Local Cluster
Earth, Citadel

Raking his hands through his cropped hair, Westir tried to encourage his sleepy senses to wakefulness as he walked slowly along the corridor of TEAD (technical and engineering analysis division) and tried to stifle the continuous yawns. Droplets of tears gathered at the corner of his eyes after a particularly wide chasm that threatened to unhinge his lower jaw from his face. It wouldn't do, no, it wouldn't do at all. He cut right at the intersection and slipped into the men's restroom to splash cold water on his face. As he patted his face dry with a paper towel, he examined it on the mirror above the washbasin. The lines around his eyes seemed deeper. Age lines, his old lady usually said, that enhanced eyes that were forever young.

There was nothing he could do with the bristles on his jaw. That was his fault really. He woke up late and only had time to brush his teeth and rushed through a shower. Still, he didn't look too bad for someone who spent half the night chugging beer with the holovid he was watching. Tossing the soggy paper towel into the nearby recycle bin, he exited the toilet and headed for the locker rooms a floor below. It was empty except for three figures in skinsuits lounging on the benches.

"Dessert is on you, West!" the woman called out when he walked in, without taking her eyes off from the screen of her omni-tool.

"Yeah, yeah." He opened his locker, tossed in his pack before pulling off his clothes. "Try to show a little mercy this time, Tessie," he said over his shoulder as he drew on undersuit and skinsuit.

"At the rate you invest your credits in beer," said Malon, fingers typing busily over the portable console on his lap, "I estimate your indulgence could only last another week." He paused to peruse his work, eyelids flicking upwards rapidly.

"Praise be," Westir said sarcastically, "I doubt Tessie can squeeze a freebie out of a dry well." He grabbed his helmet sitting on top of his locker and touched the small old holopic tucked in a corner of the door of the locker before closing it. "Now can we move on? I don't want another black mark from Drake."

He stalked out, followed by the silent fourth member of the group, Challa, before the others could say another word. Malon turned off the portable console and put it away in his locker, swiftly loping after Tessie who was already out the door. Catching up to her, he fell into discussion over the talking points of several forums on the xtranet they were delving into. With so many rumors floating around, it was hard to separate fact from falsehood. Especially the ones speculating on conspiracies to destroy or take over the Citadel. How else to explain the strange shut down of the reactor core?

Ignoring the chatter behind him, Westir headed for the shuttle bay, glad that Challa was not inclined to talk. Anyone looking at him would think he was another conventional example of the batarians. Taciturn, truculent, sullen. Having Challa on the team for three years dispelled that notion. Challa talked when it was necessary. Frivolous societal exchanges was not in his make up. It made him more of a reliable colleague than an enigmatic Keeper. His demeanor suited Westir very well. Less one person to gripe about his night drinking sessions. Tessie and Malon meant well but he could do without their prosaic squawking every time he showed up cross-eye for work.

There was only one shuttle left in the baffles when they reached the huge shuttle bay. A glaring testament of their tardiness. Keying one of the consoles by the landing pads, Westir brought up the robotic arms as the baffle rack moved the shuttle out to the edge to be grabbed. With smooth precision, the arms placed the shuttle exactly in the middle of the landing pad. As usual, Challa was quick to punch in the code on the panel beside the hatch and first in when the hatch open. Still chattering, Tessie and Malon strode in leisurely, raising that familiar itch in Westir to boot their butts. Once they were in, he secured the hatch.

Two workstations took up most of the space where the cargo compartment would have been. Most of the seats were stripped out, leaving only a row of four by the hatch. Leaving the two to set themselves up, Westir headed for the cockpit where Challa was already running pre-flight checks. Hooking his helmet to a rack above the pilot's seat, he sat down and buckled in. Putting on a small earpiece, he checked the flight plan and the readouts of the shuttle. He glanced at Challa who gave him the thumbs up. He made contact with Citadel Control for clearance.

"Buckle in, you two, we're hauling ass," he muttered into the intercom as he sent a signal to the command station of the shuttle bay.

