Shepard returned to her room, thinking of her conversation with Liara, extremely happy there was a chance her feelings were reciprocated. It was hard for the commander to pinpoint when exactly the attraction started; it was difficult to admit it was love at first sight. That doesn't happen in real life...does it? Liara was beautiful, no doubt. Of course, Shepard didn't believe she'd ever met an Asari that wasn't a looker, but Liara was unique. The expressions on her face were endearing, and her eyes... those gorgeous radiant blue eyes... spoke volumes. But in all reality, it was more than the looks. There was something exceptional about the woman that just made Shepard's breath come a little quicker, made her heart beat a little faster. It was just a feeling of simple... innocence? Purity? No, it was not so simple that it could be any one solitary thing; it was everything that made up the whole. Her lack of experience with humans brought a fresh perspective, like Shepard was able to honestly see the human race for the first time through Liara's eyes. Geez, I'm waxing like a love sick teen! Whatever it was, they both voiced their mutual interest tonight, and Shepard had great hope for a potential relationship in the future. I can see how it very easily could grow to something more... Even in the short term, it would be a pleasant diversion for times when the weight of the galaxy seemed just a little too heavy to bear. With a heartfelt sigh, Commander Shepard glanced at the new pile of paperwork that had shown up on her desk. After working on the stack for only a half hour, she realized that her persistent headache was once again pounding on the inside of her skull. It now seemed like it never truly went away, just receded to the shadows when she was really busy and focused on other things. The main thing was when she got tired, it affected her ability to concentrate. It was a distraction she couldn't afford right now. Massaging her temples to no avail, she just acquiesced to the fact she'd get no more paperwork done tonight if she couldn't concentrate, so it was time to hit the sack. Once again thinking of Dr T'Soni, she drifted off to sleep.

Shepard awoke to a relentless pounding noise. What is that racket? She got up and stomped to her door, prepared to flay whoever is causing the disturbance. Yanking open the door, she was immediately blinded by explosions and fire. She heard someone screaming off to the side and turned to look... and found herself once more looking down upon the ruins of some unknown city. All she witnessed was destruction and pain. The pounding was the result of main cannons, on huge ships, blasting away the lives and dreams of an entire civilization. Everything was burning and the heat unbearable. The flash of a blazing sun was so bright she threw up her arm to block it, and when she was able to see again, she was sitting bolt upright in her own bed, her arm thrown across her eyes in defense against the recurring nightmare that was now seemingly plaguing her every sleeping moment, stealing away any chance of restful slumber. Shepard forcefully rubbed her forehead, and then pressed against both temples, neither action gaining any traction against the pulsing throbs threatening to push all reasoned thought out of reach. With a heavy exhausted sigh, she got up and took yet one more early morning shower. She stayed there for a long time, leaning her head against the tile wall as the water streamed down her back. This is really starting to piss me off.

The door slid open and the commander strode in, a woman on a mission, bee-lining to the Asari. "Liara!" Startled, Liara jumped up, crashing into her desk and sending her coffee cup flying. The commander leaned in quickly, snatched the coffee cup mid air, and held it out for Liara to take from her, all in one smooth motion.

"C-Commander! Goddess, you scared me! I... I'm sorry, I was concentrating on my Therum notes, and..." she just trailed off, swallowing hard, eyes still wide and darting, one hand near her throat as if trying to physically keep her heart from jumping out of her chest.

Sheepishly ducking her head, Shepard attempted to apologize. "Oh geez, sorry Liara...guess that was...um... rather abrupt..." She failed miserably at looking repentant, as she suddenly busted out laughing. "God, the look on your face! I'm sorry, I just can't help myself," continuing to laugh uncontrollably.

"I do not find this very amusing, Commander! I could...I might...I don't even know what to say!" At her total loss for words, Liara almost smiled, waving her hands in the air in frustration. "What is it about you that leaves me a complete, unintelligible buffoon? I have two doctorates, yet I cannot even form a proper sentence!"

