A/N: First off... yes I am well aware that it has been almost 2 years since I last updated this. Sorry about that.

So you will notice that this chapter almost doubles the length of the entire story and I am hopeful that this will be the most standard length to the chapters going forwards. I will try and make it so the gap is not 2 years between chapters but I make no promises about that sorry.

This will also be the last chapter solo'd. The next chapter will be the one in which the crossover takes place so you have that to look forwards to.

Enjoy and let me know what you think about the content, characters and the chapter length.


Afterlife, Omega Station


Listening to the pounding beats that resonated through the very walls in Afterlife was not Lillian's idea of a good time, not that her opinion seemed to matter much in this place. Almost immediately after they had docked, Miranda had insisted on giving Shepard a quick once over on the policies and practices of the Omega Station. The station was a cauldron of chaos and anarchy. It was a clear structure where the strong flourished and the weak were simply kicked aside or in-line. The Alliance had many stories that came out of this place though she always wondered how many of them were actually true. Some of her questions about the place had been answered straight off the bat however. Upon leaving the ship they had been approached by a Batarian who demanded that they go and visit Aria. It had taken a bit of coaxing to actually get him to tell her anything about Aria of course. Once that short meeting had concluded, she knew that Aria was an Asari who was 'in charge' of Omega.

Luckily for her, Miranda was always happy to show that she was the brains of the operation and presented Shepard with a bit more facts. It turned out that even Cerberus, with all its claimed resources and intelligence networks, only knew that much about Aria T'Loak. She was the self appointed Pirate Queen of Omega station was about all the information they could confirm. There were mismatched reports about Aria's biotic ability being very powerful and some dubious eyewitness reports about her battle with a Krogan back when she arrived on Omega. Nothing offered to Shepard was concrete however, making Shepard both anxious and excited about meeting this woman. She felt that it was not going to be very often that she would meet an individual in the Galaxy that they had almost no information on.

So whilst Miranda, ever the cheerleader for Cerberus, was arranging a meeting with the Queen of Omega, Lillian and Jacob were quite simply enjoying the atmosphere. It seemed that Jacob was anyway. Steadily he bobbed his head slightly to the music as he watched some of the more flexible Asari maidens bend around the plinths they were situated on. Even Lillian had to admit, they were attractive. She had never considered herself that way inclined, but who knew with a new lease on life came new ideas. Quickly she pushed such thoughts out of her mind, she was too busy saving the Galaxy to pursue silly things like that. Plus she could not help but think what her Mother would say. Hannah Shepard was by no means xenophobic or a closed minded woman, she was however a deep believer in carrying on the family tradition of having a human child that could service in the Military to carry on the Shepard name. Which of course the conversation about children had come up numerous times whilst she was on board the SR-1. Her mother had insisted that where she was it was about time to start pushing for the next Shepard. Lillian, if she was honest had no interest in children - not at the moment at least who knew how she would think in about ten years - but she had never had the heart to tell her mother that. As her thoughts drifted to her estranged family she also remembered the conversation that she had with the Illusive Man about her old crew. They had all moved on with their lives after her untimely death. It was to be expected after all, but it was still so fresh in her mind that it hurt. She had asked after each of them in turn just to get a rundown on what had happened. All of her old crew seemed to have found a reason to live and a purpose to follow. Wrex did what he said he would and had returned to Tuchanka trying to convince the rest of the Krogan that now was the time to change rather than stay the beasts the entire council believed them to be. Little Liara T'Soni had also gone and grown up. Lillian had always looked at her as a younger sibling or cousin, though she was well aware that Liara's own feelings had gone much further; it had been an awkward conversation, one that was well remembered by the both of them she was sure of that. Everyone was doing well; except one. Not a single person had been able to tell her about Garrus Vakarian. the Turian C-Sec officer had been hot-headed but his time on the SR-1 was something that he seemed to value. He may have reapplied for Spectre training, or so he told her as he was leaving the Normandy.

Of course out of it all as normal Lillian had completely forgotten about her actual family. She knew that her mother was the rock of the family and as such was probably still the Executive Officer on-board the Kilimanjaro. That of course left her with other questions mainly about John. Her big brother had never been good at following the rules, making him the opposite of her in many ways. Where she had quickly risen through the ranks and even been elevated to N7 Training after Akuze, the last she had heard John was struggling to get out of one of the many brigs that he has been thrust into. Lillian was sure that the only thing keeping her Brother in the Alliance was Hannah.

As quietly as she could she let out a sigh and leant on the bar as they waited for Miranda to finish.

"You alright Shepard?" Jacob asked, his concern notable. It was to be expected she had only been up and about for a few days after being dead and then comatosed for approximately two years.

"Still processing if I am honest with you," She admitted, not easy to do with the Cerberus operative. She had to start trusting them eventually however, there would be no way to survive the upcoming mission if she didn't learn to do just that. "It has been two years for everyone else, but for me I was briefed by Anderson and Hackett just over a fortnight ago. It is a bit surreal."

"I hear you," To his credit Jacob seemed more than happy to take the relationship slowly with her. "It has not been an easy two years for anyone. Miranda worked tirelessly to bring you back just as you were. I think she is a bit disappointed with the real you."

"What do you mean disappointed?" She raised her eyebrow as she looked at him.

"Never meet your goddam heroes," An old grizzled voice joins them. "That's what he means."

