Interlude: Goddess Interrupt 2

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN JANE'S GONE!?"

It took every ounce of Aria's centuries-long experience not to wince at echoing shout that reverberated through the entire house. When Taylor Hebert had frozen in the middle of their tryst, Aria had thought that she had been doing well. Perhaps she had even been succeeding in charming the self-proclaimed 'Goddess'.

Then Hebert had literally disappeared between one blink and the next, and then the entire structure had shaken from an inarticulate roar of rage.

"Perhaps…this was not my smartest idea," Aria murmured to herself. Carefully collecting her clothes, she stepped out of the bedroom. She wasn't above admitting to herself that she was grateful for the presence of one of the household members just outside. The sight of Paige Ryan leaning against the hallway's wall, one foot resting on the tan surface, a hand clutching her tablet while she tapped away at it…it was all decidedly normal. A guide in this unfamiliar, potentially hostile, world with an upset Goddess wasn't something to sneer at; especially when aforementioned guide appeared all-together ambivalent about the continued seething screams from just down the stairs. Screams that would have made many Krogan weep in envy and arousal.

"Our apologies, but we're in the middle of an unpleasant situation at the moment. You can stay or you can leave, it's up to you," Paige said. "You should be aware that if you decide to stay we can't guarantee when Taylor will be available to complete this arrangement. She will eventually be free, but family comes first. I'm sure you understand."

Aria chuckled. That at least was nearly a universal concept - barring some rather unique exceptions of course. "Certainly. Family is always the most important item on any agenda. Perhaps I can help?" Her primary purpose was already in tatters, might as well make herself useful in another fashion. This entire trip was always about cultivating an asset after all.

"We're still getting details, though with what we do have, I rather doubt it. Thank you for the offer, even with the strings I know would have been attached."

"Hon, we really need you back down - oh Aria's here. I didn't realize that," Dennis Ryan cut himself off as he crested the staircase and came within sight of them. Clearing his throat, the human male stood straighter and squared his shoulders. "Ms. T'Loak, welcome to the Hebert household. I'm sorry for my rudeness, but I need to collect my wife. We need to try and calm our friend down before something important blows up. Paige, Madison isn't going to be enough for this and Lisa and Amy are making it worse. Help!"

"Taylor isn't going to destroy the house, she's finally gotten everything where she likes it. Besides, Erica is still home and she'd never do anything that looks bad in front of that girl." She waved her hand in the direction of her husband, dismissing him - not that he actually left. "I'll be down in a moment." Paige let the tablet fall to her side, ran her eyes up and down Aria's body, and finally centered her attention on Aria's face, holding her gaze.

As Aria stared into those eyes, a shiver ran down her back that had nothing to do with temperature. It wasn't just the human woman looking back at her. The sense of age and calculation and scrutiny behind that expression was…It was far more ancient than any Krogan or Asari that Aria had ever met. There had been rumors months back about an old fungus on some forgotten Prothean world; a fungus that had been around since the Protheans fell or perhaps longer. The thing staring back at her now dwarfed that.

"Humanity really is bound to something old isn't it? Something older than my entire race," she stated. As disconcerting as those eyes were, she didn't look away. Meeting the Hebert children had been interesting. Powerful people routinely passed through Omega and graced her door. Even meeting their mother hadn't truly provoked this response in her. And yet…Taylor Hebert had been very careful not to meet her eyes hadn't she? Aria had thought it showed weakness…

There was nothing normal about the Heberts at all. She had vastly underestimated this entire clan. Their children were young and naive. The adults were anything but.

"Some of us are. I don't like to let mine out much. It leaves me alone unless called and I leave it alone. That said, for crisis points, it's best to cut through bullshit fast. You don't like bullshit either so let's not dance around. If you stay, you're going to hear our problems and then you're stuck here until this thing is over. House arrest; for your safety as much as ours. We don't know who is a friend or an enemy at this point and if you try to leave after hearing too much, Taylor is very likely to kill you just to be safe."

