Aftermath

Chapter 19

Miranda left Shepard with a single guard near the docking bay while she went on ahead to collect her data. Ashley and Liara joined her after a moment, both looking at her expectantly.

Shepard shrugged. "She's helping," she said simply. A guard led them back down the corridor. "Miranda said they've intercepted a few transmission fragments that might be relevant. We're going to meet with one of her specialists."

The guard ushered them into one of the labs, this one clearly a tech lab, the walls covered with screens and diagnostic equipment. Four scientists in LRD uniforms were gathered around the specialist who was wearing an Alliance uniform. The Alliance Specialist was issuing instructions and the scientists promptly broke off to their tasks. Her voice caused a grin to break across Shepard's face.

"Samantha Traynor! Fancy seeing you here."

The dark haired specialist stiffened at the sound of Shepard's voice and wheeled around, an astonished look on her face. "Commander! Err, I mean Captain!" She caught herself and managed a salute. "It's good to see you. All of you." She smiled at Ashley and Liara.

"You work for Miranda?" Ashley asked.

"Well technically I'm assigned to the Alliance Special Tasks and Research group but I've been working out of Lawson R&D for the last few months on a special project. Here, let me show you."

She walked them to one of the nearby diagnostic stations and activated the console. After tapping a few keystrokes she spoke into the air, "System 343 please identify."

"System 343 identifies Specialist Samantha Traynor, Alliance. Authorization required."

The sound of the modulated voice made the hair on Shepard's neck stand on end. She felt Liara grip her arm in surprise.

Traynor continued, "System 343, authorization AlphaZed29016RocketTop. Identify."

"Authorization accepted. System 343, Enhanced Defense Intelligence online."

"EDI," Shepard said softly.

Traynor glanced at her, smiling sadly. "It's what I've been able to restore so far. Just the basic VI systems, no AI or self awareness. Not yet anyway," she said the last with a quiet determination.

"That's amazing," Shepard said.

"System 343 identify. Captain Jess Shepard, Alliance and Counsel Spectre," EDI said.

Shepard smiled at the sound of her name in EDI's voice. "Yeah it's me EDI. It's good to hear your voice."

There was no response. There wouldn't be from a pure VI system.

"I see you've all found each other," a voice sounded behind them. They turned to find Miranda, data disc in hand. "Shall we get started?"

###

Shepard, Liara, Ashley and Samantha gathered around a small galaxy map with Miranda. Once the data disc was activated the map came alive and navigated to a spot in empty space just outside of the Sol system. The coordinate beacon blinked at them.

"This is the main piece of information we mined from a string of what otherwise would have been considered space noise that seems relevant to the Redeemer fragment Dr. T'soni uncovered," Samantha explained.

"How did you catch it?" the Shadow Broker asked.

The Specialist began to twist her hands together, a habit when she felt embarrassed. "I wrote an algorithm that scans said noise for certain signatures we identified following past Redeemer attacks. It runs constantly and alerts at anything that shows similar patterns."