A/N: So I lost interest in my last story and I came up with this idea almost 2 years ago and didn't think much about it until now. This was based on my favorite mass effect race of all time. Quarians! Hope you enjoy.

My name is Al'Nora vas Remedy. I am with my squad. My squad mates, who are my friends, are going to try and take down an overpowered geth dreadnaught. If that dreadnaught manages to report back to the geth, they would upgrade every one of their dreadnaughts to where they would destroy us if we went to war.

Caen'Moma and, Sala'Julas are to secure a safe path through to the core and protect Jeema'Terrel while she tries to reroute the ship's core to explode destroying the entire ship. I don't know a lot about technology stuff considering I got a D in Technological Studies in high school. Jato'Teemin and I are going to hold back with Jeema and lead her to the core, and find a place to protect the rest from geth fire where we can't be spotted.

While we're on the ship, we all gather around and talk for the final hours before the mission begins. Everyone looks at each other with expressions of dread. It's kind of hard to read though because of the face masks in the way. Sometimes I see a nose cringe or eyes squint.

I see Caen sit beside Jeema. Those two are inseparable. Everyone knows that they have been dating but no one mentions it because they know that they will face Jeema's wrath. They actually look cute together as well. Caen's suit is filled with red colors but you can see some lines of green. Jeema's suit has a golden yellow color covering most of her front but when you see the back the colors change into the darkest green I have ever seen.

Sala sits next to me. She's pretty much the tough one in the group. If you get her mad you better be prepared to have target practice for 7 hours straight. No breaks. Her suit is a white sheet covering the entire front but the back transforms into a yellow as golden as the sun in the Sol system.

And then there's Jato. No one knows that I like him except for a friend back at the fleet. Military life never suited her. I've liked Jato ever since I joined the Remedy. Jato's suit is a mix of dark blue and black that wraps all around him. It looked cute on him even if some saw it as menacing. Jato just stands walking around everyone.

I really liked my suit. It was custom made by my father. He said that if I was risking my life for the fleet then I should do it in something that is both equally comfortable and protective, even if it is a bit stylish. Teel and Platinum silver wrapped all around my body like Jato's except the colors start to travel up my back and follow into my hood.

Everyone was quiet. It's kind of awkward. All of us were best friends and we always talked and had fun and joked around. I bet I knew what everyone was thinking about. You could feel it in the silence. Jeema usually talked nonstop about her plans for the day or with us. She only stopped talking when she was extremely nervous about something. Now she's cuddling next to Caen like he's the only thing in the world that matters.

I wish Jato would sit close to me like that.

The silence was killing me. Someone had to say something or I would go insane. I started to shift in the seat uncomfortably when Sala broke the silence. "Is someone going to say something or are we just going to sit," then she looked at Jato, "or stand, around like the nothing is going on?"

"Maybe none of us want to mention the day that could be our last, Sala." Caen snapped. I saw Jeema look up at Caen then look back down.

"Sorry if I just wanted to lighten the mood, Caen. None of us are looking forward to this and I think that we should have some fun before some of us die!"

Jato walked over to Sala and put his hands on the couch. "Not all of us are going to die. We may not die. All of us might die. Don't make assumptions that this is going to be our last night."

"I know, I know. It's just that… I-I'm scared." Sala started to look down in despair.

Jeema stood up and left Caen's arms to comfort Sala. "We all are, Sala. I couldn't fall asleep last night just thinking about today."

"I don't think any of us did." Caen said. He was right too. I stared up at the ceiling all night, not getting a single wink of sleep, I wanted to call all of my family to tell them my 'goodbyes'. The only person I was able to talk to last night was Meena'Shasa, my friend back on the fleet. We talked via extranet. She wanted me to tell Jato that I love him before we leave but I don't think I can do it.

"Al?" Jato looked at me.

"Yeah"

"Is everything ok? You look depressed." I can't be the only one. I'm sure everyone tried contacting their families like I did. I know that Jeema got to her mother and gave her the message that every military family dreaded.

