Local Cluster
Earth, Citadel Tower

There hardly seemed to be any change with the Citadel Tower. Memories assailed Garrus as he strolled down the passage he had once taken with Shepard in their bid to stop Saren. He could hear the wailing of the alarm, the muffled thump of explosions, smoke from spreading fires clouding their vision, bodies that lay sprawled everywhere. The noisy rattle of his breath within his helmet, the weight of the sniper rifle in his hands. The tension that gripped him so tightly that he feared he would freeze at the wrong moment. Then, out of the midst of the smoke, familiar silhouettes that rose to meet them and all hell broke loose. He blinked. The passage was pristine as if nothing had happened. Shaking his head, he climbed the steps to the upper level to the fountain.

Eight years it had been when he last stepped foot in the Council Chambers. Leaning against the railing, he stared dreamily at the flowering spray of the fountain, a fine cool mist sprinkling from spouts, water bubbling at the base. At this very spot, he spoke to Executor Pallin before having a brief dialogue with a human. A dialogue that changed the course of his life. Though her demeanor was polite, there was suspicion in her gaze. Then, Shepard was like every other human he saw around the space station. A slight notch above, given that she was a soldier but there was an intriguing air of presence about her that he noted but not paid much attention to. His focus was taken up with the investigation he was tasked with.

It was the beginning. The catalyst that transformed his life and started him on a journey that turned him inside out. Without her, he would not have achieved what he did, would not have understood what he was and what he could do. He would not be standing where he was today. It seemed like a dream sometimes when he thought about it. He wished she was on the station, truth be told. Her absence was dearly felt after they went their separate ways after the war. They kept in contact through emails but there was nothing like shared companionship, the bond they formed in their journeys. If he had known that she was in need of support, he would have dropped everything and go to her. Even though Liara said it wouldn't have done any good, still, he would want to be there for her, as she was there for him when he was deep in the pits.

"What are you thinking of, Vakarian?" someone said behind him.

Turning his head, his eyes gleamed and his jaw flaps twitched in appreciation at the attire his mate wore. A simple but elaborate knee-length tunic with slightly flaring shoulders and fine woven pants over soft boots. The colours and style accented the luster of her skin and the face tattoo.

"I met her here. This was where it all began." He turned to look at the spot, a few paces from the top of the stairs. For a moment, ghostly effigies stood there. "I haven't been doing my best for her."

"You're too hard on yourself. I'm sure she is well aware that duties kept you bound." Lemilia touched his shoulder lightly. "As with most of us."

"So much to say and all I could put in was something stupid and mundane."

"Garrus Vakarian." She turned his face fully to her. "They will be different when next you see her. When you can speak with the spirits."

Exactly what he was thinking but it didn't seem possible. "It'll probably take years," he said. "Our paths are not going to cross that soon, Lemilia."

"And they will cross," she said firmly, "does it matter when?" she added as she gestured to the stairs. She wasn't going to let him wallow about. "Shall we move on? We are dawdling."

Chuckling at her impatience with their progress, he headed for the next flight of stairs that led to the ante gardens. He sniffed appreciatively. The air was permeated with the light scent of flowers. Blazing in brilliance by artfully placed lights, trees held up their crowns with pride. Unseen birds within the foliage crooned and trilled softly. He marveled at the restoration and was glad he was not alone in the appreciation. Studying his mate out of the corner of his eye, he was pleased to see that she was enraptured. It had been a long time since he saw her so relax.

"It's been so long. I've forgotten the smallest spirits that share this life with us," she whispered. He followed her gaze.

Nestled high above was an asari Qiori, its sparkling iridescence wings folded against body. A male, judging from the crest and amber-tipped tail. It looked down at them, unafraid. Such birds were highly prized for their intelligence and their beautiful, complex song weaving.

"When was the last time either of us took a moment to breathe?" he said softly.

"Too long," she said sadly, thinking of the years they spent on board one military ship after another, moving continuously from one battle to another in the years that followed the end of the war. She lingered for a moment before moving on. "Is it usually so deserted?" she asked, resuming her stroll and glanced at the empty benches along the promenade.

