Flanked on either side two nondescript science vessels, the Moreh was about as advanced a ship as one could find in the quarian fleet. Maybe not according to the specs or its schematics, but it compensated for those by the work that was accomplished within its hull. As the nerve center for quarian scientific research (more acutely felt after the loss of the Alarei), Daro'Xen's ship sported what was quite likely the largest concentration of quarian intelligence and scientific know-how in the entire fleet. It was why she remained quietly confident that they would be able to "unlock" the array.

Speaking of "quiet", Daro supposed she wouldn't get used to it – the quiet, that is – despite her experience. After all, just because Daro'Xen was relatively young (as admirals went, anyway) didn't mean that she lacked experience. She wondered if she was alone in wondering about that, since many under her command were on the stationary array or on the ships that remained that were traveling at very low speeds, if at all.

Daro had slipped away from the array's central hub an hour ago, confident that those still at work were competent enough that she need not micromanage. Which was why she was reading the most recent update log from Rannoch. Shala annoyed her with these updates, especially now that she had something to work at, but at least the bosh'tet was consistent. These reports had been sent to her every other day, without fail, by her fellow admiral.

Here in her cabin aboard the Moreh, she finally felt at home. All that gravitas about not having purpose, or feeling rudderless was slowly vanishing from her mind like so much tide rolling back out to sea. Here, flanked by the two other science vessels on either side of her ship, Daro'Xen could finally breathe through the haze that had so often wracked her while chained to the homeworld. Here she could focus, here she could be herself, feel like herself again.

It was here that she could forget about her ill-fated bootknife that had so often plagued her as a grim reminder of her past - tucked away once again in her small cabinet that had remained untouched in her old quarters. For now, the Array had served another purpose for her - it was a blanket, a safety net that allowed her to get lost in the work. It was here that she once again felt alive.

With her boots kicked off to the side of her desk, her baresuited heel tapped lightly against the cold sterility of quarian metal. Scanning through, she noted that the Conclave had been handed almost all administrative duties over government now, and their ranks had expanded to 20 members to include many of the other factions that had temporarily lost representation while the resettlement of Rannoch took place. Of course, it would be with that idiot Zaal'Koris still serving as administrator and tie-breaking vote on matters of policy. Shala'Raan remained in charge of the Patrol Fleet, of course, and they were even beginning to make tangible progress on clearing the immediate area around Rannoch of the disabled Geth ships. With the help of a few borrowed Alliance tugs, they'd even managed to begin salvaging operations.

"Guess we wouldn't have needed Tali after all…but still. We could not wait. We needed to know," Daro muttered before sucking back more of her tea via induction port. "Or else I wouldn't be here."

Tapping a few keys on the datapad, she began to sift through what they'd learned so far about this array. In truth, it wasn't as much as she'd hoped. She'd spent many a night wandering down the passages on the structure, trying to wrap her head around the technology that lay at the heart of the thing. Very little luck had been found there.

But according to the report, they'd figured out just what Shio'Leth had come here for, and what that strange eezo concentration was all about. It turned out that they were quite related. Shio had come here first to acquire coordinates for that Andromeda Initiative, somehow managing to elude the Geth that were already there. Then, a few weeks later he'd come back, this time with a turian in tow. They were preempted by a salarian, and there was a standoff of sorts. Eventually he'd escaped, leaving the salarian there…who simply…vaporized. Theories were abundant that the salarian had caused the eezo spike himself somehow. After all, it appeared that he was the second rarest of things: a salarian biotic (which was second only to that most mythical of creatures - a quarian biotic).

"At least I can put the question of Shio'Leth nar Novara behind me," she'd muttered with a relieved sigh as she'd read the final report.

Still scanning through the various reports, she noted that Veetor'Nara had been making some inroads on understanding the computer systems here, and had even managed to send a message back to Tella on Rannoch because he'd had another idea regarding suit adaptations. Reading this, she allowed a small smile. He reminded her so much of herself, all energy and focus despite his other, obvious, shortcomings. The corner of her mouth twitched as she pondered if that focus hadn't come at too steep a price. Regarding Veetor, As far as Daro was concerned, those shortcomings accounted for nothing. The young man was an absolute dynamo, and if she could keep him focused, she was certain that he would come good.

She took another sip of her tea and continued with the reports in silence.

Three weeks.

Three weeks had already passed and Veetor was already halfway through his duty rotation out here in the Kholas System. He'd spent much of it on the Array, of course, but he'd also spent a fair amount of time aboard the Moreh. It was actually quite an honor, he'd written Elan after he'd worked his first duty shift there. He found it hard to believe that not only was he working on the Array itself, but keelah, he was working aboard Admiral Xen's own ship?

