Garrus knew he'd done some pretty stupid things in his life and pissing off every gang of mercenaries in the Terminus Systems should have topped the list. It said a lot about his life that it didn't. Top five, though, maybe. Garrus sighted down his scope and picked off the latest wave of idiots to try crossing the bridge that lead into the base. He'd been able to defend this position for far longer than the mercs below had anticipated, but both sides knew he couldn't continue indefinitely. He was only one turian, and he was beginning to tire. And the longer this went on, the more time they had to bring in reinforcements. He could see that the people beginning to mass behind the barricades no longer strictly wore the uniforms of the Blue Suns, Blood Pack, or Eclipse mercenary bands. They were a mismatched, disorganized mess.

Damn, they've brought in freelancers.

Garrus rolled his head back on his neck, working the stiffening muscles. Omega had an essentially unlimited supply of freelance mercenaries that the groups attacking him could drawn upon. There was no hope he'd be able to whittle down their numbers. With the freelancers protecting their regular troops the merc bands weren't going to get demoralized and give up. Each freelancer he killed was just someone they wouldn't have to waste credits on.

Well, he supposed there were worse ways to go. He would kill as many mercenaries as he could, get some small measure of vengeance for his murdered squad. It wasn't enough. They deserved better. But he would leave his mark. He'd strike one last blow against the gangs of Omega.

Garrus lifted his sniper rifle and used the scope to take a closer look at the activity behind the barrier, trying to get a sense of what the mercenaries were planning. His interest sharpened when amid the jostling crowd of freelancers he spotted a trio of humans who were clearly a cut above the rest. They stood out not just because their equipment was obviously of a much higher quality than the usual Omega riff raff could afford, but his experienced eye also noted the way they moved. They seemed a little on edge, their postures were already defensive. They strode through the press of freelancers, two of them loosely ranged around the third figure in a wedge configuration. The two on the flanks were subtly guarding the third. With so many mercs around who'd normally be at each other's throats it was probably smart. So they had training, probably former military.

Smart, trained, and visibly well-armed. These three were trouble. It'd be best if he could take them down before they left the nominal protection of the barricades the mercs had built. They'd stationed vorcha and other expendable mercs there to keep him busy between assaults on the bridge. There was a narrow gap open to his fire though, and these three were heading towards it.

Garrus edged out to prepare a shot. One was a tall, dark-skinned man and the other a pale, dark-haired woman. They were wearing black and white armor that had the look of a uniform, but one he didn't recognize. That was interesting. Garrus was familiar with the vast array of equipment available in the Terminus Systems and Citadel space, but this armor didn't look like any of it. It was too high-quality to be home-made. Private fabricator? Maybe they were a smaller detachment of a larger mercenary group. Except the woman at the center of their wedge was wearing black armor of a different manufacture than the other two. Looked like it was from an older Hahne-Kedar line. She turned to speak to one of her squad and he saw the distinctive red and white stripes that ran the length of her right arm and his stomach tightened. He was very familiar with that marking. A trio of freelancers lead by a former N7 would be incredibly dangerous.

Her face was turned away, but she hadn't donned a helmet and his eye was drawn to the color. It was red; a rare genetic strain for humans.

The buzz of a bullet hitting his kinetic barrier made him realize he'd leaned a little too far out of concealment and he ducked back behind his makeshift barrier. Garrus rapped his helmet hard against the wall. He needed to focus. How long had he been staring? That hadn't happened for awhile.

He must be really tired.

It had taken a long time before he'd stopped freezing every time he caught a glimpse of red hair in a crowd. A long time before he'd stopped having that split-second, crazy thought that Shepard wasn't really dead. After everything they'd been through together, it was hard to believe anything could kill her. Maybe if he'd been on the Normandy when it had been destroyed it would have seemed real. He should have been there. Going back to C-Sec had been a waste of time. And it had kept going downhill from there. That's how he'd ended up here on Omega. How he'd ended up with a dead squad and cornered by mercenaries. Another failure on his mounting list of failures. If he'd been with his squad when the mercs had come for them, he could have saved them. If he'd been on the Normandy.. maybe Shepard wouldn't have died.

Facing certain death had a way of making a man think about all the things that'd brought him there. Well, he didn't have time for some woman's resemblance to his dead Commander to rattle him. He swapped in a fresh thermal clip and lifted his rifle again with weary arms. Once more unto the breach.