"And if I go now, before I'm aware of the full details?"

"Then you're just another player on the board and there's nothing wrong with you going home to Omega. This is nothing personal either way, Aria. You just have bad timing is all."

She leaned back against her own wall with a confidence she did not feel. It had been a very long time since she had been anything but in control. A very long time. Centuries even. This conversation should be pissing her off. Aria dictated - she was not dictated to. She ruled Omega, it was hers. She was Queen there. Everyone knew it, everyone paid her their respects.

Yet her tiny little corner of the universe was nothing compared to the power bloc she was trying to court here. Old partners on Thessia, friends on Tuchanka, business relations on Palaven, contacts in the STG…All were fun or profitable. But they were not Sol. They were not an entrenched system of nearly unassailable might, with each combatant a nation unto themselves. This system had a ruler of unparalleled local power. Aria might as well have been a Maiden still stripping in a bar for all her two-bit contacts were worth compared to this prize: a physical god, yet one that was still mortal enough to be relatable. Aria should stay and finish what she had started. If she stayed she'd prove that could be trusted with their secrets, moving her even further up in their eyes.

And yet…if this issue was causing problems for Taylor Hebert, Goddess of Sol, who knew how long it would take to resolve. Who knew how long it would keep Aria away from Omega?

Was it worth that? Was it worth potentially losing the seat of her power just to prove herself worthy of strong allies for the days to come?

"MISSY, I SENT YOU OUT THERE TO WATCH OVER MY DAUGHTER!"

"What do you think I tried to do Taylor! I fought that fucking thing with everything I had just to make sure we could push past it! I know a lot of goddess-damned tricks, but I can't fight a full Whale and win! I HURT it and I slowed it down and I kept it's attention off Jane when she ran! Stop FUCKING YELLING AT ME!"

"Paige…"

"Sorry to rush you, Aria, but I need that answer."

Aria felt a smile grace her features and she chuckled. "Well, I might as well stay and see if there isn't anything I can do to assist. You never know what help a Pirate Queen can provide. If I'm stuck here long enough that Omega goes to shit by the time I get back? I suppose I already took it over once before. It won't be that hard to whip everyone back into line a second time."

"Okay then. Feel free to comment with useful suggestions. We can explain the context later if you don't get the finer details."

"Am I - what was the human phrase? - being fully read in?" Her normal confidence seeped back in and the fake smile was no longer forced as she realized the implications in that trust.

"Not fully no. You're getting more than a lot of others, partially because you actually cared enough to come and ask us directly for an alliance and information - which almost no one else has done. We've said repeatedly that all anyone had to do was ask, and we would share info. The galaxy likes its games too much apparently."

"Which galaxy are you referring to exactly? I've heard you are in contact with a great many."

Paige's sigh was heavy with disappointment. "All of them."

Well, that switched from teasing to realistic far too fast. "And the other reason?"

The woman perked back up, a smirk lighting up her face, and Aria was reminded of her old games with Patriarch, before he lost his quad. "If I know Taylor, she's about to take very drastic action. After Taylor's done tearing this universe a new asshole, any secrets that Jane had are liable to be blown wide open to anyone in the galaxy who cares to look. So come on, let's go watch the fireworks. This is always the fun part."

"Hon, I think you and I have very different definitions of fun," Dennis muttered as he turned and hurried down the stairs. Aria and Paige followed swiftly in his wake.

\/\/\/\/

Taylor

"Missy, I'm trying not to yell, but I swear if you don't start explaining right now -" I snarled. Madison murmured something too soft for me to understand and squeezed tighter, pulling herself almost flush against my back. Her calming attempts didn't do much.

"Will you tone it down! I am trying and you keep cutting me off!" Missy snapped. She winced, holding a hand to her head. A spike of guilt flashed through me and I ignored it. She'd lost my daughter, she could deal with a little pain. "Fuck, between twisting that moon into a goddamn pretzel, forcing a solar flare, and the Relay jump…I need to fucking sleep. I hate doing anything but lying down after a Relay jump as it is. Listen, we're close and we're turning around to go back and search now, but we needed to leave time for Intuit to lead that fucker away on a wild goose chase. We baited it to follow her when we split up."

