ACT II

Part 1

Garrus, Tali, and Liara sat in the main room of the small quarters temporarily given to Shepard on the strange ship. Shepard changed into her armor in the separate restroom. "Now I'm feeling nostalgic," Garrus said to break the tension. "All we need is Wrex and we'd have the club back together again."

Tali giggled, "Shepard's Aliens. I remember that." Back on the SR 1, Tali, Garrus, Liara, and Wrex used to eat together. None of them knew much about humans, only the rumors that they heard here and there: that they're racist, overly ambitious, and that they thought too highly of themselves. Shepard's Aliens may not have liked each other, but they recognized each other. They were familiar, comfortable. Even after they learned more about their human crew, the group shared a special bond. It was through this club that Garrus and Wrex first started to mend their cultural wounds.

"We never got to pull that prank on Pressly" Garrus said. The three laughed, but then became solemn. Liara broke the silence, "Pressly wasn't that bad. I don't think he'd ever met an alien before. He learned to accept us as he got to know us."

"Yeah, well," Garrus started, "Even without Wrex and Pressly, it still feels like the old days. The three of us together: Technical, Tactical, and Tenticle." He pointed to Tali, himself, and Liara respectively.

"I never thought I'd miss being called Tenticle." Liara chuckled.

"Just because I was brought back from the dead, Garrus, doesn't mean your jokes have to be." Shepard said as she walked through the restroom door. "Thanks for the armor, Liara." Shepard seemed to stand taller in her own grey armor with the white and red N7 stripes down the right arm.

Garrus asked Shepard, "So, what do we know about these people?"

"For one, they take care of their prisoners. Lots of rules and policies. They seem to be military, though they don't act like it. They use military discipline and ranks: captain, commander, but they seem to be more interested in scientific endeavors than defense." She turned to Tali, "How much longer until you've finished combing through the data?"

"I don't know. We've only gotten a through a small amount. Their computing language is different than anything I've ever seen. EDI is back online and is continuing to work on it as we are here, but with the differences in technology, it's like EDI is learning to read all over again."

"Let me know as soon as you've finished."

"I've been meaning to ask, how did you hack into their AI? After getting the data you sent, it doesn't seem possible."

"There wasn't any sort of firewall. Once I was in, I didn't recognize most of what I was looking at. Honestly, I just 'poked' it and hoped it didn't explode. I just got really lucky"

Liara jumped in, "After analyzing what I could, it seems that the ship is very advanced in many ways. Weapons, energy distribution, computing ability, shielding and FTL, are all much more efficient than your average warship. I couldn't translate all of it, though."

"Advanced weaponry and shielding?" Garrus asked, "Might come in handy once the Reapers get here." The thought had occurred to Shepard. The captain didn't seem to be the sort who would negotiate, but if Shepard could get a hold of those weapons she knew she could put them to good use against the Collectors and the Reapers. "Come on. Let's go." Tali, Garrus, and Liara stood and the four of them walked through the automatic door.

Tuvok greeted them outside of the room, "Are you ready?" Shepard nodded, and Tuvok lead them through the corridor. Before entering the turbolift, Tuvok warned the group that it would be a tight fit. Garrus remarked, "I hope it's faster than the elevators that we're used to," and the doors opened. Sure enough, it was a tight fit. It looked like two or three could fit in the room comfortably, not four and a turian. Once the group was in the lift, Tuvok faced the door and said "deck one."

Shepard looked surprised, "The elevator is voice controlled?"

"Yes." Tuvok quipped.

"There's no manual interface?"

"No."

"There's no biometric scanner?"

Tuvok turned his head and lifted his eyebrow, "No."

Shepard and Liara glanced at each other. "Wow," they both thought, "I can't believe it was that easy."

Part 2

Tom walked into meeting room on deck one. No one was there except B'elanna, who shot out of her seat and into Tom's arms as soon as he entered the room, "I'm so happy you are alright!"

"You know me, I always have to make it exciting."

B'elanna started to tease him, "I have to tell you, when I saw that woman in your uniform…"

"What? You thought..? Oh, B'elanna, you don't have to worry about that."

"Aww, thank you, dear"

"I'd be way too scared to cheat on you."

B'elanna's smile started to fade, "Scared?"

"Yeah! Walk around on a deamon-class planet? Easy. Juggle chainsaws naked on a Borg cube? No problem. Cheat on B'elanna Torres? No way I can handle that kind of pain."

"Well, fear isn't the emotion I was hoping for, but I'll take what I can get." The two kissed as Harry entered the room. Harry paused and, after their kiss, Tom looked at him, "Don't you knock?"

