A/N Got this out sooner than expected, and it's actually got serious stuff in it! Enjoy...

29th October 2189 – Crucible Pulse + 3 years and 1 month

Shepard sighed as he scrolled down through the work in front of him on his terminal, forcing himself to keep his eyes open. It was only eleven in the morning on Citadel time, but reports on the state of eezo mining in Citadel space were incredibly dull to study. He was about to come up with another excuse to leave his desk, such as getting yet another coffee, when an alert pinged on the bottom of the terminals screen.

GV: Hey Shepard, just found this – check it out!

Shepard clicked on the link attached to Garrus' message, taking him to an extranet page with a huge title in red lettering that read – 'Shepard facts'. He raised an eyebrow as he began to read before chuckling at the first few.

'Death once had a near Commander Shepard experience'

'There used to be a street named after Commander Shepard, but it was changed as no one crosses Commander Shepard and lives'

'Commander Shepard and Superman once fought each other on a bet. The loser had to wear his underpants on the outside of his trousers as a penalty'

"Oh these are good." Shepard chuckled as he wrote off a reply to Garrus.

JS: Thanks Garrus, they're hilarious! Spread the word, they're all true :D

GV: My favourite's the first on the second page – There was once a Commander Shepard toilet paper, the problem is it wouldn't take shit from anyone!

Shepard broke out in laughter as he sent the link over to Miranda who was back at home with Elizabeth.

JS: LOL, just lol!"

He received his reply from Miranda after only a few seconds, opening up in another conversation in another window.

ML: These are ridiculous.

JS: They are hilarious, and all rather true. And, where's my kisses? xxxxxx

There was a pause.

ML: Are you really that bothered? Kisses on a message are ridiculous.

JS: They show you love me :D xxxxx

ML: Your messaging is as bad – no scratch that – worse than Oriana's. Smilies and kisses are ridiculous, what's the point?

JS: Miri! xxxxx

ML: FINE! X HAPPY?

JS: Now, that's better. Now enjoy reading all the facts about your incredible partner ;) xxxxxx

ML: Yes, you are something else John. See you later X

Shepard smiled as he closed both conversations, checking out the rest of the facts on the page. He came across another one that made him burst out into fits of uncontrollable laughter – 'Commander Shepard once walked down the street with an erection. There were no survivors.'

He was still trying to gasp for air when his QEC began to buzz, and he had to try and control himself as he answered. Liara's form appeared in front of him.

"Shepard?" Liara gave him a quizzical look. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, honestly," He grinned. "Garrus sent me some rather funny jokes, I'll pass them on later."

"Yes, those 'Commander Shepard facts'. They are rather amusing, but I have important news for you," Liara grimaced. "It's not good."

"Right, hit me with it."

"I have some findings for you, on those Blue Suns raids," Liara looked down at a data-pad in her grasp. "The raiding patterns for the entire organisation seemed to be rather strange, some attacks were completely unexpected and random, and attacking the Alliance would have been ridiculous for a gang. I discovered that the seemingly random hits were not being performed by the entire organisation but by a rogue faction."

"That fits with what Aria claimed, and it makes more sense I suppose."

"Well they have taken supplies from colonies, other mercs, and from several abandoned space stations and mining facilities – And I confirmed that Aria was not giving the orders, she's clean on this side of things."

"And then there's the cloning tech."

"And the Alliance dockyard."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "What dockyard?"

"The Alliance one they hit only last night, but Alliance Command won't know of it yet – the attack was carried out seamlessly after communications were cut," Shepard cursed. "They made off with three brand new Alliance frigates and a couple of fighter wings."

"Christ, what are they up to? And who the fuck is leading them?"

"You're not going to like the answer I'm afraid, it's gonna cause hell for the Council."

"Who is it?"

"It's the Batarians."

Shepard paused, giving Liara a look of confusion. "What? What do you mean?"

