Ty POV:

I looked over Liara's shoulder and saw Tali staring at us. She quickly turned around and began walking to the elevator. I tried to reach her her but she made it first and hit the button to go down. I had to wait till the cart got back up to take it down.

I got out and saw everyone standing around as usual. I thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that Tali was in the engine room. I ran through the right side doors and saw her take her place at the computer,

I crept up slowly and began talking, "Hey Tali, is something wrong?"

Tali just spoke sarcastically, "No nothing is wrong. Oh and I see you find blue attractive"

"What Liara? She was just thanking me for saving her. Why does it matter anyway."

Tali turned to me, "I was just thinking something and saw I made the wrong choice."

I didn't know where she was headed with this so I just acted stupid, "What choice?"

"God Andrew, do you even remember what happened last night?"

I thought for a moment but nothing came to mind, "No I don't believe I do. That was a lot of brandy after all."

Tali sighed and turned back to her computer, "What is the point of this talk then. You obviously can't remember something important so why should I dwell on it."

That was when it hit me. The distance, the accusations, and the anger all pointed to one thing. "Tali, do you like me?"

Tali straitened for a moment but relaxed again, "Lets not talk about this Ty."

I smiled a little bit, "It sounds nice when you use my real name."

Tali reached down and clutched the metal bracing, "Look Andrew, it wouldn't be a good idea even if I did like you in that way. After all, we couldn't do what you and Liara were just moments ago."

I grabbed her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes with a smile on my face. She reached a hand up and just petted my cheek. We sat there for a few moments until Joker came over the intercom.

"Attention ship personnel. We will be arriving at the Citadel in a few minutes. Shore leave will last for six hours."

I knew there was one thing that had to be done, "Tali, I think while we are at the Citadel I'll need to visit the consort."

Tali grabbed my arm, "Why?"

I smiled even bigger, "I need some advice."

Danny POV:

Danny waited by the airlock as Ty or Andrew, what ever the fuck he was calling himself, made his way up. It took a full five minutes for him to come after they had docked. Finally, Danny saw him clear the doors with Tali behind him.

Danny waved him over, "Hey, what is up with bringing Tali?"

Andrew shrugged, "I thought she would like to come with us."

Danny smiled and walked over to shake Tali's hand, "Sorry, I didn't get to introduce me last time."

Tali perked up, "Oh, I remember your name. Caitie, right?"

Danny gritted his teeth, "No, it's Danny actually. I have been...Andrew's friend since preschool."

Tali nodded, "Oh, okay, is that a long time?"

Danny held in a laugh, "For us its a long time."

"Okay, can we go? I need some new equipment", Andrew cut in.

The trio left the airlock and headed to the C-sec Academy. From there they went to the Presidium. Danny was able to buy some Liberator armor there.

"Liberator armor, really?"

"You know it Andrew. After all, everyone calls me golden boy."

"No, no they don't."

From there they just meandered around looking at different stores and getting new equipment. Andrew bought himself a new stiletto heavy pistol. Tali got the next level up for her shotgun. Danny bought four cases of alcohol and had already drank half a case by the time they arrived at the Consort's building entrance.

Tali POV:

Tali didn't know how a human could drink so much alcohol. She had seen Danny contently opening up another can. He kept offering Ty a drink but he never accepted, probably from still being on a hangover from last night.

It was different being with the two of them verses being with Shepard and the others. They had been friends for quiet a while, Shepard's men only met about a week ago. Danny and Ty knew come backs to anything the other said.

When they eventually reached the entrance to the Consort's building all Danny was talking about was something he called mind sex. Ty on the other hand was focused on just one question that he wouldn't tell anyone. Tali wanted to ask a question to but she was scared as hell to do it.

They entered and Ty walked up to the asari at the front desk, "We are here to see the consort."

The asari smiled and looked down at the panel, "Okay, we can scheduled you in at 4:00 pm Tuesday the thirty-first of April."

Ty just stepped back, "That's in six months! Shepard was told it was in four."

The asari just kept smiling, "Yes, that was a few days have gotten much more appointments since then."

Ty stepped around the podium, "Can I see that?" He put his hand to the controls and it flashed a green matrix. "There, check it now."

The asari looked at it, "Okay, your appointment is right now. Enjoy."

They walked past the asari and Tali got close to Ty and whispered, "How did you do that?"

Ty smiled mischievously and whispered back, "She is a dumb AI. Her processing can only handle what is in front of her. So I just rewrote the code on the panel in front of her and pushed everyone back an hour. Then, I inserted our names in first."

"Oh, okay..." Tali had no idea what he was talking about. He treated it as if she and the world around her was a computer. Next, she thought about the green matrix code. She had only seen that once before and that was when he created the omni-blade. It all just confused her even more.

Finally, they got to the door and looked at each other. Ty looked to Danny, they both glared at each other for a moment then Danny took off to run in but tripped over a small combat drone as Ty entered the Consort's office.