Now that she mentioned it, there was hardly anyone to be seen. Petitioners, politicians and the occasional dignitaries that would customarily wander around the gardens were absent.

"Not usually no." Garrus eyed the Keeper marching ahead of them. Seeing it made him wonder for the umpteenth time if the enigmatic keepers were sentient enough to realise that their masters were dead. "There are a few reasons why there's no one around." He picked up his pace, skirting the keeper. "Let's head up to the Petitioner's Stage."

"We would be so lucky to witness a momentous galactic event," she said half-jokingly.

He winced. "I sincerely hope not. The last time that happened, we were nearly stomped into the ground."

"That is quite an audience," she said when they moved clear of the last line of trees.

He saw what she meant at once. The viewing gallery of the audience chamber, from the bottom to the top was jammed with people. The implications of such a large gathering was disturbing. His stride lengthened. Near his height, she kept abreast easily, her jaw flaps clenched tightly for she sensed trouble. His unease increased when they approached the stairs. The crowd was altogether too silent. No one was speaking to anyone, all attention was focused on a voice rising from the Petitioner's Stage that they could now hear.

"...cannot establish or even sustain the growth and prosperity that we sought. Respectfully, we ask for broad dissemination of the solution."

Solution? Solution to what? The flanging in the tone gave away the identity of the speaker. He wondered which turian politician was trying to get the ante up on Sparatus. So tightly packed was the press of the crowd before them there was no possibility that they could make their way to the front.

"Solution. A piece of fabrication of no substance," came Sparatus's dismissive voice. "Deceptive material presented under false petition."

"For every deception, there is the truth. An undeniable fact!"

"This course of action is illegal." Valern's high-pitched voice was distinctive. "The Council will not condone such duplicity. Your petition is dismissed."

"Are we to sit by idly by when you have been withholding information that could eliminate the plague that have been eating away at us all? How many more must die before you act to remove the TI entirely?!" The petitioner's contemptuous anger was clear in his biting tone.

Spirits! There was a solution? Garrus exchanged a startled look with Lemilia. The rumble that rose from the crowd echoed their amazement. It swiftly grew to incredulity and anger as onlookers began to speak to friends and neighbours. Was there truth in the petitioner's words?

"Present your evidence," someone said.

A voice Garrus didn't recognise. It wasn't Tevos's. He supposed it belonged to the newly elected human representative. Councilor Flewinne, if he remembered correctly. The post had remained empty for five years since Udina's death. Such was the mire of human affairs after the war. Leaving Hackett the de facto emissary. Until now.

"You know where the evidence is. On Sur'Kesh!"

"Is that all you have to say? Your intention is baseless," Sparatus returned coldly.

"There is a witness I dare you to deny. I call on Shepard!"

The murmurings grew louder at that name.

"Captain Shepard has important duties to attend to than to answer preposterous questions," said Sparatus.

"I was here the day she spoke of Saren's treachery. I was here when she warned you of the Reapers. What did you say then?!" the petitioner shouted. "You dismissed all her charges. You ignored them. You hid the truth of the Reapers from us. It was only when they began their invasion that you dropped the curtain of lies. By then, it was already too late. Millions died. If not for Shepard, we would all have died. Now she has found an answer to the TI question, you are silencing her again! How much more blood must you drench yourselves with before you're satisfied?!"

The murmurings became a roar. Hooting, whistles and shouting began to rise from all corners of the chamber. Questions and disparagement were flung from all corners at the councilors. Garrus quickly guided Lemilia back several steps when the crowd before them began to stir agitatedly. He debated getting out of the Council Chambers before tempers flared out of control. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the arrival of several C-Sec officers. The noise grew louder and louder, drowning out Sparatus's reply. A deafening thunder suddenly blotted out the cacophony. So shearing was the sound that everyone clapped their hands over their ears protectively, their anger forgotten momentarily. The echoes died away slowly.

"If I may speak," came Tevos's calm soothing voice. "Yes, Shepard did warn us of the Reapers. If you were there that day, then you also knew that she could not present verifiable evidence. Her knowledge came from a visual message that was given to her from a Prothean beacon. We could not commit any faith in such fragile assertions and could only support her quest to search for the truth."

