The people of Omega did not go quietly. Gunfire filled the streets of the Beta District as the convoy containing the captured civilians rolled down the street. A great mass of humanity surged forward to press down on the soldiers. Knives, rocks, old Mattocks, seemingly every weapon Miranda and Oleg had been unable to confiscate—the civilians used them all. Soldiers fired into the crowd, but the mob seemed beyond panic.

"Poor bastards are going to get slaughtered," Miranda muttered. "You'd need explosives to do any real damage."

"Thank God they don't have them." Oleg's gaze never left the security footage. "We need that truck. On my signal, out of the tunnels. Miranda and the adjutants are our heavy hitters. The rest of you, concentrate on commandeering that truck. A little damage is acceptable, but we need it working at all costs." He frowned. "Secondary objective is the liberation and protection of any civilians. I won't tolerate any stupidity that puts them in danger. Do I make myself clear?"

"You don't need to tell us that, Cerberus," said a turian. "Your own people, on the other hand…"

Oleg sighed. "For today, there is no 'my people,' Mr. Sidonis. Everyone here wants to see these miscreants stopped."

A dark-haired boy rushed out in front of the trunks and pelted the windows with a fist full of rocks. "Get out, you Cerberus bastards," he screamed. Miranda realized with a shock that it was Peter. "You killed my mom and dad!"

Get out of there. All of you, just get out. But they didn't. Peter kept throwing rocks, the mob kept attacking, and the soldiers kept shooting.

Oleg's eyes narrowed. He recognized Peter as well. "Ready." He squeezed Miranda shoulder. "Now!"

The Talons surged from the tunnels into the streets with war cries and gunfire of their own. Miranda was more subdued: a whispered "please, follow me" as she climbed the ladder. It was strange to be climbing anything after so long. The armor let her lumber about like an Atlas with an overactive eezo core. The pain was there, as it always was. At least she could be useful instead of waiting back at base like a damsel in distress. The streets themselves were choked with the smells of blood and sweat. Scrap metal littered the ground.

"Out of the way, kid," one of North's soldiers said, desperation turning his voice almost human again. "This isn't your fight."

"You took mom and dad. You took my uncle. I'm not scared of you."

"Whatever you say." He aimed his rifle.

No. No more. "Please, attack." The four adjutants left sprang into action. It was the soldiers' turn to scream as they were shredded with claws and teeth. Miranda directed her charges as a conductor led an orchestra: with precision, certainly, and an awareness of what she wanted. The soldiers turned fire from the crowd to the adjutants, but it had no more effect than mosquitos had on rabid wolves. The crowd, even Peter, froze uncertain. Sidonis and his archers felled the Cerberus platoon's right flank as Matthews and the remnants of Lazarus Cell made for the truck.

It was over in ten minutes. The bodies of the Cerberus troops lay mixed with the bodies of the civilians. Her adjutants stood triumphant, their sacs flecked with a dark red. What was left of the civilians watched her with a mix of awe and horror. There were no cheers. Of course there wouldn't be. They might hope for rescue, but that rescue should have been clad in gleaming red and gold armor, not the very monsters that had slaughtered them a few months prior.

A small hand gripped her gauntlet. Peter. "Those are the things that killed my parents. But they do what you say." He swallowed. "You didn't—you didn't kill anybody?"

"Just the ones you saw." How did you explain something like this to a child? "I made them good so that they would only hurt bad people."

"Like the ones that took Uncle Matt?"

"Exactly," Oleg said as he came up behind her. "Where is your uncle? In the truck?" Peter nodded, and Oleg gestured at Matthews. "Get the civilians out of there."

Matthews readied his omni-tool and broke the locks on the truck. The captured civilians stood shoulder to shoulder. An assortment of every species on Omega had been packed together like sardines for Walker's use: asari, batarian, salarian. And yes, human. Cold anger swept through her. It wasn't enough for them to experiment on civilians. No, they had to experiment on the very species Cerberus was supposed to protect. Just like Teltin and Akuze. Was this what Cerberus truly was? An organization that existed to brutalize humans and aliens alike in pursuit of a greater good that somehow never materialized? They had used her skill and dedication to pursue those ends while patting her on the head and assuring her that she was a hero. Used her, as they had used Oleg.

