Chapter One – Uninvited Callers

The lights flickered across the crew deck of the Normandy SR2, briefly illuminating the disordered mess area; in fact, 'mess' had likely never been a more appropriate word.

Empty crates lay discarded in untidy stacks, furniture was overturned or positioned at odd angles and many of the wall panels had been removed so that excess wiring could be stripped out and used in more vital systems. Wires and circuits hung down from the ceiling and the metal doors from the elevator had been ripped out and now lay across a missing section of deck plating.

In the middle of the room, on the table they were using as a bed, Juliet Shepard and Liara T'Soni lay entangled together beneath a long leather coat that was serving as a blanket. Amidst the loud hum of the computers and the unhealthy judder of the engines, a soft alarm began to beep, drawing Juliet groggily from her sleep.

At first she decided to ignore it, if she lay there long enough it would probably go away. The hard metal of the table wasn't exactly comfortable but she knew that moving from it would bring nothing but pain and was best avoided for as long as possible.

But the beeping continued, growing steadily more and more persistent until Liara began to stir as well.

"Mhm… Jules?" the asari mumbled, shifting her head against Juliet's chest where she was lying, "Someone's calling the comm room."

"Ignore them," Jules slurred groggily, her throat dry from the cold air of the ship "they'll go away."

As the beeping continued, Jules felt a hand sliding down from her shoulder, across her collarbone, over her breast – where it lingered briefly – and down to her ribs before Liara gently propped herself up on her elbow and gazed down at her through bleary blue eyes.

"They're not going away."

"Give it five more minutes," Jules turned over – instantly wincing as her back muscles screamed in protest – and dragged Liara back down, nuzzling their noses together as she slipped back towards sleep. Even though she kept her eyes closed she could feel Liara smile.

"It might be important."

"It won't be."

"Someone might owe us money."

"No one owes us money."

"They might be offering us work, or trade."

"They can come back later."

"You do know our rations are running low?"

"We've got enough to last the week."

"What if the galaxy needs saving?"

"Someone else can handle it, I'm retired."

"Jules!"

She opened one eye to see two glittering sapphires glaring at her, and conceded with a sigh, "Fine. But if it's another salvager offering to buy the Normandy for scrap metal I'm going to kill them. You know the last one only offered a hundred credits? As if my girl isn't worth more than- OW!" her back twinged painfully as she hauled herself upright and she fell off the table and onto her knees before managing to stagger inelegantly to her feet, "Fucking, shitting, fucking hell! We really need to clear one of the beds!"

"Considering how old the mattresses are I can't guarantee it would be any more comfortable… are you alright?"

"Oh yeah," Jules muttered as she hobbled towards the elevator, "never better."

"Jules."

"Yeah?" she turned and instinctively grabbed the bundle of fabric that came flying at her.

"Clothes."

She frowned down at the crumpled garments Liara had thrown to her and then at her own bare skin, as though surprised to realise she wasn't wearing anything, "Oh yeah, good thinking."

"And your hair's a mess!"

"Thank you!"

She half-staggered to the elevator shaft, hopping as she pulled on her worn old jeans, then her tank top and shirt. She paused briefly to wonder where her leather coat was before she remembered Liara was still lying under it.

After a century on the outer rim, they had found themselves needing to ration the Normandy's power consumption just to keep the old girl flying and so the heating was permanently turned down to barely habitable levels but Jules decided to ignore the cold as she reached into the elevator shaft, grasped the rungs of the service ladder (at least the ones that were still attached) and began climbing down.

She couldn't even remember when the elevator had stopped working; probably when they had stripped it out and melted it down to complete that trade deal with those vorcha mercs, she suddenly remembered. How long ago had that been? Forty years? Fifty? Did it even matter anymore?

She hopped off the ladder at the CIC – which was in almost complete darkness – and made her way to the comms room, ignoring the galaxy map and the old, stripped out consoles where Alliance crewmembers had once stood. She had come to hate the CIC; the big, empty room was just another reminder of how alive the ship had once been, before there was only her and Liara to fill the silence.

She passed through what had once been the war room – and was now nothing more than dead screens and stacked boxes – and entered the dim red glow of the comm room where an amber light was flashing in time with the beeps that were echoing throughout the ship.

She ran her fingers hastily through her knotted hair – and briefly tried to remember when the last time was she'd washed it – before activating the controls.

"This is the Normandy SR2, yes the actual one. No she is not for sale, we have nothing on board worth stealing and we're not hiring so whoever you are you can probably crawl back to whatever hole you came from and leave us in peace."