"Support?" Garrus muttered under his breath, recalling how much grief and stonewalling they threw at Shepard.

"No proof?" the petitioner scorned. "The proof came knocking on the Citadel with the geth! That was the day when the Systems Alliance had to step in to save us all when you couldn't!"

"There was no reason to think there were any other adversaries than the Geth Heretics," Tevos returned smoothly. "From what adversarial model could we draw on then to say with surety that the Geth Heretics had a Reaper with them? Should we spread unjustified counsel on the community? Would you have readily accepted such frail determination without any concrete evidence?"

The crowd murmured uncertainly as the counter argument struck home. Would they have believed?

"The TI menace touches and afflicts, it spares no one. If there is a way to end it quickly, we can assure you, we will spare no effort to see it done." The conviction in her voice rang through the vast chamber.

"This session is ended," Sparatus said firmly when the crowd remained quiescent though they were obviously still indecisive.

"No. It's not the end, Sparatus, you liar!" the petitioner shouted. "The Reaper that came with the Geth Heretics was created of an advance technology far beyond our own or the geth. Such a fact is more than enough to raise questions on its origins! How can you deny it?! How can you..."

"This audience is ended," Valern announced with finality.

"Come, we better get out of here," Garrus said, gesturing back to the garden.

Curiosity satisfied, it was time to beat a retreat from a situation that was turning explosive. He was confident that he and Lemilia could handle any trouble but he was not inclined to inflict injuries on innocent civilians whose passions were being whipped into a frenzy by the petitioner's accusatory rant. From the roar behind him as they hurried back to the garden, it sounded like that was exactly what was going to happen. The Councilors would have made their exit by now. There was no way the crowd could reach them short of leaping across the gap between the Councilors' podium and the petitioner's stage. He didn't envy the C-Sec officers right now. They were going to have a handful with that crowd.

"Spirits!"

He halted mid-stride and looked back in consternation when a gunshot rang out. The furor was silenced. Someone screamed. Then unexpectedly, everything went dark. Voices began to babble, their fear carried clearly in the air.

"Stay still," he said.

He turned on his omni-tool, blinking in the flare of amber light. As he looked towards the Audience Chamber, he saw a sea of omni-tool amber glows, weaving this way and that as their bearers sought to get out of the Citadel Tower. The shooting seemed to have been forgotten in the new crisis.

However, something was wrong, he felt it in his bones. But what? It took some time before he realised what it was. After years on the Citadel, he was all but inured to the deep bass-like acoustic generated by the reactor core of the space station. It was a subtle pressure he was used to but now, it was missing. That meant the reactor core had shut down. Why? How? Who had done it? Was it deliberate or accidental? Neither premise bode well.

"Garrus, should be we proceed to the stairs?" asked Lemilia. Her tone was practical than frightened, looking to him to guide her since he was more familiar with the place than she.

"We stay here until those people are dealt with," he said.

Stumbling about in the dark with frightened people was not healthy especially with the chaos that must be erupting all over the station. Accidents and injuries would pile up like torquats after sumaqs. He hoped no deaths would occur in the panicked rush to get to safety. Besides, he was not sure it would make any difference where they go. Depending on how long the space station could maintain rotational momentum, they could find themselves floating helplessly.

Shepard, old friend, I hope you are having a better time than I am.

SSV Glasgow

For a moment, April didn't know where she was except that she felt well rested. Stretching slightly, she luxuriated in the feeling of peace and well-being and became aware of the body flushed against her back, the arm draped across her stomach and legs entangled with her own. Seeping in were sensations of throbbing soreness and familiar scents. She flushed as memories came flooding in of the 'punishment' meted out by Liara. Such was the prolonged moments of wild ecstasy that she was certain she was almost screaming at one point. The proof of that was making itself felt. She tried to generate moisture in a horribly dry sore throat. Fervently, she hoped their next door neighbour was conveniently away on duty. Compartment bulkheads were not exactly a hundred percent soundproof.

Would it matter if they were not? {amusement}

You know how it is. Current's slower than the Normandy but it still gets spread around.

