It had been a few weeks since Hacketts service and Shepard was sitting in his room, he was sitting at his desk staring at a holo image of Tali pregnant while nursing a glass of Thessia Red, drinking while off-duty had become Shepards biggest hobby recently. Despite how things were currently, the idea and thought of him having a child was a small ray of hope. A beep came from his terminal, he sighed, he rathered he was alone at the moment. He activated his terminal, the view screen showed a familiar face. Miranda.

"Commander." Miranda said with a smile.

"Miranda? I've been trying to get ahold of you for weeks" Shepard said

"Yes I know, sorry. I've been having to lay low with Oriana. Cerberus had stepped up thier attempts to locate us untill recently, it seems to have died down or they have given up. Is there something you needed?" She asked.

"I need to find where Cerberus main base of operations are now." Shepard then filled Miranda in on the events of the past couple months nearly.

"The Illusive Man has really lost it now.. I know he liked to push the extreme in the past, but this is nothing short of madness... And I'm sorry to hear about Tali. I know how fond of her you are." Her voice was a mixture of shock and sadness.

"Thanks... is there anything you know that may help?"

"Hmm.. I'll have to do some digging, but what I have found out recently is that every Cerberus cell has been brought together and now I know why. As for Operative, shes a vindictive sadist bitch and I wouldnt be surprised is she was The Illusive Mans daughter, she always knows where he is, but she would die before she ever told anyone." She paused and raised her hand to her mouth as she usually did when she was thinking. "According to some manifests I did stumble apon a few days ago, Cerberus have been transporting massive amounts of ship building materials, maybe I can find out where they headed... I'll have to get back to you on this Shepard, maybe some old ex Cerberus contacts will have information for me."

"Thank you Miranda, if you can find out, it will be a big help."

"The amount of times you've helped me out, I owe this to you, and Tali. Stay strong Shepard." She said with a smile before the video feed ended.

With the hope of a lead, Shepard put down his glass and headed over to his bed, he decided to try get some rest.

. . . . .

Tali was aboard one of the many Cerberus cruisers that were patrolling around the system, she had been given one of the officers quarters so she could carry out her work and oversee operations. Like all of the ships The Illusive Man had placed her on, a decontamination unit had been added by the door to her room so she could carry out suit repairs and other tasks safely. She had not long been awake, she found herself to be sleepy alot more recently and sometimes found herself taking naps during the day if she wasn't busy.

She finished putting on her black suit and headed over towards the window. Looking out she could see the dreadnought, construction was well under way. The colossal hull was already about a third of the way complete, but given the amount of debris and salvage present in this region of space, it was easy to see why process had been steaming ahead. She didnt dream she'd ever see a ship so big, at over 3 kilometers in length it easily dwarfed any known ship in the Galaxy, even Sovereign would of been shadowed by it.

The ship itself looked like a cross between the Destiny Ascension and a Geth Dreadnought, it had large bulky oblong head which contained the bridge, that was attached to the massive torso via a 'neck'. This 'neck' would rise up when the main cannon was ready to fire, bringing the bridge up to sit over the front of the torso like a observation platform. The rear of the ship had 4 large 'wings' like the Ascension, but unlike the Ascension, these wings were unevenly spaced with the starboard wings being closer to each other then they were to the port wings.

She couldnt help but feel awe everytime she looked apon it, The Illusive Man had pulled together every single resource at his disposal to make this happen as fast as he could, and with him overseeing the project, no one dared to slack. "Or they'd end up there" Tali thought as she looked towards the event horizon. A few labourer ships had already found their way floating into the abyss, but with the amount of additional labour they were getting from Aria T'Loak. They could afford to make examples, still, Tali felt a pang of pity whenever she saw a ship head for the black hole, she couldn't imagine a worse fate.

A beep from her terminal drew her away from the awe inspiring sight, she typed into the terminal and brought up a video feed from The Illusive Man.

"Tali'Zorah, I hope I didn't bother you." He said sarcastically.

"No sir, I was just watching construction."

"It is a glorious sight. But thats not why I contacted you. It would seem a 'old friend' is planning to supply information about our plans to Shepard. I want you to make sure it dosnt happen."

"It will be my pleasure."

. . . . .

A few days after Mirandas message she had contacted him again, she wanted him to meet her at the Eternity Bar on Illium.

Illium was already getting back to its busy self, alot of rebuidling had been going on in the past months. New apartment blocks had replaced the old and would soon be ready to provide homes for the countless left homeless after the war with the Reapers. The bazaar and shipping districts had also been fully refurbished, providing ruthless merchants the chances to exploit unexpecting off worlders for all they had, while contractors picked up those that had been 'cleaned out' and enrolled them in work that anyway else in the galaxy would be considered illegal and inhumane. Illium was back to normal.

Shepard had just arrived the district containing the Eternity Bar, the new apartments soared around him, he moved through the crowds towards the bar, being stopped every few minutes by merchants trying to sell him goods, which had ranged from "Red Sand" to "Salarian Livers". When he finally made it into the bar, he scanned the area for Miranda but she was no where to be seen. Shepard decided he would wait by the bar so he could order a drink.

"What can I do for you handsome?" A Asari bartender asked?

