Chapter Thirteen – Legally Bound

Liara awoke with Jules' thoughts echoing at the back of her mind. The remnants of the meld were still prickling at the edges of her consciousness, allowing stray thoughts and feelings to bleed through between them, manifesting themselves as strange, semi-conscious dreams.

As Liara dozed, she saw flashes of Mindoir, a small, quiet farming colony built on a windswept coast. A young Juliet Shepard was laughing as she splashed through the sea with her brother, chasing their border collie through the waves. Liara could remember the golden sunlight on her skin and the feel of the wind in her hair as clearly as Jules could and she smiled softly, these were the memories Jules went to when she felt most at peace.

It was a moment later that Liara realised the warmth was actually the sun lancing in through the window of their room and the sound of the waves was the steady rhythm of Jules' breathing. She was lying against Jules' chest – too comfortable to consider moving – and she could feel one of Jules' arms was draped around her back. Her other hand was clasped with Liara's, their fingers intertwined.

She kept her eyes closed as she lay there; the link between them was still strong enough for her to know Jules was already awake and was gazing out at the sunrise as she reminisced about her childhood and mused idly about the night before.

The meld had been deep, deeper than they had gone in a long time and – as promised – there had been no barriers, nothing hidden or held back. They had learned and relearned things about each other that had almost been forgotten over the centuries, they had both opened the doors to feelings they hadn't even realised they had been hiding and seen things in each other that hadn't been hidden, but that they had simply chosen not to notice.

Liara had felt Jules' frustration, her guilt and her anger about the war and all the ways it could have turned out differently and Jules saw what it was like to watch it from the outside. This had brought more guilt as Jules had realised just how hard it had been for Liara to watch her deteriorate.

But in the end they had both realised that feeling guilty was pointless, as was dwelling on the past. Of course, knowing that wasn't going to make it any easier for Jules to let go of it all, Liara honestly didn't know if it would ever go away but at least it was no longer being denied.

She knew she would probably never get the old Jules back from before the war, too much had happened since then and too much had changed. But maybe that was no bad thing. After all, the Jules from before the war hadn't been her lover, and possibly never would have been.

"See? Something good comes from everything," Jules mumbled out loud and Liara smiled. She had felt the human listening in on her train of thought, "if destroying the reapers hadn't turned me into a cynical, guilt-ridden madwoman, we might never have gotten together. Though that doesn't say much for your taste in partners."

"Is it wrong of me to say I'm glad the reapers tried to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy?" Liara asked softly. Jules chuckled and Liara felt the sound echo inside her chest, "have you been awake long?" she asked.

"About an hour. I was having a chat with Mordin."

Liara paused but didn't react too strongly, Jules' chats with the old crew were something she had come to understand a little more too, "What did he say?"

"That talking to someone who's been dead for two hundred years could be a sign of mental instability."

Liara smiled, "You're not unstable, Jules. You're just…"

"Crazy?"

"I was going to say unique. After all, no human has ever lived as long as you or been through all that you have. You've come out of it remarkably well considering."

"That's not what you thought on the Normandy."

Liara swallowed, often the most frightening thing about melds was the way they forced you to face your own feelings. It was hard to hide from them once they had been shared, sometimes you discovered as much about yourself as you did about your partner. She had never really admitted to herself how much living on the Normandy had affected her until last night.

"I shouldn't have kept my worries to myself back then," she said quietly, "I should have tried to help you sooner, rather than sitting back and watching you suffer."

"You've got nothing to feel guilty about," Jules replied, "and you weren't hiding anything from me, I just chose to ignore it. I pushed you away, I'm sorry."

Liara tensed a little, she could feel the lingering worry that was hiding behind those words, "It troubles you doesn't it? That I was able to lie to you."

There was a pause, Jules' thoughts had become conflicted but the meld was waning now and Liara couldn't pick up on any more than that. Her eyes fell on their hands, still clasped together with their fingers interlocked and she tightened her grip slightly.

"You weren't really lying to me," Jules said at last, "and you only went behind my back because you cared so much. There was no deception for me to pick up on, was there?"

Liara closed her eyes, she could hear in Jules' voice that she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else, "But it still troubles you," she realised with a stab of pain. Her eyes began to sting involuntarily as she realised what she had done: broken Jules' trust, and if Jules didn't trust her anymore then-

"I do trust you," Jules snapped suddenly, surprising Liara slightly as she unsuccessfully fought back the threat of tears, "Yeah, alright it bothers me! It bothers me that you had to keep this from me, and that you were only able to because I was being such a pig-headed idiot! It bothers me that I managed to ignore how much living on the Normandy was hurting you, and that – despite the fact that we have been together for two hundred years and spent half that time inside each other's heads – I still managed not to notice the things that were staring me in the face! That's what bothers me!"

Liara sobbed softly, the whole situation was a sorry mess and it had only gotten this far because they had both been ignoring it in the hope it would resolve itself in the end. But it didn't work like that, you didn't get to live through all the things that they had lived through and then just walk out of the other side unscathed. It had been foolish to think one meld could begin to solve it all.

