She found herself staring at the cold metal floor in response.

The last of them were still taking their seats in the conference room when Ashley had asked the question.

"What's our next move Commander? Head for the Mu Relay?"

She was in no mood for a debriefing. Not after everything that had just happened. But everyone was already waiting for their next order, what the Normandy's next course of action would be. She let out a sigh of annoyance. "There's no point," Shepard decided to reply flatly. "The Mu Relay could link to dozens of systems. Unless we know exactly where Saren's going, we'd just be wasting our time." Which was true. They were no closer to knowing where he was or what he was after.

"The Commander is right," Liara agreed obsequiously. "We cannot rush off blind. We still need to learn more about Saren."

"Who put you in charge?" Ashley quickly retorted while leaning back in her chair, putting her elbow on its headrest. "Did the Commander resign when I wasn't looking?"

Shepard shut her eyes in annoyance. All this time spent together aboard the ship and she still had to deal with this petty schoolyard bullshit. She slowly re-opened them and stared daggers at the chief, deciding to stop this exchange before it had a chance to escalate. She then turned to address Liara first. "I give the orders around here. Not you. Understood?"

"Forgive me Commander. I was only trying to help," Liara replied embarrassed.

"And this is what we're here to do Williams," Shepard said next, now staring back at the marine. "Discuss our next course of action. Do you not agree with Doctor T'Soni that we'd just be wasting our time if we went through the Mu Relay?"

"No sir," Ashley replied in a low voice.

"Alright then."

"Do you think what the Matriarch said was true?" Tali quickly asked, changing the subject. "About Saren's ship being able to control people?"

"Load of varren shit if you ask me," Wrex muttered angrily.

"I was actually thinking about that. What if Saren's ship was made by the Protheans?" Ashley now proposed. "That beacon gave your mind all those visions Shepard. Imagine what other things a ship of theirs could do."

"And why don't we think that Saren's ship wasn't just made by the Geth again?" Garrus asked.

"I didn't say it couldn't be," Ashley immediately bit back.

"When I saw the holos from Eden Prime, Saren's flagship didn't seem to be of Geth origin," Tali answered.

"In my studies, I've never come across any Prothean society that had developed or researched such technology either," Liara replied.

"I was just saying that the Protheans could have made something that did what Benezia described. I didn't say that they actually did," Ashley responded again annoyed.

"Regardless, if Saren and his Geth had the tech to brainwash people, I don't think we'd currently be fighting them," Kaidan replied.

She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Everyone in the room turned to Shepard. "If it's not Geth. And if it's not Prothean. That only leaves one other possibility."

"The Reapers," Kaidan deducted.

"You really think they're out there huh?" Wrex replied.

Shepard met his gaze head-on. "They are."

"Commander, the visions you have had might have been interrupted before the beacon could finish. They might not be entirely accurate. If we...if you let me meld with you, I might be able to help you discern what you've seen."

"I know what I saw." Then she turned toward the rest. "If that's all, then we're done here. Until we get another update, we're setting course back for the Citadel. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Crew...dismissed!"

"Noveria report is away Commander. You want me to patch you through to the Council?" Joker came on over the intercom.

She sighed as the rest filed out one by one. "Patch them through Joker."

"Patching you through now Commander."

Several minutes later and the images of the dignitaries flashed over the room's projectors.

"Commander," Councilor Tevos began. "Do not cut me off like last time. I fail to find it amusing."

"Save the sermon. I'm just here to follow up on my report."

The Asari let out a sigh before beginning. "And is this report accurate Commander? You found Rachni on Noveria?"

"We sure as hell didn't find any space cows." Despite their glares, Shepard followed up with, "We found some captured on a planet called Binthu too."

"Yes. Found them and apparently wiped them out!" Councilor Sparatus outburst. "Do you take pleasure from committing genocide Shepard?!"

Technically, it was xenocide. Or was to her anyway. But tomato, tomato. "Depends on the species," she casually replied. "...Turian."

"Commander! You are addressing a member of the Council. You will show the proper respect!" the skullface replied furious.

She stared him dead in his beady little eyes as she subsequently opened her omni-tool. "Whoops," she said as she then brought a finger down on it, disconnecting them.

"Aaaaaand we're out," Joker confirmed for her.

She didn't hide her smirk as their images immediately petered out.

