After a few weeks confined to the frigate, Ashley and Sha'li have been allocated accommodation aboard one of the regular craft. While the exact figure was not calculated, it was reckoned that the Lieutenant Commander was owed some leave so she is not issued with new orders just yet.

It is late. Sha'li has already retired for the night and Ashley reads in the silence of their new, humble abode. The intercom buzzes and she goes to answer it.

"Oh. Admiral." she salutes in surprise.

"At ease, at ease." Admiral Hackett calms her, "Not too late?"

"No, of course not, sir. But errr... Sha'li's just gone to bed."

"Oh... shall we walk and talk?"

"Of course, sir. There's the observation walkway just along here."

They walk beside the long observation windows, Ashley with her hands behind her back, head slightly down in deference to the Admiral's superior rank.

"Sorry, LC, but it seems the asari want this to move fast."

"Sir?"

"Sha'li."

"What now?"

"They want to call a hearing to discuss her."

"They want to put her through a court case?!"

"A 'hearing', LC."

"They're always the same thing, anyway. Judgement given, backed by law. What's this really about, sir?"

"LC?"

"Just doesn't fit right. Is it about these propaganda activists I've seen doing the rounds? Is that it?"

"I'm not sure we should read too much into that. You've looked after Sha'li, you seem to have the loving bond that mothers and their children need, what arguments are there against that?"

"I'm trying to stay positive for Sha'li but... off the record, I've lost a lot recently, sir. I mean, I'm coping but... it's hard."

"Anything I should know?"

"No. It's not important. Just letting you know where I am. Thanks for coming to let me know, sir."

"Of course. Come and see me tomorrow, we can discuss any developments or... if you just want to talk, that's fine."

"Thank you, sir. Really." she says, pleased that he was quite open with her. "Sir?"

"LC?"

"You've always been good to the Normandy, and it's crew, no matter what's been going on. You've been a real friend to us. I just wanted to say, we appreciate it. Sir."

"An Admiral can't be seen to be playing favourites, Commander." he says sternly.

"No, sir." Ashley concedes, thinking she has overstepped the mark and misread the Admiral, but then he leans in a little and speaks more softly.

"...but he can't be called out for looking after his best either." he says with a wink.

"No, sir." she gently laughs, rubbing the back of her neck.

He looks out across the great void.

"I can understand why you turned me down all those years ago. A ship like the Normandy, the crew it carries, sometimes makes me wish I was a younger man."

"It's not all 'back to base for tea and medals', sir."

"No..." he nods in contemplation, "but there's life!"

"Roger that, sir!"

"Hm." he nods affirmatively then says with honesty, "Thank you, Ashley."

"Oh. Thank you, sir?"

"Hm." he nods again, then is on his way, marching purposefully towards his transport. A quick hand gesture as he approaches and his military escorts are into action opening the doors as he passes by them, barely registering their presence.


Liara pulls on her dress, the purple one with the red front, then harrumphs.

"How the hell did I used to walk in this thing?"

"Not got anything else?" Verity asks, buttoning up the dress blues Ashley had left behind. As always, Verity had her N7 patches with her and applied one immediately.

"Like I said, not clean."

Liara shuffles forwards and backwards a few times.

"Oh, sod it!" she says, and activates an omni-blade then commences picking the seams down the sides of her legs.

"Liara!"

"What? Just a little re-designing... there!"

She now paces with long strides, a flash of leg with every step.

"Right! What are you...? Oh come here..." she says, now attempting to button up the top collar button Verity was struggling with.

"Handy that Ash is about the same build as me."

"Stay still, Verity... this button's always awkward..."

"Oh..." Verity says, the disappointment evident in her voice.

"What?"

"You make it sound like you've done this often. With this particular uniform, I mean."

"Shepard..."

"Okay... Hm. This reminds me of when I had to 'hand myself in' to the authorities."

"I had to press your uniform three times because you wouldn't be careful!"

"You were just obsessing."

"I had to do something. I had no idea what might happen to you. I just wanted to keep busy. Done!"

"Okay then, we ready?"

"I think so."

They make their way to the atrium-like area where they are convening at for the 'barbecue', in reality a basic burner usually used in survival conditions with a metal ventilation grill over the top. Seeing the other guests now, Verity realises she and Liara may have overdressed for this occasion, the rest in casual fatigues. James wastes little time.

