"Here, these are the archives," Liara stated, stepping over the body of one of the Cerberus guards as she accessed the door lock controls. With a faint hiss, the aperture slid open.

An immense room stood beyond them, gouged out of the thick rock and dirt of the Deseado crater. A wide walkway extended before them to a central platform, branches moving left and right to completely circumnavigate the cavern along the uneven walls. Below the walkways, an abyss seemed to descend forever, distant ramps, stairs, lifts and platforms spiraling down into its deepest reaches.

Lining the walls at regular intervals were strange pillars threaded with beryl-colored light. The largest of these pillars rose directly in the center, spearing the wide platform before them. Banks of computer equipment and holographic interfaces clustered against the railing that ringed it.

Despite the opposition they had encountered all throughout the base, the archives appeared completely empty of anyone save them. Stepping just within, Shepard panned the sniper scope over the entire area, and saw nothing.

"Ash, do a circuit," she ordered. "Li, with me."

As the LC headed to the right, Del and Liara moved across the walkway directly before them, reaching the computer banks without incident. The asari immediately accessed the interface as Shepard replaced her sniper with her small assault rifle, letting her eyes trail over the room and the monolithic center-piece.

"It will take only a moment to get into the proper files," Liara said as she worked.

"Shepard."

Snapping around, Del's rifle lifted almost in concert with Liara's pistol, both weapons aiming toward the man standing calmly nearby.

No, not man. Holograph. Narrowing her eyes, Del reluctantly eased her finger off the trigger. Had he been flesh and blood, he would have already been dead.

"Illusive Man," the snarl came not from Shepard, but from Liara as the woman grudgingly lowered her own weapon.

"Dr. T'Soni," he greeted neutrally.

"Bad news," Del's voice was all but dripping with acid. "You're going to have to find about fifty new employees."

"Yes, you do make it a habit to cost me time and resources," he told her, before glancing around. "Quite impressive, isn't it? The Protheans left all of this for us to find, to use. Thirty years the Alliance has known about these Archives, and what have they done with it? All but nothing. Trillions of terabytes of information and it sits here, dusty and squandered…much as you squandered the Collector base."

"You kidnapped Nan, you son of a bitch," Del spat. "Must have broken your heart to learn the Alliance managed to get her out before you could punish her for what I did."

"A minor setback," he said. "You make the mistake of thinking she's safe from me, Shepard. However, that is neither here nor there at the moment. I am more than willing to let bygones be bygones. I am giving you a single chance."

"Ooh, how magnanimous of you. Please, rain your enlightenment upon me."

"I'll ignore your sarcasm for now. Shepard, the Reapers are at Earth. Time to let petty arguments fall by the wayside. The data in these Archives will turn the tide, serve not only victory and domination over the Reapers but secure human superiority throughout the galaxy."

"Domination?" Shepard was incredulous. Liara scowled, turning back toward the console and returning to work. "You want to dominate the Reapers?"

"I do. With a force like the Reapers under our control, there will be none who can stand against us."

"You are fucking insane!" Shepard gaped. "Ni shi bai chi! You can't control the Reapers!"

"I believe I can," he told her. "You had a purpose and you served it more or less admirably, even if you did cost humanity the advantage of that base at the galactic core. However your short-comings are what will cripple you in the end. You always were incredibly short-sighted, pointlessly idealistic. Let me be perfectly clear. I will not allow you to interfere, Shepard. This is your only warning. Contend with me in this, and there will be no quarter."

Though she could not hit him, Del's hand fisted at her side. "Then let me be just as clear," she replied. "I intend to contend with you. In fact, I'm going to be extremely contentious and unimaginably naughty. One day, very soon, you are going to hear a knock at the door, and just guess who it's gonna be? If I were you, I'd go and find a very deep, very dark hole to crawl into and hide, and pray to fuck I don't find you, because when I do…what I'm going to do to you is going to make you beg for something as kind as pain. Cao ni ma, tzau ni Daye, and wo cao ni ye ye de sao pi yan! Qu di yu!"

"Have it your way, Shepard," he said calmly.

"Del!" Liara gasped suddenly behind her. As Shepard turned away from him, the Illusive Man smiled slightly, before his form disintegrated in shining waterfalls of light.

"What is it?" Shepard asked.

"I have reached the proper files but they are being erased!" the asari said, fingers flying over the console. "Someone is downloading and wiping the copy as we speak! It is local…they have to be here."