When he looked through the scope again, he was surprised to see the red-haired freelancer was planted squarely in the center of his field of fire, like a dare. He knew he'd be little more than blurry figure in armor to her unaugmented eyes, but he still felt the weight of her gaze. A funny little shock went through him.

Red hair, green eyes and her face.. more scars than he remembered. Kind of a lot of scars. But the shape of her face was the one he remembered. Turians didn't believe in ghosts. Spirits, yes, but that wasn't the same thing. Was he hallucinating? Just how tired was he?

He felt his digit easing off of the trigger of it's own volition. He knew he shouldn't believe it. She'd been dead for two years. Still, he couldn't stop the painful prick of hope. He'd looked for her around every corner, everywhere he'd been. She showed up now? Actually, no, it would be exactly like her to show up now.

If he wasn't crazy and that really was Shepard, what the hell had she been doing for two years? And why was she here on Omega with a mercenary band? Shepard was born and bred Alliance. Even after the Council screwed her over about the Reapers, and the Alliance helped them with the coverup by sending her off to deal with the rest of the Geth, she hadn't complained. Well, not officially. She'd had plenty of choice words for the decision where only the rest of her team could hear her. But she'd followed her orders. And he'd thought she'd died for her trouble. Had she been alive all this time, but in hiding? Was she on some secret Spectre mission? The destruction of the Normandy could have been an elaborate ruse by the Council. No.. They wouldn't throw away such an important asset just to provide Shepard a way to go dark. She couldn't know who Archangel was. He'd covered his tracks too well. She wasn't here looking for him.

Something didn't add up. Maybe she was just what she seemed: a merc on a job. Maybe she'd finally gotten sick of the Citadel's crap too. But he couldn't bring himself to really believe that, either. Even disaffected, Shepard wouldn't help these mercs. She was still wearing her N7 armor. He thought about their wary glances, directed not at his base, but at the other mercs.

If she wasn't here to kill Archangel, she might be here to help Archangel.

Experimentally, he cycled his ammo to concussive rounds and fired just to the right of her head. Shepard's kinetic barriers flared with a bright burst of static as they collapsed from the force of the projectile. He waited a few seconds longer than he normally would to duck back into cover and waited for her reaction. The two vorcha on the barricades fired immediately, but were such piss poor shots they missed by a mile.

Shepard didn't flinch or reach for a weapon. She just stood there. Letting him see she wasn't reaching for a weapon. Sending a message?

In reply, Garrus neatly shot both of the vorcha standing near her.

He barely caught the smirk on her face as she made a show of taking cover behind the barricades. Message received? He really hoped he wasn't wrong.

For awhile, nothing changed. It was the same stalemate it had been most of the day. Garrus was starting to think Shepard had been a hallucination after all, when a large group of freelancers vaulted over the barricades. Whatever they had been waiting for was about to happen. He took a few of them down before ducking again to dodge the grenade fire overhead. From below he heard screams of pain that he knew weren't from the mercs he'd just killed. He peeked over the edge of the window to see two mercs floating in the air, flailing their arms and legs in the grasp of someone's biotics. Then a blurred figure streaked down the bridge to knock over one of the mercs who was attempting to mount the stairs. There was a thudding shockwave of biotic power and the floating mercenaries were slammed into the wall.

"Hey, they're with Archangel!"

"Kill them!"

Garrus felt a fierce joy well up inside of him, his fatigue momentarily banished. He didn't have time to celebrate, more mercenaries were storming the bridge. He had to keep them off of Shepard's back until she could reach him. By the sounds coming from downstairs, she was taking care of more mercs than he'd seen cross the bridge. Damn, had he let someone slip past?

Garrus let the two humans in the black and white armor cross the bridge behind Shepard before he opened fire again. As they ran by he caught the yellow insignia on the man's uniform and felt a pang of unease. Cerberus. What by all the spirits was Shepard doing crewing with Cerberus?

It wasn't long before it grew quiet once more and the door next to him hissed open. He kept his eye on the last of the mercenaries below, but he could hear her footsteps growing closer.

"Archangel?"

Garrus had his scope trained on the final straggler below who was hiding behind a pillar. He didn't turn to look at her, but the familiar voice washed over him like a balm. He held up a hand in a gesture for her to wait a moment, then squeezed the trigger when the mercenary stuck his head out of cover. Scratched that one. The bridge was clear again, at least for now.

