I'm not gonna give you a lecture, Ehanis. What happened out there isn't the sort of thing you get past overnight. So if you need some time and space to clear your head? I understand. But leaving everyone, especially your sister, in the dark while you do isn't cool. She's got enough going on right now, she doesn't need to be worrying about you.

That's why I'm sending this. Redrock looks after its own. I know you and Linda exchanged words, but I want you to know that once everything has been wrapped up and we've handled our debriefing I'm gonna do what I can to make sure you get the credits you're owed even though you haven't fulfilled your obligation to Redrock. Your job will still be waiting for you when you come back. All I ask in return is that you keep in touch with Ilyna. Let her know you're alright. You know how she gets. We've already had one incident as a result of your behavior. When your sister came looking for clues about where you might have went, that ball of sunshine you call a roommate attacked her. So Ilyna is pretty much one bad day away from sending out the fleets to track you down at this point.

So that's the deal. Keep us up to date. Let us know you're alright. In exchange, I'll keep your sister from hunting you down and dragging you home by your ear, reserve your job, and make sure you get paid. Pretty damn good deal if you ask me. And if you are in some kind of trouble like your sister seems to think, all you have to do is call, Ehanis. You've got people here that have your back.

-Still your boss. Probably. (And a fucking awesome boss at that!) Jason.

Jason receives the first sign of life from Ehanis at 4am in the morning on the 9th of December, almost a week after her departure. It's a message that's a direct reply to his, and with no additional recipients.

There is an attachment, a two-dimensional picture of Ehanis sat in a booth in front of a window. She's wearing her white winter coat open over a simple purple shirt. The asari looks tired, stressed and a bit anxious. There are no more visible injuries aside from the hint of a bruise just visible on her shirt's edge.

The interior is reminiscent of a space shuttle, with dark metal bulkheads on the wall. The table in front of her is a segmented foldable plastic table attached to the wall with a white rubber mesh cloth on top to keep items still when the sea is anything but.

Outside is the ocean for as far as the eye can see lit by the first hints of dawn. The familiar ring in the sky on the right side of the image, and a sliver of one of the moons in the window's corner, confirms that she is still on Aite.

Ehanis is not holding her omni-tool, and unless she can program a drone to take the picture, someone else must have. All metadata about the image has also been removed, which means the time and place cannot be accurately determined.

It's barely five in the morning in Freedom Falls when Jason receives this message from Ehanis.

Subject: Irregular Contact
From: Ehanis TIoran
To: Jason Wolfe

Hi,

I'm writing this on an extranet terminal, so don't try to call back. They don't have anywhere for me to connect my own tool. It's early where you are and I don't want to wake up 'Lyna, so you forward this later, okay?

I can't tell you where I am, but if you think Freedom Falls is too cold and snowy, you definitely haven't been here. The place I'm staying is built to handle the regional weather, so everything I need is within these four walls. It's expensive, though, so I'll be moving on shortly.

I've attached a picture so you can see that I'm still kicking, in case you were worried that this was written by some maniac that steals people's omni-tools to take over their lives.

Still awaiting payment,
Ehanis

The attached picture is of the asari sitting at a narrow dark desk with a separator wall on either side. She looks tired, but is in no worse shape than when she came back from the mission. Ehanis is wearing a winter jacket that's zipped down enough to show a plain form-fitting purple shirt beneath.

In the background is a bar that's lit by blue and pink lights. Barely in frame are what appears to be the bottom parts of neon letters, with only dots and mostly straight lines to go on. The blurry, out-of-focus bartender looks human and is the only other person in frame. The place looks to be entirely indoors, but the image's timestamp is a few seconds before the message was sent.