"Alright everybody, stow the chatter and listen up." Shepard crossed her arms as she gazed around the Normandy's makeshift meeting table. Across from her, Tali and Chakwas deactivated their omni-tools while Garrus set down the pistol he had been fiddling with. To her side, Liara leaned forwards from the sagging frame of the couch as she lowered her own datapad to give Shepard her full attention. Nodding with satisfaction, she continued, "Right, so this meeting's got two main points. First up, we now know for sure that this Cerberus group is tracking us somehow." Motioning towards Garrus, she inquired, "Do we know exactly how they're following us yet?"

Garrus shook his head, his expression grim. "Tali and I checked out the entire ship, so we know that they don't have a tracking beacon on us. As far as software goes, we're still compiling a scan of the Normandy's internal systems, but nothing's come up yet." He shrugged, his mandibles twitching in frustration. "Even if we missed something, it wouldn't explain how someone got onto the ship to attach it in the first place."

Next to him, Tali crossed her arms. "We didn't miss anything, don't insult me Garrus."

"You know, it's entirely possible that you two are overthinking this a bit." All eyes turned towards Chakwas, who shifted slightly in her seat before elaborating, "I'm just saying, if I were a mysterious group of people trying to hunt us down, investigating our home planets is probably the first place I'd start. Not to mention, they found us at Liara's home, and as a professor she has a very public profile on the extranet full of little details like where she works or where she's from."

Shepard frowned as a small pit of dread manifested low in her abdomen. "Great, so either they have an invisible probe on the ship or they have enough resources to put on a full-scale manhunt just for us."

Liara chuckled suddenly, prompting Shepard to turn towards her with a puzzled expression. "I'm sorry, it's just that–'' She cut off as another laugh bubbled up, causing Shepard's heart to kick painfully in her chest. "I think an ambitious teenager would probably be able to track you down, Shepard." At Shepard's confused frown, she elaborated, "Your business website isn't exactly subtle. The entire thing is plastered with your name and covered in flame decals."

Begrudgingly, Shepard cracked a grin as Tali guffawed across the table. "Hey, I'll have you know that I pride myself in the presentability of The Shepherds and any of our affiliated extranet pages."

Leaning forwards as she laughed along, Chakwas gestured towards Liara. "Actually Liara, speaking of your university, how do you find time to actually work or teach at Serrice if you spend all your time gallivanting around with us?"

"Oh, I am actually on sabbatical right now, so technically all of this is work for the university. My last sabbatical was also quite interesting, I got to spend an entire year investigating ancient irrigation methods in–"

Shepard dropped a hand onto Liara's shoulder to cut her off. "As interesting as I'm sure this story is, let's refocus for a second." Liara nodded as a soft purple blush bloomed across her face, and with a poorly suppressed smile Shepard turned back towards the rest of the team. "So, just to restate things, we don't know how or why Cerberus is tracking us, so from this point forward all operations will be carried out under the assumption that wherever we go, they'll be right behind us. I've had enough of their little surprise attacks, so I want everyone to stay frosty for the time being. Am I clear?"

Every head in the room nodded firmly in assent. Satisfied her point had landed, Shepard sat back down on the couch next to Liara. "Alright, for our second talking point, T'Soni here's gonna explain where we're going and what we're after."

Liara nodded, her brow furrowed in concentration as she shifted to sit more upright on the couch. The motion brought her leg forwards just far enough to bump into the side of Shepard's thigh, who suddenly found her brain blanking from the contact. "Our current destination is the planet Rayingri in the Gagarin system. Apparently, the climate over much of the planet is quite temperate, and virtually the entire planet remains unsettled."

Across the table, Garrus crossed his arms. "Wait, I've heard of Rayingri before. Isn't that the one with the moon problem?"

Nodding, Liara replied, "Yes, unfortunately Rayingri's moon, Vahtz, has been trapped in a decaying orbit over the planet for the last ten thousand years or so. This has wreaked incredible damage to the ecology of both planets, and in the next one or two hundred years the two will tear each other apart. The region we will be traveling to in particular has been radically altered, as it now resembles a barren desert plagued by windstorms and spontaneous earthquakes."

Shepard shifted uncomfortably, still doing her best not to focus on the patch of warmth spreading through her pants where Liara's leg rested up against her own. "Everyone loves a good wasteland, right?"

Wincing, Liara shrugged. "I admit, it is not exactly my vacation destination of choice, but what is waiting for us down there will be worth it."

She leaned to one side to open up her satchel, and after a moment she dropped her journal onto the table and flipped open to a page covered in rough sketches and scrawling asari text. "When we first arrived on Serrice, I found myself with very little to go on towards finding the next piece of the Ring of Life, and even with all that we have discovered so far there was very little to point towards the next clue." She paused for a moment, her brows furrowing slightly. "Almost as if someone didn't want this artifact to be found."

She went quiet for a moment, until finally Shepard gently bumped her leg against Liara's. "So, did you find anything?"

Liara blinked, then looked over towards Shepard as a confident grin spread across her face. "Well, of course. Almost anything hidden can be discovered with a little bit of effort." Turning back towards her notebook with an energetic twinkle in her eye, she continued, "I decided to look through anything I could find on the Ring of Life, figuring that maybe there would be some overlap between the many different cultural legends on the topic. In my search, one phrase in particular came up over and over again." Leaning forwards, she pointed towards an underlined phrase in the notebook. "The words 'water of life' or 'spring of eternal life' or some such variation appears in major religions or mythology across nearly every species in the galaxy. I figured that the odds of this being a coincidence were incredibly minute, so I spent the majority of my time on Thessia looking into this."

She leaned back from her journal, causing Shepard to swallow thickly as their legs rubbed up against each other once again. "I quickly discovered mentions of several Prothean structures located in or around large bodies of water, but most of these either have been fully explored already by other scholars or simply didn't match the architectural styles we've seen in the ruins on Jiwai. After several days, however, I finally realized that I had overlooked a crucial variable in my search." Turning once again towards Shepard, Liara's voice lilted with excitement as her eyes narrowed mysteriously. "Time."

To Shepard's right, Chakwas softly gasped. "The water isn't there anymore, is it?"

Liara smiled, looking more confident and invigorated than Shepard had ever seen her before. "Exactly, Doctor. The Protheans built all of their great structures and wrote all of the clues they left behind over fifty thousand years ago; plenty of time for an ocean to dry up or for a planet's climate to change drastically under the right conditions. Furthermore, I found a single copy of an old archaeological journal mentioning a large pyramid built into the base of an ancient ocean, now completely burned away from climate change. However, they were not able to properly investigate the structure due to the atmospheric dangers caused by Vahtz, and ever since the location has been abandoned."

Leaning forwards, Shepard encouragingly patted Liara on the knee. "Doc, this is incredible. Our next piece is gonna be in that pyramid then, huh?"

Rather than answer the question, Liara swallowed thickly as a violet blush slowly blossomed across her face, and looking down Shepard realized her hand was still resting on Liara's leg. Snatching her hand back, she awkwardly crossed her arms and leaned back into the couch to try to create some distance. Trying to ignore how her heartbeat was now pounding in her ears, she risked a glance around the table to see Garrus smugly smirking at her while Chakwas casually lifted a hand up to her mouth to try to hide a smile.

