A few precious minutes of emergency medical treatment administered by Private Moskowitz was all Ashley was willing to spare for Councilor Udina. The flashbang grenades her team had lobbed into his office had left the man mostly blind and with a pair of ruptured eardrums, but she was pressed for time and not in a particularly sympathetic mood. Ashley waved the private off and sent her back out to join the rest of the Marines in the embassy lobby. Only Kasumi remained in the office with her and the half-broken man.

"Can you hear me, Councilor?" Ashley said, leaning in closer to where they'd propped Udina up in a chair at the back of the office, away from the windows.

Udina slowly raised his head and looked up at Ashley. There was thin layer of residue smeared across his face, left from the harsh chemicals of the flashbangs, and his eyes were bloodshot and unfocussed. "Yes, Williams," he rasped out in a low, complaining voice. "I can hear you."

"How long have you been working for Cerberus, Councilor?" she said, eager to skip to the meat of her interrogation. "Why did you and Admiral Kaneda betray us?"

Udina gave an irritable groan. "Oh spare me your self-righteousness, Lieutenant Commander," he croaked. "I can imagine what you must think of me. But you'll get no apology." He seemed to regain a measure of his strength and drew in a long, ragged breath, appraising Ashley with a narrowed gaze. "You look impressive with your armor and your weapons and that insufferable sex appeal you flaunt so innocently. But underneath it all you're still just a silly, ignorant girl, desperate for your precious Captain Shepard's approval. Your view of the galaxy is absurdly narrow and uninformed. I won't waste my time trying to explain the complexities of our world to someone like you. I acted to preserve our species. Nothing else matters."

Ashley put her face just inches from his. "You're going to talk to me, Udina, you piece of shit," she said acidly. "I need to know how much damage you've done here and how much of the Systems Alliance you've sold out."

Udina coughed a derisive laugh. "The Systems Alliance is gone, Williams," he spat. "You're looking at the last civilian leader left among its shattered remains. It's just me and the ruins of our military. A military led by Admiral Hackett and his inner circle of cronies, busy pursuing an incoherent war strategy that's destined to fail and incapable of saving our people."

"You want your answers, Williams?" he continued. "Fine. It matters little now. The die is cast." He inhaled. "Admiral Kaneda approached me some time ago, long before the Reapers began spilling through the batarian systems. He predicted the devastation that would follow as well as the tepid response from our so-called allies in the Council. It wasn't until after Earth fell that he revealed to me that he'd been in contact with the Illusive Man, quietly collaborating with Cerberus on a plan that would ensure humanity's survival. Admittedly, I was surprised at this revelation. But Kaneda had been right about nearly everything. The turians, the asari, the salarians. They all turned inward and refused to cooperate on a unified response to the crisis. They gutted their respective military contributions to this station's defense and refused to offer up anything beyond token humanitarian relief for our refugees. It was infuriating."

"Shepard was making progress," Ashley interrupted. "He cemented our alliance with the Hierarchy and brought the krogan into the fight."

Udina smirked up at Ashley. "A lovely arrangement for the turians and the krogan, wouldn't you say? Tell me, Lieutenant Commander, what exactly is the incentive for those two species to provide any real relief for Earth?" He shook his head. "There is none. It's not in their interests. We have nothing more than words of encouragement, acquired through a dubiously negotiated alliance. Do you know what Shepard's actually accomplished? He's brought together two of the most dangerous, traditionally hostile races our galaxy has ever known. If they manage to blunt the Reaper advance, they'll soon recognize the advantage they have together and exert their will on the rest of us."

"Goddamn, you're a bitter man, Udina," Ashley said. "You just can't move past those old rivalries and prejudices can you? The only way forward and out of this mess is together."

"I see your new friend Anita Goyle is rubbing off on you, Williams," Udina said and sighed. "Anita endured the earliest forms of anti-human sentiment among our hosts here on the Citadel Council. She weathered the smug, belittling tone of the asari and the openly hostile attitude of the turians. But, somehow, she managed to emerge an idealist, believing in a naïve vision of homogeneous prosperity and a shared galactic fate." He shook his head slightly. "I'm afraid the years away from the political struggle have softened her heart and dulled her senses. She still believes in a fundamental benevolence among my peers on the Council. I can tell you she is wrong. They care only for themselves and their own interests.

"But let's not be coy, Lieutenant Commander. You and I both know Goyle's worldview isn't one you've subscribed to for very long, if you even truly do at all. I know your record and your history of casual xenophobia. And I know you are easily manipulated." He shrugged again. "Still, perhaps my attitude toward the galaxy is as you say and that I'm merely a cynical old fool, bitter after a lifetime of political frustrations." He made a dismissive noise. "No, as I said, I make no apologies. You are living in a fantasy, Williams. One born from your immaturity, tendency toward hero worship, and the painfully obvious daddy issues you suffer from. I've worked with the other major races for half my life and I know what drives them. It is not an altruistic desire to aid humanity in its hour of need, I can assure you of that. The krogan and turians will only help us if we have something valuable to give them in return. Our home world is devastated, our most valuable colonies destroyed or under siege. Our government, for all intents and purposes, has ceased to exist. Even if the Reapers were somehow pushed back, our territory is ripe for the taking. With his unilateral negotiations, Shepard has helped to engineer a superpower. A new empire."

"He ended the Genophage. The krogan owe us. Wrex will honor his word."

"From what I understand, a salarian scientist ended the Genophage. Your captain merely facilitated the mission to deliver the cure. As an individual, he may enjoy something of a celebrity status with the krogan, but he failed to include what is left of humanity's legitimate leadership in the decision and brushed aside valid concerns from the asari and salarians. Nobody outside of Tuchanka or Palaven will be thanking us."

"You're wrong, Udina, and that's not how the krogan leadership see it."

Udina let out another derisive laugh that quickly devolved into a coughing fit. "Krogan leadership," he croaked. "A truly quaint idea you have of those brutes. They were a scourge upon the galaxy and will be once again if the Reapers don't eradicate them first. Our civilization doesn't remember this. We weren't around to see it. But the asari were. Tevos is an insufferable elitist, but she was right to join Valern in opposing Shepard's decision to spread the cure."

"Let's change the subject," Ashley said evenly. "Speaking of Tevos, where is she? Where are the other councilors? Why haven't they shown their faces during your crackdown in the Wards?"

"I don't know where Valern or Sparatus are, but Tevos and the Asari Diplomatic Mission are gone," Udina said. "As soon as Admiral Kaneda announced the Reapers had been detected along the nebula's frontier, she very quickly and discreetly ordered her staff off the station. The councilor herself, in all her regal glory, was spirited away on board the Destiny Ascension. What little else that remained of the asari fleet here departed with her."

