Chapter Ten: Debriefing Liara.

The officer's conference lounge of an Ambassador class starship was not the large, luxurious affair of a Sovereign class, but to Captain John Shepard, it was more than enough. It had chairs, a table, and a computer display - all the luxury Shepard needed.

He hadn't spoken to anyone about his... incident on Therum, not since they had transported up. The Normandy had launched without a counsellor aboard and Shepard had never seen for to make use of a ship's counsellor anyway. He had always dealt with his own problems, never burdening others with his regrets and feelings.

Besides, he wasn't entirely certain if the flashbacks he had experienced were entirely brought on by just the memories and stress he had experienced. He had a sneaking suspicion that the Prothean Beacon - and whatever information it had tried to impart to him - was at least partially responsible: he might have seen some unpleasant things but he had never seen slaughter on the scale he remembered.

He sat at the head of the blocky rectangular conference table. To his immediate left sat Pressly, with Ashley, Tali and Wrex along that side. On the other side sat Kaidan, with Joker, Garrus and Chakwas further down the table. Liara sat at the opposite head of the table, frowning across at him.

"Alright," he said softly, beginning the mission debriefing. "Dr T'Soni, I'd like to begin by officially welcoming you aboard the USS Normandy. I realise this entire incident must have been very disturbing for you..."

"Not quite the word I would use," she cut him off, a pain Shepard was all too familiar with in her eyes. "Do you know why they were there?"

"We believe the Borg are after something related to the Protheans," Shepard replied, ignoring the breach in protocol. "You're a Prothean expert."

"Correction," Liara said tersely. "I'm an expert on the Prothean's destruction."

"There's a difference?" Wrex put in, clearly slightly disdainful of the archeologist.

"Of course there is. There is in fact a clear distinction," Liara said sharply. "One is studying their way of life - what they did in their time, how they lived. One is studying their demise, and how they met it, and what caused it. I studied the latter, by studying what we knew of the former. There... isn't much to go on," she finished softly.

"Do you have any knowledge that would give the Borg a tactical advantage?" Shepard asked her.

"Nothing of value," Liara replied. "I know the Protheans were destroyed, but I don't know what by."

"The Reapers," Shepard said, unthinkingly. He blinked, as the entire senior crew looked at him. It took him a moment to register that he'd even spoke. "Did I say...?"

"What are Reapers?" Liara said, staring intently at Shepard, her tone veering between half curiosity and half scepticism.

"The great enemy," Shepard replied without thinking, frowning at the woman's ignorance. "How can you not know...?"

He shook his head. Chakwas was looking at him with a frown on her face.

"Captain, are you alright?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"I... this happened on the planet," he said. "Memories... forced their way through my perception. I remembered things that never happened."

"What brought these memories on?" Liara asked softly. Shepard blinked, trying to recall, and then it hit him.

"Exposure to a Prothean Beacon," he finally replied, realising the connection. "On Eden Prime."

"A Prothean Beacon?" Liara repeated, eyes wide with an odd admiration. "But... but... that's incredible! For you to make any sense of it... that's all but impossible, it's never happened!"

"Well, Starfleet's mission is the impossible," Shepard murmured, slightly uncomfortable with the sudden expression in Liara's face. "And I can't really 'make sense' of it, it's more like its there and it pops up occasionally. It kind of... resonates with other memories."

"Explains what happened on Therum," Garrus said softly.

"Seems like it," Shepard said, nodding.

"Captain," Liara said, hesitantly, "there may be a way for me to help you make sense of the information."

"How?" Shepard asked.

"Are you familiar with the Vulcan Mind Meld?" Liara asked in return, leaning forward slightly.

"I am," he replied.

"Asari can perform a similar meld," the young woman explained, shifting in her seat slightly - clearly it was a slightly uncomfortable topic for her. "It would allow me to assist you in making sense of the Beacon's visions."

Shepard leant back in his chair, contemplating the idea.

"Opinions?" he asked the table.

"I would prefer it if you performed this procedure in sickbay," Chakwas put in. "Otherwise, I have no objection."

"Anything that gives us an advantage," Ashley put in.

"Agreed," Pressly said shortly. The rest of the crew nodded in turn, all murmuring their assent.

Shepard looked to Liara, who seemed resolute - if nervous.

"Vulcans usually require time to prepare," he said. "Is it the same with asari?"

"Not strictly, but..." Liara began, then she swallowed. "Some time would be appreciated. It has been a trying few days."

"Very well then," Shepard said with a nod. "We'll leave it 'til tomorrow, say 0930. Any other ship's business?" No one said anything, and Shepard nodded. "Very well. Dismissed!"