"It's what's left of the forces under Balak's command, they've been making thees surgical raids," Liara shook her head sadly. "If you look at the security footage from some of the raids every single Blue Sun is a Batarian, and I discovered that they raided an actual Blue Suns base to steal the armour to hide their identities. And now I have an operative inside their forces, a Batarian from Omega, and he has confirmed that Balak has been giving the orders."

"Christ," Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose. "What the hell am I going to do?"

"I'm not sure, but you have to play this carefully," Liara sighed. "It won't take much for the Alliance to wipe out all that's left of their race."

"I know," Shepard cursed again. "How many do you reckon the Batarian's have left in their forces?"

"Maybe six thousand."

"That few?"

"Yes," Liara's expression turned rather sad. "I estimate that their entire population is settled at about three and a half million, but only two hundred thousand are from the actual Hegemony. The rest are all in the Terminus systems."

"But isn't that enough to sustain a population?"

"No," Liara shook her head. "Mainly because seventy eight percent of the population is male, and nearly eighty five percent of those are mercs in gangs in the Terminus systems. The only way for their species to survive is for all of them to undergo a very strict breeding program, the Salarians could organise it if Councillor Balak was to allow them to."

"That's unlikely to happen."

"I'll let you know if there is any more developments, but you have to hurry Shepard," Liara leaned forwards. "The Alliance will know about the dockyards in a couple of hours, it's likely they'll be able to trace the Batarians this time."

"Right," Shepard sighed. "Thanks for this Liara."

"Under normal circumstances it would be a pleasure to help, take care Shepard."

As Liara's figure disappeared Shepard slowly turned to head over to his desk. He walked around it and sat down, placing his head in his hands as he did so. He sat there for several minutes, unsure of what to do next. This was precisely why he did not want to be a politician, this wasn't something pleasant to be involved with and seemed beyond his abilities to fix. Shepard sat there for so long that he didn't notice his assistant step carefully into the room. She watched him for several seconds before speaking.

"Is everything OK Councillor?"

Shepard sighed again. "No, not at all."

"Oh, I see," Shayla looked around nervously before speaking again. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No," Shepard shook his head, but then he corrected himself as she began to leave the room. "Wait, yes you can."

"What do you need Councillor?"

"Get me Councillor Balak, I need to talk to him."

XXXXXXXX

Shepard was a little tense as he walked into the markets in the upper area of the Presidium shopping precinct. He was alone and the entire area was rather open. It wan'ts the usual kind of place for two Councillors to meet, usually anything like that happened in private and guarded offices and quarters, but Balak had insisted on it. The Batarian had claimed that it was because he still did not trust his own, or anyone else's, offices to not be bugged, but Shepard wasn't so sure that he believed that. But he had no choice, there was very little time for him to act.

He passed a small bar, waving away the free drink offered to him by a Salarian falling over his feet to talk to him, and headed over to a café, noting Balak sat at one of the tables. The Batarian met Shepard's eyes, taking a few moments to pay the bill for his drink, before standing up and walking over to Shepard.

The Batarian greeted him sharply. "Shepard."

"Balak," Shepard extended a hand towards the alien and, after a few seconds, Balak reluctantly shook it. "Glad we could meet, though it would be easier in proper offices."

"You know I don't trust anyone to not be listening in."

"I assure you that my office is secure, I check it everyday in fact," That was the truth, Shepard didn't trust for his privacy not to be breached, but he could see Balak already beginning to scowl. "But this is fine, shall we walk?"

"Yes fine," The Batarian turned and began to walk, still with a scowl. After several paces he spoke again. "What did you want?"

"To ask you some questions actually," He noticed Balak's four eyes narrow slightly so he preceded carefully. "Please Balak, be honest with me. I want the best for you and your people."

"I'm not sure I like where you're going with this," Balak growled at him, taking a right into a quieter area of the Presidium. "Are you about to accuse me of something?"

"I have to know the truth," Shepard stopped, Balak stopping abruptly as well. They were now alone on a staircase that headed into the wards. "Have you ordered what remains of your forces to partake in a series of raids over the past few years? Stealing a huge variety of equipment that culminated in taking a trio of Alliance frigates just yesterday."

