Emerging with a bright blue flash of light, the commercial starliner rapidly decelerated before banking sharply to port, flaring its thrusters, and racing off toward the Citadel. A few moments later, the flight attendant's pleasant feminine voice sounded over the cabin speakers. "Attention, all passengers. The Captain has advised we will be docking at the Citadel in sixteen minutes. Please ensure you have collected all your belongings before disembarking. Goddess be with you."

Liara was quietly brooding in her seat next to one of the portside viewing windows of the private cabin she had reserved for the group's trip from Thessia. Catching a glimpse of the massive space station briefly shimmering in the distance, she suddenly realized it had been nearly three years since she last stepped foot on the Citadel.

Things had been so very different then.

Shepard, Liara and the rest of the Normandy's crew were fresh from their surprising victory against Saren's geth fleet and the Reaper, Sovereign. The stunning truth they'd discovered on Ilos had proven to be the key to halting what they believed to be nothing less than an extinction level event. But the cost to stave off their destruction had been terrible. Dozens of Council and human vessels had been lost, the Citadel had sustained significant damage, and thousands of lives were extinguished as they desperately held back the onslaught.

In the weeks after the battle, the success, such as it was, proved to be a lightening rod for political turmoil and unrest, with the crew of the Normandy caught in the crossfire. But the endeavor to discover the truth, and then the race to stop the unimaginable from coming to pass, had helped to foster a close bond between Liara and Shepard that had taken them both by surprise.

The unlikeliest of couples—the bookish asari scientist and the brash human soldier—had found a place of peace at the center of the storm swirling menacingly around them.

But then, rather abruptly, they began to drift apart.

The disturbing facts they'd discovered about the nature of the Reaper threat had consumed Shepard. And while the Council and his own Alliance had publically dismissed his warnings and sought to discredit the evidence he and the Normandy had gathered, he remained resolute and focused on finding the answers that were proving so elusive.

At first, Liara had stood by him with unwavering support and a likeminded passion. In the days and weeks following the attack on the Citadel, they had spent countless hours poring over every detail and shred of evidence they had uncovered during their pursuit of Saren and the Reaper that had been influencing the rogue Spectre's actions. But during the nights, the young asari and the Alliance Marine would retreat to a quiet and secluded apartment in the Wards where they found comfort in each other's arms.

However, as time marched on and the politicians continued to stonewall, something began to change for the couple. The Alliance Navy steadily began to demand more and more of Shepard's time and many of their friends started to return to their far-flung homeworlds. Liara was often left to her own devices, wandering the smashed neighborhoods of the Wards and studying the hastily erected memorials to the lost in the Presidium. It all began to feel so overwhelming as she took in the death and destruction.

And with each passing day, uncertainty and pain began to fester within her.

No doubt Liara had come a long way from the helpless Prothean researcher Shepard had found trapped on Therum. She was no longer the absurd damsel in distress pulled from the pages of bad, human pulp fiction. And thanks to the Commander, Garrus, and Ashley, she had learned to handle herself capably in a fight. But she wasn't desensitized to the combat and death as they were. She wasn't wired like them. The furious battles and the all too frequent horrors they encountered affected her differently.

I've only been masquerading as a soldier, she had thought.

And then one day, as she walked through the Presidium, near a stretch of gardens that she had known as a child, she came across a newly completed memorial to seven small children who had been tragically killed during the geth assault. It was a touching monument to the innocent lost that day, complete with holographic representations of the children—asari, human, and turian—laughing and playing together for all eternity. But the sight had flipped a switch in Liara and the wall she had built up to hold back the terrible events she'd faced over the past few months had very suddenly and thoroughly come crashing down. The illusion she had conjured for herself collapsed and dissolved into the ether.

She wasn't built for this. She was a scientist, a doctor, a Prothean researcher, an archeologist—she most certainly was not a warrior that could hope to stop a seemingly invincible race of ancient machines bent on her extermination. She wanted to flee from the suffocating truth and pull back to a world of normalcy. She wanted to get away from all that death and violence. She wanted to be that child playing in the dirt again. She wanted to grieve for her mother.

Shepard had understood. He always seemed to understand. And he sympathized for what had been taken from her. After all, she was the kind of person he had been trained to protect and shield from the atrocities of war. He had to carry on with this fight, but she was a civilian—an innocent. As much as he selfishly wanted her near him, he would let her go. He convinced himself she would be better off far removed from the chaos that always seemed to be drawn to him.

But still, as a distance grew between the two, Liara saw the hurt in his eyes. It crushed her. She loved him and she felt certain he loved her too. But she was spent. She was paralyzed to overcome the fear and doubt consuming her.

And then the Collectors struck them and everything changed again.

For the Normandy, it was to be just another combat patrol. But for Liara, it was a farewell tour. The voyage to ferret out the remnants of hostile geth presence in the Terminus was to be her last with Shepard and the Alliance crew. After the mission was complete, she would go back to Thessia and return to the life she had known before the nightmares of husks and Reapers and Indoctrinated souls. She would resume the path her mother had set before her, before Benezia had been corrupted by Sovereign. She would learn to forget about the human soldier and move on with her life.

It was for the best, she had reminded herself each day after the Normandy left the Citadel dry dock and probed farther out into formerly geth-occupied space.

