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“I'm not used to people looking out for me. My mother was always working and my father... well, you know. Looking out for myself just became habit.”

Kahlee Sanders is a female human and First Lieutenant working for the Systems Alliance. Kahlee is one of the Alliance's top computer and systems technicians, and a known expert in synthetic intelligence.

Kahlee is of average height and build, listed in her personnel file as 5'5 and 120 pounds; her most notable feature is shoulder-length naturally blonde hair, which, as a genetically recessive trait, has become a rarity by the 22nd century.

Mass Effect: Revelation[]

Main article: Mass Effect: Revelation

Born in Earth's Texan Megapolis in 2139, to an unknown mother and Admiral Jon Grissom, Kahlee enlisted in the Alliance at twenty-two, just after her mother died. She was one of the technical staff at the research base at Sidon, on Dr. Shu Qian's team. The research base was conducting research on artificial intelligence, but Dr. Qian was also studying an unknown artifact that had been discovered near geth space, a study that was verging on an obsession. Kahlee discovers Dr. Qian's irrational behavior and decides to report him to her superiors in the Alliance. Kahlee, however, is afraid that her superiors could not be trusted and that they knew about the research anyway. She downloads copies of data and Qian's research files, and flees to the planet Elysium.

When Kahlee hears that the base on Sidon has been destroyed, she realises she is in danger, and is almost captured by the Blue Suns before she could escape. She goes to see her father, Admiral Jon Grissom, to ask for his help, even though they haven't spoken in years. Grissom keeps her hidden at his house, until they are attacked by the Krogan Battlemaster, Skarr. Lieutenant David Anderson - who'd come to the house asking about Kahlee - returns to rescue them from the krogan but it is eventually Saren Arterius who drives Skarr off, having tracked him to Elysium.

Saren questions Kahlee about the research being conducted on Sidon, but Kahlee lies and claims that it was biotics research. Saren doesn't entirely believe her, but the lie is convincing enough to make him leave. With the help of one of her father's underworld contacts, Kahlee is sneaked off Elysium under a false identity with Anderson to protect her. Once she knew she could trust him, Kahlee gives Anderson an OSD containing the research she took from the base, and explains that Qian is the traitor who caused the destruction at Sidon.

Kahlee and Anderson then head to Camala to follow up a lead on Qian's supplier, Dah'tan Manufacturing, only to find the Dah'tan facility destroyed. Circumstances force her to be shipped off Camala, however during the shipment, Kahlee is captured by Skarr and coerced with the threat of torture to assist Dr. Qian with his research. Anderson and Saren storm the refinery where Dr. Qian and Kahlee are being hidden - having argued with Saren about saving her, Anderson manages to rescue Kahlee just before Saren destroys the facility and kills many of the workers and their families in the process. After the conflict, Kahlee is promoted and transferred to a classified posting. Though she and Anderson are attracted to each other, they choose not to pursue the relationship.


Mass Effect: Ascension[]

Main article: Mass Effect: Ascension

Kahlee spends the next ten years working on classified projects for the Alliance before she eventually returns to civilian life as a consultant. After three years, in 2178, she is offered a position on the Ascension Project's board of directors, likely because of the Ascension Project's use of VIs in their new biotic implants. Living on the Jon Grissom Academy, Kahlee becomes devoted to the children of the Ascension Project, especially Gillian Grayson. She also begins a relationship with a co-worker, Dr. Jiro Toshiwa, and makes friends with the Academy's security chief Hendel Mitra, though they sometimes clashed over Paul Grayson's right to see his daughter.

After hearing of the geth attack on the Citadel, Kahlee wonders if there is a connection between Qian's artifact and Saren's flagship Sovereign, but she is more concerned with the welfare of the children at the Project, particularly Gillian after an incident in the Academy's cafeteria. When Jiro Toshiwa is revealed as a Cerberus agent, attacking Hendel when he tries to protect Gillian, Kahlee doesn't hesitate to use her Alliance combat training to subdue Toshiwa and have him interrogated.

Not knowing Paul Grayson is a Cerberus operative as well, Kahlee agrees to let him remove his daughter from the Academy and take her into the Terminus Systems, on the condition that she and Hendel accompany them. However, Paul Grayson is double-crossed by his old colleague, Pel, and Kahlee realises they are about to be sold to the Collectors. She is rescued when Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya launches an assault on Pel's warehouse, but doesn't understand why the young quarian recognises her or how he knows her service history with the Alliance. Kahlee drives a stolen rover through the warehouse wall and helps Lemm to steal a shuttle to take them to the safety of the Migrant Fleet.

