Actually being on Eden Prime again was creepy. The air was filled with eerie silence, and my mind kept screaming that there would be enemies around every corner. Only reflex stopped me from shooting the first 212 we came across. The lack of blood, bodies, and dragon's teeth was also jarring, as the smell of phantom smoke filled my nose. It wasn't until we passed where the beacon had originally been unearthed and there was no geth ambush that my mind finally tuned into the present, and I was able to clear the shadows of the past from my current thoughts.

I still twitched as we passed where Nihlus had been found shot last time, but that was about it. I drummed my fingers on the railing of the transport while we waited for the half of the 212 that had been spread out along our route to join us, so they could regroup with the rest of the squad and evac on the Normandy with us. Once we were ready, the three of us stood in the head car of the small train, while the rest were spread out behind us. I could hear the chatter behind us, like rain pattering against a roof – background noise.

"Crayons?" I heard from my right, and I shook my head once as I was jerked back to the present. I turned to look at Garrus, when I saw that the short trip was over.

"I'll explain later." I said shortly, as I watched the squad pile off the transport. They all trooped off to the rendezvous point, while the three of us made our way up to the portion of the loading dock where the beacon sat. I took a moment to walk to the railing overlooking the colony, and I had that weird sense of double vision as my eyes took in the currently pristine colony, while my brain reminded me what it would look like after Sovereign landed.

With a sigh I pushed away, swallowing a wave of sadness that I wouldn't be able to stop the destruction created when he landed. However, they had to see for themselves. At the very least, I could take solace in knowing that there was no one in those buildings, this time around. Pulling my mission face back on, I found both Anderson and Garrus staring at the beacon with a mix of trepidation and curiosity – from a safe distance, of course. I indicated a spot that should be safe enough for them to wait until it was time to move out, and Anderson moved right away. Garrus just stared at me, earning himself an irritated head tilt coupled with a hard glare.

"I need to record this for the Council, Commander." He supplied helpfully, tone bland.

"Reaction, will, be, energetic." I retorted, and his mandibles sucked inward in response. "Does Turian recording gear not have zoom?" I snarked, and his mandibles flapped rapidly in irritation before he moved to stand beside Anderson. "Thank you." I snapped lightly, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. Steeling myself, I took a deep breath, before I moved towards the beacon. Before I got close enough to touch it, Garrus cleared his throat. I swear to god, as much as I loved that man, he was still going to end up making me strangle him.

"What?" I snapped harder, looking at him over my shoulder.

"Is there any way you can do this from the side, or I could move to where I can see what you're doing better? The council has indicated that they wish to be able to see everything you do." His tone was annoyed but apologetic, and I closed my eyes for a moment before moving slightly to the side. I ran my fingers over the air surrounding the beacon, tapping into my knowledge of its construction as I mimicked the gestures I would need to use. After a bit of trial and error recalibration in my position, I finally looked up at him.

"Good enough?" I growled, and he checked a couple things, before he nodded.

"The council appreciates your cooperation, Commander." He answered, the formality in his tone exaggerated enough that we both could tell what he thought of their request.

"The council can eat me." I muttered under my breath, knowing that I had spoken low enough the recording wouldn't pick it up. I took a deep breath to steady myself, and reached towards the beacon, then stopped. I took the time to look around and ensure that everything was in place first – once I set this thing off, there would be no time for 'whoopsie'.

After a mental triple-check, I took another deep breath, then reached out and laid my hands on the beacon. The shock of the cold stone under my ungloved fingers couldn't compare to the jolt of energy that passed through the stone as the thing started to power up, and I had to start moving and talking quickly to keep the distress signal from overwhelming my brain. Despite the buzzing itching between my ears, I could hear both of the men gasp when my eyes started glowing the same green as the beacon. I smiled dryly as my hands continued to dance over the surface of the cold stone, and finally I got what I wanted – the green glow started pulsating harder, as streaks of red started to run through it.

"Okay, there we go. Once the entire glow is red, the sequence is complete. I would recommend being long gone by then." I said, and they both nodded, falling in behind me as I headed to the evac point at a fast clip. "Joker, how's the feed looking?" I asked over the comm as we moved, and I received a chuckle in response.

"Well, if the edge of the blast radius is where you had them standing, we're more than fine Commander." he snarked, and I sighed.

