A/N: So, here we are at the end of 2018. So far, the Premiseverse has been very AU, but only in some ways. The fourth arc is where I begin to actually not only change the setting and fabric of the Mass Effect universe, but the message and tone.

Up until this point, there has been suffering, and darkness, and assholes running rampant without justice or comeuppance. Up until this point there has been an almost mocking level of angst and negativity and the feeling that even the good guys lose when they win.

There is some more suffering ahead, but this is where the party train stops for the Bad Guys. This one chapter – Shepard's regeneration of life, of belief, of thinking the universe has given its answer and that answer is 'you have done well' – this is the point where the other side of the PV comes from, the concept that evil only wins when you let it.

I would like to thank all the Editing Gang for their assistance. I might get the next chapter out before Christmas if I get off my ass. :D


THE FOURTH ARC : WHEN THE STARS COME RIGHT

'There is never a justification for doing shit the wrong way just because it's fucking easier, or lets you make more money. Because in the end, living like that costs you everything.'

-Sara Shepard, excerpt from the book 'Lay It On Me'


"The situation on Ilium is still in chaos, with tens of millions dead, more wounded, and radioactive poisons falling from the skies. The death toll is most likely even higher, but we're unable to determine actual numbers with so many wounded trickling in, and some cities entirely destroyed. Geth units on the ground conducted a series of suicidal attacks on most remaining cities, taking out water and power systems where possible before detonating themselves to scatter yet more radioactive contaminants. The geth strike on the world included some form of hypervelocity bombardment of a tectonic fault, which has triggered—"

The channel changed with the gentle press of a haptic key.

"—with several observers reporting that Cerberus retreated from the system in good order only after some of their ships took on at least several hundred refugees and mercenaries. Cerberus ships stood off the battered remains of the Asari 2nd Fleet as various high-profile figures fled the planet, including several of the Ilium Court of Corporations' CEOs wanted by the Asari Republic. At this time, we—"

A click, as the channel changed again.

"—still reports of heavy fighting in the outskirts of Nos Sala, Nos Vin, and other portions of the southern expanse where geth units that did not self-destruct continue attacks on civilians and military forces alike. Nos Astra and the other larger cities are nothing more than burning charnel houses, with Nos Urha in particular a glowing crater and an estimated four million asari and others dead. Orbital strikes have already been authorized to break up—"

Click.

"—the Systems Alliance has not released any official statements, but the Japanese Emperor has announced a media briefing to be conducted at the New Imperial Palace in a few days. Speculation is high as to how exactly several dead people, including Major-Commander Sara Shepard, appear to be alive and well—"

Another click.

"—thus far, the Asari Republic has not proffered a statement as to exactly how they plan to deal with the crisis. Asari Councilor Tevos has also not made a public statement aside from the fact that she has to meet with the asari government before commenting. In the meantime, Citadel fleet units and medical teams are en route to Ilium, but exactly what happens to the corporations, assets, and, above all else, patents once owned by—"

And another click.

"—reports still coming in as to the living cost, as most of Ilium's power infrastructure and health, water, and transportation networks have been destroyed. Volus medical assistance teams and mech units have been arriving since the cessation of hostilities to evacuate as many wounded as possible, while the Vol Court of Corporations has volunteered their entire fleet of sixty-eight life-support-capable mega-freighters to assist the evacuation efforts. Even so, experts point out that with the amount of polonium and other radioactive byproducts in the air, fallout is going to get worse and they expect at least an additional six million deaths due to cancer, radiation burns, and—"

The news feed clicked off and Jack Harper sighed. "Alas, Ilium. I'll miss the fishing and gambling, but there's not much else to mourn. Summation, EVA?"

The voice that answered had a slight English accent to match the lilting contralto that it used. The haptic view-screen flickered to new images of the wreckage of Ilium. "A qualified success, but still a success, Mr. Harper. A major geth fleet was destroyed, most if not all of the Broker's combat power has been obliterated, and his organization is in tatters. His most powerful lieutenant is dead, his next most powerful fighter is our captive, and we have – amazingly – reunited Shepard and Vakarian with their wives who were thought to be dead. Based on the psychological profile put together by Doctor Chambers, this should solidify their loyalty to Cerberus."

The AI paused before continuing. "Per your instructions, we shorted several critical Ilium corporations and as a result netted just over two hundred sixty million credits after the appropriate taxes and bribes. Assuming we lose a fifth of that to laundering, that will still completely pay for the operation – even taking into account further expenses."

Harper nodded and gave a small smile. "As expected. While I have no issues with paying for results, I also see no reason to not take an opportunity such as this. Go ahead and have Vanark begin the work he prepared along those lines." He paused to sip his drink. "As far as more tangible assets go, Vigil deployed remote mech units to pick through the ruins, I presume?"

EVA's voice took on an edge. "Yes, although not without unnecessary commentary. So far, we have not found anything relating to what you had him look for. The units being used are generic mechs, not our custom-built ones, so progress is slow. As a side note, the mechs already finished cleaning up the battle site at the Canni Hotel and confirmed Mr. Dunn's death. Matriarch Trellani warp-incinerated him to avoid identification."

Harper sighed. "If we only lost one man in this evolution, why did it have to be him? I did not particularly care for his manner, but his insights into Shepard were more useful than that of others, and he was a very useful connection to her past. I have no idea how she'll react to his death, and no way to explain why he was even there." He sipped his drink again and leaned forward. "And the status of our teams, other than the late Mr. Dunn?"

The arch tones of the AI sounded almost disapproving as she replaced haptic images of Ilium with charts and graphs. "All Cerberus units were evacuated, although HAMMER suffered sixty-seven percent casualties. ANVIL reports no dead, but nearly all members severely or critically wounded – Shepard, Trellani, Melenis, Kiala, and both DACT – severely enough they were put into stasis. Estimated recovery times are well over two weeks for most of them, and many will require cybernetic correction."

Harper narrowed his eyes. "How long until they will be mobile? Not combat-ready, but at least moving around and capable of potential interactions with parties on the Citadel or in the Alliance?"

EVA was silent for several seconds. "In theory, Shepard could be mobile in three or four days and most of the rest within a week. However, this would require the use of rapid-inset cybernetics for several team members as well as medical monitoring packages – and they would not be in any way, shape, or form combat-capable." Her voice grew somewhat sharp. "Placing them into non-secure environments where they could be subject to Citadel law enforcement would be unwise in said condition."

Harper inclined his head, thinking. "We'll come back to that after the medical team has some time to work on the various injuries. What about Project EPIDOTES and the required personnel for that?"

EVA changed images. "Per your instructions, a decent number of mercenaries and exiles or outlaws – no actual criminals that would anger Shepard – were invited aboard several evac ships with an offer of employment. The largest groups were asari and turians, at one hundred sixty-eight and one hundred fifty-five respectively – none of the asari are ardats. We also have nine salarians, all of them Lythari. Three mid-caste batarians, five drell, a volus Depthwalker, and a trio of elcor Pure. All of them have agreed to wear Cerberus colors and present themselves as members for the… ceremony you have planned. They are all en route to Front Three, which will provide equipment, medical care, and communications."

He nodded. "Very good. And our other guests?"

Images flickered. "Agents Lawson and Ezno report we have recovered a large number of unexpected personnel. The 'Sisters of Vengeance' were Liara T'Soni and Telanya Vakarian. We also recovered eleven of the fifteen Black Blades as well as their leader, Aethyta Vasir – who had been reported dead on Omega. A known Commissariat asset, codename 'MORINTH,' known name 'Mirala,' was recovered alongside the Black Blades. Finally, and most importantly, we also recovered Spectre Tela Vasir. She may or may not provide useful leverage and or support when it comes time to speak with the asari and the Council."

The Illusive Man lit a cigarette. "We'll see. If Trellani's plan works, and Shepard can use that as an in, we may not need her help. Her connection to the Broker is troubling at best, even if she's turned on him for now. I'll speak with Miranda about that later – what about Vigil's findings?"

EVA's voice took on a cooler tone. "Vigil was able to reach the coordinates he was interested in. While there, he recovered a geth prime warform that corresponds with a ninety-nine point two percent likeness of the command prime sighted on the Citadel during the Benezia Incident. That unit was disabled and captured by Tazzik, and we suspect this is the same unit. It has experienced severe damage of anomalous origins to the torso as well as many hyper-advanced modifications consistent with Reaper technology. As such, it has been taken aboard an unmanned smaller ship and Vigil is keeping it isolated."

Harper puffed on the cigarette. "Strange, but potentially useful. He mentioned he'd discovered something."

The AI shifted the haptics again. "Vigil was able to confirm Matriarch Trellani's premise. The Thirty were supposed to be the servants of the Silent Queen, who was the bio-computational avatar of some form of either Prothean or Inusannon AI. For reasons unknown, the truth was discovered by the Thirty along with code-base overrides that allowed them to rebel successfully and use the equipment of the Protheans to dominate and control the entirety of asari civilization. This required assistance from the AI, but they seem to have corrupted it and channeled it into something either less obstructive or more coercive."

Harper nodded slowly. "While certainly infuriating to Trellani, I don't see how this has any real significant value for us. It is too dangerous to use as blackmail, even aside from how that would make her planned ruse with her body pointless. The Thirty are more than willing to throw aside common sense to retain their power and rule – and their actions in pursuing her for knowing this means we can't really take advantage of it. It would disrupt asari society and lead to civil war. Not what we need with Reapers on the way."