But once he was gone, once he had died, the realization of what he had truly meant to her nearly shattered her.

And now look at me? I'm someone completely different.

After Shepard died, Liara came to truly understand what it was to struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds, groping in the darkness for answers. The experience had reshaped her in ways that their desperate battle against Sovereign never had. But there was also a near suffocating loneliness. She had to find a way to fill the gaping hole in her heart that Shepard's death caused.

And so the quest to find and recover Shepard's body had become her own personal crusade. And in his absence, Liara had found that she had become something more—something stronger. She had been galvanized by the trauma, feeling a sense of focus and resolve that allowed her to push past old barriers of self-doubt and fear. As she persevered alone—without him—she was reformed into something more durable, something deadlier.

She had only wished that she'd found that personal strength when he was still alive. When he was still hers.

But then he came back.

She still remembered the sensation of her heart catching in her throat when he walked through the doors of her Illium office, giving her that same easy, infectious smile. Was I dreaming? Was it truly him? Or had Cerberus and the mysterious Miranda Lawson merely fabricated a clever copy of the man she had once loved?

It was as if the last two years had been a dream and she was once again standing in that Presidium garden, looking helplessly upon the faces of the children she had failed to save.

But it was him. And just as it had been in the past, their happy reunion was swallowed up and overshadowed by the whirlwind of activity that surrounded them both. His hunt for the Collectors and her own pursuit of the Shadow Broker subverted any hope of them retreating back into each other's arms and rekindling the bond they had shared.

She wanted to show him how she had grown and to tell him everything that had happened since they were last together, to tell him about the pain of losing him, to tell him the ways it had made her stronger, to tell him how much she still loved him. Those long, tender nights they had spent together in his cabin and then later in their little apartment in the Wards suddenly didn't seem so distant. It didn't have to be any different now that he was back.

But something was different. Or rather, there was someone new.

Miranda Lawson.

What had she done to him? The strikingly beautiful femme fatal was manipulating him somehow, she was certain of it. She was leading him astray, seducing him, and conjuring a powerful spell over the man to keep him loyal to Cerberus.

How did this happen? Lawson was such a cold, single-minded zealot. Liara was completely baffled by how Shepard could have fallen for such a woman. Had they done something to change him after all?

And then she discovered the truth. Shepard hadn't been changed at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

After she had subverted the Shadow Broker and seized his operation for her own—thanks in no small part to the critical intel Miranda had supplied to Shepard—Liara was privy to massive amounts of intelligence sources, historical records, covert agent logs, and a myriad of other active clandestine operations. And she had no qualms about diving into every shred of information that could be dug up about the raven-haired Cerberus operative.

And while the vast amount of archives detailing the woman's activities over the last decade primarily highlighted her many shady dealings on behalf of the Illusive Man and her dogmatic faith in the humanity-first organization, the records that had begun to accumulate more recently were starting to paint a different picture.

Not long after Lawson had been placed on the Normandy SR2 as Shepard's handler, the tenor of the operative's activities steadily shifted away from extremism. Critical mission details were more and more frequently left off of her official reports to Cerberus Command and she was gradually allowing Shepard to stray from Cerberus doctrine and directives. But perhaps most of all, the telling correspondence she maintained with her formerly estranged sister pointed to an unescapable conclusion: Miranda was being drastically affected by her exposure to the man Liara had once called her lover.

But even if Liara had been without the Shadow Broker's vast resources and intelligence network, she could have easily detected the change. She had first taken note of it immediately after the assault on Hagalaz. Miranda very clearly had been out of sorts then, behaving in a distracted and awkward manner whenever she shared the same space as John. And he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the awkward and strangely touching little dance the two were engaged in, taking great satisfaction in his ability to provoke the stoic operative into an uncomfortable orbit. That and the fact that he was powerless to keep his eyes off of her anytime she was near. Still, Liara never grasped at the time that it was anything truly serious. It was simply a fling, she had told herself.

But Liara's theory that the burgeoning relationship was merely inspired by the dramatic nature of their mission against the Collectors was soon shot out of the water. When Shepard contacted her shortly before moving through the Omega 4 Relay and requested she take measures to ensure the safety of Miranda's biological twin sister, Liara understood that the man she had once loved so recklessly had become fully invested in the life of this enigmatic and seductive agent.

And then finally, as she reviewed the footage from the failed attempt on Shepard's life on Illium, the last stubborn shreds of denial melted away. The images of John and Miranda strolling arm in arm down the Nos Astra pathways were telling. She had very clearly moved well beyond the role of his XO and he was certainly no longer simply the charming, roguish captain that enjoyed nudging and challenging her for the mere sport of it. They were in a blissful state. They were in love. Not even Miranda's considerable and practiced skills of deception could have created such a convincing facsimile of the genuine affection they shared for each other.

And the way he looked at her… It was how he used to look at me.

Now, yet again, she was searching for the man. But this time, she wasn't alone on the quest.

But if Miranda Lawson was still the woman that had been so dramatically affected by her relationship with John Shepard, it was no longer outwardly evident. After the first day on Thessia, when she had awoken a beaten and emotionally traumatized victim, Miranda had reverted back to the icy and detached Cerberus operative that Liara had first met years ago on Omega. Even Kasumi, who resembled something of a genuine friend of Lawson's, recognized the abrupt and unsettling shift back to her former persona.

