Chapter 1

The Fire Spreads

Doctor Liara T'Soni woke with a jolt, sending papers and a few datapads flying about, and unwittingly punching a glass of water, sending it flying across the room where it shattered against the wall, the contents trickling down its surface, seeping into the carpet.

Embarrassed she stood up, realizing as she did so that she was still in her uniform, further embarrassed she set about cleaning up the room. Using her biotics she was able to pick up all of the glass and throw it into the waste basket while she used her hands to pick up the papers. Packing them into a neat stack she put them on her nightstand, pausing she picked up the picture that was sitting there.

It was showing a picture of the SSV Normandy, the original vessel, the one that had been instrumental in taking down Saren Arterius. One of the employees that had helped bring all of the material that she had been using had asked about it, and the man had seemed surprised when she said that she had served on it.

The fact that he hadn't known about her service hadn't surprised her, despite numerous reports focusing on her, and the other non-humans, most of the attention had gone to Shepard, deservedly so. Touching the screen the image shifted, now displaying a picture of him.

He was standing with then-Councilor Anderson, and despite his efforts to remain serious, it was obvious that he was struggling to keep a grin at bay. Anderson was making no such efforts, his arm was slung around Shepard's shoulders and a proud grin dominated his face. The photo had been taken a few days after the Battle of the Citadel, and was one of the few of the men that hadn't been taken by some reporter.

He never really got used to being in the spotlight, Goddess none of us did, but he used to always brush off their compliments and questions. He said it had been a matter of duty.Liara thought to herself.

Touching the screen she cycled through the pictures, they displayed many places that she had been, and the people that she had known. The first few were of her friends; Ashley, and Tali dancing in Flux while Shepard sat leaning against the wall while Liara leaned on him.

Garrus and Shepard having a sniping contest using a pair of intact Geth heads as targets, Wrex on Tuchunka, examining the planet, looking as close to serene as a Krogan could get.

The next one was of Ilos; she had managed to snap a few pictures with her Omni-tool right before they had met Vigil, the Prothean VI that had guarded the world during the last cycle, how amazing that place had been!

If only she could have studied the facility right then, she no longer felt the connection to the Protheans that she's once had. Since the Normandy was attacked she had focused only on stopping the Reapers, and keeping her friends safe.

Deep within her she knew that she had lost something when she watched the ship die, a spark had been burnt out within her and replaced by the cold calculating personality she had now.

Hesitating before switching she looked at the last two images. The first had been taken on the Normandy; Shepard held her in his arms and both were laughing. She smiled at the memory. Shepard had come up from behind and grabbed her; surprised she had almost sent a singularity at him. He had reacted by lifting her up and spinning around, giving someone the opportunity to capture the moment.

Tapping the image again it was of her with Shepard in the captain's cabin. She had her head on his chest and he had his arm wrapped around her, even in this picture taken so long ago he seemed to have stress on his shoulders, his eyes were those of a tired yet content man. They were both smiling, made happy merely by being in each other's presence.

That was the last picture that had been taken of the old Normandy; it had been destroyed by the Collectors two days later.

Tears welled in her eyes at the memory, the event had been burned into her mind, and she could remember every single intricate detail of that day. She had woken after Shepard and had dressed in her usual green uniform. She had eaten a light breakfast with a particularly foul-mouthed marine named Palawen, and she had gone off to chat with Tali when the ship moaned, and an explosion blew her off her feet.

Within seconds the deck had been burning;the screams still rang in her ears. She remembered racing to the armory and leaping into the first suit of armor she could find, which had been one of Ashley's pink and white suits.

She remembered Shepard's voice over the loudspeakers, ordering everyone to abandon ship, and how she had argued with Joker, first telling them begging him to follow the order.

She had run to Shepard, who was attempting to fight the fires. She had wanted to stay with him, but he had ordered her to go… and she had. Leaving him on the ship, where he would end up sacrificing his life to save that of Joker.

To say that she had been an emotional wreck would be an understatement, and it hadn't taken too much effort on the part of Cerberus to convince her to help the retrieve Shepard's body.

She had fought agents of both the Shadow Broker and the Collectors, and when she had possession of the fallen man she had willingly given him over to Cerberus, leaving him to be repaired by the organization.

