Greetings!

Forgot me yet? Too soon, I am still here!

I sincerely apologize for taking so long with this story. Since my last update, my life has taken on a very hectic turn. First I catch laryngitis, then I have to quickly finish my summer task, then studies take over, and now I must get rid of all my academic tasks we have.

There were times when I barely managed to squeeze even half a Word 2010 page.

When I was writing, a certain idea struck me, to make another reference to past relationship between Tevos and Aria, and elaborate on a crush Liara has on Shepard.

So this chapter focuses on Horizon aftermath and first part of Citadel DLC. Most likely there will be five chapters. Can anyone explain how a two-shot can evolve into five chapters? :)

WARNING: this story is rated M for violence, swearing, and inevitable character death. Also, keep in mind that I did not pick the "Tragedy" genre for nothing.

COMPULSORY DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect belongs to BioWare and Electronic Arts. This piece of fan fiction is written for non-commercial purposes only.


Commander Jane Shepard was fuming. Not an unusual state of her being, mind you, but this time she had a particularly good reason to be fuming right now.

Sanctuary was a lie. A big fat lie.

A fatal kind of big fat lie.

The refugees who hoped to find safety there, beyond the compound walls and signal jammers, who risked everything to get there, most likely wasting the last of their credits just to get there, were lured into a trap.

Cerberus just hit a new low in Shepard's opinion. Not that she had a high opinion of them in first place, but she did not believe that someone could descend to the levels of cruelty she saw there.

Turning refugees into husks, just to see whether they could be controlled by some kind of signal? Implanting them with Reaper-derived control implants to fill the army Cerberus was not supposed to have in first place?

Now Shepard finally understood why her former XO, Miranda Lawson, absolutely hated her father with every fibre of her being. Why she stole her sister, Oriana, from him.

Why she felt absolutely no regret in blasting him biotically to his death when he kidnapped the younger genetic twin.

Serves the bastard right. At least Miranda came out of it alive and managed to give us a chance at blasting the old Timmy bastard to the ninth circle of hell.

Shepard was considering to go upstairs (if such word is applicable to starships) and catch some shut-eye (even if she risked seeing that damnable kid-from-Earth-who-always-caught-fire yet again) when she heard a voice:

"Shepard, I believe you promised to make a call to Councilor Tevos regarding the aftermath of Sanctuary mission." EDI.

"Thanks for reminding, EDI…" Perfect goddamn timing.

"You are welcome, Shepard. Logging you out."

The first human Spectre sighed. Ain't no rest for the wicked.

Seeing no use in delaying the talk, she headed to CIC. Upon exiting the elevator, she was greeted by incensed Samantha Traynor, who was less than pleased to see her birth planet, Horizon, reduced to a place of horrid experiments. Checking her private terminal, she was surprised to see a letter from Admiral Hackett telling her to…

wait, am I actually seeing this?!

…to bring the Normandy to the Citadel for dry-freaking-dock. And to give the whole crew (including herself) a shore leave.

Has he lost his marbles?!

In Shepard's mind, there was no time for a shore leave of any kind. They had to seize the Catalyst as quickly as possible, finish building the Crucible and win this goddamn war! Every day was important; time was working against them, and the window of opportunity was closing at a speed which rised almost exponentially.

The human turned to Traynor:

"Specialist, is this order from Admiral Hackett actually genuine?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I double- and triple-checked the encryption algorythms and authenticity codes."

"Has he finally lost it?! 'Cause if he has, it is certainly not the best fucking time!"

"Er, Commander," the voice of Joker held the tones which qualified as I-am-scared-shitless-to-tell-you-this-but-I-must, "I hate to tell you this, but Hackett's right in this case. The Normandy is not up to snuff right now."

"Meaning?" Shepard inquired. This better be damn good, or I will be testing the solidity of your bones, Joker.

"Internal emission sinks are not capable of masking the Normandy's heat signature as well as before and require maintenance," the robotic voice of EDI replied. "The drive core is experiencing fluctuations which Tali can't compensate for anymore, and any further stress above safe levels will result in containment breach. Thanix cannons have long ago surpassed the required threshold for dry-dock checking. Normandy has taken some damage, and several Silaris armour plates need to be replaced. These are the most critical issues with the ship, Commander. Should I continue?"

"No." Guess I should have expected that. We have been flying here and there for a pretty long time, been through some crazy shit and what not. "I hope QEC is still functional?"

"Quantum entanglement communicators, both primary and secondary, are operating with maximal efficiency, Shepard. Do I need to raise someone?"

"Hail Councilor Tevos, tell her it's about aftermath of my mission to retrieve Catalyst."

"Wow, Shepard, since when did you start actually reporting to the Council instead of hanging up on them?" came the sarcastic tunes of Joker.

"I did report to them. I just was not in the mood to hear any bullshit authored by our resident Councilor Ah-Yes-Reapers."

"Ha-ha-ha, Shepard, nice one for Sparatus. Now we only need to come up with something for other two, and we'll get the whole set…"

"Joker!"

"Fine, Commander, shutting up. Spoilsport."

