Chapter Two – Unexpected Guests

Liara jogged ahead of Jules along the walkway to the cockpit; she could hear the intruders wrestling the aged airlock doors open from the other side as she passed but ignored it, instead reaching the pilot's console and jabbing a few of the controls.

"Why didn't the external sensors warn us there was a ship in the area?"

"Erm…" she shot a look behind her to see Jules grimacing slightly, "I stripped them out a week ago to replace the life support circuits. Sorry. Thought I'd told you."

Liara sighed and narrowly avoided rolling her eyes, chastising Jules now wasn't going to help fend off the imminent invaders.

"Do we have any weapons on board?" the answer was probably no, whenever they did manage to get their hands on any firearms they usually ended up having to trade them for food. There had come a point when staving off immediate hunger was more important than guarding against possible future attacks.

Jules just shrugged carelessly, "Do we need them?" she lit up instantly with biotics, blue-white energy rippling across her skin and illuminating her eerily in the din.

Liara frowned and nodded, "Alright. It's too cramped in here for a fight, we'll jump them in the CIC."

They sprinted back down the walkway, past the doors which had now opened just a crack, and positioned themselves on either side of the room. The Normandy's power shortage became a brief advantage as the shadows concealed them from view and they both crouched silently in the dark.

The screech of metal echoed eerily through the empty ship before there was a loud clunk and a cry.

"AH! Shit!" someone shouted, "These doors are ancient! I'll bet a decent shockwave would have blown them open a lot easier."

"This isn't our ship, Egret," another voice replied calmly, "it's probably best we try not to break anything."

"Have you seen the state of this place? What damage could we possibly do that anyone would notice?"

The voices were asari, Liara was certain of it, which meant her and Jules' biotics might not give them as much of an advantage as she'd hoped. From the footsteps she could hear clambering through the airlock there was more than just two of them. A dozen? Maybe more.

A torch light clicked on and flashed around the dim walkway, bleeding out into the CIC so that Liara had to press herself back against the wall to avoid being illuminated in the yellow beam. She cast a glance towards Jules' silhouette across from her and imagined that they exchanged a nod, though in the shadows it was hard to tell.

"Where is everyone?" the one called Egret spoke again, a trace of reluctance in her tone as she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Are we sure they're on board? The ship looks derelict."

"We picked up two life signs," someone answered her, "one human and one asari. They're here somewhere."

The footsteps began to move closer, echoing softly on the metal walkway and Liara saw Jules ready herself silently. Staying hidden would be a lot harder once their biotics lit up the room so the first attack had to count. The footsteps stopped for moment as two silhouettes emerged and paused to peer around the CIC.

Liara held her breath and waited.

The slightest movement from Jules was her cue and in a split second she channelled her power and launched a singularity in between the two intruders. It apparently caught them completely off-guard as there were two loud yells followed by several curses as they struggled to free themselves from the singularity's pull but before they could try to recover, Jules was on her feet and sent a shockwave smashing into the pair, propelling them backwards into the group of asari who had boarded the ship behind them.

"Anyone for a game of skittles?" Jules said cheerily as she sent another, smaller attack to knock a few others off their feet. She wasn't fighting to kill, Liara noticed, and she was sure the asari could have resisted, or at least put up a fight if they wanted to, but for some reason they seemed reluctant.

"Wait! Commander!" one of them held up a hand as she struggled up from the floor, "We're not enemies!"

"Why don't you tell me what the hell you're doing on my ship?" Jules shouted as she advanced, her fists glowing with biotic energy. Liara grimaced slightly at the sight of her, there was once a time when Jules had been the negotiating type.

"Shepard?" a new voice stopped Jules in her tracks, it wasn't asari, it was too deep, too… krogan, Liara realised as she saw a huge, bulking silhouette appear through the airlock door. Ice blue eyes flashed through the shadows as he looked down at the fallen asari who were all mumbling and groaning as they stumbled over each other in their attempts to stand. Liara heard a deep, throaty chuckle.