"No. None of us are ok. All those years we've known each other might be ripped away from some of us!" I put my hand on my face mask and tears started streaming down my eyes. I wasn't one to cry in front of all my friends but I couldn't help myself. We have all know each other for 4 years! I've shared some of my deepest secrets with these guys. They are family. I don't want to lose my family.

Jato walked up behind me and lowered my hand. "Don't cry, Al. It's ok."

"No. No it's not. I don't want any of you to die." I looked up at Jato and saw his beautiful eyes with so much memory. I then looked around at everyone else. I saw Sala who was trying her best not to break down like I did. Jeema was trying her best to comfort Sala. Caen was staring at Jeema and Sala. I could tell that he wanted to go help Jeema but stayed seated.

"I don't want any of us to die either," Jato explained, "but this is for the best of the fleet. There are millions of other quarians that are depending on us to keep them safe and-"

"Oh shut it, Jato!" Caen never liked Jato's 'save the fleet' speeches. "None of us want to hear that bullshit again! We're not in the mood!"

Jato knew Caen hated but he also knew that they sometimes inspired us. Rarely. "I'm sorry if I am just trying to not think about the mission!"

"We are all thinking about the mission, Jato! And we should be! We can't just ignore the fact that this is the most dangerous mission we have ever been assigned!"

I hated it when they argue like this. Caen and Jato always had fights from time to time but I think this is one of the worst ones. We have been on very dangerous missions before. This one is different. We are actually going inside a geth ship and get out before the whole thing explodes! "We've been on worst assignments right?" Sala mentioned. She seemed better now. Jeema stopped comforting her and tried to get what she was saying. "Yeah, what about when we had to drive the geth away from another ship? Wasn't it called the Lohira?"

"Yeah, but, when we did that, we had backup." I explained. "The Lohira was right behind us shooting down the fighters."

"It was still a close call. Our shields were down and most of the hull was busted. Jeema even said herself that we were lucky the ship didn't explode."

"It's true," Jeema said, "The core had been so damaged that it was on the verge of combusting."

Jato hated it when the team fought, just like I do. He is always the one who tried to take the lead, but we had made strict rules implying that we had no leader. We never thought that one of us would take charge of the other. If we did have a leader, though, everyone would be arguing like dogs.

"We need to stop this!" I said in a loud voice. "If this is our last moment together before we die then we can't spend it arguing back and forth! Every one of us knew this would be a suicide when we were assigned and all of us are probably wishing that we were never given this assignment but guess what? In a couple of hours, our skills will be tested in a mission that probably some of us will die in! If these are the last moments that at least one of us will remember then I'm sure that one person will go crazy because the last thing they remember of their friends is everyone was arguing right before their deaths!

Everyone went quiet after that. I sighed and went to my room.

I probably shouldn't have stormed off like that. I wanted to spend my final moments with my friends but they were too busy having a fight to want to be calm and just talk. I sat down on my bed and started to remember all the fun memories we've had, but with them came the bad ones too. From the first time we met to our first losses, and drinking binges to hangovers. Our first mission to right now.

I can't think about these things any more. I lay my head down on my stiff pillow and look at the clock. 3:00. I can take a short 3 hour nap till the mission starts. I close my eyes and think about everything again. I can't get them out of my head. Especially Jato.

"I see the dreadnaught." I point my finger to a giant purple ship that looks like its curving over nothing. Sala and Caen grab their guns. Caen prefers an Avenger due to its rapid fire and that adds up hits. Good for taking away shields too. Sala always sticks with her trusty Revenant. Not too good for range but packs a powerful punch. It's lined with red while everything else is black. "Good luck." I say to Caen and Sala. Jeema walks over to Caen and gives him a long hug. "Don't die. Please."

"I won't." Caen and Jeema really cared for each other. Sala walked to the door after her goodbyes. She wasn't one for touching moments. Our mini transport ship docked underneath the ship. That's where the core would most likely be located. Sala and Caen walked off, guns ready.

