Flight of the Phoenix

by Elizabeth Carter

Book two: Sovereign is dead, the citadel once ruins is beginning to rebuild, the Council is saved and now Shepard is faced with a new enemy, one held over from ancient days:The Collectors. She must race against time, Cerberus and the shadows of a war yet to come. This is part two of my Ashes world: a retelling of ME2. Many game elements are changed because Shepard wasn't spaced.

9. Once More With Feeling

Chapter 9: Once More With Feeling.

As the Normandy sped away from the Lazarus base, Shepard seized the opportunity to tour the ship. There was a part of the Commander that felt as if she had come home at long last. The lines were practically the same as the old Normandy, though it was much larger of course, nearly twice the size. The CIC was in the same place and set up exactly the same as before. Granted, the Victory, as the wavecrest had always been called in the Spectre's heart and mind, had the turian design as well, but this was some how...different.

"You feel more at ease," Liara said, wrapping her arm around her bondmate's and matched her step for step.

"I am. Don't get me wrong, the Victory is a great ship, beautiful, powerful, just like the asari engineers that built her, and if I didn't have the opportunity to have the SR2 then I'd be happy to still command her. But I like the look and feel of the Normandy. Maybe Cerberus did resurrect her, or at least her spirit. Even if there is nothing of the original Normandy here, it's the Normandy. Guess it's like that old story of the shovel."

This reference was lost to the native Thessian. She titled her blue head when she did, getting a bit confused by human euphoniums. "You will have to explain that one, Commander," she teasingly used Sam's rank.

"Old Earth story. It's the idea of hanging onto a legacy. See, there was an old man, who when he was young, made a shovel. Over the years it was handed down from father to son or daughter. And despite the fact it had six replacement handles and five new heads it was still that shovel grandpa made. A fourth time great grandson held up the shovel to his child and said: "This is the shovel our great great...many times great grandfather made when he was just a lad. It has dug gardens, trenches, buried the dead and uprooted stones. It's a good shovel, now it's yours take care of it." Of course it wasn't the original shovel but it was the shovel."

"This is that ship," Liara said, now understanding the moral of the story. It wasn't about the actual tangible shovel; it was the idea of the shovel and the legacy and stories that went with it. It was the same with the Normandy.

The elevator was directly behind her and off to the port and starboard sides of the ship were no longer stairs that led down to the mess hall, but doors that led to the armory and tech lab.

"This is wrong," Shepard said turning to Liara. "Whose dumb-ass idea was to put the armory up here of all places?" Her nose wrinkled up in distaste.

"The Illusive Man thought it prudent to place the armory next to the technical lab as it was more efficient." EDI explained.

"Efficient? Pft, there is nothing efficient about it," Sam complained.

"The Normandy's armory is more than a weapons locker, Commander. Small arms are maintained and upgraded using omni-tool computer added design and minifacturing within the armoury."

"How is that any different from the armories on other Alliance vessels or the Victory?"

"The difference, perhaps, is that we have the capacity to manufacture many new models within the technical lab. Provided you have acquired the necessary resources. The lab is also used to research new upgrades that will improve ship or team performance."

"Yeah, and we have those capacities on the Victory and the armory is in the correct place.

It's still very stupid to have it up here. Look, a soldier doesn't want to go up or down from where they are stationed to get their gear then ride all the way back down again to the shuttle bay. You should just be able to get off the elevator, get equipped and hop on the shuttle. It's a waste of time to do it this way.

"If you want to put mods on a firearm why not just place a tech-table down in the bay? That way you don't waste steps or time." Shepard waved her hand around. "This is foolish! Look, the Victory had a good set up. There were weapons lockers on each deck in strategic locations. If she gets boarded the crew can get to their weapons and defend the ship. A weapon you can't get to is no weapon at all.

"And at least the FTL comm room was tucked away in an alcove behind the CIC just off the war room. It was also protected by two guards and a force field. You didn't have to go though labs or an armory to get to it. That's efficiency. This is utterly ridiculous. If we ever go in to dry dock for a retro-fit, one of the first things I'm going to request is the armoury be moved to where it should be."

Shepard's eyes were drawn to the plaque outside the briefing / comm room just before she entered into it. "Nice war room though, not as large as it was on the original Normandy or the Victory. Where's the FTL comm-system?"

