"So," Liara said with a yawn, as she and Wednesday stretched out of their slumber.
"So… what?" Wednesday asked tiredly.
"What shall we call you now, pirate that you are?"
"Well, I was thinking something along the lines of Captain. Though there is something to be said for Commodore, or maybe even Admiral. Can't you see me, with the big floppy hat with feathers, bucklin' swash and raiding ships along the trade lanes?" Wednesday asked with a wide grin.
"I think that, for recognition's sake, you should stick to Commander Shepard. Everyone knows that name." She looked at the cute, pleading look on her lover's face. "Fine, I'll get you a hat."
"Yes!" the ravenette purred, leaving a kiss on her lover before they prepared for the rest of the day.


As the Normandy-A approached the Citadel, flanked by its sister ship, the Waterloo, Wednesday made the trip to the third deck to catch up with Liara and EDI's progress on extracting the data from the Cerberus android. She found the two of them as she expected, hovering over their project as they conferred and worked. She hadn't expected to see fresh bandages on the cuts the android was sporting.
"What's with the bandages?" she asked directly.
"Good morning Shepard," EDI welcomed the human. "We have discovered that the android's skin is more than a synthetic cover, it is living tissue."
"It would make it more believable as an infiltrator," Liara mused as she worked on the android's head, using the space where the ear used to be as an access port.
"There is something else… odd, Commander," EDI added, using Wednesday's chosen rank. Wednesday had proudly informed the crew that they had all been 'press ganged into service to Commander Shepard, the black heart of the blackness of space and Pirate Queen' at breakfast, or at least what passed for breakfast on ship time.

"The day hasn't started until there's been something odd happen around me," Wednesday said with a smirk. "What's up?"
"In my initial scans of the skin, something familiar appeared. I asked Dr Chakwas to remove a sample and run a more thorough analysis, which confirmed my theory."
"This android is wearing your skin," Liara summed up as she worked.
"Want to run that by me again, filling in a little more detail?" Wednesday asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Dr T'Soni's analogy is not quite correct," EDI clarified. "The skin is cloned tissue, but the majority of the genetic markers used in the cloning process bear great similarity to yours. In more layman's terms, a sample of your skin and the android's compared would have a 69.534892% correlation at the genetic level."
"Interesting," Wednesday mused. That level was more than a sibling, but less than a twin. That would make the android some kind of weird cousin, though considering some of the 'relatives' in the Addams Clan, it would be one of the less weird ones.

Actually, people had been accepted into the Addams Clan on far shakier genetic grounds many times before. Being an Addams was more of a mindset than anything else.

"As fascinating as that is, the bandages?" Wednesday asked, getting back to her original inquiry.
"It was still bleeding, and it was getting in the way," Liara replied bluntly.
"That's all I wanted to know," Wednesday replied sweetly. "Well, that, and have you got the data yet?"
"Short answer, not really," Liara replied. "It's dormant right now, so there are some things we can't access at the moment without difficulty, short-term memory being one of them. From what we've been able to recover, the android had the datafile and was beginning to transfer it somewhere unknown. However, it was transmitting it not based on the index I created, but from the most recently acquired segments." She put down a tool and selected a cable from the bench and carefully attached it to an exposed piece of circuitry. "Sadly, since you interrupted the transmission and we don't want to risk turning it on right now, we don't know if the datafile is still intact," the asari continued. "If it isn't intact, we also won't know what's still in here and what is in the Illusive Man's hands."

"Well, we're a few hours out from the Citadel, and I've already called ahead to let them know I'm coming," Wednesday replied. "Spectre courtesy and all that."
"Let me guess, they've called you in to a special session," Liara said, finally looking up from her delicate operation.
"No prize for you, Ms Shadow Broker," Wednesday said, sticking out her tongue.
"Only part time, and I'll thank you to remember that," Liara replied with a similar tongue. "Morticia holds the title for another two days after all, before I take it back again. I do hope she's enjoying herself with the Legacy." Liara's ship, which now had the majority of the Shadow Broker network linked to it, had been given to Morticia as part of the arrangement for splitting the Shadow Broker duties between them. Aside from being a top-of-the-line cross between a pleasure yacht and an attack corvette, it also had one of the staterooms converted into a sex room, filled with all manner of toys, bondage equipment and outfits.
"Sadly, without Father there to help get her into some of the more involved pieces, she's probably not having as much fun as she usually would," Wednesday said sadly.
"Which would explain why she's racking up expenses on those 'escorts' she purchased," Liara replied. She and Wednesday shared a look, then shrugged. The Addams lived a very open marriage, and thought nothing of not just having extra-marital lovers, but outright booty calls. "I'll leave you to it," Wednesday said, giving Liara a peck on the cheek and enjoyed the slightly greasy feel of her lover's skin, covered as it was with oil, coolant and a little blood from the android.


As the Normandy-A went through its docking procedures; Karin Chakwas was already in contact with the nearest hospital, Huerta Memorial. They were met at the airlock by a team of orderlies, who in short order moved the immobilised Ashley and Kaidan onto stretchers and took them away. James Vega walked out with them in his under-armour, since his gear had been on the Waterloo and the only clothes on the Normandy that would fit him belonged to Lurch. For some reason Vega wasn't keen on wearing a dead man's clothes, especially when that corpse could still ask for them back. Wednesday and Liara took the opportunity to leave the ship as well, since this was war and you didn't know when you'd next have a chance to take a breath of fresh air.

