Ha, I'd kind of hoped that Shepard would discover she's going to be working with Spectre Garrus in this chapter... but I'll wait. :) Great chapter, a lot of effective action scenes. I really liked how you wrote Miranda here.

Very nice story you have here. I really like the middle finger of oh by the way, I sent it to everyone else as well. Seems to be a total Shepard move when she is just pushed to far and her fuse blows.

Also, just finished reading your other stories: I think it would be awesome if you included A Quiet Understanding as canon in your universe. It would certainly shake up interactions between Garrus, Mordin, and Shepard (given her ties to Garrus and Mordin's likely care as the two are in a levo-dextro relationship). Always the Quiet Ones is neat and hilarious, and would fit in just fine, but certainly wouldn't have as much of an impact on the storyline. Just wanted to say, it popped into my head.

Okay, just found and read through this story. First off: Awesome. Awesome concept, very good execution thus far, and I am eagerly awaiting what comes next.

As to construction, it's paced well. Switching perspectives between chapters is a good plan, keeping us on track while maintaining enough momentum and at the same time, enough anticipation. I look forward to seeing you navigate the issues of Shepard and Garrus being on the same ship; with chapters of differing perspectives (This assumes, of course, that they actually will be on the Normandy together, which may not occur under Council direction) it should prove enlightening and really advance their characters, as I would hazard a guess that Garrus' chapters aren't simply going to be 5,000 words on calibration. As my own grammatical skills are just short of abysmal, I won't comment on that, but nothing glared out at me. Additionally, with regard to your comma use: I'm not sure if they're all necessary or in their proper places, but when reading through, the pauses fall naturally where I expect them to be. So even if they're not in line with proper grammatical conventions (and again, I can't speak for that) everything flows right to my eye. No terrible issues with spelling, nothing another out-loud read through wouldn't fix.

Something that I think would help with understanding the underlying story behind the scenes: You're leaping into this world in the third installment. Nothing wrong with that, but it certainly takes some proper navigation. I know it would help me, and perhaps it would help others, to know more about the choices made in your world's version of ME and ME2. Not overtly in flashback form, but subtly in exposition or conversation. For example, Garrus throughout the games can either stick with C-Sec, or become a Spectre. This is a direct result of your interaction with him as the player. You briefly mentioned that Shepard recommended he be considered for Spectre candidacy after the hunt for Saren, but that Garrus went back to C-Secc in the meantime. Now, you've got Garrus finally becoming a Spectre. (I wholeheartedly agree on that, by the way) What I want to know is: did Garrus arrive at this decision after following the Paragon or the Renegade path? His own personal motivations and views on the subject are likely to be quite different depending on the choices made. Furthermore, if he followed the renegade path, then becoming a Spectre now is a logical step in that process, and your story doesn't not diverge from canon terribly much. If he followed the Paragon path, however, your story has him internally dealing with those conflicting standpoints, and I'd like to see more of his thoughts on the matter.

Conceptually, you have the arduous task of defeating the reapers conventionally, no easy feat. You've made significant progress. One thing that stood out was Shepard's limited cooperation with the Alliance, and moreover, their cooperation with her. Part of the canon game that irked me, we all (as gamers) know that the reapers are coming. We know that Shepard and his/her crew have a wealth of information that can serve as evidence for this. That Shepard actually -allowed- them to detain him/her for months was just beyond the pale. I can see him/her accepting a trial and the consequences of his/her actions in the Bahak system, but only once the real, imminent, galactic threat has passed. They simply don't have the time to do anything else. Furthermore, eliminating Cerberus is certainly convenient on a political scale, but makes sense militarily. That Shepard is being put to the task is a reasonable idea, I'm wondering just how her confrontations with Kai Leng will go, (Come on, Cerberus medical records listing him as deceased? Riiiiight...) and for the life of me, I can't place the other initials. That probably says something terrible about my devotion to this fandom, but oh well.

One bit in your story that was a little vague. The Normandy is (I assume) now in its ME3 Alliance configuration. You had Shepard surrender and await the Alliance's resolution on the matter, and pretty quickly, she's straight out back into the fight. My issue is this, Obviously the Alliance is going to want to take apart the Normandy and learn all it can from her design. Then she gets retrofitted into this new format, in a record-breaking amount of time. It just seems a little unrealistic- not unfeasible, just unrealistic. A suggestion: the canon game uses Traynor as a vehicle to introduce the player to the retrofitted Normandy. You've developed her character and her relationship with Shepard a bit off-screen, something that works just fine for her characterization. However, you may wish to take a page from Bioware's notes and use her to explain the background on modifications to the Normandy. I know I've got a bunch of questions: EDI, what sort of explanation did they have for the Alliance techs? Will you be highlighting or not even involving the EDI/Joker romance subplot? How long did it take for the Alliance to reverse engineer and improve the QEC technology? Is Cortez present? (You might have mentioned this one and I'm forgetting it...) With Cerberus not having attacked Liara on the Shadow Broker's ship, will she be bringing aboard the massive interface to her networks, or will she be working through proxy? There are more, but those are mostly technical curiosity regarding the changes and whatnot.

