AN: Another chapter for the slowest updating story in the history of FOREVER! So sorry.

Thank you so much for the comments and favorites/follows, glad your enjoying it and sorry for dragging it out so much.

BIG THANKS for my awesome beta Gracie21, who give me wonderful tips on the things she'd like to see more of as well as fixing all my blunders. YOU'RE AWESOME GURL!

Chapter Four

"Feels like coming home after travelling a million miles.

I am not alone. Searching for the starlight in the darkest skies."

Kerli

31.07.2194 - Ceres - Local Cluster

Shepard lay in the soft bed, wrapped in the thick warm sheets beside Reese, looking out of the skylight above them. The air was thick with sweeping snow flurries and just visible behind the layer of snow she could make out the ever-present breathtaking aurora borealis, which danced and swept across the angry sky like an oily puddle reflecting a prism of light, the sky seemed to be on fire. As she stared up at the flame-like waves of green and purple snaking back and forth lazily, she let her mind wander, and as usual it wandered to Kaidan. She closed her eyes on reflex and pictured him, his handsome features highlighted by the light streaming through the window of her new apartment, a beer bottle in hand and two nice thick steaks laid out before him, ready to hit the griddle. She opened her eyes and sighed. She had to stop doing this to herself, he was gone and no amount of wishing or dreaming would ever bring him back. She glanced at Reese sleeping soundly beside her and smiled at him, he slept like a child, face down, arms and legs all over the place. Her eyes drifted down his lean body, she knew every curve by heart, every blemish, every scar and the stories behind them. Knowing the story behind the scars was not exactly an intimate thing, he was always more than eager to boast about how he got them, he'd tell anyone that would listen. Her eyes drifted past the scar on his lower back, where he had been slashed by a Phantoms blade during a skirmish in the month leading up to the end of the War, and came to rest on the curve of his backside, just covered by the sheet. Just visible was the top of his tattoo, she smiled and let her mind wander in a new direction.

They had been dating for a little over three months and Reese had taken her out for drinks in a very 'lively' district of Vancouver. As usual when the date was drawing to a close, Reese leant in for a kiss and Shepard withdrew in a knee jerk reaction.

"Must we do this every time?" He asked as he slipped his hand around her waist, pulled her flush against him, and stooping down, pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

When he pulled back he could see that she was frowning, he lent forward again but this time she stopped him with a hand firmly planted in his chest.

"This isn't fair." She studiously avoided meeting his eyes. "You may be the most annoying man in existence, but you're a good man. You deserve to be with someone without so much... baggage, someone not so broken." She dropped her head further, shaking it mournfully. "You deserve someone who won't try to push you away... This is never going to last."

Reese hooked a finger under Shepard's chin and lifted it gently, she closed her eyes to avoid his breathtaking steel grey gaze.

"Why do you push me away?"

"What?" Her eyes snapped open, this was not the direction she had anticipated, but then she should have come to expect this from Reese.

"Why do you push me away? Do you feel guilty? Or is it that you're scared that if you let me in you might lose me too?"

She half heartedly laughed and cast her eyes back to the floor. "Maybe a bit of both," she confessed with a sigh. "I guess... I know I'm not that fun to be around anymore, and there is only so long a person can take being with someone like that before they start to feel like they are being dragged into the pit with them and want to escape. I know that's what's going to end up happening here, so..."

"...So why invest?" He asked. Shepard nodded, "You really are as dumb as a Vorcha sometimes, you know that, right?"

"What?!" Another curve ball, he was the king of curve balls.

"I love being around you, even when you're sad. You are the most fascinating and simultaneously frustrating woman I have ever met! There is no way, no way I am going to walk away from this, from you. Forget about it, it's not going to happen."

She shook her head and sighed, "You don't mean that."

"Like hell I don't."

She sighed and gave him a humouring smile. He took a step back and crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing in a way she knew meant trouble.

"Ok, I need to prove it, I can do that." He nodded resolutely. "Give me an hour." And with that he turned and walked away from her door, leaving her baffled.

