Book I - Chapter 8: No Man Left Behind

Shepard knew she must have looked really stupid; sitting frozen in front of her desk, her body half turned toward the door with her eyes round and her mouth hanging open.

Liara shifted her weight from one foot to another, chewing her lower lip nervously while she waited for the Commander's reply.

"You are?" Shepard finally found her voice.

Liara nodded. "Yes."

Shepard tiled her head in genuine confusion. "Are you sure?"

The deep purple blush looked painful on the maiden's face. "I have given this matter considerable thought. This decision was not made on a whim. I have weighed the pros and cons, analysed every variable and anticipated a great range of outcomes. Yes, I have never been more sure of anything in my life."

Slowly but steadily, Shepard rose from her seat. The maiden's breath hitched as Shepard stalked purposefully toward her. "You are ready, you want this, you are sure?" Shepard whispered into Liara's under-crest, her lips not quite touching the delicate scales, giving her one last chance to back out.

"Goddess, yes!" Liara's confirmation came out sounding like a high-pitched moan; she finally lost her patience with the repeated questions. She none too gently grabbed Shepard's head, and crushed her lips into the Commander's own in a frantic kiss.

The first brush of Shepard's biotic charged fingers on Liara's under-crest had the maiden break away from the kiss with a loud cry. Intimately familiar with just how sensitive this particular body part was, Shepard did not dare to touch it before Liara was completely ready for the union. She ripped open Liara's high collar and latched her lips over a pulse point. The taste of sweet pheromone on her tongue had her eyes rolling to the back of her head. All of a sudden, the thought of having clothes between them was unbearable.

It appeared Liara was having the same idea. She was clawing at Shepard's uniform, trying but failing to loosen it.

Shepard, on the other hand, was a lot more successful at removing Liara's clothes due to the unfair advantage called prior experience. Not breaking the seal of her lips on Liara's skin, she unzipped the lab coat in one smooth pull and deftly tugged the coat over Liara's shoulders, effectively restraining the maiden's arms behind her. Shepard pulled back from the kiss to admire the view of her half-naked, half-restrained lover, and dove forward to capture one straining tip of her breasts between her lips with an approving groan.

Liara struggled to free her arms of her coat, but Shepard was making her task infinitely more difficult. Sensing Liara's distress, Shepard reached behind her and untangled the coat off her arms. Once freed, Liara immediately went back to pulling at Shepard's uniform. Shepard let out a throaty chuckle around a pebbled nipple at the maiden's futile attempt. The vibration only encouraged Liara to try harder.

"Take off your clothes." Liara demanded. Her eyes were swimming in black from arousal.

Shepard released Liara's breasts with a wet pop, straightened up, and quickly undid all the buckles holding her uniform together. Two seconds later, every scrap of clothing she was wearing was discarded on the floor in a small pile. "As you wish."

x-x-x

Shepard thought she must have done something right this time around, because Liara made the decision to join with her far before the threat of imminent death came to loom over their heads. She was not going to complain about a good thing, though.

The timing was perfect, too. There was no interruption. They had enough time for round two, round three, until she lost count.

More importantly, she did not need to follow a virgin's instructions this time. Her unusual circumstances made it so she did know Liara's body better than the maiden did herself. Last time, it was incredible. This time, it was mind shatteringly awesome. Liara's reactions had inflated her ego so much at this point, she feared it might never fit through the doorway again.

Liara shifted in her arms. Shepard looked down at the blue head resting on her breasts and planted a soft kiss at the top of her crest.

"Remind me again why I insisted on waiting so long before jumping in bed with you? I can't even remember what I was afraid of." Liara asked sleepily.

"You said you found me intimidating." Shepard suggested.

Liara giggled. "Right. That is still true. But in a good way."

"How are you doing? I wasn't too rough with you, was I?" Shepard lightly traced a few purple love marks littered on Liara's shoulders. There were more elsewhere, but she couldn't see them from this angle.

"No, you weren't. It was just right. Although I'm feeling quite sore and sticky right now. I'm hungry and thirsty too."

Shepard smiled. "Shower and food sounds lovely."

x-x-x

Shepard stared at the object thrusted in front of her face with some confusion. "Medi-gel?" She looked up from her plate of food. Ashley was standing there, one hand holding a tray of food, another hand holding a tube of medi-gel.

Ashley was not meeting her eyes. "Thought you might need it." There was a tinge of blush on her cheeks as she waved the tube in a vague gesture.

"Oh." Suddenly realizing why she might need the medi-gel, Shepard accepted the item with a blush of her own. "Thanks."

Ashley joined Shepard at her table. "Can't let you walk around with that on your neck. It looks painful. Little Miss Prothean Expert has sharp teeth. Like I said before, it's always the quiet ones." She paused for a moment and added with a wicked grin. "Although, she was certainly not quiet in bed. You would think they would soundproof the Captain's cabin better."

"What?!"

"The noise cleared everyone out of the crew deck. You should've seen it. Bunch of tough marines hiding in the cargo bay to escape the sounds of the two hottest women on the ship having loud sex."

"Kill me now." Shepard put a hand over her eyes in mortification.

"Relax, skipper. I was joking. It wasn't that bad."