None of them move. "You're free," Oleg said. "We can't stay to give you the supplies you need, but if you can make it to one of the clinics—"

"Why should we believe you?" an asari in a high, quavering voice. "The symbol might be scratched, but I know Cerberus armor when I see it. And you've got adjutants!"

Sidonis strode forward. "Then believe me. You recognize this armor too, don't you?" He shot Oleg a sideways glance. "We've all got to work together if we want to throw these bastards off the station. You never would have left the labs alive if this truck had made it to its destination. You've heard the rumors of what Cerberus does. I'll work with anybody that will stop that, even if they left Cerberus five minutes ago."

"Listen to him," came Matt's voice from somewhere at the back of the truck. He pressed his way through the throng until Miranda could see him. He was pale and his auburn hair was plastered to his scalp, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. "I lost family to those creatures too, but the woman controlling them saved my nephew. I'll trust these people for now."

"Uncle Matt," Peter dashed forward and enveloped his uncle in as big a hug as an eight-year-old boy could muster. Soon the captured were pouring out of the truck and into the streets amid the laughter and tears of reunion. Miranda slipped into the cab with a sad smile. They would be bodies to bury and lives to rebuild, but that had never been her work. Always the next crisis, the next challenge.

Oleg slipped into the seat beside her a few minutes later. He had exchanged his normal white armor for gray Centurion garb. He stared at the helmet in his hands, but his eyes were distant and unfocused, as if the ghosts of Armistice Day had come again. Miranda placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get it done. If Walker is doing everything Kandros says he is, then he's a threat to humanity. And our job has always been to take down threats to humanity. We don't fail."

"No, you don't fail. I provided North with the fodder for his army. And it seems I may have done worse than that in permitting Walker stay on after you left. Desperation has made me very foolish. And if it weren't for you, it could have been much worse. God only knows what atrocities I would have permitted if you and Patriarch hadn't checked me."

Miranda shook her head. "That exasperating honor of yours would've prevented you from doing anything too terrible," she said with a smile.

His expression didn't change. "Really? If not for you, Walker would have been head scientist. I never would have met Patriarch, which means my attempts to pacify Omega would have been even more disastrous than they are. And it was so tempting when North talked about his police state. There's a universe where I would have listened to him, I'm sure, and told myself I was doing it for the greater good."

She squeezed his shoulder. "But it's not the universe we're living in. That's what matters. I almost jammed a control chip into John's skull. I didn't. Thanks to the Illusive Man, ironically enough. It's stupid to worry about what might have happened."

"Perhaps you're right, my dear." Oleg didn't sound convinced. He put on the helmet. The transmitter transformed his voice into a mechanical growl. "This is Able Company. We had Talons attempt to take the cargo. They were repulsed, but we suffered casualties. Be advised that Lawson and adjutants likely withdrew to the Gozu District. Permission to return to base to deliver cargo?"

"Permission granted."

He turned off the transmitter. "So it begins."

The truck rumbled through the district toward the wall of energy separating it from the Green Zone. The adjutants and those of the Talons and Petrovsky's men brave enough to ride with them stood sentinel in the back. Miranda stared out the window. The last three days had taken a toll. Pavement was broken. Street lights flickered and died. Miranda swallowed. The purification plant was once again a ruin of twisted metal. Her gut twisted. Their months of improvements, swept away by a pathetic bottom feeder like North.

The truck stopped a few hundred meters from the labs. A prefab unit with the word PROCESSING hastily stenciled on the side had been erected in her absence. A half-dozen trucks identical to the one they had commandeered stood in front. Miranda frowned. "So many. They can't have gotten the infrastructure for an operation of this scale ready in three days. How long has North been planning this coup?"

Oleg shrugged. "Since I permitted the implants? Before?" Some fire crept back into his voice. "But he'll answer for his war crimes, and I promise you."

