Shepard stepped off the ramp to the world map and motioned to Williams to follow her. She walked around the far side, stopping briefly as she waited for Ashley to speak with Traynor.

"We'll be here for the next 34 hours. Everyone scheduled for shore leave needs to be back within the next galactic day. And, if you could see about setting up a connection with the council to the QEC, I'd appreciate it. Adams should be able to help you get whatever you need," she told the comm officer. Traynor hurried to get the proper information out to those with leave coming before heading for the elevator to find Adams.

Ashley fell into step beside Shepard as they disembarked. It wasn't difficult to keep pace with the Spectre, even at the quick pace the other woman set. They were docked at the far end of one of the wards, Ashley wasn't entirely sure which one, but the dock wasn't terribly crowded. Security was easy to get through, Shepard's Spectre status got her through despite her side arm and Ashley hadn't grabbed hers before joining Shepard. She felt naked without it, but even though she was Alliance the paperwork to get approval for the weapon would have slowed them down. Something she didn't think Shepard would have appreciated.

Once they were past the guard, and got into the ward proper, she noticed Shepard was almost sprinting. She'd never been very good at reading body language, but it didn't take a super genius to tell that the stiff set of Shepard's shoulders and the grim set of her mouth spoke trouble for whoever happened to get in their way.

"In a bit of a hurry, Skipper? I thought Udina had canceled his meeting with you."

"He did," Shepard answered curtly.

"So, did you get a meeting with one of the other councilors?"

"No. I'm going to go see what Udina thinks is so important that he can't spare me the time he'd already set aside for me. And if I can't do that, I'm going to camp out in his office," Shepard growled, "It's not like I have anything better to do," she added, sarcastically.

"'Course not. Are you planning on turning yourself in?" She wasn't sure why Shepard had this meeting with Udina. She was usually pretty good at weaseling information out of the ships crew – she'd figured out Shepard and Liara before they'd even figured themselves out – but this was something that not even EDI had been willing to spill the beans on. Not that the AI hadn't seemed tempted, but apparently Liara had threatened her with something large enough to keep the ship quiet.

"Are you asking because if I don't you'll be forced to arrest me? Or because if I do, Liara will hunt you down and flay you alive for letting me?"

"Both. Though, honestly your girlfriend frightens me more than the brass," Ashley admitted. As an afterthought, she added, "Are you sure, she's, ya know, still her?"

Shepard barked a laugh, turning a corner and weaving through a crowd of humans and turians listening to a hanar speak on the Enkindlers, "Fairly sure, why?"

Ashley considered the question carefully. There wasn't anything really specific. But... "It's just, the Liara I remember was sweet, goofy. Kind of dorky; she reminded me of my sister a little, only 90 years older. If she hadn't been 106, I'd have wondered if you know, you were breaking intergalactic age law, or something."

Shepard laughed again, but it was more forced. She thought back to the night before they'd jumped to Ilos. They'd both been so nervous, and Shepard had almost felt sixteen and virginal again. And Liara acted remarkably like Shepard had when she had been sixteen. Liara's complete alieness hadn't helped matters much, but it had worked out. Better than expected, and it had only gotten better. "I remember."

"Well, I mean, she was..." Ashley tried to think of the right word, but only one came to mind, and it wasn't exactly right, but it would have to do, "...cute."

"Yes. Yes she was," Shepard said fondly, checking a map of the ward. Ashley still wasn't sure exactly what arm of the Citadel they were on, but apparently it had a lack of taxi stands.

"My point is, that's not the word I'd use for her anymore. She's dark, now. Dangerous. Sexy."

Shepard smiled, moving on. "Don't you get any ideas about my girl, LC."

"Funny, Skipper. I don't swing that way," she chuckled. "I guess what I'm trying to get across is that if you just ran into her today, you'd think it was her evil twin sister."

"I know it's her, Williams. I can list the ways, if you like." Shepard looked thoughtful for a moment. "Like the face she makes whenever she-"

"I don't need to know! I trust you!"

"What?" Shepard asked with feigned innocence. "I was going to say the face she makes whenever she's forced to eat peas. I've never seen anyone so adverse to them. She like sugar snaps well enough, but shell them and it's like the apocalypse has come."

"Sure, Skipper. That's exactly what you were going to say," Ashley laughed.

"Look, LC, don't sweat it okay. I know it's her. She's been through a lot, and I guess we stole a bit of her innocence. I wish it wasn't like that, but there's no way to fix it."