Shepard gave her a dirty look.

Ashely was unfazed. "You wouldn't let me tease Liara. So that means you're fair game. Hey, at least you got some action, unlike the rest of us. The least you could do is let us lonely people talk about it."

Shepard rolled her eyes in a very undignified manner. "Fine."

"So? Any details?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "I don't kiss and tell."

Ashley pouted. "You're no fun."

x-x-x

Liara's eyes glazed over in memory, her face holding a dreamy expression. "It was glorious."

Tali listened attentively. "Yes? How so?"

"Shepard was… extraordinary. Everything she did. I did not know it was possible to feel so much and not to be rendered unconscious. Thought that did happened a few times. Her mind, her spirit. To merge with Shepard, someone who burns as brightly as a supernova… Oh Tali, it was impossible to describe. It was divine."

"Wow." Tali breathed. "So, did she use the biotic technique you told me?"

"Oh yes she did. Liberally."

"How about the stamina thing Joker was telling everyone about?"

"Shepard certainly has stamina to spare. It was hard to keep up."

"What about the tongue thing Private Fredricks was so sure of?"

Liara was a bit confused by the question. "What tongue thing? Can you be more specific? There was a lot of different things Shepard did with her tongue."

Tali's eyes lit up. "Do tell!"

x-x-x

Aethyta,

My name is Jane Shepard. We've never met each other before, but I need your help.

On Eden Prime, I accidentally activated a working Prothean Beacon and had the psychic information stored inside downloaded into my brain. The beacon contained nothing but a dire warning - the Reapers are coming. They are a hyper-advanced race of machines that caused the Prothean extinction 50,000 years ago. According to Dr. Liara T'Soni, a Prothean expert, every 50,000 years, the Reapers will come and eradicate all advanced civilizations. She called it the "Cycle of Extinction". And now it's our turn to face our doom.

This sounds like a bedtime story to scare children, doesn't it? The Council certainly thought so. Even with irrefutable evidence of Saren and Benezia stating that they were working to bring the Reapers back, they still dismissed the Reapers as a mere story. This was why I did not bother to inform the Council of my vision because I knew they would laugh the freckles off my ass if I did.

The Reapers are dangerous. Their unique tech can enslave even the strongest mind. This process is known as "indoctrination". Even a powerful asari Matriarch such as Benezia fell victim to its control. Saren sent his geth to kill Liara on Therum. Benezia would have never allowed any harm come to her precious Little Wing if her mind were still her own.

The Council will do nothing to prepare for the upcoming Reaper invasion. The Alliance, wanting a Council seat so desperately, will eagerly follow the Council's lead. When the Reapers come, we will all be fucked.

I refuse to roll over and die.

If the authorities won't help me, I'm going to seek help elsewhere. Illium is the gateway to the Terminus system, and you are one of the most influential people in Illium. This is why I must ask for your help. I have made plans to prepare for the war, but I know I'm under heavy surveillance due to my status as the first human Spectre. Both the pro-human terrorist group Cerberus and the Shadow Broker are looking into everything I do.

The help I need from you is your influence and your discretion. Here is a list of items to acquire:

1 Illium issued ID card for one asari named Janiri

1 salvage license

1 merchant freighter

Here is the account number and password to access the 1 million credit in the account.

Thank you for considering my request, and for reading this long-winded letter to the end. I owe you a huge favour. If I ever visit Illium, I will buy you a drink.

Sincerely,

Jane Shepard

x-x-x

Message is encrypted. Password prompt: The same one you used.

Subject: Janiris celebration

From: Janiri

Aethyta,

This is urgent. Please try to find the best cryogenic stasis pod and biotic collar you can and have them shipped to Eden Prime to Benezia's old disciple Shiala. I've put in two million credits into the same account.

And thank you for the fleet. I will put them to good use. Please have them delivered to Shiala as well.

Thanks,

Jane Shepard

x-x-x

Aethyta,

I've received the items in Eden Prime. They are exactly what I need.

I've got intel Benezia is in Noveria. I'm planning to put her on ice if everything goes right. I really don't want to kill Liara's mother, and I don't trust the Council with Benezia if I capture her. Do you have a safe place in Illium where I can hide her away?

Thanks,

Jane Shepard

x-x-x

Aethyta,

Thank you for offering a safe place. I've got Benezia. I'll be in the Citadel tomorrow. I'm going to give her to Sha'ira to "arrange for transport back to Thessia for a proper funeral".

Please make sure that biotic collar is never taken off. Benezia must never be woken up from the stasis, not until a cure is found. The Reapers still have a tight grip over Benezia's mind. If she wakes, you will have to put her down. I cannot stress this enough. She is better off dead than under Reaper control. I've seen what they can do to indoctrinated servants from the beacon. They can mutate organic bodies and transform them into grotesque monsters. Liara is still having nightmares from seeing the vision in my mind. I will not let her mother be turned into a Husk.

Thanks,

Jane Shepard

x-x-x

Liara sat on the bench outside the Consort's chambers, waiting for Shepard to finish her private meeting with Sha'ira. As a well respected matriarch, Sha'ira was the best person to grant Shepard a favour and arrange for her mother's body to be transported back to Thessia for a proper funeral. At least, that was the official story if anyone cared to ask.