"Well hellooooo!" he shouts out in a 'posh' voice.

"Knock it off, James, at least some of us still have a sense of occasion."

"Hehe, you're not quite admiralty yet, Shepard!"

Liara walks up to him, gets quite close and gives his cheek a quick playful double slap, "Shut up, James." she says casually, then continues on without missing a beat.

Quite disarmed by Liara at the best of times, James tries to continue.

"Yea! So..." he peters out, then dangerously he attempts under his breath, "nice dress..."

"What?" Liara glares.

"Nothing... nothing..."

"Bit 'llleggy' today, Liara?" Samantha says.

"Stupid dress was too tight around the legs, I couldn't walk! So I did a little snipping."

"Looks good. You've got good pins."

"Good what?"

"Pins. Legs. Never mind. I grew up on colloquialisms."

"Is that in the Slang system?" James interjects, laughing at his own joke.

"James... is it possible to have a normal conversation?" Samantha says.

He holds up his hands in submission, "Sorry... just trying to have a little fun."

"Why 'pins'?" Liara asks.

"'cause they're the long thin bit? I dunno. Never thought about it."

"Oh. We should find out really."

"We should?"

"Well, if these things don't get documented they can be lost forever."

"I suppose..." Samantha looks oddly at her, a little unsure of this sudden desire to find the root of some random metaphor.

"Referencing." EDI announces. "Pins. Rhyming slang, London, most prevalent nineteenth and twentieth century. Full phrase, 'Pin Pegs'."

"Mystery solved!" Samantha happily declares.

"Hm." Liara seems less impressed.

"So this is the kind of thing you'd been amassing as the Shadow Broker?" Samantha facetiously asks.

"No!" Liara protests, "I was just wondering."

"Ha! That would have been disappointing for Cerberus if they'd got to your info banks. The Illusive Man all like, 'What intel have we got?' and the reply coming in, 'Krogan have fifty words for sand'. Ha! And he's all like, 'That's it?'..."

She laughs at her own little tableau and receives a similar 'odd' look back from Liara.

"Drink?" Liara asks.


"Rear Admiral Thenosis, you were commanding the Disciple during the battle of Sol." the asari representative asks of her in the hearing room.

"That's correct. At the time I was the rank of Captain."

"What were your orders?"

"Well, rendezvous with asari forces to join up with the combined fleet and assist how we could with the assault on Earth. Well, the Reapers at Earth rather."

"Were you a military vessel?"

"We were under the banner of Thessia and it was all hands on deck for the assault. Prior to our deployment into the combined fleet, we were running humanitarian work. In fact, we were ferrying refugees from the Citadel - children, orphans - to Thessia just before... well Thessia fell and the Citadel... well... moved! We had nowhere to take them."

"So they were aboard during the assault?"

"Not how I would have designed it but yes."

"Do you recall any of the children?"

"Some, yea. There was a lot, to be honest."

"Do you remember, specifically, Miss Cha'se?"

"Sha'li? Oh yea!"

"Please recount."

"Well, she'd been quite... awkward. Wouldn't settle down, I mean they were all pretty restless in the circumstance but Sha'li... I dunno. Once the fleet was re-grouping after deploying Hammer, my XO, Xa'an, had brought her up to the CIC during the lull, you know, she seemed to calm a little up there."

Looking around at the flashing lights and confusing panels reminds Sha'li of the Normandy, of Ashley. The holographic display shows all manner of craft zipping by.

"Goddess!" Xa'an shouts out when Sha'li squeals loudly and piercingly.

"What's up with her now?" Captain Thenosis says, then tracks Sha'li's pointing finger to the display. Sha'li instantly recognised a particular ship, even just from the shadow painted.

Sha'li is bouncing in the asari officer's arms.

"Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! Mummy!" she continually shouts as she points.

"She thinks her mom's on one of those ships? But aren't these all... didn't they all lose their..." the captain says, trying not to spell it out in front of the child.

"She's probably just confused. I'll take her back down." the officer says, then places her on the floor and tries to hold her hand. Sha'li refuses the hand and bawls terribly. Full mucus mode. The kind of child's crying that isn't like the forced tantrum that children so often attempt to gain favour, but genuine distress, resisting Xa'an's attempts to pick her up again.

