Interstitial Spaces

by bsmart

Mass Effect 2 with a strong focus on the characters rather than shooting things. All the little conversations that happened between missions, or should have. Shepard/Liara/Kelly, eventually.

8. ME3: Tiptree

Mass Effect 3: Interstitial Spaces

By: bsmart

Disclaimer: Rated R (or M depending on the site) for the good stuff, you've been warned. Currently its cursing and violence, we'll see where it goes from there. Mass Effect is owned by whoever owns Mass Effect.

Author's Note: There are significant spoilers to the ME2 portion of this story in here. If you care about that don't read any further. If you don't, go for it.

VOV

TipTree

VOV

"What's eating Joker?" James asked from where he stood beside Alyssa and Kelly near their workstations.

"Huh?" Alyssa asked distractedly.

"Joker, something's wrong with him. You ain't noticed Lola?"

Alyssa glanced up towards the cockpit. "Can't say I have."

"I ripped on the Normandy, all he said was, 'Do I come down to the cargo bay and insult your weights?' I mean really, Joker?"

Alyssa frowned.

"Joker was receiving regular communiqués from his home planet until recently. He's been checking in regularly with Alliance command."

James and Alyssa both looked at Kelly. "You reading my e-mail red?" he asked.

"No, no," Kelly said quickly, "I'm just checking in on comm traffic. I don't read any of them."

"I thought Traynor was in charge of comms," Vega pushed.

"She is, I just keep tabs in case the commander needs to know anything."

"That right Lola?"

"Thanks, Kelly," Alyssa snarked.

"You reading them then?"

"I would if you ever said anything interesting," Alyssa snarked. "What's going on with Tiptree?"

Kelly quickly checked her workstation and the galaxy map zoomed in on a system not far from Eden Prime. "Tiptree was quiet but about a week ago the Reapers landed forces in the system. The size of their force wasn't gauged to be an immediate threat to taking the planet, just a diversion to siphon off resources. The Alliance has started evacuations and ground forces are engaged but so far nothing major."

"And that's where Joker's from?" Vega asked.

"It is, but the bulk of the fighting was removed from where his home is."

Alyssa mulled this over while looking at the galaxy map. Their current flight path was skimming the galactic core heading for Terminus space. Aria wanted help on Omega and with the politicians trying to talk things to death she found herself with a bit of time on her hands. Not much, but some.

"Next time a crew member's home is invaded let me know please," Alyssa said with a sigh. She knew why it had been filtered out but it didn't make it any easier to deal with. She quickly wiped her station clean. "I'll talk to him James, see what's eating him. Tell Cortez to make sure at least one of the shuttles is put back together and to get everything ready to go."

"You thinking about making a detour Lola?"

"Just do your job James," Alyssa said with a smirk and a jerk of her head towards the elevator. There were no real hard feelings there she just wished she could get a 'Yes ma'am, right away ma'am,' out of someone in her crew. When he turned away she looked over at Kelly who was typing furiously on console. She slid up close to her and leaned in to glance at what she was typing but Kelly had swiped that window off her screen and Alyssa didn't push. "It's fine Kelly," she said softly.

"I should have known you'd want to know about something like that."

"That someone's homeworld had been invaded? Kelly, everyone's homeworld has been invaded. Joker was the odd duck out and the fighting was well removed from his family. It's alright."

"I'm supposed to anticipate those sort of requests. I should have known better."

"Kelly," Alyssa said quietly as she wrapped an arm around her lover's waist. "You're doing fine. You're the only reason this motley collection of maniacs is even a functioning team. Without you they'd have all killed each other a year ago."

The little redhead sighed. "Alright, but I won't let it happen again."

"Good attitude," Alyssa said. She gave Kelly an affection pop on her shapely little rear. "And if you're still beating yourself up over it tonight me and Liara will give you a good spanking."

"Promise?" Kelly said hopefully.

Alyssa started to smile broadly. "You know me. Now get our blueberry on the line and tell her to start shaking her contacts down for anything they've got on Tiptree. I've gotta go talk to Joker"

Alyssa untangled herself from her lover and started to stalk down the command deck towards the cockpit. Sadly the Alliance had done nothing to fix the turian architecture of the bridge so any face to face meeting with her pilot meant hiking half the length of the ship. Turians might prefer the high, officious, able to observe it all position near the back of the deck but she'd kill for a human CIC where everything was tight, close, at your fingertips. If you wanted to know what someone was up to or seeing you'd just turn your head a few degrees and look over their shoulder, not hail a taxi and pack a lunch for the trip to them. Still, it gave her some time to acknowledge the crew and exchange pleasantries with all of them. They were an odd mixture of Alliance techs who'd been modifying the Normandy when the Reapers attacked and the Cerberus crewmen who'd stayed with the ship when she'd told the Illusive man where to shove his dreams of human controlled Reapers, which was all of them. When she'd given them the chance to leave the ship after the Collector base not a single crewman had jumped ship. The Alliance might consider them ex-Cerberus but to her they were her crew and she'd be damned if she let anyone take them away.

As she got close to the cockpit EDI rose from her seat and started to walk towards her. Not surprising, while EDI's new body was a physical manifestation of her she was still really tucked down in the blueboxes behind the med-bay and the entire ship was still her. It was easy to forget that or that she had most likely been listening in on the entire conversation she had had with Vega and Kelly. She'd come to accept that EDI wasn't really a snoop, not in a malicious way, she was just not capable of not knowing everything about everybody.

To Alyssa's surprise though as soon as EDI stepped out of the cockpit the pressure doors that were normally left open slid quietly shut, far quieter than the doors on the ship usually worked. "Shepard," the metallic silver and matte black AI said as she approached.

"EDI," Alyssa acknowledged.

"You are concerned about Joker's mental well-being."

"I am," Alyssa admitted.

"As am I," EDI confirmed. "Uncommonly so."

"Uncommonly?" Alyssa asked.

"You are aware of Joker and I's relationship," EDI stated.

"Of course." Not that she couldn't be, when EDI had asked her about her and Joker Alyssa had encouraged her ship to spend time with her pilot, time beyond sitting in the cockpit, and they had. She'd seen them on the Citadel during a few of their layovers. She wondered what the rank and file thought of the two of them. Personal assistance robots weren't uncommon for those who modern medicine still had no cure. They weren't usually as expressive or as alluring as EDI though.

"Joker and his well-being already occupy a disproportionate amount of my processing cycles, beyond what I allocate to the other crewmen."

"I'll try not to take that personally."

EDI was used to Alyssa and continued on, "However Joker's current attitude is outside of established norms and I am at a loss for how to best return him to them."

"You want to cheer him up?"

"Yes."

Alyssa grinned. "Have you tried kissing him?"

"Repeatedly."

Alyssa coughed. EDI wasn't the kind to embarrass easy, or at all. "Kelly said he hasn't received a letter from home in a bit."

"No, he has not. His queries to Alliance Command have been on the status of Tiptree and they have not updated their SITREP for his planet in eighteen hours."

"That's odd."

"It is," EDI confirmed. "The mean time between situation update after Reaper forces entered the system was twenty two point seven one minutes."

"Shit," Alyssa said under her breath.

"Jeff refuses to speak with me about this. He has not mentioned it at all but he has consulted our flight data three hundred and ninety six percent more often than is usual."

"Joker's not really one to share his feelings with others. He's a lot more comfortable joking around no matter how tense things are. He's probably not used to having a... girlfriend."

"I appreciate that, Shepard, however…" EDI paused and that caught Alyssa's attention. "I would prefer it if Jeff were to confide these things in me. I am not sure if that is appropriate or not given our relationship at this time."

"No, you're not wrong. If something was bothering Liara or Kelly I'd expect them to come to me with it first. That's sort of the way things work in a relationship. It's a partnership."

"Which causes me concern about the status of my relationship with Jeff."

Alyssa put her hand on the cool metallic skin of EDI's shoulder. "EDI, believe me, Joker isn't pulling away. You're about as close to his dream woman as possible. He's just… an asshole."

"Yes, he is."

Alyssa snorted. "I'll talk to him, see what's bothering him."

"Are you planning a detour to Tiptree? You instructed Mr. Vega to make sure a shuttle was prepared."

"God above I would kill for some privacy."

"Then you should not be romantically involved with the Shadow Broker, your ship's counselor, or have Mrs. Traynor as your comms officer or me as your ship."

"Yeah well at least I get to fuck Liara and Kelly."

EDI knew not to respond to Alyssa's grousing and stepped aside. Inside the cockpit Alyssa thumped the back of specialist Traynor's seat at her comms station. "Take a break specialist," Alyssa said. To her credit Traynor didn't say a word but slipped out after EDI and the cockpit's blast door slid shut at the AI's command. At least someone could follow orders around here.

Joker didn't move from his seat, or even acknowledge that he was now alone in the cockpit with Alyssa and she didn't force him to dropping her body into the port side seat across Joker from where EDI sat on starboard.

For a few quiet minutes Alyssa admired the star field as it whipped past at impossible velocity. Keeping Joker quiet was normally impossible but this time, nothing. Alyssa brought up a display near the chair and pulled up their navigation chart. "Twenty nine minutes to the Ceti Gamma relay."

"Yeah," Joker said.

"You taking the scenic route?"

"Five minutes faster than anyone else could do it."

"You sure? Still seems slow."

"Are you up here for a reason or are you just going to insult my flying?"

"Just waiting for you to get around to telling me what the hell's the matter. Or do you want me to start guessing?"

Joker snorted. "Yeah, you guess. You've got the Shadow Broker and the ship's shrink in your bed, Traynor on comms, and I'm sure my own ship has ratted me out. Guess my brittle ass."

"Talk to your girlfriend if you don't like her reading your e-mails," Alyssa said. "In fact just talk to her, she's worried about you, or maybe she just needs to be degaussed, either or."