"This is a public space." Harry responded.

"Yeah, well, still."

"It's good to have you back, Harry." B'elanna said, "Do you know who is coming?"

"The three of us, the Captain, and I think Seven. And, I think there are four from the other ship."

"Eight people?" Tom asked, "That's going to be a pretty crowded. Is someone going to have to stand?"

"Why do you think I got hear early?" Harry said as he walked to a seat on the right side of the captain's seat.

"Good call" Tom said and sat next to him.

"Agreed." B'elanna sat in the last seat on that side, next to Tom.

Soon afterward, Tuvok entered the room followed by Shepard, Tali, Garrus, and Liara. Tuvok gestured to the three seats across from Harry, Tom, and B'elanna, "You may be seated until the captain arrives." Tali and Garrus sat down as Shepard took Liara to the side. "This may not be the best time, but I honestly don't know what's going to happen here. I wanted to say...I…"

"You don't need to say anything. A lot has happened to us in the past two years. It just means we'll have to spend all the more time together to catch up."

"You won't hear me complaining." Liara chuckled as Shepard noticed Seven Of Nine entering the room. Liara turned to see what was grabbing Shepard's attention. "Should I be worried?" Liara asked, half joking.

"What, her? No." Liara raised her brow, Shepard continued, "Not nearly blue enough." The two smiled.

As Seven found a place to stand by the far wall, Captain Janeway entered the room. Tom, Harry, and B'elanna immediately stood, followed closely by Garrus and Tali. Liara moved to last remaining seat. Janeway gestured her hand as she sat in her own seat at the head of the table and the crews sat down, Shepard standing at the foot of the table.

"Before we begin," Janeway started, "I think we should know who we're talking to. I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. On my right are: Ensign Kim, my operations officer; Lieutenant Paris, our pilot; Lieutenant Torres, chief engineer; and Seven of Nine, our astrometrics expert."

Shepard took her turn, "I am Commander Shepard, of the Normandy SR 2. This is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, my technical officer; Garrus Vakarian, my tactical officer, and Liara T'Soni, my…" Shepard paused, no knowing what to call her. Garrus leaned over and whispered to Liara, "tentacle." Liara smirked.

Shepard continued, "…guest. Liara is my guest." After a bit of an awkward pause, Janeway picked the pace back up, "Harry, what do we know?"

Harry leaned forward, "Not much. Our folding-space drive was interrupted somehow. This pushed us off course and into a parallel dimension."

"A parallel dimension?" Garrus asked.

Tali answered, "Parallel universes are universes that are separated from each other by an event. Every time you make a decision, there is another universe where you made a different decision. These almost infinite universes form a sort of tree, with timelines continuously splitting from one another."

Harry continued, "Exactly. Though, we didn't only jump through dimensions, but time. After talking with Tali and Shepard, it seems we're in earth year 2185."

Janeway asked, "We've gone back two centuries? How is this possible? And why couldn't we have determined that?"

Seven of Nine answered, "We have the appropriate astrological data to determine the stardate. However, long range are still not functioning."

"It seems the laws of physics are a little different here." Harry said, "Our long range sensors are having a hard time compensating. It's a bit difficult to calibrate them without knowing what those differences are, exactly."

Tali interjected, "Garrus and I can help you with that."

The meeting went on for a little while longer, Liara, Seven and Harry discussed ways to fix the sensors, Tali and B'elanna discussed the folding-space drive, and Captain Janeway kept the group on task. Shepard listened intently as they spoke, but didn't speak herself. Without provocation, Garrus asked the question the both of them were wondering, "If you're from 200 years in the future, how'd you do it?" The room went silent.

"Do what?" Janeway asked.

"Beat the Reapers?"

Part 3

"What's a Reaper?" Tom asked after a pause. Shepard took in a deep breath and raised her omni-tool. She soon projected a hologram of Sovereign above her arm and held it out for everyone to see.

"This is a Reaper." Shepard began, "It's a synthetic being. At least two kilometers long, with a single beam canon that yields somewhere between 200 to 400 kilotons per blast, along with an unknown number of secondary cannons, thick armor and advanced shielding."

"So a Reaper is a giant squid robot?" Tom asked.

"Hardly." Liara interjected, "They are incredibly powerful killing machines. 50,000 years ago they destroyed the Protheans, a culturally and technologically advanced empire that spanned the entire galaxy."

"These things supposedly killed everything in the galaxy?" Harry asked.

"Multiple times." Shepard continued, "They wait in dark space until they begin their purge. Every 50,000 years or so. And they're coming back."