Ty POV:

I walked into the Consort's room about to laugh with the stunt I had pulled on Danny. He was so drunk he didn't notice a glowing, moving, and sputtering drone fly from behind me to his side. I almost felt bad about him landing on his face. Almost.

The asari turned and looked at me as I came down the steps into her room, "Hello, Ty How is my universe for you."

I was caught off guard, "You know I am not from here?"

The asari just nodded with a smile on her face, "I am another part of the games true AI. Chakwas is the controller and I am the director."

I was completely out of it, "Okay, in English."

The asari brought her wrist up and laughed into it, "It means I am supposed to give you advice to compete with the controller."

I walked up to her until I was about a foot away, "How will you do that?"

Her eyes closed and opened completely black and the world around me faded. I was in complete black and even the air stopped in this dark. Then I began to glow.

"You see Ty. I know you have saved many universes in your time. There was Halo and Gears of War. Dragon age and Final Fantasy. Jack and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank. With each of these universe you have created a peace but now you find yourself in a difficult situation."

"Yeah, I am stuck in science fiction."

"No, in this world, it is science fact. The situation is, you can no longer get a do-over if you loose. You will have to do everything right the first time. Every time."

"May I ask one question."

"Speak."

"How can I win?"

Lights began to swirl around me and formed the Milky Way Galaxy. The vision then zoomed down to a planet. Earth, it was on fire and the Reapers were storming it. The vision continued to zoom until it showed me on a hill. Ravengers, Marauders and Cannibals circled it and were making their way up to me. I sat on the hill, with a limp form laying in my arms. My eyes were closed and tears were running down my face. Then, they opened and two green lights flashed brightly behind them.

"What was that?"

"Sacrifice and reward."

The black went light and my eyes opened to see my friends in front of me staring.

Danny POV:

Ty walked in and Danny got up and saw he had spilled his last drink. He let out a huff and sat agianst the wall. Tali huddled in a corner and just stood there. She kept looking at Danny repeatedly and making like she was about to say something but decided agianst it. Danny was tired of the show she was putting on and spoke.

"Look, I'm completely hosed and there is no possible way you could make a bad impression on me right now. Ask away."

Tali thought for a moment and spoke, "How do you know Ty?"

Danny thought for a moment and laughed as he remembered their first meeting, "It was the first day of pre-school and I was just arriving. I walked in and my mom pushed me to go play. Well, I saw the space toys and began making a space ship. Ty came along and wanted to play with me. We started our space odyssey there. Every day after that we played with the ships until our teacher changed the toys we had. We were bummed but we still kept talking about space. Eventually, we planned out this whole way we were going to get a rocket ship and go to distant worlds."

"What happened?"

"We were five and making plans to steal an NASA space shuttle. What do you think happened?"

"You were arrested and put in the brig."

Danny just gave Tali a look that said du fuck, "No, we took a nap during class and forgot all about it. Anyway, we graduated and went to different elementary schools. We didn't meet up again until sixth grade, we were still friends after all that time."

"So, you still go to school together?"

Danny just smiled about the reminiscing, "No, I got a scholarship to George Washington University. Ty is going to the University of Idaho. The only reason we are here is because it's summer and we both returned to our home town."

"Oh, can I ask just one more question?"

"You just did."

"I mean one more about your home."

"Sure."

"Who's George Washington and why does he have a school named after him?"

"Well, he's a-"

Danny was cut off when Ty walked out of the room with a blank look on his face and his eyes were closed. He blinked twice and jumped at the site of him and Tali. Danny just gave a smile and ran past Ty yelling mind sex.

Danny got in and saw the asari laying provocatively on a couch. She brought up her finger and made a motion for Danny to come forward. He got close to the asari and she grabbed his head and brought him in close. She put her lips to Danny's ear and whispered two words.

"Embrace Eternity."

Tali POV:

Ty looked like he was trying to stay awake as he came out and just threw himself on the waiting couch. His eyes moved but not in a way you would see a regular human. His were more jerky and dragged across as he moved them. Tali was a little worried but decided to let him sort this out.

The door opened yet again to show a Danny with the biggest smile on his face. He walked out and tapped Tali's shoulder, "Your up sparks."

Tali just waked past him, "I swear, I am going to hurt the guy who gave me that nickname when I see him."

Tali walked in and saw the Consort sitting in her chair. She directed Tali to sit next to her. Tali took her seat and the asari spoke.

"What is your question?"

Tali took a deep breath, "What are Ty and Danny?"

The asari sat back and smiled to herself, "If I had to compare them to anything it would be gods. They have the power to manipulate anything in this world and change it for their own purpose."

Tali just stared at the asari, "They are gods?"

The consort nodded, "Yes, they have the power to do anything. They are the same as the creators of this universe."

Tali thought for a moment, "Can gods love?"