The truck came to a stop. "Able Company, stand by for a security team to meet you and take charge of the cargo."

Miranda tensed. Seconds ticked by and there was only the scuffle of boots on the pavement outside. Then finally, the sound of the door being opened. "Hey, wait, those aren't pris—"

That would be her cue. "Please kill the Cerberus guards."

Miranda stumbled down from the truck in time to see the adjutants finish off the last of three guards. "Hurry. We have five minutes at the most before they declare a lock—"

Walker's voice came over the PA. "This facility has been compromised. Lockdown! Lockdown!"

Well, so much for that theory. Oleg turned to Sidonis. "Can you hack the door?"

He shook his head. "Negative. The encryption's too advanced. Of all things for Cerberus to be competent at, it had to be making locks."

Miranda resisted rolling her eyes. "Oh, we have our uses. Please, remove the door to the laboratory." The adjutants trooped to the door and pulled. Metal groaned and buckled as they yanked the door from its hinges, leaving a ragged hole like a gaping wound. "There, you see? Radio Kandros and notify her that we breached the perimeter. ETA to Afterlife is on track."

The laboratory had transformed. Where there had once been workstations and facilities to test the response of husks and adjutants to various chemicals, there were now dragon's teeth. Not merely the one or two she had kept to create the necessary samples, but an entire room of spikes that scraped the ceiling. She opened the nearest door. Row upon row of the transformation pods, just waiting for subjects. The anger returned, hotter this time, singeing her with every moment she spent staring at the empty pods. Walker had taken her work and industrialized it. And where there was industrialization, there was also an increased need for raw materials.

No, there would be time enough for anger later. She had a job to do. "The toxin was stored in our Biohazard Unit. Upper level, first door on your right."

"Husks, three o'clock!"

Miranda pivoted in time to see a mass of husks spill through the door. They jerked as they walked like marionettes controlled by a puppeteer who only remembered to move the strings at the last moment. They were slower than the husks she had fought on Horizon a year ago as well. The Talons felled them with a speed that would have made John envious.

Miranda narrowed her eyes. "Something's off about these husks. They should have been faster and more agile. And they don't look quite right."

Oleg frowned. "Walker could have taken your work and expanded it. Finally found a way to adapt the control process to something besides adjutants."

"Possible. But they still look different. What did he—" And then she knew. The floor opened up beneath her. Her muscles convulsed as bile rose in her throat. No. No. Even the Illusive Man wouldn't condone something like this. But the body didn't lie. "The proportions aren't those of adult humans. These are children. Twelve or thirteen at the most."

Sidonis knelt before one of the bodies. "Cerberus does this to kids? And he used stuff you were working on to do it? How the hell do you sleep at night?"

Miranda couldn't tear her eyes from the husk. The blue lights, devoid of either affection or terror, stared back at her. Nausea and disbelief gnawed at her mind. "This—I never did this. Just corpses. There was no need for this. It's pointless cruelty."

"I'm sure that helps him."

Miranda turned away and closed her eyes. Anger hardened into something sharp and useful. She wasn't guilty, but responsible, just like Mordin. She had never shirked her responsibilities. "He's gone rogue. I don't care if the Illusive Man or whoever the bloody hell else authorized this, but this isn't Cerberus."

"What happens when somebody goes rogue?"

"I happen." She clenched and unclenched her fists. "Please, find Dr. Walker. Please, do not transform him, but please hurt him as much as you need."

The adjutants returned a few minutes later dragging Walker between them. His eyes were wild with terror and his hair was askew. Welts and slash marks covered his face. "Let me go, please let me go."

"Pathetic. But as you wish. Please, drop him." Walker fell to his knees with a grunt. Miranda loomed over him and picked him up by the scruff of the neck. The wretch was shivering, just as she was. "Scared? Good."

"Don't hurt me. I give up. I'm not even armed." He flailed, trying unsuccessfully to turn out his pockets. "And I—I can show you how I controlled the husks. Not even you can do that."

