The field where the Normandy had come to rest was a bustle of activity. Prefabs had been set up all over the place, including temporary labs and medical tents. Alliance and asari personnel crawled like ants over the site.

The ship herself was still leaning at a drunken angle where she'd come to rest. Melara, standing at the portal of the Alliance shuttle, had to suppress a wince as she saw her.

Huge swathes of the ship's plating were scorched black, scarred or torn away altogether. More than one gaping hole had been ripped in her sides, and through them she could see workers moving on the inner decks, preparing her for the dry dock tow.

She felt a hand slip into hers and shook her head.

"Seeing the reports, I knew it was going to be bad, but this…"

"I know," Dae said softly, "but she survived. And so did her captain."

"Joker saved her…and me," Mel said. "We owe him a lot."

"That's a hell of a ship," Ash said, looking out the next port as well as the shuttle made its final approach.

"She is. Is there no Normandy in your volume?" Mel asked, looking at her.

Ash shook her head. "There's an Alliance vessel named Normandy, but she's an old troop transport. Nothing like this one. Nothing like the one your Shepard captained. I saw the vids, and the reports, and I still can't wrap my head around it. Your Shepard was one tough bitch, that's for sure."

Mel smiled faintly, her eyes shifting toward Liara. "That she was. So was our Ashley."

Ash looked at her and gave a thin smile, and a nod of gratitude.

The shuttle touched down. As the door swung open, three figures approached. Mel stepped down and reached out, taking Joker's hand and then drawing him in and giving him a firm slap on the back.

"Joker…thank you."

"Hey, you know I'd die before I let anything happen to my girl," he grinned.

"You'd better mean the ship," Dae teased, smiling at him.

"I'd rather not be tied in biotic knots, so yeah," he said.

Ashley, Irie, and Liara disembarked as well. Red was one of the others waiting, the quarian staying quietly back until Ashley got a look at her. She blinked.

"Holy hell! I knew they were out of their suits here but…"

"Honey, you might want to close your mouth before you catch flies," Red said with irritation. Ashley colored, her mouth snapping shut.

"Sorry, I just…"

"I know, doll. Where you come from quarians are still suit rats."

Ashley's embarrassment turned to anger. "Actually, sweetheart, where I come from quarians are at extinction levels, thanks to a manufactured plague that spread through their Flotilla-"

"That is enough," Liara said, her calm but firm voice immediately halting both women. "Red-"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who was staring like an idiot," Red replied. Liara just looked at her.

"I was going to ask you if you would mind lending a hand. Irie may need your help with the archway."

"Oh. Well, aren't I blushing now then?" Red said, sounding a bit chagrined. "Sure. Happy to help…I take it we're going to try and open it to get our guest here home again?"

"That is part of the goal," Irie said.

The third person who had been waiting stepped forward, offering his hand to Irie. "Dr. T'Soni, I'm Dr. Bowman. My team will also be assisting you with your efforts- Admiral Tonaki's orders."

"Yes, I was expecting you."

"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to where we have the archway secured."

The group followed, Ash staying in the back with Melara and Daenys. "What's her problem?" she asked, nodding toward Red who was near the front.

"That is just the way she is," Daenys said charitably. "Try not to take it personally."

"She used to be a merc, and she's got a very loose definition of what is moral and what isn't," Mel said, a bit less charitably. Then she grudgingly added, "Still, she saved your life. She and Athena were the ones that found you floating."

"I owe her a thank you, then," Ashley replied.

They reached a very heavily guarded pair of prefabs, one connected to the other. Bowman lead the way inside. Yet more guards were within, along with computers, equipment, and more than a handful of what could only be Bowman's eggheads.

Most of this was crammed into the first prefab. The second was nearly empty, save a bit of equipment and a pair of guards flanking a sealed iron box surrounded by a barrier that could only contain the archway they'd been transporting.

"We're taking no chances," Bowman said as they entered. "Beyond the metal box and the barrier and the guards, we have two turrets aimed directly at the archway. There, and there."