Outside, a warning alarm sounded as a forcefield sprang up across the shuttle exit. All the hatches to the shuttle bay went into auto-seal as the bay depressurized. The shuttle bay doors slide aside, revealing the black expanse outside. Westir smiled at the sight of the blue white globe. Looking at it every day still the ache in his heart.

Firing the maneuvering thrusters, he brought the shuttle clear of the shuttle bay doors before heading towards the coordinates he had set. The Citadel Tower. Setting the shuttle to a quarter speed, he kept his eye on the shifting traffic. With shuttles and all kinds of vessels running about the docking ring, the chances of a collision was high. The mountain that would crash on the pilot that failed to keep a proper lookout was equal to the steep reparations the guilty party would have to fork out. He wasn't going to let that happen on his beat and end up paying for life. There would be no hedging like what the Council was doing now.

Many people who suffered injuries from the Incident were kind of left out in the cold. Who were they supposed to go after for the damages? Naturally, whoever was running the Citadel. The Council assumed a part of the responsibility, if grudgingly, but good luck to those who tried to chase down the illusive credits. The amount of bureaucratic red tape they had to wade through generated a ton more complaints than the ones on accountability. Every forum in the xtranet was dedicated to this current hot potato. The other was focused on the Incident.

Despite official statements to the contrary, nobody was buying the story that the Incident was just an engineering fault. No, larger stakes were afoot. The slew of bizarre and hysterical hyperbole on the Incident flew thick and furious. Some insisted it was a conspiracy by the Council to get rid of the humans. Some thought the Keepers wanted to kill them all. Some spread words of doom that the Reapers were returning. The lack of any explanation for the incident left many people worried. He was sure there would be an exodus and he was right.

Some residents had left or were looking for alternative digs. Not a lot of choices with most homeworlds plagued with TI. He heard quite a number had applied to settle on Rannoch. They could leave but he and his team, along with the other MQA (maintenance and quality analysis) teams were stuck with hull inspections, especially around the Citadel Tower. With the beam suddenly shut off, the powers-that-be wanted to be certain there was no damage or distortion of the structure. They were also supposed to look out for oddities. He had no idea what they thought would be out there. He hoped nothing weird popped up on them.

"Coming up to the mother lode," he murmured into the intercom as he brought the shuttle parallel to the base of the tower.

"How many bottles did you hit? That was yesterday's ass," came Tessie's drawling rejoinder, "we need to look around the chest."

"You would know about asses, would you?" he returned, annoyed because she was right. He carefully maneuvered the shuttle farther along the tower. "Which do you favour, the bunnies or the skinnies?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she snickered.

"Behind schedule," Challa put in before Westir could answer. In that, he was right, they were behind by over two hours. They were supposed to start at seven and it was already half of nine. All of it was his fault of course.

Silence fell. Westir enabled the scanning beam once they reached the target area. His job was to make sure the shuttle travelled at a even distance from the surface to keep the scanner at effective range. Challa was to keep a lookout for anything that might come their way. The main meat of the assignment fell on Tessie and Malon. They would be looking for metal fatigue, checking hull integrity along with a bunch of engineering stuff that wasn't up his alley. Going over every inch of a hull as huge as the Citadel was slow going. Counting four years, ten months, the ward arms were only half inspected and repairs were going even slower. It would take another three years for the teams to finish their tasks and perhaps another two for patching to be completed. After which, they would all start from square one again.

Hull inspection was a never-ending undertaking. It would be faster in the next cycle. The current cycle required more minute and thorough examination because nobody wanted a gigantic hole in the swirling blue white globe below. The level of radiation and devastation to the atmosphere and land mass if the Citadel should fall to the planet below would render a quarter of the Earth unliveable.

Many survivors of the war chose to stay on the Citadel than be jammed like sardines in one of the enclaves. They took over one of the lower wards, nicknamed Down Below. No alien felt comfortable venturing in there. So huge was the human influx that the Council expressed their concern. In response, the Alliance Parliament issued a statement that it was only temporary. He had doubts about that one. It was going to be pretty hard to pry people out once they were ensconced. Especially crime syndicates. But since the Incident, he heard the Downers were changing their minds. Nobody wanted to die a fiery death in the belly of a space station. A pity. He would miss the food. There was no other place he could get real Swedish meatballs unless he got himself dirt side.