She shivered when Liara trailed her lips along her shoulder, running fingertips teasingly under her breasts before sitting up and scooting off the bed. Knowing what her bondmate was about, she sat up and leaned against the headboard and jerked upright when something jabbed into her side. Reaching down, she pulled up the datapad she had tossed aside hours earlier. Six hours ago. The numbers on the chronometer blinked baldly at her when she peered at it. Near dawn on the Glasgow. She turned on the light above the bunk. Settling back against the headboard, she began to read the rest of the messages.

Pouring two glasses of water from the water dispenser, Liara returned to the bed. Maneuvering over April carefully, she settled down beside her and handed her one of the glasses. Sending her thanks through their link, April drank deeply. The water was balm on the desert parch that was her throat. Such was the cooling relief that she closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to resume her reading, unaware of Liara's pensive gaze.

"Miranda wants me to try to talk to Santino and pick his brains," she snorted in annoyance at the suggestion. "I don't see how that's going to help. With all those yottabits of Cerberus files pulled from Omega, we don't need him."

"It is too early to arrive at that assumption," Liara said cautiously, "it will take days to sift through a volume that large."

"You'll find something or Langdon will, he has the bigger staff," April said confidently, moving to the next message. "Hmmm...that's funny."

"What?"

"Karin asks after us and says she'd like to have another Serrice Ice Brandy session at our earliest convenience."

"Perhaps she has something important to discuss with you."

Mentally, Liara made a note to get hold of Dr Chakwas before April did. The email sounded strange to her. The sending of it was off schedule, so to speak. Dr Chakwas usually corresponded during human festive seasons.

"Yeah, maybe along the lines of your cybernetic implants are going offline in Z-minus how many days and..," April said jokingly.

"April, that is not funny."

The biting tone was a surprise. Belatedly, April realised Liara was upset. It couldn't possibly be over the Craidan incident. Maybe it was the work load from Thessia? Or maybe it was because she was pregnant. It didn't matter. The point was that Liara was not happy, she could feel it seeping it through their link.

"Um, sorry," April said hurriedly, "I shouldn't have said that. Maybe Chakwas really misses our company." That was highly unlikely and totally absurd but she simply threw out the first lame explanation that came to mind. "I'll tell her she's welcome to drop in on us any time once we return to Thessia." She thumbed for the next message which she saw was from Admiral Langdon. "Uh oh..."

"What is it?" Liara muttered distractedly, half focused on working out the reason Chakwas would want to see April.

"The teams he sent to the Terra Firma colonies found them abandoned." April read the rest of the contents again to be sure. "They seemed to have departed in an orderly manner because not a single nut or bolt can be found. Sounds familiar?"

That caught Liara's attention. "Removing everything could mean a few things."

"I'm thinking there's another reason why the refugees were able to stay as long as they did at the colony," April said slowly. "Those refugees provided the perfect cover for any clandestine operations. If any Alliance ship dropped in, they could be distracted with the plight of the refugees. They wouldn't think to look for anything else if the colony administration continuously bombarded them with the inadequacy of Alliance and Council aid. Behind that cloak of righteous affront, they could slyly slip off a few hundred refugees to Cerberus and whatever operations they were working on."

"Bethia never confirmed that," said Liara.

"She may not know. The two colonies harboured eight thousand or more refugees. No one's going to know exactly what's going on if they were housed in different zones and cut off from one another. Besides, Bethia and the rest are malnourished and exhausted, they won't be thinking straight. Their debriefings don't take place until a week later. I think they would remember a lot more by then."

"If they were removing people secretly, that would explain why they decided to shift the remainder to Omega when the Council announced the census."

"They pulled up stakes because they knew their dirt would be unearthed."

Liara sighed. "It is going to take days, weeks to find out where they went. If there is any clue in the Omega files."

"I'm more interested in what they've doing at the colony," April muttered, reading the email again to make sure she missed nothing. "Langdon says the teams will continue to search for hidden caches and underground bunkers."

The last caught Liara's attention. "They might not have left at all."

"Uh huh," April nodded. "I've a feeling they've packed for parts unknown. I doubt they'll join up with Cerberus."

"You could be right." Liara swirled the remaining water in her glass as she stared at it.

