Well, this trip to the Citadel has been eventful, but for once, in a good way.

I left the Normandy through Docking Bay D24, and I was met by a familiar woman wearing a familiar looking outfit. That white and black form fitting outfit with the high heeled boots, and her hair that went down to the middle of her back (which I've always been a bit envious about, to be honest. I mean, the regs on women's hair state that hair has to be either short enough to fit in a helmet with no trouble, or styled in a bun for the same reason. Hair also has to be styled in a way that doesn't get in your eyes in combat. Which is why I've always kept it cut above the neck line; too much work to style it to regulation when it's long.); Miranda Lawson. But what interested me most was when Miranda turned to me; her clothes lacked the Cerberus logo. In fact, she's actively being hunted by Cerberus.

We talked for a bit, catching up on what we've been doing; I explained how I'd been reinstated and put in charge of the war effort, and she told me how her sister Orianna disappeared, and how she thought her father was involved.

After parting ways, I headed up to Huerta Memorial to see Kaidan, whom I'd received a message from on my way back to the Citadel. But when I got there, I saw another familiar person; Thane Krios. He was exercising, and we caught up as well. He and his son are on good terms at this point, but he was now in the final stage of Kepral's Syndrome. However, he flat out said that he can't rejoin me; he doesn't have the stamina or speed to be of any use to me. Which actually makes me wonder how fast and strong he was at his peak, before Kepral's Syndrome started killing him. That said, he did say that he'd watch over Kaidan while he was recovering.

As for Kaidan…hoo boy. That was emotionally draining. We had to hash out a LOT of issues what happened on Horizon, Earth and Mars. We talked about what was bothering Kaidan; mostly it was him being lied to and left out of the loop. I explained to him that I wasn't the one leaving him out of the loop; Udina, Hackett and even Anderson all refused to give me his contact information due to the apparent ties to Cerberus. I even explained that I was allowed visitors from day after my Court-Martial to the day Earth was attacked, something that Kaidan was never told about until he saw me just before meeting the ADC.

After that though, Kaidan wasn't angry anymore. Angry at me, at any rate. He was a little pissed at Alliance leadership for keeping us away from each other. He wondered how different Horizon could have been I been allowed to contact him after I woke up.

However, what really got him was when I explained how his words hurt me. I mean, I get it. He, along with everyone else that served with me, mourned me and moved on the best they could, some better than others. But for me, hours had passed between my last memory of being spaced and when I woke up on that Cerberus station. And when I found out that two years had passed, I understood that everyone had to move on. But, as I explained to Kaidan, he was the only one to reject me. Joker, Doctor Chakwas, Garrus, Tali…all of them saw that I was still me. So did Anderson and Hackett, even though they had to officially reject me due to the apparent Cerberus ties. And even after he rejected me, Tali joined me, and both Liara and Wrex greeted me warmly. Kaidan was the only one that I considered a friend from before that rejected me.

And God bless him, he owned it. He accepted responsibility for hurting me. He apologized for shutting down someone who he now knew was reaching out for a friend while she was being accused of all kinds of things that just weren't true. And after wiping my tears from my cheeks, (yes, I was crying as I poured my heart out to Kaidan. Not something would expect Commander Shepard to do, but I'm a person. A person who's under a LOT of stress right now.), I said that part of me should thank him, since his rejection forced me to take solace in Garrus, which let us get as close as we are now. Which actually surprised him, to be honest. But I'd wager that both he and Liara were wrapped in their own feelings toward me during the hunt for Saren that neither caught on to how Garrus and I were connecting. That said, he did wish us the best before I headed out.

From there, I went down to that Purgatory bar and talked to Aria, who had also contacted me about the war. Unlike the Council, she whole heartedly supports my efforts, and was committing all her resources for the war effort, save for the ones she's using to retake Omega, which is still in the planning phase. In fact, she had deals with the Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse gangs, but she needed me to clinch it. I was initially hesitant about helping gangs, but Aria was right about one thing; it doesn't matter where they're sitting, if I don't win, they lose.

