Shepard liked Jacob; he was one of the few stable elements on the ground team and in the early days he was a welcome break from the cold steeliness of Ms. Lawson. Plus as a former top-notch soldier of the Alliance she found him relatable. She had joked with him about 'hell week' back when she was trying out for the elite units in the Alliance Navy and they laughed hard at her memories of being so sleep and food deprived that she hallucinated, and had mistaken a tangerine thrown in the mess hall for a grenade, because he had been through the Alliance's borderline sadistic training routines himself. He told her how years ago the guys in his platoon stationed on a tropical world devoid of a proper infrastructure became so incensed by the lack of alcohol that they stole a huge multi kilo tin of pineapples from their ship's canteen and put it in the sun to ferment covering it with mesh to keep the bugs out and she had laughed recounting similar incidents during her own deployments 'back in the day'. Being around him made her realise how much she missed military life and the solidarity and sense of belonging it had given her since her teenage unanchored years even though she had chaffed under it in the final days. Armies were the tools of politicians like Udina. Controlled mostly by people who didn't really know what it was like to be in the field and have their blood spilt, too rich and too well fortified in their ivory towers to truly feel the suffering and needs of the downtrodden. Lofty were their aims of expansion and dominance, but they gave little thought to the lives it would cost to achieve such things.

Shepard and Jacob got on well together, both on and off the field, but she had to admit it was odd him being here; a man with a clear moral compass, in control of all of his faculties, compassionate, decisively non xenophobic...working for a group like Cerberus. He had always spoken up when he didn't agree with something and was always upfront and so unlike Miranda she could never imagine him taking part or even standing by whilst Cerberus carried out experiments on unwilling civilians. Surely it was as obvious to TIM as it was to her that he had no real loyalty to Cerberus? In fact, everyone on the ship was almost unnervingly nice. She had to shake herself occasionally and remind herself to keep her eyes peeled.

She had been a sympathetic ear when Jacob told her of his father's disappearance and possible reappearance and when he asked for help she was willing to do her best for a fellow comrade in arms. She didn't hesitate once she received the coordinates for the final resting place of the Hugo Gurnsback. Shepard asked Jacob if he would object to having Thane on a mission as personal to him as this but the man knew better than to object. There was no time to indulge in petty grudges, besides the mission was meant to be straightforward and the assassin had to get out in the field sometime even if it was just a fact finding expedition.

"We can't kill these people" she announced flatly, her voice reaching them through their comm. units over the hail of gunfire. A bewildered civilian was crouched beside her whimpering, her eyes glazed over with terror. They were outnumbered, but both Jacob and Thane knew that was hardly an issue to Shepard.

"Right" she said; completely calm "I need you two to put as much people as you can into stasis. I'll run up on them and knock them out using concussive rounds as necessary. Once that's done I want you guys to pull them over into that corner and then we'll cuff 'em. She said, explaining it for the benefit of the man who would not understand military hand signals and field jargon

"Affirmative"

"As I must"

"Let's make it good"

Thane and Jacob broke cover, braving the erratic barrage of gunfire to place a group of rabid hunters in suspended animation. Shepard lithely vaulted over the crates she had crouched and hit the ground running deftly knocking out the closest hunter with her elbow. She evaded the bullets of the approaching hunters, deftly rolling out of range expertly raising her weapon and making precise well time shots at them, putting them on their backs instantly, mercifully granting sleep instead of death this time around. The 'hunters' moved erratically, saliva trailing from their snarling mouths. It was clear they were not in their right minds. She may not have known whether or not their aggressive state was permanent but she did know that they were acting under the influence of things beyond their control. There might still be a glimmer of hope even for them.

When they came across the mechs in front of the fortress it became increasingly difficult to stick to the 'no-kill' policy. The heat bore down on their backs and the unrelenting humidity made the air thick and hazy. The 'hunters' ran all about the place confused and violent, often running into the range of the mechs' gunfire and they struggled to protect them and incapacitate them at the same time. It was chaos, but they persevered under Shepard's calm direction. She charged into the fray her teammates like extensions of herself. She set the bar high for her teammates knowing they would scale it and she never exposed them to risks that she herself was not prepared to take.

With the once raging survivors gathered in a heap and the mechs reduced to smoking piles, they made their way through the barricade unchallenged and Jacob came face to face with Ronald Taylor for the first time in years, not that Ronald seemed to notice

"Who the hell are you?" he asked obviously burning under Jacob's glare, his eyes dark with judgement of his father's atrocities. It was unbelievable, even the debilitated survivors picked up on the familial resemblance.

