"It's perfect." Said Liara in a hushed whisper.

"I suppose for a mock up it will have to do." Dr Yrenna added sniffily.

They had been on Ilos for months now; in that time their lab had grown from a hastily assembled outpost to a medical and biological centre to rival even the best in council space. To the outside galaxy they were just one of dozens of scientific stations that had sprung up across the face of the planet over the last couple of years. Officially this project was being funded by a reclusive (and fictional) Asari billionaire who was passionate enough about Prothean archaeology to hire one of the foremost Prothean experts for a prolonged dig. It was an alibi that would hold up for quite some time, it was not unknown for Asari academics to spend decades cataloguing a site.
Liara had chosen an old reservoir as their base of operations but as the months wore on the equipment they needed could no longer be contained in the large cylindrical chamber and now included three nearby ancient buildings and two prefab units. This was where Liara, Feron and Yrenna spent their down time. The air conditioning kept the humidity at bay just as the reinforced windows held off the large glow bugs that seemed to be some of Ilos' only fauna.

Early that morning Yrenna had rung through from the lab. Apparently she had been there all night working on a concept prototype.
And here it was: the culmination of over thirty weeks work.
Before the war had even ended Liara's agents had scoured the citadel for a DNA sample of Shepard's clone and eventually scraped a small fleshy lump off the side of a skyscraper in the wards. Once the relays came back online it had been a simple matter to arrange the delivery of the sample to Ilos. Using this as an organic template they had begun growing the biomechanical shell. When Liara had been in the lab yesterday it had only been a tiny bundle of artificial nerve fibres, what she was looking at now was some thing else entirely.

At the centre of the reservoir room was a tank, one metre wide by three metres tall, filled with nanite laced amniotic fluid. Inside the tank was a silvery mass of flesh overlaid with an orange holographic image of a human woman. The figure had no hair and was fairly low resolution, more like a VI user image than a real person. All the same the likeness was uncanny: the bone structure, the face and body shape, it looked so much like her.

"Of course you realise that at this stage anything generated by this model is pure speculation." Said Yrenna, tugging Liara reluctantly from her reverie.

"The matrix I used is actually Binary Helix technology so I wouldn't put too much stock in it."

Liara moved forward and pressed her palms against the cool surface of the glass. She could feel the chill even though her tight lab coverall.
"How long until it is fully developed?"

Yrenna sighed. "This predecessor project you mentioned 'Lazarus?' It had the original body to work with. What we are doing, or attempting to do, is build a vessel capable of housing sufficient computing power to simulate an organic mind. Even the AIs of today require enough hardware to fill a shipping container."

Liara stepped back from the tank and looked round at her lab partner. She stood straight backed with her arms clasped behind her. There was none of Liara's reverence in her eyes. She had no personal stake in the outcome of this project beyond pushing the boundaries of scientific endeavour.

When Liara didn't respond Yrenna kept talking. "Since we have no body to work from we will have to let the prototype mature naturally. How old was the source of the sample?"

Liara felt a sense of weary resignation settle in her chest.
"She was thirty two."

Dr Yrenna sighed again. "Well at least that will allow plenty of time to make corrections. I actually read a Quarian thesis a few centuries ago suggesting that the safest way to develop synthetic life forms was to let them evolve akin to organics. Can you imagine the trouble the Quarian race could have saved themselves if they had only listened to that one student."

After another few minutes of speculative conversation Liara thanked the doctor for her hard work and wound her way back through the ancient corridors to the prefab she shared with Feron. This late in her pregnancy even this small effort was exhausting, sweat poured between her shoulder blades and down her spine.

Feron leapt up from his paperwork as she entered.
"Liara are you alright?"

She couldn't help but smile at the concern written plainly across his features.
"I'm fine, although I don't remember the halls to the lab being that steep when we arrived."

Feron nodded hard, as if to reassure himself. "I've been thinking. The baby will be here soon so it might be an idea for you to… go."

"This is a critical stage, I won't be comfortable leaving the project to its own development until Dr Yrenna assures me the implants have taken. Tissue rejection at this point in the process would set us back to square one!"

Feron spread his empty palms in a placating gesture but his expression remained serious.
"This is no place for a child Liara." He said quietly.

Liara's indignation softened in the face of his kind but measured tone.
"I know and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pounce on you like that, I just need this to work. Once everything is well and truly established I'll bring the baby back to civilization."

"Where?" He asked as he took her by the hand and eased her into a collapsible field chair.

Liara groaned and placed her other hand on her swollen belly.
"I'm not sure. I still have an apartment in Nos Astra but I don't want to raise a little girl on Ilium. I've thought about Thessia now that reconstruction efforts are underway. Back home to Armali maybe."

"Have you given any thought to names?"

Liara noted that he seemed to be finding anything to talk about other than the project. She decided not to bring it up, she doubted he would be staying much longer anyway. He was no scientist, he was only here for her.

"I have. Ellie always liked Amelia." It was one of the many things she knew from examining Shepard's memories that they had never actually discussed. Having children and starting a family had been more of a running joke than a serious consideration. Even right at the end Shepard had used it as an assurance, to convince her that they would both survive and have a future. She had always known just what to say.

"Amelia T'soni." Said Liara, trying out the name on her tongue.