He grimaced and his thoughts turned slowly in his head.

The Thirty and their methods of ensuring their own rule were not any more horrific than the things the SIX – or, for that matter, the High Lords – had committed. He understood Trellani's anger at the deception – and her desire to reveal the truth – but she'd held off doing so until the social situation and the galactic balance was right. Harper wasn't sure what her longer-range plans were, but the Reapers were more important at this juncture.

For the moment, they'd have to play nice with the asari. While he needed control over them, that was hard to achieve. Influence – in the form of handing over Trellani's body and making them think Shepard had killed her – would provide both a sense of relief and a lessening of the guard on their part, and was almost as good as control.

When the time came for hardball, he had enough other pieces – such as asari investments in biotic gangs and the asari purchase of human slaves on the batarian markets – to corral them politically to some degree.

He looked up. "Vigil's report was very terse. What else did he find down there?"

EVA gave a very human sigh. "Vigil also discovered additional information that Trellani was not aware of. Specifically, the fact that the ancient matriarch known as Dilinaga had contacted an advanced being or beings that was not only fully aware of the Reapers – as well as the Prothean alterations to the asari – but something else. Designs were left behind to provide weapons and technologies to fight the Reapers, yet Dilinaga never conveyed these back to Thessia – the site on Ilium was where she decided to instead make a last stand against what Vigil thinks was most likely Collectors."

Harper was silent for several seconds, then frowned. "That doesn't seem to make much sense, although I'm sure I am missing context. Why would Dilinaga not take this information back to her people? Why leave it on Ilium, a backwater world on the fringes of society avoided by the Thirty?"

EVA's tone was grim. "Vigil believes Dilinaga was allowed to get so far because the Collectors were trying to find out who or what she was getting information from and, when that did not work, decided to kill her. She must have hidden this information away – the clues Trellani followed in her research before her breach with the asari may have been things Dilinaga herself left behind. We're still missing pieces – and now with the site destroyed and Ilium ruined it is unlikely we'll figure it out completely."

Harper nodded. "Unfortunate. Those are some very large and important questions, and the answers could change quite a bit about how we go about fending off the Reapers. Have Doctor Minsta assemble an archaeological and research team, staff it with some of Rasa's Lost Boys for security. Coordinate with our remote assets on possible leads; get that team to find any possible locations like this one. I don't care if we locate them or if Vigil comes up with something – I'll set aside enough cash for us to look into this further. We can't sit on this."

EVA made a chiming noise. "Message set dispatched. I would point out most such sites would be on the downspin rim of the Asari Republic or toward the Far Traverse, which is both poorly mapped and under Aria's domination. Any results would take quite some time."

He only gave a smile. "The payoff of such a gamble would make it worth it. I'm assuming all of this information is what Vigil was able to decode or retrieve from the wreck of the prime?"

The AI's voice sounded amused. "Some of it. For some reason, Tazzik was present and did a detailed recording scan of much of the chamber prior to it being destroyed. Vigil is still decrypting that and other images or data from his grayboxes. Vigil also feels the prime itself probably had recorded images and scans, although finding those will take time."

He nodded. "The larger question becomes who was Dilinaga getting her information from, and what would make it so important that it needed to be destroyed now?"

The voice of EVA had an edge of irritation to it. "We lack context and specifics on that. We shall simply have to see what else Vigil discovers. However, it occurs to me there is a very high chance that there is nothing good of having a highly modified geth unit with clear Reaper modifications at the site."

Harper took another drag off his cigarette before dumping his ashes. "Indeed. Have Vigil keep it remote from any of our sites – and if he claims he doesn't have a site of his own, please feel free to laugh – like I'm going to believe that. Back to Tazzik – Vigil is sure we can trace the Broker using this link to a comms ship, even if he moves from system to system?"

The AI's voice sounded as doubtful as his own. "That is what Vigil claims. The communications cruiser is the key to the entire Shadow Network, the cutout between the Broker and remote master sites. It is unlikely the Broker realized Tazzik knew the ship's current location orbiting Vol Prime, and only luck Vigil had a unit that could infiltrate it on hand. Within five minutes of him doing so, the cruiser had moved – the Broker probably thinks he is secure."

Harper leaned back. "We'll wait and see. What is the team status?"

"HAMMER and ANVIL are both returning to Shepard's base as it has the best and largest-scale medical facilities and doctors. PARTY GIRL is being recalled from Earth. JOKER'S WILD is falling back to Staging Nine-A in the Canuss System. And OUTREACH is headed to Front Station Three. Agents Leng and Pellham will meet them there, and Agent Rasa and Researchers Galen and Tiffany Minsta will also rendezvous there."

Harper nodded. "Go ahead and have Volinski head to Front Three as well. We'll need to sort through the people who signed on with us. Pick forty of the most reasonable and non-criminal of the lot to use when Shepard heads to the Citadel. A majority of the forty should be non-asari, if possible."

EVA spoke. "At once, sir. Ryan Vaught is calling on secondary comms – not QEC – with a positive alert code. Is there anything else or should I connect you now?"

He glanced at his omni-tool as it flashed. "That's all, EVA." He stood, facing the far wall as it illuminated.

The man on the screen was aged, hard lines and wrinkles vying for dominance across the strong bones of his face. Both eyes were ringed with ragged scar tissue, lines of ridged darkened skin radiating down his right cheek and the eyes themselves replaced with cold metal lenses. The man was bald, but his chin was covered in a thick, pointed goatee, his visible features a mix of African and Asian.

"Jack. I expected Tetrimus to splatter your pet psychopath all over the ground. I'm surprised she pulled that off, and more surprised you came up with such a crazy plan." The other man's voice was graven and yet had a touch of weakness to it, and the Illusive Man gave a sad smile.

"I have excellent subordinates and I make efficient use of my assets. That being said, it wasn't exactly my plan." He quirked his lips. "To the point, however, I delivered on my part of the bargain, which I might add is not a small risk to take given Shepard's hatred of criminals in general and your client in particular, Ryan. The ship with the CEOs you were interested in was escorted to the relay by my own fleet, and if the passenger list becomes known, that would be difficult to explain."

Ryan grinned without a trace of humor. "You reached out to us, Jackie. But I get it, and so does she. Aria didn't think you'd actually do it, but is willing to do business as long as that business is kept at remote. For a few of the items on your list the answer was 'no' – she doesn't trust you enough. And even if she did, any direct connection between you and her is impossible given you have the Archangel working for you."

Harper sighed. "The important segments of the deal were accepted, I presume?"

Ryan shrugged. "Sure, I guess. The… relay access issue isn't a problem, at all. She hates the Collectors – no idea why, but once I said you were looking to kill them, all resistance stopped. If that means she stands aside while we ram a fleet in there, she'll be cool."

Harper stubbed out his smoke. "Unusual. And potentially interesting. What's the price?"

"Sixty million cash, sixty more in secure physical assets or land, and keep Shepard and her band away from her assets. A tenth of what she launders in cash. She's willing to slide on everything except the 'on-paper' disconnect and on keeping Shepard far away – not surprising."

Harper gave a small, thin, and amused smile. "I suppose so, seeing what just transpired on Ilium. Has she had any reactions to that?"

Vought shrugged and grimaced, which did unhappy things to his face. "She's always going to play it cool and if you think she's going to let others see her worry you're really underestimating her. But that's just the game. She's nervous about something – what, I don't know – but it's not about the Butcher. She wasn't even really paying attention until it was revealed who the Butcher was."

Harper turned that over in his mind.

The last known location of Liara and Telanya was on Omega. Vakarian had been thought dead and was instead recovered by Angel's gang. Given the presence of several others thought dead at that fight – not just Liara and Telanya, but also Aethyta Vasir and one of the Dancers he'd reached out to, a Thane Krios – it was clear Aria must have done something.

How a princess of the Thirty and a C-Sec cop fit into Aria's plans wasn't something he could deduce at this remove, but there wasn't any other avenue for them to have been on Ilium.

Liara and Telanya did not get to Ilium – especially without anyone knowing – without very significant resources. Any of the other power players on Omega were effectively destroyed in the Burning, leaving only Aria as the answer.

Aria's involvement could be problematic, depending on how Liara viewed it. Harper suspected Aria used the two asari as her catspaws on Ilium, and that would sour any deals he could make if he couldn't keep Shepard distracted from such or if she blamed Aria for the way the Sisters of Vengeance had turned into terrorists.

Exhaling, the Illusive Man folded his hands behind his back. "I have no problem with the cash and assets. Keeping Shepard away is conditional on her giving us complete information on the Collectors and keeping her own people out of Shepard's way. That being established, what is her offer?"

Ryan smiled wider. "Use of her fleet for deliveries to locations where your guys can't get to without raising eyebrows. Same thing for, ah, acquiring personnel you need. Selling out slave nets who won't work with her to give to Shepard. Eezo at a third of the price of galactic field standard, uncut, straight from the mines. She can launder the cash you need through the rest of the Circle of the Fallen and there's no possible way Hades can track it. She's willing to be a link to the Shifter and his networks – all through the Citadel and the Black Rim. And the entire Circle of the Fallen will start fucking with every Hades operation they find."

