Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe is the property of Bioware/Electronic Arts. No infringement of these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan fiction work.

Rewrite Notes: Still inspired by the Beyonce song "Save the Hero," from the album I am…Sasha Fierce.

Author's Notes: Finally! All the setup and backstory is now done for part 1 and we are ready to begin part 2 of the story.

Revision History: 3/10/2019

Part 1: Chapter 24::13 Days Post-Awakening: Citadel Part 12

"Shepard," Anderson's smile was warm as Amanda followed Councilor Tevos' graceful form into his office. His dark eyes studied her keenly as Spectres Vasir and M'Tara followed along behind her into the room while Tevos' four Commando guards took up positions outside the door. "Glad to see your looking like you got a good night's sleep," he commented, then raised one hand and gestured toward his face. "It looks like it did you good, you seem to have done some healing overnight."

So maybe it hadn't just been her imagination this morning when she forced herself to look into the mirror, thought Shepard. "Consort Sha'ira gave me very comfortable accommodations," she replied mildly. Though it was more Sha'ira's comforting presence last night that ensured her sleep than anything else after talking with Liara, but she was hardly going to mention that in this setting.

"She's scheduled for another treatment after lunch with Dr. T'Rani," Alena spoke up unexpectedly.

"Treatment?" Shepard echoed with a frown of confusion as she looked over at her fellow Spectre, "what treatment?"

"While you were sedated Dr. T'Rani treated your grafted skin with some special dermal regenerator," responded Vasir. The matron gave her a sardonic look, "You did notice this morning that the edges of your skin grafts were no longer irritated?"

Shepard scowled at her in return, catching the mirror reference, but that only seemed to amuse Tela even more. "Yes, I did notice the redness was gone this morning." She reached up to briefly touch her cheek with her fingertips, "I just didn't know that the doctor had done something to help it."

"That is welcome news," Councilor Tevos said drawing everyone's attention to her, "though perhaps we should move forward with the purpose of this meeting so that we can ensure you have enough time to meet with Dr. T'Rani and receive another treatment before you have to depart the Citadel."

"True, we are on tight scheduling today to get you out of here in time," Anderson agreed with a nod as he motioned with his hand toward the other side of his office where five chairs had been arranged in a neat semi-circle. He indicated one of the chairs to the Matriarch and once the elder nais was seated took the chair next to her. Shepard took the middle of the three chairs left as it was across from him, which left two empty chairs on either side of her for her fellow Spectres.

"Yesterday, you mentioned that you wished to recruit Dr. Mordin Solus from Omega Station to develop a countermeasure to the paralytic used by the Collector swarm," began Councilor Tevos with a questioning look.

Shepard nodded, "As well as mercenary commander known as Archangel who may be working for Warlord T'Loak. He is supposed to be an extremely good sniper and small unit tactician." She was hoping this Archangel would work out and he would be able to take on the role of team lead for the second mission team, it would give her more deployment flexibility when it came to team compositions. If she could get Miranda to accept the idea without seeing it as some type of slight, she would like to see how the Cerberus Operative functioned as a space-side mission coordinator working with EDI to feed them intelligence. That would give them someone whose sole focus was on prioritizing and feeding the combat teams intelligence and not trying to split the duty with watching their own backs on the ground.

Tevos' brow creased in a minute thoughtful frown. After a moment's thought she shook her head, "That name is not familiar to me, you will have to inquire on Omega Station once you arrive. As for Dr. Mordin Solus, I was able to contact Warlord T'Loak last night," the Matriarch continued, "and successfully negotiated terms for your ship to approach Omega Station. For now, Warlord T'Loak will only permit you to board the station," stated Tevos, "but no one else from your crew. And, as the Warlord is currently involved with adjudicating a dispute on Esan, you will be met by her daughter Huntress Liselle T'Loak. She will then escort you to meet with Dr. Solus at his clinic to make your offer to him." Tevos paused for a moment before offering, "If he is not interested in joining you, I would advise that you turn over all the current information you have on the Collectors to him. He may still be persuaded to develop a countermeasure for you even if he is unwilling to accompany you on-board your ship."

Shepard nodded thoughtfully, "That sounds quite reasonable." There was another issue she was seeing here though, and this had the possibility of being a fairly troublesome one. "Will my crew be able to get off the ship on any League world?"

The Matriarch made a gesture with her hands, "I am unsure," the elder nais admitted, "the League worlds are taking what happened on Trident very seriously and your crew are admittedly members of Cerberus."

"You might as well schedule in the time for leave and resupply on independent worlds like New Canton and Horizon," Anderson spoke up as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest. "Probably best to simply assume that they're not going to be allowed to be allowed to leave the ship, and if they do then they're going to be searched and watched very closely."

Shepard gave a resigned sounding sigh, "Probably for the best to be honest, there are only a few of them that have the discipline to keep up the illusion that they are Asari." She shook her head, "The colonists that make up the crew are enthusiastic, but are as green as new Spring grass. I can see them thinking a club corner is dark enough for them to take off their helmets for food and a few drinks." She frowned, "Simplest thing then will be for me to just use a shuttle everywhere so it doesn't look so odd that I'm the only one going ashore, but will the ship openly be kept under guard? If so, that's going to bring its own kind of unwelcome attention."

"I understand your concerns about operational secrecy Spectre Shepard," Councilor Tevos responded using what Shepard had come to think of as her patented 'Reasonable 'TM'' tone, "but you also have to understand the concerns of the Warlords." Shepard's frown deepened, but she remained silent waiting for Tevos to continue with her explanation. "The biotic suppression drugs Cerberus used on their captives have left them with long term damage to their nervous systems. Their ability to control their biotics has been compromised, and several of them can no longer form a stable mass effect field. All the former captives suffer from these debilitating effects. Specific to the former asari captives however, is the fact that the damage to their nervous system affects their ability to safely meld with anyone, even other asari. The nervous system damage means they are unable to have any children. There is some hope that the damage the drug has done can be reversed in time, but that is far from certain."

Shepard was horrified, and also embarrassed that she had been so focused on how the Trident incident affected her mission that she hadn't really thought about the health-related side-effects the victims might have suffered from their exposure to the drug. "I'm sorry Councilor, I hadn't thought through the ramifications of what happened to the asari captives. I do hope that something can be done for them."

"We have not publicized it," Councilor Tevos responded in a softer tone, "but I'm sure you understand now why the League and Republics are taking this development very seriously."

"I do indeed Councilor," Shepard sighed in resignation, with that not so little piece of additional information she didn't see the situation changing anytime soon - or at least not any timeframe a human would consider soon.

