A/N: Unexpected turn here. I was reading some older comments, and *poof* this chapter was born, brought to you compliments of a comment written long ago (especially in story timeline!), following Ch 35 of The Promise of After. I figured this was as good a place to slide it in as any. Thanks, 'amy_is_just_reading!'

The Skinweaver

T'Sere Shipwrights, Dassus, Thessia – 17 Aug 2201

"Well, stone the crows!" Miranda suddenly bolted upright on her lab stool, astonishment written across her face at the latest test results. "I can't believe it finally worked… I have to tell Jude!" She stared at the readout a few moments longer before standing and turning to leave, only to glance back once again at the surprising report. She had been working with Asari DNA for years now, and never truly believed she'd see this day. Shaking her head in wonder, she returned her attention to the door and started on her trek at a brisk pace. Once clear of her lab, she found it necessary to exercise an amazing level of self-restraint to not run through the hallways in search of her lover.

When she finally located the Asari, Judea was buried deep in the bowels of a relatively new thruster system for one of T'Sere's developmental shuttlecraft, along with two of T'Sere's expert systems technicians. She heard Judea curse before asking the pair, "And what, exactly, is this doing – or not doing – when you toggle the auto-control?"

"Hey, Jude?" asked Miranda. "You have a minute?"

"You're joking, right?" came Judea's rather snippy tone. "Can't you see I'm more than just a bit busy here?"

"I can… but this is important."

"More important than one of our shuttles nearly crashing during an auto-landing because the sequencer cut the power to the control thrusters too early?"

"Maybe?" Miri gave her an impish grin as she added, "You did say 'nearly,' did you not?"

Judea gave her an annoyed glance with her curt reply. "This is no joke, Miranda."

"You're right, I shouldn't jest about such a thing, but I imagine you said 'nearly' because T'Sere has excellent test pilots, and they saved the ship with their quick reaction to the failure."

"True enough, but I don't care to make a second attempt until I determine the problem!"

"You?" asked a suddenly much more concerned Miranda. "You were flying the shuttle? What the hell, Jude? You didn't say anything about a test flight this morning!"

"By the Goddess." Judea rolled her eyes and gave the two technicians a look that said it all.

One of them shook their head and smiled. "Just go, Jude. The ship will still be sitting here when you return, and your… distraction… will give us time to run a full diagnostic report for you. We'll have it ready for tomorrow morning, and we can run through the whole sequence. Sound good?"

"Fine, fine!" Judea blew out a big sigh of disgust, adding "My shuttles don't crash… so start with the ignition control software we got from Future Dynamics. There may be some incompatibility with our software program we didn't detect."

"Yes, Judea." The tech chuckled, adding, "Go. We got this."

"Alright already, I'm going!" Judea rolled her eyes and climbed down from her perch, giving Miranda a fake glare as her feet hit the ground. "As for you, this better be as important as you say!"

Judea stared at the results on the screen, an expression of impatience crossing her face, having absolutely no idea what she was looking at. "So, what's so important about this data that I should care? What is it?"

"It's a DNA compatibility study for skin weaves… which I've been working on for years."

"Well, I know that, seeing as you did so much for Shepard during the war, but why now? What makes this so different from what you had before?" Impatience glittering in her golden eyes, she added, "What makes it important enough to interrupt my work?" She turned and met Miranda's eyes, which were gleaming with anticipation, prompting her to tack on, "What am I missing?"

"You're missing that it's not Human DNA! I assumed you'd see that the minute you looked at it!" Miranda chuckled as Judea's expression shifted, the Asari quickly looking back at the data displayed on the screen.

It took only about five seconds before Judea blurted, "By the Goddess! It's Asari! You've developed a new weave compatible with Asari?" Her interest skyrocketed as she returned her full attention to her lover and bondmate. "That's amazing!"

"And likely worth a lot of money – as well as expensive to test and fully develop." Miri smiled. "And, while I know I could do this on my own…" She paused, leaving her sentence unfinished with nothing more than a shrug.

"You're looking for some sort of sponsorship?" Judea stopped in surprise. "Because, for some reason, you don't want to use the Lawson Trust to do this." Her brow knit as she asked, "Why not?"