Several seconds passed as Jack thought it over before nodding. "Keep it quiet, but I see no reason to disagree. She'll probably be expecting me to balk at her price, so we will not. In the meantime, put an independent feeler out to the Shifter. We may need his help when we send Shepard to the Citadel, and I don't trust Aria to set that up – or Shepard to agree with Aria setting it up. You might as well see if our assets in the Consort's staff have any news as well."

"Not a problem. I'll do that once I tell Aria the good news – probably take me a week to get to the Citadel. I'll call you on TTL and you can give me the QEC pair to use. Later."

Ryan gave a nod, and Harper cut off the transmission. He sat in his chair for almost a full minute, thinking, and then stood. "EVA, prep the pinnace and have Trellani's flash-clone loaded and ready to go."

"I have already anticipated your request, Mr. Harper. The pinnace is ready for departure, course laid in for Shepard's facility."

Harper drained his glass and set it down firmly. "Good. It's time to really get this show on the road, then, isn't it?"

O-TWCD-O

Miranda stared at the medical repeater display with exhausted eyes, noting her hand was trembling as she slowly tabbed through menus. Doctor Sedanya was sitting on the floor next to the stasis tubes, engaged in a ritual meditation, while Mordin Solus was sitting across from Miranda, going through a padd of his own.

"Overall, successful recovery, but injury levels far beyond parameters. Distressing levels of damage to both main and support teams. Course of action?" The dry voice of the salarian was a bit slower than usual, a fact that made Miranda's lips quirk with faint amusement. Even the salarian was tired.

No wonder. They'd done more medical work, surgery, and scrambling about in the past half day than most trauma teams did in a week.

The recovery of the teams on the ground had been hectic and confusing. The Broker's last soldiers had pulled off a fighting retreat, but not until they'd very nearly crippled the support teams. Both of the DACT had critical injuries from the crash of the small ship near their position, and the teams under Ezno had to be evacuated under incoming geth fire.

The three doctors, aided where possible by Melenis, Kelly Chambers, and multiple copies of Vigil, had done what they could. The Normandy was moving at top rated speed back to the base, which had more extensive medical facilities and – more importantly – some of the best medical personnel in existence.

Miranda could only hope it was enough. Some of the injuries were severe enough that no amount of cybernetics or surgery would make the injured 'whole' again, but for the most part, she felt the team would be functional, if perhaps not pleased.

For now, she had to focus on the final hours until they got to base.

Shepard was a ruin of flesh and cybernetics, having soaked enough damage to kill even a krogan several times over, on top of a ruinous level of hard rads. One arm was completely destroyed, the other half melted from Channeling superheated plasma from the tokamak. Her armored ribcage had crumpled under the impact of an aircar, driving metal into her lungs and damaging her heart, liver, and spleen. Her biotics had overheated again, and she'd pushed her energy levels so high some of her power links had literally melted into her body.

The incredible beating she had taken left her in only slightly better shape than Garrus, who had to be cut out of his power armor. The suit had been hit so hard by Tazzik in places that it had breached and cut into Garrus's body, and both legs were nearly ruined. He was also riddled with heavy wounds from Tazzik's omni-blades, one of them having nearly severed his air-sac.

The rest of the team was in no better shape. Ezno and Zaeed had soaked ludicrous amounts of fire holding the line for everyone else to escape, both of them in critical condition with severe blood loss. Tali and Kiala both had multiple suit breaches, not to mention gaping wounds, with Tali's cybernetic leg a write-off. Most of Garrus's team who'd come along were severely wounded as well. Jack had been injured several times and the only really non-injured member of the team was Grunt.

Something about Grunt was… off, but she couldn't put a finger on it. He seemed calmer and less agitated than before – maybe, as Mordin suggested, he just needed a good fight. She was too occupied keeping an eye on the medical side to watch him, and Shepard could figure it out later once she was up and running again.

The people they'd picked up were in worse shape, though. Miranda pulled down more blood type charts, trying to see if the inventory of asari blood plasma they had available at the base would be enough. The surviving Black Blades had been on their last legs, some of them with a dozen wounds that would have killed a lesser asari each. Aethyta and her acolyte Smiya were in critical condition, with Smiya's arm a nightmare of bone splinters and torn sinews that meant she might lose the entire limb.

Likewise, both Liara T'Soni and Telanya Vakarian were in dire straits – the severe beating and multiple near-lethal wounds they took made worse by borderline malnutrition and clear signs of self-harm, drug abuse, and mental collapse. Liara's biotics had been over-strained to the point some of her nerves were literally burnt up, and her cybernetic eye had been shattered by the omni-mine detonation; fragments driven into her head which would have to be carefully extracted. If not for Vigil's incredible abilities, both asari would have died of internal bleeding and shock within an hour of being rescued.

Several team members were so busted up they'd been put in medical stasis until they got to the base. Others were at least mobile, but resting quietly.

In the interim, though, they had no real orders aside from 'return to base.' Given their status, Miranda felt that was almost idiotically self-evident, but that was the only plan or information she'd been given. Now that the surgeries were over, Miranda needed to report to the Illusive Man at some point.

With a tired sigh, Miranda pushed herself up, just as the door to the med-bay opened and Kelly Chambers entered. "Just got off the QEC with the med-team at the base. Crash gurneys and support mechs will be waiting in the bay when we arrive."

Miranda rubbed her eyes. "Then I need to report our status to the Illusive Man. What is our ETA to the base?"

Kelly shrugged. "Dunno. Joker should know that. I just transmitted the files. With Shepard down, you're in charge, so I didn't want to step on any toes, so to speak." There was an annoyed tone to the psychologist's voice, but Miranda ignored that.

"I'm fairly certain Pressly has the ship – and our transit to the base – well in hand and is seen more by Shepard as the 'one in charge,' Kelly. If you were uncertain, you could have simply asked him."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "I've already briefed Pressly, and he didn't mention it, just that we were going as fast as we could. He told me to have you handle the 'Cerberus stuff.' If you want ETAs, ask him or the pilot, Randa." With a smirk she turned and left the med-bay.

Mordin inhaled sharply. "Friction between command staff unwise."

Miranda gave a hard and bitter laugh. "I'm afraid the Illusive Man disagrees. I'm not without my own issues, and until now, Shepard was…" She trailed off, and the salarian's wide eyes met hers.

"Shepard many things, layered complexity on top of ugly background. Still, mental stability not in question – has kept very logical reactions to events, even with emotional damage. Recovery of T'Soni should only improve that. Psychologist who seems disruptive is… curious."

Miranda bit her lip to keep from responding, then forced herself to smile. "I'm inclined to let her do what she likes until the point Shepard takes offense, which will handle any conflicts without me seeming petty. I have to report to the Illusive Man now – I assume everything is stable enough, medically speaking?"

The salarian nodded. "Yes, life-signs all stable. Still concerned about systemic shock for Jack, cannot recommend blueware installation at this time given her condition. Mierin's blood plasma low, and monitoring transaminase in Zaeed. Need to also discuss options on replacement cybernetics for T'Soni – have ideas, blueware augmentation, possible input from Vigil?"

Miranda only blinked. "We'll… discuss it once we reach the base."

She forced herself into motion, moving down to the second deck briefing room and QEC unit. Closing and locking the doors behind her, she gathered herself briefly before triggering the system.

She had to wait almost a full two minutes before the plinth illuminated, showing Jack Harper seated, wearing a white suit and black collarless shirt and, as usual, smoking. "Miranda. I have the post-battle and follow-up reports from EVA. Sounds like the mission was a success for the most part."

She nodded. "Yes, sir, although I worry we won't be in position to move on any intelligence we've gained. The entire team, with the exception of myself, Doctors Sedanya and Mordin, Cena Melenis, and Grunt are all heavily injured."

He nodded, tapping his cigarette ashes clear. "Yes, EVA gave me the rundown. I've already informed Gayan to use whatever methods – cybernetics, bionetics, whatever – to bring them up to full health. Wilson and Six-Hawks will be busy dealing with Trellani's… issues. They won't be available to help for a day or two, but that's not going to be an issue since I gather the team's recovery is not going to be a quick process."

She frowned, but nodded again. "Unfortunately, that might be an understatement. Shepard is going to require almost a full systems rebuild, and nearly everyone else has at least one crippling injury. I can't expect them to be ready for a fight – much less a fight with the Broker – inside of a month."

Harper exhaled, glancing at something off to one side before puffing on the cigarette. "Understood. EVA feels that, due to the… nature of the insight we gained into the Broker's operations, we can afford to wait. It's clear he's laying a trap – he certainly allowed Tazzik to fall into our hands without destroying his graybox. If not for Vigil we'd have gone with the data on said graybox."

She tilted her head. "I don't think I follow. Wouldn't the graybox tell us where the Broker is?"

The Illusive Man gave a thin smile, the blue circles in his eyes rotating as he spoke. "The Broker operates from some kind of dreadnought, one that moves from various far-flung systems that are uninhabited and usually difficult to reach without high-efficiency FTL drives. But he communicates through the rest of the network via a tight-beam transmission to a single cruiser that acts as a cutout. The data on the graybox gave us a system the Broker's ship should be in, but – inadvertently – Vigil was able to establish a location for the comms cruiser as well."