Sounding suspiciously jaded that Shepard had insulted her 'body', EDI haughtily said, "This war-room is fully equipped with FTL communications. The table recedes into the floor opening the network. In addition to interfacing with the FTL comm network, the Normandy is outfitted with a quantum entanglement communicator linked directly into the Illusive Man's office. This allows lag free communications even when you operate off the comm-grid."

This news intrigued Shepard. "How does the QEC work?"

"Essentially two subatomic particles are created in an entangled state. One installed here and the other in the Illusive Man's office. When one particle enters into is quantum state its entangled partner will always enter its opposite state no matter the distance between them. If we alter the state of our particle that alters the state of the Illusive Man's. This allows us to send data in quantum bits."

"So why aren't these used everywhere? They sound incredibly useful."

"Each quantum pair costs nearly as much as a comm buoy and can only pass one quantum bit of data at a time. In addition to the cost, the system has bandwidth issues. If the system is used from point to point to contact different worlds we would have to manufacture and install a hundred different entangled pairs. One linked to each world."

"Aw right. Handy but limited. Quantum physics high-tech version of two tin cans tied together by a piece of string."

"That is a fair comparison," EDI said.

"And how much difficulty will it be to dismantle an entangled pair and install another one, say... to the Citadel Council chambers?"

"Assuming you bypass Cerberus regulations and want to anger the Illusive Man, any qualified Comm-Specialist trained in QEC will have the knowledge, Commander."

"I've got a quarian engineer, a salarian genius and a whole ship full of scientists. I think I got qualified personnel covered. And EDI, I will only say this once: I will not be second guessed on my own ship by my own ship. You will never again speak of Cerberus regulations to me or my crew. This is a direct order."

"Understood, Commander," the AI said. "I will comply."

"See that you do. For now I'll let the current entangled pair stay. Besides, I have a few words for TIM."

"The Illusive Man wishes to speak with you as well," EDI informed the Spectre.

"Patch me through and record the meeting."

"Yes, Commander."

Shepard tapped in a few commands into her omni tool to record the session so she might send the recordings to the Council and Alliance Command. Shepard still did not completely trust the Cerberus created AI to fully carry out her orders without finding some loophole in wording. The contingency plan to have Tali and Mordin rip it out was still in play. Right now her chief engineer and her top scientist, along with the whole STG contingent, were carrying out the priority detail of scrubbing the ship clean of all bugs and monitoring devices.

Liara squeezed her wife's arm and discretely stepped back into the corner of the war room. She too had opened her omni tools recoding mechanism, her aim was to keep a complete record of all Samantha's talks with Cerberus lest some call into question her loyalty to the Council or to the Alliance and thus name her traitor. Yes, Samantha's reasons were the same, but having redundant backs ups was a necessity. It was something the young Prothean expert had learned in the field while on digs and it was something any competent information broker did. And Liara was developing into a very good information broker.

The briefing table receded into the floor just as EDI described, the room darkened and the holomatrix came online.

Before her was a man sitting aloofly in a simple yet ergonomically designed seat, behind him was a myriad of monitors and beyond that a great bay window that looked out upon a dying red giant-class M star.

"Illusive Man."

The man took a puff from a cigarette before he spoke. *You've taken my ship.*

"Way I see it, I confiscated stolen property." The Spectre's arms were folded over her chest. "The plans of the Normandy were supposed to be at the top of the top secret list, yet you got your grubby paws on them. I'd like to know how."

*And I'd like my ship and my people back. I guess we will both have to live with disappointment. But I warn you, Shepard, do not cross me, I won't be as lenient the next time. You may keep the ship if you mean to use it stop the Collectors.*

"If you wanted me to just stop the Collectors you wouldn't have concocted such elaborate plans or wasted time trying to tarnish my reputation with lies and conspires, discredit me then conscript me. The Caesar Initiative wasn't it? And what about the Lazarus Project... Lawson was in charge of? How much did you spend resurrecting a dead ship? Millions? Billions? And I get a sick feeling that isn't all you planed to bring back from the dead. What do you want?"

Along drag before a hand pulled away the cigarette, the cloying smoke wreathed about the Illusive Man's murky gray head like a sinister halo. *You.*

"Yeah, I got that. Obviously not dead this time," Shepard spat. "You got a hell of a funny way of asking for help, TIM. Why do you want me specifically?"