Janeway was skeptical, "If this mass extinction did happen, how do you know that these, 'Reapers' are responsible?" She asked.

Shepard deactivated the hologram, "I spoke to one. It told me they did it, and that they planned to attack again. We were successful in preventing an all out invasion, but we lost a lot lives defeating just the one. They are coming, and we have to prepare. Which is, no offense intended, why I'm anxious to get you on your way so I can continue my mission."

"Agreed." Janeway said, "We've had a couple of different experiences with time travel and none of them pleasant."

"Okay," Shepard began to direct her troops, "Tali, you don't have any experience with this folding-space drive, I think you should work with Harry and Seven to get their sensors working and try to figure out how they got here and how to get back. Liara, use your contacts to acquire any information on folding space or parallel universes. Information is our friend here. Garrus, work with their engineers and see about upgrading our kinetic shielding and weapons…"

"Stop." Janeway said, "That's not going to happen. We do not give away weapons technology."

"We're helping you get home. That's hardly 'giving away."

"We have a law that prevents us from interfering in the affairs of other cultures. You may be from Earth, but as far as I am concerned you are a foreign culture."

"You were all the ready to 'interfere' with my mission when it meant helping you get home."

Janeway ignored the assertion, "I'm not about to give you advanced weapons technology. I will not negotiate on this."

"Did you miss the part about the synthetic god-beings killing everything in the galaxy?"

"How do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know you aren't going to use these weapons to get the upper hand in some galactic war, or to harm innocent people? Weapons are off the table."

Shepard locked her eyes on Janeway, "Tali, without intervention, how long will it take for you to get Normandy running again?"

Tali was a bit taken aback, "Uh, I didn't get a really good look between Mordin waking me up and coming here, but based on what I saw…two or three days at the most?"

"Three days, Captain." Shepard said to Janeway, "I've gotten a look at your ship. You can figure out how you got here. You may even figure out how to get home. All you have to do is recalibrate your sensors to work with our physics, find out how you got here in the first place, figure out why your brand new technology went on the fritz, repair it, and figure out how to get back without being detected by mercenaries, slavers, pirates, or Collectors. Of course, we'd be happy to help, but we want access to your weapons. By helping us, you can save trillions, trillions of lives. If you haven't changed your mind by the time we're all repaired, than you're on your own. Three days."

Janeway spoke slowly and intently, eyes locked onto Shepard, "Get off my ship."

"I can't wait." Shepard walked towards the door, followed by her crewmembers. Outside, Tuvok and a security team waited to escort them to the transporter room.

"Well, that went well." Tom quipped.

"We're not going to give them our weapons tech, are we?" Harry asked.

"No." Janeway responded, "We will not take their help if it means sacrificing our principles. B'elanna, get to work in engineering. I want to know how long repairs will take. Harry and Seven, work to calibrate the sensors and find out what caused the interference that brought us here. Scan for tachyons, they may help explain the time travel."

"Yes ma'am" Harry said.

"Would you like me to help them? I could probably help calibrate the sensors." Tom asked.

"No, Tom, I have a special assignment for you."

Part 4

Shepard walked into engineering. It had been a day since the meeting on Voyager, and Shepard was still on edge. When the doors opened, Shepard saw that engineering was in disarray, large cables criss-crossed across the floor, holographic terminals were off, with their covers opened. Tali was lying down under her terminal, with Engineer Donnelly reaching into the terminal from above.

"Where's Daniels?" Shepard asked.

"Oh, hello, Shepard." Tali said, "She's probably sleeping. I told her to stop working about an hour ago; she's been working for twelve hours strait."

"If it weren't for her, this ship would have fallen apart a long time ago. You don't appreciate her enough, Shepard." Donnelly said.

Tali spoke under her breath, "You're one to talk."

Shepard took off her Cerberus officer's jacket, revealing the tank top underneath, "How can I help?"

"You're just in time!" Donnelly said, and walked behind the wall, into the room with the mass effect core.

"Come here," Tali said as she came out from the terminal and stood up. "This is really simple, You see these two conduits? I need you to hold them perfectly still."

"You know I've worked with this technology before, you don't need to patronize me like this…"

"No, it's not like that, Shepard. I will be doing very delicate work under the terminal, and Donnelly will be doing the same in there. If these conduits touch what I am working on, or this metal here, it will shock Donnelly. Your job takes a very steady hand."

"Oh. I see. Like this?" Shepard reached elbow deep into the terminal and held the tiny metal conduits as still as she could. Tali slid underneath the terminal and shouted to Donnelly, "Alright, Donnelly. I'm starting now!"

"Aye!" he responded.