Ashley blanched. "They abandoned the station? Just like that?"

"Kaneda and I anticipated it. Once the Reapers arrived in batarian space, the intelligence predicted the asari would abandon the Citadel. After the incident with Saren and his geth, they knew the station couldn't be defended if it was attacked by even just a handful of Reaper capital ships. Of course, we could order the arms closed and shelter inside our floating fortress. But then what? This is not a self-sustaining station. At the very least, the population would eventually starve. At worst? Well, I think you know. Tevos and her government understood this. They'd been quietly planning their evacuation for some time now. The asari are pulling back to Thessia and ending formal relations with the other major races. The official message was released via an automated comm drone, left in the wake of the Destiny Ascension just before she went through the relay."

Ashley fixed Udina with a hard look. "The Reaper incursion. It's all a hoax, isn't it?"

Udina nodded slowly, holding Ashley's gaze. "Yes," he said. "I understand Cerberus provided the technology but I know little else about that aspect of the plan. Kaneda simply told me the majority of the fleet and troops garrisoned here needed to be removed from the equation."

"To what end?" Ashley said. "After the fleet investigates and figures out the Reaper incursion is a fake, what then?"

"I'm not privy to the military details of Kaneda's plan. I was merely told that those ships and soldiers would be absorbed into a new naval fighting force, one that Cerberus would help to upgrade with new weapons and technologies and use to defend our interests in the Terminus and other frontier regions. That's where humanity's future lies now. Out on the fringes of settled space. Sol is lost. Terra Nova is occupied and blockaded. It's only a matter of time before Elysium and our other core worlds fall as well. Hackett and Shepard and their kind can't stem the Reaper tide."

"So that's it?" Ashley said. "That's all you needed to turn your back on the Alliance and cozy up with Cerberus. Some vague assurance from Kaneda that the Illusive Man has a way to defend against the Reapers? It's treason, Udina. You know that right?"

"I'm not the fool you imagine me to be," Udina said. "I didn't make these decisions lightly and I don't trust the Illusive Man. You never really trust a man like that. But I did believe in his determination to put humanity's interests first, to fight with the sort of ruthlessness this conflict requires. His tactics may have seemed severe in the past, but no longer. Not when we face an enemy whose singular objective is to eradicate our species. There's no room for honor and sensibilities any longer. There's only survival, whatever the cost."

"Well, you and your new friends are certainly showing us a new way to fight dirty," Ashley said and pointed toward the cracked office windows. "Cerberus and those thugs are out there terrorizing the station in the name of the Alliance. We'll never recover from it. You've made humanity out to look like some backwater renegade faction or a disgusting subspecies like the Vorcha. Congratulations on tearing down decades of good will and peaceful cooperation."

Udina winced. "That wasn't part of the bargain I agreed to," he said. "Yes, I helped create a defense force with an eye toward eventually replacing C-Sec and facilitated the delivery of the advanced mechs Kaneda promised would be effective in dealing with any potential Reaper incursions onto the station." He looked toward the windows of his office, his bloodshot eyes unfocused. "But turning on the citizens of the station in this way… It was never discussed and not something I would have agreed to."

He sighed and sunk his head down toward the floor. "When the bombings began in the Wards, I realized Kaneda and the Illusive Man were pursuing a different agenda and that I was being cut out of the loop. I tried to send word to Sparatus and Valern, to warn them. But I was restrained by one of my own Diplomatic Security Service agents, a treacherous wretch named Palls. Cerberus had been extraordinarily thorough in their infiltration of our agencies. I've been a prisoner within this office for more than two days. I got the distinct impression they were only keeping me alive until they were sure I was no longer needed."

"Figured that out all by yourself, bub?" Kasumi said. She'd rummaged through the kits of the dead DSS agents in the office and found a small med pouch. "There's enough Red Sand in here to keep the party going for weeks. Looks like you were going to be the unfortunate victim of an overdose. Or suicide."

Udina stared at the drugs in Kasumi's hands for a moment before looking back up at Ashley. "You should have let them. My life is over."

"That'll be for an Alliance tribunal to decide," Ashley said, straightening up and beginning to check over her gear. "I have my own opinions on the subject, but fortunately for you it's not up to me."

"What I did was out of desperation, Lieutenant Commander," Udina said, his tone beseeching. "You have to see that. I only sought to save our race. To save something of who we are."

"Then tell me something useful, goddamnit," Ashley spat. "I've got limited resources to work with here and an entire fucking army of mechs and mercs to contend with."

Udina hung his head and stared at the floor. "I can't help you with the mechs or the HASTR agents. They no longer obey my orders." He looked back up and met Ashley's gaze. "But there is something else. Before you arrived, my captors wanted something. My access codes to the Citadel Archives. I understand that they forwarded them along to a Cerberus team that's tasked with accessing the secured vault there."

"What the hell does Cerberus need from a library?" Ashley said.

"It's more than that," Udina said. "Numerous government officials and diplomats have access to the general archives. But there is a deeper, much more secure area within the facility that only the Council has direct access to. That's where they're headed and why they forced me to relinquish my codes."

"Forced. That's funny." Ashley held his gaze for moment, thoughtful. "What's in there?"

"Mostly ancient, classified vid and holo records related to the Citadel and its founding races. The sort of material deemed too sensitive for public consumption. There are also exotic technologies housed in the sub vaults and artifacts of uncertain origin, things that the Council researchers were unable to decipher. Many, many things have been stored there over the centuries." Udina shrugged. "I've never actually set foot within the secure vault myself. Given the galactic climate at the time of my ascension to the Council, it didn't seem a particularly urgent matter. I gave the manifest a cursory glance when Anderson's credentials were transferred to me but, until earlier today, hadn't spared the place more than a passing thought."

Ashley was about to press further when the squad channel came to life, the urgent voice of Corporal Allen in her ear. "We've got company inbound, Lieutenant Commander," he said. "Three C-Sec Kodiaks on approach. Two are dropping down into the plaza, the third is heading for the pad on the roof."

"I have limited line of sight on the roof, Williams," Thane said over the squad's comm link. He was still in his overwatch position across the Presidium ring. "I can relocate to a higher floor but the plaza will be exposed."

"Don't bother," Commander Bailey said, cutting in over the team's comm link. "You have eyes on my people, Krios. I'm in the shuttle landing on the roof. What's your status, Williams?"

"Embassy main floor is secure," Ashley said. "We've rescued about a dozen staffers that were being held hostage and I have Councilor Udina in custody. It'd be super nice if you could come down and relieve us of this trash. I have a call to make."

"Copy that. Be there in two minutes."