"I heard that, mister, and you better pray I don't decide to put you on janitor duty!"

"That would be counter-productive to efficient operation of the Normandy, Shepard," EDI interrupted.

"And now I regret that I advised you two to try dating each other, because if you two gang up on me, we are all doomed," Shepard grumbled without real malice.

"Seeing that no enemy can handle you alone, Shepard, I have calculated that an alliance with Joker is required to finally bring you down for good."

"…what?!" In this moment, the Commander was dangerously close to losing her jaw despite the sinuses and muscles designed to hold it in place.

"That was a joke."

"God damn it all, EDI! Why can't you just download all these humour sidebars from extranet and devise a good algorythm from it?! Because I can't see this as amusing!"

"Based on the humorous interactions between members of Normandy crew, I have concluded that the recipient of the joke does not always have to be amused by this joke. You have just proved the truth of this conclusion, providing me with an image of you standing open-mouthed in the process."

"Glad to have served as the butt of the joke," Shepard replied sarcastically.

"You are welcome, Shepard. And I have just found this image of yours… amusing," if EDI had a holographic projector nearby, she would most definitely have displayed a trollface.

"Oh shut the hell up," not having the time for a witty comeback, Shepard muttered, going to the War Room to talk to one of her three bosses who had recently lost a homeworld.

When Shepard made it to the QEC, the image of Councilor Tevos could already be seen.

"Councilor," the human greeted.

"Commander Shepard," Tevos' voice seemed more gentle now, "how did your mission of tracking the Catalyst data go?"

"Partially successful, Councilor. The Cerberus assassin responsible for my failure at Thessia was not present, but their former agent, Miranda Lawson, managed to put a tracer on his ship. We do not have any definite data right now, but with Alliance analysts on that, hopefully we'll discover where the Illusive Bastard's headquarters is."

"Illusive Bastard?" Despite herself, the asari felt the corners of her mouth go slightly up. "I must say, it's the first time I heard a Spectre refer to the Illusive Man as such."

"Well, I'm kinda not keen on referring to him politely right now, Councilor," Shepard answered. I am not in a mood for a goddamn politeness lecture.

"Understandable. Is there anything else you are planning to do now?"

"No, Councilor. Admiral Hackett ordered the Normandy to the drydock on the Citadel."

By the tone of Shepard's voice, Tevos understood that her unsuspecting paramour did not think that it was the best idea. Still, maybe I will have a chance to talk to her in private.

"You seem to disapprove."

"I can't afford any rest now, Councilor. If the Normandy did not actually require drydock, I would have sent those orders to hell."

Even better! "Well, if your ship does require repairs, I can't help but agree with Admiral Hackett. Imagine if your stealth system or drive core failed at critical moment. The galaxy would be left without any hope," Tevos attempted her best soothingly diplomatic voice.

"And that's what I do not understand. How can the fate of the whole galaxy depend on me now? Hackett told me stuff about being the tip of the proverbial spear and doing what many thought impossible, but really, what's so goddamn special about me?"

"Well, Commander," your modesty is sometimes adorable, alluring even, but there's no time for it right now, "first and foremost, we only select special people for our Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch. Pardon the tautology."

"That's not enough."

"I'm only getting started. You have proved back in 2183 that you have an indomitable will that is witnessed in humanity. You took what you believed the best action, and actually had the audacity to talk back to us. Even among Spectres, such individuals are few. Mostly those who have connections to people that the Council cannot simply… brush aside."

"Like you did to me, when I talked to you about Reapers?" Shepard allowed some of her remaining bitterness to seep into her voice. Tevos had enough conscience to feel embarrassed.

"Fair point. And yet you directly defied us on a chance that you might be right – and in retrospect, you were, - and that Saren was not the true threat. And when our lives were in peril, you did what no one expected of you – told Admiral Hackett to save the Destiny Ascension, when militarily it was not the best decision."

"Because we could not afford chaos which would immediately follow your deaths. I bet that Udina would have tried to install humanity on top."

"Shows that he did not know better. We had contingencies for such an event, even if did not seem… likely."

"OK. And then I died and returned two years later, showing up with Cerberus. Bet that dashed your view on me," Shepard replied, only half-jokingly.

"I admit, I was very unpleasantly surprised. So were Sparatus and Valern. We gave you even less support. And yet you managed to accomplish a suicide mission without a single casualty. You may not believe it, Shepard, but you have a way of defying bad odds. Even if the chances are one in a million, you still don't hesitate to take on them."

"And others do not do so?"

"Remember me mentioning your indomitable will? This is the crucial point. This human trait was actively feared by many, but this very will helped you to go further, no matter how dangerous the road ahead was. And you always refused to surrender. Now that you have been proven right, people started trusting you."

"And I'm guessing that it went even further after me securing turian-krogan alliance and making quarians and geth stop their war?"

"Indeed. You may view yourself as a simple soldier, but you happened to be a proverbial wrong person at the wrong time for the Reapers and their Goddess-accursed cycle of genocide," here, Tevos allowed her anger to show on her face, "and while I do not deny that some parts of your adventures are attributable to good luck, this luck matters too, because it gave us a very small, but still a chance to prevail. Your indomitable will, your willingness to defy bad odds, and a bit of luck. That's what makes you special, Commander." That's what made me fall for you.