He propped his rifle up on a nearby crate and eased himself into a sitting position. With the immediate danger passed the fatigue pressed on him again. He regarded her from behind his visor. She regarded him in turn, her expression one of professional, wary appraisal. It really was Shepard. Up close the scars looked worse than he'd expected. The edges were ragged and red. Too fresh to be from two years ago, that was odd. He had so many questions, but at the moment, only one thing really mattered to him.

"Shepard, I thought you were dead."

He took off his helmet and watched the wariness on her face melt into a surprised smile.

"Garrus!" She lifted her arms and for a second it looked like she would hug him. Instead she asked, "What are you doing here?"

He saw an echo of his own relief mirrored in her expression which struck him as odd. So she hadn't known who Archangel was, but who had she been expecting to find? He didn't fail to notice the flicker of annoyance that passed over the Cerberus woman's face when Shepard recognized him. He filed both of those facts away for later.

"Just keeping my skills sharp," he replied, "A little target practice."

Shepard's mouth twisted briefly, her smile becoming sardonic. "You okay?"

"Been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face. Killing mercs is hard work, especially on my own."

Shepard chuckled. "How did you manage to piss off every major merc organization in the Terminus systems?"

"It wasn't easy, I really had to work at it," he drawled. "I am amazed that they teamed up to fight me, they must really hate me."

Shepard just shook her head slightly. "What are you doing out here on Omega?" she asked.

"I got fed up with all the bureaucratic crap on the Citadel. Figured I could do more good on my own. At least it's not hard to find criminals here, all I have to do is point my gun and shoot."

She rubbed one ear and said, "You nailed me pretty good, by the way."

"Concussive rounds only, no harm done." He tried to sound innocent. "Didn't want the mercs getting suspicious."

Shepard folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Uh huh."

"If I'd wanted to do more than take your shields down, I'd have done it," he pointed out reasonably. "Besides, you were taking your sweet time. I needed to get you moving."

Shepard dropped her arms at that and turned serious. "Well we got here but I don't think getting out will be as easy.

"No, it won't." Garrus stood and walked to the window again. Shepard fell in next to him and looked when Garrus pointed to the bridge spanning the gap between his base and the mercenary barricades. "That bridge has saved my life, funneling all those witless idiots into scope. But it works both ways. They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

Shepard's companions had been watching them speak silently. Now the dark-haired woman interrupted, "So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?"

Garrus shrugged again, "It's not all that bad. This place has held them off so far. And with three of you.." He trailed off as he ran through a mental inventory of his assets and what he knew about the mercs. The three of them gave him more options, but not as many as he would like.

"I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defenses, then take our chances. It's not a perfect plan, but it's a plan."

"How'd you let yourself get into this position?" Shepard asked, a disapproving frown on her face.

"My feelings got in the way of my better judgment," he admitted, shifting uncomfortably under Shepard's censure. "It's a long story."

He glanced from her to the two Cerberus agents. "I'll make you a deal," he said, "You get me out of here alive and I'll tell you the whole damn thing."

Shepard nodded. "Deal. I didn't like sneaking anyway. Time to spill a little merc blood."

"Glad to see you haven't changed. Let's see what they're up to."

Garrus lifted his rifle and looked through the scope at the mercenaries. A group of LOKI mechs were starting to climb over the barricades.

Garrus said, "Looks like they know their infiltration team failed. Take a look." He handed his rifle to Shepard. "Scouts. Eclipse, I think."

Shepard hefted the sniper rifle to her shoulder and looked. She squeezed the trigger and the mech furthest along the bridge exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.

Shepard handed back the rifle, her mouth quirked in a half-smile. "More than scouts, one less now though."

"Indeed. We better get ready. I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this vantage point. You? You can do what you do best."

Garrus looked at her. Standing here with her, assessing a tactical situation, it felt so natural. Like no time had passed at all.

"Just like old times, Shepard," he said and grinned at her.

Shepard grinned too, but it faded when she turned to look at her squad. "Not exactly."

Garrus noticed her reaction and cleared his throat. "I saw the Cerberus uniforms. I guess we both have stories to tell."

