Chapter 180: To Boldly Go

=== Summary ===
Dr. Espinoza observes the crew’s improving mood as they travel back from Dark Space and considers her conversations with Rear Admiral Shepard on ghosts and comparative religions. Lupé is not sure how she feels about the implications.
Clara Goyle finds herself in charge of Earth in truth, and is on edge from the weight of her obligations and the threat of assassination. Keri, her secretary, has some suggestions on “letting off stream” and Clara is not sure how she feels about them.
Lieutenant Sentzke leads her Sciritae to the coordinates provided by General Trechenkov. While the man they meet looks very different than how they last saw him, the mental communication confirms his identity. Outside of her surprise, the Lieutenant’s feelings do not matter, only the mission.
Shepard and Tali have some girl talk. Tali admits that she missed Reegar more than she expected to, Shepard admits that she is worried that Minos was allowed to leave Earth and is likely to reappear later as well as her being concerned with Garrus not sleeping. When Tali suggests just asking Garrus about it, Shepard alludes to an agreement between the two of them as spouses: due to almost always being at least partially entangled, there are no true secrets between them. As a result each has promised not to pry, but also to always bring up issues when they were ready. Tali acknowledges this, but also reminds her friend that Commander Shepard does best when she confronts her issues head on.
After reaching the Citadel and being confronted with a large number of grateful refugees, Shepard is noticed by a human couple and one falls to her knees in supplication. Their story is that they were lost on Earth with no food, water, or shelter. Their omnitool got enough signal to hear Carlos preach that “the shepherd promises to come to those who persevere, who press on despite insurmountable odds, and who never give up hope” and his wife had a dream where she saw Shepard. In the dream, Shepard instructed them to travel west, and in the west they found shade, water, and help. Shepard is disquieted by this message, but quickly realizes that it didn’t matter if they had heard a stray signal or they had heard about it and then forgotten- or for another reason entirely.
Garrus’ own disquiet is vague and he struggles to put a name or words to it. He resolves to try to at least talk to his wife about what he is experiencing, not the least reason is that he has been prescribed some medication by Dr. Chakwas to help him sleep. As Garrus sees Shepard embrace one of the refugees, he is struck with an intense premonition that he is going to lose her.
=== Title Meaning ===
"To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before" is the end of the mission statement of Star Trek's Star Ship Enterprise and some variant of it was narrated before each of the three seasons of the original series (where the statement was originally "Where No Man Has Gone Before" ) as well as all seven seasons of it's sequel series, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Each group of people is facing a frightening new reality: Dr. Lupé having to decide if she think's Shepard is crazy or if she might be right about ghosts, the Scirtae flying into an unknown region and planet to discover their leader vastly changed, Shepard having to confront that she has achieved a cult-like following, and perhaps there might be something to it, and Garrus feeling the weight of the void and prophecy- something he can't explain or put words to beyond feeling like Shepard is going to die- and it will be out of his hands. All of these people must confront the unknown- and go "Where no one has gone before."
==== Discord Highlights ====
ISR cast members discovering EOTA, why Vi likes Javik so much, and new fic from readers!