How had he gotten so lucky?

When he posited the question to Elan, she had told him that he's a gifted scientist and "tech wizard", and that he deserved the honor of working alongside an Admiral of the Fleet (even if her trepidation about it being the most abrasive one of the five might have shown through). In any case, she was immensely proud of the young man, and she remained awe struck about the progress that he'd made since she'd first helped him get over his experiences on Freedom's Progress. Indeed, it barely felt like any time at all had passed for him; his life had been a whirlwind. His parents had been very proud of their son for going off and helping the human colonists. When he'd returned so damaged, so traumatized, they were even more proud of him when Tali'Zorah had had nothing but praise for his bravery. She of course couldn't tell them what exactly they'd found but, suffice it to say, she had left no room for doubt that he'd survived quite the ordeal.

His question of luck, however, had now been replaced by a question of time.

Three weeks.

He was sitting in the relatively large berth he'd been given on the Moreh, marauding through some of the data that the other teams had collected – they were still no closer to discerning the array's true source of power. He figured that it was simply a matter of not fully understanding the inner workings of a mass relay itself. Obviously, it was understood that the relays ran on concentrated element zero, and one could find the eezo easily enough inside the drive cores of space faring vessels, but they'd yet to find the actual "engine" to the relays on this thing. It was one of their priorities, given that the galaxy at large had had no idea how the relays worked before the start of the war, and that lack of understanding had nearly gotten them annihilated.

Without realizing it, he flipped back to his message history. He could not have explained why if asked - he just sort of did it on auto-pilot. The latest message was from Elan, she missed him, and hoped that he was well. This was the eleventh time that he'd read this message since he'd received it six hours ago. He sighed. She was good to him, and keelah, it was clear that she cared for him. But the feelings that she evoked in him…well, he didn't quite know what to do with them. What were they exactly? They were elusive, just out of reach. Retreating into the ether, he couldn't quite put them into words, but he did know how he felt around her. Usually, it was a sense of calm, he could feel that crippling anxiety abate ever so slightly. It was like she gave him a small sedative without…the sedative. Keelah, what was he on about?

He wasn't sure, but he knew that it both scared and calmed him in damn near equal measure. He read the message once more, then sighing, set his omnitool in sleep mode with an alarm to wake him in four hours. Walking calmly to his bed, he laid down and in a matter of minutes, was asleep.

Three and a half hours later, Veetor had awakened with a start. Wide-eyed and panting, he'd bolted upright and assessed his surroundings. Yes, still his quarters. Yes, still the Moreh. It was the dream he'd had; whatever the hell it had been about, he wasn't entirely sure. All he knew was the letters and numbers in a green haze parading in front of him, around him. They'd been everywhere. And it might have been something of an epiphany.

Less than thirty minutes later, he was on a shuttle back to the array after wolfing down his first tube of nutrient paste. If he was greeted by the myriad of people milling about as he passed, he couldn't quite remember. As it was, he was already thinking about what he was going to do once he got to the command center of the array. He sent a message to Admiral Xen that he would be arriving shortly, and that he had an idea about what to do to unlock the "language mystery".

The language problem had occurred to him when he and Admiral Tali had first come here. It was noted that what should have been the Geth linguistic code was instead fully and completely displayed in Khelish. While they were rightly similar, there was enough of a difference that it should have been easily noticed. He wanted to run a couple of little tests on the system as a result, trying to determine why there hadn't been a perceived difference.

Which was why he was presently standing in front of his workstation with an unfinished and long forgotten sealed thermos of dextro-coffee sitting on his desk, a hand cupped under his vocalizer and the other idly waving about in front of him. Inside his helmet, the soft melody of a quarian tenir played by one of the old masters of the instrument, Gar'Biirto, echoed in his helmet just loudly enough to be heard. Veetor looked like he was pointing at something, then would change his mind, only to return to pointing at some other thing on his station's display.

Most of the others that walked by or noticed him would either just shake their heads in confusion or quietly snicker at the display. After all, it was just Veetor doing Veetor things. Daro'Xen, however, watched him with a small, satisfied smile on her lips.

"Hello, Veetor."

She watched him flinch ever so slightly, and she did not miss the slightly annoyed scoff he let out, either. It only made her smile grow as she took the last few steps to stand alongside him.

As for Veetor, after flicking off the music, he was not at all surprised to know that the smooth voice (with its constant edge) and those footsteps - those exquisitely precise footsteps - belonged to Admiral Xen.

