AN:- I'm sure when I came up with it this title had some sort of witty meaning.

Chapter Seven: In a Bottle

The downside of quantum communicators was being able to see every scratch and bruise on Admiral Hackett's face. He looked exhausted, but at least he was still alive.

"Captain. Udina updated me on your meeting with the Council. Sounds like they're running scared."

She nodded. "We did present them with a lot of unknowns. They're feeling threatened and want immediate solutions, not theories."

"Theories are all we've got right now. What's your plan?""

She straightened up, getting into 'briefing' mode. "I'm trying to get the turian Primarch for a summit meeting with the asari and the salarians. I'll bypass the Council and appeal directly to their leadership."

Hackett smiled. "That's good, I like it. This is where we start laying the groundwork for our counterattack."

"Unfortunately we don't have a whole lot to back it up right now."

"Then build alliances. Gather everything and everybody you can for the cause."

She nodded. "What about the Prothean device?"

"Find me people who can help build it. And if you can't, I'll take ships, soldiers, supplies, whatever you can get." He gestured to someone offscreen, then looked back to her. "We need to keep hitting the Reapers across every theatre of war they open, buy us time to figure out the device."

"And when it's finished?"

"Assuming it ever is, we pool all our resources. Think of it as a giant armada for delivering the device when the Reapers are most vulnerable. The stronger you can make that armada, the better the chances of punching through."

She forced herself to ask the hardest question on her mind. "What about Earth sir?"

"We'll just have to hope Anderson, and what's left of the Alliance forces, can hold out until we've dealt with the enemy."

"I understand."

"Good. Then make it happen Captain. I'll be expecting regular updates on your progress. Hackett out."

His hologram faded even as she saluted him. She dropped her hand and rubbed her face, breathing out slowly. They were on their own.

She headed back out through the war room, ignoring the display table as best she could. There was now a security station to get through before she could get back out into the main ship. Yet another reminder of how things had changed. Seems like every time I leave they make some sort of huge adjustment that I have to deal with.

Specialist Traynor was standing at the galaxy map, at what had been Chamber's station before. Shepard was already considering the comm specialist for the position of yeoman, or at least something in that vein. Certainly if she was about to head out on a galaxy spanning mission to make all of the disparate races of the Council talk to each other then she was going to need someone who was expert in facilitating those communications. And a recommendation from EDI was not to be sniffed at.

She didn't stop to chat, heading straight up for the cockpit, where she was finally able to see Joker properly for the first time since setting foot back onboard. He spun the chair round as she came up the gangway, his mouth already cocked up in that grin she had come to know so well.

"Hey Captain. You know, I had my doubts about the Council. But after years of ignoring your warnings, they're finally willing to step up and tell you they just can't help."

In the face of Joker's cynicism, she always felt compelled to take the optimist's position. "They're doing everything they can."

"Did they at least validate our parking?"

She managed to keep a straight face as she shook her head.

"Well let me know if you want to get them on the channel and then hang up on them. You know, for old time's sake."

He spun back round and she stepped up to join him. "ETA to Palaven?"

"Not long. Straight shot from the Citadel. We should be there in a couple days, then maybe an extra few hours for in-system transit."

"Every second you can get us Joker."

"Aye aye Captain."

She patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave, then stopped herself. "Joker…"

Her pause went on too long and he glanced back. "Shepard?"

"I'm glad you made it out."

"Yeah me too. The galaxy just wouldn't be the same without my wit and talent."

"And your humility, don't forget that."

"It's a shame about Anderson."

She sighed. "You know him. Wouldn't want to be left out of the fight."

"By the time we get the Council forces rallied he'll have already driven back the Reaper invasion and saved Earth."

"My thoughts exactly."

/|\

Liara had taken over the space that had once been Miranda's office. Much as Shepard had eventually found a common ground and even friendship with the ex-Cerberus Operative, she definitely preferred the new tenant. As the door cycled open she was shocked to see how many computer banks and power cables had been run into the room. She hadn't imagined that Liara would be bringing the entire Shadow Broker base of operations with her.

The lady herself was in the small bedroom nook, talking intently to someone. Shepard interested herself in looking around the other end of the room, where the bulk of the terminals were. As she was inspecting a complicated looking piece of machinery a hard light drone appeared next to her, resolving into a spheroid shape. It wasn't a perfect sphere, instead different segments spun around a central axis, at front of which there was a glowing circle which served as an eye. She recognised the drone from the few times she had visited Liara at the Hagalaz base.