The two of them felt it as soon as they stepped onto the station. The atmosphere was tense, but it was also under the surface, like people were trying to convince themselves that the war could never come here.
How quickly they forget, Wednesday mused. Not three years ago, Nazara and the geth almost brought about the current war. The scars are still there, yet they want to pretend that it won't come here. Sometimes I feel sorry for their lack of perspective.

Wednesday was brought out her musing partly by a gentle nudge from Liara, but more because of the two figures approaching her. She recognised both of them, though only one of them seemed to be happy to see her.
"David, good to see you again. And Captain Bailey, what a pleasant surprise," Wednesday said pleasantly.
"Shepard, though its Commander now," Bailey replied, shaking her hand carefully. Obviously, he'd been let in to certain classified files with his promotion.
"Commander here as well, though I still think I could have gotten away with Admiral," Wednesday said with only minimal sulk in her voice.
"Maybe next time, Commander," Anderson said with a smile. "Anyway, I'm just here to pick up Vega so he can collect his personal effects – it can be a bit awkward to jump on a new ship without your toothbrush. I'll check up on Williams and Alenko, thanks again for bringing them back alive." He nodded to Vega, who dutifully followed him away into the docks.

"Wish I could say I'm here on as pleasant a duty," Bailey said with mild irritation. "The Council wanted you there as soon as possible, and since my promotion, such honour as there is in escorting VIPs belongs to me."
"My condolences," Wednesday said. "Well, let's not keep you away from your duties," she added, nodding to him to lead the way. He led Wednesday and Liara to an elevator to take them to the Presidium tower, which had improved in speed since the pre-Nazara days. As they exited the elevator, Bailey got a ping on his omni-tool. He checked it and swore under his breath.
"Sorry ladies, I need to go deal with this shit. I'm sure you know the way," he said with a nod, before he left in the direction of C-Sec HQ.

Wednesday was allowed easy access to the Council tower, given her current Spectre status. As she came in, the Council was already in session, and Udina was wasting no time in making a massive annoyance of himself.
"According to the reports, Earth is bearing the brunt of the attack," he said in his voice, which managed to somehow make anyone who listened to it feel like they had been touched by something unpleasant.
"Your reports, Udina," Valern said, large eyes narrowing. Wednesday agreed with the sentiment, since as a Spectre she had been allowed remote access to STG assessments of Reaper incursions. While Earth was being hit hard, the turians had been hit harder, while the asari, krogan and salarian territories were being relegated to secondary objectives. At least, that was according to analyses by the STG, who had no experience predicting the Reapers.

"In any event, the Council Fleet could provide much-needed assistance!" Udina said again.
"We are facing an unprecedented enemy, Udina. With so many civilians coming to the Citadel, the Council Fleet is needed here to maintain peace and order," Tevos said soothingly. "While we sympathise with Earth's plight, it is no worse than what the turians are currently facing." Udina said nothing, just crossing his arms and adopting an ugly sneer on his face.
"In any event Councillors, we may have something a little more… unconventional," Liara said, bringing up the plans she and EDI had managed to grab from the Cerberus infiltrator. The plans showed a massive device in blues and greens, the technical specifications going over Wednesday's head, but she was at least able to read the prothean technical language, due to her gift of the Cipher.

"What is that?" Sparatus said, his eyes going wide with untempered curiosity.
"I paid a lot of credits to the Shadow Broker for any information he had," Liara explained, "which in turn led me to the Mars archive, which you all know is one of the largest known prothean archives in existence. It took me several months, but I recovered the plans for a device. One on a massive scale, potentially capable of destruction on a scale I can't even put into words."
"If the protheans designed such a device, why did they not build it?" Valern asked piercingly.
"They quite simply ran out of time," Liara replied calmly. "But if we start soon, I believe we can build this device. Unfortunately, the plans I recovered were… interfered with before I could get off Mars. The device was in two pieces, but only the power source blueprints were complete in the file. The internal notes refer to it simply as the Crucible. The other component of this device, what is left in the file, had several references, one of which called it the Catalyst, but I believe a more accurate translation would be the Transmitter. I will keep trying to get more data on the Transmitter, seeing as we still have some resources yet untapped."

"Obviously, we will have to analyse this before we commit any resources," Tevos said, ever the mediator. "However, I think I speak for all my fellows on the Council when I say that this may be the first piece of good news we've had in the last few days." Sparatus and Valern nodded, while Udina just grumped some more.
"I think we can call this meeting adjourned," Sparatus said, again receiving nods from the three aliens and disdain from Udina.
"Very well, may the Goddess go with you all," Tevos said, leaving the chamber. She was followed in procession by the rest of the Council, Udina staring daggers into each of their backs. Wednesday and Liara left as well, and made it to the elevators before the Spectre received a message on her omni-tool. Wednesday looked down to check it and was surprised that it was from Sparatus. Intrigued, she showed it to Liara, who only shrugged in silent agreement that it was unusual.