There was a pause. A long pause. Then the aging comms unit finally managed to produce a flickering holo image of the caller and an elegant, hard-browed asari came into view, a sly smile spread across her lips.

"Now, now. Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

Jules squinted suspiciously at the face and folded her arms, "Aria."

"Nice to see you again, Shepard," the self-proclaimed queen of Omega drawled softly, her voice as gentle as it was cold. She was lounging back against a white leather sofa, both arms spread out across its back and, glancing behind her, Jules could see holographic movement that looked familiarly like asari dancers.

"Are you calling from Omega?"

"Couldn't you tell when you answered?"

Jules looked down at the half-dead comms interface and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as she tried to remember when that particular function had stopped working, "We're… not exactly state-of-the-art these days."

"Two hundred years without maintenance will do that to a ship," Aria smirked lazily, "speaking of which, you're looking remarkably good for a human your age, I'd say you haven't aged a day since the war; what's your secret?"

"High-tech Cerberus implants," Jules replied bluntly, "you should try it, might give you a few more millennia to play queen."

"Mm, shame Cerberus died with the reapers, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, real pity that. What do you want Aria?"

Even through the sketchy holo image, Jules saw Aria's lilac blue eyes dazzle curiously, "Straight to business?"

"I grew tired of pleasantries about a century ago."

"Fascinating, gaining a longer lifespan has actually made you more impatient. It wasn't a trait I ever associated with you before."

"Were you expecting me to have gained an asari-like view of the galaxy?"

"After two hundred years?" she laughed loudly, "I hate to break it to you, Shepard, but you're still a baby."

Despite not wanting to, despite having no idea why she was doing it, Jules found herself smiling, albeit begrudgingly, "You don't seem to have changed."

"Have I had any need to?"

The answer to that was easy. Of every world, settlement, colony and space station that had survived the reaper war, Omega had probably come out of it the best. While Earth had been struggling to rebuild and isolated colonies were starving to death for lack of supplies, Omega had been thriving. Even when the galaxy had started getting back on its feet there had been little in the way of enforceable laws and Aria's influence had soon spread across the terminus. Jules hadn't really been keeping up with intergalactic politics over the past few decades but she could imagine that whatever Aria was calling her for, it wouldn't be good.

"What do you want?"

Aria hesitated, her legs briefly coming into view as she shifted lazily on the sofa and crossed them over each other, "I'm calling in a favour."

"I wasn't aware I owed you one."

"After all that's gone on between us, Shepard, I think it's a safe bet that we both owe each other something."

"What kind of something?" Jules was suspicious, in the past when people had asked favours of her they had rarely been small and never simple.

Aria didn't answer at once, she had acquired a glass of wine from somewhere and was gazing into its contents thoughtfully before she spoke, "The galaxy's been quiet since you became a recluse. There are plenty of reasons I can think of why we need you back."

"Yeah, get to the one you're actually calling me about."

Her lilac eyes narrowed as she looked up and Jules couldn't tell if it was through amusement or irritation but after a moment she answered bluntly enough, "The asari are going to attempt to reclaim Thessia."

Jules raised an eyebrow, "Finally? Congratulations," her tone was dry. Thessia was the last home world not to have been reclaimed since the war, while everyone else had been busy rebuilding and restoring, the asari had still been trying to organise themselves into a coherent group. As far as Jules was aware, that had never happened.

The assault on Thessia had been one of the swiftest and most brutal of the entire war, almost all of their matriarchs had died and their population had been cut in half, leaving them with little in the way of leadership and no political power. Asari superiority had become a thing of the past and now they were mostly scattered and made their lives on other species' worlds or colonies. After all, the lines between who owned what and who belonged where had gotten very blurred in the war's aftermath.

"Finally?" Aria questioned sharply, "Wait until you've lived a few more centuries and see if you still think we've been dragging our feet."

"We?" Jules raised an eyebrow, "I don't remember you having any particular loyalty to Thessia or the asari government."

"Not loyalty, exactly," she admitted, glancing behind her towards the asari dancers in an attempt to appear nonchalant again, "but back before the war we did have certain… arrangements. We get a lot of traffic through Omega, a lot of… rumours get heard."

"You fed them information and they kept any authorities that might come knocking off your back," Jules folded her arms, she had always suspected as much, she remembered Tevos had practically bent over backwards to accommodate Aria on the Citadel and Aria couldn't have been paying them off with credits, they'd had enough money of their own back then.

"Such measures weren't really necessary after the war but now… let's just say the delightful Human Turian Alliance that you helped found is becoming… an increasing annoyance."

Jules didn't hide her smile. People had laughed at the very idea of the HTA in the aftermath of the war, humans and turians coming together in a true alliance? Impossible! But the HTA had formed the solid foundation for life after the war, a peacekeeping force tasked with rebuilding the galaxy. And their influence had only grown.

