Beskis, Tesc, Sho, Thenvas, and Gesgina stood in the Communication Room of the Normandy on one side of the table with Shepard and Miranda on the other. Shepard had called this meeting to better organize her thoughts and to plan out what they would do with her new guests. The room had been silent since Shepard and Miranda entered. Beskis was checking over his cybernetic arm which thankfully still worked unlike their las-guns. Tesc was completely still and quiet, she was watching over her data defenses in case the AI tried to infiltrate her network. Sho was currently in a form of mediation his former Inquisitor master had taught him. Thenvas just stood there somehow looking more cool than creepy. And Gesgina was going over her data slate. Shepard could only marvel at how well they were all taking this and decided to start with that.

"So…" her guest finally turned their attention to the Commander. "… how the hell can you all be so calm? I mean someone would expect anyone in your situation to… oh I don't know freak out."

"Well…" Beskis was the first to speak. "… I have arrived in a new galaxy with new possibilities, I see this as a great gift. While I leave behind a humanity I have known through my whole life I leave it behind knowing that it will endure and grow stronger because of my actions."

"You sure love your speeches." Shepard said jokingly.

"Yes I suppose so, my regiment in the Guard was famous for their battle speeches."

"Old habits die hard right?"

"Yes indeed."

"What about the rest of you?"

"One day at a time mam, that's how I live." Thenvas answered.

"I have taken an oath to serve General Beskis and the Emperor and I intend to keep my oath no matter what the circumstances are." Gesgina answered.

"To learn, understand, and improve." Tesc simply answered. They all turned to Sho, who sighed at the attention.

"Seem like you have lost the most." Shepard said. "From what I heard you were on the fast track of success and all of that was for nothing."

"It wasn't for nothing. It brought me here. As for why I don't as you put it freak out it is because I still hold the ideals of the Inquisition to heart. I my will shall not break, my faith shall not falter, and I shall root out the enemies of Mankind where ever they may be."

"You might be salvageable after kid." Thenvas said, Sho was about to retort back but decided it be best not to and lose the praise.

"What about your crew and the man in my medbay… oh and the other alien you had with you?"

"My crew will follow me, they are loyal." Beskis said with reinforced certainty. "As for the Astropath…" Beskis and the other four grew uncertain. "I don't know, Astropaths are used for interstellar communication but…"

"What's the problem? What kind communication?"

"The psychic kind."

"What? Like telepathy?" Miranda said, she had been just observing but this had peeked her interest.

"Yes and no, the only way for interstellar communication is through Astropaths, a form of Psyker. Humans born with a connection to the Warp."

"And what is the Warp, you said something about it when talking about traveling through space."

"The Warp or the Immaterium is a parallel reality but not like this one. It is loosely connected to our home reality. It is a realm where all laws of the material universe hold no power. The best and probably most accurate description I have heard came from a Xeno, an Eldar a race that is far older than humans and have had much more times to understand it. She said that the Warp is every single thought or feeling you have ever had, both consciously and sub consciously becomes reality in the Warp."

"That's a really scary thought." Shepard said knowing that if that was true then it could never be a nice place due to all the wars and suffering she had been told about happened in their reality.

"Yes and because the rules of time and space hold no meaning in the Warp it allows for ships to travel great distances in a matter of seconds… or centuries or maybe even years before. But to the original topic… Astropaths are humans that can send messages through the Warp to each other."

"And since there's no Warp here the man is now basically dead weight." Miranda mused outload.

"Miranda! I'm sure we can find some way for him to be useful."

"I agree with the woman." Sho said. "While I knew the man to be a good and honorable one he is in his eyes. He had just said that the man was a comrade and now because he wasn't useful he was willing to just throw him away.

"Commander." Beskis said before Shepard could start yelling then turned to Sho. "Sho, While I too have no love for mutant scum… I don't think your entirely right on this. The Astropath maybe blind and no longer can sever his intended use but we should at the very least wait to see what happens when he wakes up." Shepard calmed down at this and the sight of Sho's face full of humiliation. 'And as for Koith, he works for me and wherever I go."

"Okay… now that we have that out of the way we can get to what this meeting is really about. What to do with all of you."