He gestured up in the corners of the second prefab, indicating the small turrets that had been mounted. "Unless they're given a direct order not to, they will fire on anything that comes out of that arch," he said. "Also, the box itself is rigged to explode if it is tampered with without the kill-code. The prefabs themselves can be blown if necessary."

"That would kill hundreds of people," Liara said. "An explosion big enough to be sure of the archway's destruction would make a crater of this entire field."

"Yes, I know," he said. "But that's far preferable to an army pouring through. My understanding is you have some help coming?"

This was directed at Irie. She nodded.

"We have resources-artificial intelligences who are contemporary to and familiar with this technology. I have been in contact with EDI and she assures me she is bringing several and whatever resources we need from Nakira. They should be here by late this afternoon. In the meantime, I can run some tests, see if perhaps molecular vibrational frequency alterations between our two universes might help pinpoint Ash's home volume."

Bowman blinked at her. "You know, I hadn't thought of that…"

They started talking, and Mel resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "There they go, off being smart," she said, then looked at Dae. "I want to go have a closer look at the Normandy, help with the towing preparations if I can."

"You are still under orders to take it easy," Daenys reminded her.

"I know, which is why you'll want to come along with me, make sure I behave myself."

Her wife smiled and nodded, and Mel grinned, then looked over at Liara. "Mama, we're going to inspect the Normandy and maybe lend a hand."

"I understand. I will remain here and help Irie as well. Ashley-"

"Ashley needs to stay," Irie said, glancing over as she overheard. "We will need some molecular scans to help us out. Our first efforts will likely be opening pinhole Folds, just big enough to let data streams through…perhaps extranet files. She could help us discern from those if we have connected to her home or not."

"Guess I'm staying then," Ashley said with a shrug.

"Very well. Just don't go home without giving us a chance to say goodbye first," Melara said. Ash nodded.

"I promise."

Eír and her little ship had crossed half the distance between their starting point and the odd alien signal before Zyara sat up a bit, regarding her displays even more intently than she had been. At her motion, Eír as well straightened.

"What is it?"

"We are finally picking up the source of the signal on our long range scan. It is a…Goddess…"

Eír was immediately worried. The first time she had met the Wolf, Eír had been in the process of tearing apart Afterlife in an attempt to get at Aria. In truth, it had actually been a failed attempt at suicide but in the end, Aria had offered her a job rather than kill her. Zyara had been in the Afterlife that day, sitting at the bar. While Eír tore apart squad after squad of Aria's men, filling the air with gunfire and biotics, Zyara had never once moved from her seat. She sat there, continuing her meal and her drink as if nothing was going on, only occasionally shifting to avoid being hit by flying debris or a pitched body.

That had always been Zyara. Nothing ever seemed to shake her unflappable calm, so to hear her utter even a mild word in concern set all of Eír's alarms going off.

"What is it? What are you seeing?"

Zyara took the scan information and transferred it to the main display. "It is a ship," she said. "So far, only a single ship."

Eír's eyes widened as she saw the image displayed in front of her. "That is a ship?"

The largest ship in the galaxy was the Destiny Risen. Forty years ago, it had replaced the aging Destiny Ascension as the asari High Command's flagship and the largest vessel in operation- it was thirty percent larger than the Ascension had been, boasting a crew compliment of over twenty thousand.

This ship, the alien vessel that now appeared on their scopes, looked like it could swallow the Destiny Risen without chewing, and leave room to have the Ascension for dessert.

"It is reading at least 32 kilometers in length, 17 in width," Zyara said, her voice oddly distant and hollow.

"It must have a crew compliment of at least two hundred thousand," Eír said. "Perhaps millions if it has artificial intelligences like the Pio in its systems."

"I have no eezo core readings," Zyara said, still scanning.

"Not surprising, I don't think, considering."

"True, however it also is not emitting plasma energy readings like the exo-galactic relays. I cannot say for certain, however I believe it is charged on the ambient radiation in dark space…perhaps also utilizing solar energy charged and stored in massive batteries, in place of an actual engine core."

"It doesn't look like the ship we found in the ice," she said. "It doesn't have that sleek, organic look to it. This was clearly built."