"You don't think that they'll hold that against all of us do you?" the lieutenant asked as soon as she had turned around.

Shepard crossed her arms and gave the LT a coy smile in response. "Don't want me to ruin your chances of becoming the second Human Spectre huh?" she replied. "You should have told me. I'd put in a good word for you."

"Would you?" he replied unconvinced.

"Yeah. Though I guess it wouldn't really matter once they actually saw you in action."

"Funny," he replied without laughing.

"What did you need?" she quickly asked as she walked past him.

"Uh...do you think you have some time to talk Commander?"

She stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "What are we doing now?"

"...fair enough," Kaidan replied approaching her. "It's just...I've been thinking about the Noveria mission. About what happened to the Rachni-"

"I was just about to go down to see him," she replied with a disdainful look.

That bastard. Thought he could just-

"It's not that," Kaidan replied softly. "It's...you had to make some tough calls to get this far. And it looks...it looks like there's going to be some more. I'm just saying...try to leave yourself a way out. I've seen what cutting corners can do and I'd hate to have that happen to you Shepard. Commander."

"How many times has that been now?" she asked. "I don't believe that's an appropriate way to address your commanding officer Lieutenant. I think someone's becoming a bit too familiar."

"Sorry ma'am," he replied stiffening. "I didn't realize you weren't- I thought- I mean if there's someone else you'd really- nevermind," he sputtered.

"What the hell are you going on about now Alenko," she now replied bluntly, dropping the playful tone.

"Well...I didn't think it was true but...I heard a lower-deck rumor that Doctor T'Soni is...uh...interested in you. As more than a source of Prothean data. And that you-I mean, it's none of my-"

"Are you pulling my leg right now Kaidan?" Shepard said guffawing, a slip of hair falling over her face.

"No Commander. I mean, she's a very interesting lady. Not to my, uh, tastes. I never claimed to be big on alien culture...though I guess she is-"

"Stop." He shut up. Then she raised an eyebrow and the corner of her lips twitched. "You seem to be getting awfully worried about my personal affairs Lieutenant."

"Well it's just that-" He rubbed the back of his neck. "With how busy everyone's been, we don't really have much downtime these days. And I know I've been taking up a lot more of your personal time than I've been meaning to-"

"Look, I'm guessing you didn't want to just gossip with me about Doctor T'Soni, did you?"

"Uh, no-"

"Then what's your real issue?"

"You're right. Sorry. It wasn't- I got off topic. Liara's not my concern." The man's face grew solemn. "I'm not questioning any decisions you've made, Shepard." That comment caused her own face to stiffen. "Let me be clear about that. It's just my experience that once someone lets something slide, it tends to pick up speed...you get my meaning?"

"Alenko, if you have one weakness, it's an inability to speak directly."

"Sorry. I'm not looking to dump any baggage Shepard. You know about the biotic training that happened out on Jump Zero right?" Alenko looked to his side. The only thing there was the ship's steel walls. "They're all classified. Because the Alliance made mistakes."

"Do you consider yourself a mistake?" she asked.

"If we were going by my teacher's standards, yes," he replied. "But it's not about me. After first contact, Conatix was set up to track element zero exposures and develop implants for Humans. Once we had an embassy on the Citadel, Conatix could bring in 'experts' instead of taking it slow."

"I remember. Commander Vyrnnus. Brain Camp. Rahna. If I recall correctly, you said that 'you'd either come out a superman or a wreck.' And most the latter."

"Right," he said seriously. "The point of bringing it up I guess...is that when you cut corners, it's not always obvious who pays for it."

Shepard grew irate. "So why are you telling me all this? Are you saying I'm cutting corners somewhere?"

"I'm saying..." he took a moment to compose himself. "It's probably inevitable that we'll have to. And when that happens, I want to help you. We're marines. We stick together. When someone important to you is up on a ledge, you help them. Keep them from mistakes better made by a kid."

Her mood considerably brightened upon hearing the word. "Important, huh?"

"If I'm out of line, just say the word."

But they both knew he wasn't. "You're not. But there are regs for a reason Kaidan."

His lips visibly fought back a smile. "I get you Shepard. That's exactly why I didn't ask you at first, I- I wouldn't want to complicate the chain of command. Just...think about what I said."

"Noted," she said wistfully. "Anything else?"

