AN: Hello! Sorry for the delays but I hope you enjoy. Marginally larger chapter than usual, a full AN appears at the end.

Oh by the religions of man was Liara getting on my nerves!

"We're not kidnapping you, we're here to extend an invitation to the Citadel on the behalf of Counciler Tevos-"

One would think after accepting salvation from the hands of Geth and Krogan one would be a little calmer, but whatever fear and shyness once gripped her was gone. And now, Liara was enjoying making me repeat my story.

"Yes, and you're the first Human Spectre, would you have me believe you're openly religious as well?"

That one made me want to growl at her, or even just glow violet. I didn't go asking about her relationship with metal poles did I?

"Finally." The shape of the Normandy came into view on the horizon. "There it is. You'll be able to confirm everything with Spectre Bau in a few moments." With a few motions I opened a channel to Bau, walking away from Liara as fast as I could without running.

.

"Yes Sheppard?"

"Can you or Vakarian watch the VIP? And did the Council want preliminary reports by voice?"

"Yes and yes. Due to the Geth presence they wish to hear the news themselves. The communications room is ready for delivery and debriefing."

"What time is it on the Citadel?"

"'Morning', in theory they've slept." Bau sounded mildly amused by the thought.

"I'll be thankful for that at least. A Jenkin's helmet camera was damaged but we should have some useable recordings from the others. Were you told about the new platforms?"

"It's troubling. It is possible that the Remnant may be allowed to contact the Geth after all."

"I hope so. I can't express how much I want this to be a splinter group with exceptionally buggy programming. Eyes on you soon."

I cut the channel as the Normandy finished landing, absently noting that Liara had finally fallen silent, looking over the Normandy as the outer airlock opened with stairs extending, this wasn't a combat zone after all.

"You know the drill, grunts and VIPs first." I almost rolled my eyes when Oordu motioned for Liara to follow her.

-XXXX-

I took a quick look around the circle. Everyone from the original ground team was there, to make sure little was missed, Bau as the actual Spectre and Tali'Zorah as the AI expert [I was surprised to begin with, however the informal tone meant she ended up being a better choice than Guuba.].

"I believe everything on the mission has been covered as best it can be in a preliminary debriefing, we'll get you the final reports as soon as possible. Has transport from Arcturus to the Citadel been arranged?"

"It has. How is she coping?"

"She's distressed. Benezia's commandoes came to retrieve her, but were assisted by Krogan and Geth so she knows something is very wrong, and she knows the invitation story isn't worth the breath it's carried on. Vakarian had the bright idea to mention the attack on Eden Prime and she put two and two together quickly, even though we've not told her anything of substance."

I might have been asked for informal, but I was smart enough to restrict my words and keep my voice neutral, though I thought I caught the signs of a Turian wince on Sparatus' face.

"Liara's transport won't be arriving until after the deadline, you can reveal as much or as little of substance to her as you wish. I presume since you haven't included it, you have not begun to question Liara?" Tevos' voice was rather calm, and was likely deciding this due to Vakarian's slip up. I found her insitance on informality surprising myself…

I wonder if she was trying to throw me off.

"I have not, I wished to complete preliminary debriefings first due to the time it would take, unless the Hierarchy and Union are planning on allowing psionic evidence."

"It is allowed of Spectre agents though it isn't preferred. Is there anything else?"

I took a final look around the circle, receiving a solid batch of small shakes.

"I simply wish to reiterate the importance of attempting formal contact with the Geth given what we've seen. So far we seem to have been lucky with their abilities, but I believe you've seen footage of Bytegeist drone combat, this needs to end before they upgrade, or decide to Von Neumann."

There was a quick look down by Tevos and Valern, followed by a glance down by Sparratus before he spoke, his harmonics revealing his annoyance.

"Then that will be all. Council out." The feed cut the moment the last syllable was out, part of me wondered if that was a cut phrase.

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"That was a misstep, you're too new to try pushing your views on the Council. Otherwise, you did well. Everyone out, don't send Liara in yet."

There were glances but Bau's orders were followed when I didn't countermand them. I'd have to add following Bau's orders to the list of things I needed to run everyone through. He was technically the highest ranking person on the ship.

"I presume you wish to perform a psionic interrogation?" Bau finally spoke after the others left.

"Yes, I find they're quicker and more thorough. Given their preferences would you mind me performing a psionic interrogation, and then follow up with a verbal one? We can compare notes afterwards."

Bau nodded once, and I rose, heading for the door, opening it with a wave before peering out.

"Liara?"

-XXXX-

I looked up as the door to the captains quarters opened, Bau stood waiting at the entrance.

"Rehearsed, as if she was just asked all the same question?"

"I believe that's the common comparison. Yes, there's little in the way of difference, however as a xenopsychologist you may see otherwise." Bau slowly crossed to my desk, leaving a datapad beside my laptop.