Tevos settled back in her seat with a troubled expression, "I will contact Huntress T'Loak and emphasize to her the absolute necessity of keeping your identity and the identity of your crew a secret. I do understand your concerns about being ambushed by Hegemony aligned pirates and slavers, and acknowledge that it is just as reasonable and grave of a threat as their concern of your crew releasing a bio-agent."

Shepard's brows knitted, "The drug lends itself to that?"

The Matriarch inclined her head, "It does, the Republics have already determined that it would be effective as an aerosol agent though standard filters in any hazard level one rated armor would protect against it."

"So, as a weapon of terror against your civilians," Shepard scowled at the thought. "With any luck," she offered after a moment, "we will not only deny Cerberus the Collector tech they want, but also get some information that will allow us to track the Illusive Man down and take out their central command and control. When I asked for information about Cerberus EDI said that each project was its own compartmentalized cell, so they will be extremely difficult to wipe out completely. However, once we take out their centralized control with any luck the cells will have no way of contacting each other or continuing to get funding, personnel or supplies."

"That would be a desirable outcome," Anderson agreed, "they would probably still cause problems, but they would be disorganized and uncoordinated."

Shepard smiled coldly as she finished for him, "And disorganized and uncoordinated enemies are easier to exploit, mislead and ultimately take down."

Some small noise made her glance over at Spectre M'Tara who was seated to her left. "Surely this Illusive Man expects this?" Alena said as Shepard met her gaze, "he seems intelligent and not the type to blindly trust anyone much less someone with a motive to betray him. And this," the tall nais indicated their grouping with a circular motion of her finger, "should only make him more suspicious of your true motives and ours."

"I'm sure," Shepard agreed with her, "we're circling each other with our pleasant faces on pretending to want to work with one another, but we both have knives hidden behind our backs. He's hoping I'll be focused enough on the Collectors and missing colonists like the survivor of Mindoir that I am," Shepard's expression tightened a moment at that, "that I won't notice it until it's too late. I'm hoping to keep persuading him I'm actually wearing those blinders and haven't noticed his knife, much less having one of my own. It will just be a matter of who strikes first and whose put in place the best counters to offset the inevitable betrayal."

Alena's expression grew puzzled, "Most of that accurately translated, but blinders doesn't seem to make that much sense context wise."

Shepard thought about the long-winded explanation which would involve horses and racing, but finally just settled for, "In this case it simply means he thinks I will focus solely on the plight of the colonists and the possible link the Collectors have to the Reapers instead of seeing the whole picture. Otherwise you need to lookup horses and horse racing to get the exact metaphor."

She got a bemused look in return, but M'Tara didn't ask for any further explanation of the term. Instead the asari Spectre continued her original train of thought, "Surely he will realize that the greatest weakness of his plan is where he has to go through the Omega relay to actually get access to the Collector's technology. If he suspects anything, then that is where he will expect for us to lay an ambush for him. As for you," Alena's lavender eyes focused in on Shepard. "If you are correct that he just wants you to find a way through the Omega 4 relay, then right after you do will be when you are in the greatest danger. And it is also when you will be completely separated from any possibility of assistance."

Amanda stared back at the tall nais for a moment before replying, "Depending on what's on the other side, then yes you are correct; which is why I need to determine who is and is not an actual Cerberus agent so I can make preparations for that time." Alena did not look pleased with that, but there was no other reassurance Shepard could honestly offer her. Of course, it was risky, but the mission still needed to be done. "As for the other," Shepard frowned, she knew Alena was right, TIM had plans within plans and would suspect the same of her. So, the question was how to throw him off, at least just enough to make him uncertain of what she was planning for a while longer. "What about if he thinks you're just interested in trying to find Cerberus links?" she offered up a possibility.

Alena frowned thoughtfully as the tall nais considered it and while she did Tela asked, "As if we aren't really interested in the Collectors or any possible Reaper connection and are only supporting you because we think we can use you to find more Cerberus links for us to pursue?"

Shepard spread her hands wide as she turned to face Vasir on her other side. "It has the advantage of being true," she pointed out, "and you might actually find something worth pursuing. All we really can hope for is to muddy the waters enough so he can't decide for certain what we intend to do."

Anderson nodded slowly, "No matter what he's going to be suspicious that our support of you, which means that the only alternative is for us to appear to give you no support at all. That however, will only leave us blind as to when we need to send ships to keep him from accessing the Omega relay. No," he shook his grizzled head in resolve, "the only realistic thing we can do is to prepare as best we can for whatever countermeasures he takes to try and catch us off guard."

"Pretty much," Shepard agreed with him. "We cannot let Cerberus get their hands on the Collectors technology and we need to know if there is a third-party," she held up her hands in a warding manner, "no matter what we chose to call them, behind the attacks on Human colonies. That means I just have to deal with a certain amount of risk in this mission." Shepard knew fully well it was the Reapers behind the Collectors. Now that the connection between the Protheans and Collectors had been made in her mind, Amanda realized the bizarre images of Prothean bodies being implanted with wires and electronics must have been meant to convey a warning about the Reaper's final intent for their race.

Silence followed her declaration, finally Councilor Tevos spoke, "If there is nothing else, we should move onto the topic of upgrading your ship."

It took them much less time to discuss this topic as what was needed was fairly straightforward. The STG and RIS together would run the operation, installing the Silaris armor, oscillating barriers, and Thanix cannon for a very reasonable price which covered the cost of materials and time. During the installation process, while they had the ship stripped down to its infrastructure during the installation of the new armor, both intelligence services would scan for any undocumented systems that were not on the ship specifications provided to engineers Daniels and Donnelly. They would then investigate these systems and remove them if they were not essential to the functioning of the ship. If the system was essential, then they would document them and update the ship specs for the engineers. With any luck, if there was some type of mechanical or electronic failsafe that would allow someone to disable the ship remotely or render its crew helpless, then they would find and remove it. At the end of the discussion about the ship upgrades, Tevos gave Shepard a set of company names and numbers to memorize. She was to contact them whenever she was able to get to Illium and had time for the ship to go into drydock to get the upgrades done.

"Alright, moving onto the topic of your Alliance status," Anderson took the lead for the next conversational bullet point, and it was fairly obvious to Shepard that they were following along with a pre-set list of subjects they wanted to cover. "As required by the statutes that cover Citadel Special Reconnaissance and Tactics Agents, I have submitted your petition to be removed from active and reserve status from the Systems Alliance Marine Corps for transfer over to the sole authority of the Citadel Council."

He leaned back in his chair with an aggravated sigh, "As you might imagine," he said to Shepard, "they were rather surprised that the paperwork was even submitted to them given that your supposed to be deceased. It's going to take a bit for my office to get this worked out. First, we have to get Personnel to accept the Citadel's medical workup verifying that you are indeed Lt. Commander Amanda Shepard. Once that is done, it should just be a paperwork drill to get them to change your status from deceased to living. After that it may be a bit of a fight to get you released from your military service obligations, especially as you are an officer instead of enlisted, but it will get done."