"Ronald Taylor, meet Jacob Taylor" Shepard hissed, barely keeping her patience. She could only imagine how Jacob felt right now. His father was here, alive but Jacob probably would have preferred to find the dusty bones he had expected.

Thane watched as the older Taylor quickly back tracked on his previous lies but still appealed for sympathy, asking Shepard to please understand what he went through, how hard it was for him. But she mostly ignored his whining turning her fiery eyes to the beach and the restless sea beyond, leaving the man to his son.

How could a man ad wretched as this raise such a son? Jacob initially but the two men standing before him were poles apart. He had watched as Jacob aimed the weapon at his cowering father and he wondered, allowing himself to float to the surface of his watery sleep for just a moment – what would Kolyat think of him now? He had ideas and memories and all of them pierced his heart and he felt the weight of his sin.

He was impressed by Shepard's desire to save the stranded, even those who were hostile. The commander instructed Mordin and Dr Chakwas to take a look at the survivors and she personally handed out all of the Normandy's MRE supply to the survivors before calling in the Alliance to take care of the rest.

And there it was. As the hologram of the Illusive man fizzled into thin air Shepard realised that the expression on Miranda's face as she turned to leave was the most human thing she had seen of the woman since she had joined this operation. She would not have guessed that Miranda and Jacob had once been an item. The two women had constantly been at each other's throats and Joker frequently listened in to the comms to hear any spats playing them back for his own amusement.

When they were fighting they watched each other's backs, Miranda followed her orders diligently and delivered with ruthless efficiency, but outside of that there was no love lost between them. Miranda second guessed her every move, challenging her decisions and undermining Shepard in front of the crew and Shepard had played along one upping her every chance she got. Shepard had tried to downplay the tension between them to maintain a more professional appearance and for the benefit of the team, but she just could not abide her XO passing her place. Such things were quickly extinguished in the military. She had to make it clear that the Normandy had one Commander. But there had to be something, someone underneath that. She had only treated Miranda as an upstart, someone to be tolerated in order to complete tasks, but now she wondered if she had been wrong. She resolved to actually try to talk to Miranda and see her as a person.

"I see you gave away all our stock of MREs, which will delay us on our next missions since we have to fly back and restock." Miranda said curtly, not looking up from her typing.
"The food they were eating was toxic Miranda, it's in the report"
"Oh I saw your report commander and those people were already reduced to slavering beasts before our arrival. A few more days of the native food couldn't have made them significantly worse off."

Miranda saw groups and objectives and numbers, not people and individuals. It was true that she wanted what was best for humanity, but that concern did not extend to individual suffering and displacement. Their world views were different. Shepard sought to change the subject not wanting to get into another disagreement, but Miranda spoke first.

"I must say that I'm impressed Shepard, everything has gone exceptionally well so far. This has been the best Cerberus operation I've been on"

"Maybe it's because this isn't a Cerberus operation"

"Not to you maybe. I have to admit that I initially doubted the importance the Illusive man placed on you, but it's paying off. So far" She stopped typing her expression thoughtful.

"A child from the slums of earth, abandoned, parents were probably strung out junkies from the red sand epidemic, little education, but here you are. Humanities best hope."

Shepard was struggling not to rise to that. She may not have known her parents to refute that theory but it was insulting all the same and despite having a supposedly reconstructed brain (she couldn't bring herself to ask Miranda the details), she remembered all of the 5 years she had fit studying around her deployments along with all of the training the Alliance had meticulously put her through and the training she sought of her own volition. You couldn't be a commissioned officer without an education, but to Miranda it did not count.

"The strange thing is you haven't even received the most basic of genetic refinements, the usual stuff to screen out diseases. In fact you had a slight heart murmur" she looked at Shepard as if trying to solve a complex puzzle, she could almost hear the gears turning in her head. Shepard was already acquainted with the woman's interest in genetic perfection. The first thing she had said when Shepard asked to know a little about her was to detail her own extensive genetic modification and seemed to credit it for her every achievement.

"I haven't?" Shepard was genuinely surprised, the majority of humans underwent some sort of genetic screening in the womb or had some passed down from their parents.