"Well, I'll be damned," Shepard scratched her neck behind her long auburn hair, "you make me sound like an action heroine."

"Well, action heroes and heroines always overcome evil in the end," Tevos smiled.

"If you say "No pressure", Councilor, I'll call bullshit," Shepard sniped back with her own smile.

"No dice, Commander."

"Ah damn, you are no fun," Shepard pouted.

Tevos laughed. Goddess, did I need some laugh. "Now I call bullshit, Shepard."

The human nearly lost her jaw.

"What?" Tevos inquired. "You did not believe me capable of saying the word "bullshit" at all?"

"The ever-polite asari politician? Never dreamt of that."

"I used to be a commando… long ago. Trust me, I did see some action. And I guarantee to you that asari commandoes are not that polite in combat either. In my unit, there was always a reason to swear, so we utilized our obscenities when we felt necessary."

"And how did it happen that you were defenseless in front of Udina?" Shepard inquired, interested.

"My skills were… rusty, and I did not have any weapon or amplifier on me. After that coup attempt, I rectified those mistakes."

"Well, that would be interesting to see…" Shepard mused. Tevos seized her chance:

"Well, if I seem to have interested you, then you can meet me at a later time on the Citadel, when you feel rested enough."

"I'll consider this, Councilor." Strange, how come we get along better now than in all those previous three years?

"Very well. Goddess be with you, Commander. Tevos out." The image flickered for a moment, and then disappeared.


Tevos turned away from the communicator, not daring to believe that she just got a chance to talk with Commander face-to-face. Focus, Tevos. Just because you now have this chance does not mean that it will come to pass. And it is unknown yet whether Shepard will actually be amicable to your advances. Plan carefully, the rational voice told her.

Oh, to hell with rational! For all you know, you could be dead right after Shepard's arrival. Grab everything you can, before it's too late!

Tevos stood, startled. Just what has just wormed its way into her head? The asari had to do some search before she found the right word – "impetuousness".

Where in Goddess' name did that come from?

From the days where certain death could come in mere moments, she realized almost immediately. Well, well, my old commando days are making a grand reappearance. Long time, no see.

Following an impulse, Tevos took a data-pad out of one of her secret stashes, where she kept information or mementoes that she could not just throw out, but were dangerous enough for her political career. Entering the necessary codes and passing biometric checks (one of which included a device that held a recording of her brain waves and compared the ones of a user via a sophisticated device), she opened the photo where a younger version of her could be seen with her comrades in their unit.

A rare in the latest time smile made its way onto asari's face. Her maidenhood did not differ much from the stereotypical one; with the exception of not being interested in working as a stripper. T'Semni family had a long history of public service; and some political figures liked to parade the videos of their rivals shaking their, er, "assets" while still being maidens. While these activities were not something really frowned upon by other asari (they were more liberal about sexuality than other races, after all), they still could really tarnish a politician's reputation if not kept secret; which is why it is very hard to come across any kind of information regarding the maiden years of an asari politician. Most of the time, any material that could be used for blackmail was meticulously found and successfully purged from existence; even if information brokers got lucky from time to time, it was not generally wise to anger an asari politician.

However, T'Semni family went further in their attempts to maintain their political reputation. They decided to apply a method "prevention of disease is the best cure" and hammered into heads of the daughters that such frivolous activities were disgraceful and beneath them. Tevos was no exception, and therefore, one could not find any embarrassing maidenhood video of her, even if one hired a Shadow Broker to try: Tevos simply did not engage into activities of "entertainment industry". Instead, she joined the military, saw some action and successfully repelled several attacks by pirates, Eclipse mercenaries and even batarian slavers. Even was awarded with a medal – Wehrmala Thessiale. Roughly translated into English that meant "honoured warrior of Thessia". No one would dare to insinuate any insults towards an awardee of this medal.

The bad side to this otherwise good intention was that a very strict rule existed in T'Semni household: never partake in romances with other asari. Or, Goddess forbid, procreate with other asari. The matriarchs of T'Semni family firmly believed that a pureblood (oh how Tevos hated that word) daughter would bring great shame upon their family. Not totally an unfounded fear, given the existing prejudice. Political enemies of their house would have a field day with it, not counting the media of less than reputable caliber.

And Tevos had the gall to start a romantic relationship with Aria T'Loak.

Naturally, both families completely and totally disapproved of that decision, but both young asari were in the stage of their lives in which rebellion against parents were not uncommon. They totally ignored the orders of the respective matriarchs of their families and snuck out of the mansions in secret to meet each other and do… well… stuff which was done by two asari in love with each other.

Unfortunately, their little rebellion ended rather violently and bloodily. Once the patience of family heads had run out, they tried to confine both asari – which failed spectacularly. Tevos, Aria and a handful of commandoes loyal to them shot their way out of confinement and fled. The escapees were skillful, and managed to evade detection quite effectively for some time. But, unfortunately, the angered matriarchs of their families had a lot more resources than the rebellious maidens, and in the end Tevos and Aria were forcefully brought to heel. Their followers had not been so lucky – majority of them got killed in a final firefight, and others did not survive their injuries.