"Not interested. Anything you can show me is in your files. Children, Walker. North has Reaper tech jammed into his skull. What's your excuse?"

"They're better off like this. If they'd stayed like they were, we would've just had to protect them. Now we have weapons. Remove a liability and gain a soldier, just like the Reapers when they indoctrinate."

Thank you for making this easy. She put her hands around his throat and squeezed. Walker coughed and sputtered as Miranda increased the pressure. Shadows infested her mind. Peter lying in a hospital bed. An infant the same name lying in the casket. Children being thrown on spikes.

"You can't...do this…Petrovsky… I deserve mercy."

She could feel Oleg's gaze on her. His voice was ice. "What you deserve is to be thrown on those spikes. But, to my everlasting regret, there are laws of war that apply even to the likes of you." He touched her shoulder. "Stand down, Miranda. He's a prisoner. He'll get what he deserves, just not today and not like this."

"Right." Miranda exhaled sharply as the adrenaline crashed over her. She wouldn't give this little worm the satisfaction of shattering her control. "A prisoner of war, caught in the very act of war crimes. Which means he's going to have to be tried by a competent authority, one having intimate knowledge of the crime." She grabbed Walker and threw him at Sidonis. "He's yours to do with as you please."

"But they'll kill me."

Sidonis' eyes glittered. "After a trial. Everyone on Omega is going to know what you've done."

Miranda couldn't help but smile. "There's your mercy. I would have made you an adjutant." She turned her back to him. "Let's find the toxin and hit the tram."

The tram ground to a halt in Afterlife's sub-basement. "Our target is the control room. From there, we should be able to lower the force fields and allow Kandros' forces unrestricted access to the rest of the station as well as a release the nerve toxin into environmental control." Oleg clasped his hands behind his back. "Be cautious. If the laboratory was any indication, North has far more adjutants than we do. Once we disperse the toxin, they'll be neutralized along with the other Reaper units, so speed will be key. Good luck."

The men—Talon and Cerberus—nodded and gripped their guns. Sidonis looked Oleg up and down. "Spirits watch over us all."

Oleg walked her to the front of the tram. His gauntleted hand brushed against her own. Anxiety simmered just beneath the mask of confidence he wore. "Stay safe, my dear."

Miranda glanced around to make sure they were unobserved, and pressed her lips to his. "You'll be right there with me. We'll disable everything Reaper North has co-opted, kick him off Omega, deliver the Crucible data to the Alliance, and cross our fingers that they haven't gone completely insane." She forced a smile. "And when this war is over, you'll take a security posting in some colony and turn it into your city on a hill." She laughed, but tears felt as if they could overwhelm at any moment. "Who knows? You might even go into politics."

He cupped her cheek. "I was thinking of relocating to Horizon. The colonists went all that way to get away from the Alliance; it's unfair that they should have to choose between autonomy and safety."

"Horizon? Well, as long as Oriana and I are stuck—" Her brain processed what he was saying, and tears pricked her eyes. "I would like that very much."

"Even if I wanted to stay for a long time?"

Her smile grew bigger. "Henry's penthouse is far too large for me. I think I can find some room for you." She wiped her eyes. "Let's get it done."

The doors opened, and Oleg replaced his helmet. Miranda squared her shoulders. "Please follow me." The adjutants marched alongside her, and the rest of the troops followed behind.

The command center was chaos. Red and gold Talons surged against white and gold Cerberus. Neon lights lay shattered on the floor. North's adjutants dominated center of the room. One had a Cerberus soldier by the throat. He screamed as his armor was shredded like paper. Miranda fired once, twice, three times, into the sacs on the creature's back, but it didn't seem to notice. Its eyes locked with the soldier's as he caressed his face, the parody of a lover. No. No. No. She had only Oleg's description of the process of how the beasts reproduced—she had perceived transformation as both risky and unnecessary as long as the implants worked—but she recognized it. Two adjutants would be a disaster.

"Help me," he screamed.

