They sat across from each other on the shuttle, and he hid a smile behind his hand at how her eyes kept finding his. They were finally headed back to the front and he knew he was going to miss the haven they'd made of his ancestral home. The last week had blessed him with a store of new, happier memories and he'd been surprised over and over at his capacity to...play. How young he felt in her company.

She kept stealing glances, knowing that he was amused by this by the flicker in his azure gaze. He'd amazed her with his increasingly frequent bouts of lightheartedness and was gladdened that she'd been a part of that. That she'd been able to make him smile more often was a treasure she took from her time on Palaven.

Soon enough, the blood would fly and they'd most likely be fighting for their lives again in desperate battles against even more desperate people, but they'd always have this, the time they'd spent together on his homeworld. They watched each other and thought longingly, unbeknownst to each other, of when this raging conflict would finally be over so they could get back to the this sanctuary.

He looked out a port and saw that it was the Normandy itself that had come to get them and his browplates rose in surprise. Accompanying her was a veritable flotilla of ships. He wondered at the numbers and settled back to mull it over, sure that they'd know why soon enough.

Setting foot on the Normandy's deck again was definitely strange, especially since everyone seemed to be giving her a wide berth. A pang struck her as she attempted to lock eyes with one ensign who she'd had a few friendly conversations with only to have that human's eyes drop down and away from her.

So...it was even here.

Susan moved a bit closer to Marcus and tried not to think about it, with little success. Marcus shot her a questioning look as he summoned the elevator. The door slid open before he even let off the button and they found themselves face to face with Jack, Anderson, Kaiden and James, who looked equally taken aback at their sudden appearance.

James was the first to recover, stepping forward with a warm smile, "Well, if it isn't Grim and Smiley. We were hoping to get down here before you arrived. You know, set up some balloons, some streamers. Spike the punchbowl..."

"I think what he means is welcome back." Kaiden said with a laugh, slapping Marcus on the shoulder in friendly fashion.

Jack scowled briefly, "Alright alright, enough of this bullshit. We have work to do."

Anderson, leaning heavily on his cane, stood to one side of Susan and gave her a little prod with his elbow, "It is good to have you both back. Now that we have the Shepards on the run, we need as many hands on deck as possible to mop up their mess."

The ambassador turned to Marcus and said, "Have you thought about what we talked about? Your reinstatement?"

Susan was surprised. Marcus hadn't mentioned anything of the sort to her, but she could see that it was the only natural conclusion. To be honest, she felt a bit left out and rubbed her neck nervously as she watched them spin in his orbit. A strange turn of events. As for herself, she'd never really severed her ties to the UAF, was given license to act as an agent of the council and the Shadow Broker covertly. Now that her primary mission was accomplished, was there a place for her in all this?

Marcus spotted her looking a bit lost and lifted his hands to calm the bursts of advice and comments from all quarters, "I've thought about it..."

There was a moment of awkward silence as they waited for more. Jack grunted impatiently, "And?"

"I accept." A hand collided with his back, making him stumble forward clumsily. They all laughed around him and he smiled sheepishly back, not sure if it was embarrassment or pleasure at being so...accepted that was warming the plates on the back of his neck, but he straightened and looked Anderson dead in the eye, "Better than being hung as a deserter, at any rate."

"Hanged. Men are hanged, meat is hung. Anyway, you were AWOL for a couple of years." Anderson turned and gestured for Susan and Marcus to enter the lift with him. The rest filed in behind them and Anderson hit the button for the CIC as he continued, "But in light of the circumstances, I've convinced the council to take my recommendation that you be reinstated at the rank of Lieutenant Commander."

"Sheesh, he deserted and got a promotion out of the deal? Maybe I should run off for a couple months." Jack said sarcastically.

Kaiden laughed, "But what would we do without your sunny personality?"

"And calming presence." James grinned and Susan was amused to see the two men exchange a fist bump behind the fuming female. Jack's hands were clenched in rage and from the way her shoulders were starting to draw up, there was a tirade in the works, but it was neatly diverted by Marcus.

"Why are there so many ships above Palaven?" He asked, knowing it would defuse the situation. He'd always been good at calming the volatile trio down. Maybe wrangling the higher ups was really why they wanted him back.

Anderson said, "We're making a net to catch all the little enemy ships and fighters out there, and force their borders back until there's not a single planet left that flies enemy colors."

"But they're making it damn difficult with that one carrier that's still out there. Most of what's left of their armada must be with it, guarding it as it jumps all over the damn map. There have been strikes on some of the less secure colonies inside our borders, raiding for supplies, weapons," Jack stated grimly, "They don't leave survivors."

"And what about their colonies that we've captured?" Susan asked, evenly, though her hands wrung anxiously behind her back. Those scores of drones that had pressed so close, violating her mind, what of them?

Anderson eyed her for a moment, and she felt her cheeks flush slightly under his regard, which spoke of sympathy for her ordeal and pride for her bravery. He said, "Some have capitulated or surrendered, some destroyed themselves rather than be liberated. All of them are under quarantine and tight surveillance."

Susan frowned slightly as the conversation continued on around her, quelling the thought that wondered which was better. It was disquieting. This eagerness to see them all destroyed.

Marcus kept an eye on her even as he spoke to them, the ones who waited for his measured opinion, "And you've been scanning for implants? The ones Aleia told us about?"

"They're hard to detect, shielded somehow, but what we have been able to find is traces of that fluid in their bloodstreams. Apparently, they needed to dose up from time to time." Jack glanced at Susan, whose thoughts were clearly turned inward, "We even found the traitors on the Normandy that gave away its location."

"I still can't believe it. Traitors on the Normandy." Kaiden ran his hand through graying locks and shook his head.