"With all due respect, fuck you ma'am."

"I'd snap you in half," Alyssa said as she kept watching the star field.

The stars continued to streak by and the countdown to the next relay kept ticking away.

"Anytime you're ready to pull your head out of your ass and start talking go right ahead," Alyssa said offhandedly.

"Who the hell ever said you were good at talking to people and helping them with their problems?"

"I didn't, everyone just seems to dump all their personal shit on me and expect me to fix it. What makes you a special and unique flower?"

"I can handle it."

"Bullshit, you're so torqued up that even Vega knows something's up with you."

Joker snorted.

"Seriously, head out of ass right the fuck now. Aside from the Doc we've known each other longer than anyone else on this tub, or do I need to call Mom up here to make you spill your guts?"

"Leave Hacksaw out of this," Joker said. "Bad enough I've got her talking to EDI about us and how to not break anything." He shuddered. "That's something I don't need her knowing."

"That EDI wants to ride you like a rented mule?"

"You too?"

"Come on Joker, I'm sure she's got a vibrate function somewhere in there."

"God damn it Shepard!"

"We can talk about your love life or we can talk about what burr has climbed up your ass. I've got twenty minutes to kill and no problem asking if EDI's got a data port on her bluebox that's waterproof."

"Fine! You win!" Joker exclaimed as he turned his chair to face her. "I'm worried about my family."

"See, was that so hard? What's going on with them?"

"My sister, she always sends me a message, even if it's just a quick short one every night at twenty one hundred local. Well I haven't gotten one from her and the Alliance has stopped putting out SitReps on Tiptree."

"Last update still confirmed that all Reaper activity was in a different hemisphere from your family's place."

"Was," Joker intoned. "Look, Shepard, there's too much going on. I'm sure something just happened to the comms and my family was on the evac list. I'm sure they're offworld already and my sister just couldn't get the usual message out."

"But you don't know?"

"No."

"And it would be the first thing she'd do?"

"Yeah, she'd let me know they were all offworld and ok."

"Well then let's check it out…,"

"No, Shepard, just no. We don't have the time to waste on my family. We've got things to do a galaxy to save just… don't worry about it, I'll be fine. They'll be fine."

"Joker, we're going to be a single relay jump from Tiptree, it's literally what, two hours out, two hours back? We'll spend four hours checking on your family. Hell, we'll pick them up and we can deposit them someplace like Eden Prime, six hours tops. Aria can sit on her purple ass for six hours. The Terminus won't be any less shitty for six hours of waiting."

"Shepard, I can't. You can't do this for me. Garrus' family, everyone on Earth, everyone on here has family in trouble. You can't go running off for all of them so you can't go running off for me."

"Joker, right now we can't do a damn thing for most people's families. I hate to admit it but we can't. Our mission is the only chance we have for most people's families and until we get some leads to work our mission right now is what I say it is. If I say Aria can sit on her purple ass for six hours while we tidy up your family then she can. A bunch of rim pirates aren't going to settle this fight one way or another. At best they're cannon fodder, at worst they're a distraction."

"A useful distraction," Joker said.

"I'd rather have a pilot whose head is in the game and right now that ain't you." Alyssa stood up. "We're going to Tiptree, we'll pick up your family and taxi them off to Eden Prime or somewhere safe, alright?"

Joker nodded slowly, starting to turn towards his console.

"That sounded like a question but it wasn't one. Alright?"

"Yes ma'am," Joker answered back smartly as he started to work the nav computer and she headed for the door. "And, thank you Alyssa."

"No problem Jeff," she said as the door slid open. Her voice also picked up so that it would carry properly to the bridge crew as well as to EDI and Traynor who were waiting outside. "And talk to your mechanical girlfriend. I am not playing fucking relationship counselor between my damn ship and her pilot!"

VOV

"Must you tease Jeff about his relationship with EDI?" Liara asked as Alyssa wrapped her arms around the Asari's shoulders from behind.

"Mhmm," Alyssa murmured as she started to nibble on the tip of one of her lover's head tentacles.

"Stop distracting me," Liara whined as Alyssa purred and sent pleasant vibrations through the sensitive appendage.

"Mmmm, no."

"If you want me to find out what I can about Tiptree you can't be teasing me like that."

"Awww, I thought you could multi-task my little blueberry."

"You demand all my attention," Liara teased back as she squirmed away from Shepard and broke her grip added by the Normandy's deceleration from FTL flight and it's quick reorientation before shooting off again in violation of all the laws of vanilla physics. "That was rough, Joker's in a hurry."

"It's his family so I'm not surprised." Alyssa said as she pulled Liara against her this time chest to chest.

Liara put her hands in Shepard's chest and pushed her away. She had no illusions about being able to get out of the human woman's arms without her biotics but Alyssa wasn't usually too demanding when there was work to be done, usually. "If you need it that bad go find Kelly, or specialist Traynor. I have work to do. Work you assigned me if you'll remember."

"Seems stupid for me to make you busy right now. Obviously I couldn't have issued that order."

"No, stupid was you coming down here in the first place, especially with you in that mood."

"What mood?"

"The mood you get in any time you win and get to try and make someone you care about happy."

"I'm not in any mood."

"Then why are my head tentacles moist, and why are you looking at me like you want to devour me?"

"I don't look like this all the time?"

"More than usual right now," Liara said as she pushed Alyssa towards the door. "Go, let me work. You need to get ready."

"Spoil sport."

"Hairy primate."

"Mmm baby, talk dirty to me."

VOV

"So far I haven't been able to raise any of my contacts on Tiptree," Liara said to the others gathered around the meeting table.

"I thought you were the Shadow Broker," Vega asked.

"If the comms don't work how exactly am I going to collect information in less than two hours?"

"Just saying."

"Anything at all?" Alyssa asked before James and Liara went at it, again.

"Nothing, I received a regular status update from a contact approximately nineteen hours ago and then nothing."

"So about the same time the Alliance stopped updating the SitRep."

"Precisely."

"I don't suppose this could just be a downed comm buoy," Garrus asked. Alyssa and Liara both looked at him and he sighed. "Had to ask."

"The Alliance would have spares and put one up right away if that's what it was," Alyssa said.

"I contacted Alliance command," Traynor said, "They don't know why the blackout happened. They were going to divert the Dunkirk to investigate but since we're headed that direction they just asked for a report when we get it."

"I thought the Reapers weren't on Tiptree in force, just a harassing group to keep the garrison pinned down," Miranda said.

"That's what everyone thought, not enough of them to gain any ground, but enough to keep the garrison from being able to be redeployed elsewhere. They had a destroyer deployed with them but just the one," Alyssa answered as a holographic display of the planet materialized. One of the southern continents was tinted red and a tiny destroyer was standing near one of the major port cities. "They were mostly encamped on the more populated southern continent with a constant stream of attacks against major population centers. Evacuations had started and were progressing well."

"Think they might have brought in reinforcements?" Garrus asked.

"Undetected?" Liara said. "Not likely. The Reapers don't bother with stealth."

"Cerberus?" Jack asked.

"You almost sound hopeful," Alyssa said with a chuckle.

"Maybe. They like to be sneaky and they're stupid enough to start shooting at their own kind."

"No idea, all we know is that Tiptree has gone dark," Alyssa said. "So we've got two goals. We reestablish communications with the system and assess the situation. Two, we locate Joker's family and extract them." A dot flared to life on one of the northern continents. "They live out in the boonies in a small farming community. Odds are they're sitting tight waiting for their shot to evac complaining that the comms are out. Any questions?"

There was silence around the table.

"Good. Joker's saved all our asses at one point or another, most of us more than once. Without him odds are we wouldn't even be having this conversation because Sovereign would have pulled his mission off and we'd all be in some Reaper death camp waiting to be turned into slurry. Let's go grab his folks and get'em out. It's the least we can do."

"If it keeps the cripple from flying us into a star I'm down for it," Jack said.

"Alright, Liara and Traynor, once we hit the system the two of you need to get learn everything you can and do it in short order. Tali, figure out what happened to their comms and fix it if you can. Vega, Garrus, Ashley, Miranda, Jack, Grunt, and EDI you're with me. We arrive in system in twenty minutes, get ready."

VOV

"Mark," Joker calmly intoned as the stars outside snapped back into individual points of light.

"Drift, five hundred," EDI calmly reported. "Stealth systems engaged."

"Course laid in, ahead full."

"Picking up anything?" Alyssa asked as she laid one gloved hand on the console in front of her. She was already in her armor in preparation for landing.

Traynor was busily flipping through readouts. "Nothing yet. All long range comm frequencies are quiet."

Alyssa nodded. "We expected that. What about short ranged stuff?"

"That's just it, nothing intra-system either. Still too far out to pick up local sideband from the planet."

Alyssa said nothing but Joker shifted in his seat. In front of them one of the system's gas giants expanded as the closed then slipped past them to starboard. The nav display showed them whipping through its collection of moons, asteroids, and rings with Joker using tiny adjustments to their course to pick up a few more meters per second of speed. "Cortez, status?"

"We're good to go ma'am, shuttle's loaded. Just waiting on you."

"Keep'em warmed up, we're closing on Tiptree."

"Roger ma'am."

"Anything yet?" Alyssa asked.

"No ma'am, long range and intra-system comms still silent."

"Sensors are detecting no untoward activity," EDI added in.

"Are they detecting any activity?" Alyssa asked.

"No."

They continued in system in silence. The FTL drive was moving them along at a bit over the speed of light.

"Two hundred million kilometers out," EDI announced.

"Can we get a visual," Joker asked.

"Yes."

The planet that appeared on the viewers was not remarkable. The same green and blue marble of so many garden worlds. A little more green on the bottom than the top but almost familiar, reminding her of Earth, right down to the fires burning on the nightside of the southern continent and the long gray smudges of smoke that decorated the day side. They weren't confined to the southern continent either. Long sooty trails emanated from several points on the coast of the northern continent too.