Lillian turns and finds herself looking at a rather old mercenary. Just by looking at the scars on his face and the state of his tattered armour it is clear that the man has seen many years of action. He takes another swig of whatever he is drinking before rounding on her completely revealing a horrible crescent shaped scar on the side of his face and a clouded over eye. Jacob laughed at the man's statement.

"That's pretty much it Shepard, even I was a bit shocked. You are nothing like the adverts." That caught her attention quicker than anything else.

"Adverts!" She shouted, causing a slight silence at the bar as most of the patrons turned to look at the three of them.

"Oh yeah," The mercenary laughs, "Billboards lining every Alliance recruitment centers, VI's of you asking people to sign up."

She could barely do anything but hide her face as the blood rushed to her cheeks. She was already the first Human Spectre, that alone had brought with it way too much in the way of attention, now she had to deal with being the face of the Alliance. She was not finding it anywhere near as funny as the rest of them seemed to be.

"Well it seems I missed something entertaining." Miranda's voice flows over Lillian, and for the first time since they meet she is glad to see the Cerberus operative. "Nice to meet you Mr Messani." She says looking at the Merc.

"You must be the Cerberus contact? Lawson right?" He says taking another swig of his drink.

"That is correct, I see you have already meet Commander Shepard and Jacob Taylor." She nods to them each in turn as Lillian finally re emerges, the old Merc, Messani smiles at her offering his hand.

"Zaeed Massani," He tells her as she takes it, his face twists into a half smile. It is clear from his injuries that it is because he can't move half of it rather than by choice. "Cerberus tells me we are all gonna be big goddamn heroes Commander. With what they are paying I'll make sure of it,"

"Glad to have you on-board Massani," Lillian answers him adopting the best Commander voice she can muster, "I am sure having another experienced hand can only benefit us."

"Ha, and I'm sure having your assistance in my little job will be grand too," He says finishing his drink, before cocking his eyebrow at the strange look on both Shepard and Miranda's face. "I'm guessing Cerberus never mentioned that little nugget of information then?"

Both of the women shook their heads, "No it appears to have been left off the dossier that I was provided," Miranda was the one to answer and Shepard had to give her credit. She was at least willing to own up when she didn't have the correct information.

"I don't think it will be a problem Miranda," Shepard tells her with a short polite smile before looking back at the old merc, "We will pick it up with you Zaeed, once we are done here you can give me the rundown back on the ship."

"You're the Boss Commander." With a nod he acknowledged Shepard.

"Well now to meet with the Queen bee.. "Shepard sighed as Miranda smiles with the confidence she had completed her task.

The group made their way across to the back part of Afterlife's upper floor. Quickly they were stopped by guards. A quick scan of them showed they were clear of whatever it was that Aria's goons were expecting and they were waved through. There sitting on a leather sofa overlooking the dancefloor was the Asari herself. She smirked as she saw them approach, her eyes locked on Lillian and seemingly ignoring the rest of them.

"I hear you are the one to talk to about Omega." Lillian says to her with confidence, death had not stripped her of the ability to hide behind her persona.

"Depends on what you want to talk about," Aira answers in a way that is like her persona an aura of unchallengeable confidence. Though unlike her persona Lillian gets the feeling that this is who Aria truly is and she is more than happy to enjoy all the perks that come with it.

"Your the boss here, are you not?" Aria stands up with the question and walks right over to Lillian. Zaeed and Jacob both make movements towards their weapons but are disarmed with a simple hand from her.

"I am Omega," Aria whispers in her ear.


The meeting with Aria was much shorter than Lillian had been expecting, the Queen of Omega had laid down the law - an understandable precaution to take when someone like the hero of the Citadel waltzes onto your station, Lillian reasoned - but after that had seemed to be more than happy to provide them with additional information on both Dr Solus and Archangel the two people they were looking for on Omega. Ultimately she had decided that she liked Aria, and whilst she didn't approve of some of the methods that the woman employed to keep the peace she could imagine the state of Omega without a strong leader standing at the head and willing to do what was necessary. In short, Lillian thought that had she ever the desire to return to the straight and narrow of Citadel space she would make a fine Spectre.

"What's your call Shepard?" Jacob was the first to ask as they left the meeting with Aria, "The Doctor or Archangel?"

"We need Doctor Solus to work on a countermeasure for the Collectors," Miranda makes her point, as usually it is very in line with what the Illusive Man had stated during the last conversation that he and Lillian had.

Yet with Aria's information it was clear that the Doctor had some time, and was more than capable of defending himself from some punks trying to push him around. Archangel did not however. With all three of Omega's biggest mercenary companies working together and hiring every able body with a gun on the station to help she feared that reaching him would be the priority. Whoever he was to stand up for justice in a complete cesspool of crime, it was someone that she wanted to meet and offer the chance to help the Galaxy.

"We make for Archangel." Shepard gives the order, and continues before Miranda has the chance to counter. "He is clearly against the clock and we need to make it to him as quickly as possible."

"Wise choice. I doubt he would last that long, no matter how goddamn good he is." Zaeed stated in agreement. It was then he looked round at the recruitment station, "But the until recently dead Commander Shepard walking into join up with some Mercs from Terminus won't go over well. Trust me."

"Well we need to get over there somehow," Lillian comments, as if she is ready to march up to the recruiter and damn the consequences.

Jacob flashes her a big smile for a moment, "I think I have an idea about that. But it will need to hurry." Lillian rolled her eyes at him but nodded in agreement to whatever he had planned.

