The stuffy room was deathly quiet compared to my apartment. I tapped my fingernails uncomfortably against the long table in front of me, wishing someone would say something. Anything. Instead, Tali and Garrus stared at me as though a ghost was sitting across from them. Their chairs were unnecessarily squeezed together so that their forearms grazed one another. It was obvious their hands were interlocked under the metal surface. I turned my gaze to the ceiling, annoyed at how sickeningly in love they had become since the Reaper attack. The glaring white lights and the muted greens of the room reminded me of a med bay, much like the one I was dragged to after my final interaction with Shepard. If only they had let me stay.

Finally, the man of the hour entered. Steven Hackett. Straight-laced with a lined face pulled taunt into a stern frown. His winter eyes passed slowly over the three of us before he closed the door behind him. "You're probably wondering why I've called you here." Such a cliche thing to say. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. As he spoke, he crossed his arms behind him, opting to stand rigidly at the head of the table over sitting down with us as equals. "As you know, it has been almost a year since Shepard's death. The Alliance has yet to recover her body. So far, all the information and rumors that we have come across have led to dead ends." The acid in my stomach curdled at the way he so bluntly spoke of her. I was in no mood to discuss Shepard's rotting corpse and where it might be hiding. Already, I regretted leaving the comfort of my apartment and traveling all the way to Earth's country Canada.

"Perhaps there just isn't a body to find," Tali suggested, speaking slowly and carefully as if to not upset me. "There is a chance her body simply incinerated when the Citadel exploded."

"Or maybe she didn't actually die," Garrus cut in with a wave of his free hand. "Shepard is a tough son-of-a-bitch. Maybe she just got up and left."

Heat flooded my face. "Nonsense," I hissed. At that point, I was actively fighting against my nausea to keep myself from spewing vomit right there on the table. "It isn't possible for her to have survived a blast like that. Even if she, by some miracle, survived that, there are a million other things that could have killed her before she even had the time to enter a nearby planet's atmosphere." All six eyes were on me, even the ones hidden by Tali's tinted helmet. I released an irritated breath. "This whole conversation is ridiculous. Admiral, please just explain the reason for this meeting because I'm having a lot of trouble finding it."

The old human cleared his throat. "My apologies, Dr. T'Soni. I'm sure this all is very hard for you."

"I don't need your pity."

"Of course. We have again received another tip from an anonymous source claiming to have spotted pieces of Shepard's armor. The Alliance has been doing intensive research; and while we believe the tip to be fabricated, it has actually allowed us to narrow down a possible location for her body. I was hoping that the three of you would consider looking into it for us since you were the closest to her."

I leaned forward in my stiff chair, squeezing its arms hard enough to lighten my knuckles to a baby blue. The room suddenly lost its oxygen. I pursed my lips to suck in a few breaths, but it was like I was inhaling helium through a straw. My head felt light enough to float away like a balloon. "I nearly broke down the first time I recovered her body," I managed with a slight wheeze. "Yet, here you are, asking me to do it again. If you want it done, do it yourself, Hackett."

"This time is different. We don't plan to repeat Cerberses's work. We just want to give Shepard a proper burial. She deserves it after all she's done for the galaxy. I have business matters to attend to here, but if you can't handle it then don't go. It's as simple as that."

My chair squealed as it scraped against the floor. I slammed both my palms down onto the table, and they began to radiate with a shimmering, blue glow. The chair, along with my queasiness, rose. It sprayed into my lungs like fluid, threatening to drown me in my own sorrow. Just as I got it in my head to lung at the man, Tali grasped my wrist. "Garrus and I will do it." It was enough to pull me away from the encroaching darkness. Even with her expression obscured, I could feel her concern zipping through her touch like electricity. The chair clattered to the ground and the glowing subsided.

"No," I said, my anger fading into exhaustion. "I'll do it. Please forgive my behavior, Admiral." He gave a curt nod, his expression as stoic as before.

"Alright. Just three friends going on a fun trip to recover their dead commander," Garrus said. No one laughed.

"Very well," Hackett responded after a beat of awkward silence. "We'll send you all out to the coordinates tomorrow. Until then, feel free to stay in our sleeping courters. I'll also be sending each of you copies of all the information we have so far. Thank you, and welcome back to the Alliance."