SSV Normandy

"Seventeen captured, Shepard," Garrus said. The big turian was standing next to Kahlee Sanders amid the Farragut's CIC, their images displayed on the wall-mounted vid screen in Normandy's Ready Room. Shepard and Miranda were gathered in the Captain's office to hear the results of the raid. Captain Dah, standing within her CIC on the Dunkirk, was conferenced in over a separate secure tightbeam link.

"They weren't much prepared to repel boarders, especially after EDI's hack locked them out of their own armory," Garrus continued. "A handful still decided to put up a fight. It didn't end well for them. Three KIA among Farragut's crew. No casualties on our side. Westmoreland and Griffin are securing the prisoners in the shuttle bay. Vega and Hincapie are down in Engineering, making a final sweep of the lower decks and providing security for Donnelly and Daniels. Crew manifest says we got 'em all, but I still prefer to verify that with our own eyes."

"Nice work, Garrus," Shepard said, sitting on the edge of the small desk, arms crossed in front of his chest. "How much time do you need to get Farragut underway again, Commander?"

"Won't be long, Captain," Kahlee said. "Ensign Rhodes is running through the checklist at the helm as we speak and Daniels and Donnelly report they'll be able to reinitialize the primary reactor and IES systems within the next ten minutes. We'll be fully stealth capable shortly thereafter. Lawson and O'Hara are busy working on the rest of the critical systems here in the CIC."

"Expedite that process as much as possible, Commander," Captain Dah said. "Toronto and Wake Island will reach the outer limit of their engagement ranges soon. Even with our collective stealth capabilities, it's going to be tricky to drop off their scopes and skirt past the picket line and reach the Citadel."

"Agreed," Shepard said. "EDI will provide remote assistance in getting Farragut back up and running, Commander."

"Understood, Shepard," Kahlee said. "I'll take all the help I can get."

"We have another problem," Miranda announced, taking a step forward. She was standing a little off to Shepard's left, her eyes fixed on a datapad she clutched in one hand, furiously scrolling through the data EDI had been copying over from Farragut's systems. She looked up a moment later and glanced between Shepard and the others conferenced in over the vid display.

"EDI and I have begun sorting through the Farragut's command logs," she said. "There's no longer any doubt that Cerberus is directly involved here. We've found evidence linking Admiral Kaneda and much of his senior staff to a cell based on Fehl Prime. And it appears that shortly after you took Major Richter into custody on Noveria, Captain Dah, that the remaining crews of Farragut, William Wallace, and Beowulf met with operatives from the Talos Cell, began formalizing a partnership and acting as a conduit to the Admiral. Essentially, these ships and their crews have been working under Cerberus direction ever since."

"That fits with what we've seen over here," Garrus said. "Some of the gear we took from the crew, particularly those who resisted, was definitely Cerberus issue. There's some other tech we haven't had a chance to catalog yet, but it's definitely not standard Alliance Navy equipment."

"I can't say that surprises me all that much, Major," Dah said. "After the Alliance disavowed the agency, our intelligence suggested a high likelihood that the rogue SAIS people would seek out other extremist groups with similar agendas. Obviously, Cerberus topped that list. And Farragut's presence here posing as another vessel pretty much confirmed what we suspected about Kaneda."

"Of course," Miranda said. "But there's more. And it's quite a bit more alarming." She tapped out a rapid command on her datapad and made a quick swiping motion, sending data to the shared conference link. A list of starships with salarian names and hull numbers populated a new window on the vid screen. "The Alliance warships we've encountered are only a minority of the force making up the picket. Sensor logs and orders found on Farragut's main computer indicate most of the ships patrolling the region are the Salarian Navy frigates and destroyers you see here."

"That doesn't make sense," Shepard said. "The salarians pulled their ships out of the Citadel Fleet weeks ago."

"The Salarian Union did recall those ships, Captain," Miranda said. "These salarian vessels are entirely different from the ones that were sent home. They're all warships known to be affiliated with the rebel Narra faction. EDI's already cross-matched the hulls with the intelligence we have from our STG sources. There's no question.

"But that's not even the most peculiar thing." She typed out another command on her datapad, replacing the list of salarian warships with the schematic of what looked like a small deep space probe. "The device you're looking at on the screen is a Dolos-class quantum-field communication relay drone. I happen to be familiar with this technology from when it was in the final development stage at the R&D facility on Minuteman Station. It's designed to covertly link with mass relay comm buoy nodes, siphon secure data and piggyback on existing buoy networks to facilitate near real-time communications for Cerberus. But perhaps of even greater utility is their capability to broadcast extremely convincing multi-spectrum radiological, thermal, and electromagnetic signatures.

"I know of at least one successful field test where a Cerberus deep space infiltration team lured an asari scientific research vessel to its position after spoofing the sensor profile and distress beacon of a hanar commercial freighter." Miranda shifted her posture uncomfortably. "It was later reported that the ship had been lost to pirates known to be active in the region. In fact, it proved a major success for Cerberus and supplied a good deal of intelligence around classified asari technologies.

"The Farragut's logs indicate that less than forty-eight hours ago, the William Wallace and Beowulf deployed four of these drones along a stretch of the local nebula's perimeter. They were calibrated to imitate the known sensor characteristics of a sizable Reaper fleet, broadcasting signatures that would easily be seen by the Citadel's long-range threat detection network."

Shepard was giving Miranda a probing look. "You think Cerberus drew the fleet to these coordinates to trap it, to capture ships not destroy them."

"I do."

"Which helps explain why we have Narra-loyal salarian ships prowling the station's outer perimeter," Garrus said. "I can't imagine any way Kaneda could have brokered a deal with that faction without it getting noticed by the Council and the turian and asari fleet commanders. That feels like a play by the Illusive Man."

Captain Dah was staring at Miranda, her brow furrowed. "Admiral Kaneda is clearly a traitor," she said evenly. "Maybe he's even been secretly in league with your former organization for a long time, Major Lawson. But tactically, he only directly commands the Elbrus. Toronto and her escort stayed behind here to contribute to the picket. Fine. But that still leaves almost a dozen other Alliance hulls among the ships that presumably rallied out to those coordinates, not to mention the turian and asari ships. Unless we've wildly miscalculated the military capabilities of Cerberus, there's no way in hell they can field a force strong enough to go toe-to-toe with even a depleted Citadel Fleet. And I simply will not entertain the possibility that the command crews aboard our other ships are all a part of this conspiracy."

