Shepard gazed at the citadel from one of the couches in the starboard observation lounge, datapads and dipolomatic demands momentarily forgotten for sweeping views and stunning nebulas. It didn't matter how many times he visited the Citadel, since his first time on board the SR-1, he was perpetually swept away by the majesty of the station. He was perpetually in the cockpit as they came in, leaving piloting orders to Joker and the OOD as he would stare, gaping almost like a child at the rotating arms and glowing nebula.

He had retreated to the lounge to change his location as he mulled over some of the more tenuous points of the galaxy's new alliances, his typical desk and stateroom becoming a little monotonous as he logged more and more days inside. The issue of the day was Krogan requests for Turian transports versus nervus Turian captains and an over-bearing transport minister. I few could all just, you know, agree that saving galactic civilization and life as we know it is a more important issue than broken mess-hall plates and a few more tons of passengers, that'd just be great. He sighed in moderate frustration as he returned to the datapad in his hand, continuing to construct a solution that would work for both parties.

"The Krogan Soldiers must, therefore, agree to limit all physical confrontations to training spaces that are delegated by the Captain of each vessel and already intended for such purpose, as well as abstain from such altercations when under the influences of substances such as Alcohol, Ryncol, or other rage-increasing substances." The doors slid open with a chime as Shepard heard the boots of his favorite engineer enter the space, pacing around to the opposite couch and sitting down with what sounded like a certain degree of exhaustion and frustration.

He closed his datapad and tucked it underneath his leg, reaching up from his seat to stretch his seemingly perpetually tight back, turning to watch Tali as she sat down on the opposite.

"How'd your meeting go?"

Tali stretched a bit in her seat before crossing her legs and resting them across the bend in the couch, spreading her arms out to become the image of relaxation.

"It was good, the colonists wanted transport off in return for colonization supplies for use on Rannoch and a few scientists for The Crucible. The deal was practically made by the time I got there, all I had to do was make it official. What about you?"

Shepard threw the datapad down next to him, placing one leg over the opposite knee and netting his fingers behind his head.

"Alright. The Krogan want the Turians to lend a hand in transporting them further since there's no currently functional Krogan Spacefleet. Turians are getting annoyed over a few smashed heads and broken bulkheads and trying to stop them. I just have to play moderator."

"I'm glad I don't have your job John, sounds like a bunch of children just poking at and arguing with each-other. Anyways, did you hear about Johnson's Family?"

"No, I hadn't. Don't tell me he lost them too. There's enough of that going around."

"No, actually, he got news the other day his… wife? That's what humans call them? Is pregnant. Practically skipped out of engineering when he got the update. It was all we could do to get him to finish repairing the energy conduits he was working on."

"That's great, glad to hear it! Good to know good things like that are still happening. Got a message from Mom the other day."

"Oh? Last I heard Hackett had recruited her for The Crucible."

"He did, she's coordinating all the defensive forces around it – she's a little helpless when it comes to advanced ancient Prothean weapons of mass Destruction. But she sends her love to all the Normandy, and told me that at the next opportunity she wants to meet both you and Vakarian, says if I don't she'll order me to do it."

John could see Tali's smirk through her eyes, the iridescent crescents compressing slightly and turning upwards. Her voice became laden with a mix of sarcasm and mild embarrassment.

"John! I didn't know you told your mother about me! I hope you've only said good things…"

John laughed at her feigned surprise, knowing full well she knew all the good things he said about her and Garrus. Garrus was the sibling he never had growing up, the slightly younger brother who helped to keep him on track and almost out of trouble. Tali was the woman he cared about most in the galaxy, and had a wonderful (though sometimes annoying) habit of pointing out when he was being emotional or making a bad call. It also helps she's beautiful, the best engineer I know, kick ass in every way, and has a skillset almost exclusively complimentary to mine.

"You know I wouldn't say anything bad." Tali gave John a mock glare. "Well, too bad."