Shepard had promised Liara she would have a trusted friend hide Benezia away, outside of Council space. Liara guessed this trusted friend must be the Consort's contact. There would be no better judge of character than a powerful Consort. She would trust this friend as much as she would trust Sha'ira's judgement.

Garrus had left for the C-Sec Academy a moment ago. Liara did not want to pry into his own affairs. Whatever news he heard from the one C-Sec officer they met earlier was urgent enough that he decided he needed to visit the Academy to gather more information on his own.

"Mind if I sit here?" An unfamiliar asari with a deep blue, almost purple skin, asked. Judging by the shape and size of her facial scales, this asari was a matriarch of over a thousand years old.

"Please, Matriarch, have a seat." Liara replied politely.

The matriarch sat down next to her. "Beautiful place, the Citadel. All perfect and civilized. Like they are better than everyone else." She said in a distinctive gravelly voice.

Liara looked at the matriarch with questions in her eyes.

"Aethyta. Skip the title. It makes me feel old." The asari held out a hand.

Liara shook it. "Liara."

"So, Liara, what's a maiden like you doing outside of the Consort's chambers? Why not just go in and have a good time? Don't tell me you're a prude." Aethyta asked with a lopsided smile.

The unexpectedly rude comment stunned Liara for a moment before she found her voice. "What? No, I am not a prude. I'm here on business, not for pleasure. I have no reason to see the Consort or her acolytes."

Aethyta pulled a face. "You sound like a sheltered baby bird. When I was your age, I was stripping in a dance club, making credits like nobody's business. It's called the wild maiden years for a reason, kid."

Liara looked offended. "It's your prerogative to do as you wish with your life. I chose to spend my maiden years pursuing my own passion, uncovering Prothean artifacts in remote digs. I've dealt with slavers, privateers, and mercs on my own. I've fought geth, thresher maws, krogans, and rachni. I'm far from sheltered."

"Rachni? Now you're pulling my legs. They're extinct. My father was a krogan. He used to show me scars and tell me stories about the Rachni War." Aethyta reminisced with a wistful look on her face.

"I have no reason to lie. We've found rachni on Noveria. The Council is aware of this. It seems they've decided to keep the news under wraps." Liara said with a frown.

"Like I said, all perfect and civilized. As long as you don't dig, you'll never find the buried bodies. Typical." Aethyta snorted derisively.

Liara was quiet. She supposed Aethyta was right. Throughout their mission, the Council had been proven to be more of a hinderance than a help. Other than a few tidbits of information on geth and an impressive title of Spectre, they had offered Shepard no help at all. They were unreasonably harsh on the Commander, and they repeated dismissed her warnings only because those were incompatible with their own perfect little world. The Reapers were coming to doom them all, and the Council was determined to do nothing.

"Hey, cheer up, kid. Don't look all sad on me." Aethyta sounded worried.

"Liara?" Shepard called out from behind her. Liara stood up and turned around to face the Commander. Upon seeing Liara, Shepard became agitated. "Are you alright? Why are you upset?"

"I'm fine." Liara said, and let herself be folded into a comforting hug. She closed her eyes and buried her face in the crook of Shepard's neck, soaking up the comfort and strength from the woman she loved.

"Sorry, did I make you wait too long? I can make it up to you later." Shepard whispered suggestively.

Liara giggled. "Shepard!"

"Hum. You're not as much of a prude as I thought." Aethyta commented drily.

Liara felt Shepard stiffened in her arms. Do they know each other?

Shepard carefully extracted herself from the hug to regard the matriarch with a frown. "And you are…?"

"Nobody important. Just passing time chatting up a cute birdy." Aethyta gave Liara an impolite leer.

Shepard scowled. "Quit it before I headbutt you into the lake."

"Scary. Do you even know how to execute a proper headbutt? Half-krogan here. Let me tell you, it's an art." Aethyta taunted.

Sensing the rising tension, Liara stepped in to mediate. "Nobody is headbutting anyone. Shepard, this is Matriarch Aethyta. We were just talking. Aethyta, this is Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. You don't want to pick a fight with her."

"Spectre, ooh. Sounds like a big shot." Aethyta mocked.

Shepard let out an exasperated sigh. "Liara, she is the trusted friend I was telling you about. Apparently she is a bigger pain in the butt than I thought."

Liara's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Her?"

"I guess so. We've never met in person before. And I didn't expect to see her here." Shepard said.

"You can thank Sha'ira for that. I didn't plan on being here. She can nag. No wonder she's still single." Aethyta grumbled.

"I said I would buy you a drink. Still interested?" Shepard asked.

"Nah. I need to stay sober a little longer. I can get drunk off my ass after this is over," Aethyta said quietly and stood up from her seat. Before she walked away, she stopped next to Liara and said, "your mom might've treated you like a baby bird, but I knew you were gonna be special, kid. Any daughter of hers... You're gonna raise one hell of a storm with those little wings."

