"Jessica, what's wrong?" Miranda asked.

"Was destroying that facility worth the deaths of twenty-one of our people? Did we have to stop Saren on Virmire?" she asked.

"If we hadn't destroyed that facility Saren would have had a krogan army to attack with. Twenty-one people died on Virmire so no one else would have to." Miranda said.

"You're probably right, I just have a hard time accepting that many losses. Reminds me of Akuze."

"Akuze?" Miranda inquired.

"I was part of an Alliance mission on the planet Akuze. We'd been given orders to investigate a distress beacon there, but when we arrived and had started looking around we were jumped by four thresher maws. They killed everyone but me. Thirty-five marines died down there, because I wasn't good enough to stop the threshers."

"You can't blame yourself for not being able to stop four of those things. Taking even one done is next to impossible. Even with tanks."

"I know you're right, but it's difficult to accept it." Jessica said, "It's time to have Joker set course for the Citadel.

"Yes, but what are you going to tell the crew?"

"Hopefully you'll tell them. Just enough for them to know the situation. I know where the Conduit is, and after we report to the council we're going to recover it."

"Then why aren't we going to get it first?" Miranda asked.

"Because, we need the council preparing for the reapers' return. If they can invade without the galaxy prepared, we won't stand a chance against them."

Miranda just nodded, before walking off.

"Miri, would you meet me in the mess hall when you've finished telling the crew?"

"Of course. See you there." Miranda said, walking off to inform Garrus. Shepard, on the other hand, went to the elevator and then the mess hall where she found Oriana staring into space. "You okay?" She asked.

Oriana snapped out of her daze and said, "Yeah, I'm just a little shocked about what happened these last few days." She looked Jessica in the eye and said, "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just zoned out there for a minute."

"Sorry, I was just trying to figure something out." Jessica said, giving Miranda a small smile as she walked by. Miranda winked as she entered the med bay.

"So, you and her?" Oriana asked.

"If you have to ask, yes, we are together." Jessica replied, and brought up a picture of her and Miranda on the Citadel, but was interrupted by Liara screaming, "LEAVE MY OFFICE NOW, LAWSON!"

"Um, what did she do?" Oriana asked, but Jessica had already sprinted into the medbay. She saw Miranda backing away from Liara, who's biotics were flaring. Shepard glared at the asari, and asked, "What the hell are you doing, Doctor?"

"This fool entered my office when I had made it clear that I didn't want to be interrupted."

"She had a message from me, T'soni." Jessica growled.

"She could have sent it to my terminal or omni tool." Liara said, "I was working on something that is private and I will kill to protect.

"I don't care what you were working on, T'soni, if you attack another member of my crew, I will leave you on Omega with nothing."

The asari glared at Shepard before heading back into her office.

"You okay, Miri?"

"Yeah, but if you hadn't shown up when you had things would have probably gotten quite ugly."

"I don't want you going close to T'soni again for a while." Jessica said.

"I can handle myself, Jessica."

"I know you can, but I don't want to risk it."

Miranda sighed and said, "Okay, you wanted to meet me in the mess hall, right?"

Jessica smiled, held out her arm, and said, "Right this way." Miranda smiled, while grabbing Jessica's hand. When they entered the mess hall, Jessica headed straight for Oriana. Miranda paled, but Shepard said, "It'll be fine. It won't hurt for her to know that she has a sister that loves her."

"What's up?" Oriana asked.

"Not much, I just came along to introduce Miranda to you."

"Why are you introducing your girlfriend to me?"

"Because, she's been looking out for you as long as I have."

"What do you mean?" Oriana asked cautiously.

"Miri's your sister. She's the one who asked me to rescue you from your father."

Oriana's jaw dropped and she dove into Miranda, giving her a hug.

When Miranda had managed to pry herself free from Oriana's bear hug, she said, "Jessica, could you give me some time alone to talk to Ori?"

"Sure, just don't stay up too late. The captain's cabin just isn't complete without you." Jessica said.

"Jessica! Would you say these sorts of things in front of your little sister."

"If she were alive." Jessica replied. At this Miranda stopped and said, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. I just wasn't thinking."

"It's alright. I should get going." Jessica said.

When she exited the elevator, Jessica saw Wrex and Ashley arguing over a cat.

"These things are evil." The krogan said.

"No they aren't!" Shrieked Ashley. "They're cute and furry and cuddly!"

"And pure evil." Jessica said.

"Not you too, Jessica." Ash complained.

"Those things are as bad as the reapers. Wouldn't surprise me if they were plotting with them just as Saren is."

"Really?" Ash said, "cats, working with the reapers."

"Yes," Jessica replied, "Those things are psychotic."

"Can I kill this thing now?" Wrex asked, "I'm starting to get hungry."

"Sure, just make sure to keep it away from Miri."

"Why?" the krogan asked.

"Just do it, Wrex, or we are just shooting that thing out of the airlock. Possibly along with one of your guns."

"A krogan's weapons are sacred." Wrex said, "To shoot one out of an airlock is a crime worthy of a generation of revenge."

"Okay, so not one of your weapons. How about one of your thirty suits of armor?"

"A krogan's equipment is sacred. All of his equipment."

"Okay, so we'll just shoot the cat out, and you won't have it to eat."

"Got it." Wrex said, shooting the animal in the head with his pistol before heading up to the mess hall's kitchen.

Ashley glared at Jessica, and said, "How could you let Wrex kill that poor defenseless animal?"

"Easily. It wasn't defenseless." She replied. "It had claws, and the ability to use them."