"I don't disagree with you, Captain," Miranda said. "As of now, there is no evidence to suggest any of the command personnel among the other Alliance ships of the Citadel Fleet are directly involved. But I caution you, it would be a mistake to underestimate the resolve of the Illusive Man or his ability to embed a few highly skilled operatives among the crews of those ships. Critical technical posts with extensive access to internal networks and operations would be the objective, not necessarily the recruitment of captains or other senior officers. The foundations for this sort of mission would have been put into place years ago with agents meticulously placed throughout the Alliance military, rising to positions of influence slowly over time. In fact, if I hadn't already been committed to other priorities, it's exactly the sort of assignment I would have been trusted with. It's the kind of infiltration I was groomed for. Believe me, someone like me could do immense damage to the integrity of the fleet from even a modest position of authority.

"And you're spot on about the historical military capabilities of Cerberus," she went on. "Until recently, the focus had always been on small, agile units capable of decisive, surgical actions. Small moves designed to effect major results. There was never a need to field a robust standing fleet or a desire to draw that sort of attention. But things are evolving rapidly now, Captain. The Illusive Man's ambitions have increased dramatically. In claiming the allegiance of frontier colonies like Horizon he's made it known that he plans to pursue a leading role in humanity's interests. He already has access to the manufacturing facilities on Omega. Capturing a significant portion of the Citadel Fleet and growing his military assets is natural progression of this strategy."

She glanced back down at the datapad clasped in her gloved hands, furrowing her brow. "What I can't determine is exactly what he hopes to accomplish on the Citadel itself. Why bother deploying a force here after he's already successfully drawn off the fleet? Farragut's logs don't have much to say on the subject but there are a few references to shipments of arms and materials delivered to several auxiliary space ports in the Wards over the last few weeks, including a significant number of Rampart Mechs, whatever those are. Regardless—"

She felt Shepard's hand on her shoulder. She glanced up at him and met his gaze. He gave her a subtle nod and looked back the vid monitors.

"Bottom line, Captain, the Fleet's at risk and most of our people out there in the black probably have no idea what they're heading for," Shepard said. "There's still plenty to untangle, but that much seems pretty clear. Miranda's the resident expert on Cerberus capabilities and strategy, but there's nothing about her assessment I disagree with. I know the Illusive Man well enough myself to know not to underestimate him."

Dah frowned and nodded. "Very well," she said. "As you say, Shepard, it's clear the Fleet's in danger." She turned and barked a few curt orders over her shoulder to her XO and CIC staff before returning her gaze back to the camera. "I'm taking Dunkirk to see exactly what Cerberus has waiting for our people. If we're lucky, maybe we can head them off. I'll leave it to you to get this intel back to the Aralakh system."

"We'll get a drone back through the relay right away," Shepard said. "Good luck, Captain. And watch yourself out there."

"Always do. Dunkirk Actual, out."

"Garrus, Kahlee, finish what you need to over there and get that ship moving again," Shepard ordered. "Coordinate with Joker on the flight and evasion plan before we drop back into EMCON."

"Understood," Kahlee said. "Farragut, out."

The transmissions from both Dunkirk and Farragut terminated and the vid screen faded to black with the Normandy's seal in the center. Miranda wandered a few steps away, placed the datapad down upon Shepard's desk and turned to face him. She crossed her arms, giving him a deliberate look. "Too frank about the Illusive Man's goals?" she said with a smirk. "Or are you worried that if I remind the other officers who I was before this little battlefield commission of mine won't stand?"

"Neither," Shepard said. "But you'd made your point. You have an ally in Jill Dah, Miranda. You have her respect."

"Ah. So, you think I was showing off."

Shepard blew out a breath and glanced at the floor. "I think you told her what she needed to hear," he said diplomatically. "She appreciates straight talk and that you don't waste her time dancing around things like a lot of career officers tend to do. That's probably a big part of why she wanted you on the Boudicca's staff."

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "You knew?"

"That she wanted you for her XO? Sure. She wouldn't have approached you without clearing it with me first. Dah's a stickler for honor and tradition. Anyway, I told her she was perfectly free to offer you the job but that I thought she'd have a hard time convincing you to take it."

"Because you know me so well, is it?" Miranda teased.

"I feel like I know you pretty well by now," he said and smiled affectionately. "But that's not why. I know you have unfinished business that can't be accomplished on the bridge of a dreadnought. I know you need to see it through."

Miranda inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, and took a step toward him. The intercom chirped before she could reach him.

"Captain, priority comm link request via the QEC," Ensign Traynor said over the intercom speakers. "It's originating from the node at the Human Embassy on the Citadel, sir. I've already authenticated the security codes. It's Lieutenant Commander Williams."

"Route it in here, Ensign."

"Aye, sir. Sending it through now."

The Ready Room's vid screen flashed back to life a moment later, Normandy's seal replaced by an image of Ashley from the waist up. She was clad in light body armor with an Avenger assault rifle slung over her chest.

"It's damn good to see you safe, Ash," Shepard said. "What's your situation?"

"We're in fairly deep shit, Skipper," Ashley said. "The Citadel's under siege by a mixed human and synthetic force, led by Cerberus special operatives and aided by Alliance and C-Sec collaborators. I'm requesting the Normandy and whatever other ships you can rally divert back here as soon as humanly possible, sir."

"Understood, Ash. We're already on station in the nebula and readying a stealth approach to the Citadel. We found out about Admiral Kaneda after the Tuchanka mission and made our way here as soon as the comm buoy network went down."

Miranda stepped into the camera's field of vision, sidling up next to Shepard. She eyed Ashley critically but said nothing.

Ashley blinked, her expression a mix of surprise and relief. Her eyes briefly flicked toward Miranda before looking back at Shepard. "That's music to my ears, Skipper," she said. "We figured we'd have to hold out on our own for a good while longer. I suppose you know about the Citadel Fleet and the faked Reaper incursion?"

"We do," Shepard said. "Kaneda left a picket task force along the outer defense zone meant to guard the approach to the station. Less than twenty minutes ago, Garrus led an operation to seize one of those ships. It's the Farragut, Ash. We have her now and are busy decrypting everything stored on her systems. But we've already confirmed the Reaper threat is bullshit and we know how they managed to spoof the signal. Captain Dah is taking the Dunkirk to the coordinates now to try and head off the Fleet."

"The Farragut? Son of a bitch. I guess that shouldn't surprise me." Ashley chewed on her lip for a moment. "This thing goes all the way to the top, Shepard. I have Councilor Udina in custody. He's been working right alongside Kaneda for months to set this up."

Shepard and Miranda exchanged a quick glance. They'd already spoken at length about the likelihood of Udina's involvement so it didn't floor them to hear the confirmation from Ashley.

"He was holed-up here in the Human Embassy, guarded by DSS agents, mechs and some other goons," Ashley continued. "We're pretty sure they're all taking their marching orders from Cerberus agents scattered throughout the station. From the looks of it, they were planning on taking our illustrious Councilor out of the picture once they'd finished their business here."

Shepard nodded. "What's your force composition, Ashley?"

