Sorry this took a while. I lost track of how much time actually passed since the last chapter went up.

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Chapter 25: Rescue Operation

Getting back to the Normandy had been quite the interesting experience. It wasn't every day you escaped from an exploding geth dreadnaught inside a geth fighter. It had been a tight fit, getting everyone inside but somehow they managed. Legion was piloting it and Shepard informed Joker where they were so nobody shot them to pieces… again. Once they returned, Shepard walked with Legion and Tali to the War Room, presumably to go demand answers about who decided to open fire while they were still on board. Tristan considered following her up (more for the entertainment value) but decided a geth being in the same room as the quarians during a war was asking for enough trouble without her involvement. On the other hand, it wasn't like things could get any worse.

Rather than going looking for trouble, Tristan headed towards her quarters to change out of her hardsuit. Before she headed out again, she noticed a red light blinking on her computer terminal which usually indicated a message. Well, it was unlikely that she would be needed for anything any time soon so she decided to open it. There were quite a few messages which was surprising since the mission on the dreadnaught hadn't been particularly long. What was even more surprising was the fact that all of the messages were replies to her earlier warnings, courtesy of Major Kirrahe. The more messages she read, the more Tristan was certain she had done the right thing, if only to prevent other agents from taking matters into their own hands.

Other agents had also picked up on their strange orders. They were instructed to keep a close eye on those the Alliance considered allies. The reason given was because the Director was concerned about indoctrination. It was a legitimate concern but those who were being watched hadn't shown any signs or reasons to suspect they were indoctrinated. The agents were feeling restless because they could have been put to better use somewhere else: on Earth gathering information about the Reapers and their tactics; on the Citadel to watch for any more Cerberus sleeper agents or even on Palaven to assist the Turians. There were other assignments they could be doing that wouldn't make them feel like they were wasting their time.

Despite these feelings, they all knew they couldn't disobey a direct order but, following Tristan's initial suggestion, they would keep a low profile and keep an eye on any information coming from the Director. If he ordered an assassination on someone that the agents disagreed about, then they wouldn't follow it. They would also watch each other's backs. It wasn't an ideal situation but it was the best that Tristan could do under the circumstances. Trying to investigate her boss was proving to be difficult, mostly because her attention was needed elsewhere. If she wasn't such an important crew member of the Normandy, Tristan would have gone dark and disappeared off the grid weeks ago to better investigate but as things were, she could only try her best and hope it would be enough. Too many lives were at risk to do anything less.

A part of her was relieved that she wasn't just being paranoid. Between Udina's betrayal that led to the Cerberus coup and the knowledge that indoctrination was being used as a weapon on Earth, it was entirely possible that Tristan was reading too much into what could have been a bad day for the Director. Now though, having so many replies from other agents who shared her suspicions, it made her feel more confident. On the other hand, she was leading an investigation into her boss and he didn't have a reputation for handling that kind of insubordination with class and grace. If he found out, she was as good as dead. And agents were looking to her for direction. Tristan never wanted to be a leader yet somehow, she had become one.

Tristan stared at her computer screen for a few moments, trying to decide if she had done enough with what little information she had. Nothing more came to mind so, with a heavy sigh, she left her quarters. James and Steve were having a debate about which was better: the Mako or the M44 Hammerhead. And just like that, her mood was better if only because it was such an ordinary conversation for two boys to have. James was working at his station and Cortez was maintaining the shuttle. Tristan headed over to the Requisitions terminal and started browsing through the options, just for something to do. Shepard came down shortly after and also looked amused by the boys' conversation.

"You sure it's a good idea to leave a geth in a room full of quarians unsupervised?" Tristan asked.

Shepard shrugged. "I can't babysit them all the time and Tali won't let a fight break out."

Tristan wanted to point out that technically, Tali already let a war start because she was more worried about public perception but she chose not to say anything. Shepard and Tali had a lot of history. James walked over and casually leant against one of the terminals. It took all of Tristan's willpower to not smile and act like a giddy schoolgirl who just got her first kiss.

"I know you and Legion have history but are you sure we can trust it?" he asked.

"I'm sure," Shepard answered. "Legion isn't like other geth."

"He's wearing your chest piece, for one," Tristan pointed out innocently and James smiled.

Shepard sighed in annoyance. "Why does everyone keep bringing that up?"

