Shepard was lay stretched out on the couch in her cabin. She was thinking about Ashley, hoping that she recovered quickly. She was trying to get some down time before they arrived at Palaven, trying to get the day out of her head. She mumbled to herself and crossed her feet at the ankles, closing her eyes. EDI had suggested some relaxing music and Shepard was simply content to lie back and let the slow melodic tones wash over her. She was about to drift off when her door chimed.

"Who is it?" Shepard yelled, annoyed.

"Liara" was the distant response.

Shepard sighed and for the briefest moment considered dismissing her.

"Come in" She called but didn't move. The doors slid open with a hiss and she listened as Liara made her way in.

"Shepard?"

"Over here"

"Oh" Liara paused when she saw Shepard sprawled out on the couch wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and a white N7 t-shirt "Sorry Shepard, I'll come back later" she stuttered and back away.

"No!" Shepard stood up, suddenly immensely sad that there was so much distance between them "Liara wait" she reached out and grabbed the Asari's hand "I was just.." she stopped and smiled "I wasn't doing anything" Shepard didn't let go of those warm, familiar, supple fingers. The Asari looked as beautiful and composed as she always did, but there was a storm behind her blue eyes and it made Shepard's heart ache to think she might be the cause. With a sigh she let go and took a step back, suddenly needing the distance.

"In this past year Liara I feel like I've become ancient, a cynical war worn, half careless, half uncaring veteran who will take her enemies where and when I can" she shook her head sadly and scrubbed her face with her palm "How old I have become"

"Shepard" Liara took a step towards her "That's not true" she paused, smirking "you're not old"

Shepard looked at her and suddenly, her universe was centred.

"Thank you Doctor, that's very perceptive of you"

"I try"

Shepard moved so close that they were practically touching "Did you come here just to laugh at me T'Soni or did you have something else on your mind?"

Liara swallowed as she inhaled Shepard's scent. Looking at her now, stood all relaxed and beautiful, she was reminded of the cocky self assured Marine she'd met all those years ago and not the troubled, forlorn warrior she was now.

"Just you" Liara said then closed her eyes, annoyed at herself. She heard Shepard laugh "I meant you and me, us"

"I know" Shepard gave her a lopsided smile and glanced across at the stereo as the music changed "You know something? I never learnt to dance" Shepard looked at Liara, listened to the low tune of the music and sighed absently "I've been to so many military affairs and always managed to avoid it" She absently ran her fingers through her hair "I think about all the things going on in the universe and it makes me think about all the things I've never done, all the things I might never do"

Liara stared at her, thinking for a moment about how someone so accomplished could have missed so many of the simpler pleasures in life. Had Shepard always been so self-sufficient that she didn't need what so many people spent their lives seeking - some connection with another person?

"Well that has to change" Liara stated emphatically. She stepped back into the space behind her and tugged on Shepard's fingers "Dance with me Commander?" Liara felt, for the first time, like something in their dynamic had shifted, like they were finally stood here, together, on equal ground.

There was something about the compassionate insistence in Liara's voice, and the comfort of the hand holding hers, that Shepard couldn't resist, and without thinking about what it meant, or what was going on, she nodded and allowed herself to be lead.

Liara looked up into Shepard's smile and stepped into her arms "You lead" she said quietly.

"As long as you keep me on track" Shepard rejoined as she slipped one arm around Liara's waist. The Asari fit effortlessly against her, and despite the frequent physical contact they'd had in the past, this felt so vastly different. Liara's head rested lightly on her shoulder and for a second Shepard was breathless from the assault of sensation.

"You're shaking" Liara whispered.

"Nervous" Shepard murmured, closing her eyes, unconsciously tightening her hold as they moved together, tentatively at first, then with a growing confidence as each sensed the others rhythm. Liara pressed closer, cleaving to Shepard's strong frame, her fingers on Shepard's back tightening. She swore she could feel Shepard's heart beat in time with her own and she exhaled.

"Okay?" Shepard questioned softly, her breath warm against Liara's cheek.

Liara just mumbled and squeezed closer. They danced slowly, cutting their way around the room until the music changed and the beat picked up.