"You have no biotic abilities, no enhancements of ability whatsoever, but yet you've somehow been born with what looks like an ideal genetic mix. High IQ scores, optimal functioning organs, high pain threshold…

"How do you know all this? I never met my parents"

"Neither did we, but genetic modifications leave little…indicators of what's been added and what's been taken out, a water mark if you will. When we rebuilt you we just had to enhance what was already there" she seemed oddly fascinated and a little annoyed at the same time. The commander looked over the sparse room noticing it was devoid of any personal items or mementos. Her bed looked as if she had never slept in it and Shepard could picture her working up into the night. She had never seen Miranda in the mess hall for meals, she only seemed to flit in and out for small things like water and she had never seen her exercising in the cargo hold. She seemed to keep her cards close to her chest, making it her business to know people but she realised she knew very little about her XO.

"So just what makes you so loyal to Cerberus?" she asked turning her eyes to the stars outside the window.

"Remember the genetic modifications I told you I received?"

How could she not?

Her blue eyes dimmed "Well…they weren't my choice."

Miranda went on to explain how she had been designed and created by her father, not because he wanted a daughter but because of the power he could obtain through using Miranda as a tool for his ambitions. It appeared to Shepard as if Miranda had exchanged one master for another and it occurred to Shepard that the woman she had begrudgingly worked with and resented was actually quite similar to herself: They were both the polished playthings of the same powerful man. They sat together in a gilded caged to fulfil a destiny they both needed and could not be drawn from. Shepard hoped she could make the most of it, and she hoped the same for Miranda as well.

Thane next came across Shepard in the mess hall, where she stood hunched over the hob, the smell of cooking wafting through the air. The walls of her quarters had seemed to grow tighter and crowded around her and she had decided to seek solace in the Normandy's kitchen. She had sat there for a while sipping tea but her unsatisfied stomach protested for something more substantial. So here she was, making an omelette at 3:45 in the morning. She shifted from one foot to the other, wishing she had worn shoes, the floors were ice cold. She was grateful to find the kitchen empty of crew members but she smiled when she noticed Thane's presence.

"Can't sleep?"

"I wasn't really attempting to. I am often up late" his mind briefly turned over the idea of returning to his room, he did not wish for company, he had only wanted to walk around the empty ship, but thought better of it.

Grunt emerged from the elevator and promptly seated himself at a table across from Shepherd, eyeing her expectantly. She turned to look at him knowing the smell of cooking food had brought him down from his room. She sighed. Why did krogan have to have such a good sense of smell? She ignored the huge blue piercing eyes and addressed the drell seated at the table.

"I guess we got a bit more than we expected on this mission"

"Indeed"

"So how did you find it?" he got up to fill his empty cup with boiling water adding the tea leaves to it.

"it was difficult trying to keep so many alive in the midst of such…chaos, but I am glad Jacob was able to resolve the issue with his father"

"You adapted well, I'm glad I brought you along" He had observed how Shepard and Jacob had operated in synch, likely a result of their shared military background and he had to keep up with their actions which were far outside the perimeters he was used to working within. He was glad to hear that his efforts had not been in vain.

Grunt stayed put, watching Shepherd intently as she transfers her late night midnight snack onto a plate. She sat down before Thane and started to eat, trying to keep her eyes fixed to the plate, but she feel the Krogan's gaze, and she knew she was not going to enjoy this meal.

"Take it" She said, grudgingly sliding the plate over to his side of the table abruptly. Grunt grinned triumphantly and promptly began to wolf down the eggs. She grumbled profanities under her breath and got up to make another omelette. Thankfully there were still some real eggs left, not just the powdered crap Gardener had previously been using.

Grunt finished the eggs and quickly departed back to the lift.

"I remember how you saved the workers back in the Dantius towers"

"Back when I worked under the Compact a lot of my work involved dismantling slaver gangs and pirate raiders. I would go after the ringleaders and my pursuit would cause me to come across captives"

"Well I'm glad there's one more person with a bit of empathy. Some people could use some" She said leaning against the counter. He detected a note of bitterness in her voice and he found himself wanting to question her meaning but instead he asked;

"Do you believe empathy to be an important part of being a warrior?"

Her eyes widened at the query, but then she folded her arms and bowed her head considering the question for a while.

"In my world, yes" she turned her eyes to his.

"If you have no empathy it's easy to lose sight of the battles worth fighting."

She placed the new omelette on a plate.

"But can it not also be deemed a weakness. As a warrior you are routinely compelled to shed blood"

She was seated at the table her chin rested on her knuckles, her eyes distant but thoughtful

"yes…but it's the reason I shed blood that's important. I kill to further our cause in saving the abducted colonists. If I cannot believe in the importance of that task…recognise how much each of their lives mean, I cannot do my job properly"

He considered that turning her words over in his head, the sound of them as they left her lips. He was sure that her sentiments were not shared with all of the crew, but he admired her conviction and the fearless way she carried herself in battle.