He faced her and was mildly (and pleasantly) surprised to see that her eyes might have conveyed…something other than condescension.

"H-hello Admiral Xen. What…can I help you?"

"No, Veetor. You are doing plenty. I want you to tell me about what has you so enthralled."

He cocked his head. "En-enthralled?"

A smirk snuck its way onto her face. "Yes, Veetor. I watched you work as I came over, and you were, well…impressive."

His face twitched.

"I…was?"

Daro sighed, showing a touch of that famous impatience. "Yes, Veetor. But what is bothering you? You were so…animated." She was genuinely curious. She'd seen enough of Veetor's work to know that when he was lost in his work like that, it was not due to something trivial.

The admiral stood in rapt attention, hanging on the edge of every somewhat stuttered syllable as he explained that it looked like there was evidence that not only was the Array translating the Geth interface directly into perfect Khelish (even though this should have been impossible) but that it also looked like the Geth had built said interface on top of an underlying alien operating structure.

"In sh-short, admiral, they g-grafted their programming onto something that was alien…and that they…it looks like they d-didn't even try to understand it."

While Veetor returned to the screen, the admiral hitched a slow breath as she wrestled with this. After all, there were so many things that they still did not understand about the Array. The only thing that was certain was that somehow the Geth hadn't used the Array as intended by whatever species had assembled the thing countless ages ago.

What could that mean?

"Veetor, what if…is it possible that the…keelah this sounds ridiculous…the Array only responds to organic life?" She had thought back to what Tali had reported – that there was no breathable atmosphere when they'd first arrived – and that it had kicked on of its own volition. "Because why would it…?"

"Admiral Xen," he offered a little less tentatively now, "please look at the symbols h-here." He had pulled a line of code that was decidedly not from the Geth up on the display. "W-why isn't this in Khelish, if it's t-translating somehow?"

She smirked, because she thought the kid was asking the right questions.

"Perhaps it is because it is the base code? There's nothing it can be altered to, maybe."

For a few moments, they stood there completely lost in thought in front of the displays as the images reflected off of their masks.

Veetor pointed at the screens, eyes wide in the joy of realization. "It…it c-can be translated. I think…um…admiral."

Ancestors, Daro's smile threatened to break her face. He was very impressive. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Explain." She did not doubt that he was right; she wanted to hear him tell her why he was right. She wanted to be convinced.

He held a long breath before exhaling slowly, trying to bring his shaking hands under control. When he did, he peered directly into Daro'Xen's judging and expectant eyes. Somewhere in him, Veetor marveled at those eyes because, for once, the blistering gaze of another did not short-circuit his mind.

"Well, s-since the base code should s-still resemble…um, programming code, we might be able t-to use the Geth code – that we do understand – to translate…the rest…" Despite his initial confidence about his theory, he still managed to lose steam in it as he'd continued. For his efforts, he received a slight nod.

"Good. Let's set up some translation protocols, yes?"

About an hour later, they had set up said protocols, and Daro had left the young man to work on the other projects he was assigned to, and he should contact her if anything changed, or when the translation reached an end. As it was, she contemplated as she metronomed over to the entrance of what they had dubbed "Alpha Relay".

What was this place - what was it really? What was it designed to do? Whatever that turned out to be, the next question would undoubtedly be "Why?"

The Geth had used this as a telescope of some kind. With the aid of the mass relays, one could see across the void in nearly real time. They could peer into the cosmos - hell, into the space between galaxies - as if they were right there. And they had used this to copy the machinations of organics, to fall in lockstep with the desires and ideas of the beings that had ostensibly created them.

Daro was disappointed.

She had held out some meager hope that the Geth might have done something truly interesting. Instead, they had simply confirmed for her the idea that the machines had been no better than the servant race that they were created to be.

"All that computing power, the ability to network together and think and act as one, and all you could do was copy." She scoffed as she walked off to check up on one of the other ongoing projects. "Pathetic."

It was the next day, and Veetor was eating lunch. After following up on the tasks he was assigned the day before, he'd replied to Elan, assuring her that he was well and that the project was both interesting and fruitful. He dared not let slip any other information, of course. A classified mission was just that, and he knew better than to get on Security's bad side (which would ultimately mean he'd be on Admiral Xen's bad side). Then he'd worked on a few other projects, sent a message back to Tella because he'd had an idea about possibly enhancing efficiency of their crop cultivation and wanted to help still, even from out here.

