Shepard had just turned on some Flatwood and was in the midst of pouring herself a whiskey when her omni-tool suddenly chimed. Setting the bottle aside she activated it, and recognizing the contact, she activated the holographic display.

Liara appeared a few feet away, tiny motes of light coalescing into her image.

"Shepard, I received your message," she said. "I am sorry, I was...Shepard, what happened?"

She had noticed the bruises on Del's face, and stepped forward, lifting a hand toward the commander's cheek, forgetting a moment she could not actually touch her.

"It's nothing," Shepard reassured. "Just another day at the office. I'm glad you called, Tianlán."

"Your message was a little concerning," Liara admitted, studying Shepard's face. "I cannot believe Ash called you a traitor. More, I cannot believe you think she might be correct."

"Isn't that what I am?" Shepard asked, sitting on the bed with a huff, picking up her drink. "No matter what justifications I come up with, the facts still remain, Li. I am working with terrorists. Taking their blood money. And I got into a fist fight with Ash over it."

"She inflicted those bruises?" Liara asked, surprised. Ash was no lightweight, but she was also no Shepard.

"No, that was just…battle." She didn't tell Liara that an explosion had sent her face first into a set of stairs. Liara worried enough about her risking her life without sharing all the gory details.

Liara moved over and, unable to sit on the actual furniture, of course, crouched in front of her. "Ashley is idealistic," she murmured. "And she is a good friend, but she is not seeing all ends in this. The Alliance could have branded you a traitor for stealing the Normandy to pursue Saren to Ilos. Was that not the right thing to do?"

"Course it was," Shepard admitted. "This just…feels differently to me."

"I know it does, but it is the only way," Liara murmured. "And when this mission is done, I know that you will tell Cerberus that you are done with them in the most flamboyant and colorful terms you can come up with."

Shepard smirked, bobbing her head before taking a swallow of her whiskey, then rose, pacing a little. "It doesn't help the fucker isn't playing straight with me," she grumped. "He did it on purpose, Li. Made it so that Ash would be on that colony, arranged it so the Collectors would be sure to hit it. He risked her life, my crew, on purpose. Seems the Collectors are not just after me but after anyone that has association to me."

Turning she looked at Liara sternly. "Which means you're on their list too, Tianlán. I don't think they'll be able to find you at Hagalaz but you need to be as careful as possible, dong ma?"

Liara suddenly looked hesitant and Shepard's gut went cold, eyes narrowing.

"Tianlán…"

"I am…not currently at Hagalaz," Liara admitted. Shepard's face went to stone and she strode over.

"What? Where are you? Why did you leave?"

"I am on Omega. We are actually departing shortly to return to the ship."

"We?"

"Sydney is here with me," Liara replied. "As security. Shepard, I…found my sister."

"You did?" the commander asked, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me? The Normandy could have escorted you to Omega, or-"

"I know, and I knew that is exactly what you would do, which is why I did not tell you. Your mission is of far more importance than running a side-errand to ferry me to my sister."

"Li," Shepard sighed, shoulders slumping. "Nothing is unimportant when it comes to you. I want to keep you safe."

"I know that you do, Del," Liara said gently. "I want you safe as well…but your work is too important. More important than either of us."

"Li…" Shepard went over, lamenting that she couldn't hug or touch a hologram, making a helpless gesture. She sighed again. "So…you found her. That's good news, at least."

"I like her quite a lot, Shepard. She is very sweet, somewhat shy."

Shepard smiled. "I don't know anyone else in her family like that. Is she all right?"

"Indeed, she does remind me at times of myself," Liara said, then sobered. "However, 'all right' is a subjective term."

"What's the matter?"

"She became…upset, when I mentioned you," Liara murmured. "Quite strongly upset. Shrive had to take her to go and calm down. It seems Gellian's development of Eír was not for the sole purpose of retaining some part of Benezia. She was…designed…to be a weapon."

"A weapon?" Shepard stiffened. "I knew that woman was insane but to design a living weapon…"

"…a weapon whose intended purpose is to…to eliminate the one that killed Benezia."