This time, he took some time before answering. "I guess I do want to add...killing Saren's...what was Benezia anyway? Second-in-command? Advisor? Anyway, I know we didn't exactly get any closer to finding him, but it should at least set him back a bit. And on wherever he was planning to go." He scratched his chin. "Back on the topic of Doctor T'Soni though...I'm sure she's hurting. Poor kid...having to kill your own mom...not something anyone should have to go through."

Memories and doubts better left unsaid suddenly crossed Shepard's mind. "I was already planning to pay her visit while I was down in the med bay." She looked off to the side as the events replayed themselves in her mind. Kaidan seemed to notice something was wrong and was about to ask before she quickly deflected his attention to something else. "...so." She raised an eyebrow at him. "...is Liara really...?"

"Uh talk to you later Commander," Kaidan quickly replied, already walking away at a brisk pace.

A groan escaped my lips as I begun to wake. My head rolled to one side of the pillow, then the other. My vision was blurry, my mouth was dry, and the horrible throbbing going on in my skull did little to help. When I tried to lift a hand to massage it however, I found to my surprise that it was being held down by someone. Straining my eyes to see, I found none other than Dr. Chakwas come into focus above me.

"Finally awake I see."

I groaned again. "Mmmmm...what happened...?"

"I'm beginning to think you're doing this on purpose," the doctor remarked. "What is this now? The fourth time I've found you unresponsive in my care? All this head trauma and you'll end up duller than an Elcor Mister Shield."

As my senses finally began to return, I decided that I was in the med bay. On one of the beds near Liara's office. Chakwas was sitting next to me on a stool, attending to-

I stifled a gasp. My hand.

"I'm sorry," she added, noticing what I had just seen. My hand. My poor, left hand. The half-fingers that had burnt off from the Thresher's acid were down to nubs now. I failed to hide my horror staring at it.

"What-"

"I'm sorry, but the damage done to your hand was quite severe. There was an enormous amount of nerve damage done to what remained, and there was already a build-up of necrotic flesh around the wound, resulting from whatever caustic enzymes were present in that creature's bile. I had to cut away most of the infected area before I could actually treat it."

"Jesus..." I whispered to myself.

"It's not as bad as you might think," Chakwas confided me. "Prosthetics have come a far way in the last decade. I can put you in contact with an Alliance provider for veterans that has a wide-"

"If I got one doc...do you think that I could still fight?" I asked groggily. "Uh...or shoot a gun I mean?"

The doctor looked back up with a hint of sadness in her eyes. Then the conversation from the room adjacent to us started to leak into the med bay. I had planned from the very start to try to be the first one to console Liara about her mother. I didn't think any of the other crew members were exactly the empathetic type save for Tali, and Liara would definitely need someone to help her after the events of today. But...it seemed Shepard had already beat me to the punch. And then some apparently.

"-wanted to know more about you. To understand what made you into the woman you are. There is something compelling about you Shepard."

Dear god...why doesn't a top-secret military space vessel have sound-proof walls...

Dr. Chakwas glanced at me awkwardly. "I believe I need to check something. I'll be right back," she lied while getting up. The conversation from the other room continued to leak in. And the voices were steadily rising.

"Don't try to justify this. You're just obsessed!"

"Obssessed? All I did was look up some information from the extranet! I would hardly call that an obsession!"

I was technically guilty of that too. Though I didn't exactly spend months searching for Shepard's body after her death.

Because when it comes to Shepard Liara, you are VERY obsessed...with Shepard.

I quickly grew uncomfortable as their conversation continued.

"I apologize if I offended you Commander. But you had better get used to this kind of attention. You are the very first Human Spectre. Many will be watching your every action!"

After a short pause, I heard Shepard eventually sigh and apologize. "...you're right. I'm sorry. I guess I might have overreacted." I sighed as well.

Well. Maybe I was wrong. I guess-

"Though your instincts were not completely wrong Commander."

Aaaand of course.

"I did feel some attraction to you. But I was not sure if it would be appropriate to let it grow into something more..." I cleared my throat. "I thought there might already be a relationship. Between you and Lieutenant Alenko."

I coughed again. A little louder this time.

"You want a relationship with me? ...even though we're both women."

"We Asari are mono-gendered, Commander. 'Male' and 'Female' do not have any real meaning for us. We do however have maternal instincts. So perhaps we would fill what you consider a female role."

Liara. Mono-gendered is not asexual. It means you still have one gender. And that gender is female.

