Thinking the galaxy wants you dead does not mean you are paranoid …

• DECK THREE · SERVER COMPARTMENT •

"EDI, I need information," Shepard said as soon as they entered and the door had sealed behind them. "We need solid intel on the state of the galaxy—not just what we're being told by Žiuk'Durmah."

EDI asked, "Do you think Žiuk'Durmah is monitoring our conversations?"

"I'd stake my life on it." The irony of that statement was not lost on EDI. "We're inside a damned machine; not just any machine, an old machine. To expect that I gave up my physical existence, and now we're all best friends forever? I am having a difficult time accepting that. Nothing it says will convince me it is not monitoring everything we say. Even worse, I believe it's all being sent to Harbinger virtually as soon as we say it. So we're going to try an experiment. EDI, please join with me."

As EDI moved to the interface console on the right, Shepard addressed Liara, "Dr T'Soni, I need you to bring several clean tablets and black or blue styli. We're going for visual references here —no audio, no texts on omnitools, not even electronic text entered on data pads. Hand written, non-recorded, non-computer generated information—visual cues only."

EDI had entered Rachaél's domain and called out to her. "Commander. Where are you?"

"Right here EDI. Do not speak on the outside," was Shepard's response. "I think our communications in this server are relatively immune from its probing. When Liara returns, I will dictate something for you to write … well, a lot of somethings."

Liara returned with the requested items within a few minutes. Handing a tablet and stylus to EDI, she quickly wrote something on the one she still held.

»Edi. Shepard. what is this about?« Holding it up so EDI could read it brought a quick response as EDI placed her fingers on the top edge to bring the tablet down, out of her view.

Listening to Shepard, EDI wrote while Liara watched. »Get Tali. we need her to turn off Shepard's video feeds in this compt.« Then, after quickly erasing the tablet, she wrote, »do not speak. hand write. Hold close btwn you … for tali's eyes only«

Liara nodded her understanding. She left a third tablet and one each of a blue and a black stylus as she left for engineering.

"EDI, you may disconnect from the server," Rachaél said. "Wait here. I am going to ask Alenko and Garrus to join us as soon as Tali leaves."

EDI responded by embracing Rachaél's presence in the server; she responded back, holding onto EDI briefly before letting go. "I'm fine, EDI. Thank you, but I'm fine."

• DECK TWO · BRIDGE •

"Major," Shepard quietly said, addressing Kaiden's earpiece through his omnitool. "Don't answer, just comply. I need you to join me in the server compartment. Take your time … there is no hurry. Please do not enter until after Tali'Zorah leaves. Visit with Dr Chakwas while you wait."

She resumed speaking through her external speakers. "Joker, how's the inspection coming?"

"Adams and Vega are making good progress, Commander. They should be done in less than an hour."

She watched Kaiden turn to leave as she continued, "Extend the landing gear, Mr. Moreau. Might as well have them inspect that as well."

She felt the slight vibration under the nose as machinery retracted gear bay doors and rotated the forward landing legs into position. The main gear was a bit far astern for its actuation to be felt on the bridge, but Shepard could feel it from her position in Engineering. As the individual components continued to rotate out of the hull, she opened the comm-link to the shuttle. "Cortez, I'm having Joker deploy the landing gear. I want the three of you to look it over, including the gear bay doors. Never know when we'll get the chance again."

Cortez replied, "Affirmative, Ma'am."

"Landing gear in position, Commander, down and locked," Joker commented.

"Very well. Carry on, Flight Lieutenant."

• DECK THREE · CREW LOUNGE, PORT SIDE •

Shepard's avatar appeared between the bar and vid-viewer in the crew lounge. Her old friend Garrus was sitting on the couch beside the door, legs up on the extension, feet crossed at the ankles, leaning back, talons clasped behind his head, showing no outward signs of his nervousness at having to accept a ride from the abomination within which they were preparing to dock. Shepard noticed the view through the observation glass consisted of the inside of the blast shields, deployed between the view port and pressure hull whenever the ship was in danger of taking fire. Garrus became aware of the ultra-violet and red apparition at the end of the bar and sat upright, swinging his feet to the deck plating as he did so. "Shepard," he said in a low voice, neither statement nor question, just recognition.

