Man this was awesome. I know im several years late but you did an amazing job with this story.

This is one of my favorite "Mass Effect" fanfics, for it's an excellent story of how the crew of Normandy function when Shepard's not around.

The conflict was well-written for the way it showed both sides as having a point, and their inability to find a middle ground without Garrus' mediation. It also served as an example of Garrus' capabilities as a leader despite his guilt born from his time on Omega.

Miranda was excellently portrayed; she was arrogant, condescending, and lacking in empathy, but she was intelligent, rational, and not heartless (contrary to popular belief, both in universe and out).
The briefing room confrontation taught Miranda the big difference between being in command and being a leader. Combined with Jacob's words, this helps her realize her difficult in asking for help, which in turn acts as a lead-in to her loyalty mission.

Your inclusion of Jacob was well done; he's overshadowed by the more interesting and complex team members that it's easy to forget that he's a stable element on the Normandy.

Garrus and Mordin's critique of Tali's room was hilarious comedy relief from the more serious drama.

So well done and giving us this Shepard-less story.

Great descriptive work where Garrus takes charge

Very good talk between Jacob and Garrus about Cerberus

A realistic and nicely-done take on the group dynamic in mass effect, wonderful fanfic!

The story is a great exposition on the nature of command and the challenges associated with it. As opposed to the SR1, the Cerberus origins of the SR2 and it's XO create an unavoidable disunity with the command structure. The fact that Garrus recognizes this and takes actions to prevent a mutiny perfectly captures his martial background as well as how vital trust in the chain of command for effective shipboard operations. As I've never played a minute of this game, your musings has provided nuanced depth towards both Vakarian and Miranda.

If I had to hazard a guess I'd say that the author has spent time at sea.

Hi there. I read this fic twice: while I was playing ME2 and after I finished it. Enjoyed it on both occasions. I always wondered how the squad would interact with one another if Shepard wasn't around, and this legitimately felt like this could have happened in the game.

It's mostly because of your excellent grasp of the characters. Garrus was awesome, and it was obvious why everyone in the story wanted him to be the Normandy's XO. Miranda was great as well, genuine in her desire to keep the ship running even if she had to be the "Ice Queen", polite and reasonable, basically true to the game.

I also like how Jacob fit into all of this. He was fleshed out from the game, and his loyalty to Miranda and respect for Tali and Garrus came through. Tali was pretty in-character too, and her good nature shone through her somewhat justified hate for Cerberus.

Overall, your great understanding for the characters ensured that every single action taken in this story made perfect sense while being written in a very enjoyable manner. That goes for all of your other ME2 fics, by the way. Kudos.

P.S. I just love your explanation for how Shepard and crew were able to fly anywhere in the galaxy and do whatever they wanted and not face any form of consequence from a vengeful party or C-Sec or anyone else.

In conclusion not only miranda missed a bullet here, but the normandy, jacob and many more did also. Working with cerberus may have a few perks but there also downsides and you showed that quite well, both sides.

Ah, my favorite story of yours. You put Garrus in exactly the spot I would have liked the games to put him, at least in ME3, what with him being the squad member with the most time aboard the Normandy.

sheppys driving skills are the stuff of legend!

i knew that it was the shadow of archangel that made garrus reluctant to take command

go jacob for giving credit where its due

miranda's argument falls through if you consider that none of that stuff would be necessary if the normandy wasnt affiliated with a terrorist organisation and shep gets his spectre status back,

i would prefer it if shep ordered the non human crew to seize the ship by force, i was hoping to do that as soon as the normandy left the dock.

ive got to side with tali on this, cerebus is worse then the reapers: they cant help but fulfill their programming but the illusive man chose to order those atrocitys of his own free will