Feeling her face prickle with warmth, Shepard turned back towards Liara with a desperate expression. Snapping out of her own little trance, Liara cleared her throat loudly. "Yes, I do believe that the next piece of the puzzle will be in the pyramid. The challenge for us, however, will probably be getting inside the structure at all. Since the area has barely been explored, no one has ever successfully unearthed an entrance so I fear we will have to do all the work ourselves."

She turned to rummage through her bag once again, continuing, "As you already said, it is extremely likely Cerberus will be close behind us, but I think I can explain why." Withdrawing her hands from the bag, Shepard watched as Liara gently set the curved stone fragment of the Ring of Life onto the meeting table. Instantly, the ambient temperature dropped noticeably as a pall fell across the room, creating an uncomfortable quiet that settled around the table.

After a moment's pause, Liara broke the silence. "Of our two encounters with Cerberus, the first was on the very planet where we found this fragment, which they seemed to have been investigating for themselves. Furthermore, Miranda seemed convinced that Cerberus was tracking her as well, which is why she allowed me to take the fragment." Gesturing towards Shepard, she continued, "Shepard's vision during her brief coma also offers us a clue. She saw three pieces of the ring, all broken apart and scattered in different directions, and we have already encountered Cerberus troops in multiple different star systems. All together, it seems that whoever they are, Cerberus has some sort of fascination with collecting the pieces of the Ring of Life, same as us."

Tali leaned forwards to rest her elbows on the table. "Maybe they're also a group of archaeologists. You know, very unfriendly archaeologists with a small army that hates us."

Liara shook her head. "In my experience, people who resort to violence over relics such as this tend to be mercenaries, usually either hired by private collectors or particularly desperate museums who need a quick cash grab."

"Giving us reputable mercs a bad name," Shepard grumbled.

Leaning forwards to match Tali's posture, Garrus asked, "Is there any tactical reason a group like this would want the Ring? Any other reason besides just the money that you can think of?"

Frowning, Liara tilted her head to one side thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose that would depend on how much of the legend of the Ring you believe in."

Leaning forwards, she quickly jumped into the beginning of what seemed to Shepard an almost impossibly detailed explanation of what each major galactic culture believed the Ring of Life was capable of, many of which involved stories of either prolonging life or resurrecting the dead. However, rather than pay attention to this, Shepard found herself examining Liara herself. Having been able to restock her supply of clean clothes on Serrice, Liara was now sporting a white button-down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and the top two buttons casually left undone to reveal a pair of sculpted collar bones. On each shoulder, a pair of leather suspenders wrapped down towards her pants, which were thick hiking trousers fitted tightly to her long legs as they disappeared down underneath the meeting table.

A low, pulsing warmth started to suffuse through Shepard, starting deep in her stomach and slowly working its way up to the back of her neck, and with a start she realized she had completely missed the first thirty seconds of Liara's explanation. Forcing her gaze back up to Liara's face, she found herself basking in the sudden radiance of Liara's passion for history, clear as day in the creases of her wide smile and the energy practically glowing in her eyes as she explained the nuances of some ancient Batarian mythology. Now fully invested in the results of her research, her shoulders relaxed into a confident posture as she gesticulated dramatically, no sign of reservation or hesitation to be found as she spoke. Blinking, Shepard found herself suddenly grateful to be allowed to see Liara truly relax and enjoy herself for a moment.

As she watched, Liara's gaze briefly flickered over to meet her own, before a moment later she bashfully returned to her explanation with a purple tint to her cheeks. Shepard's heart kicked once, twice in her chest, hard enough to hurt, accompanied by a sudden swooping in her gut. Oh. Her eyes widening, she attempted to school her face into a neutral expression to avoid betraying the sudden revelation dawning on her, as clear and inescapable as the emotions now boiling over behind her impassive mask. Oh, shit.

Suddenly, Garrus' voice cut through the fog surrounding her brain. "What do you think, Shepard?"

Shepard blinked as she realized she had tuned out once again. Nervously moving her hands together, she started to work through her fingers to pop each joint. "I, uh–" she began, before clearing her throat roughly. "I think I missed that last part, sorry."

Garrus' eyes narrowed suspiciously as his mandibles twitched. "I was asking if you think we should adjust our ground tactics to prepare for any potential ancient-magic-space-stone situations."

"Ah, right." Shepard bit her lip as she mulled over the question for a moment, before finally shaking her head. "No, better not. We can't make any decisions based on some ancient superstition. Even back in the day nobody really agreed on what this thing can do, so there's no way to be strategically sound with a lack of evidence like this." She paused for a second, then huffed out a rueful laugh. "The piece we found already did try to put me in a coma though, so maybe be careful about touching anything we find."

"Uh, Shepard?" Brow furrowing, Shepard turned towards Tali to see her pointing towards the table. "Are you sure that it's just superstition?"

Looking down towards the table, she saw that the curved fragment of stone, previously dormant and lifeless, was now floating several inches off of the table as it spun in place as if in some invisible current. Across its rough stone surface, brief flashes of blue light ran in streaks across the grooves carved into its surface every few seconds, bright enough to leave streaks in Shepard's vision. Leaning slightly away from the table as her pulse kicked up a few notches, she fumbled around for Liara's satchel without taking her eyes off of the fragment. Once her fingers finally closed around the satchel's strap, she quickly swept up the artifact and flipped the cover of the bag shut.

Even with the stone now stowed away, Shepard found herself shivering slightly. "Okay, so just to recap, Cerberus is following us somehow, we're going to some horrible desert hellscape next, and the rock we found floats now. Anybody got any questions?"

There was a beat of silence, before finally Shepard clapped her hands together. "Alright then. This meeting's officially over, you're all dismissed." The room filled with the sound of scraping chairs as the team stood from the table, and as Shepard herself stood she called out, "Have all of your gear locked and loaded before we drop to sublight, got it? I don't want any delays on this drop."

Tali and Garrus nodded in confirmation before turning to head off to their usual haunts, with Chakwas following close behind as she made her way towards the elevator. Taking a second to roll her shoulders back until they popped, Shepard let out a satisfied sigh and turned to leave when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Turning back around, she found Liara standing before her, her face already a light violet as she nervously clasped her hands together. "Shepard, I was wondering, could I talk to you for a moment? In private, perhaps?"

"Oh, of course, yeah." Gesturing for Liara to follow, Shepard walked out of the communal area and through the racks of crew bunks before finally opening the door in the far wall to her private cabin. Stepping into the relatively spartan sleeping quarters, she quickly took a seat on the edge of her own bed and gestured for Liara to take the lone chair in the room. "What did you want to talk about?"

Sitting down gently, Liara crossed her heels over one another and anxiously laced her fingers together. "I- I suppose, to start with, I…" She uncrossed her legs, only to recross them a moment later as she started to worry her lip between her teeth. Eventually, she huffed out a sigh before forcing herself to look up at Shepard, her cheeks glowing a soft indigo and her eyes burning with sudden resolve. "I wanted to thank you, Shepard. We have only known each other a short time, and yet you have done more for me than nearly anyone I have ever met. You have risked your life for me, fought for me, and already saved my life several times over. You are an incredible woman, and a true friend."

