Hey everyone!

Whoa...I am ecstatic about the response from the last chapter! I want to thank everyone who reviewed (Apollo Wings, Dur'id the Druid, smart grid, and Aluriea). Thank you all so much! If y'all want to keep reviewing I would greatly appreciate it! And also to those who added this to your favorites and/or alerted to this story thank you very much!

Hope that you all enjoy this upcoming chapter! Please enjoy!

BTW, there is a classic (at least I think its classic) movie reference within this chapter. Anyone who can spot it and let it know...well let me know and you win!


"Joker, get full security team to docking door now!"

"Roger that Commander, security team is standing by."

Two hisses snapped by Shepard's head. Turning around and raising his Phalanx he put two bullets into the head of the mech that shot at him. The unconscious man across his shoulders wasn't making this any easier. He should've had Grunt carry him, but the krogan only had one good arm at the moment, courtesy of the man he was carrying, and that arm was busy letting out shot after shot from his Claymore.

Jack was using focusing all of her power on carrying the crate they'd been sent to retrieve and the others, including Miranda's team, were standing between him and Jack and the mech's as they moved down the docking tube towards the Normandy. The mech's started attacking right after he'd managed to knock this 'Delta' out cold. It seemed that action got them out of the frying pan, and right into the proverbial fire. Miranda's squad was doing little better. Somehow the man had managed to activate just about every mech still active on the ship, and gave them one directive. Kill them.

Reaching the hall of the Normandy Shepard started beating his gun against the hatch. "Joker open the damn door now!"

As the hatch into the Normandy slid open five of the on-board crew stepped out to assist the ground team. Their suppression provided them enough time for the ground team to get aboard. "Get us out if here Joker," Shepard shouted as soon as everyone was back aboard.

Dropping the mystery man off his shoulders Shepard took stock of his ground team as Joker safely flew them away from the Salson. Jack was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. No matter how powerful she was the strain of having to carry that container across the expansion of a ship was extremely draining to her. While Grunt was in the worst condition of everyone who went aboard, the crew that'd followed him into the cargo hold were all in need of some level of medical attention.

"Jack, you're on bed rest for the next mission." He panted. The biotic merely waved him off, letting her head fall back against the bulkhead. "Grunt, Garrus, Mordin, and Jacob report down to Dr. Chakwas for medical treatment. Zaeed, take this man down to the cargo hold with a security team." Giving the man who attacked them on the ship to show the merc who he was talking about. "I want 24 hour guard placed on him. And have Chakwas set up a sedative. I don't want this guy waking until we're ready to talk to him. Until the next mission consider yourselves all on rest. Dismissed."

Ensuring that his orders were followed out, more than a little reluctantly by Grunt, Shepard was the last of the ground crew to leave the CIC. After that mission all he wanted was a few hours of rest before he tore into TIM. Something wasn't right about this whole situation. And by god he was going to figure out what it was.

"Commander, wait a moment please!"

Stopping just before he could reach the elevator he repressed the sigh threatening to escape him. Turing back around towards the CIC he faced off against his logistics officer and residential psychologist Yeoman Kelly Chambers. His ribs hurt like hell and all he wanted to do was sleep for the next week. He really wasn't in the mood for another psyc evaluation at the moment. "What is it Kelly?"

Nervously handing him a data pad before stepping back from him allowing him to look it over. "Umm. The Illusive Man sent along another batch of dossiers while you were all aboard the Salson Commander."

Not even bothering to look at the new names on the list he handed the pad back to Kelly. "Alright, have Joker set a course for our next contact and-"

"Commander, you really should take a look at the names Commander." She pressed forcing the data pad back into his hands.

Taking the pad from her perhaps more forcibly than needed he pulled up the list and read the names out loud. "Thane Krios, Justicar Samara, Tali'Zo-" Stopping he stared down at the pad as if it suddenly grown a head. "Tali?"

"Yes Commander, but…there's more to that." Leading him over to the galactic map in the center of the CIC she pulled up the Far Rim and then focused on the Dholen System. "Commander, she's on a planet called Haestrom with a squad of marines and scientist on orders from the Quarian Admiralty board. However we're not sure what they're doing there."

Thinking back to their brief reunion on Freedom's Progress he remembered her telling him that she had another mission for the adrimalty board. And then she would consider joining his crew again. "Alright, then what's your point Kelly? Once she's done with her mission we'll swing by and pick her up."

"Well Commander, this is the problem." Zooming out away from the planet the galactic map highlighted something moving towards the plant fast. "It's a Geth Cruiser Shepard. And it's heading right for Haestrom."

