~Author's Note~ Yeah so, Warrior Angel is on hold. I'm having issues with some things, and just have writer's block with the overall plot, and I don't want to just head down a path willy-nilly without knowing where I'm going. So I figured I'd put up the first chapter of another idea I had, thanks to a few people asking to see more in the universe of Mindgames. Given how easy this one was to write, I might continue with this and put WA on the backburner for now.

So... this is the sequel to Mindgames. It is set between chapters 14 and 15 of Mindgames for the most part, (remember, chapter 15 begins nine years after the War's official end). If you haven't read that fic, it's okay, but you might be confused about a few things, namely, why certain people are dead, and why Liara is so interested in Jack. So if you haven't read it and you want at least a decent alternate ending to Mass Effect 3, head over to my profile. I'd give a link here, but it keeps messing up whenever I try to put it in. It should be easy enough to find, if you have trouble locating it for some reason, just shoot me a PM.

One last thing to clarify. In chapter 14 of Mindgames, I stated that Shepard resigns from the military a year after the end of the War. I realized while I was putting this chapter together that that statement will most likely be taken the wrong way. It is meant to read a year after the "unofficial" end of the War, not a year after the official end of the War, which would be six years too far.

I hope you enjoy the chapter.


Everyone was trying to dissuade her, it seemed. First Admiral Hackett had personally called her, offering to give her her own command of a small squadron of ships, with the Normandy as her flagship, and set her to hunting down the rest of the Reapers. He'd also again offered her the promotion to Captain. Again, she had turned him down.

Then it was her mother, talking about her duty and responsibility to the galactic civilization who had done so much for her, but Katelyn was pretty certain that she was just teasing her. Especially given her mother's proclivity for blaming the leaders of said galactic civilization for pretty much all of its ills.

Now, it was Garrus' turn.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Shepard? Just run off into the unknown with no one but a dashing Turian by your side?" He grinned, his mandibles lifting in that particular way of his.

Of course, she was completely certain Garrus was teasing her.

"Hmm, you do make a good point. I might get a bit bored with such company. So much time on our hands, so little to do."

He laughed. "Shepard, I'm sure wherever we go, you will attract trouble. Like flies to nutrient paste, as the saying goes."

She rolled her eyes. "That is not how the saying goes, and I don't think even flies would touch that crap."

She reached up and traced his scars, which had faded, but were never going to go away completely. "Wait for me? This shouldn't take long."

"I'm half-expecting them to forcibly keep you in the military."

"They can't do that. Not to me. If there's one thing my actions have earned me, it's a bit of peace. Besides," her voice turned a bit darker, "a lot of people don't want me around anymore. While the War was still going on, they were fine with it, but now that it's pretty much over... well, not everyone thinks I was a hero, as much as Alliance brass tries to play that up. We did blow up a planet with billions of innocents on it."

He looked at her, still uncertain of what to say. It had been a little over a year since Shepard had used the geth virus to keep the Reaper fleets from jumping out of the Sol system, and subsequently destroyed the Charon Relay and the entire system, along with three-quarters of the enemy fleet. The decision still haunted her, mostly because the entire thing had been her idea. She had all but convinced herself that the reason she came up with the plan, and no one else thought of it, was because there was something fundamentally broken inside her. Something that allowed her to think of an idea that sacrificed so many lives, and she was sinking further into that belief no matter how many times Garrus tried pointing out otherwise. In the intervening time, she and the Normandy's crew had been all over the galaxy, spearheading surgical strikes at what remained of the enemy, and helping colonies to rebuild and resupply. Despite all this, she still acted like she was "making up" for her part in blowing up a heavily populated star system.

"Shepard..."

"Hush, you. I know there was no other way. It doesn't mean I can't feel bad about it. Just... wait for me, okay? I'll be half an hour, tops." She kissed him on the cheek, and turned to enter the building.

Alliance Military Headquarters, the sign read outside. Funny that they would just advertise their presence like that. Of course, they were looking for volunteers in the wake of the Battle of Sol, as the humans were calling it. Alliance brass had set up shop on Eden Prime for the time being, only temporarily, they assured the rest of their species. Garrus didn't see why the humans shouldn't make Eden Prime their new home. Sure, it wasn't as large as Earth, but they didn't really need a planet as large as that anymore. He winced. That was a rather callous thought. But really, though, it was a garden world, it was plenty big enough to suit their needs for a home planet, why not make it official?

He shook his head. Some things he would never understand about humans. Turians would be all about practicality, finding a home planet as soon as possible. They would spout things like morale, and building up the populace, and they'd actually be right for once. Wandering around the galaxy with no place to call home was not a good life for most people, of any race. The Quarians may have endured it, but they were clearly far happier on Rannoch.

Staking a claim to an official homeworld would make the recovery process go far easier for the humans. The Council had set up supply chains to many of the more remote human colonies, mostly because of political pressure for something to be done. Much of the galaxy viewed humanity in a different light now, including many of the batarians. It was funny that the humans themselves seemed to be the only ones who were completely divided on whether Shepard's decision had been necessary. Well, maybe not. He supposed he could see the other side of things, assuming he didn't have a tactical mind, or if he had had relatives on Earth. Solana and his father had survived the Reaper's assault on Palaven, and Shepard even gave them a ride on the Normandy when she lead the strike that destroyed the last Reaper on Palaven. But if they had been on Earth, he might have different feelings about Shepard's decision.

