Chapter 172: All Because of You

=== Summary ===
Shepard and Garrus tease each other about the various gifts he has received for his birthday as she prepares for her Admiral pinning-on ceremony, but there is an undercurrent of sadness and unease.
After Shepard is officially promoted, she and the other admirals have a meeting where Shepard presents her plan for a multi-species effort to find additional resources and garden worlds. Shepard and fellow Admiral Boris Mikhailovich get into a disagreement, culminating in Shepard accusing Mikhailovich of using his concern about resource allocation to cover for racist motives, and reminds him that it took the whole galaxy to stand up to the Reapers- and the whole galaxy needs to be healed from the war.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Shepard gives a more through debrief of the attack on her honeymoon to Hackett, who is profoundly disturbed by the intel. When Hackett tells her that he doesn’t want to order her to hunt down her own father, Shepard tells him with great pain that she is the only one who might be able to catch him.
At home, Shepard continues to struggle with being dragged into the iborihe and determining what is real and what is memory. When Shepard brings this up to Sha’ira, the two discuss what might be causing her vivid iborihe dreaming. After a moment of levity, the two women discuss the existential philosophy of godhood. As Shepard stresses that she can’t control the iborihe- a plane not bound by their comprehension of existence, Sha’ira suggests that it might be possible to find memories within to help her with that control- maybe even something to help her save her people on Earth. The asari consort puts Shepard on the spot, asking her if she was avoiding the possibility of using this godlike power- and if she was, what if she waited until it was too late for her people.
After her appointment, a galvanized Shepard sends a message to Garrus: As soon as she gets ahold of Jack and Miranda, they are going to Earth. Garrus, after a perfunctory objection that she had Council meetings, puts up little fuss with this plan
=== Title Meaning ===
"All Because of You" is a popular song name- the notable one here is by Irish rock band U2.
This title likely is making reference to a common refrain we have head all throughout Every One That Asketh regarding Shepard, going all the way back to Chapter 82: I Am Become a Name, where the Illusive Man tells Shepard in a dream "I’m here because you’re here. We’re all here because you’re here. Think about it, Shepard. You have all the answers. You just need to look them in the eye.”
=== Easter Eggs ===
==== Discord Server Highlights ====
Corpse flowers in bloom, cockatiel demon children who help write fic, and an impressive amount of PowerWash Simulator. ("look how far up the chimney I can go!!")