Heat flooded up through Shepard's neck to blossom across her cheekbones. "T'Soni, I–"

Liara held up a hand to cut her off, looking somehow even more nervous than before. "Please, let me finish. I need to say this, I think." She paused once again, peering deeply into Shepard's eyes before ever so slowly reaching out to gently cradle her large, scarred hands in her own. "I admit, I have next to no experience with this. I really don't meet new people that often, and even the ones I do have never met me feel this way. Still, you deserve to know that I– I care about you, Shepard. Deeply, truly I care about you, to an extent that I feel shouldn't make any sense for how short a time we've known each other."

Shepard froze in place, her brain whiting out in a chaotic mixture of elated disbelief and panic. God, was she not ready for this. Hadn't she just been telling Garrus that she was avoiding this very scenario? How did she get here?

Taking her silence as a sign to continue, Liara slowly slid her thumbs across the backs of her fingers. "Despite this, I feel we have a connection. An… attraction, even, at least on my part."

At this point, whatever resolve had been carrying Liara forwards seemed to falter as she dropped eye contact to instead stare at Shepard's hands between her own. In a heartbreakingly small voice, she continued, "Do you feel it too?"

Shepard stared towards Liara, desperately trying to put together any semblance of coherent thought. "You like me?" Immediately, her face twisted up as embarrassment fueled the blush raging across her cheeks. What was she, a teenager?

Liara looked up with an incredulous expression. "Who wouldn't be attracted to you? You're kind, and passionate, and the strongest person I've ever met, not to mention physically…" She stopped suddenly, her blush flaring pointedly. "You listen to what I have to say, even when you have no idea what I'm talking about or if the book I'm referencing is in a language you can't even understand. You–"

She stopped, looking suddenly frustrated at her inability to convey herself properly. Eventually, she simply shrugged. "You treat me like no one else ever has."

Frowning slightly, Shepard flipped her hands over to grasp Liara's fingers between her own. "Of course I listen to what you have to say. You are literally the smartest, most interesting person I have ever met, and I've met a lot of people." Feeling a lopsided grin slide into place, she continued, "You're a genius researcher, you're a crack shot with a pistol, and you're athletic enough to pull off stunts that give me a hernia just thinking about them."

She paused for a moment, leaning forwards slightly to capture Liara's gaze with her own. "But that's not even the best part. I've been in your head, and you've been in mine, remember? Your keen mind, your passion for uncovering hidden knowledge, your compassion for people you don't even really know… You're incredible, T'Soni."

Hope kindled in Liara's eyes as she gazed back up towards Shepard with an awed expression. Her tongue suddenly turning to lead, Shepard attempted to press forwards while she still could. "I– I feel a connection too, I think, and you're beautiful and amazing and everything, but I have other responsibilities, you know?" A burning guilt began to course through Shepard, compounded by the small furrow forming on Liara's brow. "I've got a crew to keep safe, and we have your magic rocks to find, and now we have some private army after us…. I really just can't afford to be distracted right now."

Shepard grimaced, instantly regretting her choice of words as Liara released her hands, fresh hurt reflected in her eyes. Lunging forwards, Shepard grasped Liara's wrists before she could slip away. "Oh god, no, I didn't mean it like that. Just– ah, shit." She sighed, suddenly finding the weight of Liara's gaze to be too much to bear. After a moment, she shrugged with a deprecating smile as she stared down at the floor. "I don't have too much experience with this either, to be honest. Just a couple flings here and there back in my Alliance days that never really meant much, but you–" She gently slid a thumb across the inside of Liara's wrist, marveling at the slightly ridged texture of her skin. "I guess I'm just not ready yet." I don't deserve you. I'm afraid of how much I already care about you. What if I lose you too?

Liara flipped her hands over in Shepard's grip, pressing their palms together and cutting through her inner monologue. Looking back up again, Shepard found Liara gazing towards her with a soft smile. "I think I understand, Shepard. This all has been rather fast paced for a simple archaeologist like myself."

Shepard huffed out a laugh. "I think simple is about the last word I'd use to describe you, Doc."

"Even so." Liara squeezed Shepard's hands once before retracting her hands once again. "There is no need to rush what we have, nor would I want to. We will have plenty of time left to find our footing as we hunt down my 'magic rocks,' as you so eloquently put it."

Shepard chuckled again, the sound slightly more watery than before. "I'm looking forward to it." Pulling her hands back, she began to aimlessly trace the scars trailing up her left forearm. "Don't get me wrong though, I will be bringing up this whole connection thing again. When we're both ready, I think."

Her grin widening into a full on smile, Liara nodded. "When we're both ready."

A sudden chime from the PA system set into the wall cut through the intimate mood of the cabin as Joker's voice called out, "Shepard, we got problems up on the bridge, gonna need you up here ASAP."

Shepard blinked, suddenly realizing how close she was to Liara. Leaning back quickly, she slapped her hands against the tops of her thighs before standing. "Right, I should probably go check that out."

Rising up from her seat, Liara nodded and made her way towards the door. "Of course." She paused for a moment as the door slid open, before turning shyly over her shoulder. "Thank you for speaking with me, Shepard." Without waiting for a response, she quickly hurried out of sight.

Heaving a monumental sigh, Shepard shook her head once. "Right, game time." Stepping back out into the communal area, she quickly rode the elevator up to the command deck before striding around the CIC up towards the helm. As she approached, the sound of raised voices began to ring out, and as she finally stepped into the Normandy cockpit she found Garrus balefully staring down towards Joker with his arms crossed. Adopting a similar posture, Shepard inquired, "Everybody getting along up here?"

"Shepard, good." Joker spun around in his chair, gesturing towards the positioning readouts before him. "I was just explaining to Admiral Tightass here why we can't land."

Garrus rolled his eyes as Shepard leaned forwards to peer at the helm console. "What, I don't see anything."

"Exactly, that's my point. We dropped into the system just outside of Rayingri's gravitational well, which, might I add, is an impeccable feat of piloting that I'm sure you all appreciate." Joker ran his fingers across each screen before him, manually refreshing each feed as he talked. "We are literally parked right in front of Rayingri, but our sensors aren't picking up jack shit. For all we know, the planet might as well not even be there."

Shepard's brow furrowed. "So you're telling me a whole planet just up and vanished on us?"

"Well, that's the thing. Right when we entered the system, the long range scanners picked up some audio distortion being shot between two locations: one of them on Rayingri and one up on Vahtz. Less than a minute later, all of our scanners just blanked out except for the extreme proximity alarms."

Turning towards Shepard, Garrus sardonically grumbled, "So the good news is if we hit something, we'll see whatever it is right before impact."

Shepard rolled her eyes with a snort. "It's the little things, I guess." Turning back towards Joker's empty readouts, she drawled, "So somebody beat us out here, built a base on the ground and on the moon, and now they're jamming our sensors."