Shepard grimaced and made belated introductions, "Jacob Taylor, Miranda Lawson, meet Garrus Vakarian. We'll hold the bridge, keep them in his line of sight, and he'll cover us from up here."

Miranda frowned, obviously not pleased with the plan. She looked from Garrus to Shepard, then exchanged glances with Jacob, who just shook his head wordlessly at her and turned to obey Shepard's orders. After a few moments, she did the same. Shepard turned back to Garrus and he hefted his rifle to his shoulder.

"Let's give these bastards everything we've got."

Shepard smiled again, more subdued this time, then went down to the ground floor of the base. He knew she was at her best fighting up close. Sometimes it was terrifying watching her charge straight into a group of enemies, but she always seemed fearless. He liked that about her, but he preferred to keep a rifle scope between himself and his enemies.

The Eclipse mercs were dispatched quickly with the four of them working in concert. Miranda and Jacob were excellent operatives and the Eclipse were no match for a group with three biotically gifted humans. Miranda deftly overloaded mechs and warped targets that Jacob would detonate. They were a very practiced pair. Shepard charged any group that made it onto the bridge, the collisions throwing her opponents back into the barricades. The one moment of concern came when a huge YMIR mech had thundered onto the bridge.

Garrus shouted down to Shepard, "They're bringing out the heavy mechs, watch yourself.

Shepard yelled back cryptically, "That problem should take care of itself.

He heard her laugh over the comms when it immediately turned and began to fire on the other mercenaries and he chuckled along with her. So she had done a little sabotage during her time as a freelancer. Excellent.

Eventually the Eclipse leader, Jaroth, came out to fight them himself, but by then they had eliminated most of his mercs. He never stood a chance. Shepard charged him, a blur of speed and glowing biotic power as she phased through the obstacles between them and sent him flying. Jaroth lay on the ground, his armor broken, still stunned, as Shepard drew her pistol and shot him point blank. Killing mercs wasn't a pretty business.

Shepard and her team fell back to the upper level again regroup and swap thermal clips.

"You're kicking ass, Shepard," Garrus told her. "They barely touched me. And we got Jaroth in the process. I've been hunting that little bastard for months."

Shepard replied, "We still have Blood Pack and Blue Suns out there. Think we can make a break for it?"

"Maybe. Let's see what they're up to."

He and Shepard both took turns peering through his scope. "They've reinforced the other side heavily. What are they up to?"

They all looked around when an alarm split the air.

Miranda exclaimed, "What the hell was that?"

Garrus cursed, "Dammit! They breached the lower level." He signed resignedly, "Well, they had to use their brains eventually. You'd better get down there Shepard, I'll keep the bridge clear."

Shepard was adamant. "I didn't come all this way to let you die. We'll split up two and two. Keep one of my team here."

"You sure? Who knows what you'll find down there."

Shepard nodded firmly, then jerked her head at Jacob. "Jacob, stay with Garrus. Keep him alive."

"If you say so. I'm not so sure it's a good idea..."

Shepard gave him a stern look that brooked no arguments.

Garrus said gratefully, "Thanks Shepard. You better get going. Go down a level, the basement doors are on the west side of the main room behind the stairs. I'll radio directions if you get lost but you better get down there quick."

Shepard nodded briskly. "We're on our way."

Shepard ushered Miranda downstairs, leaving Garrus alone with Jacob. Garrus eyed him thoughtfully, but there wasn't time for conversation, the Blood Pack had taken the field. Vorcha accompanied by varren war beasts began to make a push down the bridge. Garrus snorted in disgust. He hated vorcha, and vorcha trained to be fighters by the Blood Pack were the worst kind of vorcha. They were ferocious fighters and utterly fearless. He and Jacob took up positions in the window. Garrus couldn't partner with Jacob's biotics the way Miranda and Shepard had, but the man turned out to be equally proficient with firearms. Jacob was able to provide cover fire while Garrus sniped, and when the enemies tried to squeeze past the narrowest section of bridge, Jacob could use his biotics to pull the entire group off their feet and send them spinning through the air.

Garrus radioed Shepard to report, "There's not too many, yet. There's a console near the shutters that should shut them, keep any more of the Blood Pack from coming in."

Shepard's voice was staticky, "We've reached the first set of shutters but there are a lot of vorcha down here."