Shepard slapped her radio even as she turned from the consoles, breaking into a jog as she headed across the ramp. "Williams! We've got a hostile on site accessing the archive files!"

A rifle shot suddenly cracked through the room, before Ash's breathless, pained voice replied. {I just found her! Got a fuck of a flutter kick…its Coré, she's rabbiting!}

That same instant, a form darted in from the side, pelting along the catwalk and toward the exit. Shepard sent a shot or two her way, then picked up speed with a curse as the woman bolted through the door and out of sight. "Shit! Bitch is fast!"

{I winged her in the thigh,} Ashley puffed as she came around the corner, only a few feet behind Del as the commander charged after the fleeing doctor. {She's probably high on adrenaline, should stumble pretty quick!}

They raced down the corridor, Shepard barely able to keep the woman in sight as they slammed down one hall, then another. As she ran into the tramline control room it was clear her prey was not slowing down. She was across the room and through the roofline airlock in a heartbeat. Reaching up with one hand, Shepard locked down her helmet, not daring to slow even slightly.

"She's through the lock and to the roof! Are you sure you winged her? "

{Positive!}

"Fuck," Shepard fumed, the powerful storm-driven winds buffeting her madly as she reached the outside. In the distance, she could see Coré mounting a ladder toward one of the landing pads, a distant Cerberus shuttle closing in.

"She's getting away!" she cried and picked up speed. The physical force of the wind shoved her with every stride, threatening to topple her balance or worse…send her careening off the roof altogether, but she dared not slow. Hitting the ladder she hauled herself up, leaping onto the landing pad and hauling her pistol out.

She could see her shot spark on the metal at Coré's feet as the woman made the final sprint toward the hovering shuttle, its door wide to receive her.

"Vega!" Shepard hollered desperately. If they lost the bitch they lost the data…and likely, Earth and everything else right along with it. "Normandy! Anybody! I have a Cerberus shuttle at the north-side launch pad! I need interference!"

Static greeted her even as Coré leapt into the shuttle, the vehicle starting upward as the doors began to close.

Stretching every ounce of speed she could out of her legs, she knew she had no chance to even hope to catch or stop that shuttle. She fired desperately, praying a lucky shot would disable it.

Then, a streak of blue darted out of the roiling clouds of orange and red dust. Breaking through the interference, she heard Vega whoop.

{…zzz….'m on this!}

Shepard skidded to a halt as the two shuttles collided hard. The screeching torment of steel was louder than even the bellowing wind, and she gaped as both vehicles tumbled toward her.

Turning, she bolted the other way, spotting both Ash and Liara, who had followed up the ladder. She saw the LC tackle the asari, knocking her aside just as a hammer seemed to slam to the ground just behind Shepard's heels. Her boots left metal and she was tumbling wildly over the roof, the storm flicking her as gleefully as a child might flick an ant off their hand.

Thankfully, she came up hard against the three foot tall concrete lip that ringed the edges of the pad, crashing to a bone-jarring halt rather than finding herself in free-fall. Coughing, she hauled herself back up to her feet, staring at the flaming shuttle half-smashed into the pad behind her.

Their own shuttle, damaged but still flying, settled down a few feet away. As Shepard jogged forward, Vega emerged, shaking his head sharply and dusting off his pads.

"Normandy's en route," he said as she trotted past him. Even through her suit she could feel the heat of the flames, and lifted an arm instinctively against it.

"Liara? Ash?"

"Here," the asari panted, emerging out of the smoke, part of her hard-suit smudged with soot. Shepard grabbed her arm, then her helmet.

"Are you hurt?"

"I am fine, just a bit jarred," she reassured, looking toward the burning shuttle. "We need that data!"

"Where's Ash?" Del demanded, stepping past her and toward the wreck. Before the asari could answer, she spotted the LC scrutinizing the wreck.

"Here, Shepard," Ashley replied, glancing around at her. "I think I see movement-"

A form rushed out of the roiling fire, trailing flame and smoke like wings. Ash lifted her weapon only to have it backhanded out of her hand, the rifle spinning along the roof. Shepard's pistol snapped up as a hand clamped to the front of William's helmet, lifting her effortlessly off her feet.

It was Coré, the remnants of her clothing peeling off of her in blackened, ruined strips. No scorched flesh, no horrible wounds were evident…instead, the woman gleamed with metal and silicone, all trace of flesh and humanity replaced by flickering tech.

