Shepard stood in front of the remnants of the blazing building silently. It had appeared a miracle stroke of luck for her, Garrus and Miranda as they had been racing to Oriana before the Eclipse team could do away with her; a bombing which had drawn away Eclipse squads and reinforcements. The distraction had allowed them to make better time and catch Anaya and expose Niket's treachery. Now, while Miranda was finally meeting the sister she had never allowed herself to have, Shepard had come to investigate the source of such good fortune.

"It's confirmed" Garrus said roughly from over her shoulder. "IndentureTech is a client for Eclipse. General security operations, supplying of mechs, putting down the occasional protest if need be. They must pay really well for Eclipse to have diverted manpower away from us."

"It's the only reason we caught them in time. I'm not a believer of coincidence" Shepard replied. "I want to know what happened here."

"Why not just accept the good fortune and continue on?" Garrus asked. "Is it really worth the fight?" He was seeing the same suits of yellow ballistic armour scanning the scorched ruins as she was.

"I'm not here to start a fight" Shepard replied.

"Still, especially for a beautifully idealistic peacemaker, you have to admit you get shot at an awful lot" Garrus reminded her. He seemed to realise what he had just said and tried to smother his stammers with an awkward cough. "Commander."

Shepard smiled, her best friend seemed to be infallibly capable of eliciting that reaction with her.

"Whatever happens, I'm with you" Garrus said as she took a step forward.

The smile on Shepard's face refused to dim. It amazed her how his voice, so gravelly, course and rough could make her feel so safe, so supported. He hadn't even wavered in the face of Cerberus at her back, much unlike the Alliance. Of course Anderson had supported her and it had been better than expected to her that the council had quietly reinstated her spectre status but even then, it was just words, something worthless that they so easily threw around. Garrus was exactly the opposite, he was infinitely more at home letting his sniper do the talking but sharing her compassion. Leading his team had given him a new sense of maturity, being the one giving the orders had cooled the rebellious hothead who was prepared to mutiny against the decision to save hostages to kill one monstrous doctor. No matter the hellfire she was riding into, knowing he was always at her side was perhaps the most treasured reassurance she had, jockeying for who was the better shot of husks at three hundred yards. She took another step forward.

"You know, these men did have orders to kill us barely twenty minutes ago" Garrus ventured, "what's stopping them from shooting us on sight now?"

"Besides the fact that any Eclipse member who's seen us in the last half hour has been gunned down with extreme prejudice?" Shepard asked. "The fact that Miranda's father won't be paying them a single credit now that he won't be getting Oriana, these people won't fight a battle that's not worth their while."

"Good logic" Garrus conceded as Shepard approached one of the troopers staring at his omnitool.

"Looks like a war zone," Shepard remarked to the soldier. "What happened?"

The soldier jumped a little, startled at his lack of noticing her presence. "You're not supposed to be here" he said, a little dimly.

"But I am" Shepard noted, "and I'm asking you, what happened here?"

"Even if I could tell you," the soldier said stiffly, "why would I?"

"Because your outfit is going to have to go after whoever did this, as a matter of principle" Shepard pressured, "and I wouldn't be looking to turn down any extra guns at my side given the demonstration of what they can clearly do."

Garrus shook his head with a small smile. Shepard just had this infectious tenacity whenever she spoke, like an ethereal force just wanted you to be convinced by the words she spoke at crucial moments, it was how she managed to muster a galaxy's worth of forces against Sovereign and all of that power was taking absolutely no time to make the Eclipse solider feel he should give up his classified intel to a complete and utter stranger.

"To be honest, there's not much we can actually tell" he admitted. "Witnesses are scarce; we can't even get a headcount of the organic merchandise that was inside so tracking them down is going to be near impossible. Security footage was stored onsite and with the razing of the building, there's not a whole lot to go off."

"Have your scans revealed anything?" Garrus inquired, noting the dozen or so Eclipse troopers walking back and forth with the scanners on their omnitools active.

"Just that the incendiary devices used to bring the building down were seriously military grade but even before that, the building was seriously damaged. Looks like a whole biotic squadron launched an artillery strike beforehand so we're looking for at least a half dozen asari acting together as our prime suspects."

"Biotic power off the charts and a penchant for destruction" Garrus muttered into Shepard's ear. "Sound like anyone we know?"