"Commander Shepard. It's a pleasure to see you again."

It hadn't spoken to her before though. It caught her slightly off guard. "You're the drone from the Shadow Broker's ship." She said after it floated expectantly in front of her for a while.

"Dr T'soni now refers to me as 'Glyph, instead of info-drone, 95% of the time." It floated slightly away to one of the terminals. "If you have a moment, I'd like to draw your attention to a terminal in her office."

Everyone wants to teach me things today. She repressed a sigh and stepped over. "Instruct away."

As Glyph finished up explaining to her about upgrading her equipment Liara got up from the bed and headed over to her, still talking into her tablet. Shepard overheard Joker's voice.

"Meeting with the Council didn't go too well huh?"

"It was less than ideal."

"Yeah I'm shocked."

"At least the Council can't deny the Reapers exist, but I'm not sure how much comfort that is while they bicker over which portion of the galaxy to save."

Shepard cocked up her eyebrow at that statement, but Joker spoke before she could. "Wow. Becoming the big info brokers turned you into a real cynic Liara. I like it."

"I'm flattered… I think."

She closed down the computer and smiled to Shepard.

"His approval always fills me with shame as well," Shepard said. As Liara grinned she waved at the computers. "Looks like you brought more than just that drone from your ship."

"A few things were necessary." It was completely impossible to tell if she was being sarcastic or not. "I'd be a very silent Shadow Broker without datafeeds."

"So you have access to all your resources?"

"What I can get. We'll need it to research this Prothean device. Until we understand precisely what it does, it's far too dangerous to use."

"Did the Protheans actually complete the weapon?"

That prompted another grin. "You mean 'will it work?'" She went to her main computer and turned it on, bringing up the image of the weapon again. "They wouldn't have poured their last resources into this device if they thought otherwise. But we really need to find out just what kind of weapon they left us."

"It'd be nice to know we're not kids playing around with a loaded gun."

"Absolutely. The damage it could cause if it backfired is unthinkable. This will be difficult, even for us." She took a deep breath and pushed away from the terminal, turning to Shepard. "If something happens on a mission, if either one of us are hurt…" She rubbed her arm and looked away. "I'll always remember that tour of the Normandy." I absolutely will as well. "But let's be honest, Shepard, it's been more than half a year. Should we continue where we left off?"

Shepard stepped in close on instinct, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "I'd like that more than anything Liara."

"Good." Liara's smile was back, cute as ever. "I was getting worried."

Shepard wrapped her up in a hug. "There were a lot of reasons I was happy to see you on Mars," she said softly in Liara's ear.

Apparently her tone had been correctly interpreted. Liara pulled back and gave her a coy smile. "I'd like that list. But…" She rested her hands on Shepard's chest and bowed her head. "Later. There's so much left to do. I'm working with EDI, hoping we can discover what the Protheans left for us." Shepard let her go and she stepped back to the terminal, looking over and smiling." But I'm looking forward to talking about something other than business. Maybe later?"

Now there was a tempting thought. "Absolutely."

She let her gaze linger on Liara a moment longer, appreciating her new uniform. The coat in particular looked very nice, though part of her wanted very much to see Liara without it.

Down girl.

Shepard headed back out towards the elevator, seeing again the memorial wall that had been set up across from it. She had wanted to see Liara before facing it properly, to try and put herself in a positive frame of mind.

It was in the traditional style of an Alliance memorial wall, which meant that only military personnel were included in the list. She recognised every name, of course. Every crewmember who had died when the first Normandy had been destroyed. Her eyes lit on one name in particular. Rickard L. Jenkins.

She could still picture it. Still heard the crack of the automatic fire and the cry as his armour failed. It had been Kaidan at her side that day. His name was on the wall as well. Another day that she would never forget. Those seemed to be piling up more and more lately.

The one comfort she had as she looked at the list was that none of the names from the ex-Cerberus crew were there. And of the original Normandy crew the list could have been longer. Some comfort.

Tearing herself away from the board she stepped back into the elevator, keeping her eyes fixed on the control panel as the door cycled closed.

She wanted very much to go back up to her quarters and collapse asleep. But this might be the only real time she would have to walk the ship before the war hit them again. She needed the crew to see her, and she needed to see them.