As they entered the office of the turian representative, he was looking out the window at the Presidium laid out below. He turned to them once the door was closed, hitting a button on his desk as he did so.
"I'm sure you're curious why I asked you here," he said by way of greeting.
"The thought crossed my mind briefly," Wednesday admitted.
"I know we haven't always seen eye to eye Shepard, about a lot of things, and I suppose the first thing I need to say is that I apologise for doubting you now." Wednesday didn't let her expression betray her shock at Sparatus ever saying those words, at least while he still looked forward to a healthy, stab-free life.
"That would be putting it mildly," Liara said for Wednesday.
"Sadly, hindsight is perfect, as you humans like to say. Unlike Udina, I happen to have friends in the turian military and have a better idea of the tactical situation other than how to use it to my political advantage. I know you've been meeting with Primarch Fedorian in the last six months, and I need to ask you a favour."

"Go on," Wednesday said.
"Look, no matter what some people think, Matriarch Lidanya won't be the one leading this war. It'll be Fedorian and Hackett, with her as an advisor. I know you and the ranking military leaders have been talking, which is good, because we need that kind of cooperation right now. Unfortunately, Fedorian is far too much of a turian to leave the fight on Palaven until it's far too late."
"So what exactly are you asking for?" Wednesday asked.
"I need you to get the Primarch out of the system. If he's smart, and I hope he is, he'll be leading the defence of the system from Menae, the largest moon. If he has, then it'll be easier to extract him."
"And if he's not?"
"Then that's why you're a Spectre!" Sparatus said bitingly. "That was rude, but I'm a little on edge. A lot of good friends and comrades are either dead, dying or in the firing line, and I'm here stuck behind a desk dealing with Udina. Give me a straight up fight any day, at least the Reapers aren't trying to pretend they're my ally while stabbing me in the back."

"And what do I get in return?" Wednesday asked bluntly.
"A grateful Primarch, and a personal favour from me. I've got a lot of pull Shepard, and you won't find me ungrateful. As for Fedorian, I'm sure he can be persuaded not to put Garrus Vakarian next in line for the Primacy, if you ask nicely." The look of mild distaste on the human's face – mixed with amusement at Vakarian's predicament - told him he'd got it right on the money. Not that the younger Vakarian was ever likely to become Primarch, but he'd been jumped up a lot of places in the Hierarchy recently.
"Well then, best not waste any time," Wednesday said, nodding to Sparatus and leaving the office.

"That was interesting," Liara said as the elevator took them down once more.
"Certainly, and at least he's more honest than Udina," Wednesday said. "It's almost refreshing. I know why Sparatus doesn't like me, it's a simple racial bias that I can work with. Udina though… he's both far too clever and not clever enough. He thinks big, but misses the details that will get him there. It'll be the death of him, sooner or later." The tone of her voice spoke volumes about how she would like it to be her dealing the death blow to the slimy politician.


"We have a setback," Udina said into the communicator.
"What kind?" the voice on the other end asked.
"The Council refused to send in the Fleet."
"Unfortunate, but not unexpected either Councillor," the Illusive Man replied. "We have discussed this, we will simply need to activate our other contingency. I will begin sending the troops in, but we'll need your authorisation to get past the security and customs checkpoints."
"Just so long as I get what we agreed," Udina said, the greed undisguised in his voice.
"History is written by the Victors, Donnel," the Illusive Man replied with a conviction that firmly warranted the capital letter. "And with our plan, we will secure victory not only over the Reapers, but over every race as humanity takes our rightful place as the rulers of the galaxy!"


As Wednesday approached the dock once more, she found Karin in the nearby lounge. She didn't appear to be enjoying herself, or maybe she was just wishing she had a scalpel at hand to deal with the reporter who had boxed her into a corner.
"I'm not blind, doctor," Wednesday heard the reporter saying. "I can read the name of the ship just as well as anyone else. The Normandy is Commander Shepard's ship, and it was last seen on Earth. All I'm asking is for you to confirm this state of affairs."
"Ms Allers, was it?" Chakwas said, her tone deliberately calm. "You're asking me to give you information on a ship, its commander and its movements, fully aware that as it may concern a Spectre giving you such information is probably highly illegal."
"I'm a professional, doctor; I know what I can and can't report on. This is definitely something I can, if you'd just cooperate!"
"Sounds like the lady doesn't want to be interviewed," Wednesday said from right behind the nosy reporter.

The ravenette smirked as the reporter jumped at the sudden intrusion into her personal space, before quickly turning around to face her.
"Oh, Commander, just the person I was looking for," she said, though a little less confident than she had been with Chakwas. Wednesday had that effect on most people. "Diana Allers, I'm with ANN."
"I'm not officially part of the Alliance anymore, Miss Allers, so no need to call me Commander. However, I do still respond to that name to save confusion."
"Alright, I had a request for you."
"I'm listening," Wednesday said. It was the tone of voice, the smirk, the fact she was standing a little too close for comfort, and that she seemed to be incredibly interested in what you about to ask that tended to unnerve people talking to Wednesday.