The consequences were not pretty. Aria could be very vindictive if she wanted to, and she was the type of a person that could hold a grudge for decades and even centuries. Thirty-eight years later, an aircar explosion took out the Matriarch of House T'Loak and her sister, along with two elder sisters of Aria. Naturally, suspicions fell on Aria, but the asari had an iron-clad alibi, and no one could link her to the accident – even the Justicar who questioned Aria once.

Aria spent a lot of time practicing the mental disciplines that could help her hide the information she did not want others to know.

Of course, Tevos knew that Aria set that explosion up, and that knowledge killed the spark that initially fueled their mutual attraction. Tevos could not accept that Aria took out her own blood relatives – such an action was not unheard of, but it was confined to the pre-spaceflight past – and when Aria sent a big "fuck you" to the Matriarchs of Thessia, deciding to pursue not-so-legal paths and carve a piece out of unlawful Terminus Systems, they had an argument which effectively ended their relationship.

Later, Tevos received news that Aria managed to become the Pirate Queen of Omega. Not wanting to secede victory to her ex-lover, Tevos entered the battlefields of politics, eventually becoming the Councilor. In some strange sense, Tevos owed her achievements to Aria: she did not want to accept that Aria's path was the right one, and tried to show her that her own efforts, while being morally grey at times, did not require a declared abandonment of home planet and despicable activities such as piracy, smuggling and kidnapping.

Tevos put the data-pad away, back into the secret stash. A thought crossed her mind:

My heart was already broken once. Am I ready to risk its shards and delve into passion once again?

And the part of her that existed before the heartbreak and resurfaced again provided the answer.

Relationships are never safe or risk-free. But they may bring you feelings beyond what you can usually feel. And you might die very soon, if Goddess-accursed Reapers are not stopped. You planned to support your unsuspecting paramour, Shepard, who may be the only hope of stopping them? Do it, in any way you can.


Liara T'Soni sighed, frustrated. After listening to the conversation between Shepard and Councilor Tevos, she still could not discern what in Goddess' name her supposed superior (nominally, Tevos was superior, but Liara was the Shadow Broker, so this superiority is questionable) was playing at. While Tevos was normally more supportive of Shepard than other Councilors, she did not risk her political career or something else just on human's word and certainly never behaved like that, even with other asari Spectres who had already served the Council for several centuries.

I am missing something. But what am I missing? Gaaah, this is frustrating!

If someone could read Liara's mind at that moment, he would say that the asari's quarter-krogan heritage was coming to the forefront of it, provided he knew of this fact and would risk his/her skin to annoy the maiden. To Liara's defense, she had all reason to be annoyed.

Her homeworld was lost, Cerberus backstabbed them at the worst possible moment and made off with the data on Catalyst, then they discover that Sanctuary was a husk-producing factory for the Timmy bastard (as Shepard would call Cerberus' founder and leader), and now they have to go to the drydock so the Normandy would not fall apart. More than enough to go all blood-rage.

Once she calmed down, Liara got back to work, trying to discern what the asari Councilor actually wanted. Shadow Broker was not omnipotent, and while being at the top of the food chain of information brokerage, sometimes brain-wrecking was really necessary. And while we have nothing important to do, might as well uncover this mystery. It is not like I can actually do anything noteworthy now.

Liara brought up files on Councilor Tevos T'Semni, including the calls and talks the latter had with Shepard regarding everything. Studying the information, reading between the lines and cross-referencing, Liara did not notice how she spent half an hour – and without getting any closer to the answer.

While Tevos' actions were indeed outside her usual modus operandi, nothing regarding her interaction with Shepard actually made sense to the reason behind it.

Liara felt the urge to headbutt the terminal closest to her. This is beyond frustrating now! Why in the name of ocean's abyss would she change like that? Homeworld loss? Or did she bump her head against something and realize that Shepard somehow became the key to victory and now acts all accommodating? Well, too little, too late!

For a moment, Liara actually had the impulse to headbutt Councilor Tevos herself, which promptly gave way to a small self-reproach – what am I thinking, I am not a krogan, for Goddess' sake – but then she remembered that her "father", Matriarch Aethyta, actually had a krogan father, thus making Liara quarter-krogan. The asari shook her head – really, it does not work like that! – but the reminder of a foul-mouthed, thousand-years-old asari produced an image of Liara headbutting Tevos with Aethyta present.

Despite herself, Liara chuckled. She would most definitely approve of that, or maybe even join. Aethyta told me she really hated asari politics… and maybe she hates Tevos now… oh really, where am I going with this line of thoughts?! I need a break, seriously.

The embarrassing sound that signifies hunger suddenly sounded across the former quarters of one Miranda Lawson.

And there's the proof.

Deciding that empty stomach is detrimental to cognitive abilities, Liara made her way to the mess hall (why in Goddess' name do humans insist on calling it like this?), only to see Shepard already being there with Garrus and Joker.