Aria, Paige, and Dennis entered the room, the latter directing our guest towards a seat on the couch. I ignored her and did my best not to grind my teeth. "So, instead of just one lost daughter, now we also have one being chased by a rogue whale? Is that what you're telling me, Missy?!"

Missy growled. She'd been hanging out with Lung too much. "Enola is in the second best ship we have and she is hands down the smartest one of all of us! Lisa included!"

"I feel like I should take offense to that, but she is my kid and I fully agree with that assessment…so yeah," Lisa commented. I twisted to glare at her and she just held up her hands in surrender.

"Taylor, Enola knows how to give it the slip. We had to slow down in order to even let it follow us to begin with, the thing wasn't going fast. This is a wild goose chase not a getaway drive with capes on your ass."

"…It didn't crack what was left of the moon or the planet to follow?" I asked, after pacing a small rut into the carpet. I slowed as I realized that Madison had to nearly run to keep in contact with me. Her soft moue of thanks as she again fit herself against me was…almost enough to cool my frustrations.

"No. Jane's there on Jartar. Horizon and Intuit both felt her shift out of the path of whatever ability Belial shot at us. Do you seriously think I would let that fucker have the slightest chance to try to harvest the planet? She's my daughter too, Taylor!"

"I have to ask, Missy. And Jane's not there!"

"I know! I know." Missy dropped down into a seat, rubbing her forehead. "She is on Jartar, I felt her move, she's just not…"

"In our Instance," I snapped. Frowning, I narrowed my eyes. "Belial?"

"Seemed appropriate," Missy sighed. "I mean, we have Eden, Zion, Abaddon…Belial seemed right. I'm pretty sure this one wasn't Abaddon, from what the Network remembers about the saboteur. The configuration of the outer shards wasn't right."

"I don't care what the fuck we call it, it's still going to die!" I snarled. "How did you all miss this?"

"I'm sorry! We weren't looking for a fucking space whale, Taylor! We were looking for a creepy AI ship that likes to eat its crews' minds! We didn't think we'd have to scan other dimensions for threats too! Who would have ever thought that Space Squids and Space Whales would work together against a common enemy? They should be natural enemies themselves. Belial must really hate us to not just gobble these things up. We fucked up and underestimated the nature of the threat, okay? We let ourselves think that the surface level trap was all there was and got lazy which is exactly what they were waiting for."

Lisa grunted. "To be fair, they messed up too. If they were actually smart about it, Belial would have fired on you while you were still inside the dead Reaper. That you were able to get out to the shuttle was a stroke of good luck and idiocy on its part."

"Not. Helping," Madison hissed, her head turning towards Lisa. Twisting back to me, she let her forehead rest on my shoulder, squeezing her arms wrapped around my waist and trying to quiet the shivers of rage running through me. "Hey, this is a good thing, Tay. Belial is still a stupid idiot. Just like Zion was before you gave him some of your memories. We can blow him up easily. Enola can probably do it herself once she tricks him into a star or something!"

"Mom, don't try to talk up what Enola can and can't do just to put a cherry on the top of this shit sundae," Erica sighed. She sprawled along the couch and stared at the ceiling. "Enola and Intuit can't fight a full Wanderer. They can run real good, but they can't fight that thing."

"Erica's correct," Paige said. She walked to my side, one hand holding a datapad and the other tapping away. "I'm going to send Vicky, Dragonite Cluster 14, and…Lung out to take care of it. Between the three groups we should be able to destroy it before it realizes the fight it's picked. As long as someone is able to convince Lung to stay out of the way when the 14 fires at least…And if not, maybe I can finally get that asshole killed."

"No."

"Taylor," Paige looked up from the pad and sighed. "I know you think he's useful but -"

"Vicky stays here."