Along with Gillian and Hendel, Kahlee is quarantined aboard their shuttle on the cruiser Idenna until summoned to a meeting with members of the Conclave and Admiralty Board. She is asked about her expertise in synthetic intelligence, and about her history with Saren Arterius, but Kahlee couldn't tell them anything conclusive about Saren or the Reapers. She is also concerned that her actions at Sidon might have enabled Saren to attack the Citadel itself. However, as Captain Ysin'Mal vas Idenna tells her later, even the possibility that the quarians could find a Reaper and use it to control the geth made Kahlee and the others a potent political symbol aboard the Migrant Fleet.

Kahlee is on the front lines when Paul Grayson and Cerberus attacks the Idenna, fighting to help defend the ship and to keep Gillian Grayson from harm. When the battle goes badly, Kahlee goes looking for Gillian, only to be attacked by Golo and viciously beaten while Paul Grayson watches. She appeals to Grayson's love for his daughter, telling him that Gillian had been happy aboard the Flotilla, and Cerberus is just turning her into a weapon to use against the rest of the galaxy. Grayson finally relents and kills Golo, saving the Idenna when he warns of explosive charges planted aboard the Cyniad.

Paul Grayson is given to Kahlee as a prisoner by the quarians, and she intends to return him to the Alliance for questioning. But while en route to Cuervo, Grayson overpowers Kahlee and takes her stunner, using it on both her and Lemm. They wake up on the volus world of Daleon, unharmed, but Grayson is long gone. Kahlee asks Lemm to take her back to the Ascension Project; there are still children there who needed her help.


Mass Effect: Retribution[]

Main article: Mass Effect: Retribution

Three years have passed since the Cerberus plot to control Gillian. Kahlee Sanders is still working with the Ascension Project at the Grissom Academy. Kahlee has remained in contact with Paul Grayson since he was forced to go into hiding on Omega and provides him with updates about his daughter Gillian once a month. Shortly after a conversation with Grayson, Kahlee receives another communication from him marked urgent which includes a pre-recorded message. The message informs her that Grayson has been captured by Cerberus. Attached to the message are all of Grayson's files on the human-survivalist organization. She takes the information to Admiral David Anderson on the Citadel for help. Deciding that informing the Systems Alliance, which has been infiltrated by Cerberus operatives, would be too risky, they turn instead to the turians. Orinia, the turian ambassador on the Citadel, agrees to use turian forces to take down Cerberus.

Later, Kahlee and Anderson receive word that a turian force had raided a Cerberus space station and recovered Grayson. Worryingly, however, the turian troops have not made any further contact. Orinia assumes that Grayson betrayed the turians, but Kahlee defends him, asking to go to the space station herself to learn what happened. Kahlee, Anderson, and an escort of turians travel to the station, where they learn that Cerberus has been experimenting on Grayson with Reaper technology. The station then comes under attack from Aria T'Loak's henchmen, who kill the turians and take Kahlee and Anderson to Omega as hostages. Aria had been asked by the Illusive Man to aid in the hunt for the escaped, Reaper-controlled Grayson; Aria had readily agreed, believing Grayson to be behind the death of her daughter Liselle. Kahlee is forced to a make a fake distress call to Grayson to lure him out. Grayson arrives and finds Kahlee, but the Reapers controlling him realize they've fallen into a trap and Grayson is able to fight his way out. Afterward, Kahlee and Anderson are offered a ride off Omega by Kai Leng, a Cerberus assassin who has also been tracking Grayson. They refuse to aid Cerberus and fight Leng, but Leng overpowers them and makes a second offer, this time claiming that Grayson's condition can be reversed if they would help Cerberus find him. They accept this time, but at the shuttle bay Anderson is able to incapacitate Leng. Taking Leng's shuttle and securing Leng aboard it, Kahlee and Anderson set a course for Grissom Academy, Grayson's destination.

