October 27th, 2186 CE
Normandy SR2
Full on war had plagued the entire galaxy for well over a month now. The Reapers had invaded, just as Jane had suspected they would. Right when the Alliance brass was about to grill her over the destruction of the Bahak System earlier in the year, The Reapers hit Earth directly. Jane had barely escaped with her life, taking off in The Normandy with old friends and new ones. That was back in August, but things had moved at such a pace it felt like just a few days ago.
Mars had been the next stop, where she'd been reunited with Liara again, and she had been thankful for it. Not just because Liara was incredibly helpful to the point of almost being key to defeating The Reapers, but also because her presence gave Jane somebody to truly share her emotional pain lately. It still wasn't exactly clear what their relationship was right now, but Liara seemed keen to get involved with Jane again, despite being distracted with her work to help stop The Reapers.
As time went on, things seemed to get both easier and harder for Jane. They now had an idea of what they might need to do to defeat The Reapers, and Jane was gathering allies to fight the good fight every few days. She'd even brought back some old familiar faces, most notably Garrus, Dr. Chakwas, Engineer Adams and most recently, Tali. Wrex had joined her temporarily too, but left to continue helping his people after they'd cured the genophage. That in itself was another boon, as was the seemingly impossible task of Jane getting the quarians and Geth put their differences behind them and work together.
But there were downsides, of course, and none of them were small ones. Dr. Mordin Solus had sacrificed himself on Tuchanka just over a week ago, and the drell assassin Thane Krios had also made a similar noble gesture during an assassination attempt on the salarian councilor. Cerberus had invaded The Citadel recently, and with each passing moment The Reapers spread further and further throughout the galaxy, either killing its denizens or transforming them into horrific abominations. Reports from Earth got worse by the hour it seemed, and every time a transmission came in from Admiral Hackett, Jane worried that it was going to be to inform her of Anderson's death.
Her mentor, former commanding officer and friend was now her primary concern as far as individuals went. For a while it had been the fate of her mother that concerned her the most, because for weeks she hadn't heard a thing about Hannah Shepard or the SSV Orizaba. Her fears were put to rest though shortly after her time on the reclaimed quarian homeworld of Rannoch, when Admiral Hackett informed Jane that he had not only found Hannah, but also recruited her for the Crucible Project and promoted her to Rear Admiral. Jane wanted to speak to her mother directly, but knew they were both too busy to exchange pleasantries. That was about to change though.
Admiral Hackett had just sent through a new message: he wanted Jane to bring the Normandy to the near-complete Crucible, not because of Jane herself, but because he wanted some input from the prothean Javik, and some of the scientists also wanted to speak directly with Liara as well. Jane was concerned that it could delay the work they were doing, but Hackett assured her it would only take a few days, and certainly not a week or more. Jane agreed, and the Normandy SR2 sped to the secret location as fast as Joker and EDI could allow it.
Once the Normandy had docked with The Crucible, Jane had expected to see Admiral Hackett or some Alliance brass to be the one to greet her. What she didn't expect was a teary-eyed mother who didn't say a word before just running up to wrap her arms around Jane's neck. "Oh, thank God you're okay!" Hannah sighed with relief from over Jane's shoulder. "I feared the worst."
Javik, Liara and Garrus were just left dumbstruck, also clearly expecting something more formal. Javik in particular shook his wide head in his typical disapproving prothean fashion then looked to Liara as if expecting an explanation. Liara smiled warmly. "I take it prothean families weren't particularly affectionate?" she asked.
"There is a time for affection, asari," Javik replied coldly. "War is not that time. Especially when it is war with The Reapers."
"I find war is the best time for affection," Liara argued. "It reminds us of why we are fighting and who we are fighting for."
"We are fighting for survival. Nothing more!"
"Yes. But that survival extends to our loved ones too."
"So, this must be Liara," Hannah said, her attention being drawn away from her daughter briefly before she looked back to Jane. "I can see what you were talking about, Honey."
Jane was shocked at Hannah's reaction. Whenever she'd mentioned Liara to her mother in the past there'd been this sense of disapproval and dislike from Hannah. This time she sensed none of that. In fact, Hannah seemed very complimentary and, dare she say it, proud of Jane's choice of partner.
"Rear Admiral Shepard I presume then," Liara said with a polite bow of the head. "I've looked forward to finally meeting the mother of the woman I love."
"Don't be so formal, Miss T'Soni," Hannah said with a laugh. "Just call me 'Hannah.'"
Liara was about to respond, but another Alliance officer interrupted the group with two armed grunts in two. He saluted. "Excuse me. Doctor T'Soni? Mister Javik?"
"Yes," Liara answered, while Javik merely looked down what passed for his nose at the new arrivals silently.
"If you'll follow me I'll take you where you've been requested to meet the others."
Noticing the two Shepards, he saluted again with an apology that he hadn't noticed them. They returned the gesture, and the Alliance officer began leading the group away down the corridor, with the exception of Hannah and Jane who remained behind. Liara made a final comment about looking forward to catching up with the two of them again later before heading off to wherever they were going, leaving the Shepard woman standing alone in the docking chamber.
"I've missed you, Mom," Jane said sincerely to her mother as soon as the others left their sight. "I'm so glad we got a chance to catch up again."
"I made a point of it, Honey," Hannah revealed. "When I heard that they wanted the prothean that was on your ship to come here, I made sure they sent the Normandy itself and didn't just have you chuck him on a shuttle or something."
"Mom!" Jane exclaimed. "You can't just do that! I'm doing important work out there."
"Honey, calm down." Hannah soothed. "I know you are, but we are too. And Liara and your prothean's input here could be crucial."
"Let's not talk here," Jane said after a deep sigh. "Come on. We'll chat in my quarters."
Jane and Hannah proceeded to Jane's quarters, where the argument continued for about a minute. Both Shepards were stubborn, and in the end both ended up agreeing with each other, while also not outright approving of the other's point of view. Jane could see Hannah's reasoning, and Hannah could see Jane's. They just both thought the other one was wrong. But it wasn't until Jane discovered the real root of Hannah's reasoning that she felt bad for getting angry about it.