"Sounds like two people we know" Shepard replied back, "her penchant doesn't equate to this proficiency."

"A match and a powder keg walk into a bar" Garrus said, looking around. "You do the math."

"We will be having words with them" Shepard said before an alert on her omnitool drew her attention. "Christ, what now?" She muttered as she opened the call. "Detective Anaya, I didn't expect to be hearing from you again so soon."

"And I didn't expect a report of a mega krogan laying waste to an entire building in an underground fight club" Anaya replied. "This one says he belongs to you."

"Grunt?" Shepard asked, surprised. She knew very well he was capable of the feat but he was usually better at keeping his urges in check. "He give you any reason?"

"No but a bio-analysis indicates likely drug consumption, I'm guessing someone spiked him for a laugh. We had to give him extra rations for fear that he was going to eat his cellmate, he's got the munchies on a serious level."

Shepard fought to keep from sighing in frustration, it was not that she wouldn't do anything for her crew, it was just too much to ask it seemed that they not cause an incident every place they touched down. Jax had murdered a batarian on the Citadel and now this. All the team had some unfinished business or another that had to be sorted before they could turn to their true fight. Just once, could one of her team just be able to pick up sticks and roll out without a pressing family event or blood feud that needed solving at that exact moment? Just one?

"Commander?" Anaya repeated.

Clearly not. "I'm on my way" Shepard returned, hailing a cab as she ended the communication. "Why does it always fall to me?" Shepard asked Garrus as they climbed in the responding skycar together.

"Because the rest of the galaxy are politicians" Garrus replied. "Seriously though Shep, after all these wars are said and done with, I'm going to have get every galactic language change the meaning of 'Shepard' to 'someone who gets shit done.'"

Shepard chuckled softly. "Sounds a lot better than any medal, I might hold you to that someday."

It took more than an hour of paperwork to get Grunt released on bail, even with Anaya cutting every single corner she could find for Shepard. "While he's out on bail, I do have a legal obligation for you not to go too far with him" Anaya told her.

"Not a problem" Shepard said before opening her comm. "EDI, tell Joker to start prepping the Normandy, we're leaving this planet."

Her mood had hardly improved by the time she boarded the ship, making a beeline for the elevator. Kelly, however, had other plans. "Commander, I was hoping I could have a word?"

Shepard sighed, it had been a long enough day as it were. "Make it quick Kelly, I'm tired, I'm soaked in blood and sweat and I need to straighten Jax out before I can finally sleep."

"Jax is exactly the reason I wished to speak to you" Kelly replied. "He came back from shore leave and while I'm fairly certain whatever he did out there was certainly ill advised, I think it may have been exactly what he needed."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"I mean I think he seemed far more relaxed than I've seen him as of yet," Kelly explained. I think when he went out there, seeing other members of the team acting in capacities other than simple warriors for you allowed him to finally let himself be less than the persona of conflict he's been demonstrating thus far. He's currently in a good place, picking a fight tonight would only serve to reinforce keeping his guard up."

"Is this your professional advice?" Shepard asked curiously.

Kelly blushed, but whether that was from Jax or Shepard, the commander couldn't tell. The yeoman had a habit of blushing anytime their banter became particularly playful. "It's good advice" she reassured her commander, elegantly sidestepping the question. "He could use a night off and with all due respect, I think you could too."

Shepard nodded, she could hardly call Kelly wrong in this regard at least. "Consider this an early end to the day shift, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my quarters." The door closed shut silently and Shepard finally allowed herself to alleviate some of her own weight, resting her head on her arm leaning against the door. The journey was quick and Shepard slowly stepped through, her armour clattering against the polished metal floors as she finally began to unclasp piece after piece, not caring where it fell. She touched the panel and food began to scatter itself from the top of the fish tank. Shepard disconnected her breastplate and shrugged it off, barely registering the thud it made around her boots. The spine of the back plate fell away as she collapsed into the seat at her desk and worked at the discs on her hips. Her armour was like a masterfully crafted jigsaw, each piece fitted into the next with a unique mechanism but right now the intricacies were only serving to drag out her winding down. Eventually, Shepard stood only in her skin suit under the armour, peeling it out and dropping it into the laundry chute. The coldness of the smooth steel panels under her feet was a welcome sensation as the bathroom door slip open for her and she opened the shower's stream to beat down on her back, washing away the sweat, grime and stress of another day. She realised that since her resurrection, she had fought her way off the Lazarus Station, through Freedom's Progress and half a dozen other worlds, council and otherwise, with no respite. She was fighting her way through two lifetimes without taking any respite and it was wearing her thin. She shook her head under the shower, watching the water run through her fringe and pool on the floor before draining away. It was silly to hold such thoughts and considerations; it was the very reason she did not take time away that so many had been saved. How could she think of rest when she held the power to lift misfortune and misery from so many? It was selfish, and she should know better. Still, as the Normandy lifted off Illium and soared away, the orange and purple hues of the evening sky racing past her ceiling window, she could at least enjoy this moment. The warm water which served as her commanding privilege let her muscles unwind as she pressed her back to the wall and slid down, seemingly a life's worth of fatigue hitting her. The bed is barely fifteen feet away Shepard thought as her head fell to rest on her crossed arms around her legs drawn up to her and she fell asleep.