After a minute or so, Shepard heard the doors to engineering open, but she didn't try to turn her head to see who came in. "Shepard…" Liara announced.

Shepard jumped. BZZT. "AHH!" Donnelly shouted. "Sorry!" Shepard called.

"Shepard, we need to talk." Liara said.

"Great," Shepard thought, "NOW she wants to talk." Then said out loud, "Now's not the best time, Liara. I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"We need to talk about Voyager." BZZT, "AHH!" Donnelly screamed.

"Shepard! Careful!" Tali said.

"Sorry. Liara, I really don't want to talk about Voyager, or anything right now."

"Why are we not helping them?"

Shepard paused for a moment, "You haven't said three words to me since we got back from that meeting…"

BZZT, "AHH! Goddamnit!"

"…And now, that you can pry yourself away from my console, the first thing you do…"

BZZT, "GAAH, Shepard! Please!"

"…The first thing you do is second guess me? On my own ship?..."

BZZT…

"…In front of my crew?"

BZZT…

Shepard didn't hear a scream, "Donnelly? You okay?"

"I'll take it from here, Commander." Engineer Daniels was standing beside the console, her eyes were a bit bloodshot.

"Kenneth called me. He said if I didn't come you were going to kill him. If I knew he was being serious, I wouldn't have come so fast."

Shepard let go of the conduits and stepped back from the console. She grabbed her jacket and walked out the door, "Lets talk in private, Liara."

Liara followed through the door. "Shepard, I didn't mean…"

"We're not in private yet." Shepard said. Jack called from under the catwalk, "I really couldn't care less about what you are talking about, unless you're going to fuck. Then get out. I don't need any more nightmares."

The two walked through the next set of doors, to the corridor by the elevator. Shepard gazed through the window.

"Shepard," Liara started, "I didn't mean to contradict your authority. That was wrong of me."

"No, Liara, don't worry about…" Shepard turned toward Liara. She was wearing Shepard's casual uniform. It caused Shepard to pause; she wasn't used to seeing Liara in short sleeves. "Been going through my drawers?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, I would have asked but you were gone. All I had was the dress, and it's not really suitable for extended periods of wear."

"I see."

"Yes, I was only expecting to be here for a few hours, not a few days."

Shepard gave a faint smile, "It's fine. I'm just not used to seeing your forearms." Liara blushed and crossed her arms. Shepard took a deep breath and asked, "You want to talk about Voyager?"

"Yes, what happened there?"

"What do you mean?"

"You demanded they give us weapons technology! You gave orders to their crew!"

"That tech can save the galaxy, Liara! Now that we find that the data we gathered is not nearly as helpful as we thought it would be, how else do you suppose we get it? I guess we could shuttle Jack over and just let her have at it until they surrender. She tore apart a prison ship, I'm sure she could do something on Voyager. Advanced or not, my money's on Jack. Maybe Grunt too."

Liara stared at Shepard.

"What?"

"I can tell."

"You can tell what?"

"This. It's not brashness. You're shaken. Something's wrong."

Shepard looked back out the window. "I assume you know about Project Overlord?"

"Yes. You rescued that man. Sent him to get help."

"I did. And I'm still not convinced it was the right thing to do. We were getting amazing intel from the project, intel that could save so many people. How much of a price is that? What is the pain and suffering of one person against the lives of millions? Billions?" She paused, "If that project continued, I might have been able to give Tali her planet back. In the end, I couldn't do it. I couldn't abide lives bought with torture.

"In the old days, on the SR 1, I wouldn't think twice. Save the man. Do it right. But then I died, and no one cared. No one cared but a violent, racist terrorist organization and the galaxy's biggest crime boss."

Liara caringly interjected, "I am not a crime boss."

"Now I'm back. I'm being used by Cerberus. You're threatening to flay people alive. Garrus is a gang-hunting vigilante. Tali's father was a traitor and almost brought down the entire flotilla. The galaxy seems so much darker now. I'm in league with assassins, murders, terrorists, and mercenaries. My friends, you, Tali, and Garrus not withstanding, have abandoned me. More and more I'm feeling that I am on my own and, if I have to break some eggs to save everyone, then so be it." Shepard paused. She then said something she wouldn't dare admit to anyone but Liara, "I'm losing myself. I don't know what to do."

Liara waited through the silence to collect her thoughts. "Of all the languages and all the races of I am aware, only one race uses the same word for respect, kindness, and empathy as the name of their species."

"Humanity."

"You are determined to save the galaxy. To save the asari, krogan, quarian, and humanity. You cannot, by definition, save humanity if you sacrifice your own."