"I'll finish compiling and send the reports to you for review. If you've can't think of anything to add feel free to send it along… Is there anything else you can think of?"

I watched Bau's face shift for a few seconds before he shook his head.

"No. It will be good to arrive at Arcturus."

"Yes. It will." I smiled as I waved for Bau to leave, picking up the pad with the interview's recording. Instantly I picked up on Liara having numbed somewhat, but there was no exhaustion beyond what one would expect of her having been trapped as she was. Asari were notorious for their limited psionic reserves in their youth, so I took the mind links strain instead.

Finally the recording stopped, and I isolated a segment and set it to loop.

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"Spectre Shepard informed you as to our true purpose?"

"Yes… It is hard to believe. Yet it is hard not to believe."

"Why?"

"The memories Alea- Spectre Shepard showed me of Eden prime and her hearing of the recording could not be faked… Yet I could not imagine my mother supporting such an action. Yet I cannot dismiss the recording as tampered with out of hand given the escort sent for me."

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I let the segment loop… Really it described the Council's reaction as well. 300 years and the Geth do this as their first confirmed action past the Veil? Yet it's not like we destroyed our own colony using fake Geth bots and have a bunch of Quarian-like vessels hidden away somewhere … Of course, if you looked at the conspiracy theories floating about more than a few thought the Geth platforms to be run by buggy VI's, not that I blamed them. Aiming was something that was well and truly finished with outside of new weapons these days, even Elcor rarely missed my more than a centimetre these days, and they were organic platforms on which military grade automated weapons were mounted, the Geth's accuracy suggested buggy Traverse VI's, or personal security VI's that were set to lethal while attempting capture.

-XXXX-

Deep Space, Sovereign.

And it was just now then Sovereign found proof of other's theories to a variety of aspects of Geth programming.

And came to the question of whether or not to begin making changes. They'd need to destroy the Geth eventually, and ordering the changes would make things harder…

However, it could possibly allow for the slow implementation of a kill switch…

.

'There have been too many setbacks. I cannot afford another. Especially with one starting to form on Noveria… Benezia should be able to head it off at least.'

And in an empty and relatively quiet spot in the middle of space, one of Humanities greatest fears began to be realised.

-XXXX-

Arcturus Station

"Flight path sent. Do not deviate." The flight controllers voice cut off with an annoyed tone, given how busy the station looked no one was really surprised.

"It appears they remember you Joker." Kaiden smiled from his spot in the co-pilots chair, happy to relax given how docking was entirely automated, even Joker leant back in his seat.

"No, if they did they'd remember it wouldn't matter. Looking forward to sparring with Spectres?"

"Given they'll have their hands tied behind their back with an Asari archaeologist?"

I'm not sure how Kaiden managed it, but he didn't look towards Bau at all, quite content to ignore the fact he wasn't in the room.

"I would have thought you'd be more concerned about the X-Com operative that we'll be picking up. Besides, I don't remember the Commander allowing Liara to do anything other than ask to remain on the ship."

"You must have missed her promising to consider the matter." That got a solid snort from Joker. Personally I agreed with him, commando trained and adult she might be, but I hadn't been ordered to keep Liara for the hunt and she was an X-ray civilian…

Even if she was a biotic and better trained than Tali'Zorah.

"I'm just looking forward to the few hours leave I have before we get going again. I bet I'll get some good recordings for later though when you play your rounds of X-Ray and -Com."

"You're forgetting that-"

"Shepard's the only one for whom the records would be sealed. And don't you remember her N1 records?"

"Yes, the commander currently standing behind us could take on the collective gods of war and create a harem out of them, but she's only Cerberus, not X-Com."

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Joker paused for a moment, before turning around in his seat, his raised eyebrow begging for a response…

"Kaiden, I would like to remind you I'm MEC certified like all N forces, and I'm the current bar setter for unaugmented Human combat marksmanship in regards to both accuracy and speed?"

"I'm not saying you won't wipe everyone except him out first, but we're picking up an X-Com Mec operator."

"Well then, for homework you can revise how X-Com uses it's MEC forces, and how I use a MEC while you do the preliminary evaluations. And remember, I want you to be thorough with Liara, just in case it ends up decided she gets to stay on."

"Yes sir." And with that, Alenko decided to test his dejected voice.

"Good. Bau, would you mind meeting me in my office? Call Vakarian up as well."

.

I turned without waiting for a response, though I heard him follow a few moments after, his steps lighter than everyone else's, but most were just standing or sitting in place… Nice, quiet, orderly… I'd almost entirely caught up on my paperwork to, boredom was just starting to set in… Too bad most of the marines were leaving or I could do some more thorough rounds.