"What do you mean?" April frowned for it seemed her bondmate knew something.

"I am waiting for Feron's next message. His last report revealed an extraordinary amount of hardware were traded. Enough to build a small fleet. He is tracking down the remaining traders to get hold of their contracts."

"Hmm."

April moved on to the next message, knowing that once she was absolutely certain her information was correct, Liara would share what she knew. The lengthy block of emails from her trainees was a pleasant surprise. There were too many so she picked out those she had more contact with to read first, the squad leaders. She smiled at two familiar names attached to the block at the bottom.

"Training is going well," she murmured after a while. "With Nyrine unshackled and working all out with Sanar, the trainees felt the impact. They sound a lot more confident. They also want to know when I'm going to be back."

"What do you think?" Liara said, once more distracted in guessing the intent behind Dr Chakwas's desire to meet.

"It's tough," April sighed. "Once Ilos is settled, I'd like to get back to Thessia but the old man would probably keep sending me off on some matter about Cerberus."

"And Cerberus is a matter we both prefer to see to an end ourselves." Leaning across April, Liara placed her empty glass on the nightstand.

"I know. It's..," April exhaled gustily before saying cautiously, "going to take months and months. You realise you might not be mobile at the end."

"You are not leaving me behind on Thessia while you gallivant off elsewhere." Lips compressed thinly, Liara glared at her.

Wincing inwardly, for that was precisely what she thinking of, April hastily denied it. "Did I say that? I'm only saying you'll have trouble moving about if we can't locate them in the next six months but I guess we can return to Thessia when things slack off," she added quickly. "We've been moving from one trouble spot to another the minute we left Thessia, I'm sure the old man wouldn't mind our taking some time off." She scrolled to the next message, eager to leave the issue behind and grinned in delight. "Hey, a message from Garrus."

Aware that her bondmate wanted to drop the subject, Liara did not pursue the matter. Should April try to persuade her to stay on Thessia while she went off to deal with Cerberus, she would not hold back her punches. Drawing up her legs, Liara rested her chin on her knees.

"Goddess, it has been so long since we last saw him," she said wistfully, recalling the private gathering they had with all those who survived after the war. It was a difficult and emotional get together but bitter sweet the victory was, they were glad to have made it. They made a point of contacting one another at every anniversary.

"Well, he threw out the usual stuff, drinks at the bar, etc-," April chuckled at the next line, "and a challenge to another sniping competition. Is he getting maudlin in his old age or what? Says he really misses the good old times. That's the third time he mentions it."

"Maybe he is looking for someone to talk to. Someone he does not have to hold back on," Liara suggested.

April stared at her in astonishment. "Do you know something?"

"He is doing fine. Perhaps, too well for some who might not look kindly on his swift rise through the ranks."

"Oh that. Yeah, he hates that." April shook her head, glad that things were simpler at her end. For that, she supposed she had the old man to thank. "I'll see if we can't meet some time soon, I miss that ugly face of his." She turned back to the datapad and saw there was one last email. Her cheerful mood dropped when she saw the sender's name.

Well aware of her shock, Liara said carefully and hopefully, "Are you going to read that?"

"After all this time...what do you suppose she has to say?" April stared at the name with longing and uncertainty.

"Perhaps something important." Liara peered at April's frozen and closed face. Shunting away the temptation to taste her feelings through their link, she said gently, "April, she is reaching out to you, will you not read what she has to say? April?" She watched with dismay when her bondmate closed off the datapad and placed it and her glass on the nightstand. "Would you rather I read it to you?" Her heart sank when her bondmate shuffled down to lie on the bed. "April?"

"Leave it, Liara. I'll get round to it eventually." April pillowed her head with her hands. Perhaps never.

Biting back a sigh, Liara remained silent. The stubborn glint in those blue eyes was all too familiar. She was not keen to spark any unhappiness between them with an argument. Not with the new found bond between them in the initial stages. Restraining the urge to prod her bondmate, she leaned over and turned off the light before nestling against April, feeling her arms enfolding her. She wondered if Hannah Shepard had held her daughter unreservedly.