"I would like to be embedded on your ship as a war correspondent," Allers said after a second to regain her composure.
"You do realise that as a Spectre, I'll be doing a lot of classified missions, right?"
"I'm aware of that Commander, and came prepared," she replied, swallowing nervously. She handed over a digital file, which Wednesday opened to see her security credentials, including a top-secret level vetting and a personal endorsement from Anderson. "Wars are swayed by the reporting Commander, and a front-line ship has the best stories. All I need is my camera here," she indicated the drone hovering over her shoulder, "and some space to set up. You'll have veto power over any segments I file."

Wednesday smiled the smile of a predator in front of its prey - when the prey was asking for a favour.
"Alright, colour me convinced. You'll get a room, a footlocker of personal effects, and twenty minutes to report to the Normandy. If you try and file anything I disapprove of, you're out. If you want to leave, you wait until we reach civilisation. I suggest you try the Waterloo next time."
"I would have, but Admiral Anderson had already left before I could find him, and he suggested you."
"Indeed," Wednesday said, already moving to the airlock. It was so nice when people volunteered to be her plaything, especially since she'd broken Ashley and Kaidan.

Once she decon cycle had finished, she moved to the helm where Joker was beginning the pre-flight checks.
"Joker, we're gone in thirty minutes," she said as she stood behind him.
"Aye ma'am," he replied, all business. "A heads up on our next destination, Commander?"
"The Trebia system," Wednesday told him.
"The turian home system?" Joker asked. "Why so far into turian space?"
"We've got a pickup, an old friend of ours."
"Is it Garrus? I really hope it's Garrus."
"We'll probably get him too, but it's actually the Primarch we're picking up."
"Fedorian?" Joker asked, to which she nodded. "He's an alright guy, as far as turians go. I mean, for all that he's named after a hat."
"Well, let's hope that he remembers us just as fondly," Wednesday said, heading back towards the elevator.


As the Normandy-A approached Palaven's moon in full stealth, the sheer size of the turian fleets became apparent, as well as how much that fleet seemed irrelevant next to the sheer size of the Reaper force. If nothing else, it was a grim reminder that this war wouldn't be won by any single species acting alone. Thankfully, Wednesday had anticipated this and had been laying the groundwork for months. Time to see if it was about to pay off.

As they approached the moon, the amount of chatter became too much for even the great Samantha Traynor to find any useful information. Wednesday pulled up her omni-tool instead, hitting the button that would open a channel to Garrus Vakarian. According to his last check-in with her a few days ago, he was somewhere near the Primarch.
"Wednesday, I was wondering when you'd turn up," Garrus' hologram said between firing at targets only he could see. Occasionally, a second turian would come within range of the camera, enough to make out it was a female, but nothing that could identify them.
"I'm here to pick up the Primarch, and I suppose you as well, if you're interested."
"Well, you're going to have a slight problem then Wednesday," Garrus said sadly. "Fedorian's dead, his shuttle got shot down about a day ago as he tried to get to the Citadel. Communication's been patchy, the Reaper forces have been targeting comm relays and repair bunkers. Palaven command will know who the next Primarch is, but I'm not anywhere near getting a signal to find out at the moment."

"I need the Primarch Garrus, even if it turns out to be you," Wednesday warned.
"Oh no, I learned that lesson. I am not going to be the Primarch, even if you put a gun to my head!" Garrus complained.
"Even if I put one to your head, Scarface?" came the reply from the female Garrus was fighting with.
"Not now, Solana," Garrus said threateningly. "Look Wednesday, I'm near General Corinthus' outpost. Head there and we can link up. Then we can work a way out of this mess and into much more fun messes!"
"That's the spirit, Garrus. Alright, I'll see you shortly." Turning off the micro-QEC, she turned to the intercom.

"Joker, Sam's going to give you some coordinates soon, fly as close as you can. James, Liara, Lurch, get ready for insertion. Sam, obviously I need you to pinpoint Corinthus and give Joker some directions."
"Aye Commander," Sam said seriously, her fingers already flying as she worked her way through the flood of communications data. Wednesday went down to the hangar bay, where her weapons and armour were waiting for her. Shortly afterwards, Vega and Liara had joined her, fitting their armour and checking their weapons before piling into the shuttle. Once Lurch was aboard Wednesday took them off, the hulking zombie standing as still as a statue even as the shuttle rocked to avoid the incoming fire and Reapers stalking the landscape.

Menae was an interesting moon, being large and dense enough to sustain a thin atmosphere, which the turians enhanced as a defensive measure. As a result, the turian soldiers they saw firing were all fighting sans helmet, though not without the heaviest armour they could lay three-fingered hands on. As Wednesday approached a landing zone near Corinthus' outpost, she spotted a horde of human husks crawling up a cliff.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, time for target practice, pirate style!" Wednesday shouted, before opening the hatch and slowing down. Vega, Lurch and Liara wasted no time in mowing down the cyber-necrotic abominations with heavy machine-gun fire and biotics. A few seconds later, Wednesday used their squishy corpses as a landing buffer as she touched down, jumping out and heading to the nearby turian defence line.