Shepard sat in her sparse apartment within the Alliance HQ facility and glanced at the clock for possibly the hundredth time. She had sat there impatiently for a little over an hour now, what was he doing?

She was just closing the fridge, having gotten up to grab another beer when her door slid open and Reese wandered in –as ever, as if he owned the place– and took the beer from her hand with an appreciative smile.

"Help yourself!" Her voice dripped with sarcasm but her face betrayed her amusement.

"Thank you Sparky." He tipped the beer bottle to her in salute and walked over to the sofa.

"Don't call me that, I hate it when you call me that."

"I know." He smiled, enjoying teasing her.

Shepard returned to the fridge to get another beer. "So?" She popped the cap and made her way back into the living area to take up a seat at his side.

Reese stopped mid swig and raised his eyebrows in a silent query.

"Come on then, let's see this proof." She placed her beer on the table and crossed her arms over her chest, a smug look spreading across her face. She refused to believe that he could have done anything in that amount of time that would convince her of how serious he claimed was.

"Ok, now don't freak out." Reese placed his bottle gently down on the coffee table and stood up.

"You know saying that will automatically put me on edge and make me more likely to freak out, right?"

"Valid point." A small but honest chuckle escaped his lips. "So, I wanted something that would show you just how serious I am about you, about us. Something that would prove to you that I'm in this for the long haul and I'm not going anywhere." His hands moved to his belt buckle, his long steady fingers unbuckling it slowly before moving to the fastening of his trousers.

"This is what you think is gonna prove it?" Shepard crossed her arms across her chest and scowled at him.

They had been together for three months, but they had yet to cross that line, to be physically intimate. They had fooled around some sure, but Shepard always hit the brake before things went too far and Reese respected her enough to not protest. He wanted it, boy did he ever want it, but he knew this was not easy for her so he let her set the timetable for their relationship.

"Hey, I know you're just dying to get me out of my pants, but it's not what you're thinking." He turned around and slid his trousers down just enough to reveal a sizable dressing high up on his right cheek.

"Urmmm...ok." Shepard muttered, confused.

"Peel back the dressing."

"I'm not a doctor, maybe someone else should check that out for you." She sneered.

"For once, just shut your sassy mouth and do as I ask!" he blurted out in with an exasperated sigh.

Shepard rolled her eyes, grabbed the corner of the dressing and with a sly smile yanked it off in one sharp movement, eliciting a string of obscenities. Her amused expression faded and was replaced by a look of startled bewilderment as she took in what was beneath the dressing. There, 5 inches long, surrounded by angry, pink, goosebumped skin was a fresh tattoo. The lettering was all black in a graceful flowing script surrounded but a blue biotic flame.

"Sparky." She whispered unable to take her eyes off the word.

"Yup, kinda fitting right, I mean now you literally ARE a pain in my ass." He quipped, looking back over his shoulder at her.

Shepard reached out and gently ran her finger across the hot raised skin, feeling the shape of each letter. "Does it hurt?"

"It's a little sore, yeah. But it's worth it if helps you see how much I care about you. I love you Sparky"

Shepards froze, she didn't even breathe. She felt it, sure she did. Deep down in the pit of her stomach she knew that she was starting to fall in love with him, but she couldn't bring herself to say it, she barely let herself feel it. Shepard rose to her feet, reached out and took his hand, gently interlacing her fingers with his. She tried to speak a few times but nothing would come out, eventually she just closed her mouth and frowned down at the floor with a sigh.

"It's ok you know, I don't need you to say it back. I just wanted you to know." Reese bowed his head so their foreheads rested against one another. "There's no rush, I'll wait for you because I love you."

Shepard buried her face into Reese's neck, wrapping her arms around him. She softy pressed her full lips to his throat just below his ear and whispered. "Stay with me tonight."

That first night with Reese had been so bittersweet, she wanted to be with him but at the same time, it felt so much like cheating on Kaidan that, as she lay in Reese's arms, her back nestled against his chest, she silently wept as the guilt and chilling sense of loss replaced the warm glow of their union. Now, all these years later the guilt had lessened, she just needed to let go of the sense of loss, the empty void that seemed to be perpetually by her side. She needed to move on, to make the one decision that she had been stalling on.