"Don't cry," Jules said more gently, she untangled their fingers and slipped both hands around Liara's waist. Liara shuffled further up her body to bury her head against Jules' neck, "I'll be alright," Jules muttered softly, "we'll be alright. It just might take a while, that's all."

Liara sniffed and shifted her head slightly, "That's alright, neither of us are going anywhere. I'm just sorry I had to drag us into this mess to get us off the Normandy. If I had known Tevos' project was going to come with so many strings attached…"

Jules laughed slightly, "I'm glad we're here, between them Tevos, Aria and the HTA seem set to tear the galaxy apart. I'd rather be here to try and limit the damage whatever happens."

Liara frowned for a moment and then smiled curiously, Jules must have sensed her feelings as she suddenly looked down at her, "What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just, a few weeks ago you wanted nothing to do with the galaxy's problems, now you're determined to fix them?"

Jules shrugged slightly, "Old habits…"

Liara hid her smile and nuzzled back into Jules' neck. Perhaps leaving the Normandy had already done her some good, even after everything that had happened with the arms dealers.

"Oh yeah," Jules said as she picked up on that stray thought, "nothing like a good kidnaping and a firefight to get me back into the swing of things."

Liara smiled.

They must have lain there for twenty minutes or more as the meld finally faded and they were left with the solitude of their own thoughts. Neither of them felt the need to speak and the time passed idly as they lay in silence, occasionally drifting in and out of sleep.

They were finally interrupted by Tevos when her voice chimed over the comm as it had done the night before. Liara sighed softly as Jules answered it.

"Damon is here," the matriarch stated bluntly, "we're calling a meeting to discuss Adarna's coup, in the main conference room in twenty minutes. You and Liara should both attend."

"Fine," Jules replied.

"Shepard," there was a tentative pause before Tevos continued, "last night I asked you if I could count on your support…"

As she trailed off Liara felt Jules's muscles tighten briefly in mild annoyance, but she soon relaxed, "I suppose you'll find out, won't you?" she shut off the call and Liara saw a mischievous glint pass briefly through her eyes as she looked down at her and grinned, "There's no harm in keeping her guessing."

They made no hurry as they showered and dressed, after all that had happened over the past few days they had no qualms about keeping Tevos waiting either. In fact, when the twenty minutes were up, Liara was still standing by the wardrobe trying on jackets while Jules stood at the mirror behind her, combing back her dramatic mane of hair.

The human was grumbling quietly to herself as she tore the brush through the thick strands, frequently running into knots as she smoothed it into a silken red curtain down her back. There was still an ugly bruise at her temple from where the rifle butt had hit her and she winced more than once as she accidently passed the brush over it, only adding to her crankiness. Still, every grumble and muttered swear word made Liara smile to herself.

When the task was finally done Jules gazed at her own reflection and sighed as she flicked a stray lock out of her eyes.

"I'm going to have to get it cut," she decided.

Liara's head snapped round and she found herself staring incredulously at the back of Jules' head before she cleared her throat delicately, "How… short were you thinking?" she asked, attempting to sound casual.

"Chin length, maybe," Jules gestured with her hand, "it's far too long to be practical if we're going to be off on missions in the Athena Nebula," she must have caught sight of Liara pursing her lips in the mirror as she suddenly narrowed her eyes and smiled, "what's wrong."

Liara shrugged carefully and sauntered over to join her. She ran a hand down the beautifully smoothed hair and felt it was soft as silk against her fingers, "Could we compromise on shoulder length? I like it long."

"Well that depends," Jules smirked playfully, "do you want to be the one to get the knots out every morning?" she offered up the brush and Liara pretended to consider as she took it from her and continued Jules' work.

"I suppose that's a condition I could agree to," she ran the brush slowly down the length of the hair, to where the strands finally ended at the base of Jules' spine. Jules watched her for a moment and then sighed heavily.

"Oh alright, shoulder length it is," she made a show of rolling her eyes and Liara smiled.

"Do you think we've kept them waiting long enough yet?"

Jules checked the time on her omni-tool and shrugged, "I'm sure a few more minutes won't hurt."

…

They were at least ten minutes late when they finally reached the conference room, though they had been sure to walk as slowly as possible through headquarters. For the first time in years Jules felt completely calm. She felt no impatience, no simmering anger, no supressed tingle of irritation lurking beneath the surface. It was so strange and unfamiliar after all these years of frustration and guilt that it almost felt as though something were missing.

She didn't kid herself that her problems were anything close to being resolved but somehow, letting go of them didn't seem quite so unthinkable anymore. Rationally she couldn't think why that would be, or what had changed, but she suspected it must have come from Liara. Melds as deep as the one they had shared often left you with a new sense of perspective.

They didn't talk about the meld again as they walked but instead found themselves chatting carelessly about unimportant things. As they reached the conference room, Liara made a joke that had them both laughing as they opened the door and went inside.

