Darkness pervaded the room with only the amber screen of her terminal glaring at her. Her eyes felt so weary, but she pressed on, replaying the content on the OSD over and over again. The bits with static always grated her, because it was cutting out sentences and it just made her job notoriously difficult to record what she did hear, in hopes she could reference sources to translate this language.

Cups of tea collected beside her, among a few wrappers of meagre snack bars she indulged to sustain herself long enough. She couldn't afford to leave her station and go to the mess hall. She was so close, she knew it.

She just had to listen for another 100 times.

Energy was dwindling, and a look over at her makeshift cot had her yearning for sleep. She couldn't. She had to keep chugging tea and power on through, or else she might lose her momentum in the progress she had made thus far.

"Goddess, I hope the other OSD Tali is working on won't be as corrupted as this. I'm barely yielding anything here."

What snippets there were were replayed over and over again as she tried to spell the sounds she heard, focusing minutely on the cadence of dialect. There was something familiar about it - and that was promising. She just had to deduce which language to reference that would have borrowed and evolved from the Protheans. Then learn that language.

It was a much simpler-sounding feat than decoding this wretched static.

"But to come upon the discovery alone that there's a language existing today that has built upon the bones of the Protheans... Remarkable! I will be able to understand future data I chance upon if I can learn that language. And then-"

Her terminal died, and with it, it took her heart.

"Wha-? No! Why did it...?"

She looked under her table. The power source was still blinking, indicating everything was functioning just fine. The problem existed with her terminal.

Lights abruptly turned on in her hovel and she shielded her eyes with her forearm, her head swivelling to the door. She was ready to fall apart into pieces upon learning why there was a problem with her terminal, destroyed by the heart-wrenching betrayal that wore such a charismatic smile.

"Wretches," came sanctioned from the less respectable parts of her mind.

"Y'need to rest, love," Shepard leaned against the door frame with her shoulder, crossing her arms as she smirked triumphantly. That smirk was then aimed at the worst of them all.

Tali.

"How could you?" Liara whispered in disbelief.

"What the Commander said," the quarian shrugged, disengaging her omni-tool, but not her hacks. "When I cracked the encryption, I didn't mean to crack you too. You've been at this for days. You need food and sleep."

"Days? I don't..."

Liara's brow knitted together, looking back at her dead terminal and all the scrawled notes around her. She'd made a mental note to grab cleaning supplies, for she hadn't even realized that she'd taken to writing on the table itself.

Perhaps what was just as despairing was that it's taken days to yield this little.

"I think you should disable her omni-tool just to be on the safe side," the Commander whispered ever so quietly, and it made Liara shoot to stand in protest.

Dizziness struck her instead.

She grabbed the lip of her chair, but it'd spun out on her in her haste. There was a scramble of limbs flailing with a cry. She braced herself for pain and yelped when her arm was grabbed, crashing unceremoniously into another body behind her. It took embarrassingly long for her to orientate herself even with the danger over, gasping for the air that was starved of her. A gentle hand wrapped around her bicep squeezed, drawing her gaze up at Tali.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, I'm... Thank you..."

Liara tried to push off from whatever was behind her, her hands braced against something that did not at all feel like a metal table - more like thighs instead. Then she'd realized there was a body conformed behind her, and stiffened immensely, unable to bring herself to look up at the varren eyes. Fortunately, Tali pulled her away, though unfortunately, she was also being pulled in the direction of her cot.

"See? You really do need to take better of yourself," Tali scolded, urging the stubborn asari to sit down with a push on the shoulders. "That OSD isn't going anywhere."

"It should," the Commander commented idly.

Liara shot pleading eyes. "No, please, I'm so close. I know I've almost deciphered it. I've made wonderful discoveries and-"

"Y'turned into a holed up rat for it, love," Shepard pushed off from the table with her hips, her hands perched up on her lower back. "If I wasn't bringin' that tea and the snack bars, we'd be lookin' at a shrivelled corpse right 'bout now. You're damn lucky y'didn't just get a blood clot blow out your legs or your heart 'cause you been sittin' all this time. Dunno how y'haven't needed to take a wee with all that tea."

