Note: this is a draft work, and has been only lightly proofread. Grammatical problems/mistakes may be present.

Part I.

Wherein Shepard discovers a newfound enthusiasm for her work with an Idea proposed offhand, the consequences of the Idea, and where it leads her.

"Maybe you could go pirate, Shepard... live like a queen..."

As much as she was dedicated to the cause of stopping the Collectors, stopping the Reapers, saving the world just that one more time, that thought... that idea... it infected her mind like a parasite. When she was standing there in the bowels of the ship, half in conversation, half staring, admiring, secretively tracing the outlines of Jack's body with her eyes - when Jack said it, it seemed like ... nothing.

But now, dealing with Cerberus, the gang of murderous xenophobes who butchered her precious Normandy, who tortured Jack, who set thresher maws deliberately upon her and her unit on Akuze, the smug self-satisfaction of the Illusive Man, it begun to sound more and more attractive every day. "If Cerberus is supposed to be the epitome of humanity..." she thought, "If the Alliance has turned its back on those colonies..."

Shepard opened up the shutters in the captain's quarters, staring up at the swirling blue light of the Cerenkov radiation from particles escaping the mass effect field, rapidly decelerating as they drifted out of the field. "I could put it all behind me... they'd find someone else to sort this ...mess out, surely... Miranda, Jacob... I'd have to let them off somewhere... Liara..."

"EDI, get me Liara, please..."

:::

The sound of the Shadow Broker vocoder answered the call "To make a submission, say "Submission"... to check on the staus - "

"Athame". The password. An eternity, waiting for the automated systems to traceroute back to the Normandy, exchange keys to verify identity, and establish secure protocols.

Finally, it was Liara's soft voice.

"Shepard."

"How are you, aeri?"

"I'm doing fine; what happened? What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

"You always call me that when you have news that I'm not going to like, you know."

No use beating about the bush, Shepard. "I've been thinking about going rogue."

Silence; another eternity. The Reapers have come and gone by now, for sure -

"I'm coming with you, if you do. At least until the storm blows over. There'll be a storm, you understand. There'll be no turning back."

"That's why I had to be sure...I -"

"I'm not losing you again", she said, softly.

"You won't. I'll come by. I better sort out the crew first."

"Good luck. And all my love."

:::

The team shuffled in nervously; they knew they hadn't made planetfall for weeks, not even on those miscellaneous errands that came in by email. Miranda avoided eye contact with Shepard but remained upright, surveying the room. Garrus took some cajoling, but was parted from calibrating the main weapon on the promise that he'd get back to it within half an Earth-standard hour.

Everyone was here, cramped together in the briefing room - except Jack was missing. She radioed down. "Jack, you'll want to hear this. Promise. You'll enjoy it.". A few minutes later, and the pneumatic doors hissed open. They all looked at her, trying to smuggle away scowls. Jack saw Shepard with a slight smirk on her face and relaxed, and sat up on the railing of the holographic communicator, distorting the wireframe image of the Normandy.

"Listen, I'm not one for fancy speeches, so I'll just say this. As of zero-hundred Earth-Zulu, the Normandy will no longer be under Cerberus, nor Alliance, nor any organizational control, command, or influence. Any crew member who disagrees with this directive will have an opportunity to disembark at a port of their choosing within 72 hours from zero-hundred, however they will not be permitted to reembark in future. The rest of the crew who remain aboard will have the ability to take furlough whenever they choose."

After a few seconds of looking at their shocked faces, Miranda said "You can't do that", matter-of-factly.

"Where would you like to disembark?", Shepard said, without missing a beat.

:::

After everyone said their piece, those who wanted to leave - or needed to think - left the room. The few that were left: Mordin, Legion, and Jack.

"Well, Shepard. I didn't think you'd actually do it." Jack looked genuinely impressed.

"Still want to be my first mate?"

"Hell yeah. Who are we going after first?"

"No one. Well, not yet, anyway. Look, those out there that want to cross us, have crossed us, they'll come to fear us. And hell, they'll fear you, too. But this is important - they've got to have it coming to them, or it'll be worthless. We'll become just like them, like Cerberus, like the Alliance, like everyone else who screwed us over. I'm not having that."

"Am just scientist, Shepard." Mordin piped up, taking a sharp breath. "No interest in pursuing Cerberus or Alliance."