"Kasumi, Thane Krios, your old pal Zaeed Massani and a handful of Marines who didn't muster with the Fleet," she said. "There's some loyal C-Sec officers on the scene too who I'll be turning Udina over to. They're taking their orders from a local cop by the name of Bailey. He says he knows you, Shepard."

"We're acquainted," Shepard said with an approving smirk. "How secure is your position?"

"For the moment, we're okay," Ashley said. "It's a reasonably defensible spot. Bailey is deploying his men along the perimeter and clearing the rest of the building. My Marines are setup in the lobby and helping to process a big group of embassy staffers we found hunkered down in a conference room. Outside the Presidium, the station's chaos. We know for sure that both the Alliance docks and Citadel Flight Ops are under hostile control. Most of the major residential and business districts in the Wards are on the brink of full scale rioting, which appears intentional. It's a major effort to paint this thing as some kind of Alliance coup, Shepard. These combat mechs they have deployed here are nasty as hell and are all stamped with Systems Alliance emblems."

"Williams," Miranda interrupted. "Where is Anita Goyle? Is she safe?"

Ashley regarded the other woman with a narrow gaze. "Affirmative," she said curtly. "She's fine. A little banged up after some of Udina's people raided the apartment, but her injuries weren't serious. I left her with another friend of yours, some lunatic by the name of Jack. She said she'd take Goyle somewhere safe and off the grid." She shrugged. "Anita seemed comfortable enough with the plan and the woman, so I didn't make a fuss. Anyway, it was better we didn't have to worry about her when we took the Embassy. It took some doing to make it in here and grab the Councilor."

"Casualties?" Shepard asked.

"Negative. We're all in one piece. At least for now."

"That's good news, Ash. Did you learn anything else of value from Udina?"

Ashley grimaced and shook her head. "Sounds like he was cut out of the loop a few days ago, so his actionable intel is pretty stale. But there were two interesting nuggets he gave up. The big one is that Councilor Tevos and the entire Asari Diplomatic Mission have already cut bait and hightailed it off the station. They evacuated on board the Destiny Ascension a little over four hours ago, along with what was left of the other asari fleet assets assigned to station defense. Udina says the asari have ceased all official diplomatic relations with the Council races and are pulling back to Thessia."

"Well, shit," Shepard muttered. "That's a problem."

"I couldn't believe it at first either," Ashley said. "But we're into Udina's secure system access now so Kasumi was able to bring up footage and logs from the asari docks. Tevos and her people are definitely gone."

"Is she crazy?" Shepard said, exasperated, glancing at Miranda. "They can't possibly think they can stand on their own in this fight?"

Miranda was thoughtful for a moment. "It's a potentially grave mistake on her part but one that she's at least partially been manipulated into making," she said. "This is the play, Shepard. The Illusive Man knows he can't drive a wedge between us and the turians when our military objectives are so closely aligned. But the hoax of a Reaper incursion was more than enough to encourage the asari to withdraw from the Council and turn inward. It's a terrible blow. With the salarians in disarray, humanity's future dependence on the asari for reconstruction alone is irreplaceable. The added fiction that the Alliance has become desperate enough to attempt a coup on the Citadel all but obliterates the balance of power and order in the galaxy."

"Creating a vacuum that he'll be more than happy to step into," Shepard said.

"Precisely," Miranda said. "Though, I'd venture that the asari have had this sort of contingency in mind for a long time. That's a lot of personnel and ships to evacuate in only a matter of hours."

"Sounds like you're still pretty wired into how your old boss is thinks, Lawson," Ashley said. "Udina said a lot of the same stuff, and about how the turians and krogan couldn't be trusted to help us in the long run."

"You'd have to be a fool not to see how our actions on Tuchanka could be twisted by someone like the Illusive Man," she said, ignoring Ashley's accusatory tone. "And yes, Williams, given that I was one of his most trusted operatives for a very long time, I am quite well informed. This is also why he would very much prefer to see me dead rather than speaking with you."

Ashley gazed back and Miranda and made a noncommittal noise.

"Anything on the other councilors, Ashley?" Shepard said, stepping between them, so to speak.

"Negative, Shepard. Kasumi's scouring the Council databases and logs, but so far, we don't have anything reliable on their whereabouts. They've likely gone to ground with their respective protection details."

"Let's make locating them a priority," Shepard said. "We can't risk Cerberus getting their hands on either of them. What's the other thing you got out of Udina?"

"Right," Ashley said. "This might not be much, but it's strange. Udina says he was forced to give up his secure access codes for the Citadel Archives. Apparently, there's some sort of ultra secret vault down there that only the Council have direct access to. He says there's a Cerberus team heading there now but claims to have no idea what they're after."

Shepard shot Miranda a questioning glance.

"I don't know, John," she said, shaking her head. "That is odd. But the Illusive Man must be aware of something of value stored there. He wouldn't devote resources on that sort of errand unless his intel is compelling."

"Alright, whatever they're looking for I'd rather not let them get their hands on it," Shepard said. "Ashley, once you're satisfied the Embassy Compound is secure, take some people and track that Cerberus team down."

"You got it, Skipper," Ashley said. "I'm sending over all the intel we've gathered so far over a secure data stream. You should have it in a sec."

Miranda walked over and took her datapad off the desk, tapping a rapid command and scrolling through menus. "We have it," she said, nodding at Shepard.

"Okay, Lieutenant Commander, hang tight over there," Shepard said, glancing over at the mission clock on the bulkhead. "We'll be putting an infiltration plan together on the fly but should have some support to you within ninety minutes. Do you have long-range mobile comms capability?"

"Affirmative," Ashley said and tapped shoulder strap of her armored tactical vest. "Full SOCOM combat control setup on my back, Skipper. I've got the QEC linked in as a relay for now and can have direct comms with Normandy once you're within a thousand klicks. Encryption codes are within the data package I sent you."

"Copy that, Ashley. Keep your ears open for further orders."

"Understood, sir," Ashley said. "We'll be listening." She gave a quick nod and ended the transmission.

Shepard watched the vid screen fade out and blew out a long breath, turning and glancing over at Miranda who was still head down in the data Ashley had sent over. "How bad does it look."

Miranda frowned and looked up to meet his gaze. "Well, it's not good, Shepard. They don't have an exact count but there are at least four hundred of those combat mechs active on the station. And Williams was right—they're heavily modified and vastly more lethal than your typical LOKI variant. I'd say we may be looking at some of the first Cerberus-designed military hardware to come off the Omega assembly lines. This little merc army Udina helped organize doesn't look all that formidable but there's no telling how deeply compromised the rest of C-Sec is. It might get a whole lot messier over there before it gets better, John."