"Perhaps the Senate has moved away from using cyber-biological technology in its ship designs?"

"Or perhaps this isn't the Senate," Eír said, then turned her head. "Weeks, come here please. We have the alien ship on scope."

The salarian appeared from the rear of the vessel, where he had been working on the coordinate translation and the strange 'message' that had first indicated the alien ship's presence. As he caught sight of the display, he blinked.

"That is…amazing," he said in a low voice. "Are we reading any other vessels?"

"Not so far. She appears to be alone."

"Wouldn't matter," he murmured thoughtfully. "One ship like that, could wipe out a fleet. An entire armada…surrender would be our only hope."

"Have you had any luck deciphering the message that was sent?"

"No, very little," he replied. "Would take accomplished linguist decades to unravel, if it were even possible. However, I have a thought."

"I'm open to anything right about now," Eír said.

"Transmit full dictionary and Galactic lexicon to the alien ship," Weeks said. "Give them our language. If they are as advanced as suspected, they will be able to decipher it quickly, communicate with us in Galactic easily…if communication is truly their objective."

"And if not, we really haven't lost anything," Eír nodded. "Do it. Let's see if these guys are willing to talk."

It took only a few minutes to compile and then transmit the Galactic lexicon to the alien vessel. Eír then sent off another short message to Grunt containing all their scan data, just in case the worst happened.

For the next hour after transmission, they continued on in silence, repeating their sensors scans every few minutes and continuing to slowly close the distance between them and the leviathan.

Then, things changed.

"The signal has vanished," Zyara said. "They are no longer sending out their ping."

"There's no need any more, they know we can see them on sensors," Eír said.

"Perhaps, but…no. No, the ship is speeding up."

"What?"

"It is no longer moving at cruising speed, it has hit FTL. It will arrive at these coordinates in fifteen minutes."

"Full stop," Eír said. Weeks hurried up to them.

"Should we ready weapons?"

"What would be the point?" she asked. "We'd be poking a varren with a needle, they wouldn't even notice…or they'd just take it as a sign we don't want to talk and just obliterate us. No, we dare not make any such moves. We need to wait and see what they do."

"And hope they don't just run us over on their way to the relays," Weeks mumbled.

It was the longest fifteen minutes Eír could ever remember spending. Every sixty seconds, Zyara would report the time, the ship's oncoming speed and course- neither of which wavered in the slightest. Eír kept running over any options she could think of, feeling herself growing more afraid and helpless with each passing minute. All the strategy and strength in the universe wasn't going to help them now. Whatever happened, whatever they did, they were completely at the mercy of the alien vessel.

Thoughts moving swiftly, she suddenly opened up a program and began to work. Zyara, perhaps sensing her bondmate's emotions, looked over at her.

"What are you doing?"

"I am rigging our engines to overload on a kill-signal," she said. "If they're hostile and by chance they take us aboard, we can blow the ship."

"Would do little good," Weeks said. "Damage to them would be minimal, even if we were within their vessel when the core goes critical."

"I don't care. It still sends a message. We would rather fight and die than just give up. They may be able to wade through whatever we can throw at them but by the Goddess, we are going to throw it at them all the same."

She finished her work quickly. "Signal wavelength is alpha three, followed by omega nine. If any of us send that signal on our omni-tools the engine safeties will shut down and the core will go critical in less than two minutes."

"They will be on our position in sixty seconds," Zyara said, and glanced at the view screen.

The time seemed to go past almost instantly, and yet after an ice age at the same time. One moment, there was nothing but the pitch black of nothingness outside the view screen, expansive and unbroken. The next, their view was filled with a huge wall of metal that seemed to stretch into eternity itself as the ship dropped out of FTL at a close but admittedly safe distance from the tiny transport.

Almost the same moment it appeared, their console lit up again. This time, a voice spoke in perfect Galactic.

"We welcome you."

Eír exchanged looks with Zyara and Weeks, then reached out and almost tentatively touched the comm.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Are you the Senate?"