"I'll have a Serrice Ice Brandy." Shepard said, thanking the bartender as she passed him one.

He watched the people in the bar as he sat having his drink, everyone had returned to their lives, going about their business as nothing had happened. They had come here to forget everything and everyone they had lost, and right now, Shepard wanted to do the same thing as he got his drink topped up everytime he was finished.

"I'd offer to buy you another one Commander, but you seem to have had your fair share already." Mirandas voice came.

"Miranda? What took you?" Shepard replied, feeling intoxicated.

"I had... some business to wrap up. This way, lets find somewhere quieter... and you look like you could do with the air."

She led Shepard outside the bar and into a empty side passage not far of.

"How much have you had?" Miranda said in a strict tone, her voice turning to worry. "I've never seen you like this.."

"I'll be fine.. Just was reflecting." Shepard sighed.

"Hmmm.. I can imagine you have alot on your mind.. well hopefully I can help you. Do you remember Ish the salarian? An old contact we bumped into on Omega?"

"Yeah I remember, we helped him out with some trouble."

"Yes well, he didn't lay low for very long, he was soon back up to his old tricks again on Omega. For a very hefty price, I was able to get some information from him." She paused for a second. "Did you hear about Cerberus seizing control of Omega during the war with the Reapers?"

"Yeah Aria asked for some help with that, she wanted all the merc groups under her rule, they would then fight the Reapers. I heard after the fighting she took Omega back?"

"Oh she did. Without a fight."

"What? When I saw Aria, she wanted blood."

"She did. Yet supposedly Cerberus just abandoned Omega, leaving way for Aria to resume her operations there. But from what I learnt from Ish, is that Cerberus never left. Instead they gave Omega to Aria aswell as more credits then even she could dream of."

"And what did Cerberus get out of that deal?"

"A large base of Operations aboard Omega... and control of the Omega-4 Relay."

"Omega-4 Relay? Thats it! Thats where Tali is, thats where Harbinger and The Illusive Man are hiding!" Shepard said with a sudden bolt hope.

"It would seem so.. but Shepard.. the IFF..." Miranda paused.

Miranda stood silent, her eyes had gone wide with shock, her skin as pale as snow. Blood started to trickle from her lips, her hands moved over her chest, the clear white top she had on grew red from the centre, spreading outwards. She started to fall forwards, Shepard moved to catch her in his arms, turning her onto her back.

"Miranda! Miranda stay with me!" He shouted, looking around and calling for help, but no one heard or came."

"Shep... I..." Miranda coughed, the blood flowing fast from her lips.

"Miranda hang in there! You'll be ok!"

Miranda laughed and coughed. "I.. I'm not stupid... I kno... know this is the end... Shep..ard.. watch over.. Oriana..."

Her hand tilted back, Shepard ran his hand over her eyes. She was gone. Shepard looked around to see where the shot came from, across the alley in one of the new apartment windows, he saw the glimmer of a scope. Shepard laid Miranda gently to the floor, he stumbled as he tried to stand, still feeling heavily intoxicated. But with a rush of adrenaline he forced himself to stand and ran towards the apartments.

. . . . .

"Keelah se'lai you bosh'tet" Tali said after she had fired the rifle. She watched the scene through the scope of her rifle, making sure the job was done, then she noticed Shepard had looked right at her then started to run towards the building. "Bosh'tet!" She thought to herself. She panicked and quickly gathered some of her stuff up, making a grab for her mask that she had removed so she could have a better feel of the rifle and scope. She fastened it in haste.

She didn't know if it was the panic, thrill or adrenaline from the situation but something had caused her to have another large cramp in her stomach followed by the now usual 'kicking' sensations that came over her now and then, "Not now!" She hissed to herself, taking several moments to pull herself together.

Tali rushed out of the room and headed down the corridor, as she reached the end, the doors bursted open. It was Shepard.

"Tali!" He shouted when he saw it was her.

She had delayed too long and had allowed him to catch her up. He moved towards her, she went to pull out her weapon only to realize she had left it behind in the rush. She spun on the spot and made a run for it towards the room she had been using. Shepard chased after her, despite being intoxicated, he was faster and tackled her to the ground from behind.

"Get off me you little Bosh'tet!" Tali said struggling as he had her pined down. Her mask felt loose from the impact."

"Tali, your coming with me! Im taking you to get help!" Shepard said trying to reason with her as.

Tali wriggled and twisted, getting herself onto her back. Her eyes locked with Shepards and lifted her head up fast, headbutting him yet he still held her firm. The impact knocked of her poorly fastened mask. Tali felt his grip loosen slightly as her face was revealed to him, she took advantage of the situation and brought her knee up hard between his legs.

Shepard let out a cry of pain and briefly let Tali go. She scurried away and tried to get to her feet, but Shepard wasn't about to let her go so easy. He quickly regained himself as he got to his feet and made a grab for Talis arm. He pulled her close towards him then up against the corridor wall. They were both panting fast and again thier eyes locked, this time Tali didn't feel like trying to get away, she felt deep urges and feelings surfacing at an uncontrollable rate, like they had been sealed away and only just let free. Time seemed to grind to a halt, her heart was beating faster then she had ever felt before, she knew what she wanted, what she needed.

She kissed him.