"That's not good," Alyssa said quietly.

Joker said nothing.

"Picking up anything yet?" Alyssa asked.

Traynor tilted her head and pressed her hand against her ear. It was a bit of an anachronism given that the communication bud was implanted in her head not stuck in her ear but she heard things like it was. "Starting to pick up some faint sideband, short ranged comms, surface to surface. It's all too faint to extract anything yet."

"Stay silent, we don't want the Reapers knowing we're here."

"What about the troops on the ground?" Joker asked.

Alyssa watched as the planet slowly turned, the black line of night crawling across the northern continent. "We can't repel a full on Reaper invasion. We get in, find your family, pull them out, see if we can reestablish comms with local command and bug out to report what we've seen to command. They can sort it out then." She didn't like it, but there was nothing one frigate and a platoon of soldiers, even if it was the Normandy and her squad, could do about a full on invasion in force. They couldn't get tied down here, not with the entire galaxy in the balance. They had time for one good deed, that was it.

Joker went back to his piloting, again, silent. Alyssa watched him from the corner of her eye. He'd rarely ever spoken about Tiptree, preferring to spend his time talking about joining the Alliance, or Arcturus Station. What did he think about seeing Tiptree like this? She had no special attachment to any one place. The Earth she knew had been a cesspool she'd been all too eager to leave. The Citadel was nice, but it was just another space station, just another port of call. The old Normandy had almost made it to being something more than a ship to her, but not quite. She admired it, liked it, was even proud of it but home? No, not home. This ship though, inspite of its origins, in spite of being a remake of the first Normandy, in spite of being an AI's body, this ship was home. Would seeing it on fire, burning affect her? Probably. Was that what Joker was feeling right now?

"We'll reach orbit in thirty minutes," he announced.

"Let the ship know EDI," Alyssa ordered. She looked back at Traynor, "Anything from the comm buoys?"

Samantha shook her head. "Not even carrier waves. Any long range communications are completely down."

"Let Tali know, there might not be anything left to fix." Alyssa looked out the front viewports, in the distance she could just make out the tiny blue dot of the approaching planet. "I'm going down to the shuttle. Traynor, once we get close enough try and locate any kind of central command and patch me into their channel. We'll have a listen but do not break stealth. Joker, bring us close to your family's farm then pull back alright? EDI see if you can localize Reaper forces and send me the TacSit."

A chorus of affirmations came back and Alyssa headed for the cargo bay. When she'd first taken command of the SR-2 she'd kept all her weapons in her room, too nervous for them to be out of sight around a Cerberus crew but she'd eventually warmed to them and while the old armory was gone she was content to leave her arms, minus a pistol or three, down here with Cortez. She still checked up on his work but she wasn't living in constant fear of having her weapons tampered with anymore. Tali and Ashley knew her well enough to not start mucking about with them without her go ahead.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal the cargo bay and she had to admit that while she loathed many of the things the Alliance had done to her ship, next to the paint job moving the armory down to the cargo bay had been one of the best. Her team was already there and waiting. Garrus, Grunt, Ashley, and Vega already in their armor with their weapons. Garrus was, like always, tinkering away with something on his rifle. Even minutes from drop he was tweaking something. Grunt and Vega were busy trying to one up each other while Ashley bemusedly watched on. The latino soldier was one of the few humans who didn't have to look up at Grunt which had only made him want to put Vega in his place even more. Their constant jockeying for the position of toughest male on the ship had so far not come to blows but if they ever sorted it out Alyssa was looking forward to knocking the winner on his ass.

Miranda was trying to discuss something with Jack and EDI and while she appeared to have EDI's undivided attention and her girlfriend was ignoring her Alyssa knew that couldn't be farther from the truth as Miranda most likely had a few percent of EDI's processing power devoted to listening to her while Jack would be able to, sarcastically, repeat every important point Miranda made. Thankfully all three were in various bits of armor. Miranda in her reinforced soft suit while Jack and EDI were just using a chestplate and thigh guards. It was a step up from Jack going into battle with absolutely nothing but her pants and belt bra on though Alyssa would have been happier with her in a soft suit. It had taken Miranda a lot of convincing to get Jack to wear even that much. Alyssa could still remember the fight, it was always a fight with them, and Miranda had won it like she'd won so many fights with Jack, by pulling the "I care about you," card on her. Which won her the fight and treated everyone on the ship to another of Jack's incredibly creative and detailed string of expletives. It wasn't fighting fair but Miranda was as interested in a fair fight about as much as Alyssa was. It had gotten Jack into something a bit more reasonable for a war-zone so everyone was happy.

Alyssa went to her own weapon's locker and started to arm herself. Submachine guns, her new favorite toy a Graal spike thrower, her Paladin pistol, assorted knives and bits of sharpened metal, and finally her rifle. Half assault rifle, half medium machine gun, all antique and barely recognizable as it had once been after years in her care and then almost three with Ashely, Tali, and Jacob helping her perfect it. She carefully inspected it, deploying it and checking the sights and ammo feed before flipping between it's active modes.

"Would you two like a moment together?"

Alyssa grinned as she stowed the rifle on her back and turned to Kelly. "Only if you join us."

"I think Mr. Cortez might start to take it personal if you keep checking up on your weapons like that."

Alyssa shook her head, "Steve is a big boy. He gets it. It's nothing against him it's just a ritual, a habit. I guess kind of a reflex. My instructors would have had my head if I ever accepted a weapon and didn't give it at least a quick once over to confirm it worked."

Kelly fussed with one of the armor buckles under Alyssa's right arm, checking it and tightening it before running her fingers over the others. "Regardless, just tell him once in a while that he's doing a good job."

"I will, I will," Alyssa assured her. "Going ship's therapist on me again?"

"The new crew is having to integrate with the old and they're having to deal with being the outsiders. It's sort of obvious you trust Ashley and Tali with your weapons but just trust Steve with not messing with them." Her nimble fingers wormed under one of the lames that made up Alyssa's belly plate and checked a power connection hidden behind it.

"What's wrong Kelly?" Alyssa prodded as she let the redhead continue to examine her armor, satisfying a nervous habit.

"Something isn't right with this," she said as she tugged the narrow armor plate back into position.

"The Reapers have invaded the galaxy, you're gonna have to get more specific than that sweetie."

"This situation, it's all wrong," she said as she fussed over Alyssa's armor, still not looking her in the face.

"I know, the comms are down, the Reapers should be being held back but they're moving on and..."

"It's not that," Kelly said. "It's... I feel it. It's not right, something is very wrong here."

"Feel it? Like what, intuition because this whole situation is pretty fu..."

"No!" Kelly hissed. "It's... something else. Just... be careful, and bring Joker's family back he's barely holding onto it right now."

"He didn't look that bad to me."

Kelly finally looked up into Alyssa's eyes. "Trust me, this is a lot worse for him than he's letting on. Besides, who's the therapist hmm?"

"Alright," Alyssa said. "But we're talking about this when I get back."

"Five minutes to drop," Joker's voice came over the comms.

Alyssa sighed then looked back to Kelly, "I gotta go do a thing."

"I know, just be careful," Kelly said as she kissed Alyssa lightly on the lips.

Alyssa smirked as she turned and headed for the shuttle. "Hey, it's me," she said with an arrogant grin.

VOV

Alyssa swayed as the shuttle hit an updraft, momentarily lofting it up before letting it down. She stayed loose and relaxed, absorbing the bump rather than trying to stiffly ride it out like she'd seen many a nugget do right before being thrown face first into a bulkhead.

"Still nothing on comms," Traynor's voice said in Alyssa's earpiece.

"Alright, stay silent until the Reapers know we're here. No reason to give them a head's up."

"Shepard," EDI said from the cockpit.

"What's up?" she said as she leaned in.

"Specialist Traynor did not want to say this over the comms where Joker could overhear but we're starting to pick up sideband from the area where Joker's family farm is. There is heavy Reaper activity in the area."

"Shit..." Alyssa hissed.

"We haven't been able to localize it but the area appears overrun."

"Alright, continue in, we'll make a pass over the farm and see if anyone's still alive down there. And EDI..."

"Yes Shepard?"

Alyssa made eye contact with her before slowly shaking her head. "Never mind, I'll do it. Patch me in to Joker."

"Yes Shepard," EDI said with little inflection. Alyssa was starting to recognize a difference between EDI the person's voice and EDI the ship's.

"Joker, you there?"

"I'm here commander," he said tersely.

"We're picking up Reaper signals around your family's farm. We're going in for a look."

For several long seconds there was silence. "Understood Commander.

"Maybe they might have bugged out when trouble came around," Jack suggested.

"Shepard," EDI cut in. "It should be possible to pick up the carrier waves of any communications devices any of Joker's family may have on them."

"What's the catch?"

"The shuttle's communication's suite should be able to simulate a communication's node to activate the carriers."

"And let them know we're here," Miranda said.

"Yes. It will also alert the Reapers once her communication's device begins broadcasting."

"My sister always kept her omni-tool with her," Joker said. "She sleeps with it."

"Do it EDI," Alyssa ordered.

"Approaching the farm."

"Activating comm signal."

Alyssa turned to look out the side of the shuttle's viewport as Cortez brought them over the trees and into sight of the Moreau's farm.

"Shit," Cortez said quietly.

The fields surrounding the farm were torn up by weapons, smoldering in the aftermath of some kind of fight. An orchard on the far side of the farm was on fire with half of it already ash, naked and charred limbs reaching up out of the scorched ground. The farm house itself was half destroyed, blown inwards and collapsed on itself while the half still standing was blackened and shot full of holes.

"Goddamn it," Joker said softly.

"No human life signs detected, no carrier waves," EDI reported mechanically.