Councilor Tevos broke in, "The Council was assured at the time by Ambassador Udina that there would be no issues with the Alliance military releasing her from her service requirements to become a member of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." The Matriarch's terse tone clearly hinted at her displeasure with this bit of information.

"It would have been much easier to do then," Anderson grumbled, "now it's a bit more difficult."

Shepard snorted at his answer, "Before I died you mean and all my records got marked with killed in action, known deceased instead of missing or assumed to be dead. Personnel is going to stonewall you partially because they don't have a checkbox that says was dead but got better," she quipped to him. In her peripheral vision, she caught sight of Tela on one side and Alena on the other both regarding her with raised brows at her flippancy. It was flippant, but it was also a way to divert the Asari Councilor's ire away from Anderson who didn't deserve it.

Anderson shook his head at her as he gave her a sternly reproving look which was undermined by a betraying twitch of his lips. Shepard had heard him complain enough about Personnel and their inability to think outside their forms in the past, so it was hard to take his rebuke very seriously. "It's not as if we are giving the Alliance that much detail," he finally responded, "so it's going to take a bit of political lean to get them to change your status without getting any of their questions answered to their satisfaction."

"Let me know if you need any assistance David," Tevos offered, "the rest of the Council members want to get this issue settled as quickly as possible."

"It would help if I could tell them that Shepard was in a coma for the past two years instead of on a mission that they were not informed of while she was still an officer of the Systems Alliance Marine Corps," sighed Anderson.

Shepard stared at him incredulously, "They think I faked my death to go undercover?"

"I'm not sure to be honest," Anderson admitted, "but they definitely aren't pleased with your unexplained return and the Council's reluctance to make any comment on where you have been during the intervening time."

"Hmm," Shepard frowned at the floor, though that was simply because it was the direction she happened to be looking as she considered the problem, "so they need a reasonable sounding explanation. One that doesn't step on their toes since I was still supposed to be nominally reporting to them." She raised her eyes to Anderson, "This is probably as good a time as any to have this discussion because I've been wondering myself what am I supposed to say if anyone asks about where I've been the last two years and why the Alliance said that I was dead and buried an empty casket."

Anderson made a noise midway between a sigh and groan as he reached up and rubbed at his forehead, but didn't immediately offer any suggestions. Shepard glanced over at Councilor Tevos who had her attention focused on Anderson and seemed to be content to wait for him to come up with something. Amanda wasn't as inclined, her opinion about the Alliance hiding that the Collectors were behind the colony attacks hadn't changed from yesterday. It was going to come back and bite the Alliance in the ass when the general public finally found out the truth. She had been thinking about this a bit this morning and had come up with an idea of her own that she would prefer to be the 'official' story over some strange convoluted and completely untrue one. "What about I was found on Alchera and held in medical stasis for over a year by a third party as they worked out how to save my life rather than have me die a few minutes after they took me out of stasis?"

"A third party?" Anderson frowned uncertainly, not looking happy at that terminology.

"The Warlords are going to all know that I'm working with Cerberus," Shepard pointed out, "it's only a matter of time before that news spreads so we might as well not get caught out in an obvious lie just a month or two down the road. Third party is at once non-committal and defensible when that time comes along." Anderson's expression had changed from frowning to thoughtful so she continued, "It has the advantage of being close to the truth. It clears the Council of any intentional deception about my death, as you honestly didn't know that I had been found and was in medical stasis all this time. And it explains why haven't shown up before now." She gestured toward her face, "I couldn't as I've been unconscious until just recently with all the surgeries and healing."

"You wish to make a public announcement of your return to active service?" Councilor Tevos questioned, her tone making it clear the elder nais was not exactly enthusiastic with the idea.

Shepard hadn't actually considered that, she pursed her lips as she thought about it then slowly shook her head. "No, given the Cerberus connection and my current mission it's probably best that I try and keep as low a profile as possible for as long as possible." Tevos dipped her head in acknowledgment, and Shepard could tell that the Matriarch agreed with her assessment.

"Alright," Anderson nodded, "I believe that could work, they'll want to know who the third party is however."

"You may tell them that the Council is withholding that information at this time due as it would compromise Spectre Shepard's current mission," Tevos responded coolly.

One of Anderson's eyebrows rose, but he looked more amused than offended by the Asari Councilor's reply. "Well at least that will answer some of their questions," he shifted his gaze to Shepard, "and most importantly it refutes any idea they may have that you've actually been on a long-term undercover mission for the Council."

"David," Tevos' serious tone drew everyone's attention to the elder nais, "you must make your military understand that the Council as well as the Asari Republics are quite serious about getting Spectre Shepard's status resolved within the desired timeframe. Your government through Ambassador Udina made certain assurances to me at the time in order to gain my cooperation with her sponsorship. If I were to determine that the Systems Alliance never intended to fulfill those assurances, there will be severe repercussions which will include the reconsideration of certain material's contracts currently under bid with the Asari Republics."

Shepard glanced back and forth uncertainly between the two Councilors, uncertain why they were discussing this right now, and why Tevos was pushing so hard for her status to be resolved within the next six or so weeks. To be honest, Shepard felt rather conflicted about the fact that she had to choose between continuing her service in the Alliance military and keeping her status as a Council Spectre. As she had assured Councilor Spartacus yesterday, she understood why the Council insisted that their Spectres only answer to one authority, but that didn't mean she had to like it. So much of her vision of herself, of who she was as a person, included the image of herself in the distinctive dress uniform of the Systems Alliance Marine Officer and her training and status as one of the few N7 Special Operations officers that turning away from it was a difficult thing to contemplate. She knew in one sense she would always be a Marine whether or not she was still an official part of the Corps. After all, the saying 'Once a Marine, Always a Marine' existed for a very good reason, the Corps was through in its indoctrination or 'character conditioning' as they called it. The idea though of surrendering her commission, of leaving the Alliance military to swear sole allegiance to a Council that she didn't fully trust…

Anderson seemed rocked back by the Matriarch's threat, his amused expression turning quite serious. Whatever these 'material' contracts were, Shepard realized, they must be very important to Alliance. "I understand," he replied after a moment, "I will pass that information along to them and make sure they have a clear understanding of your displeasure over the possibility of a delay."