At that, the door opened up and the resident Shadow Broker walked in, marched, rather, by the sound of her footsteps. Liara had a datapad in her hand and an unnervingly concerned look on her face, one that typically meant either Shepard had used a human saying she didn't understand or an asset was at risk of falling because a portion of her network had been interrupted. Sadly, Shepard knew he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary.

Shepard sat up as did Tali, looking at each other as they both saw the concerned look on Liara's face. John nodded at Tali, and turned to Liara, a smile hidden beneath her visor.

"Liara! What can we do for you?"

"I am sorry to bother you with this Shepard, Tali, but I require your assistance in securing an asset."

Again, Tali and John looked at each other, John's eyebrow raised in equal parts mild concern and curiosity, Tali's head cocked to indicate the same. This time it was Shepard who spoke.

"What do you need us to do, T'Soni, I'm sure Tali and I would be more than willing to help."

"I have tracked down a criminal on The Citadel named Cyprian Vandem who has managed to come into a bit of Prothean technology in the past couple of weeks through a Freighter Raid. Our friend, Mr. Vandem, has quite a file in the old Shadow Broker's files, and it would appear he is quite wary of anybody who might have any association with The Shadow Broker. All of my agents on The Citadel are old enough to have developed a reputation and he'd likely know any of them anyways, so I can't get the artifact from him. The technology and information he holds could greatly benefit the construction of The Crucible. I was wondering if you two might be willing to set up a deal with him and get the technology for us."

Liara shifted slightly on her feet while staring at the ground, clearly nervous with what she was asking her friends to do. Months ago, when she had first stepped in front of The Shadow Broker's terminals, she had vowed that she would never use the network for anything but the best of intentions, and that her second life would never put her friends in harms way. And yet, here she was asking two of the people she cared about most in the galaxy to step in front of a known criminal.

Tali stood up and put her hand on Liara's shoulder, calming the Asari's movements, and bringing her blue eyes directly to Tali's iridescent ones.

"We'd be happy to help. Intidimidating criminals might even be a nice break from trying to deal with politicians and beaurocrats."

Shepard stood up as well and stood behind Tali, smiling at Liara.

"It might even be a nice break from babysitting the beurocrats. You know, Tali, I remember a criminal about three years ago who tried to make a deal with a certain Quarian, didn't end to well for him. Do you think we could replicate the feat?"

Tali turned towards John with a curve in her eyes that gave away the grin she was wearing underneath her visor. She placed her hand to her filter light, replicating the action Humans do when they tap their lips and said with a voice that made John grin and scared Liara a little bit "You know, now that I think about it, I think you read my mind."

John turned back to Liara, walking backwards to follow Tali as they both exited to get ready.

"Give us his extranet address and we'll arrange a meeting as soon as possible."

Three hours later Garrus Vakarian lay with a sniper rifle atop a maintenance gangway in a tucked away corner of one of The Wards, Liara laying next to him with a pair of binoculars. Shepard had asked him about an hour ago if he would be willing to provide over watch for a "deal" he and Tali were going to make at Liara's behest, and almost before he had agreed he had found himself with a sniper rifle in his hand dropped off near the best vantage point and told to wait. Liara had explained the situation to him, that this was to try and secure an artifact her normal means couldn't get and that she really had no clue what Tali and Shepard were planning. They both watched Vandem stand against a wall, attempting to look entirely inconspicuous as he stared at every passer-by (or at least what few there were) but utterly failing at the task. Poor bastard won't even know what hit him.

Garrus and Liara watched as a transformed Tali walked into their line of sight, standing directly in front of Vandem as the two clearly began to talk. She had removed the gold pieces around her neck and somehow swapped her helmet for a black one with a bluer purple visor. Her shawl had been rearranged to curve like it did when Garrus first met her, and she now looked like any other Quarian on pilgrimage.

