They still had a bit of time before EDI would arrive with the resources and the Pio she had promised. In the meantime, they had worked nonstop-scanning Ashley down to an atomic level and attempting to fine tune the anchor gate to open a fold that was only a few millimeters in diameter…large enough for a signal to pass through, but not enough to be taken advantage of by any hostile life form.

It was getting near to evening when Irie finally decided to test opening this miniscule fold. A team of armed marines stood by, weapons ready and aimed at the archway as the metal case was removed. The shimmer of the barrier was still in place.

"Mama, I'm going to take down the full barrier," Irie said, looking over at Liara. Sam had joined them an hour before and stood nearby. "I want you to create a biotic barrier over the archway, leaving the top inch of the open area bare. Sam, I want you ready to replace the barrier in case Mama has to drop it for any reason. Can you do that?"

"Absolutely."

"Just give me the word," Liara said, moving into position as her daughter pointed, then looked at her console.

"I am going to open a fold six millimeters in diameter in the inch of space that is left open," she said. "I have fine-tuned it to what I hope is Ashley's volume, but I do not expect this initial experiment will be successful in that particular endeavor. We are working with too many unknowns. I will leave the fold open for five minutes- during that time, Red will record any data or radio signal that can be reached through it. Then I will close the fold, the barrier will be reinstated, and you can drop the biotics."

"We will go over any information we were able to pull from the new volume to try and verify where we have connected," Red said. "If they have any sort of advanced extranet or communications relays, we should get a decent amount in that time."

"What about hostile environments," Ashley asked. "If that fold opens up underwater, or in a toxic atmosphere-"

"Mama and Sam will easily be able to adjust their biotics to halt the influx of any toxic material. Whatever is able to pass through six millimeters will alert our sensors and we can close the fold almost immediately."

She looked over at Liara. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Cutting the barrier…now."

The barrier died, replaced immediately by a new one as Liara lit up with her biotics. At first, they engulfed the entire archway, before the top shrank down a bit, leaving the crossbar and an inch of open space clear.

"All right, opening the fold now," Irie said, fingers flying.

A little square of black, so small as to be almost invisible, appeared in the open space like a gnat caught in a web. Irie glanced nervously at the sensors but they remained quiet.

"Red-"

"Sending out a connection, looking for a compatible-…got it. I've hooked into what is signaling as a comm buoy. It appears they have something equivalent to the extranet."

"Can you access historical records? They will give us the best frame of reference."

"Looking now…yeah, I think I got it. Historical archives, non-classified. Pulling intel."

Data started to scroll rapidly across her display, pictures flashing past so quickly they could not be registered. As Red concentrated on keeping the intel downloading, Irie continued to work, making sure the exact signature of this particular volume was saved and correctly recorded, so they could access it again without relying on random chance. Even if it proved not to be Ashley's home volume, it could still be a source of valuable intel and new tech schematics that might help in their fight against the Senate.

Then, time was up. Irie closed the fold and as the little black dot vanished, she reactivated the energy barrier, allowing Liara to drop her biotics.

"Well, that seemed successful," Irie said, resetting the computer. "Red, what did you get?"

"I was able to pull quite a lot of information off a historical archive of some kind. I'm filing through it now…but it seems to be at least close to our home volume. I see mentions of asari, turians, humans, salarians, mass relays, the Citadel. They even have an online Fornax publication. Lucky me."

Ashley moved over to her, reading over her shoulder. "We'll need to pinpoint certain key historic events before we'll know if its home," she said. "See if you can find mention of Gellian Osco or-"

"Well now, that's unexpected," Red suddenly blurted. Ashley blanched.

"Uh…that's definitely not home."

"What is it?" Liara asked.

"You need to see this," Red said. Curious, Liara and Sam went over and looked at the display. Liara paled.

"Is that-"

"Looks like," Ashley said.

"C-can we pull up any context?"

"Working on that now…" Red went quiet, still skimming the reams of data they'd pulled. The image she'd found remained dominating part of the display.

It was Del, standing in some kind of uniform that was definitely not Alliance. She had scars on her face she had never before sported, a cold and rather stern look that was unlike the Del Liara had known, and she wore an eye patch of some kind that seemed fused almost directly into her flesh.

"Ok, I think…yes. Here we are. According to this, the Council never formed. The asari were struck by a massive war and then a plague that delayed their advancement and exodus off Thessia," Red said. "The Turians reached the Citadel first. Each species carved out territories and holdings for themselves and the galaxy has been in a state of near constant war for a thousand years. Apparently, the krogan love it, and have taken over much of the known galaxy. Color me unsurprised."