Over the comm, Garrus was able to hear Shepard's progress to the second set of shutters through the lower basement. It was easy to get turned around in the cramped basement passages, and Shepard had a shockingly bad sense of direction for someone so skilled in every other aspect of warfare. She and Garrus exchanged snarky, breathless jabs at one another during breaks in the fighting.

"Honestly Shepard, how hard could it be to find a console with a big blinking light on it in a dark basement?"

"I dunno Garrus, maybe you'd like to switch places."

"No thanks, you know I'm afraid of the dark."

"And I'm afraid of vorcha with flamethrowers, yet here I am."

"That's why they pay you the big bucks, Commander."

"I'm getting paid for this?"

Garrus and Jacob were handling the vorcha with ease, but when the Krogan troops started to emerge Garrus knew he needed to get Shepard back up here soon. He ducked behind the wall to avoid the incendiary blast one of the Krogan sent towards him. He glanced at Jacob and saw the man popping the thermal clip from his pistol.

"We're not going be able to keep those Krogan on the bridge for long," he said, grimly.

Garrus spoke into his radio, "I'm going to need some help soon, Shepard, they're getting more aggressive. Have you closed those shutters yet?"

"Workin' on it, I just need to close the garage shutters."

"Well hurry up." Garrus had to duck again to avoid another volley of weapons fire. "I can't keep up."

By concentrating their fire on one Krogan at a time, Garrus and Jacob were able to pierce their armor and take out a few, but it meant letting others slip past them into the lower levels. They gave up their position in the window and ran to take cover near the top of the stairs. Garrus could see the glow and hear the fizz of a laser torch cutting through his doors.

"Get back here, Shepard! They're coming in the doors."

He turned to see Jacob holstering his heavy pistol and slapping a fresh thermal clip into his shotgun. The metal door groaned as it was levered open and Garm, the huge Krogan Battlemaster who led the Blood Pack, barreled through the opening and roared, "Rip them to shreds!"

Garrus downed the vorcha standing next to Garm with a single shot to the head.

Garm growled to his remaining men, "Watch my back, I'll deal with Archangel."

Garrus was lining up a shot on one of the other vorcha when it crumpled to the floor. Shepard strode cautiously into the room, her pistol trained on the huge Krogan. Garm ignored her and stormed up the stairs towards Garrus while the rest of his vorcha and varren swarmed Shepard and her team. Garrus made the tactical decision to retreat to someplace he could put a door between himself and the enraged Krogan. Maybe it would buy Shepard a little time to work through the other mercs.

Garm battered down the door in short order and was about to charge Garrus when a shockwave blast behind made him stumble. He turned his head only to end up having the butt of Shepard's pistol slam into his face with the force of her biotics behind it. Garm roared with pain but kept his feet. Garrus took advantage of the distraction to fire incendiary rounds and set Garm's armor on fire. The Krogan reeled but still managed to strike Shepard hard enough to send her skidding across the room. Jacob and Miranda had taken up positions inside the room behind couches and as Shepard went down, Miranda emerged to throw a warp field at Garm, finally breaking what was left of his armor. Jacob used his biotics to detonate Miranda's warp field, hurling Garm to the floor, unable to dodge the short range blow Jacob delivered with his shotgun. Garm stayed down.

Shepard got to her feet, slightly woozy, and picked her way through the debris to Garrus' side. She was breathing heavily but was in very reasonable shape given the circumstances. No one sane went after a Krogan with her fists.

Garrus was breathing heavily himself but he still managed to joke. "Tough bastards, but I've seen worse."

Shepard just gave him that look she gave him when she was done humoring him.

Garrus ignored the look, as he always had. "Hey, we took out Garm and his Blood Pack. I get to make a few jokes. This day just gets better and better. He was one tough son of a bitch."

"You've fought with him before?"

Garrus shrugged dismissively, "Yeah we tangled once. Caught him alone, none of his gang to help him." An edge of irritation crept into his voice when he continued, "Still couldn't take him out. I've never seen a Krogan regen that fast, he's a freak of nature. He just kept at it til his vorcha showed up. It was close but I had to let him go. Not this time." Letting him go before had been the smart move, Garrus knew when to cut his losses, but it had burned. He was very gratified to have gotten him this time around.

Shepard winced as she flexed her fist and said, "Only the Blue Suns left. I say we take our chances and fight our way out."