Their ear-pieces came to life with the conversation as heard through Tali's helmet, Vandem's rough voice coming through the speakers like sandpaper over gravel. As they talked the two began to circle, Tali clearly sizing Vandem up, Vandem looking as a predator observing its prey.

"You must be the Quarian that contacted me about a piece of Prothean Tech?"

"That's right."

"Haven't seen much of your kind around here, at least not since we won Rannoch. Aren't you suit-rats all supposed to be there re-building or something?"

Garrus cringed slightly at the slander, watching as Tali's stance changed to one which others would take as mild annoyance but Garrus knew as the "I have a shotgun" stance. Vandem, you better not hope to come out of this alive anymore.

"I was sent back out on my Pilgramage to try and get useful tech for the rebuilding process, and heard you had something. If I was wrong I can just go."

"No, no, I have the tech. It's a small little thing, right here in my pocket." Vandem gestured to a pouch on the left side of his chest-piece. Garrus' eyepiece indicated that something was indeed there. "But first I'm going to need the money."

"No. I was told about people like you. Give me the tech and then I'll give you your money.

The disgusting Turian scoffed. "Hah, give you the tech and let you walk off with it like the thieves your people are? Fat chance. No money, no tech."

Garrus cringed again at the insult. Second mark against your life. Now you better not be hoping to get out of this alive and without great amounts of pain.

Tali remained cool, still circling as she reached for her credit chit. "Alright, I'll give you the money. But a few associates I've met on my pilgrimage will be here soon, so don't cause any trouble."

As soon as the Chit was in his hand, Vandem's pistol came out with a smooth motion, his mandibles flaring into a despicable grin. "Don't worry, Quarian, by the time they get here, you won't have anything to worry about."

Tali reacted quickly, opening her omni-tool and activated her Energy Drain program, dropping Vandem's shields and making hers glow momentarily. Garrus' grip on his rifle tightened, and his finger found its way to the trigger. If he needed it would be a clean kill. But he would let Tali do what she needed to first, he knew her shields could stand a shot from Vandem's Predator. . The turian stood there and laughed. And that's it. He's a deadman.

The deadman's voice rang out through his ear-piece again. "You stupid Quarian! Energy Drain's don't even hurt organics. How your race even managed to create The Geth is beyond me. If your 'associates'are as stupid as you are, then apparently I have nothing to worry about. Who are they, anyways? More naïve bucket-heads as stupid as you are?"

Garrus watched as Shepard's tactical cloak dissolved, leaving him directly in front of Vandem. The Turian made a slight strangling sound in surprise, before firing, the bullet being absorbead easily by Shepard's Shields. Shepard looked down at where the bullet would have hit his chest piece, before disarming Vandem and brining his own pistol to face the turian's forehead. His arm reached out and pushed Vandem onto his knees, his arms coming behind his head automatically.

Garrus chuckled at himself, looking at Liara as the two watched this fairly infamous criminal be reduced to a crying, useless body. Liara looked as startled as he was, neither of them apparently expecting Shepard to step out in such a bold fashion. The man was an infiltrator, notoriously more comfortable in the hidden vantage points and well-positioned shadows than center stage making a criminal take-down appear more like a movie than a spectre operation. I'll give him credit, though, he does have a talent for showmanship.

Tali walked to the side a few paces, getting up to the pocket on Vandem's armor, squatting down and plucking the prothean tech from his pocket with mocking ease. It was a small silver box with what looked to be an intricately drawn design glowing on its side, though even Garrus' enhanced scope couldn't zoom enough to see it clearly. If the protheans have taught us anything, it's either a useless hunk of metal that is going to shrink to a smaller size and then sit there doing nothing, or a data cache which will permanently change the evolution of galactic civilization. One or the other.

Tali looked at Vandem, his eyes squirming in obvious nervousness. "My associates name is Commander Shepard? You might have heard of him, first Human spectre, Lion of Elysium, hero of the Battle of the Citadel… and he kills reapers on the side."