"I see you haven't lost your touch then, battlemaster."

The biotic glow instantly faded from Jules' hands as she frowned and squinted through the dark, "Grunt? What are you doing here?"

He answered only with another slow chuckle as he picked his way across the carpet of flailing limbs, largely ignoring their asari owners until he got to Egret who was muttering curses as she massaged one of her elbows. Grunt paused as he reached her and bent down to gently take hold of her by both shoulders before physically picking her up and placing her back on her feet.

"You okay?" he asked in a low tone, his deep voice grating softly.

Egret nodded as she gingerly tested her joints, then cast Jules a quirky smile, "You weren't exaggerating about her were you? She packs quite a punch."

Jules either didn't register the complement – as that was doubtless how she would have interpreted it – or chose to ignore it as she continued to stare questioningly at Grunt. Liara could understand her bewilderment, the adolescent krogan was still incredibly young by their standards and barely seemed to have changed at all in the century or so since they had last seen him; the same pale, smooth skin, the same piercing blue eyes. To Jules, it must have been like time had taken a step backwards.

"Grunt," she muttered after a moment, "it's good to see you everything but… what the hell are you doing on board my ship? And why did you bring a bunch of asari with you?"

He cast a glance back to his recovering companions before turning back to her with a shrug, "they're my crew," and as the confusion on Jules' face deepened, Grunt's split into a wide grin, "I'm a commander now."

…

They took their new guests down to the crew deck where they kept the heating at a slightly higher temperature and at least some of the lights still worked. Upon seeing the state it was in however, Grunt frowned critically.

"Shit. What happened to this place?"

"We redecorated," Jules told him dryly as she picked up a few of the overturned chairs and placed them round the table she and Liara had slept on; when it became clear they didn't have enough to accommodate everyone she kicked a few crates into place as well.

"Is it true you stole her from the Reaper War Museum?" Egret asked as she glanced around the deck in awe, even though it was obviously just a few systems failures away from being a complete wreck.

The girl had recovered quickly from Jules' attack and seemed completely unfazed by the whole situation. There was an innocent kind of enthusiasm about her, Liara noted, and she did look very young, probably born well after the war.

"Stole her?" Jules spun round to stare at Egret indignantly, "How could I steal my own ship?"

"I was led to believe the Normandy belonged to the Alliance," said the asari who had called out to Jules on the CIC, and had since been introduced as Adarna. She would definitely have been alive during the war, by Liara's guess the woman was nearing her matriarch years and there was a stateliness about her that reminded her briefly of Benezia.

"The Alliance died with the reapers," Jules relied bluntly, "more or less. And whoever thought it was a good idea to mark the centenary of the Reaper War by opening a museum with my girl as the centrepiece was an idiot. I told them I wouldn't agree to it and they went ahead anyway so yes, I took back what was mine."

"And then you flew away to the stars," Egret smiled mysteriously and Liara somehow got the impression she was quoting something, "never to be seen again, at least not by many. You've become a myth, Shepard, a fairy tale told to children. Some people don't believe you exist at all."

"Good," Jules retorted, dramatically throwing down the last crate and gesturing for their guests to sit.

Grunt had brought around twelve asari with him, they didn't seem to be wearing any particular uniform though most were clad in light leather armour, much like the kind asari commandoes had used to wear – back when there had still been asari commandoes.

They didn't all sit round the table, instead Egret took a small group of the most injured over to the corner and began treating the few cuts and grazes they had sustained. Jules meanwhile was rummaging in one of the many open boxes that were scattered around the room.

"Come on I know you're in here somewhere… Aha!" she triumphantly pulled out a dusty old bottle that Liara recognised as an unknown krogan drink they had never quite plucked up the courage to try. As she recalled they had liberated from some pirates who had attacked the Normandy. That must have been decades ago, it had been a long time since the Normandy could stand up in a fight.

"There you go Grunt," she tossed the bottle to him – which he caught skilfully – and then wandered over to join them, slumping down in the seat opposite Liara and kicking her feet up on the table, "So," she began as Grunt eyed the bottle critically, "is 'commander' your actual title now?"