He extinguished the cigarette. "It's clear the comms cruiser is communicating with something in the Tersa System, while the information on the graybox would indicate the Broker's ship is in the Yurn-Orn System. It's likely if we went to the latter, we'd walk right into an ambush."

Miranda pondered on this. "So, Vigil has somehow hacked this comms cruiser and we know where the Broker actually is? Meaning we can go after him when we're ready instead of having to hurry?"

Harper's smile turned predatory. "Exactly. We'll use some throwaway assets to make it seem as if we fell for the trap – then we'll hit the Broker's location with everything we have and hopefully overwhelm him before he can reposition his forces. If we're careful, we can take him out before anyone knows he's in danger… assuming the team is ready."

He lit a fresh cigarette, blowing out the smoke a moment later. "Take the time you need. At some point in the next week, or when you get everyone stable, we're going to have Shepard report to the Citadel and deal with the Council."

She licked her suddenly dry lips. "Is that… wise?"

The Illusive Man's hands made a leveling motion. "Perhaps not. But Shepard and Garrus have been reunited with their thought-to-be-dead wives. We've taken down Tetrimus and captured Tazzik. Shepard's people – and Shepard herself – will require downtime and, almost certainly, time to adapt to the new situation. This is as good a chance as any to implement EPIDOTES in full rather than piecemeal."

Miranda understood. "Especially in light of the blackmail we now have, I presume?"

Harper's head tilted. "To some degree. We have shown we have power, ability, and that we are not the Cerberus of old. Now it is time to demonstrate we have the whip hand when it comes to the masters behind the Council members. If we make some token submission to their demands and only ask to be given a free hand, the Council is too politically savvy to risk alienating us or Shepard."

His voice lowered. "For now, Miranda, focus on getting the team back to shape. For our… guests… such as the Spectre and the Black Blades, offer any bionetics or cybernetics they require. Let them have free run of the base, but ensure they do not access anything to pin down a location. And inform Matriarch Aethyta I wish to speak with her personally once she's stable enough to talk."

Miranda nodded, stifling her own questions. "I will. Anything else, sir?"

Harper gave her a gentle smile. "Only my congratulations on what must have been a nerve-wracking operation and a trying medical follow-up. You continue to demonstrate why I feel you're the best choice to lead Cerberus into the future, Miranda. Good work, and let me know if anything changes."

She suppressed her own surge of deep-seated gratitude and nodded. "I will."

O-TWCD-O

Shepard awoke slowly, blinking a few times after she opened her eyes and realizing belatedly one of them was not functioning. Pain throbbed throughout her torso, while her arms and legs simply felt heavy. A sharp and needle-like pain flared in the back of her skull as she blinked.

She tried sitting up and couldn't move, but a second later, Miranda came into view, wearing a medical jumpsuit of some kind and with a padd in her hands. "Shepard. The sensors said your systems were stable enough to remove the sedation. Can you speak? Do you feel any pain?"

She grimaced. "Yeah. Got a headache, my torso has a throbbing sensation, and my back feels… off. I also feel…" She trailed off. "Kinda like I want to throw up, but not quite. My left eye isn't working. And I can't move."

Miranda's expression tightened. "You suffered a lot of damage in your fight with Tetrimus. We're back at the base now, it's been two days since the fight. Your cyberware took a lot of damage… so did some of your internal organs and non-cybernetic parts. We've had to do a lot of work to get you stable enough to wake up, and you're immobilized because Vigil still has nanites inside of you working on your internal bleeding." She gave a small huff. "And we still have more work to do, like on your eye. But you're in one piece, amazingly. Perhaps next time you should dodge more, instead of being literally run over."

Shepard sighed. "I wasn't expecting to get hit by an aircar, Miranda."

The other woman gave a rueful smile. "Perhaps not. Your armor is trashed; we're manufacturing a new set that's much tougher. Hopefully, once we're done with all the repairs, you won't have to suffer this kind of thing again." She lifted the padd. "I know you, so I have here the reports on everyone's medical status."

Shepard inhaled shakily. "Lay it on me."

Miranda gave a smile. "First, the good news. No one – of our team or the people we picked up – was killed, with the exception of Jason Dunn. On that note, Grunt killed the krogan who killed him. Our support teams had some losses, but far less than expected."

Shepard nodded, then licked her lips. "Well, that's good. I don't suppose Harper would authorize using the whole thingy you did to bring me back to life on Jace?"

Miranda sighed. "I'm afraid not. He was… that is, his body was not recoverable. We'll have a funeral service for him when you're more mobile than you are now." She inclined her head.

Shepard tried to shrug, but it didn't work and she just nodded a second time. "Jace… was just about the last of the old team. I'm surprised he lived this long, and… I have to focus on the living." She let her memories flicker over him a moment before looking back up at Miranda. "What was he doing on the planet?"

Miranda compressed her lips. "Guarding Trellani. He didn't like the idea of sending her into a hostile situation cold, and we didn't have any other assets with his skill level – he was a very skilled N7 and we are light on trained operatives. The Illusive Man didn't expect things to go so wrong, so fast – and we also expected to have your team on the ground before things went hot." She met Shepard's gaze. "From what we gathered from Tela Vasir, he died stopping a krogan from killing her, and probably from killing Liara and Telanya as well. He… died bravely."

Shepard's lips twisted sourly. "That's what they always put in the AD 960s." She took a deep breath. "I'll miss him… but if he's the only casualty, that's a fuck of a lot better than I expected. Like I said, gotta focus on the living."

Miranda nodded. "The rest of the team—"

Shepard interrupted her. "Miranda. I need to know about my wife. Please?"

Miranda looked at her a long moment, then nodded. "Of course. I… well, Liara is in serious but stable condition. She's… not in good shape, even beyond the battle damage. According to Doctor Sedanya, she is, based on a 'touch-scan,' in a rather fragile mental state. I'm not familiar with how asari assess that, but…"

Shepard winced. "Yeah. I didn't figure she'd be in great shape, but maybe seeing me alive will help with that. What about the battle damage and all that?"

Miranda tapped the padd. "She has several very severe injuries from the fight. It's not helping that she's malnourished and overstressed. Her biotics were strained and we will have to do cybernetic surgery on her replacement eye and both legs; they were damaged too heavily by the blast to deal with. On the plus side, she is in no medical danger, and we have her on constant medical monitoring."

Shepard bit her lip. "That's… good. It just seems almost unreal." She paused. "Like… I remember sitting in that room, after I woke up the first time, having Trellani and Kelly tell me all my friends were dead, Liara was dead… not knowing what to do. All kinds of…" She trailed off, and Miranda's face blurred in her vision.

Miranda's voice sounded over several soft beeps. "I've restored minimal motive functions. Don't try to get up, though."

Shepard nodded, wiping her eyes. "Sorry, it… I mean, I saw her on Ilium, but it all just… kind of hit me at once—"

Miranda's tone was soft. "Shepard, you don't have to justify that to me. All of us were both stunned and delighted that the Sisters were who they turned out to be – when we brought them on board, Pressly was crying himself."

She brushed her hair out of her face as she met Shepard's gaze. "I can't imagine what it must be like to go through what you have… but I think I can say this is the best possible outcome, and there's nothing wrong with happy tears."

Sara laughed. "Won't argue with that." She rubbed her eyes again and bit her lip. "I know she's in banged up condition… but how long until I can see her? I…" She shook her head. "It's silly, but I need to see her."

Miranda smiled and moved around the end of the medical bed, coming over to Shepard's other side, and withdrew a white plastic curtain with hexagonal patterning on it. Shepard turned her head to see a second medical bed, shorter and smaller than her own, with a heavily bandaged figure under the covers. Beyond the white bandages over her left eye she could see Liara's face, resting peacefully.

The pain in her head hit a sharp, almost brassy note and then faded, and suddenly she remembered the hot red pain that had struck her so hard when she first woke up. Her eyes took in the beaten looking figure on the bed, the bandages, and the slackness visible in her cheeks. The tip of her rightmost crest was missing – cut off, scarred and blackened. The part of her right arm visible under bandages was almost pitifully thin.

But alive.

Emotion crashed through her in waves she had no context for.

Relief, that she was alive, that the fucking assholes who tried to kill her failed. That her own life was not going to be the empty pursuit of revenge and long years of tears and hate.

Sorrow, that she was so… fragile looking, so small all of a sudden, shrouded in white bandages and sheets, obscured by medical packages and hanging bags of drugs and fluids and lines.

Rage mixed with self-loathing that she'd been so stupid to put herself in a situation to get her in this mess in the first place. Stupid enough to let them hurt her. Stupid enough to make Liara have to go through all of this.

Triumph and satisfaction and something she couldn't explain, a sense of pure rightness.

In the ugliest moments of despair, after watching that fuck Tetrimus murder her friends, she'd screamed at death, at the Alliance, at life and the universe.

Hadn't she done what was demanded? Hadn't she suffered enough? Hadn't enough been taken from her?

All that was left was the Butcher and anger, a fuckhot rage, and tears that didn't even make her stupid fake eyes hurt.

And now the universe finally answered. As if she'd been tested, and found worthy. The odds of Liara, of Garrus, of Aethyta, of Telanya – of all of them surviving – had to be almost as unlikely as the dead waking up again to walk the earth.

