Chapter 69: Completion

A broken heart can be mended
A shattered heart must be remade
Yet love can revive the scattered pieces
If those loved are willing to find them

If Terra had nightmares that night, they were chased away so quickly that she didn't remember them. She woke up with a sense of contentment that had escaped her for 16 years, not even needing to open her eyes to take her mate's hand.

Garrus woke with her, smiling as he clutched her hand in return. "I could get used to this."

She smiled back as she pressed herself against him and laid her head on his shoulder. "Me, too."

He reached his other arm to wrap around her, taking the chance to enjoy every second of the embrace while they were free to.

"Commander," EDI inevitably cut in, "you have urgent messages in the CIC."

Terra groaned. "I wish the AI came with a snooze button."

Garrus laughed. "Go on. The sooner we get this war finished, the sooner we can do this all the time."

She smiled again. "That's a plan I can get behind."

Terra headed down to the CIC as soon as she could. Most of the messages were more requests for aid on the Citadel that she could quickly take care of before they left, so she logged them all on her omni-tool. She spent the next five minutes speaking with Hackett and Anderson. Anderson was able to identify the ninja from the attempted coup as Kai Leng, and Hackett was able to confirm that the Crucible construction was nearly halfway complete already. Hackett also told them that the turian fleet was being stretched thin and they needed more support ships, making the understandable call to send Terra to talk to the quarians about pitching in. After Terra accepted, he disconnected.

"I should get back to it," Anderson said, "The Reaper presence is London is too sizable to ignore. Anderson out—"

"Wait!" Terra realized, "There's…actually something I wanted to tell you about."

Anderson cocked his head curiously. "Yes?"

She smiled softly, fingering her new ring.

To say he took the news well would probably be an understatement. It was likely the one piece of good news he would hear all week, so he seemed to be taking as much enjoyment from it as possible. It was certainly a boost to Terra's morale to hear him so happy for her. Like their relationship really was closer to father and daughter than captain and protégé.

Maybe during the ceremony, he could be the one to give her away…

No. There would be time to think about that after the galaxy wasn't in danger anymore. First things first, ensuring the fleets they already had were secure. So she went back to the Citadel to quickly take care of the lingering issues and appreciate the pleasant surprise of running into Zaeed Massani there. As soon as she was certain the turians would be able to handle themselves, she took her place in the CIC long enough to have Joker plot a course for Haestrom to meet the quarians' envoys.

Before they even made it to the relay, she was back on deck 3, heading around to the AI core to check on her sister. She couldn't help an impressed smile when she opened the door to see the lighting a subtle, calming blue rather than the imposing red Legion had occupied; the cubby in the back now carefully arranged with a mattress and blankets that had clearly been comfortably slept in; and a small space in the corner set aside for Violet's instruments, which she was now carefully tending to. Terra walked over to sit down next to Violet. "I like what you've done with the place."

Violet smirked. "I would try really making it mine, but I feel like EDI's a roommate I don't want to impose upon."

Terra laughed.

"If you do not tamper with my hardware," EDI offered, "I am willing to fully share the space with you."

"I don't know," Violet shook her head, "it still kind of feels like I'd be painting your brain or something."

Terra smirked. "I'm starting to think we're lucky EDI's got a sense of humor."

Suddenly, the ship shuddered, startling Violet so much that she nearly dropped her violin trying to steady herself against the wall.

"It's OK!" Terra assured her, "It's OK, we're just hitting a relay."

Violet nodded. "Right. I guess I should be used to that by now. Just…the last few times I went through one before coming here, I…"

Terra knew what she meant. Neither of them had ever left Mindoir before the raid. Violet's first jump being tied down in a cage just after an implant was forced into her skull was probably a lot more traumatic than Terra's first jump, and the subsequent jump being some 15 years later as an Alliance crew freed that traumatized slave… "Are you sure you don't want us to take you back to the Citadel? I'm sure Garrus knows some places there you'd still be safe."

"I'm fine. I shouldn't let it scare me away from staying with you. Besides, I was on the Academy for about two months before you found me, long enough for them to teach me a few ways to deal."

"OK, but still. If you just need someone to talk to or anything you—"

"Terra," Violet finally said, "I appreciate all this, but you don't need to babysit me."

