Liara didn't know exactly how long she'd been on her knees feeling her world fall apart all over again before Bray helped her up.

"I've got those records you asked for." He said, ignoring her state of distress. Liara nodded slowly, wiping her tears away.

Focus on the problem. Figure out what happened here.

Liara nodded to herself. "I'd like to take a look now, please." Bray led the way back to the control room, where he set Liara before a terminal with several monitors.

"Shipping records on the left, surveillance in the middle, crew and passenger manifests on the right." Bray stepped back and crossed his massive arms, leaning against the wall.

Liara turned to her work and tried to clear her head.

Focus. There has to be something here. If I can find out what happened, maybe I can…

…Can what?

Liara shook her head, abolishing the notion that she had no idea what she was doing. She needed more information about Shepard. This was the best place to start.

First, Liara confirmed her worst fear: determining exactly how Shepard got to Omega was an impossibility. Records from the days and weeks following the Reaper War were spotty at best: refugees poured into the station seeking shelter and medical attention. Passenger manifests were loaded with numbers, and vast empty spaces for names. Without proper facial recognition software, going through all the film of people entering the station seemed like a waste of time as well.

Instead, Liara focused on the film of the docks. She began to play through weeks of film at double speed, looking for the first sign of Shepard. She opened her omnitool and began taking notes.

Day Zero- Crucible Event

Zero plus 542- Shepard first spotted on Omega docks

At this point, Liara made an effort to string together film to simply follow Shepard around the docks. It wasn't always easy, as some areas had no working surveillance, but she managed to piece together several days, including today.

He clearly has no idea who he is… he shows up on the docks and just asks for work. I need a way to identify him for certain. How can I confirm it's really Shepard? Goddess, help me.

Liara stared at the monitor, watching the man she loved completing mundane tasks: moving shipping containers, weighing freight on the scale before loading them into the vessel-

What was that?

Liara backed the film up. She watched with rapt interest as Shepard dropped a container on the scale carelessly, grasping his hand to his chest. He walked to a medi-gel dispenser on the nearby bulkhead and rubbed an application on his left hand.

There's blood on that scale.

Liara was out the door before Bray could even move from his position resting against the wall. She ran to the bay from which Shepard had just departed, looking frantically for the scale. Once she found it, she began scanning with her omnitool carefully. The omnitool chirped once to indicate human genetic material had been detected. She scanned the blood spatter carefully, recording everything.

"Find something?" Bray asked from behind her.

"He cut himself. I'm taking a reading of the blood so I can match it against his Alliance service records. If it really is Shepard-" Liara's heart fluttered- "then it should be an exact match."

Bray grunted. "If anyone could've survived that nightmare, I'd put odds on Shepard. Saw him in action here on Omega when Cerberus took over. That guy…" Bray shook his head. "You'll understand the expression when I say, he's not human."

Liara smiled, thinking back to dozens of hair-raising combat situations Shepard seemed to move through effortlessly. "He came back from the dead once before. Knowing Shepard, it wouldn't shock me to find that he's discovered a way to do it again." She turned to the batarian. "Thank you, Bray."

He shrugged. "For what?"

Liara thought for a moment before answering. "For giving me hope again."

Bray only grunted in reply. "What now?"

"Now I need to talk to Aria again."

Bray nodded and keyed his omnitool, signaling his men. "By the way, I'd appreciate it if you not attack Aria again. She has a habit of eliminating people who fail her, and I happen to like living."

Liara nodded. "Of course."

•._.••´¯``•.¸¸.•` ℓσѕт `•.¸¸.•´´¯`••._.•

Aria sighed with irritation as Liara walked up the stairs to the dais, her eyes narrowing to slits. "I thought I made it clear I want you off this station… the sooner, the better."

Liara said nothing, taking a seat on the sofa.

"So, was it him?" Aria asked.

Liara shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. He says he doesn't remember anything. I have a blood sample I need to test, and then I'll get off the station, with your help."

Aria raised a brow. "My help? My help is generally expensive."