"Movement at ten o'clock," said Challa, breaking into his dreamy musing.

On the alert immediately, Westir looked at the image Challa transferred to his console. "What?" he muttered in confusion as he magnified the image. "Are those-?"

"Keepers," Challa said softly, pushing the enhancement as far as it would go.

"What the hell are they doing out here?" Westir was amazed. "Are they wearing some kind of suits?"

"What's going on in there?" Malon queried. "You're out of sync, West. I can't get any readings if you don't keep..."

"Never mind that, look at this." Westir transferred the image to Malon's workstation. "Tell me what they're doing?"

There was silence from Malon's end for several minutes. "Can you get closer?" he said finally.

"I think they're effecting repairs," came Tessie's voice.

Reaching over to shut off the scanning beam, Westir gently nudged the shuttle forward. "I'll get close enough for you guys to see what they're up to but I'm going to keep a distance from them."

"Scared, West?" came Tessie's mocking tone.

"Damn right I am," he shot back. "Name me one instance in which you see and hear Keepers going EVA!" When she said nothing, he said dryly, "Yeah."

When they were fifty metres from the Keepers, Westir halted the shuttle. They were close enough now to see the Keepers walking slowly over the hull. His assumption that they were wearing suits was wrong. As far as he could make out, they weren't wearing any but there was a sort of nimbus enveloping each Keeper. Shields of some kind to protect them from vacuum? None looked in the direction of the shuttle. He was not sure they were aware there were observers. The Keepers' head were bent towards the hull. Were they doing their own inspections?

"What do you suppose they're doing the same thing as we are?" he said over the intercom.

"Can you move the shuttle over to the translocating beam port?" asked Tessie. "There're more of them congregated over there."

"Right o," he said, cautiously moving the shuttle away, gaining more altitude above the hull to prevent dislodging any of the Keepers as he guided the shuttle over them. "What the hell." He stared in wonder as the port glided into sight.


Council Conference Room

"They're sealing the translocating beam port?" Tevos repeated as she stared at the holovid, wishing the image could be clearer.

As if he read her thoughts, Melik enhanced the picture that showed a definitive number of Keepers ranged at the location. He highlighted the tiny beams issuing from their forelimbs.

"This is the best image capture the MQA team 58 appraising the tower could get. They did not try to get too close as they did not want to dislodge any Keepers accidentally. The other a precaution as they have no idea how the creatures would react to their proximity. As far as we can determine, they are sealing the beam port."

"Rendering it inoperable?" suggested Tevos.

"Yes." Melik nodded. "There is more."

"More?" Sparatus said uneasily, eyes fixed on the image.

"Yes." Tapping the keys of the console before him, Melik put up more images of Keepers at different locations. "These were taken by others teams that are surveying the ward arms. If I'm correct, they are carrying out their own inspections of the hull and repairing it."

It should be good news but for long minutes, no one said anything. The unexpected development threw every hypothetical belief about the Keepers reeling. The air around the table was one of disquiet and perplexity.

"This imply the Incident is their work," Tevos said almost disbelievingly as various scenarios rippled through her mind. "In the centuries in our tenure of the Citadel, there has never been one recorded piece of evidence to suggest that Keepers are able to traverse outside the Citadel nor have they been seen to amass in such numbers anywhere."

"Perhaps they did carry out hull inspection and repairs from time to time but in smaller numbers that escaped notice?" suggested Melik.

"If they did so, it was part of their routine. Closing that port can't have been," Valern pointed out.

"It still may have been," Melik insisted. "To them, perhaps it's a vulnerable point that required reinforcing. It is, after all, an ingress."

Flewinne cleared her throat nervously. "We have to consider the probability they're working towards a target."

"Their own or someone else's?" Sparatus glanced at his colleagues' anxious faces. "Either way, what can we do about it?"

"Dare we try to secure them?" Flewinne asked uneasily.

"I would not go up that road." Executor Kralinx shook his head. "Even if we are able and have the space to detain the whole lot."