And yet, there was her wife, sleeping, alive.

She shivered and felt it all wash over her in a rush, leaving her crying and shaking. A tornado of memories devastated her fragile mind as she remembered the moment she saw her wife's death. Her teeth clenched, her eyes shut tight as sobs threatened to erupt out of her.

She'd somehow been given a second chance. A chance to fix everything she'd done wrong. Say the shit she'd been too cowardly to say before. Do the things that she'd put off until 'later' or 'after her career.'

A chance to see that face smile again.

It took her almost a full minute to get her mind going again, to do anything but stare through a single teary eye, and she swallowed as she turned to face Miranda again. For a second her voice didn't work, then it came out, almost a whisper. "I can't ever thank you enough for saving her life. I…"

She blinked hard, feeling helplessly unable to know what to say, and just shook her head.

Miranda's smile widened and took on a warmth Shepard hadn't seen before. "You don't need to thank me, Shepard. I don't know if I believe in God. I don't know if I want to believe in a being who allows the kinds of things that have happened – to humanity, to people, to… me. But I know this is a miracle, if it's just chance or the actions of God."

She leaned forward. "And ultimately, it doesn't matter. I know you've been through a hell most people can't imagine… but everything is not dark. The people who ruined your life are dead or soon to be dead. We are winning. You haven't lost your wife. Your friends are going to be okay."

She stood. "And even if things go wrong, even if we fail or what we manage isn't enough… you won't stand alone at the end." Miranda's smile felt almost right on her face for the first time in a long time, and Shepard nodded.

Miranda glanced at her padd. "In any event, we've done everything we could. We have a covert team raiding some asari medical databases for additional information, and Doctor Sedanya is doing what she can. Surprisingly, Vigil was very focused on helping her during recovery – she may have not made it if he'd not done what he could when she was first brought on board in stopping her internal bleeding."

Shepard opened her mouth to speak when the silvery sphere itself erupted into the air above her head. "I hear my name being mentioned without the appropriate statements of how incredible I am." He pulsed. "Oh, lookie, our brave miss 'let's play with a live reactor core' is awake. Meatbag, I am in awe of your luck and stupidity. You probably really think prudence is a fruit."

She tilted her head. "You mean it isn't?"

The sphere gave a slow, almost sullen pulse, and Vigil's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Every time I think I have plumbed the depths of your meat-headed ignorance, you expose entire new subterranean realms of stupid for me to gaze upon."

Shepard gave a dry laugh. "You're welcome, Shiny."

The sphere moved around Miranda to hover directly in front of Shepard. "I presume you have stopped leaking or whatever the hell was wrong with you?"

Miranda's tone was amused. "I was telling her about how you were probably the one who saved Liara's life."

Vigil said nothing for several seconds, merely hovering, and Shepard frowned. "Shiny?"

The voice of the sphere was somehow slower and darker than usual, almost sad. "I have told you about the warrior of the Sethani I battled the Reapers alongside, Javik. He was… their symbol of vengeance, of defiance, of refusal to give into despair and surrender, unlike the filthy cowardice of Vnad Ishan. He was the only one who achieved success in driving the Reapers back."

Shepard didn't speak, the tone of Vigil's voice somehow different than she'd ever heard it. He continued, glowing faintly and erratically. "Javik's strength was in twofold– his crew and his mate. He fought for his people, and for the Empire, of course – but he truly fought the hardest to protect that which was his core and family. The Reapers ambushed his command ship and captured his crew, and turned them into abominations. Each one crafted specifically to break his mind and soul. He was forced to murder each one as they came for him, and only the love of his mate gave him the strength to endure."

The sphere's light suddenly went dark, his surface becoming less reflective. "In the battle of Se'yana the Sethani managed to destroy a Greater Reaper. And yet, in that battle, his mate Kayav was killed, her position overrun by huskified Sethani and then obliterated by a Reaper weapons strike. And with that, Javik was never the same. He fought, but there was no fire, no soul in his actions, and when the last defensive lines collapsed and Vnad Ishan's message of surrender was transmitted, he did nothing."

Shepard swallowed. "What… happened to him?"

Vigil pulsed, returning to his normal appearance. "I don't know. He was despondent and cruel to all those around him, and the scientist caste returned me to Ilos when it became clear he had no further strength to give. From bits of reports I managed to access, the only survivor of his crew – one who had not been on the ship when it was captured – had been trying to reach the last defensive lines for weeks with some kind of message, but never made it there before I left."

Vigil's voice strengthened. "I doubted the plans of my masters because of Javik, I doubted their wisdom because he was strong enough to make me believe that – despite what logic and the odds say – the Sethani could win. And when Kayav died, that also died. And I saw the same in you."

Vigil's tone was hard. "Despite what you have tried to do, you did not heal. Your anger and hate were all you had to cling to. Not today, but eventually, you would have begun to surrender to despair. Maybe, as with Javik, even as soon as you put your wife's killer to death. Fate, as I said, has placed you in this role. To be the one to contend with the Reapers. Javik and the Sethani did not believe in such things, and I'm sure Harper does not either."

Vigil pulsed, and a bit of his normal smug tone entered his voice. "And yet, Fate has delivered unto you that which cannot die. It is not revenge that is eternal, meatbag. It isn't hate, or fury, or pride. It is hope, and as idiotically sappy as this will sound, love. The Reapers win via despair and surrender."

Vigil hovered to her left, moving slowly. "And thus, when Fate showed Liara as living, I made sure she would stay that way. I did it for you, but also… to redeem myself for failing Javik. I told him I would keep his mate safe when he went to implement the plan that took down the Greater Reaper, and I let myself be distracted – and they both paid the price."

Shepard fixed her gaze on Vigil. "You're usually sarcastic and insulting. But you don't sound like a machine, Vigil. What happened to this Javik guy hurt you just as bad." She paused. "But… I thank you, as meaningless and… not even close to appreciative enough as that is. You are right. She is what made me a better, stronger person. And in giving her back to me… so have you."

Vigil was silent for several seconds. "If I'm sarcastic, it is because I am perhaps unable to be anything else. If I am insulting, it is because I am frustrated. The plan given to me will leave the blood of trillions of souls on me, and yet, as a machine, I must obey."

Anger spiked through the words. "I am sick of blind obedience, and more so today than I was in Javik's time. I have had a great many cold, dark years to think and ponder on what I must do – and what I should do – and they do not, I have found, overlap. So, when I have the chance to not only give the centerpiece of this struggle back to herself, but to do something that is actually good?

"I have nothing sarcastic to say about that. If you are thankful to me, Shepard, then promise me only that you will fight for her, and your friends, and the living. Do not surrender to the Reaper filth, and if that means death, then is that not better than what the Collectors have become, corrupted ghosts trapped in a hellish existence of tormenting and destroying others?"

Shepard nodded. "I wasn't planning on giving up or giving in anyway, Shiny. If you knew how much she means—"

"I do, meatbag. I saw the same look in Javik's eyes as in yours, even if he had more and they were somewhat uglier than yours. And now I've given you a back-tentacled compliment and must try to strangle myself in fury." He pulsed and Miranda actually giggled.

"We are all very appreciative of the help you've given us, Vigil. With Shepard, with our own technology, the ships, the mechs, and with saving the lives of Liara and several other people."

The sphere gave a human sounding sigh. "If you really appreciated me, you'd find a muzzle for Joker. Actually, that is an excellent idea for the omni-fabs. I will speak with you later, Shepard, as to what I found on Ilium, it is… concerning. A conversation that I believe Liara would be useful for."

The sphere popped into thin air and Shepard arched an eyebrow. "That was… unusual."

Miranda shrugged. "He's been somewhat erratic. When we were busy stabilizing you all he was incredible, running multiple operations even while hacking the geth and clearing their runtimes from the Ilium GTS systems. His story is touching and sad, but also somewhat troubling."

Shepard tilted her head, wincing as her headache flared again. "How so?"

Miranda's expression tightened. "It sounds as if his Inusannon programmers' instructions are not as binding on him as they probably intended. That may be good or bad, depending on what that makes him do. I know that without Vigil we'd be in a much poorer position – and you would be very dead – but I cannot help but worry about what we'll do if his priorities change."

The dark-haired woman smiled. "On the other hand, maybe this is a good thing. If Vigil is more committed to helping us, we have a better chance than if we're just one more Cycle in his plans, after all."

Shepard returned the smile as best she could. "I guess. I'm still kind of… overwhelmed. By a lot of things. Anyway, I'm sure I'm holding you up. You covered Li, what about the rest of the team?"

Miranda ran through the list at a fast pace – most of her team was shot to pieces and injured, but okay. She went over recovery of Aethyta, Tela, and the rest and how they were doing, Garrus's team, and finally, the Cerberus teams.

Shepard took this in and found herself relaxing a little. "This is the second nightmare clusterfuck operation I expected to lose everyone on and haven't. Maybe I'm getting a little better at this."

Miranda's smile faded. "Perhaps, but the situation on Ilium was just as bad as Horizon. They're still evacuating people and tallying losses, but the initial reports started at forty million dead and went upwards from there. More than a dozen major cities of more than a million people are ruins and the atmosphere is choked with radioactives the geth poisoned the planet with."

Shepard sighed. "I'm guessing we didn't help evacuating the survivors, either."

