"What do you mean, he made him punch himself in the face? I thought that was the Major's big move!" Kat looked bug-eyed at the unseen replay of Batou punching himself in the face just underneath a lifted salarian leg.

"Not anymore it seems", Togusa remarked with a smile. "Though I've never seen the Major hardjack people in a leg lock before. She either breaches you wirelessly or does something with her hands."

"I guess that's why they made him a Spectre and not her", Mirai said loudly.

Kat rolled her eyes: "It's not that simple!"

"So how does it work?", Mirai shouted back mollified.

"Kids!" Saori put a hand on each one's shoulder. "Not now. We only have half an hour, so let's not squander that."

"But how does it work?"

"Basically? Spectres are really powerful. A few hours ago, Bau got us through a turian border check in 20 minutes flat. And he called somebody in turian High Command to make it happen."

"Like, in the movies? 'Get me the Prime Minister?` Oh wow, that's so cool!" Mirai was bouncing on the couch.

Togusa smiled. "Basically. Spectre authority is a very powerful tool, but it also means not everyone gets it. And transhumanity simply hasn't been trusted with that yet."

"Why is it we always have to prove we aren't a danger? It's unfair! I'm not hurting a soul but I'm a supposed possible menace, and Kharlir is trusted even though he's an idiot!"

Togusa sighed silently. [She had a bad encounter today?], he comm'ed Saori on a private channel.

[A few kids tried to bully her, yes. But I handled it.]

[How, my dear?]

[A turian parent wouldn't have it. We talked. Actually a pretty nice guy, believes in personal action first.]

With a mental nod, Togusa returned his attention to his little kid. "Mirai, people always have problems with that which they don't know."

"Yeah, but…"

He raised a hand. "We are both different, and alien, and we're new. It's been 35 years since First Contact. You are part of the second generation of transhumans who grow up on the Citadel. You're very new. The kids in your school… they don't come into contact with a lot of transhumans, just through our differing population sizes and cultural inertia. But, If they're afraid because we're "better"… well, let's be better than them. Let's not be spiteful and full of anger and rejection. Go open through life, and as you act friendly to your environment… so will the environment act friendly to you."

"Like you do now, working with a Spectre to show them we can be trusted?"

"Exactly like that." He nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright Daddy, I can do that!"

"Great!" He smiled at her brightly. "Sa, has there been…"

"No, not since we last had a chance to talk. Togusa, is everything alright?"

"I…" he cleared his throat. "You know this, but now it applies double-plus - this can't get outside of this call. Understood?" He glanced at the security read-outs, checking the encryption status. With his mental hand, he nudged the encryption level all the way up, waiting while the QEC backbone synched a new set of cryptographic keys between the Nagato and the SA servers on the Citadel.

They all nodded. "That goes for you especially, Mirai. I expect Tili to watch your tongue vigilantly."

"Yes Dad."

The ARvatar of her muse appeared on her shoulder. "I will pay attention, Mr. Togusa."

"Good." Togusa took a deep breath, and felt the "click" in the back of his mind that indicated neurotransmitter releases, leading the bubble of emotions beneath his surface.

"Saori, Kat, Mirai… I'm scared. They're still picking the code appart, but I've been with Section 9 long enough to know sophisticated work when I see it. This… this is too good for a plucky terrorist group."

"Dad… are you saying this might be-"

"I can't", he cut her off with a gesture. "But… there is a possibility."

"My… Dad." Kat looked scared. "That would mean… war, right? Like, a real war."

"If, if the politicians choose to go down that path…"

"Dad, it's not politicians who will decide this. If nothing else, we will have terrorist attacks. With starships. It's happened before. Remember what happened during the Outer Fringe War?"

"Kat…"

"If what you say is true… you realize you can't let them start a war, right? You know how this ends? They're running the documentaries on the Networks from time to time. Projections of possible wars, and they all agree it would be an absolute bloodbath. Dozens, hundreds of billions of people would die." Kat's voice began to break. "We would likely not have a chance to be reinstated for… ever?"