Shepard went still. "You mean…me."

"Yes," Liara admitted, then held up her hands. "But it is not her fault, Shepard. This anger that Gellian gave her, this hatred toward you…it is not her choice. She wants nothing more than a simple life, to follow her own dreams. She does not want to hurt you."

"But she will," Shepard replied. "Because that's what Osco created her for."

"We can help her," Liara insisted. "There must be a way to…to shut this off, remove this…this programming."

Shepard's gaze turned inward, and she almost unconsciously drained the rest of her whiskey, before she nodded. "Mordin may be able to help," she said. "Chakwas, Miranda...we'll find the top of the line geneticists. If there's any way-"

"Thank you, Shepard," Liara sighed in relief. "Shrive was…afraid. She thought that if you found out about Eír's true purpose you would attempt to remove the threat yourself. I told her that you were not like that but…"

"It's ok. I understand. If she cares about your sister then…well, I can understand."

Besides, she was used to being treated like a monster. It wasn't entirely undeserved.

"Thank you," Liara said again. "As long as she remains far from you there should not be a problem."

"If we were to meet face to face, do you think she could…?"

"Could take you? I have no doubt of it, Shepard. Gellian did her work well, and according to Shrive, she is the most powerful biotic she has ever seen."

"Yeah…" Shepard rubbed the back of her neck. "Probably best we stay far away from each other for now. She still on Omega?"

"She and Shrive are departing this evening for Aratoht" Liara told her. "It is in batarian space. It will make it easier for you to stay out of her way."

"No reason for me to go there," Shepard agreed. "All right. I'll pass this information on to Mordin and we'll see if we can't think of something. You just…you just be careful, ok? Hopefully I can stop by Hagalaz in a day or two, at least for a little while."

"I hope so," Liara said gently, again lifting her hand, the holograph hovering over Shepard's cheek. "I will see you again soon."

Shepard's whole body seemed to slump as the call ended, the asari woman vanishing. Dropping down to the bed again she leaned forward, face in her hands.

"Interesting," Mordin's eyes seemed to light up…as much as they ever did…as he focused on the human woman standing in front of him. "Unique on genetic level. Osco's previous work, enhance biotic talent in humans. Makes sense, humans fairly biotically weak as a species, few exceptions. Enhance biotics in asari? Promising. Would need end-cap alterations, base-pair manipulation, perhaps even enhancement with other species' DNA or RNA chains. Would need sample, of course. Blood, tissue, very minor. Need to look at genetics to get idea where to start."

"I'm sure we can arrange to get you a blood sample, at the very least," Shepard replied. "I appreciate you doing this, Mordin."

"Welcome. Must admit, scientific curiosity piqued. Unfortunately, secondary concern to Collector tech and current mission. Will get to it on free-time, when have samples in hand."

"Understood. I'll leave you to your work."

Shepard stepped out of the lab and into the CIC only to see a grim-faced Miranda heading her way with a data pad in hand.

"Should I say good morning, or are you going to change the 'good' part of that?" Shepard hedged as the woman approached.

"According to intel, geth have been sighted at the Far Rim, Dholen system," Miranda reported without preamble, handing the data pad to Shepard.

"Geth? You wouldn't be telling me if this was just a few geth hold-outs that needed mopped up."

"They're not hold-outs. Intel reports they just arrived. Dholen is the location of an old quarian colony, on the planet Haestrom. A quarian research team landed there shortly before the geth ships were spotted. It's hardly a coincidence."

Scanning over the information in her hand as Miranda spoke, Shepard's face suddenly went hard. "Tali is heading up the research team?"

"Yes," Miranda replied. "And with the arrival of the geth she's likely in extreme danger."

"Joker! Put in a course for Haestrom, Dholen system! EDI, ETA?"

"We should arrive within two hours, Commander."

"Good, compile all information we have on Haestrom and what the quarian team is doing there. I want it ready in the conference room in ten minutes. Miranda, I want Grunt, Kasumi, and Samara in there as well."

