Krinda continued tearing through reaper creatures. Unlike everyone else who was wondering how this was happening, Krinda knew her mission. Tear everything that looked like an abomination into pieces. As she fired off a shockwave attack, which launched a group of five cannibals into the air, she looked back at her stunned friends.

"As badass as this makes me feel, I could kinda use some help!" She yelled.

"And you've got it!" Gunny yelled, as she led Ciala, Corsus and Devin into the fray.

The four picked weapons off the ground and joined in. Gunny grabbed a particle rifle, Corsus took a modern version of the Indra rifle, Devin clutched a Krysae sniper firmly in his hands and, appropriately for her name, Ciala had a modern Reegar Carbine. The four opened fire and began to make head way through the hoard. They soon joined Krinda and the five fought like a well-oiled machine. Eventually, they broke free of the dock area and disappeared around the corner.

"We've got to go after them! Everybody else shock free now?" Liara asked in a hurry after she freed herself from her shock.

"Yes, Kal and I are." Tali said.

"So am I." EDI said.

"Alright, here's what we do. Krinda was right. The Quarians do need help. So EDI, get back on the Normandy and get everyone that knows how to use a gun arm themselves and get in this. Also, arm the Normandy's weapons and get in the air." Liara said.

"Understood, Liara. I will prepare the Normandy for the multiple airstrikes I am positive we will need. I just hope Gunny will be all right without me."

"She's with Krinda and the others. They're just like us with Shepard and the old crew. They'll be fine without us. Doesn't mean we'll let them go without us for very long though. So, let's pick a gun and go, Liara!" Tali said.

Liara nodded and the two mothers armed themselves, while EDI headed back into the ship.

"Ready you two?" Liara asked.

"Born that way, ma'am. Let's go." Kal said and began to lead the charge.

Meanwhile, Krinda and her gang ran like bats out of hell through the hallways. They did not have the slightest clue where to go, so they just kept running and gunning. They had mowed through several dozen squads of reaper creatures at this point, but there were still more.

"Keelah! Where the hell do they keep coming from?" Ciala called.

"Goddess, I wish I knew! I'd blow the stupid hole they keep crawling out of to bits if I could only find it!" Krinda yelled.

The group eventually made it to a wide and empty hallway.

"Guys, there's no reapers around right now. I think we should stop and sure up our defenses." Gunny said.

"Best defense is a good offense." Devin said.

"A shield or two still wouldn't hurt, Devin."

"Good point. Activating fortification."

"Good thing dad sprung from the latest holo armor. Here goes." Gunny said.

"Activating the defense array." Corsus said.

"Same here." Ciala said.

Ciala then turned to face Krinda.

"Krin, you've got some kind of shield, right? I know you want to fight, but…"

"Okay, okay. Biotic barrier is a go."

"So, now that we've got our defense boosted, what do we do now?" Devin asked.

"What else? We keep moving forward!" Krinda shouted.

"What about our moms?" Gunny asked.

"I'm sure they're coming for us. They'll catch up soon enough. We should clear a nice, clean path for them. It's getting close to mother's day on Earth after all. Now, come on. Let's keep at it." Krinda said and started running again.

The others took after Krinda. As they ran, Devin wondered why they were just accepting Krinda, who wasn't even a member of the military, as they're leader and following her orders to the letter.

"She must have that thing that her dad did. That thing that makes you want to follow them, even if it's into hell. Heh, I don't even follow mom's orders this well. Why aren't you an officer, Krinda?" Devin thought to himself.

Eventually they came to a large door that was stuck. While Ciala worked to get the door open, the sounds of heavy gunfire, screaming and large, unnatural roars could be heard. Suddenly, loud crashing and bone-chilling wails of pain could be heard before there was nothing but the sound of the heavy footsteps.

"Oh Keelah, they're dead aren't they?" Ciala said while trying to continue working.

"Sadly, they probably are. We'll mourn them, but we will not be joining them. Corsus, you've got a seismic scanner in that body, right?" Krinda asked.

"Yes, it is standard issue for use in case of quakes. Why?"