Joker shrugged in his chair. "That about sums it up, yeah."

"Perfect. Think you can still get a ground team to the surface?"

He nodded firmly with a confident smirk. "You didn't bring me along for my winning good looks."

Off to the side, Garrus muttered, "That's for damn sure."

Choosing to ignore him, Shepard declared, "Set a course for Rayingri. Anyone trying this hard to keep us away is someone I think I'd like to meet for myself."

"Shepard, you know this has gotta be Cerberus," Garrus interjected. "Who else would care this much about a doomed planet that just happens to have the Prothean ruins we're looking for?"

Shepard nodded grimly. "All the more reason to get in and out fast. I don't like us flying around blind when there could be a whole fleet waiting for us and we wouldn't even know. Figure if we're gonna do something stupid, we might as well get it overwith quickly."

Garrus hummed in response, his mandibles shifting contemplatively. A pause filled the cockpit, filled only by the soft sounds of Joker punching in new flight vectors until finally Garrus shifted and uncrossed his arms. "You know, there is a way that we could clear up the interference without sacrificing too much time."

Lifting her gaze from Joker's console, Shepard looked curiously up at Garrus for a moment before suddenly frowning. "No, absolutely not."

Ignoring her resistance, Garrus continued, "That signal we picked up only bounced between two places, so we split up into two groups. Tali and I can check out whatever's on Vahtz while the rest of you continue on to secure the main objective, and whoever finds the source of the jamming first can deactivate it."

"I'm not sending the two of you off by yourselves, Garrus. Splitting up the team is just asking for people to come home in body bags, especially when we have no intel."

Unmoved by her protests, Garrus squared off against Shepard. "No matter how we play this, we're gonna be dropping in blind. If we split up, we get the most recon done and we have the greatest chance of finding the jamming signal. Plus, what if they call in reinforcements, or what if they've already taken any relics they might've found off planet? We'd have no way of knowing until the shit hit the fan."

Shepard groaned, forced by her years of tactical experience to acknowledge the validity of his argument. They endangered themselves on every mission they signed on for, and her crew had never let her down before. Sensing that she was wavering, Garrus put his hand on her shoulder and went in for the killing blow. "This way gets us the most reward for risk, whether we like it or not. Plus, Tali and I can handle ourselves. I know you like to take all the fun fights for yourself, but letting us have one or two won't kill us."

"That's the problem, Vakarian, is that it very well might." She affectionately punched her fist into his hard chest. "You two better come back alive, you hear? Being your commanding officer is bad enough without wondering if I'm sending you to your deaths."

Flexing his mandibles in a turian grin, Garrus released her shoulder. "Well, I wouldn't want to deprive you of your best crewmates, would I?"

Shepard turned back to Joker, playing up a companionable grimace as she did. "Joker, adjust heading to make a drop at Vahtz before heading on to Rayingri."

Nodding in assent, Joker started the necessary course correction as the roar of the engines dimly rumbled up through the metal floor plating. Satisfied her orders were well received, Shepard turned to head back towards the CIC as Garrus strode forwards by her side. "You won't regret this, Shep. Turian's honor, and all that."

Scoffing, she waved him off towards the elevator. "Stow it, Vakarian. Just get off my ship before I change my mind."

He laughed, his lower harmonics rumbling through the air, and then with a casual salute he vanished behind the doors of the elevator. Staring after him for a moment, Shepard felt a brief wave of doubt surge before she squashed it back down. Garrus and Tali would do their job, but she had a mission of her own now.

Liara withdrew a handful of thermal clips from a large crate in the Normandy's cargo bay, selecting three to shove into her back pocket before stuffing the rest into her satchel. Next she drew her pistol, flipping it over in her hands and checking the action of the slide release carefully before sliding it back into place with a satisfied nod. Turning away from the supply station, she ran her hands across the surface of her satchel to ensure the two relics were still safely stowed away before finally looking up from her work.

Across the bay, the grating rip of velcro filled the air as Shepard threw on her usual armored vest, sliding each muscled arm through the intended hole with a quick tug. Finding herself with little else to do, Liara watched as Shepard efficiently tightened each strap to fully attach the vest, a focused frown hewn into her brow as she went through the motions with mechanical precision. Once the vest was fully secured, she moved over towards her weapons where they rested on a nearby table to begin swiftly loading and shipping each firearm in its usual place.

Liara frowned as she watched Shepard burn through her usual pre-mission ritual in record time. They had dropped off Garrus and Tali on Vahtz twenty minutes ago, and ever since Shepard had alternated between stalking across the cargo bay like a caged predator and scouring the grime from her weapons until she could see her reflection in them, until finally Joker had informed them of their impending drop. A metallic clatter rang out as a careless shift of Shepard's hand knocked a pile of drill bits off of a nearby table. Growling in frustration, she squatted down onto the group and began scooping them up by the handful, slamming each one back into place with more force than was strictly necessary.

Spurred into action, Liara quickly moved forwards to assist, gathering up the last few bits before turning to Shepard with a wry smile. "I don't think abusing Tali's tools will make her come back any faster."

Shepard stared blankly towards her for a moment, before deflating with a deep sigh as she leaned back against the table. "Technically, I bought most of these things anyways, so I think I'm actually damaging my own stuff at this point."

Liara quietly chuckled, then gently grasped Shepard's shoulder. "They'll be fine, Shepard. I'm sure they'll both be on the radio bragging about their success as soon as the interference clears."

"They'd damn well better." They both sat quietly for a moment, and as the silence stretched Liara found her mind turning towards their own destination. Even assuming that no one was waiting for them down on the surface, they still would have to contend with a pyramid that hadn't been opened in fifty thousand years. Frowning, Liara began to run through a mental checklist of every major architectural style she could think of from her studies. Perhaps one of them could offer a hint towards a hidden mechanism, perhaps, or even simply a well disguised doorway, or even–

A sudden jolt ran through the ship, nearly throwing Liara off her feet as every loose crate in the bay abruptly slid several feet to the right. Throwing out one hand to steady herself, she looked over to see Shepard sink into a wide crouch before raising up one hand to key her earpiece. "Joker, what the hell's going on up there?"

A muffled explosion discharged somewhere just outside the hull of the ship, and a moment later Joker's voice crackled to life. "Seems like you were right, Shepard. Somebody beat us down here and they are not happy to see us." A second explosion sounded, sending vibrations reverberating through the deck strong enough to knock over a loose pile of metal tubing. "I'm gonna have to drop you guys off a little sooner than expected, or else we're about to have a lot of new holes in the hull."

Standing up to her full height, Shepard nodded. "Once we're on the ground, don't wait up for us. This old girl's still gotta fly if we're gonna pick up Tali and Garrus from their field trip."

"Roger that. Opening the doors in thirty, get ready to rumble."

Shepard turned to Liara, her brow furrowed into an expression of pure focus. "You ready for this, Liara?"

Liara stared deep into Shepard's eyes, feeling the overwhelming determination displayed before her bolster her own resolve. "I'll be behind you all the way."