Shepard didn't look at him. She had her eyes locked on Jack, waiting for a response.

"Your ship, Shepard, your rules." She smiled. Genuinely, it seemed.

Shepard gave her a wink.

:::

Shepard walked up to the cockpit; the crew hushed as she walked by, saying nothing. She rolled her eyes.

There was one more crew member to check up on.

"Everything okay up here, Joker?"

"Word is you're going pirate, Commander. Leaving Cerberus."

"Wasn't ever with Cerberus, Joker. And I'm not going to be robbing other innocent ships or anything like that. You going to be okay with that, Joker?"

"Hell, Shepard, I can't leave the Normandy. She'd miss me too much. And I can't leave you without a good pilot. Anything else you were after?"

"That'll be all."

"See you, Commander."

:::

The Normandy engaged stealth systems just as they entered the Hourglass Nebula and started the painstaking sublight journey to Hagalaz; if Liara was going to return to the Normandy, measures would have to be taken. While the Shadow Broker ship was carefully hidden within the storms of the upper atmosphere, an ordinary shuttle wouldn't have any stealth systems and would be easily scanned.

Shepard stood in the front cabin with Joker, looking out the cockpit windows. "EDI, can you establish a secure channel?"

"One moment", EDI replied, then Liara's voice was audible: "Are you ready, Shepard? I need you to send someone down in a shuttle and dock. I'll then come onboard with a jammer that should mask the fact that I'm on board the shuttle."

Shepard radioed Legion. "Make your way to the shuttle. Flight program's been downloaded already. You're just playing decoy, wait ten minutes before you return on the shuttle."

"Understood, Shepard-Commander."

The shuttle looked tiny out the window as it sped towards the cloud tops, gradually diminishing in size until it was no longer visible. They couldn't risk radar or ladar pings in case of detection. Shepard's heart was quietly racing; the mission was a cakewalk, it was Liara: Liara who stood beside Shepard as she reduced Sovereign to a burnt cinder, Liara who could hold her own against Cerberus, Liara who carved her way through the Shadow Broker and his minions ... it was Liara: the lonely woman Shepard glimpsed when they joined minds, though brilliant and full of potential, Liara who knew every inch of Shepard's body and how to excite every nerve with her touch, Liara, gentle as a summer's breeze back on Earth and glorious as a CME from a type-O star ... was it any wonder that Shepard was clawing the leather back of Joker's flight chair with one hand, unconsciously?

It was one thing to get into the Shadow Broker base. It was another thing to get her out.

"Commander, shuttle's back in visual range." Joker pointed to a dark speck against the clouds, gradually getting larger.

Shepard wordlessly walked off briskly to the shuttle bay.

:::

She was here. Of course she was here. Back on board. "Just like old times", Garrus would have said, if he was here; he was in the weapon bay, still ruminating on the bombshell Shepard released on the crew. Shepard clutched the asari standing before her, a mix of relief and longing satisfied. It seemed like years had passed since they had last met - though in reality it had been a few weeks - Shepard's deliberation and vacillation about Jack's idea made time seem to pass much longer, but now, as she had the things that were the most important closest to her, the cloud that hung above her head was lifting and the skies were clearing.

"You can let go now", Liara said, smiling a little.

"It's been a while, you know?"

"Dear, it's been three of your weeks since we last were together."

"Has it?" Shepard scratched her hair, unenthusiastically, embarassed. "Um... Miranda and Jacob left already, they threatened violence if I waited, I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner; you can get your gear set up in her office if you like?"

Liara put a hand to Shepard's face. "That will do fine. Come by later, won't you?"

Shepard had her composure regained. "Will do."

:::

Shepard stood at the galaxy map podium, studying the known and Citadel-controlled systems. From the vantage point, she could just make out the blue haze from the cockpit windows. For a minute, it seemed like she was on one of the ships of old, water-farers of legend: gripping the railing in front of her was like holding the helm, the blue shock front the ocean, vast ahead. The universe felt fresh with potential, like when she first stood upon that same podium on the first Normandy; now she was no longer the hand of the Alliance, or Cerberus, or humanity, or anyone, she could wander the stars as she pleased.

And that had provoked some primal, dopaminergic, part of her brain. It felt good. It'd be hard, certainly. No credits, no funding will come in by default. Without money, keeping the Normandy in top condition will be harder and harder; then there's the matter of food...