'Why would the geth want-wait. TIM said that the Reapers are targeting me, and anyone who was with me on the original Normandy. And the geth serve the Reapers. Are they targeting Tali as well?'

Leaving Kelly standing at her station he booked it around the CIC and towards the helm. "Joker! Get us to Haestrom now!" He'd be damned if he'd let the Reapers take anyone else from him.

Jokers chair spun around allowing the pilot to face him. "Shepard what's going o-"

"Now Joker!" He yelled forcing his pilots chair back around. "EDI, I want full combat readiness throughout the ship. We're going to be taking on a Geth Cruiser."

EDI's hologram sprung to life next to him. "Shepard it will take three jumps using the Mass relays to reach the Far Rim. One to the Omega Nebula, then to the Phoenix Massing, and then one more to the Far Rim. Total travel time including FTL flight will be 12 hours."

'Damn it all. How much damage can the geth do to them in such a short amount of time?' "Can we send a message to the quarians on Haestrom," he asked as Joker began inputting their travel coordinates.

"No. Even with longest range communicator we would be unable to reach them. Quarian com frequencies are also unknown. I would not be able to communicate with them even if we were in range Commander."

"Damn it. Get us there as fast as you can Joker. EDI, as soon as we hit the Far Rim I want full combat readiness throughout the ship. I also want Miranda, Kasumi, and Zaeed ready to go aboard the Kodiak. Think you two can take on a Geth Cruiser?"

"Please Commander; think about who you're talking too." Joker laughed as they drew near the first Mass Relay. "With my baby back in tip top fighting shape those synthetic bastards won't know what hit them!"

"I too am synthetic Joker. Do I fall into this grouping of 'bastards' you're talking about?"

"What? No you umm…whoa. Nothing like being scolded by a ship eh Shepard."

"Just get us to Haestrom Joker, as fast as possible."


Standing in the middle of the Kodiak along with Miranda, Zaeed, and Kasumi Shepard was more than ready to get this mission underway. The four had been waiting in the Kodiak as the Normandy stealthily approached Haestrom. "Shepard, I am currently reading one geth cruiser in orbit around Haestrom. Several smaller geth drop ships are making strafing runs along the planet's surface."

"Any sign of the quarian's EDI?" He asked checking over his Valkyrie for what must've been a hundredth time.

"It appears that the quarian's have set up a base of operations within one of the older ruins on the planet's surface. The geth cruiser is stationed almost directly above their location. Notice: 5 minutes to drop point."

Going over to his seat he secured his weapon in the holder beside him before sitting down. "Alright, take us in Joker."

"Just a friendly reminder here Shepard, but the Kodiak doesn't have a stealth system," Joker's voice came in over the com. "As soon as we drop you guys you're all going to be target practice."

Pulling securing himself to the seat with the seats straps and safety bars he tried to settle his racing heart. He never really did care for combat drops. "That's why the Normandy is going to draw off the Cruiser. Just keep it away from the planet until we can secure the quarian's and get them safely off the planet."

"I can assure you Shepard that my programing is far superior to the geth. With Mr. Moreau at the helm, I am sure that we will be able to handle the geth."

"Basically Shepard, she's trying to say she'll try and keep up with me!"

"No heroic's Joker. Let's keep this Normandy in one piece."

"Aye Aye Shepard, approaching drop point in two minutes."

"This must be one hell of a woman ya got here Shepard." Zaeed said with his head back and eye's closed. "Don't know what other reason there might be go against a geth cruiser."

"She's a friend Zaeed," he said. "Nothing more."

"Just keep saying that Shep, maybe soon we'll actually believe you." Kasumi joked while fidgeting in her seat.

Zaeed looked over at the young thief crossly. "Ya ever made a combat drop hoody?"

"You mean have I ever been dropped in a shuttle into low orbit and allowed to free fall?" Kasumi asked. "Then the answer is no."

"Shepard, thirty seconds to drop point. Warning. Environmental hazard detected on planet's surface. Solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom's protective magnetosphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will damage shields, and prolonged exposure will deplete shields energy cells."

Wonderful. Another obstacle. "Understood, take us in EDI."

"Acknowledged. Drop point in 10, 9, 8-"

"Ahaha, well ladies, welcome to the express elevator to hell." Zaeed was grinning like a madman. "Going down!"

"-3, 2, 1. Drop."