It wasn't as if she had any real choice Shepard mused as she continued silently observe the interaction between the two Councilors. The treatment she had received two years ago from the Alliance military after having been made a Spectre had been disillusioning and eye-opening about the underhanded politics going on in the Alliance military's upper-ranks. If she renounced her Spectre status to stay with the Alliance military, she risked losing not only the support of Councilor Anderson and Admiral Hackett, but also angering those in the Alliance government who had fought so hard for the Council to offer the opportunity for her to become one. Combine that with the fact that she had made several enemies amongst the Terra Firma supporting senior-ranked military officers when she hadn't kowtowed to Udina… She breathed out an inaudible sigh, no there was no real choice here for her. She needed to stop the Collectors, thwart the Illusive Man's plans, find solid proof of the existence of the Reapers and to have any hope of doing that she needed to keep her Spectre status. Shepard focused her attention back on the two Councilors and noticed they seemed to be done with their discussion. She did have one question concerning what Anderson had just said, "Sponsorship?"

Anderson turned back toward her, "Only members of the Council can sponsor a Spectre applicant," he explained, "and since we weren't a member at that time Councilor Tevos agreed to be your official sponsor. This was all worked out much earlier, as part of the agreements reached for us to turn over the beacon on Eden Prime to the Council instead of retaining our primary research rights to it."

Shepard glanced in dismay between the two Councilors, then focused on the asari, "I apologize Councilor Tevos, I did not realize…" she paused as Tevos waved her silent with a graceful motion of her hand.

Tevos said, "At the time we had our reasons for coordinating our contact with you through Ambassador Udina. After considering everything you said yesterday however, it is clear that he exploited the situation and purposefully withheld information from you to exert undue influence over your actions. Your refusal to let him speaks well of you and I suspect you are correct that he meant to sabotage your Spectre status in order to replace you with another more willing to put his interests above our own. Cerberus' actions on Trident have made them a clear enemy of the Republics, they cannot be allowed access to the Collector's technology. Whatever issues the Alliance has with releasing you from your military service obligations as agreed upon two years ago needs to be quickly resolved and your Spectre status confirmed, so that you may focus on your mission."

"Understood Councilor," Shepard gravely responded, "I'll do everything I can to make sure Cerberus doesn't get their hands on it."

The Matriarch's grey eyes stared with a keen, penetrative gaze into Shepard's lighter grey ones for several seconds as the Asari Councilor weighted her sincerity. "I believe you will," Tevos finally said, then turned her attention back to Councilor Anderson. "The Republics Intelligence Service has already determined that Cerberus appears to have far more resources and support than either the STG or RIS had estimated in the past. Enough so that they are highly suspicious that they may actually be getting substantial support from within the Alliance itself."

Shepard straightened in her seat with alarm, that was a clear warning shot across the bow if she ever heard one. Crap, the last thing the Alliance needed right now was to have the Asari Republics signal a withdrawal of support, that would leave the Alliance without their main ally when the Reapers arrived from dark space. In the nearer term, it might have a devastating effect on the Alliance's economy if it translated into lost commerce with the Republics, embolden some of the Terminus System slavers to carry out raids on their outlying colonies, and have a chilling effect on the relationship of the Alliance with the League of the Terminus. Terra Firma constantly decried that the Republics was attempting to culturally dominate humanity with its trading policies, which was not exactly untrue, but the culture war also swung in the opposite direction because the Asari were fascinated with Human entertainments like movies, games and books. No, Shepard suspected that any attempts at cultural domination were second to ensuring just this situation - that the Alliance's economy was bound up just precisely enough with the Republics that the Asari could use the threat of embargoes to crush the Alliance's economy, but not greatly depress their own in return if the Alliance attempted to retaliate in kind.

Anderson's dark eyes narrowed on the asari Councilor as a deep frown curled down his lips at the implied threat. "That was as much of an unwelcome surprise to me as it was to you, Tevos," he refuted in a stern tone, "and you can be assured that we will be looking into any evidence that turns up linking Cerberus to anyone in the Alliance - be they corporate, government or military."

"I do not doubt you David," Tevos replied after a moment and Shepard found it interesting that the elder nais sounded slightly conciliatory toward him.

Listening to the tense conversation between the two Councilors, Shepard realized that the Republics needed some specific targets to focus their ire on right now rather than just the Alliance in general. Fortunately, she happened to have an idea of how to get at least a start on that list. "We should get some leads when I take the ship into dry-dock on Illium," Shepard said, drawing both Councilor's attention to her, "Cerberus built it so looking at the component parts should provide manufacturers and parts numbers to investigate. From there, you just need to determine who ordered them and start following the money trail back to Cerberus or at least their direct agents. Also, investigating the question of exactly how Cerberus got a hold of the specifications for the original Normandy might lead to more hints about their activities."

Vasir and M'Tara had been conspicuously silent for the past few minutes, so it was a bit of a surprise when Tela volunteered, "I wouldn't mind assisting with that if I have the time after my current mission. Tracking down orders and then tracing the funding for them will hopefully lead us to the shell companies Cerberus is using as fronts to hide their activities."

"And Jack," Shepard paused and corrected herself, "err, Subject Zero is looking through the logs available from the ship searching for the laboratory where she was experimented upon." She frowned, "I suspect TIM expected her to ask for access to those records however, so I wouldn't expect to find anything other than the hollowed-out shell of the place itself, but you never know if the clean-up team missed something."

"Perhaps I can get a copy of those records when I drop you off at your ship?" Tela said, "I'm sure we can find the location quicker than this Jack, but what are her plans for it when she finds it? Our agents will need some time to investigate an entire facility."

"Hmm," Shepard considered the question in light of what she knew of the volatile woman. After a few moments' consideration, she responded, "Keep in mind that I've only known Jack for three days, but I'd be surprised if she didn't want to render it permanently unusable by Cerberus."

"You mean she's going to want to use explosives to destroy it completely or as completely as possible," Alena spoke up as the tall nais stretched out her long legs beside Shepard, "which will make it exceptionally difficult to get any evidence."

From the other side of Shepard, Tela replied, "Then that means we need to find it first and investigate it as thoroughly as possible before she destroys it." And she had willingly sat here in the middle, grouchily mused Shepard as the two asari Spectres spoke literally over her head.

"What I want to know is how Cerberus got its hands on those children in the first place," Anderson broke into the conversation.

Shepard glanced up at him with a frown, "I've wondered that myself, I thought the Alliance closely monitored all possible biotic births?"

"They do," he confirmed with a scowl, "we don't have enough biotics as it is, so how did Cerberus manage to get its hands on them without anyone raising the alarm they they'd gone missing?"

Shepard frowned as one possibility came to her mind, but it was a very horrific one.