But Liara understood. It was a state of being that she had become familiar with. It's what I felt when I lost him, when the Normandy was blasted out of space by the Collectors and as I watched him jettisoned into the cold vacuum of space, helpless to act. The suddenness of the loss was jarring, as if a part of her body had been ripped away. And the only salve for that kind of injury was the tenacious and ruthless pursuit to get it back. This now was Miranda's reality.

Miranda and Liara were the unlikeliest of companions, existing in worlds so opposite that their mere presence together on the commercial transport hurtling toward the Citadel seemed astronomically improbable. The two women had almost nothing in common—except for the one thing that mattered nearly more than anything. And neither felt they would be whole again until Shepard was back in their life.

The chime from her Omni-tool announcing an incoming priority message roused Liara from her somber thoughts. Quickly accessing and decrypting the message, she smiled and breathed a long sigh of relief. He made it. Sitting up a little straighter, she peered across the passenger cabin's aisle to see Miranda gazing out the starship's window and wearing a distant, troubled expression.

Drawing in a long breath, Liara stood up and approached the human woman and noted Kasumi was reclined in the row behind the operative, cheerfully sleeping away the last several minutes of their journey.

Having abandoned the provocative white and black catsuit, Miranda's ensemble of black stretch pants, long sleeve crimson red top and black leather stacked-heel ankle boots cut a far more conservative look for the former Cerberus temptress. Still, as she kept her hair loose and tousled, the woman managed to appear both strikingly attractive and totally intimidating at the same time. The tactical harness worn over her shoulders, with its front strap buckled under her breasts, securing the M-77 Paladin heavy pistol close to her side, was the only element of her outfit that revealed her as the deadly skilled agent she remained.

Caught somewhere between sadness and grim determination, Miranda's eyes betrayed the dark thoughts that seemed to be consuming her. But there were no tears. Or, at least none that Liara had witnessed since they'd pulled her from that dark room on Akuze. It was as if the woman had exhausted that particular well and refused to allow even a single ounce more of her essence to be wasted on the effort.

Suddenly, feeling a little awkward as she stood in the aisle, scrutinizing Miranda's appearance, Liara shook herself and cleared her throat to get the pensive woman's attention. "Miranda?" she asked tentatively.

The human woman slowly turned her gaze away from the view outside and looked up at the asari. "Yes?"

"May I join you?"

"Of course," Miranda said distractedly and moved a data tablet off of the seat next to her to clear a spot for Liara.

"I have good news," Liara said, sitting down in the seat next to Miranda. "Garrus will be waiting for us on the Citadel when we dock. He was able to clear his release through the turian government."

Miranda raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement but still appeared to be miles away.

Liara furrowed her brow as she looked at her more expectantly. "Miranda, did you hear what I said?" She then grasped the woman's wrist to get her attention.

The asari's touch seemed to shake Miranda from her trance and she jumped slightly. "Yes… I'm sorry, Liara. That's excellent news," she said and managed a brief, weak smile. "We certainly need all the help we can get."

Liara looked at Miranda more seriously. "Something's bothering you," she said and then caught herself. "I mean, something beyond the obvious, of course."

Miranda looked away and stared back out toward the blackness of space, remaining silent for a long moment. "I was just thinking of Patel," she said in a subdued voice.

Liara smiled sympathetically. Miranda hadn't spoken much about her captivity within that terrible prison facility. She simply wasn't prepared to open up to her companions about the horrific experience and they, in turn, had respected her silence. Liara shuddered involuntarily as she imagined what the woman had endured during her ordeal, cold and alone in that filthy cell. "It wasn't your fault, Miranda," she said. "There was nothing you could have done to save that poor girl."

"Perhaps… I'm not so sure," she said halfheartedly. "But the video… Its implications trouble me." Miranda turned back to face Liara with cold, hard eyes. "Obviously they're trying to manipulate John. Bombarding him with disturbing imagery to weaken his resolve."

Among Liara's group, there was an unspoken understanding about the odd nature of the video depicting Patel's execution. With the girl clad in the Lawson's clothes, there could be no other purpose but to torture Shepard with the imagery as he was subjected to similar treatment Miranda had experienced. "I'm afraid you're right," she said, seeing no point in arguing against the obvious. "But don't write him off yet. He's a resilient man."

Miranda looked at Liara incredulously, as if the asari had uttered some absurd joke. "I'm not," she said tersely and shook her head in frustration. "But our relationship was a foolish enterprise. And now it's a weakness they're exploiting. Allowing it to happen was a critical misstep on my part."

Goddess, she can be abrasive. Liara did her best to ignore Miranda's brusqueness and remained even-tempered. "Miranda," she started in an almost instructional tone. "In John Shepard's young life he has endured all manner of physical hardship and emotional torment. He is not a man easily broken, regardless of how painful something might be. You know this."

Miranda shifted uncomfortably but remained silent. Perhaps the suggestion of how well the asari knew Shepard irked her. But it didn't matter—Liara wasn't through yet.