"Little Wing..." Liara repeated dumbly. Before she could get another word out, Aethyta had already left. "She said... she knew. She is…"

"The most powerful Matriarch in Illium. A complete black sheep, too. She left Thessia with a broken heart after her pregnant bondmate left her. They were together for a century before that. Must have been one hell of a fight." Shepard said while studying her face carefully.

"You knew?!"

Shepard nodded. "I looked her up when I was doing researching on Benezia. Couldn't think of a better person for this job."

"I don't know how I should feel about this. For the longest time, I thought she didn't want me."

"Hey," Shepard touched Liara's cheek tenderly. "That's not true. She loves you. She only stayed away because she loved Benezia too much."

"I… have a lot to think about." Liara finally said.

Shepard smiled at her. "Aethyta is half-krogan. Does that make you a quarter krogan? Have you ever felt the urge to headbutt people? Wrex will be pleased to hear that."

"What? No, that's not how asari physiology works." Liara protested.

"I don't know. You do have quite the strong bite. It seems krogan to me." Shepard teased, lightly tapping the bruising bite mark on the side of her neck hidden underneath the hardsuit to emphasize her point.

Liara felt her cheeks burn. "It was your own fault! You were doing the thing with the…" Her voice trailed off.

Shepard's brilliant green eyes twinkled like mad. "You liked it."

"I'm not talking to you." Liara pouted.

"Is that a challenge?" Shepard gave her a roguish grin before whispering in a voice so low, it tickled her under-crest like a feathery caress. "You can attempt to stay quiet. I bet I can make you sing for me if I really try. Your voice is lovely."

The innuendo almost made Liara's cheeks erupted in flame. "Shepard!"

"Yes, that's what I would like to hear from your lips." The Commander agreed smugly.

Liara stared at the shameless flirt. Part of her was scandalized, but for the most part, she was secretly very flattered. Growing up, she had been too socially awkward to participate in anything remotely resembled romance. She did not have the interest, nor sexual confidence to flirt with anyone before. She wondered if she could do it with Shepard. It took her a few seconds of furious thinking to finally come up with an acceptable retort. "Because yours would be too busy to speak." She delivered the line with a bored tone.

Shepard looked stunned by what Liara just said.

Liara gave the Commander a teasing smile and began to walk away with an extra sway in her hips. "Garrus is at the C-Sec Academy. We should go see him." She paused, and added with a knowing look, "are you coming?"

Shepard followed dumbly, completely lost for words. Liara had never felt as confident and sure of herself than when she had Shepard's eyes glued on her rear.

x-x-x

While waiting for the Council to hurry up and send her to Virmire, Shepard found more rachni on Nepmos.

It was hardly surprising. Afterall, they were following up on intel gathered on Noveria. Since they had found rachni in Cerberus labs on Binthu, it was safe to assume that there could be rachni in other locations.

It was a sad sight that greeted the squad when they found the Alliance encampment. Shepard cursed loudly as she drove the Mako behind the defensive walls and parked it next to the disabled generator. "Alenko, get the turrets online! Williams, with me!" She ordered.

There were only three Alliance soldiers alive manning the walls. The open field between the rachni burrows and the temporary Alliance base was littered with corpses, both human and rachni. There was a neat pile of human bodies next to the barrack, but the majority of them were sprawled on the ground where they died. The ones that were closer to the burrows were in small pieces, and the ones that were closer to the base all suffered horrendous acid damage.

"Hold the line!" Shepard shouted at the soldiers. Their arrival had added enough firepower to finally push the invading rachni back after an intense exchange.

When there was a lull in the battle, one marine racked her rifle and saluted the Commander. "First Lieutenant Durand, ma'am. Third Brigade, 14th Infantry Regiment. And I'm damned glad to see you."

Shepard gave her a grim nod. "Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. We heard you needed some backup."

"Actually, we need to get the hell out of here. But I guess your ship couldn't carry us all." Durand gestured at the fallen marines on the ground.

The Normandy could easily handle three live marines and their equipment, but it would require a freighter to store and transport all the dead marines off world. Dead or alive, there was no way Durand was going to leave her platoon behind.

Shepard respected that. "No, it couldn't. I need a sitrep."

Durand briefed the Commander on the situation. "They dropped us here a few months back. We get supplies every couple weeks. We didn't see anything local that was more dangerous than lichen. Yesterday, these animal started coming out of the ground. No idea where they're from. This is what's left out of 90 men. I'm the ranking officer."

Shepard didn't bother to inform her that those animals were sentient; she doubted the Lieutenant was in the mood to be educated on xenobiology after watching her whole platoon get slaughtered. "Anything else you can tell me?" She asked.

"Yes. What we just fought was a probe. Our seismic sensors are picking up a crapload more right underneath our feet. There is also another gigantic hollow space southwest of here at the abandoned mine. It's probably their nest. We've got five minutes, tops. We might be able to hold them off if we were at peak, but..." Durand shook her head, downtrodden.

The woman's reply set the Commander into her face, snarling like a Drill Sergeant on a raw recruit at boot. "That's defeatist talk. You're a marine, so act like it! You're fighting enemies that will eat you alive. There are only two rules: everyone fights, no one quits. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am. The only good bug is a dead bug, ma'am!" Durand snapped a salute.