"What if I can't do it?"
"You don't have to do it alone." Liara picked up Shepard's hand and put it on her cheek, "I will help you. I've always tried to give you what you needed. I'm not going to stop now."

Shepard walked to Liara and rested her head on Liara's shoulder. Liara held her in her arms, and the two rested there for what seemed like eternity.

Jack yelled through the door, "You gonna fuck or what?"

Part 5

Janeway sat back in her ready-room chair reading a PADD when she heard the door chime, "Come."

Chakotay entered, followed by Tom, each holding his own tablet. "Is that B'elanna's report?" Chakotay asked.

Janeway nodded, "Five hours. We'll be ready for another jump five hours after Normandy is projected to leave."

"Is that a problem?"

"I was hoping to get out of here before they could go. We don't know where they're going, or who they're going to. What's to stop them from leaving and gathering reinforcements? Our short range sensors are having trouble getting specific information through their hull, and our long range sensors are better, but still not well enough." She groaned, "I don't like having this many unknowns."

"We know they want our weapons technology. Perhaps they're not as tough as they claim they are."

"I'd still rather avoid further conflict." Janeway let out a light groan, "It's a shame. There's so much we don't know about this place. How did they get all the way out here? Humans, on this side of the galaxy."

"It's unfortunate they weren't more cooperative."

"Yes. Unfortunate. Unexpected? Not with our luck."

"Funny you mention luck," Chakotay said as he turned to Tom, "Because, as luck would have it, Tom and I can answer some of those questions for you."

Janeway turned to Tom, "You did it?"

"Once we calibrated our communications array, we were able to access what this universe calls the "Extronet." A galaxy-wide communication and information network."

Chakotay interrupted, "Similar to the Internet of the 20th and 21st century."

"Once we were in, there was a lot of conflicting information to go through. I asked for Chakotay's help in getting through it."

"What did you learn?"

Chakotay looked at his PADD, "Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. Had a pretty rough childhood and joined the military as soon as she was of age. Later she joined the Alliance's N7 program, the highest level of human special forces. She became a decorated combat veteran and something of a war hero. Two years ago, she became the first, and as of yet only, human to join the Spectres."

"Spectre?"

Tom chimed in, "Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. They are an independent galactic peacekeeping force. They are kind of like the Texas Rangers of the old west: highly skilled, tough, and don't have to go through due process. They only answer to the central governing council. A Spectre can literally get away with murder if it means completing their mission."

Chakotay resumed, "Shortly after becoming Spectre, Shepard led the human fleet at the Battle of the Citadel, where the seat of their galactic government, the Citadel, was attacked by a single advanced ship matching Shepard's description of a Reaper. It took an armada to take it down. During the battle, Shepard ordered the fleet to protect the ship containing the evacuating council, resulting in a large number of human casualties. After the battle, in part because of Shepard's actions, humans gained a seat on the council."

Janeway asked, "Was it actually a 'Reaper?"

Tom answered, "That's not exactly known. Most official reports say it was the creation of a synthetic race called the Geth, which had been attacking settlements in the days leading up to the attack. Most of the sources saying it was a Reaper seem to give a 'crazy conspiracy' vibe."

Chakotay interjected, "That's where it gets interesting."

"It's not interesting yet? Janeway asked.

"She's dead." Said Tom.

"What?"

"Two years ago, shortly after the battle, the original Normandy was attacked and destroyed by an unknown assailant. Shepard was KIA. Actually witnessed suffocating in space by her crew from escape pods."

"So, if Shepard is dead, who are we dealing with? An imposter? A clone?"

Chakotay responded, "We don't know. Official reports deny the existence of Shepard. The conspiracy sites have a number of different theories, a clone, a long lost twin sister, the story of Shepard's death was made up by the council. One site, a 'fan site' run by a Conrad Verner, claims that she did actually die and was brought back from the dead two years later."

Tom picked up, "Regardless of what she is, she looks like Shepard and fits the profile, more or less. Before her death she was described as a war hero and a paragon."

"That doesn't sound like who we met."

Chakotay, believing they were dealing with the real Shepard, offered an explanation, "It could be that she is growing more desperate. Her singular focus as a Spectre was stopping this Reaper invasion, imagined or not. She seems to be continuing that mission, but without the support of humanity or the council."

Tom offered one more warning, "There's one more thing you should know." He handed her the PADD in his hands. She glanced over it, and shot a worried look at Tom, "Are you sure?"

"Of everything we found, that's the one thing that is certain."

Janeway's comm badge chimed, "Tuvok to Captain Janeway."

"Go ahead."