"I thought that we already…"

"Yes I know you all said you want to work for me but what I'm talking about is how. For… Tesc?"

"Yes."

"You can go down to engineering; my crew will help get you familiar with how the ship works."

"Thank you commander, I shall not fail in my task."

"As for the rest of you… I don't really know what to do with you." At this Thenvas walked over to Shepard.

"Just give me a target and consider it done."

"Ummm… okay?" Shepard said only having vague idea of what he meant.

"Commander." Beskis came in to help the Commander. "He's an assassin, sniper."

"Oh… well I don't have anyone yet but when I do I will let you know." Shepard didn't particularly like the idea of having someone like him working for her this way. She liked the guy himself but the way he spoke when it concerned his work felt too cold to her tastes.

"If that's so then I'll be in my chambers until you call." Thenvas said before giving a quick salute and then leaving the room.

"Um… next?" Shepard said turning first to Sho then shaking her head and then to Gesgina.

"I was the First officer of the Traveler's Luck. I work best as the one between the captain of a ship and the rest of crew relying orders and keeping the crew in peek condition."

"Well I already have an XO… I like to stay in touch with all of my crew but that last one I like. I think I could use a chief of staff." Gesgina nodded at this content with this job.

"Looks like you've been promoted to Commissar, Gesgina."

"Ha, like I could hold a candle up to them."

"Another inside joke I take it." Shepard said trying to get another piece of their galaxy out of them.

"Commissars, or political officers as they are officially called." Beskis started. "Their job is to moral up and to make sure that the job of the Guard is not in danger from within. They keep the command focused and the troops running at the enemy and not away, most often through an on field execution of said deserters." Beskis' face and posture turned a little smug. "My regiment only ever needed one Commissar."

"Well of course, the Fire Walkers sergeants can pull an eight-page battle speech out from their ass. There's no time to run away when they're too busy listening to a useless speech." Sho snorted.

"Hey! The 713th Rothen Fire Walkers regiment is second to only the Mordian Iron Guard and the Cadian Shock Troops in battle field discipline!" Beskis proudly defended his regiment that Shepard knew could only come from a true soldier.

"Okay enough." Shepard said to calm the situation down with a smile, she slightly wanted this to keep going. In her head she played out a cartoon version of Beskis and Sho with Beskis beating Sho like a rag doll. "You two can work with me, and your Alien friend too."

"Ah Shepard…" Joker said over the intercom. "… the big ball… ship thing has begun moving out of the path of fiery destruction but the Traveler's Luck is about to hit the star's gravity." At this Shepard, Beskis, Tesc and Gesgina all walked out of the room and over to the cockpit of the Normandy. They all looked out on the sight of the massive ship as it lurched towards the star.

"Holy Emperor…" Gesgina said as the bow of the ship crashed in to the plasma of the star's surface. The ship soon began to crack under the gravity and parts soon began breaking off. They hurdled into the star crashing in to it. The ship began turning on its side as the pull of the caused even more of the ship to crash in to it. By the time ten minutes had passed by the last visible parts of the Traveler's Luck sunk in to the star. The Normandy's cockpit was still, no one knew what to say. This was broken by EDI

"Shepard…" EDI's voice had a noticeably sadden tone. "… the Tau colony ship wishes to speak with you and the captain." Beskis sighed at being called that.

"Commander, tell the program that that title can longer apply to me."


Koith was waiting in the Tau's communication deck with the leaders of each of the five castes. To his right was the leader of the Fire Caste, Shas'El T'au Kes'par. The Tau was surprising thin for someone of his rank, but the most on the man noticeable feature was the two scars that ran the length of his face and Koith was told down the rest of his body. to the right of Kes'par was the leader of the Water Caste, Por'El Es'Tau Braarn. Her features were softer and from what Koith thought almost human. And to the right of her was the leader of the Air Caste Kor'El Ho'sarn Reshith, the smallest out of the group and by far the most relived that the ship was now safe. And to her right was Fio'El T'au Fral'nera, and this man was just like the rest of his caste square jawed and stocky and Koith had a small suspicion that he might know what happened and where they were now by the way he had been acting. And finally there was Aun'El Vior'la Sio'na of the Ethereal Caste, the leader caste. They were all waiting for the return of the message they had sent Normandy. The waiting was over once the Holo-pad starting booting up. The image of the Commander and Beskis stood in front of the Tau leaders.

