The door hissed open, revealing the long hallway to the Shadow Broker's chamber. Commander Shepard strolled through; her crew was behind her, slowly taking the tour of what little of the ship they were permitted to see. Kaidan, sure he'd see it all one day, kept beside Shepard and Joker, who'd seen it all before, shuffled behind them.

The door on the far end flew open and Liara began sprinting toward the group, smiling and crying at the same time. Shepard immediately broke into a run and they met halfway in a full and tight embrace.

"You made it!" Liara's soft voice exclaimed. "I knew you would!"

"We did," Shepard confirmed. "No casualties but… I'm sure you already knew that."

The asari pulled out of the hug and nodded, unable to wipe the smile from her face. She eyed Joker coming up and nodded to him.

"Joker," she greeted. "It is good to see you out of your ship."

"Yeah, I missed you, too," he replied.

"But I did not—oh. I see." Liara flushed slightly, still embarrassed that she could be trapped by her literal interpretations. She knew Joker better than that but, she supposed, it had been too long. She smiled when Kaidan made his appearance; of course, she'd already read transcripts and seen videos of their reunion. "Welcome back, Kaidan."

"I can't believe you're the new Shadow Broker, Liara," he said.

"Yes, well, someone had to step up to the plate. I was happy to do it. I've come into a wealth of resources to aid Shepard against the Reapers." Her face slipped into a serious expression. "Now that the Collector threat has been dealt with, we must focus on the real problem."

Shepard, Joker, and Kaidan followed Liara into her sanctuary and the boys took it in with wide eyes and slack jaws that told of nothing less than awe. The VI globe that swiveled around the chamber immediately zeroed in on Shepard and followed her wherever she went.

"Welcome back, Shadow Broker," it said as Liara pulled a datapad from her console.

"Joker, no doubt, forwarded you the Reaper schematic," she said and, when Shepard nodded, she continued. "It's much worse than we've feared. Just before the communication dropped, my contacts on earth transmitted a brief clip to our network."

Shepard took the datapad and scrolled through the text. The video played on the side. The spider-like legs of what could only be a reaper ship descended through the stratosphere. She passed the pad back to Liara.

"Then they've already found a way out of dark space…"

"It does seem that way, but we cannot confirm. Shepard…" She hesitated. "You're going to need an army…"

"I already have one," Shepard said with a smirk. "My crew graduated basic training when they blew up the Collector base. And I have you, here with an unlimited network. What more can I ask for?"

She smiled wide, ignoring the rest of Shepard's team that slowly filtered into the room.

"Well… there is one thing…" she said, laughter like music sneaking into her tone. She pulled Shepard up the stairs and toward the back room. "Look who's here."

The doors hissed open and Shepard paused to survey the space. At first, she only noticed Liara's drell friend, Feron. Then there came the sound of a fist pounding into a palm and Wrex's growling voice pulled her gaze to where the red-shelled Krogan was standing.

"Shepard."

"Wrex!" Shepard exclaimed.

Part of her wanted to bolt over and hug him, but she doubted he'd receive it well. In spite of his usual attitude, she could tell he was happy to see her. Very few things made a krogan smile; for Wrex, she was one of those things.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were on Tuchanka with the rest of clan Urdnot."

"Seems to me there won't be a Tuchanka or an Urdnot left if these Reapers are allowed to wreak havoc across the galaxy. Seeing as how we stopped them once already, I figure we've had our practice and now it's time to take a shot at the real thing." He grinned. "C'mon, Shepard. We can take 'em."

"With all of this new information," Feron piped up, "the Council must listen to us."

"They probably won't," Joker muttered, relaxing against the threshold of the door as Kaidan entered the room. "It's more likely they'll say we fabricated evidence to support our claims then hi-jacked the Shadow Broker's station to bleed it over the network. They seem anxious to believe anything before they admit the Reapers are real."

"The Alliance should have all the proof they need to back us up," Kaidan added. "Hackett believes in you. And if earth is really their first target, I'm sure they'll be rushing home—damned the Council."

"And you can be sure the krogan of Urdnot won't let you go to war alone," Wrex added.

Shepard nodded firmly to Wrex. The rest of her team began filtering in.

"Cerberus will have all cells focused on earth," Miranda added. "There's no way they'd let humans go undefended."

"I'm counting on that," Shepard replied.

"With the political bantering over the geth, I am not sure I can convince the Migrant Fleet to shift their attention to something they might deem as too far away a threat to be real," Tali announced. "I will rally as many supporters as I can and plead with the Admiralty Board for whatever ships they will lend to our cause."

"Thank you, Tali." Shepard nodded to her. Liara gently placed a hand on the Commander's shoulder.

"Shepard… there is something else…" she whispered and passed her another datapad. "Do you remember Noveria? You set a certain queen free…"

Shepard took the pad.

"I remember…" she said slowly. The asari's lips curled upward.

"It seems she has not forgotten the mercy you've shown her. And her children stand ready to fight for the one who spared them."

Shepard closed her eyes and took a moment to soak in the information. Suddenly, she didn't feel as alone in the galaxy as she had prior to coming to Hagalaz.

"We're with you all the way, Commander," Garrus told her.

"The Reapers won't know what hit 'em," Zaeed added.

Shepard lifted her head and bounced her gaze to the face of each and every one of her crewmates. They were all smiling at her, nodding at her, ready and awaiting an order. Even Kasumi's glowing orbs shone from underneath her dark hood; so much for the 'parting ways' line the thief had used to get her out to Afterlife. She remembered Legion and thought of how he'd already returned to the geth, hoping to reason with them into fighting on the right side. None of them had abandoned her, even when their contract with Cerberus had ended.

"The way I see it," Kasumi purred. "The mission isn't really over, only part of it is."

"You're right," Shepard agreed. She stepped into the middle of a circle that had naturally formed around the room. "Thank you. All of you. The Reapers are out there now, laying down a path of destruction through every inch of the galaxy they cross. Our galaxy. Their target right now may be humans… but they won't stop there. They won't stop until they extinguish all life that we've spent 50,000 years evolving! It is now our duty to step up for those who cannot fight.

"I can't promise this won't be a one-way trip… but I can promise that we will hunt the Reapers to extinction, so that they won't even have dark space to run away to! Let's show the Reapers that they can no longer bully life out of out of this galaxy—that their cycle of death is at an end!" She took a deep and quiet breath. "Friends… Comrades… I am honored to go with you to the end."

There was a resolute pulse shared by each of the individuals in the room. Shepard shifted her weight from one foot to the next and twisted her torso to face her pilot still leaning in the doorway. He pushed off of it when he saw her focus on him with that serious glint in her blue gaze.

"Joker," she began. Her voice was solemn with orders about to be charged. "Tell EDI to get our weapons systems online and set a course for the local cluster. We're going to earth."