A/N: My thanks to reviewer raw666. All I really needed was a good swift kick up the ass. Also, triple cliffhanger.

###

Lizzie cracked open her eyes, groaning as her vision was assaulted by the overhead lights. She heard the sounds of shifting bodies and tilted her head over to see Garrus asleep in a chair, Nari curled up snoozing in his lap. Examining her surroundings, she noticed she was in the medical bay of the Normandy.

She clutched at her head, wincing as something flashed across her vision, blinking to dispel the afterimage of whatever it was she just saw. Her movements obviously woke Nari because the next thing she knew a small Batarian missile had hit her in the chest, yammering excitedly. The commotion woke Garrus, who gripped her hand, silently communicating his relief.

It didn't take long for her to receive the lowdown on what had occurred on Feros after she had been laid out by the Cipher. They had discovered the Collectors intended to bombard the area from orbit. Yggradissil had transformed himself into some sort of creature, crawled out of the ruins and made off into space with most of the Stalwarts and the Old Growth's clone army, minus Shiala and a small unit of Stalwarts who were staying aboard the Normandy to fill the holes in their squad makeup. They had suffered casualties on Feros - two Atavira and one Turian had been killed, another Turian had a permanently debilitating injury and Kaidan had to undergo emergency surgery after a Collector vanguard managed to overstress his biotic implant. She felt a deep sadness at the loss of the Old Growth. Such an ancient and dignified creature deserved a better death than destruction by orbital fire.

Of the Asari colonists, most of them had been killed in the initial attack. The Asari the Normandy team had fought alongside had been Old Growth clones masquerading as the colonists, the few other species present somehow being controlled to believe the clones were the real deal. They had disappeared when the Old Growth had recalled them, perhaps anticipating the coming Collector assault. She knew that the abandonment of Anderson and Auhelu and their teams had led to the casualties they had sustained but she couldn't find it within herself to be angry at the Old Growth.

After a brief discourse with Dr. Chakwas, the ship's head physician, she made her way out of the medbay and into the mess hall, sitting down and eating as many ration packs as she could get her hands on. Garrus made her sit and insisted on serving her and although she protested she secretly enjoyed the attention being foisted on her. He even picked out her favourite MREs - scrambled egg smoked salmon and chicken chorizo casserole. Nari dug into a thai green curry pack as she ate, alternating between chewing on the artificially synthesised chicken protein analogue and excitedly describing her day - "Mr. Joker let me sit in his chair!" - while Lizzie chain-chomped her way through no less than five ration packs.

Once she was done, Garrus sat Nari down with her sketchpad and walked with her, steering her towards their cabin.

"Garrus ..."

"You need a lie down."

"Garrus ..."

He snorted in amusement.

"Thanks to you I've become quite good at reading humans. You're wiped out and you need proper sleep, not Prothean induced unconsciousness."

She grumbled and griped but allowed him to tug her into the cabin, making sure she was in her pyjamas with her teeth brushed like she was six years old. She was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

###

Garrus was annoyingly right as usual. All she needed to sort her loaf out was a good seven hours uninterrupted shut-eye. She awoke at around three AM ship time, groaning as she stretched and looked around. Garrus and Nari were both fast asleep so she tiptoed past them, quickly changing into a plain white T-shirt and uniform trousers before padding out and to the mess hall.

When she got there, she noticed a shape sitting at one of the tables. Coming closer, she saw it was one of the Stalwarts, Ko if she remembered correctly. She slid into the seat opposite him, the crystalline creature tilting his head up and dispassionately examining her for a moment before resuming his staring match with the table.

"Are you okay?"

Ko merely looked at her again for a moment, then dipped his head again, rubbing his horn. After a moment he replied.

"No, no I'm not. But thanks for asking."

After a moment's hesitation Lizzie laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

Ko initially looked like he was contemplating shaking her hand off but he capitulated.

"It's just ... All this time I thought I was atoning for what I did, helping the Grassa survive when in reality it was all just a simulation. I might as well have spent the last, I don't know how long, playing a video game."

She collected her thoughts before replying.

"I'm not going to pretend to understand the situation, it's one I've never been in before. But the way I see it, it doesn't matter whether it was real or not. What matters is whether or not you believed it was real."

They sat in silence for a moment before Ko looked up.

"I suppose you're right."

###

Wrex looked at the vessel with pride.

"The Kalros. This is the true rebirth of the Krogan."

He turned to the camera, his scarred visage staring out of every vid screen on Tuchanka.

"For too long the Krogan have been selling themselves out as mercenaries and pirates. Thanks to our allies the Blue Suns and the Earth bloc, we are being reborn. For the first time in two thousand years the Krogan have friends amongst the stars."

He paused for a moment, building the drama.