"It's getting a little fast" Liara said as she leant back and looked into her partners face. Shepard was staring at her in the strangest way, her grip around Liara's waist tightening instinctively as the contact between them lessened. Liara tilted her head questioningly as she relaxed against Shepard's body.

"Hmm" Shepard nodded "I'm ready to sit down now too, but my legs seem to have acquired a mind of their own and they are saying stay"

Liara laughed, enjoying the glint in Shepard's expressive green eyes. She reached up and pushed a stray lock of Shepard's hair behind her ear, dragging her fingertips along her strong jaw and down her chest until her hand rested on the commander's hip.

"I thought that I could push you away" Shepard muttered "I was determined that as soon as I saw you, I would tell you to leave, that I would hide you away somewhere safe and away from harm"

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I saw you and because life is here to be lived, just this one time, and that means seizing each and every chance for happiness right?" Liara nodded at her slowly "And I need something to fight for. I can't fight for the galaxy Liara, it means nothing to me and it's too big, too much. But you, I can fight for you, and I can fight for us"

Liara marvelled at the woman in front of her, knowing in that instant that she was on the brink of something enormous, that the stunning, glorious, brave and passionate person that Shepard was, was hers, all hers. The magnitude of it left her dizzy.

"So" Liara lay her palms flat on Shepard's chest "Us" she mumbled "What does that mean?"

"Does it matter?" Shepard's stomach quivered as blue eyes met hers and she forgot about being cautious. The spectre of death, so final, so brutal, still hovered around her. She felt cold inside and sad, and Liara offered her heat and promise and moments forgetting. It was enough. It would always be enough "I don't know when this will end, what will happen to me, to you or any of us but I'll take any day I can get, and any moment with you I can get" Shepard seemed suddenly unsure "If you'll let me"

"Yes" Liara leaned across the space between them and kissed Shepard's neck "That sound's perfect"


"Vega clear those husks!" Shepard roared as she sprinted towards the wall, sending rocks and shale flying in every direction. She climbed the ladder in three lunges "Shit" her voice died in her throat as a wave of husks washed towards the wall, tumbling and wailing with their awkward gaits.

"Christ" Vega muttered from next to her as he surveyed the oncoming chaos, sighting down his rifle and scanning the crowd.

Shepard pulled her rifle and began picking off the husks, smiling when she heard the thud of Vega's join hers followed by the dull thrum of Garrus letting loose with his sniper rifle. With a grin she ejected a thermal clip and threw in another, laughing as the line of husks was decimated.

"You're enjoying this Lola?" Vega shouted, voice incredulous.

"Your not?" Shepard threw back, effortlessly slinging a grenade into the crowd and clearing the last of them. Peering out from behind her rifle she raised her hand and squinted as another explosion erupted just in front of them, trying to see how many husks the next wave consisted of. When the smoke cleared, her heart fell and her stomach twisted.

"Shepard..." She heard Garrus mutter her name, heard Vega swallow "What is that?"

Shepard didn't take her eyes from the smoking Reaper, from its terrible giant body coated with metallic muscle and its terrifying blue glowing eyes. The creature roared, rearing onto two legs and shuddering forward, picking up speed with each staggering step as it hurtled towards them.

"Brace yourselves!" Shepard shouted, firing five shots, four of them smacking into the creatures bizarre metal plating, the fifth going wide as the ground began to shake every time a monstrous foot hit the ground. She had a minute to brace her weight before the might of the creature impacted the wall "Fuck" Shepard rocked forward, catching her boot on a the edge of the wall and stumbling forward. She hit the floor with a bone rattling crunch, hunching into a ball and biting off a scream as the brutes massive clawed fingers raked across her left thigh. Hitting the emergency button on her hard suit to activate the release of the medical chemicals into her blood stream, she leapt to her feet, blood running down the inside of her leg in a hot pulse of stinging pain. She staggered backwards, hearing someone call her name, her wide eyed gaze fixed on the creature.