"Then perhaps that is another question that should be investigated," Councilor Tevos said, and Shepard looked up to see the Matriarch regarding both Anderson and she with one raised brow and a faintly repulsed expression on her face, probably wondering how in the world humans were so negligently irresponsible as to actually allow their children to be taken from them. Asari, being the family focused species that they were with their Lineages, typically sequestered themselves upon pregnancy at the Lineages primary enclave. Their daughters were born there, and typically raised there as well for at least the first decade or so of their lives. Since these compounds held the Lineage's most powerful Matriarchs, they were also well protected by the Lineage's Huntresses and Commandos. The possibility of someone actually managing to successfully kidnap a child from one would be improbably low.

Shepard sighed, "I can unfortunately think of one way they could take a child without raising any red flags for the Alliance personnel keeping track of the mother." Anderson glanced over at her with a heavy, questioning frown and she continued, "You know that most fetus's exposed to eezo don't survive, so it's unfortunately not unusual for them to either be spontaneously aborted or born stillborn." The dawning look of horror on Anderson's face indicated that he saw where she was going with this line of thinking. "If Cerberus had people on the staff of the hospital where the mother went to give birth, then it would be possible to deceive everyone that the child didn't survive. It would be even easier to do on one of the independent colonies which tend to have less oversight and regulations in general. Easier to make the infant disappear without someone noticing the body didn't actually make it down to the morgue to determine the cause of death."

"You believe Cerberus personnel would experiment on human infants?" Alena exclaimed in a disgusted tone.

Shepard glanced over to her left at the taller Spectre as she replied, "There's evidence that the Thresher Maw attack on the colony of Akuze was not an accident and that colony included very young children. Cerberus had a research base there to collect data about the Maws, and even if they didn't lure them there, they sure didn't warn the colony about them. They didn't warn the Marines sent to find out what went wrong either, and even kidnapped one of the two survivors, Corporal Chris Toombs, so they could experiment on him. I don't really think we can put anything past them in their mad quest fulfill their idea of an improved Humanity."

"You really don't think much of Cerberus do you," remarked Tela in a thoughtful tone, causing Shepard to shift attention to the asari sitting on the other side of her. "I didn't realize you had come across any their activities before now."

"I hadn't until after I became a Spectre," Shepard clarified, "then I seemed to run across their activities everywhere, and always associated with Human related atrocities. Running into Corporal Toombs, who was tracking down and killing the Cerberus scientists who experimented on him, and finding out the truth of their involvement with what happened on Akuze. Tracking down a shipment from Feros by ExoGeni, and finding out that they had sent Dragon's Teeth to Chasca to see what happened and ended up wiping out its entire pioneer colony." Shepard didn't mention Listening Posts Alpha and Theta because that would mean bringing up the Rachni and she wasn't certain whether or not Vasir and M'Tara knew about the Rachni Queen she had freed on Noveria. "Then there are the rumors that they're involved with engineering several of the 'accidental' eezo exposures that have occurred over the past few decades. Add to that the entire population of Fehl Prime and possibly the earlier Collector attacks, and Cerberus may actually be almost as dangerous to Humans as the Hegemony."

"That is an interesting observation," Tevos commented thoughtfully, "I had not realized that so many Human deaths could be attributed to them." The asari Matriarch turned toward her fellow Councilor, "Given this, why hasn't the Alliance made them more of a priority?"

"Their actions on Fehl Prime really tipped the scales," replied Anderson after a moment, "their rumored involvement with eezo exposures was just that - rumor - and easily discounted by those who wanted the group to be what they claimed they were - a group that would protect Humanity from their enemies no matter the cost. Much of everything else Shepard mentioned is classified, so very few people knew about the individual events, much less knowing enough to put it all together. Fehl Prime though," Anderson commented, "that woke at least some people up to the fact that Cerberus' 'no matter the cost' perhaps was a bit higher than they had anticipated."

"Not all though," Tevos immediately caught the implication.

But when she looked as if she would continue, Anderson held up one hand to stop her. "Some didn't believe it, and I suspect some of them just didn't want to believe that any human had actually helped the Collectors attack the colony, much less that they belonged to Cerberus."

Tevos frowned and this time Shepard intervened, "Not enough proof to get over their internal resistance to changing their minds about Cerberus. Not that surprising, given that most of our current civilian, military and cooperate leadership were young adults when the First Contact War occurred and lived through the hysteria of that time. I'm convinced quite a few of them still firmly believe that the Hierarchy is just waiting for any excuse to go to war with us. Combine that with all the attacks on our planets that have occurred since then, and the galaxy seems like a very hostile and dangerous place to many humans - especially those who have never left Earth. It gives Cerberus fertile ground for their recruitment message that they're the only ones taking it seriously enough and willing to actually do something against it."

"That agrees with what I have learned from some of the humans who have come to work on the Citadel from Earth," Alena spoke up, "it is not unusual for their family members to be very concerned about their well-being here."

As suave and smooth as the asari Spectre was in her flirting, Shepard thought as she glanced over at the tall nais, she could just guess how M'Tara had come by her information. "Are turians in dark alleys just waiting to rip their throats out with their bare hands, still one of the warnings?" Amanda had actually had a few elderly women stop to quite earnestly warn her about that during the few times she had liberty during basic and advanced training on Earth and was required to wear her Marine dress uniform during it.

Alena turned her naturally purple-marked face toward her, raising one brow over lavender hued eyes as the asari gave her a wry, humor-filled look. "Yes, that was essentially the cold current of their fears," the nais confirmed, "along with salarians kidnapping them to experiment upon them, and asari waiting to seduce them," her smirk grew at the last and Shepard snorted in amusement. One out of the three then was at least correct. As funny as it was thought, the kernel of truth in it was troubling. Quite a bit of Earth's problem was that people tended to be self-sorting. The vast majority of humans stayed on Earth, helping perpetuate the fearful stereotypes about aliens, while only the most adventurous or gain-seeking left for the colonies and discovered a more nuanced truth.

"Earth's..." Everyone's heads swiveled in Councilor Tevos' direction as the Matriarch began and then imperceptibly paused as she considered what word to use next, "continuing difficulty with integrating into the galactic community has been noted in numerous intelligence reports from multiple sources. The Republics are…appreciative of the negative psychological effects that cumulative attacks by slaver forces linked to the Batarian Hegemony and then the Geth and Saren have had on the general human populace." How diplomatically put, thought Shepard, before the asari Councilor continued, "however we are straying rather far from the topic at hand, and that is that the Republics insists that the Systems Alliance abides by the agreements they made two years ago concerning the status of Spectre Shepard."

"I'll ensure that point is made to Alliance officials," Anderson firmly responded to her. Tevos stared at him for a long considering moment and then simply inclined her head in agreement with him. Shepard stifled a relieved sigh, she really didn't want her status to be a point of contention between the Alliance and Republics. Anderson's gaze turned her way and she straightened reflexively in her seat as he directed his next words to her. "Once the paperwork drill is done, I can begin the process of transferring over your Spectre sponsorship from the Asari Republics to the Systems Alliance…"

"That is not necessary," Councilor Tevos smoothly broke in, "I would be pleased to retain Spectre Shepard's sponsorship," the Matriarch turned her gaze on Shepard, "unless she wishes the transferal to take place?"