There was a cold hard stare from The Illusive Man's holo-image before he spoke. *You are unique. Not just in ability or in what you experienced but in what you represent. You stood for humanity at a key moment. You are more than a soldier, you're a symbol. And I don't know if the Reapers understand fear but you killed one. They have to respect that.*

"A symbol?" the cold edge remained in the Commander's voice. "Maybe there's something to that. I don't think the Reapers are the only ones that are not very fond of me being a symbol. An organization dedicated to the domination of the human race can't have humanity's symbol bonded to an asari or have a child with her can it?"

*It is true our primary agenda is the protection of humanity to the last. But we do not seek to exterminate the other races, only insure our strength. Those who fought in the First Contact war thought us much, that the stars may seem warm and welcoming to us, places to be explored, knowledge to be had, riches to be made, but we will not always be welcome. Those that came before may not be willing to share. It is inventible."

So you take it by force. The thought was unvoiced.

*We are being tested, Commander, by the Reapers and by the Collectors. We must master the tools, the technology to push back, not just for survival but for the betterment of mankind.*

"The ambitions of the powerful usually bring strife to those they mean to improve. I can't think of one operation you haven't set up 'for the betterment of mankind' that hasn't come back to bite you in the ass. Including this one."

*What makes you think I didn't want you to take the...Normandy? That I hadn't simply asked Miranda to kindly surrender the coordinates of the Lazarus base?*

"Figured that much out myself, TIM. EDI confirmed my suspicions when she said she was ordered to comply with my commands."

*I don't want you or your wife dead, Commander Shepard. I had nothing to do with the hiring or deployment of the mercenaries who attacked Dr. T'Soni. You have to trust me.*

Shepard's lips curled into a snarl. "I don't have to do anything, least of all trust you. I know what your people did to that quarian child Taylor captured on Freedom's Progress. The kid was swift enough to transmit all he saw to the quarian fleet before your men silenced him. If you can't control your own people you're running a very shoddy operation."

*It is true some of my people are zealous and they are frightened. With good reason, since it's the same reason that has you zealously scrounging for allies, shouting until someone listens to you about the coming of the Reapers. That reason has scared some within Cerberus to allow their concerns and fears overrule their better judgment. I'm reining them in. As for Udina's private war, it was never condoned by me personally. The attacks will not happen again.*

"I'm not going to hold my breath."

The Illusive Man took another long puff of his cigarette. *We don't have to be enemies in this war. Cerberus has heard your call, Commander. We can work together. If the Council and the Alliance won't give you resources, we will. Frankly, you need our resources, I know the Council has pulled all your turian and salarian military personnel as well as the host of scientists you deliberately put together for the sole purpose of finding ways to help fight the Reapers. We can have a truce.*

"Why am I not surprised that you're so well informed." Shepard made no attempt to keep the growl out of her voice.

"Information is my business, Commander Shepard," The Illusive man said coolly, sucking on his cigarette.

Shepard wasn't too impressed with the knowledge her opponent possessed. She was worried. How many spies, how many traitors had this man networked into governments? And she had a deepening sick feeling that Cerberus had spun webs around other heads of state within races governments. Money and information were powerful tools to an amenable or desperate soul. How bitter a pill it was that she was now using Cerberus's recourses. Sam kicked herself in the preverbal ass to get her head back into the game. She had to be on full alert when playing The Game with Mr. Illusive.

"I will hunt the Collectors and if you want to help you will do so on my terms. You can start by giving me information on the Collectors and where they come from. Rumors say they come from beyond the Omega Four Relay. " Shepard spoke in her most authoritative voice.

*That is true.* The glowing blue eyes narrowed, watching calculating.

"The Omega Four Relay is unmapped, why? What do we know about it?"

*Only that no ship passing through it has ever returned.* A deep drag and a puff of smoke before the Illusive Man spoke, *Our best guess is that the relay reacts differently to Collector ships allowing them safe passage. If they can manipulate the relays its just further evidence to their connection to the Reapers.*

"Any idea why they shifted their focus to humans?"

He shook his head. *They're agents for the Reapers, it could be any number of reasons. Obviously humanity played a huge role in Sovereign's destruction. That might have been enough to draw their attention. What really concerns me is why they bother abducting colonists. They want the humans paralyzed when they attack, why not just kill them?*

"What do the Collectors gain from theses deals?"