There was a pause, then the voice returned. "The Senate you are referring to no longer exists, as such. This ship is -"

The 'words' that followed were a garble of clicks and a low hiss, similar to the sounds that had filled the air when the signal had first struck the transport back near the relay. It was clear it didn't translate, or perhaps the speaker could find no Galactic equivalent to its meaning.

Eír shook her head, confused. "Is that your ship name, or the name of your people?" she asked.

"It was intelligent of you to send your language lexicon for us to utilize," the voice said. "We thank you for this. The information has been absorbed, however it will take time to integrate fully. We apologize for the miscommunication. We mean you no harm, but there is much we must discuss. We invite you aboard our vessel, as such conversation would be better served in person."

Eír's eyes darkened thoughtfully, then she nodded. "Just me."

"Eír," Zyara whispered softly, but Eír held up her hand.

"As you wish," the voice replied.

"A small pod will leave this ship in the next few minutes. I will be on it," she said.

"We will be ready," the voice replied, and then the communication vanished.

Eír got up from her seat and headed into the back where the pod was docked, Zyara rising and following her. "Going alone solves nothing. We are in as much danger out here as aboard that vessel."

"I know, but it's all I can do," Eír said. She opened the pod, then looked at the Wolf. "If something happens, try and run. If you can't, blow this ship."

Zyara reached out, touching her cheek gently. "Go with the Goddess."

Eír smiled weakly, then leaned forward and kissed her a moment. "Back soon," she said, then turned and ducked into the pod.

The tiny pod was meant to be little more than an escape pod, but it could be manually driven to some extent. Eír guided it toward the alien vessel, with no idea where she should be aiming. As she suspected it would, it didn't end up mattering- as soon as she was clear of the transport, her controls were taken over and the pod began to fly itself.

Soon, it was swallowed into the giant ship, settling to a deck in a featureless room before its small engine died. The computers showed breathable atmo, so she carefully opened the hatch and climbed out.

There was nothing there. The room was almost completely smooth, with no visible doorway. Even the portal the pod had flown through was gone.

"Hello?"

"Hello."

She turned around. An asari was standing behind her, watching her with the quiet serenity of any Matriarch. Eír blinked, then shook her head.

"That's not possible."

"We are not of your kind," the asari said, in the same voice as had addressed them on the transport. "This is not my actual body. I am a light projection and I have chosen an avatar of your species to seem more familiar."

"Show yourself as you really are," Eír said. "I can handle it, trust me."

The asari inclined her head, then shimmered. In its place stood what looked to be a cousin of the rachni-a large, dark insectoid with heavy armor and a thickly segmented tail. Eír took a step back.

"Our appearance alarms you," the bug said.

"No, your species alarms me. You are brasa."

The alien said something that sounded closer to 'trkrasa,' then sounded amused as it continued, "but your mispronunciation is expected given your linguistic capabilities. We will use your vernacular. Yes. I myself am brasa. This ship belongs to my people."

"But you're not Senate."

"No. The ancient Senate has long gone," it said. "It is interesting that you have as much information as you do, but what you understand is much out of date. Please, forgive the fact I do not speak to you in person, and the starkness of your surroundings."

"It's expected," she said. "You consider us infected. You don't want to get it all over your ship."

"Something to that effect," it said. "Do you have a name?"

"Eír. You?"

Another sound that was impossible to say. The bug looked almost chagrined by it. "In my tongue it means 'cheerfully on the wind'. I suppose an adequate equivalent would be 'Blithe'. You may call me Blithe."

"Blithe, then."

"Does your name have deeper meaning?" Blithe asked.

"It means 'mercy'," Eír said, not able to help the deep pang of irony. Her mother had named her for a Valkyrie whose name meant 'mercy', but she created Eír to be anything but.

"Mercy. I understand," Blithe replied. "We have quite a problem, Eír. We are still trying to understand it ourselves."

"I don't think I quite follow. That we have a problem is inarguable. But you are still trying to understand it…?"

"With your permission, it would be easier to show you." Blithe said. Not entirely sure what she was agreeing to, Eír nodded.

"All right, show me then."

"There will be some disorientation," Blithe warned. A breath later, Eír reeled as the entire universe around her abruptly vanished.