Coré wasn't human at all, but rather a synthetic, an almost perfect AI mock-up of a flesh-and-blood woman, a sophisticated piece of hardware the likes of which Shepard had never before seen…not even in the geth, and they were pretty fucking sophisticated.

"Put. Her. Down," she growled, pistol fixed on the faux-woman as Williams gripped the iron wrist holding her in place, struggling to free herself.

Coré's eyes, unfeeling and deprived of all morality, shifted to her only a moment, before she abruptly turned, hauling Ash around and slamming her with devastating force into the hull of the shuttle.

Shepard could hear the woman's hard-suit crack as it collided with the bulkhead, heard her single cry of pain. Tugging her aim down she snapped off two, three, four shots at the legs of the thing, the only place she could fire without risk of hurting Ash.

Hand whipping back, the synthetic hauled Ash away from the hull and then slammed her into it again. This time there was no cry of pain, the woman hanging limp. Even as she impacted, Coré dropped her and turned, lowering her head as she surged forward, sprinting toward Shepard with deadly intent.

The pistol barked again and again, Del holding her ground as she let off shot after shot. She heard the bark of Vega's shotgun the same moment that Coré leapt, Del bracing herself…and then twisting aside. The synthetic's shoulder hit her hip, enough to stagger her, but missed catching hold. As it crashed to the roof it was instantly enveloped in biotics, lifted a foot and then slammed down. Shepard strode forward, planting her boot on the back of its shoulders and overheating her clip as she unloaded into its spine.

Whatever alloy it was formed from was remarkably resilient and kinetically absorbent, most of the shots simply bouncing off, their momentum almost instantly lost as it they impacted. One or two penetrated, however, and with a sudden flash of sparks, Coré went limp.

Backing off a step, Shepard watched it warily a moment before she turned. Slapping Vega's shoulder she barked, "Get that thing, we're taking it with us!"

She reached Ashley's side a breath before Liara, the LC not having moved, complete dead-weight.

"Ash, don't do this to me," she whispered, lightly gripping her shoulder before she looked up at the stricken asari. "Li, can you suspend her, hold her steady long enough to get her back onto the Normandy?"

Drawing back, Liara's hands lit up with blue fire, the aura surrounding Ashley as well, moving her into the air without shifting her body position. It was far safer to transport her this way than for Del simply to physically haul her up…if her spine was injured, such a motion could kill her instantly.

That is, if she wasn't dead already.

They had just reached the shuttle, Vega unconcerned with gentility as he dropped the damaged synthetic in the corner and headed up to the helm. Barely had Shepard and Liara got aboard with Ash then their comms lit up.

{…zzznnnder, Joker…we…sssssss Reaper signatssssss….orbit!}

"Vega, get us the fuck out of here!" Del ordered. As the shuttle door swung shut, the vehicle lifting drunkenly from the roof, Liara lowered her unmoving friend to hover just an inch above one of the bench seats. Tearing off her helmet and gloves, Shepard cast them aside and reached through the biotic field, feeling the static tingle of dark energy over her skin.

On her knees, she pressed her palm lightly to Ash's chest, closing her eyes. After a moment of silence, Liara ventured quietly, "Is she…?"

"She's breathing," Shepard told her. "It's shallow but it's there. Joker! Can you hear me?"

{…mative, Commander-}

"Send Nan and anyone else we have with any kind of medical training to the infirmary! Ash has been critically injured. Get us out of here the moment we're docked!"

{Undersssss…d.}

"You hang on," she urged the unconscious woman firmly. "You do not die without permission on my watch, do you fucking hear me?"

Nan and one other girl who barely looked old enough to smoke were in the infirmary as they brought Ash in. Liara lowered her to the bio-bed carefully before letting her biotics die. Nan said nothing, only lightly touched Del's arm before switching on the scanners. Though she was a nurse, it had been years since she'd really done any direct medical work, especially on a trauma victim.

The girl with her reached automatically for Ash's helmet, only to be stopped by Nan's hand on her wrist. "No, not yet. Not until we determine there's no spinal damage."

"Do you have medical training?" Del demanded tersely, eyes boring into the younger woman.

"I…some field first aid, and-"

"If you don't know what the fuck you're doing, you keep your goddamn hands off my friend!" Del snarled. The girl paled and stumbled back a pace.

"Delilah," Nan said sternly. "Step out."