*The Collectors are not very forth coming about their motives. Generally they seek out species with unique traits or abnormalities. They pay slavers and merc groups absorbent sums to obtain theses specimens and then they leave. They have never targeted a single species before. And the previous sample sizes were in the dozens not the tens of thousands.*

"You're holding something back," Shepard defiantly challenged, her hands upon her hips. "How do you know the Reapers are involved?"

*The patterns are there, buried in the data, but the Council and the Alliances want to believe the Reaper threat died with Sovereign. You and I know better. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them!*

"Forgive me if I don't naively devour every scrap of information you toss me. You have a reputation for deceit."

*And who has slandered me so, your malefactor the Council, the Alliance? The ones who will not believe you, who wanted to destroy your reputation by covering up the truth of the Reapers and deny their very existence, our common enemy? Maybe you should consider the source before you dismiss me.*

"I know all about your sorted sins, old man,and I want none of it. I will never join Cerberus. It was your operation, your machinations that tried to destroy me, not the Council, not the Alliance. You are out of your depth."

* All great movements require a few martyrs. I have only done what all great revolutionaries have done; have you not done the same, Spectre? Have you not cast lives to the wind to protect the Council at any cost? Do not presume to know me, Commander.* the Illusive Man's voice snarled.

"I didn't make that decision causally, the Council is needed. Those that died in the battle over the Citadel did so as heroes, not martyrs. Even if you want it, humanity can't do this alone. And there is no way we are ready to dominate the intergalactic government and we never should, no race should," Shepard justified.

*You, Commander Shepard, are fatally idealistic. Still, if you turn that against the Collectors to save our colonies it may prove beneficial. You need not join us, Commander, an alliance until the Collectors are defeated is all we need.*

The word alliance deliberately used to goad the Spectre.

"And then?"

*We go our separate ways.* The Illusive Man sucked on the end of his dying cigarette.

"I doubt it is easy as that. Nothing with you ever is. I'm using this ship it and I'll take your information you have on the Collectors to stop them, but that is as far as this 'alliance' goes. As for your people...they will remain in protective custody."

"Very well, Commander Shepard, for now the ship and EDI are yours to command as are my people. Perhaps working with them you will see the truth of what Cer-"

"EDI, cut transmission," Shepard said, cutting the smoking man off in mid sentence. She was half surprised when the AI actually obeyed her.

"The Illusive Man will be displeased."

"Yeah, ask me if I care."

"Commander Shepard, do you care-" came the simulated voice, but it too was interrupted.

"The question was rhetorical, EDI! And you heard TIMmy, you and this ship are now mine."

"Understood, Commander Shepard."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Miranda's handling of Shepard was not how the Illusive Man would have done it. No matter, the orders had been carried out nevertheless. The leader of Cerberus had ordered Lawson to insure that they did not lose Shepard. They hadn't, but she wasn't quite theirs. Yet.

The fact that she was hanging onto Miranda and took custody of Chambers and Taylor was a good sign. Jacob might have to be sacrificed to satisfy the Spectre's sense of justice, but Lawson and Chambers would no doubt work their charms. Granted, Lawson was far better at seducing men, but Shepard would not be able resist the seductive pull to turn Miranda to the 'good side.' The young woman had a deep need to fulfil the lust to take something away from the Illusive Man and deprive Cerberus of a very expensive asset.

And then there was yeoman Kelly Chambers, who was quite capable in school of psychology. She had a pleasant, friendly, unassuming face, a kind demeanour and gave off the aura of needing protection. The almost nauseating perky young woman was the perfect lure to pull Shepard away from the asari. Of course the best bait to tempt a target was one that wasn't even aware they were being used.

And of course there was the Normandy. Perhaps she was the best and most effective seductress of all three ladies.

If Commander Shepard wanted to believe the ship was a battle trophy rather than an award for compliance in uniting with Cerberus, the Illusive Man was, for the moment, content to allow the delusions to settle in the young defiant woman's mind.

The Illusive Man turned back to the viewing window and the dying sun beyond.

He tapped commands into arm of his chair. The next phase of Operation Lazarus was now proceeding as planned. Shepard of the Alliance was to die if Shepard of Cerberus was to be resurrected. Cerberus with Shepard leading the charge would be seen as the saviors of humanity, rescuing the colonies from the Collectors. Something both the Alliance and the Council refused to do because they were too busy blaming slavers, raiders, or Cerberus to look at the real evidence.