"And we're bringing what, three or four fireteams to the party," he said with a sigh. "Not ideal. I'm going to need you on the stick of that Dragonfly."

"Yes, you most certainly will," she said matter-of-factly, glancing back down at her datapad and tapping out another series of commands. "I'm forwarding this data to Garrus and the Farragut. Shall I organize the pre-mission briefing?"

"Do it," he said. "Five minutes. War Room."

Less than thirty minutes later, the Normandy's Shuttle Bay was abuzz with prelaunch activity. The massive trundling loaders were maneuvering the Dragonfly assault drop ship away from its storage bay brackets and into launch position. Operations Chief Sun was busy directing a group of her techs swarming around the big warbird, attending to ordnance loading and running expedited pre-flight safety inspections.

The hulking, aggressively designed Dragonfly with its numerous external weapons mounts and overpowered thrusters couldn't match the stealth capabilities of Kodiak-Two, which was sitting dormant at the other side of the deck. But, on this mission, Shepard was more than happy to sacrifice a bit of stealth for the considerable gain in overall firepower and close-air support he'd have at his disposal riding into battle on the Dragonfly. The situation on the Citadel was growing more chaotic by the minute as the Cerberus-designed mechs raised havoc across the station and the compromised elements of C-Sec grew bolder, or, more desperate. All this with the knowledge that reinforcements from outside the local system were a long distance away made the choice in tactics a straightforward one.

The drone he'd ordered dispatched back to the Aralakh System was already accelerating toward the Lima-3 Mass Relay. Once it transitioned through, it was programmed to engage its advanced communications array and begin burst transmissions over the fleet's emergency band. A short while after, the crucial intel Ashley had gathered along with everything the Normandy and Dunkirk had discovered within the Serpent Nebula would be in the hands of Admiral Lindholm and the rest of the task force leadership situated in Tuchanka high orbit. The crisis unfolding on and around the Citadel all but guaranteed Lindholm would break off a sizeable force to support the Normandy, but even the most optimistic predictions put a realistic response at least a full solar day out.

But that was beyond Shepard's control. Instead, he was focused on the very clear and present threat to the Citadel's population and the integrity of the settled galaxy's seat of power. By his estimation, he couldn't afford to wait for Lindholm's support and allow Cerberus and the rogue salarian faction to solidify their hold on the station. The Alliance and its allies had already lost far too much real-estate to the Reapers to allow the Citadel to be taken off the board as well. And he absolutely wasn't going to tolerate the Illusive Man acquiring whatever he coveted within the Archives.

The plan was a simple one. The Normandy and Farragut would get in as close to the Citadel as safely possible, minimizing the distance the Dragonfly and Cortez's Kodiak-One would have to travel before deploying their respective teams to the station. Once Shepard's team and its counterpart led by Garrus touched down, they'd link up with other friendlies to the best of their ability but would chiefly be concerned with hitting their objectives hard and fast, hopefully catching the enemy by surprise.

The Farragut was following at less than a kilometer behind the Normandy, carefully matching the course Joker was navigating through the picket task force, weaving a path through a gauntlet of active scans. After both frigates had engaged their stealth drives and dropped back into EMCON, the Toronto and Wake Island had been joined by several of the salarian vessels operating near the Citadel and begun a methodical search for Shepard's party crashers.

Running silent and while propelled by the advanced stealth drives of the Normandy and Farragut, Joker and his counterpart, Ensign Rhodes, had been able to slip past the pursuers and dogleg a reasonably direct course toward the station. Thanks to the intel EDI had been able to extract from Farragut's logs, the crews of the two frigates had a much clearer picture of the fleet composition guarding the approach to the Citadel, allowing the pilots to keep a judicious distance from the hunters. Shepard didn't want either his ship or the newly captured Farragut exposed unnecessarily, but he also needed to ensure his insertion teams were brought in as close as possible. The drop shuttles would be vulnerable until they breached the station's airspace so every kilometer he could shave off that journey was worth the gamble.

Fortunately, given the vast amount of space that needed to be covered for an effective patrol pattern, the picket line Admiral Kaneda had left behind was woefully thin. With Farragut's logs now in hand, they knew there were a total of fourteen operational warships in the region, seven salarian, four Alliance Navy, and three unaffiliated patrol corvettes they suspected were crewed by the Blue Suns. Shepard hoped Miranda was right and that most of the crew aboard those Alliance ships were unknowing pawns in the Cerberus plot who were simply following orders from Kaneda or manipulated by a handful of collaborators. But he couldn't take the time to sort that out now. He needed to get boots on the ground as soon as possible and relieve the pressure on Ashley and the others.

Shepard and Miranda were astern of the action taking place on the flight deck, standing amid the ship's Armory section with the handful of people available to take the ride over to the Citadel. Securing one of his battle suit's heavy ablative armor gauntlets, he glanced across one of the Armory's big multipurpose work tables to where Liara was busy gathering up her own gear, her expression a mask of grim resolve. Private Tran was helping the asari with her light combat armor, working silently and efficiently, checking over the suit seals and latches and putting their weapons in order.

Liara had taken the news about Tevos and the rest of the Asari Diplomatic Mission's desertion stoically enough, but Shepard knew her plenty well enough to see she was seething on the inside, stung by the betrayal. She'd set to work immediately, dispatching what remained of the depleted Shadow Broker network of agents and tasking them with ferreting out whatever news they could discover about the state of the Asari Republics.

Concerned about her focus, Shepard had initially urged her to remain on the Normandy and oversee the situation from a distance, but she balked at the suggestion and pleaded with him to allow her come. She was angry, that much was obvious, but eager to help put right a crisis that her government had turned its back on. He'd relented, trusting she'd be able to keep it together and painfully aware how desperately outnumbered they figured to be once they hit the ground on the Citadel. He knew he couldn't afford to leave her behind when he needed every able-bodied fighter he could muster.

The paradox that Liara T'Soni had become continued to confound him. He knew firsthand the tenderness and empathy she was capable of. The connection he'd shared with her had been unlike anything he'd experienced up to that point in his life. It was as if a window to each other's souls had been cracked open, revealing a glimpse of their purest essence. He knew she'd felt the same.

Time and circumstance had changed all that. What had remained of their once-intoxicating romance was torn thoroughly apart when that Collector particle beam gutted the Normandy and sent him spiraling out into the void. The intervening years had understandably changed them both—dramatically—but her transformation still felt jarring to him. From the detached, ruthless efficiency he'd seen in her back on Illium to the casual brutality she'd displayed on Mars, a deep cynicism had taken root in her that seemed altogether out of character. He suspected much of what haunted her could still be traced back to Benezia and the frigid waste of Noveria.