"No," Tevos agreed. "When we first found this place, we used everything we knew to communicate with the Keepers. They were totally unresponsive to any stimuli. At times, they would seem to go into a catatonic phase or shut down when touched."

"Shut down?" Flewinne was not sure she understood. "Are you saying they are machines?"

"I have not been clear, my apologies," Tevos said softly. "They died when we tried to use our abilities to speak to them. The risk of losing an entire irreplaceable workforce outweigh the benefits of intercommunication."

"Even if C-Sec successfully corral them and keep them confine alive for a short while, I cannot guarantee the safety of the Citadel," Melik said bluntly. "We don't know a tenth of their tasks, or even understand the full function of the space station. My people and I in reality are just support staff. We do what we can to keep services running."

"Then increase surveillance." Tevos put up a hand as Melik made to speak. "That is the only thing we can do. Place as many monitoring eyes at places where C-Sec do not patrol, places where they often go, Foundation, reactor cores, anywhere you can think of."

"I suggest we make further attempts at communication." Flewinne looked at Tevos. "The Asari tried when they first discovered the Citadel. Back then, the Keepers were under Reaper control but what about now? This is a long standing issue where it seems there is no resolution. Given current circumstances, we should try to find out if they are sentient and their intentions if they are."

Sighing, Sparatus leaned forward. "Whatever we decide, I believe the Keepers have a plan regards the Citadel. It doesn't matter if it's their own or something pre-programmed." He tapped the table with a finger as he looked every Councilor in the eye. "There is one course of action we do have to take. The populace must be evacuated."

"I think most will respond if we issue statements through the proper channels," said Kralinx. "For the last week, there has been a record number of departures. If the trend continues, we will see a forty percent drop in population."

"How long before the Keepers complete their survey of the entire hull?" asked Tevos.

"I estimate three weeks to a month." Melik shrugged at Tevos's surprise. "They are using devices more effective than our own."

"Then there is time," said Valern. "I suggest we each make arrangements with our own ..."

A soft buzz interrupted him. With half-raised eyelids, he waited as Tevos accepted the call. Council meetings were secluded. Only the advent of an emergency, an urgent or important matter was permitted to disrupt the conference. A single buzz signaled it was the latter.

"Yes?"

"Councilor, Ambassador...Raltania requests an audience with the Council," her secretary said.

Astonishment blanketed the room. Melik frowned. Who? He knew most of the ambassadors on the Citadel, old and new. He never heard of an ambassador Raltania.

"One moment," said Tevos before looking at Melik. "Supervisor Melik, I'm going to have to ask you to step out for a while. If you could please wait in the lounge."

"Of course, Councilor," he said, getting to his feet immediately and headed for the door at the other end of the room. He was not miffed he was not supposed to see whoever it was. Galactic problems were not his field of expertise and he'd preferred not to get involved.

Tevos waited until he exited the room before murmuring into the comm. The entrance of the conference room open. The Councilors stood at the entrance of an asari. They eyed her warily as she approached the table.

"Councilors." Raltania bowed her head in greeting as she halted before them. "The Queen wishes to confer."


Thessia

Liara let herself drift with the song. The voice was melodious, twinning smoothly with the music. It imbued the room with a soothing ambiance. She let her heart and thoughts joined in harmony as she centered herself. Seated opposite her, Aethyta watched her silently, knowing that her off-spring needed this short interval to prepare herself before marching out to battle. At the moment, Telienos was in one of the private consultation rooms, explaining Shepard's condition to her mother, Hannah Shepard. To lay the groundwork so to speak but all that preparation would be for nil if the older Shepard belonged to the group of unprogressive humans.

The doctor on the Glasgow was one. It was fortunate that Captain Dorrin was on the flip side and supported Liara. If he had not or if Admiral Hackett hadn't thrown his weight behind Liara, Aethyta had no doubt the younger asari would be on Earth, wading through a thick sludge of human cynicism and bigotry. Some of the human ideologies were sadly subpar compared to their much vaunted technological advancement and achievements. It would perhaps take them another century more to be anywhere adequately adjusted to cross-cultural concepts and disciplines.

