Anya marched to what would have been the proper position on a human ship and saluted the Turian who sat behind the desk. She had to use her off arm again, but it came more naturally this time. A human female with black hair and absolutely huge scarred man in combat armor stood behind the commander's desk. The commander rose and returned it. The commander dropped his and Anya was glad to drop hers. She was starting to shake.

"Commander." Anya said formally. "Reporting as ordered."

"Captain." The Turian said with a nod. "Now that the formality is out of the way, sit. Now. Before you collapse and wind up back in medical." He waved to a chair nearby and Anya nodded. She did wait for him to sit first. Decorum and all that. Crado moved to stand beside her chair as she perched in it. Commander Mornis smiled at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Weak, but much better, sir." Anya replied evenly. "Doctor Lawson managed to fix my eyes. She said that they were working, but the signals were blocked."

"That is...remarkably evil, even for Cerberus. If it was Cerberus." The black haired woman said harshly in a voice that Anya remembered. This had to be Spectre Williams. Her face moderated as Anya looked at her. "I am Spectre Williams and this..." She waved at the male mountain beside her. "...is Lieutenant Commander Vega. Not that you haven't figured that out by now, but I wanted to get the formal stuff done first." She smiled at Anya and Anya returned it hesitantly. The woman's eyes were glowing and it was a little off putting. "Something wrong?" The Specter asked gently.

"I..." Anya shook her head. "I saw Crado and Miranda. They told me what happened to you all. But it is very..." She paused, unsure. "I don't know how to describe it. It's not uncomfortable, seeing your eyes glowing, it just..." She sighed.

"It's weird." Williams said with a nod. "We are all used to it. It will bother you for a while I bet. The whole 'glowy bits of skin' likewise." The Spectre shrugged. "Nothing we can do about that though."

"I know." Anya replied evenly. "I can work with it." She smiled a bit in memory. "If I could work with Geth, Quarians, Krogan, Salarians, Batarians and humans on a tiny ship all at the same time, I can handle this." Lieutenant Commander Vega smiled at little at that but then returned to a poker face. "Have you been able to backtrack the pod I was in?"

"No." Spectre Williams said harshly. "The pod didn't have an engine so no ion trail. Nothing is along the trajectory that we have been able to find. Not even any planetary systems."

"Hmmm..." Anya mused. "A ship?"

"If so..." The Spectre said slowly. "It is well hidden. You told us what you remember. We will keep looking. One thing, Anya... The trajectory that the pod was following would have put it into the gravity well of Arcturus in another two years." Anya tensed. She would have fallen into the star and been burnt alive.

"I would have died." Anya said slowly. She nodded. "Thank you, Commander Mornis."

"Thank Obligatha." The Commander said with a nod. "It found you. Our sensors probably would have just classed your pod as space trash with no IFF going. It is far more thorough and it is far better at things like multitasking. It said it spoke to you."

"Yes." Anya said slowly. "It spoke to me, in medical. Wished me well." Anya shook her head. "I... That was... Very strange."

"Yeah." Commander Mornis said with a sigh. "Obligatha is... Yeah, 'very strange' is probably the best definition. Not that I have dealt with many Reapers."

"Obligatha is...different." Spectre Williams mused slowly. "It is far more... alive seeming than most of the others I have talked to. Matter of fact... Commander?"

"Yes Spectre?" The commander asked.

"Is it monitoring now?" Williams asked. "We should get it's input as well." Anya's eyes went wide under her protective glasses. Asking a Reaper for advice?

"Yes." Commander Mornis said with a nod. "We asked it to monitor Captain Anya here at all times. Since there were so many oddities, we couldn't be sure we would or could catch anything that might happen, Captain." He apologized.

"No apology needed, Commander." Anya said with a nod. "In your place I likely would have done the same thing. And it was...kind." She shook her head. "I never thought I would say that about a Reaper of all things. So it is listening?"

"But not talking." Commander Mornis said with a nod. "It explained, but I didn't understand all of it. Basically, the information it gets from your monitoring goes into a separate memory core or something. Unless asked, it cannot access that core until or unless you are going to endanger yourself." He paused. "Wait. Why did it talk to you?" He asked, an edge of suspicion to his tone.

"Ah..." Anya could not control the blush that crossed her face. "I was...distressed by the plumbing arrangements."

"The..." Williams said and then her face lit in understanding. "Oh. Oh!" She exclaimed. "Yeah... that could be a bit distressing the first time." She said with a slightly sick smile.

"Obligatha was worried I might take a knife to it." Anya said with a sigh. "I wouldn't have. I have some sense." Crado looked at her and she made a shushing motion with her unbroken arm. "It was...kind." She said with a shake of her head. She nodded to the commander who hit keys on his desk.

"Obligatha?" He asked.

"Yes commander Mornis?" The melodious voice of the Reaper sounded from the speaker nearby. "Greetings, Spectre Williams, Lieutenant Commander Vega, Captain Anya and Private Crado."

"Have you found anything else?" Mornis asked.

"We have found the wreckage of two more Alliance frigates." Obligatha said, sadness in her tone. "But no sign of where the pod that Captain Anya was in came from or where it was going. To search in more depth will require much more time."