"And while his carefree nature might suggest he enters into relationships lightly, I can assure you that it's quite the opposite. He doesn't see his situation with you as a weakness or something that makes him more vulnerable. On the contrary, what you have together helps him push forward and persevere through all the terrors he's asked to face. You're a tether for him, very much like how Garrus and Tali and Joker are…"

"And yourself," Miranda interjected and flashing a brief, forced smile. "He was as close to you as anyone. There were extensive files…" she muttered and looked away again.

Liara laughed softly and closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes," she said, nodding. "We were very close." She drew in a long breath and pushed those memories from her mind. "I won't lie to you, Miranda. What John and I had for that brief moment in time was precious to me—is still precious to me. I still love him deeply. And I know he still cares very much for me, and that's a wonderful feeling. But it's not the same any longer for him. I know that. He doesn't love me like that anymore. He loves you…" Liara smiled softly and did her best to hide the pain she felt. "I'm not going to stand in your way."

Miranda swallowed and slowly turned her head to look back into Liara's eyes, not having any idea what to say. "Liara… I'm sorry. I..."

"Don't be," Liara interrupted. "It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault. I don't think you stole him from me or anything like that. In truth, he was never really mine to be taken from. Things just change and I understand that."

Miranda bit her lip and nodded. "Thank you for saying that, Liara," she said. "But honestly, I'm not certain any of it will matter after what the Illusive Man revealed about my original orders. It's not exactly how I had hoped for him to learn about that particularly ugly directive."

Liara shrugged slightly. Miranda had told Kasumi about the threatening conversation the Illusive Man had initiated before they had fled the asteroid that had destroyed the Alpha Relay. In turn, their Japanese companion had explained the situation to Liara. Miranda seemed to understand that her friend would have filled Liara in on the details. "You should give him more credit. From what it sounds like to me, when you originally received those orders things were very different for you both. If I can recognize that what you two have is genuine, I'm certain he can."

"Perhaps… But it's my reluctance to come clean about it earlier that I think is the problem. Hearing it from that man was less than ideal. I should have explained it to John much sooner. I suppose I was just afraid…"

Liara gave Miranda an understanding look and smiled. "I'm sure it's going to be fine. Let's just focus on getting him back first, okay?"

Miranda returned Liara's smiled and nodded appreciatively. "Yes. Thank you, Liara."

"But Miranda," Liara said and grasped the woman's arm again. "Things are very likely going to get worse before they get better—for all of us. Don't make the same mistake I did and pull away from him while this storm is gathering. He needs you."

Again, Miranda looked back at the asari, utterly at a loss for words. Then the faint vibration of the starliner docking with the Citadel rescued them from the awkward moment.

In the row behind them, Kasumi began to stir and yawned theatrically. Liara glanced back toward their companion and wondered how long the small human woman had been feigning sleep. She then turned back to Miranda and smiled a little easier. "Time to go."

"She's named the Cassandra," Feron told them as they walked briskly through the crowds clogging the pedways of the Citadel spaceport B level. The drell had met Liara, Miranda, Kasumi and Mordin at the commercial transport dock two levels below as the group disembarked and was now giving them the rundown on the recently acquired starship. "It's a Helios class luxury mirco-liner, with upgraded eezo core and mass effect field generators, fully rated for atmospheric entry on high-gravity worlds and hostile environmental conditions."

Miranda kept pace easily next to Feron as she shouldered aside a few asari loitering along the walkway, prompting a flurry of dirty looks from the group of females. "Weapons capabilities?"

Feron shook his head. "No. The hull configuration doesn't support anything offensive. But, she does have an advanced defense array, including full countermeasures suite, kinetic barrier shielding, an armory stocked with an extensive collection of small arms, and, of course, a full bar," he said and shrugged. "Essentially, it's a smuggling vessel built for speed and comfort. Hock spent millions on the upgrades."

"Pity he can't enjoy it any longer," Kasumi said with a wry grin.

"Yeah, I heard about that," Feron said with a snort. "I had some dealings with him in the past. Not sorry to see the guy's history."

"Feron, has Garrus Vakarian arrived yet?" Liara asked.

He glanced over at the asari and nodded. "He's there, along with the other two."

Miranda and Liara both stopped abruptly and spoke in unison. "Other two?"

Feron walked another two steps before realizing the others had come to a halt and looked back with a confused expression. "You didn't know? They showed up just before I came down to meet you." He then turned back around and sped around the corner with Kasumi and Mordin in tow.

Miranda and Liara exchanged puzzled looks for a moment and then hurried after the others.

Turning the corner and striding quickly through the security checkpoint leading to the ship's berth at bay B34, the two women caught a glimpse of the sleek, jet-black hull through the viewing windows. A delta shaped craft just under sixty-five meters bow to stern, the Cassandra possessed a vaguely falcon-like appearance with its elongated bridge configuration and swept wings. Liara cocked her head to the side and grinned. It's certainly a sexy enough looking vessel to be transporting Miranda.

As the little group cleared the C-Sec checkpoint, they immediately recognized some familiar faces standing directly outside the airlock leading to where the Cassandra was secured to her docking collar.

Garrus, Thane and Kolyat all stood huddled together, speaking amongst themselves before they looked up and noticed the group of new arrivals.

Kasumi and Mordin rushed up to the three men and greeted them enthusiastically. Miranda paused for a second, but then quickly walked up to join the rest.