Presently, however, he was trying to put pieces of a puzzle together on a datapad. The scene was supposed to be of a location on Earth called "Angel Falls". He'd never been, of course, but a human named Diego that he'd talked to while on Freedom's Progress had shown him a couple of vids of the place. Diego had grown up near there, it was a place known as "Venezuela". He'd been kind enough to transfer a photo of the 807-meter wonder, and the quarian had lustily dreamt of seeing such things for himself; if not on Earth, then perhaps on Rannoch somewhere. Veetor had often wondered what the feeling of rushing water was like. Sure, a shower in a clean room made his skin wet, but there was nothing more to it. There was no randomness to it, it was simply another thing that a quarian did. It was just another duty.

He continued to make progress with his lunch, engrossed as he was in memory and putting the pieces of this damn puzzle together. He was so engrossed, in fact, that he did not hear the precise footsteps approaching from behind him.

"Hello, Veetor."

He almost fell out of his chair as Daro's voice shoved him from his reverie. He hurried to try to stand up out of respect for the admiral.

To the surprise of both of them, she stopped him. "No need to get up, Veetor. I was actually going to…join you, if you wouldn't mind."

For a moment, he could only blink at her, uncertain that he'd heard her correctly.

"Y-yes, of course, admiral."

With a few curious glances back, Daro procured a nearby chair and sat across from him. Eyeing the pad in his hand, she asked him what he was working on.

He angled the pad for her viewing, and she just…stared at it, not really knowing what to make of the jumbled images that were clearly meant to comprise a larger image.

"Veetor, what…am I looking at?"

He stiffened at her retort. Was she somehow offended at this simple thing? "It's a…it's called a 'jigsaw puzzle'. One of the humans that I…spent time with on F-Freedom's Progress showed me one. You have to…it takes a photo, and breaks it up into smaller irregular shapes and then…then you have to try to put it back t-together. Generally, the more pieces there are, the more ch-challenging the puzzle."

She cocked her head, clearly in thought. She sure liked the sound of this "puzzle". "And how many pieces is this?"

Veetor cleared his throat. "Um…one thousand, admiral."

He watched her eyes gorge themselves on shock. "Keelah, that is a lot." Daro studied for a few quiet moments more. "And what is this an image of?"

Veetor produced a strange…proud?…smile. "It is from Earth. A place called 'Angel Falls'." He began to rub his hands together in nervousness and trepidation. Was the mention of something that was not quarian upset the admiral?

Instead, Daro responded with curiosity. "Earth? Did you also get the image while on Freedom's Progress?"

He nodded. "Yes. I had a f-friend…before the m-monsters came," he couldn't stop the shaking now, "he was from there and had taken that photo. He…he sent it to me."

Daro sat stonefaced for a few moments. "Monsters," he'd called them. Then she recalled the reason that he was initially placed with Elan'Shiya in the first place. She helped him deal with those monsters. Keelah…she'd known that it was a tough subject, but it never crossed her mind to not ask the question. Silently, she handed the datapad back to him, while her eyes conveyed a touch of regret for having brought it up so obtusely.

He set the datapad down before he mustered up a bit of courage of his own. "What…what was your pilgrimage like, admiral?"

Tensing, she immediately looked away. Her first reaction was to chide him, to erupt and stalk off in cold abandonment. Then it was replaced with the impossible uncertainty that clouded her mind. Could she tell him? Should she tell him? What was it about this young man that gave her pause? The change - her metamorphosis into what she now was - well, Daro wasn't so clueless as to completely lack self-awareness.

"It was…difficult, Veetor. It…changed me, as all pilgrimages do in most cases. Yet it was, in a way, gratifying," she added with a thin, overstretched voice. "I…spent much of it on the Citadel, like many of our pilgrims, I imagine." She rasped a low laugh. "Even the splendid Tali'Shepard's pilgrimage was changed by it." She did not add that it was changed for completely different reasons.

Keelah, the reasons were direct opposites.

He prodded a little further in a quiet voice. "Did you…did you have friends on your pilgrimage?"

Could she tell him about the friends - the friend - that she'd had while journeying on her voyage of self-discovery? Could she tell him of the monstrous betrayal that haunted her still (it still coated the knife), and kept her awake on more nights than she wished to recall? She could hear the chastisement of this young man in her mind.

"You want to know what friends gets you, Veetor? A knife coated in blood. A lifetime of regret. A soul seeking answers and finding none. But it's not all bad. I was determined. I was driven. And now we are going to accomplish great things."

She said none of this, of course. Because to have done so would have shown weakness, and Ancestors willing, she was done showing any of that.

She heard Veetor suck in a nervous breath. She knew that he was afraid that he'd erred - in truth, he had - but how could he have known?

And why did he not show the abject fear and apprehension that so many others do?