Shepard smiled, her current state of intensity transforming the action into a baring of teeth. Spinning around, she strode towards the end of the cargo bay and started loudly cracking her knuckles. "Let's get this party started then."

A piercing metal squeal filled the air as the massive metal cargo bay door slowly drifted open to reveal Rayingri below. Peering forwards through the sudden blast of sand and hot air, Liara caught a glimpse of great dunes of sand zooming past hundreds feet below, punctuated every so often by the flash of antiaircraft fire. As she watched, another such explosion detonated directly in front of the ship, causing a wave of acrid smelling smoke to wash over her. Wincing, she coughed and covered her mouth as Joker's voice reappeared in her earpiece. "Alright people, this is as good as it gets."

Shuffling over towards her, Shepard circled one arm around Liara's waist before shouting over the roar of the wind. "I always wanted to try this!"

Without waiting for a reply, she rushed the two of them forwards, forcing Liara to wrap her own arm around Shepard's torso as the edge of the metal ramp before them approached. "Shepard, what are we–"

Before she could finish the sentence, Shepard glowed briefly with crackling blue light as, with one final biotic push, she hurled them both out into empty space. The world began to spin around the pair as they tumbled downwards, now buffeted by the blasts of rushing wind now tossing them about like ragdolls. Unable to help herself, Liara simply screamed in abject terror; her arms tightening into a deathgrip around Shepard as her heart leapt up into her throat. Keeping track of their elevation, or even their orientation towards the ground, was nearly impossible as the horizon in the distance spun sickeningly around in a crazed rictus of brown earth and hazy sky all mixed together.

After a moment of plummeting horrifyingly towards the ground, Shepard shifted to press her lips up against Liara's aural cavity and yell over the deafening wind, "Biotics up in three seconds!"

Too petrified with fear to even nod her head, Liara simply tightened her grasp around Shepard as she began to count. One… An explosion detonated directly behind them, close enough to send them spinning even faster towards the ground below. Two… Her arms began to spark with wisps of blue light as next to her, Shepard's eyes started to glow.

Three! A cry tore itself from Liara's throat as she exploded into a corona of light, throwing up the largest stasis field she could manage around both herself and Shepard. A split second later, Shepard's skin surged with power beneath her grasp, and all around them a massive biotic barrier appeared like a great glowing bubble. The sudden pull against their downward momentum snapped Liara's head forwards, compounding the headache already beginning to form from the strain of suspending them both. Another gust of wind blew past, spinning their biotic bubble enough for Liara to stare wide-eyed at the ground, now only fifty feet below. Almost directly beneath them now, a massive mounted gun stared up at them, every few seconds or so firing off massive slugs that ripped through the air as they passed. Closing her eyes to focus, Liara furrowed her brow and once again flaring her biotics to pour everything she had into slowing their speed.

A few seconds later, a bruising impact jarred her from her concentration as Shepard's barrier groaned in protest, buckled, then finally exploded outwards in little flecks of sizzling light. The strain building up at the base of Liara's head suddenly soared exponentially, before with a groan she was forced to release the stasis field. Her stomach dropped for just a moment as their freefall resumed only to slam into a massive pile of sand with a dull thud.

Spitting the sand from her mouth, she stiffly forced herself up off the ground to find herself sitting atop a once pristine dune, now violently blasted in all directions by their impact. A few feet away in the deep crater they had formed, Shepard rolled over with a groan before standing on unsteady legs. "Yeah, okay, maybe we won't try that again."

A titanic detonation cut off Liara's response, and peering forwards across the desert she saw the anti aircraft cannon reel backwards in its mounting as it fired yet another shot, the weapon now towering over her as she gazed up from the ground. Craning her neck upwards, she caught just a glimpse of the boxy form of the Normandy as it spiraled out of the line of fire before the glare of the sun forced her to look away. Standing up quickly, she pointed the gun out to Shepard. "Should we do something about that?"

Shepard nodded sharply, motioning for Liara to follow as she broke out into a run. Following shortly behind, Liara did her best to keep pace as with each step her feet sank several inches into the loose grains atop the dune. Ahead of her, Shepard pointed forwards as she shouted, "See that gap between the support pylons?"

Raising her gaze briefly from the unsteady ground, Liara squinted forwards to examine the four massive metal legs suspending the cannon in the air. Between where the legs all came together to attach to the base of the turret foundation, a small gap was visible. Nodding, Liara quickly looked downwards again to avoid tripping as she ran. "Yes, I see it."

"That's where the targeting station will be." They ran forwards another seconds in silence, and despite considering herself to be very in shape, Liara found herself starting to pant from the effort of running in sand. "Think you can get me up there?"

Liara skidded to a stop, furrowing her brow in consideration as she squinted up at the turret now only thirty or so feet away. From this distance, the weapon easily dwarfed the two of them, and as she watched it fired yet another shell into the air with a deafening blast. Blinking and forcing herself to focus, she quickly scanned the distance to the target Shepard had set. At this range, with such a small target, an incredibly precise angle of launch would be needed. A few seconds and several estimated equations later, she turned towards Shepard with a nod. "I can do it."

Shepard smiled and slapped Liara hard on the shoulder before turning towards the turret and sinking into a runner's crouch. "Throw me."

Outstretching one hand, Liara opened herself to a rush of biotic power. Stepping forwards, she gently tapped Shepard on the back, suffusing her with enough energy to gently lift her off of the sand before beginning to stride forwards. Closing her eyes, she let out a deep breath as she mentally pictured the trajectory she had calculated, reassuring herself that it was the correct choice. Snapping her eyes back open, Liara broke out into a run as she raised Shepard higher off of the ground behind her, taking three lengthy strides forwards before flinging her hand forwards with a hoarse yell and a burst of power.

Shepard streaked forwards through the air, her arms pressed to her side as she shot through the air like a human javelin. Her heart suddenly pounding in her chest, Liara stumbled to a stop as she attempted to track her flight through the dusty gales of wind howling above. In only a moment, Shepard cleared the entire distance between her and the cannon, before with a cry Liara could hear from the ground she vanished straight into the gap between the turret legs.

Relief flooded through Liara's body as she cried out in victory. A moment later, the gap Shepard had disappeared through flashed with biotic light as a familiar war cry echoed out across the desert. Belatedly realizing that she should probably catch up, Liara once again dug her feet into the sand below as she doggedly sprinted forwards up the large dune the turret had planted itself over.

Thirty seconds of hard running later, she crested the dune to find the gun emplacement now standing directly above her. She paused for a moment, lifting her hands to rest on the back of her head in an attempt to catch her breath as she quickly scanned the metal supports now surrounding her. If the cannon stayed stationary, she should be able to climb up to the suspended control platform with relative ease, but any movement of the legs would run the risk of crushing her between massive metal hydraulics.

"Heads up!" A blur flew off the side of the platform above, materializing after a moment into Shepard as she landed back on the ground with a burst of biotics. A second later, several blasts rang out all in succession as gouts of smoke and fire exploded out from the platform, dislodging one side from its housing as the entire cannon listed dangerously to one side. Raising a skeptical brow, Liara turned to Shepard to see her shrug shamelessly. "One of the guys up there had a grenades, so I borrowed a couple."