"Because it's weird?" Tristan suggested. "How did he even get it?"

"He won't tell me," Shepard answered and then gave her a confused look. "After how you handled EDI, I thought you would be more suspicious about having Legion on board and somehow, you're the only one who hasn't brought it up. Javik even told me to throw him out the air lock."

"That is his default response for dealing with things he doesn't like," Tristan replied. "He threatened to throw Joker out the airlock too."

"Well, Joker did suggest he call himself Prothy the Prothean," James said with an amused grin.

Tristan was also very amused. "That would be hilarious. But to answer your original question, the quarians did open fire with us on the ship while the geth helped us escape alive. After that, I'm more inclined to side with Legion than the quarians who asked for our help and then almost killed us."

"I suppose you do have a point," Shepard remarked. "I actually came to ask you for a favour."

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "What sort of favour?"

"Like Tuchanka, we have two time sensitive missions. Legion wants to stop geth fighters from attacking the quarian liveships and one of the quarian admirals was shot down on Rannoch. He's perhaps the only other sane voice, besides Tali."

"You want to do the missions simultaneously, don't you?" Tristan guessed.

Shepard nodded. "Legion wants me specifically to take care of the geth fighters and I don't know how long that will take."

"And you don't want to increase the chances that the geth will find this admiral." Tristan considered it for a moment. "I'm assuming Tali will be coming then."

"Probably," Shepard agreed. "I'm going to take EDI with as back up so you'll have the pick of the crew."

Tristan watched Shepard head back to the elevator. So much for not being a leader.

"I'll go get my gear ready," James said.

Tristan looked at him with a smile. "And who says you're coming?"

James closed the distance between them with a grin. "We both know you can't stay away from me, Ace."

Tristan pretended to seriously think about it. "I suppose you can come with."

As James kissed her, Steve groaned. "You two need to get a room," he called out but his teasing tone was obvious.

"Mind your own business, Estaban," James shouted back and Steve laughed in response.

It was a short while later that Tristan was getting changed into her hardsuit. She was taking this mission seriously and put a lot of thought into who she was taking. Rannoch would be crawling with geth so Tali would be coming because of her technical skill and not just because she wanted to see Rannoch. It was also why James was coming along and not only because of his powers of persuasion. He was excellent with a gun and that was more useful than biotics. She also decided to bring Garrus with them. He was used to fighting geth and a great sniper would probably come in handy.

For the first time in a while, Tristan was the last one to reach the shuttle. It wasn't surprising to find that Alenko was also there. He must have convinced Shepard that she needed someone else to watch her back instead of a geth platform and an AI designed by Cerberus. Legion was standing nearby and he and Tali were having a discussion. Alenko and Shepard were also talking but Shepard ended the conversation abruptly when she saw Tristan was ready to go. Without a word, they all climbed into the shuttle. Shepard's squad was going to be dropped off first, as per Legion's request. It actually looked quite awkward and Tristan was suddenly very glad she wasn't going on that mission.

Legion made his dramatic exit by falling out the door while the shuttle was still moving. Then she, EDI and Alenko were dropped off nearby in a more normal, boring fashion. Once it was clear they were safe, the shuttle moved on to the second LZ. While they were en route, Tristan received a mission briefing from Admiral Xen and it took a lot of concentration for Tristan to not get sarcastic. Why couldn't Admiral Raan have briefed her instead? Apparently, Admiral Koris had made the decision to sacrifice his ship to take out a ground cannon. It was a brave move but considering how his underlings were handling the possible loss of their admiral, it probably wasn't a smart decision.

As they closed in, it became apparent that Admiral Koris crashed near a geth jamming device. Tristan would be lying if she said she wasn't relieved when the feed from Admiral Xen abruptly cut out, leaving only static. That woman was a piece of work. She was willing to sacrifice the civilians so she could prepare her own research ships for the final invasion of Rannoch. If the invasion happened, they would need every person possible. Research wouldn't be much use in the middle of a battle. Tristan made a mental note to avoid having a face to face conversation with Admiral Xen at all costs.

"Hope the admiral stayed by his escape pod… or at least left a note," James commented.

"That would make a nice change, if things were suddenly easy," Garrus replied.

