Shepard had not thought this through.

Joker had barely managed to drop her off before the colonists reached the Normandy, and it was only the surprise factor that allowed her to sprint out to Zhu's Hope's garage as he hurried to lock the airlock behind her. That also meant she was alone in the middle of dozens of hostiles, their collective attention focused solely on her, with barely any cover and very little time to design a strategy.

She had no non-lethal weapons, naturally, which meant that she could either try to run for it and let her shields be decimated by the colonists, praying they'd last her that long, or she could neutralize the threat from a distance, which was a fancy way of saying she could commit the murder of the victims in this situation.

"Right, then," she muttered, and immediately set off running. Predictably, the mind-controlled people followed.

"Uh, Commander? Can't reach the landing team."

"Geth."

"Right, I meant – they're not gonna reach you any time soon, if they're still over there. Or, well, for accuracy's sake, they're not going to reach you quickly enough to help. That is, if they're not the ones in need of help."

"I'll be fine, Joker," she said, and if her voice was a little harsher than it should be, well, she was bad at lying.

She rolled to the left to avoid some bear-shaped colonist who'd decided, quite sensibly, that tackling her would end all this very quickly. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the way to the ExoGeni facility. In the complete opposite direction were the freighter controls. She hesitated. The elevator that went out to the facility was a lot farther away. On the other hand, the entrance to the lair took a while to open up, if she remembered correctly, and once she was down there, she was one hundred percent not going to take the Thorian down by herself.

She let out a breath as yet another colonist got close enough to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Do not kill her. Do not kill her. She went sprawling behind Shepard, which would maybe leave her with some bruises and burnt scratches, but alive. The less fortunate side effect was that Shepard's shields were now out for the count.

She swallowed dry air and took off in a sprint again, shoving through the cluster of raging people that had formed around her while she'd been busy. A couple fell like bowling pins. The elevator provided only very brief reprieve, during which Shepard tensely stared at the door until it opened to reveal a new wave of people. Keep running. That was the only thing that occurred to her mind at that point. Someone found a rifle and now she had to dodge shots too.

She threw a grenade behind her to give herself some camouflage in the smoke, ran faster, and looked around frantically before it ran out. There. She leapt over a piece of metal that might have been something once and looked thick enough to handle gunfire. Only once she'd crouched did she feel a flash of burning pain in her left lower leg. She groaned.

"That'll make it a bit harder to run, won't it?" she snapped, as though irritated at her own leg for getting shot. Or maybe at herself.

"Commander?" She started at Kaidan's voice.

"Commander!"

"Communications back online!" Joker announced unnecessarily.

"Thanks, I noticed."

"What's going on?" Nihlus demanded immediately. "Are you on the ground?"

"Yes. What's your twenty?"

"Making our way back to the colony, we've got some ExoGeni scientist- What are you doing?" he whisper-yelled, and Shepard knew the other spectre was no longer addressing her.

"Status?" Shepard could hear the colonists approach. She craned her neck to look around. Her way out to the skyway was now a lot closer, and the door could be slammed on their faces if she could get there. Then hopefully Nihlus would have the gas to knock them out safely. She considered her options quickly, listening for what was happening with the others.

"The ExoGeni scientist," Kaidan whispered. Faint muffled sounds came over the comm. in the background, some shuffling around and boots hitting pavement.

"She left the Mako, ran for-" Ashley was adding until they went abruptly silent.

Shepard swore. She remembered what had happened. But she had her own problems – hopefully Kaidan would be able to conduct the confrontation to a peaceful resolution. The colonists had found and practically surrounded her.

She took off again, only slightly wincing at having to put weight on her leg. She needed to find time to apply medigel, ideally before the inevitable adrenaline crash.

The back of her neck prickled and she hit the ground in a roll that turned into a jump to avoid the bullet that whizzed past her. Her leg let her know its displeasure at the stunt and she pressed forward faster.

That's when the husks began popping up. At least these she could shoot. The chatter in her ear was becoming insistent, but she ignored it, thinking fast. She was too outnumbered. She needed a better solution than running or she was going to fail.

That's when she noticed she was standing near some sort of small vehicle, likely for going around the facility Nihlus was returning from. One of the colonists had probably brought it here. She looked back at her objective. There were only husks that far. Maybe a couple of colonists guarding the locked door, but they were behind cover. "That works."