Stepping out of the shuttle onto the planet's surface the first thing Shepard felt was the heat. Without the magnetosphere around the planet's surface temperature was skyrocketing. Gunfire was sounding in the distance. With the heavy fighting they weren't able to land close to the quarian camp. They were forced to land almost a full mile out from the quarian's camp. Taking a few steps forward he stuck his hand out from the shadows and into the direct sunlight. Just as EDI predicted the shields around his hand started wavering as his energy cells struggled to compensate. "Stay in the shadows," drawing out his Valkyrie he started leading his team through the outskirts of the ruins avoiding the sun. Gun fire was getting louder the closer they got. "Weapons up. But watch your aim. There are still quarian's around."

The first group of quarian's they found was just inside a sealed door leading into the compound. Three quarian's, two females and one male, were lying dead just within the compound. Their suits were riddle with holes from geth energy weapons. Kneeling down next to one of the females he gently placed both her hands on the center of her chest. "Shep, are any of these T-"

"No," he said more harshly than he meant to.

Zaeed hefted his rifle up onto his shoulder. "How in the bloody hell can you tell?"

"I just can Zaeed," he said standing up. "Come on. We got a lot of geth to kill."


The rest of the compound was filled with more geth, and unfortunately more quarian's. To his relief however none of the fallen quarian's was Tali. The few logs that had been left behind by the fallen quarian's didn't give very many clues as to their mission here. But one thing was clear. Everyone who'd been sent on the mission had been given orders to protect the research team, Tali especially. They'd even managed to get a line of communication in with Tali. She'd been locked into an observatory by the marines sent to guard her and the other scientists. There were only two others with her. The marines were all still out in the field fighting against the geth. She couldn't give them very may details outside of the fact that at least some of the marines must still be alive as she could hear fighting beyond the door they sealed her in.

Opening the blast shutters closing their current position off from the observatory all of them had to quickly duck back into cover. A massive geth that looked like an over-sized scorpion was standing before the entrance to the observatory. As soon as the blast shutters opened the geth turned on them. Its 'tail' was really a giant energy based weapon that took out almost half the wall Shepard was hiding behind.

Moving as quickly as they could behind constant cover the team managed to run across a lone quarian who was armed with a rocket launcher. The man was moving extremely sluggishly, but he was still able to turn out of cover, let lose some havoc, and duck back before the geth could get a lock on him.

Firing off a few shots, each one taking a geth right in the optics, Shepard and his team dropped down in cover next to a lone standing quarian. "Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines," the quarian shouted over the gunfire. Standing quickly he let a rocket go his launcher blowing up two geth's and damaging two others. "We talked on the radio before that damn dropship arrived. Don't know why you're here, but this sure as hell ain't the time to be picky."

Rising out of cover Shepard let out three shots taking down a geth with two to the chest and one to the head. "Where's Tali'Zorah?"

Reegar jerked his thumb over the battle field. "She's inside the observatory on the far side of the field. We managed to lock her in for safety, but then the geth dropped and cut us off from her. Rest of my team died trying to get through to her. And all I've been able to do so far is distract them a little."

Motioning to Zaeed and Miranda the two moved further down the line of cover to provide better support. "What are we up against Reegar?"

Reegar slammed and other holster of small rockets into his launcher. He still had about four more holster's lying around him. "The geth are damn near platoon strength Commander. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, but that bosh'tet colossus makes it a problem. Damn thing huddles up and fixes itself whenever damaged. When it's down its defenseless but completely out of sight. I tried getting in close to take it out, but one of those metal bosh'tets got in a lucky shot and punctured my suit."

An energy round fired from the scorpion like creature took a chunk of wall out right above Reegar's head as if to prove his point. "How bad is your suit rupture?" Brushing off the debris from his shoulder.

Reegar raised his head over the cover, only to pull it back down as sniper fire passed right over his head. "My combat seals have clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm swimming in antibiotics. I ain't gonna die from some pathetic suit rupture though. That'd just be damn insulting."

Hearing a geth almost right on top of them Shepard stood up and grabbed the geth, throwing him over the cover. His omni-tool activated forming a solid blade as he brought it down hard into the geth's head. "What can you tell me about the field Reegar. I can't see shit over the fire."

"The right side's got a catwalk giving you a nice sniper perch above the field. Left side's got a lot of cover against the colossus, but geth are swarming it. Right up the middle is the most direct route, but in the line of sight for colossus. If we can get close enough to the colossus I should be able to take it out with a well-aimed rocket."

Unhooking his Viper sniper rifle he threw the weapons at Kasumi. "Kasumi, when we move out your up on the catwalk. Zaeed you got the left path. Miranda you hang back and hit the colossus with your biotic while I go up the center. We'll give the colossus too many targets to focus on. We close in on it and hit it from all sides."