With a smug look on his face Jacob gestured for the lot of them to follow him. He took them winding through the streets of Omega, avoiding a lot of the more shady looking places until he finally stopped in front of a small store at the bottom of some stairs. There were bits of armour lying all around the storefront and the stench of paint was ever present.

"Titch you around?" Jacob calls into the shop. As if from nowhere a young Human girl covered in paint splashes pops up from behind the counter.

"Welcome to Titch's Armour customisation," She says with a big smile, "Nice to see your back Jacob... Not another strange mod request surely..."

"Not here for me today," He pulls Lillian out in from the middle and thrusts her in front of Titch, "Here for her." His smug smile returns as Titch's jaw hits the ground.

"C...Commander Shepard! But you're dead?" She exclaims.

"I am gonna get that a lot huh... "Lillian says rubbing the back of her neck, but she recovered quickly. "Well Jacob says you're the person to come to about changing my image. Don't want all these Merc's knowing who I am."

With that Titch invites her behind the counter, and examines her armour. Going over it with a fine eye. At the moment it is nothing more than a perfect replica of her standard issue N7 armour, including the classic red stripe and N7 badges all over it.

"Well I think I can work with this," She grin and Lillian just looks over tentatively worried about what is going through the young girl's head. "Won't take more than a few moments."

With that the girl dived back under her counter and pulled out a new helmet, some deep red paint and a pair of pliers. As soon as Lillian had stepped out the armour she set to work removing the N7 badges, and prepping the armour for a repaint. The whole process much to Lillian's surprise lasted less than ten minutes, and once finished it looked impressive. The whole armour was now a deep blood red with black trim matching the black undersuit. On the left shoulder pad Titch added a little flair with a winged blood drop.

Upon putting it back on, Lillian hardly felt much more like her old self. Due to her ascension to Spectre and her first mission being one that had not exactly given her any down time she had never gotten the chance to customise her armour like so many other Spectres. But what she was looking down at now felt like her. With that she took the new helmet. It was odd, the faceplate covered everything but her mouth. She wasn't sure about it until she placed it on and the visor seemed as if it wasn't there. Yet there was a heads-up display to remind her it was.

"The new Kestrel helmet, only a few on the Market at the moment. Nothing less for Commander Shepard." Titch tells her as she examines the hud.

"Is this-," Is all Lillian gets out before Titch guesses and answers the question.

"Fully customizable, if you know what you are doing."

"Excellent," She turns around to the others. "So, what do you think."

"Damn Shepard, if I didn't know it was you." Was all that Jacob could say, clearly impressed with not only the work but how well that Lillian managed to carry off the look.

"Indeed, it is quite flattering," Miranda agreed though it was hard to tell if it was a genuine compliment or simply Miranda going with the flow to hurry things up. Lillian could tell that she was going to have to spend some time with her XO and make sure that the two of them could come to a mutual understanding. After Miranda's comment, there came a wolf whistle from the newest member of the crew.

"You look like a goddam badass" The old merch {word} learning at the commander. "Even if I was twenty years younger it would still now not to fuck with you."

"Well we need to move then," She turns to Titch, "Thanks for this, how much?"

"No charge," The young girl grins, "I got to work on Commander Shepard's armour, Hero of the Galaxy I am happy with just the honour."

With the at the group start to make their way back up towards Afterlife, as they do Lillian falls back next to Miranda.

"Miranda I want you back on the ship, make sure we thank Titch for her service," She tells the woman, who looks stunned.

"I can more than help in Combat Shepard!" She keeps her voice low but is clearly aghast.

"It's not about that, the XO stays onboard when the Captain is groundside," Lillian answers quickly and sharply. "Otherwise Joker is in command..."

Miranda seemed to pale at the thought of leaving the pilot in command of the entire ship for a prolonged period of time. "Alright Shepard, I get your point..." With a nod she breaks from the group and heads back the the Normandy.


After arriving back at Afterlife it was Zaeed that took the lead, stating that even though Shepard now looked like the Universe's biggest badass, her goodie goodie girl scout voice would give them away in a heartbeat. Lillian had taken a slight offence to the way that he had said it but conceded the point. It turns out that had been a good choice. As soon as they had stepped into the room the recruiter had welcomed Zaeed like an old friend, with one look at Lillian and Jacob kitted out to fight a small ground war had no issues with signing them all on. It seemed that even these Omega Mercenaries were no different than most other people in the galaxy, turn up armed to the teeth and promise to deal with their problem and even they won't check on who you really are. Lillian looked around at the others who were being taken in as they left her eyes fell on a young boy, he barely looked old enough to even hold a gun never mind get caught up in a blood vendetta. There was nothing she could do without blowing her cover, which would mean they would never get to Archangel in time to save him. Lillian closed her eyes beneath her helmet as the two of them passed each other. It was clear that this was not going to be the first choice that she was going to make where an innocent had to be potentially sacrificed in order for her to achieve a goal.

"Well that was easy," Zaeed's voice cut through her thoughts as the three of them left Afterlife, "All these morons must be desperate if they allow just anyone to join them."

"Do you not have a issue with Archangel?" Jacob asked the man, there was a slight underlying sneer in his voice, that Lillian picked up. She would probably need to ask him about it later. "After all you are a mercenary."

To his credit, if he is annoyed by Jacob's tone the older man did not let on. Instead he simply lets out a low rumbling laugh. "Never crossed paths, don't think I was big enough to be on his shit list. Plus we both wanted the same thing."