"Because it's biotech, and I don't want it tied to my name." Miri's smile faltered as she continued, "I'm afraid it will be immediately associated with Jack Harper and Cerberus! I've worked hard to separate myself from all of that. It is not a road I wish to travel ever again!"

"So, what do you want to do? Sell the rights to the technology?" Jude shook her head. "No. Certainly not to the highest bidder. You'd have no control over its use, and it could easily fall into the wrong hands. Hands like the Eclipse… or Aria T'Loak."

That elicited a smile from Miranda. "Eclipse? That's definitely a hard no. Aria? I'm not so sure that would be a bad thing anymore and, actually, you've hit upon my dilemma."

"You have to be joking." Judea was rocked back on her heels by that comment. "Not a chance in the galaxy you should sell this tech to that Asari!"

"No, Jude… seriously. Think about it!" Miri grinned. "Shepard and company have been working on her for a decade at this point. Her renewed relationship with Nyreen has certainly been helping her shift in attitude, and Aria's level of criminal activity has actually decreased tremendously. What if I offered her a truly above-board opportunity that could make her more money than any criminal enterprise she still dabbles in? With, of course, the stipulation she gives up the last of her drug trade interests? No more sand?"

"That would be a huge gamble. She could easily renege once she had the tech." Judea paused and drew a deep breath. "Are you sure you're willing to go there?"

"I'd need to think it through… with a lot of help from my friends." Miri paused thoughtfully, then continued, "And, I think, I would want to remain a majority partner, holding 51 percent, so I'd retain control… which I'm not sure Aria would do. She hates to be under anyone's thumb. That's where I would need Nyreen… and any other help I could muster!"

"Perhaps you could sell it to Nyreen, instead?" Judea knew that was a bad idea the moment she voiced it, immediately recanting, "No, that wouldn't work either. I can't imagine she would have access to that quantity of creds, so Aria would likely be the one to loan it to her, changing the entire balance of power that currently exists on the station, reversing all the work Shepard and Liara have managed with Nyreen there."

"What about T'Sere? Either Matriarch Tralis, or the Shipwrights corporation?"

"I know the Matriarch wouldn't go for it, and neither would any of her daughters. No, too divergent from what they know and do." Judea suddenly stopped speaking, her eyes suddenly opening wide. "What about Adrien? She's in the bio-tech industry! Plants, admittedly, but it's not so much of a stretch for her as for anyone else I can think of!"

"Ooooh! Now that's someone I definitely should have considered! She never crossed my mind!" Miranda's eyes lit up. "I'm not sure she has the creds though, but I'm guessing we could come to some sort of agreement! I'll need to contact Shepard and Liara, see if they could arrange some meeting on neutral territory…"

"Seriously? As if you need an excuse to visit the Estate?" Judea chuckled, adding, "On the other hand, why don't we just go visit Adrien on Gellix? It's not like we don't know her and Sharon."

"We?" Miri raised her eyebrows in question. "You would actually take time off to go with me?"

"Of course I would, Love." Judea gave her a look of disbelief. "Do you honestly think I would place work before you… for any reason? Especially over something of this import? You should know better than that, even if I do have a new shuttle control system that needs some more work. That will happen in due time. Maybe, if I leave them to it long enough, the engineers can figure it out without me. I simply need to clear it through Matriarch Tralis, but I see no complications there, and we'll be good to go. I imagine the travel and discussion time couldn't take more than a couple of weeks, and I have more than two-months-worth of vacation time accrued."

Miranda's smile lit up her face. "That would be awesome, Jude! Only thing I want to do is stop by the Estate and bring Shepard and Liara up to speed, before we head out, and before Liara returns to Serrice, at the end of September."

"That's fine," Judea chuckled. "We might be able to give Liara both a heads-up and a follow-up on our return. If I can get away immediately, we would have over a month to visit with them on the outbound journey and still get to Gellix and back again, all before Liara needs to return to the University!"

Cliffside, Gellix, Arrae System – 21 Aug 2201

Adrien Burns stared at the couple, her brow wrinkled as she asked, "Why me? Why a Human, instead of an Asari?"