They were met instantly with the solemn, serious faces of the senior staff on the project. They were all seated around a long, oval table. Tevos sat in the middle with Aria and Grunt on either side, Rhys and the other two remaining doctors were also there along with Egret and several others whom Jules didn't recognise.

They all turned to look at them as they entered, frowning oddly as they probably wondered what the hell was so funny. Tevos in particular was watching them carefully, clearly curious after what she had told Jules the previous night. Only Aria was smirking quietly to herself.

Both she and Liara instantly stopped laughing, though they did exchange a smile as Jules cleared her throat, "Morning everyone," she greeted them brightly, "are we late?"

"Not at all, Commander Shepard," Jules didn't even find that being called 'Commander' annoyed her as she looked down and saw Director Damon seated in one of the chairs. He was twisted round uncomfortably to look at her but his smile was still dazzling.

He can keep smiling even when he's lying, Jules thought to herself, that was worth remembering.

"Shepard will do," Jules told him pleasantly and the smile only grew.

"Very well, take a seat," he indicated to two vacant chairs on the other side of Aria and Jules nodded. As she rounded the table, she realised all the people she recognised were on Tevos' side while the others – presumably HTA representatives – were sat on either side of Damon. Both sides formed what looked like interview panels and they seemed to be trying to intimidate each other through hard scowls.

All except Damon, of course. Who was still smiling.

"What were you two laughing about?" Aria muttered casually as Jules sat next to her, before giving her a sly smile as though she assumed it must have been something filthy. Jules didn't have the heart to tell her that it had actually been an innocent joke about Tevos and how the matriarch would react to their tardiness.

"Never you mind," she said instead. Aria shrugged nonchalantly and lounged back in her chair, legs crossed with her hands clasped across her stomach as she gazed at the HTA officials with mild distain.

"We are here to discuss recent events," Director Damon began pleasantly, "and the future of this project," he looked over at Jules as he said this and flashed her his smile which she returned in kind, though she was sure hers didn't make her eyes sparkle quite like his were.

Jules cocked her head curiously as she tried to get a measure of the man. After two hundred years she liked to think she had become a fairly good judge of character and she was surprised to find herself strangely drawn to this smiling, charming director despite the fact she had yet to even have a proper conversation with him.

She had done a bit of research on him over the past two days but she hadn't been able to find out much about his past. Mostly she had watched speeches and interviews with him and she had learned that he was quite popular, even if the HTA themselves weren't. Though admittedly most of his loyal followers didn't really care about his politics and instead spent hours talking about his smooth voice and his strong jawline and his nice eyes. And of course his smile, which seemed to be where most of his popularity lay.

Even Jules had to admit that Damon was attractive, and it had been a hell of a long time since she had even bothered to notice things like that in anyone except Liara. His looks were only a small part of what endeared him to her, however.

Generally speaking, she didn't like people in power. They were ambitious and arrogant, sometimes they arrogantly thought that they could change things for the better, sometimes they arrogantly abused their power for their own gain. Either way Jules didn't like it.

She didn't sense it in Damon though. He was confident, yes, but there was something genuine about him. His charisma seemed natural, not a tool he had honed for the purposes of conning people and Jules found that her first instinct was to like him, despite the fact she knew he was probably as manipulative as Tevos. Still, she hadn't forgotten what Aria had said about him and so she kept her guard up.

"The HTA has no authority over the future of this project," Tevos was telling him curtly, he seemed unfazed by her tone, however.

"The HTA is responsible for law enforcement on this planet," he replied, "and a large number of your staff are now sitting in one of our detention centres."

"Then let us discuss that," Tevos retorted, "but nothing more."

"As you wish," Damon held out his hands amicably, "the woman who was behind your kidnapping, Shepard," he again looked in her direction, "her name is Erica Jensen, she's one of the HTA's most wanted criminals. In fact," he paused to clear his throat, "she is still one of the HTA's most wanted criminals."

Several of the other HTA officials made a point of looking down at their datapads and a slight murmur of embarrassment seemed to pass through the line of them.

Jules watched them suspiciously, "You mean, she got away?"

Damon's smile became sympathetic, "Once your associates," he nodded to Grunt and Egret, "told us where the warehouse was we sent several squads to clear it out but Erica had already fled. We're doing everything we can to track her down. But at least now we know she's operating out of the Sol System, we've been looking for her ever since the destruction of Omega forced her to relocate her base."

There was a grim chuckle from Aria, "You kicked her out of the Terminus so she decided to come and fuck up your territory? That sounds like Erica."

"You know her?" Jules asked.

"Not personally, but I've dealt with her people before. It's not a good idea to mess with her, when she wants something she won't stop until she gets it. You should probably start watching your back."

"That's reassuring," Jules muttered.

"I can assure you Shepard," Demon stepped in, "the HTA is doing everything possible to catch her. In the meantime we will ensure you have the best protection from us."