Someone had found more weapons. She climbed into the car hurriedly, but it offered no protection. She was still dodging bullets. A burst of energy made the ignition system flare, and the thing came to life.

It was not very fast, but the husks she ran over weren't very durable. One of them grabbed on and sped toward the door with her, so she slammed the butt of her gun on its head upon arrival, jumping out of her seat. She ducked behind the car's metal structure immediately as the colonists she was now in clear view of took aim. She knew a couple of bullets would pierce it, however, so her plan was reduced to hauling ass. She was right next to the controls.

The door opened easily under her touch, and she sprinted through it, slamming it closed as one last shot sounded way too close to her ear. Something twitched right next to her, and she shot the husk without hesitation, killing it before it had even stood.

"Well. That was that."

"You're completely insane, you know that? I hope you know that." Joker said, voice nonchalant and accelerated in that anxiety-adjacent way of his.

"What the hell just happened, Shepard?!" Kaidan demanded, abandoning propriety. Nihlus and Ashley were going to love that.

Shepard ignored both of them and dropped down, back against the door. The husks were hammering on it, she could faintly feel it, only slightly louder than the thumping in her chest. She inspected herself. Miraculously, there were no other holes on her body.

"Commander, we're a minute out."

"I see you, Williams," she replied, spotting the Mako in the distance. Somehow, she could hear Kaidan's icy disapproval in the silence. "And I'm fine, Alenko. Went for a little sprint. Just got a bit shot. I, uh, think I'm gonna wait for you to get here to take a look."

That had the desired effect. "What? Why? Where are you shot? Is it bad?" His tone had lost any irritation, full of concern instead.

"Nah, I don't think so," she said casually, deliberately not answering the other questions.

He swore in French, which peaked her interest, and then remembered he was supposed to act his position as a medic. "Don't move. If it's bleeding, press something on it. As clean as you can find it. Don't you have medigel?"

"Worried about properly applying it myself, it's a bit of an awkward angle. Might mess it up."

The Mako came to a smooth halt right in front of her, which Shepard figured was Nihlus' way to tell her the problem everyone had with her driving didn't originate in the vehicle itself.

Without her quite being aware of it, Kaidan had flashed over to her, and was gently lifting her injured leg in the blink of an eye. She hissed. His eyes flickered to her. "How bad does it hurt?"

"Not too bad."

"Is that in a normal scale, or the Jane Shepard scale?"

"What the hell is the Jane Shepard scale?"

"It's the one that measures pain from a-reaper-died-on-top-of-me, through I-got-spaced, to I-got-melded-with-the-entire-galaxy," he murmured just for her.

"That last one didn't hurt, you know. Or at the very least my nerves had already been fried beyond feeling it." She felt a tiny prickle and the pain vanished. "All done, Lieutenant?" she asked, referring to multiple aspects of their situation.

He arched an eyebrow at her and pulled her up by the hand. He didn't let go as fast as he could have. "That was stupid dangerous and I can't believe you got away with only a shot to the leg."

"This is not even near the craziest thing I've ever done."

"Which by no metric makes it normal."

"You gotta learn to see these stunts on a linear spectrum. For a relative kind of perspective."

He rolled his eyes and stepped back, glaring. "No."

Ashley and Nihlus thought it safe to approach then. "What's the plan?" was the other Spectre's only comment.

"You tell me. Aren't you in charge?"

"If I were, I'd have told anyone on board of the Normandy to not exit into the middle of mind-controlled armed colonists, particularly by herself."

"Pretty impressive, right?"

"Yes, but I don't think that was his point, Commander," Ashley interceded, smirking.

Kaidan was still glaring, but now he also looked exasperated. "We have the gas. You probably heard," he hinted.

"Yeah, I did. I just missed the part where you dealt with the ExoGeni asshole? Too many deadly things requiring my attention back there." She jammed a thumb in the direction of the door behind her.

"Turns out he responds well to intimidation," Nihlus explained, looking pleased with himself.

"To a threat," Kaidan corrected, "he means a threat. Spectres have plenty of leeway to back those up."

"Guy was shaking on his feet. I think I prefer your way of doing it, Skipper," Ashley said, a little tongue-in-cheek. The turian paid her no mind.

"Alenko thought shooting him in the head was unreasonable," Nihlus shrugged.

"Still can't believe you listened to him," Ashley mumbled, clearly unable to resist the jabs.

Nihlus arched an eyebrow at Shepard but otherwise didn't comment.

