"Why are you even working with a pro-human group?" Kahlee wanted to know.

"We share an interest in Grayson," Aria admitted. "He betrayed both our organizations."

"You're going to kill him!" Kahlee exclaimed.

"That's the plan," Sanak replied with a grin.

"You're crazy if you think I'll help you!"

"You'd really sacrifice your life-both your lives-to protect Grayson?"

Anderson jumped in before Kahlee had a chance to answer.

"How do we know you won't just kill us in the end anyway?"

"That's a chance you'll have to take," Aria said with a sly smile.

"I'll help you on one condition," Kahlee offered. "I'll try to bring Grayson in if you promise not to kill him."

"You don't get to make conditions," Aria pointed out.

"Grayson's smart. You need my cooperation if you want this to work."

"You'll cooperate eventually," Sanak said, and the other batarians laughed knowingly.

"I don't know what Cerberus told you," Kahlee continued, ignoring Sanak and speaking directly to Aria. "But I know they didn't tell you the whole story. Whatever deal they offered, you're getting the wrong end of it."

"Maybe so. But I doubt you can match their offer."

"You're right about that," Kahlee admitted, though Anderson could tell she wasn't backing down. "And I don't know what happened between you and Grayson.

"But all I'm asking is for you to let Grayson tell his side of the story before you make up your mind. You might be very surprised by what you find out."

"I'll think on what you said," Aria promised. "I suggest you do the same. I'll send someone for you in one hour to record your message for Grayson.

"Regardless of my decision, it would be in your best interest to cooperate," she added, her voice so cold it actually sent a shiver down Anderson's spine.

The Pirate Queen turned on her heel and left the room, her followers trailing along in her wake. The door to the hall slid shut and the familiar red Locked display lit up on the wall panel.

Once they were alone in the room, Kahlee turned to Anderson.

"Just so you know," she told him, "that was all a bluff. I'm not going to let them hurt you. When Aria comes back, I'm going to do whatever she wants."

"Don't worry about me," Anderson assured her.

"The batarian was right," Kahlee said with a shake of her head. "In the end I'll do whatever they want. I might as well cooperate up front and save us both a lot of pain and suffering."

Anderson knew what kind of person she was. If she was alone, she would have resisted to the bitter end. The fact that he was with her-that he could suffer for her decision-forced her to compromise. But he also knew she wasn't the type to give up on someone. She was still holding out hope for Grayson.

"You're still hoping she'll agree not to kill him," he said. "You hope Aria will see what Cerberus did and then let you try to help him."

"I know it sounds crazy. But if you've got a better plan, I'm all ears."

"Why didn't you tell her everything?" Anderson wondered. "About how Cerberus implanted Grayson with Reaper technology?"

"Do you really think she'd believe me? I saw the research files and I barely believe it myself.

"Besides," she added. "I figured I better keep a couple of our cards hidden."

Anderson knew that Kahlee needed him to stay positive. But he couldn't shake the feeling this wouldn't end well.

"Even if she says she won't hurt him," he warned, "there's no way to know if she's telling the truth."

"I know. But it's better than nothing. At least I planted the seed. Now I just have to wait and see if it grows."

There wasn't much else to say, so they simply sat down on the couch and waited in silence for Aria's people to return.

As promised, they arrived promptly one hour later to get Kahlee. Anderson had thought Aria might send Sanak; the batarian was obviously one of the alpha dogs in her pack. Instead, she sent the massive krogan and one of the asari twins.

"What did Aria say about Grayson?" Kahlee asked as they came in. "Is she going to take him alive?"

"She's still considering the offer," the asari replied. "Have you considered hers? Are you ready to cooperate?"

Kahlee nodded.

"Smart girl," the krogan growled as he led her out the door.

The half hour it took for them to return were the longest thirty minutes of Anderson's life. In his head he knew Kahlee was in the same amount of danger whether he was with her or not, but emotionally he felt like he could keep her safe just by staying near her.

When the door finally opened and Kahlee stepped through, she was alone. He jumped up from the couch and rushed over to her.

"What happened? Did they hurt you?"

Physically she seemed unharmed, but he could tell by her face that she was upset.

"I did what they wanted," she said quietly. "I sent Grayson a message."

"You had no choice," Anderson whispered, wrapping his arms around her in a reassuring hug. "You did the right thing."

"For us," she whispered. "But what about for him?"

SEVENTEEN.

Grayson kept slipping in and out of consciousness as the shuttle drifted aimlessly through space. Every few hours he would suddenly become very tired and the world would slip away. When he awoke, he could never tell how long he had been out. He wasn't sure, but he suspected the Reapers were behind the blackouts.

Each time his senses returned he quickly checked the shuttle's navigational equipment to make sure the Reapers hadn't programmed a new destination into the ship while he was out. Each time he found the vessel's course unaltered.

It was almost as if they were waiting for something, harboring their strength until the moment was right. What that moment might be, however, he couldn't even begin to guess.

The sixth or seventh time he woke up, he saw a blinking light on the shuttle communications console, indicating an incoming message waiting to be heard. But that was impossible. He'd disabled all hailing frequencies; there was no way for someone to contact the shuttle directly. The only way there could be a waiting message was if he had logged in to the comm network ... or someone had done it for him.

Suddenly the blackouts made sense-the Reapers were temporarily putting him out so they could use the communications equipment. He briefly wondered why they didn't simply keep him unconscious. Based on all the other times they had used him, he suspected they needed him to be awake and alert to function properly. By taking control of his body, they became bound by the limitations of his physical form. If his mind was pushed into an unconscious state, Grayson suspected, his reactions would be slow and clumsy, like a sleepwalker stumbling around in a stupor.

