Liara felt sick as she listened to Shepard detail the alterations to the original plan. It was clear Shepard hadn't given up just yet, but it was also clear that Shepard was prepared for this to be a suicide run. It was why she hadn't argued with Alenko about where he belonged beyond a token attempt.

"Shepard. What if part of Hammer One gets past Harbinger, one way or another?" she asked quietly.

Shepard twitched her shoulders. "Then Horatio walks them where they need to go, once they get to the Citadel. The more people we have up there the better they can defend the terminals. Assuming the one at the Council Tower can't be wrecked. That would be helpful in the extreme, if we only had on objective to guard."

Liara nodded, still feeling queasy. She didn't have any suggestions, any better ideas. Not having any, she didn't feel like she could complain. She didn't like the plan, though. She didn't like it at all, not the least because it meant Shepard was playing moving target for a fixated Reaper. Talk about a fatal attraction!

"Shepard, do you really think this is going to work?" Garrus asked tersely.

Shepard looked up into Garrus' scarred face. "Yes. Yes, I do. Because Captain Frikkin' Shepard has been at the head of this war from day one. Why wouldn't she be at the head of the last attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?" Shepard drew herself up, her drift, although orange with apprehension, solidifying to a pea soup green. "It's risky, it's not going to be easy, but I think this can work, because it's not meant to get any of us to the beam. All we're doing is buying time. Like Alenko said, we can always get off the run-up and now Harbinger's still looking for us in particular—why would we scramble out of sight just to give up?"

Shepard never gave up. Ever. Still, was it even possible to psych out a Reaper? Liara didn't know, and now didn't sound like the time to find out for sure.

"As long as we have its attention, it's playing right into our hands. And it won't even realize it because Reapers are so damn arrogant they can't imagine anyone not being a glory hound!" Shepard concluded. "This thing will never believe that I don't intend to go straight for the beam, plug in the 'I win bomb' and light the fuse, because it has no evidence to contradict that line of logic."

And Shepard certainly wasn't a glory hound. She was out front because there was no one else, because she did things herself to ensure they were done right…but had someone else been leading this fight, Shepard would have been dutifully backing up that person's efforts.

Hearing Shepard defend the plan in that tone, in that fashion, with belief and confidence growing in every word eased some of Liara's concerns. Shepard took risks, but she never gambled lightly with the lives of her team.

"If she's that confident it'll work, then it'll work," Garrus announced. Liara could tell he didn't like the plan, but he trusted Shepard, and if anyone could know a Reaper, Shepard knew Harbinger. "I'll talk to Victus and see about getting a team together. Good thing turians are built to run."

Shepard nodded. "Thanks, Garrus."

"If that's everything, I'll get to work with my people, give them some time to brainstorm," Liara offered.

"Thanks, Liara."

With that, the meeting began to peter out, Shepard and Anderson—under Alenko's and Vega's watchful eyes—beginning the process of refining the plan with minute adjustments to give Hammer One the best opportunity of making a show without getting them all killed. She was glad to hear how important the 'not getting them all killed' part of the plan was. She was aware that Shepard's plans were sometimes desperate, often high stakes, but she didn't think any of those compared with this one.

Liara's stomach felt heavy as she found out where asari assets were being staged, then discovered that leadership for each faction had been called to the headquarters and would be arriving soon. No need to travel, which relieved her: it would have been a bit of a trip, but using the Underground tunnels wouldn't be nearly as difficult or dangerous as travelling topside was.

This wasn't the sort of thing that could be discussed over the radios. Not when the Reapers were probably tapped into every secure and unsecure frequency, barring those encrypted by EDI and possibly the geth. She agreed that those precious private channels should be conserved until the last minute. Once they were cracked, they were cracked, and all plans communicated in any fashion except face-to-face could be assumed to be intercepted.

That settled, and with the promise that the representatives would be conveyed to her immediately upon arrival, Liara withdrew to an unused corner to wait, and to think. She didn't like the risks this operation posed, even if she agreed that if Harbinger was indulging in its Shepard fixation, it probably wouldn't be looking behind it, or to the left and right. Could it really be that easy to sneak a team or several teams onto the Citadel?

It sounded too easy, making her wonder what kinds of nasty surprised the Reapers could implement once they realized that Shepard wasn't the one they needed to be watching.

She shoved the thought away, taking comfort in the knowledge that her father hadn't been on the Citadel when the Illusive Man vented the Presidium. She needed a bright side just now, and that was it: Aethyta was overhead somewhere, an unlisted passenger on an asari ship, either calling shots or trying not to.

Then Liara shivered, remembering that the fleets overhead had already begun engaging the Reapers in-system for the same reason Shepard proposed Hammer One: to give the Reapers something to occupy them, so the real threat had some cover.