"Understood."

However long it had been since she'd actively fought geth, Shepard could never forget that rapid chittering sound they made, nor the high-pitched whine whenever one of them went down. With her expertise, Grunt's bullheaded muscle, Kasumi's stealth and Samara's biotics, they were pushing their way through the complex steadily, taking down the geth with ease despite the sun.

That goddamn sun. It was putting out strong radiation, enough to immediately send their shields into overload the moment the light touched the generators. At its brightest points, it was even strong enough to make their radiation alarms on their hard-suits squeal in warning. They stuck close to the shade, not hiding as Grunt emphatically pointed out, and worked their way deep into the ruins.

When they came across their first quarian body, Shepard felt her gut tighten before realizing it wasn't Tali. It also wasn't the last. Her face only grew grimmer with each sadly limp corpse they came upon.

Don't think about it. Tali is smart. If anyone is still alive in this place, it's her.

Despite her mental reassurances, she couldn't help fearing for the girl's life. Losing Tali wouldn't be just losing a friend, it would be losing family.

Kasumi, who had gone to scout ahead as usually, returned in a flash of her cloak. "I found a working radio," she reported, passing it to Shepard.

Fixing its frequency she dialed in with her omni-tool and her helmet set, opening a channel. "This is Commander Shepard to any quarian that might be receiving. Do you hear me?"

There was a sputter, and then a male voice answered.

{This is Kal'Reegar. Good to hear a voice that isn't geth but you picked a hell of a day for a visit, commander!}

"Looks to me like I picked the perfect day, you guys seem to need some help," Shepard replied. "What's your status and location?"

{We are at the north end of the complex, past the central plaza,} Reegar answered. {We're pinned down under heavy fire. Most of our squad is dead, there's only four of us left.}

"We're on our way," Shepard replied, already heading that direction. "What's the status of Tali'Zorah?"

{You know Tali? Oh, right…Shepard…you're her old commander. We've got Tali secured in one of the compound buildings at the end of the plaza. She's alive, finishing her compilation of the research data. The door is sealed and there isn't a man here that won't die before we let the geth reach her. That data needs to get back to the Flotilla at any cost.}

Tali was alive. Shepard let out a breath of relief, then nodded. Now she just had to keep her that way.

"Hold tight, Reegar, we'll be there as quickly as we're able to."

Halfway to their destination, they had to halt to take out yet another geth ambush. Once eliminated, Samara crouched by a quarian form limp on the ground. "Dead," she said sadly. "He and his companion. That leaves only two left."

"Kasumi, take a look ahead. Grunt, flank on the left. We're not losing another goddamn one."

As the thief vanished and Samara straightened, a familiar voice came over the radio connection.

{This is Tali'Zorah, can anyone hear me?}

"Tali, this is Shepard. I hear you're stirring up trouble again."

{Shepard? But how did you…no, never mind. Am I glad to hear your voice! I can't get through to any of my people.}

"I'm sorry, Tali…most of them are gone. I think besides you, Kal'Reegar is the only one still kicking. We're closing in on your position right now."

{Oh, K-Keelah. There are geth massed just outside. Shepard, please…you must keep Kal'Reegar alive.}

"Don't worry, Tali. No one else is dying here today. No one but the geth anyway. We'll be there soon."

"There is a single quarian still alive at the edge of the plaza," Kasumi reported a moment later, returning back to them. "The plaza itself has at least two squads of synthetics…and a heavy."

"Fantastic. At least Reegar is still alive."

Tali had sounded very concerned about the man…concerned enough to make Shepard wonder, and even more determined. Someone important to Tali was, ipso facto, important to her.

The male quarian was still holding when they arrived a few moments later, sheltered against a shielding wall with a rocket launcher in hand. They could not see his face, of course, but his bearing and posture all spoke of high-stress, exhaustion.

"Commander, am I glad to see you," he greeted as they moved to his side. "Tali's in the building at the far end. They're trying to hack the door to get to her. I've been keeping them distracted but its hard going, especially with that heavy covering them. I've hit it a few times but it's got a repair protocol. I can't get it down."

