When you’re back on the Normandy after completing the mission Feros, you’ll chat with the crew. If you already went to Therum (as this walkthrough recommends) the majority of this will be consumed by Liara, who weasels her way into your mind, then plays the damsel, as usual. Your dialog responses don’t matter here.

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You’ll be able to score some Paragon/Renegade points by talking to the Council.

After that, Joker will ask if you wish to speak to the Council, and this time you’ve marginally incentivized to do so. Agree, and when you first get a chance to respond, pick “Better off this way.” for Paragon +2 or “Don’t be stupid!” for Renegade +2. You won’t get any more Renegade options, and picking Disconnect won’t get you any points, but you’ll get Paragon +2 for the next two Paragon options you pick. Better than nothing. Say what you will to finish up with the Council.

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Assuming you’ve now completed two core missions, you’ll be able to advance your relationships, and possibly burn bridges with romantic options while doing so.

Now that you’re free to roam the Normandy, you should talk to your crew. Depending on your gender, Ashley, Kaiden and Liara should all have romances you can pursue. If you’ve been flirting with both a human companion and Liara, they might bring the other up, giving you the opportunity to downplay the importance of their rival. Flirt with whomever you wish (just sticking to the Paragon options will suffice), burn bridges as you see fit (usually the Renegade options) - telling a romantic interest that you’re interested in another character is a good way to end things early, if you wish.

Ashley, Garrus, Kaiden, Liara and Wrex will all give you new Codex Entries if you talk to them. Furthermore, Garrus and Wrex may also give you the assignments Garrus: Find Dr. Saleon and Wrex: Family Armor, respectively.

In addition to those two companion-specific assignments, you should also have the two unresolved assignments you picked up in the ExoGeni headquarters: Investigate Samples and Investigate Facility, along with whatever general exploration you haven’t taken care of yet. Assuming you’re following this walkthrough and have already completed two of the core missions post-Citadel (in our case, this would be Therum and Feros, but any two will work) you’ll receive an important transmission when you go to interact with the Galaxy Map.

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Again, assuming this is your second core mission you’ll get a message from the Council informing you about a lead on Virmire.

Agree to take the transmission then visit the Comm Room to get some intel from the Council, starting the mission Virmire. During your conversation with the Council, picking the Paragon/Renegade options will earn you Paragon +2 or Renegade +2, respectively. You only need to complete two of the three core, post-Citadel missions (Therum, Feros and Noveria) to unlock Virmire, and after you’re finished with Virmire you’ll be locked into the end-game. Not only that, but your squad will never be the same after Virmire, so you’re better off finishing everything else you care to do before traveling to Virmire. It’s also worth noting that, while you only need to complete two of the three post-Citadel core missions, there’s no good reason why you can’t complete all three.

You are, of course, free to do as you please, but we’re going to complete any assignments left in our journal, after which we’ll visit Noveria and take care of the mission there. Only then will we set our sights on Virmire. It’s worth noting that there’s no new assignments at the Citadel - the most interesting thing to do there is find Udina in his office and update him on Feros. Once again, picking the Paragon/Renegade options will earn you Paragon +2 or Renegade +2, respectively