Kahlee Sanders

Kahlee Sanders was a human First Lieutenant in the Systems Alliance, counted among its top computer and systems technicians and a recognized expert in synthetic intelligence. Born in Earth's Texan Megapolis in 2139 to Admiral Jon Grissom, she was repeatedly caught up in events surrounding illegal artificial intelligence research, Cerberus, and the looming threat of the Reapers. Over her career she became a close ally of David Anderson and a devoted guardian of the children of the Ascension Project.

Sidon and the flight from Saren#

Born in 2139 to an unknown mother and Admiral Jon Grissom, Kahlee enlisted in the Alliance at twenty-two, shortly after her mother's death. She joined the technical staff at the research base on Sidon, where Dr. Shu Qian led work on artificial intelligence while privately becoming consumed by the study of an unknown artifact discovered near geth space. When Kahlee recognized how irrational Qian had become, she resolved to report him, but fearing her own superiors could not be trusted she instead copied his research and fled to the colony of Elysium.

After learning that the Sidon base had been destroyed, Kahlee realized she was in danger and was nearly seized by the Blue Suns. She turned to her estranged father for help, and Grissom hid her until they were attacked by a krogan battlemaster named Skarr. David Anderson, who had come seeking her, helped drive off the attacker, though it was Saren Arterius who finally forced Skarr to flee. Saren questioned Kahlee about the Sidon research, but she lied that it had concerned biotics, and the deception held well enough that he departed. Anderson then smuggled her off Elysium under a false identity, and once she was certain she could trust him she passed him the data she had taken and named Qian as the traitor behind Sidon. Though an attraction grew between Kahlee and Anderson, they chose not to pursue it.

The Ascension Project#

Kahlee spent the following decade on classified Alliance work before returning to civilian life as a consultant. In 2178 she was offered a seat on the board of directors of the Ascension Project, whose new biotic implants made use of virtual intelligence. Living at the Jon Grissom Academy, she became devoted to the Project's children, above all Gillian Grayson.

The Project drew the attention of Cerberus. When a colleague, Dr. Jiro Toshiwa, was exposed as a Cerberus agent and attacked the Academy's security chief, Kahlee used her combat training to subdue him. Unaware that Gillian's father Paul Grayson was also a Cerberus operative, she agreed to let him take his daughter into the Terminus Systems on the condition that she accompany them, only to find that Grayson had been betrayed and that they were to be sold to the Collectors. Rescued by a quarian assault on the trafficker's warehouse, Kahlee escaped to the Migrant Fleet, where she was questioned by the quarians about her knowledge of synthetic intelligence and her history with Saren. When Cerberus attacked the fleet, she fought to defend the ship and to keep Gillian from harm, and her appeals to Grayson's love for his daughter eventually turned him against his handlers. Grayson was handed to her as a prisoner, but he overpowered her and escaped, and Kahlee returned to the Academy to look after the children who still needed her.

Grayson, Cerberus, and the Reaper threat#

Years later Kahlee remained at the Academy and kept in contact with Grayson, who was hiding on Omega. When he was captured by Cerberus and subjected to experiments with Reaper technology, she brought his files to Anderson, and the two turned to the turians rather than risk an Alliance compromised by Cerberus infiltration. Their search led them to a Cerberus station and then, as hostages of Aria T'Loak, to Omega, where Aria had agreed to help hunt the Reaper-controlled Grayson. Forced to lure Grayson out, Kahlee was nearly indoctrinated in the battle that followed, which ended with Grayson's death. Afterward Anderson asked her to join his research team studying Grayson's remains for anything that might be used against the Reapers, and she accepted.

The Reaper War#

When the Reapers invaded, Kahlee sent out a call to have the Academy's students evacuated before the station was overrun. A distress signal she sent was found to carry the same false signatures Cerberus had used to ambush Shepard a year earlier, revealing that a Cerberus cruiser, not a rescue, was bearing down on the Academy. Should Commander Shepard act on the warning, the Normandy SR-2 broke the blockade so the Commander's team could board, and Kahlee guided them by comm as they fought through Cerberus troops, located the remaining students, and commandeered shuttles to get the children clear. She argued for the readiness of the students, who had proved themselves under fire, to take on more than support duties.

After the Academy was secured, Kahlee marshaled the personnel and resources at her disposal for the war effort, and her path afterward depended on the course of events. Throughout, she expressed deep concern for Anderson's safety, and a message of hers urging him to stay alive could be found among the intercepted communications gathered by the Shadow Broker. Had Shepard failed to reach the Academy in time, Anderson would have reported it overrun by Cerberus and presumed Kahlee killed in the attack.