Watching the flailing Asari, Shepard was having a hard time catching her breath, tears streaming down her face. "Oh, God, just... stop...and let me breathe!"

With that, Liara's waving hands parked on her hips, now looking rather annoyed and doing her best to glare at the commander. With a concerted effort, not in any small part aided by the fact that Liara was no longer flailing her arms about, Shepard finally controlled her giggles and held the coffee cup out again for Liara to take. Liara's hand snapped out and snatched the cup away, then she thumped it down onto the desk before turning back to glower at the commander.

Shepard finally stopped laughing all together, but still couldn't get the raffish grin off her face. "Ok... seriously now... I really do need to speak with you...about Feros." Liara looked a little less indignant, so Shepard felt it safe to continue. "All I know is it's a Third Age Prothean ruin, currently controlled by an ExoGeni Corporation research group. All humans." As she spoke, the smile on her face slowly died, and she became all business. "We're here because of a report of Geth activity, so I assume somewhere in the ruins is a beacon or something of value to Saren. Ever studied here? Been here for any purpose?"

Liara looked sad, feeling she would let the commander down. "I am sorry, Commander, but I can offer no insights. Ownership has floated through multiple organizations since the site was discovered, but companies are very protective of their intellectual property and corporate research. I was never able to get a permit for entry." She was the Prothean expert; she had to have something to offer... "Perhaps I could accompany you on the ground team...in case we find something?"

Shepard eyed the Asari with an appraising look, contemplating. "You're a hell of a biotic, but you haven't done any military training, have you?"

Liara just looked down and shook her head no; with no training, she would be a liability. Liara thought, I'll have to remedy that as soon as I am able. The commander pondered a moment, and then asked a follow-up question, "Have you at least fired a weapon?"

At this, Liara brightened. "Oh yes. I used to practice with Mother's commandos. I am fairly proficient with a pistol. I generally bring one on every dig...but I lost my Stiletto when we abandoned Therum." Liara looked despondent, sad for the loss of a gift from her mother and for being so irresponsible as to lose her weapon. She had become complacent on her digs and it had almost cost her life; she vowed to never let that happen again.

Shepard let out a low whistle. "Stiletto? Wow, nice pistol. Expensive. I don't know how soon we'll be able to replace that. Ok, let me think about this. I should have evaluated your crew capabilities as soon as we had you on board... and should have started weapons training at the very least. That's my bad. A pistol doesn't do crap against an armored Geth, but you do have your biotics. We may need your Prothean expertise...so, I think we'll take you as a fourth man." Liara's crystal blue eyes shimmered with anticipation.

"Let me explain that... our normal squad deployment is three people, or multiple teams of three. It's a minimum number to ensure you can get adequate cross or cover fire. Since we are going against Geth, I need to give Tali a run because of her hacking capabilities, but I can't keep an eye on both of you at the same time...so as a fourth man, you need to stick to me as best you can, but at the same time, you also need to remain under cover. Never, ever, expose yourself to enemy fire, and keep your barrier up. Understood?"

Liara nodded enthusiastically, her eyes shining with excitement at the thought of being able to contribute to the mission. Shepard saw the eagerness in her eyes and issued a caution. "Today, you are not a combatant. I don't mean this derogatorily, but look at it as us escorting the professor; we need you for your knowledge, not as an extra fighter. Until we get you some armor and at least medium weapons training, I don't want to risk you..." Shepard looked down at the floor as she said, "You're too important to me...and this mission, in more ways than one."

Her eyes were cloudy as she looked back up at Liara. "One last thing, T'Soni. In here, I'm Shepard. Out there, I'm the commander. This is the critical piece to bring you back safe, so if you listen to nothing else I've said today, listen to this. If I tell you to do something, you do it, immediately and without question... Don't take anything personally; just do what I tell you, immediately and without question. Is that understood?"

Liara looked at the expression on Shepard's face and knew this was nonnegotiable. All she could say was, "Yes, ma'am."