Shepard turned to Kaidan. "How are the turrets coming along?"

"Generator is hooked up to the Mako. Turrets are back online." He replied.

Shepard let out a bloodthirsty grin. "Good. Alenko, man the left wall. Williams, hold the middle. I'll be on the right wall. Let's do the universe a favour and put down those insane rachni. Get into positions."

"Aye, aye!"

The bugs came in huge waves. Those clever bastards understood they needed to use their superior numbers against six humans. Shepard and Kaidan countered that strategy by using their biotics to herd the rachni towards the middle of the field into a tight group to be finished off by the concentrated fire from the two gun turrets and Ashley. One saving grace was that the battleground was an open field, not an enclosed space. At least they had room to maneuver.

There must have been hundreds of bugs hiding deep in the underground tunnels. The dead bodies of rachni began to pile up, but they would climb over their own dead and kept advancing towards the encampment like crazed fast-zombies in horror vids. Between waves, Shepard had to use her biotics with high explosive grenades to pulverize the highest pile close to Ashley to give the Gunnery Chief a clear line of sight.

It took what seemed like hours for this relentless assault to finally taper off.

Durand looked as if she couldn't quite believe she had lived through the battle. "Holy hell. Talk about a near-run thing. You all right?"

Shepard looked at the green goo splattered on her filthy Predator armor and replied, "another regular day at the office. What about you? When was the last time you slept, or ate?"

"26 hours ago, but I'll live. Another thing you should know. One of our listening posts in the system went offline three days ago. I don't know what caused it, but you might want to check it out."

"Alright, we'll drop by. But first, I'm gonna take my squad and clear out that mine. I'll send some marines over to help you with the bodies and call in the Alliance for transport. You hang in there." Shepard patted the marine on the arm.

Durand hesitated. "Are you sure you don't need more backup?"

Shepard waved off her concerns. "No need to worry about me, Lieutenant. I can take care of myself. See to your men and get some rest. You still have a long day ahead of you."

x-x-x

On Shepard's orders, the Normandy landed on Nepmos and the crew spent a day helping out with death detail. As the Staff Lieutenant of the ship, Kaidan was tasked to lead a team of six marines for this operation. Ashley refused to take a break and included herself in Kaidan's team. Half of the bodies were in pieces, and all of them were dripping acid. It was an extremely unpleasant job meant only for Alliance soldiers, but Garrus, a turian of all people, volunteered to help out. This compassionate gesture earned him great respect from everyone, even the ones who were previously prejudiced against turians.

Shepard was confident Garrus would one day make an excellent Spectre.

While her crew helped with cleanup at the encampment, Shepard took Liara and Wrex into the mine for a different kind of cleanup. Fighting rachni in an enclosed space was a nightmare, but her two squadmates were powerful biotics who excelled at crowd control. The krogan was practically built to be the natural enemy of rachni, and Liara had experience from her mission in Noveria. It took them awhile, but they cleared out the mine with only minor injuries.

Afterwards, they went straight to Altahe to check on the listening post Durand had mentioned.

Although Shepard had not been on this assignment before, she already knew that it was highly unlikely for her to find any survivors in the Alliance base if rachni were involved. When she saw all the dirt mounds surrounding the pre-fab Alliance camp, her suspicion was all but confirmed.

"Yup, those are rachni burrows alright. Hold on tight!" Shepard said and stepped on the gas.

"Maybe we should get out and fight on foot?" Garrus shouted out his question in a terrified treble.

Wrex whooped in excitement. "Yeah! Bring it on! I got the cannon!"

The Mako shot forward like an enraged rhino. Shepard nudged the wheel, and the vehicle lurched to the left. She drove circles around the camp at top speed a few times, luring all the rachni out of the underground tunnels by intruding on their territory. The angry bugs began spitting acid at the Mako as soon as they were above ground.

Shepard jerked the wheel around, dodging jets of acid expertly while Wrex returned cannon fire at the rachni. After wiping out about a third of the enemies, Garrus lost his lunch on his lap.

"Nasty!" Wrex complained.

Garrus moaned miserably.

They cleared out the rachni outside and entered the camp. Shepard found out first hand that even though Garrus's dignity took a hit, his accuracy did not suffer from his unfortunate case of car sickness.

Inside the facility, they found some red, organic pods that did not match anything in the database. Shepard took a scan and left them alone - no way was she going to risk taking them with her on the Normandy.

One other useful intel Shepard found was the camp's shipping log. Both of the listening posts that had rachni infestation had their supplies dropped in by drones from Depot Sigma-23 a few days before the attack.

"Looks like we might have just found the source of our rachni outbreak." Shepard showed the log to her squad.

Garrus muttered, "what kind of suicidal idiot would want to keep rachni on a ship?"

"We'll find out soon." Shepard said.

They found the derelict freighter drifting in the Gorgon system.

Fighting rachni inside a cramped supply ship was asking for disfiguration or disintegration by acid, so Shepard brought along the krogan and the Gunnery Chief as her boarding party. They were heavy armor wearing tanks who specialized in close quarter combat, and they were the two people currently on her crew who had enough piss and vinegar in their bellies to match the rachni.