"Come on, Del," Liara added, grasping Shepard's arm and guiding the woman backward. Shepard shook her hand off with a sharp snap of her arm before striding out of the medibay in a storm-cloud of fury, unsnapping the fastens of her chest-plate with angry yanks. She was unsurprised to hear the infirmary door open and close again almost the instant she was past it, but didn't look back at the asari. Hauling the plate off as she stepped into the lift, she dropped it to the side, wrenching a shoulder pad off before slamming it repeatedly into the back wall of the elevator.

The door slid shut and she continued to slam the pad over and over, beating the unfeeling metal furiously. The lift didn't move, however. Slim blue fingers touched the controls and locked it into place, before a slight surge of biotics caught Del's arm and halted her assault, lightly rebounding it before it could impact.

Casting the pad aside, Shepard turned her back on the wall, dropping her shoulders against it before sliding down into a sit, fingers tangling in her sweaty hair.

Liara crouched beside her, resting a hand on her knee. "Del…"

No answer. The human woman didn't even glance up at her. More firmly, Liara repeated herself, taking hold of a wrist and drawing one of her arms down. "Del!"

"What?" she snapped in return, smoldering dark eyes fixing on worried blue ones.

"We have to leave the Sol system. We have to get Ash to proper medical attention," she pointed out sternly.

"Joker!" Shepard snapped. "Get us to the fucking Citadel!"

"We're on our way. Should be there in about an hour, ma'am," came the reply.

Liara let out a breath, then gently reached out and drifted her fingers over Shepard's cheek, lightly brushing free a few strands of black that had stuck to her cheek. "Talk to me," she urged softly.

"My home world is under attack, thousands if not millions of people are dying right now," Shepard growled low. "Everything we feared, everything I've been warning them about and it's happening! It's happening right fucking now and…I should be there, Li. I should be back there fighting, goddamnit!"

"Shepard, we are fighting," Liara reminded her gently. "We are fighting for the best chance that humanity…that any of us, have. I am so sorry about Earth. When we saw the vids, the news feeds…that was horrific enough. I cannot imagine how much worse it must be in person. But this is not your fault. You have done more than anyone could to prevent this from happening, and I know that you will do everything in your power to stop it from continuing."

Del wiped a hand over her face and glanced moodily to one side. Liara didn't miss the gloss in her eyes, the sheen of tears she refused to let form, let alone fall. "I shouldn't be here," Shepard mumbled laconically. "There was…there was a little girl, back on Earth. Brave little thing, couldn't have been more than six years old. She hid from us…from Anderson and me, when we tried to help her, but she managed to follow us two miles through hell to the waterfront. I saw her get aboard an evac shuttle. She looked right at me, Tianlán."

Her eyes shifted to meet Liara's, the dark shadows within having gathered thickly enough to make brown appear black. "She looked right at me, just before the door shut, before the shuttle lifted off. Just before those fuckers blew it out of the sky. Somehow, I'm alive and she's dead. How is that fucking fair…?"

Lowering her head, Liara closed her eyes, trembling brows knit. She did not resist when Del suddenly shifted up onto her knees, hugging her tightly…she only returned the embrace, burying her face in Shepard's neck.

After a moment, Del felt the warmth of the asari's presence slip through her mind, touching only lightly, sharing the love that she felt, a mental embrace very similar to their physical one. She clung to her spirit within as she clung to the asari's physical form, in desperate need of the comfort and reassurance, the affirmation that they were together.

Even with such a light, shallow touch, Liara could feel the heavy walls deep inside Shepard's mind. Because of the beacon visions and the starkness of the memories they had shared while trying to interpret them, there was truly little to nothing that Shepard ever hid from her. She had done so only once…when she had tried to keep from Liara the knowledge of her encounter with an Ardat-Yakshi. Now, the walls were numerous and thick, an interior fortress that only deepened the asari's concern. Something else had happened, something more personal than simply the attack on Earth, the child's death. Something had driven her to feel the need to close herself off, to retreat, even from Liara.

Whatever had happened, whatever she was hiding, it was shaking the woman's very foundations, jarring everything that was Delilah Shepard straight down to her innermost being. It desperately worried the asari, but she didn't pry at the moment. Now was most certainly not the time.

{Commander? Hackett's on the line. You can take it in the war room.} Joker's oblivious voice piped through the lift, drawing the two slightly apart.

Shepard lifted her brows. "We have a war room?"