Again, with the place she didn't really want to be, thought Shepard as she glanced between the two Councilors. Her mind analytically assessed the pros and cons of either option as they stared at her awaiting her response. Unfortunately for Anderson, she really didn't know how her return would be taken by the Alliance, much less her current mission. And also, her mind quietly whispered, she didn't know how far into the Alliance Cerberus had influence that they might use to limit and control her if they had the means to do so. She looked towards Tevos as she asked, "Would transferring it away from you affect the amount of future cooperation I could expect from the League during my mission?"

A brief, impressed look crossed the Matriarch's face before she replied, "It would, my reassurances as to your ultimate loyalty and intentions will carry more weight if I am your sponsor than they will if it transfers over to Councilor Anderson and the Alliance."

Shepard nodded, then looked over at Anderson with an apologetic expression, "I believe we should table that until after this mission is over Sir."

Anderson leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh, "I understand…and even agree with the reasoning, but you should know this might cause issues down the line with the Alliance."

"Can you just not mention the possibility to them?" Shepard asked, with equal parts humor and seriousness. "At least until this mission is complete."

"They're the ones who brought it up," Anderson responded warningly, "so no. Though I will make the effort to persuade them that this is purely a political move on your part so you can more freely operate within the League."

That was not really welcome news, Shepard frowned slightly at the realization that this communication with Anderson had occurred between the time her identity was confirmed yesterday and this morning. Was it just that the Prime Minister's office thought Humanities first Spectre, no matter how odd the news of her return from death, must be sponsored by a human Councilor? Or did this indicate that Cerberus had influence all the way up to the Prime Minister's office and this was an attempt to limit the amount of damage she could do to the terrorist organization now that she had at least a small amount of support from the Council?

"Very well Spectre Shepard," Councilor Tevos replied, "you will remain under my sponsorship for at least the duration of your current mission. Along with my office," Councilor Tevos informed Shepard, "Spectres Vasir and M'Tara will remain your primary liaisons whenever you need to act within Council space or with the League." In other words, thought Shepard, she should contact them whenever she wanted to visit the Citadel to be her escorts. "They will provide you their contact information so that you may reach out to them at any time," Tevos finished.

"If you can," Spectre M'Tara followed up, "try and give us some advance warning of when you will be needing us either on the Citadel or one of the other Council worlds. Tela and I will try and arrange our schedules around yours as much as possible, but neither of us may be available on short notice."

"Understandable," Shepard replied easily, "you'll have your own missions," and Alena inclined her head in graceful agreement.

Tevos glanced down at her omni-bracelet and then over toward Anderson, "I believe that is all we needed to discuss for the moment?"

Anderson replied with a decisive shake of his head, "I have nothing else," and looked to be about to stand up in preparation of ending the meeting.

Shepard straightened in her seat before he could rise from his chair, drawing both Councilors attention to her. "I do have one question," she said to Anderson, "is the Alliance planning on revealing that the Collectors are the ones attacking the colonies and that Cerberus assisted them at Fehl Prime soon? That news would shake the crew's belief that Cerberus is trying to help the colonies and make it easier for me to gain their loyalty."

He settled back in his chair as he considered the question. After a moment he frowned as he pointed out, "It might also make your mission that much harder if you can't easily resupply at independent human colonies."

He was right, Shepard realized, but still, "That might be, but there may come a point where their identity as the attackers will come out and I'd rather the Alliance be ready for it than be caught by surprise." And look like they had been doing what they had been doing, which was keeping some rather critical information from their citizens. Information which directly affected some of those citizens personal safety and the safety of their families.

The human Councilor sighed, "Trust me, I'm fully aware of the pitfalls of the Alliances decision to keep quiet about it, but ninety-seven percent of our population remains on Earth. I don't have to tell you what that means if your right. We need those people to remain out in the colonies."

Shepard's lips thinned as she pressed them together in a grimace and her thoughts flitted a moment toward the horror of the beacon's message before she forcefully drew them back. This was definitely not the time to get caught up in those images. "Yes, I understand what that means," she responded in a grim tone. Across from her Councilor Anderson nodded his head while Councilor Tevos glanced sharply over at her with an intent expression. Out of the corner of her eyes she caught the two asari Spectres on either side of her also turn their heads to look at her. "I won't mention it then until either the Alliance is ready to break the news or it becomes evident upon its own."

"Good," he responded as he rose to his feet along with Councilor Tevos and all three Spectres stood up as well. "Be careful out there Shepard," he said to her, "I'm sure I don't have to tell you to be cautious of trusting the Cerberus personnel on your ship and especially don't trust the Illusive Man."

"TIM?" Shepard responded and Anderson seemed to find the contraction amusing judging from the small grin that tugged on his lips at it. "No, I start looking for the angles whenever he says anything, and I'm always cautious whenever he sends us anywhere especially since Cerberus can't seem to put together a decent mission briefing. As for the crew, don't worry I don't trust any of them other than Dr. Chakwas and Joker."

He frowned at that piece of information, "I know that's got to be stressful watching your back all the time, so whenever you can swing by here to give us mission updates and take a few hours to get away from it."

"I'll do my best Sir," Shepard replied though she knew that visiting the Citadel would have to take second place to the needs of her mission. Still though, when possible it would be nice to retreat to the complete privacy of the Consort's compound to relax. She turned toward Councilor Tevos and executed a perfectly formal bow to the asari who was her sponsor and then said in Thessian, "Councilor, if you have no further need of me?"

She was sure she caught a slight indication of pleasure in the Matriarch's eyes before the asari Councilor said, "No Spectre Shepard, I believe Dr. T'Rani is expecting your shortly. May the Goddess watch over you and bless your endeavors."

"And her yours," Shepard returned just as formally with another bow which was mirrored by both asari Spectres on either side of her before the three of them turned to exit the room.

Before they could however Tevos added, "Spectre Shepard, I expect you to be mindful and cautious of deep waters and dangerous currents."

Shepard turned back, immediately realizing the Councilor was speaking about the Cipher memories and her intended exploration of them in search of more information about Prothean biotic amplifiers. "I will heed your wisdom Matriarch," she responded carefully, not wanting to be boxed into admitting that she was going looking for the information no matter what warnings she received about it. She would try to be careful in how she went about the search though, she didn't want to lose her own identity after all.

Tevos gave her a look that very clearly indicated she been nearly a good enough actress to fool the elder nais, but then waved her hand in silent permission toward the door. Shepard gave a silent sigh of relief as they exited the room, glad to have escaped without another lecture and leaving the two Councilors to apparently have an after-meeting meeting.