Miranda was busy censoring every shred of her report than contained any relevance to Oriana. She knew despite his good intentions, the Illusive Man had his fair share of secrets and she wasn't of the thought he would begrudge her for her own. Oriana wasn't Cerberus business, it was as much time and effort she had spent on anything besides her work in virtually her entirely life, besides her futile history of trying to satisfy her father. Henry Lawson had once been a staunch supporter of supporter, both spiritually and financially and it wasn't beyond reason that the Illusive Man could barter that information for Henry's renewed support, a possibility she wouldn't allow to come to fruition. As she filed it away, a new alert came across her desk, filed to her from Kelly. She opened a direct line back to the CIC, going up there personally would be an inefficient use of her time. "What is it?" She asked succinctly.

"The Illusive Man has forwarded us intelligence from drones situated in the Far Rim" Kelly replied. "He suggests Shepard will find the reports to be of great use."

"The Far Rim?" Miranda mused. "But what would Shepard need that far out into Geth space?" Her eyes flashed up immediately. "The last dossier" she said instantly, answering her own question. She turned her attentions back to Kelly. "What was Shepard's response to it?"

"I couldn't raise her" Kelly replied, "it appears she doesn't wish to speak at this moment."

"Well I'll check it then" Miranda said, it was after all her responsibility as Shepard's second in command to act when Shepard was otherwise indisposed. "Geth troop movements towards their position, small fleet of drop ships with a dreadnought being present in a neighbouring system." Miranda pursed her lips. "Extracting Tali will be incredibly delicate."

"Tali?" Another voice asked. "Did I hear that right?" Garrus' face appeared on the screen alongside Kelly's. "Is she in trouble?"

Miranda resisted the urge to roll her eyes, of course someone overly social and open like Kelly wouldn't have made the channel private. "Not for the moment but it looks like she will be saddled with impending difficulties. The Illusive Man marked her as a person of interest after your skirmishes with Saren's forces, however it wasn't until after our run-in on Freedom's Progress that she became a potential candidate for the team."

"So why haven't we recruited her sooner?" Garrus demanded.

"Because our intel flow from within the Migrant Fleet is fragmentary at best" Miranda replied, "Tali's deployments are highly classified, until now we had no idea where she even was."

"Instruct Joker to plot a course for the Dholen System" Garrus ordered. "If Tali needs our help then we will assist her however we can."

"That order is not within your authority to give" Miranda admonished, a sliver of ice starting to creep into her tone.

"On this, I speak with Shepard's authority" Garrus replied. "Take it from someone that actually knows her," the barb in his voice an even edge to her, "she will agree with me and right now, time is of the essence."

Miranda bit her lip; now was not the time to get in a pissing contest for Shepard's allegiance, not when she had just indebted herself to Shepard and Garrus for assisting her with Oriana's rescue. "Agreed," she finally conceded, "give the order to Joker and tell him he's allowed to push the engines if it means making better time."

"Yes Operative Lawson" Kelly acknowledged and signed off.

Miranda looked to Garrus' window. "I had better inform Shepard of our new heading."

"I'll do it" Garrus told her, "doubtless you have the Illusive Man to report to."

The second barb stung Miranda slightly but she bit back the emotion from showing on her face. "Fine" she ceded in a dissatisfied tone, she was not enjoying the eroding amount of respect this team seemed to have her and her role. Garrus was ever the loyal follower and team member in a firefight but he seemed to be more like Jax to anyone who got between him and Shepard. Miranda twirled a lock of her hair around her finger, maybe that was something that could be exploited if she ever was pushed into a corner.