"And what was that?" Lillian added to the conversation not really knowing what a old mercenary and a vigilante could have in common.

"A whole lot of merc's. Dead." It was clear that there was a story behind the statement, but this was not the time for them to listen to old war stories.

By the time they reached the landing pad, most of the transports had already taken off. The only one remaining was a rather old looking aircar with a Batarian in Blue Suns armour waiting for them. With a quick trade of words he confirmed who they were and commanded that they jump in. With that they were flying through the open area inside Omega. As Shepard looked out the window she was reminded of the Citadel. Omega was nowhere near the size to the seat of Galactic Power but it still held the same feeling of all space stations, a strange sense of isolation even through the busy streets and skies. People moved on with their lives below, all part of this massive hive but she could shake the feeling that they were more alone than ever. Of course with that thought her mind fell back onto her own situation. Her death.

"We're here," The Batarian's voice dragged her from the thoughts. She could dwell on it later, for now she had a job to do, and that meant saving some self righteous Turian from a load of angry Mercenaries.

It didn't take the three of them very long to make their way through the several groups of Mercenaries, Zaeed making sure to give Lillian a quiet breakdown of each group as they passed by their forces. It was an impressive amount of firepower that they had managed to bring to bare if she was honest, the Krogan of the Blood Pack, the Ysmir mech that looked like it was going to be a bit of a problem and finally the Blue Sun's gunship.

"That is going to be a problem..." Lillian says to the other two as they round the corner to see it being repaired.

"We could take it out now?" Jacob suggests, "My Biotics, your tech skills with Zaeed on cover."

"Too risky, we will turn the place against us." Lillian had thought about the options of taking the gunship out directly, but it was not an option.

"I got an idea," Zaeed smiles the best he can. "I'll deal with the stinking Batarian, you two plant these in the air intakes,"

Quietly he hands them each a small disc shaped object out of one of his pouches. Grenades. Lillian's eyes lit up, but as she is about to bring her concerns to the old Merc his grin stops her. It appears he has been at this game for a very long time and he knows the risks, she can't always be the one to take lead. For now they will have to trust him.

"On your six," She nods, Jacob clearly willing to follow along because she is.

They set the plan in motion, and as Zaeed pulls the Batarian away from the gunship to discuss what the plan of attack is, Lillian and Jacob move in and place the grenades deep inside the air intakes. With it done each gives Zaeed the thumbs up.

"So we just move on your say?" Zaeed asks in clarification as the Batarian takes a long drag from a cigarette.

"That's pretty-" He is called away from a bleep on his console, "Alright. We are going now!" He shouts out forcing all the freelancers to move. He then turns back to the gunship muttering something about having to get her ready to fly again.

"Good chat," Zaeed subtly pulls a knife from under his gauntlet and rams it through the Batarians spinal cord. Death is instant, and Zaeed walks back up to Lillian and Jacob replacing the knife. "Guess we are moving then,"

With a nod the three of them hopped the barricade and quickly started to move towards Archangel. Looking up Lillian caught a glimpse of him. It was clear from the armour the information about him being a Turian was not mistaken, the shape of the helmet and chest plate made that clear. Even from down on the bridge she could see the deep blue and black pattern on his armour, and how elegant he looked with the rifle drawn up at his chest. Looking at him reminded her of only one person, Garrus Vakarian.

"Wow Shepard I knew you were a bad shot," Garrus laughs as the two of them stood in their makeshift firing range. He had built it out of some spare crates in the Normandy's cargo hold, with the permission of both Lillian and the Alliance requisitions officer of course.

"Shut it Vakarian... My skills lie elsewhere," With false pout she twisted her eyes to the ceiling. He held his hands up in surrender and apology, but there was still a smug grin on his face. Or at least the Turian equivalent of a grin.

"Get down!" Jacob grabbed her and pulled her off to the side just as a shot from the turian in question triggered her barriers. "He doesn't know we are here to help, till we tell him that we are valid targets."

"Right... Sorry." She said poking her head out again for another look. "Let's move!"

With the call the three of them vaulted out of cover and quickly unleashed on the freelancers in front of them. For a team that had never seen each other in combat their team work seemed to come naturally. Each target that Lillian called was quickly felled by gunfire or biotics from Jacobs. Thanks to the efficiency it was not long until they had cleared out the mercs and made their way to the stairs at the back. Lillian was the first to dive up the stairs letting the other two cover her back as she moved.

There were two mercs by the door attempting to slice through the lock and reach Archangel. With a quick twist of her omni-tool she triggered an old program of hers, sabotage. Immediately one of the mercs guns overheated, and she moved in closer to clean the shot. The first fell to a few bursts after his shields fell. However quicker than she expected the other was already firing again, forcing her back into cover.

"Crap," She muttered timing his shots and preparing to jump out on the reload. Before she was able Zaeed appeared and finished off the merc with a well placed volley.

"Not bad kid, but that old trick don't work anymore." He said offering her a hand and helping her back to her feet.

"Old trick?" She said as Jacob got the door open, or thought he did. Yet standing on the other side was Archangel.

His rifle was in his arms though across his chest at least and not pointed at them. He stood there in silence for a brief moment examining the group that stood in front of him, lingering on Lillian more than she would like if she was honest with herself.

"He means the Sabotage program." The gravelly voice breaks the silence, slightly distorted by the helmet but recognisable as Turian. "I noticed you run it. But since thermal clips force a reset of the guns internal system the merc simply re-loaded to get around it."