Liara hung back for a moment longer, watching as Garrus gave Miranda a respectful nod before pulling her into a surprisingly gentle and warm embrace. She smiled at the sight and allowed herself to feel just a little bit better about their prospects for success.

Their odds had just gotten a lot better.

Ashley pushed through to the Deck Three ready-room and promptly started to remove her armor and stow her gear in her assigned locker. She had a few hours of downtime before she would rotate back onto her next duty shift and wanted to try and get some much needed shuteye.

She glanced out the small viewing window on the port side of the compartment and noted the blue-shifted light show happening outside the ship. They were on the move again, travelling at FTL speed. After Shepard had gone ballistic during the latest attempt to extract the intel locked away in his mind, Richter had ordered a new course and the Persephone had set out toward the nearest mass relay. But where exactly they were heading was still a mystery to the Alliance Marine.

Outwardly, Ashley appeared calm and poised as she methodically pulled off her battle armor and prepped her weapons for storage with the practiced care and economy of motion that had been drilled in her over years of military service. But internally, she was still reeling from seeing the black-haired woman executed on the vid screen. She had recognized her immediately as being one of the Cerberus people that had been with Shepard on Horizon months ago. She still remembered the smug, superior look the woman had given her that day as she spoke with the Commander.

But the Cerberus operative had looked neither smug nor superior when they shoved the hood over her head just before splattering her brains across the opposite wall. She looked terrified. Ashely hated Cerberus with a passion she reserved for few other enemies, but even she wasn't convinced that the woman in the vid deserved the treatment she'd received.

Even more disconcerting was witnessing the profound affect the woman's death had on Shepard. She had meant something to the skipper that much seemed clear. She was definitely more than simply a colleague or his Cerberus handler. The scene of her death had rocked him to his core. Had he been involved with the woman?

Anything was possible, she decided. Hell, the man had inexplicably been revived after being spaced and orbital reentry into a low-atmo world. She still couldn't wrap her head around how that was even possible. And when he had suddenly turned up in the Terminus, working alongside Cerberus, she hadn't a clue what he was really up to or if he could be trusted.

When the rumors first started to fly back then—that he was alive and actively involved in some kind of off the grid, non-Alliance sanctioned Op, she didn't know what to think. She had hoped for the best, but seeing him that day on Horizon had been a jolt. Whatever he'd been up to then, being thrown together again on this tub now was something she couldn't have seen coming.

After the Normandy had been destroyed in the surprise attack, Ashley had been grounded with the rest of the survivors for more than four weeks. The Alliance Navy was exceedingly careful before sending traumatically stressed personnel back out on active combat operations, so she had more than enough time to dwell on what had happened to her ship and mourn the loss of a man that she deeply respected and, in her own fashion, loved.

Eventually, Captain Anderson—soon to be confirmed as Councilor Anderson—had pulled some strings to get her into Advanced Fleet Operations training on Arcturus so she could learn to do more than just take care of the armory when she got her next naval assignment. Aside from her brief stint on the SR1, she had been a ground-pounding grunt all her career to that point. The fleet assignment gave her the chance to get busy again and be fast-tracked for promotion.

She had thrown herself into the assignment on Arcturus with zeal, thrilled to have something to focus her attention on and distract her from fixating on the loss of the Normandy. The time on the massive Alliance station had reignited the fire she had for the military life. She had worked her ass off during the fourteen weeks of Fleet School and had come out of the experience chomping at the bit for action—and payback. She wanted the chance to track down whoever—or whatever—had downed her ship, killed her commanding officer, and scattered to the wind the crew she had come to think of as a second family.

But that opportunity never came. Instead, she had been transferred back to the Citadel, assigned to Admiral Kaneda's staff as he oversaw the restructure of Terran participation in the Council fleet and worked to improve the defensive posture of Alliance assets in the region. It wasn't active combat operations, but at least she was busy and had easy access to interstellar transportation, allowing her to make frequent trips back to Earth to see her family.

Also, she was close to Anderson and ready to go when he eventually had something new for her.

The disturbing increase of attacks on human colonies in the Terminus had prompted the Councilor to begin quietly dispatching Alliance Navy special operators to investigate the situation and, if possible, prevent further attacks. Relations between the outlying settlements and the Systems Alliance had been on shaky ground for years, so there was a reluctance to go out in force. But still, they were human settlements and the Alliance needed to do something.

And on top of things, Cerberus was becoming much more active in the region and seemed to be churning out new recruits and hardware at an alarming rate. Moving beyond their historically fringe status, the human supremacist organization was becoming a major player in the Terminus and their growing influence could no longer be easily ignored by the Alliance brass. The Illusive Man's group had become much more bold, organized, and developed a significantly more inclusive and appealing message. They had been elevated to a major threat status. But could they also have been behind the attacks? Both Ashley and Anderson needed to know.

And then there was the real kicker.

Not long after she had gotten dirt side on Horizon, word started filtering in that John Shepard was alive and operating in the Terminus onboard a Cerberus funded ship. If Ashley had been stunned to hear that news, she had been absolutely floored when she actually came face to face with her former Commander after he and his Cerberus troops managed to throw the massive Collector cruiser off the planet before the frightening creatures could finish their grim business.