For the umpteenth time, Liara's brow knit together, confusion bewildering her greatly. She tried to search her memory for the origins of all that mysterious food and drink, never remembering as her getting it herself. She couldn't even find any pockets of images that could place Shepard there, behind her, perhaps even talking to her. She was so absorbed in her research. She reluctantly saw her fellow friends' concerns, couldn't truly dispute it either.

But damn if she won't try.

"I'll do better, I'll schedule breaks in between my-"

"Nope." Shepard came over and knelt down, getting up in the asari's face. "Tali and I are gonna be scheduling your breaks for you. One'uv us will come to check in on you and if we say take a break, you take a break. Or I will take away this OSD, and you will never get any more data discs in the future. Is that understood?"

"A-aye aye, Commander."

Goddess, she felt like a child right now, where her candy was being threatened to be taken away from her.

Shepard squeezed the asari's knee, then rose up into standing. "Tali, you okay with stayin' with her this round, make sure she falls asleep?"

"Yeah."

"I-I can fall asleep on my own," Liara protested, "I really-"

The OSD was ejected from the terminal and pocketed in the Commander's pants. It was the single-most decimating thing she'd ever had to witness, even more so than seeing how she had 10 seconds left to live. Her mouth ran dry and her tongue curled up in on itself, her protest effectively died when Shepard left the room without another word. Her head bowed with a sigh and she despondently crawled into her cot. Tali went to shut the lights back off before she'd taken the chair for herself.

"Sorry, Liara, we're just... It was hard to see you like that. You didn't seem like you even heard me when I tried to talk to you earlier."

"Oh, no..." Liara didn't even have any memories of the quarian at any point of time in her research. She sank into her cot to accept her fate. "It's alright, I appreciate your concern and for looking out for me. Evidently, I need drastic measures such as this. I promise I really will do better next time."

"I sure hope so. The next data disc I've got sounds like a bunch more static, though, so at least there's that. Not much to work with for you."

Oh, stab an archaeologist in the heart! Liara closed her eyes and tried to temper her breathing so as not to fall apart in her despair. She swore she may as well have been hit with a hammer on the head with Tali's line of questions - bless her heart, she was only intrigued and curious.

"Have you learned anything so far? What kind of information was on that OSD? Is there anything about the Conduit on there?"

Right... The Conduit... That probably would be useful information to comb for, wouldn't it? Liara was wishing for that hammer to knock herself out and forget how she'd forgotten such a crucial thing. All she could manage was a sorry shake of her head, until she remembered she couldn't be seen very well in the darkness. She reluctantly cleared her throat.

"I have not yielded much, unfortunately. I am still compiling what I can hear in order to be able to accurately translate what's being said. I have deduced that the language sounds familiar and that it's roots have grown into another language - I just have to find out which species and subsequent culture is closest to it."

"...Oh." Tali sounded so disappointed, as if she was expecting miracles after days of research.

Honestly, it was just downright embarrassing to have come up with only this - she had every right to expect more, and Liara wished she could deliver for her own sake of sanity. To offer something else, she regaled different findings in the past, such as how evidence presented a fact where Protheans seemed to have rules on what to eat - similar to what she'd learned of recently when studying dietary regulations in human culture, deemed 'kosher'. But she had found remains of creatures that indicated Protheans had eaten them, and if so, it brooked the question: was it not universally accepted to eat certain species, or were these creatures hunted during a time that such rules had not yet been established? To her knowledge, nobody in archaeology had yet to investigate such a compelling discovery... But at the same time, there was remarkably little left behind to shed light on the Protheans' extinction itself, so it was difficult to even make educated guesses as to what they were truly like.

Words came slower, her tongue practically tripping on herself. She'd renew her vigour and determination to continue teaching all that she had learned so far whenever Tali would hum thoughtfully, a signal that she was listening and absorbing, but soon enough, those hums were just echoing in space. Liara drifted far and fast. She heard another voice, vaguely, eventually, perhaps a figment of her imagination as she spiralled off to sleep.