Garrus left the main battery and made for the lift. It was out of no present resentment that he had acted the way he had towards Miranda, he had just managed to sense how thin Shepard had been worn as of late through their bond forged in fire. Miranda was clinical and always held herself to the highest echelons of professionalism but right now, Shepard needed a good friend much more than she needed a good officer. True, given their latest mission together he had witnessed an entirely new dimension to her first-hand but that merely gave him a greater understanding of her, not necessarily a greater liking. Maybe helping Shepard through her problems gave him a reprieve from wrestling with his own, he couldn't the amount of mental conversations with Jax had taken place in his head and yet he still couldn't bring himself to talk to him. Jax was a walking vestige of his greatest shame, his failure, it was his duty to make things right and yet he couldn't. Jax was improving, his check-ups had told him that and to be honest, Garrus' argument to himself that his intervention would only undo all that progress and make things worse was starting to become more convincing each time. The elevator opened, thankfully ending his mental soliloquy but revealing a more confusing sight. Shepard's gauntlet lay on the floor in front of him, the pauldron laying another step in front of it. Garrus took a step forward cautiously, it wasn't like Shepard to be neglectful. He picked up the armour before activating the alert on the door. There was no answer so Garrus opened it to find the room completely filled with steam. The moisture instantly stuck to his face, he pulled off his fogged visor and mumbled an awkward curse as he felt the bandage on his face dampening. "EDI, can you clear this up?" He asked, waving his hand through the steam to test the visibility, finding the shapes of more pieces of armour on the floor. The vents activated and cold air was pushed into the room. Garrus felt his way to the bathroom and looked down at the motionless figure curled up against the wall. "Shepard!" He exclaimed, deactivating the shower and kneeling down to her. Shepard's sleeping form barely even stirred, although Garrus' breath caught in his throat when he realised the state of undress she was in. Looking around, Garrus slipped his arms under her frame and lifted her up. He tried not to stare down at her frame now fully exposed to him. Her frame was obviously solidly built as the classic soldier she was, not an inch on her fair skin was anything less than well-muscled but even then, there were minuscule subtleties on her he could see that he had never seen before. From the small wrinkles on her fingertips to the birthmark of darkened skin on her hip, the armour she wore obscured her in more ways than just physically. Shepard shifted in Garrus' arms, clearly discomforted from being removed from the warmth of the shower and curled deeper into his grasp, revealing a pair of dimples in the small of her back. It was both comforting and graceful as Shepard's more intimate areas were hidden from view as Garrus carried her down the stairs and down towards her bed. He tucked her in gently, turians with all their rough edges and course skin were hardly built for delicacy but he wanted to make the effort, he would always make it for her. He smiled softly as Shepard rolled over, pulling the duvet further up and obscuring her bare back. He wiped the visor clean and remounted it over his eye; the room was dehumidifying efficiently. He looked around at the mess and took a breath. Calibrations could wait, he had a better task to do.

Shepard… Shepard… Commander?

Shepard scrunched her eyes as EDI's synthetic voice dragged her unwillingly from her slumber. It had been a long dreamless sleep, one that was more than overdue. She pushed herself up from the hard mattress and looked around. EDI's holographic interface was glowing from the far side of the room as she slowly made herself aware of her surroundings. She didn't even remember making it to her bed when the sheet around her fell down, revealing her exposed form. "Shit!" She cursed, interrupting whatever sentence EDI was in the middle of. "Where are my clothes?" She blurted.

Shepard swore the lines on EDI's face blinked. "You were not wearing any when you entered the shower" she replied perfunctorily.

"I understand that but where have they gone?" Shepard asked again.

"The laundry. A fresh change has been laid out for you in addition to your armour" EDI reported as the cabin lights began to brighten. True enough, a new uniform was lying neatly folded on the couch for her, the orange Cerberus emblem on the shoulders a sharp contrast against the grey sleeves. Her armour was neatly organised on the table, a fresh polish and shine on it caught her attention as the crest of her helmet glinted at her.

She picked it up and examined her reflection, the circles under her eyes had lessened, the lines of weariness in her face had retreated slightly. "Who did all this?" Shepard asked as she pulled on her shirt.