Terra sighed, leaning back. "Right. I just…I'm your big sister and…after what happened to you, I…"

Violet gave her a look to let her know she understood. "I just need to put it behind me."

Terra could relate to that. She had spent many long nights putting the horrors of the raid behind her. She was right now trying to forge ahead despite the images lingering in her mind of Earth's fall, of Palaven in flames, of the Protheans' fate that she was hoping not to recreate. But even Violet couldn't do this alone.

Suddenly, Terra couldn't wait for Solana to make it back from the remains of Cipritine to meet her new adopted sister.

"Commander," EDI spoke up, "the quarians are ready to come aboard."

"Go on," Violet said, "I'm not the only one who needs you."

Terra nodded but stopped before turning to go. "Actually…" She reached into her pocket. "…I forgot to give you this earlier." She pulled out a set of strings. "I didn't know if the strings on your violin were still in good condition after sitting in a box for 16 years. Since Dad's not around to fix it anymore, I figured you'd like to have some backups on hand."

Violet smiled softly as she took them. "Thanks. It does help."

"Good. Just let EDI know if you need me. Or Garrus. Or…anything." Giving her sister a quick hug, she left the room.

Back by herself, Violet turned to carefully pick up her violin and check the strings. But then she came up with a better idea. Her strings were, in fact, wearing out since she had started playing again, so she took the time to replace the strings before they could break. When she was done, she set to work on something else, taking the crystal Bakara had given her from her pocket. It took a long time, but her fingers were fit for fiddling in more ways than one, so she managed to achieve her goal. By the time the Normandy was moving again, she had the crystal secured onto the old string that was now tied into a necklace. She smiled as she put it on. Now she, like her sister, had something to hold onto to remind her of her inner strength. She had nothing to fear anymore.

Terra would make sure of it if she couldn't.

While her sister was busy with this special project, Terra was in the war room, welcoming the quarian Admiralty Board.

"Commander Shepard," Raan nodded, "It's good to see you again. Though I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Agreed," Terra sighed, "The rest of the galaxy could use the assistance of the Migrant Fleet. I'll do anything I can to help if you're willing to spare your ships."

"That might be a problem," Koris shook his head.

Gerrel stepped up to the holo-table to show where the Migrant Fleet currently was. "A few days ago, with precision strikes in several geth systems, we initiated the struggle to take back Rannoch."

Terra had never felt so sympathetic and so exasperated simultaneously. "You did what?! I can understand wanting your world back, but you have the worst timing!"

"With the Reapers drawing closer," Raan sighed, "we thought we were running out of time."

In other words, they'd panicked. The debate had been bad enough aboard the Migrant Fleet before the Reapers arrived. Terra had seen what that kind of pressure could do to people. She had been hoping the quarians would handle it better, not worse. "Alright. We'll just have to find a way to end this quickly."

"Unfortunately," Gerrel said, "the geth have the Fleet pinned down in the home system. If we're going to win—"

"'Win'?!" Koris immediately demanded, "You insisted on involving the Civilian Fleet, Admiral Gerrel! We have to retreat now or we'll lose the live-ships!"

"What's stopping you?" Terra asked.

"Here," Gerrel explained, zooming in the projection on one ship in particular, "a geth dreadnought. It's broadcasting a signal our sensors tell us is Reaper signature to all the other geth ships."

Now Terra knew she needed to take action. That signal was a danger to both of the involved parties. "The Normandy can approach undetected and send a boarding party to disable the signal. The second it's offline and the geth forces are disorganized, you disengage and fall back to the relay." She was relieved when the plan was accepted. She would have to make this up to them when the war was over and hope the geth would agree to a more peaceful solution.

"Our newest admiral has also volunteered to offer technical expertise," Raan said.

Right on cue, the door opened and the fifth admiral stepped in. "Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, reporting for duty."

Terra couldn't help but smile ecstatically. She was amazed she managed to withhold the urge to race over and hug the quarian engineer. "Good to see you, Tali." After a brief exchange with the other admirals, promising to set a course for the dreadnought immediately, Terra followed Tali into the conference room. As soon as the door closed behind them, Terra gave in to her earlier urge and hugged her. "It's so good to see you again, Tali."

Tali smiled behind her helmet as she hugged her back. "Right back at you, Terra."