Miranda's breath caught in her chest. Matthews. Miranda's eyes narrowed. Another of her men about to be lost to those creatures. Not this time. She had sacrificed her body to keep him safe. He wasn't going to die now, not because of a pathetic speck of nothing like North. "Please, engage the adjutants."

The adjutants bounded toward their brethren, and Matthews fell to the ground amid a sea of claws. He scampered toward the Talons. Oleg looked at her, and Miranda shrugged. "It's not as if they would all fit in environmental control. Come on."

Miranda had only seen the environmental control room on schematics. The reality was a high ceilinged, cold room where the sound of fans and whirring machinery drowned out the sound of her footsteps and the floor vibrated beneath her feet. Stale warm air washed over Miranda as her suit compensated for the cold. A catwalk high above ran the length of the room. Miranda glanced upward. Perfect place for an ambush. North knew she was here, and eliminating her would also take out the adjutants.

Orange flashed in the corner of her eye. An omni-tool. The warm air stopped as suddenly as it began. Miranda swore. The bastard had cut power to her suit. Pain slithered up her leg as she stumbled forward. Oleg's arm lashed out to catch her, and Miranda leaned on him in desperation. Her breath came in short gasps. The air filter was just a few steps away. A few more moments and this rebellion would be over. She couldn't let the pain stop her. One foot in front of the other, that was all she had to do.

"Still trying to walk?" North asked as he emerged from the shadows. "I give you points for bravery if nothing else. I can't figure out what you're doing here though. Figure you'd go for the power on the force fields. Drop your guns. Amp for you too, Lawson."

Oleg didn't move. "First rule of engagements. Never drop your gun."

North drew his blade. "Don't try to play hero, Petrovsky. Just drop your gun and the Illusive Man will make you see like he did for the rest of us. Lawson gets a quick, painless death, and it's all over. Or you try to fight me while protecting a cripple and you die horribly, then I reenact the death of a thousand cuts on Lawson. Your choice."

Miranda bit back a curse. She wasn't afraid, but to have it end like this, leaning against Oleg like an invalid while trying not to pass out from the pain? It was too much. They were so close to victory. Oleg could have reached the filter with a halfway decent dive. Of all the— Wait a moment. Miranda bit back a smile. "Do as he says, Oleg," she said as she threw her gun to the ground. Please.

Surprise flickered across his face, but Oleg did as she asked. She could see the anxiety in his eyes, the hope that whatever plan she had would pay off.

Miranda abandoned any attempt to keep the pain out of her voice. The truth would be most effective. "Please, love, help me with the amp. I don't trust myself to do it."

Love? Oleg mouthed, but pulled her more tightly against him, as his free hand moved to the back of her neck. Miranda unhooked the vial containing the toxin and pressed it into his hand out of North's sight. Oleg's fingers curled around the vial. One…two…

Three! She sent a biotic blast squarely at North's chest. He rocketed backwards as a shot from his palm went wild and hit the ceiling. Oleg jumped backwards and ran for the air filter. The pain crawled through Miranda and filled her mind. She crumpled to the ground.

North hauled himself to his feet. His lip was bleeding. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but—"

"Initializing," said a mechanical female voice. Green vapor wafted through the room. North froze and sank to his knees. Blue slashes patterned like some demented erupted on his face as his eyes began to glow. His mouth twisted into a snarl as he waved his sword feebly. Finally, he fell over as if he were a heavy stone someone had pushed to the ground.

Oleg fired into his head. "You deserved better than this."

Her comm hissed. "This is Nyreen. Reaper forces are shutting down. Some Cerberus resistance, but nothing we can't handle. Lawson did it."

That was the last thing Miranda heard before she passed out.

The next forty-eight hours passed in a blur. There were so many dead to bury. The battle had wrecked the command center and much of the Green Zone. Oleg ducked to avoid exposed wiring as he stepped into the laboratory. Tables had been overturned and drawers ransacked. A few Talons were attempting to clean up the mess. Oleg ignored them. They moved more or less freely through the Green Zone since North's death. Oleg wasn't inclined to stop them. They had seen the worst of it already, and if they wanted to know more about the horrors that had occurred here, he wasn't going to deny them. He had more pressing business.