"C'mon. We're wasting time," was her only response. "Kryik, the plan?"

He scowled at her, clearly disgruntled at her stubbornness. "Hit the people with night-night gas and the walking carcasses with bullets," he said, pointing at the dead husk next to Shepard. Ashley made a disgusted noise as she regarded it.

Shepard nodded cheerfully. "Sounds good. Lead the way." He walked past her with a sigh.

"We got more 'cause you were on the ground," Kaidan explained, handing her the anti-Thorian gas grenades.

"Thanks."

Nihlus opened the door as soon as they were in position, and Ashley threw the first grenade at the two colonists still pointing weapons at the entrance.


They made short work of the colony, not unlike last time, only made shorter by the addition of a fourth person. All colonists were saved, scattered across the floor where they'd stood. Also scattered across the floor were bits and pieces of husk gore, considerably deader.

"The controls. Over there," Ashley called, saving Shepard and Kaidan from having to 'notice' it themselves.

The passage opened, Fai Dan showed up and shot himself, and Nihlus' annoyance seemed to reach critical levels. "Who exactly is going to lead these people now? What's going to happen to this colony?" he complained quietly as they went down. Only the turian Spectre could express concern and distress through annoyance.

"Someone will rise to the challenge. Always does."

"Just as good, eh?" Kaidan commented. Shepard paused and gave him a look behind the other two's backs.

"Probably not, but as long as there's someone to hold out a hand, that's all we can ask for, right?" Ashley replied obliviously.

Shepard grinned widely at her back. "Right you are, Chief."

"Power shifts as people shift. Means we're doing something right," Nihlus added thoughtfully.

Kaidan was pursing his lips. "Not a whole lot of willing shifts from where I stood."

Nihlus shrugged. "Who said anything about willing?"

Nobody had any further notes. Shepard caught Kaidan's eye. He seemed temporarily appeased by that.

The asari clone's introduction and further explanations did not improve Nihlus' mood, which was a perpetual state of affairs, clearly. The overall conclusion was that Saren was still a multi-faceted dick, versatile with his victims.

She mostly let the other Spectre go through the same motions she had, jumping in once or twice to hasten things along. The wave of husks was just as unpleasant as last time, and the asari clones just as overwhelming. In broader terms, the Thorian was just as generally deadly.

And then finally, they stood across the chasm it had just fallen down, staring at the asari it had spat out. Nihlus wanted to shoot her, which didn't make the best impression. She moved closer to Shepard, who moved closer to Ashley, remembering the unexpected interaction she'd last had with Shiala.

"No," was all Shepard told the turian, who lowered his weapon without comment.

"So I can leave?" Shiala asked hopefully.

"Help the colony. They're gonna need it," Kaidan piped up when no one else did.

Shiala was in perfect agreement, leaving with purpose after a lengthy talk, the Cypher now a headache in Shepard's head.

"Make any sense of anything in your head?" Nihlus asked as they made their way out.

Shepard didn't trust her acting skills too much, so she shook her head blankly and said, "Not here. We'll talk on the ship." He seemed disappointed but compliant.

"That doesn't sound ominous at all, Commander."


It was strange to watch Nihlus be thanked and praised the way she had been, at the end of the mission. It also felt pretty good to be able to slip by undetected, the attention for once on someone else – this time, Shepard wouldn't have to wonder at every pair of eyes, every word, every opinion - she hadn't made any choices, and it wasn't her place to wonder at the other possibilities or face anyone's music.

So just as she was pondering the versatility of her place in history, Kaidan was naturally pondering its immutability.

"Something always lives on," he said unexpectedly just as they were boarding the ship, having left Nihlus behind to be overwhelmed by the colonists. The turian was predictably out of his comfort zone and looking it too. Shepard had an instant change of heart and felt an urge to go join him to avoid Kaidan's oncoming tirade.

"What?" Ashley sounded bemused. Kaidan looked stubbornly intent, which wasn't anything new, but had been particularly pronounced since the Thorian encounter.

"From a leader," he clarified, gaze briefly flickering to Shepard, who decided to just listen. "Good, bad. Wins and losses. Something got added to a story, a DNA. It matters. And some of them leave a very big hole behind when they depart."

"That doesn't detract from what they added."

"An unfinished story is still an unfinished story."