"Someone's noticed!" Cortez shouted as he violently jerked the shuttle away from the farm, whipping it from view right before the red glow of incoming fire filled the viewport.

"You've got trouble coming your way!" Traynor told them. "We've got a flight of Occulus' vectoring in from the southern coast."

"Confirmed," EDI said, "Reaper activity on the local net has doubled, evidence of ground forces starting to vector in on our location."

"Well shit," Alyssa groaned. "Get us out of here Steve! Joker, can you do anything about occulses?"

"Aye ma'am."

She didn't have time to reflect on how deadpan Joker had said that before EDI interrupted. "Commander, I'm picking up a carrier wave to the north west!"

"How many?"

"Just one. An omni-tool belonging to Hilary Moreau."

"Commander...!" Joker started to yell.

"Vector us in EDI and get a hold of her, tell her we're coming," Alyssa ordered as he slapped Steve on the shoulder.

"Course laid in," Cortez said, "Going in hard."

"Shepard," EDI said to get her attention. "I've isolated her position. There are numerous Reaper forces in the area. We will not be able to make a covert extraction."

"This just became a smash and grab people," she said glancing over her shoulder into the cargo bay. "No subtlety, we hit'em, grab whoever we can find, and bug out before they swarm us."

A quiet, harried, and confused young girl's voice came over the shuttle's speakers. "Who is this?"

"Hilary?!" Joker yelled before anyone else could answer.

"Jeff?" the girl asked in shock and surprise.

"Hilary, are you ok?" Joker asked.

"No, my leg, it's hurt and those..."

Another voice came in, older, harsher. "What are talking about? Shut up or they'll hear you!" There was a scuffle and words exchanged that the omni-tool filtered out since they weren't aimed at it before the voice came back "Who is this?"

"Joker Moreau, Alliance navy, Hilary's brother. Put her back on the damn line!"

Alyssa got EDI's attention and slashed across her throat and EDI cut Joker out of the conversation. "This is an Alliance exfil team. We're here to pull the girl out and anyone with her. What's your situation?"

"Screwed, and how do I know you're not indoctrinated?"

"Because there are Reapers all around you and if they knew your comm carrier signal they wouldn't need me to get you to give yourself up, they'd just swarm you."

"Well now they know we're here!"

"And we're inbound so sit tight and we'll get you out."

The comm was silent as whoever was on the other end of the line pondered the situation.

"Fine, but there's a big group of Ravagers to the sou..."

"SHIT!" Cortez yelled half a second before the shuttle was hit dead center and went tumbling. "We're hit! Barriers caught most of it," he announced as he got control over the spinning shuttle and the viewport showed he'd gotten it only meters from the tree tops.

"Ravagers," EDI confirmed. "A large group, covering most of the adjacent two valley's. We cannot land or we will be in their fields of fire."

Alyssa looked at the topographic map with the Reaper forces overlay which now bore a large inverted red triangle on top of a hill with a commanding view of the valley they'd just flown into and the adjacent one to the north where Hilary's carrier wave was emanating.

"Shepard, what's going on?" Joker asked.

"There's a large group of Ravagers positioned to cover the valley where your sister is Jeff, we cannot land there to pick her up," EDI informed him.

Alyssa nudged Steve and pointed to a small depression to the west of Hilary's valley and he nodded. "Should be enough cover, but I can't come get you without taking fire."

"I know," she answered, "But it's the only place close that they can't hit."

"Still two kilometers out and back."

"I know. Drop us off and orbit, we'll call you in."

"What the hell is going on down there?" Joker asked. "I'm coming back, I'll take'em out."

"Negative Joker, shut up and listen," Alyssa said. "Get south and bounce those occuluses before they know you're there, then get your ass up here. We'll go in on foot, grab her, and hoof it out. Then you lay into the Ravagers, we lift off and meet you mid-air before we bug out."

"Aye-aye commander," Joker said tensely.

"And Traynor and Liara, you two need to be ready to establish comms with the locals as soon as you hit the occuluses. Jig's up at that point, let's go for broke."

"Acknowledged."

Cortez skimmed the shuttle over the trees, trying his best to stay too low for the Ravagers to get a shot on them but occasional red streaks still ripped through the treetops nearby. "That's a hell of a spot for an AA battery," he said through gritted teeth.

"Are you still alive?" the older female voice said over the comms.

"Yeah, we're still here," Alyssa confirmed.

"Thought they'd got you."

Alyssa nudged EDI on her shoulder as Cortez brought them in for a landing. EDI transferred Hilary's channel to their squad network. "They almost did," Alyssa said as she unlimbered her rifle and took her place at the door. When it snapped open she hopped the meter to the ground and quickly ran to the tree line around the clearing as the rest of the squad followed with practiced ease. "We've had to put down in a depression two kilometers to the west, we'll come in and get you and fall back. Can you move?"

"Negative, the human girl has a broken leg, she can't move. I can't carry her out either. We've got a good hiding place but if we move we're dead."

"Understood. Hang on, we should be there in fifteen."

"Alrig... shit, hurry. I think we're getting company."

Once the last of the squad was off the shuttle rose and accelerated away to put some real cover between it and the ravagers. Within seconds silence returned to the forest and the only light was from the moon. "Alright, let's go," Alyssa said as she started to move out and the squad fell in around her. They fell into a wedge-like formation. Ashley and Vega took the right flank, Alyssa and Grunt were on the left flank, while Jack, Miranda and EDI formed the center and Garrus the rear guard. .

The forest was not unlike many that she'd seen before. Thirty meter trees resembling pines and firs with a few deciduous ones thrown in for flavor. The only thing out of the ordinary was how smooth their bark was. The underbrush wasn't thick but between it and the widely spaced trees it still limited their vision to twenty or thirty meters. The ground itself was broken and uneven, churned up by the roots of the trees with it rising in many places high enough to hide yourself behind.

The entire squad were using night amplification equipment so the darkness was no real hindrance. Alyssa was the sole exception, having learned not long after being revived that Miranda might have left her mind untouched, mostly, but she hadn't been as shy with the rest of her. One of the many improvements made had been to her eyes which gave her night vision equal to just about anything stand alone goggles could do.

The forest was alive with all hoots and howls of its animal life and the buzz of it's insects. The leaves rustled in the breeze and if you tried hard you could forget that on other parts of the planet people were dying by the hundreds, even thousands at that moment. The forest continued on without a care in the world and why shouldn't it? The Reapers weren't here for it. They didn't care about the birds or the trees or anything like that. They were only here for the sapients and their works, advanced ones that they would gleefully exterminate by the billion before reducing their works to ash. They wouldn't bother the forest, leaving it alone so in ten million years they could return for whatever creature attempted to rise to greatness and embrace the stars only to find them presided over by cruel gods who only craved their deaths.

Alyssa frowned as those morose thoughts clouded her mind. It had been easier to stay objective about the Reapers before they had descended upon the galaxy en masse. Before she realized that she owed the rise of her species and the species of everyone she cared about to the continual genocide the Reapers kept inflicting upon the galaxy.

She instead brought up the local map and her implants displayed it as an overlay over the world in her eyes. They had closed in by over a kilometer but they still had a ways to go.

"Contact," Garrus hissed over the comms. Everyone halted and sunk to their knees. "Bearing forty, range fifty meters."

Alyssa turned her head to the south east and spotted them, husks. For creatures with such stiff gaits they were moving fairly well through the cluttered forests. "Ok, we've got the skirmishers, where are the actual troops?" It was going to turn into a right angled engagement, that much Alyssa was sure of. They were trying to move to the east to get to Joker's sister and the Reapers would be moving north towards them. "Bear left, three fifteen, lets try and keep some distance between us and them."

The husks didn't seem to be moving with much purpose. Just a general flow to the north which seemed to conform to standard Reaper tactics. Husks weren't soldiers or even meant to accomplish much. They were just sent in in unending waves to tie you down and consume their target's ammo while their real killers, cannibals, marauders, brutes and ravagers would come in and wipe their opponents out. The Reapers were probably just sending them out hoping that they'd find her and the squad and raise the alarm so the rest of their forces could vector in.

Their careful detour quickly put some distance between them and the husks they'd spotted and for a few minutes things were relatively quiet as they put the Reapers behind them.

"Let's pick up the pace," she urged. She could hear the distance clicks and growls of Reaper ground forces and at the rate they were moving they'd wind up engaged long before they could get to Hilary. The leaves of a bush off to the right rustled with purpose and Alyssa brought her rifle up to cover it. The entire team tensed up, finding cover and readying their weapons as the bush shivered then burst forth as a lean hexapedal deer like creature bounded away from them deeper into the forest.

"Alright, relax, let's get moving aga...," Alyssa began right until the bark of the tree she was next too exploded into splinters as a stream of glowing red mass driver rounds chewed it to pieces.

"CONTACT!" Vega yelled as more shots started to rip apart the jungle around them.

"No shit," Jack yelped back as her biotics flared to life and two husks were yanked off their feet and sent flying into the jungle canopy.

Alyssa brought her rifle up and dropped the crosshairs over a cannibal's face. The altered batarian's face exploded in a satisfying spray of viscera as she snapped back on the trigger before sweeping her weapon to the right and doing the same to another pair of them and a husk that was charging.

"When did these guys learn to be quiet?" Ashley asked as her argus started to snap off three round bursts and the newly minted spectre demonstrated how she'd risen as far as she had by killing a Reaper troop with every burst.

"Pull back and push east," Alyssa said into her comms. "We can't get bogged down."

A marauder came charging in from the left but EDI was there. Blue and white arcs crawled over the spasming former-turian's body as she overloaded it's cybernetics before finishing it off with a long burst to it's face from her submachine gun.