Then she heard static.

It nearly jerked her awake, but it was the compelling evidence to deduce she was in a dream state - and oh, what a horrible thing to be lucid dreaming about. She was trapped in her own research even asleep, tormented by the fact that she was failing as a researcher and couldn't get very far even with data discs that nobody had ever - nor will ever - be so lucky to get their hands on.

The voices played, over and over, the static restarting the tormenting cycle. She couldn't see anything, drowning in the abyssal sea, breathing underwater as the distorted words rang sharply in her aurals.

This was a nightmare.

She tried to talk, to break free, to swim, but she was caught in the lure. A gentle pressure wrapped over her shoulder and squeezed. It was faint, pulsing. She was shook, then, and her eyes snapped open - still in darkness, but at least she could make out the outlines of machinery and tiles. Her head lulled over and she was staring at familiar eyes, varren eyes. Heat surged in her cheeks immediately for it. She couldn't forget that one blasted memory if she wanted to.

"Mornin', love," Shepard waved an OSD in between her fingers, her shrouded smile dancing with it. "I left you some notes on your table, I think you'll find 'em helpful. I'll be the first to check in on you in a couple hours, and then Tali's got you after that. Try to get a bite to eat before y'start, yeah? This is the second one. Useless, though. I'm keeping your first disc 'til I see you lookin' and smellin' less like a corpse." She playfully tossed the OSD on the asari's chest, who made a mad scramble to catch it before it slipped off and disappeared somewhere.

Lights offensively beamed in Liara's eyes when they were flicked on, and the Commander waved over her shoulder as she left the room. The archaeologist really, really should have gotten up to get ready, perhaps finally shower, and perhaps finally get some decent food in her belly...

But priorities.

Instead, she rushed for her table to see what notes were left behind. To her surprise, there were some words scribbled underneath the ones she had tried to spell from what she'd heard, and they appeared to be translations.

"Of course! The Commander's been touched by a Prothean beacon, she would have had some of their knowledge imprinted on her... Just like the sphere we encountered on Eletania!"

What a delightful discovery, a reminder that she had the ultimate dictionary right on this ship. She need only uncover more Prothean data and cross-reference it with the source innocently walking around. She quickly typed in what the human had written in her alphabet to translate that on the omni-tool, and waited with bated breath as she watched the sentence unfold before her eyes.

She was decimated.

[Get some fucking food and shower already, love. Or I am carrying your arse and dunking it.]

Fear was never a more compelling motivator. Liara escaped mortification and a shower was the first thing she sought out. She slithered into the mess to continue her mission of feeling alive again, smiling timidly when her gaze connected with Kaidan's. She waved and paced for the kitchen, ignoring the screaming inside her brain. She still had to chat with him, but she didn't know how to broach the conversation still. She'd learned recently that she wasn't exactly privy to encouraging or sharing feelings with him, but she also hadn't spent a lot of time with him to come to such a conclusion.

Information was the key ingredient to any decision, she couldn't call herself a dedicated researcher otherwise.

"Oh, but what if I offend him in my bumbling? I will surely find my foot in my mouth as soon as I start speaking."

Liara sighed at her ineptitude, resigning to her pitiful fate of being ever so hopelessly clueless when it came to understanding human culture. She decided to focus on the matter of getting decent food in her belly, to fuel herself once more, and instead began to brainstorm about the Prothean data disc now that she was regaining her wit.

Upon returning to the mess, relief flooded her when she saw that Kaidan had already finished his meal and disappeared. It made her wonder if he had any inkling that she knew about his emotions, and if he was avoiding her the way he seemed to the last time.

{He's not gonna do or say anythin', so as his friend, could y'figure out how to square this away with him? Mate's like a kicked puppy.}

Liara sucked in her bottom lip and nibbled away at it. She couldn't figure out how to 'square this away' or how she wanted to handle it. She was so indecisive herself, up until there was a familiar brazen shoulder casually brushing up against hers. Did the Commander have no concept of space? She always had to get up in peoples' faces.