Whatever it was, it made her speak.

"I…I did have…yes. But they did not…end that way. You may do well to remember that -"

Before she could finish the thought, their omnitools pinged in unison.

Looking down in unison at the alert, it was a simple status update.

**Translation Complete**

Without another word they shot up from where they sat like they were fired from a mass accelerator. They stalked quickly, pointedly, back to his workstation. What they found…well, keelah, it did not disappoint.

With the mess of the Geth code bleached from the system, the uncorrupted code became clear. Checking the main console to see what they'd unearthed, Veetor stood silently, hands gripping the sides of the console. Daro stood next to him, their shoulders centimeters apart. A small smirk freed itself to the surface of her face.

"Keelah, admiral…it's a…"

"It's a one-way mass relay."

"…the rebuilding efforts on the human colony of Eden Prime have been more successful than expected. As a result, the colony has been able to expand its levo food exports substantially in support of the efforts on Earth and the asari homeworld of Thessia, in addition to those already underway on Palaven.

In other news, the Interim Council has so far not made a decision regarding the volus and elcor, though rumors persist that the two races will be given admission after the next summit, set to be held on Thessia. There has been little word regarding the hanar, who some insist are in religious turmoil following the revelation that one of the Normandy crew was, in fact, a Prothean. Known as 'Enkindlers', the Protheans were a race held in high regard by the hanar and are at the center of a prominent religion practiced by many of their race. Reports imply that they are on the cusp of a civil war as a result."

Han'Gerrel grunted at the news program. It was a double-edged sword, as the humans like to say. While it kept him abreast of the goings on outside of the walls of this office and his planet (was it really?), it made for a distraction that he wasn't sure was outweighed by the influx of information.

The old admiral still refused to set up residence on Rannoch, and therefore was presently seated at the desk in his quarters aboard the Neema. In truth, he was only partially hearing the news reports as his fingers flew across the keys.

The news report droned on…

"It is also noteworthy that with the efforts of many human leaders, especially Councilor Kenworth, it is widely expected that the quarians will have galactic representation for the first time in nearly three hundred years. This is in large part due to their ongoing efforts in transportation and logistics both during and after the Reaper War. It has truly been a herculean effort from all of us, but considering the quarians' sheer lack of numbers, it is especially…"

Han had perked up at the mention of his people, and he actually felt a sense of pride at being mentioned in such a light by anyone outside of their own. Yes, once more, they could perhaps become a respected race. Perhaps…

He reread his latest entry.

Keelah, Jana. So much has changed for us, my love.

We have the homeworld back, though I refuse to reside there.

Not without you.

I had begun to oversee the training of our marines here. At Zaal's request, I had even agreed to work with the human, Shepard. He has been lauded a hero, and honestly, rightly so. After all, it was him who ultimately stopped the Reaper invasion. He seems a good man, despite my own…biases. You would find it interesting to know that Rael's daughter Tali is officially bonded to the man. And he lives among us on Rannoch. Keelah…I did not know what to think of this at first.

I take that back.

I did know what to think - and I was furious with her, with all of them. Jana, he saved the Geth from us. From me. But they helped us to rebuild our homeworld - which is what their place should have always been. But then, at the final battle, this Shepard ended the Reapers in one shot. And then he ended the Geth at the same time. He took away my chance to -

A notification popped up on his omnitool. It was an incoming call on the secure line from Daro'Xen. He tapped the holokey to accept.

He cleared his throat. "Daro, to what do I owe the pleasure?" If she caught the sarcasm, she didn't show it.

"You owe the pleasure to me, and to Veetor'Nara as well. We have, as I expected we would, determined what the Array really is, and it is quite possible that it will be the means by which we may both reach our ends."

That grabbed his attention by the collar, with both hands. "You have?"

"Yes, though I will not discuss it here; it is best that you see it in-person."

Han glanced away from the image for a moment, trying to grapple with the implication. "Very well. I assume that we will keep this a secret for now?"

"Yes, of course we will. I am uncertain how the others will react should they know - for now."

"Very well. Shall I bring a detachment of ships? We can use the cover of, say, reports of pirate activity in the vicinity? I would need to join you to oversee the security of your project. After all, this is within the purview of the Heavy Fleet, and despite the recent changes to our station it is still an important arm of defense."

Daro nodded, and he thought he caught a sly grin from his counterpart. "It is, indeed, Admiral Gerrel. I will look forward to your arrival."

The connection ended.

He tapped a finger against the desk.

He'd have to have Nat'Veral take over training, which was fine by him.

"Well, perhaps I can still fulfill it, Jana."