Rolling her eyes good naturedly, Liara replied, "That was quite considerate of him." Turning to look past the disabled turret, Liara raised up a hand to try to block out the harsh sun from where it sat low in the sky. "Anyways, the pyramid should be just over— oh, Goddess."

Shepard frowned as she moved over to follow Liara's gaze. "Wait, what's wrong?" A moment later, she too found herself staring forwards in disbelief. "Aw, hell."

Rising up from the horizon, the harsh stone walls of a massive pyramid shot up into the air, ominously backlit by the setting sun as it towered over all else in the vicinity. However, extending the entire gap of what must have been two miles between them and the pyramid was a sprawling encampment that would put most military bases to shame. Row upon row of terrestrial prefabs dotted the sand, periodically interrupted by more anti aircraft emplacements or towering watchtowers equipped with swiveling spotlights. In between each building, countless vehicles lined the makeshift roads through the encampment, ranging from dozens of ATVs to a pair of M35 Makos. Finally, the entire settlement was surrounded by a ten foot tall chain link fence topped with spools of barbed wire and dotted with even more watchtowers at every fifty feet.

Shepard scoffed, breaking Liara from her stupor. "I've seen Alliance bases that weren't half this large. Cerberus must be a massive organization if they can afford to set up something like this." She paused, her brow furrowing. "How have they stayed under the radar with resources like this?"

Liara shrugged in bewilderment. "I have no idea, honestly. Do we even know for sure this is the same group?"

"Look at the walls of the prefabs, and at the sides of the Makos." Liara squinted through the glare of the sun, before her gaze found the buildings Shepard had mentioned. With a sinking heart, she grimly realized each and every structure was painted with a large black hexagon between two orange brackets, exactly matching the logo emblazoned on each Cerberus soldier they had met.

She swallowed thickly, before suddenly stopping. Peering forwards with a confused frown, she found herself tracing a large plume of smoke billowing up from a point on the far side of the fort. "Shepard, look."

Shepard gazed towards the smoke, her head tilted to one side with a perplexed expression. "Maybe we aren't the first people to intrude on this little no-fly zone." Starting forwards, she motioned for Liara to follow as they approached the fence before them. "Either way, we've got a job to do."

She flicked her wrist, extending a sizzling omni-blade out to her side before turning towards Liara. "Whatever happens, stay on my six, okay?"

Drawing her pistol, Liara nodded with a resolute frown, and a moment later Shepard slashed twice through the chain link fence to cut out a large, glowing hole. Quickly discarding the blade and stepping forwards through the new opening, she unholstered her own pistol and peered across the nearest buildings before waving Liara through. Once inside the fence, they both broke out into a run towards a gap between the closest prefabs, heads constantly on the swivel for any sign of Cerberus troops.

Feeling her heart begin to thud in her chest, Liara forced herself to try to measure her breathing as Shepard lead the way forwards into the compound. Stalking forwards as close as she could behind Shepard without tripping up on her boots, she constantly snapped her gaze between the simple structures now surrounding them. Belatedly, she realized that the nature of the prefabs meant that each one had several walkways and windows a stray soldier could very easily spot them from in their current position. Swallowing thickly, she tightened her grip on her pistol and hurried forwards.

They quickly reached the edge of the first row of buildings, and with an upheld hand Shepard signaled for Liara to hang back. Carefully leaning forwards, she then poked her head out around the corner just far enough to catch a glimpse of the compound beyond. A few nerve wracking seconds passed in silence, until finally Shepard waved Liara forwards as she stepped out of cover. Running after Shepard, Liara found herself hunching over slightly to stay low to the ground as they ran across a wide dirt road set between rows of prefabs. She caught a quick glance of several more deserted buildings and empty vehicles, before a couple seconds later they vanished back between the next row of structures.

Continuing to move forwards, the pair swiftly ran between the next set of empty buildings, once again encountering no resistance as they penetrated deeper into the compound. Finally, as they approached the end of the third grouping of prefabs, Shepard paused for a moment with a frown. "I don't like this. You'd think we would have run into somebody by now," she mumbled.

Liara, keeping her voice soft, replied, "Perhaps they already left to investigate the pyramid for themselves."

"Yeah, maybe." Shepard leaned to check back the way they came, before shrugging and turning forwards once again. Waving forwards, she began quickly striding through the small gap between buildings they had stopped in, muttering as they moved, "I sure as hell wouldn't complain if nobody was home."

Quickly moving to the end of their little alleyway, Liara stepped up behind Shepard as she once again stuck her head out to investigate the area. Leaning slightly over her shoulder, Liara noticed that this particular section of the compound seemed to open up into a larger central space, around which several of these prefabs seemed to be clustered.

"Oh shit!" A strong forearm slammed across Liara's chest, pushing her roughly back against the side of the alley as Shepard hastily recoiled. A beat passed, then over the sound of wind whistling around them Liara heard the heavy trod of several pairs of footsteps nearby. Eyes widening, her breath caught in her throat as a full squad of Cerberus troops trundled past, each of them fully outfitted in their signature combat armor and wielding heavy assault rifles. Even with the amount of dust swirling around in the air, Liara knew that if even one trooper glanced to their left that they would be caught out in a horrible spot with no cover to speak of.

Thankfully, the squad continued on their way down the street, eventually moving out of view as Shepard relaxed her arm to release Liara. Grimacing apologetically, she held up a finger in front of her lips before turning and motioning to move forwards. Dimly realizing she had forgotten to switch off the safety of her pistol, Liara armed her weapon as she stepped out into the open.

Glancing to her left, she saw the Cerberus squad was now already a good distance away, their silhouettes slowly vanishing into the clouds of dirt and sand being kicked up by angry gusts of wind. She grinned slightly, the thrill of the situation beginning to set in as she snuck hastily across the road. Perhaps Cerberus wasn't nearly as intimidating as she had been giving them credit for after all.

A jarring impact snapped Liara out of her confident musings, followed shortly by the crack of gunfire as she tumbled to the ground. Desperately scrambling back up to her feet, she saw Shepard standing from where she had just tackled her to the dirt as moments later angry shouts filled the air, followed by more staccato bursts of bullets zipping through the air. Frantically scanning the area, Liara realized with a sinking feeling that the large, open area they had intruded into was not empty at all, but in fact was built around a small, open air command post similar in construction to the CIC of the Normandy; a collection of terminals and tactical readouts in a raised platform surrounded by metallic railings and waist high barricades and covered by a dull blue tarp that flapped in the wind. More pressing, however, were the five Cerberus soldiers occupying the command center, all of which were either scrambling for their weapons or already lining up shots.

Behind her, another set of voices filled the air, and turning to look with a sinking feeling she saw that the previous squad of soldiers had turned around, apparently attracted by the noise as they advanced with weapons raised. Another round ripped through the air, close enough to Liara's head to make her stumble backwards before Shepard caught her, then spun them both around like a trained dancer as the ground where they stood a moment ago exploded under a hail of bullets. All pretense of stealth dropped now, Shepard shouted, "You take out that command post!" Shoving Liara lightly forwards, she then spun on her heel and took off in a sprint towards the approaching squad, her arms crackling with arcs of biotic energy.