The landing on Feros was thankfully uneventful. The Normandy docked and there was an ExoGeni representative already waiting once the airlock cleared and the crew was able to disembark. It was quiet long enough for the rep to say their leader, some guy named Fai Dan, was waiting for them at the colony. Then the first wave of Geth hit...as the first shot took out the ExoGeni rep, the Normandy ground crew instantly starting diving for cover behind anything they could find. Tali hacked the trooper closest to her, causing it to turn around and started firing back at the other Geth. Making for a great distraction, it allowed Shepard, Ash, Tali and Liara to move to cover, and get the remaining Geth troops in their sights. Tali continued her hacking, keeping a single Geth troop almost constantly under friendly control. The walking battle tank, Wrex, just simply threw himself into the fray, charging in and crushing one Geth, while swinging his shotgun and blasting another in a nearby singularity. If nothing else, he drew the majority of fire, as it was hard, impossible really, for the Geth to ignore the big charging Krogan in their midst. Garrus provided some incredible sniper shots and Kaidan jumped in with warps and singularities, keeping the Geth off balance.

Shepard noticed there seemed to be a lot of energy flowing for a single biotic, so she had a feeling Liara was 'assisting' with some of the workload, even though she had been specifically instructed to be a non-combatant. We'll talk about that later, T'Soni. As that thought passed through her mind, Shepard glanced back over her shoulder to scowl at Liara, but she was nowhere to be seen. Shepard brought her eyes back front. Then again, good job staying under cover, Doctor. You just might have a knack for this!

It wasn't terribly long before the team found themselves at the colony. Attempting to speak with any of the colonists proved an exercise in frustration. After very limited conversation, every one of them had a near identical response, "You should talk to Fai Dan." Shepard cussed under her breath at their lack of cooperation and sought out the colony leader to get some answers.

"Fai Dan? I'm Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy. We came in response to your hail."

A woman in black ExoGeni body armor was standing next to him, and tartly spit out, "A little late, aren't you?"

"Arcelia. These people have come to help." Fai Dan turned to the group, apologetic. "I'm glad you're here, Commander. The Geth have been pressing us pretty hard." A very brief discussion revealed no relevant data. The colony had no idea why the Geth were here, they hadn't seen any sign of Saren, and the Normandy crew was no closer to having any answers when a dropship showed up and more Geth started dropping in from above.

Arcelia yelled, "The Geth are in the tower!" and ran to the nearest barricade.

A quick glance at Liara... "Do not try to follow me, stay with the support group!" and Shepard and Wrex took the lead, literally charging into the tower, smashing into the Geth and blasting away with their shotguns. The rest of the crew was left with mop-up duty as everyone moved up through the tower, one floor at a time. Shepard and Wrex barely slowed, moving so quickly the Geth had no time to prepare for the onslaught. Finally they approached the top floor and Shepard called a halt. The roof was partially collapsed on the tower, and the Geth dropship was visible through the gap.

"Ok, we have no idea how many more platforms are on ship, so we need to make sure we don't get in so deep they can drop behind us. Wrex, Ash and I will go deep; Kaidan, you've got the support team of Tali and Liara...Garrus, find yourself a vantage point and do what you do best. Whatever you do, DO. NOT. expose yourself to direct fire from that ship. No amount of barrier or shield will save you! Let's move!" The lead team penetrated into the upper floor, moving in only so far as the first available cover.

As Geth started to appear, Garrus got the first kill with his sniper rifle and happily called out, "Scratch one!"

Initially, Wrex and Shepard limited themselves to long-range biotics and standard weapons, Wrex with his shotgun and Shepard selecting her Locust SMG. Eventually, the Geth figured out they were at a disadvantage and pulled back into cover, forcing the Normandy team into having to press forward. They didn't have time for a stalemate...siege mentality doesn't work against a synthetic enemy that doesn't need food or water. Shepard, Ash, and Wrex started to move deeper into the room, when suddenly Liara called out, "Shepard! There's a control platform behind us!"

