3 Hours Later

Onboard the SSV Everest

Liara T'soni sat by the window of her cabin, looking out towards the aftermath of the battle. Over four hundred ships had rallied together; Turians, Salarians, Asari, Geth, Quarians and even Batarians had all joined together for the cause of survival, and nearly half of those ships had been lost, now floating lifeless in Earth's orbit. On the surface, thousands of Krogan had joined with Human and Turian forces to turn the tide. Everybody's casualties had been high, but peace had finally been attained.

Yet Liara was feeling anything but peace, fatigue yes, a dull grinding fatigue that had only been delayed by months of do-or-die necessity. You were a fool to think we'd sacrificed enough, she thought to herself, to think it would be that easy.

The Reapers had been defeated but the Mass Relays were in shambles, sundered apart into separate pieces. The Geth had shared their fate. Thousands of service men and women from all species were stranded on a scarred world of rubble and ashes. All major fuel depots in the Sol system had been destroyed, and food supplies for the Turians and Quarians, who required a special diet to match their chemistry, would soon run out. The biggest problem of the day had been solved, only to be replaced by ten new ones, each one worse than the one that came before it.

But Liara was thinking little of this. Her mind was completely absorbed by the desire to know whether or not Shepard was still alive. If he was truly dead, then let her know now so that she could mourn properly. If he was alive, let it also be known so that she could hold him in her arms once again. But waiting...waiting was too unbearable.

These thoughts had occupied her for hours. The petty rations left on the table in her room had been left untouched. Her terminal remained closed, and all the lights were off save the soft glow of the lamp on her desk.

Eventually, she began to nod off and fall asleep. At first, it was dreamless, a blank but dark slate. Then she began to see images of home, of Thessia. Of beautiful gardens and elegant architecture that rose to embrace the sky. Of her mother, Matriarch Benezia, still alive and smiling, wearing her favorite yellow dress. Her mother watched Liara play in the sand, digging it up to find old Prothean ruins.

Suddenly, the sky began to turn dark red, followed by the bright flash of lightning. The wind picked up severely, sending the branches of the trees shaking to and fro. The clouds parted, and the Reapers appeared, releasing their echoing roar that had instilled terror in the hearts of billions, releasing hordes of Husks and Marauders and Banshees...

...Liara gasped and woke up, sweat pouring down her forehead. Maybe now she realized why she hadn't slept for so long.

...knock, knock, knock...

Someone was at the door. Liara got up and put on a green robe and answered it. It was one of Hackett's aides.

"We've brought him," they said, "He's alive."

Liara's heart was pounding like a drum as she forced her way into the medical ward. A pair of marine on guard grabbed her, but before she had a chance to struggle, Admiral Hackett came up and exclaimed, "At ease men!"

They let her go. Liara turned to the old man and said, "Thanks."

Hackett nodded, and the two of them walked together down a long hallway. There were soldiers gathered everywhere, as well as Garrus, who had just taken his helmet off, revealing his scarred, reptilian face.

"Liara," he said. The two of them shared a quick hug, before she asked, "How is he?"

"Heavily dehydrated. Badly burned. Broken ribs, broken legs. Internal bleeding. We're lucky he's still alive. A few more hours, he might have been beyond saving."

"Its as bad as I feared," Liara replied.

Garrus held his tongue. She looked through the window, holding her hand to the glass, and saw him hooked up to a drip, wearing a gown. He was sleeping, head propped up on a pair of pillows. His face was cut and scarred, his lips swollen, his eyes blackened. Some of his hair had been singed off by flame.

"When can I go in?" Liara asked Hackett.

He sighed, "I would let you in now but...I need you on something important Liara."

"More important than Shepard?" she asked hotly.

"At this moment, yes," he gestured her to follow him over to the side. Garrus came along.

"I need you at a summit as soon as possible," Hackett whispered, "a meeting between the greatest technical minds in the fleet. Our only chance of saving the Turians and Quarians is to rebuild the Charon relay. You told me once, when we were discussing the Crucible on Mars, that you had some ideas about that. I need your input."