Liarahad then focused on her own private war with the Broker, which would become a sort of obsession. It had culminated when she, Shepard, and Garrus Vakarian had stormed the Shadow Broker's personal vessel on Hagalaz.

They had met, fought, and killed the great beast that was the Shadow Broker, and Liara became the new Shadow Broker, in order to better aid Shepard and his team. It had been six months ago when that had happened.

The base had been a fountain of useful intelligence, but Cerberus struck at it soon after Shepard broke away from them. She had managed to save most of the data and she had even taken out the cruiser they had sent by ramming the broker's ship into it.

Goddess, it seems like only yesterday that I had been in that room, sobbing in his arms. Closing her eyes she thought back to right after she had become the Shadow Broker, Shepard had invited her to the new Normandy. She had talked to Joker, Tali, and Garrus before going up to his cabin.

Shepard had joked around with her, saying that after beating the Reapers he would want to settle down with her and have "lots of little blue children". She had made him promise to always come back to her, and he had accepted on one condition.

She smiled slyly; both of them had enjoyed that condition thoroughly. She had seen him a few more times since then, the last time being right before he had turned himself and the Normandy in to Alliance command. Six months ago, thanks to her connections she knew exactly where he was and what he was doing at any given time.

It wasn't really stalking, but it was close to it. She knew that he often times watched the news or spent his time reading old books on his Omni-tool. He had tried ninety-seven times to contact members of his old squad, and had tried to call her personally thirty nine times.

Sighing she put the picture back on her nightstand, and walked briskly towards her research station, deciding not to take a shower or eat, her task had to take priority.

She was on Mars; the site of the first human contact with Prothean technology, this planet proved to humanity that there was indeed other intelligent life in the galaxy. That event would lead to the discovery of the Sol Relay, the First Contact War, all the way up to the present day.

Hundreds of thousands of zetabytes of Prothean data had been stored here, and even now the Alliance's best scientists were doing their best to piece together the data, most of which still lay encrypted within the confines of the ancient bunker.

She was the only alien here, and much of the initial suspicion had not worn off during the time she had spent in her research. She had heard the scientists and marines mutter about her when they thought she wasn't there to hear. Why was she here? Who let her come in? What was she doing here?

She certainly had an important task, not that she could tell them of it. A few weeks ago, Admiral Hackett had contacted her old office on Ilium, requesting that her aid in a project involving the data and the Reapers.

When she had accepted his offer, he had given her special permission to visit the base and granted her access to all files and authority; enough to make even a Spectre impressed. Finally he had told her the exact details of the mission at hand; find something, anything, in these old files that could be used against the Reapers.

Since arriving here she had spent every waking moment since she arrived here looking through the files, at first it had almost seemed like a futile effort, but yesterday she had discovered a data file which might be the key, unfortunately it had not be fully translated yet, so she had turned on the translator program and went to her room, letting the machine sort it out during the night.

Eager to see just what she found, she raced to the analysis room with a sense of urgency about her. A few of the scientists walking about glanced in her direction and waved, she returned the offered gestures without pausing.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for an elevator she finally reached her destination and was greeted by a pair of Alliance soldiers wearing their blue combat armor.

One of the men was relaxed, his helmet was off and his rifle was leaning on the wall behind him, he grinned as she approached, and he examined her with green eyed intensity. A bar on his chest identified him as Private D. Johnson, though it wasn't really needed, the man had been trying to win her affection since she had arrived.

The other looked like he came straight out of a recruitment video. He was standing with his rifle in his hands, armed and ready for combat. He had his helmet on and acknowledged her presence with a nod. His bar, cleaned and shiny, read J. Morson.

The first man's smile broadened when he noticed her looking at him. "Anything spectacular you're researching today Dr. T'Soni? Maybe some long lost Prothean advertisement for a toothbrush?" he asked. She heard Morson murmur something like 'idiot", but Daniel didn't take her eyes off of him.

"Daniel when you've been an archaeologist for as long as I have you find everything spectacular, even something like a toothbrush" she answered carefully. This man seemed to think that his pretty eyes would charm her; it was laughable to say the least.

His companion on the other hand was utterly professional about his job.

"Identification and pass please Doctor" he asked her in a neutral tone.

Daniel sighed in exasperation. "Come on Morson, how many beautiful Asari are running around in this hole?" grinning at her again he continued. "I think we can give her the benefit of the doubt here."