After talking to Aria, I saw Vega standing by the bar, and he reminded me of a few things; that despite seeing myself as just a soldier, I was larger than life to most people. I mean, I was that way with him before he became my guard, after all. So he suggested I buy a drink for a bunch of Servicemen, to remind them that we're all in this together. And they brought up a Rabbie Burns quote; "Who's like us? Damn few, and they're all dead.", which is a common Scottish toast. The fact that I knew it reminded people that I'm a person like them.

Anyway, after buying that round, I headed up to the Embassy to talk to Bailey, who was holding Jona Sederis, the Eclipse founder and leader, in jail. He told that he was trying to block the order to have her released, since she was crazy and violent, calling for the deaths of all Eclipse's enemies. I said that I needed to talk to her, and he offered no resistance to that; I'm sure Bailey figured that I'd find a reason to stop the release. Which was my plan anyway; if she was as loud as Bailey claimed, she'd make a mistake and give me an out when I spoke to her.

After I was finished with Bailey, I was stopped by Jondum Bau, a salarian Spectre. He told me about a potentially indoctrinated hanar threatening Kahje's efforts against the Reapers. He said that Kasumi Goto sent him the tip, and mentioned his respect for her. So I went into the Spectre office to check flag hanar communications, and I was immediately met by Kasumi herself. She once again proved herself the best thief in the galaxy by bypassing a biometric scanner to get in there. She told me that she figured that leaking Keiji's data from the greybox was fine now, with the galaxy at war and an indoctrinated "jelly" threatening the peace.

So, with Kasumi and Bau's help, I checked the suspects from the Alliance raid that started this, and we determined it was a hanar named Zymandis, or "Regards the Works of the Enkindlers in Despair" as his soul name stated, in an office not far from where we started. Unfortunately, that big, stupid jellyfish had uploaded a virus to take down Kahje's defenses, an upload that Kasumi stopped while Bau and I took down Zymandis and his guard. Unfortunately, Zymandis had trapped his console, which exploded and blew Kasumi back. She cloaked in that moment, but I still know the frequency she uses to cloak, so I knew she was still there. Bau, however, remarked that he intended to arrest her, and I covered for her by saying that she just gave her life for the hanar homeworld. Bau relented, and said he'd have a Spectre unit ready for war when I called for them. I told him to report to Hackett for orders, and we parted ways.

And just as he was out of earshot, I called Kasumi out. She asked how I knew, and I reminded her of the frequency she used. She joked that she was going to have to change that, and then said, in no uncertain terms, that she was NOT going to rejoin me on the Normandy. I can't blame her, because she's not a fighter, but brought up the Crucible. She knew about it, and said that she's not a scientist. I reminded her that I know she's the best thief in the galaxy, and that she could get us resources no one else could. I also reminded her of the opportunity to indulge her kleptomania once the project was over. At that point, she relented, saying it was nice working with me again. I told her that Liara's people would give her targets, so she didn't have to reveal herself to the military, and we parted ways from there.

Oh, and I also headed back to the Spectre office and approved the pardon of Engineers Daniels and Donnelly. I want them back on the Normandy, because they know the new drive core better than anyone else.

After that, I headed down to the Presidium, where I got some mods for our guns from the vendors there, and I talked to both Sederis and the contact dealing with the Blood Pack, a batarian named Narl. Once there, Narl explained how we were getting the Blood Pack's loyalty; take out the current leader, and give the gang to the next in line. Unfortunately for me, it was under the guise that I was being turned over to the current leader, Kreete. And I couldn't be visibly armed, so he had me take my Paladin off my hip (which I'm carrying on the Citadel from now on. Don't want to be unarmed when there's a war going on, and as a Spectre, I'm allowed to carry a firearm at all times) and hold it behind my back.

The scene played out perfectly; Kreete taunted me, said that he'd use my head as a hood ornament on his personal shuttle, and Narl and I took down him. I was about to gun down the third vorcha when Narl stopped me, saying that he was the one Aria's deal was with. I told Gryll, in no uncertain terms, that if he betrays me, he dies. He replied that, while he may be ambitious, he's not stupid. We parted ways, and I headed down to the C-Sec outpost, where I talked to Sederis. And, like Bailey said, she was psychotic and violent. And like I thought, she gave me a way out; she mentioned her second in command, a salarian named Sayn. Sayn was down on the refugee docks, where Donner Vosque was waiting for me.

