May 24th, 2186
It'd taken the batarians and the Council three days to reach an agreement, with the Council growing ever more impatient, muttering that the batarians were holding the safety of the galaxy hostage over insulted egos. But in the end, both sides found common ground.

Partially because Kar'shan had been all but destroyed during a Leviathan attack on the second day of negotiations with three CAT five creatures pouring into the system. At the very least, it proved correct their belief that the Leviathans wanted control of the Alpha relay and saw the batarians as a significant threat to be dealt with.

After that, the batarians had become much more agreeable, relenting on some of their more obtuse demands.

In return, the Council ad reopened their embassy and the batarians were once again members of Council Space.

During that time, she and Kaidan had completed no fewer than five breach runs, testing the limits of the Valkyrie. After the second run, the Nova Havoc had joined them, especially since most attacks now featured at least two Leviathans with an average of three.

As a Jaeger pilot, even one for the Council, she'd never seen this much action. For one, Jeagers were typically limited to their home systems as most of the dreadnoughts that had carried them between systems were destroyed.

She was worn out. Feeling every inch of those five battles, despite the fact that they couldn't be measured in inches.

As such, she'd taken to crashing into her bunk as soon as she finished showering, catching what shut eye and relaxation she could before they received warning of another attack or she was called to a meeting to learn another planet had been lost to the war. Miranda and Traynor's predictions had been all too spot on.

Today, though, there'd been no attack. Not yet but she knew it would come and so she'd stayed in her room.

Kaidan entered without knocking, seating himself at the foot of her bed. She set her book down on the nightstand and sat up, crossing her legs.

"Alright let's hear it."

Kaidan huffed a small laugh, apparently not surprised that she could approximate the reasons for his dramatic entrance because when you Drift with someone long enough, words become almost unnecessary in order to understand each other.

Despite that, Kaidan worked through things by talking. He pressed his hands onto the edge of the bed. "The plan is solid."

"Statement, but yes, it is. As much as it can be, anyway."

And it was. Aside from not knowing what exactly was on the other side and what would be waiting for them, the plan was as good as it could get. It didn't come without its risks, though, and she had a feeling that was what was itching in the back of his mind.

She believed the risks were worth it. Three years of this war and all attempts to negotiate or compromise with the Leviathans had been met with out and out hostility. There was no negotiating, no middle ground that could be reached. No coexisting and that prospect of galactic extinction was frightening. When an enemy cannot be reasoned with, the only solution left is often a drastic one. The one they'd come up with over the past few days, hours spent in lab rooms and conference rooms, talking with specialists from around the Milky Way via QEC, certainly qualified.

Next was the 'pulling it off' part. Something which Riley fully intended to do because, as much as it shocked and made her kick her own ass over it, she'd finally found something worth carrying her through the war and not just with it. Something worth fighting for beyond the right to survive and while she hadn't said as much because she was a damned chicken shit, it didn't mean that Kaidan didn't know because how could he not know when each time they headed out to fight off another attack, those thoughts flooded to the forefront of her mind.

She'd been accused in the past of not being emotional and she supposed Akuze had certainly temepred her outward appearance of vulnerability because after that, the press had hounded her footsteps waiting to see if she'd snap. She learned to keep it in. To lock it down and toss away the key because any expression was cross-examined by no fewer than ten separate news broadcast agencies, looking for a form of weakness. Anything that they could latch onto that would sell.

She didn't like being a commodity for the press so she didn't play.

But the truth was Akuze had wrecked her and if she hadn't had that challenge from the press to keep her ass in line, who knows where she might have ended. The desire to prove herself had been greater than the urge to bury herself, but only just.

Kaidan sighed, swing his legs up onto the bed, and placed his head in her lap. "What if the Leviathans don't bite?"

"They wiped out Kar'shan and sent the batarians scurrying out of the system faster than a salarian thinking on speed. They'll bite."

"Everything we've planned hinges on this one thing being correct: that they're interested in the alpha relay."

Riley leaned back against the headboard thoughtfully. "If I were them, I'd want the alpha relay. More control over the network and two access points to the Citadel, one of which looks legitimate through relay activation. We know they want the Citadel and we know why: because the Citadel controls the entire relay network. But the Citadel is currently too well defended, so we've been picked off and herded for the past three years. Our numbers are smaller, but our defenses better."

"Every time our defenses get better, they come out with a better offensive strategy."

"It'll take them longer than a few days to come up with something to better fight Valkyries," she replied. The urge to smooth the wrinkle in between his brow as he looked up at her was almost too much to resist. "The ground is as even as it's ever gonna be. Striking now makes sense. The longer we wait, the greater the chance they discover we know how to get to them."

"You're so sure," he said. The wrinkle smoothed out on its own, but not entirely.

Was she? She supposed she was. Everything she said was true. The longer they waited to attack increased the chances that the creatures would discover they knew where to find them. It also increased the odds of the Leviathans adapting to counteract the Valkyries and then they'd be back to square one in terms of loss of life and resources. With Omega gone, the consequences of that were more dire than ever.

They had to win this war, and they had to win it soon. Otherwise they might not win it at all.

She ran her fingers over his forehead, smoothing away the rest of the worry lines that seemed permanently etched in his face. "One of us has to be."