"We are perfectly capable of keeping Shepard safe ourselves," Tevos interjected before Jules could speak.

For the first time Damon's face fell a little, "With all due respect, you have lost your entire security force and you haven't done a terribly good job of keeping her safe so far."

Jules attempted to speak again but Tevos cut her off.

"Shepard is part of this project and we are responsible for her safety, I will not have HTA officers in these corridors for longer than necessary."

Jules didn't even bother opening her mouth this time as Damon leaned forward sharply, "I was led to believe that Shepard has no formal contract with you yet, we will see whether she still wants to be a part of your project after all that has happened."

"Well, well," Aria murmured in an undertone as she leaned in so only Jules and Liara could hear her, "everyone's getting all protective of you, Shepard."

As the heated debate continued Jules just sighed and gave up on the idea of actually being allowed to speak for herself.

"No one seems concerned with my safety," Liara muttered, "and I'm the one who got shot. Multiple times."

"You don't have very expensive implants keeping you alive," Jules said with a smile.

"That's not what this is about," Aria was watching Damon with distaste as he continued his sparring with Tevos, "he just wants to have as many armed HTA guards in this building as possible so that they can spy on everything we do."

"Don't you think you're being paranoid?" Jules asked and earned herself a sharp glare from the asari.

"You don't know them like I do. Why else would Damon be so bothered about this?"

Jules looked over to see that the director had completely lost his smile now and was raising his voice slightly as Tevos continued to push back against him, "He does have a temper then," Jules muttered, "I was starting to think he was all smiles."

"I told you not to be fooled by his charms," Aria sneered as she eyed him like you would a plate of rotten food, "he gets nasty when things don't go his way."

As Jules watched him, she saw that Aria might well be right. The dazzling blue in his eyes had turned to ice and something cold had crept into his tone as he argued his case.

"He's still good looking though…" she mused absently, then winced as she got a sharp kick in the ankle from Liara's side, "ow!" she complained, despite the fact it had been barely more than a tap. She turned to see Liara giving her a wry smile.

"Seven people died in this building," Damon's voice suddenly cut in across the room, his tone had taken on a hard edge and his expression had turned suddenly serious. Any low murmuring in the room abruptly ceased and even Tevos seemed to back down a little as she clasped her hands together and let him continue, "and numerous others were injured. You have already failed in your duty of care to your staff, you are lucky you have been allowed to remain here at all. Erica may well target Shepard again and Adarna could have other supporters ready to seek revenge. It is in your interests to let us aid you."

There was a sincerity in his tone that would be hard for Tevos to argue with without looking petty and everyone in that room knew that Damon was speaking sense. Aria must have realised it too, Jules could practically hear her grinding her teeth together and her fists were clenched over the arms of her chair.

Tevos took a moment to look left and right along her own side of the table, locking eyes briefly with Aria and then Grunt before she finally conceded, "Very well. We appreciate your offer of help, Director, it seems we have little choice but to take you up on it."

"A gracious decision," Damon replied, his smile had returned and his eyes had softened once more and Jules marvelled at how suddenly his demeanour could shift, "you will receive all the support we can offer you."

"He's very good at this, isn't he?" Jules muttered quietly as she watched him, "I never managed to get Tevos to roll over that easily, not even when I told her my home world was burning."

"He knows how to manipulate people," Aria agreed darkly.

"Or maybe he's just a good diplomat."

Aria turned to give her a look, "What is it with you and this idiot? Do you think that because he's got sexy eyes and nice smile that he must be one of the good guys?"

Jules frowned sharply, "I just think your opinion of him is coloured by what happened to Omega. I'd rather figure him out for myself."

"How? By jumping into bed with him? It's nauseating enough that he has half the galaxy wrapped around his little finger but I really didn't think that you would fall for him too."

"Ahem," Liara cleared her throat loudly enough to attract their attention and they looked round to see her nodding meaningfully to the continuing debate. Aria and Jules exchanged a last, reproachful look and then fell silent.

The rest of the discussion revolved around Adarna, what she had been planning and how she had managed to keep it hidden for so long. Tevos had pieced together all sorts of evidence over the past two days that seemed to suggest she had been planning this from the very beginning of the project. She had needed Tevos' contacts and influence to gather enough investors to fund the project, once they were ready to go she would have found a way to quietly remove Tevos and would have taken over herself.

Tevos' insistence that Jules and Liara should be found had delayed things but Adarna had seen a way to profit from it. Unfortunately, dealing with illegal arms dealers wasn't something Adarna had much experience with and she had miscalculated on several points. Liara was the one who was chiefly attributed to exposing her plot when she had attacked the so-called 'paramedics' outside the headquarters, but when Damon said as much and all eyes turned on her, Liara only cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably until the conversation moved on.