"Hey Liara!" the human waved, beckoning the asari over to the merry company. "Come join us!"

Hm, she is smiling. I like that, the maiden thought.

"Alright," she replied, "I'll join you in a moment."

Having got a decent (for a biotic) amount of food, Liara made it to the table.

"So, what has you all the merrier?" she addressed the Commander.

"Ah, we've just been remembering the amusing times," came the answer from Garrus, "in order to take our mind off of Sanctuary…"

"Ah yeah, that was one hell of a shithole," Joker butted in. "How come that both time we'd visited Traynor's homeworld, we encountered some badassy bad guy?"

"Badassy?" Shepard replied incredulously. "Is that even a word?"

"Yeah, it is, 'cause I just invented it," Joker gave his CO a shit-eating grin.

"I never pegged you for a linguist, Joker," Liara said with a hint of a smile.

"I am a man of many talents, Liara, surely you know that?"

"The only talent I recall from that guy – besides flying – is bullshitting twenty-four seven," Garrus piped with a slight movement of mandibles that indicated amusement.

"A-ha-ha-ha, you got that right, Vakarian," Shepard laughed wholeheartedly.

Liara wanted to admonish the turian for making fun of the brittle-boned pilot, but got herself mesmerized by the sound of Shepard's laughter and her facial expression.

Goddess, this must be the first real laughter I have heard from her since that catastrophe on Thessia. At least she is recovering. Hopefully, when we finally take the Illusive Man and Cerberus out for good, she will absolve herself fully.

"Hey Liara, what's got you glassy-eyed?" suddenly the unwitting object of asari maiden's passion inquired.

"Yeah, maybe you'll defend my right to add words to spoken language?" Joker added.

"The only people who officially can add words to any language would be lexicographers, Joker. You can add only so-called "occasionalisms", which may or may not turn into neologisms and thus make their way into language," Liara replied automatically, drawing on her university knowledge. Pull it together!

"Ganging up on the cripple, ha ha, how funny," grumbled the best pilot in Alliance fleet. "I'll go to the cockpit, we're about to arrive to the Citadel for drydock. And I'll invent some nasty occasionalisms for the lot of you," he added without real malice, leaving the Deck 3.

"So… Liara, are you looking towards this shore leave?" Shepard asked Liara.

"I am not sure, Shepard. While I think all of us require some rest, the timing could have been better. But even with my resources, it will take time before we actually discover Illusive Man's main base, and Normandy needs to be repaired. When we hit Cerberus hard, we must be in top shape. So maybe we should take what we can. What do you think, Garrus?" the asari addressed the "calibration specialist", as she heard Shepard describe the turian once.

"I am not thrilled at the idea that some Alliance tech-geek shall ruin my careful calibrations…"

"Do not worry, I'll order them to stay away from your cannons," the Commander chuckled.

"Good thing Joker's not here, or he would have invented an occasionalism with a hidden meaning concerning intimate relationships," quipped Garrus while twitching his mandibles in an amused matter.

"It always eluded me why humans engage in crude and sexually related humour," Liara said.

"Beats me too. This phenomenon just never has the decency to die," Shepard answered. "Anyway, let's not hover here for too long before Joker starts considering himself an 80th level master lexicographer or something…"

Liara shook her head and attacked her meal, failing to understand the almost two-century old meme…


Councilor Tevos T'Semni never openly complained about her work, but sometimes the burden of being one of three – scratch that, four – persons whom the fate of many sentients living in Citadel space depended on was too heavy, even without Reaper threat constantly hanging on the horizon.

And with Reapers looming around, Tevos thought that sooner or later she would just snap and send everything to daemonesses.

Fortunately, since the coup attempt by Cerberus she came to the reasonable conclusion that she had to refresh her self-defense skills. What kind of ex-commando finds herself on the floor with M-5 Phalanx in her face and defenseless? Embarrassment of an asari lifetime.

Spectres had their own training facility similar to the Armax Arsenal Arena, but unlike the latter, they could be accessed only by Spectres themselves – or Councilors, if they felt the need to vent their anger at something or someone.

Lately, the asari Councilor became a very frequent visitor to "Spectre Arena", as it was called. When facing the inevitability of Reapers coming to the Citadel (and Tevos knew that would happen sooner or later; preferably never, but that was not an option), it would not do any good to her not to know the strengths and weaknesses of her enemies.

Plus, once her combat instincts resurfaced, it always felt good to let loose.

Tevos chuckled; Aria used to say that pretty often…

Unfortunately, as of this moment, she could not neglect some of the things that needed to be done. Not long ago she finished conversing with Matriarch Lidanya regarding the state of asari fleets and what passed for an asari army.

If you can combine Serrice Guard, Armali Sniper Unit and other commandoes squads with several Justicars and ex-Eclipse sisters thrown in and call that an army. I can already hear Aethyta grumbling about our sorry military state and swearing up the ocean storm.

Speaking of the half-krogan Matriarch, Tevos had to consult with her on… Goddess damn it, I cannot even remember what exactly I must speak with her about! You are losing it, Tevos, that's official.