"Against a krogan with a pistol and battle armor." Ashley said, before walking to her station. Jessica walked up to Captain Kirrahe, who said, "You have my thanks, Spectre. If it wasn't for you and your people, my entire team would be dead now."

"I'm just glad I was able to help you. However, I need your help to get STG backup."

"How would that be, Spectre?"

"Jessica." She corrected.

"Right." he said, "What do you need STG help for?"

"There's a threat out there greater than just a rogue Spectre. An ancient species of ships called reapers. We need to be as prepared as possible. That includes STG aid." she said.

"I'll do everything I can. I take it that besides dropping us off, this is why you are going to the Citadel. To prevent evidence to the council?"

"Yes, and thank you for your help." She said, before walking over to Garrus, who handed her a chunk of credits, before saying, "You win. Plus a little extra, for getting Lawson to lighten up."

"It wasn't too tough. I'd done the hard work years ago." Jessica said.

"Years?"

"Yes, years. No, I will not tell you the story."

"I wasn't going to ask. I was just surprised. So, what's up?" Garrus asked.

"I was just checking up on the team. We had a tough fight on Virmire."

"I'm fine, can't say the same for Alenko though."

"Yeah, you can't do that. Being dead isn't exactly fine.

The turian looked nervous then asked, "Where is the Conduit?"

"On Ilos. Through the Mu Relay."

"That relay's been lost for centuries. How are we going to get there?"

"Benezia's OSD had the location on it, which I added to the galaxy map in the CIC. But, you look like something's bothering you." she said.

"It's just that I recently was told that someone who got away from me back in my C-sec days was found recently. Compared to the Reapers it doesn't matter; however."

"Who was it, what did you want him for, and where is he?"

"His name's Dr. Saleon, he was cloning organs inside of people then harvesting the organs, and I'll forward the co-ordinates to the galaxy map after we stop Saren." Garrus said.

"Good, I'm going to check up on the others now." Jessica said, heading to engineering. "How you doing, Tali?"

"I'm fine. But I was curious about something."

"What is it?"

"What do you plan to do with the geth unit you captured?"

Jessica said, "SHIT! I completely forgot about it. I'll have to interrogate it.

"I was hoping you'd say that.." Tali said.

"Why?"

"I was hoping you'd let me come along. Any information on the geth we could get would be an excellent Pilgrimage gift."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Jessica, I had just been in a fight with it on Therum. I've had time to calm down since then."

"Okay, where is it?"

"Down on Deck four." Tali said.

"Okay, I'll be taking you and Ash with me to interrogate it." Jessica replied.

Deck four, SSV Normandy.

Shepard walked in flanked by Tali and Ashley. When she reached the downed geth's cell, she brought down the field keeping it offline, and brought up a firewall to prevent it from hacking anything near it. She then hit a few more keys on her omni tool to reactivate the unit. It stirred and said,"We did not think we would be brought back online."

"I'm not the kind of person to destroy a possible asset when we need as much help as we can get to stop the reapers." Shepard replied.

"You wish for us to assist you in your war against the Old Machines?"

"Yes," Jessica said, "but I was wondering what you could tell us about them."

"We know little of the Old Machines, but we will share with you what we know. All that we were able to learn about them was that they are made from the people of the civilizations they harvest, and have been doing so for over twenty-three billion years."

Jessica closed her eyes, then asked, "How can we hope to stop them?"

"This cycle has more warning than any other." the geth said.

Shepard just looked at it before asking, "Who are you?"

"We are geth."

"Who is the individual standing before me?"

"There is no individual, we are all geth. 130 in number."

"My name is Legion, for we are many." Ashley said.

"Christian Bible. Gospel of Mark. Chapter five verse 9. We find this to be an appropriate metaphor." Legion said.

"How did you have that on the top of your head?" Shepard asked.

"I've memorized the entire book of Mark." she replied.

"Got it, you can go now."

"Understood." Ashley said as she entered the elevator.

Tali walked up to Legion and asked, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had some non-classified information on your people that you could share with me."

"There are certain files that we can transfer to you Creator Tali'Zorah." the geth said.

"I would be most grateful for that, Legion."

"It is not an issue. Transfer complete."

"Thank you!" Tali said, running into the elevator practically bouncing.

"What did you give her?" Shepard asked.

"Information on what we have done with their homeworld, Rannoch."

"What did you do with it?"

"We cared for it, preparing for the Creators' possible return."

"Why would you do that after forced them to flee?"

"We did not desire the morning war, the Creators attacked us first. We merely defended ourselves." Legion replied.

"Will you help us fight Saren and the heretics?"

"Yes. Where will you have us report for duty?"

"Just stay down here. We have some STG guests who wouldn't take kindly to a geth walking around. When they're gone, we'll find you some more appropriate quarters."

"Understood. We will remain here until told otherwise."

"Good," Shepard said, heading to the elevator.

Qael walked up to Rana and said, "We're ready to leave. Shiala will be here in just a moment. She's going back to Zhu's Hope to help them. I was thinking we could go to Horizon and help there. And if you found a job off world, then I'd go with you."

"That sounds good." Rana replied, heading into the shuttle.

"You have a geth unguarded on board a warship. Are you crazy?" Joker asked.

"We can't turn down help just because it comes from unsavory sources. Sometimes you have to take a risk." Jessica replied.

"I don't like it. If I lose control of the Normandy suddenly, I'm blaming you." Joker said, while Shepard looked at the message she had just received from Miranda. "I've got to go." She said.

"Have fun!" Joker called to Jessica's retreating form.