"Are you being serious? Do you think we have the manpower to attack an Alliance dockyard?"

"A small one, yes I think you could," Shepard sighed. "You've been masquerading as Blue Suns to do it."

"We would..."

"Balak!" Shepard cut across him, sharply interrupting. "You have authorised those raids, starting with taking cloning tech from an old Cerberus facility. I know it was you. I have the proof."

"I..." Balak paused before sighing. He shook his head slowly and sadly. "You don't understand."

"Then help me," Shepard gave the Batarian a sympathetic look, he had seen that Balak had been struggling since the end of the war to keep what remained of his people together. "Because once the Alliance finds out you are going to find yourself in a nasty situation."

"We had to do it."

"Why?"

"There's nothing left of my species, we have no economy, no money, no way to procure anything."

"The Council has been giving you continuous support, we have given you medical aid, food, helped with your refugees," Shepard shrugged. "We've tried to help as much as we can without compromising our own recovery, you know I've campaigned for you guys continuously."

"Yes and, contrary to what you must think, I am thankful for that, but it's not enough," Balak began to pace. "You won't give us weapons, ammo, ships, how are we supposed to defend ourselves against pirates and raiders with what little crap we have left?"

"Erm..." Shepard spoke very carefully. "The Batarian's made up the majority of pirates in the galaxy Balak, since the Reapers were defeated there's been hardly any raids in Citadel space with the exception of the ones you guys have made."

"That's not true. I mean the gangs, Eclipse and Blood Pack," Balak spat on the ground. "They've pounced on what colonies we have left and your Alliance hasn't fulfilled their bargain to protect our space."

Shepard resisted the urge to contradict Balak. The truth was that the Batarian's had been responsible for a ridiculously high percentage of the slave trade and piracy in the galaxy before the war, and the Hegemony had done nothing to reel in the members of their species that had done it. Everyone knew the Batarian leadership had secretly supported the many gangs of slavers, providing them with the weapons and equipment to wreak havoc in Citadel space – particularly against humans in recent years. Many people thought they were receiving their comeuppance since the end of the war and were glad that there were no slave raids any more. Very few people believed in helping the Batarians, Shepard was amongst the few.

"Balak, I'll sort it. The Alliance will help."

"You can't Shepard, it's too late," Balak shook his head defiantly. "I had to do something, and I will continue to protect my species until my last breath."

"Yes, I know you are only trying to survive. But you've killed Alliance soldiers to do it, a lot of them," Shepard sighed. "No one will want to help you if you continue to attack other species, the Alliance will wipe you out when they realise it's you and not the Blue Suns. And they're going to find out bloody soon, trust me."

"It had to be done!"

"I can't protect you from the Alliance unless you work with me."

"Fine," Balak sighed, clearly he realised the precariousness of his position. "No more raids. And we'll return the frigates. But we need protection."

"Great," Shepard paused. "And the cloning tech?"

"No."

"Balak..."

"We need it," He leaned forwards. "My species is dwindling Shepard, populations have gone down since the war, not up. The cloning equipment is non negotiable, we don't have enough females left in the Hegemony to create a stable population by conventional means."

"And what...fucking hell," Shepard's face dropped as he realised what the Batarians were planning to do. "Balak, you can't do it. There are laws on cloning, they're as strict as the laws on AI research. You cannot use that tech to repopulate, you just can't."

"It's been done by your scientists before now."

"Yes but only for small scientific experiments, and it was band almost immediately. It's wrong, it's not morally right," Shepard gave him a stern look, before remembering what happened to him on the Citadel. "And it can result in absolute chaos, you can't have two of everyone running around. I know that all to well."

"Shepard, we're not stupid," Balak shook his head. "We're not directly copying anyone, we're taking the genome and then randomising it. The young created are as diverse as natural children, but it means we can create more young much quicker to begin to repopulate."

"That's still illegal," Shepard took a step towards him. "Balak, listen to me. If you stop right now, give me back the tech and frigates – though you can keep the weapons, I can get sort things out for you. I can protect you from the Alliance and their repercussions."