"Greetings leaders of the Castes of Tau." Beskis said with a slight bow. "Allow me to introduce Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy." Shepard gave a humble nod not wanting to yes anything to offend the Tau, she didn't have the best track record with Politicians. She was surprised by these aliens, the looked somewhat human. Other than their hoofed feet their bodies seemed to be human, their skin looked blue like the Asari though more gray in color and leathery in texture. But this faces were distantly nonhuman with a flatter face but wide around the eyes and a slit running down from their lower forehead to where their nose should be, the males' slit seem to be a straight line while the females' was in the shape of a Y.

"Captain, I offer my sincere condolences on the loss of your ship." Sio'na said, neither Shepard or Beskis could tell if he meant it. "And I am sure I have you to thank for saving us from the same fate as your ship. But what I must what caused this disaster."

"Well… here's the thing Ethereal, it would seem our mission gained the attention of those that are our far better. The Emperor of Mankind looked upon us during our travel through the Warp." The Tau leaders looked almost like they were confused or disinterested.

"What does your leader have to do with our mission." Sio'na said trying to keep respectful, he knew how seriously the humans took their so called God-Emperor.

"Your mission was to develop a fail-safe colony correct?"

"That is correct but once again what does this have to do with the damage your ship sustained?"

"It would seem you got more than you bargained for." Shepard said trying to get to the answer the alien wanted. "The ship was damaged while traveling between realities."

"And she's not talking about the Warp and Realspace either."

"What are saying?!" The Earth Caste leader demanded. Koith knew that the man had some idea, he had been working on the scanning equipment for some time before this meeting.

"I'm saying that my Emperor gifted me with a reality in which mankind is able to attain peace for the discovery of the STC fragment that contained the plans for Warp free space travel." At this all of the Tau were shocked, they had no idea that such a wondrous thing was in their hands and that they were going to give it to the Imperium. "And the Emperor gifted you with a reality that could work even greater as a haven for your race." And at these words they realized that what he said was true, their mission was still the same just now in another plane of existence.

"If this is all true then… our mission still stands, we must find a suitable world to colonize and soon." Aun'El said taking control of the room.

"Commander Shepard here is a native of this reality and has offered her help in doing this."

"Is that so, Por'El."

"Yes my lord Ethereal?" Braarn said as she took a step forward.

"You return with the Tarellian to the human's ship and converse with Commander Shepard so we may learn more about this reality on our way to a suitable world. Once we reach such a world you will return to oversee the Water Caste. Commander is there a viable world in which one might colonize near here?"

"I believe there is here in this system." A map of the Galaxy came up between the two sides. it zoomed in on the north west area of the galaxy until the Normandy and the Tau's colony ship came in to view. It was only then that Shepard saw the whole ship although it looked more like a space station, just a little under half the size of the Citadel. The map moved over to one of the four planets. The one it showed was covered by either deep green seas or lush jungles though one continent was mostly dessert. "You're lucky you appeared here, I have a feeling you guys don't have a FTL drive."

"Fio'El…" The Ethereal turned to the Earth Caste leader. "… It would seem this galaxy has a means of transport we don't have, there may be other technologies we may be able to barter but I would prefer if you would develop our own. Be sure to find ways for our current equipment to work here."

"Yes Ethereal."

"Commander, if I may ask you a question before we conclude this exchange."

"Sure."

"Beskis stated that here in this reality mankind had a chance at peace, what does he mean by that?"

"Mankind in this reality tries to work together with aliens and for the most part would not want to be at war unless forced."

"I see… then they would be will to work with us?"

"Carful Commander, he's probing you to see if humans would join the Tau under their Greater Good." Beskis warned Shepard before hand about the Tau's ambition towards other races. That they would in his worlds Sweet Talk human worlds into join their empire and leaving the Imperium.

"There is no need for alarm." This caused the other Tau leaders and Beskis to look at Sio'na with a mix of shock and confusion. "Our mission here is to survive not to expand. Once we make contact with the larger Galaxy we will integrate rather than dominate, we will negotiate balanced borders and hold them."