Apparently, a Geth Prime had worked its way into the tower from somewhere below, through a second entrance the team had yet to discover, and came in the same door the team had used earlier to gain access to the top floor. The Prime's first shot blasted Tali before anyone had a chance to react, giving Kaidan and Liara opportunity to dive to opposite sides, hoping to catch the Geth in a crossfire. Unfortunately, Shepard was correct in her assessment...a standard military grade pistol had virtually no effect on the Geth. The two biotics had little choice in their weapons and they could regenerate biotic power only so quickly, so the Prime had a huge advantage. As it turned toward Kaidan, who flared his barrier, the Prime was suddenly rocked by sniper fire from Garrus and a warp from Liara; its shields weakened, but did not drop. Unable to generate a barrier yet because of the warp she just threw, Liara scrambled for cover as the Prime turned toward her. Shepard's world went into slow motion as she called her biotics and charged the Prime in a flash of blue biotic power. Not seeing what Shepard was doing behind him, Kaidan dropped his barrier and threw a massive lift, picking the Prime slightly into the air, helpless. A charged Shepard slammed into the lifted Prime and the resultant explosion destroyed the Prime and blew Shepard off to the side, into a pile of rubble. Liara saw the commander land in a heap and her heart fluttered in fear as she called out, "Shepard!"

Liara bolted to the commander's side and looked on in open-mouthed amazement as Shepard laughed, jumped up and shook herself off, whooping, "Oof! Now, THAT was a hell of a trip!"

Shepard took a quick glance around to check her squad's status and saw Tali, lying very still. The commander's demeanor immediately changed and she rushed to Tali's side, joining Garrus and Ashley who were already working on the little Quarian. Ashley had already checked vitals and applied medigel. Garrus cussed, "Damn it! Her suit is breached. With her compromised immune system, we need to get her back to Chakwas ASAP!"

Shepard gave a worried look and made the call to Karin to let her know she had a critical incoming. "Garrus, Ash, get her back to the Normandy. The rest of us will escort you as far as the divide and then go finish our chat with Fai Dan."

Upon returning to the colony, Fai Dan was still frustratingly non cooperative, insisting he had no information as to what the Geth could possibly want on Feros. Shepard was getting irritated. "You're telling me, that, a week ago, when you sent the request for assistance, it was just because of the Geth. You didn't see a black ship that looks like a big squid, rather difficult to confuse with anything else, and you didn't see a big marauding Turian, or an Asari Matriarch, or any Asari commandos she probably would have had with her. You didn't see ANY of those things, together or alone?"

Fai Dan was frustratingly calm in his response, "I'm sorry, I can't help that. All I can suggest is that ExoGeni may have the information you're looking for. The Geth attacked there first."

Shepard drew a big breath and held it for a few seconds before exhaling and speaking, her words clipped. "So, how do we get to ExoGeni?"

"Take the elevator to the Skyway. It connects us to the other two buildings that ExoGeni was using. I'm pretty sure at least one of the vehicles in the garage still works."

Their biggest fan, Arcelia, couldn't resist adding venom to the mix. "We've beaten the Geth back three times already without your help. Problem is they keep coming back, so they must have a transmitter or homing beacon down in the tunnels. Why don't you do something useful for a change and take that thing out for us?"

Shepard glowered, her face starting to turn red. "Sure, princess. While we're out and about what other errands can we run to help you keep your little colony afloat."

Arcelia was about to make a caustic comeback when Fai Dan stepped in and actually answered the question...civilly. "The Geth have damaged our water supply system, our food supplies are low because a large alpha varren is making hunting too risky, and our power system has been down since our battery bank took a hit. If you can help us become self-sufficient again, we will be very much in your debt." Shepard just stared at him for a moment, surprised by the audacity it took to actually expect the Spectre to do those things. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment and made a decision. She would actually go take care of those things, because shooting more Geth and blasting the shit out of some varren actually sounded like a really good idea at the moment. She turned away from Fai Dan and stalked off to the tunnel entrance, pulling out her shotgun as she walked.