"We are being hailed by the Normandy, audio only. Commander Shepard wishes to meet with you."

Janeway looked up at Tom and Chakotay, "I'll take it in here."

Part 6

Shepard, escorted by the increasingly familiar Tuvok, walked into Captain Janeway's readyroom. She looked around the room specifically designed for the captain to work and meet with people. It was larger than Shepard's living quarters. As she looked around she saw Chakotay standing in the quarter. That was the one Thane knocked out. According to Thane, he seemed like a peaceful man. Even in this unfamiliar, and somewhat hostile territory, Chakotay made her feel comfortable.

Tuvok shot a look at Janeway. Shepard is unarmed, but he still didn't trust her. Janeway nodded at Tuvok and he left the room.

"I have to say, I was surprised to hear from you. Especially after how our last meeting ended." She told the Commander as she got up from her desk and walked to her replicator, "Coffee. Black." A black cup of coffee materialized inside the replicator. "Can I get you something?" She asked Shepard who shook her head and held up her hand.

Janeway was posturing, and Shepard knew it. There was something about Janeway that rubbed Shepard the wrong way, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe it was her voice? She didn't sound like a starship captain. She sounded like she should be living in the woods somewhere, practicing witchcraft and stealing children. Shepard enjoyed that mental image.

The last time the two women met they vied to be seen as the one in charge. This time, Shepard wasn't trying to come out on top; it was an unfamiliar feeling, and Shepard hated it. She rarely found herself in this position, and she never quite got the hang of it. 'Dang it, Liara' she thought, 'Why do you always have to be right?'

"I was wrong." She said out loud. Ugh. "I'm here to offer you any help that I can."

Janeway was expecting more resistance. She sat down and shot a look at Chakotay, who shrugged. She turned her gaze back to Shepard, "You are getting no technology from me. Weapons or otherwise."

"I know. Like I said, I am here to help. I don't need anything."

Janeway was a bit taken aback. She knew Shepard was coming to renegotiate, and the hail indicated that she was more willing to cooperate, but Janeway did expect some sort of resistance. "I certainly didn't expect to hear that. You were pretty adamant about getting your hands on our weapons last time we spoke. Why the change of heart?"

"Helping people is what I do;" she paused, "I just had to be reminded."

"I'm happy to hear you say that, considering..." Janeway handed Shepard a PADD. The screen displayed the one thing that Shepard seemed unable to escape. A Cerberus symbol.

"You're a terrorist." Janeway started. She stood up and walked around her desk toward Shepard. "I should, by all accounts, disable your ship and alert the authorities." She said. Shepard bit her tongue. Otherwise, she would be spouting out something insulting. Janeway continued, "Unfortunately, we're a bit out of our element at the moment. I can't deny that we need help, but, if we can help it, we won't take it from members of a militant xenophobic terrorist group."

"I'm not a member of Cerberus. Not really."

"What does that mean?"

"I…was out of commission. Cerberus brought me back for a specific purpose. Entire populations of human colonies are being abducted by the Reapers. The council, the Alliance, no one was doing anything about it. Cerberus were the only ones fight back. They're working for me. I'm not working for them."

"For some reason, the violent galactic terrorist organization working for you is not any more comforting than you working for them."

Shepard took a deep breath, "They're a means to an end. Nothing more."

"And what about after the end? After you've found and stopped these Reapers, where will you go then?"

Shepard paused. She hadn't ever afforded herself time to think about the future, "Many of my crew are with me and for me, and are not members of Cerberus. If it would make you more comfortable, I can ensure that no members of Cerberus board your ship."

"Including you."

"Including me. It looks like your sensors are still giving you fits. They're probably having trouble navigating ambient energies from eezo reactions. I will send Tali. When it comes to the technical, I've never found better than Tali. She could make a pinecone space-worthy."

"I'll have her work with Seven and Ensign Kim. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to our timeline without much delay."

"I'll brief Tali. She will be over soon."

"Very good." Janeway nodded to signal Shepard to leave and walked back to her desk.

"Though, I do have a request." Janeway sat and looked back to Shepard, "It doesn't involve weapon systems or tech."

"Let me see it." Shepard punched a couple of keys on her omni tool to send the request to Janeway's monitor. Janeway perused the request, "I think we can do this."

"I should go. Thank you." Shepard turned to walk out of the office, met a non-Tuvok security officer on the other side of the door, and walked to the lift.

Part 7

Seven worked at the display console of the astrometrics lab while Harry and Tali worked at the back of the room. "I can't get over it." She said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Shh…listen."

Harry paused, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly! I thought the Normandy was quiet. Voyager's practically silent! How do you sleep?"