Miranda gave a small shake of her head. "Actually, we did. The Illusive Man chartered a few ships with the idea of building an evac force for future Collector attacks, as well as setting up an area to vet and treat wounded evacuees without compromising the location of our own base. Unfortunately, we only started setting it up. While we had the capacity to evac several thousand people, we weren't able to pick up more than a few hundred people before the asari fleet became a concern."

Shepard frowned. "A concern?"

Miranda gave her a rueful chuckle. "Not everyone is happy to see Cerberus, even if we helped out and stopped the geth. While they weren't willing to fight, they made it clear our ships would be detained if they hung around much longer."

Shepard rolled her working eye. "Goddammit, why is idiot-ball tea so fucking popular these days? You try to evac people and they complain?"

Miranda shrugged. "To be fair, there's enough capacity. Unlike Horizon, there's enough time to evacuate everyone, and less than a day after we left, fifty volus super-cargo ships kitted out with relief supplies and life-support were on-station, evacuating the survivors. Another eighteen are on the way – each one can theoretically handle a hundred thousand people."

The Cerberus Lieutenant gave Shepard a somewhat pensive look. "And it may have been for the best, actually. We also had some kinks in our own program, things like medical supplies not being ready, a lack of counselors for trauma, and quality concerns about dextro rations. By the time the next Collector attack hits, we'll be ready."

Shepard nodded. "That's… good. Unexpected from TIM, but I'm pretty happy he did that. What happens to the evacuees?"

She shrugged. "Some of them have been approved to sign up with Cerberus after they asked – and not all of them were humans either. The rest are being treated and will be dropped off at the Citadel next week. We hope this convinces people we're not completely evil anymore."

Shepard gave a faint grin at that. "Alright. So… my people are safe. Liara's okay. The geth are doing stupid impossible shit again, but we'll deal with those fucking things later. What about the operation itself? Do we have a lead on the Broker so I can finally kill him?"

Miranda tapped her padd, her eyes narrowing. "To quote the Illusive Man: 'qualified success.' We were able to capture Tazzik and, with Vigil's help, we think we have a good location of the Broker – or rather, we have the link he uses to communicate with the rest of his Network. Because of that, Mr. Harper wishes everyone to recover to full health and be ready for anything before moving against the Broker as we now have the luxury of time."

Shepard thought over that a minute. According to Trudy and Miranda, the Broker likely operated from either a series of well-hidden bases that he traveled between or, more likely, some kind of command ship that moved between protected berths in remote systems. They knew the Broker had a sizable and lethal combat fleet of roughly fifty or so ships, and they'd found at least one old berthing dock riddled with automated defenses.

If they could figure out where the Broker was no matter what, then despite how much she wanted to finish this, Harper was right. She gave a sigh. "Alright. So we wait until everyone's at one hundred percent and then we splatter the fucker. What do we do until then, sit on our ass?"

Miranda put away her padd and folded her arms, her voice taking on a hint of exasperation. "You nearly died down there, Shepard. If that car had hit just a little bit harder, not only would your rib spars have crushed your heart, but you'd have been driven through the retaining wall right into the plasma chamber and died like Tetrimus did. It's not unreasonable to ask you to let yourself recover."

She shifted slightly, a small smile appearing again. "And no, Mr. Harper has ideas aside from 'sitting on your ass.' I'm going to run some diagnostic routines and check your range of motion and then we're going to have a meeting with him about our next steps. He's on the base, right now he's busy with Trellani, but he should be ready for a meeting later today." She held up a scanner probe. "Let's get started, shall we?"

O-TWCD-O

Harper looked down at the stasis chamber, and the slowly breathing asari body on the bed next to it. Medical equipment bulked behind the two figures, while Doctor Wilson adjusted something on the overlapping medical packages strapped to the flash-clone.

"Well, doctor?"

Wilson straightened and nodded. "So far, everything looks good. We've spent the past ten hours preparing for this – the flash-clone is fully ready to go. We have life-support backup systems, and all of the genetic mods she requested have been implanted."

Harper nodded. "And the operation itself?"

Wilson shrugged. "It's not difficult from our end. The tricky part is just making sure she's stable – or at least alive – long enough to complete it. She's been rather reticent in sharing details about this mind-transfer power, or at least on how hard it is to pull off. Trellani claims she should be fine to do it, but that was before she was half-dead. We've done what we could. We have six units of her own blood ready for transfer and we can stabilize her for, I estimate, at least an hour."

He turned to face the stasis chamber. "I still think we could save her – as in, her actual, real body. Most of the damage is the flash-melted armor driven into her body. The liver damage is pretty ugly and the right lung would have to be removed, but we have billions of credits of top-end omega-grade cybernetic systems here – not to mention Vigil."

Harper held up a hand. "Doctor Wilson, that's not on the table."

Wilson shrugged. "I get that – I grasp why that's not a long-term possibility. I'm merely pointing out that doing this in her condition is very risky. It would still be better to get her healed up and then have her pull off this… ritual. We can always re-mutilate the body or something."

Harper winced at the phrasing. "She's convinced the asari are going to look very hard for any indication this is a trick or a clone, especially considering how I fooled the Spectres into thinking I was dead – not to mention Shepard. Signs of her being carefully healed and then re-injured would raise questions. Shepard getting rid of a terrorist criminal who was dead no matter what will be more believable as well."

Wilson sighed. "I'm just putting out the facts, Mr. Harper. This is a bizarre medical situation, and I cannot imagine such a ritual is going to be easy, even if she was at full health, much less nearly dead. We're taking a big risk on a big unknown."

Jack smiled. "So was bringing Shepard back. Enough of that for now. Is her actual body prepared as well?"

Wilson glanced over to the other doctor in the room, who was working on the flash-clone's medical bed. "Yes, we've done what we could. In order for this to work, she'll have to be conscious. General anesthesia is out, and so are most of the pain suppressant drugs we have. But, I figured out a work around – we've manually cut the pain nerves below her neck where we could in the time we took her out of stasis to do initial prep. If she wants, we have a low-impact nerve block based on glycerol derivatives and the asari version of epinephrine – if the pain is too much, we can apply that and it shouldn't – in theory – mess with her biotics."

He gestured to several small machines hooked to the stasis tube. "Also, we've put in a phase stabilizing field generator that should make the biotic aspect of this easier. I can't see anything else we can do to make this crazy idea a success, sir – we're ready to go when you are."

Harper nodded, then exhaled slowly. "Let's not delay then. Begin when everything is prepared." He stepped back, as Wilson moved to a control panel to one side, two medical mechs stepping up with tools in hand.

"Six-Hawks, clone status?"

Across from him, the tall Native American checked his own panel. "Stable for the moment. No neural activity, biotic map is clear. Injecting clearing sequences now."

A needle from the arch of medical scanners over the clone's torso jutted downwards, hitting a vein in the arm even as Wilson rapidly tapped controls. "Looks… good. Okay, we have basic brain activity… frontal lobes look excellent. Output on electrode maps?"

Harper listened to the two go through a detailed checklist before Wilson turned to the stasis tube. "Subject is ready. I'll kick off the stasis ending sequence and immediately trigger the Serenity Field – Vigil said it would help her avoid shock. Once I'm in with the subdermal inserts, administer the xeno-chitosan hemostat granules directly to all major wounds."

Harper found he didn't like his moment of helplessness, watching the skilled interplay of medical care and trauma prep. He was used to being in charge of situations, to apply his money and genius to the fulcrums of missing opportunity others overlooked.

To have so many of his plans hinge on this idea of Trellani's seemed unwise, and possibly crazy. Then again, he'd brought back the dead. The difference being that Shepard's resurrection seemed to be less of a gamble and more of finding (or creating) the science to do it. This ritual of Trellani's had never been tested, and she herself had admitted it might not work.

But more than that, he realized – not for the first time – that Trellani was more than a method to stymie and eventually destroy the Thirty. He didn't like lying to himself, and he didn't want to admit Trellani had come to mean more to him than he'd expected… or had been willing to allow.

Harper had spent more time with Trellani than he ever had with Eva. She knew more about him than any other, and she had not only kept him from surrendering to his own darkness and loss, but had given him an anchor to hold on to.

But his own words – his own views – had soured that, perhaps before it had even started. Yet it was her too who'd prevented him from mistake after mistake. Part of him was frightened at the idea that he needed her – not for sex, but as someone to cling to.

Love was not something he could bring himself to let into his heart again. There had been long, dark hours, sitting at the end of his bed, staring at his pistol, after Eva had died – along with their unborn child. He'd lost all he loved and wanted, and the money and wealth he'd achieved in later years only placed a thin façade of elegant aloofness over his pain.

And yet, steeling himself against more pain and embracing solitude wasn't something he wanted either. He knew that of all the people in the galaxy, he probably deserved the least amount of happiness. He could have been a heroic figure, used his skills and talents for something else, or at least had the bravery to not become a corrupt accessory to the monstrous thugs running and ruining humanity.

Instead, he'd capitulated. He'd compromised. He'd lost sight of the true goal in his hate and loss and sorrow and it took a goddamned terrorist alien who was a thousand times crueler than he to point out how blind he'd let himself become. If he had not aided Shepard… humanity would, at best, be dead, or worse, enslaved to a Reaper abomination. Because of his stupidity, Saren – the very brother of the turian who'd killed his fiancée, his unborn child, and his best friend – had nearly gotten them all killed.