"No Shepard, I can't do that," Balak shook his head. "My people need this, it's the only way."

"The Salarians can help, they have scientists who specialise in this kind of thing. They can help," Shepard was aware of the fact he was almost pleading, but he was pleading for the sake of Balak's species. "I can get you the security too. Please Balak, trust me. For your people."

"No, it's too late for anything else," Balak turned, though he paused before walking away. "For the record, I actually do trust that you would help us. The problem is, no one else will give us a chance like you."

As the Batarian walked away Shepard leaned against the wall in front of him, placing his hands out ahead of him. After a few seconds his frustration got the better of him and he slammed his right fist against the wall, punching the concrete as hard as he could.

"Shit!"

XXXXXXXX

"Not quite, it's – the dog caught the Frisbee, Fris – bee," Miranda smiled at Elizabeth. "Try again."

"OK," Elizabeth screwed her face up in concentration, a habit she had picked up from Shepard, before repeating. "The dog caught the...Frisbee."

"Well done," Miranda looked up and out the window, noticing Shepard's skycar dropping down beside the house. "Hey look, daddy's back."

"Yay!" Elizabeth shot up, dropping the book that they had been reading together, and ran to the front door. Miranda followed with a laugh as the door opened. Lizzie ran up to Shepard as he scooped her up and hauled her into his arms with a kiss. "Hello daddy!"

"Hey Lizzie," Shepard walked inside, closing the door behind him. As he placed his right arm back around Elizabeth Miranda noticed his fist covered in dried blood, several scabs on his knuckles. She didn't say anything though, she would wait until Elizabeth was out of the room. "Good Saturday so far?"

"Yes thank you," Elizabeth smiled at him. "How was your day?"

"Well," Shepard sighed, and Miranda noticed the subtle traces of anxiety that he tried to mask. Something was up. "Not particularly brilliant, but thanks for asking."

"Lizzie, why don't you go and watch some vids? There's a really good animal program on in five minutes."

"OK," Shepard placed Elizabeth down with another kiss before she headed off, Legion now joining her and loping along behind her. The little girl chuckled as she bounded up onto the sofa. "Up doggy!"

Miranda turned back to Shepard, taking him by his left hand and pulling him into the kitchen. She grabbed his other hand when they were out of sight, looking up at him with concerned eyes.

"What have you done to your hand?"

"Oh, that," Shepard's face fell. "I hit a wall."

Miranda was confused. "What?"

"I..." Shepard sighed, looking back down. Miranda grabbed a bowl and filled it with hot water, still studying Shepard as she did. She hadn't seen him like this for a long while.

"What's happened John?"

Shepard slumped down onto one of the bar stools by the kitchen counter before answering. "There's going to be another war, a bloody short one, but still a war."

"What?" Miranda carried the bowl over to him, grabbing a towel as well. She sat down next to him and took his hand once more, beginning to clean it gently. "A war? With who?"

"The Batarians," Shepard hissed quietly as she dabbed lightly at one of the scabbed cuts. "They're behind all of these raids, they've been nicking weapons, armour, hell they nicked three frigates yesterday. And then the cloning tech."

"The Cerberus equipment?"

"Yeah, they're using it to try to rebuild their fucking population."

"That's absurd!" Miranda shook her head in disgust. "That's wrong, morally and legally. I know they're desperate, but that's too far."

"I know, but I was offering him a way out. If they stopped now I could negotiate their safety, and more help for them," Shepard tsked again. "But Balak refused my help, and the Alliance will destroy them."

"Well they deserve reprimanding for their crimes I suppose," Miranda noticed the anger flash across Shepard's face so she stroked the back of his hand lightly. "But the Alliance would go overboard, I know that."

"I still dislike them you know, the Batarians," Shepard placed his elbows on the counter in front of him, resting his chin on his one hand. "All that they've done to everyone else over the years, . But I know it's not true for all of them, I've met some who are normal, who are nice. A war would kill the lot of them, all of the innocents."