Terra smiled brighter to hear Tali still calling her by her first name. Then she remembered something else and leaned back to give Tali an astonished look. "'Admiral'?"

Tali sighed, waving her off. "It's mostly a formality. I'm an expert on the geth."

Terra smirked. "That you are."

Tali turned to the window. "I heard about Earth and Palaven. I'm sorry."

"…yeah."

"We can help. We have the largest fleet in the galaxy, we'll hit the Reapers with whatever we've got."

Terra looked at Tali curiously. "I thought you'd support the war."

"No. After talking to Legion, I thought maybe you were right and there was a chance for peace. But I was voted down. Koris was the only one who sided with me."

Terra quickly took Tali's side. "We'll fix this."

Tali nodded. "I knew you would try. I just—" She stopped when the door to the war room opened to let an Alliance officer through. She couldn't hide it very well that she was concerned the other admirals would overhear the conversation.

So Terra took action. "Come on." She took Tali by the arm and started leading her off. Tali seemed ready to question her but went along with it, following her through the CIC (where she paused for five seconds to tell Joker where they were going and get the ship moving) and up the elevator to deck 1. Once they were safely behind the closed door of the captain's cabin, Terra turned to Tali. "Are you OK?"

Now that they were alone, Tali couldn't hide her feelings, hanging her head. "No. No, I'm really not. 17,000,000 lives are riding on me! If they die because of me…"

"Tali, don't do that to yourself," Terra quickly stepped in, "It's bad enough I'm going through that."

Tali looked at her concernedly. "You are?"

"Of course I am! They sent me to talk to the Council because I'm a Spectre, sure. It made even more sense to put me in charge of negotiations with the turians since I practically was one for so long. But now everyone's looking to me, like I'm in charge of this whole thing, or at least the diplomatic parts. Honestly, if my best friend wasn't a quarian, I'd be freaking out about all this, too."

Whatever Tali was about to say, she completely forgot it when that last sentence hung in the air. "…'best friend'?"

Terra smirked. "Yeah. What did you think we were?"

"I…I just didn't think anyone but Garrus would ever get that title."

Terra scoffed, shaking her head. "Trust me, he's occupying a very different one now."

Tali gave what Terra assumed was a knowing smirk. "Oh, is he now?"

Terra was fully prepared to tell Tali at that very second what role Garrus was occupying, but then she remembered they were going to tell the whole squad once they'd set their next course. Which they had now. So she smiled to herself and briefly pinged Garrus' COMM to let him know it was time before turning back to Tali. "Come on. There's something you need to hear."

Tali stayed quiet as she followed Terra down to deck 3, even as Terra was telling EDI to gather the squad in the mess. She didn't stay quite so quiet when Garrus, Ashley, and Liara immediately came out to welcome her back or when Joker hobbled down with EDI (who was quick to assure them all she was piloting while their actual pilot came to see his favorite engineer) or when she had to be introduced to Javik, James, and Violet.

Tali showed her shock at seeing Javik. "So you're a real, living Prothean?"

"As opposed to a fake, dead one?" Javik retorted.

Everyone present exchanged looks as if to say "I have no idea how to respond to that."

So Tali finally said "Uh…OK." and turned to the person that, somehow more than the actual Prothean, she was most astonished to see. "And…you're…Terra's sister?"

Violet timidly tucked her hair behind her ear, her response reduced to a subtle nod.

"…wow."

Terra smiled, carefully nudging Violet. "This is Tali. She's my best friend." She said it plainly, not bothering to take notice of anyone's reaction, as if she expected they all knew it as certainly as she did.

Hearing that, Violet brought herself to regain some of her confidence and face Tali properly. "Are you staying?"

Tali hesitated. "I…don't know yet. When this is over, my people will have a home again. My place is with them."

Terra was ready to argue that Tali's own name disagreed with that statement, but that was a matter to be settled when her people's home was actually secure. Right now, she had something else to say. So she took Garrus' side, sending a series of COMM signals with her omni-tool.

Garrus noticed what she was doing. "Trying to save time, I see."

"Trying. We still don't know where Jacob and Samara are, Miranda's off the grid while she's tracking her father and sister, and for obvious reasons, I don't have Legion's number." She then checked her COMM. "Still got everyone else on the line, though." She took a second to listen. "No, Grunt, I can hear you. Grunt…Grunt, turn down your meds! Garrus and I need to say something!"