In his ready room a few minutes later, Shepard stared out of his observation port, trying desperately not to think about what had happened down on Therum. He failed, the thoughts of his... whatever had happened, straining against his mind. He sighed, sat down, and buried his face in his hands, his mind riven by echoes from the battle for the Enterprise, screams and shouts and yells of agony in corridors, an experience he would never, could never, forget. The horror of it, he was sure, would stay with him forever.

When his door beeped, he almost didn't answer it, but then he shook the thought away. He was still the damn Captain, and he had a duty to be here if the crew needed him.

"Enter," he called. To his surprise, Lieutenant Vas Normandy - Tali, he remembered - entered.

"Sir," she said nervously. "I hope this is not a bad time."

"Not at all, Lieutenant," he said, trying to smile. "What can I do for you?"

In response, she handed him a PADD. He looked it over for a couple of minutes, eyes wide in shock.

"Workable plans for a TR-116 pistol variant?" he spluttered at last, surprised as all hell - he had, after all, only been joking when he told her to work on it. "We've been back on the ship less than thirty minutes, ten of which were spent debriefing!"

"If - if you don't like the design sir, I can make modifications," Tali said, her voice small.

"If I don't like it?" Shepard repeated, a grin on his face. "Lieutenant, this is stellar work. Finalise this design and get it to the quartermaster posthaste."

"Aye sir," she acknowledged, nodding, sounding much happier. She turned to go.

"Actually, Lieutenant," Shepard said suddenly, and she turned back to him. "We never did get the chance for that one to one conversation, did we?"

"Er, no sir," Tali said, slightly awkwardly. "I guess we didn't."

Shepard gestured for her to sit in the chair opposite him. She did so, suddenly fidgeting a lot. Shepard picked up her personnel file from his desk - left over from when he had been looking over the senior staff - and summarised.

"Full name Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy - formerly Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya but changed in accordance with cultural principals shortly after your assignment here. You applied to the academy in 2373, got in, assigned immediately post graduation to USS Normandy as chief engineer," he said, smiling. "Short but sweet?"

"I beg your pardon sir?" Tali said squeakily.

"Your career thus far," Shepard clarified. "It's been short, but fairly prosperous for you so far."

"Yes sir," Tall said with a quick nod.

"If you don't mind my asking," Shepard said, leaning back, "why are you here?"

"Sir?" Tali asked, confused.

"Why did you join the fleet?" Shepard clarified. "Of all the many myriad things you could have done with your pilgrimage, you decide to come to Starfleet - it seems a curious decision."

Tali fidgeted slightly, looking around the room as if waiting for an answer, and then she sighed.

"Honestly sir?" she said. "The ships."

"The ships," Shepard repeated, trying his best not to sound surprised and/or dubious.

"They're marvels of engineering," Tali said, nodding enthusiastically. "I mean, they're elegant, proud, functional, beautiful interface panels, pristine hulls, Ambassadors have that swan neck shape, then there's the warp drives which are phenomenal..."

"Ships your big thing, then?" Shepard asked, cutting her off slightly, a smile on his face.

"Comes with being quarian," Tali said with a shrug. "If I wasn't interested in ships, I'd be pretty damn screwed over living on a flotilla."

"True," Shepard said with a nod.

"I also admire Starfleet," Tali added, standing up and looking around. She pulled the combadge off of her suit, and looked at it. "This... your Federation... you sent a fleet into space not to conquer, but just to see it."

"'To boldly go'," Shepard quoted. Tali looked at him, the badge still in her hand.

"Yes," she said. "Where none have gone before."

"How do other quarians think of Starfleet, then?" Shepard asked. "There've been a few of you in the fleet over the years."

"There have been exactly one hundred and fifty from a population of seventeen million since the first quarian joined fifteen years ago," Tali said, recounting what to her was a matter of historical education. "The first was Kal'Reegar, one of our marines." Tali paused, and then laughed as if at some fond memory. "He often says to his men that serving on the USS Excalibur was among his proudest achievements. The rest are also complementary, although some think you're too trusting and naive, especially for Citadel space."

"A common view," Shepard said with a smile. "I prefer being naive to being cynical."

"Me too," Tali said. There was a pause. "My people - some of them - have considered petitioning the Federation for membership, for a world."

"They should," Shepard said. "I'm sure the Federation would love to have them. In fact, I'm fairly certain there are scientists who would kill to have the chance to restore your immune systems."

"There are a few people who resist," Tali said, looking uncomfortable. She looked down at the badge. "They... they look at things like Holodecks, and Commander Data on Enterprise, as proof that you're too lax with artificial intelligence."