It also transpired that Doctor T'Carra had broken down and started talking from almost the moment she had been put in an interview room. She had told HTA officers that Adarna had spent years slowly turning Tevos' own staff against her, making them believe that Tevos could never get them to Thessia. T'Carra had truly believed Adarna would have been a better leader for the project, but she had been so wracked with guilt over what she had done to Jules that she had wanted to confess everything. A lot of the security staff had started talking too, in the hope of saving themselves by blaming Adarna.

"So, this brings us to the events in the warehouse," Damon stated after it became clear that the evidence against Adarna was so great there wasn't a lawyer alive that could have cleared her name. As he mentioned the warehouse he looked pointedly towards Jules and Liara and then across to Grunt and Egret, "we found a total of fifty-eight casualties caused by the four of you."

"I hope you're not suggesting they should be punished for defending themselves," Tevos cut in sharply, it surprised Jules how on-edge she was around Damon, as if she felt genuinely threatened by him. He, meanwhile, remained as insouciant as ever.

"Defending themselves?" he repeated, "No. However, Egret has given us an account of the execution that Shepard carried out."

An uneasy murmur spread around the table and Jules leaned forwards a little to peer towards Egret. The asari didn't meet her eye, instead she was staring down into her lap, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Beside her, Grunt shifted in his seat and gave Jules an apologetic look. Jules sighed and leaned back again.

"Execution is a very strong word, Director," she said calmly.

"Though accurate, based on Egret's description," Damon looked down at one of the datapads in front of him, "I believe your victim was unarmed, injured and pinned beneath some wreckage when you shot her at point blank range. Unprovoked."

Jules saw a sharp movement to her left as Liara jerked forwards, clearly ready to speak her mind but Jules grabbed her arm before she could say anything. Liara's eyes glittered angrily for a moment but in the end she nodded and stayed silent.

"The woman in question had built a device that could control my implants remotely." Jules explained, "One of her staff had already tried to kill me with it. I destroyed the device but I thought it was too dangerous to let the doctor live when she had that kind of knowledge. It's unlikely Erica would have left without her and I'll sleep easier knowing she's not going to be strapping me to an operating table again."

"All the same, that wasn't your decision to make," Damon told her and for a moment Jules frowned, trying to work out exactly what he meant by that.

"Are you going to arrest me for it?" she challenged.

"I doubt that will be necessary," Tevos cut in before Damon could answer her, "the HTA and I have certain arrangements when it comes to members of my staff."

"I believe we have already established that Shepard has signed no formal contract with you," Damon argued.

"I'm sure that can be rectified," Tevos replied, as she did so she cast Jules a brief, sideways glance as though to judge her reaction. It took Jules a moment to realise what had just happened but once she did, she felt her heart sink.

"Sign the contract or get arrested," she muttered, almost to herself, "that's a hell of a choice."

Beside her, Aria snorted, "Sounds familiar, you're in danger of becoming predictable, Tevos."

The matriarch said nothing.

"Yes, well," Damon cleared his throat, "we can work out the details of that in private. For now I think this meeting is concluded."

There was the scraping of chairs as Damon and his people stood, a brief nod was exchanged between him and Tevos and then his eyes – and his smile – lingered on Jules before he turned and led the others out of the room.

As the door closed, all the facades fell. Tevos sighed and tossed a datapad irritably down in front of her, Aria kicked her feet up onto the table and began grumbling audibly to herself and Grunt and Egret immediately began having a hushed conversation. Rhys and the doctors merely sat watching it all.

Jules was the first to speak up.

"That was a nice little plan to trap me there, Tevos," she muttered bitterly, "did you think it up on the spot?"

"I am not trying to trap you," Tevos replied wearily, "Damon is the one doing that, I am merely trying to help you in the only way I can. But I wouldn't worry, if we don't think of something soon the project may well collapse and there'll be no need for you to formally join it anyway."

"What do you mean?" Liara asked, aside from her almost-outburst she had remained quiet throughout most of the meeting but was now leaning forwards curiously to look at Tevos. The matriarch hesitated.

"Our investors are pulling out by the dozen. I think Adarna must have turned them against me too, now that she has gone they're refusing to fund the project anymore, in fact many of them are demanding their money back. If we don't find a way to replace those investors, the project won't survive for much longer."

An unsettled silence fell and after a moment Tevos seemed to turn towards Aria. The asari blinked at her for a moment and then shrugged.

"Don't look at me. I've already given you everything I had left."

"Surely you can find new investors," Rhys chipped in with an optimistic smile, "especially with news of Shepard's return spreading across the galaxy, that should generate some interest."

"News of her being kidnapped and Adarna going crazy is spreading across the galaxy," Aria corrected him, "hardly makes us seem like a safe investment."

"And our time is limited," Tevos added, "this project has a lot of running costs, if we can't replace those investors soon we'll begin to run up debt quickly."

"I can get you the money," Jules muttered suddenly, drawing confused looks from everyone – Liara included.

"How?" Tevos enquired.