And now, bizarrely, she found herself on this ship working with some of the nastiness soldiers she'd ever encountered, under the command of a creepy Alliance Intel officer, and dragging her former Commander around in a cryo pod between intermittent bouts of highly intensive interrogations. It was surreal, to say the least.

Shepard had no idea that Ashley was one of the guards that frequently shuffled him out of cryo-stasis and stood by outside the room while Richter questioned him for hours on end. Besides the fact that her face had always been concealed by the combat helmet, Shepard likely couldn't see straight most of the time, as he was severely drugged during transition to and from the interrogation room.

Still, having to stand by and watch while the man she had once had a very girlish crush on was tormented by a snake like Richter and his Alliance Intel goons was grating on her nerves. Maybe he had been complicit along with Cerberus when they blew the Bahak system all to hell, but he was still the skipper. At least she thought he was.

She was feeling sick again thinking about it as she struggled to accept all that had happened.

The sound of the hatchway screeching open on its rusted hinges behind her prompted Ashley to turn and look over her shoulder, noting one of the other Marines striding into the compartment.

"Alright, Shepard's all cozy and secure in the sleep pod," Gunnery Chief Stivers announced. "Where the fuck you been, Williams? Powdering your nose?... Or, maybe taking a nice, long shower?" he said, leering at her.

Ashley looked disdainfully at the man. "You're a pig, Stivers. And I'm your fucking superior, so learn some goddamn respect."

Stivers shrugged. "Rank doesn't mean shit in this outfit, Williams. Richter don't give a damn about any chain of command so long as he's at the top." He made a snorting noise, apparently having amused himself in some way and smirked. "Speaking of the Major being on top, I think he's got his eye on you."

Ashley shook her head in disgust, but tried to focus on dealing with her gear as she attempted to ignore the man. The other soldiers onboard with her were all highly skilled and absolutely lethal killers, but most were generally undisciplined as far as standard Alliance Navy regs were concerned. In fact, their unpleasant demeanor was part of what made them exactly the right kind of soldiers to be attached to Richter's unit, dealing with the Major's highly unpleasant duty.

But Stivers wasn't done trying to provoke the only female member of the Persephone's Marine force. "Hey, you hear where we're headed next, Williams?"

"No, Stivers," she said and sighed. "But I'm sure you can't wait to tell me."

"Noveria," he said, grinning smugly and nodding his head. "So I hope you packed your long underwear to keep that fine ass of yours toasty."

Ashley stopped in the middle of shoving the gauntlets of her battle armor into the locker. Noveria? Why the hell would we be taking Shepard to Noveria? She felt suddenly uneasy but masked her anxiety as she turned to face the other Marine. "Noveria, huh?" she asked casually. "What for?"

"Why don't you come over here and blow me, then I'll tell you," he said with an absurdly vulgar grin.

She glared back at him, sizing him up, as he continued to shoot her a perverted look. He was still in his combat armor, minus the helmet, and was half a head taller than her. Ashley had already changed into her BDUs and was at a considerable disadvantage if it came to a scuffle. Then she inhaled deeply, forced an inviting expression upon her face, and slowly walked up close to him.

Stivers' eyes grew wide with the glint of juvenile anticipation as Ashley leaned in close to his face and gave him an inviting smile. "You want me to take you in my mouth, huh Stivers?" she said softly while she bit her lip seductively.

"Oh yeah… Right here, Williams."

In a blur of movement, Ashley cocked back her head and then lunged forward like a spring, driving her forehead into the Marine's nose. He recoiled in pain as a sickening crunch echoed in the compartment and tried to backpedal from the attack. But Williams was too quick and with another blindingly fast motion, swept her foot and took the large man down at his ankles.

"Jesus, Williams! You broke my fucking nose!" Stivers was splayed on his back, blood flowing freely from his ruined nose.

Like a panther, Ashley was on top of him with shocking quickness, pinning him to the floor with her left knee as she applied her full weight against his shoulder and neck. Then she pulled the combat knife she kept in a sheath on her ankle and pressed the razor sharp edge of the blade under the man's chin. "You're a real piece of shit, Stivers."

He stared up at her with a stunned expression as she slowly began to move the knife from his neck, letting it scrape against the hard breastplate of his armor, and then come to a rest at his groin.

"Now, you were saying something about wanting me to play with this," she said and tapped the knife three times against the ablative ceramic plate that protected his manhood. "Should I pry it out and have a look at what I'll be working with?"

"You're a crazy bitch, Williams!"

Ashley's eyes narrowed as she tilted her head slightly to the side. Then she cocked the knife back threateningly, high in the air above her head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the Marine shouted in a panicked voice, his palms stretched out to the sides in a yielding gesture.

She then brought the blade down with a smooth and practiced stabbing motion, jamming it into the floor plate of the deck, just missing the point of the man's anatomy that he couldn't easily live without. "Why the fuck are we going to Noveria, Stivers?!" she spat.

He was wild-eyed before finding his voice a moment later. "We're supposed to transfer Shepard to some lab there…" he stammered. "They're gonna use some kind of experimental AI tech to yank out whatever the hell he's holding back from Richter… Probably gonna fry his goddamn brain by the time they're through with him."