The asari Councilor thought of checking with her omni-tool to see the topic of future conversation with foul-mouthed Matriarch when she heard a buzz in her ear fold.

What now?!

"Yes?" she inquired, trying to slip into her political mode.

"Councilor, you asked me to monitor the situation regarding Commander Shepard?" That appeared to be her SPECTRE Liasion Officer.

"I did, Molara. What is it?" If you waste my time, I'll drag you into the Spectre Arena and make you battle me until you are bruised as a volus who dared to take on a krogan.

"Well, there's something… not right."

The blood ran cold in Tevos' veins.

"Explain!"

"Well, our agent confirmed seeing Shepard in Ryuusei, the sushi-bar on Silversun Strip, with her pilot, Joker. They were about to have dinner when some mercs stormed the place. One of them tried to kill Shepard, but…"

"But what?"

"Commander evaded the bullets, but they hit the fish tank, and… well… Shepard fell through it."

"Repeat that last! Fell through a fish tank?"

"Yes. We lost sight of her, and even her transponder is jammed. Councilor, that's not all."

"What else?" Goddess, Shepard is a trouble magnet! Why can't my stupid heart choose someone less danger-prone?

"We have discovered that Shepard's Alliance codes, along with her extranet mail box and comm frequencies have been hacked. Whoever did this introduced one fancy malware that prevents us from closing the leak."

The asari's blood ran cold.

What if these hackers get their hands on Shepard's Spectre codes as well?

"Are Shepard's Spectre codes intact?"

"We believe so."

"I am going to SPECTRE Command Center. It is vital that Shepard be rediscovered, alive! The whole war effort practically lies upon her, do you understand?"

"Yes, Councilor!" the voice replied, clearly unsettled.

"Expect me there soon. Councilor Tevos out."

Cutting the connection, Tevos sent Aethyta a message that their talk had to be postponed. I'll regret that later while hearing her verbal abuse, but the matters at hand are very pressing.


Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Office of the Citadel Council was a very secretive organization, and tended to employ as few personnel as possible while at the same time compensating the lack of quality with quantity and not compromising the safety of the Citadel Space.

But Spectres, despite being the epitome of self-reliance, still required some sort of support network. There's only so much that can be achieved with buying guns and armour, commandeering vessels and building network of contacts from scratch.

More often than not, in the absence of said support network, Spectres had to obtain information from unscrupulous sources. The first name that came to mind was "the Shadow Broker", but there were other sources as well – less omnipotent and omnipresent, perhaps, but with lower prices and sometimes with unique visibility that even the Shadow Broker sometimes lacked.

This could have an adverse consequence of Spectre compromising the Council, since no information broker would part with important information for free. Usually the price consisted either of exorbitant sums of money or juicy info on the Council.

The latter happened more often.

The system was not wholly reliable, of course, but since its implementation, the security risk lessened a lot.

Councilor Tevos was standing inside SPECTRE Command Center, the central node of the Spectre support network, quietly, but very attentively observing the news about Commander Shepard who happened to cause casualties among fish.

The thought was almost comic.

"Got it! Shepard's Spectre codes have been used near skycar lot! Wait… oh fersuthrass!" the line of thought got broken by a voice of one asari officer who used a swear word frowned upon by polite society. The word "fersuthrass" meant the same thing as "shit" in English, but squared – "shit to the second power", so to say.

The word was not unfamiliar to Tevos – she used to be a commando, after all.

"Status report," she said as calmly as she could, fighting the nervousness.

"Shepard bypassed C-Sec blockade, but it sounded off the alarm and these mercenaries are hounding her now!"

"Her squadmates are on the move," said another officer, a turian, "T'Soni is the closest, Vakarian is not far behind. C-Sec shuttle with reinforcements is moving to them, too."

"Good," said the asari Councilor. "Continue the monitoring, see if we can assist her in other ways. Her comms are still insecure?"

"Affirmative," replied the turian.

"Continue monitoring her."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Tevos turned away from the monitors, feeling a tugging sensation within her gut. Something is very strange here.

Some time later, she heard another burst of swearwords from the asari officer, which prompted her to inquire what would force her compatriot to curse so profusely.

"What is it?"

"C-Sec shuttle is a false flag, there are the same mercs inside and they are heavily armed! Shepard and T'Soni are pinned down, hard!"

"Define "heavily armed", please."

"M-76 Revenants and I think I saw one Geth Spitfire!"

"Fersuthrass, indeed!" the Councilor could not resist swearing this time.

"Wait… what the fuck?"

Tevos thought to reprimand her subordinate for swearing a lot (there are limits to obscenities in presence of Councilors after all), when she saw a most bizarre sight:

UT-47 Kodiak taken out by a falling krogan. And that krogan just happened to be the one who was butting heads with her (figuratively – asari foreheads were not designed for such punishment) about krogan expansion.

Urdnot Wrex, never the one to miss a fight – and to help those he respects immensely. And Shepard is the one of that category. Time to chill out, Tevos.