"Throne, I never thought I see the day. The Tau knowing when not to bite the hand that feeds them." Beskis said, he was actually quite worried about that.

"I think we have said all that is needed to be said." Sio'na said ignoring the comment from Beskis.


Shepard was currently sitting across from the Tau's Water Caste leader. Koith had come back to the Normandy with her and she wasted no time in getting Shepard to begin telling her about what she knew about galactic politics, which Shepard was not a fan of, the different cultures and races, and humanity. The woman seemed very interested in what Shepard had to say. But he meeting hadn't started off very well, the first thing the Tau asked was why Shepard found her attractive. This had caused Shepard to choke on the protein bar she was eating, being a biotic meant she had to eat more than most people. Beskis had warned Shepard that the Water Caste had an uncanny ability to know just what to say and act to get what they wanted and they also could tell what you were thinking by the smallest facial expressions and body language. Once Shepard regained some composer but not much she had to explain that the Tau reminded her somewhat to a race called the Asari and that her partner was one. This had caused a mess of unneeded emotions to start building up. All through the meeting Shepard could only think about one thing and what was worse was that she had to with the fact that the person sitting across from her could tell and had annoyingly begun to skew the direction of the conversion to the Asari. Shepard was thankful saved because when the question began getting even closer to what she was dreading, Miranda came over having noticed what was going on said Shepard was needed in the armory and that anymore question the Tau had she could answer them. Shepard stood up and after quietly thanking Miranda walked back to the elevator. She quickly pressed for deck one and waited for the doors to open. She walked through them once they had opened and into her cabin, it was improvement of her last room in the previous Normandy but to her sometimes there wasn't a need for an improvement. She didn't need much space. She walked over to her terminal and just stared at it.

"Should I? it seems like something that should be done in person. The Illusive Man said she was working as a info broker so maybe she know… and if I don't message her it might look rude. But, I really don't want to… is she mad, is she worried, does she want to jump my bones?" Shepard's brain was a jumbled mess of sexual frustration and personal anguish. In an effort to gain a clearer mind Shepard decided to take a cold shower.

"What she doing?" Beskis thought hidden from view on the lower couch in Shepard's cabin. At the sound of Shepard clothes being removed and the water in the shower turning on Beskis figured out what was going on. "My my, I seem to be in quite advantageous position right now. Should I or should not… on one hand I get too see a beautiful woman with no garments on and the other hand… no wait… no Chaos gods which means… whoa, I love this new reality. But this is Shepard… she's going to shoot me. I don't want to be shot but I don't to leave… I'll turn off my eyes." Beskis smiled as he hung his head back waiting for Shepard to finish while her focused on turning off the impulses coming to his eyes.

"Ah… that's much better. I can think a little clearer…" Shepard thought as the cool water ran down her face and body. "The first thing I should do is finish things up with the Tau, after that I'll head to Omega, not too excited about seeing the Council, I know I have too at some point have to tell them their favorite Spectre is back. Sparatus will be so happy." At that thought Shepard turned the water off. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her waist and walked out to her cabin. "I wonder if Omega has any fish I could put in that tank." Shepard thought as she walked down to the lower side of her cabin not noticing the man on her couch.

"About time you finished." Beskis said causing Shepard to yelp with alarm. "Did you just…"

"No. No I did not." Shepard then remembered that she was half naked. Shepard quickly grabbed the blanket off her bed to cover herself. "What the hell are you doing here?" Shepard demanded.

"I wanted to ask you if there was a way for me and my crew to familiarize with this galaxy without you going to each and every one of us and explain things. And don't worry I turned off my eyes."

"You can do that?" Shepard said relaxing a little bit.

"Yes… so your womanly splendor shall not be defiled by my unworthy male eyes." Beskis said with overinflated drama to make a joke.

"I still do not like the fact you didn't tell me when I came in."

"I didn't hear you until the water had started running."

"Well, that's better… you all can have access to the extranet, it's a network of public information." Shepard said as she started to clothe herself.

"I'm sure Tesc would not like the idea of free information for any to see."

"By the way, is something going on between you two? Because the way you say each other's name reminds me of the way that I… the way I heard other people say the name of their, significant other."

"No…" Beskis slightly laughed. "… no, me and Tes… Rogon are just…'

"You almost said her name like before."