{Oh, yeah. Been a few renovations. Just head to where the conference room used to be. I'll tell him you're on your way.}

Liara got to her feet, drawing Del up to hers before reactivating the lift. As it started to move, she took the human woman's hands, watching as Shepard drew her stoicism and impenetrable shell back down almost visibly. Stepping close, the asari softly kissed the corner of her mouth.

"I am here, Shepard," she affirmed softly.

Del ducked her head, her breath rustling over the asari's cheek a moment. "Thank you, Tianlán…"

She stepped back as the lift doors opened, their hands clinging together a moment before they released. Liara followed the commander as she strode toward what used to be the conference room, removing her second shoulder-pad as she went.

The armory, Mordin's lab, and the conference room had all apparently been gutted, allowing space for a huge communications and monitoring hub . The table with its hovering, holographic image of the Normandy had been moved into a smaller anteroom for private meetings, but the rest was unrecognizable. Stepping across the hub, Shepard entered yet another anteroom ringed with screens and bearing the quantum comm pad. As she approached it, Hackett's holographic form appeared on the pad.

"Shepard, good to see you in one piece. Dr. T'Soni," he noted with a nod, his steel grey eyes narrowed with stress and weariness…the only place such things were visible in his entire countenance. Shepard was a master at stoicism when she needed to be, but Hackett had always made her look like a complete amateur in the field.

"Admiral Hackett," Liara greeted in return.

"Were you able to retrieve the data from the Mars Archives?" Hackett asked.

"We believe so," Shepard told him. "Cerberus was on site and they had a rather sophisticated synthetic with them. The synthetic was able to retrieve the data and erase the local copy from the archives, but we were able to retrieve the synthetic."

"I believe I can extract the data from its omni-tool, and possibly directly from its interior databanks, with a little luck and EDI's help," Liara added. "It should not be too much trouble."

"Any thoughts on what this data might offer?"

"I had not been able to study it in depth before the attack," Liara said. "However my preliminary analysis seemed to indicate that it is an extensive schematic of a super-weapon designed specifically to eliminate the Reapers. There were also records, possibly containing successful strategies, or intel gathered by the Protheans on the Reapers themselves."

"Which makes those records invaluable if they are," he agreed. "Even so, if the schematics are for a weapon that has to be our priority. How long will it take you to extract the data?"

"Not long. I hope to have it extracted by the time we reach the Citadel."

"Good. Forward me a copy of the data as soon as you have it in hand, and I'll have our own analysts go over it. If they come to the same conclusion as you, then we just might stand a chance at this thing after all. In the mean time, Commander…talk to the Council. See if you can't talk them into getting some reinforcements heading our way. Earth won't last long without their help."

"Understood, sir."

"I've pulled some strings, and some shore-leave," he concluded. "You should be fully crewed and supplied by the time you depart the Citadel. Oh, and Commander…one more thing."

"Sir?"

"Under Alliance article 903 your standing in the fleet is now officially reinstated, per Admiral Anderson's directive and with Fleet Master Barrett's approval. Commander, you are given official diplomatic license and discretion to arrange and solidify treaties as needed to secure resources and allies in the war. More, you are hereby granted a field promotion to Captain to reflect your command of the Normandy and this diplomatic license."

Even Liara couldn't read Shepard's expression as the woman absorbed this, then carefully saluted. "Thank you, Admiral. It's…an honor, sir."

"I know the Council suspended your Spectre status as a show of good faith to the batarians when the Alliance officially put you under in-house detention," he said. "Of course, it is up to them if they choose to reinstate that status or to you, if you choose to accept their offer. For now, consider yourself a 'Spectre' for Earth, at any rate. You have authorization to do whatever it takes to give Earth and the rest of the galaxy a fighting chance in this war. Our prayers and our faith go with you, Captain Shepard. I know you'll serve us proud."

"Thank you, sir," she replied softly.

"We'll be waiting for a copy of that data, Captain. Hackett out."

As the image shifted and faded, Del lowered her head a little. Reaching out, Liara gently rested her hand on her love's shoulder. "Congratulations, Captain," she smiled. Del looked at her, reaching up and laying her hand momentarily over the asari's before she nodded.

"See what you and EDI can't get out of that thing," she said softly. "I need to square away my gear and…have a moment to think."

Stepping close, Liara hugged her softly, turning her head a little to lightly kiss the side of her neck. "I love you," she whispered.