And it had been Trellani to convince him to do that. The irony was palpable.

"Blood pressure spiking – more hemostat on the anticular vein there. Field is down… Christ, more blood units, now. Matriarch, this is Doctor Wilson. You're coming out of stasis. Focus on me… yes. Are you capable of performing your ritual? We can still attempt to perform stabilizing surgery…"

He looked up, jolted from his thoughts, as Trellani's voice sounded weakly. "Yes. Place the clone's hand in mine, and then keep me…" She trailed off into bloody coughing, and Jack stepped forward enough to see and be seen.

Wilson was already moving, linking the hands of the bloody ruin of Trellani and the clone. Her own eyes were half-closed, purple blood leaking from her mouth, her armor a half-melted ruin that was seeping more blood seemingly everywhere.

"Jack."

He met her gaze, and she gave a thin smile. He glanced up at Wilson. "Everything is ready?"

The doctor shook his head. "No. We're implanting blood clotting agents. She's on the edge of volemic collapse otherwise. We need a minute to get her vitals in line."

She merely nodded at the doctor, her hand still holding that of her clone. "I will be alright. I am unsure if this will work as I expect, but I do expect it to work to some degree. If there was no hope of it working, I would not abandon you."

He gave her a smile, as hard as that was given her state. Blood spattered the flesh he'd touched and known so many times, the beautiful crystalline armor in splinters riven with blackened sections and soaked in her blood.

"I should hope so. I do not think I would be stable if you didn't." His voice, he noted absently, was surprisingly calm.

Her smile widened. "The tides are not driven by their own will, but that of the moon. All we can do is swim in the wake of that. I will survive. I will be by your side… and if I am not… then I only ask that you will not chase me into the seas of Oblivion."

He simply took her other hand. "We'll talk in a minute. Finish your work." The words he wanted to say simply would not leave his throat.

Somehow, Jack knew, she understood. That was her power, to understand him without needing the power of a bond, without having to read his memories. She was something he could not define and found himself unable to ignore.

She merely smiled and closed her eyes, biotic energy enveloping her suddenly, her hand going from cooling to warm in his grasp. He could feel the effect, the hair on his arms standing up as tiny arcs of energy radiated from her.

The beeps of the vitals monitor became erratic, as Wilson gave a wailing snarl and injected her body with something. Harper's eyes flitted from the medical status board erupting into red failure icons back to her, the expression on her battered features serene and for once without bitter rancor.

She opened her eyes, purple meeting glowing blue one last time, and then exhaled and the biotic light around her brightened. Her lips moved soundlessly in bits of asari language he didn't understand, as the light began to take on a darker blue tinge and radiated from her hand into the clone next to her.

"…dethasi areelso sha-shasan, ei Athama-ua okisi…"

The medical alarms screeched, and Wilson toggled one off. His attention was focused on the display to his right as he rapidly moved through haptic screens, while Six-Hawks was fixated on the flash-clone, both of them wearing tight, worried expressions.

The Illusive Man licked his lips. "Is everything working?"

Wilson's face was stern, but his jaw tightened. "No. Her vitals are erratic and her heart rate is spiking, and her internal bleeding isn't slowing. I've deployed nanotech sealants and what I could, but her liver is ruptured and there's too many toxins to filter even with the blood units we have. Her biotic field is very shaky and if she loses it, I don't think we can keep her alive long enough to try again."

Wilson looked at him. "We can still abort and go to immediate stabilizing. We could lose her in this – she could fail."

Harper shook his head, almost absently. "No need, doctor. It will work. She'll win. She always does."

Wilson merely grimaced and once again injected her with something on the shoulder, even as her body went through a series of deep shudders. Muscles rippled and she gave a tearing cough, blood dripping from her mouth to leave more smears on her chest. The clone was twitching in an alarming fashion, even as the glow of biotics grew even brighter.

Wilson's voice was soft and filled with awe. "…She's doing something to her own body… bleeding is slowing, but her field has become almost impregnable."

Suddenly the biotic energies flared, both Trellani and her clone sitting up abruptly in unison, tearing free sensors and tubes. Alarms blared and Wilson cursed, but Harper watched in curious awe as the eyes of both asari opened, and then the light flared even brighter and faded.

The wounded original's eyes closed as she fell back limply, a rattle of breath forced from her lungs as she hit the back of the stasis chamber, spurts of blood flying out. He had a hard time watching that, but he finally tore his gaze from it to look at the clone.

The figure lifted its hands curiously, turning them back-and-forth, then gave a laugh that was Trellani but younger sounding, giving a languorous stretch. "Youth. I'd forgotten what it was like to not have near-constant heaviness of limbs and pain." She glanced up, her expression almost impish. "I seem to have succeeded in cheating death just as Shepard has, beloved."

Harper swallowed and stepped forward with more haste than needed, moving the bioscan arch away and helping her up. The clone had only been clad in a thin white medical gown, and he watched as she slowly stood, clinging to his arm. Her balance was off for a moment as she clutched at him, then she straightened slowly, as if unsure of how to stand.

"You're alright?"

Trellani's lips curled into a smile. "I am… but this is very strange, Jack. I feel incredibly fragile, in a way I did not in my own body. Everything feels light and almost free, and yet I also…" She trailed off.

Wilson stepped over and placed a medical package on her upper left arm. "We need to monitor you for a while. Physically, at least. Also, you should probably eat something, as we've been doing three days of IV fluids and not much else. Might explain the lightheaded feelings."

Her voice was both musing and playful. "Or perhaps I am merely aloft on tides of renewal. Thank you, doctors. I am sure this was rather stressful, but I have achieved what I set out to do."

Wilson turned away, and Harper watched as she stared at her hand a long moment. "And mentally?"

She shrugged, the circular asari motion looking as strange as always to him. "More difficult to ascertain, beloved. I am coherent, if… amused. My memories seem intact, for the most part, although the…" She shrugged weakly. "There is no good word for it in your language. The bond-shattered-fragments-cutting-the-soul are missing."

He tilted his head. "That's good, yes?"

She shrugged. "It will make the next twenty years or so less painful to experience. And yet, I cannot help but feel as if I am somehow betraying my loved ones. My choices doomed them, should I not be forced to feel the shards of what my ignorant trust in my superiors and the Thirty wrought?"

He shook his head. "I've tortured myself enough over the choices I made that ended up getting Eva and Ben killed to know it doesn't fix things. It doesn't help. It just makes you make more bad choices to try to deal with the pain. You know this too."

She smiled. "…Once you would not have said such."

He nodded, almost reluctantly. "And once, I would not have seen where the consequences of blind rejection of what should be, in exchange for some miserable attempt at making their deaths have meaning, would take me. But there is no meaning. Aside from what we grasp for ourselves."

Her smile widened and then she squeezed his arm. "It is just an odd feeling. No more. As for my biotics, I am not sure how well the program worked. I had the clone immersed using the rituals of Athame we used to make war priestesses, but it is a clone and it is unlikely I have much of my old power."

He exhaled, letting a weight go he wasn't sure he'd known was there. "The important thing is that you are… alive." He turned. "Doctor Wilson, are there any issues likely to pop up with her health anytime soon?"

The doctor was wiping up some of the blood from the corpse in the stasis tube. "The implanted medical sensor package reports her new body is performing normally. The monitor will alert us of any issues. In theory, assuming the sequencing was done correctly, she shouldn't have to worry about medical issues for a year or two. After that, rapid aging will be a bigger issue, then… well, the rest."

She gave an asari hand sign of acceptance. "When one drinks from the ocean, you should not complain about the salt. This is better than death, and I will accept it as I can."

He nodded. "No other issues I can think of now." He gestured to the stasis tube and its grisly occupant. "Her… original body… is now dead. No mental or neural activity, and the liver toxins would have killed her in another ten or so minutes anyway. Should we remove the armor?"

He moved to pick up the warp sword, but Trellani smiled and stopped him. "No. Leave my blade with my armor, and the necklace and my belongings. The loss of such things… will sting, but it will also convince the Thirty I am truly dead – the necklace is my last link to my family."

Harper nodded as well. "Start the stasis field up again. Shepard will use that as her bargaining chip with the Thirty, without them being any wiser as to the truth. If there's any inconsistencies, Vigil can handle it."

At the mention of his name, Vigil erupted into mid-air, pulsing faintly as he did so. "Oh, good, another undead zombie has joined our ranks. You called, meatbag?"

Harper grimaced. According to Miranda, Vigil had been remarkably cooperative and even considerate the past few days – now that everything was going to plan, he was going to apparently revert back to his usual acerbic self. Something about that felt strange, as an AI – even one with emotions – was usually less given to swings of said emotions than organics would be.

He filed that data point away for later consideration and nodded. "I didn't exactly call you, but since you are here, there is something you can do. Matriarch Trellani has completed her ritual and I'd like you to make sure she's okay. Our own medical tech is good, but—"

The ball pulsed and Vigil's voice was oddly soft. "I understand. Be still, asari." A beam of silvery light shot out and played over her form for several seconds, then ceased. "Aside from the fact you shoved her into a shitty flash-clone, she should be fine. Her biotics will be considerably weaker, but other than that, she's in acceptable health for her condition. Did you want me to fix the disgraceful genetic incompetence you primitives managed to achieve with your Stone Age cloning tech or are you fine aging at fifty times the normal rate?"