Morson ignored him, he took the credentials that Liara offered him and scanned them, satisfied he returned them and went back to his position. "You may proceed into the analysis room Doctor T'Soni." He told her.

"Thank you Private" Liara said back to him, she started to walk past, but was intercepted. "Hey, Doctor T'Soni would you like to grab a meal at the mess with me after you're done in there?" he asked hopefully.

"Daniel, it was flattering the first time, but I've repeatedly told you that I am in a relationship." She replied.

The man's smile didn't waver, but he moved out of the way. He gave her one last wink as she stepped into the lab.

(**)

Daniel's grin faded after she left, he suddenly grabbed his helmet and rifle and looked to his companion. "I'm going to the can right quick Morson, won't be too long." He said with a hint of mockery in his voice.

Morson nodded at him, and went back to his post. Daniel walked around the corner and dashed to the next hallway, walking to the security station he gazed at the two men standing there. To save the many, the few must be sacrificed He thought as he walked towards the guards, he removed his knife, the men had no helmets and it would be quieter.

(**)

The room was large, the voices of the guards and scientists echoed off of the walls in an almost disorienting manner. A large vid screen on one of the walls was broadcasting the news; it looked like they were trying to broadcast something from Earth but all that was getting through was static. A grumbling technician was attempting to fix the picture.

No matter how advanced technology gets you can always rely on it to break when its most inconvenient Liara thought kept walking and tried to hide a smile as the tech started swearing loudly to another man over his radio, who was responding in kind.

Once she reached a small room she hopped into a chair and accessed the computer where she had left her project last night. Keying in she let out a small cheer as she analyzed what the computer had come up with from the data. It was apparently plans for something, a device that the Protheans had planned on using against the Reapers.

It was awfully convenient, there being plans here right when they needed them. She buried the thought, if the Goddess decided to throw her a bone she wasn't going to complain.

She was about to delve further into it when she heard some sort of a commotion in the room behind her. Concerned she stood up and walked outside, the room had been flooded by people.

Liara saw dozens of scientists and troopers, even seeing Morson in the crowd. Strange, the two men never split up, I wonder where Daniel is. Morson looked at her and nodded towards the vid screen, the techs had finally managed to breach the static. Liara paused to listen to it.

"Repeat, the Sol system is under hostile attack, this is not a drill, enemy forces have struck at Luna base and Earth, all space-borne vessels, military and civilian are hereby ordered to evacuate the Sol system as soon as possible. Repeat, the Sol system is under hostile attack…" the video was saying.

"Oh my God…" gasped a nearby woman, her face as white as the uniform that she was wearing.

It has to be the Reapers, oh Goddess; I thought we had more time.. Liara thought, transitioning from surprise to horror in rapid order. Suddenly the video erupted into static then cut out completely. The room was suddenly dead quiet, a quiet that was suddenly broken by the distant sound of gunfire. Panic consumed the humans most of whom had never been around any sort of combat situation.

A pair of white armored men suddenly appeared at the entrance of the room, Liara had just enough time to make out the Cerberus insignia on their shoulder plates and throw up a barrier before they opened up.

Thanks to her biotics, she weathered the shots, but everyone else was torn to pieces, the few guards not even having enough time to fire return shots. Reaching into her belt she took out her pistol, and leapt over a nearby desk, hearing the bullets fly past her.

Looking up at a nearby terminal she could see the reflection of the Cerberus men, they were clustered together. Holding her breath she launched a Singularity at the group, all four of them were snatched off of their feet and started floating erratically around the room. Jumping up she aimed her weapon. One bullet each she intoned in her head as she aimed. Four shots, four kills.

From the sounds of screaming and gunfire, there were more Cerberus troops, a lot more. Running out from the room down the hallway she used her biotics to smash a surprised trooper into a wall, her barrier catching the panicked burst he fired off. Rounding the corner she saw half a dozen more of them rushing towards the door.

Stopping she smashed the butt of her weapon into the door control, an alarm went off and the door slammed to the ground. Goddess, how did so many of them get into the base?She thought to herself.

Looking around she saw a vent, focusing her barrier on her hands she tore the grating off of the vent and dove inside even as more Cerberus troops rushed into the hall from the other direction.

Desperately she crawled through the vent, attempting to move faster than her pursuers, who fired at her wildly from behind. Adrenaline coursed through her, she had to escape. She had to survive.