Vega put a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly, "We got them good though, didn't we. Took out most of their supply chains, all but one of their carriers, and now we're taking it all back."

"Yeah.." Kaiden looked thoughtful for a moment before straightening as the elevator doors opened on the CIC, taking on an air of command. As well as Jack and James may have run the show in his absence, Marcus could see that the Normandy was Alenko's boat first and foremost by the way every head turned and smiles lit the faces of every crewman there.

The party strode into the room boldly and Marcus heard much whispering as eyes found Susan standing in the back of their little coterie. Her face was carefully still as she gazed back, but Marcus saw the pained flicker in her green eyes. In fact, it seemed that Jack and Vega also felt how uncomfortable she was with the scrutiny and shuffled a bit to break their line of sight to her, all without really seeming to do so on purpose. Susan sighed almost inaudibly in relief and Marcus flicked a mandible at her in humor. She smiled tightly back.

Kaiden stepped up to the galaxy map and with a few touches, laid in a new destination before turning on his heel and gesturing for the group to continue onto the conference room.

Once past the security barrier, Anderson pulled up a larger version of that same galaxy map and spoke quietly to an ensign to bring them refreshments. Marcus took a moment to study the map in detail, marking where the border had indeed been pushed back, not as far as he'd like, but understandable. He said, "These areas...the ones that have given the least ground, those are hard targets, aren't they? Factory planets, shipyards and the like?"

"Yes, they are and we don't want to push past around them too far in-" Kaiden paused.

Marcus finished, "-because that would open up our flank. I'm assuming that's what we'll be doing, then? Taking out these heavily defended places."

"The rest of the fleets can take and hold the soft targets, though a final decision on those colonies will have to be reached soon. There are some the council isn't sure are really...sincere in their wish to surrender." Anderson said, his lips drawing back in a grim line.

As the others talked, Susan was overcome with a disquieting feeling, like someone was breathing down her neck and her pulse picked up as the soft whoosh of the door behind her made her skin prickle and itch. Just on the edge of true perception, she could hear...something, a whispering and it was pulling at her like little hooks in her flesh. A presence, unwanted.

She spun on the intruder, a crewmember with a tray of drinks, not the same one as before and one whose eyes burned as they fell upon her. Susan shouted and lifted one hand to point at the-"Traitor!"

Obviously startled at being recognized, the human male dropped the tray and went for a weapon. Jack shouted, "Look out!"

Marcus wished he'd had the foresight to bring a weapon as he launched himself at the man. Now he could see it, the fire of zealotry in the traitor's brown eyes and wrenched the pistol out of his hands, intending to turn it about and finish him off. But he was beaten to the punch by the people at his back. Blue light surrounded the man and lifted him and Marcus felt Susan shift next to him, her hands moving just within his periphery in a vicious downward motion.

The traitor had time to scream as he plummeted back to the ground headfirst, landing with a sickening crunch, his grey matter splatting across the deck in a sick red wash. Marcus flicked a shocked gaze at the asari on his right and uneasiness flooded through him at how her eyes shone with...wildness of a kind he wasn't sure he wanted to explore.

"Jeezus, T'soni..." Kaiden came up next to him and prodded the corpse with a foot, it fell over limply and now Marcus could see that from the shoulders up, there was nothing left.

"Teach him to walk into a room full of biotics." Jack laughed, sneering.

"Joker, EDI, you might want to send a mech up here for some...clean up." James said to the ship in general and there was the buzz and whir of cameras coming to life around them.

"So much for interrogating him." sighed Anderson.

"Honestly, we can't leave you kids alone for a-Sweet Jesus, that's gross. Who got brains on my deck? Jack?!" Joker's voice sharpened with accusation.

"Hey, don't look at me! I was just standin' here minding my own business." Jack grinned wickedly, crossing her arms.

"It's not important. Just send that mech." Kaiden cut his hand through the air, his tone brooking no argument. Then he turned an inquisitive gaze on Susan, who'd straightened and was watching him warily, "How did you know?"

"I...heard him, his implant." She resisted shuddering or hugging herself in reaction. There had been a moment there, when she'd felt that traitor's life get snuffed out as though it were her own and she'd blinked, sure for a split second that it was her brains that coated the decking. She swallowed that mad thought and returned his gaze as steadily as she could.

"Well, that's gonna be...useful." James said with a crooked smile, hands out and upturned as he shrugged. "Why didn't you come back with super powers, Alenko?"

"That's Rear Admiral Alenko to you, Vega."

"Aw, geez, next you'll want me to start calling you 'sir'."

"You know, this is probably why you never got promoted past lieutenant, Lieutenant." Kaiden raised a brow, but the laughter in his eyes belied the seriousness of his words.

"Any time you wanna let me retire, I'll walk...gladly."

Marcus commented to Jack, "Have they always been like this? Seems very...unorthodox."

"We're an unorthodox bunch. When you've been fighting together for this long, rank becomes a thing only really enforced on the battlefield."

"And you all know where you stand regardless." Marcus said, pensively, fingers tapping his chin. Discipline, a thing drummed into every cadet. Rank and file, clear chains of command. Only it seemed, once you got past all that training, you could learn when to ignore rank, when the understanding between you and your commanding officers was so deep that you knew exactly how far you could push without breaking that trust. Break the rules...'It's good to remember that you can.' His uncle's voice in his ear and he jumped slightly.

Strange how even after all this time, his uncle's words could still affect him so. He turned away from the sight of the mech scrubbing a man's remains off the deck and found Susan, who couldn't seem to take her eyes off it, her face tight in the slightest expression of horrified fascination. It was odd to think of her as being capable of such brutality, with that look on her face, but she was a soldier. They were all soldiers. They'd seen far worse.

He turned to the rest and said, "Where do we start?"