The fact that she was genuinely connecting everyone from the crew, past and present, to the conversation had Ashley's interest piqued. "What's going on?"

Terra simply smiled, taking Garrus' hand and making the announcement with a hint of hesitation: "We're getting married."

There was about three seconds of stunned silence before the inevitable cheerful celebration. Remarkably, though, the first one to react was Violet, outright jumping to hug Garrus and Terra at the same time.

Terra beamed as she returned the gesture. Apparently, what her sister had needed most to feel like her old self again was some good news.

When Violet bounced back, she immediately reached for Terra's hand—"Let me see!" She had missed it before, but now that she knew it was there, she took in the sight of the silver and sapphire ring in jubilant wonder. After all the crazy things that had taken over their lives, it was nice to enjoy such a simple (if a bit unconventionally achieved) joy for her sister.

Likewise, Terra couldn't help but reflect it. She had worried her family would never get to see this day.

Naturally, Tali was the next to come up and deliver enthusiastic congratulations. She had clearly needed such good news. "Terra, this is wonderful!"

Although, while Ashley and James were giving playful though congratulatory nudges to Garrus, Javik was standing there, scoffing and shaking his head. "Mating between species. A pointless exercise."

To which Liara for once decided to take action rather than waving off his cynical, imperialist perspective by delivering a less-than-playful shove that, had she used her biotics, could've thrown him off balance or seriously hurt him.

Seeing it was probably best not to push anyone present at a time like this, he elected to withhold further comments.

Leaving Liara to delightedly hug Terra and offer her most heartfelt well wishes.

Joker smirked as he hobbled over to the happy couple. "Wish I could say I was surprised."

EDI merely gave a supportive smile before suddenly coming to attention. "We are preparing to engage the Tikkun relay. I advise we mobilize."

Terra quickly prepared to take command again as EDI helped Joker back towards the bridge. "Guess we better gear up."

Garrus nodded, following her off to the armory while Tali went to retrieve her pistol and shotgun. "Was everyone else that excited for us?"

"Mostly." She turned to her COMM. "Jack, Zaeed, shut up." She then proceeded to give a more friendly "see you later" to everyone on the line while Garrus struggled not to laugh.

The entire system seemed to be filled with hailstorms of fire from starships. No one could be faulted for believing so since the entirety of the Migrant Fleet was engaged in an assault against more geth ships than had ever been seen in one place, even at the Citadel during Sovereign's assault. And at the center of it all was the geth dreadnought, massive and menacing. That was where the Normandy immediately flew, stealth system engaged as Joker expertly dodged every incoming shot to approach the docks.

Naturally, they hit a problem as soon as they reached the airlock, before the mission had even officially started.

"Commander," EDI explained over the COMM as they all finished sealing their helmets, "all the docking tubes are physically secured except one."

"I see the open one," Joker added, "Pretty beat up, though. I don't think all three of you can make it across."

Terra sighed, not even sure herself if it was from weariness or dread. "I can scout ahead, clear the way for Garrus and Tali to come up behind me."

"Terra—" Garrus immediately prepared to object.

She silenced him with a look. Even through their helmets, the determination and desperation in equal measure behind those sapphire eyes was enough to do that to him. "I've got this."

He nodded. But he also linked their COMMs before she moved out.

"Beat up" was one of the weakest descriptions she'd ever heard. The tube was so broken that she was amazed it still counted as a tube. As always, though, she consoled herself however she could, focusing not on the cold, lonely silence and how her mag-boots were the only things keeping her from again drifting into the fading light but instead on the watchful gleams of her beloved stars and the terrible yet awe-inspiring sight of the space battle raging outside. Though neither of them said anything, she could hear Garrus over her COMM, ready to offer support at a moment's notice when she needed it, just as he always had. Though Tali and the others were still connected over the squad channel, so she was able to smile and give her best friend an assurance that she would love the view of Rannoch from between the fractured metal plates.

"Better than a vid?" Tali smirked.

"Much," Terra sighed, hoping she would indeed get to give her friend back the home-world she'd never seen where no one would be able to return Mindoir to her. Hoping it would be accompanied by the days when Palaven and Earth would again be free.

"You almost there?" Garrus finally asked, his patience apparently having run out 400% faster than normal.