Shepard inhaled deeply and let out a long resigned sigh.

"I can't sleep with you thinking so loud." Reese mumbled as he lay on his stomach spread eagle, his face buried in his fluffy pillow. She turned and met his sleepy, one-eyed gaze.

"Sorry." She whispered as she lent over to kiss his muscular shoulder.

He rolled onto his side and grabbed her in a flash, pulling her into a bear hug. He sighed contentedly as he rested his cheek on the top of her head and draped a long leg over hers. Using his legs to hold her bottom half as tightly as his arms held her top and kissed her forehead.

"What are you thinking about anyway?"

"It doesn't matter." She replied snuggling into his chest and peppering it with soft, warm kisses.

He pulled back slightly, craning his neck to look her in the eye.

"Whenever you say that, it normally does matter." He studied her face and found his assumption to be true by the look in her eyes. "Come on. Out with it."

She wriggled up the bed a little, rested her forehead to his and closed her eyes. "I was thinking about the future, what you wanted... us having another baby."

This time it was she who watched closely. Looking for expressions that would give away what he was thinking. He was hesitant but she could see the underlying excitement that he was trying to quash.

Reese had first broached the subject 2 months ago.

It had been a long god awful day. No matter what he did nothing seemed to go right for him. Two of the N7 recruits had ended up sending each other to the Alliance Hospital during hand to hand combat training. The brass were on his case about needing his specialised skill set for a deep cover infiltration mission they were planning in a few months time. They were not happy when he didn't snap of a crisp 'Aye, Aye' on the spot. It would mean he was away from his family for at least a month, maybe more. He hadn't been away from Shepard and Kaila for that length of time, ever. And he sure as hell didn't want to do it now. At present it was a request but he could see down the line it becoming an order if he didn't consent. To top it all off, his transit had broken down and he'd had to walk the last 4 miles back to their apartment in the driving rain of a very unseasonal thunderstorm.

Right now, he wished he'd accepted Shepards offer of him skipping work for the day to look after an unwell Kaila. But she was already curled up sleeping on Shepard's lap and he didn't have the heart to move her so instead he went off to work leaving them both behind.

He brushed the rain off his face as he dropped his bag by the door and toed off his boots, before heading to the bathroom for a towel. The house was unusually quiet and calm. He wondered into the living room still drying his hair and stopped dead in the doorway, a contented smile spreading across his face as he looked at his family.

Shepard was asleep on the sofa in sweats and one of his t-shirts with Kaila curled up next to her in her pyjamas. Her little fingers, as ever, were curled around her mothers hair. In that instant all the crap of the day simply fell away. He walked across the room and grabbed the throw off the back of the sofa, and draped it over his girls before sitting down on the coffee table to watch them peacefully sleep.

Shepard opened her eyes slowly and smiled sleepily when she saw him. "Hey."

"Hi." He stared at her intently, an unasked question hanging on his lips.

"What?"

"Let's make a baby."

Shepard had been avoiding the subject ever since. Making the decision to bring a new life into the world with someone was always a big deal. It had been different with Kaila, she had not been planned... not by a long shot. She had not coped well at all with the surprise, so she was grateful when Reese didn't press her on the subject after her initial hesitation.

It's not like she hadn't been thinking about it since then, she had... constantly. But something in the back of her mind had been stopping her for saying yes. There was something there telling her not yet, telling her to wait a little longer. She knew what that something was, it was the tiny part of her that had clung to the hope that Kaidan would return. After Reese had dozed off that night, she had lain there properly thinking about it all for the first time. She disengaged her emotions and looked at it practically, looked at it as a soldier looked at a mission brief. It made no sense to cling to the hope anymore, the Normandy had been destroyed, it had been officially reported, no time for escape. He was never coming back. She'd had initially used the excuse of her career when he first asked but she knew full well, even back then, that wasn't why she hesitated. She knew the real reason was ludicrous and that night as she lay there she had tried to find a rational reason why she shouldn't have another child. A child with her husband who she loved, but she couldn't find one. There was no sane reason not to.

