It took days to sort out all the details, of course. Not that the leadership of the entire Citadel Alliance could afford to all be absent for that long. A single day had been taken to give as comprehensive an overview of what they knew and what needed to be done as was possible, and then the entire group had ruthlessly paired down the number of people that needed to be involved in the actual planning stage of the operation.

Admiral Hackett, as the most junior of the three military heads of that alliance, had stayed to make the final calls. His absence would be the least noticed, yet he was arguably the most talented at operational planning, so the choice had been simple sense. Admiral Kandros was the primary strategic mind behind the ongoing Fleet actions, so he had left to start shifting fleet assets around to concentrate the forces they would need to make this happen. Matriarch Lidanya was by far the best of the three at logistics and would be doing similar shuffling to support all three operations. The handful of politicos that had been trusted enough to be let in had left at the same time, as had the less operationally-critical Think-Tank heads.

Those that remained had been a carefully selected batch. A few Spectres, high-ranking STG, a Turian Blackwatch General and an Elite Asari Commando leader had all been joined by the best experts available on the inner working of the Citadel to plan that part of the greater operation. Shepard had gotten sucked in as the primary Spectre representative for that side, while Oriana had been pulled away to working over the other half of the operation. She and her sister had the best overall picture of the various secret weapons projects, with Oriana also having an extreme familiarity with the most important fleet assets, given that New Dawn Enterprises had designed most of them. They were both pulled into Hackett’s orbit as the dual strikes on the Omega system and the Reaper logistics base were sketched out in the best detail they could manage on limited information.

After over a week of preparations, people had started dispersing to begin getting bits and pieces of things prepped. At the two-week mark, the rest of had broken off and returned for final preparations before putting everything into motion. Of course, given that their secret meeting spot had been so remote, there was a brief window of a day or so while they traveled back into civilization…

-----

It was just the three of them again. While they had added many rotating lovers to their beds in the last few years, the truth was that Oriana, Shepard, and Liara were the only ones that had fully connected on an emotional level. The others, such as Kelly, Samara, and Ashley, were all fun diversions. Stress relief of the best kind and close friends-with-benefits all. But Kelly was, frankly, something of a village bicycle everyone could ride, Samara was at an entirely different stage in life, and Ashley was still mostly straight. Liara, on the other hand, had attached firmly to Oriana in a romantic sense after her initial excuse of sex and culture education. Shepard had slotted in surprisingly well with both of them, later on. With Liara, that didn’t shock Oriana at all given what she’d known from her first go around. That she, herself, fit in so well with both of them had been a pleasant surprise, however.

All of which explained how, on the evening before the set of Operations were set to kick off, the three of them were once again eating a diner cooked by Oriana, in Shepard’s cabin. Conversation had been deliberately light, none of them caring to bring up the plans that they’d all spent the last two plus weeks hammering hard at. Instead, they teased Liara, bantered with Shepard over her love of old pre-space animated films, and gotten stories of the funny and fun sort out of Oriana about her family. It was nice. More than nice, it was soothing. A calm balm for their thinly-stretched nerves and exhausted emotions.

Which did not, of course, mean that Oriana hadn’t prepared a certain dessert.

Liara’s eyes lit up as the Jubeiale was brought to the table, not hesitating this time as an amused Shepard used a clean spoon to scoop up a bit of it and offer it to the maiden. A familiar erotic moan slipped through the Asari’s lips as she leaned forward and accepted the bite, eyes already half-lidded as she licked any extra off.

“This stuff really is like Asari catnip, isn’t it?”

Oriana chuckled, remembering when she’d first described it that way.

“Pretty much. I’ve yet to meet a single Asari that didn’t love it, and they all react that way. If the ingredients weren’t a bit on the expensive side, or if the preparation was easier, I imagine they’d never eat anything else for dessert. Though the public orgies that would likely result of it being so readily available probably wouldn’t help their image any, given how half the galaxy already tends to see them.”

Shepard grinned at that, even as she watched Liara eagerly lick another spoonful from Oriana. Of course, the redhead wasn’t about to leave her other lover out, quickly extending a spoon to Oriana, who grinned and did her best to lick the spoon with deliberate sensuality, instead of the innocent version Liara was showing almost on accident. As always, the effects of the treat were weakened on Oriana, though she was Asari enough, genetically, to still get a rush of warm arousal spiking through her body. She offered a bite back to Alliana in return, who merely murmured about how delicious it was. It didn’t have the same aphrodisiac effect on humans that it did on Asari, but virtually all humans still liked the taste, Alliana being no exception.

A few more bites were exchanged. Enough for Liara’s eyes to glaze over. Then Oriana stood with a smirk, lifting both of them with her biotics and tossing them toward the bed a moment later. Liara squeaked, while Shepard just cocked an eyebrow.

“Strip. I think we can find better places for our lovely blue maiden to eat off of!”

It took a moment for that to process for Shepard, before the redhead grinned and shucked her shirt. She hadn’t been wearing a bra under it, nor panties under the pants that came off a moment later. It’s not like she hadn’t had a good idea where the night would end, and she’d apparently elected to shorten the time it took to be ready. Perfect, for what Oriana obviously had in mind. Oriana herself ditched everything but her own thong, while Liara was prodded by the redhead to lose her own clothes. Then she scooped up the tray of desert and moved it to the bedside table.

A scoop of the spoon, a bit of biotic pressure to lay Shepard out on her back, and a messy bit of desert was planted on Alliana’s left nipple. Liara was there in an instant, the temptation of two of her favorite things far too much for the maiden to resist as she latched onto that nipple and began sucking off the gooey, creamy desert. She didn’t stop giving that nipple attention until an amused Orianna added some Jubeiale to the other, which caused the maiden to promptly switch targets, even as Alliana’s eyes closed and she began to moan lowly.

The adventure continued from there, Oriana dropping little dollops of desert everywhere she wanted Liara to lavish attention, while occasionally sneaking in a searing kiss with the moaning redhead. Abs, navel, inner thighs. By the time Oriana placed the last spoonful over Alliana’s clit, Liara was so far gone in the dessert induced haze of arousal that she didn’t even notice her hands being captured and secured behind her back. She certainly did notice when the tip of Oriana’s hard-light strapon plunged into her own drooling pussy, causing her to moan into Shepard’s pussy. As she hilted the toy all the way inside the maiden, Orianna leaned in to whisper in Laira’s ear.

“If you cum before Alliana does, I’ll lock you in chastity for a month with no release after we beat the Reapers.”

It took Liara a moment for that to process through the haze of her arousal. But when it did, her eyes blew wide open and she dove into Shepard’s pussy with a will an instant later. The redhead yelped at the sudden onslaught, then moaned loudly as her hands found Liara’s crest to guide her. Oriana giggled, even as she began to thrust. She’d follow through on the threat if she had to, of course. But given how Alliana was moaning humping Liara’s face, she didn’t think the maiden had anything to worry about…