"Just give me some time, love," April said soothingly, not wishing Liara to brood over the strained ties between her and her mother. "A few more hours to go before we hit Ilos, try to sleep. I don't think you've been getting much of that."

"I've been thinking of getting something else." Liara laughed softly, running her hand over her lover's chest.

"Sleep, you wanton hussy," April scolded, taking the wandering hand in her own, hearing laughter in her ear before warm lips closed over her own.

Unknown Location

"I'm sorry, sir," the Cerberus commander said nasally, not sounding sorry at all. "Our last communications with Taskforce 2.1 confirmed Allied presence in the Sahrabarik System. With the destruction of the CSV Ames, we can only send probes for recon."

Saracino's hand clenched before relaxing. "Cancel the recon. I want defenses on all the bases boosted and guards doubled."

"Sir." The commander saluted before he closed off the comm.

Anger flared. He slammed a fist on the desk. It shouldn't have been that way. Weren't the Alliance strapped for resources? How did they have the ships to send to the system? Turning to his console, he called up the last few data dumps that were transmitted from Omega before the entire project was scrubbed. Some of the experiments were showing positive outcomes before control of the station was lost. Given the years hence, if any of the experiments survived, they should have reached their full potential. He called up a holomap of active bases, ships and personnel. Should he make another attempt? He rubbed his eyes impatiently when his vision went slightly cloudy.

Frowning, he mentally shifted the groups about, trying to gauge reactions and plausible responses from the opposition. Working with outdated and flawed data was a huge disadvantage but his opposition was holding the same short end of the stick as he was. They were both swinging blind and they were lucky enough to have bloodied his nose first. They wouldn't be so fortunate in their next encounter, he had to make sure of that.

He shook his head when his vision clouded again. It was happening too often, a warning prelude to an attack. He hastily reached for the med injector that lay beside the coffee cup when he felt the throbbing in his temples. Too late, his fingers reached and missed as pain lanced through his head. Hunched over, he panted, sweated and suffered the pain in silence. When it abated slightly, he grabbed the med injector and jammed it against his neck, gasping in relief when the pain vanished swiftly. Tossing the injector back on the table with shaking fingers, he leaned back against the chair, trying to calm his racing heart before getting to his feet and walked to the bathroom. Stripping off the wet shirt, he wiped himself dry with a towel before throwing it into the clothes bin, staring at the wall mirror.

Did he look more haggard? Turning his face side to side, he tried to determine if his cheekbones were more prominent but they seemed the same. Was that black streaks at his hairline? He squeezed his eyes shut and looked again. God, he didn't know any more. Turning away, he got a clean shirt from the clothes rack beside the door and returned to his desk, noting that the search program he initiated on the data dumps had turned up a blank. Had the project at Omega failed after all? Siting back down in his chair, he considered for a moment before keying in a code on the comm channel. The call was picked up by a lean face man with grey eyes.

"Lance, initiate Taskforce Elysian," he said.

Lance smiled in delight before his happiness dimmed slightly. "You are certain," he said. "We can wait if you want to collate more data."

Saracino shook his head. "The Omega project failed. We'll go with what we have gathered. Begin your preparations now,"

He closed the comm before Lance could ask any more questions and turned back to the holomap. Where was he? Ah yes. Where should he set out his pieces? It was like a game of chess really. Move a pawn right and an important enemy asset could be removed. Or move an asset as a gamble and hoped the returns paid off. Of those two, he was willing to bet he had the most pawns and assets to play around with, courtesy of the Reapers. If he played his cards right, made all the right moves, he would walk off into the sunset with his beloved. The universe at his feet.

Such a rosy outcome. How could he not do his best? He was the best tactician among all. The mentor said so. Even hinted that he was the heir he was looking for. And so, he could not fail. He winced when tiny glimmers of pain seeped in. Wasn't the painkiller working? He rubbed his eyes. He had to do something. The headaches were coming on more stronger and his vision was unstable. At times he could see the tiniest object at the other end of the room and on other times, he could see nothing but a strange grey cloud with writhing threads. He considered before hitting the comm key to medlab. The call was answered by a woman in a labsuit. Her blue eyes glowed at him but he did not look away.

"Doctor, I'm going to take you up on that suggestion. I'm coming in."