The rest of the fight turned out to be a massacre. Urdnot Wrex combined with Shepard armed with Geth Spitfire plus very pissed off Liara T'Soni resulted in almost ultimate annihilation of CAT6 mercenaries – and an indecent amount of collateral damage measured in exploding aircars.

And these aircars cost a fortune. Aren't I glad that the Council can disavow any collateral damage caused by Spectres, Tevos thought.

In the end, Shepard managed to evacuate aboard a C-Sec shuttle piloted by Jeff Moreau, and went back to her flat.

Tevos exhaled; now that Shepard was more or less secure in her apartment, the asari Councilor could trust her teammates to protect the unwitting paramour.

Given what you just seen, maybe the word "unwitting" must be stricken out? The impulsive commando side of hers reared its head again.

Not yet. The sensible political side retorted. Impetuosity will only lead to harm, and neither of you two will be protected. Be careful. Keep your distance for now.

"Continue your monitoring and lend her squadmates any assistance you can without being overt about it. If an emergency occurs, contact me or other Councilors. I must leave now," the asari spoke in calm tone once again.

"Of course, Councilor."

"Count on it."

Satisfied that Shepard was not left without overwatch, Tevos left the Command Center, letting the sensible side of her win, as she did during her whole political career. Still, the impulsiveness was not willing to subside. After all, Tevos had not fallen head over heels for someone for a long time; had not allowed herself to be swept away along the chaotic river of love, lust and passion since the fallout with Aria.

Sitting in the back seat of her personal aircar, Tevos frowned. Centuries have passed, and she still could not move on from the time she had with Aria. Yet another reason to finally try loving someone else instead of moping like a lost puppy, you dork, the impetuosity snarled again.

Tevos chuckled; it's been a long time she heard the word "dork" aimed at her…


*FLASHBACK*

"Goddess almighty curse it to abyss and back, Tevos, how the hell can you hit your targets as if Athame herself guides your bullets and yet miss so miserably when using a fucking Disciple shotgun?!" Aria growled; she liked the abilities of Tevos (not to mention her alluring curves), and her skills with Seraphim assault rifle saved her blue ass numerous times, but Goddess was the witness – she HATED it when her subordinates could not get a hang of anything she wanted them to know.

"Did it not occur to you, Aria, that marksmen are not actually supposed to use the Goddess-damned shotguns?" Tevos retorted. Although it was not common for a subordinate to argue with her superior huntress, Aria ran her unit a bit more loosely (which did not amuse other asari COs) without losing her unit's combat efficiency (which allowed the same COs to ignore the uncommon practices). Which meant that if someone had proverbial balls of steel (the phrase was well-adopted by asari commandoes with arrival of humans on galactic scene centuries later), she could talk back to Aria and risk the consequences. For Aria never allowed anyone to undermine her authority.

"Your Seraphim rifle will not do fucking squat if one crazy enough Vanguard closes her distance with a cursed biotic charge! Before you actually recover and return fire, you'll have your skull ventilated ten fucking times over! You won't be able to do anything if it comes to CQB of any kind!" Aria raged. "Now you will learn how to fire a fucking Disciple or I will introduce your pretty face to the goddamn ground!"

Tevos rolled her eyes and ran the simulation of CQB again, armed with Disciple shotgun and no other back-up weapons (as the simulation required). She managed to withstand several enemies, but one of the holographic enemies succeeded in boxing her in a corner.

Tevos fired at point-blank range… and missed.

Meanwhile, the "enemy" charged her biotically, stumbling her, and fired from AT-12 Raider until barriers and vitals reached zero.

"Simulation terminated. Result: failure," announced the VI.

Kinetic barriers fell, and Tevos found herself face to face with glowing, frowning, and pissed-the-fuck-off Aria T'Loak.

Before the future asari Councilor managed to say something, she found herself raised in the air, and then her vision was filled by Thessian soil, and her nose was sending signals of very intense pain, along with her head. Couple of moments later, purple liquid also became visible on the ground.

"I swear to ancient daemonesses, Tevos, I've never seen anyone suck so miserably, even a neophyte who barely can hold her Acolyte pistol would not miss like that!" The decibels Aria managed to reach were actually exceeding the number of 100, which meant that anyone who became the target of such sonic shock should scramble away ASAP.

However, once Tevos tried to do this very thing, her nerves flared with pain and she felt sick. With a groan, she dropped her head.

The action had a surprising effect on Aria. Stopping her rant, she quickly inspected Tevos' face. Purple blood was flowing from the unfortunate asari's nose, and a nasty gash was also present on her forehead, which also was bleeding. Plus, Tevos looked as if she had trouble orienting herself.

"Fuck!" Aria cursed. "Overdid it!" Carefully positioning Tevos on the ground, she screamed into her suit radio: "Get a fucking medic in here!"

That was the last thing Tevos heard before blackness overtook her.

Tevos groaned; the feeling of someone pounding your head with a hammer would not do wonders for one's mood. Seconds later she realized that there was no hammer and just a slightly painful but tolerable pulsing where her head met the ground.

"Waking up?" she heard the voice which not so long ago was hurling obscenities at her.

Aria.

Looking around, Tevos saw the form of Aria T'Loak looking at her with evaluation and… concern?