She headed down for the engineering level first. Diana Allers had set herself up in the starboard cargo hold, and it would probably be worth her while to connect with the journalist. If there was one change to the ship she was very happy about it was that this area had once been Zaeed's quarters. And the less memories of that betrayal lingering around the better.

Allers turned as she entered and gave her a clearly practiced smile. "How's your new assignment working out Allers?" She asked.

"Fairly normal, except for the unshackled AI, Matriarch Benezia's daughter, and the communicator that can reach Earth. The first two I can deal with, the last one gets my attention."

Her humour was easy. But it had the veneer of a journalist to it. Shepard had met too many of those. She folded her arms and cast a glance over the wall of information Allers had set up. "So what are you asking for exactly?"

"Anything from Earth is the lead story right now. That's not opinion, it's fact."

Shepard thought of Khalisah and saw an opportunity. "Maybe I can pass on a few nonclassified progress updates."

"Seriously? You just doubled my ratings. I don't need facetime, just a data upload."

"Tell people what's really happening on Earth. We need long recruiting lines on every planet after you air a story. You can liaise with a journalist called Khalisah al-Jilani for the Citadel broadcasts."

Allers nodded. "I can do this Commander. Remind me to tell you about the time I made an elcor cry."

Still not entirely sure what she thought of Allers Shepard settled for a nod before leaving.

She headed next for the engine core, still not entirely sure who exactly was running her engines. As the door cycled open she was surprised to see the man standing at the console. He looked up as she came in and his face broke out into a wide smile.

"Adams! You son of a bitch!"

"Commander." He stepped over to her and saluted, then shook her hand. "Or is it Captain I hear now? Welcome back to the Normandy, or maybe you should be saying that to me."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was put in charge of the drive core retrofits. My experience on the Normandy SR-1 made me an obvious choice."

Shepard grinned, following Adams as he headed for the core itself. "So what do you think of our SR-2?"

"She's incredible. If there's one nice thing I can say about Cerberus, it's that they know how to build a ship." As he looked up at the drive core his smile faded away. "And about that – Cerberus I mean – I owe you an apology."

"How so?"

"Back when you got this ship, Dr Chakwas contacted me. Asked me to help with your mission against the Collectors." Shepard cocked her head over. Chakwas had never mentioned this. "I refused. I didn't have your back, and I'm sorry for that."

"You're Alliance first," she said. "That's the way it should be."

"Thank you Captain, glad to be aboard."

They shook again and she left the engine bay feeling slightly more comfortable. What with Adams in Engineering and Chakwas in the Medical Bay she was finally starting to feel at home again.

Time to confront the differences again.

She headed down to the cargo bay, stepping out to see their two shuttles hanging down at either side. The armoury had been moved back down to the bay, another familiar feeling that put her mind at ease. She could still remember Williams in the corner of the SR-1, laying out the guns for them.

As soon as she stepped off the elevator a man marched over to her and saluted smartly. "Lieutenant Steve Cortex, shuttle pilot. I've got news about our supply chains Captain."

At least someone had heard about the promotion in advance. Shepard returned the salute, not quite able to keep the grin off her face. "Nice to meet you Lieutenant, what's going on?"

He dropped the salute and marched back over to his station, clearly expecting her to follow. She stepped over, a little bemused. "Sorry to just jump in Captain, there's so much to be done. I get caught up in the tasks at hand."

From his little corner Vega shouted over. "He's always like that. You need to chill out Esteban."

Clearly there was something going on between them. From their tone she didn't think it was anything more than banter. "So you do care Mr Vega," Cortez shot back. "Or is that the cervesa talking again?"

Shepard covered a smile and looked back to Cortez. "So what's happening with our supply chains Lieutenant?"

"Alliance procurement chains are in chaos, but the Citadels economy is still running. I can network to Citadel retailers. I can bring you up an inventory and order anything you need."

She nodded, remembering a similar arrangement with Postle on the SR1. "If I can get any new licences or networks opened I'll let you know."

"It does cost more to coordinate delivery to the Normandy, so it's cheaper to buy supplies when you're there."

He really was all business. "Understood." He nodded and stepped back to his terminal, but she was curious. "So, you're my shuttle pilot, but you're setting up procurement chains?"