The sergeant on guard opened the gate for them, directing them to speak to General Corinthus directly. Wednesday and her retinue marched directly towards the prefab where a large tactical map was displayed.
"General Corinthus," Wednesday said as she approached after two turians were given orders.
"Commander Shepard, as I live and breathe," the general said. "I'd offer you some better hospitality, but as you can see, we're a bit short on creature comforts."
"Not on targets though, which is good enough for me," Wednesday said with a smile. She'd gotten along with this turian fairly well the few times Fedorian had brought Corinthus with him to the various meetings Shepard had attended. The Primarch had liked to rotate the generals he brought with him in order to expose them all to the group, and get them used to the changes he was making and the reasons for them. Mostly, they were the generals likely to be most affected by whatever change the meeting was discussing. Obviously, given the sheer size of the turian military, not all of the generals in the line of succession had attended.
"General, I'm here to pick up a Primarch, and before you say it, I already heard about Fedorian. It's a shame, I liked his sense of humour."
"You and me both. I'd tell you who the next one is, if I could get a hold of Palaven Command to tell me. The relay isn't working though, and I haven't been able to repair it yet."
"We can assist there," Wednesday said. "I've got Garrus Vakarian coming here to rendezvous with me as well, so be sure to expect him."

"Understood, now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work," Corinthus said, turning back to the tactical map and barking out orders.
"Alright, let's find out who was just volunteered," Wednesday said, leading the way to the nearby comm relay. As soon as they came out of the barricades, they came across a turian fire-team being swarmed by husks. Firing indiscriminately would serve no purpose except friendly fire, so Wednesday pulled out her shotgun and clapped her hands forward, the world going by in a biotic rush. This impacted with the rear-most of the husks, sending it and several others flying directly off a cliff as the biotic and kinetic shockwave exploded out from her. Two more were almost bisected by her shotgun before the Reaper zombies realised the greater threat was behind them, and by then Wednesday's team had caught up to her charge. Liara lifted a group of husks with her biotics, making them easy kills for Vega and Lurch with their heavy guns, while Wednesday swapped to her sword and pistol to finish off the rest of them. The turians merely nodded at the assistance, pulling the wounded to their feet and getting them back inside the barricades.

Wednesday led them the short distance to the comm relay, only to find that the lower panel was unable to sufficiently route power. A quick diagnostic revealed that someone would need to access the secondary maintenance panel at the top, which would leave her one down while it was worked on.
"I'll go, besides, Vega and Lurch should be able to provide adequate cover while I work," Liara said, already moving up the ladder. Wednesday swapped out for her assault rifle, facing the way they had come. Vega was a few paces away to her right, Lurch to her left. Even before Liara reached the top of the ladder, a veritable storm of Reaper reinforcements fell on their position, husks crawling up the cliffs while former batarians rained down from the sky in miniature meteor pods. The three of them matched it with their own hail of gunfire and biotics until Liara jumped down with a purple glow around her and lent her strength to the defenders. Eventually the Reaper forces were taken out, and they made their way back to Corinthus.

"I've got good news and less good news," he called out as they approached. "Good news, I found your wayward friend."
"Wednesday, Liara, Lurch, good to see you," called a voice next to Corinthus, the familiar form of Garrus stepping out a second later.
"Is that really Commander Shepard? I thought she'd be taller," came a female voice, before a second turian stepped forward in front of Garrus and right into Wednesday's personal space. Wednesday just raised a curious eyebrow at the fearless, or perhaps oblivious, way she was examined by the next person.
"Wednesday, meet Solana, my sister," Garrus said in a weary tone.
"Sister, eh?" Wednesday said with renewed interest, examining Solana the same way the female turian had just scrutinised her. "You must tell me embarrassing stories about Garrus as a child."
"Can we save that until we're off the planet?" Garrus asked, and only Wednesday, who had spent so much time with Garrus, could notice the slight discolouring of the softer skin on his face that was analogous to blushing.

"Anyway, the less good news is that I've got the name of the next Primarch: Adrien Victus," Corinthus said to fill the pause. "I have a location for him as of a few hours ago."
"I was fighting with him this morning, I can guide them," Garrus said.
"I'm pretty sure you mean 'we' there bro," Solana corrected him.
"I'm sure that's what I said," Garrus said smoothly. "Anyway," he began, before Joker's urgent voice came over Wednesday's omni-tool.
"Commander, we've got a problem!" he said worriedly.
"What kind, Joker?" Wednesday asked.
"It's the Normandy, it's like she's possessed! Powering down systems, almost overloading others. Adams and his team are barely keeping ahead of it, and EDI isn't responding."
"I could go and take a look," Liara offered.
"Alright, we needed to move the shuttle anyway," Wednesday agreed, and Liara jogged away towards the shuttle.

Before they could discuss any further, a massive winged shape flew overhead, dropping shells through the camp even as everyone fired up at it.
"Damn it, another Harvester," Garrus complained. "They're an absolute bitch to pin down, and they keep dropping damn ground troops." They all heard a massive crunch near a fighter landing zone, and by silent consensus moved to intercept anything that had been dropped. Garrus lowered the barrier and they sallied forth, only to find the Harvester had already been and gone, leaving its cargo behind. Wednesday got a look at a turian with more eyes than arms and legs, before she sprayed it with her assault rifle. A shield sprang to life and absorbed the shots briefly before being overwhelmed, allowing her shots to bite into corrupted flesh and robotic replacement limbs. A group of the abominations took cover around various rocks as Wednesday and her team moved to get better cover and shots.

