A/N - All credit still belongs to Bioware!

One week later, Psi Tophet Cluster…

Kat and Kaidan stood (well, in Kat's case, sat) in the conference room on Deck 2 of the Normandy waiting for their guests to arrive. While Kaidan stood as patiently as possible as Samara and the turian representatives completed docking and decon, he noted that his wife was showing obvious signs of impatience. She drummed her short nails against the arm of her chair while shifting restlessly. Although he had spent the past week practically glued to her side, trying to ensure that she was relaxed and rested as possible, she had grown more and more edgy. He knew her well, and knew the cause, but also knew there was no solution to be had.

They looked up as their first guest entered the room and they both smiled to see it was Samara. The justicar had gone back to serving the Code after the War, but they had kept in touch whenever possible. They had a special fondness for the asari matriarch, and she seemed to reciprocate it. Kat pushed her chair back to stand to greet their friend, but Kaidan placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and Samara gestured for her to stay seated. She sighed but didn't complain.

"My friends," Samara said, clasping their hands in turn. "It is good to see you."

"Thank you for coming, Samara," Kat said.

"When Councilor Tevos told me of your need, I could clearly see that the Code required my attendance, but I would have come for you, anyway. You are a daughter to me; you must know that."

Kat found herself in the unusual and awkward position of nearly tearing up in the conference room. The rare display of emotion from the asari and her condition were to blame, but Kat wasn't about to allow herself any excuses. She was a soldier through and through and she wasn't about to cry in her conference room. That it was a near thing her husband and friend either didn't notice or at least pretended not to and she liked them all the more for it.

They chatted for a few moments while they waited for the turian engineers to board, then, once they had joined them, Kat summoned her senior team for the briefing. She waited impatiently until everyone had arrived and then began.

"The turian team, led by Lieutenant Quadonis," Kat nodded to indicate the turian female in the corner of the room, "informs us that the device is nearly ready, they are completing a propulsion and delivery system and integrating that into the dive mechs that they brought. How long until that is complete, Lieutenant?"

"We should have everything ready at 21:00 if we work until then," the turian replied.

"Then I'll excuse you and your team to complete preparations and brief you later," Kat said with a nod.

"For the rest of you, we've divided you into three groups: a delivery team, a cover team and a support team. Kaidan, Samara, and Liara are the delivery team – they will dive to the Leviathan with the bomb in the mechs which the turians brought. Garrus, James, Kris, and Kasumi, you are the cover team, you are there for firepower, since we are expecting that Leviathan will call for reinforcements once we land – if they haven't already. Tali and Miranda, you are the support team. We know that Leviathan had a defense system in place the last time that caused issues for the shuttle, and we are expecting the same again. You will assist Cortez with maintaining the shuttle and mechs as your first objective and be backup cover fire as a secondary. Any questions so far?"

"So the plan is to shield Kaidan from the Leviathan's influence using a combination of the asari meld and biotic barrier? Is that even possible?" Kris asked, directing her question to Samara and Liara.

"In theory, yes," Samara answered, speaking slowly and carefully. "We should be able to use our biotic abilities to create the meld and enhance it, even from a distance, as long as it is a short one. We will need to stay in range of Major Alenko - certainly in sight - in order to assure the connection. We will be able to monitor any communication with Major Alenko, and intercede if they try to control him in any way."

"And the Leviathan are just going to hold still and take it while we drop a huge bomb on them?" James asked.

"We theorize that Leviathan are mostly sedentary at this point in their evolution," EDI explained. "Something that large and with that much mental power would be physically slow, and the fact that they have not moved from their hiding spot during the War supports that theory. In short, we expect them to try using their physic powers and thralls to defeat us, and hope that we will be well within range before they realize those methods won't work."

"There's a lot of 'maybes' and 'ifs' in this plan," James summarized with a low whistle.

"What's the matter, James? Afraid your guns won't be big enough?" Kat asked with a smirk.

"You've never complained about their size before, Lola," James bantered back, easily falling into their customary flirting rhythm until Kris' glare had him turning bright red and sitting up straighter like a scolded child. "I mean, I'm ready to go when you are, ma'am," he backpedaled quickly.

"Right," Kat replied with a nod, letting him off the hook by not teasing him further. "We'll give the turians the rest of the day to complete their modifications and then move into orbit of 2181 Despoina. We'll deploy at first light, which will be 04:00 our time. We know Leviathan is going to throw everything they have at us; we need to be on our toes. Joker and EDI have already detected interference with our long-range sensors that we assume is part of Leviathan's normal defense grid, and QEC coms are down. There's a good chance that once you're deployed you may be stuck until we can adjust."

"On a personal note," Kat took a deep breath to steady herself and continued, "I know that all of you are here at my request; because of me. Although we now know this mission has galactic implications, all of you served in the War and anyone would consider that having done your duty. I cannot thank or commend you enough for being willing to set your personal and professional lives aside to be here with me again. And while every part of me will wish that I was on the ground beside you tomorrow, I know for a fact that there isn't a more dependable and capable group of people out there, and you'll succeed without me. I'm proud of all of you, and I couldn't ask for a finer crew, or family. Thank you all. Dismissed."

In an amazing testament to how well her crew knew her, they filed out of the room without comment and pretended not to notice the tears glistening on her cheeks. Once the room was clear, Kaidan helped her to stand and wiped the tears from her cheeks. He took her by the hand and led her to the elevator. She didn't protest until he set their destination as their cabin. When she opened her mouth to complain, he raised a finger and spoke.

"I know you'd prefer to go to the armory and check all the weapons and equipment for the millionth time, or to hover over the turian team in engineering, but we're going to rest. I need it," he told her. When she would have tried to talk again, he simply ignored it and continued. "The team is briefed, the preparations are made, and the strategy is set. I've already sent a message to Lieutenant Quadonis to update me when their modifications are complete and I will personally review the loadout and munitions. I'd like to spend any downtime between holding my wife. Is she going to argue with me about it?"

"Not when you put it like that," Kat replied with a bit of a pout.

"I love you, Kat," Kaidan replied and then kissed her. How could she possibly argue with that?