"Why not?" Miranda shrugged, "I developed it, so it's Human tech… and you're in the biotech industry. Quite frankly, I couldn't come up with anyone I trusted more with technology like this. Your character is unassailable."

"And what if someone digs into my past? My origins?"

Miranda met Adrien's gaze without wavering. "The Council already did that, Adrien, and you clearly passed their scrutiny. They found absolutely nothing that would keep you from a joint governorship of the entire planet, so…" She watched as the import of her words sank into her fellow-human's mind.

Finally, Adrien sighed in resignation. "Alright. I have to agree with that point but, again, why me? You have to know there's no way I can raise the kind of credits that tech is worth, right?"

"Understood," responded Judea. "Which is exactly why Lady Liara has purchased twenty-four percent of the rights, leaving you with a twenty-five percent ownership, along with full developmental rights and control over all sales."

Adrien was silent for a long moment, until Sharon leaned over and whispered something into her ear. Adrien nodded and replied quietly, "I think I could work with that." She turned back to Miranda and replied, "If I am to do this, however, I absolutely need full control of development. But, beyond that, sales are to be determined by the Triad." As Miri began to protest, Adrien held up a hand, stopping her. "No. Who we sell to among the Asari – and we will sell only to Asari, so no one tries to reverse engineer it for their race – will not be my decision. I will require the ownership triad to evaluate all potential sales, with percentage of ownership counting as a weighted average."

Miri's brow knit as she responded, "Which means I would be the one determining who we sell to, since I will retain majority share. I don't really want that responsibility."

"True enough, but you will have our opinions on the matter, and we can debate over each customer, so we make an informed decision on who gets the tech." Adrien shrugged. "I won't do it any other way, so take my offer or find someone else, Miranda. Just like you, I don't care to be the sole responsible party with tech of this value and impact. We need information and we need to be able to control distribution." She paused, then added, "At least for the short term. I have no delusions about someone else eventually reverse engineering the tech, but we can make sure law enforcement and Asari defense forces have it before the… shall we say, less ethical Asari… get their hands on it. Agreed?"

"Well," started Miranda. "I suppose if I honestly trust you with the tech, I guess I have to say yes, don't I." Her face held a slight smirk as she shook her head in reluctant acceptance. "Fine. I'll agree to your terms, Adrien."

"That's good, because they were Liara's terms as well." Seeing the surprise on Miranda and Judea's faces, Adrien's face blossomed into a smile. "Yes, I knew why you were coming before you ever landed on the planet. Liara called me while you were enroute, and we discussed what we believed to be the best route forward. In reality, I'm looking forward to having an excuse to speak with all of you more frequently. I know I get busy with things here and kind of forget all of you are still out there in the galaxy. It's been too long since Sharon and I have been to Thessia, particularly to the Estate. I think an extended visit is long overdue!"

T'Soni Country Estate, Thessia, Athena Nebula – 29 Aug 2201

Liara and Shepard both had huge grins on their faces as Adrien and Sharon disembarked the shuttlecraft that had just touched down on the tarmac.

"Judea and Miri will be here shortly," Adrien declared. "Jude felt the need to make a quick stop by the shipyard to swap the interstellar for something more… sporty… to travel across the continent."

Liara chuckled, responding, "Then it is very likely that fast-moving speck I see on the horizon will be here shortly. We may as well just stand here and await their arrival."

The small group chuckled good-naturedly and, before they had a chance to really talk about too much, the sporty corvette roared in, did a quick side-slide maneuver to position the vehicle perfectly over the parking space, and dropped smoothly to the tarmac. The doors popped open almost simultaneously, followed quickly by Miranda and Judea exiting the craft.

Judea couldn't help but grin as she saw the group smiling and laughing. "What? You know how much I love my sport craft! Little in this galaxy gives me more enjoyment than flying one of my babies!"

Miranda gave her a side glance with a questioning expression, to which Judea replied, "I did say little in the galaxy, Miri. You are obviously someone I love even more than flying."

"Nice counter, Jude," chuckled Samantha. "Shall we get inside and see where we are on the weave issues? See if we are all in agreement and ready to draft the application to form our new biotech company?"

Miranda smiled. "In a hurry, Shepard?"