Holding his side Reegar got into a low crouch ready to stand. "Good plan Commander; I'll stay back here and riddle the damn thing with rockets. Maybe even get it to drop its shields, give you a clean shot."

Pushing the barrel of his launcher towards the ground Shepard shook his head. "No, you've done enough Reegar; I want you to hang back and find a safe place to hold up."

"No chance Shepard!" Reegar yelled standing and firing another rocket. "I'm not about to sit back and let you do all the work! Those bastards killed my squad! This is my mission, my responsibility."

Just as Reegar was about to stand again Shepard pushed him back out of the open and against a wall away from the line of fire. "You won't be doing any good by getting yourself killed Reegar!" He shouted nearly in the marine's face. "You won't be able to honor your squad if you're dead!"

Reegar looked from side to side. "Damn it all Shepard. I'm not about to let you go at this on your own! You're a military man too! You can't keep me out of this fight!"

"Alright Reegar," he said backing off of the quarian. "You win. But stay back here with Miranda. She'll be able to keep a barrier around the both of you. Stay with her and keep firing those rockets Keegar. But stay alive."

He could almost see the smile beneath the marine's mask. "Damn straight Shepard, same goes to you. Keelah se'lai!" Rounding the corner Reegar let out two rockets in quick succession one taking a geth prime right in the chest and the other flying and hitting the colossus.

With the brief distraction Shepard, Kasumi, and Zaeed broke out from their cover going in their respective directions. Kasumi cloaked herself and was able to make it up to her sniper perch with little interference. From her perch she was able to drop geth after geth with precise shots to their optics. Zaeed was the opposite of the thief. Prefering strength over stealth Zaeed charged head first towards his path. The merc definitely had a few surprises left in him. His assault rifle never stopped firing, but very few of his shots missed their marks.

Flaring his biotics Shepard used a Throw to send a fast approaching geth off the catwalk and down into the depths below. In controlled three round burst from his Valkyrie Shepard worked slowly across his intended path, using his biotics to keep geth away from him.

The idea of splitting the team up worked better than he'd hoped. The colossus couldn't seem to focus on any of them. Whenever it focused in one direction, the opposite would hit it with bug bits throwing off its aim. Reegar proved to a surgeon with his rocket launcher. Whenever the colossus would rise up Reegar would send a rocket right into the base its tail. Miranda was able to put up a barrier protecting Reegar from the colossus's energy weapon.

Putting his back against the wall he fired off three more rounds taking down another geth trooper. He was now virtually right beneath the platform where the colossus was standing. The colossus was starting to pick up on his teams tactics better. It would fire three quick rounds from its tail towards Zaeed, Kasumi, and Reegar keeping them all in cover and preventing them from advancing.

Reegar managed to get another shot off with his launcher. The rocket sailed right over where he was standing before exploding when it collided with the colossus.

Above him he heard the unmistakable sound of the colossus folding up. It was repairing itself. The geth troopers immediately came in to protect the colossus as it repaired itself. The geth were able to keep Zaeed and Kasumi back from getting too close. Damn it. This wasn't working. If he was going to end this quickly, it would take a new plan.

Pulling a thermal grenade from his belt a crazy idea started to form in his mind. It was a long shot. If a rocket couldn't do much damage to the colossus he doubted that a grenade would be able to do much. But he had to do something to end this fight and get Tali and any other survivor's out of here.

Focusing in on his biotic's his left hand started glowing blue. Activating his omin-blade he extended his biotics to his feet. It was time to try something reckless. Pushing off the ground with his feet and biotics he shot up over the cover rising right in front of the colossus just as it was starting to reform from its repair protocol.

Its tail wasn't able to form fully before he used a biotic Slam on the colossus forcing the omni-blade through the thick armor and into its core. The force of gravity, combined with his biotics forcing down caused the colossus to fold up like a tin can. Pulling his omni-blade free of metal husk his right hand holding the thermal grenade went down into the opening, coming back up minus the grenade.

Using Push to get him away from the colossus he formed a barrier around himself. The grenade went off within the colossus destroying it from the inside.

Breathing heavily before the shattered remains of the colossus Shepard could hardly believe what he'd just done. "Damn Shepard," Zaeed whistled coming up on the shattered remains of the massive geth. "Remind me never to get between you and this woman of yours."

Taking a deep breath he straightened. "She's not like that Zaeed," he shot back.

"Right Shep," Kasumi materialized almost out of thin air right next to him. "Just keep saying that."

Stepping past the two, trying his best to ignore their constant teasing, he activated his com while standing before the sealed door leading into the observatory. The door had definitely seen better days. The colossus had done some serious damage to it. God only knows what would've happened if they'd arrived even a few minutes later than they had. "Tali, can you open the door? It's all clear out here."