"Yeah Kat, I know. And that is why I am scared. I want you to be safe."

Saori spoke up: "And we will be, Christian, trust me on that. And we're with you every step of the way to ensuring that that war never happens."

Togusa listed to that silently, absorbing the confidence she radiated.

"...Thank you."

"That's what family is for, Christian. That's what we are for."

"Group hug?" Kat asked and stood up.

"Group hug", they all agreed.

The augmented reality space made it all so real. There was not just visuals and sound, but touch and warmth, a real sense of plasticity of the skin. He felt their warm breaths and knew they felt his, and even through he couldn't really lean on them, the illusions created by his neural implants made it more than enough physical support for this Ghosts liking.

And for that one moment, Togusa embraced the augmentality as his world, threw away the distance and the knowledge it was "just" telepresence, and just took in, and gave out, the love and support of his children and his wife.

"No matter what happens..." she said in the confines of their group embrace.

"We will always be there for each other", he promised.

Garrus was emerging from the attached bathroom of his private cabin when the wall terminal went off with an incoming call.

The turian's left hand twitched a pattern, and his omnitool opened the clock and communication widgets on his ARO implants. He'd synched several galactic times to his system: The Standard Citadel Time, the transhuman Standard Military Time that also was the ship time of the Nagato, and Palaven Global Time +5.

The later was now at 19:42. Evening time on the shores of Preantis.

Finally.

Garrus grabbed a quick tunic off his bed and clipped it over his shirt while he checked the screen. He noticed the rotating sigil on the screen and looked up, knowing something was listening and responsible for it: "You are routing this via turian priority networks?"

The disembodied voice of a female AI with a turian flange answered him: "There are several credentials linked with your profile. In turian space, invoking transmission privileges as a senior turian reservist is convenient for transmission resources."

"...Good thinking. Connect me please."

"Right away. Initiating Privacy mode." Garus noticed a tonal shift in a small ring-like entoptic element that had appeared on his communication window. It turned from green to a deep purple, and then faded out of his augmented view as the channel was closed.

Before him, the flatness of the holographic screen shrunk away into the distance to outline shapes, filling with color. The other end of the connection was a wide open living room, the broad windows of armaglass looking out over the evening-lit sea beyond.

A set of large couches and relytrea had been arranged in front of the camera, and Garrus knew he was looking out from the living room screen mounted over the traditional fireplace, though judging by the lack of flickering light on the thick carpets, it wasn't lit at the moment.

A single young turian was sitting in front of him. She looked to be in her late turian teens, shoulders broad and arms and legs lengthened by regular exertion. A series of small black nodules dotted her head, and her eyes had a strange luminous quality to it. The surface identifiers of cybernetic implants, of earned metal.

Her facepaint was nigh-identical to his - the two-segmented streaks on the nose, the lines under the eyes, the streaks across the mandibles. The only variation where two dots and thin lines above her eyes, further framing them with accents of grey.

The clothing was relaxed - a shirt and tight running trousers, accented with a tunic - but the rank insignia braces were proudly pinned to the shoulders, sleeves and breast. The two-bladed dagger, laser beam and four sharp-edged wings of the Palaven 23rd Legion, and the flaming six wings around the Deutan Tristeles of its 2nd Aerospace Assault Corps.

Garrus flared his mandibles in a smile: "Hey Sis."

"Hey Garrus, big brother", Solana Vakarian greated him back. Her face was passive. "What took you so long?"

"Spectre Operative, will travel", he jested. She laughed, but it was strained. Garrus pulled his mandibles and spurs in. "Everything alright? Where's the rest of the family?"

"They'll be with us later. Garrus… Grandma just had a stroke."

"WHEN?" He jumped off his chair, sending it spinning towards the bed. He stopped himself before his claws rammed into the holographic screen.

"5 minutes ago. The EMTs just rushed her off to the hospital." He heard the tears bubbling under the surface.

