"Thank you." Shepard quietly told him, as the two of them left Huerta Memorial.

"For what?"

"For finding some of my friends. I really appreciate it."

He nodded slightly. "You're most welcome, Shepard."

Shepard dug her hands into her pockets as they walked, eyes distant and drawn toward the ground in front of her. Her face betrayed the nature of her thoughts, and she carried a troubled expression with her.

"I hate it." She muttered.

"Hate what?"

"The change. I get forced away from everything and then when I come back, everything has changed. Everything. The Normandy, the crew, the galaxy…."

"Change is an inevitable part of the universe we live in, Shepard. The arrow of time only points in one direction for us."

"Don't I know it."

"To be fair, your absences were very…. removed. Your limbo after the collector attack and your incarceration of the least few months cut you off from nearly everything. From your perspective, you went to sleep one night finding out upon waking that you had slept for months."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. What about you? Does anything ever change from your perspective? Do things ever truly change or is everything the same old?"

The Wanderer slowed his pace a little as they walked, taking time to look over the walkway's railing to the left of them. Creatures of all kinds hustled and bustled on every level within the Citadel.

"Things change…. and yet they stay the same." He said, stopping to lean forward over the white railing to watch the stream of transports fly below them. "Little things on the surface change, like the genetic sequences of the organics that inhabit this station and the little details of their lives, yet the deeper things: their base drives and the spinning of the galaxies, do not. It's all a giant wheel that turns, never stopping."

"Do organics bore you?"

"Not all organics." He replied, winking at her.

Shepard frowned. "I'm serious."

"So am I." he insisted, grinning.

"Fine." Shepard sighed, "Do most organics bore you?

The Wanderer turned himself around to face her and leaned his back against the railing, his mouth a thin line.

"Sometimes. This is my third run, Shepard. I've lived the equivalent of a thousand human lifetimes. Despite my implants, things do get old: what was once exciting becomes mundane, you see the same trends and ideas emerge, go out of style and emerge again for a new generation who thinks they're brand new. You see the same decisions and mistakes being made over and over again by those around you." He explained to her, crossing his arms over his chest. "One way or another, Shepard, I will not be witness to a fourth. There is a… tiredness of the mind that I've felt for some time." He admitted, eyes downcast. "My ability and implants have taken me farther than anyone had ever dreamed was possible, but I am still an organic. No organic body was intended to persist forever. "

Shepard realized the solemnity of his words and she frowned.

"Things have only repeated for you because the Reapers keep hitting the reset button, right? When we win, you'll stay, won't you?"

The Wanderer heard the concern and hope behind her words and couldn't help himself from grinning sheepishly. He looked up to her face, and saw that her eyes did indeed still hold the hope of a brighter future, possibly even one with both of them in it. He wanted to pass the feeling off as a naive thought, but had he not clung to that idea like a lifeline throughout all the ages? Had he become so jaded as to wish not for complete victory but a release from his duties no matter the cost? Perhaps she was naïve, but did he have a right to take that dream away from her? He knew he had none. There was time still to dream and wish and it was more important at this moment than it had ever been before.

"Let's make a deal." he propositioned. "You defeat the Reapers, and I'll stay. Sound fair?"

"You drive a really hard bargain," Shepard joked. "But it's a deal. Now c'mon," she motioned to him, "We're going to be late to the Council meeting."

.

"We've got our own problems, Councilor. Earth is not in this alone."

The councilors, all in a line on their podiums, were present and in heated argument when Shepard and the Wanderer arrived. As absurd as it appeared, these four very average looking individuals controlled the largest military force in the galaxy. Aside from the council chamber being at the very center of the Citadel, their garments never hinted at lavish lifestyles or egos fat with power.

"But earth was the first Council world hit." Councilor Udina insisted. "By all reports, it faces the brunt of the attack."

"By your reports." Snapped the Salarian Councilor.

Udina glared at him then with an expression that would have chilled him to the bone, had salarians possessed an equivalent facial expression, which they did not.

It was clear to Shepard that there were conflicting views on resource allocation for the war, even though battle plans had been made months ago. Despite all the warnings and discussions, no one is ready for a punch to the face. The threat had moved from a far-off rumbling to solid metal and flesh that had swooped in to raze capital cities to the ground in a very short amount of time. Everyone was panicking. She hoped that whatever the Wanderer had to do during his time away from the Normandy had been worth his time. They could not rely on the chances of having unanimous support across the council.