But. Regardless. "Cough."

"I'm sorry if this is awkward for you Shepard. I'm only trying to be honest. I feel as if we share some type of...connection. But none of this matters if you are already involved in a serious relationship with Lieutenant Alenko-"

"COUGH."

And finally...silence. Sweet, sweet, blissful silence. A large lull came this time around in their conversation. And then the door to Liara's office suddenly slid open, revealing Shepard, whose face was almost as red as her hair.

"Oh...hey Shepard."

A scowl immediately came across her face. "How long have you been awake?"

"Um...couldn't have been more than a minute," I said while scratching my head and breaking eye contact with her. Though I did happen to notice out of my peripheries that she was looking toward the med-bay doors now.

"Where's Chakwas?"

"Left to...get something. I guess. Didn't really tell me what," I replied sheepishly.

Then Shepard turned her head over her shoulder to the Asari behind her. "Liara, do you think you could shelve our conversation for a later date? I need some time to speak with Shield. Alone."

"Of course Commander," Liara said bobbing her head. She then hurried out of the med-bay with a bright violet hue across her cheeks. Suffice to say, I could clearly tell she was embarrassed. I waited sometime after Liara left though for Shepard to speak. But instead of telling me whatever she had to say, there she simply stood, at the end of my bed, silent. It was only right when I decided to take it upon myself to speak that she interrupted me.

"Why did you do it?"

I glanced to my left, then I glanced to my right. And then I retrained my eyes back on the red-headed woman standing over me. "Why did Iiiii...?"

"Don't get coy with me," she barked, already starting to channel her inner Bruce Banner. "You released the Rachni. Why."

My mouth formed an O.

"I didn't meant to!" I immediately spurted. "It was an accident, Shepard, honest to god, I didn't mean to, I-"

"Don't lie to me Shield!" she suddenly snapped, towering over the foot of my bed.

"I was just trying to help. I-that thing was attacking you and-"

"WHY!?"

I winced as she shouted at me, utterly failing to hide the fear in my eyes I'm sure. For the umpteenth time, I realized how very scary the woman in front of me actually was. In that singular moment, I actually contemplated pretending to faint so that she would just leave me be. Or, hoped that someone would suddenly barge in and distract her with news of a new UNC mission. Or maybe that I could even distract her myself, tell her something that would necessitate her immediate attention. Like how she currently needed to wax her lip.

But in truth, none of those were ever really possibilities. The only real option that was left...was to grow some balls and just tell the truth. For once at least. I honestly didn't know which button would have killed the giant bug or which would have released it when I pressed the purple one...but I was set on which I wanted to do. "...I..." I took a breath, then exhaled slowly and hardened my face. "The Rachni needed to live Shepard."

"You sonuva bitch," she immediately cursed, pushing off the foot of the bed to put some distance between us.

"Hey! The Reapers are out there Commander!" I said propping myself up in response. "Of all people I'd thought you'd know that. The Beacon. The Geth. Saren. The Reapers are coming back! And we're going to need everyone's help to stop them, Rachni included! Every race, eve-"

"The Reapers WON'T come back if we stop Saren," she cut me off simply wrathful. And as I began to protest, she added, "And even if they did Shield, I know for a FACT that the Rachni wouldn't help."

"Wha...we talked to them Shepard! You saw that they're intelligent beings that-"

"No. They were."

I felt my stomach suddenly contort. "...what do you mean, were?"

"We killed the queen before it escaped-"

And I like to think that it was this, that it was at this precise moment that it all finally donned on me. I had brief epiphanies every now and then after some of our 'adventures'...but to be honest those never really lasted longer than an hour. It was at this exact moment that it all really finally clicked for me. After all the misspoken words. All the missteps. All the mishaps. After all the mistakes made. After all the misery. It took a rough month for me to finally take the wool off of my eyes, get out of my sad, vain, little fantasy world - my self-serving, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, self-delusions of grandeur.

But I did it. I now thankfully knew that I was no action hero. Nor was I the indispensable fount of knowledge that I imagined myself to be for the Normandy. I wasn't an inspector, nor a soldier, nor some triple agent working for the Shadow Broker. I wasn't even the main character in whatever lame, half-assed work of fiction I had found myself in. Suffice to say, I finally came to terms with myself that I was a failure.

I was real fucking bad at Mass Effect. And I might have laughed if it wasn't so pathetic.