"Do they know what it is yet? Is it Corpalis Syndrome..."

Solana shook her head. "Aneurysm of some kind. They didn't want to say more. But, it's probably something augmentation-related, for her new neurogenotronics."

"Teylatron guide and protect."

"...I'm sorry Garrus."

"It's… it's okay, Solana. You dealing?"

"Not… not really. I feel like shit, but you've been off the grid all day and when you messaged me you'd have an hour while your spacecraft discharged, I got the family together. And then… then out of nowhere, while I was dressing, Grandma just falls over in the living room." She glanced over her shoulder, and Garrus leaned to the right, shifting his perspective to look past her.

There was a freshly cleaned spot on the carpeted floor, the fibres still wet with recent cleaning foam use.

"And you, Garrus?"

"...Okay, I guess?" He dropped back into his helpfully returning seat, and exhaled, biting back his own fears. Keep talking. Don't let the stress reaction set in.

A nonverbal message appeared on his ARO:

[Asiri (Local AI)]: You are showing signs of stress. Is everything alright?

[You]: ...No, but I do not require aid from your side.

[Asiri]: Acknowledged.

"Garrus?"

"Sorry, something on this end. And I've… been hard at work."

"Police work, or…?"

"Police work. Okay, and the raid on that transhuman Adriens."

"I've been following that one. It's been branded a case of corporate warfare. Rumors are Adriens stonewalled all further police investigations. That true, or did you doctor around?"

Garrus shrugged. "Not as far as I know. Not exactly surprised though. From what Togusa told me on the wayside-"

"The transhuman ex-detective?"

"Yeah, pretty nice guy. From what he told me, and I saw myself? Bekenstein's a massive collection of scumbags, and Adriens even more so. This transhuman, he had his augmented hands everywhere. Currency laundering, forged IDs, DIP cracking and Idip smuggling, military tech, the whole list of white and grey collar crime. No wonder he doesn't want the police sniffing around. Oh, and he smuggled Egos."

"Wait, he did what?" Solana looked aghast.

"Yeah, I learned that during the debriefing. That asshole somehow obtained copies of military minds, and then had them lobotomized and sold to customers in the Terminus. With runtime abo model and all."

"Spirit. I don't want to think about that…" Her gaze drifted off into the distance, and Garrus realized what he had just raised attention too. Oh shit.

"But besides the mansion… I actually was part of a few actual transhuman interrogations."

"Wait, you got to see an actual transhuman interrogation? What's it like? Do they like, take him apart like they show it in the vids?" She made grimace and tried to turn her voice into an imitation of a human one: "We don't have the time, just decompile him."

"No, Sis, far less dramatic in some ways." Garrus permitted himself a laugh. "The biggest difference was that we only had his stack, so it was a virtual interrogation. Or, "Simulspace" as they call it, considering our dear terrorist only exists as disembodied information at the time."

"Wait, how did you participate? Did you get yourself a DNI?"

"Just an old-fashioned Neural Transducer helmet. Though granted, it was one of those nifty new models that uses those bioprotein complex gizmos to work… anyway, they even have an interrogation room and all. And then it was basically like when they asked our turian captive - They asked him stuff, and scanned his neural activity at the same time, and used that to determine what he knew."

"Sounds so normal!"

"Is my little sis disappointed?"

"...Not really, thinking about it. Because if it was true… that would honestly be more horrifying. Just… ripping a copy of a mind apart to find information."

"Even under special circumstances?"

"I don't know Garrus. You are probably better qualified to consider that than your young Aerospace Mechanized Shock Infantry sister."

"You think?" She nodded, then had a hitch in her breath.

"...It's so good to talk to you now, brother."

"And to you. I… I wish I was there, right now. With you."

"...When are you going to be on the Net again?"

Garrus looked up. "You heard that?"

The female turian voice answered: "No. What do you wish to know?"

"The transit time to Kisaleves, STL Flight."