Terra shook her head. "Just another few meters."

"Yeah, take your time," Joker shrugged, "We're fine over here until they look out a window."

"Geth don't use windows. Structural weakness, remember?"

"Right, like the geth are just sitting there going 'those silly organics would never try the no-windows thing twice."

Terra withheld the urge to bust out laughing, glad Joker was always on-hand for such bursts of optimism, and focused on her last few steps.

And then on a jump to safety when the docking tube suddenly came unlatched.

"Terra?!" Garrus quickly spoke up, "What just happened?"

"Oh, I'm fine…you guys just can't use the tube."

"What?!"

"Just hold tight. I'm headed in, I'll open one of the other passages."

She was able to do so, carefully navigating the docking bay of the dreadnought as the Normandy repositioned to the nearest docking tube. She was finally able to locate an airlock and the controls by which to open it, letting Garrus and Tali follow her aboard.

Garrus breathed easier to see his human safe and sound, immediately reverting to the cocky charm he knew she found irresistible. "See any action?"

She smirked back. "Not yet. I'm sure you can help me find some."

Tali rolled her eyes behind her helmet before opening the door into the ship itself.

They hit resistance around the very first corner they turned. Luckily, the three of them knew exactly how to handle geth, Garrus taking down shields so Tali could sabotage them and Terra could finish them off. As was to be expected, it got worse the deeper in they went, cloaked Hunters and heavy weapons attempting to halt their progress at every turn. Still, they were able to make it to the control center so Tali could hack into the systems and expose a path to the Reaper signal in the drive core.

"Ah, the vents," Tali groaned as they headed down a ventilation shaft to the main battery, "Always the vents!"

"You did fine with them on the Collector base," Terra remarked.

"I got set on fire!"

Terra smirked. "Either way, I'm glad you came along, Tali."

Tali smirked back. "I am, too. If only because I'm better at hacking synthetics than ordering ships around."

"Tell me about it," Garrus shook his head, "Against an enemy dreadnought, your combat drone would just…float there, making that…noise."

Tali sighed. "I missed you, too, Garrus."

Terra smiled despite herself. This was the dynamic she loved, the three of them playing off each other as if they'd been an inseparable trio their whole lives. Her best friend and her mate, themselves close friends and unstoppable when they faced their opponents together…she wouldn't have it any other way.

They had to slow down when they came into the main battery. The thing was the length of the whole ship, every fire it gave sending an energy pulse down the shaft that would fry their shields if they didn't hunker down.

"That's a really big gun!" Garrus commented when they first took cover.

Tali scoffed. "What's that human expression? 'Thank you, Captain Obvious'?"

"Hey!" Terra smirked, "She's better at picking up human expressions than you are!"

Garrus groaned. "Now I'm being ganged up on."

"Seriously, I'd bet you'd have a field day calibrating this thing."

"Let's just find a maintenance lock and keep it from firing!"

They did just that, crossing half the pipe in one brief dash. It was a bit closer than they had hoped for, but they were able to take it from there easily enough once they found good cover and got in a rhythm, sniping down every geth that crossed their path until they could reach a ramp back to an upper floor and cut straight through to an elevator shaft.

That was immediately shot down by geth troopers. Tali and Garrus were able to jump off just in time to catch Terra before it could fall (to which Tali promptly snarked "Good, hopefully we're done with elevators…") and then make their way through the final passage to the drive core and disable the shields on the broadcast unit.

It was safe to say none of them were expecting what they found inside.

"Shepard-Commander, help us."

Terra would've recognized the unit anywhere. Hearing its title for her only confirmed it. "Legion!"

"Good to see you again," Garrus concurred, "Don't worry, we'll have you out of there in no time."

Tali eyed the geth with suspicion, considering where and how they had found it, but… She sighed. "I'll admit…I'm glad to see you."

Terra immediately started looking for a console to disable the locks on Legion's hardware. "I don't understand," she said as they started to the upper floor of the room, "Why are the geth working with the Reapers again?"

"The Creators attacked," Legion explained, "The geth wished to live. The Old Machines extended an offer."

"So, what, we rewrote the heretics for nothing?!"

"No. The heretics offered valuable input. The decision to ally with the Old Machines was harder. Had the Creators not attacked, it would have been unnecessary."