"I wasn't assigned as Normandy's pilot, not much need for one on a dry-docked ship. I was overseeing the retrofit of the cargo hold. I'm quite familiar with the operation and maintenance of the UT-47 Kodiak and the M-44 Hammerhead. With my experience, it made sense for me to take over as shuttle pilot when we left Earth." He raised his voice a little. "Especially given Mr Vega's love of midair collisions."

"To save the day pendejo!"

"I'm also responsible for logistics, making sure the armoury and shuttle are properly stocked and maintained."

She nodded. "Nice to have it back down in the cargo hold. Speeds up deployment times."

"Cerberus weren't exactly efficient in setting up this ship."

"First time I've heard that complaint levelled against them."

"Oh I'm sure there's other problems, but efficiency is my current concern."

"You're very focused Cortez." She kept her tone neutral, letting him read what he wanted into it.

"We have a mission, and it's one we need to stay focused on. Bringing the Normandy up to full spec is the best way to save Earth, maybe the galaxy."

"Agreed." She held out her hand and he shook it. "Glad to have you on board Cortez.

Her next stop was just across the bay, where Vega was doing pull-ups. He noticed her walking up but didn't pause in his exercise. "Hey, Shepard. How'd it go with the Council?"

His voice wasn't even straining. She couldn't help but be impressed. "Same as usual. Noncommittal, unhelpful."

"Bet they still wanted you to help them out no?"

"Yep. We're going to rescue a turian Primarch from Palaven"

"Sounds like fun. Never been to the Turian homeworld."

"Looks like it's gonna be heavy fire. You up for that?"

"Just point me at 'em."

There was something else. She could hear it in his voice. But she wasn't going to get anything out of him right now. She resigned herself to another few months of asking her teammates what was wrong. "Carry on Vega."

/|\

There was only one crew member left on her whistle-stop tour. Traynor was still at her post in the CiC when Shepard stepped back out. She walked up behind her and cleared her throat. Traynor turned and saluted, looking nervous.

"Captain, come to check on your new recruit?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Still trying to get my bearings." Traynor cast a look around the CiC. "When I was working on the Normandy's upgrades, I left at the end of the day. I didn't even have a toothbrush or a change of clothing until I made some emergency purchases on the Citadel."

That made Shepard chuckle. Of all the problems to have, this was something she could help with. "Next time you need something, just ask. You're not alone here."

Traynor held up her hands. "Oh, it's no trouble Captain, I'm sure you have larger concerns."

"We can put in a requisition order."

"My toothbrush is a Cision Pro Mark 4. It uses tiny mass effect fields to break up plaque and massage the gums." Shepard felt her eyebrows climbing up her forehead. "It costs 6,000 credits."

"Okay yeah." She nodded slowly. "You're on your own with that."

"I any event, I appreciate you giving me the chance to stay."

"Don't mention it. EDI likes you, and I put a lot of stock in her word."

"I'm not sure if I can live up to the praise Captain."

"I think you might surprise yourself." She smiled, finding herself liking the nervous young woman. "Carry on Traynor."

Traynor at least looked a little more cheery as Shepard turned away and headed back to the elevator. She was tempted to head back down to Liara's room, but she needed sleep and now was not the time to dive into any of those issues.

AN:- As far as I'm aware the Normandy in ME3 does have a yeoman who isn't Traynor. However since Traynor stands at the yeoman's station and does all the duties Kelly did when she was yeoman, Traynor is going to be the yeoman in this fic.

'His approval always fills me with shame too.' A little shout out to the Order of the Stick. 'Your approval fills me with shame.'

I gave the SR-1's quartermaster a name. He literally is never referred to as anything other than 'quartermaster' including in all of the wikis and supplemental materials. His voice actor was Chris Postle, so that's his name now.

Whatever my feelings on Vega, I do like his interactions with Cortez. Vega's interactions with Shepard always felt a bit weird to me because the relationship just comes out of nowhere and suddenly they're onto nicknames and sharing secrets, which I get is not out of character for Shepard but for some reason with Vega it always felt a little forced to me, which is also why I moved the sparring session you have with him to a bit later. I feel like they were trying to cram in a lot of relationship into a very short time, instead of letting it develop naturally like the other squadmates from ME1 and 2. When you actually got back and replay ME1 Garrus and Tali really don't overshare as much as people seem to think they did, it was only in ME2, after Bioware realised how popular the characters were, that they became more prominent.

And Traynor. I continue to like Traynor.