Author's Note:

A special thank you goes out to those who have helped this story take shape by allowing me to use them as a sounding board for ideas and then took the time to preview the chapters: Lyaksandra, my beta-reader whose invaluable skills have been the key to tipping the balance with my war on grammar; SherryE, who offered poignant feedback on ch1; and pink ninja potato, who is graciously offering feedback on the whole kit and caboodle.

Much gratitude goes out to all of those who have read, fav'd, and reviewed this story. The encouragement and feedback are fantastic, not to mention motivating. For those who are following this story, my plan is to update every Thursday. If I get far enough ahead in the chapters, I may update on Sunday, as well. *crosses fingers*

Chapter 2

Liara T'Soni stormed through the doors of the Normandy's war room. "We have to get back to Earth!"

Major Kaidan Alenko, Alliance soldier, the second human Spectre and now the highest ranking officer aboard the ship looked up from the mess of wires he was sorting. "We're working on it, Liara."

"Not hard enough, Major!" said the asari vehemently. "It's been eight hours since we landed on this planet. We should be back in the air already!"

With only seconds to spare before the red corona expanding through the Sol system overtook the Normandy, the frigate made a desperate bid for escape and entered the mass relay. Instantaneously they were transported to the Dakka system in the Nubian Expanse, but the red wave of energy had followed and engulfed the ship as soon as they emerged from the Dakka Relay then continued its course through the rest of the system. To add to the chaos, EDI's systems had gone offline and only through Joker's deft maneuvering and the frigate's emergency backup systems were they able to land on Pragia, a lush jungle planet, without any major damage to the ship or additional injuries to the crew.

"Liara, we're working as fast as we can." Kaidan, who was kneeling next to the command console that activated the war map, stood and met the asari's gaze directly. The large circular room was bathed in a soft reddish-hue from the recessed light fixtures and imbued everything it touched with a somber countenance. Seeing the exhaustion and pain in the researcher's blue eyes, he added, "I know how you feel."

Liara thought of her last rushed moments with her lover as she and the Major—because of injures they both sustained while running toward the Citadel beam—were whisked away from the battlefield by the Normandy. She remembered the hollow pit in her stomach as Shepard smiled sadly, her intense green eyes burning their essence into her heart, and then commanded them to leave. When Liara closed her eyes, she could still see the stark, pale green luminance emanating from the haunted stare of someone who had already determined their fate, but was waiting for destiny to catch up. "No, I don't think you do."

"Yes, I do!" countered Kaidan hotly. "I want to get back to Earth as much as you do! I want to know what the hell happened! But communications are down and navigation is still offline. We need this ship fully functional before we go charging back out there. Dying because we ran into an asteroid is not part of the plan."

Taking in a sharp breath of air, Liara bit back the retort on the tip of her tongue. She knew she was lashing out because of anger, frustration and fear and that the Major just happened to be a convenient target. Her anger and frustration stemmed from the lack of any news about what was happening on Earth or what happened after the Crucible triggered the red supernova that cascaded through space. The fact that the energy followed them through the relay was of great concern to her as well and generated a lot of unanswered questions. Her fear was derived from the unknown status of her lover. She had no connection to her network; no sources from which to formulate answers. As an information broker with no information, she felt impotent and blind. "Yes, of course. I know. It's just…" She tilted her head toward the floor, the forefinger and thumb of her left hand pinching the bridge of her nose, and sighed heavily. "What else can I do to help?"

Kaidan cocked his head to the side looking at one of the surveillance cameras on the wall. "EDI… Can you give me a status update on our communications?"

The doors of the war room swooshed open and EDI's mobile platform stepped through moving quickly, but gracefully across the room. Without hesitation, the synthetic form replied, "Primary and secondary tightbeam communicators appear to be online, but off-world communication is still unsuccessful. Specialist Traynor has confirmed that both the primary and secondary QEC are back online, but are also unable to make a connection off-world. We have yet to ascertain if something is blocking our communication signals or if there is no one to receive them." When she reached Kaidan, she handed him a datapad. "Here are the results on the system wide diagnostic checks."

"That's what I am experiencing in my lab, as well," said Liara. "It's as though the beam that followed us through the relay disabled our ability to communicate beyond this system."

After peering at the datapad, Kaidan said, "Along with the Reapers."

"Yes," replied Liara. "Apparently so." Her tone was hesitant, as though she couldn't quite make herself believe the conflict with the sentient machine race was over. Even though communications couldn't reach beyond the Dakka system, their long-range scanners had discovered that Reaper activity was no longer present in the system. Like a light switch being flipped, all Reaper signatures inexplicably ceased the moment they had passed through the relay. She assumed it was tied to the red energy just as she assumed that Shepard was somehow involved. When it came to the Reapers, her lover had a knack for being at that right place at the right time.

"No new Reaper signals have been detected since we landed," said EDI, confirming the information.