"The pod didn't have any kind of FTL capability did it?" Anya asked slowly in the silence that fell. "I mean, this is a long way from Sanctum. And I didn't climb into that thing." She shuddered slightly. "That I know of anyway..."

"You had to have been placed in it." Williams mused. "Too many delicate connections for you to have done them yourself. Wait... If the pod was heading for the star... Obligatha, is there anything further in system along that trajectory? The Normandy went outbound. They didn't find anything and are on their way back."

"We are out of position to scan." Obligatha replied. "We will send an Oculus. It will take approximately two hours to scan the trajectory."

"Fair enough." Commander Mornis said with a sigh. "Now we have to deal with our 'guests'."

"'Guests', sir?" Anya asked carefully.

"Yes." Commander Mornis said with a scowl. "Press."

"Oh man..." Anya groaned. "You have got to be kidding me..."

"Nope." Spectre Williams said with a commiserating smile. "You are news, girl. Big news. A bona fide war hero, returned from the dead."

"I am no hero." Anya said slowly. "I just did what I had to."

"I know that." Williams said with a sigh. "You know that. Everyone aboard this ship knows that. But to the average civilian, many of whom are still trying to get back on their feet after the mess of the war? People need heroes. Anya. People need examples to live up to. Your example of interspecies cooperation is a marvel that many would do well to follow."

"I thought there was peace." Anya said slowly. "Isn't there?"

"There is no large scale conflict." Williams agreed. "Mainly because all of the large militaries got hammered by the Reapers. Many worlds, including many of the homeworlds, are trashed, or have suffered greatly. Earth, Palaven, Thessia, Dekuuna, Kar'Shan... The list is still being calculated. We are recovering, but there are many who are using this unsettled time to prey on the weak." Anya's eyes went hard at that and Spectre Williams nodded. "We do what we can. We step hard on any we catch. But we are still playing catch up here. You may be able to help."

"Me?" Anya asked softly. "What can one woman do?" She looked at Vega as he laughed sourly.

"One woman who took a bunch of lost military, desperate mercs and green civilians who had never held a gun before in their lives and turned them into one of the hardest hitting Spec Ops teams of the time?" Vega asked with a snort. "One woman who kept a bunch of people who hated each other's guts from each other's throats and aimed at the Reapers? One woman who, by all accounts, could do any mission set to her?" He shook his head. "Yeah, what could that woman do?" He smirked. "Answer? Anything she fracking wants." All the others smiled in agreement as Anya stared at hem.

"It wasn't like that, sir." Anya said faintly. "We just did what we had to do."

"You technically outrank me, Anya. Certainly you have more time in service." Vega said with a snort. "If anything I should be sir-ing you."

"Please don't." Anya said slowly. "I feel... overwhelmed. I know part is lack of energy. I am not fully healed. But..." She shook her head. "I assumed I would have orders. I am a soldier."

"Alliance HQ is waiting for more information. We could use you." Vega said, his tone moderating. "We still find the odd petty pirate or warlord with delusions of grandeur and have to put him in his place. Integrating the Batarians into the Alliance has been..." He broke off as Anya gasped.

"Say what?" She asked, dumbfounded. "Batarians?"

"Yeah." Vega said with a grimace. "More than three quarters of their people were harvested by the Reapers. Of the rest... Many who fought died. The remainder had few leaders and fewer chances. The Alliance offered them more than aid. We offered them a place. They took it. The Alliance was badly wounded, and the Batarians needed stability and a chance to find a new way. The Hegemony was gone, and with it, most of their racism and xenophobia. Oh, they are slow to trust, but... Both groups have prospered. We even had one Batarian pass N7 training last year. One of yours actually. His name is Bibrikz."

"Bibrikz?" Anya snapped. "That guy was a jerk and a half. Whiz with his Kishock sniper rifle, but... A jerk."

"He is still a jerk." Vega said with a smile. "Tough hombre though."

"Do I want to know what specialty?" Anya asked, her tone almost scared. "I mean... He was tough back then, but..."

"Paladin." Vega said with a smile.

"Paladin?" Anya nearly exploded. "Paladins are there to draw fire from the team! They have to be ready to sacrifice themselves for the whole! Bibrikz is no Paladin! I have never met a more self centered, stuck up, egotistical male in my life. How the heck does he wind up a paladin?"

"Something about 'an excellent example to live up to' is what he told me when we talked last." Vega said with a smile. "I helped train him. He has what it takes Anya. And he says you taught him that. He is still a jerk, mind you, but he does believe in teamwork now. Because of you. You can help us, Anya."

"By talking to the press?" Anya asked dubiously.

"There are a lot of people worried about the Krogan now, Anya." Spectre Williams said with a sigh. "With the genophage cured, their population is growing fast. You worked with them. You knew them. The Krogan on your team respected you."

"If it will help..." Anya said slowly. "The team deserves whatever I can do for them. Way too many of them died."

"I will set it up." Commander Mornis said with a sigh. "Here or the Normandy, Spectre Williams?"

"Here I think." Williams said slowly. "Your people are more disciplined. I shudder to think what Joker might blurt out and have plastered all over the nightly news..."