"And did you come to any conclusions about us trying to get pregnant?"

"I did."

"And?" He tried to keep his voice neutral but she could hear his emotions boiling just beneath the surface.

She swallowed audibly and tried to sound more confident in her decision than she felt. "Let's do it."

31.07.2194 - Charon Relay - Arcturus - Arcturus Stream

Kaidan let out an exasperated sigh as the panel he had been working on for twelve hours straight, burnt out again. In his frustration he yanked on the panel trying to free it from its housing before disconnecting the power supply, giving himself a rather nasty shock.

"SON OF A BITCH!" He jerked up on reflex and his head collided with the underside of the panel cover hard enough to make his eyes water.

He tentatively rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand as he rested back on his elbow, trying desperately to fight the urge to let fly a biotic punch into the mass of circuitry and wires.

He didn't know what was worse, seven long, hard years of uncertainty and doubt, not knowing if he would ever get back home. And if he did, not knowing if she'd be there to greet him or if he would have to mourn the loss of her all over again. Or, the past three days knowing she was there, she was alive, she was waiting like she promised and the only thing separating them from the rest of their lives was a sporadically working relay.

Those three days he was kept incredibly busy putting his considerable technical knowledge to good use on project Phoenix. Thanks in large part to him, the only thing now stopping the relay from fully firing and generating the colossal Mass field needed to sling a vessel across the galaxy, was this one goddamn panel that kept shorting, and he simply couldn't figure out why. Just one small bundle of wires, resisters, and diodes on a board no bigger than a datapad. It was maddening! He just wanted to get back home, he wanted a decent night's sleep, wanted a break, wanted her.

Adams had been giving him constant reports on the repair of the Normandy's systems. The engineering crew of the London had been a real help, they were able to assist in patching in a lot of tech they had salvaged and the vessel was almost fully functional.

"You look like you could use this." Humphrys handed Kaidan a steaming cup of coffee, crouching down beside him, eyeing the fuming Major warily.

Kaidan took the cup with a small curt nod. Things had been a little tense between the two officers for the past few days.

Following Kaidan's initial briefing with Hackett aboard the London, he had returned to the Normandy and made his way straight for Liara's quarters, eager to hear what she had found out about Shepard. Liara had spent the past hour establishing a link via the London and was in the process of collecting everything she could get her hands on about the end of the War, but mostly about Shepard. She already had official Alliance reports which laid out the cold hard facts in the usual unemotional manner, but the data she was most interested in was a vid documentary simply entitled, 'The Shepard: Through the War and Beyond'. She was just about to select the file when Kaidan entered the room.

"What do you have for me, Liara?"

Kaidan tried to keep his face neutral but his eyes gave him away. They were tinged with a look of pleading and desperation.

Liara turned back to her screen and with a broad sweep of her hand across the monitor in front of her, sent all the Alliance reports to Kaidan's omni-tool. He immediately opened the data and began to trawl through the files skimming the contents, looking for her name.

"These are all the official reports I have been able to collect so far. They are all fairly clinical from )what I can tell, but I did find this." She tapped on the file in front of her and it filled the wall of screens in front of them.

Kaidan stared at the file before him, 'The Shepard'? Was that what they were calling her now? He could only imagine how much she was hating all this.

Back on the SR1, the night after their mission to Noveria they had stayed up late in the mess hall, drinking coffee trying to dispel the chill that had seemed to seep right through to their very bones. They must have spent three hours huddled at the table chatting and refilling their cups. Kaidan had talked about the cold winters of Vancouver, his love and passion for his home town bringing a big, warm grin to his face, his eyes alive and glistening at the memory. He'd asked her if she'd seen much of the city. The last time she had been to Vancouver was back in 2176, two months after the Blitz, the day she was awarded the Star of Terra. She'd told him about the ceremony and the gala dinner afterwards, all the attention of fellow marines and, even worse, the media. She'd hated every last second of it.