"Rogon and I are simply comrades. Nothing more nothing less."

"I think you protest to much." Shepard said as she zipped up her suit. "There, you can see if you want to."

"Thank you, now if we can quit with the useless gossip." Beskis turned the signal block on his eyes off. His first sight was the ceiling, he looked back down to see Shepard in her normal black and white uniform, there had been something orange on it but it had been scratched off. Shepard's body fit the uniform quite well in Beskis' opinion, her figure was something to hope for by most woman. Her face just as attractive, there were a few cybernetic scars but they had started to fade. Her red hair covered part of her face but it worked in her favor. "Now this extranet, if you could guide me through it I could help the others."

"Fine, come over here." Shepard sighed and walked up to her desk and after quickly facing the picture of Liara down before Beskis could see it she turned on his terminal. After pulling up a fresh page she sat back up and motioned for Beskis to sit.

"Thank you… oh it's like an archive interface."

"Yeah just type into the search engine and it will bring up the most relevant data." At this Beskis smiled.

"So if I type in this…" Beskis typed in Shepard's name and Shepard just gowned. "Okay the first site is… what is… Wikipedia? I'm not familiar that term." Shepard laughed at this.

"It's an all purpose site holding any and all information, but it's made by the public. They do fact checking and you need to site sources so it is generally accurate."

"So this holds your public information, how dangerous but I guess in this galaxy information is not as dangerous." Beskis said as he started to read the page.

"Well I wouldn't say that, governments still hold secrets and if information wasn't so valuable then the Shadow Broker would go broke."

"I said not as… you were born on Holy Terra?" After showing how Beskis clicked on the link to Shepard's world's page. What Beskis read caused a great flood of joy to fill his soul, this was Holy Terra not covered in grand cathedrals and towering spires but of green and blue. People there never had to worry of being trampled by pilgrims, the lived out lives and felt joy as well as sadness in equal measure.

"Yeah… I was born on earth but… I wouldn't say I had the best childhood though."

"Yes it says you were an orphan, raised on the streets… like an underhive rat. Though I highly doubt your childhood was as bad as the underhives. You joined the military two days after you were eligible, not the worst way to get away from the gangs and scum." He could hear Shepard's announce at that comment with a sharp click of the tongue, he pulled up the Alliance window and after Shepard got rid of the recruitment adds, it was sill nice to see some things don't change no matter what reality you are in, he was able to read about the nation of man's military. What he saw was decent for this galaxy but down right puny compared to the Guard let alone the Astartes. "After that you did well, normal soldier until you were selected for N7…"

"Top ranked soldiers, best of the best."

"Ah… human Astartes."

"What?"

"Never mind… oh, I just realized I'll never again see a drop pod assault, a glorious sight to see. Oh well, after that you continued your military career and then came the Skyllian Blitz where you fought a Xeno threat called the Batarians." Beskis clicked on the link and found he was somewhat relieved that there was one Xeno race humanity could fight, keeps them from going soft.

"Fucking slavers and pirates, I lead the push back single handedly."

"You and I need to exchange war stories. After that not much until you were assigned to the Normandy… but it wasn't this one."

"Yeah the first one I was telling you about."

"Ah yes the one that blew up in front of you. your first mission ended in a failure with a dead Spectre…" Beskis looked up at Shepard.

"There are like the Council's Inquisitors or at least I think so."

"I think the comparison is as good as we are going to get. Dead Spectre and this Prothean Beacon was destroyed." He clicked on the link to the Prothean page, they was like Eldar but extinct and they didn't sparkle. "You accused another Spectre Saren Arterius, a Xeno called a Turian of causing the attack on Eden Prime and killing the other Spectre." Beskis then pulled the Turian page up, this one had him worried, an almost avian looing race that was heavily militaristic and had fought with humanity… but humanity won. As proper. "You did find the evidence even after the Council dismissed your initial claim. They made you the first human Spectre and sent you after the traitor. So humanity is not on this Council, surely you would not have been the first if that was not so?"

"It is now after we saved the Council."

"I see, after that went around the galaxy looking for Saren, what happened is classified…" Beskis looked up at Shepard looking for answered.

"I'll tell you some other time, keep going." She wasn't in the mood to go down memory lane.