He deliberately used his sub-harmonics to say her name, knowing the effect it had on her. She had never gotten used to hearing her name spoken in that manner—it pushed all her pleasure buttons, something the turian bastard knew only too well. Given her history, she didn't know why in hell she was so attracted to aliens. Liara, with her unparalleled analytical ability, not to mention the deadliness of her biotics and her ability to join their minds. It bothered Rachaél to think she may have to live the rest of her own life without ever again being able to touch Liara.

And Garrus, so calmly self-assured, the deadliest sniper of any species she had ever had the privilege of working with. And that voice … Damn! She really missed being able to have a drink with him in person. Two different species, each so different, one from the other. They were two of her closest, dearest friends, perhaps all the more so because they had been born on alien worlds.

Her thoughts were interrupted by, "What can I do for you?" When Garrus asked it, she knew she could request anything of him and he would do his best to see the task to completion.

"Garrus, I need you to meet me in the server compartment," Shepard said. "I'm bringing in Alenko as well. We have to make some contingency plans, and I need Archangel to help make sure all of it gets done. I'll have Tali stop by here after she has finished her modifications. Alenko should be visiting Dr Chakwas by now. He'll go in the compartment as soon as Tali leaves."

"Whatever you need, Commander." He used sub-harmonics to emphasize her title, which caused an involuntary mental shiver of pleasure. Dammit Garrus, how do you do that? she thought to herself. She already knew why he did it.

• SERVER COMPARTMENT •

Liara and Tali parted ways as they exited the elevator—Liara went right, heading for her quarters to check for any new data on her network, while Tali headed left, nervously clutching her new communications gear in her hand. She had virtually never needed to write anything down, and was not proud of her … what did the humans call it? … penmanship? She could use her stylus to print words legibly enough to be deciphered by others, but it was a bit laborious … so much easier to just tap things out on her omnitool. She was curious to see why this ancient form of communication was now going to be employed on this warship. "probably something to do with the bosh'tet Reaper we're inside of" she thought to herself.

During the past few weeks Tali had increasingly taken to moving about the ship sans helmet; when she entered the server compartment with a cheery "Hello, EDI!" EDI turned to look at her with a bit of puzzlement in her eyes—this was the first time she had heard Tali's voice unmodified by her suit's vocoder. Tali's unaltered voice had its own beauty, a lilting quality that was partially obscured by the filter in her facemask. EDI smiled at the quarian and said, "Tali. I almost thought you were another crewmember. Your voice has a different quality without your mask. It's quite lovely."

EDI's complement caught Tali by surprise; she responded by blushing and looking down at her hands. "I can put my mask back … oh, but… you don't mind that I'm not wearing it?" It was half statement, half question.

EDI reached out; placing her fingers under Tali's chin, she gently tilted her head back up. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed of, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. I am happy you can walk about unmasked without getting sick. Being able to see your face without a mask … you are beautiful! To hear your voice without any filters … it is a real pleasure for me." Tali rewarded EDI with a smile that lit her entire face. Shepard added, "It's a real joy for me to actually be able to see you smile, Tali."

Shepard then asked EDI to reconnect—when she had done so, she directed EDI to write, »tali, turn off the audio & video feeds in this compt«. EDI held the tablet low, so only Tali could read what was written.

Tali quickly scribbled out »why?«

EDI responded with »we believe reaper watching-listening to all we do« After quickly erasing the tablet, she wrote, »possible to place control on console?«

»on/off switch«, Tali queried?

"Yes," Shepard responded audibly.

