After Priority: Thessia
One of the terrible things about this war was how fast even the moments of hope could transform into despair. In spite of Nyreen's death, Melanie Shepard had been feeling relatively upbeat after the mission to retake Omega. Cerberus had been pushed out, General Petrovsky was feeding intelligence to the Alliance, and Aria, true to her world, was pouring sorely needed resources into the war effort. Hell, the Queen of Omega had even shown signs of a conscience, and if that wasn't cause for optimism, nothing was.
And then came Thessia. As Kai Leng's shuttle disappeared into the distance, Melanie could only stand there and watch as most beautiful world she'd ever seen burned. The clouds of smoke searing her nostrils, the pleas and screams of dying asari on the comm channels, the horrible whining sound the Reapers made as they killed, and nothing she could do about any of it. The last time she'd felt this helpless had been after Virmire, when the Council had grounded her, but then, she hadn't been the one who failed and the Reapers had only been an approaching threat. Now they were here, destroying everything Melanie cared about, and she had just lost their best chance to stop them.
Back on the Normandy, they weren't totally out of options. Samantha had tracked Kai Leng's shuttle as far as Horizon, where there was supposed to be only a refugee camp called Sanctuary. A thin reed to be sure, but they were desperate. Desperate enough that she was considering resuming her search for the supposed Reaper-killer, Leviathan, even though everything she'd learned thus far made her doubt that it was the sort of ally she'd want. At this point, there wasn't a lot of room to be picky.
All that she wanted to scream, to hit something, to vent the rage and frustration she was feeling but she couldn't. As she walked the ship, she forced her mind to calm itself, pushing down the emotions she was feeling. The crew was in shock and Commander Shepard can't afford to be weak, not when they need her.
And in that moment, no one needed her more than Liara. When she heard there was a disturbance in Javik's quarters, Melanie rushed there to find her girlfriend cloaked in biotic rage, ready to smear the prothean all over the walls for blaming the fall of Thessia on the asari's own mistakes. He wasn't entirely wrong; Shepard had been appalled to find out that their government had concealed the beacon in the Temple of Athame until it was too late, but that wasn't what Liara needed to hear right then.
Shepard calmed her down and got Javik to apologize, to tell Liara that the Protheans believed in the asari and that as long as one of them survives, there's still hope. It seemed to reassure her, at least a little, but after the scientist left, when Shepard asked Javik if he really believed that, she could tell he didn't, that he only pretended to because he knows the commander cares about Liara.
She followed the Shadow Broker back to her cabin and found her sitting on her bed arguing with EDI about her mother. The fact that Benezia had known about the beacon on Thessia and didn't tell her about it compounded her pain, tainting the good memories she had of her mother before her indoctrination.
When Liara conceded EDI might have been right that Benezia was trying to protect her daughter, it didn't make the asari feel better. Without her anger at Javik or her mother to cover it, her grief and guilt came pouring out of her, the information broker blaming herself as soft sobs wracked her body. "They're dying by the millions! I told those people on Thessia we'd save them! How many asari died because I demanded their help?"
It broke Shepard's heart to hear Liara like that. All she wanted in that moment was to join her on the bed, put her arms around her, and try to make her forget about all of this. She couldn't. The war isn't over and Liara has to believe that she can still make a difference. So Melanie told her that she didn't do this, that she had tried to warn her people, that there are still asari that she can help. Unlike Javik, she believed everything she told her, but she still wished she had more to offer.
Liara's strong. She doesn't let her pain overwhelm her, but instead goes back to her terminal, tells Shepard that she needs time, and thanks her for her words. With a quick kiss to the back of the asari's neck, Melanie leaves her to her work. As she tries to find something to keep herself busy, she silently resolves that next time, no matter what, she won't fail again. For Liara's sake, for sake of the galaxy, she can't.