Wednesday was only briefly surprised when Solana's body glowed biotic purple, before blades extended from her armoured gauntlets as she biotically charged forward, her arms extended outwards. The glowing blades sliced through shields, flesh and stone like Wednesday's katana through silk and bamboo, leaving mangled bodies in their wake, before the shockwave sent another flying as she came to rest. Though it was hard to hear over the din of battle, Solana Vakarian seemed to be laughing.
"If I'd known about her, I'd have sponsored her to the clan as well," Wednesday said as she came into cover next to Garrus.
"Actually, the biotics are new to me as well," Garrus replied. "But she did surprise me with her choice of crush."
"Oh?"
"Tali." Wednesday took a second to process this thought, connecting it to the previous data she had on the first quarian Addams, Garrus and now Solana.
"I thought you and Tali?" she began.
"We agreed that it wouldn't work out in the long run," Garrus said, leaning out of cover to fire at one of the Reaper-turians.
"Fair enough, I'll say good luck to her then."

Wednesday's team made short work of the troops trying to flank them and returned to the main compound just in time to see a round of explosions take out the defenders on the north wall.
"We need to move that way anyway," Garrus said. "Victus' camp is in that direction." He was the first up the wall, followed shortly by his sister. Wednesday was the third to climb the ladder, just in time to man the large-calibre turret on the wall and blast the veritable tsunami of husks and cannibals. Wednesday laughed as she mowed them down, her line of fire scything down ranks at a time, the high-explosive rounds making them burst into fleshy grenades. As the last of them were felled, another one of the micro-meteor pods landed in the killing field, remaining inert for a moment and making some of her fellows relax thinking it was a dud. Wednesday was still on guard however. This pod looked larger than the ones they'd already seen.

Her caution turned out to be correct when without warning the pod shattered, spilling forth what had once been a krogan. The hump was emptied and hollow like a skeleton's ribcage, the right arm replaced with a jagged robotic claw. The most terrifying part, at least to anyone non-Addams, was that at the end of the spine a turian skull had been mounted, its lower jaw missing while its empty sockets glowed blue. The cybernetic abomination charged the wall, shaking it hard enough to send Wednesday, Garrus and Vega to the ground with it, while the Solana and Lurch were able to grab a hold to stay on top of the wall. Wednesday had no reason to try and tempt the obviously strong creature by allowing it to get too close, but the armour on its shoulders and stomach removed any obvious weak points.

"Keep away from it, I'll use this!" Solana shouted from the turret as she got into position on it. The first round of shots bit deep into its exposed back, before it turned to the new threat, its eyes glowing red and howling like a ravening beast, before charging the wall again.
"Oh no you don't!" Wednesday shouted with glee, her biotics flaring as she threw a powerful warp field at it. The beast barely noticed its flesh tearing as it hit the wall again, but Solana and Lurch were ready this time and didn't fall. It beat the wall to no effect, while Garrus, Vega and Wednesday changed to their assault rifles and shot into its exposed back, many of their shots having no effect except pinging and sparking off its armoured skin. However, enough hit vital areas that it felt their attacks and turned towards them, eyes red with inner fire and malice. It turned to the largest of them, the massive James Vega, and with murderous intent lowered itself to the ground like a hunter and sprinting towards him. James backed away as quickly as he could while he fired, jumping wildly at the last moment as the beast's claw sailed through the air he had only recently occupied. Wednesday and Garrus, accompanied by Lurch and Solana on the wall, kept firing at the beast, eventually doing enough damage that thick black ichor began oozing unnaturally slowly from its numerous wounds as it fell, flailing its arms for effect before its eyes burnt out.

"I do not want to see too many of them," Vega said firmly. Garrus and Wednesday said nothing, but smirked at each other in a way that spoke volumes to them about the excitement of the challenge such an opponent could provide.
"Anyway, we should head this way," Garrus said, pointing along the valley. He took point with Wednesday, the other three forming up behind them as they went. As they walked along the valley, twisting and turning with its cliffs and ridges, they watched silently as a turian frigate fired on one of the giant purple Reapers walking the surface of the moon. The fire from the small ship appeared to have some effect on the mechanical monstrosity, the shields at reduced capacity from diverting the drive core enough to walk and not be crushed in the moon's gravity. The Reaper didn't seem to notice or care until it almost lazily fired its red lance at the frigate, cutting it almost in half and sending it crashing into the surface.
"How many on that ship? Fifty, 75?" Vega asked.
"Sounds about right," Garrus answered.
"And those things are walking around New York? Carajo!" Vega swore. "What about this conference then? The salarians and the asari aren't known for their militaries. Where are the krogan and batarians? Where's the meat?"