"The reports are accurate." She insisted. "Earth was attacked – by the Reapers. And it's just the beginning. We need your help. Everything you can spare."

There was a prolonged silence after her plea, and everyone knew that as serious as her plea had been, not everyone agreed. They had their own people to protect now.

"Each of us faces a similar situation." The asari councilor reminder her. "Even now, the Reapers are pressing on our borders. If we lend you our strength to help Earth, our own worlds will fall."

"We must fight this enemy together!" Udina again beseeched the other councilors.

"And so we should just follow you to Earth?" the salarian incredulously suggested.

While the two were bickering, the turian councilor, typically against assisting human affairs, proved to be the voice of reason. Even with their abrasive relationship in the past, if the turians knew anything, it was discipline.

"Even if we were to unite our fleets" he asked Shepard, "do you really believe we could defeat the Reapers?"

"I don't expect you to follow me without a plan." She answered, motioning to Liara to present her findings from the archives on Mars.

"Councilors…" addressed the asari doctor, stepping forward. "We have that plan. A blueprint. Created by the Protheans during their war with the Reapers."

"A blueprint for what?"

"We're still piecing it together…" she explained, pushing a command into her omni-tool, "but it appears to be a weapon of some sort."

Holographic technical renderings popped into existence between them, green models of three dimensional objects rotating with no immediately discernable purpose.

"Capable of destroying the Reapers?"

"So it would seem." Answered the doctor.

The large eyes of the salarian regarded the information in front of him, his mind gathering the data as fast as it was displayed. "The scale is… it would be a colossal undertaking."

"No." Shepard assured. "I forwarded the plans to Admiral Hackett. The remnants of the human fleet are already gathering resources to begin construction."

"Our initial calculation suggest it is very feasible to build." Added Liara.

"….If we work together." Shepard completed.

The asari councilor narrowed her eyes, not trusting the idea. "Have you considered that the Reapers destroyed the Protheans? What good did this weapon do?"

"It was incomplete. There was a missing component. Here." Liara said, highlighting something among the data. "Something referred to only as the Catalyst. But they ran out of time before they could finish building it."

"Do you really believe this can stop the Reapers?"

Shepard nodded. "Liara believes it can work, and so do I. And while I haven't always agreed with Udina, he's right about this… we need to stand together. Now more than ever. The Reapers won't stop at Earth. They'll destroy every organic being in the galaxy if we don't find a way to stop them."

Both the turian and asari councilors turned their heads toward the salarian for his approval, but he shook his head in rejection.

The Wanderer, or rather Solomon Farren, who had been silent throughout the exchange felt a root of anger tug at his chest at the salarian's refusal to cooperate. The salarian councilor would eventually come around, he thought, but not before his people began suffering heavy losses and realize how little they could accomplish by themselves. He supposed this was a consequence of salarian thinking; they preferred their wars won before they started - espionage and covert operations were their game. They were, therefore, completely out of their depth with the Reapers and were genuinely frightened battling a ruthless foe they had nearly no information on.

"The cruel and unfortunate truth" admitted the asari councilor, "is that while the Reapers focus on Earth, we can prepare and regroup. We are convening a summit amongst out species. If we can manage to secure our own border, we may once again consider aiding you."

With those words, Udina threw his head into one of his hands and shook his head in silent frustration. His pleas were fruitless.

"I'm sorry, Commander." the asari expressed. "This is the best we can do. Meeting is adjourned."

"Shepard." Udina addressed, grinding his teeth together as he spoke, "Meet me in my office."

.

Shepard had been leaning on one of the desks in Udina's office when the councilor stormed in, fuming from the council meeting.

"They're a bunch of self-concerned jackasses, Shepard! We may have a spot on the Council, but humanity will always be considered second-rate." Udina spat. "They're scared. And they're looking out only for themselves!"

"Our people are scared, and we're looking out for them the best way we know how." added a third voice.

Shepard and Udina spun to see the source of the voice, not expecting to see the Turian councilor come bounding down the steps of the office to their level.

"Councilor." Udina choked, clearly surprised by the turian's sudden appearance.

"I can't give you what you need," he told Shepard, straightening his back and joining his talons behind his back in impeccable posture, "but I can tell you how to get it."