"I think you're right," Garrus agreed. "Tarok's got the strongest group but nothing we haven't seen before. Besides, he won't be expecting us to face him head.." He was interrupted by the glass windows of the second story exploding inward and showering them with shards. Outside the ruined windows a gunship with the Blue Suns logo painted on it hovered outside, the roar of its engines vibrating the air.

Garrus swore, "Dammit! I thought I took that thing out already!"

Shepard shouted over the noise, "They fixed it, but not completely. I made sure of that."

They all dove for cover as a team of Blue Suns swung from the open doors of the gunship and in through the shattered window. The Blue Suns lieutenant, Jentha, was at the head of the strike team. She and her troops immediately opened fire, pinning the four of them in their cover while her team ranged out into the room. The gunship swung around the side of the building and out of sight, but shortly after a crash was heard downstairs.

Garrus shouted, "They're repelling down the side wall, ground floor."

"A little busy right now, Garrus."

Shepard was lying prone on the floor, her hands gripping her pistol, propped up on elbows braced in front of her. She dragged herself to the edge of the overturned metal table shielding her and twisted out from behind it to expertly shoot several of the Blue Suns through their ankles. They dropped to the ground screaming and Shepard rattled them with a shockwave, knocking their weapons from their hands. The rest of the mercs turned to focus on Shepard as she rolled back into cover and Garrus took that as his cue to emerge and quickly take out the troops still writhing on the ground. Garrus heard footsteps pounding up the rear stairs. Hearing it too, Shepard pulled herself up into a crouch and she jerked her head at Jacob and Miranda. "You two, cover the stairs." Shepard popped up from behind the table and fired at the Blue Suns to cover Miranda and Jacob as they moved into position. Garrus killed the last of the batarians with Jentha while Shepard peppered Jentha's kinetic shield with rapid fire shots. When the barrier finally overloaded from the strain, Shepard threw herself at Jentha and grappled with the other woman. Garrus couldn't get a bead on Jentha with the way the two lurched around, each trying to get leverage over the other. Shepard slammed Jentha up against the broken window, bending her backwards over the gap. Jentha elbowed Shepard in the face and she momentarily lost her grip. Jentha levered herself back into a standing position and tried to draw a gun but Shepard kicked her hand and knocked the gun flying. Garrus fired a concussive round at the adjacent wall. The explosion knocked Shepard to the ground and Jentha was thrown out the window.

Garrus started to move towards the fallen Shepard but spun when he heard the hum of the gunship returning to the window on the other side and Tarok bellowing, "ARCHANGEL!"

Garrus brought up his gun but was too slow to avoid the spray of bullets Tarok sent through the window. He fell as the bullets ripped through his armor and thudded painfully into the arm and leg on his left side. Garrus dragged himself agonizingly behind a nearby planter as Tarok continued to rain bullets into the room, shrieking at him, "You think you can take on the Blue Suns? This ends now!"

Garrus pressed his back up against the planter and tried to look around it to get his bearings, but as he did Tarok fired a rocket into the room. The world went red and Garrus felt a searing heat consume him. The pain was unbearable. He heard Shepard scream, "Garrus!" before he blacked out.

"Garrus? Garrus!"

He could hear Shepard screaming at him as he flickered back into consciousness, but the sound was muted, she sounded like she was far away. The agony of his burned face made him really wish Shepard had let him stay unconsciousness. Someone started to roll him onto his back and he screamed in pain. Or he tried to, at any rate. It came out as a breathy gurgle, his lungs were filling up with fluid. They let him go then and he tried to open his eyes. The world had narrowed to the pain he felt and the blurry outline of the sniper rifle that had fallen by his head. He reached out and curled his fingers around it, but the effort was too much. He coughed and gasped for breath.

Shepard tried to keep him awake, she nearly pleaded with him, "Hold on, Garrus. We're getting you out of here. Hold on!" Her voice hardened when she turned to Jacob and said, "Radio Joker, make sure they're ready for us."

He heard Jacob say, "We better hurry, he looks bad."

Garrus locked eyes with Shepard, trying to stay awake, trying obey her command. She'd torn the targeting sight from her head and he saw a smear of his blood along one cheek, the blue stark against her pale skin. He felt her gently pry the gun from his grip and he relaxed and let her take it, trusting her with it. He was losing the battle with the pain though and he felt himself sinking into the blackness of unconsciousness again.

Sorry, Shepard..