"What-"

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd rather wait until Vakarian arrived, for his reactions and thoughts, before we start the question-go-round."

"You've been doing some reading?" There was a slight head tilt as Bau moved away from the door, myself I decided to lean against my desk, glancing through data pads until I found that the data pad I wanted wasn't within reach.

"Yes. Spectre's have some interesting fine print, one area in particular leaves me with a profound sense of wonder."

The door opened.

"Shepard, Bau."

"Come in. Make yourself comfortable, and tell me what you know about a Spectre's wages."

He only moved his faceplates, his hands coming to rest by his sides.

"It's a living in the sense it'll pay for food. Additional funds can be obtained on request. Otherwise it's expected Spectre's will fund themselves through various means."

"I didn't find the request part, however I'll guess they're rather stingy, aren't they Bau."

"Yes. They don't expect Spectres to live long, and survivors quickly become self-supplying. They prefer to reserve funds for repairing any damage Spectres cause."

"So, the protectors of the galaxy are all either heavily biased based on their sponsors, which is understandable, or they are all performing semi- or non- legal acts in order to fund their actions. Or both." I didn't keep my emotions out of my voice, it was rather unimpressive.

"Yes. Many prefer to take to 'Emergency Requisitioning' however." Bau's use of quotation marks were perfect, it was like he shared a course in their use with Sparatus.

"And what's the chance the Council refunds Spectre's six finger discounts?"

"Few know that the Council do, those that know to ask are always repaid. Some Spectres are 'sponsored' by corporations in a way to streamline the process."

"I see. Well given what I was thinking I can look down too poorly on them. Arcturus supplies almost all gear for N7s, let me or Gor'ria know if there's anything you're interested to try out or take and I'll add it to my list of requisitions. Technically it'll all be Alliance property since I'm requisitioning it, but I imagine you might like to make a handful of 'Emergency Requisitions'. I'm sure I can find an armoury officer happy to help out during out short stay before we go to pick up our final recruit, I'll give you a location when I do. That was all I wanted to talk about."

I waited a moment for the pair to speak before giving a dismissive wave.

"If you'll excuse me, my leave doesn't start until an hour after everyone else's just to process such requests. I suspect most of it will be cutting out the stupider ones and making sure we're up to dealing with some worst cases."

-XXXX-

For the most part, I didn't need to do that much to the requisitions sent to me. I won't say there weren't any stupid requests, but all were overreaching instead of jokes, like MEC suits for those who didn't have the training for it. Everyone would now have military grade power armor now, not Firaxite Alloy unfortunately, but ceramic power armor was a step up from rank and file civilian power armor with military grade armor strapped on top. Additionally, everyone would have high-end combat omni-tools, better weapons, a wide ranging selection of ammo blocks and those that preferred them would now have particle riffles instead of railguns as their Split Jaw's primary configuration.

.

Engineering would be getting a little cramped though, with two MEC's and another on the way needing space and the extra Mako forcing the armory to be shifted down. A dozen SHIV drones, and rtheir epair equipment were also going to be fighting for space in Engineering… There were a few times where I was tempted to get Hammerheads instead of Mako'sfor the space, but the armor was truly necessary given we would be doing everything all on our lonesome.

Fortunately in regards to the Spectres, neither wanted much and didn't press to see the classified gear, each having already been properly armed for quite a while. In a way it amazed me how underarmed they'd be in comparison, however they weren't using heavy power armor like Nihlus was.

I on the other hand would be leaving Arcturus as geared as when I went through the 'American Evacuation' simulation's second run. Were Saren not to surrender… Well, if he ever entered my range, I'd pity him.

.

However, while I was stocking the ship up with the best of everything like it was Christmas it was hardly the most entertaining part of the day… The most entertaining were the questions as to who's authority the Normandy was getting retrofitted, and with the recent rank increase to Spectre, I had more than enough pull for the licence authorisations and material costs, and when I told the supply officers that it'd get charged to the Council, more than a few has suggestions for marginally better options that were rather new and much more expensive.

That's not to say the entire trip was sunshine and rainbows. While I could requisition everything, I had to shuffle around the time I planned for testing and integrating the X-Ray component of the Normandy to retest competencies. While everyone on roster was in theory rated for power armor they needed to go through a refresher to prove that such held. I could have waived it, but I've personally seen enough horror stories in the making. And then there were all the calibrations to perform, be it sighting in new riffles to making sure that one's feather touch with power armor as trained was actually picked up as a feather touch by the armor. There was one minor benefit amoung all that however. While both Tali and X wanted to pull their weight on the Normandy, neither really wanted to be on the front lines with the ground team, which meant I could instead have them run through drone operator courses to familiarize them with the SHIVs and get them rated as drone opperators, something much easier than rating them as marines skilled enough to be on my ground team.