Turning towards EDI, Liara asked, "How are you feeling?" Although the AI didn't experience life like organics, Liara, through her conversations with Shepard, knew that the synthetic being standing before her shared many traits similar to organics—a sense of curiosity, a desire to evolve and a survival instinct. She also had a very dry, and at times outright uncomfortable, sense of humor.

Swiveling on her right foot, EDI directed her answer toward the asari. "I was offline for 382.42 seconds after the beam flooded the Normandy and a foreign program attempted to gain access to my root processes. It was… discomforting. Not unlike the struggle when Dr. Coré's program attempted a hostile takeover. I initiated a full self-diagnostic subroutine after the incident. No anomalies were found. Now, my first priority is restoring functionality to the Normandy."

"Good," said Kaidan, amiably. "Keep me informed on the progress."

EDI tilted her head slightly. Although functionally unnecessary, she had long ago concluded that mimicking the subtle mannerism of human body language reduced interactive tension with organics by 86.7 percent. "As you wish, Major. I will return this body to the bridge. Jeff says its physical proximity… motivates him."

Liara chuckled. "I'm sure."

Kaidan waited for EDI to leave the room before he turned to the researcher with a concerned look on his face. "She will make these repairs a lot easier, but I still want someone double-checking the results of her self-diagnostic. Last thing we need is for a rogue AI to start smashing heads." Thinking back to Mars, he ruefully added, "Trust me, it's not pleasant."

"Agreed," said Liara. "Tali or Engineer Adams would be the logical choices, but they have got their hands full with the ship's engine and shield repairs."

EDI's voice sounded out from empty space. "You may want to consider Specialist Traynor for this task. She worked extensively with my core functions during the retrofit and is able to analyze and decipher unorthodox patterns of code with an unusually high rate of success."

Kaidan mentally slapped himself. He'd fallen into the habit of thinking of EDI as being isolated to the synthetic form that walked through the ship, which wasn't the case. While a part of her did reside in that form, she existed primarily within the Normandy and could monitor every conversation on the ship simultaneously. "Thank you, EDI."

Liara raised an eyebrow, her curiosity genuinely piqued. "You don't have a problem with Specialist Traynor double-checking your results?"

"On the contrary," said the soothing bodiless voice, "I welcome the scrutiny. There are fifty terabytes of information to sort through. I will have declared my supremacy before she has analyzed a third of the data." After a momentary pause, EDI continued in her even, but matter-of-fact tone, "That was a joke."

When Liara saw Kaidan's initially pensive glance, she raised her right hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. She had gotten used to the AI's humor and had prepared herself for the punch line, but then without warning, uncontrollable giddiness rippled through her body, threatening to subvert her emotional resolve. To calm herself, she clenched her left hand into a fist and focused her attention on taking long, deep breaths. Worry and lack of sleep had put her nerves on edge. Without rest, it was just a matter of time before she lost control all together and broke down. In her mind, that was not an option. Not only would it be a waste of precious time, but it would also hinder the progression of the Normandy's repair and speed at which they could get back to Earth.

After a few moments of meditative breathing, Liara came up with a way to keep herself busy and also assist with the Normandy's repairs. "I'm going back to my lab and will try to manually reroute our communication trajectories."

Being unfamiliar with the finer nuances of long-range communication technology, Kaidan asked, "How will that help?"

"It will tell us if the primary and secondary communication networks are offline in every solar system or just this one," explained Liara. "And fabricating a new tunnel around the main comm buoys, basically bouncing the signal off redundant groupings, we might get lucky and make a connection with someone outside of this system."

Kaidan nodded his head in approval. "Good thinking. Let me know what you find."

"Of course," said the researcher before heading toward the door.

"And Liara…" Kaidan waited until the asari turned to look at him. "I'm sure Shepard's alright."

Liara shook her head in rueful contemplation. She knew the Major was only offering the comforting platitude to be kind, but she ruminated on the comment anyway—explored it with not just her logical mind, but with her heart and soul. She took in a slow, measured breath, a physical act reflecting the inner struggle as she wrestled with her worry and concern. Once she was able to allay her fears and soothe her agitated thoughts, the anxiousness rippling through her body melted away leaving a serene clarity in its passing. She didn't feel the ache of an open wound as she had three years ago while watching the destruction of the Normandy SR-1 and being witness to her lover's death. Instead, she felt lonely and isolated, but not grief-stricken. Not yet. Like a single star shining brightly on the obsidian backdrop of space, she still had hope that her lover was alive. Shepard had promised to always come back to her, and she would hold her lover to that promise. The researcher also took heart in the knowledge that she had overcome insurmountable odds to find Shepard once before and she would do so again. Without hesitation. The Goddess hadn't taken Shepard from her then; she would not take her now. Even if she had to travel the planes of hell itself, she would find Shepard.

As Liara breathed in deeply, a soft, knowing smile curled on her lips. "So am I."