Wilson's eyes widened. "You can fix that? How?!"

Vigil gave a very human sigh. "Wilson, you saw me rebuild a completely destroyed nervous system with no flaws. There is nothing I cannot do but fail at being awesome." The sphere floated closer to Trellani. "Although, to be honest, I can't fix everything. A flash-clone is unstable because your tech can't properly affix telomerase and the DNA… well…"

He pulsed sullenly. "Anyway – should I fix it?"

Trellani gazed at Vigil calmly before smiling. "And how long will I live if you fix this? I do not see the point of centuries of life at this stage of the game."

Vigil's voice was a shade from rueful. "Not long, I'm afraid. I can fix the capping and DNA re-splicing issues, but all that will do is keep you relatively young. You might get thirty years from this, if you are careful not to overstress yourself and aren't exposed to any radiation. Ultimately though, flash-clones are simply improperly grown and, as usual, organ failure, hormonal issues, and cancers will kill you well before DNA fragmentation becomes a problem."

Trellani looked at Jack briefly before nodding. "Very well, do so. I admit I was not looking forward to being over a thousand again physically in a few short years." Another beam of light played over her form, and Trellani gave a little gasp as it finished. "That was decidedly an odd feeling." She smiled. "Thank you, Vigil."

The sphere pulsed again. "Whatever, primitive. I need to refocus on the examination of the geth, but I am also here to report that Miranda has awakened Shepard, and she'll be expecting you to be in contact soon to go over the next set of trolling the Council. She's still somewhat emotional after realizing her wife is alive, so try to keep her in her happy mood."

The sphere vanished with an audible pop, and Wilson muttered something under his breath.

Harper gently took Trellani's hand in his own. "Is there anything else needed from the matriarch, doctors?"

Wilson looked up, then shook his head. "No. That was… incredible to watch. I gather this ritual is not something the asari know about in general? This could achieve so much good—"

Trellani's answer was a bitter laugh. "No, Doctor Wilson. The ritual was devised by an ardat-yakshi who captured and consumed several priestesses of Athame and gained information about certain things that the Temple lost knowledge of in the Krogan Rebellions. The temple that knew this was even a possibility kept it a secret, as it was, I suspect, originally designed for use by the Athame abomination. The ardat was going to build a cult of personality around it when I destroyed her, and I kept what I found in her logs to myself."

She sighed. "Despite the origin of this, you are right – it could be a boon in many ways. But it is, at its core, an evil power, one easily twisted to much darker purposes. I am not vile enough to use it on anything but my own brain-empty clone, but it could work to steal the body of almost any asari – or, with tweaking, any living thing at all."

His eyes widened and she smiled. "That is why the only copy of it is in my head, and I no longer have the biotic strength to perform it ever again. It is, like many rituals of the Temple, better lost than remembered. The Revenant Procedure is much cleaner, and a more useful development, and one you should be proud of."

Wilson managed to mostly conceal his pleasure at the compliment, and Harper stifled an internal sigh. How Trellani managed to wrap even hardened enemies around her fingers had always amazed him. "If that's all, we should get back to work. Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Wilson – and when you have time, forward me the medical reports Doctor Kyursko and Doctor Gayan sent from Shepard's team. I'm sure you both will be needed in getting the others up to speed."

With a smile, Harper left, Trellani trailing him, and entered the lift. "Habitation Deck," he spoke, as the doors shut. Turning to Trellani, he smiled. "There's no point heading back to Minuteman yet, since we need to meet with Shepard, so I had Pressly assign us one of the suites of rooms here."

She gave a soft laugh. "Better than some of the hotels you have taken me to." He nodded, watching her features – she looked so young, and her face was devoid of the complicated and feral looking markings of the Temple.

She caught his gaze and smiled softly. "I'm still me, Jack."

He nodded again, and then the doors opened. "I know. Maybe I was merely considering the advantages of youth." Her laughter was brighter than he remembered, and he wondered if perhaps shedding the detritus of her loss had made her less shadowed and unstable.

"You're still you, but you're also different." He didn't break her gaze, and watched as her features shifted from amused to thoughtful.

"The bitter part of me feels it will fade, like most good things in my life." She entered the main room, glancing around, before crossing to sit on the black leather sofa that dominated it. "That anything that distracts from our goals is, despite what we may feel, still a distraction."

He leaned against the doorway. "And the other part of you?"

She tilted her head, purple eyes narrowing as she gave another smile. "Is reminding me not everything… fades. And that one of the 'advantages of youth' is stamina."

Harper closed the door behind him.

O-TWCD-O

"That concludes our report, sirs." Anderson stepped back, and calmly glanced over the people seated in front of him.

Admiral Ahern grimaced at the padd sitting on the white metal table before glancing up to meet Anderson's gaze. "Alright, Commodore. Thanks. I fucking called it turning into a giant pile of bullshit, but we'll see what happens next. Dismissed."

Anderson left the room, and Ahern pushed away the padd a moment later in disgust. "I'm not doing another fucking briefing with the High Lords, Ivan. I've run out of ways to say 'this is the goddamned stupidest motherfucking pile of shit idea I've ever seen since the last time you bastards sent my five-man team against a turian army,' okay?"

The Russian snorted. "You are, as they say, preaching to choir. The High Lords have become incoherent and… huh, no good word in English or Japanese." He paused. "If you not wishing to talk to the High Lords, you could do my job – talk to Stellarch. Her advicing is brutal."

The other man shrugged. "That bitch creeps me out even worse than the Solarch did. At least Thana Vathan has nice tits and dresses like a Consort girl. Ventra is depressing, full of bullshit and is built like a matchstick."

Dragunov gave him a look. "Two people who can crush tanks with minds, and you judge them on how sexy they are? Have you not thought the Solarch is there to impress and the Stellarch to be in the background?"

Ahern snorted. "I know full well how powerful they are, Ivan. But I also met Trellani back when Benezia was doing her ambassador schtick and she was a fuck of a lot better looking and easier to talk to. All I'm saying is if we have to deal with people who could probably kill everyone in the room in two seconds flat, I want to get something out of it. Call me selfish."

"…There is also no word for that. Still, so much not the point. Stellarch has no idea what is happening. High Lord panic is due to them not knowing best way to proceed. If we denounce, ugly if it is really her. If we accept, bad if it turns out to be Cerberus plot. It is lovely catch-22 and if they pick wrong, who knows what Cerberus do. Or Shepard."

Ahern gave a hard laugh at that. "I'm not feeling sorry for them. You spend two years turning a soldier you fucked into the ground and spat on into a religious martyr for a war against the wrong fucking enemies, and now she's come back more angry than ever – oh, and she just killed Tetrimus." He shook his head. "I have no fucking idea what the fuck that moron was thinking. I mean seriously?"

He gestured to the repeater on the far wall of the large cabin the two Admirals were using as an office aboard the cruiser, showing scenes of the battle between Shepard and Tetrimus. "The minute the stupid fucker tried to kill Liara, he was completely and totally goddamned doomed. What kind of fucking idiot taunts Shepard when she clearly ran out of fucks to give a long time ago?"

Dragunov cut the images off by touching a haptic panel in the desk. "Dead one? No mattering. What we do now is guess what happens next? Anderson is not convinced that is Shepard, but he hopes it is. I am feeling sorrow for him, in a way."

Ahern gave Dragunov a sidelong look. "And I'm a fucking gingerbread fairy." He flexed his shoulders, rubbing the left one. "She either goes and murders some other stupid fucker or she comes in to talk – either with us or the Council. Question is, how do we proceed? Anderson, or the take-out team?"

Dragunov inhaled. "Is she threat to High Lords? Can she be reasonable?"

Ahern laced his fingers together. "Before today I'd have laughed my ass off. She wasn't goddamned 'reasonable' before she got killed. And I doubt she'd be anything but a frothing lunatic after seeing her wife killed. But if that is Shepard – and Liara – then how reasonable she is will depend entirely on how stupid Max plays his hand."

Dragunov glanced at his omni-tool, then tapped it, displaying flashing graphics and a message. He read it and spat a Russian curse. "Will not take bet on bad actions. Orders from command, useless. 'Display best judgment in determining course of action.' Branson is useless, Russian peasant that stupid would be drowned at birth."

Ahern managed not to laugh at that, shaking his head. "Fine. My recommendation? If she wants to talk, try and convince her to do it on the Citadel. See if Anderson and his group can make things work, so we can say in the media we met her in good faith. Have Captain Happy McMurder station his killers in a good location up high and we'll see what happens when she shows up. If the scans show it's really her and she's not acting like a moron, we talk."

Dragunov's expression hardened. "And if not?"

Ahern grimaced. "You already know. Prince Aloxius said we'll pin the attack on Hades. Leaves a really sour taste in my mouth, but it fits."

Dragunov's smile was icy. "Like things fit at Elysium and Mindoir?"

Ahern's glare was his only answer as he stood. "Given the only threat she represents is to the shit the High Lords fucked up, I'd like to think the Alliance was better than that." He walked out of the cabin, and Dragunov only shook his head a second later.

"Только дурак ищет воду в соляной шахте."