It could also be more taxing on the Reapers themselves. Taking control of his body while he slept could have drained their reserves, which might explain why recently he hadn't felt them try and reestablish their dominance while he was awake.

If his speculations were true, then he'd learned something new about the alien parasites feeding off him. It might not amount to anything, but the more he understood what was happening to him, the better his chances of fighting it.

The message light was still blinking. His first instinct was to delete it unheard, perhaps thwarting the Reapers' plans in the process.

It could be important. A tool to use against the enemy.

As he was reaching up to delete it, a new thought popped into his head. Knowledge was his only weapon against the Reapers. If he listened to the message, it might reveal something useful. If he knew what the Reapers were after, they might be easier to stop.

He hit the playback, and to his surprise Kahlee's face appeared on the comm panel's screen.

"Paul. I need your help. Meet me on Omega. I'm sending you the location. Please hurry. It's urgent."

There was something odd about the way she spoke. Her voice was flat, almost monotone. It didn't have its normal energy or spark. It made him suspicious.

Maybe she's scared. Or hurt.

He was being paranoid. There were any number of reasons she might not sound like her normal self. There was even the possibility that she hadn't changed at all, and that the physical changes the Reapers had wrought on his body were affecting his senses and perceptions.

Her message left him torn. He wanted to see Kahlee, and if she was in some kind of trouble he wanted to do everything possible to help her. But he couldn't risk exposing her to what he had become. He couldn't risk letting her come into contact with the Reapers.

She has nowhere else to turn. She's desperate. Don't abandon her.

He played the message again, focusing on the last four words: "Please hurry. It's urgent."

Kahlee wasn't prone to dramatics. If she said it was urgent, it had to be something serious. And there was a look of desperation in her eyes, as if he was her last hope. She needed him; he couldn't turn his back on her.

His mind made up, Grayson sent off a reply to the message.

"I'm on my way, Kahlee" was all he said.

Omega is dangerous. You'll need all your strength when you get there.

He plotted a course for Omega into the nav computer, then settled back in his chair and closed his eyes. He'd need to rest up so he'd be ready to face whatever might be waiting for him on the lawless space station.

"One at a time," Anderson said encouragingly. "Flex those fingers."

"You'd make a great nurse," Kahlee replied.

They were sitting side by side on the couch of the room they still had not been allowed to leave. They had turned so they could be face-to-face. Kahlee was holding her hands out in front of her, palms up. Anderson's hands were beneath, supporting her wrists. He had helped remove her finger splints so she could begin her physical therapy; when they were finished he would carefully help her put them back on.

They were sitting slightly closer than they needed to be, but not so close it could be considered intimate. Kahlee knew they were both wary of another sudden intrusion from Aria and her underlings; neither she nor David felt any need to endure that type of awkward embarrassment again.

She had noticed, however, that in the aftermath of any discussions of Grayson-like the one they had had with Aria yesterday-he always became a little more reserved and distant. She didn't think it was jealousy; not exactly. It was almost like he was waiting for her to work out her feelings for Paul before he let himself get too close.

"You're not concentrating," Anderson chided her, breaking her train of thought. "Focus."

Kahlee nodded, and turned her attention to her injured digits. One by one she curled them into her palm and extended them out again. The tendons felt stiff and brittle; she half-imagined she could hear them crackling as she went through the exercises.

They were only half finished when the door to the room slid open and Aria swept in. Her asari, krogan, and batarian escorts followed in her wake. Instinctively Kahlee snatched her hands out of Anderson's grasp, then cursed herself for caring so much what a bunch of criminals and thugs thought about her and her relationships.

"Grayson replied to your message," Aria informed her.

"I want to see it," Kahlee said, rising to her feet.

The asari shook her head. "There's nothing to see. He agreed to the meeting. You can see him then."

Kahlee felt like Aria was hiding something. She flashed back to some of what she had uncovered in the Cerberus research files: physical abnormalities; widespread mutations; repurposing of the host.

How bad is it? How far has his condition progressed?

"What happens now?" Anderson asked.

"I'll be alerted when he arrives on the station. At that time, my people will come to take Kahlee to the meeting."

"I want to go too," Anderson told her, getting up and moving over to stand beside Kahlee in a show of support.

"What you want is of no consequence," Aria reminded him.

"Where am I meeting him?" Kahlee asked.

"I wanted to keep this private. One of my warehouses near the loading docks."

Kahlee didn't like the sound of that. She would have preferred somewhere more public.

"Why not in Afterlife?"

"Too many people," Anderson answered grimly. "She thinks it's going to get violent."

"You promised you wouldn't hurt him!" Kahlee shouted, taking a half-step toward their captor.

In a flash her krogan bodyguard interposed himself between them. Anderson did the same, leaping in front of Kahlee. The two stared at each other, the krogan's massive reptilian form towering over Anderson. He didn't back down, however.

The krogan finally stepped aside when Aria reached up to put a hand on his shoulder, indicating she wasn't worried about the threat either of the humans posed. Satisfied, Anderson took a step back so he was once again standing beside Kahlee, rather than in front of her.

"I didn't promise you anything," Aria pointedly reminded her. "I said I would take what you told me about Cerberus into consideration.

"Grayson may already have killed one of my people," she added darkly. "I'm not going to take any chances with him."