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Shepard came here for some time and space to think, but in retrospect, that may have been a bad idea, because it provides an opportunity for the events of the past few hours to sink in. Really sink in.

They're here. The Reapers have hit Earth.

[OOC: Yes, folks, we're kicking off the Mass Effect 3 plot! This is not plotlocked, but please send me a private message or ping me on AIM before you tag.]

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News travels fast, even on a galactic scale. It travels faster when you're a salarian. And the faster you get some news, the faster you need a drink.

Just saying.

Shepard spots the good doctor immediately - not hard around here, since he's the only salarian in the place. She walks right up to him.

"Mordin. It's happened."

"Regrettable. Wish I could say I was surprised," says Mordin.

He doesn't need to go as far as 'told them so'.

"Course of action?"

"Admiral Anderson ordered me to get on the Normandy and get to Mars." Which Shepard is not at all happy about, but she'll follow Anderson's orders nonetheless. "That's short-term, of course. I'm here so I can think about what to do next."

Shepard sighs and presses the heels of her hands to her closed eyelids. "God. Arcturus stopped transmitting, then everything beyond Charon went dark, and the next thing we knew, the Reapers were descending on Vancouver."

"My condolences," says Mordin. "Your mother- heard from her since the attack?"

"No. But neither of my parents are on Earth, so if..." Shepard pauses. "Do you know if the Reapers have hit any other Alliance colonies?"

Edited 2012-10-18 00:18 (UTC)

"No. Not yet," says Mordin. "Obviously inevitable, but- nothing yet."

"My mother's deployed. But Dad is on Shanxi. He'll probably get orders to mobilize, though, once they've figured out what's going on." Shepard takes a deep breath, trying to calm down and hold it together. "What do you think your people are going to do? Obviously the STG knows what just happened."

"Can't say for certain," says Mordin. "Not privy to full information. Not at liberty to disclose much of what I do know. Shoring up of our own defenses likely to be highest priority. Depends on how clan arguments go, of course- but speaking from experience, probability fairly high."

"I wonder what the Council's going to do. Maybe finally get their asses in gear. Hopefully it's not too late for that."

"Will do my best to provide information to people in positions capable of persuading Councilors," says Mordin. "Not all of us thick as politicians."

Shepard smiles, a bit. The expression feels strange, given the circumstances. "It's good to know I have a few friends out there. If I happen to swing by Sur'Kesh...well, I'm not sure what's going to happen next, but whatever it is, I could probably use your help."

Mordin nods. "I'll do what I can," he promises. "Might have to cut back to fifteen minutes' sleep per twenty-four hours, to make up for time lost."

"No, Mordin," Shepard says patiently. "Please don't do that. I don't know about salarians, but humans tend to be a lot less effective when they're sleep-deprived."

"Understood," says Mordin. "Probably should have indicated joke better. Another time, maybe."

"Sorry. My sense of humor is kind of blitzed right now," Shepard says. "Listen, if you can get hold of Garrus or Tali or Liara...actually, if you can contact Liara, she can probably get in touch with everyone else. Let them know that I'm on the Normandy, and I'll probably be looking them up soon."

"Will contact Liara. Could be some difficulty with Tali, however," Mordin says. "Migrant Fleet has its own priorities. Most of them synthetic."

Shepard groans. "Oh, no. This is the worst possible time for them to be hashing it out with the Geth."

Mordin nods. "Unfortunate, but true," he says. "Don't doubt that Tali'zorah has enough sense to agree with you. Should note that migrant fleet anything but unified in its opinion, of course. Opportunities there."

"Six months ago the quarians thought tangling with the Geth was a really bad idea - no matter how badly they wanted their homeworld back. I wonder what changed?"

"Couldn't tell you. Afraid I've been busy with other projects," Mordin says with a touch of embarrassment. "Could try to call in some favors, find out what data available. Doubt they'll be of much use, but willing to try."

"I know. Precise intelligence on the Migrant Fleet isn't exactly easy to come by." Even for the STG. "So is intelligence on the Reapers. Anderson sent me to Mars because there's something helpful in the Prothean Archives - supposedly - but it sounds like kind of a long shot to me."

"Wish you luck. Will look for information myself, where available- doubt much will turn up beyond what we already know, but second set of eyes seldom hurts."

Shepard nods. "I'll let you know what I find in the Archives." If there's anything to find. "Good luck. We're all going to need it."

"Colene?"

That would be one Alyx Vance, looking considerably less pregnant than she was when Shepard last saw her. The five-month-old baby in the body-carrier she's wearing is a good indicator of why.

"Alyx," Shepard says. In spite of everything else that's on her mind, she can't help but notice that there's only the one baby. "Where's the other one?"

"Back home taking a nap," says Alyx. "Colene, what...?"

She wants to ask Are you okay, but she already knows the answer to that.

"Reapers," Shepard says. "They hit Arcturus about two hours ago, and Earth a little after that."

The color drains from Alyx's face. "My God..."

"They were flattening Vancouver when I left - and several other major Earth cities too. Anderson sent me to Mars. He says there's something in the Prothean Archives that may help." Shepard is obviously not too sure about this.

"I'm so sorry."

"We knew this was coming. But it didn't help." Not in terms of preparation, or taking the edge off the terror when the Reapers arrived.

Alyx doesn't say a word, but she reaches over to give Shepard's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I keep thinking I should've stayed there. But I couldn't have done any good. Although I don't know what I can do by going to Mars, either."

It's probable that Anderson knows something she doesn't - after all, she's been denied access to anything remotely classified for the last several months.

("And all the effort in the world would have gone to waste...")

"Is... is there anything I can...?"

"I was thinking of leaving a note for Tali, but I can't think of what to write," Shepard says. "So if you see her, let her know I'm still alive, and so are Joker, Chakwas, EDI, and Adams. I'm pretty sure that before long, Milliways will be the most stable and reliable communication link between us.'

A thought occurs, and Alyx brightens a little.

"You both need to get on T-Minus. It's a pandimensional chat network another patron set up. It's run from Milliways and you can connect to it from literally anywhere in time and space."

"That might not be a good idea on a ship equipped with an AI that flags any strange incoming or outgoing transmissions."

She's not sure if EDI can detect T-Minus traffic, but she doesn't really want to test it.

"And who's she going to report you to? I thought you cut ties with Cerberus already."

"No, she wouldn't report it to anyone. But she'd ask me to explain it, and there's no way that won't be awkward."

"More awkward than leaving notes for each other in a remote location like you're Lewis and friggin' Clark?"

"Look, I don't want to get into this right now." As soon as the words are out of her mouth, Shepard regrets them - or, anyway, the tone they were spoken in. She sighs. "Sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out that way."

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