It made Liara's cheeks ache as she tried not to smile.

"There she is," Shepard leaned forward to be in the asari's view, before working away on her several plates. "Y'look much better with life in your bones." She tilted her head back and took a deep breath in, and a content sigh out. "No more boxing up the place either. Y'were a strong contender to Wrex's air bellows, yeah?"

Could this woman have some concept of protecting Liara's self-respect?!

All she could think of to say and do was hum, fiercely blushing as she looked at her food and wished it would swallow her whole instead. At the very least, nothing else was said beyond that, and they ate in relatively-comfortable silence. The Commander browsed her omni-tool for reports and messages, commandeering the ship with hails of replies. It was curiosity-provoking and insightful to be able to see how things were able to be run from behind the scenes, wondering if this was how all of the Alliance officers were like.

Before long, those varren eyes were back on her, a smirk accompanying the chewing. She leaned over to bump, chuckling. "Takin' notes, doc? You got that look like I'm a data disc."

That was a blessing and a curse at once, and Liara glanced down at the pocket she remembered the OSD being stowed away in, but it was across from her. She wasn't confident in having quicker hands than that of a Spectre. The human's brazen lack of concept struck again when she'd leaned over, warm breaths puffing over Liara's aural.

"Careful there, love, you're givin' me horrible ideas with the way you're lookin' to get in me pants."

Liara nearly fell out of her chair with the way she scrambled back, her face aflame with Shepard's rowdy laughter filling the mess hall. She stammered pathetically, but couldn't string any words together. That wretched grin beamed so irresponsibly, and the Commander had somehow managed to look so insufferably smug even while she was pretending to be innocent while she ate away.

"S-stop that," Liara blurted, "That thing you're doing. You're confusing me."

"I'm not the one lookin' to get in your pants," Shepard nonchalantly fired back. She looked up, her demeanour shifting upon seeing the asari's look. "Aw, alright... I'm sorry, love. I won't tease anymore, promise."

That was more disappointing than it was comforting.

It was yet another puzzling thought, and Liara couldn't help but wonder what the lifespan was for this promise. She didn't have the courage to ask.

Marching footsteps echoed down the hallway and broke her from her muse, she reluctantly sat back in her chair after inspecting whether it truly was safe to be beside the Commander. She watched and waited and immediately ducked her eyes when Kaidan came around the corner, right up to the end of the table where she was. She had a good view of his heels smacking together and one of his hands disappearing from her peripheral vision, to salute Shepard.

"Commander, Navigator Pressly found a Kowcloon Class freighter in this system that appears to have been abandoned, but life support systems are still on. The thrusters are cold and the ship is adrift off the orbit of Antiroprus."

"Is the ship registered?"

"Yes ma'am, it's the MSV Worthington of the Morrison Company from Shanxi. Records indicate they had a crew of four people - the captain, the doctor and two crew mates."

"Very well, have Joker bring us in and I'll investigate."

"Aye aye, Commander." Kaidan saluted again and wasted no time before he marched off.

There was something more troubling to Liara than this predicament she found herself in, and that was a choice of a singular word.

"They had a crew of four... We're already assuming the worst."

Shepard wolfed down her meals and rose from her seat, marching off with a purpose of her own, her mischief nowhere to be found.

"Suit up, Dr. T'Soni. I'll be taking you and Tali for this."

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

To say she was disturbed was an understatement, but Liara didn't quite know how else to explain this solemn uneasiness inside of her.

Duty compelled her to keep her thoughts to herself as she followed the marching Commander ahead, the vanguard's stern posture and straight back betraying no thoughts of her own. The team had just put an end to a grieving woman - Julia, a powerful biotic in her own right - who had attacked them out of sheer panic that the Commander wouldn't keep her promise; a promise where she wouldn't turn the life support system off on a brain-dead man, Jacob, who was Julia's partner.

"There is always a time limit on her promises," goaded a wretched thought.