Miranda's old office, lately Walker's, had escaped the devastation except for a few drops of blood on the desk. The adjutants' work, no doubt. Oleg pressed a button, and the logs began to play.

Walker's eyes were fever-bright, a mockery of the enthusiasm that transformed Miranda from beautiful to irresistible. "We've done it, sir. The husks are responding to the implants for up to a week at a time if they start out as live subjects, five days if they begin as corpses."

The Illusive Man smiled. "Excellent work. I want you to expand your trials. With our recent setbacks, we need shock troops as fast as possible."

"Petrovsky would never let us work openly."

"Major North will handle that. Miranda Lawson has gone rogue, and our intel suggests she's returning to the station in an attempt to turn the general. I doubt he'll allow us to execute his lover, but it will provide an excuse for North to take over. Prep your teams to move back to the main laboratory immediately."

Oleg switched the log off and sank into the nearest chair. Miranda had been right. The Illusive Man had ordered the atrocities Oleg had seen here. The children thrown on spikes, the detentions, the murders. He buried his face in his hands. The Talons were securing the laboratory in the tunnels at this very moment, but he had heard the description. People packed like cattle, husbands turned into adjutants and forced to kill their wives. Such things sometimes happened: at Dachau or Nanking or a batarian slaver camp. Degrading the victim had been precisely the point. What had been the point of all this?

And he had helped them. Spent the blood of good men like Rolston so the Illusive Man could have his army and let men like Hadley be implanted with Reaper tech—with predictable results—because the Talons were nipping at his heels. He had abandoned his principles in the face of difficulty. Worse than not having principles in the first place.

"Sidonis said I might find you here."

Oleg turned his head. Miranda had traded her armor for a gray and white jacket. Patel had retrieved a spare cane from the Geronimo, and Miranda leaned heavily on it. "Beta Sector has sustained significant damage. As best we can tell, one third of the area doesn't have any power, and infrastructure is a mess. The Talons and some of the men are handing out supplies, but it's slow going."

"Casualties?"

"Five hundred and counting there. It will be a while before we have a full accounting of civilian casualties." She inhaled. "We're down to ten thousand men. Most of the losses appear to be North's implanted. The Talons have been hunting them down. Got most of them before the toxin wore off, but some of them are taking refuge in the tunnels."

Two thirds of his men either dead or lost to the Reapers. Ten thousand men to hold a station of nearly eight million people. Possible—if he was willing to become just as brutal as North. "Kandros will find them. The tunnels are her second home." Shame shattered the mask of professionalism. "What have I done? What happened here is monstrous."

"And not our fault. It was Walker's fault, and North's fault." Her eyes narrowed, and her voice was cold. "Don't forget the Illusive Man." She gestured at the log. "Whatever doubts I had before, he's no longer working for humanity."

"And we helped him. How many adjutants is he going to be able to field because of our work? How many hundreds of thousands of people died because I carried out his orders to take this station?"

"Far too many." Her gaze dropped to the floor, and her voice was soft. "Do you remember what you told me after my first command? I was ready to throw myself into a suicide charge after the batarians captured my men."

"And I told you that you atoned for your mistakes by fixing them, not getting yourself killed."

"I propose we fix ours."

"How?" He closed his eyes. Images of the ruined purification plant and the debris littering the streets swam up to him. All his painstaking work to build Omega, to make it safe for children like Peter, dashed on the rocks in a matter of days. "How long do you think it'll be before a mob arrives at our door demanding the head of anyone involved with Cerberus? Perhaps I even deserve it. I knew that Walker was unethical. You were the only thing holding him in check. I dismissed a technician for sabotaging a food dispenser. But I kept him on staff? Kandros should take my head."

"It's not your head I want," Kandros said as she walked through the door. "As for the mob, the Talons who aren't tracking down the Cerberus remnant are doing their best to prevent a riot from breaking out. So far so good, but it's like waiting for a match to fall on dry wood. We're not equipped for containment."