Not all of them are that hopeless. At least, the ones that counted.

A soft hiss from the door. Aethyta turned to see Telienos framed in the doorway, the bright light from the outer room shining behind her. Crossing over to the couch where she was sitting, Telienos said nothing and waited patiently for Liara to rouse herself out of her meditation. No words was spoken when she did. She stood up and followed Telienos. Aethyta stayed where she was. She had no part in the dialogue. If she had to wait, she'd rather do it on a comfortable couch than imitate a decorative statuary along the corridor. Besides, she could use the time to mull over a few matters.

Liara followed Telienos to the consultation room. It was here that the first betrayal of anxiety and uncertainty showed on her face. Squeezing her shoulder encouragingly, Telienos turned away and returned to her office. Liara took a deep breath to brace herself. Squaring her shoulders, she touched the door panel. The door slide aside. The room was small, with a couch and two armchairs arranged around a coffee table. Her gaze went to the woman, dressed in the Alliance uniform, standing at the windows looking over the gardens a floor below. Her breath caught when she saw her profile.

She looks like Shepard...

But of course she would. Liara mentally scolded herself, trying to calm down a suddenly racing heart. The bottom seemed to drop out beneath her when the woman turned to face her. The face was like her bondmate's. It took a moment for her eyes to clear and pick out the differences. Older. The face was more oval. There was the same widow's peak but the hair was black with streaks of silver. Shoulder length like her bondmate's, neatly braided and pinned. The impassive eyes were brown, not blue. The face was thinner and the chin rounder. As she went nearer, she could pick out the faint creases at the eyes. Hannah Shepard was trim and fit. There was also the air of accustomed command around her that Liara usually associated with Admiral Hackett. It was in Shepard too though she did not radiate that aura so heavily.

Is this how my Shepard would look like when she grows older?

"Admiral Shepard," she said to break the lingering silence as each sized the other up. She wondered what the older woman made of her.

She is as tall as April.

"Dr T'Soni." Hannah nodded politely.

"Is there anything you would like me to clarify?" Liara tried to convey her receptiveness to discussion.

"Yes. What did you do to my daughter?"

Shoving aside the streak of coldness that struck her at the accusation, Liara said evenly, "I did nothing that caused her condition.."

"I expect her to forge a comfortable career for herself before settling down and have children of her own," Hannah interrupted. "I did not expect her to hook up with a..foreigner, to throw away her prospects and come to live among strangers."

"Everything that happened, Admiral Shepard, the bond that we forged, are the results of a perilous journey. The blood and pain that we suffered through together since she became a Spectre," Liara said harshly, angry with the hurtful statement. "You, who have faced diverse hazards with your compatriots, must surely know of the connection I spoke of. Why and how such a bond could develop. I did not force her to her choices."

"Can you honestly say that you did not try to influence her with all these-," a curl twisted Hannah's lips, "mind melding?"

"I have always wondered," Liara admitted. The words seared her lips but she had to say it. The fear and doubt often lingered at the back of her mind, something she made sure Shepard would never see. Hannah's eyes narrowed and her lips thinned.

"When she returned two years later after the Normandy was lost, I did not try to rekindle the relationship. I held back because I wanted her to choose. To decide. If we made a mistake, if she didn't think we belonged together, that was the best time to break it off but she chose to stay." She met the other woman's gaze steadily. "Even so, I can honestly say I cannot be certain I did not encourage her using my abilities but I know one fact. I love April. I will lay down my life for her if that is the only way for her to live."

Hannah considered that statement for a moment and smiled mirthlessly at the clear light of fire in Liara's eyes. "It's all very well to make such a declaration. What if there's another choice other than this proposed mind melding solution? What if, the only way for her to live is to let her go?" At the look of shock in Liara's face, she added, "You've never considered that possibility, have you?"

She turned away to look at the garden. "All this talk of getting lost within her mind from her attempts to convince a rogue V.I. on Ilos. What if it has nothing to do with herself? What if the actual cause of her problem is the mind melding? This...bonding she spoke of?"