"The turians aren't soft James, and we've already got the krogan mostly on board," Wednesday replied. "As for the batarians, where did you think all those cannibals came from? The Reapers have been tearing through them the last couple of months at least."
"Well, that's something," Vega said, a little more subdued. They came upon another turian camp, but the barricade was torn almost literally in half, the sounds of gunfire loudly booming nearby. They raced through the broken fortifications to find the remaining turians fighting a pitched battle against the Reaper forces. Wednesday spied a flying harvester heading their direction from the horizon, and began to pull out her sniper rifle while the rest of her team fired at the Reaper forces advancing on the turian line. As Wednesday pulled the long rifle to her shoulder, her eyes spotted something on the ground. It had obviously been brought by one of the turian cyber zombies - temporarily named marauders by Garrus - since it was still held in the re-dead corpse's taloned hand. It was a sleek weapon, black and red and shiny metal and light, and just looking at it made Wednesday feel dirty. She picked it up and hefted it before sighted down what seemed to be the barrel, aiming at the approaching flying grotesque. She pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened immediately, but Wednesday could feel a build-up of power within the weapon and held the trigger down. A few seconds later the weapon discharged, a red pulse firing at the incoming monster. There was a slight delay as the pulse travelled from weapon to target, before the pulse exploded in a micro-nuclear flash, completely vaporising the harvester. The weapon began disintegrating after its shot, so Wednesday threw it away as her vision was clouded by white-purple spots.

Wednesday took cover as her eyes recovered from the flash, before she pulled out her assault rifle and returned to the fight. She spied another krogan/turian brute as it tore through a barricade and threw a warp field at it, the powerful mass effect fields eroding its armour. Solana had obviously seen her action and threw her own biotic attack, the two effects combining and detonating in a reality-distorting bubble of dark energy and unstable gravity, throwing the brute to the ground and stripping away its armoured arm. The turians, seeing the advantage and having lost too many men and women to similar monsters, took full advantage of the opportunity and threw all manner of grenades, improvised explosives and bullets into its exposed flesh, tearing the armoured behemoth to shreds. The rest of the Reaper forces fell quickly under the two-pronged assault.

In the aftermath of the battle, Wednesday and Garrus moved forward to speak to the man in command, who had been shouting orders even they had heard over the Reapers screams and guns blazing.
"Vakarian, nice of you to finally come back," he said sarcastically. "Where the hell were you, we could have used your sister."
"Nice to see you too, General Victus," Garrus said sweetly. "My sister and I were dealing with a Reaper problem on the flank, I believe your order was 'get that thing the hell off my men', or something to that effect."
"And I see you brought a friend, the great Commander Shepard," he added to Wednesday, who just nodded at the acknowledgement. "So, to what to I owe the pleasure of a personal visit from the Addams family? Here to finally kill me over that misunderstanding at the Battle of Sarapech?"

"Now why would I do that? The family thinks you're far more fun alive," Wednesday said with a smirk. "I'm actually here to inform you that you've been promoted General, and that you're needed elsewhere."
"You must be joking," he said with a perfectly straight face. "It would have to be beyond important for me to leave my men, not to mention my fellow turians."
"Well, would you consider chairing a war summit to decide how best to fight the Reapers to be important enough?" Wednesday asked.
"The only way you'd need me to chair something like that is if Fedorian and a whole lot of more qualified generals are dead," he replied. Garrus and Wednesday said nothing, just looked at him in quiet expectation. Victus stared at them for a moment before understanding dawned and he hung in head, partly in sadness, partly in resignation.
"Sorry for your loss, Vakarian, your father was a good man," Victus said. "That being said, I don't want this job."
"I'd have much preferred Fedorian too, he was up to date on all the plans we've been making," Wednesday rejoined. "But you go to war with the army you have Primarch, not the one you wish you had. So, on behalf of the Turian Heirarchy, are you coming with me willingly, or do I have to add kidnapping a head of state to the list of crimes I can officially ignore as a Spectre?"

"Give me a minute to talk to my men, give them new orders," Victus said, moving off to confer with the remaining turians.
"You know, without him down here, there's a good chance we'll lose this moon," Garrus said as he looked at the devastation around them.
"Garrus, without him out there, there's a better chance we lose the galaxy," Wednesday replied.
"Well, when you put it that way," Garrus replied. Wednesday nodded silently, before calling Liara on her QEC.
"Wednesday, there's something seriously wrong with the Normandy, but I can't get to the AI core to get EDI's assistance," Liara opened. "I suspect it's something to do with that Cerberus thing we picked up on Mars."
"I'll deal with it soon," Wednesday said. "Can you come down and pick us up? We've got Primarch Victus willing to come with us."
"As opposed to unwilling?" Liara said, and Wednesday and Garrus could hear the smirk. "I'll be there shortly."

Liara landed the shuttle nearby just after Victus had joined them after sending his remaining troops and wounded to Corinthus's outpost. The stoic turian took one last look at his burning homeworld and hung his head, before boarding the shuttle with Wednesday.
"If it helps, I felt similarly after leaving Earth," Wednesday said quietly to him.
"It doesn't help, but I appreciate the sentiment," Victus said quietly. The rest of the short ride was mostly silent as they all internally dealt with the battles they'd just fought, or whispered among themselves. Once they arrived in the Normandy's hangar bay, Wednesday could see the problems Joker and Liara were referring to. Thankfully, Anacrusis was hiding out of sight of Victus, because Wednesday could only deal with one problem right now, and Victus losing his shit over the rachni wasn't on her list of priorities.