A good many hours later, the team had wandered their way down every inch of tunnel below the colony. They found all the water mains the Geth had closed and reopened each of them, thinned out a rather nasty pack of varren and salvaged some battery packs from an old transporter. Then, they located the transmitter. Taking down the transmitter itself was easy; it was the long narrow corridor, with absolutely no cover, and guarded by Geth assault drones and three Krogan warlords that made it interesting. If Tali had been with the team, it would have been easy. Hack one drone at a time until they shoot each other down, and then blow up the last drone. As it was, the Normandy team had to do it the hard way, which meant playing cat and mouse at the doorway, ducking in and out with shields and barriers, slowly chipping away at the drone shields until they finally dropped, and one at a time the drones eventually got blasted out of the sky. The three Krogan were actually easy by comparison. With Liara and Kaidan teaming up to throw singularity and warp pairings, a charging Krogan Battlemaster with a shotgun, and a deceptive small human female who could slam into you like a freight train, the enemy Krogan went down fast. However, because everything took so long, the team retired to the Normandy for the night, checking out the garage on the way. It contained only a single operational Mako; capacity three. Tomorrow, Shepard would only be able to take a single three-man team into the heart of the Geth invasion. Lovely.

Shepard's first stop when arriving back at the Normandy was the med bay to check on Tali, the rest of the team hot on her trail. Everyone wanted to know how their little Quarian sister was doing. Karin let everyone in for just a few moments, so they could see, in person, that Tali had rallied. She was tired, had been pumped full of pain meds and antibiotics, and would be out of the battle rotation for at least a week, but she would recover; that cheered everyone immensely. Doc Chakwas quickly chased everyone out, but looked at Shepard. "You can have a moment, Commander, but I still need you to keep it short. By the way, nice to see you in one piece for a change."

Shepard grinned and quipped, "Yeah, I figured I've been in so much trouble lately, I'd let Tali take the hit for me this time."

Tali laughed weakly, and replied, "Next time I'll just stick to hacking. I don't think I want this job."

A more somber Shepard stepped up and gently took Tali's hand, giving her some very...Quarian...encouragement. "Heal and recover little sister. Your Captain and crew need you."

Tali responded quietly, "Thank you, Shepard, I will." With that, the commander beat a hasty retreat to ditch her gear, grab a shower, and then have a chat with Ashley.

Shepard stopped in the mess, did a quick check, then headed down to the Armory. "Hey Ash, had dinner yet?" "No, ma'am. Wanted to clean my gear first and get stuff ready for tomorrow."

"Don't ever let it be said I don't appreciate your dedication, but your gear can wait. Come up and grab some chow with me. I need some help."

Ashley looked puzzled. "What? The great Commander Shepard, Hero of Elysium, Captain of the Normandy, Vanguard Supreme, needs help from a poor little Gunny Chief?"

Shepard chuckled. "Exactly right. We all need a little help from our friends now and again. In this case, I need a Gunnery Chief's expertise for a very specific mission."

Ashley grinned."Uh oh, Skipper. Sounds awfully suspicious...I'm not sure I'll be able to help you. This isn't gonna get me tossed in the brig, is it?" Wiggling eyebrows and the mischievous twinkle in Shepard's eyes finally suckered Ashley in. "All right, Skip. Give me two secs to get this stuff put away." Ash stowed her gear and they went up to the crew deck for dinner. Once they had their food, Shepard took them over to an end table, a bit out of the main stream of people coming and going. "Oh yeah, Shepard. Us sitting over in a corner by ourselves doesn't look in the least bit conspicuous...What gives, oh great leader of men?"

Shepard gave Ash a weary look, "Alright, alright. Nothing so exciting. Just need to talk to you about Dr T'Soni."

"Nothing exciting?" Ashley snorted, "That's just the hottest talk on the ship right now, but don't worry, Skipper. I'm cool with it. Most everyone is. I mean, it's not my cup of tea, but our chat the other night really got me to thinking. You're right. I'm not one to judge. You have enough stress in your life with all the shit going on, so if the good Doctor helps you relieve some of that, I'm good with it."