Their attackers were coming from the south but they weren't bringing much. Lots of husks and cannibals but with only a few marauders. Alyssa ducked around a tree as a grenade a cannibal had tossed wiped out the bush she'd been using for cover but when it tried to push its momentary advantage to move up into new cover a full auto burst from her rifle dropped it. At the same time Vega leveled his shotgun at another and leveled it. "Scouting party," Alyssa hissed. "Finish'em quick and get moving. Our cover's blown."

The Reapers weren't pushing the advantage, being almost cautious in how they engaged. While the husks charged forward mindlessly and were quickly wiped out the cannibals and marauders did little to close the distance, content to lob in grenades while peppering them with enough fire to keep them cautious.

"They're trying to delay us, pin us down," Miranda said as her rifle snapped off shots.

"Vega, Grunt, grenade'em. Ash and me will provide cover while everyone else displaces," Alyssa said. They needed to disengage and keep moving. One on one the Reapers were no match for them but the Reapers never fought one on one. In short order it would be ten on one, then a hundred to one, and they'd keep coming until they were dead no matter what. They didn't care how many they lost; their soldiers would either die on the battlefield or be left to rot and fall apart once the Reapers returned to dark space.

Vega and Grunt lobbed a pair of grenades towards were their attackers were and then followed them with another pair. "Frag out!" Vega yelled.

Alyssa braced her rifle against a tree and after all four grenades went off blowing dirt, lichen, shrubbery, and body parts into the air in equal measure she held the trigger down on her weapon and bathed the area in fire as the rest of the squad fell back and to the east, pushing towards the objective. She didn't have a target, just a goal, keep their heads down.

"Set!" Miranda called as they found cover and prepared.

"Displace!" Alyssa ordered and after one last quick volley she, Ashley, Vega, and Grunt quickly scrambled out of their cover as the others started to blast at the Reapers. Her feet found purchase as she hustled through the dark forest, landing surely on upturned roots and bounding over small holes until she ran through the thin line the biotic and technical side of the squad had set up. Their own weapons and abilities were blazing away into the Reapers as the first part of the squad charged through and kept going. Twenty meters later Alyssa skidded to a halt as did the rest of them and she ducked behind a large root, bracing her rifle as she heard a chorus of "ready"s from the rest of the group. "Set!" she barked into the comms

Half a second later Miranda called, "Displace," and the rest of them came running.

"Hold fire," Alyssa ordered as she peered out into the darkness. Their attackers were either dead or disoriented and she didn't see any following after them. She rose to her knees and looked for any sign of movement as Miranda's half of the group moved through but aside from the settling of dust and the fall of branches and leaves from the firefight she saw nothing. "Form up and let's go," she said. "Double time."

"Shepard, we've got the occulus flight in our sights," Joker announced. "Do you have my sister yet?"

"Not yet, we're closing in. EDI can keep you up to date Joker."

"She said you guys ran into some trouble."

"Nothing we can't handle, just a little scouting party," she replied as she fell in at the head of the squad. She didn't like hustling through the woods like they were but she didn't have a choice. The Reapers had a good location for them and would be vectoring in everything they had on top of them. The only hope they had was to move faster than the Reapers. "You need to get your ass back here ASAP though."

"I'll bounce these guys and be right up," Joker.

Alyssa glanced at EDI. "There are six occuluses in the flight, Jeff and I can handle them easily with the element of surprise."

"Well hustle, I don't think we've got time to fool around."

"Understood," EDI replied.

When EDI had first volunteered her services on the ground Alyssa had been wary and eventually a bit wierded out by the fact that EDI was present both on the ground and on the ship with no apparent loss of capability and furthermore no seeming concern with her being in two places at the same time.

"I don't see anyone following us," Garrus announced. "Clean break."

A little light was blinking in her HUD and Alyssa activated her comms, accepting the call.

"Was that you?" the older voice from Hilary's comms asked.

"We ran into a scouting party. What's your situation?"

"Movement to the southeast," she said in a tense whisper. "Nothing's showed itself yet but there is something out there."

"Sit tight, we're five hundred meters out."

There was an inhuman scream, too unnatural and awful for even the comm system to filter out. That echo'd in the distance as well. "Oh goddess, Neaira."

"We're out of time," Alyssa said. "MOVE!" And with that she stopped trying to hold formation as did everyone else. She slung her rifle on her back as she started to run. Her HUD gave her the navigation cue and Alyssa followed it, barreling through the forest as quickly as she could. EDI's mechanical body was able to keep pace with Alyssa's augmented one but the two of them quickly began to pull away from the rest of the group. They were moving too quickly to avoid anyone who might be in front of them and making enough noise tearing through the underbrush that anyone nearby had to hear them.

And they did. As Alyssa approached the small clearing where Hilary and her companion were hiding a group of cannibals rose up from behind a small swell in the ground and started to spray mass driver fire at them. There was no time to react, to find cover, or even prepare for it so Alyssa just lowered her head and charged, pulling her submachine guns from their thigh holsters. In a rush she was among them, clubbing one in the face in passing as she shredded another's chest with a rolling burst from her other hand. One cannibal lunged at her, trying to wrap her in its misshapen arms but Alyssa twisted to the side, putting her gun to the side of it's head and emptying the creature's skull. As she turned she glimpsed EDI, the andorid's own weapon cutting down a husk as she wrapped her free arm around a marauder's head and twisted, ripping it off with with sickly popping sound.

A grenade exploded to Alyssa's r side making her barriers flair to life as it picked her up and dumped her on her side. She swung her feet back under her as a marauder drew a bead on her but her own biotics flared to life. "Come 'ere," she growled as she drug the augmented turian off his feet towards her waiting gun, blasting it in the face with a burst before hurling the dead body into another pair of husks that were charging them.

Her barriers came to life again as another Reaper minion drew a bead on her and let fly with its mass driver only to be cut down as the rest of the squad finally started to catch up and thin the distracted horde out.

She almost absently dispatched another husk that came into her sight as she spotted their goal for the first time, a very tall, very large tree with an exceptional network of roots that in many places rose three meters off the forest floor. No other tree stood within twenty meters of this behemoth and a little bit of movement in the roots drew Alyssa's eye to a small human girl and an asari crouched amongst the roots, well hidden. "Alright let's go...," she began before the scream came back, loud and terrible from the other side of the tree as a burst of light announced their visitor.

"BANSHEE!" Garrus yelled as the elongated fringe of the twisted creature's head appeared over the top of some of the roots.

A flick of her eyes put her on Hilary's comms but instead of making a connection she admitted one that was already incoming.

"On your right!" the woman called into her ear.

"Contact!" Miranda stated. "In force!"

Alyssa's eyes swept the scene quickly. The small patrols they had already encountered and dispatched were just that, small. The Reapers had caught up and caught up in force. From the south she spotted dozens of husks crawling across the landscape like a cybernetic tide. Some were old, their bodies gunmetal gray and shot through with cybernetics head to foot. Others were fresh, newly turned, pale gray with only a minimum of cyber tech. Behind them came cannibals and marauders by the dozen, swarming around the perimeter of the tree free zone near Hilary's hiding spot. Stomping through them all came a number of brutes but navigating through the tree's was slowing them down. With the Reapers to the south if the asari and Hilary ran they'd be cut down instantly. If they stayed they had a Banshee on them, and the squad would have its hands full just holding against the incoming tide of Reapers.

"Fall back north west," Alyssa ordered as the underbrush started to disintegrate under the incoming fire.

"Covering fire!" Miranda ordered immediately. "Displace!"

Alyssa was already scrambling to her feet and starting to run. A group of Reapers noticed her and started to shift their fire towards her but in a blue flash she was gone, ten meters from where she had been, planting her foot and twisting to the side. They didn't get another chance to fire as she jumped again, turned, and bounded again, rocketing around the perimeter of the tree in a blue blur. More talented biotics could have done it in a single bound and gone through the intervening part of the tree but Alyssa had never learned the precision with her biotics that others had and the brute force approached worked in a great many things. Only a handful of seconds passed between when she'd started her dash and when she got halfway around the tree to see the tall, cyberized form of the banshee, trying to force it's way through the roots of the tree to either get to Hilary and the asari or to flush them out so that the rest of their forces could kill them. Time was of the essence. The squad was already starting to fall back and the Reaper forces were pushing in on them. They'd no doubt be sending a few over to come after her as well which meant she had to get through this Banshee and fast.

Focusing her energy again the exploded forward in a biotically assisted charge, bounding up a tree root next to the three meter tall, twisted asari until she was head height. The silver demon was so distracted trying to force itself through the mangrove like roots of the tree that it didn't notice her until she was even with its head. Which was also the moment Alyssa lept from the root and brought her fist down against the monster's head, unleashing as much of her biotic ability as she could into a single blow that rocked the Banshee's head back and staggered it. As her feet hit the compacted loam of the ground Alyssa let all the power she had go in a single blast, radiating away from her and ripping the banshee's biotic barriers away. The twisted creature shrieked at her, setting Alyssa's teeth on edge but the human didn't back down, lunging forward and pushing her fist with her muscles and biotics sending it slamming into the banshee's gut and knocking it to the ground.

Alyssa's momentary triumph was short lived as the banshee recovered quickly, twisting and warping the air before it before hurling the biotic blast at Alyssa and knocking her backwards into the roots of the tree. The banshee started to stalk towards her, snarling its anger as it began to build its barriers again, and warm up another blast.

Alyssa yelped into her comms, "Little help he...," but wasn't able to finish it before one side of the Banshee's head caved in and the other exploded outwards to the sound of a sniper rifle's boom.

"Next time tell us what you're planning alright?" Garrus chided her.

"Ok dad," Alyssa snarked as she clambered to her feet and wormed her way through the roots of the tree as the Banshee collapsed dead behind her.

"You must be insane," the asari said as she finally wriggled through and came out in the small hollow she and Hilary were using.