The lift chimed behind her and the doors hissed open. It was Garrus.

"Shepard. Got a minute?"

"Garrus. What can I do for you?"

"I've been thinking. Look, I don't want to leave for good, but ... I need some purpose, a goal, and since you're not going after the Collectors any more, I think I need some time on my own - "

"I understand. We'll be here when you're ready to return to us. It's not like we're not going to have any purpose aboard, but there's a lot of us finding the ropes."

Garrus turns, then looks back. "Thanks, Shepard."

A pang of guilt, then it goes away. You know who your friends really are at a time like this, Shepard thinks. But the thought doesn't do anything to make her feel any better. The feeling of exhilaration she was feeling a moment ago has already dissipated into the ether.

:::

Shepard use to hate going to see Miranda, and would normally avoid it at most opportunities. The walk out of the elevator and forward port had the same limbic dread even though she was no longer aboard, and no longer would be. It was a pleasant, but odd surprise to see Liara sitting at Miranda's desk, brow arched, with a thin smile; Shepard knew that look.

"You've got something for me, haven't you?"

"Several things, in fact."

Shepard glanced around the room. There were a few boxes on the bed, and a few large storage libraries crammed into the remaining space; Liara was wearing a small earpiece and visor, now.

"I've got to stay connected, now." Liara informed her, tapping the earpiece. "And you've got to maintain cashflow. I've found two points of interest that may be of use. My other parent, on Illium, was always aware that dependence on Reaper technology was foolhardy - "

"- Wait, you knew all this time?" Shepard asked; she had suspected the bartender was related to Liara, but she never had anything more than a hunch.

Liara didn't say anything, and just shot her a glance that seemed to say, "You're better than this, Shepard. Catch up, already." Shepard nodded.

"- and the ideal way to progress would be to adapt along technological lines of our own development. Are you familiar with the concept of universal assemblers?"

"No clue." Shepard said, looking blank. Liara looked disappointed.

"It's a testament to the technological grooming of the Reapers that this idea seemed to have disappeared. A universal assembler was a theoretical device that could rearrange matter at the atomic level, into anything that you like, food, machinery, ... weapons. It surfaced in Earth fiction in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the concept seemed to die out some time after the First Contact War. Of course, it found its way into asari science fictional works as well, and died out in much the same way."

Liara leaned forward slightly, obviously excited.

"I've found a non-Citadel system who are developing one. They've nearly got it complete, too."

"So we've solved our maintenance problems for the forseeable future?" Shepard asked. Liara looked mildly annoyed that Shepard wasn't getting this, then softened a little.

"If we can get our hands on this, then we've solved maintenance, we've solved repairs, we've solved food and water, we've solved sublight fuel, we've solved the need to buy anything...there's just one issue. The machine... I've obtained technical documentation through stealth satellite feeds and have made an educated guess based on how it's designed to work, and given that there's no element zero within five light years of the system in question - "

Liara saw Shepard's hand on her arm.

"It can't assemble...manufacture element zero." Liara finished, looking for a reaction in Shepard's face.

Shepard knew Liara well enough to know that Liara mostly always had found a solution or a proposal to fix a problem, if she found one - so, Shepard waited...

"However, I've also scouted out a system thick with element zero. I've managed to distract and buy off attention about this system. I was keeping this information as something of an emergency fund, but ... I'm giving this to you, love. You will need it more than I, soon."

"I... thank you. Are you sure? I mean -"

"If we manage to get a working assembler, it will make the entire economic system irrelevant. The only other thing you can't assemble is information. Somehow, the Brokerage will survive."

"And you'll survive, I know it. Listen, you were upset at me on Illium, chasing Vasir. You were wondering if it was a bad thing that you needed my help...I always believed in you, Liara. Honestly, you could have taken the Shadow Broker down on your own, if you really wanted to. I wanted to be there with you... look, this is really stupid, talking like this is all business, as if we were at your desk in your old office. Come up to my cabin with me."

Liara gave a small nod, lost in thought, then smiling as Shepard stood, waited for her. Liara was asleep, breathing quietly, lying in the crook of Shepard's left arm. She had an arm draped casually over Shepard's bare torso. Shepard was not asleep; her mind was awake, thinking about the idiotic things one does when reverie finds itself elusive, staring out the ceiling viewport.