"Ah... I hadn't considered that, guess I am still not used to the thermal clips yet." She tells him, granting a lopsided smile. He seemed to perk up slightly at that as if noticing something.

"It was also a favoured tactic of a dead Spectre." As he is about to say something else the entire building shakes beneath them. Archangel gestures with his head for Lillian to follow him over to the balcony. Jacob and Zaeed take the hint and secure the door again whilst making sure there are no stragglers. "They know their infiltration team failed."

"The explosions I assume?" Lillian looks over, she has the strangest feeling that he knows more than he is letting on. He also seems familiar, however she doesn't know any Turians other than Garrus and she knew he went back into Spectre training, so it was likely his current whereabouts was extremely classified especially to her.

"They are regrouping, with the four of us we might even make it through this." He says with a nod before looking back at the other two. "I know who you are, Commander Shepard. What about the two."

"How..." With a second thought she thought it might be better to leave such questions for the Normandy when they could get some quiet and she could see his face. "Jacob Taylor, ex-Alliance and Zaeed Massani grizzled merc."

"You don't seem to trust Taylor as much as the merc." There was a suspicion in his voices over this fact, as if doubting her choice.

"I said ex-Alliance, that always makes me a bit suspicious plus he's-" She is cut off as Archangel moves her out the way of a shot from below. Turning to look she can see the mercs of Eclipse starting to vault the barrier along with their mechs.

"Talk later!" He cries as they both go straight back into combat mode.

The fight against the Eclipse Mers was nothing like Lillian had experienced before, they heavily relied on dumb, inaccurate Loki mechs to make up the bulk of their force. Though they did support with specialists and the occasional trained fighter it was not really enough in her mind to break any decent living defence. It was nothing like going up against the Geth that was clear to her. Yet this changed with the arrival of the YMIR heavy mech. Quickly if forced all of them into cover and Lillian caught herself wishing she had taken the time to sabotage it in some way when they had free access to the Merc lines.

It took time and plenty of firepower, eventually they managed to whittle down the shields and substantial armour of the YMIR. With a last attempt to raise its primary weapon the lights on its face flickered and died. The massive hulk of metal fell forward and crashed into the ground. At the same time Lillian had been distracted by a Salarian trying to get a clear shot on Archangel. It was little effort to like up her assault rifle and just open fire while charging his position. Caught off guard completely the Salarian had no time to react as his shields failed. He fell to the ground much like the Mech before him.

"That's great, come and see me." Archangels voice rang through the comm. Lillian looked down at the now lifeless Salarian at her feet and once again the black dead eyes made her think of her own situation.

"Come on Shepard, no point crying over that bastard." Zaeed says nudging her as he passes. She nods in agreement though that was not what was going through her head if she was honest. Not that she is going to let Zaeed know that. As much as she liked the man she had only meet him after all.

The two of them return to the balcony where Archangel and Jacob are waiting for them, the conversation between the two falls silent as Lillian re-enters the room. Looking between them she wondered what had transpired between the two of them, what had they been discussing before she had appeared. She would have to try and pry it out of Jacob once they were back on the ship.

"Good work taking down Jaroth." Archangel says to her, "I have been after that slimy amphibian for months."

"That bad huh?" She jokes with a smirk. She feels at ease around him, possibly because he reminds her so much of Garrus. "Well think we can make a break for it yet."

"Not with Garm and his Blood Pack on the other side, we need to eliminate them or the Blue Suns for a chance to push our way out of here." Once more the building shakes from further explosions. "Dammit, we should have known the blockage would only have stopped them for a limited period. You'd better head down below and close the security shutters. Stop them coming up on us."

"Can you two handle that?" She asks looking at Jacob and Zaeed. "I'll stay up here with Archangel, keep him alive."

"Don't die on my, your the best paycheck I have," with a laugh Zaeed waves heading towards the stairs. Jacob making to follow him.

"Be careful Commander." Was the only words she got from Jacob.

Being left just her and Archangel they took their positions on the bridge awaiting for the next wave of hostilities to start.

"Here to recruit me to come save the Galaxy then?" Archangel asks without looking over to her. "It does seem like something Commander Shepard would do."

"People are going missing. I will not stand idly by whilst people are being attacked without provocation." He lets out a laugh as he hears her switch from Lillian into the Commander Shepard that everyone knows. "What?"

"Sorry, just whatever doubts I had, they are gone now." He laughs standing up just as the first of the Vorcha screeched. However they were not coming from the bridge, but behind them.

"Crap." Lillian moved over to the door and looking out saw one of the largest Krogan she had seen charging towards her. "Archangel!"

The Krogan barreled through the door as Archangel fired off several shots in its barriers which quickly failed, however the shots that got through embedded themselves deep in the Krogans armour not even slowing it down. As she watched Archangel dive into cover the Krogan returned fire, the massive shotgun seemingly spitting out more than simple shards of metal. The recoil looked as if it would have killed almost any other species and even the massive Krogan needed a moment to steady himself. The power was enough to keep Archangel in cover, unable to even take pot shots without the risk of being caught in the shrapnel. For now the large Krogan seemed to have no interest in Lillian taking cover by some crates.