"The Genophage is our curse, our reminder and our lesson. Through it we learned that we aren't invincible, that just because a species may be smaller or weaker it doesn't mean they can't hurt us. I can tell you now, the Genophage is weakening its grip. In the past thirty years birth rates across the planet have doubled. Our systems are adapting, working around the Genophage. That was the first step in the liberation of the Krogan. The second step was the terraforming initiative. With our Earth allies we began harvesting ice comets, brought them in to jump start our ecosystem, built mighty cities and modified the Salarian Shroud to scrub our atmosphere of radioactive gases. This is the third step. The return of the Krogan as a galactic power. Now we are faced with a choice. Do we abuse this power, repeat the mistakes of the past? Or do we get back to what the Krogan do best - saving everyone else from giant monsters? I know what I choose. The question is - what do you choose?"

Councillor Tevos froze the video, dominated by the face of Tuchanka's leader with the enormous dreadnought in the background.

"This is a problem."

Before any of the other Councillors could interject she bulled ahead.

"The CDEM was created to ensure the Krogan could never become a threat again. We turned a blind eye to their terraforming efforts but this is too much."

"Tevos ..."

"They have a dreadnought, Sparatus. A dreadnought."

"I am well aware of that, Tevos."

"Then what do you propose to do about it?"

"Nothing."

Both Tevos and Valern stared at him.

"At least not until the Collector situation is resolved. Let us only fight one war at a time. Besides, I have spoke with Wrex in the past. I doubt he plans to attack us."

Tevos narrowed his eyes.

"Spoke with him? In what capacity?"

"We shared a drink in the embassy lounge of Arcturus Station a couple of months ago. I was quite impressed by his terraforming plans."

There was another awkward silence.

"Sooner or later you'll have to choose between the Council and the Earth bloc, Sparatus."

###

Primarch Fedorian accepted the comm call, frowning as he read the user ID.

"Councillor? To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Examining the visage on the screen before him, Fedorian noticed the man looked unusually harried. Historically, the Primarch and the Councillor never saw eye to eye and Fedorian's relationship with Sparatus was no exception.

"If it came to a war between the Council and the Earth bloc which side would we take?"

Fedorian's knee-jerk reaction was to say 'the Council'. Almost immediately afterwards he felt the urge to say 'the Earth bloc'. Ignoring both instincts, he stopped and thought about it for a while.

"You know, it's hard to say. Going on a purely historical standpoint I would have to say the Council, but there are more issues to consider than that. Economically speaking, our inclusion in the HR pact and our use of AI ties us far closer to the Earth bloc than the Council. Our relations with the Asari have become increasingly strained of late, with several Asari corporations being ousted by US, USSR or Union competitors while ninety per cent of Council affiliated corporations operating in Earth bloc space are Hierarchy or Vol Protectorate run. Then there's the military perspective to consider. If we took the side of the Council both sides would be more or less evenly matched, if we took the side of the Earth blog the war would be almost comically one-sided. At any rate I could expect that with either side there'd be massive civilian outcry."

Sparatus rubbed his mandibles.

"Sounds like the easiest solution would be to remain neutral."

"Yes, I suppose it would."

###

The Illusive Man nodded at his display, deep in thought as he pondered the three dossiers before him. All three of the personnel were his top agents, each one with hundreds of kills to their name and at least fifty successful operations.

"Show Leng, Lawson and Ezno in, please."

All three agents filed into the room, nodding at him respectfully.

"An opportunity has arisen, agents. Your orders are to capture the target, alive."

Ezno frowned as he read the dossier.

"Sir, this is a fifteen year old girl."

"That fifteen year old girl represents the closest Cerberus has ever came to unlocking true biotic potential in a human subject. Don't return until you have captured Jack."

###

The bridge crew of the Kalros were very, very excited. Today was the launching of the Krogan fleet, marking their rebirth as a galactic power.

"All stations check in."

The dreadnought's captain, Raik Krull, reclined in his command throne as the various departments of his ship all checked in.

"Helm check."

"Tactical check."

"Sensors check."

"Gunnery check."

"Engineering check."

"Damage control check."

"Life support check."

"Generators check."

"Wormhole drive check."

Nodding in satisfaction, he gestured at the viewing screen that displayed the rocky wall of the vast underground shipyard.

"Take us out, helm."

"Destination locked."

Gantries and support struts retracted as a deep red portal appeared before the ship, through which could be seen a starry void.

"Engage."

The thrusters flared and the mighty Krogan dreadnought surged through the portal, appearing neatly in the staging area the fleet had selected on the edge of the system. Two dreadnoughts, a carrier, ten cruisers and sixteen frigates all emerged, fully armed and ready for combat.

It was hard to say who was more surprised, the Krogan fleet or the Collector task force that just so happened to be passing through that exact area on their way to attack Tuchanka.

###

Lizzie smiled at Nari as she tottered into the mess hall dressed in her pyjamas and yawning.

"Morning sleepyhead."

She mumbled an acknowledgement as she scaled a mess chair, the height of the furniture conspiring to make it do that her top pair of eyes were just peeping over the edge of the table. Smiling, Lizzie piled up a couple of cushions on the seat, bringing Nari up to a more conventional height.

"Breakfast?"

"Yes please."

Lizzie was halfway to the refrigerator when she collapsed onto the floor, dimly aware of Nari's panicked cries as Prothean visions flashed across her mind.