"That wasn't the edge of the blast radius, Joker. That was the edge of the activation radius. Though to be fair, if there had been a small explosion while I was trying to set up the sequence, they should have still been okay, I think." I quipped, and he made a strangled noise in response. The corner of my mouth curled up in half of a mocking grin, as I waited.

"After a few calculations with the new data you've given me, things should still be fine. Even if we lose one or two, it should be okay. I did have them place several spares, even more than you asked for, since you stressed the importance of making sure we had redundancies." He responded, serious tone laced with a little bit of self-deprecation.

"Thank you, Joker. I can appreciate working along-side someone who raises CYA to an art form." I quipped, as he got the Normandy close enough for evac.

"Art form, religious experience, tomato tomato. Let me know when you're all loaded and we'll get the hell out of dodge, so to speak." He responded, then the comm cut. I watched the others board the ship, waiting to ensure that I was the last one through the bay door before I had Joker take the ship up to quick-drop orbit. From where we hovered I could see the beacon well enough, and I crouched there on the end of the door, watching the pulse grow redder and redder. Finally, the whole thing shone red, then exploded into tiny bits.

The rest of the glow faded, and the stone was inert once more. That spiteful, itching buzz was also gone, and I smiled to myself as I rose from that crouch. I indicated that it was time for Joker to take us to our hidey-hole, while I removed my gear and made my way to the showers. Based on the old timeline, we still had a rough estimate of 48 hours before Saren would show up. However, I couldn't trust that things might not speed up a bit now that I was meddling with shit that ought not be meddled with, so we were going to have to stay on our toes and see what happened.

After my shower and a quick debriefing for the crew and the 212, I made my way back to the comms room, where I stayed, poring over various reports and checking that my surveillance tricks were holding up, until Anderson told me in no uncertain terms to get some fucking sleep. Since I couldn't argue with him without telling him the precise reason I was avoiding sleep to begin with, I merely nodded and pretended to comply instead.

I did not go to my assigned bunk, however. It was too noisy and crowded for my current mood. Sharing the Captain's cabin with Anderson was also out of the question, even though my things were already stored there. I sighed as I stood by the elevator, watching people laugh and talk. The ship just felt so crowded and claustrophobic to me, even though the 212 hadn't really added that many people. Then, I realized it was because I was used to the SR2 and the many nooks and crannies its expanded size allowed for. There just wasn't a place for me to go hide and have silence, here.

My only solution was imperfect, but I finally just crawled inside the Mako and shut the door, curling up in one of the seats as I let a meditative trance settle over me. It might not fit Anderson's definition of true sleep, but right now I couldn't deal with the grogginess of nightmares. I would eventually need to try and get some real sleep, but this technique had helped me get through the worst of the nightmares after Akuze. Pity I had forgotten about it by the time the Reapers hit earth.

A loud thump against the outside of the vehicle jerked me upright, and I immediately started to open the observation port to see who was messing with the Mako. It would only open a crack, however, and a voice floating through that small opening stilled my hand. "Ah, Vakarian, there you are."

"If I had known you were looking for me, Alenko, I would have started my calibrations sooner. What can the council's toady do for you?" I suppressed a snicker at Garrus's tone, but otherwise held myself still.

"First of all, I apologize for that comment, it was uncalled for. This whole op just has me on edge. Speaking of, have you seen Shepard anywhere?"

"I imagine the Commander is following the Captain's explicit order to 'get some fucking sleep', end quote." There were some metallic scraping sounds, but nothing more was said for a heartbeat or two.

"Hm. I see. Well, perhaps I can get your perspective then. Doesn't all this seem odd to you?" Kaidan asked finally, and the scraping stopped.

"Alenko, I worked in C-Sec. You're going to have to be a lot more specific than that – 'odd' is my daily routine." The scraping resumed.

"Well, I mean all of this. I understand that it's the first shakedown run of this fancy ship and the council wants to know how she works, but why send you? Why not a Spectre? Why here? And why the hell would they let her bring a bomb out here and blow up priceless Prothean technology that we could be studying? We should have brought it back to the ship and took it somewhere safe, no matter what she managed to convince Anderson of!" The scraping screeched to a halt, and I heard a clang. There was a low, vibrating growl, then the glow of Garrus's omnitool illuminated the small crack. After a few seconds, Kaidan's omnitool pinged.

"What's this?" I heard him ask, even as he loaded the message.