He ripped the bottle top off with his teeth and shrugged, "If you like. We're not really a military organisation though, not big on titles. Still, I'm in charge of the squad."

"A squad of asari," Jules agreed, looking around at the rest of their company.

Liara noticed that most of the asari actually seemed more interested in her than they were Jules, particularly the younger ones who were unashamedly staring at her without even trying to be discreet about it. She wondered briefly if she'd become something of a hero to her people over the years she had been gone.

The thought made her uncomfortable and she decided to look down at her hands and pretend she couldn't feel all the eyes on her.

"So, is Wrex training asari now?" Jules was asking, "Or are you working for someone else?" she stopped at that thought and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Did Aria send you?"

"Aria?" Grunt, who had been halfway through a swig of the krogan beverage now choked and slammed the bottle down, startling the two asari sitting either side of him, "No! You think I'd work for her? Tevos sent me."

From the look on Jules' face she didn't consider that to be much better, "Tevos? For her mission to reclaim Thessia I take it?"

"You know about that?"

"Word gets around," she agreed dryly, "and I've already given my answer once today, about two minutes before you forced my airlock open. Remarkable coincidence don't you think?"

Grunt blinked as a strange silence fell. If he knew what Jules was talking about then he didn't seem to show it though Liara noticed a few looks being exchanged amongst the asari. Jules spotted it too and seemed to think carefully before she spoke again.

"Why does Tevos want my help, exactly?"

"Not just yours," it was Adarna who answered, the older asari was smiling calmly, her voice soft and musical, "we also hope to gain the support of your companion, Liara remains well respected among the asari and we would value her experience."

Liara couldn't ignore the eyes on her now and was forced to look up to meet Adarna's gaze, she noticed the younger ones in particular were smiling eagerly as they awaited her answer.

"I'm honoured you think so," she replied after a moment, "but I'm afraid I don't really concern myself with galactic politics anymore, I'm sure you understand."

Adarna's face fell slightly, that clearly hadn't been the response she was expecting but she had enough grace not to show it too openly as Jules continued speaking.

"But why does she want us? What possible help could we be to her?"

Grunt, now having finished the bottle, tossed it over one shoulder and shrugged casually, "People have been trying to get you back ever since you disappeared, Shepard."

"Every few years or so some cause comes up with claims that you've put your name behind it," Adarna agreed, "there's always a rush of excitement before everyone realises it's just another lie to try and gain support."

"Publicity," Liara realised slowly, briefly locking eyes with Jules before looking at Adarna, "tell me, are the majority of the asari people in favour of Tevos' plan?" Adarna shifted a little in her chair but didn't reply as Liara continued, "Or are they content enough with the lives they have built since the war's end? I hear Earth has the highest asari population in the galaxy these days, it's supposed to be quite beautiful, almost no sign there was a war there at all. And there are plenty of other asari who have made their homes on thriving colonies. Why turn their backs on all of that in favour of a deserted, war torn planet that will be barely capable of supporting them? But if Shepard and Liara, the famous heroes of the Reaper War, rally the cause it might just generate a little more enthusiasm. Am I right?"

Adarna pursed her lips thoughtfully, "The situation isn't quite as simple as you paint it, but you're not entirely wrong," a small smile formed now, "I see your grasp of politics is as good as the stories suggest… Shadow Broker."

Liara returned the smile coldly, "The Shadow Broker-"

"Died with the reapers," Adarna supplied for her, "as so many things did."

"So," Jules cut in, looking directly at Grunt, "you came all the way out here and forced your way onto my ship just so you could drag me back to civilisation and stick my face on some poster for the asari? Really Grunt? What made you think I'd agree? Did you think I'd just follow you for old time's sake, because we used to be squad mates? How many times do I have to say it before people get the message? I am not interested in whatever political messes the galaxy is getting itself into!"