'I just did my job, it could have been any other marine', she had protested, there was nothing special about her. She couldn't understand why suddenly people would want to see photo's of her at a party, or her on the street buying a goddamn hot dog, and she sure as hell couldn't understand why they suddenly wanted to know all about her past, her life on Mindoir, the raid, her career, even if she was dating and who! She'd hated that they had plastered her all over the recruitment ads, not even an accurate image either.

'They dragged me into this photo studio, caked me in makeup, stuck me into a dress uniform and tried to get me to keep the top three buttons undone to, and I quote, 'show a little cleavage'. When they tried to get me to let down my hair I kinda lost my shit. I swear Kaidan, I'd give anything, ANYTHING, to go back to being an unknown grunt. I am just not equipped to handle this kind of shit.'

And she was right; her interactions with Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani of Westerlund News had proved that one alright. He'd seen the vid of their 'meeting' on the Citadel when he had returned after his stint on Horizon. Even though at the time he was still angry at her for Cerberus and for not letting him know she was alive, he had still chuckled when she had punched al-Jalani square in the nose. He couldn't help but wonder how many journalists she had punched this time. Given that she almost single handedly, served the Reapers their asses on a plate and saved damn near every organic in the Galaxy form extinction, the media attention must have been rabid!

Liara tapped on her omni-tool and the file minimized into the bottom right screen as it downloaded, allowing her to continue her search for more data. She located a small cache of photographs and opened the file. In near synchronisation they both froze and hissed in deep breaths. The vid wall was filled with photographs of Shepard, mostly photo's of her directly after the War, battered, bruised, laying in the rubble, hooked up to machines in the hospital, her arms bandaged, her left side covered in angry purple bruises. Liara put her hand over her mouth trying to stifle a sob of anguish. Kaidan clenched his jaw, his lips pressed into a hard line, his brow furrowed. He stepped forward, his hand instinctively reaching for the screen before him, his eyes fixed on the image. As his fingers met the image of her face the screens flickered and one by one were filled with the standard exclamation mark within an angry red triangle.

"What happened?" Kaidan asked, immediately bringing up his omni-tool and running a scan of the equipment.

"We've lost the connection. Glyph, can you run a scan and identify the problem."

The white orb whirled into life and a stream of data scrolled across the screens to fast for the human eye to process.

"Did you get that vid file downloaded?" Kaidan asked as he moved to stand behind her looking over her shoulder at terminal where she was frantically typing. Liara tapped a small icon at the bottom of the screen.

"Only about 6%"

"Dr T'Soni," Glyph glided to her side and turned its spherical eye on Liara. "It appears the connection to the London's COM system has been severed."

"Can you re-establish the link?" she asked. Glyph processed for a moment.

"Negative. The connection was severed by order of Captain Humphreys and a block has been set in place."

Liara glanced at Kaidan, his lips pressed together in a thin line as his eyes hardened.

"Can we bypass the block?" he asked the drone through gritted teeth.

"Negative. It is beyond the capabilities of this unit."

Liara turned back to Kaidan just in time to see him walking resolutely out of the door.

Kaidan practically punched the call button for the elevator. He was livid! What the hell was Humphrys playing at?

He stormed straight past a concerned looking Traynor, headed for the London.

Kaidan spotted Humphrys across the other side of the galaxy map, deep in conversation with his Lieutenant, his back to the bridge. Kaidan marched over to him and grasped him almost painfully by the shoulders, forcing him round to face him.

"A word in private, Captain." He let his anger and distain taint the use of the man's rank. Forcing as much authority as possible into those five words, Kaidan planted his hand firmly in the centre of Humphrys back and all but shoved him into the COM's room.

Kaidan was usually a gentle and polite man, never one to pull rank or throw his weight around. He was calm and quietly strong, but these were unusual circumstances and his stress levels were through the roof. He was desperate for any news of Shepard and right now Humphrys was standing in his way. That was not a safe place to be.

As soon as the COM room door closed Kaidan rounded on Humphrys, who instinctively took a step back under the Major's intense stare. Kaidan crossed his arms, his hands shaking with rage.