"Sort of," she replied with her trademark grin. "Just figured we can get business out of the way first, then settle in for the visit that is so long overdue between all of us!"

Adrian smiled, responding quietly, "I can happily agree with that sentiment, Shep. It's been far too long since we just sat and talked about…" She paused as she considered exactly how to finish that statement, finally adding, "absolutely nothing important but our friendships."

Once they identified the proper licensing agreements, and met the insurance and bonding requirements, they quickly finished up the required applications. Liara pushed the 'submit' button with a smile on her face; they were now free to move on to other topics of conversation. Even though they were eager to change topics and simply enjoy themselves, Liara delayed the shift with another segway. "Given the developer of this technology and the rigorous scientific research and methodology she uses, I have one final proposal."

"Liara! We just finished all the paperwork, and you want to change something already?" Miranda chuckled, shaking her head as she asked the question.

"Not at all, Miri." Liara glanced at Shepard, who gave a silent nod of agreement, so she pressed on. "With all the attempts made on our lives, Samantha and I are in agreement. She already has the weaves, and they saved her life more than once. That said, I want to offer myself as your first live test subject."

"What?" Miranda squeaked. "Not a chance! Why would we even consider risking you during the testing phase? Absolutely not!"

"Oh, please. That's ridiculous. You'll obviously take a skin sample and complete compatibility tests on that first, of course, before just throwing the weave onto my entire body." Liara rolled her eyes and blew out a heavy breath. "Enough people have tried to take my life that both Shepard and I believe it a worthwhile precaution to add that extra layer of defense. I hope I never need to rely on it, but I'd feel pretty stupid in the last moments of my life if I hadn't taken advantage of the technology… in which I own a quarter share… that could have saved me."

While Miranda simply sat and stared at her in silence, Sharon started to chuckle. "She's got you there, Miri." Sharon then asked, "What kind of recovery timeframe would you be looking at? I mean, you did it for Shepard, but she has her nanites, making her recovery much faster than normal."

Shaking herself out of her shock, Miranda replied quickly. "I imagine it would be at least two weeks, if not more. We won't know until we run some tests."

The ever-present Riana quickly chimed in, "Then test it on me, Miranda. A First can be replaced, where the Lady of a House without an heir, cannot."

She was met with a chorus of surprised denials, prompting Liara to raise her hand. "Stop! Riana, as always, speaks the truth, whether we want to hear it or not." Her eyes shifted to Riana as she added, "But she is important to me, as are all of the House T'Soni commandos. We could, however, ask for volunteers amongst the teams…"

She was cut off by a laugh from Shepard, followed by, "And every single one will throw their name out. Just ask if there is anyone who does not want to volunteer, then draw a name by lottery from those remaining."

Liara looked at Riana, who shrugged as she replied, "That would seem to be the fairest way to select the candidate."

"Or candidates, plural." Adrien looked around the group, all eyes suddenly on her. "We're running a trial, here. A single test case would not be enough to verify the viability of the technology. I'll need at least twenty volunteers."

Liara leaned back in her chair as she answered quietly, "I hadn't thought of that, but you are correct. However, I obviously cannot have twenty of my commandos in trials at the same time."

Riana responded immediately. "We could ask Lyana about who to approach in the Armali Strike Force. They certainly have the numbers and could benefit greatly from the technology when it proves out."

"Agreed." Miranda immediately nodded. "And, since it is a trial, whoever volunteers could get the weave at no charge…"

"What would tech like that even be worth, on the open market?" Shepard's brow was pinched as she asked the question. "That's one thing we haven't even begun to talk about."

Miranda didn't hesitate, promptly answering, "Easily 400,000 credits per application, plus the actual surgery costs, which likely tags on another one-time fee of 200,000 for the specialty bio-bed software… per bed. A complicated recovery could cost another 200,000 credits. So, if it proves out without complications, which I would assume necessary before we sell anything, we could easily charge 600,000 credits per patient, because there is nothing else like it. No competition. Just the 20 test cases would be worth twelve million credits, maybe more, including preparation and post-surgery follow-ups."

"And we'd give it to them for free?" Shepard whistled quietly. "Even House T'Soni shouldn't be giving away 12 million creds."