As far as Liara was aware, the krogan didn't roll their eyes, but the gesture Grunt made in response seemed to be something comparable, "Oh c'mon, Shepard. It's not like you wouldn't be getting anything out of it yourself. A warm bed for starters," he looked around the stripped out room disdainfully and then cast Jules an equally critical glance, "and a shower."

Jules' eyebrows shot up and Liara barely supressed a chuckle. Having a krogan question your hygiene was like having a vorcha question your manners, but Grunt wasn't wrong.

When Liara remembered the fearsome figure of Commander Shepard that had led them to victory against the reapers she suddenly realised what a pale imitation Jules had become of her former self. Her once flaming locks of red-gold hair looked closer to brown these days and hung pitifully in dry, straw-like strands about her shoulders, remaining almost permanently matted and tangled. Her once smooth, ivory skin was paler than ever and marked with broken veins and dry rashes brought on by the cold air of the Normandy and her muscles were slowly wasting away with her flat, lean stomach being more down to malnutrition than fitness.

But despite all that, her turquoise eyes still gleamed brightly, the only outward sign that Jules was still in there somewhere. The real Jules, the one who would jump at the chance to help any species rebuild.

"Why are you doing this anyway?" Jules asked Grunt sulkily, "Don't tell me Wrex has a stake in this? He is still running Tuchanka isn't he?"

"Course," Grunt shrugged, "but I left Tuchanka five years ago."

"To work for Tevos?"

"To be with my bondmate," he cast a glance over his shoulder towards Egret, something the young asari seemed to sense immediately as she looked up and gave him a smile in return. Jules watched the exchange with a somewhat surprised frown.

"You're- she's- …wow, really?" apparently briefly lost for words, Jules took a moment to clear her throat, "that's… well, er… congratulations?"

"Not what you were expecting, Shepard?" Grunt chuckled softly.

"To be honest I'm more surprised about you leaving Tuchanka, how did Wrex react?"

"He took some convincing," Grunt admitted, "but he came around in the end. What about you, Shepard?"

"What about me?"

"Will you help? Tevos seems pretty keen to get you involved in the mission."

"Why should I care what Tevos wants?" Jules asked bluntly, her demeanour suddenly shifting as she sneered in a manner that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group, "I remember being pretty keen to get her involved in the war effort. But the defence of Earth and Palaven wasn't important enough to her, it wasn't until the reapers started knocking on Thessia's door that she realised it might be a good idea to have allies. Only it was a bit fucking late by then wasn't it? If she had stepped up sooner then Thessia might not have fallen at all and we wouldn't even be having this conversation!"

"And what will it take to gain your cooperation?" Adarna asked calmly, prompting Jules to look daggers at her though the asari appeared unfazed, "Are you also going to wait until it is too late? Until the galaxy no longer wants you and your ship cannot sustain you."

Jules stood, slamming both hands down on the table and silencing the low voices of Egret and the other asari in the corner as all eyes turned on her, "I swear if one more person questions my life aboard the Normandy…" she didn't complete the threat, instead trailing off as she glanced around at the numerous asari who were all watching her closely. Eventually she sighed and let her head hang in resignation.

"Fine. Since it's you, Grunt, I'll do you the courtesy of not kicking you off my ship. I will think about it. But the next answer I give you is final."

…

The meeting dispersed and Jules stood and wandered to the edge of the room, using it as a vantage point to get a good look at the asari who seemed to have successfully invaded her ship.

They were separated out into several small groups, whispering and gossiping and frequently throwing glances at both her and Liara. Liara was over the other side of the room and seemed to have been accosted by Adarna, who was talking to her quietly while keeping her hands clasped neatly behind her back.

Jules guessed their numbers were fairly evenly split between those who were old enough to remember the war and those who were born after or not long before it and the more she watched them, the more she realised how easy it was to distinguish between the two.

The asari of old had carried themselves with a kind of dignity and grace that she saw in Adarna, breezing elegantly into a room and speaking with the confidence of someone who was always in their element. Now Jules realised how much of that had come from the knowledge that they were the most powerful race in the galaxy.