"Something you want to tell me, Humphrys?"

"No, Sir." He replied sheepishly, "Is something wrong?"

"You tell me." Kaidan took another step forward and Humphrys retreated another in return. "Something wrong with your extranet connection?"

Humphrys shifted slightly, his eyes cast to the left. "We seem to be getting interference from the relays faulty systems. We're looking into it."

Kaidan smiled menacingly, "Want me to take a look? I'm a Sentinel after all, graduated top of my class in the academy. I know my way around tech."

"I... err... No, that's ok, we have our own specialists looking into it. I'm sure they will be able to resolve the issue."

Kaidan took another step forward, Humphrys followed suit but bumped into the console behind him, his retreat blocked.

"It's no trouble at all. Let's have a quick look shall we?" Kaidan lent past Humphrys to access the panel just behind him. It pinged to life displaying the Alliance extranet portal. "Well what do you know. It seems to be working over here. Strange, huh?"

"They... er... must have fixed it?"

"Hmmmm." Kaidan opened his omni-tool and brought up the short range communication. "Joker?"

"Go ahead, Major."

"Are we able to re-establish our connection to the London's COM system?" His eyes never left Humphrys, who baulked under the cold unblinking gaze of the superior officer.

"Negative. Want me to get Liara or Traynor to look into it?"

"I don't think that will be necessary. Thank you Joker."

Humphrys rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. "I don't know what..."

Kaidan slammed his fist down on the console beside Humphrys, his eyes momentarily flashing a bright electric blue. "CUT THE BULL, HUMPHRYS! Disable the block and let us reconnect, that's an order."

"I'm sorry." He shook his head, "I'm truly sorry, but I can't do that, Major."

Kaidan crossed his arms once more and inclined his head, the anger seemed to roll of him in thick waves, it was almost physical, threatening to engulf Humphrys.

"Are you disobeying an order from a senior officer, Captain?"

"No, Sir." Humphrys sighed and met Kaidan's blazing gaze. "I'm following orders from Alliance HQ, Sir."

Kaidan faltered. Someone had ordered this, ordered Humphrys to keep him in the dark. Why? What possible reason could they have? His mind reeled trying to process this. What were they trying to hide from him?

"Who issued the order?" He took a step back from Humphrys, giving the man some space.

"Admiral Hackett. He asked to speak to me right after you left the London." Humphrys frowned and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sir."

Kaidan took a step back, angry as he was it was clear that Humphrys was in a bind, compelled to follow Hackett's orders when he clearly didn't agree.

Kaidan nodded once. "As you were." And with that Humphrys hurried out of the COM room and back to the CIC, leaving Kaidan alone in the dimly lit room, confused and angry.

Kaidan crawled out from under the console just enough to sit up comfortably, his back against the cold metal of the relay's core room, leaving a trail of wires and components in his wake. Once settled he sighed, sipped the hot drink and rolled his head on his shoulders feeling the tendons of his neck pop and strain.

He looked up at Humphrys apprehensive face. "Thank you, I could use the caffeine." he replied with a dramatic yawn as if to emphasize his point.

"That's what I figured. You look a little run down." Humphrys brushed aside some of the tech laid out on the floor and sat cross legged in front of Kaidan. "So how's it looking?"

Kaidan rolled his eyes and shook his head. "This panel will be the death of me."

He held up the small panel, freshly blackened by the short. "At first I thought it might be getting a power surge, but I just tested all the incoming supply feeds and they're fine." He frowned at the tech in his hands.

"Faulty component somewhere maybe?" Humphrys took the scorched panel from Kaidan and scratched the surface revealing small red lettering underneath the charred patch of metal. He twisted the component back and forth trying to read the text.

"What's a ...MLDC?"

Kaidan set the coffee cup down on the floor at his side. "It stands for Multiple link Delineation Conduit."

"Huh." Humphrys mused, "What does that mean?"

"Basically this component can link to numerous other MLDC's allowing a flow of..."