"And Del?"

"The humans First Contact war still happened but the turians won," Red said, looking up at her. "They occupied Earth for decades. An underground revolution formed, apparently from some street gangs that joined forces and tried to undermine Turian operations wherever they went. Eventually they absorbed other resistance groups and there was another war. This one, the humans won, overthrowing the turian occupation. Looks like Shepard did what she always did best- she was the head of the human resistance. She took over the gang she was a member of and formed alliances with the others, organized what was, until then, random acts of sabotage and protest. Now she leads the human forces against the turians in the ongoing war to regain the entirety of the Sol system, not just Earth."

"Excuse me for interrupting." They turned as an Alliance private poked his head in. "Doctors T'soni, the Admiral wanted me to inform you both that the resources you were waiting on about to land. He also ended his message as 'don't be alarmed.' Not entirely sure why?"

"EDI is here?"

"I'll stay here, keep going over these records," Red said, and the others headed outside.

More than a few of the Alliance personnel outside were gathering, some shading their eyes as they looked upward toward the early evening sky. The Normandy was gone, having been towed off the surface only a few minutes before. Melara and Dae were crossing the field toward them.

"Why would we be alarmed?" Melara asked her mother as she reached them, also looking upward.

"I am not entirely-"

"What the hell is that?" Ashley asked, as a few startled cries escaped from those gathered around. Liara looked upward, and though she knew better, for a moment her very molecules grew cold, and she was mentally transported back centuries…back to the war.

The Reaper grew larger as it descended, massive legs slowly spreading as it came in for a landing at the edge of the field. Part of Liara expected to see its sides crack open, the bright red light of its MHD powering up for the slaughter, the sound of its cold, terrifying bellow ripping through the air.

But of course, this was not actually a Reaper- it was Goruba, the ark- her sides flashing bright silver instead of black.

EDI got her off the bottom of the lake, Liara thought as the ark settled with an almost feather-light bump. It is amazing she can still fly after all this time!

By the time they reached the side of the landed ark, forms were starting to disembark. EDI was not a surprise, but the half dozen rakir forms- including Sihra- were.

"That's one way to get the tech and Pio we need here," Melara said as she got near. "EDI, were you trying to scare everyone by bringing a Reaper out of the sky?"

"My apologies," EDI said. "We alerted the admiral so as to not create undue panic by our appearance."

"You found a new pilot?"

"Not as such," EDI told her. "I am able to interface with the Pio and fly the ship, but Goruba herself remains without an integrated pilot. The rakir are eager to lay claim to ownership of Goruba, but volunteers for becoming a newly integrated pilot were less forthcoming."

"It will be a point of much negotiation between the Council and the Ubuuta as to the ownership of this ark," Liara said. "But that is for diplomacy to handle. I cannot blame the rakir for not being particularly eager to jump in the pilot's seat."

"After seeing what happened with Osco, neither can I," Ashley replied. "Sihra, it's good to see another familiar face."

"Have we met, detrak?" Sihra asked, looking at her.

"Not really…it's kind of a long story."

"We can tell it in the labs," Liara said. "EDI, we have much to discuss, and are in need of the Pio's help."

"There are several hundred now occupying my altered, spare chassis," EDI said. "They are eager to help."

"Then let us get them inside," Liara said. "I have a feeling our time is shorter than we would like."

Athena had landed her small ship about a mile or two from the Normandy crash site, as the monastery was already to accommodation just handling the Alliance and asari shuttles that kept going back and forth.

While she had been lending a hand to the recovery efforts, as the last of the pods were recovered she had retreated back to her own ship. The others had all assumed she was still helping, even Red. None, she noticed, had even bothered to try and contact her.

Not that she would have answered. Sealing the small pack she swung it around, securing it to her back just above her pistols and a belt of spare thermal clips and some grenades.

Once I get to the prefab I will have to move fast, she thought, fastening the holographic disguise generator to her belt as well. Their tech will pick up mine and set them on alert.

Picking up a small pouch she opened it to reveal a small, black rectangle about four inches long. She'd found it on the black ship that had been buried in methane, and had managed to smuggle it and its reluctant passenger away without the others finding out.

Sealing up the pouch again she also fastened that to her belt. Covering her face with her hand a moment, she took a centering breath.

A faint buzzing sound drew her attention. Lowering her hand, she blinked at the helm. The comm light was flashing. Walking over, she pulled up the ident, then immediately accessed the call.