"Mummy!" she wails, as she points again at the display then a terrible look at the captain.

"Woah! If looks could kill!" Xa'an laughs.

"She's pretty determined... What's the ship?"

"Errr... oh! The Normandy, ma'am."

"Normandy!" Sha'li squeals.

"Shepard's ship?"

"Yes, ma'am. I believe they're just rejoining the fleet now."

"Hm. See if you can raise them."

"Ma'am?"

"If her mother is aboard that ship, I want to know. Where'd you rather be in a situation like this, Xa'an? With strangers? Or with your family?"

"Of course, ma'am. I'll attempt to raise them now."

After a few attempts, a voice crackles over the speakers.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Williams, acting commander of the Normandy SR-2. We're all pretty busy over here, can we... help you in some way?"

Sha'li's face lights up.

"My apologies, Commander. This is Captain Thenosis of the asari vessel Disciple. I'm aware I'm not using the usual channels. We have a little girl here who seems certain her mother is aboard your ship. Can you shed any...?"

"Mother? Hm. Not sure..." Ashley initially puzzles.

"Ashey! Ashey! Ashey!" Sha'li gleefully shouts out.

"Oh!" Ashley now says, as though she didn't understand the first time, "Do you have little Sha'li there? Is she being a nuisance?"

"Well, not per se. But you know the girl?"

"Oh yes."

"Do you want to...? I mean, it's not ideal but we have time to transfer before the next push."

"We'd love to have Sha'li back aboard!"

"Right then, I'm sending our rendezvous co-ordinates. Use this channel to co-ordinate."

"We have a shuttle. Better than us two floating prone for any length of time."

"And that was that really." Thenosis says, having completed her version of events.

"So the Lieutenant Commander deceived?"

"What?" the Rear Admiral says.

"For you to be happy to transfer the child, the Commander alluded that her mother was aboard."

"I have the audio logs. At no point did Williams suggest she was the child's mother or that her mother was aboard."

"Semantics, Rear Admiral." the representative dismisses.

"Facts, representative." the Rear Admiral asserts.

"I beg your pardon?"

"The Commander did not state she was the child's mother. Anything else is inferred. Mother or not, the child was happy to hear Williams, as was Williams happy to hear about the child. Nothing seemed out of place. It wasn't like I was handing her over to a complete stranger, not to Sha'li at least. I still believe I was doing the right thing."

"Thank you, Rear Admiral, that will be all."

"Hm." she nods, then returns to the gallery.

"Miss Cha'se." the representative now turns to Sha'li.

"Williams." Sha'li says.

"What?"

"My name. It's Sha'li Williams."

"Oh. Alright then." the representative gives a patronising raised-brow look towards the chairperson, then corrects herself, "Miss 'Williams'. What sort of education have you received? What have you been learning? Are you aware, for example, of your asari heritage?"

"Oh yes, me and Liara used to talk a lot about the asari."

"For the record, Miss Cha'se... I mean, 'Miss Williams', is referring to Doctor Liara T'Soni, the eminent Serrice University archaeologist and member of Commander Shepard's Normandy team."

"Yea!" Sha'li says, as though that was patently obvious anyway.

"Did you learn of the Goddess? Athame? And such like?"

"Yea, but... we had to update a lot of texts. I used to help Liara cataloguing her papers once we powered down glyph to save energy. Glyph was her VI."

"Oh? And what were you updating?"

"You know, how the Protheans uplifted the asari, like they did with the rachni, or the salarians did with the krogan, that kind of thing."

Ashley brings her fingers up to her nose and sighs as laughter ripples through the gallery.

"Really, Miss Williams, if we can keep this in the realms of reality..." the representative patronises.

Sha'li stands, a terrible angry look on her face.

"It's true! None of us is a special race, better or different than another, we're just a big soup of people trying to get on. Mum looked after me when my real parents were killed, killed by the real enemy, who are still out there while you're all bickering in here. And if anyone has anything else to say about my mum, I'll... I'll... I'll punch them on the nose!"

"Sha'li..." Ashley says quietly, disappointed the hole in the ground she wished for didn't appear.

Sha'li sits and her head drops.

"Order! Order!" the asari chairperson shouts to quell the laughter and murmuring. "I think that's a good place to recess. We'll resume nine a.m. tomorrow. This session is closed."