Not wasting any time watching her fight, Liara twisted around and ran full tilt towards the platform ahead, arms raised up before her to project out a wide biotic barrier. A split second after the field snapped into place, the world before her exploded into a cloud of fire and metal as all five soldiers opened fire. Pain throbbed in her head as she ran, forcing her to grit her teeth and dig her heels deeper into the sand below as she continued her desperate approach. A sudden explosion sounded behind her, tinged with the unique timbre of a biotic pulse as Liara dimly realized Shepard must have reached the squad approaching from the rear. A brief surge of worry flushed through her, before the whine of bullets ricocheting off of her shield reminded her of her own problems. Looking up towards the platform ahead, she found with a jolt that she had traversed less than half of the distance towards the platform. Even worse, as four of the troopers continued to lay down a hail of gunfire, the fifth had procured a large grenade launcher and was just starting to level it in her direction.

Sensing through the tremendous strain at the base of her skull that her barrier would not survive such a blast, Liara quickly decided to change tactics. Allowing her barrier to wink out, she juked to her left around the next burst of fire as she instead sent a torrent of energy to each fist, leapt into the air, and slammed the charge straight down into the ground with a scream of exertion.

Instantly, her view of the world vanished as a massive plume of sand and dust exploded upwards from the impact. Not pausing to appreciate her new smokescreen, she immediately dropped to her stomach and began rolling several feet to the right as a salvo of bullets screamed past overhead. Next, she hoisted herself up onto one knee, taking advantage of her brief camouflage to charge up another concentration of biotics. Closing her eyes against the swirling sandstorm she had made, she mentally pictured the remaining distance between her and the platform. Without opening her eyes, she rose up onto her hind leg, wound her arm behind her, then let the biotics fly.

As the blue projectile arced away from her, she broke into a forward sprint, managing to clear the cloud of dust just in time to see her biotic pulse smash down into the center of the platform, where it exploded outwards in a cascading wall of force that flung the five soldiers back like ragdolls. Two of these soldiers landed with heavy thuds on the edge of the command center railing, providing Liara with easy targets as she raised up her pistol without slowing her speed. Four well placed shots later, each trooper slid backwards off of the railing, their armor freshly ventilated.

Now afforded a brief respite from incoming fire, Liara doubled down on her sprint as she dashed the final few meters to reach the outermost edge of raised barricades. Rather than weave her way between them, she simply leapt up onto the rim of the closest one, maintaining her speed to assist her balance as she sprang neatly from barricade to barricade. After landing on the fourth such obstruction, she pushed off hard and leapt up into the air, and with a brief surge of biotics she flipped cleanly over the command center railing to land on the platform itself.

She quickly cast her gaze around the platform to see that the three remaining soldiers had mostly recovered from her artillery strike, looking only slightly dazed as they readied their rifles in alarm. Not giving them time to fully reorient themselves, Liara dove between a row of consoles and towards the closest trooper, spinning around on her hip to lash out with one foot and topple them back onto the ground. Sliding to a stop on her back, she rapidly squeezed off three shots point blank into the soldier's stomach before whirling back up into a low crouch. Biotics flaring in her left hand, she spun to face the last two troopers and punched forwards to unleash the strongest blast she could manage. Taken off guard by her sudden acrobatics, the shockwave caught the pair just as they turned to face her, punching them clear out of the command center and out across the road behind where they landed with dull thuds.

Silence fell across the small platform, only disturbed by the flapping tarp up above as it rustled in the aftershocks of Liara's attack. Taking a moment to eject her pistol's thermal clip and slap in a new one, she cautiously stood to peer down back down the road towards Shepard, only to find the woman herself casually hefting her shotgun across one shoulder. With a grin, she motioned towards the bodies laying sprawled in the dirt a good twenty feet away. "Well damn, T'Soni. You ever heard of punching someone into next week?"

Liara chuckled as she vaulted over the railing to land in front of Shepard. "No, but I think I can figure it out." She paused, glancing towards the unmoving soldiers as a sudden bashfulness warmed her cheeks. "What can I say, I have been inspired by a certain rampaging biotic I know."

Barking out a laugh, Shepard slapped her roughly on the shoulder. "I'll take that as a compliment. Jokes aside, we gotta move out fast before they notice– huh."

Liara frowned. "What's wrong?"

In lieu of answering, Shepard simply pointed towards Liara's satchel where it hung off to her side. Glancing down towards it, Liara's mouth fell slightly open as she saw hints of light blue light emitting from underneath the top flap. Hesitantly, she lifted the flap to squint inside, only for pulsating beams of neon blue light to splash up across her chest. Reaching inside, her fingers clasped around the rough edges of the fragment of the Ring, now surprisingly warm to the touch. She withdrew the piece of stone and held it out before her, allowing the shifting light to pour out across the ground and over Shepard, who watched with a concerned frown. After a moment, she hesitantly asked, "Has it ever done that before?"

Slowly nodding, Liara carefully turned the stone over in her hands to examine the other side. "Technically, yes, the first time you touched it." Shepard flinched at the memory but said nothing as Liara continued, "Something must have triggered a reaction this strong, but it's just been sitting in my bag the whole time. What could have caused this?"

Shepard tapped her chin with one hand thoughtfully as she looked around the compound surrounding them. "Maybe there's something in one of these buildings that did it? I guess we could take a second to check some of them out–"

A piercing electronic wail of an alarm cut her off as the klaxon started blasting from speakers all around the compound. Sobering instantly, Shepard quickly stowed her shotgun and broke out into a run, shouting back over her shoulder, "Scratch that, time to go!"

Liara quickly followed after her, stuffing the stone fragment back into her bag as she ran. Desperately trying to keep pace, she called out, "Do you have a plan?"

They plunged back into a thin gap between prefabs, desperately fleeing the warning call of the alarm still ringing through the air. Not averting her gaze from the path ahead, Shepard replied after a moment, "That squad that passed us was heading in towards that smoke we saw from back outside. Something else is going on here, and we're gonna find out what."

Rushing wind roared around Liara as they exited back out into the open only to skid to a halt. On either side of them now, groups of Cerberus soldiers all froze with weapons loosely held in their hands, stupefied at the sight of two outsiders so deep into their encampment. Snapping her gaze over towards Liara, Shepard winked as she drew her pistol. Flaring her biotics dangerously, Liara flashed back a grim smile before the two dashed forwards with matching war cries.