Characters: Okay, you've begun recruiting the basic ME3 team, along with Javik, who should prove most interesting as a ruthless foil. Garrus is now a Spectre, though I am still curious as to his motivations. I find myself wondering what else will change, and in particular, if you will have any of the squad members who didn't join in the canon game come back aboard the Normandy. If you're not building the Crucible, some of them might be free (Jacob, Kasumi to a limited extent) and would prove a boon in the coming war. You've had limited interaction with the rest of the ME2 crew, and a few things stick out in my mind:

-Samara: You mentioned her wandering about righting wrongs and such. A: As a justicar, would it not be her duty to make sure copies of the information and evidence reached those in power in the Asari Republic. B: As a justicar, wouldn't her word as to their veracity have some weight? Furthermore, while I hope you will cover her subplot later on I can understand if you don't, or if it will be different, as the Asari are taking a less isolationist approach to the war as far as we know. If you do meet up with her, Samara is aware that Shepard will be going on some of the most dangerous missions, ones that will be heavily influential in saving innocent lives, could that be an avenue to get her to rejoin?

-Jack: ME3 has jack as an instructor in Grissom academy, something that as a Jack fan, I loved seeing. Did that happen in this world? How did it happen? With Cerberus being dealt with as best they can before they have to tackle the reapers, how will that affect the assault/rescue on Grissom?

-Legion: Hotly debated topic. You've put forth a couple overtones both of suspicion of AI's and of trust in them. Frankly, I'd like to know what you chose regarding Legion and the Geth, as those choices are pivotal in resolving the Geth/Quarian war. Speaking of which: you have Shepard out early, and she is definitely in contact with Tali. Please, please, please tell me you're going to stop the Geth/Quarian war from even starting. There are numerous ways to do that, and theoretically, they haven't even begun yet. Without the Crucible and space-magic, the galaxy is going to need both the Geth and the Quarian fleets in facing the reapers (in my own opinion, admittedly) and preventing the war, bolstering peaceful negotiations seems to be the easiest way of accomplishing that.

-Wrex/Grunt and the Genophage: Again, I'd like to have more background as to your choices in the previous games. Is Wrex leading? Did you preserve Maelon's research? Is Grunt a full Urdnot warrior? Did you support saving the krogan or not over the games? I think you begin to get the idea.

Frankly, I think I'm running out of things to comment on. The story's incredible, a definite add to my favorites and watch list. You've taken a well reasoned approach to the world and I will fully admit that the tension and anticipation of Garrus and Shepard reuniting has me on edge. So thank you for writing, and don't lose that motivation! Some stories have elaborate plots, some are filled with witty banter, others are incredibly emotive. This story is straightforward and open, and I love it. (Not that is lacks the others...well, you get the idea)

And for the record, Garrus air-quoting at Sparatus was something I had hoped ME3 would actually have in it. That you have included it just plain makes my day.

The political game playing is what I expect form the council, and you portrayed it very well.
Garrus as a specter is going to put cat among the pigeons. I really wonder if they have thought out the ramifications of it.

This was a deliciously deep chapter Makes me want for more and I'm eager to see how Shepard takes the news

See you next chapter.

Love where you're taking this story! Can't wait for their reunion, please don't make it too far away!

I'm really enjoying this story. I love how you're handling the politics of everything.

This is simply awesome. I laughed out loud at Garrus air-quoting at Sparatus. I thought you handled the political machinations very well, and very realistically; it's true that, no matter Shepard's own integrity, she IS used as a political pawn or wedge by Udina and others. Garrus as Spectre is a brilliant solution. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Just read through all eight chapters.

One of the Best, well written and detailed stories i have seen yet. You seem to have it well-planned out.

This story gives me the warm fuzzy feeling of wanting to laugh maniacally. Good Job!

Wow, I wish I discovered this fic sooner because I really like it. Keep at it.

Ah, poor Shepard, what an annoying pile of stuff to deal with. In command, and yet obviously being scrutinized and managed. Really excited to see what comes of Miranda's message.

I'm enjoying this so far, nice work.

This seems like quite an ambitious undertaking, but a worthy one. The galaxy devoting all their resources to some mysterious device that no one knows how to use or what it does never seemed particularly bright, and the end result certainly didn't do much to justify it.

I like the relationship between Garrus and his father you've got going, it seems mature and nuanced, not just angsty.

I'm curious to see where you take this and I hope you continue. Thanks for sharing.

Dang, this was a good chapter! Have I faved this story? Checking... I have not. Time to remedy that.