"-They're gone."

"You-I thought-" I now began to sputter, "-I thought that you said that I released it-"

"Yeah, and we set off the lab's failsafe as soon as you did. We heated the labs and Peak 15 sunk several hundred feet into the ice before it could escape."

"But-"

"We barely got everyone out alive," Shepard finished turning to face the wall behind her, hands on her hips. "But we did it. No thanks to you."

Although dejected...I guess should at least feel some sort of relief of waking up on the Normandy. 'We barely got everyone out alive' apparently still included the traitor laying before her. I fell back down into my sheets and rested my head on the bed's backboard. After a long silence, Shepard turned back around to face me.

"Back when you were in that airlock...you told me you wanted to stop Saren." An unmistakable fire burned in her eyes. "And then you released the very thing he wanted to build an army with! So don't fucking tell me again that you're doing all this for the 'good of humanity'! To stop the Geth! Or the Reapers. Like you even believe that," she spat with hate. "You fuck. I don't know whether you're stupider for thinking that you could manipulate me into doing what you wanted or if you thought you could get away with whatever you wanted to pull...you might not be working for Saren...but you certainly didn't release that monster for our sakes. So you ARE going to tell me who you actually work for, and why the hell you did it." Shepard stared at me as if she was daring me to pull the same shit I had before.

"Give it a fucking rest already!" I had almost shouted back. Because honest to god, the whole shtick was getting real fucking old. Almost as old as the Leviathans at this point. "I don't work for ANYONE Shepard," I wanted to shout back after that accusation. "Yeah, I don't work for Saren. And I don't work for the Shadow Broker either. Nor do I work for Cerberus. Or the Alliance, or the Hegemony, the Hierarchy, the STG, the Primacy, or even that asshole Conrad fucking Verner! In fact, I don't even work for my own god damn self!" Which was true. Everything I did seemed to just explode right back into my face.

Phrasing.

"BULLSHIT!" she would then shout back, causing me to wince. "If you're not an agent of so and so, then tell me why you're here doing this or that then! What other conceivable reasons and/or purpose could you possibly have to be present on this ship!?"

And as she asked that, I would just stare her right back in the eyes and repeat myself. "Like. I. Said. Be. Fore. To stop Saren." And then it would all just go on and on, only stopping once I fed her another lie or misdirection, resulting in me just digging myself deeper and deeper and deeper in. I was just tired at this point. Oh so tired.

After a long silence, I just ended up asking her, "What's the point of all this?" Because I honestly didn't know at this point. Every interaction we had reminded me of a broken record. They were monotonous. Something that was going nowhere new.

With how dismissive my reply sounded, I half assumed she would have flown into a blind rage and bash my head in against the bed's backboard. But instead...the Commander surprisingly just stared back at me with a blank gaze, one that almost seemed as tired as my own. "...Do you remember the conversation we had after X57? When you asked me why I let you aboard the Normandy?"

My lack of response prompted her to continue. "...after all those times I made it clear to you where you stand? I think I told you then it was because of Captain Anderson. How he overvalued your importance." There was a slight waver in her tone as she spoke now. "I realized afterwards that was a lie. I could have thrown you off the Normandy any point between then and now. But I didn't. And so you actually had me asking myself now...'why'?" She mouthed the word silently. "And you know what I realized?" She affixed her eyes back on me. "The reason I let you overstay you're welcome was because of Therum."

I laid there with my mouth probably ajar in response.

"The only absolute thing that keeps order in this galaxy are laws. Laws lead to societies, and these function on principles," she now continued in an even voice after a brief pause. "Traits of merit. Things like honesty, loyalty, and duty. Doing what's just. What's fair. Things of which you know nothing." I looked away as she spoke. "But I do. Back on Therum, you stopped that krogan's charge. And then there was the cave-in. And then..." She trailed off, as both of us knew what the last one was. "I owed you for those," she finished. "It was only fair that I gave you a chance to prove yourself in return. To show that you could be trusted. Then I find out you lied about Cerberus."

"I didn't lie," I meekly replied.

"I view deliberately withholding information as the same. They both mislead the person you're talking to and only suits your own personal agenda. You knew more then you let on and didn't tell us. Which could have saved Kahoku's life."

I looked down coldly at the bed sheets.