Shepard hauled out her sniper and activated the scope, peering carefully around the wall and scanning the entire plaza. The heavy was right in front of the doors where several geth were clustered, trying to hack the door. She landed a couple of shots, making them duck for cover. In response, the heavy belched a ball of fire in their direction.

"Down," she barked, and ducked as the plasma sailed overhead and took out a chunk of the wall.

"See what I mean?" Reegar huffed.

Shepard's eyes turned inward for a moment before they clarified, and she looked at Reegar. "You got any rope?"

"R-Rope?" he asked, startled. "Uh…no. It's not exactly standard issue-"

"Shepard, I saw some rope back in the maintenance shed when we went past. It's not too far," Kasumi told her.

"Go, get it," Shepard ordered. As the thief took off, she regarded the quarian. "You're going to stay here and stay undercover. We'll take care of the geth and get to Tali."

"You'll need every body you can get," Reegar protested. "I can hit the-"

"No," Shepard said firmly. "I need you here in case reinforcements show up. Stay down and keep still. We'll take care of the geth and the heavy."

Kasumi reappeared, a bundle of rope in her hand, which Shepard took and hooked to her belt. "All right, here's the plan. Samara, Grunt, work up the eastern side. Kasumi and I will take the western. Keep to the wall, keep under cover and watch that heavy's fire. Once we've cleared out the foot troops Kasumi and I will get the heavy down and we'll hit it with everything we've got until the fucker is a pit."

Grunt grinned and bounced on his toes. "I like that idea."

"I thought you might. Now get moving."

Looking back at Reegar one more time she warned, "I mean it. Stay put."

"Aye ma'am," he replied. Shepard gestured to Kasumi and the others, and a moment later they were in the midst of hell.

The troopers weren't so hard. Tough as they were Shepard had taken out dozens before and these proved no more difficult. The hard part was avoiding the blasts of blue death from the heavy, and more than once a plasma shot had come close enough to feel the heat of it, even through the hard-suit. Painstakingly working their way up the western side to the main platform the heavy was positioned on, Shepard put her back to a pillar, sniping one final trooper before shipping her gun and grabbing the rope.

"What's the plan?" Kasumi panted.

"You ever been to a rodeo?"

"A…rodeo? No, never."

"Me neither, but I have watched a few on vid. The trick with big-ass dangerous things is to get in close," Shepard told her, unwinding the rope and withdrawing a flash-bang from her belt. She didn't bother to set the grenade, simply tied the rope to it firmly. "These heavies are just that…heavy…on top anyway. They're remarkably sturdy on those legs but like any animal…they trip."

"You sweep its legs out and it'll fall," Kasumi smiled.

"Exactly," she said, checking the knot before touching her radio. "Grunt, Samara, you in position?"

{We are ready, Shepard.}

"I'm going to toss you the rope in front of the heavy. As soon as you get it, toss it back to me behind it. Copy?"

{Understood, Shepard.}

"When I give the signal, Samara, I want you to hit the top of that thing with the biggest biotic push you can manage."

{Will do.}

Handing the other end of the rope to Kasumi, Shepard nodded toward the pillar. "Tie it off, tight as you can make it. Then hold on to your ass."

Taking the inactive light grenade in hand, Shepard ducked out from behind the pillar and tossed it along the ground as hard as she was able. It skidded past, just in front of the heavy's legs. Drawn by the motion, the tank tried to look downward at it but the angle was too awkward, forcing it to shift back half a step. By then the grenade was past, and Grunt was scooping it up.

Shepard had continued her sprint until she reached the matching pillar to the one she'd been hiding behind. Without missing a beat, the krogan pitched the grenade back at her, the thing trailing the rope behind it. The heavy turned its head again as Shepard scooped up the grenade and the rope went taunt against its far legs. Glancing over quickly to make sure Kasumi had it tightened, Shepard gripped hold of the rope and barked, "Now!"

