Aftermath

Chapter 25

A short time later found Shepard, Liara and Traynor in their red-stained armor standing in the cockpit of the Prothean ship. Two heavily armed guards towered menacingly nearby. Shepard leaned back against the consoles and crossed her arms as Liara and Traynor brought up their omni-tools.

"How's EDI?" Shepard asked Traynor.

Traynor made a face, "This bloody red dust isn't the ideal environment for a high functioning VI but she appears undamaged despite her disconnection from the bio-leads."

"Good, first priority is to get her hooked back into the sensors of this ship and run detailed diagnostics and stress test scenarios. Lets find out how bad the structure is before we start speculating on how to fix it." Traynor nodded.

Shepard continued, "Liara we're going to need to find the most secure places on the ship for the Prothean population to be during the flight back. Someplace compartmentalized that could provide some protection if parts of the ship's structure fails."

"I'm certain they will want to bring along a great deal of their equipment as well and the catalog of memory shards," Liara added.

"We have to limit it to essentials. The less we can burden the ship the better. Compromises will have to be made for safety. Once we have our structure fortification plan in place I'm counting on you to handle those delicate negotiations."

Liara nodded before going back to her omni-tool and making plans.

###

In another area deep in the caverns, the three Vanguards watched the planning in the cockpit on a vidcom with grave interest. Goren's massive arms were crossed over his chest, his expression still glowering with disapproval.

"How far do you expect to entertain this charade?" his deep voice grumbled.

"If the human Shepard can indeed find some way to get our entire populous safely off of this planet then it is hardly a charade at all. She is motivated by our impending attack. We have seen how... resourceful she can be when properly motivated," Yarus said evenly.

"And lets just say she is successful and we arrive at the Citadel before the attack takes place. What then Yarus? You don't seriously intend to stop after all we have sacrificed."

Yarus didn't answer. Instead he looked back at the image of Shepard and the others in the heart of their great ship.

###

"Bloody bullocks damnit all to hell!" Traynor let out her latest in a string of frustrated explicatives. She rubbed her head, the ache only increasing. She was tired, hot, covered in the infernal red dust, and mentally exhausted after hours upon hours of failed simulations. They were running out of time. Every sim she ran with EDI so far had ended in the Prothean ship breaking up before reaching the Sol system. The lack of materials and only basic knowledge of the ship structure not to mention the mass effect field dynamics created by the ship were beginning to seem insurmountable.

She felt a hand grip her shoulder and glanced up to find Shepard. Traynor took a deep breath and blew it out hard. Shepard dropped down on her haunches to meet Traynor at eye level, seeing as how she was sitting haphazardly on the cockpit floor with datapads and wires scattered about. "No luck, huh?" Shepard asked quietly, her blue eyes looking compassionately into brown.

"If it were one problem we were facing it would be fine, but there are so many variables."

"Why do the sims fail ultimately?"

"Structural failure. We're all crushed into tiny bits of space dust, kind of structural failure. It's just so big, this ship. It's really a miracle we made it back here alive to be honest."