Liara nodded seriously. "I'm sure I can afford it. I need access to an extranet terminal, and then I need a ship."

Aria let out a laugh. "A ship? You assume a great deal, Doctor. I thought you science types didn't like to assume anything."

Liara almost rolled her eyes, but thought better of it. "Surely if you don't have one, a mercenary contact of yours does. There would be a finder's fee involved."

Aria's eyes narrowed again, examining Liara closely. Liara gave her best blank face.

Shepard used to call that his poker face.

The moment the thought crossed her mind, the fiery agony raged through her veins. Liara swallowed hard.

"As it happens, I do have a few vessels around. Nothing fancy- a few small ships, which I assume you're in the market for, since you don't have a crew?"

Liara nodded. "As long as it has an FTL drive and gets from nav point A to nav point B."

Aria only nodded. "There is a terminal down in the VIP lounge, directly below this balcony. Bray will show you the way. While you're at the terminal, I'll expect ten million credits delivered to my account- Bray will leave that with you, and then leave you to your business. When you're ready to leave, the ship is docked in bay 94. It's an interesting toy Cerberus left behind after their little invasion. Don't worry; I had the Cerberus insignias removed." She grinned wickedly.

Liara stood up. "Thank you for everything, Aria." She turned to leave.

"Liara." Aria stood, and approached her. "If Shepard is alive, you might be careful who you tell. I will always think of Shepard as something of an ally- others may not remember him so kindly."

Liara hurried down the stairs to the lavishly furnished VIP lounge. She ignored the sofas and chairs, and walked past the private bar to the terminal in the back corner of the room. Opening her omnitool, Liara transferred the credits from one of the Shadow Broker accounts to Aria's. Business completed, she turned her attention to the blood sample, and began to use one of the many backdoors she had placed in the Alliance network during the reconstruction. After working her way around an added firewall that hadn't previously existed, she quickly attempted to access Shepard's file. Liara had to re-enter her search parameters three times, her hands shook so badly.

Anxiously she awaited the search results, pacing the room. After what seemed like hours, the terminal blared a harsh warning sound. A message prompt appeared on the screen, and Liara frowned heavily as she read.

Search results denied. Data flagged by Admiralty. Activating homing procedures.

Alliance personnel have been alerted to your location. Please stand by…..

The terminal's comm unit opened almost at once. "Attention Alliance personnel, this file is restricted. Access granted expressly by the Admiralty. Identify yourself at once."

Liara sighed. She had known accessing the Alliance network would be risky, but had no other options available. She turned to face on the monitor. "This is Dr. Liara T'soni. I am a civilian contractor working directly for Admiral Hackett, and I need access to this file."

The officer on the screen stood from her chair, and was quickly replaced by a clearly angry Hackett. Liara sighed inwardly.

"Dr T'soni, I'm hoping you have a reasonable explanation as to why the Stargazer left Earth with two people on board, and returned missing half its flight crew."

Liara thought carefully before replying. "Admiral, I apologize for not completing the mission, but something came up that required my immediate attention."

Hackett was not amused. "Liara, what the hell is going on? You vanish from Palaven and fly off to…" he glanced down at the terminal. "Omega? And now I've got here a records search request for Shepard's biometric data?"

Liara sighed. "It's a long story, Admiral."

Hackett shook his head. "Well, you'll have lots of time to explain when our agents take you into custody. I suggest, for your sake, you stay put. They're en route."

Liara quickly reached out and closed the channel.

What are the odds I can make it out of here without having to shoot Alliance personnel? And more importantly… how can I find out if this blood is really Shepard's? Who besides the Alliance would have those kinds of records…?

Miranda.

Liara stood from the console, and ran for the docks.

Author's note: Thanks for reading! Sorry about the delay; my new job is taking considerably more time away from my writing than I thought it would. I'm hoping in a few weeks I can get back to a 'scheduled' release, but it all depends on how things shake out.

As always, thanks to Owelpost for input and inspiration, and thanks to each of you for your feedback!

Until next time.

-Zero