"Just a moment Shepard," her voice came through over the com. "Just a little more an – there."

As the door slid open they were greeted to the sight of perhaps a dozen geth lying around the room in ruins. "Man Shepard," Zaeed whistled eyeing the destruction appreciatively. "You sure know how to pick'em. Never expected this amount of chaos could be caused by a simple little quarian."

Said quarian was standing with her back towards the door her three fingered hands going a mile a minute across the data console before her. "I'll be with you in a minute Shepard," she said not bothering to turn around. "I'm almost done here. And then we can leave this Ancestor forsaken place."

Motioning Kasumi and Zaeed to go and see to the two quarian's who were lying on the ground, but still moving, Shepard approached Tali on his own. "Are you alright Tali?"

She nodded. "Thank you Shepard. Without you…I don't think I would've ever made it out of this room." Stopping what she was doing she turned around to face him. "This whole mission has been a disaster. I wish that I'd joined with you again back on Freedom's Progress, but I couldn't just let anyone take my place. Not with how dangerous I knew this mission would be."

"What were you after here? And was it worth it?" He asked.

Tali walked past him looking down to where Zaeed and Kasumi were checking on her fellow quarians. "The Admiralty board sent us here to gather data on Haestrom's sun. The Admiral's believe that the data on whatever is causing this sun to prematurely die was worth sending my team into geth space. Where the data we found will be relevant or useful…I don't know. I have to trust that the Adrimalty board knows what they are doing."

"No matter what the reason is Tali," he said standing next to her. "I'm glad I could help. Once you deliver that data, I could really use you on the Normandy. Think you can join with me this time?"

"I promised to see this mission through," she said her head lowering. "And I did just that. I want to see that these two are safely on their way back to the fleet but then I can leave with you and send the data back to the Fleet. And if the admirals have a problem with it, they can go to hell. I just watched all of my team die."

"Maybe not the whole of your team ma'am."

Four heads turned to the entrance. Reegar was limping into the small room supported under his arm by Miranda. Despite the situation he was half tempted to take a picture of the whole situation. A lead operative of Cerberus caught aiding a non-human. It would be damn near priceless. "Reegar!" Tali damn near was jumping up and down at seeing the man alright. For some reason that caused a knot to form in Shepard's gut although he had no idea why.

"Yes ma'am," Reegar said shaking off Miranda and standing on his own. "It'll take more than a few of those metal bastards to take me down. But I'll feel a lot better once we're off this rock and heading back to the fleet."

"Actually Reegar, I won't be going with." Tali was rubbing her hands together. "I'm going with Shepard."

Reegar didn't miss a bear. "Acknowledged ma'am. Our shuttle should still be in tact where we left it. I'll bring these two back to the fleet along with the data ma'am."

Activating his com he opened a line with the Normandy. "Joker, how are thing going up there?"

"All set up here Shepard. We did a bit of damage to the geth ship. But after you killed that big one down there they ran off with their tails between their legs."

"The geth cruiser that was in orbit has fled," he informed Reegar dropping the com. "You should be all clear to head back to the fleet. If you want the Normandy can escort you to the Relay."

"Appreciate that Commander," Reegar said coming closer to him as Tali moved away to check on the others. "Take care of her Shepard." Reegar said once Tali was out of ear shot. "You didn't see her after we learned you 'died'. She was a wreck sir. Please, take care of her."

Taking Reegar's hand he gave it a squeeze, "you have my word Reegar. I'll take care of her."


Sitting in the darkness of his cabin Shepard was trying to relax one of the only ways he still knew how too. A glass of whiskey in hand and some soft symphonic music playing in the background. His armor was lying scattered around his room after he'd lazily took it off before donning a set of sweat pants and an N7 sweat jacket. Seeing Tali again, having her willing come aboard the Normandy again despite the presence of Cerberus on board brought up painful memories. Why the hell couldn't have Ashley done the same? Tali, Garrus, they both trusted him without a second thought. Was…was what he had with Ashley truly not as strong as he thought?

Hearing the com to his room buzz he reluctantly sat up from his laid back position on his couch, fighting the winch of pain originating from his chest, and pressed down on the com button on the table. "Yes?"

"Shepard, its Tali. You umm, said you wanted to see me…privately?"

Throwing back the last of the whiskey in his glass he stood. He'd almost completely forgotten about that he'd asked her to come and see him. He'd barely had time to introduce her to the rest of the ship before he needed to retire or possibly fall over. She wasn't all that happy with the presence of an AI onboard. But after going over the restraining protocols placed on EDI she was at least tolerant of its presence.