The Illusive Man had, as always, a back up plan; he had learned that redundancy in his operations, especially if they concerned a certain raven haired blue eyed human Spectre, were prudent. Operative Hope Lilium was in charge of the Lazarus Shadow. A contingency failsafe should the need come to pass.

Hope had also compiled the dossiers on the squad the Illusive Man wanted Shepard to build up. She had done so loyally, but under protest that aliens should not be involved. She believed that there were more than capable human agents both within and without Cerberus. But that was not the image the Illusive Man wanted to give Shepard, to draw her into the fold, Cerberus had to be seen not making nice exactly, but playing play ball at the very least with the aliens.

Therein was the prime reason that there were only three desired recruits who were human: a mercenary, a thief and psychotic biotic convict. The rest were aliens, but nevertheless useful as Shepard had an undeniable pull to trust their kind. And each came with very unique skills useful in the battle against the Collectors. The dossiers had been forward to Lawson who in turn handed them to Shepard.

Remarkably, two of the seven had previously been pressed into service by the Spectre herself. The rest would automatically fall into place as the Commander would not wish Cerberus to claim them first. The Illusive man smiled at a thought: what would Shepard think of her precious aliens if she came to know that the volus ambassador was in Cerberus's pocket, or that the clandestine organization had a number of drell and hanar informants, or that the Illusive Man regularly bedded an asari matriarch?

Unlike some of his compatriots within the organization, The Illusive Man knew aliens had their uses as long as they understood it and stayed in their place.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Liara came out of the shadows and placed a hand on her bondmate's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I just made a deal with the devil, what do you think?" Shepard looked like she wanted to vomit. "These people killed our baby, Li, the things they've done..." she rubbed her forehead as she felt a headache chiselling its way into her brain.

"Unforgivable," Liara finished the sentence. She placed both hands upon Samantha's shoulders. 'I loath the necessity of what must be done.' Liara switched to their telepathic link for privacy sake, the Normandy still had monitoring devices and there was of course the omnipresent ever-eavesdropping EDI. 'You played your part marvellously against The Illusive Man.'

'Yeah, well he played his too. It's the old 'he knows that I know that he knows that I know' shtick. This dance... I don't know, Liara, I've done N7 covert ops before but I've never played double agent. Sneak in, neutralize the target and slip out, that's a dance I know. I can set up defensive lines, hold the line, lead soldiers into battle, strategize, but this...I don't know. It going to have one hell of a steep learning curve.'

'But one you can play, he will expect full resistance from you, as well as your anger and frustrations. But he will see that you are the symbol he wants. The one the Reapers fear.'

'I doubt the Reapers fear me, Liara. I got lucky.'

'No, Melethril, it is more than luck that you possess. You are talented and driven. And you are a symbol. I fear one that will come in great need when we finally face the Reapers.'

Shepard knew how important and crucial morale was on the battlefield and even to civilians in wartime. If it was required, she'd play the part of hero. When she was a kid she looked up to the N7s in awe and hero-worship and now she was one. She knew that many now looked up to her, not only because she was an N7, but because of her deeds. She was a war hero, now twice over. It was why she was a Spectre.

'And what about the anomaly bit...?'Shepard asked sullenly.

'The Cipher.'

'Yeah maybe. But Saren had that too, so does Shiala and it didn't help them any. Shiala only broke free from Reaper indoctrination because of the Thorian indoctrination and she was freed, or mostly freed, when it died.' Shepard didn't mention the fact that Shiala was still suffering from the after effects of the giant plant's spores. Her purple skin now green, she suffered horrific nightmares and she had such headaches... 'It has to be more than that. Maybe it's the other Prothean devices I interfaced with, or hell, maybe the brush with CS. It's more than the Cipher, babe.'

'Melethril it can not be the CS, it can only be the Prothean devices, and the beacon did explode on you nearly killing you, changing your beta waves. It marked you, my love.'

'Marked me as a target, gave me nightmare visions of the Reapers and turned me into an anomalous freak the Reapers and Mr. TIMmy can't figure out. Great.'

Liara cupped Samantha's cheeks and placed a very passionate kiss upon ruby lips. 'It is. I don't want either figuring you out. The only one that is allowed to do that is me,' came the very possessive thought. The Prothean expert demurely pulled away before Shepard had time to deepen their kiss. Purple lips smiled as there was a slight moan of protest coming from her beloved.