"Um…well? Do your people not like quiet when they sleep?"

"Yes, to an extent. On the flotilla, if the ship was quiet it means that something was seriously wrong. You could feel how the ships were doing by its clanks and thumps."

"You grew up on ships, didn't you?"

"Almost all quarians live on the flotilla. I had never left before my pilgrimage two years ago. I am just now getting used to Normandy's hum. If I had to live on Voyager I'd probably lose my mind."

"You know, the computer could probably replicate the sound of a flotilla ship. Or you could use the holodeck."

"What's a holodeck?"

"Oh. It's…"

Seven interrupted, "The sensors are now properly calibrated to work in this universe. We are able to use the long range sensors now."

"Alright, lets take a look." Harry said, the three turned to the large holographic display where a map of the surrounding area appeared. "Where do we start?"

"If we're looking for tachyons, we could narrow down our search if we compare sensor data on this universe with recorded sensor data from your universe. " Tali said.

"We could improve the results if we can combine navigational information from the two ships." Seven interjected.

"Good point." Tali brought her fingers to her ear, "Joker, can you transfer Normandy's star charts to Voyager's astrometrics lab?"

"Why?"

"Technical, sciencey reasons."

"Gotcha. Sending it now." The map expanded to include all of the relays and surrounding systems.

Seven began to type on her terminal, "I am now overlaying Voyager's sensor data." Another layer of galactic map appeared on the display, creating a snake of star systems tracing Voyager's journey through the Delta Quadrant.

"Alright," Tali began, "Now we have to go through the systems one-by-one to try and find…"

"Computer," Harry interrupted, "identify discrepancies between the Normandy's data and Voyager's." The map transformed from a dense overlay to a collection of small freckles.

"Oh, that's not fair." Tali said.

"That's still a lot." Harry observed, "Computer, eliminate discrepancies where an object is missing." The collection of freckles narrowed down to two. "What are those?"

Seven looked at her terminal, "This one is a star that Voyager passed years ago appears to be millions of years older here than when Voyager observed it."

"That's Dholen. I was studying that star before re-joining with Shepard. I knew there was something unnatural going on there."

"The second is this nearby planet. That seems to be suspended in time and space."

"Suspended?" Harry asked and looked at the terminal. "Looks like it. The planet should be over here with this system, but it's just…not moving. I'll scan for tachyon particles around the planet." As he did this, the holographic display grew a blue stream, flowing from the planet to a nearby mass relay. "Woah."

"It looks like the relay is pulling in the tachyon stream. I've never read anything about this? Why hasn't this caused problems before?"

"The coaxial drive is designed to propel Voyager through dimensions, time and space." Seven said, "These mass relays create a tunnel through space-time, but they don't transverse dimension. It could be that the relay being this close to the tachyon field caused an inter-dimensional tripwire, causing ships that are traveling inter-dimensionally to fall into this dimension."

"Than perhaps we can find a way to use the relay to push you back to your dimension?"

"Sounds like we're on the right track." Harry said. "Now, all we have to do is find a way to make that happen."

"Before I forget, can I get your data on Dholen? I think it would be extremely helpful in my own study?" Tali asked.

Harry's face turned, "I…uh…The captain ordered us not to share any technology. I don't know if she'd be okay with sharing data."

"Oh. I forgot about your bosh'tet captain."

"What does that mean? 'bosh det'?"

"Honorable." Tali quipped sarcastically.

Harry could hear Tali's frustration, "I know your meeting with her didn't go well, but you can't blame her for being strict here."

"Can't I? We are in a desperate situation. We stand on the brink of destruction and here you sit, with the tools to ensure our survival, and you refuse to help. And why? To obey some policy? Can you look me in the eye and say you've never broken this policy before?" Harry was silent. "Right. We don't seem real do we? We're in an alternate dimension. Once you leave it will seem like we don't exist any more. Am I right?"

Harry felt a bit guilty, everything Tali said was true. Harry had read about alternate dimensions before, and they always seemed unreal. Now he is in one, and it felt temporary. Like a dream. "If the Dholen research would help you, I would be willing to talk to the captain about it. But it doesn't seem like it would help with…"

"People died getting that data. My friends were killed researching this star, and I don't think they were killed for investigating an innocent scientific curiosity. I think we were attacked because the data could save my people. I think we could finally go home."

The room fell silent. Harry wanted to help, but doing so would be directly defying the captain's orders. Tali didn't say it, but she knew that she was defying Shepard's orders by asking for the data. 'We will be getting nothing in return,' Shepard instructed Tali before she came to Voyager, 'so don't ask.' Seven didn't know what to say, as she was still assessing the situation.