"Yeah," Shepard replied in a low voice, hugging her back only a moment before she released her and turned away, leaving the wounded asari to watch her go.

As Del stepped out into the war room, EDI's voice spoke up over the comm, making the official announcement. "Attention all hands. Commander Delilah Shepard stands relieved. Captain Delilah Shepard now in command of Normandy. Promotion logged as of 10:43 hours, authorization, Admiral Steven Hackett and Fleet Master Jack Barrett."

Del's head only ducked a little more, the only reaction she gave as she continued on her way to the lift.

"Yes, this is exactly the information we need, EDI," Liara said, her blue eyes fixing to the shifting image hovering over her omni-tool. On the bench before her lay the synthetic, Eva Coré's soulless and lifeless eyes fixed blankly upward.

Such a marvel of engineering! Even in her bitter anger at Cerberus having created such a thing, at her own failure to recognize it as a spy and a traitor, Liara couldn't help but admire it. She found herself imagining Tali's reaction were the young quarian here to see it.

She would be 'over the moon', as the humans say, she thought silently, then with a more troubled spirit, If Cerberus technology has advanced this far, what else are they capable of?

She dared not imagine the answer to that. The Illusive Man had the advanced technology and seemingly unlimited resources to restore and rebuild a dead human being over two years ago. Now this, a synthetic so far advanced that she had successfully and unquestionably passed as a normal human being for Goddess only knew how long.

Turning her mind away from the unit and to the schematics hovering overhead, she faintly pursed her lips. "It will take time to translate most of this information but from what I can glean, I think my initial impressions were in fact correct."

"I agree, Dr. T'Soni," EDI replied. "It appears to be a highly sophisticated super-weapon, complex in design. However if I am translating the core resources correctly, I believe that it can be built within a relatively short amount of time- in a matter of months perhaps."

"Forward a copy to Admiral Hackett to confirm our analysis," Liara said, then began to file through the other records that had been retrieved. "What about these? My thought was they must be intelligence gathered from direct conflict with Reaper forces-"

"It is possible," EDI remarked. "However if they are, it is my belief they are not from Prothean conflicts."

"What do you mean?"

"There are discrepancies the language form of the records, and later entries do not match any known Prothean dialect that we have yet discovered. It is my conclusion that these records were uncovered by the Protheans and only partially translated into their language. It is possible they came across them as we did, and were attempting to understand them."

"Yes…yes, I see…" Liara whispered in wonder as she filed through, noting where the familiar Prothean characters changed into something completely foreign. "This is remarkable! Could these be from an even older civilization? Is it possible this device was not developed by the Protheans at all, but rather that they did the same as we are now doing…that they found the schematics from a yet earlier cycle and attempted to build the device, only to fail?"

"Perhaps. It is also theoretically possible the design was created by another sentient race, contemporary to the Protheans, and they simply were aiding in its construction."

"All known records seem to indicate the Protheans were the only space-faring species of their cycle. There has never been mention found of any others, and it would have to be a race at least capable of space-flight to create such sophisticated technology."

"It is against the laws of probability for there to be only a single advanced race during any cycle. If the Protheans were the only race capable of space-flight technology, then their cycle was an extreme aberration."

"Yes, perhaps," Liara agreed. "I will continue to try and translate these records, see if I cannot deduce what they contain, or their origins."

"The sections translated into Prothean should be easy enough to read," EDI pointed out. "Simply give them to Shepard."

"Thanks to the beacons, she would be able to read them as easily as if they were written in Galactic," Liara said softly. "However…I am not sure I should trouble her with this. She-…has enough on her mind."

"If it leads to defenses against the Reapers, I believe she will tolerate 'being troubled,'" EDI told her.

"Perhaps," Liara agreed sadly. "At any rate, we shall be docking with the Citadel any minute. There will be time to discuss the nuances with her later. For now, getting these schematics and presenting our plan to the Council is our top priority."

"Understood," EDI replied. As Liara headed out toward the lift, the AI called after her. "Dr. T'Soni…?"

"Yes?" Liara asked, pausing.

"Shepard…will be all right," EDI assured. Liara lowered her head a moment, before she nodded.

"Yes. Thank you EDI."

"You are welcome, Liara."

Ni shi bai chi = You are an idiot

Cao ni ma= fuck your mother

Tzau ni Daye= fuck your uncle

Wo cao ni ye ye de sao pi yan = fuck your grandfather's piss stinking asshole

Qu di yu = Go to hell!