The room empties as Sha'li and Ashley remain seated a while.

"Sorry, mum." Sha'li eventually says.

"No, that's okay. Thanks for defending me but... 'punch them on the nose'? I'm not sure specifically who I blame for that but I think we've all probably had a hand in it along the way..."

"Like when you punched that reporter!" Sha'li excitedly says, then throws a pretend punch complete with sound effects.

"You know that was wrong though?"

"I know... it was still cool though!"

"You still want to go to the temple while we're here?"

"We could have a look."

"Don't get too excited now..."

"Well... with what we know, what Javik said, it seems a bit silly now, doesn't it?"

"Hmm. Probably best if you keep that to yourself while we're there."

"Alright..." Sha'li smiles as she reluctantly agrees.


Ashley and Sha'li make their way through the hustle and bustle of the plaza in front of the Temple of Athame aboard the Destiny's Ascension where the hearing session had taken place. Long shallow steps lead up to the tall narrow, gracefully formed doors and they enter.

"Hm." Ashley frowns as they step into the spacious temple.

"What?" Sha'li whispers.

Not knowing the protocol, Ashley joins in with hushed tones.

"Oh. Nothing... just... reminded me of the temple on Thessia. Similar layout."

"You okay, mum?"

"What? Yea. Fine. Come on."

"There's some seating at the sides." Sha'li points then walks to them and sits, and Ashley joins her.

"Peaceful here." Ashley says.

"Did you used to go to church?"

"Yea, we used to go more. As a family, I mean. There was this really old one once, when we were on Earth for Christmas. Real snow, lights everywhere, carol singing. That was really magical."

"What would you do, if some alien came along and said, 'Oh, sorry, there is no god, that was us.'?"

"I... I'm not sure if I like thinking about it, if I'm honest."

"Sorry, mum. I'm only teasing."

A hooded asari sits on a seat just away from the pair.

"It's a shame, isn't it?" the asari says, her tone telling Ashley she is not being entirely sincere.

"Sorry?"

"I was just saying, it's a shame, all this intolerance that's flying around at the moment." she continues, still with the sarcasm in her voice, "I hate to see families getting torn apart, Lieutenant Commander."

"Do I know you?" Ashley asks, the asari now standing.

"I don't think we've ever met. Hm. Anyway, you can tell the little lamb... well, I think she can work out the rest, don't you, 'Commander'?"

As this asari strides quickly away, without appearing in a hurry, Ashley's face puzzles until the penny finally drops and her eyes widen.

"Little lamb?!"

"What? Who's 'little lamb'?" Sha'li asks.

"Wait here." Ashley orders, then gives chase.

She rushes to the doors but the asari has already gone. Ashley looks into the crowds but if the asari has lowered her hood, Ashley only knows two crests, she'd have no idea which of these is her quarry. She wonders though, considering her previous connections to power within Citadel space, what power the escapee still wields. The ferocity of the asari representatives' assertions about Ashley's guardianship make more sense to her now at least, though she wonders how she's become a target in this, apart from aiding and abetting Liara in her pursuit of vengeance. Vengeance. She runs back to Sha'li.

"Are you okay?" she asks with urgency.

"Yes! What?" Sha'li replies, seeing the concern on her mother's face as Ashley surveys the area for threats.

"Come on. Let's go see Uncle Hackett."

"Aren't we going home? Back to the apartment?"

"Not just yet, honey. I need to speak with the Admiral."

"But, mum! I wanted to..."

"Not now, Li!" Ashley snaps at her.

Sha'li's bottom lip curls a little and she blinks a few times.

"I'm sorry, Li. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's hard for me too, you know. All this questioning and doubt on you. On us."

"I know... I'm sorry."

"And who was that lady? Why are we going to see the Admiral? I've seen enough on the Normandy to know something is going on. And who's 'little lamb'?"

Ashley brings her fingers to her nose and sighs.

"It's... I don't want to... Li, it's complicated, okay?"

"Oh it's all too complicated for the little girl again, is it? Well? It can't be any worse than Reapers."

"Li..."

As far as Ashley is concerned, the apartment is no longer safe but she doesn't want to scare Sha'li with the truth. She has played her first hand and stepped out of the shadows so without knowing what she is specifically up to, Ashley is not going to chance it. Direct experience or not, Ashley is aware that Aria is not to be underestimated.