"Tatta?"

{Athena, I haven't much time to talk,} the Wolf said. {The fleets are returning to home space, communications being sent to the Council and every necessary point of contact. Eír is attempting to contact Melara and the Normandy now-}

"Tell her she has to send the message to Melara or Liara directly; the Normandy was badly damaged and is now in dry dock repair."

{Damaged? What happened?}

"An ambush by a group of those exo-aliens. They tore through us, we were barely able to stop them and destroy the anchor they came through."

{I see, I will let her know. Are you injured?}

"No, Red and I are fine. Why are the fleets returning? What's happened?"

{We have encountered a crew of brasa commanding a devastating weapon capable of wiping out the entirety of the Milky Way if it reaches the galactic core. They have given us a time frame of only two weeks to find a way to stop the spread of dark energy or they will detonate it.}

"Two weeks?" Athena felt cold. "That is impossible! We cannot-"

{I know, however apparently we are at a tipping point. They do not wish to destroy us but they will rather than allow the destruction of everything.}

"The Council will amass the fleets. Every ship in the galaxy will go against anything they try and sail into the galactic core-"

{It will do no good. Even the full might of the fleets that took down the Reapers would do no good. They will carve through everything in their path and our weapons would not hope to damage it enough to halt it.}

"What do we do?"

{We are hoping to figure out a plan for evacuations,} Zyara said. {One of the exogalactic relays links to Andromeda. We may be able to get a few hundred ships out of the Milky Way and to Andromeda before our galaxy is destroyed.}

Athena felt cold. That was a true act of desperation. If the ships went to Andromeda they'd break the web of that galaxy's dormant Reapers- they'd be converged on and wiped out before they made it through Andromeda's Citadel relay. Even if they all made it, there would not be enough evacuees on board to form a viable population base for most of the species.

The asari would be all right. They could reproduce with any of their sentient species. Maybe the vorcha would survive…but the humans, the krogan, the salarians…

"Tatta…"

{I know. We are not giving up, and I know Liara and Irie and the others will not give up. If anyone can find the solution to the problem of dark energy and biotics…but we must face reality. I want you to get your ship, get Red, and head for the Citadel relay. Grunt will clear you to fly through it. You can be poised to hit the Andromeda relay when the time comes. It is your only chance to survive it if this weapon does detonate.}

"What about you and Tama?"

{We will do what we can but right now our fight is in the galaxy, helping in any way we can to find an answer-barring that, helping to slow the weapon's approach to the core.}

"You're talking suicide!"

{Athena, both your mother and I have lived long lives. We have seen a lot of suffering. We will do what we can but we need to know that you, at least, have a chance.}

"You want me to run," Athena said in a low voice. "You want me to just run away, like a coward."

{You are not a coward, Athena. You never have been. You are also our only child. Knowing you have at least a chance of safety and happiness-}

"What chance at happiness do you think I have?" Athena demanded. "You know what I am, Tatta. What I do to those I love."

{Athena, you are my child, and you are better than you believe,} Zyara replied. {You deserve happiness, you deserve a chance!}

Athena leaned on the console, closing her eyes tightly a moment, feeling her resolve solidifying inside her. Then, she opened her eyes.

"Don't worry, Tatta. I'm going to fix it."

{Athena, this is not something you can just fix-}

"I can. Goodbye, Tatta."

She switched off the comm before Zyara could say anything more, and straightened. She had been resolute in what she'd been about to do before, now even more so.

This was what she was supposed to do. This was her purpose, it always had been. Her mother had been created to be a Goddess. Eír had put aside that destiny in favor of her own choices, and Athena would never begrudge her that fact.

But only a Goddess was going to be able to save this galaxy. Unlike her mother, Athena didn't mean to put it aside. She meant to embrace it…and woe to any who tried to stop her, whether it was the Alliance soldiers, the brasa and their superweapon, or Melara fucking Shepard.

She touched the command to open her transport's airlock, and stepped out into the twilight gathering outside. Touching the holographic generator at her waist prompted light to swirl around her body, coalescing until her appearance and identity was completely hidden. Scans or even just being touched would reveal the truth, of course, but to anyone passing by, she'd look like any other Alliance private in full uniform.

If they were wise, no one would get in her way. For millennia, the asari had been worshiping an idea, a myth, a concept.

Athena was no Athame. Athena was real, and her purpose was great. She was not going to fail.

She was the true Goddess, and she was not capable of failure.