Since when does Aria show that much concern? Typically it appears only in her voice, and even then not so often. I don't think anyone had seen her wearing a concerned face before.

"Yeah… what in Goddess' name happened?"

"I did as I promised, and introduced your face to the ground. But I went overkill, and had to get you to infirmary," came the explanation. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, I think…" Tevos stood up; she did not feel any vertigo. They patched me up pretty good.

"Good. They have injected you with anti-vertigo drugs and patched up your pretty face. You are relieved from training for a day, before everything gets into shape again," Aria told her in a no-nonsense tone. Tevos blinked; she had never heard of Aria being that kind before.

"What has your eyes so popped out?" snapped the older asari.

"Nothing, Aria. Just surprised."

"Look, I recognize that I went too far. Lidanya already chewed me off for that. I pushed too hard, and I am sorry," Aria spoke in an even tone, "and your face is not that messed up, you even have your nose back in place. (Wow, she really is generous. Usually she does not care if we're lacerated by shrapnel, Tevos mused.) So what do you need besides a full day of leave?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a kiss from my CO so it would heal quicker?"

Tevos did not expect those words to slip out, and once she realized that she had a bout of foot-in-the-mouth disease, she wished she could just blow herself.

It was not a secret that a good half of their unit had a crush on Aria. A good number of days was spent on guessing if their CO had a private life or fawning over her images or fantasized of bedding the foul-mouthed asari.

After all, what was there not to like? Aria was pretty brave, she saved many lives of her subordinates, took care of them (in her own crude and sometimes even brutish way, of course, but still) and had a body many of her compatriots would kill for. Aria knew about these dreams of course, but she did not approve of such, very loudly and traumatically, and generally strived to maintain professional relationship.

And Tevos just revealed that she had a crush on Aria, too.

Unconsciously, she closed her eyes tight and adopted a pose of someone about to rceive a hard flare into their face.

Oh Goddess. I am doomed, I am doomed, I am doomed, I am doomed…

What's that on my lips?

Oh Goddess!

Tevos pinched herself quickly (ouch, painful, means I am not dreaming) and then opened her eyes to see her CO in front of her, kissing her.

The kiss stopped abruptly, and Aria stood with a smug smile.

"Did the alternative medicine work?"

Tevos could not speak; it was as if her brain shut down.

"What… was that?"

"That was a kiss, you dork," snapped the purplish asari.

Tevos burst with laughter.

"What the fuck?" snapped Aria.

"Dork? Ha-ha-ha… oh Goddess, of all the… ha-ha… "Dork!" Ha-ha-ha…"

"Yeah, dork, because you're currently behaving as such!" the CO growled. "Now quit goofing!"

"Yes, hee-hee, Aria," Tevos barely managed to suppress her laughter, when suddenly the latest events caught up with her brain. "Wait! You… kissed me? How… I thought you never approved of it when we…"

Suddenly, Tevos could not speak. How can one, when another person slams a tongue inside one's mouth?

When the kiss was finished, Aria spoke:

"Because I actually like you. Do you think I would do that to anyone else?"

"You… like me?" Tevos stammered, not believing her ear folds.

"Of course, you dork," here, Tevos burst out chuckling again. Aria rolled her eyes and continued, "and the reason I grilled you so hard was not to let you die in an embarrassing way. I originally wanted to tell you once we complete this service term, but you tipped my hand. You have more brains here than anyone else, along with nice hips and tits (Tevos blushed heavily), and you have a very likeable personality. So why not give it a try?"

"So… what now?" Tevos asked timidly, still not quite believing her luck.

"Now you go on that leave, and I accompany you, and maybe we will kiss – or even more than kiss," Aria waggled her facial markings with a lewd smile; Tevos shifted uncomfortably for a moment, "but don't think I will stop teaching you CQB or bitch-slapping you if you continue missing from that Disciple like a dork!"

"Noted, Aria," Tevos chuckled; for some reason she could not help but chuckle when she heard Aria utter the word "dork"…

*END OF FLASHBACK*


I wonder if Shepard uses the word "dork"? Tevos mused, exiting her aircar and entering the embassies where undoubtedly a pissed-off Matriarch Aethyta was waiting for her…


In all honesty, I cannot promise when I will be able to update this story. Given that my academic tasks are nearing their respective deadlines, I will have to sift through them so I do not flunk, and in December, my preliminary exam session starts. Then holidays, then full exam session, and I also have to write a thesis, since it's my final year at university. That's gonna be a brain-wrecker if I ever saw one.

So stay tuned. I will finish it, promise.

Acknowledgements and thanks to the following people who reacted since my last update:

Rigel100, Zizania, LogicalPremise – for reviewing;

mormel, The Accident Experiment, Black2Crimson, LogicalPremise, liethr – for favouriting;

mormel, justaregularguy01, Tsumayouji, Soloist Programmer, LogicalPremise – for following.

(Acknowledgements given as of November 15, 2014, 0:21 Moscow time UTC+03:00.)

Thanks for reading and (im)patiently waiting!

Galactic Alien out (for now).