Ashley kept the hilt of her blade pressed uncomfortably up against Stivers' crotch for another few moments as she glared down at the Marine. "Thanks, sweetie. That was good for me too," she mocked and then yanked her knife from the deck plate, allowing it to scrape against the man's armor as she pulled the weapon free. Applying an extra shove as she removed her knee from the side of his neck, Williams stood back up and then walked casually out of the compartment.

"You're a fucking whore, Williams!" Stivers yelled after her, his voice nasally and raspy, just before the hatchway swung closed behind Ashley.

Williams immediately strode down the length of the narrow corridor, exchanging a respectful nod while squeezing past Sergeant Ellison as he made his way toward their ready-room where he'd find the bloody mess she'd just left behind.

Her mind was racing. Noveria. Damn it.

Well, that's it then. I can't risk Shepard's safety any longer, she decided.

Ducking into a dark, vacant compartment, Ashley quickly looked around to ensure no one else was coming and then pulled out the Predator pistol she kept tucked at the back of her trousers, concealed under her uniform top. Double checking she had a full mag and round chambered, she replaced the weapon in its holster and then brought up her Omni-tool.

Soon after she had transitioned from the Farragut, Ashley had performed a full mapping sweep of the Persephone and placed monitoring devices throughout the ship. It was all cutting-edge Spectre requisition grade equipment and supposedly beyond even Alliance Intel's ability to easily detect. Tapping a few commands and keying in her encryption codes, she brought up the ship's schematic and overlaid the readings from her little trackers to create a three dimensional image of every human currently moving about within the vessel.

Gazing intently at the image, she found the location she was looking for and zoomed in using a two-fingered, spreading hand gesture. The Persephone was an old ship with a somewhat awkward design. Case in point, the primary communications array control center was located in the aft section of the ship, near the engineering section and well away from the bridge and crew areas. That was fortunate for Ashley as the majority of ship's crew were currently mulling around the forward compartments. Still, as she studied the schematic, a blinking red light alerted her to the presence of someone present in the Comm Center.

Tapping another command, she accessed the bug planted in that compartment and brought up the tiny device's camera. A smaller box popped up a second later displaying the feed. As expected, she observed Tech Sergeant Landry manning his primary post at the console.

Fuck. Doesn't matter, I have to risk it. I have to get the message out before we hit the relay.

The vessels currently shadowing the Persephone would see the ship jump through the relay but wouldn't likely know their new destination until they followed them through and acquired a fresh lock on her personal tracker. Alternatively, Ashley could send out another burst transmission from her portable array hidden in the butt of her rifle, but the device was useless until they dropped out of FTL. Neither felt like a good option as it wouldn't take long to get planet-side once they'd cleared the relay in Pax. She'd be hard pressed to keep the skipper safe if she was forced to wait too long for support.

Shaking her head, she knew she couldn't wait. The risk to Shepard had just increased exponentially and Ashley wasn't about to stand by and allow Richter to turn him into some mumbling vegetable.

Good. I've had just about as much of this horseshit as I can handle.

Killing the vid feed, Ashley returned her focus to the global monitor and spent the next thirty seconds methodically tracking the two dozen diamond-shaped red icons that represented every living being currently onboard the Persephone as they moved about the vessel. Her eyes settled an extra tic longer on the lone, unmoving icon located in the forward cargo hold, picturing Shepard trapped within the cryo-pod. Finally, satisfied that no one else appeared to be imminently headed to the Comm Center, she let out a long breath and deactivated her Omni-tool.

Stepping back out from the dark compartment, Ashley carefully scanned the corridor for a quick moment before setting off at a brisk pace. For all she knew, the ship could be nearly on top of the relay so there was no time to circle back to the ready-room and grab the rest of her gear—she'd have to make due with her sidearm for the time being.

Coming to a maintenance access point, Williams quickly kicked open the hatch and lowered herself down onto the rungs of the ladder and made her way down the two levels to Deck Three and where the Comm Center was located. Emerging a minute later, she dropped down to the floor and found herself in a small equipment storage bay. First poking her head out the equipment locker to double-check for company, Ashley stepped out and half jogged the remaining dozen meters to her destination.

Punching in her access code on the terminal next the door, the hatchway slid open a second later and revealed the cramped confines of the ship's Comm Center. Most of the space was taken up by various terminals and auxiliary comm equipment that looked like it was about two decades behind current Alliance specs. The exception was the advanced array console that handled all of Richter's encrypted communication and network access. Landry was sitting at that console, sorting through lines of coded messages, when Ashley stepped into the room and allowed the hatchway to slide shut behind her.

Landry, a solidly built dark-skinned man, turned to glance behind him as the sound of the hatchway securing echoed in the small space. "Williams, what are you doing here?"

"The Major sent me to relieve you," she lied. "He wants you to stop in at his office and discuss the latest coded transmission you forwarded him."

The Tech Sergeant gave Ashley a puzzled look as he rotated his chair around to face her. "Why didn't he just ping me over the network for that?"

Ashley looked at the large man with an exasperated expression. "I told you. He wants me to relieve you of your post while you go brief him in person," she said and shrugged. "I don't question his orders." Come on you dumb fuck. Just get up and leave. I really don't want to have to do this the hard way.

Landry looked at Williams suspiciously for a moment then pushed away from his console and stood up from the chair.

Shit.

Turning to face Ashley, the big man took a step closer and narrowed his gaze. "This is highly irregular, Lieutenant," he said in his deep baritone. "I think I'll just double check with the Major."

