The doors of the council chamber opened silently as Admiral Hackett approached, stepping inside he could see the Council in discussion, each sharing similar expressions. Determination and apprehension. Steve was once again reminded why he would never want to be a politician, the stress of such a position would be tremendous. Straightening his back slightly as he moved forward, Hackett could still see where repair crews had work left to do. Minor assessments, an electrical panel here and there, but the right stairway was still unusable. The admiral smiled to himself, he found it invigorating that these latest members of the Council were not in a hurry to have their chambers repaired, that they had actually requested the staff to focus on bringing the rest of the Citadel back to sorts and completing the work here last. Putting the populace first was a great improvement. As he reached the raised dais, Urdnot Grenk noticed him first and moving to greet him, knocked the Admiral roughly in the shoulder in welcome. "Glad to see you could make it." His teeth showed sharp and glistening white in his grand smile. Hackett genuinely liked this rough character, they both came from military backgrounds and could respect each others scars and war stories. The grizzled krogan had been the first to introduce the admiral to ryncol. A mistake that Hackett would never repeat.

"I arrived as soon as I was able. I sent forward the reports I received concerning the growing reaper numbers." Looking to the other councilors who ending their own conversations, turned to give him their undivided attention, "Ladies and gentleman, as the file states, there are now seventy four reaper vessels. That makes two in orbit of each of the thirty seven colonies that the reapers have or currently are, giving assistance to."

"So many." The salarian delegate placed her slim gloved hand to her temple. "The attacks are horrific, but what will the populace think of returning reapers? They said they would remain in deep space."

The krogan harrumphed, "Its the colonies they've helped that were hit, none of their ships have gone anywhere other than these locations. Just looks like defensive positioning to me." A thoughtful expression on his face, a terrifying concept to Steve having seen that same look before krogans decided which was the best way to remove your limbs from your body, "I doubt these terrorists will try an open attack again. Spineless."

Hawke nodded, "I agree, we are likely looking at more subdued attacks now. Possibly bombings and sabotage. Small affairs that will effect morale and spread fear. I am not sure how the people will react. Will this help or hinder Reaper Aid efforts?" The human delegate had begun to pace, his polished boots clicking smartly on the platform, chin in hand.

Reanil placed her hand on his arm as he passed by her, gripping him lightly. "Hawke, there are many questions with no real answers." Turning her attention back to the main body of councilors, "We need to do the investigations ourselves, allow the reapers to defend these locations, I doubt we could convince them otherwise and if the colonies were already accepting their aid once, I believe they will feel more secure with them in orbit. I do not think it is in our best interest to have the reapers leading the investigation for locating these rebels. It would cause strain and panic to have them landing on other less friendly planets."

Looking to the separate individuals, Hawke spoke, "Are we in agreement in this? To allow reaper forces to stay in station within our space, unhindered for an undefined period of time and to jointly investigate the terrorists, us in the fore with reaper support as needed?" At the muted responses of acquiescence, Hawke nodded. "Very well, Admiral, please inform Emissary of our intentions and see if they are agreeable."


Jack was not used to the feeling of being in shock. Felt like her brain stopped working. Sitting here, chatting it up with a reaper, getting hit with a verbal bomb that dropped her right on her ass. She knew she had to look like an idiot, she could feel her mouth opening to say something, curse, swear up a storm, anything. But not a damned thing was coming out, not one fucking byte of anything useful. The reaper soldier stood beside her watching calmly as she gaped like one of Shepard's gods damned fish.

It broke the silence, "Were you unaware of your importance?"

Jack turned her head away from the reaper's gaze. Looking at the pillow on her bed, "I was never one for the mushy shit. Never let Shepard say that sappy shit he kept wanting to. Hell, we only saw each other a couple times during the whole fucking war."

"Did you not speak with him as he launched his assault on London?"

"Yeah, all of ten seconds." Jack closed her eyes, her nails lightly grazing her scalp as she put her head in her hands. "Last thing I told him was he better come out alive, I wanted to get laid." She shook her head, "He was always invincible, you know? Yeah, he'd get bloodied and beaten, but he just never stopped going. Shit happened to him that would stop most other people, he just shrugged it off." Jack opened her eyes, looking at the floor a moment before glancing to her side at the reaper. "I would have sworn he'd get out alive, impossibly. Again. Why didn't he get out?" Aww fuck. Jack grimaced as she could feel tears burning behind her eyes. Pouring my fucking heart out to reaper, school's turned me into a fucking pussy. Moving her arms to cross over her midsection, ducking her head down as her shoulders began to softly shake.

The reaper gazed at Jack's form, this human in obvious pain. A previously unrecorded event occurred, the reaper sat down beside Jack, reached out with one arm and bracing across her shoulders, pulled the petite biotic against itself. Jack unconsciously leaned into the embrace, letting loose months of unshed grief.

"Your Commander Shepard was unable to return. He had to make the difficult choice of destroying us, along with all other artificial life, the Geth and his compatriot EDI, as well as causing the destruction of the mass relays and putting civilization behind by an untold number of generations; or, give up himself, merge his memories and experiences with our consciousness, give way to a future where we no longer followed our original design."

Jack could not believe she was here, crying for fuck's sake, being comforted by a reaper. If this shit were not so impossible, she would have already blown this asshole out the window for just seeing her weak. As it was, she hiccoughed and nodded. She would know even without the proof beside her, which Shepard would have chosen. Goddamned boy scout.

"He had few regrets. He had lived a good life in a short time. He did not look on the negative aspects, the follies of your council, the general destructive tendencies of your individual races. He felt he had a great life, he had a life of purpose and meaning, he had friends who had become his family. He knew the future would be better, unknown, but better. And he had found the love of an amazing being. In this, his greatest regret and sorrow, he would not see you again. Do not doubt that he loved you. You were his last thought as his body ceased to exist."