It was... It was self-defence, yes, but it still felt so so wrong. Liara couldn't help but wish there was a more compassionate end, but what more could they do if Julia did not trust them?

It wasn't what truly troubled her, though.

"The Commander said she wouldn't shut the system off, but when we were investigating the logs and solved the mystery as to what the MSV Worthington's crew fate was, and Jacob... She had said nobody deserved a fate trapped in limbo."

Now, Liara didn't claim to understand fully what that statement entailed, but she interpreted the implication that the brain-dead man would get a merciful end prior to Julia's knowledge of them being there in the med bay. He did, after all, when the Commander shouldered the responsibility herself and sombrely turned off the life support, after they had... Neutralized... The woman. Though an act of compassion she was surprised to see and appreciate, it plummeted her spirits when she had watched the Commander hold Jacob's hand until the vital signs flatlined.

"Perhaps I should not judge whether or not the Commander lied to that woman. It was an attempt to pacify her, perhaps to subdue her before she could have reacted as violently as she did."

Based on the logs they'd listened to - with Julia's acknowledgement and refusal to take the medication prescribed by the Worthington's doctor - it was not as though she would accept help and move on, regardless. Liara was quickly finding out that she did not enjoy these missions. More often than not, she was thrust into dangers she was entirely unused to, not that she hadn't expected it when she asked to stay on the Normandy. She couldn't help but wish to have her peaceful expeditions again, or stow away in her quarters to listen to the contents of corrupt OSDs.

All of that was ripped away from her by the very real danger that threatened every single being in this universe though. She held onto that important fact that they were at the center of it all, the bulwarks that were working to stop it, to protect other people who also enjoyed their peaceful expeditions or even their perilous drills.

"Debrief in the comm-room first," was all the Commander said as she marched up to engage the airlock and begin their decontamination process, before they were permitted to enter the Normandy.

Liara shared her uneasiness with Tali, though the quarian was a little better at masking hers when they replied.

"Aye aye, Commander."

There was a melancholic walk through the CiC, or so the asari felt, sensing that the other crew members seemed to have picked up on how the mission transpired just by the way their Commander marched on. There usually was a levity, an ease, all of which was starkly missing. It was just business and salutes now. Liara wasn't entirely looking forward to whatever was going to be discussed in the comm-room.

As soon as they entered, the Commander gestured to the chairs before she circled them to lock the door. Liara and Tali hesitantly sat, their only comfort found in the solidarity of their presence together, though that comfort remained fragile when Shepard took one of the chairs at the far opposite end. She undid the latches of her helmet and shook her head free, raking her hand through her hair as she hunched over and bowed her head. She took a rather noisy breath in, then exhaled slowly.

"So... Right, that was a shit show," the Commander murmured. Her head shot up.

All her actions were making Liara tense, waiting for some kind of backlash or table-flipping anger. Instead, her heart constricted with sympathy upon seeing how weary those emerald eyes appeared.

"My report will include everything we came across in our investigation, but due to the nature and conclusion of it all, the Alliance may reach out to you two to get your input since this involved civilians and property damages to the Morrison Company's freighter. We can cut out th'Alliance bothering you though, if I have your permission to write up your reports for you. I can do the typin', if you don't mind just sittin' beside me and tell me what to write." She sat up and leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "I'd get it if you don't want to though. Was real raw in there, especially for a couple civvies not used to seein' shite like that."

Tense silence hung over the room like a curtain, though Tali was the first to break it with a slow nod. "I would rather send off a report than have them ask me about it. I... Don't really feel comfortable talking about what happened in there, though. I'd like to do it on my own."

"Fair enough, love. You can write it and message me it on the omni-tool, then, and I'll format it to keep t'our protocol for Alliance reports." Shepard's expected eyes fell on Liara next. "You?"

Options, there weren't. Liara had trouble processing what happened, nevermind talking about it. She most definitely didn't want some other hardened marine or attorney questioning her about the event, though, even if it were years from now. She didn't deliberate on it for long as she nodded, subtly clearing her throat so she had regained her voice.