Paige's mouth snapped closed and the room fell into dead silence. Cassie was the one who ended up breaking the stunned quiet as she swallowed, standing and raising a finger in the air. "Uh, Tay? You know that Vicky is basically…the strongest fighter we have after you…right? Maybe we could send Lily, but Sting is difficult to use on dreadnoughts even with really precise timing. It's doable, but you know Lily hates it. Fighting a Whale is a bad idea unless we let Sting go at it on its own and…I thought we wanted to avoid shard to shard combat since it's bad for local Instances?"

"Vicky stays in Sol. I need her here."

"If I may interject."

"No." I slashed my hand in the air and Aria cut off. "I don't know if you had anything to do with this. The timing is highly suspect. You show up and my daughters are attacked at the same time? You can sit right there on your ass until I sort this out."

"Mom, that's a bit harsh. Aria had nothing to do with -"

"Erica, baby, I appreciate the attempt, and I'm not going to hurt her. But she doesn't get a voice in the family discussion. She shouldn't even be down here." I glared at Paige who just met my gaze and didn't even do me the courtesy of flinching. "Why is she down here?"

"She was in the house and you were already yelling and screaming. She's smart, Taylor. She was going to be a problem if we didn't deal with it head on. Better to loop in a potential ally then to alienate them by kicking them to the curb."

I glared harder, but Paige didn't back down. She knew me too well. "We'll talk later."

"Taylor," Amy said, leaning forward and resting her chin on clasped hands while her elbows stayed planted on her knees. "Why is my sister staying in Sol?"

"Because I'm taking over for her while she's gone," Vicky stated. She crossed her arms and met my gaze, eyebrows arched. "Right, Tay?"

I nodded. "That's right."

The room damn near exploded as everyone started yelling.

\/\/\/\/

It took me almost 10 minutes before the group had calmed down enough that I could get a word in without more screaming and shouting resulting. Finally, with almost everyone glaring, I waved a hand towards the hologram of Missy.

"Jane is lost in the multiverse. She has no native way to find our Instance among the billions and billions of options out there. She could be lost forever if we don't find her and guide her back."

"Which is exactly why Horizon is out there with her!" Lisa snapped. "Horizon is -"

"Not able to do that," Missy murmured. Madison's eyes widened to an absurd degree and Erica gasped while Lisa's mouth snapped closed.

"What? Aunt Missy…but you said…"

"I'm keeping her company. I'm keeping her safe. The goal was never to find her if she got lost, it was to make sure that she didn't have to get lost again. Horizon can't search the multiverse, Erica." Missy hung her head. "We bend space. We don't bend universes. While we might be able to cheat the system and look through alternate realities, we can't search."

"But…you're going back…" Dennis said.

"She's doing the equivalent of a 'hunt and peck' instead of 'QWERTY' typing," I said. "Missy and Horizon aren't designed to flip through Instances and find specific ones. They might have been able to get lucky and find her given enough time, but this is an emergency situation and that isn't ideal. They don't have a place to start and the odds that they get lucky are beyond minimal. We need a specialist."

"So send a specialist!" Amy shouted.

"That's what she's doing, Ames." Vicky laid a hand on Amy's shoulder. Amy leaned into her and shut her eyes, shaking her head. "Taylor, can you explain it a bit better for everyone else?"

"There's only two shards that can really search for a single target like this. The Eye is one of them, and one of the Core Shards in my Hub are the other. I think we all know that I don't trust The Eye outside of Sol."

Paige frowned. She pulled up an image on her display and flicked it onto the wall, showing the bios for several personnel. "You can't split off that Core Shard? We have several people who Emily and I have finished vetting that are ready to Bond. I can personally vouch for these five as being worthy of a Core Shard."

I shook my head. "Even if I could, I don't want to. I'm not going to trust just anyone to find my little girl for me. I'm going."

"Taylor, think about this for five fucking seconds." Cassie stood, her hands held wide to either side. "You. Can't. Leave. Sol. What happens to the rest of us if you take the Network away? What happens to Sol itself? We're all dependent on it now! Hell, our economy is dependent on it! What about the other Instances? How are they going to survive without the portals or the Dyson Spheres sending them power? We can't just separate from the Wanderers anymore! We're not like we were anymore dammit!"