Tristan didn't say anything. Something didn't feel right. Admiral Koris decided to destroy a ground cannon. It seemed unlikely that the geth would only have one cannon set up. Just as she considered that, the shuttle suddenly shook and Steve started to take evasive manoeuvres. Tristan nearly fell over but she was able to recover quickly and she made her way to the cockpit.

"We're taking fire," Steve informed her.

That seemed pretty obvious but Tristan decided now was not the time to bring that up. She gripped the back of his chair and tried to get a look at the cannons to see what they were up against. Thanks to Steve's piloting skills, they avoided getting hit and after a few more moments, they got some breathing room.

"It looks like the geth have installed anti-aircraft guns beside the jamming tower," Steve added.

Tristan sighed. "The geth just love to make things difficult. We'll take out the guns and you get the fun part."

Steve smiled at that. "I'll have to drop you here then."

The shuttle hovered in place and James and Garrus were the first two out to secure the area. Tali and Tristan followed and the shuttle flew off. Tristan took a moment to gain her bearings. Rannoch looked almost like a desert with hills and outcroppings and sparse plants growing. Tali seemed particularly in awe at having an opportunity to walk on Rannoch's surface. Tristan signalled that it was time to move out and they carefully picked their way on the rocky terrain, passing a beautiful lake. There was something oddly peaceful about Rannoch, about being a planet untouched (compared to Earth or Palaven) and having room to grow.

"Jamming towers, antiaircraft guns, rockets…" James commented. "They must have been building up an army for a while."

"They've had three centuries alone on Rannoch to prepare," Tali pointed out.

"Then I guess we're lucky they aren't all wearing nukes for backpacks," James replied.

"That sounds like it would be one hell of a party," Tristan remarked.

"Sometimes I worry about you," Garrus said.

Tristan paused at the edge of an outcropping looked over her shoulder at Garrus. "Only sometimes?"

As Garrus and James chuckled in amusement, she drew her heavy pistol. It smelt like smoke and the very soft sound of a fire crackling could just be heard. Geth didn't exactly need a fire to keep warm so many this was the crash site of some debris. Tristan made sure the others were ready before she silently rounded the corner. As she suspected, there was some geth ahead and small fires were burning. Tristan didn't really have time to look for the source of the fire as there was a geth with a flamethrower. As if they hadn't been deadly enough before. Rather than try to wear down its heavy armour, Tristan concentrated on hitting the tank on its back. After a few shots, it exploded and took a few of the surrounding geth with it. The last one or two troopers were taken down easily.

They pushed forward and came across more flaming ship debris, only now there were some dead quarians too. It was a civilian ship, hardly prepared for war. Tristan was surprised they weren't finding more bodies. Still, she could tell it made the others upset, especially Tali. Tristan hoped this would teach her that sometimes, she would need to stand up for what was right and not what would look right. Tristan paused long enough to give Tali a chance to show respect for the dead and then indicated the path ahead. She didn't move immediately which seemed to concern James and Garrus.

Before they could ask, she told them "The path ahead is mined."

"First geth flamethrowers, now they're mining areas?" Garrus asked.

"Suddenly, Saren's geth don't look that bad," Tali commented.

"If we try to shoot the mines, the explosions will alert everything that we're coming," Tristan said. "You up for avoiding them?"

The three squad members exchanged a look and then nodded. It was risky and probably not the way Shepard would handle the situation but they were already pushing their luck with Koris as things stood. Tristan carefully picked her way around the mines and the others followed closely. Luckily there were only a few mines to avoid and they managed to do it cleanly. Soon, they found more geth in a valley below them. They ducked behind some rocks and Tristan signalled to Garrus. He was their best sniper and this provided him with a perfect opportunity since the geth didn't know they were there yet.

Garrus was all too happy to oblige and managed to take down three geth in quick succession. Tristan quickly put up a Barrier just in time as another geth fired a rocket at Garrus. Tali and James started to return fire and once Garrus managed to kill the shock trooper, Tristan joined in. Within a few minutes, the area was cleared. They continued to dispatch more geth as they advanced and Tristan realised something. The geth seemed to be hanging around the larger chunks of debris. Maybe they were looking for survivors and executing them? If this was true, Admiral Koris' situation was worse than they first realised. Tristan decided to pick up the pace.