A wall of blue biotics suddenly slammed into the tank's head and body, stumbling it slightly. At the same time, Shepard hauled the rope with all her strength. For a half moment, it almost seemed that the heavy would keep itself upright, its thin legs almost scrambling as it attempted to maintain its balance. Shepard hauled harder, and its legs shifted just enough out of orientation to turn the tide.

With a resounding crash, the huge machine slammed down onto its side. Shepard dropped the rope, hauling out her rifle even as she charged forward. The head, pointed along the ground in her direction, brightened and then burped, a ball of plasma fire sailing along the concrete directly at her.

With a gasp and a frantic leap, Shepard jumped over the sailing shot, flailing her arms slightly as her boots barely cleared it. Part of one pillar exploded outward as the shot struck it but Shepard didn't have time to look back. Her boots hit concrete again and she continued forward, focusing her rifle on the downed beast's head and opening fire.

Grunt let out a triumphant roar as he hopped up on the side of the flailing heavy, unloading three shotgun rounds into its head as well. With a shuddering whine, the great metallic beast fell still.

Grunt hopped down as Shepard landed a couple of more shots in the geth's head, just to be sure, then grinned at him. "Not too bad," she lauded, holding up her fist. Grunt happily balled his own, bumping his knuckles against hers.

Seeing Samara approaching unharmed, Shepard turned her head. "Kasumi?"

There was no response. Seeing the destroyed pillar, Shepard's brows immediately knit in concern, and she shipped her rifle, trotting back that way. "Kas?"

Some rock shifted and she saw the thief sit up, hand to her head. Running over, Shepard helped her move some debris, crouching down. "You ok?"

"My ears are ringing," Kasumi said with a faint groan. "But I think all my bits are still attached. I'm all right, Shep, it just knocked me silly. I forgot that you always manage to make things explode somehow."

Shepard helped her up to her feet, clapping her lightly on the shoulder once she was steady. "I jumped over it. What was your problem?" she teased. "You're supposed to be lighter on your feet than I am."

"Tell me about it, you looked like a drunken frog," Kasumi chuckled.

"Ha, ha," Shepard shook her head, then turned back toward the huge blast doors, touching her radio. "Tali, you there?"

{I am here, Shepard. Things got quiet outside.}

"I did what I do best. The geth are down. Can you let us in?"

{Unlocking the doors now.}

The interface switched from red to green, and with the groan of old, rusted gears, the door began to open. Unlatching her helmet, Shepard removed it as she strode in, grinning toward the quarian girl standing over the console at the far end.

"I'm just finishing compiling the OSD," she said, then turned around. "Shepard, it is so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, Mei-Mei," Shepard said, dropping the helmet and hugging her as she reached her side. "You ok? Not injured?"

"I'm fine," Tali admitted, returning the hug before drawing back. "I…wish I could say the same for the rest of my squad. This damn data had better be worth it."

"Its research, isn't it? About the star?"

"Yes. We took readings to try and determine why this star is aging so rapidly. There are unusual radiation spikes, dark energy disturbances but we weren't able to find anything concrete. I hope the scientists can make better sense of it than me. So much death…it had better be worth it."

She lowered her head a little, her posture going hesitant. "Kal'Reegar…is he…?"

"Alive and well, ma'am," Reegar said as he strode in. Tali blew out a relieved breath.

"Oh, good…you made it."

"Your old commander is a sight, Tali. To be honest I never quite believed your stories, until now."

"I just do what's needed," Shepard dismissed, then looked at Tali again. "Mind if we have a word…?"

She and Tali stepped away, out of ear-shot of the others before Shepard spoke again. "Back on Freedom's Progress, you said you were involved in something important. I take it this was it?"

"The end of it, yes," Tali told her. "I also told you that as soon as I was done with what I was working on, I would join you again. Trust me, I am more than done with this mess. Reegar can take the information back to the Flotilla."

Shepard smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that. The more people I trust, the more familiar faces around, the better I feel about this whole disaster."