Shepard recovered a few disconcerting logs on one of the terminals on the ship. According to them, the ship was actually a secret Cerberus base used for resupplying their own private troops and for testing new weapons. Unfortunately for the Cerberus troops, their new weapons decided to eat them for dessert.

Wrex was unamused. "This is a familiar story. A failed experiment with the rachni. Nice to see humans are consistently stupid. Cerberus. I've just about had it with them."

"These bugs need to come with warning labels. 'May cause acid reflux.'" Ashley snarked and did an air ba-dum tish at her own joke.

The ridiculous pun made Shepard snort. But it only made Wrex stare blankly at her.

"Human joke. It's not funny if I have to explain it." Ashley said lamely.

"No, I got it. It just wasn't very funny. Now this is funny - the rachni may appear closer than OH MY EYES!" Wrex deadpanned.

Both Ashley and Shepard broke into a fit of giggles at the stupid joke.

Shepard gasped. "Stop it. We need to focus. Can't get distracted. There're still lots of rachni out there. Get a grip, Williams. I'm gonna arm the demo charges. Better run fast."

Wrex added, "and remember, kid. Don't look back at the explosions. It's cooler that way."

Shepard and Ashley howled in uncontrollable laughter as they dashed through the ship. The countdown clock was ticking away, while numerous Kamikaze bugs hurled themselves at the squad to slow them down. Still, they cackled all the way back to the Normandy, safe behind the ship's kinetic barrier.

They did not look back when the freighter exploded behind them. They were too cool for that.

x-x-x

Liara noticed Shepard had been silently fretting since she received a slew of new assignments from Admiral Hackett. The subtle mood change might not have been very obvious to most, but it was impossible to ignore when she spent so much time with the woman. (Albeit, a disproportionate amount of those time was spent naked and lost in orgasmic bliss.)

The Commander had been fiddling and staring at her Omni-tool a lot. Though she could not see the VI, Liara knew Shepard had Widget running in the background constantly, scouring the extranet for any information she could use to prepare for the war.

"You are frowning again." Liara sat down on Shepard's lap and lightly smoothed over the crease between Shepard's brows with a finger.

Shepard gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

"No, you've been plotting." Liara helpfully pointed it out. "Trying to take over the world?" She teased.

Shepard had the decency to look sheepish. "Not exactly. I'm just a little fed up with all the extra assignments the Alliance have sent me on. I mean, it's one thing when I'm asked to investigate geth activity in the Traverse. At least that's related to my primary mission. But negotiating with cult leaders and freeing hostages? I'm sure there are other people in the Alliance who are competent enough for the job. Why not just send in a team of special forces? I'm not the only N7 on active duty. Heck, when I became a Spectre, I was supposed to be honourably discharged from the Alliance. Technically, I'm retired. Their priority is all messed up."

"I think the reason is fairly obvious - Admiral Hackett gave you those assignments simply because you are the best. Remember, Shepard, the Alliance is following the Council's lead. Since the Council does not recognize the Reaper threat, they've understated the urgency to stop Saren. The Alliance probably still considers you their asset to utilize in the Traverse. Eventually they will learn that they can't use a Spectre as humanity's go-to problem solver. The needs of the galaxy as a whole comes before the needs of one race." Liara reasoned.

Shepard gave her a dubious look. "I highly doubt that day would come. As long as I'm riding in an Alliance vessel with an Alliance crew, they will always treat me like their own errand girl. It doesn't matter to them that I am only supposed to be answerable to the Council. I am human, I am expected to do whatever the Alliance orders me to do. You don't want to know what people are calling me for allowing aliens on board an Alliance ship."

Liara was appalled. "What? That does not make any sense. The Alliance volunteered the Normandy to be used to chase down Saren. It is only logical to have non-human crew members on board the Normandy for Council business. How can humanity truly become a part of the galactic community while standing apart from all the other races? Do people not understand what kind of trust humanity has been given by including a human into the Spectre ranks? You have been burdened with not only great power, but also great responsibilities."

"Uncle Ben would agree." Shepard said with a chuckle. "This is not because of a lack of understanding. I think people tend to have selective memory for things that are inconvenient to them. I would call that human nature, but, well… The Council chose to focus on blaming me for the beacon's destruction on Eden Prime, conveniently forgetting it was their top agent who started the whole mess in the first place. They accepted Tali's audio file as irrefutable proof of Saren's treason, but with the same breath they denounced the existence of the Reapers."

Liara was uncertain what to say to that. "If you don't want to, you really don't have to take those assignments. Regardless what the Alliance may expect of you, stopping Saren is your top priority."

Shepard shook her head slowly. "I can't afford to refuse Alliance assignments, Liara, no matter how ridiculous they are."

"Why not?"

Shepard hugged Liara tighter, breathing in her scent with her eyes closed. "I need to maintain a good relationship with the Alliance, specifically with Admiral Hackett. He is arguably the most respected, and hands down the most capable admiral in the Alliance. When the Reapers come, you want him to be the person in charge. This is why I need to do every crap assignment he hands me. I need him to trust me when I present him irrefutable evidence that the Reapers are invading. He is not the only admiral who can lead the Alliance to war, but he can give us the best chance to win."