Back then the asari had controlled the wealth and the power, they had been the peacekeepers, the political masterminds, the oldest and the wisest race in the galaxy and the ones who everyone had wanted to be.

People like Adarna remembered those days as though they were still happening, after all, two hundred years wasn't such a long time for someone who would live for a millennia. But for the other races whole generations had passed and there was no one left who saw the asari as superior. Instead they saw them as drifters, scavengers and refugees with no home of their own.

That was what the younger ones had grown up believing and it showed in the way they held themselves; there was no proud superiority, instead they were brash and careless as they chatted and laughed with one another and Jules recognised many human mannerisms among them, they were playfully teasing and shoving each other in a way she had never seen asari do before.

This added weight to what Liara had said about the asari population on Earth, it seemed human and asari culture had become mingled through the centuries, likely to the point where they were indistinguishable to anyone who hadn't lived before the war.

Jules was also aware that many of them probably had human fathers. That had become a lot more common after the war.

In Jules' day, humanity hadn't been around long enough for there to be many human-fathered asari and those that there were hadn't even reached adolescence yet. But now there seemed to be a whole new generation of asari who had grown up with human influence in their lives. She had to wonder what impact that was having on the asari as a whole.

"Commander Shepard?" she looked up to see that Egret had approached her, smiling a little hesitantly as she did so. Jules regarded her for a moment and then sighed.

"I haven't carried that rank since the Alliance was disbanded. Call me Jules."

Egret smiled more confidently but didn't actually say anything. Despite opening her mouth several times as though to start a conversation, each time she frowned and faltered and instead became remarkably interested in her shoes.

Entertaining as it was, Jules eventually took pity on her.

"So, you're the one who melted Grunt's heart enough to drag him away from Tuchanka. Well done."

"He told you?" Egret's eyes lit up as she looked at her. Purple eyes, Jules noticed, remarkably dark in colour for an asari but glimmering in that alien way only they had. Her skin was also a particularly vibrant shade of blue and carried almost no markings aside from several small, sweeping white lines above her eyes like eyebrows.

"How did you meet?" Jules asked casually, painfully aware of how long it had been since she had needed to make polite conversation with anyone. She wondered if it was obvious how out-of-practice she was.

"Oh," Egret blushed a little and looked down again, "I was on Tuchanka trying to raise funds for the expedition."

"You went to the krogan?"

"We went to everyone, we've been gathering financial support for nearly twenty-five years. It took us a while to get around to approaching Urdnot Wrex but as it turned out he was willing to support us."

"Wrex gave Tevos funding?" Jules didn't know if she should be surprised, by all accounts the krogan were doing very well for themselves, why shouldn't Wrex donate his money about a bit? If nothing else it would help expand the krogan's influence. And, of course, Bakara usually had a hand in most of Wrex's decisions, Jules remembered with a smile.

"Wrex was trying to train Grunt in politics, think he saw him as a kind of protégé. He had Grunt sit in on the negotiations but he couldn't have cared less, neither could I really. Adarna was doing all the talking for our side so me and Grunt just sort of slipped out. He spent the rest of the day showing me around the city."

"What's Tuchanka like these days?" Jules asked, she remembered it as little more than rubble and wasteland before the war. Rebuilding had been going well the last time she had been there but that had been over a century ago.

"Beautiful," Egret replied, "their cities are incredible, more like giant temples really. They build them completely from stone rather than using metal or glass and the artwork… it's breathtaking."

Jules smiled at the awe those memories seemed to elicit from Egret, times really must have changed if the art of the krogan was being held in such high esteem by the asari.

"I… remember Grunt saying how he wished you could see it," the tentative note was back in Egret's voice and Jules knew the girl was looking at her hesitantly. She decided not to meet her gaze, "he talks about you all the time you know."

"About me? Why?"

"You can't not know the impact you had on his life. You were his mentor, his… battlemaster," she said it with a laugh but Jules heard the sincerity behind it, "he really looks up to you, more than he'd ever admit. So do I."