He thought. He could send his troops out into the streets to help her, supplant her. He and Miranda could rule over Omega under their own authority. The Citadel of the Terminus could still exist. All he had to do was cordon off more districts, stop the trade routes to Lorek, and mass-produce Ramparts to replace his lost men. Omegans would call him a tyrant, but they did that already. It would be for their good.

Just as the Illusive Man is acting for the good of humanity? "Nonlethal weapons are in the armory. Code for the lock is 0451."

Her eyes widened. "You're being very helpful."

He forced a smile he didn't feel. "Due to the changes in circumstance, I consider my orders to hold this station no longer valid. I only ask that you permit us an orderly withdrawal." He glanced at Miranda. "I'm rather fond of the chess set I acquired here, and I'd like to take it with me instead of leaving it behind while I run for my life."

Kandros stared at him for a long moment. "I can give you three days. Anyone found on this station beyond that time will be considered an unlawful combatant."

Three days. Much of the supplies would have to be left behind, but he could evacuate his men on Elbrus if he were quick. "I suppose you might be able to find some use for the mechs."

"I can." She paused, uncertain. "There are rumors that Aria is moving again. She could be here in as little as four days. I came to tell you. She will want your head."

Miranda went pale beside him, and Oleg felt as if someone had punched him in the chest. Not for himself, or even for him Miranda. They could be off the station within a day. People like Peter and his uncle wouldn't be so fortunate. The Pirate Queen would return and establish her stranglehold on Omega. Drug runners would ply their trade among the desperate in back alleys. Gangs would demand protection money from any unfortunate enough to live under their domain. Seventeen-year-old girls would be desperate enough to sell themselves to escape while ardat-yakshi found fertile hunting grounds. "I didn't change anything, did I? It's all going to go back like it was."

"Possibly," Kandros said. "But the Talons won't let that happen without a fight. They were ruthless before, but I think some of them like being the hero. Sidonis especially. We'll fight anyone who tries to put civilians under their thumb, whether they wear a Cerberus uniform or not." Her mouth distorted into what the turians called a smile. "So I suppose you did change something."

"By playing the tyrant," he muttered. "I should get to packing."

Miranda followed him. The halls of the command center were nearly deserted as they walked. Soon Afterlife might be a haven for flesh shows and all manner of vice. He should enjoy the peace while it lasted. But his thoughts kept knocking together.

"Oleg?" Miranda said. "Don't you want to hear the Alliance's terms?"

He shrugged. "I tell everything I know about the Illusive Man's plans and am treated as a prisoner of war instead of a traitor. From what I understand, it's quite a comfortable life. I might write my memoirs if we survive this."

Miranda's eyes glittered as her face broke into the first genuine smile he'd seen since her return. "Oh no. You don't think I'd let them waste you on intel, do you? The Alliance wants to take Cerberus out the game for good. That means an attack on Cronos. Unfortunately, all their plans boil down to elaborate versions of 'get slaughtered.' I told them that it was a good thing my lover is a tactical genius."

"Your lover?" he asked absently. An attack on Cronos would have to be both daring and clever. Finding something that worked, putting an end to the Illusive Man's machinations, that might begin to make up for children turned into husks. Someday.

"Yes. Lover. Doesn't seem like quite the right word considering I ran all the way back here more or less get you out. I think I overdid this affair."

A chuckle escaped his lips. It felt strange to laugh. "Neither of us ever did anything halfway. Maybe you'll find a better word later." The image of his class ring rolling on the floor flashed unbidden in his mind. Perhaps…perhaps he would ask her when this war was over, if they both lived. A little extra motive to keep fighting. Formalize staying on Horizon.

But for now, there was work. "This is how you take Cronos…"

They talked of the future long into the night.

Ten years later

"On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology. The governess was always getting muddled with her astrolabe, and when she got specially muddled she would take it out of the Wart by rapping his knuckles."

Jenny yawned. "This is boring. Skip to the part with the knights."