It didn't take long until they found the first AA gun. A lot of geth were protecting it but they didn't last very long. Garrus kept his distance and used his sniper rifle while James and Tali used their shotguns at medium range. Tristan alternated between biotics and using her heavy pistol to draw fire away from Garrus. Once the area was secure, Tristan ordered Tali to reactivate it. The others protected her as geth reacted and tried to take the AA gun back. Tristan made sure she remained close to Tali and put up a Barrier around her whenever the geth tried to take a shot. Once Tali managed to shut the gun down and they had cleared the area of any remaining geth, they pushed forward.

They hadn't covered much ground when Tristan noticed something was amiss. She signalled for the others to hold position. There were dead geth and the only sign of their killer was a blood trail. Tristan knelt down to get a better look. The blood trail was definitely fresh. Cautiously, she followed it and it led her to a seriously injured quarian. Tali pushed past her and went to see if she could help but Tristan knew her injuries. Without an immediate evac – which was impossible with the AA guns still online – he wouldn't make it. Tristan kept a respectable distance but also made sure they couldn't be ambushed by any geth.

"You… you heard my message?" the quarian asked hopefully. "Sent out a distress call…"

"Radios are down," Tristan answered and then glanced at the dead geth. Maybe talking would help keep the quarian's mind off his injuries. "Are you a soldier?"

"Maintenance," he answered and coughed weakly. "Dorn'Hazt. I clean engine parts." He coughed again.

Tristan glanced at Tali. She was still desperately trying to stop the bleeding. "You took down a lot of geth."

The quarian weakly looked at the gun lying nearby. "It was the first time I held a gun." He coughed again and Tali tried to hold him still. "The Civilian Fleet didn't want this war. Maybe…" More coughing. "…Maybe if you find Admiral Koris, he can get the others out alive."

"We will do everything we can to find Admiral Koris," Tristan promised.

The quarian looked at peace with that answer. "And my son, tell him… Tell Jona that his father made it to the homeworld."

With the last of his strength used up, the quarian went limp and Tali cursed angrily even as she continued to try to save him. Tristan looked over to Garrus and he seemed to get her silent message. Tristan hadn't known Tali long enough but Garrus would be able to convince her to move and that she did everything she could to save him. Garrus tried to console Tali and Tristan gave them a few moments by looking for the quickest path that would take them to the AA guns. A part of her was furious. Sure, she had a 'get the mission done at any cost' mentality (though, since meeting James, it wasn't as bad as it had once been) but even she knew involving civilians in war was a terrible idea. Was reclaiming Rannoch really worth the lives of every quarian? Who would be left to rebuild on their homeworld?

Once Tali was refocused on the mission, Tristan led the way towards the remaining AA guns. It was strange seeing the rocky path suddenly give way to a hi-tech compound with paths that forked to the right and to the left. Each fork led to an AA gun. Tristan briefly considered splitting into two teams to get the job done faster. It was practical and meant finding Admiral Koris sooner but it was also riskier. Geth were likely swarming around the last two guns to protect them. They couldn't afford to take unnecessary risks. Tristan knew if her boss could see her now, he would accuse her of going soft. Maybe she was but was that really a bad thing? Besides, this war with the geth was just beginning. They would need every gun they could get.

These thoughts went through Tristan's mind so fast that she didn't even break stride and led the whole squad towards the first AA gun, choosing the path to the right. The geth were set up and apparently had been preparing for their arrival. Turrets had been placed with a clear line of sight of the direction they would have come from. The squad had a few moments to find cover and the two turrets immediately had them pinned down. That was without the other geth – including shock troopers – which complicated the matter. Tristan was suddenly relieved she had chosen not to split up.

"We don't have time for this," Tali commented angrily.

Tristan gave the usually mild mannered quarian a sideways glance. She had a point but there weren't a lot of options right now.

"Those turrets complicate things," Garrus pointed out calmly.

"We take those out and it'll be a walk in the park," Tristan agreed and then looked to James. "James, be a dear and introduce one of your grenades to the geth."

James grinned. "With pleasure."

James threw one of his grenades blindly but somehow managed to get it to land near the geth. Tristan waited until it exploded and activated her tactical cloak. The geth were distracted enough that they wouldn't immediately notice one person was missing. Tristan ran to one turret and attached one of her biotic grenades to it. When she was halfway towards the second turret, the grenade exploded which seemed to alert the geth that something was happening. It also gave Garrus an opening to kill the shock troopers. Tristan reached the second turret without a problem, prepared another grenade and got clear of the explosion.

