Within the next twenty four hours Shepard had managed to rescue Legion and it was back on the old ship. Shepard was absolutely beside herself at this reunion, as she'd taken to the geth immediately when they had first met.

Legion took Shepard through a virtual interface and she was touched by what she saw- that Legion had thought their first meeting significant and by the true history of the geth and quarian conflict. She could not believe something as poignant as asking "do these units have souls?" could have led to centuries of murder and aggression.

Shepard took Javik and Garrus to rescue Koris. He'd been admirable in his reluctance to see the civilians killed when they could be saved but Shepard couldn't let him throw his life away. The deaths of civilians was always shocking but Koris was needed to stop this war and without him more lives would be lost. It was a sign of just how dark times were that Shepard was able to live with this kind of logic.

"It was very honourable of him." Miranda commented as at dinner in the mess hall that night. "We all know what it's like to face sacrificing your own life."

"Try not to repeat that." Shepard grumbled, over her plate of food.

"The civilians will be honoured too. They gave their lives for the fleet. They deserve to be remembered." Tali replied; she had taken the loss of lives very hard.

"It must be difficult being so close to Rannoch but not being groundside yet." Liara mused.

"This is the closest we've been in centuries to getting the home world back. I can wait a few more days if I have to." Tali replied.

"We'll get you home, Tali." Shepard promised keenly.

"And we'll take back Earth from the reapers too, Shepard." Tali replied, resolute which Shepard appreciated more than she could say.


They pressed onto Rannoch to take on the reapers. Shepard was in no mood to wait around after the genophage cure had slowed them down so much. Miranda was inevitably part of the squad with Tali. She insisted on being present at every major mission. She had always enjoyed that privilege before as Shepard knew she wanted to oversee Cerberus operations but now there was a much more significant reason: Miranda was under no illusions how this might end and she just wanted to make sure she was with Shepard when whatever happened finally happened.

It pained Shepard to strike the geth down, knowing their whole history now and the fact that they could not help being under reaper control. It was like shooting husks or the indoctrinated colonists. She knew many scoffed at the fact she was so friendly with EDI or Legion but she was proud of all of the friendships she had formed.

The only thing she liked on that mission was Tali's pet name for her drone which Shepard never failed to laugh at. They pushed on quickly until the only thing left to face was a reaper itself. Legion drove them away while Shepard stunted its progress for a moment due to her machine gun fire. She ordered Legion to stop and clambered out.

"What are you doing?" Miranda demanded furiously.

"I'm not running anymore!" Shepard shouted back. "If I can get a lock on it then the ships can bring it down."

"Keelah!"

"Hang on, you're not distracting this thing by yourself." Miranda muttered, jumping down.

Shepard tried to protest but Miranda quelled her with one look.

"Good luck, Commander." Legion said quietly.

The pair of them danced and dodged hard for over ten minutes until the ships locked on and brought that reaper down. Shepard threw herself on Miranda as the thing exploded and they watched it burn and fall to the dirt.

"We will not be defeat-"

"You just were!" Shepard yelled back at the reaper, cutting it off and walking over to Tali and Legion.

Legion explained to an aghast Tali that if they uploaded the code the geth would be united and more superior than ever before. This was their chance to gain significant strength over the reapers and stop this stupid war with the quarians. Tali protested, saying her people would be finished. It was now that Shepard must choose an option. She had known for a long while that it might come to this: choosing the quarians or choosing the geth but she'd had enough of being told that it was up to her.

"No! Nobody else dies today!" Shepard retorted and then went over the intercom. "Admirals cease fire now."

The admirals all protested.

"If you do not stop then the geth will finish you. How long does this war have to carry on for? How many more geth and quarians need to die when you could be working together for peace? That's all the geth want and it's the only way to stop the reapers who are hell bent on destroying us all!"

After a minute's silence the admirals reluctantly saw sense and called off their strike on the geth. Tali was awestruck that peace had finally been agreed and Miranda smiled proudly at Shepard.