"You stole her innocence. I had nothing to do with it. I was safely in cargo bay."

"You have a dirty, dirty mind, Williams. You need to watch some children's vids or something."

"I'd probably read too much into those too. It's your fault you know."

"I won't deny it," Shepard chuckled as they finally approached the rapid transit location. Williams quickened her step, reaching the panel a half step before the Spectre

She tapped in the location, and was just about to take a step back to wait for the cab when she heard the distinctive sound a Predator cocking. She started to turn, but stopped when someone spoke.

"Well, well, well. Look what the varren dragged in. What do you think of it, Jeerek?"

Ashley stiffened, Batarians, she thought. She tried to catch a look of the people behind her in the reflection of the window of the taxi that had just pulled up in front of her, but the angle was wrong. She could see Shepard though, and her face was calm.

"Looks like a dirty little human to me, and her little pet, Shish," the Batarian, Ashley assumed it was was Jeerek. said.

"Yes it does, and not just any human. The mighty Commander Shepard. Not as bright as the vids make her out to be, is she?"

"You don't want to do this, gentlemen," Shepard said calmly. Ashley wondered if they were close enough to take them by hand. She wished she hadn't let something as stupid as paperwork keep her from bringing her gun.

"No? Oh, I think we want to very badly." Ashley couldn't tell which one was speaking. She'd never really been able to tell one Batarian from another even when she was looking at them.

"Don't do something you'll regret," Shepard continued.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you blew up the relay! My wife and daughter were on Aratoht. I think they'd approve of my plans," the other Batarian sneered.

"I've very sorry. I will be punished for that, make no mistake about that. But what I did, I did to save everyone. I didn't have a choice." Shepard's voice caught as she spoke. Ashley had never really considered how much the decision to destroy the relay weighed on Shepard's mind. She'd known it must have, that a person like Shepard couldn't just watch an entire solar system disappear and not be affected by it, but at the same time, it was Commander Shepard. Nothing threw Commander Shepard. Apparently, she'd been wrong.

"Not good enough," snarled one of them, Shish, Ashley thought. She tensed, ready to drop and swipe at the nearest of their attackers. There was a warm pulse just behind her, and the window of the taxi took on a pale blue glow.

As Shepard shot out the stasis field, Ashley dropped and took the second Batarian's feet out from him. His weapon went flying as he landed on his back, and she grabbed it out of the air, pointing it at the Batarian currently caught in Shepard's biotics. Shepard had her Carifax out, pressed against the trapped Batarian's head. Ashley took his weapon from him.

"You have two choices," Shepard whispered to him, "you can walk away and not bother anyone, ever again. And when this is all over you can go home and start over. Or you can push your luck, and lose. I will shoot you if you come near us again. Take your pick."

"We'll leave you alone," the Batarian on the floor said, sitting up. "You don't have to worry about us."

Shepard nodded and dropped the stasis field. Ashley tucked the Predator into the waist band of her uniform pants, un-tucking her shirt to hide it. She handed the other gun to Shepard, who gave it to a C-Sec agent who had finally shown up to investigate. The Batarians argued as the human officer handcuffed them and called for backup to get them to the local precinct. Shepard shot all three of them a chilling smile, and then climbed into the waiting taxi.

"That was unexpected," Williams said as Shepard merged into traffic. She wasn't sure how she felt about letting Shepard drive after all those months of sitting with her while she drove the Mako, but she figured it couldn't hurt to give her a second chance. She changed her mind rather quickly, though, as Shepard started weaving in and out of the sparse air traffic above the ward.

"It went a lot better than I expected, to be honest," Shepard said, strangely quiet. "I knew...I knew what I was doing. I didn't have a choice."

"You won't hear any complaints from me, Skipper."

"Yeah. Blowing up a relay and killing three hundred thousand for the Alliance, A-okay. Saving human colonies from the Collectors on Cerberus' dime? No can do."

Ashley winced. It sounded bad when Shepard put it like that. Cerberus were terrorists. "I-"

"No. That was out of line. I'm sorry." The Spectre sighed. "I just don't like thinking about it. And Liara had a rough night, and I'm just making excuses. There aren't any."

"It's cool, Shepard. I can't say I understand, I don't think anyone could, but I did sort of deserve that."

"No you didn't. Just hit me the next time I say something stupid."

"You girlfriend would never forgive me if I marred that perfect skin of yours. And she's way scarier than you."