Shepard sat back with somewhat of a stunned look on her face. "Uh...ok. I'm pretty sure I started this conversation, but I'm suddenly not sure what exactly it is we're talking about? I'd hazard a guess that we're not just talking about having alien crew members?"

Ashley was suddenly chagrined. "Oh boy. I just stepped in some shit, didn't I?"

Shepard shook her head and sighed. "Spit it out, Ash. There's obviously some scuttlebutt running around. Guess I need to hear it from you now, on the up and up, instead of catching rumors of it later."

"Ok, don't know how else to say it, so I'll be blunt. Just don't explode and make a scene, ok?" Ashley grimaced as she continued, "Folks have been talking about you 'chatting up' the Asari behind the med bay. Those of us on the ground team, who know her, understand, but the rest of the crew don't have a clue. They don't know who she is or what she does, and they don't get why she's onboard and not in the brig. I'll be honest... with the Asari reputation around the galaxy as, well, uh...you know, 'entertainers', some have even inferred that she's your private... um... stress reducer."

It took every bit of self control she possessed for Shepard to not come out of her chair. She was seething, and her voice was dangerously low. "You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding."

"Fraid not, Skipper...Would you like a suggestion?" All Ashley got in response was a glare. "Well, want it or not, I'm gonna give you one. I do believe you told me to start acting like a Chief; this is my way to show you I've taken that to heart. The way I see it, most of it comes from nobody knowing her. She's shy, and she hides in her room. Even grabs her meals and eats in there alone most days. She doesn't socialize with anybody, really. She needs to come out. Eat meals with the crew, socialize at night. She doesn't have to play poker or drink with us, but come out and at least talk to people. She needs to tell her story, so people get to know her. It'll go a long way to setting this right."

"Well, fuck me. Last thing I wanted was to make life more difficult for her. Since we're being all so honest... Liara and I have talked about it, the potential for a relationship, but that's it; just talk. Being the daughter of a Matriarch, she's led a pretty sheltered life. I don't know if it's me, or the fact that I'm a human and she has no experience with us or what, but she's very unsure of herself as far as a relationship with me goes. It may not just be me. I get the feeling she hasn't been in any type of serious relationship. All she's ever done is study." Shepard smiles softly. "It's kinda cute. I love it about her."

Ashley snorted, "A 106-year-old virgin?" A dark shadow crossed Shepard's face and Ashley straightened up. "Sorry Commander, just joshin' ya. But you were smiling...just talking about her makes you happy, Skipper. Happy like I never see you with anybody else. It's amazing, the change that comes over you when she's in the room. It's cool. Don't let anything, or anyone, take that away from you."

Shepard looked befuddled. "Wow. I had no idea I was that obvious. Ok. That was really... unexpected. Thanks...I guess? I needed to hear it, so I can try to head it off before it explodes. I'll see what I can do to draw her out a bit, but I don't think her being seen only in my presence will help much. I'll talk to Garrus, and maybe you can talk to Tali when she's up and about again. Believe it or not, it makes a great lead in to what I actually wanted to talk to you about. I'm going to send her down to the armory tomorrow morning. Get her fitted in light armor, Predator if she can handle it, Mantis if not, and get her something with more punch than that Striker pistol she has, maybe a Shuriken or Locust SMG whichever she's more comfortable with, and pack it with some decent mods. She did pretty good today, showed good instincts. I need her if we find any Prothean tech, so if she going with us, she needs to be protected just like everyone else on the crew."

"I'm on it, Skipper. People start seeing her in battle gear, they might think about her role on the ship being other than your morale booster. Don't worry; I'll get her set up. And I'll see if I can't get her out to eat breakfast with me in the mornings. I think you normally have dinner covered. She's probably in there starving to death, waiting for you to show up." Ashley laughed at the expression on Shepard's face. "I know that look. See ya, Skipper!"

"Crap. I guess I have gotten into that habit, huh. Thanks, Ash. Really. Good to know you've got my back." Shepard stood up and headed on over to the med bay, not exactly sure how this conversation with Liara was going to go.