"You've only just met me."

She laughed, "That's not how it feels. I've seen you through his eyes so many times before."

Jules did look at her now, thoughtfully. She wondered what else Egret had seen through her melds with Grunt, the Normandy when she was still new? All the crewmembers who weren't alive to see how the galaxy had rebuilt?

"You will come with us, won't you?" Egret's dark eyes dazzled softly with hope and Jules sighed.

"I don't know yet," she placed a hand briefly on the girl's shoulder and made to move away, "it was nice meeting you, Egret."

…

Liara watched with a frown as Jules walked away from Egret and towards the elevator shaft, leaving the girl looking despondently towards Grunt as she shook her head apologetically. She saw Grunt nod and sigh in response and then turned her attention back to Adarna who had spent the last ten minutes trying to talk circles around her.

"…So you understand how vital it is that we gain Shepard's support, I'm sure you have no small influence in her decision, if you were to-"

"Influence?" Liara cut her off sharply, the older asari had taken a very roundabout way of getting there but Liara had known this was where the conversation was heading from the start and it annoyed her more than she had expected, "It sounds rather like you're suggesting that Shepard doesn't know her own mind."

Adarna paused for a moment and then smiled, "Come now, Liara, everyone knows the role you played in the war. You had the agents, the Shadow Broker network. Of course Shepard was the figurehead but I think we all know who the power behind the hero was."

"You're mistaken," Liara told her bluntly, "I would be nothing without Shepard, in fact I would be dead, several times over, as would you. She saved this galaxy more than once and often from itself. She was the force that drove the whole war forward. She united races that would rather have fought each other than stood together. She rallied those who wanted to hide and protect themselves. When I wanted to run to the edge of the galaxy and let civilisation burn so that we might live out our days in peace, she was the one who kept me grounded, kept me fighting. She is the hero the legends speak of, I just followed in her wake."

Adarna's face didn't flicker as she listened and at the end she merely smiled calmly once again, "And is that still true now? Or is she the one running to the edge of the galaxy?" Liara faltered slightly and unfortunately, Adarna noticed it all too clearly, "You grew up on Thessia my dear, you remember what it was like before the war. You know why we must reclaim our home world, even if there are other asari who have forgotten. We need someone to stir them into action, if we can't rely on Shepard, can we rely on you? For the good of your people?"

Adarna was leaning in close, a meaningful glimmer in her cold, pale eyes that made Liara want to turn away in disgust. But instead she smiled pleasantly and maintained her steady tone, "You're asking me to choose between a planet I haven't been to for two hundred years, and the oldest, truest friend that I will ever know," she said carefully, watching as the asari's eyes narrowed slightly, "I trust you can guess my answer. Please excuse me."

She left before Adarna could reply, quickly and skilfully removing herself from the conversation and trying to ignore the way her skin was crawling.

She had grown up around asari like Adarna, friends and colleagues of her mother's mostly. Politically minded and eloquently spoken they would sit for hours with Benezia, using laughter and etiquette to disguise their scheming.

When Liara was a child she had so looked up to them, their elegance, their grace, the beauty they radiated when they smiled. But her mother had been sure to teach her that outward dignity could be used to disguise a great deal of ugliness and deceit. When she had been the Shadow Broker she had learned the truth of this, even employed such tactics herself on occasion but now she had no patience for those kind of games.

She looked around the room for an ally but Jules had gone and all that was left was staring eyes that made her both uncomfortable and annoyed. She turned her back on them and left.

…

She found Jules in the cargo bay, the coldest room on the ship, of course. As she climbed down the elevator shaft she could hear voices. Well, one voice though it was speaking as though it were being answered by another. Perhaps it was simply that Liara couldn't hear it.

"You think I'm being stubborn, don't you?" Jules' voice asked the empty room and then, after a pause, she laughed, "True. Do you think what Egret said was right though? About Grunt looking up to me? Or was she just trying to get me to agree?" another pause and then a sigh, "Yes I know, I just feel like I'm being used. And then there's Liara… well I can't ask her to stay here with me, not when I know she wants to go with them… well, no, but I don't need to… no of course not, but I don't think she'll go without me… that's not what I said James!"