(**)

"Shepard, I am picking up no transmissions from the base, and they are not responding to my hails. Also there is a large dust storm heading towards this area." EDI announced.

"So if you can just pick up your crazy girlfriend and get out that would be ideal Commander." Joker added in. Vega glanced over his shoulder at Shepard; so far the man had never shown any annoyance towards the pilot's wisecracks, come to think of it, neither had Williams.

Looking over his other shoulder at Williams he saw that she was watching Shepard with a wary eye. Well this isn't awkward at all Vega thought to himself.

Shepard was silent for a moment, Vega wondered if Joker had pushed the man too far. "Are you sure Joker? I heard Mars has a great weather pattern this time of year, maybe you and the ship can go on a date while we go off and find my girlfriend" the Commander said in a wry voice.

"Thanks but no thanks Commander." Joker said brightly "I'll leave the interspecies exploits to you."

Shepard chuckled "probably for the best, don't want you breaking anything"

The shuttle neared the ground. Each of the three put their helmets on, and upon hearing the metallic click of the pressure seal, shouldered their weapons. The door slid open and Vega was the first to jump out. His feet hit the ground and a cloud of dust rose up from the ground, giving everything an even more reddish hue.

The other two were quick to join their companion. Shepard took point and they started walking down the path towards the facility. Vega paused for a moment to gaze at the gigantic wall of dust rolling across the land towards the base.

"Damn, that storm is huge, better get out of here before it smashes this place" he commented.

Williams looked at him, "what's the matter James? Is the big bad dust storm too tough for you?" she teased. Shepard chuckled as he waved them both forward.

Shepard and Vega ran in the front while Williams ran in the back. She had her sniper rifle slung on her back, but currently she, like the other two, had her assault rifle out. Just over the rise Shepard suddenly stopped dead.

"Get down!" he barked into the comm. Finding cover quickly, Vega looked over the rock he had hidden behind, using his helmet's zoom function he could barely discern several armored forms walking around a half dozen shuttles that were parked in front of the base's entrance. Squinting he could just barely make out the symbol on their chest…

"Cerberus" he sighed. Shepard nodded to Ashley who pulled out her sniper and confirmed their observation.

Looking back at the men he could make out that Cerberus had captured several Alliance personnel, one of the white armored troopers walked up, pistol in hand, and shot a single round cleanly into each of the prisoner's heads.

"Holy shit, they're executing them." Vega stammered.

"Shepard, what are they doing here?" Williams asked venom in her voice.

"You honestly expect me to know everything about an organization that I abandoned don't you?" Shepard replied, his voice cold. Vega could feel the tension rising and he shifted nervously; glad that their argument couldn't carry with their helmets on.

"No" she answered. "But Cerberus troops just happening to be here right after we get you, just happening to arrive at this base before we did, and just happening to have achieved surprise seems odd to me."

"For the last time Ashley, I worked with Cerberus to stop the Collectors, after I blew up their base I essentially spat in the Illusive Man's face, so I wouldn't imagine him inviting me to any Cerberus meetings any time soon."Shepard sounded as if he had said this line many times before, and the exasperated tone of his voice backed up that theory.

"Shepard, they brought you back to life, do you expect me to believe that you don't harbor some sort of a thought of debt towards them?" Ashley spat.

"Yes Lieutenant Commander, I expect you to believe that, because that's the honest-to-God truth, and if you don't believe that then I'm not going to waste my time trying to defend myself anymore" Shepard said anger turning to disappointment and resignation.

Shepard turned back towards the Cerberus troop's rifle ready. "Vega, you and me are going to grab their attention and hit them where it hurts. Ashley give us sniper support" He was already moving as he said the words.

"You got it Loco" Vega answered. Ashley bit out an affirmative. Vega decided to go all out and took a grenade from his belt. Shepard noticed what he was doing, told Ashley to snipe when the opportunity arose, and they both took cover behind one of the shuttles.

He armed the grenade and started to count. "One…two…three" on three he hurled the device, aiming at the largest group of hostiles. The bastards didn't even know what hit them and a half dozen were killed instantly by the resulting explosion. Another when down from a shot by Williams, and several more were killed by Shepard's assault fire.

Now normally seeing the majority of your squad die would cause most men to panic or retreat, but these Cerberus soldiers just charged right up and kept fighting.