Shepard smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

It didn't take them long to reach the Presidium, and from there the Embassy. The consulate desk had a single human speaking with the asari worker behind the desk. Otherwise the waiting area was empty. She followed Shepard up the stairs and down the short hallway to Udina's office. A salarian Spectre raised a hand in greeting to Shepard as he hurried passed. Shepard smiled at him, but her face fell as soon as he was out of sight. Her shoulder's slumped as she neared the office door. She stopped in front of it without opening it.

Ashley waited behind her, a number of quips on the tips of her tongue. She didn't say any of them, though she was sorely tempted. She didn't think it would go over well right now. The purposeful look that Shepard had held the entire way over here was gone, and she looked a bit like a lost little girl in her daddy's clothes. Well, if her daddy's clothes were her size.

"Right," Shepard finally said, "You know, I don't need to do this right now. We can go and restock and then come back."

Ashley gave Shepard her best withering look. It wasn't quite as good as the ones she'd seen Liara shoot the Spectre before, but it had always worked on her sisters. "We fought off a couple of idiot Batarians, and more or less ran up here. And now you don't want to go see him? What do you need from him anyway?"

"Access to the Council Chambers," Shepard answered distractedly, "And, I don't need to bother him."

In truth, Shepard couldn't get the image of the Bahak System blinking out of existence from her mind. She'd thought she'd come to terms with everything. The last few weeks had been good for her. She hadn't dreamed of it, and had been able to think of what she'd done without breaking down. She just kept thinking of what the batarian had told her. His wife and child had been on that planet. Along with over two hundred thousand slaves. Innocent victims of slave traders, that had died, not at the hands of their captors, but because she had sent an asteroid careening into the relay. All those lives were on her hands, and she could almost smell the blood on them. She'd seen her share of death. She'd taken more lives than she could count. She'd put more than one bullet into a batarian brain. But this had been different. It had been cold, distant, and she hadn't seen any of their faces. She'd always thought it would be easier if you couldn't see the eyes of the people you were killing. That was why she'd never taken sniper training, even when it was offered after she became a Spectre She could warp an enemy from a fair distance, and that had to be better than looking into their eyes before you put a bullet in them. It had to be.

And yet, she hadn't met a single person on Aratoht. She didn't know any Batarians personally, had really considered them only a half step above the Vorcha in terms of class.

She thought briefly of the batarian she had spoken with on Omega when she'd gone to recruit Mordin the year before. Had he had family in Bahak system? Had she helped save his life only to take his family away? How many families had she broken up? How many children had lost parents? How many parents had had their children torn from them by her hand. She tried to appease the thoughts by telling herself that at least the young children wouldn't have been alone, and they and their parents would have died together.

But how many times had she been separated from her mother as a child? How many times had she been left with her grandparents on Terra Nova, or friends on Earth when her mother had been given an assignment she couldn't go on. How many Batarian children had been on the planet while their parents served on ships throughout other parts of Batarian space?

She shook her head and tried to think of Liara instead. The way her skin had glowed in the light of the fish tank this morning. The curve of her back as she lay on her stomach, fast asleep. Her smile, the sparkle in her eyes when she was happy. The musical sound of her laughter.

How friggin' pissed she'd be if she'd heard that Shepard hadn't followed up on their new lead.

"Fine," she growled, though Ashley hadn't said anything, "let's do this."

She ignored Ashley's chuckle, and strode forward. Udina's asari assistant was at her desk. She'd had her Omni-tool up, and Shepard had a feeling she was playing games on the thing when they'd walked in. She looked flustered when she saw them, and jumped to her feet.

"I'm sorry, Spectre Shepard," she said, "The councilor is unavailable."

"I had an appointment," Shepard said coldly.

"I am aware. And as I said when I spoke to you earlier, Councilor Udina needed to cancel due an earlier meeting. He isn't available."

"He's in there though?" Shepard asked, already moving purposefully toward the back of the office. There wasn't a proper door between the two parts of the office, but an opaque partition could be slid over the top of the stairs to provide the councilor with some privacy during his private meetings.

"Spectre!" the asari shouted, "You really can't go in there."

"Try me."

Ashley followed Shepard, casting an apologetic smile to the assistant. It wasn't her fault Udina was an ass.

The divider wasn't locked, and Shepard pushed it aside with a swipe of her hand. It slid away, revealing Udina at his desk, and familiar figure standing in front of him.