"Does he actually reply to you?" Liara cut in as she hopped out of the elevator shaft, making Jules jump slightly.

She looked away from the imaginary James Vega that she had been talking to and sighed, her breath misting up in front of her. Liara saw it only as a silhouette, the cargo bay was even darker than the CIC and twice as cold.

"Mostly," she answered sullenly, "course sometimes he just smirks at me and gives me that look of his," Liara saw the shadow of her head turn left and right as she glanced about the room, "Still smells of him down here, doesn't it?"

"No," Liara replied, like the rest of the ship it smelled of cold and metal and emptiness. All traces that James had ever occupied that cargo bay – his workbench, his weights, even his scent – had been stripped out and lost long ago.

She could hear Jules chewing her lip as she turned her head away again. She was sitting on an empty, upturned crate, one leg drawn up under her chin while the other swung lazily, filling the empty room with hollow twangs every time her heel hit the crate's side.

Liara walked forwards and draped an arm around her as she sat, mostly in an attempt to keep her warm. Jules instinctively cuddled in and Liara shuddered slightly as she felt the human's skin press against her neck. Jules was freezing.

"Was James any help?" she asked and then smiled as Jules sighed heavily.

Talking to long dead members of the crew was a quirk Jules had picked up about thirty years ago and it was one Liara had come to accept. James was by no means the only person she conversed with; she would often nip into the gunnery to chat with Garrus or up to the cockpit to laugh with Joker. There was once Liara had found her playing chess against herself while playfully taunting Specialist Traynor and staring down the empty chair opposite her.

Perhaps Liara should have been more worried about it, but she'd come to see it as something of a coping mechanism that Jules had developed and it seemed that sometimes, her old crewmates actually gave her good advice. Not this time, however.

"Not really," Jules sniffed, her voice was cracked from the dry air and Liara instinctively held her tighter, she hated what living on this ship was doing to her, "he just wanted to talk about you. He thinks I'm being selfish."

Liara smiled a little, "I won't let you agree to help them just because of me, Jules. I know fine well that Tevos is trying to use us."

There was another pause, "But if she does manage to reclaim Thessia for the asari… would you want to be part of that? Because if you want to go on your own I'd understand."

"And what would be the point?" she asked softly, "When I'd spend every night worrying about you?"

Jules pulled away just far enough to look at her, even through the dark her turquoise eyes shone brightly, "Emotional blackmail?" she muttered glumly and Liara laughed.

"Common sense, you know we can't stay on the Normandy forever."

"The Normandy's fine," she protested but one look at Liara's expression made her sigh in defeat.

"The ship was always too big for two people to crew it and we ran out of the money and the resources to maintain her about fifty years ago. You know she'd be in much better condition if she'd stayed in that museum."

"Museum," Jules scoffed, "ships are built to fly! And it was your idea as much as mine."

Liara smiled. At the time there had been nothing she had wanted more than to steal a ship and run away. They had spent a whole century rebuilding the galaxy after the war, a galaxy that was slowly starting to forget there had even been a war as the generations passed and new ones emerged.

They had both watched as the Normandy's crew had succumbed to old age one by one until they were the only two left who had served on the ship during the war. The only two who remembered what it had really been like. And the galaxy had still kept demanding more of them.

So they had run away, off into the stars to live as mercenaries and traders, visiting all the far off planets they had never had the chance to before and for a long time it had been blissful. But it had never been going to last.

Liara reached for Jules' hand, clasping her frozen fingers as a chill made them both shudder. Around them the ship creaked now and then, its worn old metal straining under the weight of two centuries in space.

"Jules," Liara mumbled after a while, "how much longer is this going to go on for?"

There was a pause and then a soft sigh, "Not much longer. I promise."

Most of the chapters won't be quite as long as this... promise