Oh, but before I headed down to the docks, I stopped at Apollo's, where I saw Liara trying to take a break on the Presidium. Trying, but failing, given how many calls she was getting. She remarked on how little evidence there was of the Reaper attack 3 years ago, and mentioned Barla Von had something for me; info about where some of Liara's agents were. All I need is to retrieve them, and Barla Von would get a bonus, and I'd get some loyal info gatherers and soldiers.

As for the docks…the docks were heartbreaking. Udina ordered the them opened to house the refugees from the war torn sectors of the galaxy. Saw a LOT of humans, salarians and batarians. It actually surprised me how well the humans and batarians were getting along, to be honest. I saw one with his hand on a crying woman's shoulder at the memorial wall, and another sitting with a human, discussing their experience with the Reaper invasion. It gave me hope that old hatreds don't matter anymore. We're all in this together. We've all going to stand together.

Anyway, I headed down to see both Sayn and Vosque at the end of the docks, when I saw Kelly Chambers standing there in civvies. She greeted me with a hug, saying that she was so glad to see me. She told me that she left Cerberus after she left the ship, and that she was using her psychology degree to help those here. I asked if Cerberus had given her any trouble, and she shrugged it off, said that she was unimportant. I reminded her that the Illusive Man was vindictive, so she NEEDED to change her identity. She took my words to heart, and said she would. She also mentioned that she kept my fish while I was in lockup, and she would send them back to my ship (which I'm thankful that I bought a VI to take care of that tank. I was TERRIBLE at keeping them alive before Kelly said she'd take care of them.)

From there, I headed down to Vosque, who acted like a pompous ass, saying that "Aria's got the great Commander Shepard under her thumb". He also said he was unimpressed, and told me the details of the deal; kill General Oraka, a turian that I helped three years ago who had, at the time, retired. He was reinstated with the war going on, and he was preventing the Blue Suns from attacking cargo ships.

Honestly, I had NO patience for this guy, and I drew on him. I told him, "Look, Vosque, I'm a Spectre. I can legally kill you with no repercussions. On top of that, the Shadow Broker owes me a favor, so it won't take much effort to get next person down the line and make the deal with them. You WILL stop the raids, you WILL help me against the Reapers, or you'll die. And I'll get the Blue Suns anyway."

Vosque saw how serious I was; I was not putting up with his bullshit. Especially not with the Sederis situation unfinished. He backed down, and agreed to put the Blue Suns at Aria's disposal with no further issue. On his way out, he started muttering something about getting payback, so I shot him in the leg. Nowhere vital, and I knew that medi-gel could clear it right up, but it did force him to limp away and think about how bad an idea it was to cross me.

Unfortunately, Sayn saw the entire scene, so he told his men to get ready for trouble. I calmed the situation, and said I was here about Sederis. And, as Sederis said, he was a weak toady, and said that the cost of Eclipse help was Sederis' release. I asked him why; he could lead Eclipse himself, and Sederis could rot. Make the deal with Aria himself. And he agreed; I painted him a very pretty picture of what he could do with Sederis out of the picture.

And as Sayn left, I saw Garrus, trying to get all the concerns of the turian refugees together and to the right people. And I'll be honest, I almost broke down in front of Garrus. I'm just that tired of it all; death would be a release compared to what I'm facing. But, I was out in public, so I had to be Commander Shepard instead of Ana, a symbol of hope. So I just told Garrus the bare minimum of the stress I was feeling at that moment before heading back to the Normandy.

I think we're ready to talk chair that summit. I know Wrex won't do anything to jeopardize my mission or my ship, but I don't know if I can keep the Dalatrass or Primarch from pushing him too hard. We'll see in a few hours.

Author's Note: The pace of the chapters for all my stories is about to slow down heavily, because I'm now writing a piece of purely original fiction to be published. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of planning, and I won't have as much energy to devote to fan fiction. So be patient, because I will still be writing this, Ragdat's Darkest Days and Rise of Mamine while getting my book together. Just not as quickly as I had been.