Tali gripped her hand, then turned and went back to her companion, handing him the OSD. "This is the research information. I will be accompanying Commander Shepard back to the Normandy. Can you make sure this gets back to the Flotilla?"

"Shouldn't be a problem, ma'am," Reegar replied, accepting it before he looked at Shepard. "You take care of her, Commander."

Shepard inclined her head in a nod, watching the young quarian man head back out of the bunker before smirking and lifting an eyebrow toward Tali.

"Wh-what?" Tali asked.

"Oh," Shepard chuckled. "Nothing…"

"You were actually shooting bottles…in your quarters," Tali's smirk was evident in her voice as she shook her head.

"Yeah," Shepard grinned, letting some smoke drift up toward the filters. "You should have seen Lawson's face when she ran in. First she was shocked to see I wasn't dead, and then it was like she suddenly realized that she'd actually brought back a wild-eyed, psychotically unstable lunatic."

"You're not that 'wild-eyed'," Tali teased. Shepard chuckled, ashing her cigar.

The two women were sitting on the floor of Engineering, knees drawn up and backs to a console. Gabby and Ken were down at the other end, finishing up their duty shift and discussing something with hushed animation.

"I take it you two are getting along better now? You seemed more relaxed talking to her when we got back to the ship."

"Lawson's ok," Shepard admitted. "We…kind of understand one another now. And she's the reason I got to see Liara again so, I can't complain about that."

"How is Liara?" Tali asked. "All I heard was that she's on some secret station somewhere."

"She's doing all right," Shepard said. "We're actually heading toward Hagalaz now…you should be able to see her sometime tomorrow."

"Oh, good," Tali's smile was once again evident. "It is nice to see old faces, some of the old crew. I missed this, Shepard. I never thought I would think of home as being anywhere away from the Flotilla but…the Normandy, her silent engines…chasing around the galaxy righting wrongs…this feels as close to home as anywhere."

"We missed you too, Mei-Mei," Shepard told her. "I'm glad you're here."

"Excuse me, Commander…"

They looked up to see Ken approaching, Gabby only a few steps behind. The Scottish man gave them a smile that made him look about ten years old. It was a hard smile to dislike.

"We were just goin' off-duty and we were wondering-"

"You were wondering," Gabby pointed out with a smirk.

"It was a mutual wonderment," Ken shot back, glancing at her before looking back at the two seated on the floor. "Anyway, we were wondering if ye'r not too busy…if ye'd like to play some Skyllian Five weth us."

"Poker," Shepard wrinkled her nose with a reluctant groan. "I don't know…it's been years since I've played and I wasn't ever any good at it."

Ken's eyes seemed to light up a little and he grinned. "Et's all right, Commander. I promise we'll take et easy on ye. Et's just for fun anyway, low credit bets."

She hmmed, uncertain, ashing her cigar again before tucking it in her teeth and shrugging. "I…guess. Might be fun. I'd like to relearn anyway, so long as you take it easy on me. What about you, Tali? You want to play poker with us?"

Even behind her helmet visor, Tali's eyes were wide and innocent. "Poker?" she asked. "…what's poker?"

"Are ye fookin' kiddin' me?" Kenneth groaned as he slapped down his hand, Tali giggling a little as she scooped the pot toward her side of the table. "'What's poker?' the girl says... 'So long as you take it easy on me' my ruddy behind!"

Shepard grinned, she and Tali both lifting a fist and bumping them together.

"I told you," Gabby repeated. "You honestly thought the Commander didn't know how to play poker? How silly can you get?"

"Well then why dedn't ye stop me?"

"And miss seeing you get owned? Are you kidding?"

"I take it you don't want to play another round," Shepard smirked, leaning back in her seat as she shuffled the cards.

"If he was smart, he'd stop now," Tali murmured. "We've got nearly his entire week's pay."

"Yeah, Mama Donnelly didn't raise no fools," Kenneth admitted, pushing back from the table. "I'm done. And I'm warnin' everyone on the ship about ye so no one else loses their shirt."