"Cass -"

"I love that girl too! But you can't just run off and leave the rest of us to die! Even if we figure out how to make it alone for a few weeks, Sol would be defenseless! What if someone decides that that's the best opportunity to come and attack us! What if this is what that rogue Wanderer was waiting for!"

"Cass -"

"What if -"

"Cassie!" She stopped and I rubbed my forehead. "Done? Good. I'm not taking the whole damn Network, Cass. I just said that Vicky is staying behind and stepping in for me. I'm only taking a few key Shards so that I can stomp anything or anyone that comes looking for a fight - including Belial if Dragonite 14 doesn't get to the fucker first. The only other thing I'm going with is what I need to find our daughter. The rest of the Network will stay here with a backup copy of my mind in case something happens. QA is also going to be here too, so -"

QA's avatar flickered into being behind me scowling. "And what makes you think that I want to stay behind and not go on this little jaunt to find the girl?"

"Can you come and still leave enough infrastructure intact for Sanctuary to take the reins?"

QA huffed. "I've been sectioning off bits of myself for the past hour to make sure I could. Take a moment to actually look, Taylor, and you'll see the groundwork I've laid already for us. Victoria, you, Sanctuary, Taylor, and I are all going to be far closer once we get back. Sanctuary is going to need to meld a lot more deeply with many of the processes I'm leaving behind then I'm normally comfortable with and I doubt she'll be able to fully pull herself out of it once we're back in-system."

"We're okay with that," Vicky said.

"Good. I'm trusting you to watch over things while I'm away, Vicky," I said.

"I know, I won't let you down Taylor. I'll keep us all safe and I'll keep it running smoothly." Vicky moved to embrace me, then stepped next to QA and silently started exchanging the data she would need to keep things intact.

"Hold up here! Time out, what the fuck? Why is Vicky the one who is your successor? I mean, I'm not jealous. Please don't take this like I'm jealous," Lisa said, her hands lifted in a T. I raised my eyebrows; she sure sounded jealous. "Oh don't look at me like that. Madison, Amy, and I were with you from the beginning. Paige and Emily basically run this theocracy. Vicky mainly - Vicky, I adore you, and don't take offense - Vicky mainly hits things and also waxes poetically about philosophical stuff."

"You're forgetting that I happen to be the only one besides Taylor who's completely merged with her shard," Vicky said, not even bothering to glance to the side.

"That's, that's…that's um…"

"She's got you there, Aunt Lisa," Erica said. "Your generation is hesitant and my generation just wants to experience our own lives a bit before taking that final plunge. Mom, is this, you know, safe for you? You've been linked to the entire Network for over a century now. Even if you take a decent chunk of your main shards with you, that's going to be a heck of a shock disconnecting from so many others. Travel-wise alone, it's just not possible without…wait…fuck. Mom…"

Madison pulled away from me and moved to her daughter frowning. "Sweetheart? What are you thinking? We've talked about this honey, you have to use words, not implications."

She really didn't need to, Erica was always on the same wavelength as me and I already knew where her mind had gone. "No, I'm not going to crack any of the dead worlds to use as jump-points. It would be a good boost, yes, I won't deny that, but then I would need to do the same somewhere en route and there's no guarantee that I would find enough that I'd be able to do it without sacrifices."

"But?"

Damn, that girl did know me too well. Sighing, I shook my head. "But, I am going to drain Sol 1408 before we go."

"Mom!"

"That system is entirely dead anyway! We've already stripped most of the planets, it's the asteroids that'll be a lost cause since the star won't have the same gravity anymore…"

"That's-you can't just-no!"

"The system's cursed anyway. I swear it's fucking haunted. I'm doing it a favor."

Lisa winced. "Taylor, do you need that or is it a safety net? Erica is right. If you need it just to get to Dis, there could be bigger problems when you are in-system."