"I'm being rude" she said suddenly "try some". He recalled how she had been unwilling to share her food before and realised he didn't even know what it was she was offering.

"It's an omelette, made from eggs…from an animal called a chicken" she said answering his quizzical stare

She nudged a fork in his direction "If you don't like it I won't take offence" she said smiling. He finally complied not wanting to offend through refusal (human's were quite strange with their mannerisms and ideas of politeness) and took small tentative bites

"This is rather good" he admitted surprised that he liked it

She laughed lightly, white teeth flashing "see I didn't poison you" she teased

"My…dad taught me how to cook…he thought it would be a constructive thing to do to calm my temper" she chuckled, "it didn't really work though" She got up and yawned

"Well, I'll see you around Krios" she said heading towards the elevator and finally making her way back to the loft.

The next day he sent requests to his contacts to find out how his son was doing. In the earlier years he had called and spoken to Kolyat directly, and then he sent messages through his aunts and uncles. As time went on only the credit transfers he regularly made remained of their relationship. He had just recently discovered that the Observatory went mostly undisturbed and he had left his room with the intention to gaze out into the void and meditate but he had discovered Shepard in the mess once more. She sat at the table an open box beside her and numerous plastic pieces scattered around her on the table. She seemed to be putting the pieces together. She smiled when she saw him and he took a seat opposite her.

"What's this?" he asked studying the many pieces

"It's a model ship…or it will be when I'm finished with it. I used to build these as a kid"

She busied herself with the model her fingers lingering over the parts as she studied the diagram to her left. One by one, various crew members descended into the mess to speak to her whilst she worked. He watched her getting more and more frustrated as people interrupted her with questions or conversations but she remained polite and didn't turn anyone away. Even though it was late everyone seemed to up tonight. He felt for her, she gave so much or herself to others, granting favours and solving problems and here she was trying to do one thing that he could tell from the glint in her eye, she enjoyed and she couldn't be left in peace. Not once did she give in and retreat to her cabin and he suspected there was a reason she didn't just return to her room. The frown on her face continued to increase and finally he spoke.

"It is quiet in life support. Perhaps you would fare better constructing your model there"

She looked up at him and he momentarily wondered if he was passing his place, but she he could not mistake the look of relief that passed her face.

"I'd appreciate that"

She packed the pieces of the model kit back into the box and followed Thane to his room before anyone else came over for a 'chat'

"I won't stay long" she said remember how reserved he had been since arriving on the ship and not wanting to encroach on his space.

"Don't be ridiculous Shepard, stay as long as you like, I will return to my meditations, so you will not be disturbed."

The dryness of the room made her nose feel prickly and she was glad she had brought water with. She separated the pieces and spread them out on the table glad for an opportunity to finish the turian cruiser and eager to continue putting it together uninterrupted. She had been having trouble sleeping and had been reluctant to take the pills Chakwas had suggested, choosing instead to find something constructive and relaxing to stop her from over thinking herself out of sleep.

What the…?

She was taken aback and nearly dropped her glue when she looked up to see the drell removing his shirt. He placed the shirt to the side and sat cross legged on the floor with his back to her as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Well, maybe it was, she reasoned averting her eyes. It was pretty warm in here. The man was just meditating, it was no big deal and nothing to be concerned about, she told herself, looking back at the instruction manual for the model cruiser. True to his word he was completely silent, but she kept finding herself looking up from her 'active rest' at him sitting there. Black stripes streaked over the middle of his back and his skin seemed to glow under the lights. The pattern was really quite beautiful and she wondered how much the patterns varied among drell and if they felt different to the touch to the rest of his skin. He didn't move an inch and he didn't even seem to breathe as he sat there, his mood and state of mind completely unreadable from where she was sitting. What did he think about? She sat there transfixed, her tools and model pieces set back down on the desk. She shook her head; her mind was not going down that route. She resolutely picked the glue back up but her fingers lost grip of one of the wings she had just picked up. The cruiser wing clattered to the ground. Even though it was such a small object, in that revered silence it sounded as loud as a glass smashing in her mind and she winced hoping she hadn't disrupted him, but thankfully he didn't even flinch. She needed to get her mind right and finish the model before he got fed up and chucked her out.