:::

Everything was awfully quiet. The Normandy wasn't under power, but simply orbiting around an uncharted system. The engines were silent, there was only the barely inaudible high-pitch of the onboard electrical systems and the quiet low-frequency rumble of life support, and Liara, breathing.

Do asari snore?

Shepard tried picturing the asari counsellor snoring. It seemed incredulous enough to be immediately dismissable. Asari seem either too regal or too far evolved to still have upper-airway breathing problems when they sleep.

A quiet hiss from outside. Thruster auto-maintaining orbit. Shepard exhaled as well, quietly, not wanting to wake Liara. "I should get some sleep", Shepard thought to herself, and purposefully shut her eyes. As if they were springs, they opened again by their own volition. Every muscle in her body felt sore, her energy spent, but her mind raced on, heedlessly...

Is asari skin any different from human skin? Liara's arm flexed slightly in her sleep. It ... felt like skin, Shepard supposed...however, it was hairless. What about thermoregulation... it made a lot of sense if asari were coldblooded... evolved from parthenogenetic lizards - Shepard thought back to long ago, when she got into this Reaper business, Liara and when they first met - and said to herself in her mind "I'm thinking about my girlfriend like a science experiment", and tried to think of something else.

Shepard reached over to the shutter control on the bedside table and the shutters closed with a click. The room was pitch black now, save for the thin glow of the table controls and the terminal up on her desk.

"I should write Mom..." Shepard thought to herself, then fell asleep.

:::

The Normandy was a lot quieter, a lot less full of random workers she had no emotional connection to; she counted off who was left as she walked through the crew deck: Legion, Liara, Mordin up in the science labs, Jack down in engineering...Tali. Tali was the last one left. It was the third day, too, before they'd head off towards unknown horizons. Tali still hadn't said anything one way or another.

Time to go pay her a visit.

:::

"Look, Shepard... we've been through a lot together, yes? I trust you. I just don't understand this. The Admiralty board renamed me, I'm no longer "vas Neema" now, so I will follow you, but I don't understand this at all..."

Tali was pacing through the cramped engineering deck.

"I mean, I'm glad that you've gotten rid of the Cerberus people, but ... you're not interested in stopping the Collectors? In the past, when there was a threat on your people, you would be the first in line to stop it. And now?"

"Now, I'm tired of being pushed around like I'm just a pawn in someone else's game. I'm my own woman, with my own life. Someone else will stop them. Why wouldn't they? Why does it have to be me, all the time, Tali? Why do I have to risk everything I care about for some group that means nothing to me?"

Shepard was nearly shouting. She didn't mean to argue with her. She softened her voice.

"You know, this is the first time ... in a long time ... I've ever said 'no', Tali. I joined the Alliance military because my parents were in the Alliance military, not because I wanted to join. I felt I had to. I didn't want to become a Spectre, I did it because I was told it'd be for the good of all humanity. And who am I to turn down the entirety of the human race? I was told to hunt down Saren, those were my orders...you become so good at following orders in the military, it becomes so hard to think for yourself... nobody even asked me if I wanted to be brought back to life, they just did it..." Shepard walked away, looking up at the drive core, her head sore, feeling like she was going to explode into a million pieces.

Tali said, very quietly, "I'm with you, Shepard. I told you, you're my captain."

:::

"Hey." Jack said, as Shepard walked down the steps to the lowest part of the ship.

She was lying on one of the support struts - apparently quite comfortable - with a data tablet in her hands, reading.

"Anything interesting?" Shepard asked, nodding towards the tablet.

"It's nothing." Jack jumped down with lithe grace, and stood eye to eye with Shepard. Shepard didn't press the issue, even though she was curious.

"Listen," Jack continued, "when I decided to come here, I totally expected this Cerberus crap to start eating at me. Goody Two-Shoes Commander Shepard to rub off on me. But hey, a little bit of me's rubbing off on you."

She paused for a second.

"I like it. It looks good on you, Shepard."

Shepard smiled wanly. "I'm only sorry it took so long to realize that this is what I should be doing. I should have told Cerberus to die in a fire as soon as they rebuilt me -"

Jack look surprised " - wait, what did they do to you?"