"Check that seismic activity from those footsteps and cross reference them with known reaper creatures. See if you can find a match. I want to know what we're getting into."

"Calculating…match found. The result is not pleasant."

"Wasn't expecting to be. What'cha got?"

"The only creature that the reapers had that could make noises like those are the creatures known as brutes."

"Fan-bloody-tastic. Those are the butt-ugly fusions of Krogan, Turian and reaper tech, right?" Devin asked.

"Yeah, tough customers, the lot of them. How many can you detect, Corsus?"

"There are three in the room ahead. If we can manage to defeat them, we will have almost single handedly cleared this area of reaper forces."

"I like the sound of that. Alright, here's what we do. Ciala, when you get that door open, I want you to use that decoy tech I know you have and send in a copy to get their attention. We'll sneak in while they're distracted and hit them hard and fast with the strongest attacks we've got. So we're talking biotics like warp and my charge attack, concussive shots, and incineration tech."

"I just so happen to have incineration. I snuck it into the outfit when my dad was getting the holo armor." Gunny said.

"And I can definitely do concussive shots. Got the power all cued up for a moment's notice use on my omni-tool." Devin said.

"Great. And, to finish it, the drones draw the other two away while we focus on taking out one at a time. Also, let's set up out special ammo abilities now. Don't tell mom, but I've got warp ammo abilities stored on my omni-tool." Krinda said.

"I've got incendiary abilities on this gun. Don't know why though." Devin said.

"These guns were put in that storage locker and others like it for emergency situations. Various types of weapons and ammo were prepared and placed inside those lockers to face in any threat." Corsus said.

"Well, I'm glad to have it. Anybody else got something?" Devin asked.

Everyone else shook their heads no.

"Alright, Krinda. Let's cue up ours then."

"Right."

Just as the special ammo types were readied, Ciala got the door open. Krinda's plan then began to unfold. Ciala sent in a decoy, which succeeded in distracting the brutes. The drones then were sent in to distract two of the brutes. After this, Krinda got the real fight started with a biotic charge right into the side of the undistracted brute. She unloaded at least twenty warp-powered shots from her gun straight into the monsters face, before ducking out of the way of its retaliation. Devin and Gunny then hammered he creature with concussive shots and incineration attacks. They fired off these attacks as rapidly as they could while everyone else unloaded on with their normal weapons. They made quick work of the brute and moved on to the next one. Ciala's attack drone assisted greatly in this round and the brute was soundly defeated quickly. Then it came time to fight the last brute. But, there was now a problem.

"Crap! I'm almost out of ammo." Devin said.

"Me too. Man, we've fought so many reaper creatures that we've almost drained our ammo supply." Gunny said.

"Use what's left and then lay into it with powers!" Krinda yelled, charging and then releasing a warp attack.

Everyone did as instructed but this brute moved around far more than the others did. It came close to grabbing Ciala when Krinda used her biotic charge to knock her friend out of the way. The brute grabbed Krinda instead and picked her up into the air. It readied to attack again, which would mean a death blow for Krinda.

"Krin!" Ciala yelled.

Ciala pulled out a knife from hidden strap on her right leg. She charged the beast and hacked at the arm closest to her. It turned to face Ciala and looked ready to attack her when the others shot it in the back. Enraged, it threw Krinda to the ground and charged at her friends. Ciala ran over to Krinda.

"Krin! Krinda! Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, once I do this!"

Ciala watched as Krinda used her biotic charge to launch herself on the creature's back. She charged up the biggest warp shot anyone present had ever seen an Asari use and fired it point blank into the monsters face. The creatures head snapped back and Krinda used her biotics to gracefully flip away as Gunny hit it with an incineration attack and finished it. Krinda landed on her feet, but dropped to one knee. Just then, the parents finally caught up to their children.

"Krinda!" Liara yelled.

"I'm alright, mom. I'm just tired, mostly."

"She was amazing, Aunt Liara. Krinda's definitely the commander's daughter. She gave orders and came up with plans like a pro." Gunny said.

"She did alright." Devin said, trying to sound indifferent.