Liara pulled back a little from the hug to look at Shepard's face. "If you have already decided to take on those assignments, then what's weighing on your mind?"

"Those assignments are taking us all the way from Hawking Eta to Kepler Verge. The travel time alone is two weeks. The Normandy has state of the art sensors on board, so I suppose it's not a complete waste of time if we scan everything within range for more clues during travel. If we're lucky, we might find more geth... I'm stressed about our other projects, too. Shiala is coordinating everything, so I shouldn't worry, but it's hard not to brood when all I can do is sit here and stew. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to hear back from the Shadow Broker. It's been too quiet, and I don't like it. All this waiting is making me anxious." With a cringe, Shepard confessed all her worries to Liara.

"I'm… surprised." Liara smiled at the Commander with her eyebrows arched in a haughty manner. "As impatient as you are, you've managed to wait three months for me."

The sudden change of topic seemed to derail Shepard's depressing train of thought. "Yes? But that's not the same." She said.

Liara tilted her head and gave Shepard a secretive smile. "No? You're forgetting I can feel what you feel when we join our minds. In retrospect, I am amazed by your remarkable poise and self-control. If I were in your shoes, in my infatuation I would have made a complete fool of myself while attempting to woo you. I would have acted like a gibbering idiot every time we try to have a conversation. Sometimes it still seem inconceivable that someone as extraordinary as you has chosen... me."

Shepard tried to object, but Liara put a finger over her lips to stall any protests. She was not finished yet. "Through the meld, I feel what you feel towards me. Your love for me; it is humbling. Jane, you adore me, like no one else does, not even myself. Having seen through your eyes, I will never see myself the same way again."

With an embarrassed smile, Shepard kissed the finger touching her lips. "It's very flattering to see myself through your eyes, too. Hell of an ego trip." She nuzzled the delicate scales lining Liara's under-crest, and whispered, "you love me. I feel your trust, your admiration. You make me want to be a better person to be worthy of such devotion."

Liara let out a fine shudder at Shepard's touch. "I've never wanted another before I met you. Benezia's father was a salarian. I've always thought my lack of interest in romance came from that side of my ancestry. At the end, all it took was the right partner: you."

Shepard grinned impishly at Liara. "Salarian? You can be quite the krogan if you're worked up. Aethyta would be proud."

Liara lightly slapped Shepard's arm. "Aethyta would not be privy of what we do in private."

"You don't want other people to know what we do in bed? Then how come Tali is so well informed?" Shepard asked drily.

Liara looked down on her lap with a light blush on her cheeks. "Tali is a very close friend. Aethyta is my father."

"You probably didn't know, but quarians are terrible gossips. Unless you specifically request them to keep a secret under their helmets, they will casually blab it out in public. It's not malicious, that's what people do when they are so used to communal living. I was a colonist. I should know. I overheard her correcting Private Fredricks on his misconception regarding my techniques. Now the whole crew knows what we do in private. Aethyta will probably find out soon enough."

Liara was mortified. "Goddess! I didn't know she was going to tell other people."

Shepard kissed Liara's temple. "Nah, it's not a big deal. If Tali had not said anything to the crew, they would've made up stories to amuse themselves anyway. They're marines. They might talk about me, but they know better than to tease you. I gave Ashley permission to put her boot down if they cross a line. So far it hasn't happened yet."

"But I don't want my father of all people to find out. The things we do… What would she say?"

"Aethyta would probably tell you, if it's all civilized, you're doing it wrong." Shepard leered at her lover suggestively.

"Shepard!"

x-x-x

Talking down Major Kyle was not easy, but Shepard did it. All it took was pointing out how the guy was going to get all of his faithful children killed if he chose not to cooperate. At the end of the day, Shepard completed the mission without a single drop of blood shed.

The cult leader needed serious counselling to work through his PTSD after what happened at Torfan. Only a ruthless hardass would feel no remorse after sending three quarter of one's own troops to their death just to slaughter surrendering batarians to make a statement. Shepard could only imagine the kind of psychological scar it left on normal people. Major Kyle had cracked under all that guilt. Shepard wondered if she would have fared any better.

Her next assignment was a bit trickier. The biotic terrorists had taken scientists hostage at the Sirta Foundation research facility in Chohe. To minimize civilian casualties, Shepard took the two squadmates who were least likely to accidentally cause collateral damage. Kaidan and Liara were excellent biotics, and they were good with a pistol. They managed to take out all the terrorist without so much as grazing the civis with debris.

The only snag was that in order to keep the hostages docile, the terrorists had dosed them to the gills with drugs. After they killed all the terrorists, they didn't know what to do with the room full of tripping scientists who were so high, one of them thought she was a potted plant.

"We can't exactly leave them to their own devices." Liara said.

"We can't take them with us either." Kaidan said.

Shepard did not want to deal with the headache. "I'll have Dr. Chakwas take a quick look. The Alliance can deal with the rest. As long as they're not harming themselves, I'm fine with leaving them here. There's another potential hostage situation I need to deal with two relays away. We need to move fast."