Kaidan fell silent, his brow furrowed as he lost himself in thought. Humphrys was about to ask if he was ok, when quick as a flash, Kaidan was scrabbling to his feet, sending his half full coffee cup flying as he clipped it with his foot. When he got to the door he was almost at a flat run. He clipped the shoulder of LT Sokol as he skimmed around her in the corridor. He grasped the young engineer's shoulder to steady her, apologized and took off again down the corridor.

He skidded to a halt in front of panel 32567c and undid the fastenings holding it in place, and swept his omni-tool across the linked MLDC's power factor correction unit. He waited patiently as the scan ran through a complete cycle, and when the results flashed up on his screen, he barked out a laugh. The inverter on the unit had a dead short due to the rectifier phase rotation being 1.2 pica seconds out of synchronisation; his insulation resistance test showed there was less than 1 ohm. He immediately went to work on his omni-tool making the necessary adjustments to get the unit back to functioning within the normal parameters.

When he returned to the core room his face was alive with excitement and hope.

"You fixed it, didn't you?" Humphrys said a smile spreading across his face.

"Maybe. Let's see shall we?"

Kaidan hastily replaced the burned out MLDC component with a fresh one and reinstalled it. After some last minute adjustments he turned to Humphrys. "Ready?"

Humphrys nodded and pressed his finger to his ear. "Lieutenant Marchese, begin relay ignition sequence."

"Yes, Sir. Firing up the drive core now, Sir."

Kaidan and Humphrys stood by the window overlooking the relay's massive drive core. The large sphere loomed over them in its dark, sealed room. With a slight shudder the core kicked into life, vibrating subtlety in it's housing surrounded by pulsing blue energy waves.

Kaidan brought up the energy readouts on the screen to his left. "Looking good so far. Energy readings are well within operational parameters."

"Marchese, let's try bringing her fully online."

"Aye, Sir"

The drive core gave another shudder and its pulsing increased. If it was going to burn out again it would be here. Kaidan's eyes flicked between the core and the energy levels flashing up on the screen. The levels had increased but were still well within the green. Suddenly the whole room seemed to lurch sending tools tumbling to the ground. Kaidan grabbed hold of the rail before him to keep himself upright and the room was filled with the sound of grinding metal. The sound was so intense it set his teeth on edge.

"Joker, do you have eyes on the relay? Did something hit us?" Kaidan asked as he stooped to help Humphrys back to his feet.

"Negative. It's the Gyros... They just kicked in."

Kaidan ran across the room to the main console and brought up a live schematic of the relay. Joker was right, for the first time since the beam hit the relay, they gyros were slowly grinding back into action.

Kaidan and the engineering crew stood by the console frantically making adjustments trying desperately to keep the sequence from stalling, watching the relay slowly come back to life. The giant wheels spinning ever faster. His heart was in his throat as he monitored the systems, this could well be it, they were so close now.

As the energy signals began to spike he began muttering under his breath.

"Come on. Please please please please. Keep it together."

Engineer Landers patched into the London's external cameras and the image flickered up on the main consoles holographic display. As they watched as the gyroscopic rings increase in speed, a faint blue light began to flicker in their core. It seemed as if the room collectively held its breath watching the flicker grow brighter and brighter until the element zero core was radiating a light so intense it was hard to look at.

Lieutenant Marchese's clearly excited voice crackled over the COM. "Ignition sequence complete! Readouts show the relay is now fully operational and functioning within accepted parameters, Sir."

The entire room erupted into whoops and cheers of excitement. Humphrys clapped Kaidan on the back, his smile beaming up at the superior officer.

"Let's hear it for Major Alenko!"

All eyes in the room fell to Kaidan as they simultaneously barked out a 'HOOOOOOOOOORAH!' and gave him a round of applause. He nodded modestly and turned to Humphrys, placing his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Why don't you call Earth, tell them the good news."

Humphrys nodded. "I'd be honoured if you'd join me, Sir."

Kaidan smiled and the two officers made their way through the appreciative crowd to the COM room. He planned on the Normandy being the first ship through the relay, and nobody was going to tell him otherwise.