"Probably," Alyssa said as she looked them over. The asari was half naked and unarmed, wearing only a thin t-shirt a couple sizes too large for her and pair of baggy pants cinched around her waist. She was muddy and bleeding in several places and she had no shoes. Hilary was not much better, looking much younger and frailer than her fifteen years. Her clothes fit her but they were meant for sleeping in, not running through the forest. She didn't have any shoes either and her left thigh had bits of bone sticking out of it. "Commander Shepard, Spectre, Alliance Navy."

"Lieutenant Aeian T'Goni," she began. "wait... you're THE Commander Shepard?"

"Commander Shepard?" Hilary asked weakly.

"That's what the tell me," Alyssa answered. "Your brother sent me Hilary." A few stray rounds started to come their way, thudding into the roots and branches that hid them from view. "My squad's falling back to the north west. We need to get out of here and link up. Can you move?"

"I can, myself. I took a round in the leg. I can't carry Hilary."

"I'll take her," Alyssa said as she quickly dug into the small medkit she kept on her belt. She jammed a small single use syrette into Hilary's leg near the compound fracture. "This will numb your leg," she explained as she took out a dressing and wrapped Hilary's leg with it, bringing the ends together so they could seal. "I've gotta carry you and I can't be gentle."

"Ok," Hilary groaned through clenched teeth. "I just wanna see Jeff."

Alyssa didn't need to feel her head to know the girl had a raging fever. "Don't worry, you'll see him in about ten minutes."

A brute roared as it slammed through the underbrush to be met with the slamming of Vega's automatic shotgun. "Got ya!" he bellowed in triumph as the big beast crashed to the ground with a thud.

"We gotta go," Alyssa said as she scooped Hilary up. The teenage girl was maybe forty kilos soaking wet and was no great impediment to Alyssa aside from occupying her left arm. She drew her pistol and handed it to the lieutenant. "You good with this?" T'Goni grabbed the pistol from Alyssa's hand like a starving woman would go after a sandwich. "Alright then." She stayed low as she crawled to the edge of the roots and peeked out. She could see Reapers pushing through the place where she'd left her squad and they were to the northwest and pulling back. "Alright, go around the tree and keep it between you and the Reapers. Pull back north fast as you can, I'll be right behind you." The asari shook her head in acknowledgement. "Alright, go!"

For someone barefoot the lieutenant took off like a sprinter, snapping off random shots at the Reapers as she went. Alyssa was close behind with Hilary slung over her shoulder. Shots riddled the roots around her as she ran around the curve of the tree and nearly right into the back of the asari.

"Neaira," she moaned over the corpse of the dead banshee.

"MOVE!" Alyssa yelled as she shoved her in the back and got her running again into the forest.

"You clear Shepard?" Miranda asked her over the comms.

"Clear!" Alyssa confirmed.

A split second later the night was lit up as a large patch of the forest was shredded by the series of explosions.

"That's why you always bring claymores and grenades," Vega whooped as Grunt chuckled.

"Joker, you read me?" Alyssa asked as she started to veer to the west, moving towards the squad's markers on her HUD.

"We're coming in fast Shepard," Joker said. "What about my sis...,"

"We got her," Alyssa interrupted. "I've got her right now but the Reapers are on our asses. We need those ravagers hosed now!"

"Three minutes out!" Joker declared.

"Cortez, uploading a new rendezvous," Alyssa said as she scanned the map. The small clearing she picked out wasn't far away but even now the Reapers would be vectoring in more and more troops. "Coordinate with Joker, we've got a lot of company and need a hot evac."

"Hey, good guys here!" Vega called out as the Lieutenant almost ran right past the rest of the squad in the dead of night.

The asari let out a desperate laugh at the sight of the rest of them before sagging into a tree.

Vega came over and began to take Hilary from Alyssa and she let him. "Don't worry chica, we'll get you back to your brother soon," he said soothingly.

Miranda cut in, between them. "Vega and Grunt's little stunt bought us some breathing room, but not much. We've still got Reapers on our tail and EDI says there's another group vectoring in on the clearing you want to use."

Alyssa nodded as she stowed her submachine gun and retrieved her rifle. "Only decent evac point along this route. We gotta get there before they do."

"A hundred and fifty meters," Garrus announced before his rifle cracked. "Make that a hundred and sixty but they aren't slowing down. They want us dead."

"Alright, lets move," Alyssa said as she took off into the woods again. The clearing was four hundred meters away which she could have ran in less than a minute in full gear on open terrain but the congested forest slowed them all down.

"Incoming," Joker announced on the comms before the sky to the south lit up.

Jack laughed, "I think Joker's were bigger," she taunted Grunt she ran past him.

"I said take out the ravagers, not the whole damn hill Joker!" Alyssa yelped as the remains of the ravagers and the entire hill rose in a small mushroom cloud over forest.

"You've got company, Reapers to the east of the landing zone, they'll be there before you are!" Cortez reported.

"The hell they will," Joker snarled over the comms. The clearing was just visible through the trees in the distance before the trees and ground itself trembled as the Normandy overflew them. There was a bright flash like a cain shot that washed out the entire forest in its actinic glare before an ear splitting crack ricocheted off their ear drums and drove them all to the ground when the blastwave hit.

"Jesus!" Cortez yelled as the Normandy arched away into the sky.

Alyssa and the rest of the squad were shaking bits of forest from their backs and standing back up as an unearthly quiet settled over the forest as everyone took a moment to appreciate what had just happened. Alyssa coughed and hacked, expelling the wave of dust and vaporized Reapers she'd just inhaled as she reoriented and found the clearing. Most of the forest to the right was just gone, blown flat, on fire, or just gone. "Everyone alive?"

"Not for lack of trying on Joker's part," Miranda said.

EDI walked by them, taking point. "I assisted Jeff's aim, we were in no danger."

"Tell that to my ear drums," Vega said as he adjusted Hilary on his shoulder. The girl had passed out at some point from a full grown soldier sized dose of painkillers.

"Move people," Alyssa said with a surety she wasn't entirely feeling after experiencing the violence of the Normandy's main guns at short range. "The Reapers are going to get their shit together too."

They ran the last hundred meters to the clearing just as Cortez set the shuttle down and opened the doors. As the squad boarded Alyssa looked to the east where Joker's handiwork was still burning. As bad as the backblast had been to them it was worse to the north east. Joker had overflown them in that direction and the shots from the thanix cannons had dug two huge trenches right through the forest and leveled everything within a hundred meters of them. When Miranda finally climbed aboard Alyssa followed, sealing the door behind them.

"The Normandy's overhead," Cortez informed her as they lifted off. "We'll dock in two."

"EDI, have the doctor meet us in the cargo bay. We've got one stretcher case," Alyssa said.

"Already done," EDI said.

Alyssa turned to the asari woman, holding her hand out for her gun. The woman looked down at the pistol clutched in her hand and then slowly relinquished it back to it's owner. "What happened down there?"

"I dunno. My commander sent me and Neaira up here to the northern continent to survey to local farms and prep them for evac. I found her farm," she said, pointing at Hilary, "two nights ago. They let us in, offered us a bed. We accepted. We'd been in the field for almost a week so a hot shower and a warm bed sounded perfect. They gave us dinner and I told Hilary stories. She told me about her brother and how she wanted to be just like. I went to get a shower and... I left my side arm in the bedroom."

"The screaming started after I got in. It was that... that howl. It was Neaira but... not her. Her eyes were gone, just black, her skin was graying. They'd indoctrinated her, turned her. She was turning into that... thing. She just killed them. I was in a towel, I didn't even have my clothes. She was killing them. Ripping them apart. They'd made Hilary go to bed. I caught her before she ran to them. Before Neaira could get her. I took her and we ran, out of the house, out of the farm. They were everywhere. Husks, cannibals, marauders." She looked up at the squad around her. "They weren't supposed to be there. The northern continent was supposed to be clear! We just ran, we couldn't do anything else. I didn't have my sidearm, I didn't even have clothes. We were dead, I knew it. My radio was still in the farm house. We found a spot to hide and we waited. They went by us but we had to go back. We thought to the coast was clear and we got back to the house. I got some clothes and but I needed the radio to call for an extract but... it was a prison. They were herding the farmers into this house from all around. Hilary knew some of them, she tried to go to them." She closed her eyes and shuddered.

"They were indoctrinated. All of them. They let her get close, they knew her by name, and when she got close they tried to tear her apart, tear us apart. I didn't have a choice, I used my biotics, I threw them away, got us out of there but... Hilary broke her leg, one of them slammed a chair into her. I carried her but it slowed me down. A cannibal got me in the leg," she said showing them where her pants were caked with blood and mud. I went as far as I could but... I couldn't go any farther. Not carrying her."

"The Reapers were hunting us. I could hear them. Hilary was whimpering I thought..." she stopped, closing her eyes and heaving her chest like she wanted to vomit. It took her a moment but she got it under control. "Then you called."

Alyssa clapped her on the shoulder. "You did what you could, and you saved Hilary. No one could ask for more from you."

The asari woman nodded her head. "If you say so."

"Our doctor will look you over," Alyssa assured her. "You'll be along for the ride for a bit but we'll drop you off on the Citadel next time we swing by, alright?"

The asari nodded her head as the shuttle shimmied and shook as they cleared the cargo bay barrier and the docking clamps got them. "Home sweet home," Cortez replied.

The shuttle's doors opened up to a small gaggle of people waiting for them. Vega carried Hilary to a gurney that had been brought down for her and laid her on it as Doctor Chakwas started to examine her. Joker came hobbling into the cargo bay as quickly as he could as the doctor turned her attention to Aeian. "You should have told me to bring two stretchers," she chided Alyssa.

"She ran through the forest just fine," Alyssa answered.

"Adrenaline is a fairly good anesthetic," the doctor said as she looked over the bullet wound, clucking her disapproval.

Joker ignored them all, rushing to his sister's side. "Hilary!"

Hilary turned her head and opened her eyes, "Jeff?" she said softly.