"And then came the call after we raided Cerberus." I glanced back up to see she now had true disgust on her face. "You lied about working for the Alliance, and then after we gave you a clean slate, you lied about who you were again. After all that time, we still had no idea who you were. What your motives were, who you were working for." Her fists curled up into balls. "I almost spaced you after the Shadow Broker told us."

"...but-"

"And don't think for a second I bought that bullshit story," she continued. "The only reason you stayed aboard was because of what you said before that...what you said about Saren."

"It was true," I whispered.

"I forgave you once for the lie about Cerberus, even though it cost the Admiral and his marines their lives. Then I forgave you when you lied about working for the Shadow Broker, because I idiotically believed that you might have cared about bringing justice to the bastard we're chasing. But...then came Noveria..."

The events were still fresh in both our minds.

"That's three times I forgave you," Shepard replied. "One for each time you..." She tapered off again. But she quickly recomposed herself before I could speak. "I don't owe you anything anymore. I gave you a chance to prove yourself. And you proved exactly the type of person you are. A fabulist. Someone with no morals. Someone we can't trust."

Trust. That's what needed for a mission to succeed. What she had said last time we met like this.

"Right now we're headed for the Citadel. Once we've relayed our progress and finish restocking the ship there, we'll return to hunting Saren in the Traverse." I didn't need to hear the words that came next. I already knew. "Without you." She turned away and made for the door.

Fair enough I thought while laying back down on my bed, eyes shutting close. I was too tired to do anything else.

Codex Entry:

SSV Normandy Flight Trajectory

"According to their current vector, and with the verification I got from Revenant...they're not heading toward the Feros colony like you predicted Gellix. Not yet anyway."

"Hm?"

"It looks like they're headed towards the Widow Relay."

"I knew it. I was already calling in who we had there."

"Oh, always have to be one step ahead don't you? Looks like you can take it easy then, should be awhile before they're finished doing whatever-"

"Keep your eyes on the navigation chart Rok."

"Alright, alright. Jeez. Just saying...wouldn't hurt for us to take a break once in awhile. Or at least give me one. My pads ache from all the flying around."

"We're on the Shadow Broker's dime. We can't afford to take breaks...Patch me into a buoy. I need to contact Majoris."

Author's Notes:

HA, GOTCHA! I got you guys so good. 'It might be awhile til the next chapter.' You should have seen the looks on your faces! "There's TWO updates?! What the heck!? Stache told us we had to wait." Hahaha, ohhhh gold.

"...we get alerts for every new chapter that comes out. And if that was missed, we would have seen it scrolling down to pick the last one dumbass."

Uh, yeah...right! Next you'll be telling me that there are also an abundance of spelling mistakes in the above. Psshh. Nice try Dan.

But back on topic...HOO BOY, Shield's finally been cut loose! Bad move Shepard! What's to stop him from going apeshit on Saren's ass now?! What will he do to achieve this though? To what lengths will he go?! Will he ever stop!? Even I don't know! Hell, Shield might even just pack up his things and tell the Milky Way to suck it! Have at it Reapers! Andromeda's apparently where it's at now. We might even see him as the franchise's next protagonist! Oh the possibilities! The mystery! The intrigue! Only time will tell what happens to our wayward traveler now!

Prepare yourselves, for this concludes Act Two of A Hero Made: Traversing the Traverse! It's now time for the story's transition into penultimate Act Three: Leaving the Lie.

And since it is still Fun Fact Friday:

Fun Fact - Did you know the desert planet that was featured in the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' trailer is not actually Tatooine, but in fact, a planet named Jakku? And that wHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?! Tatooine was such a pivotal and memorable piece of the Star Wars Saga! It's featured in almost every Star Wars anthology series to date and is the location that the two most central characters to the plot grew up in! We all know Rey's going to be Luke's daughter or niece or long lost cousin twice removed or something so why the hell is she not growing up on Tatooine?! Yeah, sure, there's like a billion other planets in the galaxy, but if you're going to choose a backwater desert planet that's bumfuck nowhere as one of the settings, why wouldn't it be Tatooine?! Oh god the humanity. Did we really need to add another one to the list?! I can only handle so many sand planets! I HATE sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere! Why JJ whyyyyy-

In the Next Chapter: ...alll byyy myyyyyyyselllllf...don't wanna be...alllll byyy myyysellllllf~

Tune in next time on Mass Effective: A Hero Made!