"You know leaving doesn't have to be forever. Maybe your father would be willing to look after the baby for a while when you have to work here." Feron suddenly looked flustered as he realised he'd put his foot in his mouth. "I mean have you spoken to her since you told her?"

Liara had nearly had an argument with Aethyta when she had told her she was pregnant. Initially of course she had been delighted at having another granddaughter on the way, then she had let slip the unorthodox circumstances of the conception. Aethyta wasn't what anyone could call prudish or traditional but the Asari had a deep cultural taboo against allowing oneself to become impregnated without their partners knowledge. Apparently the fact that Shepard was now dead did something to alleviate the evolutionary faux pas but she had still been subjected to an hour long rant on proper sex education and how Benezia mustn't have taught her anything.

"She was certainly angry but we left things on a positive note, she's happy for me. I think she will be there when I need it; I am quite young by Asari standards. Most of us wait for the matron stage before doing anything like this.

Feron smiled. "When have you ever let convention stop you?"

Looking past Feron Liara could see her bag where she had hidden the crucible sphere. She smiled back.

The gestation period of an Asari infant is slightly longer than those of their human or Drell counterparts since it takes time to safely integrate the element zero nodules that all Asari possess into the nervous system.
So it was the third of June 2187 (after an eleven month pregnancy and a thirty hour labour) that Amelia T'soni was born.
Liara had not yet deemed the project ready for autonomous operation so she gave birth on Ilos in the lab. Thanks to their state-of-the-art equipment, Yrenna's knowledgeable mind and Feron's fretful help it went as smoothly as it would have in a hospital on any council home world. As promised she only waited eight days before taking a shuttle to Thessia and leaving Dr Yrenna to oversee the painstakingly slow day to day progresses. Feron meanwhile returned to the field, the shadow broker still needed their top agent.

Through a series of tactful emails to several high ranking matriarchs Liara managed to reacquire the deed to Benezia's compound on Thessia. Technically it had passed to her along with the rest of her mother's estate when she died but she had sold it soon afterwards.

The house was located in the historical highlands south of Armali city, surrounded by sixty acres of rolling parkland.
The shuttle touched down in the main yard just after sunset, the two primary wings of the mansion enclosed the craft like welcoming arms.
Ebbing down drafts from the shuttles jets whipped at the tails of Liara's coat as she strode across the open space, Amelia was swaddled in her arms. Apparently the compound had lain empty these last three years but two of her mother's former servants had agreed to come in at short notice. They were both waiting for her in the dimly lit glass fronted lobby.

The first was Terva, the former head of household security for the T'soni family. She looked completely unchanged, she even appeared to be wearing the same segmented brown body armour.

The second was also an Asari and a face she knew well.

"Lelli! It is very good to see you."

Liara had not spent much time here as a child (her mother preferring the convenience of the city) but when business called her here Benezia often had other responsibilities that kept her occupied. Whatever void she had left behind had been capably filled by Lelli. The short, matronly woman had been more of an aunt to her than a nanny.

"It's good to see you too little wing." She beamed.

"My lady." Terva said curtly. A woman of few words.

"Hopefully with a T'soni around the house will come alive again. Or should that be T'sonis? This must me little Amelia. May I?"

Lelli took the sleeping bundle oh so gently from Liara's gloved hands and rocked her back and forth in her arms. When she spoke it was in a hushed voice so as not to wake the baby.

"I've prepared the main bedroom for your use and brought in a cradle. I didn't think you would feel comfortable leaving Amelia in the nursery while she is still so young."

"Thank you Lelli, you've thought of everything. It's good to be back."

Liara left Terva to return to the security station and followed her former nanny through the familiar corridors of the great house. They climbed the sweeping central staircase and passed dozens of empty rooms, all decorated in the classic sleek Asari style. The main bedroom itself was a cavernous chamber ringed by slim marble pillars. The left hand wall had once been Benezia's private library and the right had been where she hung some of her rarer artworks. All of that was gone now of course, languishing in storage units back in the city since the sale. Now all that remained was the vast circular bed at the rooms centre and a small pod, open topped and emitting a soft internal light. It was into this pod that Lelli placed Amelia before turning to face Liara.

"If you need anything I'm just down the stairs settling into my old quarters. Good night little wing."

Liara didn't use the cradle. First she took Amelia out onto the broad semicircular balcony to look out at the dark landscape below then lay on the bed with her new daughter, marvelling at the simple miracle of her existence.
It was strange to be back in the house. She had thought about returning to her old apartment near the university of Serrice but she needed somewhere she could put down roots. She would be staying here until the project was completed and probably until Amelia was grown. Fifty years at least.
Looking down at the tiny girl she had clutched to her chest she found it hard to imagine all the things she would accomplish, the woman she would become. Amelia looked fairly unremarkable as Asari babies went, she had the same undeveloped scalp crests that you would expect and a serenely peaceful face untouched by the markings she would likely get later in life. But Liara knew that behind her dreamily fluttering eyelids she possessed the most striking green eyes.

Just like her father.

THE END.

So there you have it: the end. At least for now.
If anyone has actually been reading this from the beginning and have had enough then please feel free to imagine this as the end. If not then keep your eyes peeled for future stories that will build on what I've written here.