She shrugged, "Like you said, my name carries weight these days, with some people more than others. I'll get you all the funding you need and then I'll sign whatever contract you want me to – provided you can keep the HTA off my back, of course."

"Jules," Liara hissed beside her and Jules turned to see her looking worried. Liara cast a glance over Jules' shoulder at the others and then leaned in to whisper to her, "it's unlikely the HTA actually want to arrest you. They probably want to offer you some kind of deal instead."

"Which probably involves me working for them instead of Tevos," Jules agreed, "trust me, I am not doing this to keep myself out of prison, I want to find out what's going on in asari space and Tevos is right, for this project to work, we have to be able to rely on each other," Jules couldn't quite believe she could hear that coming out of her own mouth but as Liara gave her an understanding nod she steeled herself and turned back to the others.

"Do we have a deal, Tevos?" she asked expectantly.

"If you can get us the funding," Tevos agreed, "but who exactly are you planning to contact?"

…

The holographic interface flickered briefly as Jules adjusted the comm. She and Liara had cleared the staff out of the comm room in Tevos' headquarters and now stood alone in the large, circular room as the picture came into focus.

There, seated in front of them in what looked like some kind of stone throne, Urdnot Wrex lounged casually. He looked old, Jules thought as he came into view. He was of course, centuries old, maybe even a millennium. But at that moment he really looked it.

His thick skin was like leather and hung heavily from him, the red plates at his forehead were pale and faded, like plastic left for too long in the sun, and there was something weary about the way he was sitting, slumped to one side as he tilted his head and scrutinised them critically through blood red eyes. After a second, he grunted.

"You look like shit, Shepard," he drawled, his deep voice grating like stone against metal.

Jules couldn't supress a grin, just hearing Wrex's voice again was enough to trigger an irrational surge of happiness in the pit of her stomach, despite everything else that was going on, "It's good to see you too Wrex," she told him, trying and failing to contain the genuine excitement in her voice.

He just grunted again and turned away from her to nod at Liara, "You look good, T'Soni."

Liara smiled brightly and nodded and Jules made a point of rolling her eyes, "Oh of course, you tell the gorgeous asari she looks good."

"Don't get smart, Shepard," Wrex warned suddenly, "I'm still pissed off with you."

Jules might normally have laughed that off as Wrex just being Wrex, but the genuine annoyance in his voice made her pause, "Okay…" she said unsurely, "what have I done?"

"Oh I dunno," he shrugged, "maybe you ran off for a hundred years without so much as a word and didn't even bother to contact me to let me know you weren't dead? Not to mention the couple of hundred godchildren you left behind on Tuchanka, you've got a hell of a lot of birthdays to catch up on."

For a moment Jules thought he was joking, but the red glint in his eye told her otherwise and she shifted uneasily, "Krogan don't have godparents," she said at last, "you told me so yourself."

"And you said you were as good as," he retorted, "you said you'd be there if any of them ever needed you, you said that Tuchanka itself could call on you at any time. Then you ran off with the Normandy and no one ever heard from you again!" he slammed his fist down on the arm of his throne, making both Jules and Liara jump in surprise.

"C'mon Wrex," Jules laughed nervously, "don't you think you're overreacting?"

"Do you two have kids yet?" he demanded, pointing a finger accusingly at them and drawing looks of alarm from them both. Jules looked uncertainly at Liara and she just shrugged helplessly.

"Erm…" Jules began, "we're not really the maternal types."

It was true. Children had never been on Liara's list of life goals, she may have loved Jules but the thought of sharing her with a miniature, blue-skinned version of her didn't appeal to Liara at all. In fact, the very idea made her feel a bit sick and anxious, Jules had felt that through their melds.

Jules had wanted children once, back when she was a teenager on Mindoir dreaming about marrying a farmer and living a quiet life. When fate had intervened and snatched that life from her, the dreams had been easy to let go of and they had never returned. Now, like Liara, she had no desire to add a third wheel to their dynamic.

"Hmph, maybe that explains it," Wrex grumbled, "at least you didn't have to see the looks on their little faces when I explained that Auntie Shepard had left without saying goodbye."

"Auntie?" Jules queried sceptically, "I was a godmother two minutes ago."

"Shut up Shepard! I'm trying to make you feel guilty."

There was a moment of unease as Jules opened her mouth and then found she really didn't know what to say. She had expected Wrex to be happy to see her again, though in hindsight perhaps that had been a bit thoughtless of her. Now, as Wrex continued to stare at her darkly, she felt her previous happiness at seeing him twist into something unpleasant and she swallowed back a sting of guilt.

Then the silence was suddenly broken as Liara chuckled lightly.

"Jules," she smiled, "I think he's teasing us."

As she said it, Wrex heaved a sigh and slouched even more, "Maybe a bit," he admitted moodily, "but don't think I'm not angry. You could at least have told me you were going."

"I know," Jules said softly, "I'm sorry Wrex. After the rest of the crew were gone I… well, I wasn't myself. How are the kids, anyway?"