He shook his head, clearing it of such morbid thoughts, and glanced up at the building, wondering if Shepard would be much longer. Maybe he'd drop back across the street to that cafe they had visited earlier, and grab another bite to eat. For a human-owned place, they made some pretty good dextro food. Nothing like homemade Palavenian food, of course, but a passable alternative.


The clerk at the receptions desk didn't even look up when Shepard approached her. She spoke in a monotonous voice, repeating a formula that Shepard was sure she had been saying all day long.

"Please state your name and your business."

"Katelyn Shepard, Commander." The clerk's head snapped up at that. "I'm here to turn in my form." The woman regarded her with wide eyes, and just stared, unspeaking. Shepard cleared her throat. "Form 364B? For retirement from active duty?"

"Oh yes, of course ma'am, right away. I'll just get... um. I'll get that for you."

She smiled at the woman, hoping to calm her, but all it seemed to do was make her more nervous. The clerk hit a couple buttons on the interface in front of her and then looked up at Shepard.

"J-just approach the terminal. I've keyed it up for you."

"Thank you," she scanned the woman's badge, "Lieutenant... Williams. Much appreciated." She swallowed a bit at the name, but kept her composure. Ash's death had been over a year ago, but it still hit her hard every time she thought about her. And on top of that, they still weren't certain if Ash's family had been off-earth when the Charon Relay was destroyed. She figured there were a lot of things they would never know, and a lot of people they would never truly be certain whether or not they were alive.

She had walked over to the terminal when the woman spoke again, still nervous, but gaining a bit more confidence. "Ma'am? If I may?"

Shepard turned around again, hoping against hope that this wasn't leading where she thought it was leading. "What is it, Lieutenant?"

"Do you... do you really think," Williams took a deep breath and then looked her in the eye, "do you really think you should be retiring when the Reapers are still out there?"

Well. That wasn't as bad as where she thought it had been going.

"I'm fully confident in Alliance command, not to mention the Council, and their ability to finish the job. We've destroyed nearly all of the enemy's forces. It's just a matter of tracking down and destroying the last few."

The woman held her gaze, gaining confidence. "Will all due respect, ma'am, Alliance command and the Council would have let us fall to the Reapers if you hadn't been there."

Shepard gritted her teeth. This was precisely why she had come in here in the middle of the day, on a weekday. So no one would be here and be asking these questions. Did Williams really think she hadn't thought this through?

"And now, I've pointed out the enemy, and all they have to do is find them and finish it. If they aren't capable of that, then we're all screwed." She turned around, still gritting her teeth, and started filling out the paperwork. The woman behind her lapsed into silence. Shepard lost her anger as she went down the list. She was extremely grateful to Hackett for streamlining the process, normally it wouldn't be this easy. But he had made an exception for her, pretty much the only time she had used her reputation as a bargaining chip to get what she wanted. She was tired of fighting this endless war, and all that was left was mop-up action. She had spoken the truth to the lieutenant, there really was nothing more she could do that any other soldier couldn't also do.

And besides, she hadn't resigned her Spectre status. The Council had gone to the unprecedented step of granting her an "indefinite leave of absence," something they had to add into their little rulebook on Spectres, she was certain. If there was a problem, she could return to help in just a few weeks, but she had made a silent promise to herself that she wouldn't do so unless there was a dire emergency.

One final signature and it was done. The green button marked send was flashing, and with an odd sense of reluctance Shepard reached out, took a breath, and pushed it. It was over. She straightened up, let her omnitool die down, and just stood there, staring at the "Message Sent," on the screen. Then that went away, and the original screen popped back up. "Please insert I.D."

She turned away from the terminal, took a deep breath, and headed back outside. She vaguely heard the lieutenant call out to "Have a nice day," but she didn't reply. She pushed on the door, and it gave way, opening to a bright sky, and a completely cloudless day.

For the first time in sixteen years, she was not an active member of the military. That felt a little odd, but good. She was free to make her own decisions, truly free. No one could call her up and order her to go chasing down a rogue geth halfway across the galaxy, they could only request her assistance. She grinned. Yes, it was definitely a good feeling.

She waved to Garrus, who had migrated across the street. He was eating something that she didn't even want to look at twice, much less ingest. He gave a theatrical sigh of relief, and motioned her over to him. She grinned, and started to make her way across the street.

And it was then that everything went straight to hell.

She had just begun crossing the street when a massive wave of sound, fire and metal hit her from behind as the Alliance Military Headquarters exploded, spewing steel and flame in a wide vicinity. The shockwave knocked her across the street and through the window of the cafe where just an hour before, she and Garrus had shared lunch.

Her hearing was almost completely gone, but she did manage to detect the soft thump of someone landing near her, and a familiar taloned hand gently turned her over. She tried to tell Garrus she was going to be alright, but she couldn't tell if she was screaming at the top of her lungs, or even saying anything at all.

Her ears ringing and her vision fading, she gave her best attempt at a smile in case nothing she had attempted to say had gotten through to him.

Then the blackness rolled in and she surrendered to its welcome embrace.