The fight was short and deadly, but at the end the entire squad enemy lay dead on the ground, and the trio moved into the base. Walking into the main entrance, Vega quickly found and turned on the airlock controls; once the seal announced itself all of the three took off their helmets. They were on an elevator; Vega looked around for a control panel. Finding one he walked over to it and pressed the activate button. The elevator groaned in response, but started to ascend quickly enough.

After a few moments the elevator stopped, the three shouldered their weapons and proceeded into the next room, which appeared to be some sort of a garage.

There were no targets, but a sudden burst of sound made Vega jump. There was the sound of moving bodies and a single gunshot. Following the sounds Vega judged it to be coming from the ventilation shaft near the end of the room.

Suddenly there was the sound of someone kicking at the grating and when it gave way, Vega was very surprised to see an Asari come flying out of it. She hit the ground, rolled and created some sort of a biotic field that grabbed the two Cerberus men that had been following her from the shaft and threw them wildly about.

She showered them with bullets, and upon releasing the field shot them both one last time. Turning around her eyes widened and suddenly filled with relief at the sight of them.

Instinct had Vega raise his weapon to about waist level, but before he could raise it any higher Shepard put a hand on his gun "Easy James, she's definitely a friendly". He said softly. The Commander walked over to the Asari with an odd look on his face.

"Shepard... it's good to see you again." The woman said uncertainly. Upon reaching her Shepard put a hand to her face and held it there for a moment, before enveloping her in his arms and kissing her passionately.

The Asari let out a surprised noise but then returned the kiss fully, wrapping her arms around Shepard's neck. Clearing his throat, Vega looked away. Well I guess we found Doctor T'Soni he thought to himself.

(**)

Breaking the kiss Shepard looked into Liara's eyes, they were as deep and blue as ever. It was funny; when her first met her he couldn't help but notice how helpless and frightened she had been, she certainly seemed bolder now. "I'm glad that you're alright" He said softly. He lowered his arms, but she didn't move away.

"I'm alright, but when I heard about the Reapers, about Earth…" She trailed off. She looked close to tears, Shepard hugged her to his chest and they remained in that position until Vega gave a polite cough. Stepping back he grinned at her, and introduced her to Vega. He smiled and extended his hand.

Shaking the proffered hand Liara stepped back and looked at Ashley. "Ashley, it's good to see you again."

"Good to see you too Liara, I'm sorry it had to be this way though."

Liara nodded "I presume Hackett sent you all here?" she asked. Shepard explained everything to her, while Vega and Ashley kept watch. The silence of the base was only penetrated by their voices.

"So did you actually find anything that we can use here Liara?" he asked after he finished. The other two both looked up at her, waiting for whatever she had to say.

Liara smiled after a moment and nodded saying "Yes" she walked over towards a window and Shepard followed her. She tapped something on her Omni-tool and several images popped up over the device.

Shepard frowned and examined the images. "They look like schematics" he said finally.

Liara's smile broadened and she nodded again. "Yes, they are plans, a blueprint, for a device of Prothean design. As far as I can discern, it was a last ditch plan hatched by the Protheans to stop the Reapers, but they ran out of time."

"So if this device is supposed to take out the Reapers, then why did Cerberus attack the base?" Vega chimed in. "I thought they were fighting against the Reapers."

"I don't know" said Liara. "One minute I was studying my finds, the next they were pouring in from everywhere. We didn't even hear an alarm."

She met Shepard's gaze. "Shepard we need to get the rest of that data." The faint sound of gunfire put emphasis on her statement

Shepard nodded. "Ashley, you, me and Liara are going for the data." He looked at Vega "James I need you to stay here and cover our six"

Vega was bristled at the order. "What?" he said angrily. "You want me to stay behind and wait around while you guys go off and fight?"

"You have to stay behind and make sure the path to the shuttle is clear, it isn't going to be very long before the Reapers come knocking at the door, and we'll need to hightail it out of here once we have what we need"

Vega grimaced and looked like he was going to protest but bit it back and rushed back towards the elevator, putting his helmet back on as he went.

Shepard reached to his side and tossed one of the new SMGs he'd grabbed off of the ship at Liara, who caught it with both hands. "You're going to need another weapon besides the pistol there, I think." He said to her with a wink. Cracking his neck, he raised his Vindicator to his shoulder and flagged his companions' forward.