"Urgh," the question thankfully seemed to distract him from being annoyed with her as he practically collapsed back into his throne and rested his head lazily against a clenched fist, "there's been lot of new arrivals since you've been gone, and there's at least five more on the way."

"Wow, you're still busy then?" Jules flashed him a smile and only got a scowl in return.

"I'm running out of space for them all, they all think that because Urdnot Wrex is their father they should get land and high ranking positions just handed out to them. You remember all those females who wanted me to father their children? Said it would be a great honour because I was the strongest krogan alive, now all they do is badger me all day to give the damn kids money and jobs and university placements."

"University placements?"

"We do have universities on Tuchanka now, Shepard, don't look too surprised."

Jules cleared her throat, "Of course. Sorry. What does Bakara have to say about all this?"

"Are you kidding?" he looked up sharply, "She's the worst of them! She's the one who keeps encouraging the others and then she starts nagging me on 'stepping up to my responsibilities'. You know, ever since the Genophage was cured, the females have been picking and choosing males like prize animals, only going for the ones they think will give them the strongest children."

"Isn't that what krogan culture was always like?"

"To a point!" he snapped, "but now… they're taking over, Shepard," he stared blankly into space, a strange frown on his brow as he continued, "they want to run everything, the universities, the schools, the government! Before long we'll have a revolution on our hands!"

Jules had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as his tone became increasingly wild. She turned to catch Liara's eye and saw the asari was staring at him curiously. Coming from a culture with absolutely no concept of gender, she must have found the conversation baffling.

"I think your fatherly duties are getting to you Wrex," Jules smiled, "you seem a little paranoid."

"Maybe," he grunted, "trouble is they keep coming to me with all these… ideas. And then they expect me to do something about them and if I don't they start lecturing me on 'my children's futures'… urgh," his head fell helplessly against his hand again and Jules couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.

"How's Mordin?" she asked. This time she wasn't referring to the salarian professor but instead to Wrex and Bakara's eldest son and – sort of – heir. She had never admitted it out loud but Mordin had always been Jules' favourite of Wrex's children.

He had been trouble since they day he was born, always raising hell and causing havoc but he'd had a cheeky charm about him that let him get away with most of it. He had never been the most krogan-like krogan and he had faced a lot of criticism from Wrex's rivals but he had always seemed to shrug it off with a grin and a joke.

He had just been reaching adolescence when Jules had left, she had often wondered over the years how he was doing now he was grown up.

Wrex didn't seem too happy at the mention of his eldest son however as he huffed and frowned, "You remember what he was like when he was just a tyke, he's causing even more trouble now he's older," Wrex didn't seem inclined to elaborate further however as he quickly changed the subject, "So, are you calling me just to say hello or was there something you wanted?"

Jules hesitated, the brash edge to Wrex's voice hadn't softened much and she was beginning to realise that she wasn't the only one who had become grumpier over the past two centuries. She wanted to ask more about Mordin and all the other kids but after she had been away for so long Wrex might not think she had the right to. So she decided to get straight down to business instead.

"I wanted to ask you about Tevos, you're one of her investors, aren't you?"

"That's right," Wrex chuckled and Jules was surprised to see the mention of it seemed to cheer him up a bit, "that was one hell of a moment, you should have been there to see a whole delegation of asari turn up on my doorstep to beg me for money. Ha!" the memory was clearly a pleasant one for him, "We gave them the tour of our capital, showed them the galleries and the museums and the big damn plaque that says we're the cultural capital of the galaxy while their precious Thessia lies in ruins! 'Bout time the asari were brought down a peg or two!" he descended into loud guffaws of laughter before finally composing himself and looking at Liara, "Er, no offence."

"None taken," Liara muttered as she and Jules exchanged a glance.

"What are you bringing this up for anyway?" Wrex asked, "I only agreed to fund the expedition to find you, now you've been found she doesn't need anything more from me. That was what we agreed."

"Actually, we do need more from you, Wrex… a lot more."

"We?" Wrex's eyes narrowed, "You've actually joined her? Shit, I didn't think she'd get you to agree. I thought you'd just run off and do your own thing or maybe come to Tuchanka or something. That was the whole reason I agreed to help her find you."

"Sorry Wrex, there's too much riding on this project. I don't understand all the details myself but I have to see it through."

"Hmph," Wrex didn't seem convinced, "and you need my money to do it?" his face twisted into an ugly snarl as he rested his elbow on his knee and leaned forward thoughtfully, "I don't like this, Shepard. Tevos is probably manipulating you."

"I doubt she's the only one," Jules agreed, "but I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

He peered at her suspiciously, "What's this all about, Shepard?"

Jules and Liara told him everything they knew about the project – which turned out to be painfully little – and then they explained about Adarna, the arms dealers, the HTA, not to mention Aria's strange interest in in finding Thessia, which Jules was still suspicions about. By the end of it Wrex didn't seem any happier.