"Well, seems this area's been cleared. And, to make matters even better, EDI contacted us on the way here and told us that the combined airstrikes of the Normandy, Quarian and Geth fighters are wiping out the other pockets of reaper creatures." Tali said.

"I just wish you lot would have saved some for us. You young bloods are making the last generation look bad." Kal said.

"Well, it's getting close to mother's day and I didn't want mom and aunt Tali to deal with such ugliness this close to such an important date." Krinda said.

"She takes earth customs seriously, doesn't she?" Kal said.

"What do you expect? She's part human after all." Tali said.

"Tali, you know she's not literally…" Liara started before Krinda interrupted.

"That's right, aunt Tali. I'm an Asari-human hybrid, with a little Krogan mixed in for flavor. All of that together makes me the most badass person in the galaxy."

"We'll see about that." Devin said.

Liara shook her head before hearing a beeping noise from her omni-tool. Everyone noticed the beeping from their own tools soon enough. When they opened the message boxes, they all received the same message. A hologram of a Turian dressed in a dark cloak appeared.

"Well done, everyone. I wanted to see whether the Geth or the Quarians were the toughest species on this planet and you proved yourselves equal and worthy. Allow me, Arvius Coltrad of the truth path alliance, to welcome you to the galaxy."

"What?" Ciala asked out loud.

"I'm sure you're wondering what's going on. Allow me to explain. We are the true path alliance and we created those reaper creatures. We believe that the reapers were the ultimate test set by evolution to decide the path for the galaxy once and for all by eliminating the weak and leaving the strong to flourish. But then, Commander Shepard, that coward, had to cause the synthesis and brought evolution to grinding halt rather than fight like she should have."

"Alright, I know he's on that big ugly ship up there! It's the only place he can be! Somebody get me up there. I need to shut this guy's mouth with some hot lead!" Krinda said, growing increasing angry as she listened to her father being berated so badly.

"Listen, Krinda." Liara said.

"By causing the synthesis, Commander Shepard halted a process in place for eons. She had no right to do that. So, since the reapers will no longer return thanks to Shepard, we have taken it upon ourselves to test and cast judgment on the species of the galaxy. We shall weed out the weak and make room for the strong. We will usher in a new age of evolution, for that is the true path. You lot have proven yourselves worthy of being part of this galaxy, and I congratulate you. But, you are merely the first of many to be judged. We shall venture forth now, to find the next in line. Good day to you all. Oh, and don't think we didn't see the new Normandy flying around. Crew of the Normandy, listen well. If you try to interfere again as you did sixty years ago, you will be severely punished. That is all."

Then the massive ship carrying the 'alliance' engaged its high velocity jump drives and left Rannoch as soon as they had arrived.

"Damn it! They come in, wreck everything, kill who knows how many people, say dumbass stuff like that and then just leave? This is utter bullshit!" Krinda cried into the sky.

Just then, Hackett contacted Liara.

"I'm here, sir." Liara said into her omni-tool.

"Liara, we're postponing our trip to vector five."

"Understandable, sir."

"I want you to gather everyone who was either on the Normandy or about to board and get them back to the docks. We're returning to the Citadel to report about this and to see what should be done next."

"Very well, sir. Let's go everyone."

"The council better not sit around twiddling their thumbs like they did in dad's day. I won't hesitate to bop them all upside the head if they do." Krinda said.

Meanwhile, on the Normandy, Hackett contacted the council ahead of time to let them know they were coming and what for.

"We'll have a full report from all involved once we get there."

"Very well, Admiral. We patiently wait your arrival. Is there anything else?" the Asari councilor asked.

"Yes. I think it might be time to initiate the Shepard Protocol."

"Do you think she's ready? Would Dr. T'soni even allow it?"

"Whether she allows it or not is unimportant. You know who's of legal age by all species' standards to make her own decisions. So, can you have the protocol's essentials ready by the time we get there?"

"We'll put out a rush job on it, right now. We'll see you soon, Admiral."

Hackett closed his omni-tool and stared out the window. He could see Krinda on the ground below now.

"Better steel yourself, young one. You're about to carry the galaxy on your shoulders."