"Primarch, please let Liara show you to what meagre guest quarters we have while I deal with the problems my ship seems to be having."
"That can wait, I'd prefer somewhere to get a better idea of the tactical situation, Commander," Victus requested with a quiet voice filled with stern purpose and inner strength. Wednesday nodded to him, feeling pleased that instead of a diplomat, she and the rest of the galaxy had gotten a leader.
"Then please escort our guest to the war room," Wednesday amended, before leading them all to the elevator, which jerked irregularly as they went up. Shepard got off on the third deck, striding with purpose to the infirmary and AI core beyond it. Lt Adams, her chief engineer, was already there, breathing mask and portable fire extinguisher in hand.

"What's going on?" Wednesday asked, looking at his gear.
"Internal sensors detected an electrical fire of some kind and the automatic response kicked in, but we still haven't been able to unlock the door or get a response from EDI," Adams answered her.
"Alright, let's see if my command overrides work," Wednesday said, booting up her omni-tool and selecting the appropriate codes. The hologram in front of the door pulsed from orange to green, before flashing an angry red and going dark, the entire door locking down physically. "Time for Plan B then," Wednesday said with a smirk. She always liked puzzles, especially since she had options most people didn't.

"Lurch," Wednesday said softly. A ripple of gasps behind her only barely preceded the sense that her shadow was suddenly a lot more substantial than it had been, before the very air trembled as the zombie spoke.
"You. Called. ?" he said slowly, the sounds falling into place like an avalanche.
"Yes, it seems EDI has finally discovered she's a teenager with access to the extranet, and decided to lock herself in her room with her porn," Wednesday said lightly, as a parent would a wayward child. "Be a dear and open the door, would you?" There was a bass rumble as Lurch stepped forward, his meaty digits forcing the door wide enough to admit his shovel-like palms, before muscles like granite bulged and the doors screamed metal fatigue as he wrenched them apart. The mystic blue smoke that was the heart and soul of anything electric poured out of the room, and Adams moved forward and added his own with the fire extinguisher. Wednesday waited for both sources to dissipate a little before she stepped forward. The giant servers that once housed the Normandy's AI were dead, not even a pilot light active to indicate power draw.
"EDI?" Wednesday called out, a mote of concern in her tone. Not that she would care any more about the death of the AI than anyone else of her crew, but then again, she cared about EDI like a member of the crew. "EDI, what's going on?"

"D-don't… don't come any closer," EDI's voice came from the rear of the small room, still enshrouded by smoke.
"It's ok EDI, it's me, Wednesday," Shepard said soothingly. She'd dealt with people who'd been taken in the raid on Mindoir, people she'd known and who weren't of the gleefully vicious Addams mindset. They were easily spooked, and even though she felt it was beneath her, she'd learnt how to speak to them. It had been good practice for getting through the Alliance without breaking too many superiors.

Wednesday unclipped her weapons, even her sword, and handed them to Adams, who took them and put them in the infirmary. She advanced cautiously, looking everywhere and ready for an attack.
"Please… I can't…" EDI's voice said, sounding more scared than Wednesday had thought possible for the AI. The smoke was beginning to clear, and Wednesday was far enough in the room, to see the bench at the far end of the room, where until recently the bandaged android had been resting like a corpse. Only now, it was up, though curled up on itself in a corner, hugging its knees to its chest and trembling like a frightened kitten. Wednesday felt a sudden clarity as she connected the sight of the frightened android, the out of kilter systems on the ship, and the dead servers.

"EDI?" she asked again. The android's head jerked up, Wednesday's eyes locking on to the blue eyes that had formerly belonged to Dr Eva Core, partially obscured by the orange holographic band projected over the eyes.
"Shepard?" came a scared whisper, the single source sound in perfect time with the movement of the android's lips. Wednesday stepped forward slowly until she was sitting next to EDI, stuck in an unfamiliar shape and feeling a whole new set of experiences for the first time. No wonder the ship was going crazy, EDI had been wearing it like a body for nearly a year and she had been ripped from it and installed in an entirely new platform, or so Wednesday suspected. It was a wonder that she wasn't catatonic.
"EDI, I'm right here, I'm going to help you. I'm going to shout a bit, then I'll be quiet, alright?" Wednesday asked. EDI just nodded, a tear sliding silently down her cheek.

"Adams?" Wednesday called out.
"Commander?" he responded.
"Get me Dr T'Soni, Specialist Traynor and Anacrusis into here please. After that, perform whatever repairs you need to and get a standard VI to fill in for EDI as needed. Get us back to the Citadel!"
"Aye commander," Adams shouted. "Will EDI be okay?" he called back, a little hesitantly.
"I hope so," Wednesday called back to him, before turning to the nascent AI and wrapping an arm gently and comfortingly around EDI's new shoulders. "I hope so," she repeated quietly, mostly to herself.


A/N: Now, I am become Wednesday, Destroyer of Worlds.

Yes, this got a quick update, because I'm excited. (It has nothing to do with the fact I finally learned how to install mods in ME3 and am thoroughly enjoying dressing up characters in outfits that are not battlefield compliant. Seriously, it doesn't!)

I'll explain more about EDI and her current situation in the next chapter, but it sets up a massive divergence from canon that I feel is certainly warranted with only a minor change in the circumstances. As I said though, it will be more thoroughly explained in the next chapter.

So, as always, read and review and keep an eye on the horizon for Wednesday.