"Very well, after some time you found out Saren's plot and foiled it, saving the council in the process and earning the respect of the galaxy."

"Well most of it."

"Never shall our heroes be for our enemies, after that you spent some time cleaning up the synthetics know as the Geth…" Beskis was about to click on the link but stopped. "Tell me abou the Geth."

"Why me, why not the page."

"You said that this is publicly formed, living beings will never understand the machine, the Mechanicus have been trying to do that for millennia and still have not reach that goal in it's entirety. You have fought them and so you have a clearer picture of them."

"No, I really don't. the only things you need to know is that they overthrew their creators and haven't been outside their territory until the mess with Saren."

"I see…" Beskis returned his attention to the terminal "You were cleaning up the Geth but then… you were killed in action? But how? you are standing right here."

"Cerberus. They rebuilt me, they spent a fortune bring me back from the dead." There was an uneasy silence that followed this. "Is that something that is going to be a problem?"

"I know it shouldn't but it is, I know that without the Warp the likelihood of souls existing in this reality is slim but… you died so I can I know the thing standing here is the same being that saved those people in the Blitz." Shepard was lost, this was a question she had asked herself but had no real answer. It wasn't like she was religious to her she would just be the best person she could be and let what ever happen when she died happen, like that turned out well. she didn't remember anything after she died in space, but then it came to her she wasn't religious but Beskis was and she had met his god and he seemed to think that Shepard was Shepard.

"Well your Emperor seemed to think so." That had Beskis thinking, this was true, the Emperor had spoken to her when she was needed to be convinced. If the God-Emperor thought that this was the same Shepard, then it had to be true.

"Very well Shepard, I shall take the Emperor's word for it." Beskis was about to get up having thought he had gotten the hang of this extranet but stopped when something caught his eye, a tab on the page marked Personal Life. A big smile grew on Beskis face. "Well what have we here?" Shepard tried pushing Beskis out of the chair but he wouldn't budge. What happened next was a life for life grudge match in which two opponents interlocked in single combat. The battle was monstrous with both side clashing to gain power over the other. Beskis holding Shepard back while reading out loud the page on her personal life which to Shepard's surprise was pretty god damn long for a Wikipedia page and Shepard trying to force Beskis out so she could shut the terminal down. Beskis finally relented and was thrown over off the chair, Shepard closed the terminal out and took a deep breath of victory. "Wow commander I would have never thought you go so far… to take on a Xeno lover." Beskis more joked than accused. It wasn't something he had expected from Shepard but he did of this galaxy. He knew that such things were considered the lowest of the low in the Imperium but things were different outside the Imperium's borders. He himself had taken a Xeno or two to his bedchamber, this had most certainly caused at least three of the five investigations the Inquisition performed on him. He did so love that Warrant of Trade at times. Shepard said nothing only looking at Beskis the same way he had seen criminals size up a mark, deciding whether or not it was worth it. She had heard his tone and she knew he was not judging and this had caused her confusion. "Would it help you if I say I approve."

"What? But the way you talk about aliens…"

"Don't get me wrong, I approve but some of my crew and certainly not Sho would. To do something like this would be heresy in the Imperium, but we are not in the Imperium."

"No we are not. So how did you figure it out? We weren't exactly public with our relationship."

"The look in your eyes, the looks you two shared could only come from lovers, but what really did it was the look on the Xeno's"

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't call her that." Beskis could see the pure anger building in Shepard from the use of that word on someone she clearly loved.

"Very well, the look on the Asari's face at your funeral that only proves what you to felt for each other. I have seen it many times, the look when you know you will never again feel their embrace again, or the warmth of their face against yours. It is universal or in this case tras-universal." Beskis got back up and placed a reassuring hand on Shepard's shoulder. "Do not worry Shepard I will keep your secret… so long as you keep mine." Beskis said this last part as he walked away toward the elevator.


Author's Notes

To the two people who claimed this is heresy... it is fucking not. the Emperor put his golden stamp of approval on Beskis and his crew.

thank you all for reading and please review, I can't know if I'm doing good or not unless someone tells me. or my what little I have self-confidence will go hey they aren't reviewing I must be doing something wrong. so please I need feed back.