"I would appreciate it if you could help me draft my report, but allow me to do the typing so that I can learn your protocol." Liara shifted anxiously when she could see disapproval flicker by the Commander's eyes, and her heart sank with a sorrowful realization, her gaze falling to the floor as she submitted to this hard life. "I suspect it will not be the first, nor the last time, that we will be called upon to do this."

Shepard sucked in a breath, and it blew out in a reluctant sigh. She rose into standing and headed for the door with a single defeated word.

"Aye."

"So I'm not really good at teachin'," Shepard started as she pulled up another chair to her terminal. "And when you write your report, it has to be as much of your perspective as possible. I can't influence that since it's your tell of events. So... Really all y'can do right now is just write. This template will recognize your language and translate it paragraph by paragraph, so it's gonna look a bit messy. Don't worry about tryin' to format it."

"What if I forget to mention something that happened?" Liara sat down, soon fidgeting nervously. "There was a lot that happened so quickly..."

"Well they need as much information as possible, but don't sweat it if you forget it. That's what trials are for, attorneys are trained to jog your memory with the right question but with as little influence from themselves as possible. Or, y'know, trained to get you to incriminate yourself if y'broke a law and are tryin' to escape it. End of the day, they'll get the info they need if there ever ends up being any discrepancies. It sounds cold an' cruel but, really all they care about is seeing that I didn't murder Julia or Jacob, that I had reasonable cause to decide what I did and act how I did and to therefore justify some of the property damage that ensued in our fight."

At that, Liara stiffened further. She warily looked at the Commander. "So what if I wrote something that implicated murder?"

"Well, if that's how y'feel, then that's how y'feel. They'll launch an investigation on me. All the logs will be there for them, and Dr. Chakwas is off to retrieve the bodies and submit an autopsy report as to what Julia's cause of death was. 'S just the way these things have to go." Shepard's eyes stayed on the screen, but her voice lowered. "I don't feel right about what I had to do either, doc. I don't like how that mission ended, even less so that you an' Tali had to see the grimy bits of my job. I'd rather be back on Eletania, climbin' mountains and watchin' someone pick flowers."

There was a rollercoaster of emotions unpacked in that statement, from sympathy, to empathy, to horror and finally, intrigued curiosity. It wasn't the time nor the place to ask such a selfish question though. Liara steeled herself as she renewed her focus on the screen. Her mind went blank when the Commander drew up a template for the document.

"Close your eyes and walk yourself through from the beginning," Shepard coached. "Only report objective facts, though, nothin' subjective. So, for example, whether you walked two steps or thought about walkin' two steps. Only write the part where you walked two steps. That make sense?"

Liara nodded. She didn't have to close her eyes, for all the images still beat at the forefront of her mind, a waking nightmare that she was condemned to be tormented by. This somehow felt even more harrowing than being trapped in the cavern with 10 seconds left to live. She let her fingers carry themselves away as she typed her walkthrough of events, what she heard, what she saw.

Tali commented on the emptiness of the ship, how the systems were shut down. In the cargo hold, there were fusion containment cells. Liara remembered commenting out of fear of getting too close to them, since they would explode. She jumped, startled, every time Shepard fired a pot shot off to get rid of them in advance.

She remembered the grim warning of Shepard's observation, that the cells were placed there as a trap.

In hindsight, they knew what they were walking into. Log, after log, three in total, they knew what they were walking into, what was going to happen, what fate had demanded. As Liara fell into memory, she typed everything that struck her mind, objectivity be damned. She remembered the woman's heart-wrenching pleas that Jacob be saved. She remembered the devastation that crossed Julia's eyes, when they shut off from hope, and burned bright with rage and betrayal - even though they never did or said anything to warrant it.

Except look at Shepard in the eyes.

What had the Commander looked like, that caused Julia to recoil so viciously, to cease her surrender and try to murder them instead? Liara wished she could have seen more than just the back that stood in front of her.

Was it murder, then, if there was a silent admission that Jacob was not going to live, as promised?