"Which would be an issue for a people driven from their home by AI," Shepard concluded with an understanding nod.

"Exactly," Tali said. She looked up at him. "How do you know so much about the quarians, anyway?"

"Required reading plus some extra research," Shepard said nonchalantly. "You don't take the position of XO on a starship heading to Citadel space without knowing something about the inhabitants, especially when one of them is on board."

Tali laughed softly.

"I suppose that's fair," she said. She affixed the combadge to her suit again. "Sorry to take up so much of your time, Captain."

"Any time, Lieutenant," Shepard replied with a smile. "My door is open."

"Thank you sir, I'll remember that," Tali said, and then she left, the door hissing shut softly behind her. Shepard leant back, and sighed.

Command, truth to be told, wasn't quite what he had been expecting. He had once heard a great truism that "being a Captain is like being yourself", and it was true: ultimately, he hadn't changed at all. Only the expectations thrust upon him had changed, and that came with any promotion.

He was interrupted by a beep from his combadge. Sighing, he tapped it.

"Shepard here," he said.

"Captain, we've picked up a Code 47 distress call coming from the planet Feros," Alenko reported, causing Shepard to sit up. There was ultra hi-priority, and then there was Code 47. But a distress call? Wide band?

"Patch it through," he said, bringing up his computer. "Authorisation Shepard, three seven beta epsilon."

A moment later on the screen, the UFP symbol popped up, and then the tired, haggard face of a man appeared.

"To any Starfleet ships in the area," the man said, in a rough British accent, "this is Lieutenant William Reed of Starfleet Intelligence. I am on a covert op on Feros retrieving data critical to our recent engagements with the Borg, but the Borg have landed in force and the data retrieval is threatened. Requesting immediate assistance and evac ASAP."

The message fizzled out, leaving the UFP symbol in its place. A moment later, there was a bleep - confirmation that any records of the message had been deleted from computer records.

Shepard blinked, frowning at the now empty screen. Eyes only message from a Starfleet Intel commando about important data? It felt off somehow, though Shepard couldn't figure out how exactly. Still, he couldn't ignore the based on a gut feeling.

"Mr Alenko, are there any other starships in the area of Feros?" he asked, unwilling to risk his crew on more engagements with the Borg if he could help it.

"A few sir, but nothing as capable as the Normandy," Alenko replied.

"Damn," Shepard swore. He didn't want to go, but he saw no alternative. "Tell Joker to set a course, maximum warp and quickest relay."

"Aye sir," Alenko said. A moment later, he spoke. "Joker says three hours, sir."

"Good. Keep me posted, Shepard out," the Captain said, signing off the comm system.

Shepard wasn't in the least bit fond of this situation. He pulled up a library computer record on Feros: a planet covered in Prothean ruins that were constantly being studied, most recently by a Starfleet science team but in the last couple of years... also by a Dr Liara T'Soni and Professor T'Sal. Shepard grinned. Some good luck then, at least. As well as that, there was a small colony being built up.

"Ok," he said to himself, reviewing the data. "Small colony, urban area. Probable influx of Borg targets, little room to manoeuvre."

He frowned. He hated how it was sounding out loud: all too similar to the Borg infestation on Enterprise, and with his previous lapse, he had no desire to repeat the experience. Still, that just meant he needed a bigger team.

A few minutes later, Liara T'Soni walked into the ready room, summoned by the Captain. He regarded her with a grim set expression.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked, breaking the tension.

"I did," Shepard said, and then launched into his reasons. "We're going to Feros on an important mission. My understanding is that you went there, with Professor T'Sal, a few years ago. I don't want to be too detailed about a sensitive Starfleet issue but we need your assistance." He paused before saying the next thing on his mind. "The Borg are involved."

Liara blinked, as though considering what she was being told.

"I'll help any way I can," she said, the vehemence in her voice surprising even her.

"You're certain?" Shepard asked.

"Those metal bastards deserve to pay for what they did on Therum," Liara said viciously, "and its my intention to see that they do."

"Very well," Shepard said, not entirely pleased with having yet another person who was so... angry at the Borg on the team. "I can't condone you being on that planet as anything but a Starfleet officer, so I'll enter into the record that you were commissioned as a scientific observer. No rank, no duties, but it gives you the right to be on the mission."

"I understand," she said, seemingly indifferent to the news.

"Report to the quartermaster and log some hours with Federation issue weapons and a Hazard Suit," Shepard ordered. "You've got two and a half hours."

Liara nodded tersely and, sensing the Captain had nothing further to say to her, she turned and left the ready room.

Shepard sighed, and started planning his landing.