As he walked away toward the lift they could still hear him grumbling, "What's poker? Can you fookin' believe I fell for that?"

"Shuttle is docking," Ori reported, glancing up from her station as Sydney, Wilcher and Liara walked past, the latter smoothing a hand self-consciously over her tunic. Sydney caught the motion and smiled slightly, giving a faint shake of her head.

"Afraid she's suddenly not going to like you?" she teased gently. Liara blushed a little.

"No, i-it is not that," she replied, then shook her head. "It does not matter."

Truth be told, she was very self-conscious of the fact that she was about to be standing in the same room with not only her love, but her love's ex, a woman Del still trusted and thought very highly of. Though she knew she had Shepard's heart, the insecure part of her kept insisting that Sydney was a much better match for the commander, that they had far more in common.

She did her best to push such worries aside as they entered the bay, the shuttle already powering down, doors opening.

Shepard stepped down to the ground and headed forward, and Liara picked up her own pace, rushing in and flinging her arms around her. Shepard hugged her tightly, momentarily lifting her off her feet before setting her down again.

"Hey, you," she murmured.

"Shepard, I missed you," Liara whispered back. Aware of their audience, she reluctantly stepped back a little, beaming at the sight of a familiar helmet.

"Tali!"

"Liara, good to see you again," the quarian greeted, giving Liara a hug of her own.

"It is good to see you back under Shepard's command," Liara told her. "I am glad you were able to join her."

"So am I," the quarian replied. "Someone has to keep her in line."

Garrus, Miranda, Mordin and Chakwas also emerged from the shuttle, Liara greeting them as well as Shepard stepped past, heading toward the pair waiting patiently a few feet away.

"Look at these two sorry sacks of meat," she smirked as she reached out a hand, clasping Sydney's firmly. The two women hugged tightly, before Shepard slapped Sydney on the back and released her, shifting her hand toward Wilcher.

"We're sorry sacks of meat?" the big guy rumbled, his hand almost enveloping hers as he grinned. He gestured at the fading bruises on her face. "We're not the ones that look like we tried to stop a train with their face, grunt."

"You're just jealous because I'm still prettier than you, sir," Shepard retorted, then called over his shoulder. "You still hanging out with this ugly fuck, Ori?"

"Yes ma'am," Ori called back with a grin. "He couldn't wipe his ass without me."

"Ain't that the fuckin' truth," Shepard beamed, then turned toward the others as they drew near, making introductions.

As Liara reached Shepard's side she unconsciously, possessively, put an arm around the human woman's waist, glancing at Sydney. She realized she'd done it a moment after it had happened, and tried to look non-chalant though she could still feel her cheeks heating.

Sydney didn't seem to have noticed, and if Shepard had, she said nothing, only draping her arm around Liara's shoulders .

"Were you able to obtain blood-samples?" Mordin asked after the introductions were completed, startling Liara out of her thoughts.

"Oh, yes…Shrive sent them and they arrived earlier today. I have them ready for you, in the infirmary. I…I will show you where it is-"

"I can show 'em," Wilcher offered, giving her a wink. "You should stay and catch up with your friends."

"Thank you," Liara said gratefully, stepping away from Shepard's side just far enough to hug Chakwas as the doctor stepped forward.

"It's good to see you, Liara," Helen said with a smile.

"We'll catch up at dinner," Liara promised, watching as Wilcher led Chakwas and Mordin toward the labs and infirmary.

Shepard looked around, realizing Tali had vanished, only to spot the quarian over beside Ori, both talking over the console.

Trust a techie to find a techie, she thought, shaking her head, then called out.

"Tali, we're going inside. Don't let Ori keep you too long."

"Ok, I won't Shepard," Tali called back, half-distracted.

"Zu fu ni, Mei-Mei," Shepard chuckled softly with a shake of her head, knowing that it would be hours, at least, before either Tali or Ori even remembered where they were.

Turning back to Liara, Shepard took her hand as they headed inside to the main area of the ship. Despite the horribly violent storm just outside, for the first time in days, Shepard felt at peace.