Tali couldn't hide how disturbed she was to hear this. "Keelah, I begged them to negotiate rather than attack! I did!"

Terra sighed. "I know you did, Tali. Let's just make it right."

It wasn't difficult to find and disable the hardware locks, freeing Legion and disabling the Reaper command signal. Legion even added to this by hacking the systems and disabling the drive core so the weapons and shields would go offline. Unfortunately, geth reinforcements then flooded the chamber, including two Primes, and Legion had to take cover since it had no weapons with which to assist them. They quickly got on the defensive and slowly began to take the offensive away from their opponents.

Which was going great until the quarians made their move.

"Gerrel, what are you doing?!" Raan demanded.

"Check your screens, Raan," Gerrel answered, "The dreadnought's completely helpless. We can remove their flagship if we strike now!"

"No! This is our only chance to withdraw!"

To her credit, Tali was quick to speak up. "What are you talking about?! We're still on board!" Also to her credit, they were able to quickly remove all their opposition with her help and race down to meet up with Legion.

Right as the quarians opened fire and set the whole ship buckling, hull breaches bursting open along every outer wall.

"We need to get to the escape pods!" Terra exclaimed.

"Geth transfer intelligence via remote access," Legion corrected, "We do not use escape pods."

"I need good news, Legion!"

"We can pilot a fighter to safety."

"Works for me!" So Terra followed Legion through the halls toward the fighter bay. Every turn they took along the path was met with an explosion further down the corridors. No matter how many times she and Tali called for the Fleet to hold fire, the assault continued at full force. It only got worse when they actually got to the fighter bay, starting with the walkway they were on collapsing and ending with a loss of artificial gravity that would've set them scrambling for a hold on the fighter if Legion wasn't there with built in magnetic grip to help them in. Then it was just a matter of not getting shot before the Normandy could retrieve them.

And then telling off Gerrel for making a retreat necessary.

"Shepard," Gerrel was quick to defend himself, "the mission parameters changed. You're military, you understand."

Terra was fully ready to scream at him that the plan was still intact, that they'd had every opportunity to get their people out of there safely while they still could, that it was his fault this entire mission had even been necessary—! When she realized she was clenching her fist to punch the admiral in the gut, she decided to vent this elsewhere. "Can you give me a minute?" She then stepped into the COMM room, sealed it, and started screaming into the partially-soundproof walls.

Tali gave a curious glance to the door before turning it to Garrus. "Is she speaking turian?"

Garrus sighed. "Yeah."

"Well, what is she saying?"

"Let's just say I didn't teach her that."

Terra finally regained her composure and stepped back out. "It doesn't matter. It happened. We need a new plan."

It figured that that was when Legion entered the room. "Shepard-Commander, we are ready to provide assistance."

As was to be expected, every quarian in the room except Tali immediately prepared to panic.

"Wait!" Terra stepped up, "It's fine! Legion's with us."

Xen gave the geth a curious look. "You tamed a geth? Fascinating. The things I could learn under different circumstances…"

Terra knew enough about the admiral to know what that meant. "I wouldn't. Legion helped me defeat the Collectors—"

"So did your pistol. Should I worry about its feelings as well?"

Terra was really wondering why anyone had thought it was a good idea to put her in charge of negotiations, considering this was the second time in as many minutes she had been ready to punch one of the admirals' masks open. "I'd be careful if I were you, admiral."

Xen turned to give Terra an incredulous look. "The scientific benefits—"

"Are off the table."

It was hard to tell since geth didn't have proper facial expressions, but it seemed like Legion gave her a look of appreciation to see her standing up for it.

They quickly laid out their battle plan. Legion quickly delivered the unfortunate news that the dreadnought was merely amplifying a signal coming from the Rannoch surface and the Reapers were still controlling the geth. The Fleet was in disarray as geth fighters swarmed them and Admiral Koris was MIA from a crash-landing on a planetary defense cannon. Terra quickly coordinated their efforts, telling Legion to search for the source of the Reaper signal and Joker to move in on the base the fighters were coming from. Tali offered her friend a grateful look before retaking her position at a nearby console to help organizing her people's efforts.

Things were about to get a whole lot worse. Hopefully, that just meant they would get a whole lot better soon afterward.

Hopefully.