It was hideous, all the more so for it's vaguely Turian appearance, a twisted Reaper mockery of reality. It took a mighty step and its arms rose, but it was slow and right now that was the only thing she had going for her. Shepard sprinted for the rocks behind her to put some distance between her and the Brute. Suddenly though, the creature bent forward, placing all four legs on the ground and flexing its knees, pushing off the ground in a dynamic lunge that tore gouges in the rock beneath it, its deformed feet propelling it toward her at a frightening pace. Shepard didn't think. She dodged right and rolled, pulling her pistol and firing, watching as its claws tore through the air where she'd been only a second before. She fired again as the Brute turned its head, tracking her. Its eye exploded, a burst of inky blue phosphorous fluid splattering its wretched face and still she kept firing, the open blackness of its empty eye socket drooling out some dark ichorous liquid.

It bellowed at her, positioning itself for another attack even as her rounds smashed into its now melted face, two of them ricocheting off its metallic skull case. Shepard wasn't doing enough damage and the Brute was about to launch into another lurching run. She looked around but there was nowhere to go, it would be on her before she could turn. There was a horrible, clenching fist of fear in her stomach as she holstered her pistol and stood up, bracing herself to charge directly at the beast, her omni tool flashing to life in a blast of orange and forming a deadly blade. She whipped her hand around behind her and waited, waited for it to complete its turn, for it take its first few steps and build its speed. Just as it was upon her she sprinted forward, ducking beneath its great clawed forearms and twisting as she skidded onto her back, plunging the blade into its soft underbelly and slicing it all the way from its sternum to its hip. There was a clattering roar as she rolled out from beneath the thing and got to her knee, forearms braced as she took a breath.

The creature convulsed and Shepard just watched dispassionately as it bled out, trying to stand as it seemed to condense and fold in on itself, its massive body crumpling as thick deep blue liquid poured from within. Shepard stood up, only really happy the job was done when the Brute fell to one side, its legs collapsing, finally still, in a pool of shiny liquid.

She glanced down at her ruined thigh and wrenched free the mangled panel of armour that had barely done its job. Beneath it there were three angry deep welts leaking a slow trail of blood down her leg. Reaching into one of the pockets on her belt she pulled free a large silver packet and ripped the corner off with her teeth. With shaking fingers she spread the fabric across the wounds, watching as it soaked the blood up and bonded to her skin, forming a seal that would hopefully last until they were back on the Normandy.

"Commander" Vega skidded to a halt in front of her "Here!" He threw her dropped rifle at her, smiling as she caught the weapon and effortlessly ejected the clip, inserting a new one without even looking "I can't believe what I just saw" he gawped at the creature, walking around it as he shook his head.

"You injured Shepard?" Garrus walked up next to her, the tilt of his head indicating the wound on her thigh.

"Not too bad" Shepard shrugged, ignoring the dull throb as she forced herself not to limp "I'll hold until we get back"

"You sure about that? I can have one of the medics here check it out" Garrus squinted at her, his demeanour suggesting he didn't quite believe what she had said.

"I'm sure" Shepard nodded "Let's just go and grab this guy. You'll have to forgive me for saying this Garrus, but I've just about had my fill of Turian scenery"

"I hear that" Vega echoed.


Vega had to admit, Shepard didn't look so good. She stood in front of the Primarch, her rifle holstered on her back, arms hanging limply at her sides, face pale but beading with sweat. He'd watched her push on at the front, take the weight of the fire, make the brunt of the kills, like some possessed single minded creature, unstopping, unrelenting. But she was suffering for it now. The Primarch gave her the once over and moved past her.

"You expect me to leave? Leave the fight, my men?" his voice was a thick layered drone of dull tones.

"Yes Primarch Victus I do" Shepard closed her eyes and to her mind came the sounds of war across the gulf of space. She heard gun fire in the distance, the sound of a Turian squadron leader crying out to keep formation through someone's comm and the dull hiss of static as a nearby radio phased in and out of signal. She could smell blood, her own blood and she wondered if the Primarch could smell it too.