Where was the compassion from the beginning, in the end?

She typed, and typed, and typed, up until a firm hand slipped over her wrist to stop her.

"That's enough, love. You're hurtin' enough."

Broken free, Liara stared at the words on the screen. Most of it was rushed, incoherent sentences at times, a large jumbled paragraph left to reflect the disaster. Uneasiness reverberated stronger deep inside of her, reading these words that Shepard could so easily read right beside her as well. It didn't paint a pretty picture. She was about to select the paragraph and delete it, but another hand joined the efforts to subdue her.

"Aye, vulnerable is not a good colour on you," Shepard murmured. "I'm sorry this is right awkward for ya, yeah, feelin' daft myself, honestly. Expected this, figured you'd need it. I can leave if y'want to just write it all out to get it out your system, before we sit an' try again with the report. Would that help?"

Embarrassment flooded in, and all Liara could think to do was shake her head. She stared at the calloused hands encasing her wrists.

Shame and regret accompanied the many other chaotic emotions surging through her now, the wound not only ripped wide open, but festering as if she was exploring them with a scalpel. She sucked in her bottom lip to nibble on it, part of her wondering how Tali was faring in her own written endeavour. It didn't excuse Liara for how she'd written hers thus far, but she couldn't bring herself to look Shepard in the eyes.

"I apologize for how I came off in there. I don't mean to accuse you, but..."

"It's alright, love. Promise. You've every right to feel what you're feelin', it's only natural to question, yeah? Doubt's good 'cause it leads to understanding. Shite, I'm askin' the same questions. Maybe Julia figured out I was lyin' just by lookin' at my ugly mug, aye. But I stand by the decision that I made that it wasn't right to let Jacob keep goin' like that. Maybe it wasn't my decision to make, somethin' to shove off to next of kin, but Jacob's gone without peace long enough. Sorry, but, well, I ain't gonna sit here and draft up excuses for my report or say me sorries. I get how she felt, but in the end, she was misguided and succumbed to 'er rage. She murdered her crew - they were only tryin' to help her, and stopped Jacob from passing on." She shrugged carelessly. "I get how it's wrong that I'm not really torn up, 'cause you've seen it and said it yourself." She bounced her head in the direction of the terminal. "I ain't got compassion in the end."

Liara rushed to rectify it, to change her words and delete it promptly. She selected the entire paragraph, but stopped at the sombre whisper.

"Not really an accusation when that's the truth, yeah?"

This divide was impossible to navigate, to consolidate. Liara wasn't sure what to do, what to make of all this now. Her perspective naturally warred with the human sitting beside her, that there was almost no point to a debate. There was a most dreadful feeling gnarling around her when the Commander went on as a matter of fact, giving advice on how to edit the paragraph so that it still was largely objective rather than subjective, while retaining her opinions at the heart of it all.

That Shepard seemed to just accept and agree for them to disagree was a puzzling thing to comprehend in this moment shared between them now. Liara ascertained to broach the conversation with Tali, if the quarian was comfortable enough to discuss it at all, anyways.

When all was said and done, the report tailored and ready for submission, silence fell upon them as soon as Shepard saved the draft to include it in her report. She rose from her chair and stretched, joints popping. Her footsteps were quick and quiet to the bed, of which she fell upon, face first, with a contented groan - even though she was still in her armour.

That's all this entire situation meant to her, something to stretch and sleep away. She was so comfortable with her perspective, and it only fuelled that uneasy disturbance inside of Liara. She couldn't help but feel that the human was being callous, more so almost deciding to be after showing that there were times she possessed compassion, like how she held Jacob's hand in the end.

"Gonna catch forty winks," Shepard yawned. "Then-"

"Aren't you troubled by this?" Liara blurted, put on the spot when that red head rose ever so crushingly slow, pushing herself up to rest upon her elbows. The feral eyes that were once burrowed in her mind for a debatably good reason was now replaced by a horrible one. "Is this truly normal for you? We killed another person, Commander. One of your species."

