at the display, "Funny how they tend to omit that fine print."

This brought a light chuckle from the entire team as they wandered into the processing room. Marcus knocked on the glass and pointed to a door at the far end of the room, then returned his attention to the screen Victor was manipulating.

"Warning. Warning. Unknown contaminent detected in quarantine zone. Initializng quarantine procedures." A red light flashed and all the doors locked down, a warning appearing on Victor's screen.

Alia turned to Mara, "It knows we were kidding about the fine print thing, right? Because I really don't want to be sanitized."

Mordin scanned with his omni-tool, "Not detecting anything. Likely a faulty system."

The klaxon suddenly stopped, "Foriegn contaminant no longer detected. Lifting quarantine." The doors flashed green again, the ventilation humming to life.

Victor looked up at Marcus and shrugged, "Wasn't me, sir."

"I guess the system corrected itself." Tali speculated.

Alia jumped up on a seat and stared at a security camera, "That or the ship has developed a sentient AI with a twisted sense of humor. Like... Joker in computer form."

"There's a disturbing thought. I've been called many unsavory things in my life." Mara poked around the entrance room, "But never a biological contaminent. Looks like people were packing to leave, there are bags and belongings scattered everywhere." She exhaled and looked around, "So where are the owners?"

"We were wondering the same thing." Marcus rubbed his neck, "So far we've found zero answers and a ton of additional questions. Victor is trying to get something from the ship's computers, but it's an uphill battle. The captain initiated a full lockdown of the systems."

"Well, add another question to the pile: we found what appeared to be claw marks on the Kellion." Mara shook her head at the confused look, "Yeah. Exactly. We couldn't find any DNA or indication of what made the marks, but what ever it was, it isn't fluffy and friendly."

"Captain, I might have something." Victor motioned them closer, "The computer is still acting up, but I was able to pull a few logs from the chief security officer. Most are usual security dribble, until this one. Timestamp is a few days before the distress signal was sent."

The screen switched to a middle-aged man in uniform, "Mission day 78. Chief Darryl Hansen, PCS Ishimura. We're still trying to ascertain what happened at the mining camp planet-side, but haven't discovered anything concrete so far. The captain seems convinced it has something to do with the artifact they uncovered. If so, I fail to see why he thinks bringing it aboard is a good idea. He's also approved the transfer of a... thing from the surface. We think it's one of the creatures that killed our people down there. I've ordered my people to be fully suited up at all times and placed a double-watch near the storage area with strict orders to only let authorized personel through. Hopefully I'm just being paranoid, but if you saw what I saw down there... you'd be spooked too. Hansen out."

Victor held up a finger, "A few days later, we get this entry."

"Day 80. Whatever happened down on the colony is happening here. The medical lab is being swamped with complaints of insomnia and my people have detained three crew members suffering from dementia. The creature they brought back from the surface has disappeared and people are starting to go missing. Hensen out."

"Sounds like his paranoia was right." Mara looked around the ship, "Artifact... dementia... people missing... it sounds almost like they were dealing with husks. Could they have found Reaper tech out here?"

Garrus spoke up, "It wouldn't be the first time this has happened. Remember the Exo-Geni team that went missing on Trebin?"

"Your guess is probably better than mine." Victor commented, "But there is one more entry I was able to recover... and it's ominous..."

The screen showed static, but Hansen's voice came through clearly, "If you're listening to this, get out. Get out now! Everything has gone to hell! The ship is lost. They're everywhere. I'm taking a group of survivors and making for the shuttle bay. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT stay here! Destroy the ship! Destroy everything!"

A/N: So, this goes without saying, but if you don't like really morbid humor, don't read any further chapters. With Mara and Alia loose, nothing is sacred.