"What the hell!" Ashley yelled, approaching the halo of the Illusive Man. The form turned, his charismatic smile spreading over his features.

"Commander Shepard. Ms. Williams. A pleasure, as always." He turned back to Udina. "I was under the impression that this was to be a private meeting, Donnel."

"This wasn't supposed to be a meeting at all," Udina replied curtly. "As I have been saying for the past half hour, I have other things to do today."

"Of course, my apologies. I was just attempting to render aid, considering the... political ramifications... of Commander Shepard escaping Alliance custody. Cerberus is more than willing to help in any capacity," The Illusive Man said smoothly.

Udina glanced at the two women on the stairs. Shepard saw his face twitch, and knew his anger wasn't with the head of Cerberus.

"The best way for you to help humanity is to put a bullet in your brain," Shepard snarled. Sure, she'd worked with him, had taken his money, but that was when their goals had lined up. For six months they had been tense allies to defeat the collectors. But she would never forget that he had been the one that killed her squad. Not directly, perhaps, but, as her mother had always said, shit rolls up hill.

"Shepard," The Illusive Man drawled, "charming as ever."

She strode forward, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't actually there. She stopped inches from the holo. "I know what you're doing," she whispered. Liara hadn't been very forth coming on all the details, but she had admitted to Cerberus' experiments into indoctrination. She hadn't been sure when, exactly, he had started toying with the premise, but Shepard wouldn't put it past him to have started before she'd even left their ranks.

"Had I any idea what you were talking about, Shepard, I'm sure I'd be able to refute you. Donnel, I'll be in touch." The holo vanished.

"Shepard," Udina said accusingly, "I do apologize for canceling our appointment, but I did cancel it. You cannot simply barge in here whenever you feel like it."

"Don't give me that shit, Udina. You have the cushy job you wanted, so don't toy with me. What the hell are you doing with Cerberus."

"He contacted me. You interrupted before he got to the point."

Ashley, standing a couple feet behind Shepard, snorted. "That's why you're on a first name basis with him?" Shepard glanced behind her, and saw her right arm tucked behind her back. Shepard smiled at her, but shook her head slightly.

"It's not as if my name weren't a matter of public record, Lieutenant Commander Williams. Are you bringing Shepard into custody?"

"Not today, Udina," Shepard said, moving in front of the desk.

"Pity. It would make my job so much easier."

"Your job is to serve humanity's interest as their councilor. How the hell do you expect to do that by working with terrorists?"

"You shouldn't make accusations like that before looking in the mirror first, I think, Spectre," Udina said through clenched teeth.

"I'm not humanity's councilor."

"No, but you are the first human Spectre You had a responsibility, and you worked with Cerberus. You destroyed the Bahak system. Your hands are hardly clean."

The statement was so close to what Shepard had been thinking before walking into the office that it caught her off guard. She took a half step away from the desk, never taking her eyes off Udina. She couldn't let him get to her. Liara didn't trust him, though she wouldn't say why. She said, simply, that it wouldn't matter if things went as they planned. She wished, suddenly, that she'd pressed her lover for more information now.

Udina stood up, walking around the desk. Shepard kept her eyes on him, and from the corner of her eye she saw Ashley turning her head to follow the councilor as well. She was suddenly glad that she had brought Ashley along with her and not Vega as she'd originally planned. If Udina was dirty, she wouldn't want anyone else watching her back. She didn't doubt that Vega could handle himself, and that he wouldn't hesitate if she was in trouble, but nobody hated Cerberus as much as her XO. She hoped he was telling the truth, that they had simply interrupted an unexpected call, but she didn't buy it. Not for a second.

She crossed her arms, and rolled back on her heels. It gave the impression that she was relaxed, almost uninterested. She wasn't quite as quick on the draw with her pistol in this position, but she could fire off a singularity or a stasis field just as quickly as if she was poised for battle. "I did. I won't deny it. That doesn't excuse your working with them, though. I got out as fast as possible. And Kenson's 'Project' was Alliance funded. I just pulled the trigger."

She didn't really believe that, but she would have liked to. It would be so nice to pass the blame for all those deaths onto someone else. She pushed a lot of it onto the Reapers, and that helped cool the sting a little. It was what had kept her going for the last couple of months. Until the batarian at the taxi. And his wife and child. The Reapers hadn't killed them. She had.

Udina smiled coldly. He was standing in front of his desk now, arms crossed in imitation of the Spectre. "My business is my business," he stated.