Quickly she activated her Omni-tool, it was still in default settings and she was now regretting not taking sometime on the trip to Omega to customise it other than adding the sabotage protocol. She scanned through the default protocols before coming to rest on one that might be helpful, quickly assigning it to gesture activation she vaulted out of cover and activated it. The Omni-tool ignited in front of her before activating the mass effect field and using her own momentum launched the small flaming ball of mass at the Krogan. Catching the Krogan off guard and without his barriers to defuse the blast the flaming material splashed all over his armour and quickly engulfed him in flames. Taking advantage Lillian and Archangel opened up with everything they had on the Krogan. Yet even with taking everything they could throw at him and being on fire the Krogan managed to soak up almost two entire thermal clips before finally succumbing. With an almighty thud the oversized Krogan dropped to the ground.

"What the hell..." Lillian commented trying to catch her breath.

"Garm, the toughest Krogan bastard I have ever meet." Archange confirms to her, his breathing is also laboured but not as badly as hers it seemed. She was still a bit out of sorts that was the only reason she could think of for feeling so drained. "Not the first time we have tangled, but we got him for good this time."

Lillian nodded in agreement. Moving over she watched Jacob and Zaeed, who had reemerged from the basement, mopping up the last of the vorcha who remained. Looking up Jacob gave her a nod to indicated that it was clear.

"That's it, just the Blue Suns left." She comments over to Archangel who is once more examining the barricade on the far side of the bridge. "We should move against them instead of waiting for them to come and kills us."

"Agreed," Once more he lifted his rifle us to his eye, "They seem to be reinforcing but not making any-"

Archangel was cut off by the sudden whine of engines, from nowhere the gunship that Lillian and the others had seen earlier appeared in front of them. A voice from inside rang out crying profanity at Archangel. He tried to dive out of the way but was caught by the gunships main cannon. Lillian watched in horror as even though his shields held off the initial volley he was unable to move due to the force behind each shot. Finally as his shields collapsed from the repeated barrage the shooting stopped. Archangel once more attempted to lunge into cover alongside Lillian, but he was too slow. The gunship launched a few missiles. The first passing by and crashing into the wall on the far side of the complex, the second found its mark slamming into Archangel's side and throwing him against the very cover that Lillian kneeling was behind.

"Archangel!" She cried out moving round to him. He was not breathing from what she could see, but it was hard to tell. An initial evaluation of the damage showed that the explosion had ripped straight through one side of his chest armour and torn through the right side of his helmet. "Zaeed! Take that thing out!" She cried looking round.

With a smirk Zaeed stepped out of cover with a detonator, for the two devices that Jacob and Lillian had planted earlier on the gunship, in his hand. With a smile on his face he looked up at the pilot.

"Nothing personal Tarak," With those simple words the old Merc activated the detonator and the two small explosions burst through the air vents on the gunship, within a second there are secondary explosions which rip through the hull. The flaming wreck that falls from the sky lands on the bridge below blocking any further advance from the Blue Suns on the other side. "Just business."

Lillian turned her attention back to the wounded body of Archangel. She activated her omni-tool and ran a quick scan to confirm the damage to his body. There was major trauma, burns, concussions and even a few lacerations where his own armour had cut through his plates.

"Jacob call the Normandy, we need immediate extraction." She calls round the the Cerberus operative. "Let Chakwas know she is going to have a patient."

As she turns back to the turian on the ground he let out a gasping breath and reached for his rifle that was lying on the ground next to him. He gargled his breath trying to breath through the blood that was currently filling his lungs.


The inner airlock door unlocked with a clunk as the final hiss of the equalisation procedure came to an end. The four people standing the in the airlock of the Normandy is one more than had left it previously and a sign of another successful mission for Lillian. Behind her and discussing the finer points of the previous encounter with the Blood Pack Vorcha, Jacob and Zaeed seemed almost too engrossed in the conversation to notice the airlock door open. Miranda was on the other side, her hand on her hip clearly waiting for them all to enter the ship.

"Professor Solas," She addressed the Salarian standing by Lillian's side. "My name is Miranda Lawson, Shepard's XO, welcome to the Normandy."

"Yes, yes." The Salarians initial response seemed a bit slow as he looked around the cockpit, even seeming to notice as Joker subtly took a look. "Quite the impressive design, most intriguing that Cerberus is capable of such engineering. Of course knew they were advanced, and that funding went deep but to actually construct and entire ship from the ground up must have been costly."

"Indeed Professor," Lillian couldn't help but smile at Miranda's rather confused reaction to the Salarian before her. She hid it well, though was seemingly unable to hide it in her voice. "If you would follow me we can get you into the Lab right away."

"Yes! Much work to do," He response with seemingly new interesting in Miranda and what she was saying. "As my promise Shepard I will assist with the Collectors paralyzing drug, and help out groundside. Should you need me."

Lillian nodded to him as Miranda began to show him to the Lab, located just of the CIC. The other two waved as they walked on by, heading for the Armoury that at this moment in time was also still located off the CIC. That discussion had not gone well with Miranda, the woman insisting that she knew better. Lillian would get it moved though, she just needed someone to back her up on the argument. Jacob might be worth approaching to deal with that, or Zaeed at least.

"Miranda," She calls out before the woman enters the Lab with Professor Solas. "How is our other guest?"

"Doctor Chakwas is happy to report he will make an almost perfect recovery, a few scars but nothing more." Miranda tells her with the most neutral voice she can muster. Lillian is beginning to wonder if she is deliberately stoic to appear more intimidating or if it is actually her natural state, "She wanted me to remind you to visit as soon as possible."

"Thank you, I'll do just that." With a court nod Miranda and the Professor disappeared behind the Lab door.