The bite of sharp criticism and suspicion when she said bonding cut Liara. She knew it was not April who said it but coming from a woman who looked like her, it felt as if it was. Deep inside, a tiny voice began to speak. She shoved it away.

"Have you considered the probability that if she was away from here, she might yet recover without any interference?"

"No, she will not," Liara said harshly. The dialogue was not going exactly the way she envisioned. It was going to be more difficult than she thought.

"Please, you're not a doctor." Hannah put up a hand impatiently when Liara's eyes blazed. "My daughter is a human. Her recovery is paramount. I need to think of what's best for her. I ask you again, will you consider the possibilities I spoke of and let her go if that will save her?"

"If letting go does save her, I will do it but I can not because I know I will be committing murder!" Hannah's eyes widened at the enraged shout. Liara stepped back and inhaled slowly. Losing her temper was not going to help her cause. "What you are suggesting is impossible. To further clarify, I do have medical training."

"The diagnosis and treatment suggested by the Director is ludicrous," Hannah returned blandly though her eyes were cold.

"If the Admiral have a better understanding of April's condition," Liara said sharply, holding on to her temper, "I am willing to listen to any suggestions but since you have no grasp of any medical discipline nor any idea of what April has been through for the last eight years, nor the ones before that, you have no call to make regards her treatment."

Hannah did not quite blanched though her colour went paler. "I am still her mother. How dare you seat yourself in judgment."

"I have seen her memories," Liara gritted. "She had no place she could call home. How could she when she had to uproot and abandon friends she made every year or two when you received a new assignment or a promotion? When she was alone, when she was in pain when her father died, when she needed you, where were you? All you gave her was a voice in the dark. Nothing she could hang on to in her loneliness. Do you know how badly she wanted to run to you? To have you comfort her? To talk to you, see you and listen to loving assurance? Through the years, you offered no such opportunity."

Hannah's eyes did not quite glisten. Her control was held in a iron fist but she looked away from Liara's fury. Her lips compressed in a tight line. Liara took a few steps back, realising she had encroached on the other woman's private space in her zeal to hit out and her fear that Shepard would be removed from Thessia.

"That is why I am here."

Liara blinked at that muted statement, momentarily disoriented as she was expecting a castigating backlash. "I know," she said quietly.

Shaking her head, Hannah took a deep breath, her stiff shoulders relaxing slightly and said haltingly. Candor was difficult for her.

"She was not planned. I never did plan to have any children. Not when I wanted a career in the Alliance. I supposed you can call her an accident. I was torn over her and my career plans. So I handed responsibility to Andrei. When he died from that engineering accident, I was at a loss. I had no desire to abandon an advancing career to look after a child so I took the other option. It wasn't the right thing to do but I chose what was suitable for her and for me." She shook her head. "I had barely turned around when the little girl turned into a young woman, all ready to enlist in the Alliance. I was proud that she was following in my footsteps. I tried to encourage her..," she trailed off.

"But you knew it was not enough."

"It was always there. That little imp that whispered daily of my failure to discharge my responsibilities towards her as I should but I could never find the words." Tugging at her collar absently, Hannah leaned against the window in a posture that was hauntingly familiar to Liara. "Every chance that presented itself always slipped through my grasp. I knew the distance between us was growing into a chasm that we might never cross. I didn't even tried hard enough to find her when her ship went down and she went missing-," she faltered.

"But this time, you think you can make a difference."

Hannah flicked an unfathomable glance at her. "I do...I hope."

"Then-," Liara approached her slowly, "do you believe that we can help her?"

"I do not put much credence into this proposal of mind linking with her to draw her out of the coma," Hannah said stubbornly, the suspicion back in her eyes. It sounded too much like gibberish to her.

"Will you allow me to show you what mind melding is to us?" Liara offered her hand, palm up. Predictably, the human withdrew suspiciously. "If you truly wish to understand your daughter's condition, let me show you," she implored. "Please, for April's sake."

Half persuaded by the heartfelt plea and sincerity she could feel, Hannah hesitatingly placed her hand in Liara's. She tensed, ready to snatch it away the moment she felt something was wrong. Liara did not try to make contact immediately but let several seconds passed by for the human to calm down, if she could.