"Not if it involves Cerberus," Ashley said, finally pulling the gun. She knew better than this. This was the human councilor. But that had been the Illusive Man. And despite Udina's protests, there had been much too much familiarity on both their parts.

"Even if it involves Cerberus," he answered, unphased by the weapon.

"Put that away, Williams," Shepard said slowly. The last thing she wanted was an incident.

"I'm sorry, Shepard. You can't still trust Cerberus?"

"How many times have we been through this? No, I don't. But put the goddamned gun away anyway, Lieutenant Commander. That's an order."

"I'm not on the ship," she said, taking a step forward, "and you're no longer Alliance."

Udina had lost all the color in his face and had dropped his arms. His confidence when Williams had first pulled the pistol was fading now that she wasn't listening to Shepard.

"Get your crew in line, Shepard," he snarled.

"Williams! Now!"

She stared at Udina for another long minute, then dropped the gun to her side.

The tension in the room eased immediately, and Udina smiled again. "Right. Since your here, what is it that you need?"

"I need access to the council chambers. The central control for the citadel is located there."

"I do know that, Shepard. I can-"

He was cut off by a beep in his desk comm.

"Incoming private message from unknown source. Code 716554. Location unknown. Sender unknown. Message to follow." Udina fumbled to shut the message down, but it was too late. "Udina, it's Lawson. I'm not going to make our appointment. Got wind of something personal. Our mutual contact spoke with me as well. Things are go as soon as you green light it."

"Lawson? Henry Lawson?" Shepard whispered.

"It's not what you think," Udina said calmly.

"I think he's almost as bad as the Illusive Man. I think he did a number a little girl that didn't deserve it. I think it's a damn shame that this is going to have to get out." Figuring, given this information, Liara would forgive her for not getting up to the tower and that one of the other councilors would let her up there as soon as they heard about Udina, she turned on a heel and headed for the door.

"Don't even think about it, Shepard. You don't know what you're messing with. You don't understand what they can do. You're a loose cannon, and we can't have loose cannons running around the galaxy unchecked. They can stop the Reapers."

Shepard was hardly listening. She kept walking, not even looking at Williams as she headed for the door.

She heard the gun cock.

She heard Ashley shout.

She heard the sharp sound of the pistol firing.

Once.

Twice.

She heard Udina scream. And then his assistant.

She turned.

Udina was laying slumped over his desk, a red stain seeping out from under his body. A gun hung limply in his hand. He was still breathing.

She rushed over to him, eyes not on the dying councilor but on Ashley She'd dropped her own weapon, and her hands were shaking visibly. Her breath came in ragged gasps.

"I just... I... he pulled the gun. He was working for Cerberus. I... He would have shot you." The last was said with a steel fire, and Shepard watched as Ashley squared her shoulders.

She moved the councilor carefully, pulling off her shirt to stop the bleeding.

"It's okay, Williams. I need medigel. There should be a dispenser in the hallway. Go! Now!"

Ashley was gone in a second, and Shepard bent over Udina. One of Ashley's shots had just grazed the councilor's side, going through cleanly. It was bleeding, but not heavily. The other had hit center of mass. It too had passed through, but the exit would was a gaping hole in Udina's back. She didn't think the medigel would help much.

"Damn it girl," she snapped at the assistant that was screaming in the doorway, "call C-Sec and the hospital. The councilor is dying, you idiot child!"

The asari squeaked, and fumbled with her Omni-tool. Shepard growled, but put her attention back to the bleeding body beside her. She wadded her shirt up and pressed it to the wound on Udina's back. It soaked through much too quickly. She cursed, hoping Ashley would hurry. If they could just stabilize him, get the bleeding to stop, the doctors should be able to save him. A single gun shot was hardly deadly anymore.

She wondered why he hadn't had his shields on, then figured it didn't really matter.

Udina coughed.

"Sir? Relax, we've got medi-gel coming. It's bad, but you should be fine."

"Cerberus," Udina chocked, "base...on my...terminal. You'll...see." He coughed, bloody spittle raining over the desk. "It's for...the...best. Medici."

His eyes rolled back in his head.

"Fuck. Udina? Udina stay with me, they're on their way."

Ashley was back, the medigel container in her hand. She tossed it from the doorway, and Shepard caught it with one hand.

She didn't open it, though.

There was no point.

Udina was dead.