Unfortunately for her hope of a clean escape however, Tela stopped in the hallway to dryly advise her, "Generally, Matriarch's expect that heeding will include following their advice, not just listening to it." Shepard knew she would not win this conversation so she just kept her silence while meeting Vasir's challenging gaze with as much even calmness as she could manage. Finally the other Spectre glanced down at her omni-bracelet and then said, "But we can discuss that more during our trip to meet with your ship." Shepard couldn't quite manage to completely quell her groan of dismay at the idea for it would take them a good three or so hours to reach the MSV Menrva. Tela looked back up at her upon hearing it and a smirk of amusement curved her dark blue lips and lit an evil seeming gleam in her brown eyes, but the matron didn't pursue the topic any further. Instead she said, "For now though, we need to get moving if we are to meet with Dr. T'Rani on time."

Dr. T'Rani's office within the central Presidium Medical Center building was not very large, perhaps three meters by four meters total. "Spectre Shepard," Dr. T'Rani rose from her chair behind her desk, a warmly welcoming smile curving her dark blue lips. "I'm pleased you could make time to meet with me before you departed the Citadel."

Shepard laughed softly in response as the blue-complexioned asari doctor stepped around her desk, which was at the far end of the office, to come forward to meet her. The two of them shook hands and Amanda said, "The Councilors have kept me pretty busy with their debriefs, but also deemed it essential that I had time for this appointment before leaving today."

There were two cream-colored sofas arranged across from one another toward the front of the office along with a rather large display screen hanging on the right-hand wall between them and the doctor's desk. Dr. T'Rani motioned her toward the soft on the left as the nais sat down upon the other sofa. "I believe we just have time to go over the results of the test I took yesterday," the doctor said, "and then another treatment with the dermal regeneration unit to speed the healing of your skin grafts. During the treatment, we'll discuss the effects your implants are having upon your body and the nutritional requirements and caloric goals you need to meet in order to stay healthy. I'll also be sending the same information with you as well as more specific information for your medical team on an OSD." Shepard inhaled a breath at that, unconsciously straightening her shoulders under the perceived additional burden that was about to be placed upon her. "Your implants and your body are still adapting to one another," Dr. T'Rani's said, her voice taking on a reassuring tone as her keen blue eyes noted the human's response, "over time they will become more efficient and synchronized to your body. If they follow the same trend as the current generation of cybernetics, then in a few months your nutritional goals should drop by a third to a quarter."

A third to a quarter, Shepard's shoulders relaxed slightly at the news. That wouldn't be so bad then, she just had to make it through the next few months. "That's good to know," she responded, "I was starting to worry that I would have to force myself to eat far, far more than I wanted for the rest of my life. Even a drop by a quarter will help."

Dr. T'Rani inclined her head in agreement then twisted upon the soft to wave her omni-bracelet at the large display screen hanging on the wall next to the sofa. It activated, displaying a detailed scan of a female body. Besides the whitish structures of bones and more ghostly outlines of organs, there were darker spots evenly spread throughout the limbs and torso. Shepard could immediately guess that they were her eezo nodules. "These are the results of your scans taken during your intake as a Spectre showing your eezo nodules," Dr. T'Rani said surprising Shepard a bit that the image was from two years ago. The doctor waved her arm again and the image updated, "You can see the difference in density and size of your eezo nodules now." Shepard could indeed, the nodules were darker and noticeably larger. "I'm sure you've noticed quite a bit of difference in the strength of your biotics by now," Shepard nodded in response and she continued, "your amplifier is clearly a prototype, at least a generation ahead of what's available now. I've already sent the specifications of it to Citadel Intelligence to try and track down who might have had a hand in developing it."

Shepard's brow rose at that, "Do you think they will find anything?"

"Possibly," the matron responded, "very advanced creations such as amplifiers and cybernetics tend to follow a…design trend let us say. So studying your amplifier should tell them something about the person or team that created it, or at least whose design philosophy they followed." Amanda nodded thoughtfully, you could really say the same thing about anything advanced enough that it required a craftsman's touch to create it. The creator left their signature on their creation, and someone knowledgeable enough with the field could make a good guess at who created an item just by examining it closely.

The asari matron next made an upward motion with her hand and the image on the screen changed again, this time to a brain scan. "I was able to confirm for the Council that your neural pathways have indeed altered in a way that supports your statement that drell neurochemicals were used to stabilize your memory. I also found something else," the nais turned away from the display to glance over at her, "a cluster of memory neurons in a familiar location for an asari but definitely an unusual one for a human." Dr. T'Rani and Shepard stared silently at one another for a moment, then the nais continued, "Which I've been informed I'm not to ask how that came about or mention it to anyone else without Councilor Tevos' authorization." Shepard gave Dr. T'Rani a sardonic look, if Tevos herself had already decided the doctor didn't have a need to know the information then she was certainly was not going to tell the doctor how those memories ended up there either.

The nais turned back to the screen, motioning at it again and changing the image back to a full body one. Shepard immediately noticed that instead of the eezo nodes being in focus, this image seemed to focus upon her skeletal structure. "In addition to your cybernetics and bio-synthetic replacements," Dr. T'Rani said, "the bones and muscles that remain have been reinforced with protective weaves to make them stronger and more resistant to damage. This is absolutely necessary in cases where parts of the central skeletal structure have been replaced with combat grade cybernetics. In order not to run the risk of severely damaging the remaining bone, muscle and connecting tissue to which the cybernetics attach, they must be reinforced so that they can withstand the stresses placed upon them by the cybernetics themselves." Dr. T'Rani paused for a moment and then added, "Though I must admit the level of reinforcement, especially the titanium plating along your spine is unprecedented, my colleagues were quite interested in the results of your scans."

The asari doctor paused for a moment then she pulled a pen laser pointer out of her coat pocket and used it to point at the right arm of the image on the screen. "You mentioned yesterday that your already aware that your entire right arm needed replacement," the red dot moved over to the skull, "and I'm certain that you've noticed that your eyes needed cybernetic replacements as well." Now the laser dot moved to the spine and what honestly looked to Shepard like linked armor plating along the length of it, "I've just mentioned that your spine needed extensive replacements and then was reinforced with titanium plating." She looked thoughtful and then added, "The plating not only protects your spine, but also protects the neural fibers that connect the implants in your torso and lower body cybernetics with your brain. It would take quite a bit of force to compromise either now, especially with the way the protective plating is linked to reinforce itself when compressed."