Going over to his door he unlocked it allowing it to open. Tali stood on the opposite side, her three fingered hands intertwining themselves as she shifted her feet nervously back and forth. "Come on in Tali," he said moving aside for her. "No need to be so shy."

Her eyes were widened as she took in his spacious cabin. From the stories she'd told him of the fleet, he bet that on one had this big of a room in the entire Migrant Fleet. Going over to the fish tank dominating one entire wall she watched the fish in fascination. "Benefits of being Captain, huh Shepard." She said slowly looking over the rest of the cabin.

"Truthfully I'm not use to this. It almost seems too much compared to the old Normandy." He reminisced remembering his old ship fondly. "Speaking of which, I have something for you."

Picking up the small box he had on the table he handed it over to her. "I made this for you."

"You made this?" She asked her voice taking on a lighter tone. "Should I be careful when I open it then? Knowing your engineering skills."

Chuckling at her joke, while also wincing in pain, he pushed the box towards her again. "I know it's not much, but I want you to have this."

Opening the box she pulled out the small device. Truthfully it wasn't much more than a white noise, but he'd been proud when he'd managed to get it to work right. "I remember back on the SR-1 when you told me you couldn't sleep because it was too quiet. Well this is kind of a white noise machine. Basically it'll make noise all night long, or for a few hours at least. Should help you get to sleep."

Her hands were running over the device fondly. "Thank you Shepard. This is…really. Thank you. But surely this isn't all you called me up for Shepard."

"No, you're right. I also wanted you to take a look at something for me Tali," he said picking up the data tablet and handing it off to her. "Right before Haestrom we were on another mission. This one was to pick up some sort of research material that was about to be taken by the batarians. On board the ship we were attacked by, someone, not sure who. He has no identification on him, not even an omni-tool. All he had on him was this. I was hoping you could break the encryption on it and tell us something about him."

Tali turned the tablet over in her hands a few times before setting it down on the table. Her omni-tool sprung to life as she started her hack. "It doesn't seem like it was too heavily encoded Shepard. Not sure why you need me to do this."

"Because I trust you Tali." He said easily. It was the truth. "And on a ship full of Cerberus operatives…I'm not entirely sure who to trust sometimes. But, I trust more than anyone else."

Tali stumbled for a second. It was hardly noticeable, nothing more than a slight pausing of her fingers, but he caught it. "Ok," she said softly before closing her omni-tool. "I have a cypher program running against the encryption now. Should only take a minute or two."

"Just like old times eh Tali," he joked, and then winced as his ribs hurt. "Seems like I can't do anything without you around."

Tali's glowing eyes narrowed slightly. "Oh, I don't know about that. You managed to defeat Saren and Sovereign. You don't need me."

"That's not true Tali." He said patting her three fingered hand. "It wasn't just me who defeated Sovereign. It was all of us. You, me, Garrus, Wrex, Liara, and Ashley. We all defeated it together." This time he couldn't help the small grunt that came out as he leaned back on the couch.

Standing abruptly from her spot on the couch Tali turned from him and walked back up the small flight of stairs and to his desk. "Where's your med kit Shepard."

"I'm fine Tali. Ther-"

"You're not fine you stubborn little bosh'tet. Now where is it?"

Seeing he was not going to win he gave up. "It's in the third draw down on the left hand side."

Coming back down the stairs with the med kit in hand Tali stood in front of him. Her foot tapping impatiently on the floor as she waited for him. "Well…where are you hurt?"

"Tali, you don't need to-"

"Shepard you saved my life, again." She cut him off taking a step closer to him. She standing allowed her to tower over him as he sat. "This is the least I can do. Especially seeing as how I know that you won't go to Dr. Chakwas for it. Now, where are you hurt?"

Reaching down he pulled his shirt off, nearly cussing as pain exploded in his chest. "Keelah Shepard. I-I-what happened to you?"

He wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure she was blushing beneath her helmet. What did she have to blush about? Wasn't the first time she'd treated his wounds nor seen him with his shirt off. Looking down at his chest he finally saw what she saw. Nearly the entire right side of his chest and side was covered in a nasty bruise that was pitch black. "Took a hit to the chest Tali."

Her three fingers were lightly tracing over the bruised skin being very careful not to press down. "By what? A charging Geth Prime?"

"No, by the mystery man I told you about. The one we ran into before we came and collected you." He hissed as she pressed down slightly.

Sitting down next to him on the couch next to his bruised side she pulled out a small container of ointments. "With what? With a- what is it that you humans use in that strange game? The one with the ball and the stick and the gloves?"