Tali wrote, »it can be done. i need to prgrm it«

Shepard replied audibly, "Make it so, Tali. EDI…" she paused as Liara reentered the compartment, "and Liara will stand behind you so I am unable to observe the process." Shepard had EDI write one final instruction for Tali. »make internal override available to Shepard«

Tali responded by erasing her tablet as she moved to the console. Carefully setting it down beside her, she bent over the console, there to enable a Haptic keyboard. As Edi and Liara moved to stand behind her, she started entering commands, using a mixture of Galactic Standard and Khelish. When she had it completed to her liking, she looked over her shoulder at EDI; her hair, coal black with streaks of translucent magenta, had partially escaped the confinement of her cowl. She used the outer fingers of both hands to rake the offending strands back into place as she smiled at the pair watching her. "I believe that will work correctly." Having said that, she touched the control, causing Shepard to exclaim, "Dammit Tali! I'm blind in here! Talk to me."

Tali responded, "Okay Commander, but I don't believe my words will reach you. I've also shut off your audio receptors in this compartment."

EDI repeated Tali's words within the server, to which Shepard replied over the speakers, "Well done, Tali! Would you go to the port side lounge and ask Garrus to join us."

"You got it, Shepard."

As Tali left, Liara looked at EDI, still connected with Shepard in the server. She felt a touch of envy at EDI's ability to enter Rachaél's home and personally interact with her; she really missed the physical side of their relationship. Liara had actually resigned herself to a future without her promised after the crucible had fired. With Rachaél still on the Normandy in all but physical form, Liara had come to the realization that Rachaél, barring the complete power loss of the computer core or the destruction of the Normandy, would quite probably live for more than a century, maybe even several centuries. She needed to find a way to join with her. Perhaps EDI, once the Normandy was safely docked and they were heading for the Apien Crest, could assist her in joining Rachaél again.

Žiuk'Durmah had been monitoring SHEPARD-NORMANDY since the frigate had entered its cavernous storage area. Despite its earlier conversation with The Shepard, it wanted … no, needed, to learn as much as possible about this ship and its inhabitants. It did not have an ulterior motive for doing so, at least in its own view. It just needed to … know, to learn … the more, the better … in order to understand.

This need was something new, something not felt prior to THE SHEPARD's activation of the final solution provided by the catalyst. Žiuk'Durmah found monitoring the ship irresistible.

SHEPARD-NORMANDY had sent a small craft outside itself while it waited to dock. The craft had slowly moved along each side of the ship, spending a lot of time at the engines and underneath. SHEPARD-NORMANDY had expressed a desire to have crew members inspect the outside of the vessel prior to powering down its mass effect core and engaging the docking clamps; it could not think of any reason to deny this. It appeared they had almost completed their inspection.

Žiuk'Durmah became aware that a central compartment in the middle of the ship had suddenly gone silent, as if a shield had been placed completely around it. It looked at the rest of the vessel's interior and found everything still as it was—SHEPARD-NORMANDY was still active within the remainder of the vessel and in the compartment itself, leading Žiuk'Durmah to conclude the quiet area inside was an incongruity, something of no immediate concern. It resumed monitoring the vessel as the shuttle circled up underneath towards the open ramp leading into the hanger bay.

There seemed to be an inhabitant in the starboard cargo bay, an organic unlike any other on the vessel. It pondered this discovery, trying to make sense of the information it was gathering. The inhabitant had a familiar feel, for lack of a better description. Žiuk'Durmah continued to investigate, to examine, to contemplate this anomaly, along with all else on the ship.

• DECK TWO · BRIDGE •

"Cortez to Normandy … our inspection is complete. Normandy is in position for docking clamps to engage. Permission to return to the hanger deck?" Cortez requested.

"Steve, come back forward to the bow. Monitor the docking from there," responded Shepard. "Joker, retract and stow the landing gear so we can initiate docking protocols with the Reaper," Shepard said. Then, in a whisper, "Now there's something I never imagined I'd be saying in my wildest dreams."

"Aye, Ma'am," responded Joker, initiating the gear retract cycle. As the sound of the seldom used machinery drifted up from below, he added with a grimace, "Me either."

"ŽIUK'DURMAH, NORMANDY IS STANDING BY FOR DOCKING. WE ARE COMMENCING DIMINUTION OF OUR MASS EFFECT FIELD. PLEASE APPLY DOCKING CLAMPS."

UNDERSTOOD, SHEPARD-NORMANDY. INITIATING LOCK-DOWN PROCEDURE.