Dr. T'Rani paused for a moment as she studied the image on the display screen, "I find it interesting that the reinforcement weaves woven into your natural skeletal and muscular structure as well as the skin weave used to form the base layer of your skin grafts…"

Shepard interrupted her in surprise, "Wait, what?" she lifted her hand and looked at the new skin covering it with interest, "I have weaves woven into my new skin?"

"You have a sub-dermal layer of heavy reinforced weave covering your entire body actually," the doctor replied, "and then another finer layer woven into the dermis, and yes, that includes your skin grafts. As a result, your skin is quite more durable than it used to be, and the weave also acts as a conduit for medi-gel allowing for quicker stoppage of bleeding when injured and improved recovery rates when healing." Dr. T'Rani allowed her a moment to digest that piece of information before adding, "It is also the latest weave prototype from Sirta Foundation and not available commercially, so I reported that up to the Citadel Intelligence as well for investigation."

Shepard frowned, "I can't believe that Sirta Foundation is involved with Cerberus." Yet the weaves were prototypes… her frown depended as she forced herself to give the idea due consideration, and honestly the more she thought about it the more she could see reasons why Cerberus might have infiltrated the company. "But I wouldn't be surprised if Cerberus has a few operatives there just to keep up with what the company is researching. That way they could put it to use before it was released to the public or use Sirta's research as a springboard for their own."

Dr. T'Rani looked thoughtful for a moment and then inclined her head in agreement, "That is also a possibility, I will bring it up to my contact in Intelligence."

Shepard was relieved to hear that, she didn't really want the Spectres going all out after Sirta Foundation without substantial proof they were involved with Cerberus. The company did really good things for the Alliance, offering genetic modifications at almost cost for any genetically linked disease and low-cost longevity modifications that brought the treatment into reach for nearly ninety-five percent of the human population. All of this of course, was financed by their sale of medi-gel to the galaxy. Even then they didn't gouge anyone on the price, relying on volume of sale rather than per unit pricing.

"In addition to what we have already mentioned," the doctor turned back to the display screen, "your humerus, radius and ulna bones of your left arm were replaced and both hands needed extensive reconstruction." Shepard quietly glanced back up at the screen as Dr. T'Rani indicated each area, she hadn't known that her hands had to be reconstructed. Apparently her armored gloves hadn't been quite enough to protect them. "Finally moving onto your lower body, quite a bit of your pelvis required reconstruction as well as most of your right leg and the lower part of your left leg. Both feet required nearly the same amount of reconstruction as your hands."

"What does that mean," Shepard finally asked, "when you say they needed extensive reconstruction?"

Dr. T'Rani turned to face her, her blue eyes searching and Shepard had the feeling the doctor was attempting to evaluate her emotional state before proceeding. Amanda did her best to stay truly calm and composed for she knew her smell would betray her to the asari's sensitive nose if she tried to only mask her feelings. Shepard knew she had done a fairly good job of doing so when the doctor launched into her explanation, "It is not unusual in free-fall accidents for the extremities to suffer from extreme blunt trauma damage." Shepard had to suppress a wince as she realized what the doctor was saying, the body would tumble around during the landing and of course the extremities…being at the end of the arms and feet, would naturally get the worse of it. "In your case, some of the bones were actually intact enough to be kept, but almost all of the muscle and all of the skin had to be replaced."

Shepard nodded her understanding, even as her thoughts tumbled about in freefall themselves. How much of herself was even left, how much had been replaced by implants, cybernetics and bio-synthetic replacements.

"Spectre Shepard," Dr. T'Rani's voice commanded her attention and once the doctor had it she said, "I have had children with both a hanar and turian donors. Please trust me when I say that it is your mind that makes you uniquely who you are, not the composition of your physical body."

How very asari of her, was the first thought that ran through Shepard's mind, but the doctor's words had the desired effect of breaking her out of her self-defeating mental spiral. "Thank you doctor," she said after a moment, "I do understand what you are saying, my reconstruction does not make me any less myself."

"No, it does not," Dr. T'Rani stated in a firm tone. The asari was silent for a long moment studying her, long enough for Shepard to start getting concerned about what else the doctor had to tell her.

"Whatever it is," Shepard finally broke the silence, "I would rather hear it now from you while I'm on the Citadel than later because I'm constantly monitored aboard the ship."

Dr. T'Rani frowned at that bit of news, but after a moment the nais at least began to speak. "Spectre Shepard I understand you had a number of oocytes frozen when you went into the Alliance military. I understand this is fairly common among humans especially as your life span has increased past one hundred years."

"Yes," Amanda responded a bit bemused by the odd start of whatever the doctor had to tell her, "human females are born with all the oocytes they will ever produce and they are at their genetic healthiest around seventeen to nineteen years of age. That's usually when everyone who isn't planning on having children in their twenties choses to have some harvested so they can have children later."

"Those oocytes have to be carefully frozen following a very specific protocol to keep ice crystals from forming within their cellular structure and rupturing them," Dr. T'Rani said in a very careful tone.

Suddenly Amanda realized exactly where the doctor was leading, "Those are all I have now aren't they."

Dr. T'Rani slowly nodded, "The oocytes within your ovaries have been removed, likely because they were no longer viable and could present a health issue to you."

Shepard remained silent while she dealt with this extra bit of knowledge. She didn't really know whether or not to classify it as bad or neutral. Finally she inhaled a deep breath and said, "Well, I hadn't planned on having any children for a few more decades anyway…part of the reason I had so many oocytes taken for storage. I suspected I wouldn't be in a position to have them until my forties or fifties."

The asari matron inclined her head in understanding, "I am pleased the news is not overly troubling to you. I had hoped it would not be given that you had already taken steps to ensure that you could have children later in life than your biology would normally let you." Dr. T'Rani rose to her feet, "That then is all that I needed to tell you about your scan results. If you would follow me, the dermal treatment room is just down this hallway. I can see that the first treatment took care of the inflammation. A second treatment should assist even further with your healing. As soon as we begin the treatment, I'll go over your nutritional requirements with you as well as some suggestions for your strength training."

Shepard couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed that she hadn't even restarted her usual training regimen. "I do need to keep those muscles that survived strong," she replied, "but…will it look odd?"

Dr. T'Rani smiled at her as the doctor indicated for her to preceded the asari out the door, "Not at all, one advantage of the bio-synthetic muscle is that it reacts to strength training exactly like natural muscle."

"Oh," Shepard responded with surprise as she exited the room then turned right as the nais waved one hand in that direction. "Well that's good to know."

The next door down had a placard that read Dermal Regeneration Unit so Shepard was not at all surprised when Dr. T'Rani said, "Right here," and opened the door for her. "Let's get you changed into a medical gown and then we can begin the treatment." Lovely, Shepard thought as the asari doctor handed her a sealed package containing a light blue examination onesie, she hated these things.