"I want to be powered up as much as possible. I'm not going to have all of my tools, so making sure I leave with a supercharged tank at the ready is the best option."

"That's not an answer, Taylor," Lisa murmured.

"It's what you're getting." I snapped back at her, this was my daughter, I wasn't going to take chances.

"Oh I need to figure out how to use Beacon better and I need to have done it yesterday," Erica muttered.

"Drain a sun?" Aria sucked in a breath and a blue aura flared around her in the tell-tale display of wild biotics. I had upset little Ms. Pirate. Well too bad. If she wanted to seduce me, she'd have to deal with our family issues eventually. Better it be early on rather than later. If she couldn't deal with this, then she didn't deserve to deal with us. I was woman enough to admit she probably wasn't involved in Jane's problems. I still liked making her squirm a bit. She was far too confident in herself - most of these older Asari were.

"Yes, just one, nothing drastic."

Erica's frown didn't diminish. "Okay…Say I believe you. You still have space issues. No ship can take all of the shards you'd need to be even a significant fraction of your whole. So I'll ask again, Mom: Is this safe?"

QA was the one who nodded. "Yes. We weren't always what we are now. We remember what we were and we can adapt."

I gave my daughter a thumbs up. "It's going to hurt like hell, but I've dealt with worse and it's not forever, just a few days, maybe a week or two. I know what I'm doing."

Amy scowled. "I don't agree with this. I don't agree with this at all. Taylor, you can't just leave Sol. Not even for Jane. We don't even know for sure that Jane can't get herself back! She did before! She -"

"Ames, stop." Vicky stepped in front of me before I could do more than snarl. Amy was scared, I knew that. I could feel that. She was worried for Jane, for the Network, for Vicky, for me…That still didn't give her the right to say those things about our baby girl. "You were off-world when Jane side-stepped, you got your info second hand and it was white washed because it was fucking terrifying."

Amy pulled back, sitting up straight, her skin paling. "It couldn't have been that bad. I mean…"

Vicky shook her head. "We didn't know she could slip realities. She didn't know she could slip realities. No one was watching, no one was paying attention in the right direction. She got spooked, she fell back on instincts no one knew she had, and she was just…"

"Gone," QA finished. "She was gone like she had never existed. She's not like one of us. She doesn't leave a noticeable wake when she travels; she's too small."

"Yeah but…"

Madison reached over and gripped Amy's hand, squeezing hard. "Remember when Emily kept asking you to check over the various Krogan settlements? Remember how it took four months when it really should've only been four weeks?"

Amy licked her lips, not trusting herself to speak.

"It took me four months to find our girl, Amy," I said. I shut my eyes and clenched my fists, letting my breath out in a slow wheeze. "She was alone the entire time. She doesn't have the natural navigation component that shards are born with. She can't figure out her relative place in the multiverse - her human side overwrites that bit, wipes that instinct out. It's the main downside to hybrids. The Network has been trying to find a way around that issue. Without a work around, hybrids are never going to be safe; and you already know my views on the future of humanity. Either way, for the moment, it means she's stuck wherever she wound up."

"Unless sis wants to spin the roulette wheel again," Erica muttered.

"Yeah, she won't," Lisa sighed. "Best case, she'll cobble together a ship and work her way back to Sol then spin the wheel until she winds up in an Instance that we control so that she can walk back through a regular portal to home or call for help."

I froze. Snapping my head to Lisa, all of my focus centered on her. QA went a step further and vanished, reappearing right in front of her, hands on her knees. Both of us spoke at the same time, "We hadn't considered that. How likely is that?"

Lisa blinked. "A century on and I still haven't gotten used to that…" Shaking herself she said, "I guess it depends where she is and what's around her. I checked into Jartar. There's not much on that planet really so unless our Instance is the odd one out, it would take a pretty unlikely roll for her to wind up in a world where she had the necessary raw materials to build a ship in any decent timeframe."

"Over, under?" Cassie asked.