"Baseball? A baseball bat you mean?" She nodded. "No, he hit me with his foot. Nothing else."

Her glowing eyes widened. "What? He kicked you? And a single kick did all of this?"

Nodding he repressed grunting in pain as Tali started rubbing the ointment onto his side. "And managed to crack my chest armor in the same instant."

"Keelah Shepard." She whispered as she stopped rubbing the ointment in. He could tell it was already starting to take effect as his side was starting to go completely numb. Next she pulled out a bandage from the kit and started wrapping it around his chest. "Not sure I want to know much more about this man."

As Tali finished wrapping his chest he tested the bandage. It was on pretty tight, and would definitely help his aching ribs. Pulling on his shirt he gave Tali a lopsided grin. "Thanks Tali, I mean it."

Stepping back from him Tali's hands once again returned to their intertwining with each other. "It was nothing Shepard. Just like old times isn't? All we now is to find Wrex and Ash back aboard and-" her voice faltered when his face fell. "What's the matter Shepard?"

"Ash, she won't be coming with us this time Tali." It was the truth. She turned her back on him.

"What are you talking about Shepard? I'm sure once we find her she'll jump at the chance to be back with you."

Tali had no idea how much that once sentence hurt. "I-we- already found her. Back on Horizon."

Tali's eyes widened. "Oh keelah Shepard, Ash isn't…she isn't-is she?"

Placing his head in his hands he roughly rubbed his eyes. "No, she's fine Tali. But, when we ran into her. She turned her back on us. She didn't trust me enough, even with Garrus there with me. One looked at Cerberus fighting with me, and she abandoned us all."

One of Tali's three fingered hands rested gently on his shoulder. "Oh Keelah Shepard. I'm so sorry. If-if there's anything I can do for you, please just tell me."

Shepard couldn't help but feel lightened. Usually he was the one comforting Tali, telling her it was going to be alright. And in a few short moments she succeeded in doing what no one else had. She'd gotten him out of his depression over what happened on Horizon. "Thank you Tali," he said patting her hand. "I-really, thank you."

The two stood together in a comfortable silence. Tali's eyes were the only thing in the galaxy for him right now. The sudden beeping coming from the data tablet shocked both out of whatever comfortable silence they'd been in. "Oh, umm, that's the tablet. Looks like we're through."

Even though he kept it from showing Shepard couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed as Tali moved away from him. And that feeling confused him greatly. Picking up the data tablet from the table Tali started scrolling through the contents. "It doesn't look like much Shepard," she said her eyes narrowing. "There is a program on here for teaching English, along with a massive amount of text, audio, and video files. All of them seem to fall under one category however. Something about Project Magia. Does that mean anything to you?"

Project Magia, again. The more he heard about this Project, the more his suspicions grew. "Run a search on the Project files Tali. I want to know if there are any references to the word 'Delta' in the project."

"Searching," her fingers stared moving even faster. "Found. The only match references 'subject delta'. It is a key piece of research material used in Project Magia, along with 'subject echo'. Wait…there's some sort of picture on here…let me see if I can…there. Who's this?"

The picture that was on the screen was of someone he'd never seen before. She looked almost human except for her large pointed ears. Her dark hair was braided in dozens of braids and she had the most intricate tattoo he'd ever seen going across the upper half of her face. The subject line above her though read 'Subject Echo'. The uneasy feeling he'd had about this whole mission grew tenfold. "Come with me," he said taking her hand without thinking and leading her out of his cabin. "EDI, I want all of the ground crew down in the cargo hold now."


Shepard and Tali were the first to reach the cargo hold and were standing before the large crate waiting as the others slowly started filtering in through the elevator. None of them looked particularly happy to have been called down. Jack was the only one vocal about it of course, "Ok Shep. Mind telling us why the fuck you woke us up this fucking time? I swear if it's another mission for Cerberus I'm gonna shove that rifle you love so much right up your as-"

"Mordin. What can you tell me about our current guest?" He had no need or want to hear what Jack was about to say.

Activating his omni-tool the salarian doctor started scrolling through his notes. "Most interesting specimen. Can confirm that subject is in fact not human. At least not from Earth."

"Really?" Jacob asked crossing his arms and leaning back. "Looks pretty human to me."

"Smells human too, but doesn't fight like any I've seen." Grunt added.

"True enough," Mordin continued. "But data doesn't lie. Ran test five times to verify results. Genetic code of subject 'Delta' shows a 6.3% difference from normal human genetic code. Cannot be classified as fully human. Also, evidence of extreme physical reconstruction present."