Garrus chuckled even further, now enjoying himself more than anything. I didn't know Tali was such a showman either. That's a good line, though, I should remember that…

"Who the hell are you?" Vandem managed to sputter out at Tali. Shepard's pistol barrel found itself bearing down harder on his forehead.

"That would be Admiral Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy you've been talking too. You know, the one responsible for taking back the Quarian Homeworld and exposing the information that warned us about the Reapers three years ago? And, oh yeah, she also took your shields down completely."

Shepard bent down to meet Vandem's shifting eyes, pushing his pistol farther into view.

"Now, I know what you're thinking: does he still have shots in that thermal clip? Well, seeing as this is a M-77 Paladin, one of the most powerful handguns in the galaxy and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, scum?"

Shepard stood up after watching Vandem's eyes drop, and as Vandem laid down fully on the ground, a squad of C-sec officers came running down the corridor, followed by a pleased looking Commander Bailey. Shepard put his gun away and walked over to Bailey, shaking the man's hand.

"Thanks for taking care of that guy, Shepard, he's been a thorn in our side for too long now. We've tried to catch him but every time we get close he's just gone to ground, and what with our boys still cleaning up from that Cerberus fiasco, we haven't had the man-power to follow him."

"No problem, Bailey, I'm glad I could help. Sadly, though, the Prothean tech he was carrying is going to have to stay mine, I'll use Spectre Authorization if I have to."

"If there's one man in this galaxy I trust with the stuff, it's you Shepard. Keep it, use it to go kill another Reaper or something. I've got to get this trash back to the precinct."

With that Commander Bailey walked off, kicking Vandem at least once as they walked away. Shepard made eye contact with Garrus and Liara before turning to the ship, Tali coming up along side him.

"I think I need a shower after dealing with him, even if we did just take him down." Tali playfully wiped the hand she had used to reterive the artifact against Shepard's shoulder plate, causing him to recoil and chuckle.

"If I didn't know better, I 'd say you almost enjoyed playing the helpless Quarian again."

"Again? I wasn't helpless that first time either!" John raised his eyebrow and levelled her with his "Oh really" look, to which she shrugged and looked the other way, voice taking on a sarcastic sing-song quality "Maybe I was in a little bit of a tight spot, but I had my shotgun. But you definitely enjoyed that a little bit too much I think. Wasn't that a line from a movie you used at the end?"

John laughed, giving Tali a well-meaning shove before pulling her into a hug as she giggled. "It was one that my Mom used to enjoy watching, some character named Dirty Harry, I think. Either way, it seemed appropriate. Sort of the 'I'm a badass spectre and you just got duped' type of line, you know?"

"Ancestors help the Reapers when they find our your just a big softy inside."

"Only for you, dear, only for you. Did you see the look on his face when I de-cloaked though? Priceless."

"I couldn't see, since somebody decided to stand in the way. You better have captured that on armor-cam…"

"Ooohh, yeah… I think I just accidentally deleted it."

Tali swatted at his shoulder, earning her another hug and a kiss to the filter light. "Bosh'tet."

"You love me."

"Only because you got me a homeworld. And you're kinda cute. Saving the Galaxy is a plus too..."

Shepard laughed, taking Tali's hand. "Love you too. Now, I'm starving, want to go get some lunch?"

The two walked off towards the nearest Taxi station as Garrus and Liara stood up, both groaning slightly as they stood, but still a little shocked at the performance their friends had given. Liara was the first to speak as they climbed into their sky-car.

"I knew Shepard has the occasional flair for the dramatic, but I did not know he enjoyed it to that degree."

"No kidding, makes me wish I had my camera. Would have made a great home-video, don't you think? Something to show my future awed children as I'm telling them about my reaper-slaying days, something to show that Uncle Shepard actually did something besides sit in his cabin and boss us around."

"Don't let him hear you say that, though."

"Oh, he'll have his own version sure. Either way, I didn't know those two could tag team that well. Here's hoping we never end up the focus of their… efforts."

"Indeed."