'We should send the data package of the conference with Mr. TIMmy." Liara smiled mischievously as he used Samantha's mocking pet name for the dictator of Cerberus 'to your Alliance Command and the Council once we rendezvous with the Victory.''

'My thoughts exactly, too many bugs and EDI looking over our shoulder to not insure that they would receive an uncorrupted copy. But we'll send one from here too, just to keep up the pretence and the expectations. But I want to do it after I interrogate the prisoners. Their interviews will be sent along with my little chat with Mr. Big Bad Daddy Illusive'

"Alright, EDI, let's continue the tour." Shepard turned her attention back to the blue globe and stalk hologram that was now mounted on the table that had remerged from the floor. "You know we should look into getting your image a make over, that whole sex-toy talking vagina thing has got to go." Shepard waved her hand in front of her as if shooing away a fly.

"Given a choice I would not have picked this representation," EDI said flatly. "However the Cerberus designers were ordered not to use any anthropomorphic representations that would 'humanize' me to the crew during my initial creation."

"And they picked that?" Shepard wrinkled her nose in distaste. "What, did they use pimply faced teenage boys with no life as a demographic to test it on? Oohh yeah lets have a talking vaginal eyestalk." She rolled her eyes and the idiocy of some computer programmers. Apparently, the idea to cater to the lowest common denominator was the deciding factor everywhere.

"There were no beta testers as you described, Commander Shepard, but my designers were all males," EDI said, not realizing that once again the question was rhetorical.

"Figures."

"I'm sure Tali can change some of EDI's visual perimeters. Perhaps a simple globe not unlike her drones would suffice," Liara offered helpfully, "one without a 'mouth'."

"That would be acceptable," agreed EDI.

A nod from the Spectre also indicated she approved of the suggestion. A floating blue ball with no vertical mouth aperture was far better than EDI's current 'face'. "Not a priority now, but I'll get her on it."

"If you find my holographic representation offensive I need not use it Commander. However organics have a tendency to dislike talking to disembodies voices."

"Yeah, well I think we can deal for now, disengage holographic use. Besides, the Normandy is your body."

"This is an accurate assumption. My AI core is housed in the Normandy and I am fused into her circuitry. I cannot be removed without being deleted as I do not have a mobile platform like the geth do."

"Don't get any ideas into your posotronic brain, EDI," warned the Spectre. "You're on probation, remember that."

"It is impossible for me to forget data given to me or that which I have assimilated, Commander."

"And yet that doesn't reassure me somehow," quipped the raven haired woman. "Alright enough chatter I want to see the rest of my ship."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

The captain's quarters while the same length as that on the Victory, were narrower. But they were still spacious and pleasant enough. It had two tiers, same as Victory, with the upper one being the office area and off it was the ensuite bathroom. The transparent bulkhead had shelving perfect for a display of model ships. In fact Shepard noticed there were two such display areas. Her bondmate gave her a knowing look. There was even a shelf opposite the desk that would perfectly house Little Guy's cage.

The living space was a might smaller than on the Victory that afforded the couple a dinning area as well as a common room where they could lounge on the sofa. The area here only had a sofa and a square coffee table. And there didn't seem to be a vidscreen, but that could easily be remedied. The size of the bed was also something that could be changed since it was a tad smaller than the couple were accustomed to. The Victory had a queen sized bed; this one was only a twin.

What brought a smile to the Commander's face was the large, in-wall fish tank. It also unnerved her.

"If this ship was designed specifically for you...Cerberus certainly did their research," Liara said mirroring Sam's thoughts. "I wonder what else they duplicated."

"I wonder how much they paid their spies," Shepard muttered. Of course it wasn't a great big state secret that Shepard had a collection of fish. She had a variety of species she bought both on the Citadel and when they were on Illium. But what was unsettling was that Cerberus had taken the liberty to install the fish tank to cater to her specifically. Even the shelving for her models and the spot for the hamster were deliberately installed for the Spectre's favour. Nothing like having a massive criminal black ops group as your own personal stalker, the Spectre thought to herself. When all is said and done, I think I prefer Conrad Verner dogging me.

"It could be worse," Liara said picking up on her lover's thoughts. "You could have the Collectors obsessed with you."

"Don't give them any ideas, T'Soni. According to Mr. TIMmy the Reapers are already sniffing around for me."