"Well," Tali started again, "I guess…let's figure out how to get you home."

Part 8

The hologram of Tali hovered over the table of the Normandy comm room. She spoke facing Shepard. Around the table stood the rest of Shepard's combat squad. "So, that's the plan." Tali said. "Adapting Voyager's engines to work with the mass relays wouldn't really work. It would take too much time and be unusable once they arrived in their own universe. Instead, we'll adapt the Delta Flyer and have Voyager ride in its wake through the relay. Once they're in, the coaxial drive should trigger a temporal event which will propel them to their dimension."

"Alright, Tali," Shepard began, "Who do you need?"

"Garrus could be useful in some of the fine tuning on the Flyer, if you don't need him there?"

"Garrus?"

Garrus stood forward from leaning on the wall. He's the tallest on the crew, so whenever there's a group meeting he usually stands at the back so everyone can see around him. "We just updated to the Thanix cannon, and I'm not quite done calibrating the new targeting system. Though, there's not much point in having an operational forward battery with Voyager here. I can do it."

Tali continued, "I also need someone to teach the Voyager helmsmen how to fly in through the relay."

Shepard leaned her head up and looked at the ceiling, "Joker, that's where you come in."

Joker spoke over the com, "Uh, I don't do away missions? I can barely walk to the can, remember?"

"This isn't a combat mission, Joker. Catching wake through a relay is pretty tricky. I need my best to teach their best."

"Who's going to look after the Normandy?"

EDI chimed in, "I am able to monitor Normandy's systems in your absence."

Joker looked at the ball of light on his right, "Yeah, but you can't fly it. Not unless I disable the AI shackles."

"I wouldn't ask you to do that, Jeff."

"And I'd order you not to." Shepard sternly interrupted, "Joker, we have a shuttle pilot. He can sit at the helm until you get back."

"And didn't they say 'no Cerberus members allowed?"

"You're more 'Cerberus-adjacent' and you know it. Stop making excuses, Joker."

"You can do this, Jeff." EDI reassured him.

"Alright. But if you adjust my seat you're dead."

"Very manly, Joker." Shepard joked.

"I try."

"Alright, for the rest of you, Joker aside there is to be no Cerberus personnel on Voyager. Miranda tells me that she and Jacob have business with the Illusive man that requires them going off ship. Zaeed, you'll stay on the Normandy and take over Jacob's post in the armory. Grunt and Jack, you're staying here too. I've screwed this up more than enough, I don't want either of you causing an incident."

"Aw, come on, Shepard! I want to see the look on their faces when they see a real krogan for the first time!" Grunt complained.

"Actually, I can't blame you there, Shep." Jack quipped, disinterested in the whole situation.

Shepard continued, "Samara, I don't know if this will ever happen, but if Janeway ever loosens up and wants to do some sort of cultural exchange you'll be on deck. Until then stay here and help with any repairs that you can. Kasumi. Don't…do anything."

"You can trust me." Kasumi said. Shepard didn't trust her.

"Shouldn't Mordin and Liara be here? I am sure they can help with Voyager's retrofitting." Garrus asked.

"Mordin's already working on something for me, and Liara's using the terminal in my cabin to devote resources to keep any interested parties away from the area. With luck, Voyager will be out of here before anyone can notice that she's here."

"If you ask me, this is a waste of goddamn time." Zaeed interrupted.

"Well, I didn't ask."

"Zaeed's right," Jack said, "Why are we here? We have more important things to do. And, hey, if they can't get back than they'll have to fight the Collectors eventually, then we won't need their permission to use their shit."

"We're staying because helping people is what we do, it doesn't matter who they are. You're all here for different reasons, but none of you are being forced to be here. If you have a problem with that, if saving lives is too much of a waste of time, you know where the door is."

Everyone was silent.

"Cerberus brought me back because they knew I would give everything I have to stop the Collectors and the Reapers. I want you all here because I know that each and every one of you can help me do that, but if you want to help, know that we do it my way. And my way will always include saving bystanders. You have your assignments. Dismissed."

The members of the squad silently glanced at each other before filing out of the room until only Shepard and Thane remained.

"You did not give me an assignment." Thane observed.

"You're right. I have something specific for you, and I didn't want to say in front of everyone else. Head to Voyager with Garrus and Joker. Once you arrive, you'll taken to a specific location on the ship and given further instructions when you arrive."

"Why the secrecy?"

"Lets just say that, if you knew what was in store for you, you might not go, but it must be done."

"Commander?"

"I don't envy you."