The moment the turret was down, Garrus, Tali and James opened fire. Tristan continued to run around stealthily and used her knife to kill the geth that were hanging back. The moment the last geth fell, she ended her cloak and looked around. For a plan she didn't entirely think through, it came together nicely. Without waiting for an order, Tali headed straight for the terminal and started to work on shutting the AA gun down. They immediately took positions to protect Tali from the geth that appeared to try to stop them. Tristan realised she enjoyed working with a squad that knew what to do without needing to be told. It made the mission easier and things happened much faster.

The AA gun went offline and they headed to the final gun. Without needing orders, they used similar tactics to deal with these turrets as well and Garrus took down the geth with a flamethrower by exploding its tank which, in turn, killed more geth. Tali went to work on the terminal as soon as the coast was clear, the others protected her and pretty soon, all the guns had been dealt with. Tristan wasted no time in letting Steve know by igniting a flare. The shuttle appeared and hovered in place. After it fired off a few shots, Tristan had to look away as the jamming tower exploded.

"Dorn? It's Zaal'Koris. Are you there? Dorn!" a voice suddenly came over the radio, startling Tristan for a moment.

"This is Tristan Chase of the Normandy," Tristan replied. "I'm sorry but Dorn didn't make it, Admiral." She was only vaguely aware of the shuttle approaching.

"He didn't… I see," the Admiral replied quietly.

Tristan signalled for the others to board the shuttle and followed. "I have a shuttle ready. Where are you?"

"My surviving crew found their way to a clearing. I'll send you their location," the Admiral said.

"Stay together," Tristan ordered. "And we'll meet you there."

"The geth cut me off," Admiral Koris answered. "I hear another wave approaching."

Tristan internally cringed and risked a quick glance at Tali. A decision like this was inevitable during a war: choosing between a group of people and an important leader. "Give us your coordinates," she instructed.

Admiral Koris was apparently offended that Tristan wanted to save him instead of his crew. As odd as it sounded, this just confirmed that he was the right choice. He would be needed to keep casualties to a minimum in this war. "Leave me. My crew will soon be overrun."

"So will you," Tristan argued calmly.

"My people are non-combatants! They'll be slaughtered. Rescue them!"

"Admiral, you're needed. I've spoken to Xen. She doesn't care about the civilians. You do. We need you to lead the Civilian Fleet if we have any hope of ending this fight," Tristan tried to reason with him. Why were some people so determined to die?

"Civilians? Our entire race took up arms for this insanity! It's too late for us."

Tristan was trying her hardest to remain calm but he was really frustrating her. Rousing speeches didn't exactly come naturally. "It will only be too late if you die down there."

"You can't possibly think you can stop this war," Admiral Koris snapped back.

Tristan didn't answer immediately and suddenly became aware that Tali, James and Garrus were watching the argument with curiosity, probably wondering if she could pull this off. She wondered that too. Trying to convince a man to help save his species wasn't exactly in the mission briefing and she couldn't call Shepard for advice either.

"Honestly, I don't know. We managed to broker an alliance between Turians and Krogan. Anything is possible," she answered. "But, if we are going to have any chance, we need your help."

There were a few moments of silence. Just as Tristan was wondering if she had said the wrong thing, Koris finally answered. "Ancestors, forgive me. Uploading my coordinates."

A short while later, everyone was back aboard the Normandy. Shepard's mission with Legion was a success and some Geth Primes had agreed to follow Legion. That had been an unexpected outcome. Admiral Koris was upset that he wasn't able to save his crew members but he quickly realised that it was important that he return. He managed to convince the Civilian ships to stay and a lot of the unrest disappeared at his reappearance. He offered Shepard his support. Tristan was hanging around in her quarters, thinking over the discussion with Admiral Koris. It was strange handling that negotiation. Black Ops was usually sent in after negotiations failed or to gather information to make sure it succeeded. They rarely handled the negotiations personally.

Shepard had already received the full report and had agreed that the right decision had been made. Tristan had doubted her decision to save Admiral Koris instead of his crew members because she didn't know if that was the right decision or if it was her Black Ops training – the mission comes first – taking over. With everything that had happened over the past few weeks, she had realised she was terrified of the possibility that she might become the person she was before and she didn't want to fall into old routines. She had finally found someone who accepted her completely and somehow always managed to make her smile. She didn't want to risk losing him. Just as she stepped out of her quarters, she walked into another conversation between James and Steve that helped cheer her up a bit.