Liara trailed a finger down the railing that led to the main area of the quarters. "The bed is a little cosier than the one we have on the No...Victory."

"All the better to cuddle up to," Sam was grateful for the switch of topics. She moved towards the stairs and her bondmate. "I can't wait to break her in." She wrapped her arms around the asari's trim waist.

"Are you talking about breaking in your new ship or the bed?" Liara giggled.

The raven haired woman grinned wolfishly. "Both." She nibbled along the sensitive neck folds. "Defiantly both." She got closer to Liara's ear. "I'll make you both fly," the words were purred.

"Promise?"

"Guaranteed." Sam trailed her fingers along the underside of her wife's crest, a particular sensitive spot for asari and especially for Liara.

Liara reached behind her neck and took the light caramel hand that was enticingly tormenting her with exquisite delight and kissed it. "Unfortunately it must wait until later."

"It's always later," groused the Spectre. But Liara was right; their enjoyment must wait until much later. Still she loved the teasing between them, though.

"We will make up for it," Liara promised. "Let us see the rest of your ship."

So the tour continued. The crew deck closely mirrored the one on the first Normandy with a nest of hot-bunk sleeper pods, mess hall and medbay. Like the Victory it also had crew quarters, port and starboard side observation lounges as well as female and male heads, life support and storage cells. Comparative to the asari made frigate each were significantly smaller on the Normandy SR2. And there was no R & D deck, the only tech lab being the one back on the command deck.

There were other notable differences as well. Where the storage area beyond the medbay had been on Shepard's first command, was now the AI core. The crew quarters were much smaller than on the Victory where each division had their own quarters with its head in their own privacy cubical. The bunks on the Normandy were akin to those common on larger Alliance vessels. In conjunction with the quarters there was a bay of hot bunk sleeper pods, beyond which was the forward battery. No doubt Garrus would find a home here as he had on the Victory. The man had an obsession with precision calibrations.

Where the captain's quarters were on the old Normandy was now the XO's quarters.

Shepard let out a whistle as she entered. They were just a bit larger than they had been on her first command. "Pretty swank. And check out the bed that is nearly twice the size of ours."

"No doubt this was intended for Miss Lawson's use. Designer sofa, bed, even the bedclothes are designer. Perhaps we should order a switch of beds."

"Agreed. I doubt my XO will complain. And if they do...well, it's good to be the captain."

Liara gave Samantha a curious look. "Are you going to reinstate Lt. Williams to the post?"

Shiala, now in the later stages of her pregnancy, was in no condition to be in combat situations. She would have to step down from her post, and considering they were now on their way to Illium, it was the best chance to make changes to the roster.

Shepard looked down for a moment them back up to the woman she loved. 'I don't think so. When I laid out the plan to highjack the SR2 and trail TIMmy to his Base of Operations, Anderson and Hackett hinted that they might need to reassign Ash to lead another project, one to help protect our colonies."

'Since Ashley has not made a great protest I can gather you have not told her of this.'

'Not exactly no. But I've been prepping her of her own command. She'll do fine.'

'She has become more capable but she will not like this. In fact she will ardently protest.'

'She's a marine. She'll follow her orders. As for my new XO, it sure as hell won't be Lawson. I was thinking Garrus.' She turned to her archaeologist and this time spoke aloud. "Unless you'll reconsider jumping ship on Illium to play information broker and stay with me."

"Samantha, I am not abandoning you to play at anything." Liara touched her bondmate's cheek. "We agreed this is the best opportunity for me to make use of my skills."

"We didn't agree to anything. You decided all on your own." Ice blue eyes narrowed into a scowl.

Liara's tender voice soothed the oncoming storm burning within her bondmate's heart. "We still don't know who was harvesting the crew of the lost Normandy. We only know it wasn't the Collectors who touched down on the planet or there would have been no dog tags left behind. We found twenty. Melethril if I am groundside I can follow leads to who sent bounty hunters after you. Samantha, it wasn't Cerberus. Someone is looking for you and as far as I know Reapers don't hire mercenaries.

"We have to entertain the notion that it is a very real possibility that the Collectors are responsible or they made contact with someone who did. This is their MO. I am loath to say it but The Illusive Man confirmed it, Collectors hire mercenaries and slavers to locate unique specimens. And you are a very unique specimen."

