Ascension

'How long have you and Jiro been together?' Hendel asked her.

'How long have you known?'

'A couple months.'

'Then it took you about two months to find out.'

'Be careful with that kid, Kahlee.'

She laughed. 'I'll make sure I don't break him.'

'That's not what I meant,' he said, his voice serious. 'There's something I don't trust about him. He's too slick. Too smooth.'

'Your gut again?' she asked, holding her cup up close to her face to hide the smile on her lips. Apparently Hendel wasn't just protective of the students.

'You saw how he reacted when I mentioned your history with Anderson.'

'Thank you very much for that, by the way,' she said, arching her eyebrows.

'It didn't seem to rattle him,' Hendel continued, ignoring her verbal jab. 'Like he already knew.'

'So what if he did?'

'Well, it was pretty obvious you didn't tell him. So how'd he find out? The records from that mission were sealed. Hell, even I only know because you told me.'

'People talk. Maybe I mentioned it to someone on staff who mentioned it to him. You're making too much of this.'

'Maybe,' he conceded. 'Just be careful. I've learned to trust my instincts.'

Grayson spent the next four hours with Gillian. He let her do most of the talking, cycling between extended bursts of eager, almost frantic conversation and long stretches of silent withdrawal where she almost seemed to forget he was there. He liked listening to her voice, but he didn't mind the silences, either. It was good just to see her again.

When she did talk, it was mostly about school and the Academy: which teachers she liked and which ones she didn't; her favorite subjects; new things she'd learned in her courses. Grayson noticed that she never mentioned the other students, or anything to do with her biotic training. He decided not to push her. He'd get all the information he needed soon enough.

It was almost time for him to go. He'd learned the longer he stayed the harder it was to leave. So he always set himself a limit for each visit; having a mission parameter made it easier to do what he had to do.

'Gigi?' he said softly.

Gillian was staring at the wall, lost inside herself again.

'Gigi?' he said a little louder. 'Daddy has to go. Okay?'

Last time he had left, she hadn't even acknowledged him when he said good-bye. This time, however, she turned her head slightly and nodded. He didn't know which was worse.

He stood up from her bedside and leaned in to kiss her on the top of her head.

'Get into bed, honey. Under the covers. Try to sleep.'

Moving slowly, like some kind of automaton powered by his words, she did as instructed. Once she was settled and had closed her eyes, he crossed the room and opened the door.

'Lights — off,' he whispered. The room went dark as he closed the door behind him.

Jiro was waiting for him out in the hall.

'Is it safe here?' Grayson asked him, his voice gruffer than he'd intended.

'Should be,' the young man answered, speaking quietly. 'Everyone's still in bed. We can go back to my room if it's going to take awhile.'

'Let's just get it over with so I can get the hell off this station,' Grayson said, dropping to one knee and laying his briefcase on the floor.

He released the lock, opened the false bottom, and removed the vial Pel had given him. Then he stood up and handed it to Jiro. The scientist took it from him, holding it up to the lights in the corridor ceiling.

'Looks like they switched compounds again. The Man must want to try something different.' He slipped the vial into his pocket. 'This isn't going to show up on any of her medicals, is it? I mean, it's untraceable, right?'

'What do you think?' Grayson asked him coolly.

'Yeah, okay. Same doses as before?'

'They didn't give me any new instructions,' Grayson replied.

'Any idea what this new stuff is supposed to do to her?'

'I don't ask questions like that,' Grayson answered sharply. 'Neither will you, if you're smart.'

Christ, he thought, as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Now I sound like Pel. He honestly didn't know if that was good or bad, though he figured his old partner would find something humorous about it.

'They're not going to do anything to harm her,' Grayson added, though he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Jiro or himself. 'She's too valuable.'

Jiro nodded. 'Here are the latest results on all the students in the Ascension Project,' he said, pulling an optical storage disk from the pocket of his lab coat and handing it to Grayson. 'Plus my private research on our star pupil in there.' He nodded his head toward Gillian's door.

Grayson took the OSD without a word and hid it away inside his briefcase.

'Are you sleeping with Sanders?' he asked once the disk was secured.

'Figured it fell within my mission parameters,' Jiro answered with a grin. 'I'm supposed to pump her for info, so I'm pumping her every chance I get.'

'Just watch you don't get emotionally involved,' Grayson warned him. 'It makes things messy.'

'I've got it under control,' the kid assured him with an infuriatingly cocky grin.

Somewhere Grayson imagined Pel was laughing his ass off.

Eight

Feda'Gazu vas Idenna adjusted the pistol hanging from her belt as she climbed down from the land rover. She never wore a weapon back on the flotilla, but every quarian who left the safety of the Migrant Fleet was armed at all times.

Lige and Anwa, the two members of her crew she had picked to accompany her to this meeting, climbed out of the vehicle to stand on either side of her. She could sense their nervousness. It mirrored her own.

She didn't trust Golo. He was a fellow quarian, but he was also a criminal so vile and dangerous he had been exiled from the Fleet. That was why she had refused to meet with him at Omega: too many places for an ambush. He had objected at first, but in the end he'd agreed to meet her here on Shelba, a desolate, uninhabited world in the nearby Vinoss System.

The atmosphere on Shelba was breathable — barely— but the temperature was always well below freezing, making it unsuitable for habitation or farming. And the crust consisted of only common, low-value metals and minerals, making it uneconomical for mining. The world was ignored — undeveloped and empty. If Golo was going to try and double-cross her, setting up their exchange here might make him reconsider whether it was worth the trouble.

Feda shivered, despite the fact that her enviro-suit protected her against the worst of the chill. Part of her wanted to forget this deal; just turn around and leave. But Golo had promised to sell her a shipment of air-filtration coils and reaction catalyzers, and several of the ships in the flotilla were in desperate need of replacement parts. Despite her personal reservations, she couldn't in good conscience turn his offer down.

'There,' one of her companions called out, pointing across the vast, open expanse of blue plain and glittering green rock formations that made up the barren planet's surface.

A small rover was approaching in the distance, throwing up clouds of turquoise dust as it sped toward them. Feda took another look at their surroundings, scanning the horizon for signs of other vehicles. To her relief, she saw nothing.

Perched atop a tall outcropping of emerald-hued rock over a mile away, Pel watched the quarians arrive through the scope of his Volkov sniper rifle. He'd had his doubts about whether they'd even show up, given Golo's