"My input?" Liara asked, "I said I had some ideas...I don't know if I'm qualified. It was my father who had come up with everything."

"Its better than what most have," Hackett continued, "Right now I'll take anybody. We don't have time to debate this. We need solutions, and we need them now. The moment Shepard wakes up, I'll call you personally to come back."

Liara looked to Garrus, who nodded, "Don't worry Liara," he put a comforting, three-fingered hand on her shoulder, "I'll be here to keep an eye on him. Do something to keep your mind off him, and before you know it, he'll be up and asking for you."

Liara stared in silence for a moment, then nodded in agreement, "Where's this meeting?"

"Its going to take place on the Neema, Han'Gerrel's ship. You'll be meeting with Daro'Xen and someone the Salarians brought with them."

"Xen?" Liara crossed her shoulders skeptically, "You know she's insane right?"

"All of us had to be at least a little insane to pull this victory off. I'm aware though. Still, she's one of our best bets. Now go. There's a shuttle waiting for you in hangar 4, ask for Sergeant Miller, he'll be your escort."

"Alright then," Liara walked away. She looked back one last time at Shepard, watching a nurse attend to him. Then she turned and left, already regretting that she hadn't tried harder to stay.

Atlas pitched the baseball fairly hard, and Cooper caught it easily. Cooper threw it back, but before Atlas caught it he heard someone yell, "Sarge!"

"Yeah...Ow!" The baseball had hit his back just as he turned around.

"Sorry!" yelled Cooper. They had been playing catch in the hangar, after being given a leisure rotation on that day's duty roster. That is, until his charge had arrived.

Hackett had just told Atlas he needed to escort somebody, but he hadn't specified who. It was an Asari, a beautiful blue humanoid with tentacles instead of hair. Atlas knew she was another alien big with the brass as well, just like Garrus.

"Hello, ma'am," he said cheerily, taking off his mitt and throwing it on the ground. "We're all set to go. Cortez is waiting in the shuttle, I -"

"Let's go then," she said curtly, walking towards the shuttle without missing a beat.

Atlas watched her leave then looked over at Cooper, who merely shrugged.

He put his helmet back on and followed. He jumped in the shuttle, and soon enough they were off.

The first few minutes were silent, Atlas looking around the room, Liara looking down at her toes. Finally, Atlas mustered the courage to ask, "I'm sorry, but I wasn't given your name?"

Liara looked up at him. Gave him a long, good look, analyzing every feature of his face, from the cleft chin to the sharp jaw, then answered, "Liara. Liara T'soni."

"You served on the Normandy." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, with Shepard."

"You knew him well? I mean, personally."

She stared flatly at him, lips pursed. "We are lovers."

"Oh." Atlas swallowed. "I see. Well then I guess you have me to thank for bringing him back to you, Ms." Atlas imagined himself tipping a fedora.

Liara nodded, "You're right. Thank you. Sorry if I seem distracted, my mind is on Shepard."

"He'll pull through, Liara. Don't worry. A man like Shepard...his story can't end here. And it won't."

"How do you know?" she asked, wondering how a common soldier could come to this conclusion.

"My parents..." Atlas began slowly, thoughts brought back to the void of knowledge in his brain, about where they were and if they were even alive, "My parents were college professors, they taught literature. They specialized in ancient mythology. Human mythology, I mean. Both of them loved stories of Greek gods and heroes. They named me after one, a god, I mean. Atlas, the god that held up the sky. Point is, I know what a hero should look like, and Shepard matches the description. He beat the Sovereign, he took out the Collectors, and he ended the War, with a little help from his friends of course. And I know that after a fight like this, the hero lives and gets to be with the woman he loves for the rest of his days."

Liara's eyes began to water, but she sniffled and wiped it away with her arm, trying her best to ignore it. "Stories are just stories, Atlas. Real life is hardly so fair."

Atlas shrugged, "True, but the greatest stories always have a grain of truth, or nobody would care to hear them. Some people don't get a happy ending, but we can't give up on our own. My parents...I've been worried about them the last month. They were doing an exchange program...teaching your compatriots at a University on Thessia. Asari who wanted to learn more about human culture and history."