"If she heavily cheats with abilities that aren't really made to be used that way and tires herself out constantly, then cheats more to keep it held together on the trip home…um…I used to be better at this…one month at the lowest, 3 months at the highest? Give or take 1 week on the low end and 3 weeks on the high end? Jane's not just a scared kid anymore, she's resourceful."

"No, you're low," Dennis argued. "That might be right to get her to Sol, but not to get her home. She'd have to start searching for an Instance we're involved in after that which is a huge dice roll on its own. And if Taylor is sitting here looking for her at the same time, they could miss each other in transit dozens of times and never know it, just making the whole thing even harder and be more demoralizing for everyone involved. Taylor, you need to go find her before she leaves that planet. Damn, we need to work out protocols in case this happens again."

Paige nodded. "I'll get with Emily and we'll work something out."

"As I've been saying," I agreed. I looked to the side and cupped my hands to shout, "Monarch! I know you can hear me and I know you've been listening! If you want a year's worth of excess candy in the span of two days, I need a Princess that can pump out Dimensional Relay Critters!"

Monarch buzzed from the next room. The monitor on the wall sprang to life and a block of text popped up.

Monarch has already assigned 12 Reginas to assist and accompany on task. Monarch does not need to be bribed to assist Jane Hebert. Monarch likes Jane Hebert.

I grinned. "So I'll just keep that chocolate then."

Angry buzzing wafted into the room.

Monarch advised that it does not need to be bribed. Monarch will still accept bribes.

"Crazy bug. Thanks, buddy. Alright, I'm going to finish breaking myself into pieces and going to find our daughter. Vicky, you're with me. We need to go over a few things before I cede control of the Network to you fully."

"Got it, Taylor."

"Madison, keep the household in order."

"Okay," she murmured. I tried to ignore the bright sheen over her eyes and the sniffle in her voice. "Please be careful. And hurry home."

Running a hand down the side of her face and resting my forehead against hers, I murmured, "Always, Mads." Pulling back I looked at Lisa. "Lisa, you're in charge of the Alliance. Don't let Becca bully you into anything."

"When have I ever, Tay?" she was smirking but the vulpine confidence wasn't there. I didn't have to dip into our link to see the worry etched across her brow.

"Paige, I know you and Emily can handle the day-to-day stuff while I'm gone. If anything really pressing comes up, let Vicky know and she'll deal with it. She has my authority."

"Nothing will get to her, we'll make sure of it." Paige flipped a few tasks off of her tablet and shut the thing down entirely.

I chuckled. "Well, maybe make sure she has some work to do, even if it's just busy work. Can't have her being bored, right?"

"Excuse you, I am perfectly happy with this being a nice, boring little endeavor, thank you very much." I rolled my eyes at Vicky's comment and waved her off.

"Dennis, make sure your wife doesn't forget to rest. I'm trusting you to run PR also. Make sure that no one panics that I'm gone."

He smirked, winking at me. "Come on, Tay. I'm better than that. By the time Ethan and I are done, everyone else in the galaxy will be terrified that you can leave Sol whenever you want and humanity will declare this a new national holiday!"

"I'm not sure what's scarier, that you might be joking, or that I think you can, and would, actually do that," I said, laughing. "Amy -"

"I know, I know, don't be a bitch. I'm sorry, okay! I just -"

"Amy," I knelt down in front of her and took her hands in mine, waiting for her to meet my eyes before I continued. "Don't be a bitch." We both laughed as she bit her lip. Once her chuckles subsided I continued, "Seriously, I get it. You do understand why I can't just leave this alone though right?"

"Yeah, yeah I do. I'm sorry, I'm…Shaper and I would never be able to do what you're doing Taylor. We can't split ourselves like that."

"I know. There's nothing wrong with that, Amy. You and I took very different paths to get where we are and we have very different relationships with our shards. That's fine, but it means that I can go find our girl. Help the others keep things running back here, okay?"

"Okay."

I stood, letting her drag me into a short kiss. As Amy pulled back, I turned to Erica. My third eldest had her arms crossed and was scowling as she stood in front of me.