Something in Shepard's eyes died, and there was almost a savage snarl hidden behind the veil of her sorrowful smile.

"Wouldn't be the first time, love. I'm not really troubled by this, no. Suppose I should be, but... I'm used to it. Learned it knee-high, I did." Her head fell back on the bed with a sense of finality, and a sigh. "I'm only sorry that y'hav'ta go through this. Tali too. Both of you are good people." A beat. Another sigh. Her head plopped back on the bed. "Innocence doesn't really stay alive in this field of work, doc. It's the same story every time, no matter the people. You said it best yourself, yeah? Won't be the first or last time you'll file a report like this. Were I you, I'd decide if you're ready for the next mission, and whatever that may bring. Or y'can sit out with your data discs. I won't force you to come with me if y'don't want your boots on the ground no more."

Liara's gaze fell back on the terminal, what it all entailed. Hours ago, days ago, she was glued to it for an entirely different reason. She missed her days of peace, her expeditions. But as the data discs had proven, the questions Tali had asked - she had accomplished very little.

It made the decision evermore agonizing, this life she was asked to submit to, and whatever that life would bring. There was suffering, that much was promised without a time limit stamped on it... But there was something wonderful about the accomplishments that they had made in missions past, something about conquering fears, something about discovering wondrous mysteries that didn't only pertain to Protheans alone. Even in those harrowing moments, those painful moments of witnessing husks and knowing who the husks used to be, there was just something...

Something that made her question her sanity as often as she questioned the Commander's.

"I'll be ready, Commander," she resolved. "But... I would also appreciate if we could talk more at length about these missions. I must admit, I have difficulty coming to terms with them sometimes."

Silence, for a moment - she wondered if Shepard fell asleep. Then the human sighed and abruptly pushed herself up, swinging her legs over to the edge of the bed to sit. She wore a meagre smile, strained and pitiful, almost apologetic. She raked her hand through her dishevelled hair and let out a halfhearted chuckle. "I'm not the right person to help you there, love. The others will be more helpful. Or chat with Dr. Chakwas, she's trained in this. What I got to say 'bout these missions won't help you." She gestured towards the terminal. "Saw it for yourself, there. I'm a hard arse and y'need a soft one, yeah? I tend to help in other... Unconventional ways. I can offer a distraction."

Liara's brow knitted in conflict. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, and she couldn't help but feel disappointed in their differences. Her views on this human were rapidly being shattered, though it was of her own doing to be projecting such a view to begin with. A case of hero worship, perhaps, that clouded her view - among her incessant insatiable need to demystify the Prothean beacon.

Still, she had hope.

"I'll always appreciate the others in how they've aided me, but I'll also appreciate whatever help you can offer, Commander. We don't always have to agree or share the same view. Learning often comes by challenging those views as well."

"Mm... I don't think you're gettin' what I mean, love." Shepard rose, deliberate in her approach, that feral look rapidly returning to her eyes. She placed an innocent hand on her table as she leaned over, leaving little to the imagination with the lack of distance between them. True to her nature, she was all up in Liara's face. "Do you get what I mean, now?"

Searing heat returned to claim Liara's cheeks. Her voice was caught in her throat, still when lips faintly touched hers. Those varren eyes were fixed on her and she couldn't tear away. Another soft press to her mouth, an armoured thumb cupping her chin, before tracing the outline of her bottom lip. Shepard pulled a small measure away.

"How 'bout now?" A flash of a husky smile, a purring hum. "Or d'you need more research material?"

"This... This isn't what I meant," Liara managed pitifully. Her gaze was locked on the lips an inch away from hers. "I'm not... Like other asari in their Maiden stage..."

"Yeah?"

"Yes," it came as a whisper. She couldn't tear herself away, though, leaning forward a little instead. A gentle hand stayed her away by the shoulder.

"Didn't y'just say you're not like other asari, love?"

"I-I'm not."

"Well if you keep this up..." A sinful smirk danced upon her lips, breathing vulgarity as if it were a casual occurrence. "I'll be makin' you scream like other asari."