"How are you?" he asked quickly.

"She'll be fine, Jeff," the doctor said before Hilary could say anything. "She has a compound fracture of her thigh, a rather nasty infection, a fever, and she's a bit dehydrated but nothing I can't take care of in a few days so long as she gets some rest."

"Mom was right," Hilary said dreamily as she reached up for his face. "You do look silly with a beard."

"Where's Mo...," Joker began but he stopped when Alyssa caught his eye. She slowly shook her head from side to side and understanding washed over Joker's face.

He said nothing but wrapped his sister up in his arms and hold her tight.

Alyssa turned towards EDI. "I presume you're flying the ship?"

"Affirmative," she answered but her eyes never left Jeff.

"Then get us out of here, hit the relay and onto Omega, and go be with Jeff, he's going to need you."

"Shepard...," she started as the squad started to disperse through the bay, all of them, even Grunt and Jack, showing Joker some sympathy for his loss and to her pilot's credit he acknowledged it. "I do not feel capable of providing the necessary emotional support for Jeff at this time. Perhaps Yeoman Chambers."

Alyssa shook her head. "He doesn't need Kelly right now EDI, he needs you. Most people aren't ever really capable of handling this sort of thing. Just be there for him."

"Yes Commander."

When Chakwas and the crewmen started to wheel Hilary out Joker was hobbling along beside the gurney with EDI helping him. Vega assisted Aeian even though she tried to push him off her and once he won that fight she sagged into him as any fight she had left her.

Alyssa walked through the armory and dropped off her weapons except for her pistol before catching the elevator to the command deck. Specialist Traynor and Liara were waiting for her when she got off the elevator. "Commander," Traynor said, "we heard about Joker's family."

Alyssa nodded, "We'll deal with it later. What did you find out about the situation on the ground?"

"It fell apart about two days ago, command and control nodes were hit by indoctrinated infiltrators," Liara said. "Living bombs mostly but a few just started to gun down anyone in front of them."

Traynor continued, "In the confusion the Reaper's destroyer hit the planetary comm buoys before leveling a big chunk of the space port..."

"And preventing them from launching replacements," Alyssa finished. "So there's nothing for Tali to fix."

"Their ability to coordinate is crippled," Liara explained. "There aren't any coherent units over battalion sized and even those units are few and far between. The Reapers shattered them in the resultant confusion after the infiltrators. Without reinforcements they aren't going to be able to form a coherent resistance."

Alyssa sighed, "And there's not going to be any help forthcoming."

"Commander?" Traynor asked.

"There won't be any reinforcements. Tiptree doesn't have any strategic significance," Alyssa said flatly.

Samantha mouth gaped twice then three times before straightening up. "Aye Commander." Before she turned on her heel and stalked off towards the cockpit.

Alyssa sighed as she watched her comms officer walk off.

"She understands, Alyssa, she'll come around," Liara assured her.

"Twelve million people, Liara. Twelve million and they have no 'strategic significance'. This is an ugly war." Alyssa said as she walked towards the galaxy map and leaned on her station.

"It's going to get uglier," Liara said as she stood beside Alyssa.

"Thanks for reminding me," Alyssa cut in.

"It's going to get uglier BUT, we actually have a chance to win this Alyssa. For the first time in more than a billion years they are vulnerable."

"Have you ever stopped and asked yourself if anyone else has been here saying the same thing? If they believed they had a shot right up until the Reapers ended them?"

"This time is different. We've got Sovereign's corpse, the Klendagon casualty, the nascent Reaper from the Collector base. We have information that the other cycles didn't. We've finally found a chink in their armor."

"In my armor," Alyssa said quietly.

"You can't dwell on that. Mordin and Tali... they don't know for certain."

Alyssa let her head fall towards the table and shook it slowly. "Doesn't matter, or change anything. Ugh, I can't believe I'm letting myself wallow like this."

"I think the circumstances warrant it."

"They don't, not for me," Alyssa said as she straightened up. "We accomplished our mission and Tiptree's fate is the right choice. That's that. They can hold out, go to ground just like they're doing on Earth, just like they're doing on a hundred planets across the galaxy right now. The Reapers are as interested in taking Tiptree as we are in defending it." She looked at Liara, her face hardening up. "Get a SitRep on Tiptree prepped and send it off. Make sure it emphasizes the indoctrinated infiltrators. I don't doubt Hackett will see the issue but I don't want anyone else missing it."

"Right away Commander," Liara replied.

"I'm going to go check on our new guests and Joker," she said without a glance back to Liara as she stalked into the elevator and went to the crew deck.

"She's not taking this well is she," Kelly said as she walked around the galaxy map to Liara.

"No, she's not," Liara answered.

"She's had the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders for almost four years."

"The strain is starting to show."

"I need to go check on Joker and his sister," Kelly sighed.

"I have to go write the epitaph of a planet."

"Wanna trade?" Kelly asked with a little glint.

"No, I think I'll stay with the abstract on this one."

VOV

"Joker?" Alyssa asked as she walked into mess hall. Her pilot and EDI were both sitting at one of the tables. She could just see Doctor Chakwas giving the Asari commando a once over and a smaller form on another bed laying back. EDI was sitting close to Jeff, one silvery arm around his shoulder and the other gripping his forearm.

"Yes Commander?" he replied as he sat up as straight as he could. "Right, I need to get to the bridge." EDI's hands stayed on him, not letting him get up easily.

"At ease," Alyssa said. "EDI can fly herself to the jump point. And she probably won't waste as much energy as you do."

Joker let EDI drag him, gently, back down into his chair. Even that slight downward pressure made him wince. "I can handle it you two."

"I have no doubt you can fly the ship Jeff. I also have no doubt that right now I don't need you up there. You need to be down here."

"Hilary's asleep," he said. "Doc put her under while the bone knitter did it's thing. I don't need to be down here."

"Jeff," EDI said. "I believe you need to take the time to grieve. I can take care of piloting the ship for a few hours to allow you that time."

"She's right Joker. We're going to need you in a couple hours when we get to Omega. Right now you need to take the time to process what happened."

"What's the point? I can't change anything?" he said morosely. "All I can do is help you get the bastards that did this."

"Jeff, you're probably talking to the two people least qualified to be grief counselors on this ship. I'm an orphan and she's an AI. I still know you need to grieve."

"What's there to grieve? I was never that close to my parents. They were happy being farmers, colonists. I... wasn't what you'd call an ideal son. Aside from the obvious issues with me being a farmer I just never cared about it. Even as a kid I wanted to fly, I wanted off Tiptree and into a starship. They weren't bad parents. They did all they could for me, but its hard to connect with people when you spend so much time in hospitals and even when you are together you have nothing in common. They were good people but there wasn't much of a relationship there."

"You sure?" Alyssa prodded, "Sounds like they did a lot for you."

"They did, and they loved me. Dad even said he was proud of me when I got flight status, even prouder when he found out I was your pilot. Then the Collectors happened. Dad was a loyalist, so was Mom. I couldn't tell him I had jumped ship. I couldn't tell him about Cerberus. I told him I was on an extended assignment with SpecOps. I'd check in when I could but I didn't know how long I'd be or what would happen."

Joker sagged into EDI who said nothing, just letting him rest on her.

"He didn't take the arrest well. He told Hilary to stop talking to me. He didn't check up on her and she didn't but he... he felt betrayed, lied to. I tried to send him a message, to explain everything but the censors obliterated it. Hilary stuck up for me but to Dad she was just a star struck little sister. Liara helped me get a message to him, to explain what had happened, why things had gone down like they had. I don't think he liked it but at least he was willing to reply to the next message I sent. I wanted a chance to get to tell him in person but there just wasn't time."

Alyssa opened her mouth to reply but she closed it again. What was she supposed to say to him? She didn't know his family or their situation. She could barely relate. The closest thing she had ever had to a family was the crew of the Normandy. "I guess... I don't really know what to tell you Joker."

Jeff wiped his face with his hands. "I know Shepard, you're pretty shit with people anyways," he said with the slightest hint of a smile.

"I keep telling people that," she said.

"I just need some time, ok?"

"Sure Joker," Alyssa said as she stood up. She walked around the table and patted him on the shoulder, sharing a momentary look with EDI. The chrome plated woman nodded at her slowly before turning back towards Joker and laying her cheek on the top of his head. "Take the time you need but don't forget your sister is still here."

"Right, thank you Shepard," Joker said tightly.

"No problem Joker, that's what friends do," Alyssa said as she walked towards the medbay. She could hear the faint sob that Joker let out a moment later but she didn't react to it.

The doors to the small med bay whipped open bathing Alyssa in cool air reeking of antiseptics. The Doctor was "hmm"ing and "ahh"ing over the various nicks and scratches all over Aeian's barely clothed body. Off in one corner of the bay James was waiting, still in his armor. "Looking for a free show?" she asked him.

"Just waiting to help her out ma'am, that shot to her leg was nasty." He gave a small shrug with his shoulders then jerked his head towards the mess hall. "Besides, I figured Joker would rather have some time alone."

"Fine," Alyssa said, "But give the lady her privacy."

"Its fine," Aeian said from the bed as the doctor went to retrieve another instrument. Several medi-gel patches had been applied to her, covering the right side of her stomach, her left shoulder, and part of her left arm. Her leg where she'd taken the round was bandaged in a much more substantial dressing.

"You sure?"

"I'm a commando, modesty is something I got rid of a long time ago."

"Fair enough," Alyssa said letting the matter drop. "How are you feeling?"

"Alive, which is more than I expected to feel about two hours ago."

"Good, the Doc is top notch."

"I get a worryingly large amount of practice," Dr. Chakwas quipped as she walked between them and started to run a device over a place where Aeian's blue skin had been abraded, stimulating it to heal. "Most of it from you." She turned to the asari. "The commander hasn't quite learned to duck when she's shot at."