"I thought it'd be common knowledge - you didn't see it in the files I gave you? Look, I died two years ago. Cerberus got my body and brought me back to life. Filled me with cybernetics for the bits they couldn't fix."

Jack sat back down on her bed, legs apart, leaning forward. She broke eye contact.

"Shit."

"I mean, it's nothing like Cerberus put you through, and it's not like I'm not happy to be alive, and I've got Liara... but they didn't bring me back for me. They brought me back for them."

Jack leaned back and looked at Shepard again.

"Looks like you and me have another thing in common. Hey, we blew up the facility at Pragia - wanna find and blow up the Illusive Man's ship or something? You have to bring me along if you are."

Shepard smiled. "I wouldn't dream of doing otherwise. But Cerberus comes later. We have to deal with a few things first. For example, you know where you can get a ship resprayed?"

:::

The crew were assembled around a large glass window onto the respray dock, some sitting, absorbed in other matters. Jack, Shepard, and Liara were standing, watching the process as the spray nozzles stripped the Cerberus paint from the vessel and applied the new coat.

"I'm honoured." Liara simply said. The Normandy was to be painted entirely in black, except for the twin-chevron logo of the Shadow Broker on the wingtips and tails.

"Isn't this a bit like announcing your presence here?" Shepard asked.

"Hopefully not. They'll think this is a Broker ship, not the Broker ship." Liara noted absently, apparently mesmerized by the halting, robotic motion of the nozzles on the rails.

"So, no skull and bones on the tail, then?" Jack asked, a little disappointed.

:::

"Fifteen minutes to arrival at NCS-55833, Commander", Joker radioed in. The system with the assembler; the Citadel council never bothered to name unincorporated systems. The nearest relay was eighteen light years out, but they'd come in hot with FTL.

They weren't expecting anyone.

Shepard, Liara, Tali, and Jack assembled in the cockpit area, watching as the Normandy dropped out of FTL, just on the edge of the system's bow shock, out of view from any planetary scanners, if any existed.

"Shepard. I am detecting one cruiser stationed at the heliopause. It has a transponder signature corresponding to that of the Citadel." EDI noted.

"Citadel ships? Out here? What are they doing?" Shepard pondered. Unincorporated systems weren't patrolled by the Citadel fleet, unless there were active talks to try and get the planets to join. "The Citadel could be trying to secretly get the tech for themselves... but they couldn't, it's too disruptive..."

Liara made the connection. "It's a blockade."

"Are we stealthed? Can we get past them?" Shepard asked the room.

"Stealth systems are currently operational, Shepard, but there would have been a heat signature flare between the point of dropping out of FTL and enabling stealth systems. The other ship may already be aware of our presence." EDI replied. Shepard stared at the blip on the computer screen for a minute.

"Bring us in within firing range and then drop out of stealth." Shepard ordered.

"Are you insane? They'll be able to fire upon us too, you know." Joker said.

"We'll just have to fire first."

:::

The Normandy raced to firing range and ground to a halt.

"Coming out of stealth now, Shepard." Joker jabbed a finger at a panel.

The radio came to life. "Unidentified vessel, this is the Citadel ship White Sword, you are approaching a restricted system, do not proceed further or you will be fired upon."

"You think they'll still accept my old Spectre credentials?" Shepard asked, to no one in particular. No one said anything. She looked around. Everyone seemed on-edge.

Shepard tapped her earpiece. "White Sword, requesting authorization to pass, Spectre number #3891811, sending credentials."

Radio silence.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, impatiently.

One by one, additional blips on the scanner appeared. More ships were decloaking.

"Definitely a blockade." Liara added, nervously.

"Joker, have you ever performed FTL travel within a star system?" Shepard asked casually.

"Hell, no. The distances and timings are way too hard to get right. You could be off by a hundred million klicks."

"EDI, can you plot and fly an FTL jump from here to the second planet?"

"I can get you to one million kilometers from the planet, to allow for radiation dissipation and error margins."

The radio came to life again. "Unidentified vessel, authorization denied. Turn back immediately or we will fire."

"Go to hell." Jack said on her earpiece.

"Fire main gun on White Sword and make the jump, EDI."

A bright streak erupted across the cockpit window, then the ship was replaced with various bits of shrapnel, bulkhead, and before anyone could absorb what had just happened, the view became an unfamiliar-looking garden world, far off in the distance, with a single moon.