"I've got to say, I really enjoyed that mission on Rannoch," Steve said to Shepard.

"Pit him against a defenceless jamming tower and Estaban here feels like a big man," James teased.

"Hey, the Kodiak is a transport, not a fighter," Steve argued. "It's for dropping jarheads like you into hot zones! And if you stow the attitude, it might even be for picking you up again."

Tristan didn't know if James' silence was because he was worried that Steve wouldn't pick him up again or if he was quietly laughing too much to reply. Either way, Shepard walked over to Tristan and she looked pretty amused too. It disappeared when Tristan asked if they could talk – it was never a good sign when Tristan was serious, after all – and they headed back into her quarters.

"What's on your mind?" Shepard asked.

"Tali," Tristan answered simply. "I'm not sure she's fit to be an admiral."

Shepard looked surprised yet defensive at the same time. She obviously didn't like anyone – not even Tristan – saying a bad thing about the quarian. "If this is because the quarians opened fire while we were still on the dreadnaught…"

"Nadine, give me some credit," Tristan cut in impatiently. "I'm not that petty."

Shepard did not look entirely convinced. "What concerns you?"

"Tali is too preoccupied with the fact that she's only an admiral because it was her father's seat," Tristan explained. "I don't know how accurate that is and I'm not an expert on quarian society but she's too worried about where that power came from to actually use that power. She didn't argue against starting this war with the geth because she was worried about appearances even though she knows it was a bad idea. She isn't standing up for herself and she's willing to let the others make decisions that will affect every quarian because she's scared. If she really wants to make a difference, you need to talk to her."

Shepard was quiet for a long moment. Perhaps Tristan had crossed a line but, to be fair, that was something she did quite often. Tali didn't respect Tristan enough to have this sort of discussion and Tristan wasn't much for leading either. It had to come from Shepard if it was going to mean anything.

"You have a point," Shepard finally admitted. "I'll talk to her."

Tristan decided that was that and let the matter drop. "So… you joined the geth consensus. Did Alenko have a heart attack?"

Shepard snorted in amusement. "I'm more worried about Joker's reaction."

"How so?" Tristan asked with a raised eyebrow. Of all the reactions to worry about, Joker's seemed pretty far down the list since he didn't even leave the ship.

"He asked me how do I know this is real and not a simulation," Shepard explained. "How can I be sure I really got out?"

"That's a reasonable concern," Tristan replied thoughtfully.

Shepard groaned. "Not you too. It's messing with my brain enough without your input."

Tristan smirked for a moment. "How are you really doing?"

"Tired," Shepard answered honestly. "The Reapers were bad enough without a geth-quarian war to deal with. And I don't even know how that's going to end."

"You don't know which side should win," Tristan guessed.

"The geth did take Rannoch from the quarians," Shepard explained. "But the quarians tried to eradicate them and they were just defending themselves. The geth are working with the Reapers but the quarians attacked and forced their hand."

"And you count Tali and Legion as friends," Tristan continued. "Do you have to choose?"

Shepard frowned. "I'm not following."

Tristan shrugged. "Tali, Koris and Raan don't fully support this war and all quarians just want their homeworld. The geth were willing to leave them alone until the quarians attack. Maybe getting rid of the Reaper signal will be enough to give them a common enemy."

Shepard exhaled slowly. "I don't know, Tris. Getting rid of that Reaper signal might not be that straightforward."

::Pardon the interruption, Shepard, but Admiral Raan wishes to speak with you. She says they have located the Reaper base.::

"Thanks, EDI."

With that, Shepard left. Tristan stared after her. The attack on Rannoch would likely happen soon and it wasn't clear whose side they were on. The quarians probably assumed Shepard's support, as did Legion. But did it really have to be one or the other? The Reapers had probably anticipated that but if Shepard could somehow get quarians and geth to get along and fight together instead of against each other, maybe they would have a real shot at defeating the Reapers. They already had Turian, Krogan and Salarian (mostly) support. The Leviathans were making a difference. Besides the quarian and geth, only the asari were left. How long would it be until they took the fight back to Earth?