Shepard sent an urgent text to the crew on the Kodiak. "Docking procedure beginning. Standby." On the internal com, she said, "All crew members to duty stations. DC teams stand by. We are initiating docking procedures using non-standard equipment."

"Joker, reduce the field effect on the ship and monitor the clamps as they're attached. I don't want to even see the paint scuffed."

Joker's hands were a blur as he moved control interfaces back and forth. Engaging thrusters to maintain their static position, he gradually brought the generator power for the mass field down, increasing the apparent weight of the Normandy as Žiuk'Durmah rotated the docking clamps on both sides of the ship. The four at the stern touched engine housings and pylons with a whisper, the touch so gentle it was almost impossible to hear inside. There were two more clamps, one amidships on the underside and one a bit further ahead, under the port side airlock. A platform swung outwards from this clamping frame, coming to rest within eight centimeters of the hull, just below the edge of the airlock door. Once in place, a terminal equipped with a haptic interface could be observed in the center of the platform. Joker cut power to the maneuvering thrusters and gradually brought the field generators power to 15%. "Commander, everything is set as it would be if we were docked on the Citadel," Joker reported. "Docking clamps are engaged. We have shirt sleeve atmosphere outside."

Shepard sent text messages to the crew in the Kodiak. "Dock the shuttle, Steve. Let's get everything battened down. Have Donnelly and Vega meet Major Alenko in the server compartment when they're done in the hanger. Be careful around that docking arm—we estimate it's only 45 meters ahead of the hanger bay ramp."

SHEPARD-NORMANDY, THE DOCKING PROCEDURE HAS BEEN COMPLETED AS PLANNED, Žiuk'Durmah sent. DO CREW MEMBERS DESIRE TO DISEMBARK FROM THE SHIP? WE CAN PROVIDE A LOUNGE FACILITY FOR THOSE THAT DESIRE THIS.

Shepard thought to herself "I just bet you can!" then responded, "THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY JUST YET, AS WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO PERFORM ON BOARD. OUR HELMSMAN WILL ENTER OUR DESTINATION COORDINATES INTO THE TERMINAL ON THE PLATFORM. WILL YOU BEGIN THE TRAVERSE AS SOON AS THE COORDINATES HAVE BEEN ENTERED?"

YES, AS AGREED.

"Joker," Shepard began.

"I know, Commander. I need to go outside and enter coordinates for our ride home in a Reaper.

"Jeff," Shepard continued, "we need to get to the Trebia system in the Apien Crest. Plot a course to that cluster … the relay there should be almost repaired, and I expect Žiuk'Durmah can make the trip in about seven months, maybe a bit less. This is the only way to get us back home in time for our awards ceremonies."

"I seriously doubt the Alliance will pin medals on us for destroying the relay system," Jeff said, as if lost in thought. "The Alliance was ready to hand you over to the damned batarians, or string you up from the nearest yardarm, all for destroying just one damned relay."

"Until hell came knocking at their doors," she reminded him. "Never felt like we won the battle, did it? They wanted me to find answers for them. When we found them, they didn't want to listen to them, much less believe them. There was also the matter of over 300,000 batarians vaporized in the blast from that relay. It's really fortunate my activation of the crucible didn't result in every relay in the galaxy destroying their home systems."

EDI touched her from within the server. "I'll be ready in a minute or two, EDI … thanks."

Shepard finished with, "Joker, let's run our calculations. I want to head for home."

"Got 'em ready, Commander. Been ready, since you announced your intentions to be a crazy woman."

Shepard smiled inwardly. "Specialist Traynor, to the bridge please," she paged over the comm system. "Joker, Traynor is going to assist you. You will be tethered to the Normandy with a safety harness. I want both of you wearing breathers at all times."

The bridge access door swished open and Samantha stepped in. "Specialist, I want you to assist the Flight Lieutenant here. He's going for a short walk outside, and I want you to make sure he gets back inside in one piece." Shepard caught Joker's look of surprise. "Don't let him wander off to check out the local nightlife."

"Yes, mum," Traynor replied. "I'll see to it."

"Logging you out, Specialist … Flight Lieutenant."