"Cracking down on laws are they?"

Aria scowled, "They seem to think they have a right to several star systems I've been operating in these past two centuries."

"Well they would, wouldn't they? What with them being the legitimate organisation."

"And in a galaxy torn apart by reapers, who decides what legitimate means anymore?"

"As I recall, I did," Jules was losing patience, after too many minutes of talk she had yet to learn what Aria was actually asking, "what are you hoping for? That I'll put the asari back in power and give you your safety net back?"

"Do I look that naïve? I just want you on the mission, Shepard. Tevos has finally managed to put together a large enough team who can fund the trip without the HTA's help, they were looking for you but didn't know how to contact you. I do."

Jules watched her carefully, "What are you up to?"

She smirked softly, "Nothing sinister. The asari want your help and – judging by the state you're in – it might do you some good to get out of that piece of junk you call a ship."

"Hey, I happen to like the Normandy, and I don't need lifestyle advice from you."

"No?" she queried innocently, "Shepard, with those implants of yours you could easily live as long as that pureblood slut you're shacked up with, are you really going to spend all that time moping on the outer reaches of space?"

"Moping?" Jules felt her temper flare, this had been anything but a straightforward conversation and by now she had no patience for games, "Listen Aria, I did my service to the galaxy, I defeated the reapers, I saved all sentient life and I don't remember anyone rushing to thank me for it! Instead all I got was blame for the mass relays and all the tech that had been damaged, not to mention the quarians who wanted me locked up for killing the geth! But I still carried on. I rebuilt Earth, I founded the HTA, I kept peace when all anyone wanted to do was fight and argue and still I didn't get much in the way of gratitude!"

"I think you're giving yourself too much credit," Aria retorted sharply, "you're talking as though you were the only one involved in rebuilding the galaxy when there were plenty of others who stuck it out without running away. Only children need the recognition of others, Shepard; perhaps it's time you grew up."

Jules shook her head, "I don't really care what you think of me or my life, I just want to be left alone. So no, I won't join Tevos' mission, despite how nicely you asked. Don't contact me again unless it's actually important. Oh, and one more thing: if you ever insult Liara within my hearing again, I'll rip those pretty scalp-crests off your head and force them down your throat until you choke, are we clear?"

Aria sucked her teeth as her eyes narrowed slowly, "As crystal."

"Good."

Jules severed the link with a thump of her fist and stood seething for a moment. She generally avoided thinking about the war, its aftermath or the state of the galaxy. She generally just avoided thinking, it always seemed to prompt a bubbling fury to rise inside her. The stupid thing was, she didn't even know what she was angry about.

"I thanked you."

She jumped and spun on the spot at Liara's voice. The asari was standing behind her, now fully dressed and carrying Jules' leather coat over one arm. A soft, calm smile was gracing her lips and Jules blinked.

"What?"

"After the war," she elaborated, "I thanked you, for stopping the reapers. All the crew did."

Jules found herself frowning as she nodded slightly dumbly, mostly because she was trying to remember if there was anything in that conversation she hadn't wanted Liara to hear, "I know you did."

"Well then," her smile broadened a little, "aren't we the only ones who matter?"

Liara held out Jules' coat and Jules took it from her, still frowning oddly, "how… much of that did you hear?"

"Enough," her voice gave little away as she turned and started heading back to the CIC, Jules followed, "I imagine Tevos has been planning something like this since the war, I wondered when it would come to fruition."

Jules didn't comment. Even after living for two hundred years herself, it was still hard for her to get her head around the length of asari planning. For other races whole generations could pass before the asari even got off the drawing board.

"Do you want to go with them? Aria said they're looking for me but I'm sure they're after your help as well."

Liara turned to cast her a mysterious smile as they re-entered the shadowy CIC, "I'd rather stay here."

"You'd rather stay here?" Jules snorted, "Sleeping on a table and freezing to death? How's that better than reclaiming your home world?"

She stopped and turned, "Well, you're here."

"That's it? You're not staying just because of me are you? Because if this is some kind of emotional blackmail-"

"You've made your decision Jules," Liara cut in, her voice brooking no argument, "and I've made mine. I'm sure we can both respect that."

Jules opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as the ship suddenly lurched sideways and both she and Liara stumbled against the wall.

"What was that?" Liara asked, "Did something hit us?"

"Or docked with us," Jules said as a loud screech echoed from the airlock, "we're being boarded."

So, I was playing around with a few ideas for how the galaxy might turn out after the war and... this happened. Enjoy!