Liara's perception of the world around her, over the next several minutes, shrank to focus almost entirely on the form of Shepard before her. Shepard as she flashed across open streets in bursts of blinding light, Shepard as she dropped soldier after soldier with perfect aim and unshakeable confidence, Shepard as she bullied her way across the compound like a krogan on the loose. It took all of Liara's focus to simply keep pace with her, slinging whirling singularities to disable groups of hapless soldiers and employing hastily erected barriers to cut off lanes of attack, and every so often remembering to actually fire the pistol clenched tightly in her fingers. Even these complex thoughts eventually became too much work to maintain at this speed of combat as Liara's world eventually shrank to a list of simple tasks: stand, run, shoot, dive, duck, run again. Time itself seemed to betray her, stretching out impossibly long as bullets zinged past and shattered walls only inches away, then compressing to an overwhelmingly fast series of brutal, violent exchanges. The only thing that still registered in her mind anymore was her need to follow Shepard, to help her fight and keep her safe. Her biotics ruined the approach of soldiers closing in on Shepard as they attempted to pin her down, while in turn Liara regularly found Shepard appearing by her side in a brief explosion of energy to dispatch someone sneaking up on her. They fought together, side by side and chasing after one another, two glowing figures laying waste to all around them in a frantic and violent dance.

Finally, after detonating yet another singularity in a wash of blue light, Liara's legs collapsed underneath her and pitched her sideways into the dirt. Letting out a low groan, she slowly started to force herself upright when a strong pair of arms looped underneath her arms and hoisted herself up to her fight. "Easy there, Doc. Can't have you passing out on me yet."

Shuffling around, Liara attempted to speak, only to find she was having trouble catching her breath. Shepard, now clearly visible and completely caked with sand across half her body, frowned sympathetically. "Try to breathe slowly with me, okay? In through the nose, out through the mouth, there you go."

Liara complied with her instruction, feeling her racing heart slowly calm itself after several uncomfortable moments. Deciding to try to speak again, she asked in a rough voice, "Is it over?"

Grinning widely, she gestured around them. "See for yourself."

Turning to look past Shepard, Liara blinked at the sight of total destruction around them. In all directions, blast marks and craters pockmarked the loose dirt pathways, dotted frequently by smashed barricades or bodies of Cerberus soldiers with shattered armor strewn across the ground. With a start, Liara found herself reminded of a tornado that had destroyed all in its path, with only Shepard and herself staying safe in the eye of the storm.

Turning once again to Shepard, she found herself struck by the imposing silhouette she cut as she stood high above the refuse around them like some sort of untouchable warrior, larger than life in every way. Suddenly unable to look directly at her, she turned away as she apologized, "I'm sorry, Shepard. Fights this intense are something new for me, I hope I didn't hold you back too much."

Shepard grimaced as she blithely replied, "Fights like this aren't something anyone should get too used to, I think." Turning towards Liara, her face split into a warm smile. "I don't know anything about holding me back, though, you really saved my ass a couple times back there."

Liara blushed slightly and averted her gaze as she muttered, "I was being serious."

A warm hand landed on her shoulder, and looking back over she saw Shepard's eyes were now glistening with pride. "So was I."

The crack of a gunshot split through the air, causing both Liara and Shepard to flinch. A moment later, more shots rang out, now clearly coming from down the road they stood on. Turning towards the sound, Liara frowned as she saw the plume of smoke she had spotted earlier was now much larger, billowing upwards to obscure the sky ahead. Wordlessly, she glanced over at Shepard, who simply slapped a new clip into her shotgun and started to stalk forwards.

Allowing Shepard to take point, Liara found her mind wandering as she watched the woman before her move. Each step forward was precise and confident, her actions imbued with the inherent lethal grace of a predator. Even the way she handled her weapon as she swept it across the road before them to check for targets was both economical yet perfectly polished, as if tactical engagements were written into her genes. Thinking back to the fight, Liara found her blush returning in full force as she remembered the incredible physicality Shepard effortlessly demonstrated, at one point bodily hauling a trooper over a barricade before smashing a glowing fist into their faceplate hard enough to embed their head several inches into the sand below. In combat, Shepard was like a miniature sun moving across the field; a radiating presence of pure power, one that was hazardous to stand too close to but that you couldn't help but bask in its presence.

"T'Soni, eyes up, I think we got something." Shepard's voice snapped Liara out of her little reverie, and forcing down her blush she peered forwards to see the source of the smoke laying before them. Plowed through the middle of the road was an extended impact crater, furrowing out and away from them before stopping at what at one point must have been a decent sized shuttle. Now, however, all that remained were melted, glowing fragments of steel slats and skeletal supports as a blazing fire burned through the craft. Even from fifty feet away, Liara found that she could feel the heat of the inferno, compounded with the slight prickle in her eyes from the acrid smoke billowing upwards.

Turning towards Shepard, she surmised, "They must have shot down someone just before we arrived."

"Yeah, seems like it." Shepard slowly turned away from the wreck, her brow furrowed and her eyes focused. "I don't think whoever was on this thing died in the crash, though." She pointed towards a nearby prefab, and leaning past her Liara found herself looking at a two story structure completely covered with dead Cerberus soldiers, several of which had apparently died attempting to climb the stairs leading up to the door.

Shepard slowly drew her shotgun from its place on her back, and with a small wave motioned for Liara to follow as she approached the structure. Figuring it was better to be safe then sorry, Liara quickly built up a biotic charge in each hand before tapping Shepard on the shoulder, then herself to distribute a pair of fresh biotic barriers. Upon reaching the stairs, Shepard carefully stepped over a pair of bodies, and as Liara glanced down towards them she noticed that their armor had been shattered in several places, almost as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. Swallowing nervously, she drew her pistol and moved to stand directly behind Shepard as they reached the top of the stairs.

Before them sat a large pair of hydraulic doors, currently sealed shut with even more dead bodies piled up against them. Peering down towards them, Liara noted with grim fascination that these soldiers appeared even more pulverized than those further away from the door. Looking back up, she met eyes with Shepard and nodded, stubbornly shoving down her mounting trepidation. Shepard, for her part, seemed outwardly undisturbed by the carnage here, instead hefting her shotgun with one hand to quickly slap the door release with the other before retreating two steps and readying her weapon.

The release flashed green for a moment, before a second later the hiss of hydraulics echoed out as the metal doors slid open with a grating squeal. Now able to peer inside, Liara saw a prefab that looked like it had been through an entire ground war, with bodies tossed up against the walls, windows shattered, and splintered piles of furniture shoved into the corners.

A shot rang out, pinging harmlessly off of Shepard's shields and burrowing into a nearby wall. Snapping her gun downwards, Liara blanched as she realized two of the bodies in this room were, in fact, not corpses at all, but instead a pair of familiar women half buried in ruined furniture and covered in an extensive combination of scrapes, burns, and several colorful bruises.

Across the room, Miranda slapped down Jack's pistol, scathingly reprimanding, "They're not enemies, you belligerent headcase, use your eyes."

Shepard relaxed her posture and lowered her weapon, prompting Liara to follow suit. A moment later, she huffed out an exasperated laugh. "Damn, looks like we missed all the fun."

Jack shifted underneath the pile of debris as she grudgingly lowered her pistol, then calmly replied, "Fuck off, bitch."

A/N: hey everyone! so technically i missed the three week deadline but getting this done in a month instead of six weeks is definitely an improvement, so i'll take that i think. anyways, this chapter seems like it had a little bit of everything, with confessions (kinda?) and violence and glowing space rocks. hope you're all enjoying it as much as i'm having fun writing it, because we are getting deeper and deeper into the story. anybody figured out what the deal is with the stone fragment they found? either way, see you all next chapter!