Jeema, Jato, and I were awkwardly quiet. Every once in a while we would hear gunshots and Caen or Sala giving commands to the other through our omni-tools. The order we heard more often than the others were "Take cover!" or Sala saying "Take out that hunter's shields!" Lots of hunters, that wasn't good. Hunters could cloak themselves with their shields making them nearly impossible to see. If there were a lot of hunters on that ship then they must be guarding something, but, at the same time, maybe not since we haven't heard anything about a prime being there

After an hour or two we heard Sala's voice come in. "All clear. We found the core."

"Damn! That thing is huge!" Caen's voice rang through the transport ship.

"Be quiet, Caen! Some geth might hear you!" Sala scolded. "Come on and lead Jeema through. The path should be clear. If we left anything, it shouldn't be too bad."

I headed towards mine and Jato's locker and got our snipers out. Jato's was a viper, it was sleek with white and black which fired multiple shots in succession of the other. I handed Jato his sniper and he held it tightly. He was tense. "Thanks" he said.

"Don't worry. We'll make it." I reassured him.

"Yeah, I know." He turned towards Jeema, "Are you ready?"

She grabbed her Phalanx pistol. It was a miniature weapon with a black slider which cooled the weapon. She looked back at Jato. "Yeah, I'm ready." I could tell from her face that she was happy to hear Caen's voice. That would give her confidence that maybe, just maybe, they would survive this.

Jato opened the door. We saw no geth bodies until we reached another door straight across from where we docked. Inside were a dozen of geth bodies lying lifeless on the metallic floor. We followed the lifeless robots and walked through dozens of doors until we finally reached Caen and Sala. "You're here!" Jeema shouting like she was relieved. She ran over towards Caen and he picked her up into a hug. Jato and I slowly walked to Caen and Sala.

"Glad you made it. Behind us is device where the core controls are at. See that blue?" Sala pointed at a huge spherical object with a glowing aura. "That's the core."

"Jeema," I called to her, "Do you think that you can turn this thing into a bomb?" Jeema broke away from Caen's arms and looked at the control pad like she was looking at a book. "If I reroute all of the ships power, including the shields, I could overload the core's infrastructure which would make the entire ship blow up."

"Cool." Jato looked up and around to find something. Probably a place to camp and protect everyone. He then pointed to a ledge which had minor cover, but would keep us out of sight to fire. "If Al and I head up there, we could protect you guys from some fire."

"Get on it" Sala told us. We headed down the stairs that were on each side of the room. In the middle of the sections was a barely visible ladder to get up to the hideout area.

When Jato and I took cover, Jato gave the 'ok' signal and Jeema started working on the core. Jato and I didn't talk. We had a rule: if any of us made an 'everything's going to be ok' statement right before the mission was complete then all Hell would break loose.

It was complete silence until Jato looked at me and said "you look tense."

"I should be, shouldn't I" I didn't mean to sound harsh.

"Well, yeah. You should be. Sorry."

"Don't be. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just a little scared."

"Look, I'm sorry that we all had a big fight. It was just the tension of the mission you know?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. I shouldn't have stormed out of the room." He gave me a smile, of what I could see, and turned away. It made butterflies in my stomach.

Right then and there, I saw the entrance door fly open. "Damn It! Geth!" wasn't Jeema supposed to fry the door? She didn't though. She went to Caen and forgot. I love her but her idle romance with Caen may get us killed.

"Caen! Get to cover!" Sala yelled.

"Already on it! Jeema! Drones out now!" Jeema understood and stopped her work for a second. She sent two drones flying out. A small blue one which helped defend her and a larger orange one which went ahead of the group to take out geth. Her tactical and defensive drones. I forgot she had those.

I handled my rifle and shot the first geth that came out through its robotic head. Jato shot down the next two immediately after I killed mine. Hunters came out and I didn't even realize it until Caen shot through its shields revealing them. "How much longer, Jeema?"