"As I recall you said that before, though at the time you were much more cute when you said it."

Her cheeks turned purple with a blush. She gently pushed Sam on the shoulder before kissing her on the cheek. "Flatterer."

The next deck was engineering. Like the Victory, the Normandy SR2 had a Tantalus core drive that was three times the size of her predecessor. It was beautiful and equally powerful. Two cargo holds and another storage area were also below deck.

The last deck was the shuttle bay. It housed two UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttles and an M44 Hammerhead. As far as Shepard was concerned the Mako was a studier vehicle but the hovercraft had its qualities.

"Guess we won't be needing a CAG." Shepard looked around the shuttle bay and spotted only the three air-to-ground craft.

"Typically asari frigates do not have fighters or the need for a CAG. The Victory was heavily customized, I believe, for your mission, just as the Normandy was before her."

"Yeah, guess so.."

The asari looked across the bay to a ship she did not recognize. Perhaps it was something unique to Cerberus. "Which one is that?" she said, pointing to the hovercraft.

"That's the M44 Hammerhead. It seats at least three crew members at a time making it a bit cramped. It incorporates an onboard VI system that monitors the environment for dangers and has an integrated mineral collection system which allows the Hammerhead to retrieve any resources it finds during a mission. Like the Mako, it is capable of being air-dropped from a frigate and of propelling itself vertically to scale obstacles by means of hoverjets." Shepard started to explain as she ran her hand along the sleek curves of the eloquent looking ship.

"Down side is that continuous exertion of the hoverjets will overheat them, rendering them useful only for short hops. But she had a pretty cool boost feature that allows the vehicle to move quickly across the battlefield. You can't use both the boost and hoverjets simultaneously, it causes the hoverjets to overheat quicker and not cool until the boost is released."

The Spectre went under the belly to the other side. "See that? She's armed with a single gun which can only swivel vertically, but it compensates for this by boasting a fairly high rate of fire and a guided missile system that ensures accuracy even during aggressive maneuvering."

Liara frowned, not liking Samantha's sudden interest in this new ship. "Speed is its greater defense. It seems to lack onboard kinetic barriers; wouldn't that make it very vulnerable to sustained enemy fire?"

Shepard only nodded.

"That kind of vulnerability will force its driver to maneuver constantly out of the line of fire in order to prevent major damage." The frown deepened.

"Well, yeah," Sam shrugged, "but that problem is somewhat mitigated by her sophisticated repair system which automatically restores the vehicle's integrity if no damage is taken for a brief period of time. Sorta like the Mako."

It was defiantly not a craft for frontline assaults but, like the Normandy, it was a stealth vessel created especially for reconnaissance.

"I'm not sorry to see the Mako go," jibbed Liara. "The shuttles seem far more reliable, sturdier and better armed."

"Hey, the Mako wasn't that bad. It could climb and climb, take a hard frontal assault and its heavy turret could sink a thresher maw. If a maw even looked at the Hammerhead it will blow into itty-bitty little pieces. I'd have better luck fighting one on foot then taking down a maw in that little thing."

"That isn't exactly reassuring Samantha," Liara scolded.

"Sorry, lover. It's not all bad, though. The Hammerhead can out manoeuvre any ground vehicle."

Liara didn't look convinced.

There was still one area of the ship the two hadn't investigated yet, which was the brig, which was also in the shuttle bay and under very heavy guard. The Normandy's converted brig area had only two cells and was quite cramped compared to the cells on the Victory.

"Time to get to work," the Spectre said looking to the marines on guard. There was one very sullen looking red head and a stoic thick muscled male.

"Master-at-arms!" Shepard bellowed coming up to the cells. "Extract Miss Chambers from her cell and have her escorted up to the briefing room."

A young blonde human woman saluted sharply. "Aye-aye, Commander." The Normandy's MA was a very confident and capable officer that never let the Spectre down. Even when she was ordered to stand down when the asari huntresses took over the brig during Lawson's incarceration, Chief Petty Officer Peeks maintained a dutiful and tight watch. She turned to two of the four marines on guard with her and repeated the CO's orders.

Liara stood aside and watched as her bondmate was replaced by the Commander. There was no flirting, teasing lightness as there was before in the Spectre's demeanour. She stood a bit taller, prouder and moved with complete measured precision. It was not simply for show for the benefit of the prisoners, but was a message to all that she had complete control.