"You have to be careful with the HTA," he muttered distractedly after Jules had finished, he was grinding his teeth slightly as he gazed at something Jules couldn't see on the holographic interface, "they call themselves a 'peacekeeping force' but they control the law enforcement on every major planet in the Traverse. They keep trying to send their men here too but I've told them we can enforce our own damn laws without their help. Doesn't stop them from controlling the trade routes and rationing out the eezo though."

The mention of eezo piqued Jules' interest, "How bad is the eezo situation?"

"Urgh," he grumbled, "the HTA controls all of it and who it goes to. If anyone else tries to trade or transport it they get locked up in an HTA detention centre and are never heard from again. Dunno when they got the authority to start implementing intergalactic laws like that, probably when they built the biggest damn fleet in the galaxy, which just proves they're keeping most of the eezo for themselves. No one else could build a fleet to rival them on the rations we're given."

"Maybe that'll change when we reclaim Thessia."

"Yeah," he snorted grimly, "maybe it'll start an intergalactic war. Plenty of people want to bring the HTA down, taking over the eezo trade would do that. Whoever gets their hands on Thessia better be damn sure they can defend it."

"Why do you think the HTA is so keen to keep people out of asari space?" Liara asked thoughtfully.

Wrex shrugged heavily, "I'm damned if I know. I'm surprised they haven't just gone in and taken Thessia for themselves by now, but I hear asari space is dangerous these days, maybe it's too much even for them."

Jules breathed out slowly as she nodded, "Will you help me get to the bottom of this? I need to know what's going on and Tevos' project is the only way I can do that."

Wrex considered her for a moment and then shook his head, "Tevos can't be trusted, I won't help her any more than I already have. But I will help you, Shepard, if this is what you need."

"Really?" for a moment Jules faltered, unsure whether he was being serious, "You'll fund the project?"

He shrugged, "Sure. It's about time someone kicked this galaxy back into shape, might as well be you. Just watch yourself, you can't trust the asari, manipulating people is second nature to them. Er… no offence," he told Liara again, this time she didn't bother to answer him.

Wrex gave them plenty more words of warning, urging them not to trust Tevos or Aria or specifically the HTA. The last one in particular made Jules curious, was the HTA really so tyrannous that everyone wanted to bring them down? Or were they just being blamed for everything because they happened to have the most power? She couldn't decide.

Wrex finally said goodbye – though not before making them promise to visit him before another century went by – and as the call shut off, Jules and Liara were left staring at each other.

"What do you think?" Jules asked after a moment, though it was a rather broad question considering how many threads there were to all of this.

Liara shrugged helplessly, "Tevos is going to make us sign those contracts if we want to stay on the project and if we're going to find out what's going on with Thessia then I don't see that we have much choice."

Jules nodded, it had always been inevitable anyway; still, she had never liked having her name put to a legally binding agreement of any kind. She couldn't help but feel like she was shutting off an escape route.

"We'll just have to make sure we read the small print," she decided, "wouldn't want to accidently sign up to have my implants removed or anything – just to pick a random example."

…

When they re-entered the conference room they found Tevos and the others were still there though many of them were on their feet and milling around the room with worried looks on their faces. Hushed conversations abruptly ceased as they entered and all eyes turned towards them.

Tevos and Aria were the furthest away and were both standing with their arms folded as they broke off whatever they had been saying to look at them. Grunt and Egret were lingering nearby and Egret was looking especially nervous as she chewed on her thumb nail and eyed Jules cautiously. Jules wondered if she was feeling guilty about telling the HTA about Aegina. She hoped not, she would never have asked or expected the kid to lie for her.

Right now she had no chance to speak to her about it however as Tevos was walking calmly towards her, "Well?" she asked expectantly as she approached.

Jules held her gaze for a second, "Wrex has agreed to fund the project, he'll give you whatever you need."

Tevos only half managed to hide a sigh of relief, though it was quickly replaced with her usual composure, "And you and Liara?" she asked evenly, "Will you formally join the project now? I won't be able to protect you from the HTA if you don't."

"Oh don't worry," Jules muttered, "we'll sign your contract."

"Provided we agree on all the terms," Liara added, before throwing Tevos a cold smile that made Jules supress a chuckle. Perhaps she should warn Tevos how meticulous Liara was when it came to this sort of thing. Or perhaps it was better to let her find that out on her own.

"Now that you have the funding, how long will it be before we're ready to go?"

Tevos considered that, glancing back at Aria and Grunt, "We've lost nearly half our staff and we still have a lot to sort out after Adarna's coup but – barring any more disasters – we should be ready in… six months?"

There was a general murmur of agreement from the others in the room.

"Will six months give you enough time, Shepard?" Aria asked her lazily and Jules frowned.

"Enough time for what?"

"To get back in shape," Aria looked her up and down critically, "right now you look like a strong breeze might snap you in half."

Jules followed Aria's gaze and then looked back at her with a tight smile, "Oh don't you worry, by the time we leave I will be ready for anything."