Miranda ran her hand soothingly across his back, rubbing at his usual tension points underneath his shoulder blades. She noticed the small stress lines around his face, ones that had all but faded since Elizabeth had been born. Shepard hadn't been in a state like this for a long while.

"John..."

"I thought we had turned a corner, you know? I thought that things were going to be better. Everyone was listening, different species were helping each other, the Council were listening for once," Shepard sighed. "And it's the bloody Batarians who have caused this crap you know, why should I even bother helping them? It's their own fucking fault."

Miranda rolled her eyes. "John..."

"Yeah yeah, I know I know," He sighed again as Miranda resumed to clean his hand. "I didn't mean that."

"I know you didn't," Miranda placed his hand into the bowl to clean off the last of the blood, giving him a reassuring smile. "And this is why you punched a wall?"

"I was frustrated," Shepard looked down meekly. "I'm sorry."

"It was a little silly," Miranda gave him a sympathetic smile. "Because I believe you can sort this."

"I appreciate your faith, but I don't think I can do this," Miranda made to speak but Shepard carried on. "Please, can we talk about something else?"

"Sure," Miranda took his hand out of the bowl and wrapped it in a towel whilst biotically pulling a small tub of medi-gel from the other side of the room towards her. "Lizzie's reading is coming on, I reckon she's at least three years ahead of her age."

"Can she go to school early?"

"Well, I'm not so sure about that," Miranda shook her head, though this was something she had been thinking about as well. "She's a bit too young."

"Well she's too mature for play school I think," Miranda nodded her assent. "She'd be bored stiff, but she needs to socialise with other kids."

"She spends lots of time with Jacob's little boy, and with lots of the children down in the village," Miranda smiled. "Don't you think she's cute with Steven?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Miranda, are you planning on setting them up when they're older?"

"Well, Jacob has done ever such a good job so far as a father," Miranda spoke as she rubbed a little medi-gel onto Shepard's knuckles. "But we don't have to worry, she's fine."

"OK then." Shepard removed his hand from Miranda's grip, placing it underneath his chin as well.

"Oh, and check this out," Miranda hurried over to the fridge with a bit of a spring in her step. "I'm rather proud of it."

She opened the fridge and pulled out a glass bowl, grabbing a pair of spoons on her way back to Shepard. She placed it down in front of him with a grin.

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Tiramisu?"

"Yep, I think I've mastered it," Miranda admired the desert she had made, checking that all of the layers were still perfectly aligned. "I hope it tastes good though, you wanna try?"

"Sure," Shepard dipped his spoon in, taking a large mouthful of the food, He swallowed and looked over to her, actually managing a smile. "That is really epic, I mean it's awesome."

"Thank you," Miranda took a mouthful herself and was rather proud of her achievement. She never used to be any good at cooking, but since living with Shepard she had been working on it. And now she was really getting somewhere, especially with savoury foods and roast dinners. But she was getting to grips with deserts and cakes gradually. "I am rather pleased with this, though I think it could do with more Grand Marnier."

"Hmm, this sucks you know," Shepard tutted. "You're better at everything than me now."

"Hey, you cook really well you know," Miranda wasn't lying, Shepard was a surprisingly able cook. "I'm sorry for..."

"No no, I'm only joking," Shepard took another mouthful. "I could eat this all day."

"Maybe I should stop then, I don't want a fat boyfriend," Miranda poked him in the ribs with a grin. "Now come on and join us, but put a smiley face on for Lizzie."

Miranda jumped up and pulled Shepard with her, taking him into the living room. As they entered he whispered in her ear.

"You know, that isn't hard to do."

Miranda settled on the sofa next to Elizabeth, Shepard sitting down on the other side of their daughter. She pulled her legs up on the sofa and placed her arms around Shepard who now had Elizabeth settled in his lap. She gave her daughter a kiss on the head before leaning into Shepard's ear to whisper to him.

"You'll sort the galaxy out, they'll listen to you," Miranda paused to give him a kiss by the ear. "And if they don't then screw the lot of them and focus on us."