"19 hours, estimate."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome. Re-entering privacy mode."

He turned back to the image of his sister in the living room. She had leaned towards the screen: "Was that an AI?"

"Yes. The local one for my room, anyway. Or maybe the one the transhumans assigned to support me. I don't know, to be honest."

"What's it like, anyway? Being surrounded by all these AI…"

"You don't really notice it. Lights dim the same way, doors open and close as usual. If I had to be more precise, there's more… edge intelligence?"

"Edge intelligence?"

"It all reacts a little smoother, a little bit more predetermined. A bit more intelligent. And well… okay, you start to notice it during things like the interrogation. They have these humanoid robots… bioroids… no idea what they are under that outer shell, but they have restraint tentacle limbs and all, for controlling prisoners. Those are tack-smart."

"And I've worked with a couple analysis AIs now. Those are very good as well."

"How's their personality?"

"It's there, but… like, you know you are speaking with an intelligent being, but they are LAIs. Not AGIs."

"But there are some, right? Like, you are on a cruiser or something? I'm pretty sure those have at least a few AGI and one ASI."

"Yeah. There's Athena, and I know some of the crew are AGI. Our pilot during the operation was one too, I'm pretty sure."

"How is this… Athena?"

"...Approachable? So far all our interactions have been friendly, if… professional. She doesn't seem to be like some-" he stopped for a moment. "Some… AI who just chats with you casually."

Solana snorted amused. "Figures." She looked at her feet and back at him.

Garrus mulled over a response, arriving at a low: "Yeah".

They sat there, silently. Garrus glanced at the small clock ticking at the edge of the screen, showing how long the Nagato would remain slip-linked to the Extranet.

"...Spirits know I'm just… I don't know. We didn't have time to talk, so I wanted to talk too, but Grandma obviously also gets to you… I'm sorry Garrus."

"Solana?" She looked up. "Don't be. We both know the drills. We're keeping each other healthy right now. Now, let's talk until our time runs out, and if you learn anything or the rest of the family comes on, we'll talk about that. And then, once you know what is up with Grandma, contact me. I'll answer as soon as I can. Okay?"

"Right." She snapped up at his tone of voice, all First Claw Vasart.

They talked the entire rest of the time, and through the entire undocking routine. Unseen and ignored, groups of orange-painted service robots on the Nagato's hull detached the thick superconductor cables that had been used to discharge her static storage sinks and pushed them off towards the distant spire of the turian military discharge station, orbiting the nadir of a super-jovian gas giant, and the Nagato pushed off on white puffs of methane-oxygen RCS thrusters.

Only the beep that announced only 30 seconds remained before the Slipbeam telescopes shut down and cut them off from the civilian extranet ripped the two from their talk.

"Garrus… I love you. Whatever comes, whatever happens, whatever it will take… I love you. We love you."

"And so do I, Solana." Garrus breathed out. "So do I. Take care, and until I come back online… the best to Grandma."

[10 seconds.]

"Have a nice evening on Palaven."

"And a good flight to you." A turian claw reached out, and disconnected the call.

A moment later, the message popped up at the edge of the screen: [Civilian Extranet Access now Offline. Re-establishment in Buffer Access Mode in T-Minus 2 hours LVT.]

Garrus breathed out, and listened to the distant thrumm of the starships systems.

Then he turned away from the monitor, toggled off his personal devices, dropped on the bed and started crying.

A/N(Sevoris): The scene with Garrus and Solana channels indeed some of the things I've gone through over the past weeks, though the exact diseases and event types obviously don't match. The dialog needed some work and more live to it, in the end I landed at this.

It was also carthatic, to externalize some of the feelings of the last weeks.

Besides that... there will be changes in pacing, mostly, as well as style. This story has been hovering in a bit of a long limbo between major milestone scenes, so going forward that is getting compressed. The landing on Kisaleves, the next big location, should be no more than two parts away, in Part 5 of "Borders".

A/N(Nick): Will delete AN chapter after a few days.