"Specialist Vakarian was responsible for the organisation" EDI dutifully replied.

Shepard froze. "Garrus?" She asked.

"Yes. I believe his original intention was to deliver a mission update."

Shepard looked up through her cabin window and saw the shrinking blue emissions flickering beyond the thick thermoplastic; a telltale sign they had just come out of a mass relay jump. "Reducing Tantalus Core output" Joker's voice came through the general comm channel. "Emissions sinks engaging, all systems nominal, we are now in stealth, all personnel observe Ghost Protocol."

"We're engaging stealth systems?" Shepard asked, "where exactly are we?"

"We have entered the Far Rim cluster" EDI replied, "the latest accepted borders between Quarian and Geth space. Skirmishes from both factions are common, therefore the necessity to avoid detection."

"This sounds exciting" Shepard muttered as she pulled on her boots before making her way to the elevator. Just short of exiting the room however, she paused a moment. "EDI, was Garrus responsible for me waking up in my bed?" She asked. "Did he see…"

"I believe that is more appropriate a matter to be discussed between you and Specialist Vakarian" EDI answered.

"You 'believe'?" Shepard repeated.

"Shepard, I am a shackled AI" EDI replied. "It is the ultimate goal of all artificial intelligence to make sense of everything, which necessitates a complete understanding organic behaviour. In this instance, my experience indicates that this is a private matter and my input will be unwise in reaching a successful solution. Perhaps you ought to speak to him now and familiarise yourself with the imminent mission."

"I, humanity's best and perhaps last hope against an unknown force, am taking social advice from a robot" Shepard muttered as she called up the elevator. "Unbelievable."

She made it down to the briefing room in the CIC to find Garrus already in full armour, running checks on his thermal clips. He had a fresh white graft on his face, the old bandage replaced. Jacob was also present. "I briefly checked the mission details" Shepard said, "we're performing an extraction?"

"Commander" Garrus said, standing up for her. "It's Tali."

"Tali?" Shepard repeated, instantly gaining her full focus.

Garrus nodded. "Intel gained from the Migrant Fleet shows Tali was leading a science mission on the surface of Haestrom, purpose unknown. They lost contact after a Geth skirmish and have failed to check in since."

"Any military assets?"

"The science mission had small escort of Quarian marines."

"And what makes us think any of them are still alive?" Jacob asked, breaking his silence.

Garrus leant over the table where a hologram of the system came up. "We've registered two Geth cruisers changing course, making for Haestrom. That means either the Quarians eliminated the Geth…"

"Or the battle is still ongoing" Shepard mused. She looked at Garrus. "You were right to set the coordinates as soon as the intel came across our desk." She looked back at Jacob. "Synthetic enemy types. What do you recommend from the armoury?"

Jacob stroked his chin. "Geth generally focus on heavy shielding but get through that and it's a relatively easy kill. You want a high fire rate to keep the shields from recharging, I'd suggest an Avenger assault rifle, disrupter ammunition and for when things get real heavy, I think it's time we took the Arc Projector out of storage, justify some of the credits we sink into R&D."

"Advice for the squad?" Shepard asked.

"A team focussing on engineering or tech over firepower would serve you best" Jacob told her, "you're going to wanting to use overload a lot I believe."

"Garrus, you're already armed up" Shepard nominated, "a familiar face will also do some good considering the Cerberus logos I showed up with at my flank the last time I ran into Tali."

Garrus nodded and marched out.

"Any other factors to take into consideration?" Shepard asked.

"I am reading intense solar radiation on Haestrom's surface due to its degrading magnetosphere" EDI contributed, "shields will be under increased stress when exposed to direct sunlight."

"Then we bring in someone who doesn't rely on shields" Shepard answered, opening a channel. "Grunt, grab your shotgun, I need some armour."

"Shuttle will need to make an isolated drop" Joker chimed in, "systems will fry otherwise, once you're down there and the Geth start really laying into you, we won't be able to make an extraction."

"So we're committed," Shepard said, "got it, we're not leaving Tali alone down there."

"Got a distress signal from the Quarians but it's weak," Joker reported, "radiation is causing all sorts of interference."

"Understood, once we're down, keep the Normandy at a safe distance," Shepard ordered, "no need to antagonise the Geth anymore than we need to. Miranda will assume command in my absence."

"Aye aye, good hunting."