The deck of the Shadaa was a busy place. The re-purposed Alliance cruiser was the only one in the entire quarian fleet, salvaged from the debris field that was
a result of a skirmish with the geth. The ship was outdated, almost ten years old, but the quarians couldn't afford to leave it. A few months ago, the Shadaa had
run into a group of batarian pirates while out scouting. Repairs were still ongoing. As one of the ship's mechanics, Veetor'Nara knew he should have been
helping. But they had been at it for 7 hours already. So Veetor decided to take a break. Calmy walking out of the hangar, Veetor smiled. Anyone of the other
mechanics could have stopped him, but no one did. Veetor was a special case. Not many people were as mentally unstable as Veetor. And not many mentally
unstable people were members of the most highly trained, elite quarian commando team either. After almost 5 minutes walking through countless dimly lit
hallways, Veetor finally reached his quarters. He punched in password on the electronic lock and walked into his small room. The door hissed shut behind him.
He sat down on the edge of his small bed and removed the front of his mask, setting it on the table that occupied the center of his room. Lying back, he looked
up at the ceiling and thought. Since Freedoms Progress, things had been going uphill for him. Freedom's Progress. The very mention of it still made Veetor
shudder. But he was past it now, thanks to Elan. A smile lit up Veetor's face at the thought of Elan. He reached down into one of the many small containers
hanging from his belt and pulled out a small, framed photo of Doctor Elan'Shiya. The quarian doctor had been assigned to care for Veetor after Freedom's
Progress, and they had grown very close. A hard knocking on the door snapped Veetor out of his daydreaming. He quickly slid the photo back into his pouch
and quickly put his mask back on. Jumping out of bad, he hit the door switch. It slid open to reveal Kal'Reegar, standing wordless, holding a datapad.. Reegar
nodded his head. Veetor chuckled. "That was fast. H-how long?" Reegar stood straight. "Koris wants us ready in an hour. We're headed to Palaven. Rest of the
team is already in the hangar. See you in a minute." Reegar turned around and walked purposefully down the hallway in the direction of the hangar. Veetor
was still having trouble getting used to Kal's new voice. When a cannon round from the batarian pirate ship had hit the Shadaa's hangar, Reegar had taken
shrapnel to his chest and neck. He survived, but a small piece of metal had become embedded in his throat. Veetor turned around and grabbed the Shuriken
pistol of his table. He knew ammo would be in the shuttle. As he made his way through the labyrinthine interior of the Shadaa, Veetor wondered what a quarian
marine team was needed for on knew he would find out soon. Reegar took a quick look around him. Everyone was here, the rest of Gamma Squad ,
20 fully armed quarians, counting himself, standing in the charred and battered hangar of the Shadaa. Reegar coughed, followed by a wince. The small chunk of
metal irritated him all to often. The doctors had told him he was lucky to be alive, and that had it gone a centimeter to the left it would have cut his jugular. He
chuckled. That would have been absolutely pathetic. The gestured to two mechanics that were standing behind them. They pulled up a large crate filled with
ammo. Reegar stepped up on it, looking over the crowd. He couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride. This squad had been called on many times
by the conclave to carry out covert operations, and never once had they failed. They had taken some hits, but they always got the job done. Reegar reached up
and turned up a small dial on the side of his mask. As he spoke, his voice was greatly amplified through the speakers in his helmet, booming across the hangar,
into the minds of the quarians in the hangar. "Listen up! Things have been a bit crazy lately, what with starting a war to reclaim our homeworld." Reegar's voice
became harder, "But that is not what we have to worry about right now. We are here now because there is a greater threat than the geth, a threat that could
destroy every living thing in the galaxy if its not stopped." A voice shouted from the front row "Your voice?" Looking down, Reegar saw it came from a quarian
wearing a blue enviromental suit, covered in extra metal plating, which itself was covered with scorch marks from thermal rounds. Reegar stared ice. He began,
in a sarcastic tone. "Lieutenant Varshen, shut the fuck up, and listen for once. Maybe if you payed attention once in a while and listened when I told you the
target, you wouldn't miss every shot you took." Forza'Varshen chuckled. "Yessir." Reegar looked up and began again. "The galaxy is under attack from an
ancient force. It cannot be stopped unless all the species unite." He looked down at his wrist, and his omnitool activated. Within seconds, he had pulled up a
picture of 3 figures standing together. As he held it up to the crowd, it become clear that the figures were a human, a turian, and a quarian. All of them held
some form of weapon, and the background of the picture was grey, perhaps a wall on a ship. "This is Admiral Zorah. Standing next to her
are the human spectre Commander Shepard, and the turian Garrus Vakarian." He closed his omnitool and looked at the crowd. When he opened his mouth, his
voice cut through the cold, filtered air in the hangar, the sound of inspiration itself. "As we speak these people are on the surface of Rannoch, on the surface of the homeworld. They fight not for their own species, and not for ours, but for unity!" Reegar's passionate voice could be heard throughout the ship, broadcast
throughnspeakers, comms, omnitools, anything that carried sound. "This is why we will win this war! Because nothing can stop the force of the entire galaxy
united, fighting together! That is what we are fighting for. The interests of our own species come second to survival." In the back row, Veetor smiled under his
helmet. No one gave a speech quite like Reegar. "With that in mind, our mission is on Palaven. A comms tower in the middle of the capitol, Ciprintine, went dark
last week. A few hours before it did, massive heat and energy spikes were detected in the area. A few minutes before it did, a scout team reported a sighting
of an enormous reaper, most likely Sovereign-class." Reegar had his omnitool out again, his hands flying over the keys. He looked up into the large, holographic
map he had just summoned. "We meet with a turian team here at the FOB just outside of Ciprintine. Then we move through the city, unnoticed, to the tower,
get it back online, and pull out." Reegar smiled. "Simple." Inside, however, he knew it was anything but.