"Try to think of something other than April. Perhaps the breakfast you had this morning, concentrate on it," Liara said and closed her eyes. The human would jump to the wrong conclusion if she saw her eyes at the moment of melding. She waited a moment before saying softly, "Embrace eternity." She kept her eyes closed.

The first thing she hit was the human's natural resistance, raised automatically against intrusion. It was fierce and obdurate, the barrier of Hannah's distrust. Since her intention was to do a light meld, she did not force past the barrier and instead skimmed the surface, hoping to get some seeping images while noting the difference of the touch of Hannah's mind. A deep orange, green, red aura and a slight acidic bite.

You had a bread roll, a grapefruit and a cup of coffee.

What the...{amazement and confusion}...yes, I had those.

I am seeing what you are allowing me to see. Without your will and permission, I cannot pass within.

You can't? {disbelief and then a slight slackening of pressure before it went back up}

No. I will show you the true cause behind April's coma.

Without waiting for Hannah's assent, she picked out whatever was necessary to share with her. The conversation between Shepard and Shiala on Feros, all the events in which the Cipher came into play during the war, the expedition into the Archives on Ilos and the recent attempt to save the researchers. Feeling her strength draining, Liara held on until she was done before breaking the meld. Not expecting the sudden cut off, Hannah staggered back. Grimacing, Liara put a hand to a throbbing brow. She forgot how difficult it was to meld with a shuttered mind. Mimicking her, Hannah held her head, blinking rapidly at the images still passing before her eyes and fell back against the window.

"Are you all right?"

"No...yes...," Hannah stuttered, "give...give me a moment." What I just saw, was it real? Did it really happened that way? What if she's lying...but...

"Here, sit down." Liara took hold of her arm and guided her to the couch, sitting down herself gratefully. "The discomfort will pass. April was initially not used to it either."

Hands to her bowed head, Hannah said nothing. Liara fell silent, knowing the human was sorting out her thoughts. She needed the time too to recuperate. She closed her eyes. Several minutes passed before Hannah finally stirred. By then, the headache had abated. Her heart lifted when she saw Hannah's softer gaze on her though there was still a lingering trace of doubt and suspicion.

"It is still confounding to me," Hannah admitted. "But I understand why you insisted on bringing her to Thessia. If what you showed me is true, then there is no physician, human, that is, could possibly help her."

"Then you will support the treatment?" Liara asked eagerly but Hannah held up a hand.

"I'm willing to let the Director try. The solution is to have someone she trusts to link with her and encourage her to wake, right?" She continued when Liara nodded. "All because of her fear of indoctrination, that everything that had happened, the end of the war, your marriage to her, isn't real. You want to go in and convince her it's all true and draw her out."

"Yes." Liara wondered what point the older woman was coming to.

"Have you considered that it may have the opposite effect?"

"What do you mean?" Liara was not sure she understood. The human was beginning to show signs of support and yet objecting?

"If she subconsciously believed the Reapers are still around, that this reality isn't real, that they are attempting to brainwash her, wouldn't she think the first person they use in their persuasion be the one she trusts the most? Isn't that you?"

Liara stared at her, dumbfounded. The logic was impeccable. Putting a hand to her mouth in dawning horror, she tried to assemble her thoughts thrown into confusion by the discovery. Given her bondmate's fears, why did she automatically assume she would wholeheartedly trust the one closest to her? Why had she only thought of one outcome and not the other? For that matter, why didn't Telienos or Aethyta? Unless they deliberately left it out? But why? A hand reached out for hers. She found herself looking into sympathetic eyes.

"I believe you. You want to do what is best for my daughter. I felt your sincerity and your love for her in the memories you shared." A smile lifted Hannah's lips when Liara's colour darkened. "All is not lost. I think I may have the answer."

"You are not going to send her to Earth, are you?' Liara asked haltingly and her hopes raised when Hannah shook her head. Her hands gripped the other woman's tightly. "Then let us go to Telienos and see if we can come up with a solution." With further ado, she drew Hannah after her and they left the room.