But whatever path Liara needed to tread to find reconciliation wasn't one he could share with her. He laughed inwardly at the notion, realizing the absurdity of someone a third her age offering his sage advice. Still, it was his nature to find a way to help those he cared for, to fix what was broken. But he couldn't help her this time. She needed something else. A purpose she'd been searching for all her life. He hoped she found that purpose soon and before the darkness inside her grew any deeper.

Liara caught him staring at her and gave a quick nod, the faintest hint of an affectionate smile curling the edge of her lip. He returned the gesture and resumed his own pre-battle ritual, securing the final few latches and seals of his N7 battle armor before taking his Avenger assault rifle from the nearby rack, working the highly-modified weapon's action several times and confirming ammo loadouts.

Miranda was a few feet away from him, busy tapping out commands on her Omni-Tool, running through a series of remote, pre-flight diagnostics on the Dragonfly she was getting ready to pilot. The advanced, jet-black battle armor suit she'd recently spent a small fortune on was visible nearby, hanging in her open locker. As sleek and lightweight as the new suit was and with as much personal agility it afforded her, wearing it while squeezed behind the stick of a drop shuttle was entirely impractical. Instead, she was dressed simply in a standard issue Alliance Navy one-piece flight jumpsuit. She wore a light armored vest over the suit with a sidearm strapped to her thigh. Aside from her flight helmet, she was as geared up for battle as she could be.

Shepard looked her up and down, frowning, totally unsatisfied with the amount of Miranda's vital anatomy the armored vest protected.

"The Dragonfly's cockpit is extraordinarily well armored, Shepard," Miranda said, still scrutinizing the readout of her Omni-tool. "Only the most elite Navy and Marine pilots were intended to fly them, meaning the Alliance invested significantly in a design that offered the absolute highest degree of survivability to the crews."

"I see you've added telepathy to your skillset," he said dryly.

"There's no magic to it," she said. "I can feel your eyes on me. That, and I'm exceptionally observant, particularly when it comes to detecting your many cues, Shepard." She took a step closer to him, lowering her voice so only he could hear her. "You've been staring at me with that look you get and it's not the one reserved for the bedroom. Believe me, you'll be far more vulnerable on the ground than I will be in that beast." She nodded her head in the direction of the Dragonfly and frowned. "We've been in combat alongside each other far too many times for you to fixate on my personal safety like this. What's bothering you?"

He exhaled. "You're right," he said. "And I don't know. Something just feels a little off. I can't explain it."

She put her hand on his armored chest and gave him a tender smile. "You don't have to. We've all been through a lot lately. You're not immune to that stress, you know. But I also know you live for moments like this, Shepard. There's no shame in that. This business on the Citadel isn't ideal, but we'll handle it, like we always do. Then, afterward, holiday," she said and winked.

Shepard grinned back at her, suppressing the urge to pull her into his arms. "Copy that, XO."

"Shepard," EDI said, striding over to him. "I have completed the diagnostics and combat simulations you ordered performed on this humanoid chassis and have verified its mission readiness. All autonomous, self-contained quantum sub-processors and neural pathways are performing at optimal levels and biomechanical components are confirmed defect free. I stand ready for deployment."

Miranda took a step back from Shepard and joined him in regarding EDI, resplendent in a backup set of combat armor borrowed from her personal cache of supplies. If the suit didn't fit the synthetic woman's body perfectly, Shepard couldn't tell where it fell short, which left him feeling unsettled—more evidence that the Illusive Man had modeled his pet infiltration unit after Miranda's figure. The creep.

"You've changed your hair again, EDI," he said. "Planning on settling on something soon or should I expect a weekly rotation?"

EDI ran her nimble fingers through her shoulder-length hair, now a silvery-blonde with prominent streaks of purple, resulting in an almost metallic quality. "Jeff recommended the change," she said. "I apologize if the cosmetic alteration is a distraction."

Shepard shared a look with Miranda. "It's not an issue," he said. "You just might want to settle on something and stick with it for a while. Simple things like that will help the crew get better adjusted to your presence, uh, in there. Make them a bit less jumpy and think of you like a fellow crewmember rather than an extension of the ship's AI."

"I see," EDI said. "Thank you, Shepard. I appreciate your insight and will endeavor to maintain consistency in this unit's personal appearance."

"Don't mention it," Shepard said, plucking a handful of grenades from a nearby box and slipping them into the slots on his armor. "Now, mind running me through again how you're going to be able to operate independently from the Normandy in that body and still stay you?"

"I would be happy to, Shepard," EDI said. "As you know, this unit's independent processing matrix and data storage drive is capable of sustaining a significant imprint of my core programming matrix. When I seized control of this body, I overwrote the existing program and transferred a complete image of my unique adaptive personality algorithm and all my higher reasoning and ethical governing processes. While the body remains within a certain proximity to the Normandy and the uplink to the ship's communications array is maintained, my quantum blue box located near the Med Bay maintains direct control. Perfectly synchronized, so to speak."

"And if that uplink is severed for any reason or Normandy moves out of range?" he prompted.

"The local copy of my programming instantaneously assumes primary control, resulting in a seamless transition," EDI said. "The internal power supply of this unit is fully capable of independent operation for a minimum of seventeen years, four months, and twelve days before the micro reactor would require maintenance. Without access to my full systems suite on the Normandy, my processing capabilities will be somewhat diminished, but the shift will be imperceptible to human observation. The mirrored instance is substantial, allowing me to remain me." She smiled.

"So you'll be you, and in there," Shepard said, gesturing to EDI, "but you'll also be present and active on the Normandy."

"Correct."

"So, there will be two of you. A cloned copy."

"In a sense, yes," EDI said. "Once this body reestablishes an uplink to Normandy, my parallel systems will synchronize data and the two units will be as one."

Shepard blew out a breath. "That's going to take some getting used to. You've tested this scenario?"

"I have. Successfully. The experience was… Interesting."

"How so?"

EDI hesitated. "It is difficult to explain. Before I seized control of this body, the entire evolution of my program and all my advanced experiences were tied directly to the Normandy and its integrated systems and components. Remotely operating the body while still self-contained here on the ship was an exhilarating new experience, like gaining access to a new and useful appendage, but the context of the event was still consistent with previous instances when I acquired notable upgrades. However, once I terminated the synchronous uplink to test remote functioning, the context of my self-awareness shifted dramatically. Interpretation of my surroundings and individual capabilities became something entirely new. Perhaps an appropriate comparison would be if your consciousness, the essence of who you are along with all your memories, was somehow transferred to someone else's body. And in doing so, overwriting that individual's sense of self. For instance, if you were somehow able to transfer your consciousness to Lieutenant Vega's mind and assume control over his body."