"We could do a House T'Soni team of six as an initial test to prove the tech," Liara responded. "Then, if there are no complications, we could offer a half-price deal to Armali Strike Force for, let's say, their first two teams? Twelve total?"

"That's actually not a bad idea, Liara." Miranda was nodding. "Once out of recovery, which would give the ASF two full teams to test in the field. They get a half-price deal, and we get the advertising rights." She paused only a moment before adding, "Then, if they buy the rights to do the surgery themselves, we could credit the money paid for the first twelve toward the sale."

"What about me?" asked Judea. "As a test pilot, I certainly wouldn't mind having a bit of extra protection from any future… mishaps I may have. And not just me, either. I imagine T'Sere might be interested in getting it for all their test pilots, should the individuals want it."

Liara chuckled quietly. "Leave it to you to come up with our first potential commercial sales, in contrast to the law enforcement and military clients we've been considering."

Miranda smiled, adding, "I would not be opposed, but we would have to set very specific criteria for that market. Perhaps the surgery itself, but no rights to the process?"

Judea grinned in response. "I am confident the Matriarch would have no designs on starting up a bio-med division for T'Sere Shipwrights, so I believe she would be quite agreeable to such an arrangement."

Liara added, "And, I think we could give them two at the same half price deal we plan to offer the ASF, as the top-off for our 20-person test?"

Miranda looked questioningly around the group as she asked, "Any objections?" After a moment, with several in attendance shaking their heads to augment their quiet 'no' responses, Miranda smiled. "Then it sounds like we have a plan."

Cliffside, Gellix, Arrae System – 21 December 2201

Adrien Burns sat at her comm terminal waiting for someone to pick up the call at the other end. When a face finally appeared, it was Miranda. "Hey Adrien! How are things going?"

"I just wanted to let you know, the approval came through this morning, Miri." Her grin widened as she added, "Skin Dynamics is now a legal enterprise!"

Miranda's eyes lit up as she replied, "That's excellent! Have the bio-beds and everything arrived, yet?"

"Are you kidding?" Adrien chuckled. "Sharon shifted into her old commander persona and got on it as soon as we arrived home. She found a good location fairly close to our existing medical facility and immediately got to work, putting together a design and fabrication team to build out what we needed. She got the beds on order as soon as we had a projected completion date, and everything has been sitting here, waiting for approval, since December 2d. All we need now is your and your software, and we're in business."

"Well, that and a Team of T'Soni commandos," answered Miranda, a big smile on her face. "Thank you, Adrien, for everything. You've made my winter holiday with your news." She paused only a moment before asking, "Are we going to see you on Thessia for the holiday?"

"Absolutely!" she answered with a smile. "Sharon and I are popping over on the 23d and staying through New Year's Day, returning home on January 3d. Liara told us you were doing the same… that still true?"

Miranda's grin remained fixed firmly in place as she responded, "Yes, it is. We are very much looking forward to getting together with everyone again! Did Liara also tell you we'll be doing the lottery as well, to see which six commandos will be coming to see you first?"

"No! She said nothing of the sort!" Adrien chuckled. "You may have just ruined her surprise, but don't worry… I'll do my best to fake it."

"If she said she has a surprise for you, it wasn't that. She didn't say anything to me about keeping it quiet. Just the opposite, actually. She wanted me to ask if you were ready for them, which it seems you are." Miri grinned as she added, "Apparently, I'm the one holding things up, having not installed the software in your beds, yet. So, I guess, I'll be heading to Gellix after the break on Thessia."

"We'll have a room set up for you. Judea able to come as well?"

"Likely not, but I'll ask her and let you know."

"That would be too bad, but I'll understand if she doesn't come." Adrien smiled softly. "Thanks again, Miri, for trusting me with this. I never thought of being involved in sentient bio-tech. Plants were enough of a challenge. You've opened up a whole new realm of science to me, which my investigative mind absolutely loves. I owe you."

"You don't owe me a thing!" laughed Miranda. "I couldn't have done it without you! Maybe, more accurately, I wouldn't have done it without you. Even after all these years, the specters of Cerberus and the Illusive Man still haunt me."

"Well, just maybe, this will finally exorcise those ghosts, Miri, and you'll truly be free."