Ashley glanced back briefly when they were allowed to step inside and out of the airlock. "Only when no one's left behind to pick the pen back up. It's the ultimate failure to be a leader whose mantle can't be picked up by anyone they'd led. A message shouldn't – doesn't – die with any one person."

"That's what I said."

"Well, good. I just don't understand why you think others wouldn't understand this just as well."

"There are some things not everyone can do."

Ashley frowned at him. "What's eating at you, Lieutenant?"

Shepard came to his rescue. "We all have our nightmares, Ashley." Kaidan winced and looked away.

Ashley frowned further but didn't press. "Okay. Just – we're not going anywhere with defeatism. Keep that in mind."

"Trust me, I do. That's not it. That's the point, actually."

She didn't seem convinced, maybe a little bemused, but left anyway, presumably in the direction of her locker. Shepard grabbed Kaidan's arm before he could follow.

"You know I'm not going anywhere, Alenko, right?"

He snorted, allowing himself to be conducted. "I'd like to see you keep me away if you tried."

"I'm not sure how to take that, so I'll ignore it. And she's right, you know?"

He pressed his lips into a thin line. "She's not. It's – she doesn't realize-" He fell silent, but it wasn't hard to fill in the blanks.

"I think she does. People come and go, and the universe goes on. This is not news to you."

"The galaxy wasn't ready," he burst, "to see you go. Not – not then. The Normandy was basically mobbed, I-" He pinched his nose. "You would have been able to handle it. The quarians, the geth, the krogan, the rachni, the relays, the synthesis, you – things only you – the galaxy wasn't ready," he repeated.

She paused in the middle of the CIC, so that Kaidan lingered as well, waiting her out patiently. Feeling like she'd had this conversation with another scared little boy already, Shepard stared at him, struggling to find the words. "Of course the galaxy was ready. Of course I'm not the only one who'd have been able to handle it. That's why Nihlus just concluded this mission as successfully as me. Kaidan, the galaxy is full of people – some are rotten and some are too good, and a few of them are special. And all of them have a role in keeping it turning. No matter how they make use of that role, time doesn't stop for the best heroics or the worst atrocities. To think I have some sort of particularly indispensable part is-" She trailed off, figuring that conveyed what she meant effectively.

He threw his hands in the air, frustration clear in the way he stomped over to the elevator. "Shepard, I understand what you're saying, I do. But – there came a point when you became-" He opened and closed his mouth several times. Then he cleared his throat. "You at least have to agree with me that you'd have made things easier. After the fighting was done, when – picking up the pieces. A lot easier. What do you do with the ashes when the fire's stopped burning? And no way we'd have won the war without you."

"A lot might be a stretch."

"Shepard."

"We'll find out, won't we?"

That was the only thing to settle him. "Yeah. You better not forget that. I'm taking it as a promise." Shepard paused, as they'd reached the med bay, and Kaidan saved her from answering by finally paying attention to their surroundings. "What're we doing here?"

"Benezia," she reminded, and forged ahead. Kaidan hesitated at the door, but Shepard made a small flicking motion with her wrist behind her back, so he followed.

Dr. Chakwas noticed them come in before Liara did. The asari was going through what looked like a lengthy report on a datapad, but her free hand was still tightly gripping her mother's.

"Everything alright with the matriarch?" Shepard asked of the doctor, who she'd approached first.

"Her vitals are fine; the drugs are working as intended. I wouldn't keep her in the induced coma for too long, but I have no pressing concerns. Her brain activity is regular, within indoctrination parameters, of course."

Shepard hesitated. "How long is too long?"

Chakwas considered her clinically. Liara was now paying attention to them. "How accelerated is this new, ah, timeframe again?"

"Pretty accelerated. Just not Planck levels. We're trying not to make too many waves."

Chakwas looked reticent. "I'd recommend considering alternatives in how she is handled until the reaper problem is dealt with, then."

Liara let out a soft breath. "Surely a few months-"

Chakwas gave her a look. "You know as well as I do, Dr. T'Soni, that asari don't handle such things very well. I strongly discourage it."

Liara's expression flashed in something that morphed to frustration. "But there aren't any alternatives."

"I've thought of something," Shepard announced.

"Course you have."

"What?"

"Your father."

Dumbfounded, Liara switched her mother's hold from one hand to the other twice. In her distraction, the datapad had ended up on top of Benezia. "My - my father, of course. I – But what would we tell her?"

"That's the part I hadn't quite worked out yet."