Oleg smiled. She was so anxious to gobble up the interesting and exciting, as if the stories might vanish into the air with no warning and leave her never knowing of knights or dragons or anything beyond Horizon. "We must begin at the beginning or it won't make any sense." He kissed her on the forehead. "But I can see you're tired. We can start the story another time."

She glared at him. Jenny had eyes the same shade of brown of his own, but the haughty, insistent glare was all Miranda. "I'm not sleepy."

"It is past your bedtime. Shame on your father," Miranda said as she walked into the room. The implants emitted a soft whir. Oleg turned to her. The scars were gone, repaired a year after the Crucible fired when it became clear that the Reapers weren't going to kill them all. "You need to sleep."

"Not sleepy."

Miranda thought for a moment. "If you go to sleep, I'll read you a story about dragons. Lots of fighting in that one."

Jenny peered at her. "Promise?"

"Promise." Miranda ruffled her hair. "Good night, Jenny."

"I got a call today," Miranda said when they had returned to their own room. "Governor Kandros wants me to expand Lawson Biomedical to Omega. Now that the university is up and running, she wants more high-tech jobs on this station. Naturally, I was her first choice."

"It would be a good fit." When he and Miranda had fled Omega to avoid another bloody war, Oleg had had no idea what the future held for Omega. The future turned out to be a weeklong standoff between Aria and her former lover that had seen Aria withdraw and wait for the day Kandros would either die or be overthrown and Aria would return in triumph. Kandros had been busy continuing his infrastructure improvements and inviting foreign investment, trusting her philosophy would outlive her. Oleg's money was on Kandros.

"I thought so. We can start groundbreaking as early as next year." She laughed. "Spend all that time trying to pacify Omega with an army and it turns out what they really needed were jobs."

"It worked the same way for the British after the Empire was dismantled. The colonies were far more profitable as equal trade partners."

Her eyes glittered. "Talking history is very, very attractive."

"Is that so? Should I give a lecture on the Peloponnesian War?"

She didn't answer out loud. Her hands ran over his chest as she smiled at him. Oleg shivered. Sometimes, he was certain that this was a dream and he would wake up to find himself in an Alliance prison or worse. He would always mourn Nikolai and Catherine, but having a chance to start another family seemed more than he deserved. To have finished the war with his honor intact instead of becoming a monster like Walker. To have the second great love of his life looking at him as if she planned to devour him.

"Come on, Herodotus. Let's go to bed."

First, I'd like to think all of you for reading. And thank you for taking a chance on an unusual pairing. Thanks too to my wonderful beta themarshal who put up with my constant insecurities and believed I could pull this off. Flemm also provided additional editing. And to T.H White whose Once and Future King I shamelessly quoted.

So, changes. There was originally much more focus on backstory, with flashbacks to Miranda's training as a Cerberus agent. I held off writing the prologue in a desperate attempt to finish the story. By the time I was ready to write them, I realized I didn't need them. The story also originally followed canon much more closely. Aria would invade and North (then named Adamle) would lure Miranda down to the tunnels and assassinate her, forcing Oleg to launch a rescue. But I strongly dislike Aria and didn't trust myself to be fair to her, considering my moral sensibilities made the thought of her regaining control revolting. I tried various scenarios before deciding to throw canon out.

I can't tell you why exactly I disabled Miranda. Part of it is self-insert—I have cerebral palsy and I wanted a good disabled character that wasn't Joker. Part of it is that I wanted to use research that I had done for Portrait. And part of it was wanting to tweak "death by breakup" and do something interesting. That was actually something of a driving force for this story. A lot of the same basic things happen as in canon, but the players and results are different. So there was still a Sanctuary, but Henry hadn't had time to start processing people, Walker is the one who begs for his life, and so on. If this were the canon, Miranda would have bled out on the Sanctuary floor, Aria would have strangled Oleg, and Oleg himself would have sanctioned atrocities. But in this universe…well, you see.

I thought for a long time this would be my last foray into ME fanfic. It may still be, but I'm kicking around a Shepard/Petrovsky fanfic set post-Destroy. Interested?