"To think, I'm the Primarch of all Palaven" he sighed and turned around, his dark eyes staring into Shepard "I never wanted this, what do I know of politics? I'm a soldier, I always have been, I don't wish to leave the fight to make politics"

"We aren't so different you and I Primarch" Shepard flexed her fingers and opened her eyes "Look at me. I've been a Marine my whole life, I've known nothing but the fight but now I'm a council spectre, forced to leave my planet to make treaties and agreements with species who have hatreds that go back to a time before my race had spaceflight" She coughed out a bitter, harsh laugh "Primarch, war is your resume, we need people who have seen the fight, been through this hell, you are more than qualified"

"Oh" The big Turian laughed "Oh I like that" he looked at her "Give me a moment Commander, I need to speak to my men"

Shepard nodded and almost instantly her vision was filled by another Turian as Garrus moved in front of her, one large talon coming to rest on her shoulder " If he leaves Shepard, this moon is lost, and Palaven not far behind it"

"If he doesn't leave Garrus, then Palaven is going to be the least of the galaxies worries"

"How did it ever come to this?" He looked up at the ghostly visage of a Reaper, carving its way through the sky "Look at that thing, and they asked me for advice on how to stop it?" he took his hand off Shepard's shoulder and groaned "You really think you can win this Shepard?"

"Me?" Shepard jerked a thumb at herself "Not a chance. All of us though? Yeah, maybe we can"

"You know what I mean" Garrus shrugged "You know I'm with you Shepard, all the way, I can't stay here"

"Garrus, I never thought for one second that you wouldn't be onboard the Normandy for this fight" She reached out and took his hand, shaking it awkwardly "Welcome aboard big guy" she gave him a small smile then turned her focus back to the Primarch "Are we good to go Primarch?"

"Commander, I cannot leave my people to die here. I will accompany you to the summit but there are conditions"

"Such as?" Shepard drew the question out.

"We need Krogan boots on Palaven"

"Krogan?" Shepard gave the Turian a full, frank and genuine smile "You want an alliance between the Turian and the Krogan?" She paused "No, you want the Krogan to come and fight for you, on the Turian home world?"

"We lose our home world without the Krogan Commander" Victus shifted from foot to foot "I understand the complexity of what I'm asking, but there is no debate on this issue"

Shepard narrowed her gaze at the Turian, her mind ticking over, thinking, calculating "Alright, if I get the Krogan on Palaven, I have your full military support?"

"You have my word"

"Ok" Shepard turned around "I guess that's that then" and walked off.

"Shepard?" Garrus followed her "What now then?"

"I'm going to find some really big strings to pull" Shepard put her finger to her transmitter "Cortez get over here, we have the Primarch"

"Aye aye Commander"

Vega stood just over from her, his face a study in consternation as he kicked something on the floor.

"You alright Lieutenant?" Shepard shouted over.

"Yeah" he kicked the floor again, piquing Shepard's curiosity enough to make her walk over. When she looked down, there was a dismembered husk corpse, its eyes lifeless and dull "They look so much like us" he said, disgusted "You know, apart from the implants and all that creepy as shit blue"

"Yeah but look" Shepard pointed at the sliced open stomach of the body "Their insides look like someone's taken them out, mixed them with spare parts from several other species and jammed them back in any way that fit conveniently. For the next hundred years scientists will be knocking their heads together to figure out how they make that work"

Vega grunted, running his fingers over the barrel of his rifle absently "that's the least of it"

"Your right" agreed the Commander "For the next thousand years they'll be trying to figure out how they think, why they fight, what will it take to get along with them, what motivates them"

"If they let us live that long" Vega looked at the woman in front of him "I don't give a shit about any of that, but tell you what does bother me. Why?"

"There is no why Vega, because they want to kill every living species in the galaxy" Shepard looked down at the corpse "Maybe they see something in us that could threaten them, maybe it's because we are organic, maybe a lot of maybes. It doesn't matter. Survival never matters until you have to survive, and then it's a god damned mess" Vega nodded, he understood the truth of that "Survival through your destruction" Shepard looked at him "When that is the only coherent answer you can get from your enemy Vega, then you fight or you die" She turned at the sound of the shuttle coming into land, it's thrusters kicking up rock and debris.

"No shit" Vega muttered, lifting his hand to shield his face "Cause I sure as hell ain't dying"