"Shepard, Commander, I want to thank you for your trust. You helped save my people but to upload the code I must go to them." Legion explained sadly.

"No, Legion!" Shepard argued, voice cracking. "I don't want you to go!"

She was sure that losing anyone else would break her. How much could one person have to go through?

"It has to be done."

"Legion, I remember the question." Tali offered. "The answer is yes."

It was Tali's response to believing that Legion had a soul that helped steady Shepard more than anything else.

"I know Tali, thank you." Legion said, and Shepard could have sworn that it would have smiled if it could but then it fell broken to the floor.


Shepard, Miranda and Tali all buried Legion on the edge on a cliff looking out over Rannoch. For a while, not one of them spoke as they sat on the edge looking out.

"I'm coming with you." Tali said finally.

"I wasn't going to ask." Shepard responded.

"I know, but I want to. It feels right going to the Normandy. My people once hung that ship's name around my neck as though it were something to be ashamed of but I'm so proud to serve with you. I can't stay here just because my world is safe when the galaxy is burning." Tali responded determinedly and Shepard nodded, her appreciation of the loyalty of her friend going far beyond any words she could say.

"Who knew we would be mourning a geth? A quarian, a former Cerberus leader and the commander who fought them on Eden Prime?" Tali asked.

"I did." Shepard replied and Miranda and Tali laughed.

"Because you are an absurd idealist." Miranda replied.

"The worst." Tali said.

"Got us this far, haven't I?" Shepard responded cheekily.

"Yes, you have." Tali and Miranda replied, both finally agreeing on something.


Later that evening Shepard sat alone at her terminal while Miranda got them some food. After her call to Anderson he'd been incredibly generous and offered his apartment for while they were scheduled for some shore leave so the Normandy could undergo some maintenance work after all of its heavy fighting.

The idea of shore leave seemed like an oasis but it was hard to really get her head around after what had just happened. She felt numb with grief every day and Legion was yet another name put up on the memorial wall and she just knew she would be seeing his face in her nightmares tonight.

"Hey, for some reason they have served pancakes tonight. I think I preferred it when Gardner cooked, if you can believe that." Miranda said, setting Shepard's plate down at the table and Shepard came over to join her on the sofa.

"I have something I want to ask you," Shepard started nervously.

"We cannot get a pyjak on this ship especially in the middle of a war." Miranda brushed off.

"No, not that." Shepard replied with disdain at the suggestion she would still pester her about that. "Anderson offered me his apartment on the Citadel for when we go on shore leave and I wondered if you'd want to stay there too?"

Miranda laughed at the fidgeting Shepard.

"Why are you so nervous about asking that?" Miranda asked, amazed.

"We've never lived together before!" Shepard replied. "Well, outside of the Normandy which doesn't really count as dozens of other people live here."

"Of course, I'll stay with you." Miranda smiled, and Shepard was pleased to see a slight tinge of pink flush Miranda's cheeks.

"That's settled then," Shepard chimed, taking a forkful of pancake. "I don't know what you're complaining about- these things are good."

"When I live with you we're eating proper food." Miranda said firmly.

"Can you cook?" Shepard asked sceptically.

"Of course I can!" Miranda replied indignantly. "I can't stand baking though. I just can't figure it out."

"You can't work out how to make a cake?" Shepard asked, struggling not to laugh. "Wow, that has got to be our number one priority to fix on shore leave -or actually it might not even be able to wait until then. We should ask the reapers to halt the war for an afternoon while you learn to crack an egg."

"I'll crack your head in a minute." Miranda retorted, playfully throwing the cushion behind her at Shepard.

"You know what," Shepard said in her most serious voice, "I think you're more violent than the reapers too."

"Keep it up and you'll soon test that theory." Miranda laughed.

These moments were more precious than gold dust and despite how she had wept bitterly over the loss of Legion just a couple of hours ago, she felt like her heart could float right out of her chest at the idea of spending the perfect week and a half living with Miranda on the Citadel.