She stepped away from the body, and opened the terminal on the desk. There was blood on the keyboard. She wiped it away with her palm. The password screen blinked at her, and she stared back at it. She felt nothing. She'd never liked Udina, and he'd never much cared for her. But he'd been good at what he did. Or so she'd thought.

She typed 'Medici' into the password field, and she had access to Udina's files. The files she was looking for were buried, but not encrypted. She transferred them over to her Omni-tool without really looking at them. She rifled through the other files on the terminal, transferring some of the ones that she thought might be useful, but for the most part there wasn't anything exciting on it. Not that she thought she could get excited about anything.

She didn't feel bad over his death.

She was more worried for Ashley. The other woman was standing in the corner, staring at Udina's body.

"You did the right thing, Williams."

"I should have shot to wound," she whispered.

"Bullshit. You don't do that; it's a nice way to die. And you know it."

"Yes, Commander."

Shepard didn't bother to correct her. "Relax, Ash."

Ashley nodded, eyes still on the blood stained body in the chair beside Shepard.

There was a commotion outside, and two medics from Huerta memorial came in. Shepard stepped back from the desk, suddenly aware that her shirt was sticking to the congealing mass of blood on the former councilor's back. She glanced down at her bra, wishing she'd worn the protective undershirt that she wore under her armor. She hadn't thought it would be needed today.

It wasn't that she was self conscious. She'd been a marine long enough to not have issues with nudity, but she knew it would probably be hours before C-Sec let them go. If they let them go.

Ashley had just killed the human councilor.

Shepard lowered her head. So much for her perfect day. She crossed her arms over her chest, and sighed. She watched the medics try to revive the councilor, but she knew they were fighting a losing battle. He was gone.

She felt eyes on her back and turned around. She saw Garrus first, towering over everyone else in the room. He gave her a concerned look, shaking his head. Then her eyes fell on Liara. She looked terrified, and Shepard felt sick for worrying her. She didn't know how she'd known, or how she'd gotten here so fast from the ship. Or how she'd met up with Garrus. She didn't really care. She moved slowly, the air feeling like molasses, until she was standing beside her. She wrapped Liara in her arms.

"What happened?" she heard Garrus ask Williams.

"He was going to shoot Shepard," Ashley answered. Shepard felt Liara stiffen in her arms.

"I'm okay," she whispered, hugging her tighter. "I'm okay."

She felt Liara nod against her shoulder, and some of the tension drain from her.

There was shouting out in the hallway, and Shepard pulled back. She smiled softly, and kissed Liara's forehead. "I don't think I'm going to make lunch," she said. Liara choked back a laugh.

"Just come back," she said.

Shepard nodded, and stepped outside to meet the C-Sec agents running through the embassy.

"In light of the events this morning," Tevos said, "we had no choice but make a full inquiry."

"Though what happened was very sesitive in nature, we will not be suspending your Spectre status," Valern added, "but we feel that until the investigation is complete you will need to keep Lieutenant Commander Williams aboard your ship. It might be best if you leave the Citadel entirely until the investigation is wrapped up."

Shepard looked up, surprised. Liara had brought her a clean shirt while she had been questioned by C-Sec, and she'd been staring at the hem of it while she listened to the council. "Wouldn't it be more prudent for us to stay on the Citadel, in the event that the evidence doesn't exonerate us?"

"We have no doubt of your innocence, Shepard. Udina had video in his office. However, given your recent run from the Alliance, it wouldn't be prudent for us to look like we didn't investigate. Would you rather stay here?" Sparatus asked.

"No, sir," Shepard said, watching all three councilor's smirk at her politeness. She didn't think she'd ever been so polite with them.

"In that case, we will contact you when the results are in. You and Lieutenant Commander Williams can return to your ship," Tevos said. "Dr. T'Soni has informed me that they have already finished restocking your supplies."

Perhaps it was rude not to thank them. They could easily have stripped her of her status. Or locked both her and Williams in a C-Sec brig until everything was complete. And they hadn't.

It really did deserve a thank you.

She didn't give it, she just strode from the room, relieved.

She met Williams in the hallway, and nodded at her.

"Come on, LC. Let's get off this station before you do something stupid."

Ashley winced at the joke. "Shepard..."

"We're confined to the ship until the council reaches a verdict. The ship is not confined to the Citadel. Let's go kick the Illusive Man's ass."

"Aye aye, Ma'am," Ashley said, smiling for the first time since that morning.