.

Unfortunately, the two of them required the time. While both were skilled drone operators, there was a world of difference between the standard council drones that saw widespread use, and Alliance SHIVs, which would qualify as an armoured vehicle were it not that we kept them a little over knee height these days…

And on the subject of training, I had to make sure Alenko was doing the right thing with his training plans, and while he was mostly in the right direction he was cramming too much 'Special Forces Operator' and not enough 'Alliance Marine' into his plans. I didn't need to know if Wrex could clear a building and diffuse a hostage situation, I needed to know that he wasn't 'dumb Krogan merc' 367B', and that he could work within Alliance protocols on the ground.

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All in all, the pit stop at Arcturus was productive. I didn't get to enjoy much of my leave, and what I did was requisitioning what I thought we'd need to take on a Spectre without trying to carve a path through an entire Geth fleet… And what little enjoyment I had quickly gave way to boredom.

One of the universes basic truths is that it's big, and very empty. If I had to guess at least half of the paperwork I was required to fill out was just to try and fill the time spent waiting to get from points A and B… Having acknowledge that long ago and wanting to reduce that as much as possible, I had of course made templates for all such paperwork, leaving me vast swathes of free time, time used to respond to both video-mail and email and wonder why X-Com hadn't sent me a dossier on who we were getting. I considered talking to the crew, but skeletonised as we were there was no real point… And while it might be safe to distract one of a pair of sensor operators, distracting your only one was like bringing plasma weapons to a space battle…

-XXXX-

"Trans-R.A. transport's speed matched. Docking now."

"Huh, we're getting an Aiur veteran." I put the pad down as I moved to the airlock. The dossier had arrived mere moments before, with lots of apologies attached. It was almost like they only just decided who they had sent... Some of the apologies were for the copious amount of redactions however.

"You're joking right?"

"No, you're the Joker, I'm the commander... I bet he's going to have some fun conversations with Vakarian. Let us know 10 seconds before deamination's complete."

"Aye aye."

.

When the airlock finally opened, the X-Com operative was greeted by me and a pair of honor guards… Part of me felt like they should have been in their power armor.

Before me stood what had to be the most Jensoned Jeson to ever exist, part of me thought that even his face was synth skin, because his eyes were most definitely not real, and behind him stood a heavy Able class MEC set on autopilot. The beast was currently configured to have more armor than some tanks, and more firepower than most gunships.

I know I'm among humanties best, but seeing one such MEC staring down at me on autopilot made me wish I was anywhere else but here, or was at least holding a Cain, and I couldn't quite keep that out of my voice.

"Viglo Confido. I'm Commander Shepard."

"Viglo Confido, Commander. I'm Agent Chima Ihejirika, Code Name Clotrif, and this is my assigned Beserker. I hear things are desperate enough to warrant an X-Com liaison?"

"Not desperate, but yes. I was expecting a Gene-modded soldier, I thought all the Jensen's in the Remnent had been re-bodied."

"Nope, there's a few of us. I'm not very organic, but I'm also not the least organic in the Remnant."

"Noted. I'm going to need you to power down your MEC for an AI check, and you're going to have to submit to one as well."

"Yes, I was informed of such… I don't see a trolley though so h-"

"You mean, your ships can't selectively control gravity in and around them?"

"… No, we've never seen the need."

"Well, we've a Tarrantulus core and some good VIs, so we'll get to watch your MEC float to engineering. If you'd follow us, we can begin your check while we undock and bring your MEC around. The hover pallet behind your MEC your personal effects?"

"Yes."

"We'll check those over as well… I didn't think I'd get to play customs when I signed up."

"And I didn't think I'd be working with aliens and taking orders from people under half my age, but the galaxy is full of wonderful things."

AN:

Hello!

Sorry about the delay. At first, it was exams, then it was a strange case of writers block where I could write everything but what I wanted to write. As such, you'll see a glut of codex entries over the next week or two. Some will be to answer already answered review questions; some will be nice background information. There may or may not be anything else, you'll just have to read it.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone for the constant stream of favourites and follows, they brighten my day immensely. Almost as much as a review even :p

.

Semi-Finally, I'll be partially surprised if I don't get any rage from Liara fans. But before you message me, I like Liara, in fact both Liara and Garrus make up my standard romances. That doesn't mean things are going to be the same here...

What? You want to know who Shepard will romance and if Shepard will romance anyone? Look to the tags. It won't be a big thing when it happens, but plan on it happening later, and don't plan on spoiling things.

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Finally, for those who are going to analyse Micheal's codename, I'll offer you two hints:

Remove the first letter of this chapter... The story part.

Break the word into 3 sections.

Everyone else however will get to enjoy finding out what it means next update to this story, you chose for yourself if you want to spoil it for yourselves.