"But how would that keep the indoctrination in check?" Kaidan asked.

"Because Aethyta's biotics spike higher than my mother's, and because they were joined once. And because she will understand," Liara worked out slowly. "I trust her to know when to- bring her under. Sporadically. Not perpetually."

"That's – a gamble," was Kaidan's wary conclusion, "but Shepard is good for those."

"But what will we tell her?" Chakwas pressed. "Surely she won't simply agree to this?"

Shepard didn't want to say it, which is why she was glad when Liara did it for her. "We tell her the truth," the asari said, staring at her mother and bringing her hand up to grasp it against her heart.

Kaidan seemed alarmed. They hadn't attempted to tell someone about their insane situation, mostly because it was insane. "Is that the best idea?" he questioned tentatively.

"We'll have to do some talking," Shepard said evasively, regaining control of the conversation.

"I – I can handle it." Liara had never sounded like she could handle something less.

"Nobody on my ship goes out on missions alone," Shepard countered firmly. "I didn't think I still needed to make that clear."

"You don't, I – you don't. I know. Sorry. Of course. I will – contact her. Set up a meeting on the Citadel?"

"Citadel's fine. We should head there soon anyway."

"What'll you say?" Kaidan asked curiously.

"That I have Benezia with me, and that I've been told who my father is. And that I would like to see her."

"Vague is good."

Liara silently agreed, and Shepard considered her for a moment. "It'll go fine. She'll understand."

"I have no doubt. Aethyta is very intelligent," Liara said firmly.

Mind at ease, Shepard nodded at both doctors and exited with Kaidan.

"That'll be something," he commented as soon as they were out of listening range. "You think she'll believe us?"

"Course she will. We'll be very convincing." Shepard said, rubbing her temple.

"Headache?" Kaidan asked immediately. She grimaced.

"I'm fine," she replied curtly, which wasn't an answer. "Just thinking about where to head next." She turned to him and it was like some sort of dam broke, feeling an intense need to work it out out-loud. "I need to speak to Nihlus and debrief the Council and the Alliance. Have a lengthy conversation with EDI. Speaking of EDI, the AI on board should really merit some sort of note by the commanding officer to the rest of the ship. Ash isn't gonna love it. Also need to check on Joker. Make a call to Miranda, which I suspect will be harder than she made it sound. We still haven't managed to track down Jack. Head for the Citadel while we have this breather, run a few errands, get ahead on the ship upgrades, meet Liara's father, get drunk. Plan for Virmire when I sober up, which is coming up faster than I'd like," she murmured distractedly.

He caught her wrist, ostensibly to try and give her mind a pause. It worked. She eyed his hand and then him. "So how exactly do you keep this endless to-do checklist in mind?"

"By only keeping things I care about on it."

"Fair enough. I'll take care of the paperwork."

She smiled appreciatively. "You're definitely on my to-do list, by the way."

"You must not be half as exhausted as you look, then," he said, managing a straight face.

"I look awesome," she told him, affronted, because that's what she took away from that.

"So, Nihlus first?" was how Kaidan handled it.

"Is he even back from-"

"Shepard," said the turian, materializing from somewhere in the general direction of the ship's boarding chamber with impeccable timing.

"Guess so," she muttered. "Do me a favor, Alenko, go notify the others about the plans for Matriarch Benezia. And try to do some damage control with Ashley and the rest of the uninformed crew about the AI on board. I'll be by as soon as possible." Kaidan saluted and disappeared, presumably downstairs.

"Did I just hear you say 'AI on board'?" Nihlus asked immediately.

"I'll get a sticker sometime, stamp it outside as advisory info. C'mon, Kryik," she told him, dragging him to what she'd taken to calling the debrief room.

"The amount of the decisions you've been making I'd normally not be comfortable with is reaching alarming levels, Shepard."

"These chairs are pretty comfortable, why don't you try that?" she asked, dropping heavily into one herself.

Something twitched in his jaw. "Your attitude is seeming less charming and more blasé every day."

"You're right," she agreed. "I do it to try and balance out situations that I feel are disproportionally dramatic. Sit down, Nihlus."

He rolled his eyes but picked a chair. "So? AI on board?"

"Nope. Feros first."

"You were there," he demurred stubbornly. "I'm sure Alenko's caught you up on anything you missed by now."

"Don't stall, c'mon. Debrief."