At the Academy, Kahlee and Anderson leave Leng behind and split up. Kahlee goes to find the space station's guards while Anderson heads toward the labs; meanwhile, Leng breaks loose and enlists the help of an Academy student, Nick Donahue, to take out the station's "attackers". Kahlee, Anderson, Leng, and Nick encounter Grayson and fight him. Kahlee is almost indoctrinated in the battle. Eventually, Anderson and Leng kill Grayson using a shotgun and pistol. In the aftermath, Anderson explains to Kahlee that he wants to study Grayson's remains in the hopes of discovering something to use against the Reapers. Anderson asks Kahlee to join his research team. She accepts, and kisses Anderson.


Mass Effect: Deception[]

Note: This section features material from the first edition of Mass Effect: Deception, which BioWare has acknowledged contains discrepancies with other Mass Effect lore. Once revised editions of the book are released, this section will be updated.

In Mass Effect: Deception, Kahlee Sanders is on the Citadel with David Anderson and Nick Donahue to present evidence to the Council that the Reapers were behind Paul Grayson's attack on Grissom Academy. Even after being shown Grayson's Reaper-mutated body, however, the Council is unconvinced and argues that Cerberus may be the sole culprit. Afterward, Sanders and Anderson discover that Nick has gone missing and may have become involved with a biotic supremacist group known as the Biotic Underground.


Mass Effect 3[]

During the war with the Reapers, Kahlee sends out a communication to have her students evacuated from the Academy before it is overrun by the Reapers. Initially, a turian cruiser responds, but after Samantha Traynor aboard the Normandy SR-2 under Commander Shepard examines the signal, she finds that it is a fake and that it has the same false signatures that led Shepard into a Collector Ambush the previous year. Traynor says that it is in fact a Cerberus Cruiser heading for the Academy.

Should Shepard choose to act on Traynor's information, upon arriving at the Academy, the Normandy finds the cruiser and a dozen fighters blockading the Academy. Kahlee contacts the Normandy and tells them that Cerberus has taken over the docking bays but she can get a cargo hatch open so Shepard's team can board to save her and her students. Joker pulls the Cruiser and fighters out of position and allows Cortez flying one of the Normandy's Kodiaks, and the squad to enter the Academy.

After entering the Academy and eliminating the Cerberus troops in the hall, Shepard manages to reach the room she has taken shelter in and after forcing the door open, the Commander tells Kahlee it's safe to leave her cover. Kahlee begins working on a computer in an attempt to locate any remaining students in the Academy while filling in Shepard on their latest efforts to create a Biotic Strike Team composed of their most talented students.

Throughout the remainder of the mission, she aids Shepard via comm messages with directions for how to escape the station, eventually finding a way to commandeer two Cerberus shuttles while Shepard is busy shepherding the kids.

At the mission's conclusion, she thanks Shepard for the help. Kahlee also voices her opinion that the students, having proved themselves in their recent combat, may be ready to take on more than simple support roles. If Jack is the biotic instructor and Shepard assigns the students to biotic artillery strike teams on the front lines, Kahlee thinks the students are ready for such a role. Otherwise, she vehemently opposes the decision, saying that the students are not up to the task without an instructor.

When Shepard mentions Anderson, Kahlee expresses a sense of deep caring and concern for the Admiral and his safety. Later, Shepard can read a message Kahlee sends to Anderson from Liara's terminal, stating that he better stay alive and stay safe, for her sake.

Kahlee makes her contribution to the war effort after the Grissom Academy incident, marshaling and coordinating personnel and resources she has at her disposal. If Jack is alive, Kahlee periodically checks in with her and the kids.

Jack, the Grissom students, and Kahlee planning what to do next

If Jack is alive, the Grissom survivors were relegated to support duties, and Shepard chooses to use the Crucible at the battle for Earth, Kahlee resumes her old duties at the Alliance, standing alongside Jack and their students from the academy.

If Shepard does not go to Grissom Academy in time, Anderson will inform Shepard that the Academy was overrun by Cerberus. He mentions Kahlee during the conversation and presumes she was killed in the attack.

Trivia[]

  • Before Mass Effect 3, Kahlee was only seen on the cover of Mass Effect: Ascension as a silhouette. Mass Effect 3 marks the first time her face is ever seen.[2]
  • Grey DeLisle, who voices Kahlee Sanders, also provides the voices of Nassana Dantius, Lieutenant Durand and Dalatrass Linron. She also worked on BioWare's Baldur's Gate II, voicing Viconia DeVir and Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, voicing Velanna, Danella, and Private.

References[]

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