Lillian let out a rather loud sigh, it had been one hell of a day. After the disastrous end to Archangel's recruitment, she had been quickly sealed out of the medical bay by the Doctor and Miranda, both stating that she would only get in the way. Annoyed by that she had decided to take the other two and go to retrieve the Professor, thinking it would be a quick way to kill time and vent some anger. What she had not anticipated was having to deal with both the Blood Pack and Blue Sons again, and in the middle of a turf war no less due to some plague that had been unleashed upon the area. It had been lucky that she had decided to go, had she not it was clear that the Professor, skilled as he was, would not have been able to distribute the remedy as quickly and as clearly as her team were once they broke through the Vorcha. Still it had allowed her to blow off quite a bit of steam.

"Cheer up Commander, you picked up another friend." Joker calls back to her from his seat, she smiles at him trying to live up to his rather uncouth nickname.

"Your right Joker, now get us out of here." She needs to get away from this place, knowing she will probably need to return later is not a comforting thought at all either.

"Aye aye ma'am."

Feeling the ship jerk below her as the docking arm detached she makes her way to the elevator and up to her Cabin. As soon as she enters all she can think about doing is lying down on her bed and taking a well deserved nap. Yet sleeping in armour was not a very good idea, so it was best that she did not. Instead she quickly released the clamps and let the plates of her armour fall onto the deck plating with a thud. It was as if her chest was no longer compressed by the weight and she took a deep breath before starting to tidy the armour away into its locker, she would check it for damage and cracks when she had a moment. She quickly changed into the Cerberus Officer uniform that had been provided, though was happy to see that it had been debadged, not even bothering to remove her undersuit before she did. A quick check in the mirror to make sure that her Commander Shepard face was on before meeting Archangel without her helmet and she made her way down to the medical bay.

"How is our patient?" Lillian asked when arriving on the crew deck and seeing Karen leaning against the door of her medical bay instead of at her normal desk.

"Physically he's tough, I have no concerns about that. He will have some light scarring on the face and chest. Though I have patched up what I can with cybernetics to stop more serious scaring or wounds. He is very lucky you were there for him." The Doctor is efficient with her run down, a true professional if ever Lillian had meet one. "Mentally on the other hand I fear that this might have shaken his confidence. Best you go in and give him one of your patented pep talks."

"Very funny..." Lillian murmurs in response as the doctor smirks and walks off towards the cook shouting something about needing a good meal over to the man.

With another deep breath Lillian opens the medical bay door and walks on inside. Of the four beds that occupy the small ward three are empty and one is covered by a curtain, she can see movement on the other side and it looks like their guest is getting dressed.

"I guess I owe you one for the rescue," His voice rings out from the behind the curtain. It felt very familiar to her, she had felt something similar when they had first meet but it had not been the time to put much thought into it. "I was sure it was my time there."

"I was glad to be of assistance. Though I can't say my motives were purely altruistic." She admits to him moving over to Karen's desk and leaning against it. "I would like your help with something in return."

"Now I am interested. What could this lone vigilante help you with?" As he says thing she can hear something in his voice, regret perhaps? "You have a ship, crew and resources. I am not sure what I can offer you."

"I am putting together a team of specialists, I have been reliably informed that you are one the best shots in the galaxy." She was starting to wander if Turians got together each year and held a contest to decide who got that title, Garrus had always been going on about it as well.

"Well with flattery like that who am I to refuse. But please, don't go around calling me Archangel. My real name is Ga-" As he spoke he pulled by the curtain and was almost immediately cut off.

"Garrus!" She was shocked, no wonder his voice had seemed so familiar. A large smile could not help but claw its way onto her face. She should have known. The dossier had been very clear with the kind of person Archangel was. A crack shot with a sense of justice who had left C-Sec. It all made sense now, and was so obvious that she should have been able to see it if she hadn't been so blinded by thinking about the crew she knew perhaps she would have put the pieces together.

"Shepard..." He seemed less excited to see her than she was to see him. "I had thought it was you... but you died?"

"I got better?" She shrugged in a joking manner and the two of them stood in an awkward silence for a moment.

As they stood there she noticed that her eyes started to wander. He had not finished dressing, his bare chest was glaring right at her. It was the first time that she had seen a Turian without clothing and it was quite an impressive sight if she was being completely honest with herself, not displeasing to the eyes either.

There was another brief shock as the half naked Turian grabbed her and pulled in into a half hug, his arms resting on her shoulders. She could feel his grip tighten almost as if trying to confirm that what was in front of him was real. It was strange to see him act like this. They had been close back on the hunt for Saren, and she had even encouraged him to re-apply for the Specter program in the hopes that she could continue to work with him one day. Yet he had never been one for much in the way of physical contact.

"Garrus, it is me." She tells him softly, trying to reassure him that it was really her, and not some trick of his mind. "I'm really here."

"How is this even possible?" He asks pushing her back, creating some distance between them once more. His eyes are filled with caution the initial shock of her return had diminished quickly.

"Cerberus..." She fought hard against spitting out the word. She still remembered what they had encountered together when hunting down Saren, but she was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, they had after all saved her life. "They rebuilt me, brought me back. The Illusive man seems to think that I am the only one who can stand against the Reapers."

Garrus stared her down at the mention of the Reapers. Blue and Green locked in combat as their eyes locked. Eventually he turned to the floor seeing that she, as always, would not back down. He let out a long sigh.