The last assignment from Admiral Hackett took them all the way to the Kepler Verge. Unlike the previous assignment, the only thing between the squad and Corporal Toombs was his hired mercenaries. Shepard took Wrex and Ashley along to cause maximum mayhem.

Honestly, Shepard could not care less if Toombs killed the Cerberus scientist. This Dr. Wayne had it coming.

She told the Corporal exactly what she thought of the scientist after hearing what had prompted the attack. "Go ahead, shoot the bastard. After what he has done to you and your squad at Akuze? He should thank you that's all you're gonna do to him."

"Commander?!" Ashley was gobsmacked. "You can't just let him walk around shooting people in the head."

Shepard looked at the Gunnery Chief dead in the eyes and said flatly. "You would have done the same if you had been experimented on."

Ashley froze at the implication.

Dr. Wayne started screaming at Shepard. "You can't let him do this! This is against the law! You won't get away with murder!"

Shepard snorted. "Really? You're gonna pull 'the law' card now? You don't get to flaunt the law and then expect the law to protect your ass. Are you forgetting I'm a Spectre? I'm officially above the law. You are a member of a terrorist organization, I can execute you right here and no one will raise an eyebrow. Better yet, I can order Corporate Toombs to shoot you, starting from your kneecaps, and he won't get into any trouble for it."

"No! Please, don't do this. I will stand trial. I'll testify in court. I'll do anything. Please don't kill me." Dr. Wayne was reduced to a sobbing mess.

Shepard looked at Toombs. "Well, Corporal, what do you think?"

Toombs shook, squeezing his pistol tight in his hand. But then, he lowered his weapon. "No. Death is too easy. I want him to testify. The world needs to know what really happened to my squad. I can't let them get away pulling another Akuze again. Between revenge and justice, I choose justice."

"Well said." Shepard nodded approving at Toombs. She then turned around and punched Dr. Wayne in the jaw. The scientist crumbled on the ground in an unconscious heap.

Ashley gave her a bewildered look.

Shepard answered the wordless question. "I don't like him. And I don't want him to hear our conversation."

Ashley palmed her face. Wrex chuckled.

"Toombs," Shepard asked the Corporal, "how much do you want to take down Cerberus?"

The former Alliance marine stared at the Commander, and answered emphatically, "anything."

Shepard turned on her Omni-tool and sent out a file to Toombs. "Follow the instructions."

Toombs read the file on his Omni-tool. His eye grew steadily wider as he went down the list.

Shepard stuck out her hand. Toombs shook it with grateful tears in his eyes. "Welcome to Operation Heracles. We're gonna take down Cerberus. We are Ragnarock. Now go. You don't have time to waste."

"Thank you." Toombs said quietly before he left.

Shepard look at Wrex.

Wrex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll keep quiet. Seriously, how many times has it been, and you still have to ask?"

"It's only polite." Shepard shrugged.

Ashley couldn't quite help herself. "What is going on?"

Shepard grinned at Ashley. "I just recruited him, like how I recruited you. You're going to help me flush out Cerberus agents from inside the Alliance, Toombs is helping me do that from the outside. I sent him to Omega. Cerberus is into a lot of nasty stuff in the Terminus system. I want him to keep an eye on them for me."

She nudged Dr. Wayne on the ground with the tip of her boot and said, "this sack of human scum is going to be the stick that pokes the hornet's nest. Little weasel like him will try to cut a deal and drag as many people down with him as he can. We're going to sit tight and take note. Those who try the hardest to hush this up are most likely to be connected to Cerberus."

An answering grin stretched across Ashley's face. "I like how you operate, skipper."

"We're done here. Let's haul his ass back to the brig."

"Aye, aye."

Shepard changed her mind. "On second thought, it's easier if I just lift him with my biotic. Can you and Wrex pick through the bodies and gather up all the supplies? I will radio Joker to dock the Normandy outside."

x-x-x

The Normandy was two days away from the Citadel when Shepard received a short message from Barla Von on her personal email account.

Offer accepted. Exchange is scheduled at my place. See you in two days.

Shepard shook her head. Of course the Shadow Broker would know her personal email account. She had set up this particular account just to bait her watchers. She programed Widget to post in hobby forums and browse porn sites with accounts created with this email address. With all the breadcrumbs she intentionally left for people to find, her dossier must have been a riot to read. Who would suspect humanity's first Spectre was secretly into asari bondage porn, hanar swimsuit models, elcor action movies, beekeeping, and poetry? Excellent blackmail material right there.

What impressed her was that the nosy yahg could so accurately track the Normandy's movement. This ship was supposed to be a stealth vessel. Tracking it through conventional means was incredibly difficult. The Shadow Broker must have tapped into the Alliance's communication channel, like Cerberus had. She did contact the Alliance and requested for custody transfer for both Major Kyle and Dr. Wayne in the Citadel in two day's time. That was probably how the Shadow Broker pegged down her schedule.

In the corner of her eye, Shepard saw Widget change colour and pop out a search alert. One of the targets Shepard had been keeping a close watch for had yielded a promising result.

After her meeting with Barla Von in the Citadel, her next stop would be Virmire. This time, none of her crew would be left behind.

x-x-x

A/N: Who spotted the Starship Trooper quotes?