"I don't like this, Mom."

"I know."

"You're going to hurt yourself."

"Probably."

"I could take your Core Shard. I could find Janie. We've already been training for this."

I looked at her, pausing for long enough to truly consider it. Slowly, I asked, "Erica, answer me honestly: do you truly believe you have enough practice as a [Hub] or as [Beacon] to be able to find Jane when she's not linked to a Network? Don't bluster, don't inflate your prowess. Can you do this?"

Erica wilted, her shoulders slumping and her head dropping to her chest as her eyes closed. "…No," she whispered. "If she was still touching Horizon or Intuit…then yes. But…on her own…I…she's so small."

"She is. That's both her best and worst quality." I pulled my daughter into a bone-crushing hug. "Come with me. There'll be enough room on the ship I'm taking for another three shards. I was planning to grab Simmy, but I'll have her follow with Lung instead. Follow along, watch what I do, learn how I sort through the Instances. Then, if we have another crisis, you can go instead. Deal?" Her head bobbed against my chest and I heard a soft sniffle; like mother, like daughter.

"You're really deploying Lung?" Missy asked. I turned my head to watch her hologram. I had almost forgotten she was still here.

"Yes. There's at least one rogue Wanderer and it's working with these Reapers. Lung, some of his Krogan friends, Simmy, and…"

"Annie and Lily," Cassie supplied. "If you're thinking of going against a Wanderer with brute force, those two are the way to go. Lung and Simmy to distract it. The Krogan to annoy it. Annie and Lily to kill it. Let Lily complain about the timing with the dreadnought, she can still do it."

"Or me," Lisa said.

"No, you need to stay here in case something does come for Sol. You're our ace-in-the-hole, Lisa."

"Yeah. I know." She sighed. "Fucking powers."

"Okay, last thing, Aria, thank you for not making a fuss," I said.

She shrugged, feigning nonchalance almost well enough that I nearly believed her. "You don't get to my level without learning to pick your moments. I fight battles I can win. I'm rather outclassed in this room and I'm looking to make friends, not enemies. One day I may need your help. When that day comes I hope you'll remember this evening."

"Always playing the game," I murmured.

"Always, Taylor," she smiled. "Always. Do you require ships? Omega has several large freighters that I can repurpose for your needs in very short order."

Lisa snorted. "Ha! What the Citadel calls 'dreadnoughts' we call 'minimum effective size'. We're good honey."

"Yes, thank you, but no," I sighed, doing my best to ignore Lisa. "We've been building, just not in this Instance. Avoiding prying eyes and all. If you want to go back to Omega, you can. I would suggest you stay in Sol until I get back. You don't have to, and no actions will be taken against you should you choose to leave, but I can't guarantee when I'll be free next if you do leave. Also, I'm sure this goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: if you repeat a single thing you heard here to anyone, I will pull the blue out of your ass before I kill you. I actually rather like you, which is something I didn't really expect; don't waste that goodwill, Aria."

"Noted. You are not what I expected either, Taylor Hebert. I'm pleased that you've vastly exceeded any expectations I had."

I frowned. "Really? Well, now I feel rather disappointed that you had lower expectations of me. Maybe I do need to get more and accidentally terrorize a few neighbors. In the old days people freaked out when I went for a walk in the park with my dog…"

Madison groaned. "Taylor, your dog was - and is - an Endbringer. It could've destroyed the city in 15 minutes, if you asked it to."

"…Yeah, but nobody should be scared of an EB when its name is Spot."

"It has three flaming heads," Paige stated. "You and Rachel are still the only two who find the thing cute."

"Right. Okay. Nice talk. Alright, folks, I'm off. Vicky, QA, Erica, with me." I started towards the door leading to our workshop. I made it a few paces before I remembered one final thing. Looking back over my shoulder, I shouted back with a deep scowl, "And somebody find where the fuck Zion is and figure out WHY HE ISN'T DOING HIS JOB!"