"Everyone moved on, they were willing to forget about the Reapers. Let it be just a dream." He told her, and before he could respond he continued. "I am guilty of that too I guess. I just came out here and did the only thing I could. Kill some merc's that deserved it."

"Garrus... "

"I'm in Shepard." He says, jumping on the moment. "I'm with you to the end on this one. Like before you just point and I shoot."

"Well I am glad to have you watching my back." Lillian smiles the widest smile she has achieved since she had woken back up. Though his sudden acceptance of the situation had left them in a bit of a awkward silence, it was going to take some time before they were back into their normal routine. It had been two years for him after all. "Well I'll let you finished getting dressed. I am sure you can find somewhere to be useful, Jacob would love the assistance moving the armoury."

She gives him a wink and observes as his Mandibles flare slightly, clearly he was amused by it was the only thought that ran through her mind. With that and a wave she leaves the medical bay. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad or as lonely as she thought. She had her shadow back, and that alone was enough to make her feel much better about what they were going to be attempting. In her mind the percentage of success just hit double digits.

Approaching the elevator, and in need of a nap she almost groaned seeing Zaeed standing there.

"What can I do for you Massani?" She asked, her face wiping the smile and returning to the safe distance of steely stoicism.

"It's about that job I mentioned," Zaeed pressed the call button on the elevator for her. "Far as I see you are done here on Omega, I was wondering if we could get to it."

"You said it was something to do with a Refinery on Zorya, workers being held hostage right?" She raised an eyebrow. If it was truly a hostage situation then it would be more likely that the local police, military or Specters would be dealing with it. Not a gun for hire.

"Think of it more as forced labour. The Blue Suns took over the place couple of months ago," He explains as they both get into the elevator. "Wasn't hard, they were the security after all. But now they are in control and the Company is not to happy with this. Of course involving the authorities would raise all sorts of questions about why a Merc Company was hired for security in the first place."

"So they figure get a merc to deal with the mercs." There is an audible sigh as she realises what is going on. Zaeed wasn't on a rescue mission he was the damage control. "And you took the job because of your heart of gold?"

To his credit Zaeed does not even try to hid the laugh that roars out from him. Quickly he waves a hand in front of himself as if trying to dispel any notion she had that this was in anyway a humanitarian effort on his part.

"One big fat paycheck Shepard, I'll cut you a piece of course." She shoots him a glare at this. Money is not something that she has a particular interest in. It is not like she has had a lot of time to spend. "Alright, I accepted because I have a bone to pick with the leader of the Blue Suns. Vido Santiago."

The door opened once more revealing the spacious CIC to the two of them, bringing a swift any end to the chance of any more questions from her side.

"Alright Messani," She laments, "I will have Joker set course for Zorya."

"Thanks for that," He smirks and steps back into the elevator, "I owe you one,"

"You owe me more than one.." She mutters to herself as the doors close once more. She had a feeling that something was going to go wrong with this mission of Zaeed's and her feelings were usually right when it came to such things. But they were of course not a reason for her to not do what had been promised to the man. At least that if she was there then she would be able to make sure that what went wrong could be controlled to a point.

She tugged on the bottom of her jacket straightening it as she approached the door to the lab. It had been a day of mixed feelings, to her it was mostly a positive day. She had Garrus back on her team, and it felt right. He was hiding something from her but she was sure that he would come around, and hopefully they could get back to how it had been before he left the original Normandy. Her mind wandered to the rest of the crew briefly, the Illusive man had not been able to give her much on the way of information with regards to the crew. She made a mental note to ask Garrus about them.

"Ah Shepard, good to see you." The door to the lab opened and she was greeted almost instantly by the fast paced dialogue of Mordin Solas. The salarian professor is already hard at work by the looks of thing, bent over his computer and working away.

"Just checking in Professor, making sure you are settled in?" She asks him, moving over to try and see what he is actually looking at. "Can I get you anything?"

"No no, facilities are much better than on Omega," His eyes only look at her for the briefest of seconds. "Most impressive."

She lets out an almost silent sigh, though it was one of relief more than anything else. With them going to take a while to get to Zorya it meant that she could get in a nap. Though she still had to look over the other dossiers that the Illusive man had forwarded on to her, and she wanted to write a mail to her Mother, she could explain the disappearance as some sort of secret mission. She wanted her mother to know she was alive. Once more her mind drifted back to the look on Garrus' face earlier thinking about the pain in his eyes when he had first realised that it was her. She was going to have to go through that again with her Mum and possible her brother as well.

"Commander I must thank you again," The voice pulled her from her thoughts as Mordin finally decided to pull his attention from the computer and look at her directly. "Your help on Omega was unexpected. However I must conclude that it was the determining factor in the positive outcome and for that you have my thanks."

"It really was no trouble Professor," She remarked with a smile. "How was your assistant, Daniel?"

"Smart boy, bit rough and idealistic but he will learn. I have left the clinic in his hands, and the mechs." Mordin returned to his work. "He will be fine. I am mostly positive."

With that he returned to his work and Lillian made to leave. That was another thing checked off her list of things to do next was a well deserved nap. As she passed Kelly on the way back to the elevator she informed the yeoman of there destination and asked if she could relay the order to Joker.

Once she was back in her personal quarters she walked over to the bed and simple fell down on top of it. Her head had barely touched the mattress and she was asleep.


A/N: Review answering time

RedRat8: He is in a custom regiment from the World of Nostro. I will go into it more detail later. As for gear you will have to wait and see :)