"'Extreme physical reconstruction'? In English doc," Zaeed mumbled.

"Implants present within most joints on subject. Other implants to increase metabolism, and productivity of adrenal glands. Also carbon fiber weave grafted onto limbs bones to increase bone density and strength. Overall, unsurprising subject was able to defeat ground crew in hand to hand combat. Could be considered ultimate soldier. Can push harder and longer than any normal human. Will have to run further tests once conscious, but believe that-"

"That's enough Mordin," holding up a hand Shepard stopped the doctor from his endless rambling. "Does any of his implants correspond to advances made through Project Magia?"

Looking at him curiously Mordin looked back down to his omni-tool. "Yes. All implants in fact are results of advances made from Project Magia. However these implants seem to be…prototypes. Not quite full product that is currently available."

"Thank you doctor." He said as Mordin stopped talking.

"Okay Shepard, you have us all curious now. What is going on?" Garrus's mandibles were twitching.

"I don't believe that this Delta was some random merc." Powering on the data pad Tali had just cracked he flipped through to the notes on Project Magia. "He was carrying this when we captured him. It contains a complete log of Project Magia. Within it, it references that all advances made were results from studying two specimens' codenamed 'Delta' and 'Echo'. I believe that man we have in custody is in fact specimen 'Delta'. And I have a pretty good idea where, and what, specimen 'Echo' is."

Giving the crate a quick look he looked back at Miranda. "Miranda, you're the highest ranking Cerberus officer on board. I want you to open this crate. Now."

If Miranda was surprised by any of this, she didn't show it. Where mostly everyone else was slack jawed, her face was completely devoid of emotion. "I'm afraid that I cannot do that Commander."

Taking a step towards her, his voice lowered several octaves as he asked her again. "Miranda, I'm not going to ask you again. Open this crate now."

Miranda looked around desperately for any sort of support, but found none. Not even from Jacob. "I can't Commander."

Taking a step closer to her, he was now a hand's width from her. "You can't, or you won't?"

For perhaps the first time he saw the flicker of fear behind Miranda's eyes. "I can't Shepard. The case won't open for anyone except for the one who sealed it. It's a Cerberus safe guard against anyone trying to steal material."

Backing away from her he turned around to Tali. "Tali, can you open it?"

Taking a few steps forward Tali opened her omni-tool. "I believe so Shepard. It's a high grade encryption. But it shouldn't be too hard. I'll run this program against it and, oh you little bosh'tet, you can't hide from me. VI program within the mechanical lock. But the day a pathetic VI program beats a quarian is the day I make friends with a get- ah! Got it!"

The four corner bolt snapped as they spun in circles. Once they stopped the crate hissed as the lid rose up off the crate an inch. Curling his fingers under the lid Shepard ripped the lid off throwing it clear across the cargo bay. No one, not even Miranda, was ready for what was inside.

"Oh my god."

"What the fuck?"

"Spirits."

"I'll be damned."

"Hmm."

"Keelah."

The inside of the crate was lined with white padding. In the center of the crate was the same woman, as bare as the day she was born, whose picture was on the data tablet up in his cabin. She looked hardly old enough to be of legal drinking age. Her hair was the same save for several bald spots in random places on her head. And her right arm was missing from the forearm up, and replaced by a mechanical arm. Ripping a cloth off of a couple of storage containers Shepard knelt down next to the crate, wrapping the woman in the blanket before lifting her up in his arms.

Miranda was staring at him, or rather the woman in his arms, with wide eyes as he walked past her. "Shepard I-"

"Doctor Chakwas." Firmly cutting his XO off he didn't bother looking at her. "I want you up in the med bay now. Zaeed, Grunt; collect our other guest and bring him up to the med bay as well. I want a full medical diagnosis done on both of them. But keep them fully sedated for the time being."

"Shep, did you forget this fucker beat the shit out of us last time?" Jack asked rhetorically. "Now you wanna wake him up? What fuckin shit are you on and can I have some?"

She had a point. As blunt as it was. "We'll wake her up first." Lifting the woman briefly for reference he continued walking towards the elevator with Tali now close at her side. "Hopefully she'll be able to tell us what happened to them, and hopefully keep him from attacking us."


Well there we are. Another chapter all nice and wrapped up for y'all. Hope that you enjoyed it! Please leave a review! The more review's I get the more motivation I have to write and the fast chapters will come out! And if you were reading an noticed something or have suggestion for me please let me know! I always appreciate helpful hints. All I ask is to please do so politely.

And if you can spot the move scene and name it, congrats! I'll announce next update what it was!

Have a good one!

ffdrake