He gave her a stale and stilted account of events, which were generally as she remembered, except Nihlus did a lot more gun-waving.

"You know weapons are supposed to be pointed only at things you intend to shoot?"

"I'd like to shoot most things, actually."

"Glad we cleared that up."

As he wrapped up his tale, he seemed to lose track of his words a little, crossing his arms and legs as he recounted meeting the colonists after Shepard had left for the Normandy.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Well?"

He seemed to realize she was too perceptive to let anything but the truth slide and looked resigned. "I've done a lot of- successful missions, but very few leave me with this feeling of accomplishment," he admitted.

Shepard felt a smile grow on her face. "It's good, isn't it? To get a glimpse of what our ultimate goal actually is – beyond the fights, investigations, the intimidation and negotiation - it's nice to just straight up save the people once in a while."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." He cleared his throat. "So, your turn. Luna. The AI?"

"Well," she drawled, "I'm gonna need to address the entire ship about that. So you can sit tight for a little longer, because I have a lot of things to do. Starting with debriefing the Council, which you're already here for, as luck would have it."

Shepard had Joker call the councilors up before he could protest or make a run for it, and he was forced to relay the same events in a more summarized manner. Using dirty tricks to get what she wanted wasn't always beneath her, but she did like to pretend. The look on Nihlus' face seemed to indicate he didn't find that charming either.

"Why didn't you go investigate this matter yourself, Shepard?" the asari councilor asked when they were finished talking. "What other problem was more important than this?"

"There was an urgent, life-threatening issue that needed resolution in the Sol system," Shepard replied briskly. "I attended to it and returned in time to back up the shore team on Feros."

"The Sol system?" the turian councilor snapped. "Do you mean to tell me your home cluster then? This was Alliance business?"

"Yes, sir."

The salarian councilor was scandalized. "You realize no mission should take priority over this one? Saren is a threat the galaxy cannot bear," he scolded.

"Or at least your political livelihoods can't," Nihlus muttered. Everyone pretended not to hear him.

Shepard turned her gaze to the turian councilor. "I think you'll agree that I placed priority over nothing. There are two capable Spectres on this ship, and I judged Nihlus perfectly equipped to handle the situation on Feros. Which he did. Meanwhile, I attended to an urgent distress call and avoided needless losses. I think the outcome more than satisfactory."

Sparatus seemed to catch her drift and now looked a little torn. He didn't want to berate her for having an experienced turian Spectre successfully complete a mission because it would imply he thought her more capable, but he also didn't want to congratulate her for blatantly prioritizing Alliance assignments. His compromise was to silently morph his face back to its usual scowl.

"Yes, he is a Council Spectre, but there's a reason you're in charge of this investigation. You can't expect us to believe it'll turn out so well every time, surely!" Valern exclaimed. Shepard frowned at him.

"I expect you to allow me to conduct myself according to my better judgement. Which I believe was your reason for appointing me as a Spectre. And your reason for appointing Kryik too," she argued softly, earnestly, but pointedly. "This mission had a positive outcome because I knew it would," she asserted confidently. "I'm not in the habit of making reckless decisions."

"… Very well," Tevos acquiesced after a brief pause of hesitation. "We see no reason for berating you over a win, Shepard," she agreed. "Time will tell if it was luck or providence."

Nihlus seemed about to say something at that, but Shepard cut him off. "Yes, ma'am." The connection died.

"You compromise too much."

"No one's ever convinced me to take that as anything other than a compliment. Gotta tell you, your outlook isn't any better."

He glowered at her. "Don't think you've made me forget your unanswered questions are piling up."

She hadn't. And she was going to have to do something about it, clearly. Just – "Not now," she said. His eyes narrowed further. "Not the right time, Nihlus. I promise, eventually, you'll understand. I'll explain some things." Because she would have to. Joker was right, she was bad at lying for any prolonged amount of time.

"So you admit there are things to explain?"

"Yes. And you've known that for a while. You've trusted me so far. Trust me some more."

"How much more?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. It's up to you to decide whether or not that's an acceptable answer."

He crossed and uncrossed his arms, and then he stood. "I'll eagerly await your ship-wide address regarding the 'AI on board'," was all he said before leaving.

Tangled webs and weaving. Losing sight of the thread count. She hadn't joined the Navy for this.

She sighed, and prepared herself for the second debrief of what was shaping up to be a very long night. Explaining Luna to the Alliance was going to go even worse than the Council call.