"The reason why I don't find any of this odd." Garrus answered simply, then fell silent. All I could hear was my own muffled voice, cursing in Prothean as I messed around with the beacon. The clip was short, but I knew it was long enough from the noise Kaidan made. "She didn't set a bomb Kaidan, she used her knowledge to set off the thing's own internal self destruct sequence, like she mentioned. If she can do that, then I trust her judgment on whether or not it could safely exist somewhere else, without someone still finding it who shouldn't be anywhere near the damned thing." Garrus's tone was clipped, and I heard Kaidan inhale, only to be cut off by Anderson.

"Alenko, there you are. Did you not get my message?" Anderson asked, and I heard a weird noise, something like a hiccup and a cough combined.

"Yes sir, by the wording I assumed you meant as soon as my duty started. Do you need me now instead?" Kaidan's voice was steady, I'll give him that much.

"Yes, please." Anderson responded, and then there was silence for several heartbeats. Suddenly, there was a clank, and the observation port slid all the way open, then shut itself. I growled softly, then crawled out the other side of the Mako, coming around slowly to make sure they were truly gone. Garrus had his head down, but I could see him watching me out of the corner of his eye.

"The Mako will probably only serve as a good hiding place for so long, Commander. Are you sure we really need him?" Garrus refused to look at me, which was just as well. I sighed heavily, glaring in the direction of the elevator.

"Unfortunately." I finally said, trying to keep my frustration out of my voice. He snorted, and his mandibles flapped in such a way I knew he was chuckling to himself, a little bit evilly. "I'm glad you find it amusing." I quipped, tone frosty.

"I don't, actually. That's the problem. I finally get the crayon comment, however. I looked up the reference while you were meditating on future repairs." He turned his head just a little bit, and my only response was a barely raised eyebrow. He turned back, and I brought up my omnitool to see how long I'd been hiding in the Mako. When I saw that it had been 7 hours, my eyebrows shot way up, though I quickly brought them back down. That was way longer than I planned, or expected. Maybe Anderson would stay off my ass for a while, however. As I checked out a couple status updates, something struck me.

"We?" I asked simply, voice still just a little frosty around the edges. He sighed, and laid his tool down.

"One of you tapped me for this for a reason. I don't much care which one it was, at this point, because you offered me a chance to get away from the bureaucracy I was getting buried under, even if it is just for a little bit. However, if this goes even half as remotely interesting as I think it will, do you really think I'm going to go back?" He turned and looked me square in the face, while I just steadily stared at him. Finally, I gave a brief snort, as if I couldn't argue with his logic, then I turned back to my omnitool. Well, that solved part of the problem, anyway.

"How did you know I was laughing?" He asked, and I looked up, confused. Shit. I was going to have to watch shit like that.

"Lucky guess." I said, looking back down. Two more status reports quickly checked, then I took about three steps away from the Mako, before my comm pinged.

"Shepard, you up and running?" Anderson's voice crackled, and I closed my eyes.

"Up. Give me five for running." I quipped shortly.

"You eat yet?" Was the response I received. Damn, I needed to get him off this ship too. I didn't need everyone up my fucking ass, I had shit to fucking do.

"Like I said, give me five." I retorted, and he chuckled.

"Make it ten, and meet me in the comms room. Council wants an update." I sighed at his comment.

"Fuck me running. Are they not getting the fucking reports?" I snapped, and he sighed.

"Shepard." He admonished, and I grunted.

"No, that was a serious question, Anderson. If they're not the reports we've sent them then I may need to make some adjustments to the techno wizardry." I stated, and he went silent for a second.

"No, they're getting the reports, I think they just want to go over them verbally."

"Oh, so they do just want to dick us around and waste our time." I snapped, and he had to suppress his chuckle.

"Shepard." He admonished, and I snorted.

"Merely an observation, Anderson. Vakarian as well, I assume? I was passing by him when you pinged me." There was a short pause.

"Yes, I was about to ping him when we finished. Thank you." He responded, and Garrus gave me a thumb's up.

"Thumbs up. Two minutes to finish my quick equipment checks and grab some rations, and I'll be there." I said, before cutting the comms off. With a sigh, I pinched the bridge of my nose, then cracked my neck and headed for the elevator. Garrus joined me wordlessly, and neither of us spoke a word as we made our way up to the crew deck. This shit hadn't even started for real yet and I already just wanted it all to fucking be over.