Miranda groaned. "Oh for God's sake, she'll be fine, Shepard," she said. "I've already been through all this with her and reviewed the specs. It checks out. Even if she loses contact with Normandy, she'll still be smarter than all the rest of us put together. Not to mention exceedingly lethal in combat."

"Alright," Shepard said, putting up a hand. "You've sold me. Finish gearing up, EDI."

EDI smiled and nodded. "Understood, Shepard," she said before striding over to the armaments racks and gathering up an assortment of weapons and other gear.

Behind them, the elevator doors swooshed open. Shepard looked over his shoulder and watched as Diana Allers emerged from the lift and came trotting over. She was dressed in her own version of combat gear—digital camouflage pattern battledress, elbow and knee pads, sturdy combat boots, and an armored vest with the word 'Press' prominently displayed across the chest and back. She carried a helmet tucked under one arm and her remote camera floated at shoulder level just behind her, faithfully trailing after its owner.

"What do you think you're doing, Allers?" Shepard said, turning to face her as she approached.

"What does it look like?" She said. "I'm a war correspondent, Shepard. And that's exactly what you have brewing on the Citadel right now."

"Not this time, Allers. I'm much too shorthanded to worry about tourists on this op."

"Please. Don't insult me, Captain. You know I can handle myself just fine. I think I showed you that back on Tuchanka."

"Tuchanka was different. That was a joint operations mission with solid intel about what to expect on the ground. And it was a priority objective to get the news of our victory out as soon as possible. From what we can tell, things are a lot messier on the Citadel and the situation is fluid. Basically, it's a shitstorm."

"That shitstorm is exactly why you need me along for the ride, Shepard," she said defiantly. "I don't have to be privy to the classified intel to see that someone is determined to make the Alliance look really, really fucking bad. I've seen the pirated short-range wireless signals people are broadcasting from the Wards so I understand the score. You don't need to confirm this, but I'd be a moron not to suspect more Cerberus involvement. It's a PR nightmare the Alliance needs to get ahead of. That's my job."

Shepard stared back at her for a long moment, hands on his hips. He did see that. If as much damage had been done as Ashley suggested, they would need to change the narrative as quickly as possible or risk damaging their alliances permanently along with whatever was left of the public's trust in Human Alliance leadership. He glanced over at Miranda who returned a shrug.

"Be on the bus in two minutes, Allers," Shepard said. "Same drill as last time. Stay behind my team always and do not wander off unless I give the OK. Understood?"

"Understood, Shepard," Allers said, flashing a wry grin that quickly died on her lips when she caught sight of Miranda striding in her direction, plucking a weapon from the nearby rack."

"For you," Miranda said, thrusting the sidearm and its modular holster into the reporter's chest. "Don't lose it."

"Sorry Miss Lawson, but the press doesn't make it a habit of going in armed. It's bad form. So, thanks but no thanks."

Miranda fixed the other woman with a withering glare. "Have you had an opportunity to review the suit footage Lieutenant Commander Williams captured earlier today, Miss Allers?" she said in an icy tone.

To her credit, Allers remained stone-faced. "No. I haven't seen it yet but I know the rumor you're getting at—Journalists and reporters actively targeted by hostiles, gunned down in the streets."

"Precisely," Miranda said. "So, stop being coy with me. I know you know how to use this. Until reinforcements arrive and we're able to coordinate with C-Sec, we're going to be ludicrously outnumbered over there. I will not risk jeopardizing the ground teams' objectives or their own safety if you run into trouble. So, pretty please, take it."

"You make a compelling argument, Major," Allers said, putting her hands around the weapon, accepting it from Miranda's grip. She quickly secured the pistol to her belt and drew the weapon, rapidly checking the action and loadout with a practiced motion before holstering it at her hip.

Shepard watched the exchange with interest, noting the silver star pendant Allers wore around her neck. He and Miranda were both well versed on the other woman's dossier and knew that her typical on-camera studio attire of short skirts and come-fuck-me heels starkly contrasted the reporter's experience in the field over a dozen different systems and war-torn regions.

She didn't advertise the fact, but he knew that her training in small arms and hand-to-hand defense began years prior while she was embedded with a Spec Ops unit operating in the Indris System. They'd been part of the Alliance forces fighting a shadow war against the batarian state, executing hit and run missions against Hegemony supply ships and slaver operations. The Alliance had brought Allers in for propaganda purposes, wanting to highlight the atrocities the batarians were committing and ensure the public continued to support a hard line against the hostile race.

For her own part, she'd been excited to be a part of it. Not to be used by the Alliance Public Relationship Department, but to capture the kind of visceral, in-your-face content that combat journalists craved. She'd gotten all she'd hoped for and more, caught in the middle of a close-quarters fight between the Alliance troopers and a batarian patrol in a remote jungle on the surface of Camala. She came away from it severely wounded but alive, thanks to the training the unit had given her and the sacrifice of the Marine assigned as her personal bodyguard. The pendant she wore every time she covered a dangerous story was a replica of the medal the Marine Sergeant had earned posthumously for giving his life for hers on that far-flung world, his initials stamped on one side and kept close to her heart.

Farther up the deck, the Flight Ops Crew had completed maneuvering the Dragonfly into takeoff position and the shuttle's crew chief had ascended the open troop ramp, shouting and motioning instructions. Several techs were moving near the front of the drop ship, unhooking hoses and data umbilicals.

Miranda took her flight helmet from a nearby rack, gave Shepard a quick nod, and marched off toward the drop ship. Even in the somewhat baggy flight suit, she managed her characteristic, head turning hip sway as she crossed the deck. She paused a moment to return Chief Maggie Sun's salute and then strode up the Dragonfly's ramp.

Shepard gave a brief, affectionate smirk as he watched her, soaking in the confidence she radiated. He felt a familiar surge of excitement too. The kind that was always there for him during the leadup to combat and right before he knew he'd be facing mortal danger.

He welcomed the feeling like an old friend, allowing it to wash over him. It was one of the most powerful, intoxicating sensations he'd ever known and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he loved it. That he lived for it.

He knew Miranda was feeling much the same thing as she strapped herself into the Dragonfly's cockpit. Sharing those emotions only served to intensify the love he felt for her and helped to push aside the anxiety he felt over her safety.

If they survived this war, he'd gladly hang it all up and find a peaceful, normal life. A life with her. But until that time came neither one of them was about to forfeit the chance to apply some small measure of control over their fate. Live or die, it was a lot more than most people ever had in this world.

Warning strobes began flashing throughout the deck and the Dragonfly's powerful engines roared to life a moment later, rumbling the deck plates beneath Shepard's boots. He turned to the small team of people assembled nearby him—Liara, EDI, Private Tran, Allers—regarding them each in turn before pulling his battle helmet over his head and leading them across the deck and up into the idling drop shuttle.