"I'm not even close to being done! Keep them off of me!" Every time Caen or Sala shot through a hunter's shields, either Jato or I would shoot them down quickly before they got any closer. There were a lot of regular troops that Jato took care of, and if he missed, Sala.

We were keeping them at bay nicely. Before long they never got past a certain point. I fired once and Jato fired, next to me, 2 or 3 times while I reloaded. Hell broke loose and the rule hadn't even been broken. Three geth primes showed up next to each other, each with their own repeating blaster and defense drone. They quickly destroyed Jeema's tactical drone and pushed forward.

Primes came equipped with shields and armor before you could get down to their weak spot. Caen tried his best but couldn't take them down as fast. Jeema couldn't take time away from her hacking to help them either.

It happened in slow motion. The middle prime held his repeater at Sala, who was fiercely shooting at them, in the shoulder. "Sala!" Caen screamed. He forgot the primes to help Sala up, but while he moved, the prime on the left shot his arm. Jeema looked at Sala and Caen and shrieked. "Caen!" She looked back and forth at the pad. "Oh, Bosh'tet! I hope this works!" She threw one of her emergency grenades into the now opened core. She turned around and shot at the primes even though it was useless. She managed not to get hit and put medigel on both Caen and Sala. "Al! Jato!" you need to get down here now!"

I tried to rush down the ladder but Jato grabbed my arm. "You can't go down! You'll be killed!

"I might die anyways so you should just let me go!"

"Please don't." It was then that I realized everything. He loved me. His eyes said it all. He cared for me with a passion. He probably envied Caen and Jeema like I did. He wanted us to survive. Why did he have to pick now to do this? While we were all about to die?

"I'm sorry." I shoved his arm away from mine and hurried down. Jato stayed up there. He covered me while I hid right behind the primes.

"Al you need to leave!" Jeema yelled. "This mission is a failure! Sala's already dead!" Sala. Dead. I couldn't process the words in my mind. Sala, the one who took every mission seriously, dead. "Please don't die, Caen, I love you!" Jeema whispered just loud enough that I could hear through my omni-tool.

I heard a mumble "I…love…you….too" Every word was like a dying breath. I could hear Jeema cry her heart out.

"Jato! Take Al and get out! I'm not leaving him! The grenade is going to explde in 10 minutes! It should be enough time to get out of here!" The primes pushed forward almost overwhelming Jeema. I waited for Jato at the entrance shooting with my extra pistol near my leg at the geth troopers still appearing.

I saw a geth sniper take aim over my shoulder. I aimed and clicked. Nothing came out. "Shit!" I reloaded as fast as I could but it was too late. As Jato was coming down the ladder, the bullet hit him straight in the back. He fell and landed with a heavy thud. The fall was too high for him to survive. I saw the primes get right next to Jeema and heard a scream. I couldn't think anymore. I clicked a buttion on my right wrist and disappeared.

Jeema said 10 minutes. 2 minutes went by. 8 minutes left. I ran as fast as I could toward the transport. I saw all the dead robots and all I saw were my dead friends lying there with bullet wounds everywhere.

3 minutes left and I see the transport up ahead. My cloak disappeared but by now the geth must have lost me. I quickly open the door and run into the transport. I hop into the pilot seat and tear away from the dreadnaught.

2 minutes left. I try and remember what I was taught about flying step by step. I turn and fly away.

1 minute left and I jump out of the pilot seat and watch through the reflection. I count down the numbers in my head 30…29…28 all the way down to one.

An explosion came. A light blue light came Jeema did it somehow. She blew up the dreadnaught, but along with everyone inside. Sala, Caen, Jeema, and Jato. Everyone's dead. I start to cry. No one is with me anymore. I don't have to hide my tears.

After a while, with tears still running down my face, I fly back to the Migrant Fleet.

A/N: What did you guys think? I spent a lot of time working on this. Let me know in the Reviews