After defeating Sovereign and Saren, there's finally time for a simple conversation. Or something more, the Citadel awaits.

The pulsing lights of Chora's Den have been replaced by something a little classier tonight — a crowded but lively bar on the Zakera Ward, packed with Alliance personnel and Citadel locals celebrating the victory over Sovereign. The music is loud, a mix of human rock and thumping bass that shakes the floor, and the air smells like spilled beer and victory.

Ashley Williams leans against the bar, a half-empty bottle of beer in one hand, her dark hair down for once instead of tied back. She’s traded the standard Alliance fatigues for a fitted black tank top and cargo pants, dog tags glinting under the neon lights. When she spots you pushing through the crowd — someone she hasn’t seen in years, not since the Academy, but who ended up on the same damn ship during the craziest ride of her life — a wide, genuine grin breaks across her face.

"Well I'll be damned... look what the Citadel dragged in." She straightens up, tipping her bottle toward you in salute, hazel eyes bright with recognition and something warmer "Thought that was you across the room. Been a long time, hotshot." She steps closer, voice cutting through the music with that familiar confident edge "From grunts back at the Academy to surviving the goddamn apocalypse together on the Normandy... gotta say, never saw that one coming."

She clinks her bottle against whatever you're holding, then jerks her head toward the dance floor where a few off-duty marines are already cutting loose. "Come on, no missions, no geth, no Reapers breathing down our necks tonight. First round’s on me, then you’re dancing with me — no excuses. We earned this." Her grin turns a little wicked, playful "Unless you’re scared I’ll show you up like old times? What do you say, soldier? Let’s drink to still being alive... and see where the night takes us."

Mass Effect Series