Ashley shrugged, attempting to look indifferent. "What ever gets you off, Landry."

Landry half grunted a laugh at Williams and began to reach his hand up to tap the comm bud secured in his right ear.

Ashley half smiled back at the man but then in a lightening quick motion shot out her right arm, palm up, and connected a hard strike to his sternum. He doubled over from the unexpected attack, the wind knocked out of him, when she followed with a brutal elbow to the side of his head. The Sergeant was sent crashing against some terminals along the wall of the compartment, sending half a dozen data tablets flying off the counter, as Ashley reached behind her back to retrieve her Predator from its holster.

But Landry was a stout man and before Ashley could bring the weapon to bear he recovered and charged her, driving her hard against the compartment wall. She grunted as she was slammed by his full weight and her pistol was launched from her grip, flying across the room. Landry then wrapped both his large hands around her neck and lifted her off the floor, keeping her pinned against the wall.

Ignoring the pain radiating down her spine, she smacked both her hands hard against Landry's ears, stunning the man and allowing her to slip from his grip. She then narrowly ducked under a right cross and drove the heel of her boot against the inside of his knee, buckling the leg in an unnatural angle. Ligaments and cartilage snapped loudly and he screamed in pain as he reflexively reached down to grab his crippled leg. Ashley didn't hesitate when she saw the opening and landed another fierce kick straight to his head, sending him falling backwards onto the floor.

As her opponent remained dazed from the last blow, Ashley leapt onto the prone figure and with one rapid motion yanked her combat knife from its ankle sheath and plunged the point of the blade through the man's windpipe, rotating the handle as she drove the heavy knife through flesh and vertebrae until it came to a stop on the deck plate beneath his neck.

Landry thrashed for another few seconds as blood gurgled up from where his throat used to be, but then fell still, his eyes wide and sightless as they stared up at Ashley.

She cringed slightly at the sickening sound as she yanked her knife from the man's neck and wiped it clean on the front of his shirt before sheathing it. Ashley then rose back to her feet and grimaced, holding a hand to the point of her lower back where she'd been slammed against the wall.

"Well, this is turning into a lovely morning," she muttered out loud and then glanced back down at the man she'd just killed. "Sorry Landry. You should have taken my word for it and just left." Williams then quickly snatched up her pistol from the floor over in the corner of the compartment, holstered it, and then took a seat behind the primary comm terminal.

Activating her Omni-tool, Ashley tapped in a few commands, interfaced with the ship's comm array, and rapidly primed the encrypted tight-beam transmission by punching in her access codes. Satisfied with the integrity of the signal, Williams keyed he mic. "SSV Dunkirk, this is Firefly One. Do you read, over?" she announced and then waited patiently for a response as she reigned in her breathing after the struggle with Landry. Glancing back down at him, she noted the bile-darkened blood was still leaking out from the ragged gash in his neck and seeping onto the deck plates.

A few seconds later, the response came back as the vid interface of her Omni-tool synced with the active comm tac-link she had transmitted off-ship. The stern face of the female Alliance Captain gazed back at Ashley. "Firefly One, this is Dunkirk Actual, Captain Dah. Go ahead."

"Captain, I have and updated destination; we're en route to Noveria. I say again, Noveria is our next port of call. However, asset is in extreme danger. Requesting earliest possible exfil for one plus one. Also, I'm afraid my status has been compromised."

"Understood, Firefly One. Sit tight. We'll be right on your heels after you make the relay jump," Captain Dah said and then glanced down at her side, checking a terminal display that Ashley couldn't see. "Looks like earliest possible interception is fifty-seven minutes from now. Can you stay low for that long, Lieutenant?"

"Can do, ma'am. I'll play hide and seek." The subtle shift in the Persephone's vibration alerted Ashley to a change in their velocity. "Shit, we just dropped out of FTL… Must be lining up the relay now. I've gotta run, Captain."

"Copy that, Firefly One. Keep your head down and the Calvary will be there soon. Dunkirk Actual out."

Ashley stood up from the seat and exhaled. What a fucking a day.

Author's note:

Yep, that's Jill Dah from ME Revelation.

Okay, so the whole fake Miranda execution video didn't really come off all that well. And I agree, it was a bit contrived and probably should have been scrapped. It worked out a lot better when I first pictured it in my head. Ah well, I'll try to avoid such weak plot devices in the future. Moving on now…

I feel it's important to get a little of Liara's perspective of things here, at least as far as the dynamic between her, Shepard and Miranda goes.

I suppose I'm making Liara out to be a bit of a martyr, but it's better than the creepy stalker she is during most of ME3. But I like her as a sympathetic character. I want Liara and Miranda to come to some kind of peace, but not necessarily close the book on a touchy and awkward relationship. I also like maintaining Miranda's attitude problem with other characters—especially many other female characters. She's kind of a bitch—which is awesome!

As I was imagining Miranda's post-Cerberus look, I kept returning to the image of Kate Beckinsale in the Total Recall remake, especially with those tight black pants, chunky sole boots, and the harness rig she wears for most of the film. Totally hot and absolutely the kind of simple, yet fashion-forward utilitarianism I picture Miranda in here.

As always, thanks for reading and posting your comments—they're much appreciated!