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There were only a few days left, while the IFF was being installed, before they would make the leap through the Omega 4. All over the ship, Shepard's team were taking their moments to say good-bye to loved ones, to bolster their courage for the jump, to prepare themselves for the possibility that they weren't coming back.

She hadn't given it much thought. There was always work to do, and she wasn't one to dwell on fear when she could do something instead. But it occurred to her that maybe she should think about the people she was leaving behind, say something to them. Not Liara; Liara knew as well as anyone how she was, what mindset she was taking with her. Or Wrex. Wrex would find any contact foolishly, humanly sentimental. He'd hear of her exploits and raise a glass of something undrinkable in her memory. Shepard smiled at the thought, missing her old friend, wishing he was here for this mission. Still, Grunt was here, and that was good in its own way.

And Garrus and Tali and Joker and Dr. Chakwas would be with her every step of the way. It was like having family along. So who was there left to say good-bye to?

She turned up the picture that lay face down on her desk, looking into Kaidan's handsome, smiling face. She didn't think she was in love with him now; that romance was gone, replaced by the richer feeling she had for Thane. But Kaidan had seen something in her that no one else had seen, begun the process of uncovering the part of her that was more than a soldier. She owed him something, a word or two, a good-bye, before she went.

Before she could think better of it, she pulled up her email program and began typing.

Dear Kaidan,

You may hear something of our exploits coming up—possibly posthumously—and before we begin the task, I wanted to thank you. Not just for all the times you had my back, and saved my ass, but for looking at me with new eyes, giving me new eyes to see myself with. Whatever happened afterward, those weeks with you meant a great deal to me, and they taught me about myself and about people. Thank you for that. I wish you all the happiness in the galaxy, wherever you can find it.

Juniper

It occurred to her that she might want to say something to Councilor Anderson, too. After all, he was the one who had taken a chance on a fairly green officer, and one with a reputation as a bit of a maverick, for his XO, and he was the one who had recommended her for the Spectres and, in the end, given up his own treasured ship for her.

Anderson –

With luck, we're about to stop the Collectors. With even more luck, we'll live to tell about it. If we don't … I wanted to say thank you for giving me the start, and for your support. You've been there for me all along, taught me things that have made me the commander I am today. I couldn't have accomplished any of this without you. I hope I have repaid your efforts with work you can be proud to have sponsored.

In case you have any doubts, I'm walking into what may be my final fight at peace with whatever may come. Having died once already, I don't fear the possibility of doing it a second time.

Good luck!

Shepard

She sat looking at the monitor for a minute, her fingers tapping idly at the keys, then closed the program and picked up a datapad, getting back to work.

Thane was in life support with his own terminal open, working over an email to Kolyat. He couldn't seem to get the wording quite right.

He wanted to tell his son everything he should have told him ten years ago, and fifteen, and when he was born, everything there never seemed to be time for. But there still wasn't time for it, and Kolyat wouldn't hear it anyway. He would close his ears and turn from it.

Still … words must be said. Thane couldn't rest without knowing he had tried.

Kolyat. My son. Perhaps you don't think I deserve to use the term, and you are probably right, but the memory of your mother, of the love she had for both of us, compels me to reach out to you. Soon we go to a task that may well be my last one. I have been preparing for death these long years, and I am ready, I think—as ready as anyone may be—but I regret the time I have wasted that could have been used to your benefit, to our benefit. Your mother will have sharp words for me across the sea, and I will have deserved them. I hope in time you will come to understand why I was the way I was, if not to forgive. I am not certain I deserve forgiveness, anyway.

If I should not return to you, I will take comfort in knowing how much of your mother lives on in you—her spirit and her courage and her fierceness. Do not let those gifts be darkened by bitterness. Be her son, the child whose laughter she treasured, whose joy matched hers. Be a better steward of her memory than I have been.

With more love than I have any right to express,

Your father

Thane read the words over again. They were the right ones. He felt that he had shamed Irikah's memory by allowing himself to sink so thoroughly into the battle sleep rather than being the man she had always wished him to be—alive and whole and alert to the vivid colors around him. He hoped their son could achieve her dreams for him, and he trusted in Bailey, who kept him updated in a series of terse emails about Kolyat's progress. With Bailey's guidance, with the memory of his mother, Kolyat would be a better man than his father had been, and what more could a man ask for his son?

He looked at the terminal, then shut it down. There was no one else, no one he could think of that he wished to contact. He had burnt all his bridges long ago.

Except for one. Except the one that kept being laid at his feet, no matter how far he tried to run from it. The shining bridge that led straight up the elevator shaft to the room at the top of the Normandy.

He couldn't keep away from her, not any longer, but he was so terribly afraid to awaken, so shamefully afraid of the pain and loss that would come with allowing himself to love her knowing how short the time ahead of them would be.

But he couldn't sit down here away from her, not while he knew they were going into battle, what could be the final battle, so soon. He got to his feet and moved toward the elevator, without the faintest idea of what he would say when he reached the top.