"I'm listening." She replied.

"Primarch Fedorian called the war summit, but… we lost contact with him when the Reapers hit Palaven. Those meetings won't proceed without him. The Normandy is one of the few ships that can extract Primarch Fedorian undetected."

Shepard sighed to herself, tired with her repetition. She had told them what was coming, and they still needed her help when they ignored the message.

"I told you this would happen. Repeatedly. And you did nothing."

"We can argue the past later if you like." The turian acknowledged, "But the leaders of this summit will be the ones deciding our future. The fate of our fleet, where they fight, and with whom. A grateful Primarch would be a tremendous ally in your bid to unite us."

"We're at war, and you want me to play politician?"

"If it gets you what you need, what does it matter?" returned the turian.

Shepard supposed it didn't.

"Our latest intelligence says that the Primarch was moved to a base on Palaven's largest moon. I've done all I can to help."

And with that said, he turned to leave. While he ascended the steps, he paused.

"There is one other thing. The Council wanted me to tell you… we've chosen to uphold your Spectre status. And various resources will be made available to you. The rest is up to you. Good day."

With a quick tap of his omni-tool and some status reassigning, he was gone.

"Well that went well." Shepard reflected.

"It's a start. I'll talk to the others in the meantime. See if we can support this summit. Move things along." He said, sitting down at his desk.

"Thanks."

"The Council." Udina scoffed, "You saved their lives, and for what? Apologies that boiled down to, "maybe later." If we don't figure out something, "Maybe Later" will be an epitaph on a mass grave of eleven billion."

"I know what I'm going to do. What are you going to do?"

Udina leaned forward on his elbows, thinking. "Humanity has created some goodwill in the galaxy. Now we cash in our chips."

A renewed purpose fueled his words as a tremendous but vitally important task began to emerge in front of him. He was a politician though and though, and he would un-modestly admit his was a great one. With Parliament destroyed and Shastri gone, he had more power than any human in history. If he couldn't do it, they were all as good as dead.

"I will get what funding I can, what materials I can, and spread the message: Help the humans, help yourselves. I'll institute a draft in our colonies and order all civilian ships armed. Work on the Prothean device will be around the clock." He paused as he formulated his thoughts. "Rest assured I will not be counted out long. I know I can move mountains. Do not lose sight of that, Shepard, because the task before us is moving planets."

"Anderson would be proud… so long as you deliver. You think you can do that?"

"You need a carrot or a stick to drive a mule and humanity has neither right now. Our armada is tied down fighting or fleeing, and with Earth's comm buoys gone, our economy is reduced to an IOU. But leave that part to me. I will learn on our colonies for all their worth, and I can broker enough trade to repair and resupply Hackett's fleet."

"Good. We'll be in touch soon."

.

"How did it go?" the Wanderer asked Shepard as she exited the main atrium of the council chambers.

"Better than I anticipated, actually. The turian councilor joined us as well."

"Councilor Sparatus? He had a Spectre mission for you, didn't he?"

"Yes, how did you know?" she said, although she wondered why she even bothered being surprised anymore.

"It's the only reason he would meet you here face-to-face at this very moment. Despite your rocky relationship in the past I sense he's the only one on the council who's willing to fully support the Alliance. The reason he can't yet is because he needs support from his people, and your mission is to secure that support. Am I warm?"

"On fire, actually. We're heading to Palaven's largest moon on a mission to extract Primarch Fedorian. He called the war summit. We need his support to win aid for humanity."

"Humans and turians are more alike than people think. I suspect the reason for so much hatred between your two species at the beginning was each recognizing themselves in the other. Both are prideful at a fault. Turians also currently possess the largest fleet of the council races. Once they come to humanities aid, the others will follow suit with less resistance. And Udina?"

"Same as always. He can be insufferable at certain times but I don't doubt his commitment to the cause."

"Good. As much as I like Anderson, he does his best work in the field, and Udian does his best behind a desk. People dismiss him as a stuffed shirt but this war has gotten personal for him too. You should have seen him in the council chambers after it was reported that Arcturus station was destroyed. He was in a rage."

"We have no time to waste. Head back to the ship as soon as you can. You need to bring me up to speed on everything, and I mean everything that I've missed."

"Yes Ma'am. Solomon Farren at your service."