Okay, here's my official, REAL, first go at a fanfic. I guess it's sort of a sequel to the Tali Sex Scene. Anyway, reviews are always nice. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

A soft rumble was heard as the Normandy SR-2 powered down it's FTL drives and switched to sub-light engines. Jeff "Joker" Moreau's hands danced across his holo-dislpays, as his face became illuminated on the left hand side by a blue flicker of light; the ship's artificial intelligence, EDI.

"We are nearing the Citadel, Jeff"

The pilot shrugged the comment of with a wave of his hand and the phrase:

"Yeah, yeah, call Shepard and tell 'im where there. He'll want to have chat with the Council about the Collector base and all that jazz."

"Very well, Jeff"

Shepard rested his eyes on Tali's purple-tinted face, knowing that it soon had to be covered again by a mask. She'd taken an extra dose of antibiotics this time, to allow her to sleep beside Shepard for a while after they finished. He marveled at the fact that just less than a week ago, he, Tali and Garrus had been running for their lives inside a base of gene-manipulated Protheans, himself barely escaping with his life.

His thoughts were abruptly cut off by EDI's voice over the ship's comm:

"Shepard, we are nearing the Citadel."

He repressed a rude response and said:

"Thank you EDI. Now if you don't mind, the lady and I need to get dressed."

"Of course, Shepard", a hint of playfulness in her synthetic voice.

The doors opened with a slight woosh, and Shepard stepped onto the Presidium balcony, followed by Miranda Lawson and Garrus Vakarian. Waiting for him inside were Councilor David Edward Anderson, and the three holographic images of the other Council members. They all looked, and lit, up when Shepard entered the room. Anderson grasped Shepard's hand and smiled broadly.

"Shepard", spoke the Asari Councilor, "News of your success against the Collectors has spread quickly, though not as publicly as I'm sure you would have liked."

The Turian Councilor quickly took over, giving Shepard no time to respond:

"Taking down the Collector Base was certainly an... impressive feat. A surprising outcome, looking at your past decisions."

Shepard smiled inside at the Councilor's reluctance to acknowledge his success, and was about to respond when the Salarian spoke:

"Nevertheless, it would seem we owe you our lives again, Commander. But more to the point, I suppose you've come to once again ask for our assistance against the... Reapers?"

"Indeed", Shepard responded, relieved over the fact that they possessed some amount of foresight in the matter, "The Reaper coordinating the Collectors were known as Harbinger... and now that the Collectors are destroyed, he's sure to be preparing the Reapers for their attack on this galaxy. The Council must realize this threat by now."

The Asari Councilor hastily responded with:

"And we do... to a degree. I apologize for the continued disbelief, but the fact remains to convince the governments of the civilized races, and for you, Shepard, to call in your favors from those you've helped on your quest. But this will take time, as I'm sure you understand."

Shepard felt annoyance boil in his mind, but kept calm. No need to incite more hostility.

"I do, Councilor. And I mean to get on that as soon as I leave. And I also mean to get in touch with the Alliance about my returned service there."

Anderson stepped forward, hastily acknowledging Shepard's statement:

"I'm sure they would be happy to have you back, now that your affiliation with Cerberus has come to an end."

The remaining Council looked surprised at this claim. The Asari Councilor said, a hint of satisfaction in her voice:

"Oh? If this is true, it certainly bodes well for your continued efforts, Shepard."

Shepard nodded, smiling, and said:

"It's true, Councilor, and I'm happy to say that, frankly. And now, if there was nothing else, we should be going..."

"Actually, Commander..."

The Salarian Councilor had spoken up, catching Shepard slightly off guard, though not visibly.

"Yes?"

"We were hoping that not all your connections with Cerberus were cut."

Shepard frowned, puzzled, and before he could respond, Miranda stole his line;

"Why? What have they done now?"

The Council looked slightly uncomfortable with the fact that one of Shepard's squad had been allowed to speak out of turn, but continued:

"We picked up a very important piece of radio chatter on Cerberus channels by luck", the Turian Councilor said, "And we would prefer if you went and investigated the matter, Commander."

Shepard glanced at his teammates, then said:

"My ship's badly damaged, and I need to gather allies for the Reaper attack. What's important enough to draw attention away from that?"

The Asari Councilor answered the question:

"Well, it seems that Cerberus has invested quite a large amount of credits into an unknown project, on a small, remote planet in the Terminus Systems. We're concerned it might be some sort of weapon."

Shepard crossed his arms in annoyance.

"So send the fleet in. Or send another Spectre. Why me?"

"Well firstly, because we don't want to provoke war with the Terminus, especially now that we're about to start arming against the Reapers. Also, you've quite gotten familiar with the Terminus Systems of late, and you're our most effective operative. And we thought this might actually interest you personally."

"How so?" Shepard's eyes narrowed.

"Cerberus has never invested this much funds into any project. Except for you, Shepard."

Shepard gazed at the hazy blue of FTL space, his right hand on Joker's seat. The crippled pilot glanced at his Commander, and broke the silence:

"Any idea what's up with this, sir?"

Shepard's response was short and rough:

"The Council were a little vague on that point, Joker. Just get us there."

"Geez, sorry for asking..."

Shepard remained silently staring out the windows. He was worried. Very worried.

What was the Illusive Man up to? He couldn't be trying to... get back at Shepard somehow? No, the Council said the project had been running since a year after they started working on him. Was the Illusive Man really crazy enough to plan an attack on the other races? He knew about the Reapers, knew about the threat they posed. Was it a back up plan, in case Shepard had failed? The possibilities were endless in Shepard's mind. And he wasn't calmed by that fact. The real fact was, that Cerberus was capable of virtually anything. It could be anything.

A soft rumble was heard as the Normandy SR-2 powered down it's FTL drives.

Okay, appetites wetted... hopefully enough for you to bear with me through the long periods of writer's block. Thank you, and review please!! P.S: For those of you who got around to read the first draft; I changed Turian Councilor's dialouge a bit after a comment Haxxer. Also, the reason for the lack of, quote: "separators between transisions"(review) is that I forgot to check how it looked on the site in Document Manager. This will probably become a regular occurance, so notify me of those kind of things right away.