Liara felt a little numb, remembering the devastation she had witnessed, "I see."

"I know things were bad there. The last message I got out to them was to head for rural areas. I knew that the Reapers focus on cities first, before sweeping the countryside. I figure they have a better chance, so long as we get the Crucible to fire. But truth is, I don't know. No idea when I'll find out either. But there's no reason to think they are gone, is there?"

"I'm sorry," Liara commented, "But I've never met a soldier with so much optimism."

Atlas laughed, "Why wouldn't I be? The war is over, after all. Things should go back to normal."

Liara forced herself to smile, "I hope so, Atlas. I hope so."

The Neema

Atlas noticed that Quarian ships were somewhat ramshackle, the downside of having to buy used ships from other cultures. The walls seemed to be grimy, the paneling on the walls was patchy and non-existent in some places, and there were crates literally in every free area of space. It was like walking through a maze of them, a maze made worse by the growing of vegetables from the ceiling.

"Wait," said Atlas aloud, "If the Quarians grow their own food on their ships, can't they give some to the Turians?"

"Most of the liveships were left on Rannoch," replied Liara as they were led down the corridors of the ship by a detachment of several Flotilla marines, armed to the teeth and wearing red enviro-suits. "They only brought a handful with them. It will not be enough to support the Quarians and an entire army of Turians."

"So how's that problem going to get fixed?"

"That's what we're here to find out."

They entered a wide, open room, kind of like a public forum, with a raised dais at the back of the room, centered. There were potted plants set up in a perimeter around the forum, with small areas with tables set up on the sides. There were some Quarians in there already, but the focus was on two, Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen, who were discussing something in the middle of the room. 'Gerrel's suit was a light beige color, the mask of his helmet very dark, so that his eyes appeared only as two bright coals, while 'Xen's was black, her mask a bright purple.

"...what's the matter now, the Geth are gone, 'Gerrel. As sad as that makes me to say, we can still salvage something from their ships, I do not understand why I can not send your troops over there immediately!"

"Because I don't want them there, Xen! We need to focus on repairing our ships, and starting the project Hackett told us about. Ah," he noticed Liara approaching, "Dr. T'soni, good to see you again."

Liara couldn't help but smile. The last time she had been in the same room with him, her lover had punched the Quarian Admiral in the chest, in response to the Admiral's decision to fire upon Shepard while inside a Geth Dreadnought a few months ago. "Good to see you as well, Admiral. And Admiral Daro'Xen, I presume?"

"Charmed," replied the female Quarian without interest. She lacked none of the cute mannerisms and tenacious loyalty that Tali possessed.

Oh, Tali, where are you? Liara was reminded again of the missing Normandy. With no mass relays, that too, would have to be put on hold.

"I take it you two have some ideas on how to complete our objective," she said.

"Not really," Daro'Xen answered spitefully, "The Quarian people have never had the time or luxury to consider such lofty technological achievements. Now, a human is expecting us to dance like pyjaks and get this done before we and the Turians starve to death. Last time I checked, I was a scientist, not a miracle worker."

"It was a human that saved our people from extinction," Han'Gerrel reminded her coolly, " And what else but a miracle, is the Crucible?"

"Don't forget that it was you that almost sent our people to extinction in the first place," Han'Gerrel raised an angry finger, " And The crucible had the support of an entire galaxy, 'Gerrel. It didn't rely on the exhausted resources of a single fleet."

"Yes, yes. Resources limited. Labor diminished. Loss of Geth tragic. But, hope not lost," a chipper voice spoke from behind Liara. She turned to face it, and could not believe her eyes.

"M-m-Mordin? Mordin Solus? You're alive?"

"Of course," the Salarian doctor said cheerily, wearing his signature white lab coat. "Surprised you didn't know, being the Shadow Broker and all. Crucible a fascinating project. Mass Relays, as well. Our hands, the salvation of the Fleet depends upon," he took a deep breath into his nostril slits, "Let's get to work."