"I'll figure it out eventually."

"The girl," Aeian asked. "She's your pilot's sister?"

"She is."

"He has my condolences. The rest of his family died before I could do anything."

Alyssa nodded somberly. "Well you have his thanks. Because of what you did his sister is still alive."

Aeian rubbed her left thigh. "I don't suppose you have a weapon I could keep on me, do you?"

Alyssa glanced back to Vega and nodded towards the door. "We can probably arrange a side arm for you."

"I'm not indoctrinated," Aeian said, "If that's what you're worried about."

"Honestly, no. If you were then you'd have just shot me in the back of the head in the shuttle."

"I can't believe they did that to Neaira."

"Indoctrinated her?"

Aeian nodded. "I don't even know how. I don't even know when. We've been deployed as partners for ages. We haven't left each other's sides since the war started."

"What about what she became?"

"That monster? I... I don't know. She just... started screaming that evil screech. It was like... she wasn't even there anymore it was just that thing like it consumed her."

"That's enough," the doctor cut in. "Her wounds are not severe but she's already suffering from shock and exhaustion. You can debrief her later."

"Alright, it can wait," Alyssa said as the medbay doors opened and Vega came back. He handed Alyssa a light Predator pistol in its holster. Alyssa gave it a quick once over and then offered it to Aeian.

"Sure you don't trust me?" she said after looking at the weapon.

"It's not a Paladin or a Carnifex but it'll do the job if need be," Alyssa assured her.

"Thank you," Aeian said. " I don't mean to be ungrateful." When the doctor walked away she hopped off the table and strapped the weapon on. Some of the tension in her left as the weight of the pistol rested on her thigh.

The doctor sighed. "Well it was mostly cosmetic at this point anyways." She turned and pulled a small vial of pills out along with another empty one. She dropped a few pills into the empty bottle before handing it to Aeian and repeating the procedure with another set of pills. "For the pain," she said holding up one bottle and shaking it, "and the infection. One each every six hours, come back to me tomorrow after you take the last ones."

Aeian nodded and took the bottles before heading for the door. She still limped quite a bit and when Vega offered her his shoulder she didn't refuse it this time.

"Talk to Yeoman Chambers, she'll set her up with a bunk," Alyssa said.

"Aye aye Lola," Vega answered as the left.

Alyssa shook her head as they left but as soon as they did she hit the comms. "Kelly?"

"Aye commander?" she replied from the overhead speakers.

"James is going to call you up in a minute needing quarters for our guest. Make sure she winds up in one of the common bunk areas, no private rooms."

"Aye commander," Kelly acknowledged.

Alyssa turned back to the doctor who had gone to Hilary's bed to check on her. "How's she doing?"

"Oh she'll be just fine," the silver haired woman kindly assured Alyssa. "The break was relatively clean with only a few fragments to fish out. The knitter got the regrowth started. She had a bad infection but we've hit that aggressively with antibiotics and I've started her on a nutrient and fluids drip to take care of the roughness of the last few days. She'll bounce back just fine."

"Seeing her whole family die in front of her is probably going to be a lot more of a lasting impact."

"That's a bit grim, even for you," Karin said as she noted a few of Hilary's vitals and went to straightening up her instruments from Aeian's check up. "But she didn't lose her whole family."

Alyssa followed Karin's eyes out into the mess hall. "No, she didn't."

"How much longer will she be with us?" Karin asked.

"I've kept Aria waiting about as long as I want to. We're going to head right for Omega. With Hilary's injuries and what happened with their family I don't think we need to be splitting up her and Joker just yet."

"Omega could be dangerous," Karin pointed out.

"There's no such thing as a safe place anymore. The Normandy's about as safe as it gets. Besides, we'll be transferring over to Aria's ships for the assault."

"We can't keep a teenaged girl on board for too long."

"We'll drop her off the next time we swing by the Citadel," Alyssa said. "Besides, this ship isn't exactly overflowing with positive role models."

"Oh I don't know," Karin said with a faint smile. "She could do worse."

"Commander," EDI contacted her from the comms.

Alyssa's eyes flicked back to where EDI was consoling Joker. It still took some getting used to the fact that the body hugging Joker right now was only part of her AI crewman. "What is it EDI?"

"I believe it may be beneficial for Jeff to be reminded that he has not lost everything. Contact with his sister could facilitate his healing."

"Agreed, the Doc's done with her so you can bring him in whenever you want EDI."

"Eiddie?"

Alyssa turned towards Hilary's bed where the small blonde girl was stirring. "Yes Ms. Moreau?" EDI replied.

"You're the Eiddie Jeff talks about?" she asked as she leaned up on one elbow. Karin was by her side quickly, "tsk"ing at her as she adjusted the bed to raise the head up.

"Be careful," Karin insisted as she wedged a pillow behind Hilary's back.

"It would be wise to follow Doctor Chakwas' instructions," EDI answered.

"But you're Eiddie?"

"I am."

Karin flashed Alyssa a worried look but Alyssa shrugged.

"Wait, how do you know what the Doctor is telling me?"

"My internal microphones are capable of hearing whatever occurs aboard the Normandy, aside from within private quarters unless summoned."

"Wait... what?" Hilary asked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"EDI, tell her your full name," Alyssa prompted.

"I am E.D.I. the Enhanced Defense Intelligence," she replied as the doors to the Medbay slid open and EDI helped Joker into the room.

"Wait...," he turned and looked at EDI in her face. "Did you just?"

"What's going on?" Hilary demanded. "This can't be right, you said her name was Eiddie."

"It is," EDI the android body said.

"You... you're a robot!"

Alyssa snorted as she tried to cover up her laughter. Joker shot Alyssa a glare as EDI straighted up.

"I am not a robot, I am an artificial intelligence. This platform is under my remote control but my primary blue box does not reside within it."

"Your what?" Hilary snapped. Her eyes flicked towards Joker. "You told me you loved her! She's a robot!"

"Artificial intelligence," EDI insisted.

Alyssa guffawed but got it back under control.

"Not helping!" Joker spat at her.

"You informed her that you loved me?" EDI said as she looked at Joker.

"Well... yeah... I thought you knew?"

"I did not read your correspondence with your sister, Jeff. That would violate your privacy."

He looked at Alyssa then back at EDI, "I thought..."

"You people wear your emotions on your sleeves, I don't have to read your mail to figure out when you're bent out of shape," Alyssa said defensively.

"You're in love with a computer?" Hilary asked.

"Ms. Moreau, I am an artificial intelligence," EDI said testily.

"You didn't tell me any of this," Hilary shot at her brother.

"I didn't know how to explain it and there are laws about AI's," he explained sheepishly.

"There are very few people who know about EDI outside this ship," Alyssa explained. "We all keep quiet about her so that no one raises a stink. She's absolutely indispensable."

Hilary looked back and forth between Joker and EDI before sighing and collapsing back into her bed. EDI helped to ease Joker closer to his sister. "Mom always said you were a strange one."

"Yeah, I guess so," Joker said as he reached down and took her hand. She squeezed it back and he winced.

Alyssa drifted back to the medbay doors but waited near them. She wasn't being a busybody so much as just worried about her helmsman and friend as well as his sister. Of course, with the upgrades to her body she could hear everything that happened in the compartment.

"They're gone," Hilary said quietly.

"I know."

"We missed you."

"I've been kind of busy," Joker said.

"We knew, we were proud of you, especially Dad."

Alyssa quietly activated the door, slipping out and letting them be alone.

VOV

Author's Notes

1) This chapter exists outside the current Interstitial Spaces progression. If I can make it this far one day it'll be integrated into the series proper.

2) This chapter is my attempt to kickstart my desire to write Mass Effect again after ME3 stomped all over it. I'm doing this by "fixing" what they did to Joker's sister, Joker, and Shepard. It was one of the bigger dick moves in a game full of dick moves. So technically this violates IS's original goal of not being a "fix fic". I'll let you know now that as far as ME3 goes this will be a 100% fix fic.

3) Just to remind everyone this story is about the asari in Huerta Memorial, the one on the left behind the reception desk getting therapy. You have to reload the level over and over to get the whole thing but that's what this is in response to.

4) Ok, just some regular math.

Earth is 93 million miles (roughly) from the sun. Light takes 8.33 minutes to travel from the sun to the Earth. Pluto, and consequently the Charon relay, are on average 39 AU from the sun. Light takes 325 minutes to reach Pluto from the sun or five and a half hours.

The main gun rounds from a dreadnaught in the mass effect universe are fired at 1.3% of light speed. So even a main gun round from a dreadnaught would require 423 hours to travel from the sun to the Charon relay. That's seventeen point six days. Now, being space, it's entirely possible that that ships in the Mass Effect could just accelerate and keep accelerating, potentially traveling faster than the round from a dreadnaught. Perhaps they aren't capable of anywhere near gun levels of acceleration so it takes them a day or two to surpass that speed, that's possible. A few things though, there's no indication anywhere that I can see of intra-system trips taking days, much less weeks or months. They seem to happen in a matter of hours, a day or so at most.

There's also the Normandy's stealth system, sinking the heat its engines generate rather than emitting it. Simply put, if the Normandy sinked all the heat generated that was required to accelerate it to 1% of lightspeed it would explode into a steam cloud of various metals and plastics long before getting there. Even if they used Mass Effect fields (which still require power to work but we'll ignore that for the moment) to lower the mass of the Normandy to 1% of what it is, still, steam cloud. The Normandy simply cannot travel at any significant fraction of the speed of light via normal Newtonian acceleration and still utilize it's stealth system. It would vaporize itself, literally.

So where does that leave us? Just at the conclusion that spacecraft in the Mass Effect universe apparently use their conventional FTL drives for intra-system travel. The Normandy could only use her stealth systems after arriving at a target planet or location.

I love math and physics. Feels good man.

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