"You're asking me to leave the Ascension Project?"

"I know you love these kids. And you're doing good work here. But nothing is more important than this."

She mulled it over in silence for a few moments, then nodded her acceptance.

"It's what Grayson would have wanted."

"It has to be what you want, too," Anderson insisted. "Don't do this out of guilt."

"It's not guilt," she said. "I spoke to them through Grayson. The Reapers, I mean. They kept talking about a cycle. They said our extinction was inevitable. I'm not going to sit on the sidelines and let that happen."

"I'm glad," he said, reaching out to take her wrist, then pulling her close. "I didn't want to lose you again."

He held her head in his hands, then leaned in and gave her a long, deep kiss on the lips.

"Better not let Nick catch you doing that," Kahlee said with a soft laugh when he was done. "He'll bounce you off every wall in the station."

EPILOGUE.

The Illusive Man sat in his chair, staring out the window at the brilliant blue sun the station was orbiting. It was a suitably stunning, and perfectly nondescript, background for the call he was expecting.

Occasionally he would take a sip from the whiskey rocks in his right hand, or pull a long, slow drag on the cigarette in his left. He was thinking about everything Kai Leng had told him, and what the implications were both for humanity and for Cerberus.

He knew enough about Admiral David Anderson to know he wasn't going to ignore this. Finally someone other than Cerberus was going to start doing something about the Reapers. That didn't mean the Illusive Man was simply going to step aside, however.

Working with Anderson probably wasn't an option. Not in the immediate future, anyway, though he wasn't willing to rule it out entirely. But for the time being he needed to make sure his own work continued, even as he tried to rebuild his fallen empire.

And that meant smoothing things over with Aria T'Loak. He couldn't afford a war with her, and she had something he needed.

He had just finished his cigarette and started another when he heard the soft beep indicating an incoming message. He spun his chair to face the holo-pad.

"Accept call," he said.

A flickering, three-dimensional image of Omega's Pirate Queen materialized in the center of the room. She was alone, seated in the same room she had called him from the last time they had spoken.

"I'm not very happy with Cerberus right now," she declared, skipping the formalities and getting right down to business. "You didn't warn me what Grayson had become."

"It wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't tried to take him alive," the Illusive Man countered. "You're the one who reneged on the deal."

"I've heard Cerberus has suffered some rather serious setbacks of late," she said, changing topics in a blatant effort to rattle him.

"The stories of our demise are greatly exaggerated," he assured her, borrowing a quote from one of his favorite literary figures.

"I lost a lot of good people because of you," Aria told him. "I don't forget something like that."

"A war doesn't help either one of us," he countered. "I thought you were smart enough to know that."

"Is that why you called me? To sue for peace?"

"I have a business deal."

She laughed.

"What makes you think I'll say yes after the way the last one turned out?"

"This one won't cost you anything. No risk. Only reward. It's a deal you can't pass up."

"I'm listening."

"I want the research files from the station where you attacked the turians."

"That was your lab originally, wasn't it? You used me to get revenge on them."

"I think we used each other. What about those files?"

"Why should I turn them over to you? Maybe I'll just keep them for myself."

"So keep the originals for yourself. Just send me a copy."

"Were these experiments really what I think they were?" she asked.

"I don't know what you think they were," the Illusive Man replied evasively.

"What's your offer?"

"Send me the files and I'll give you three million. One up front, two on final delivery."

"Three million, and I can keep the originals?"

"All I want is the data," he assured her. "But I'll know if you hold anything back. If you want to get paid, you send everything."

"You really believe in this, don't you," she said. "The Reapers. Galactic extinction. You don't think it's some crazy story."

"Let's just say I'm not willing to take that chance."

"I'll send you the files," Aria agreed. "You'll have them by tomorrow."

"I'll put the down payment into your account tonight. Same as last time?"

"The same," she said with a coy smile. "Unlike you, I don't care if people know what I'm up to."

Before he could reply, she disconnected the call. He laughed in spite of himself, amused at how important to her it was to get the last word.

He spun his chair to face the viewing port and pulled out a cigarette. He'd half-finished it when one of his assistants arrived to slip a glass into his hand before quickly removing herself from the room.

As he sipped his drink and smoked his cigarette, the Illusive Man's gaze shifted from the glowing blue star to the cold black curtain behind it. One thought kept running through his head, over and over.

The Reapers are out there somewhere. And they're coming.

Mass Effect: Retribution is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

By Drew Karpyshyn.

BALDUR'S GATE II: THRONE OF BHAAL TEMPLE HILL.

STAR WARS: DARTH BANE: PATH OF DESTRUCTION.

STAR WARS: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO.

STAR WARS: DARTH BANE: DYNASTY OF EVIL.

MASS EFFECT: REVELATION.

MASS EFFECT: ASCENSION.

MASS EFFECT: RETRIBUTION.