The deep bass of Purgatory vibrated into my bones as I watched civilians and soldiers of multiple races dance wildly to the music. Shaking my head at the sight of a marine hitting on an asari, I pulled my new lighter out and lit up a cigarette.

"Those'll kill you, don't ya'know?" Vega said as he sipped his beer; his eyes trailing after the shapely form of a waitress walking by.

Taking a deep drag, I flicked the ash onto the floor and exhaled through my nose. "I've got freaky alien squids wanting to kill me and the whole universe then there's the fact that I've been promoted to lieutenant; something that I didn't want."

Sighing, Vega downed the rest of his beer; signaling for another. "Listen, bro, you're a great marine and an N7; something I'm not. If your uncle thinks you're ready to be an officer, he's right." Taking his new beer, he drained half of it in one draught. "Andrew, all you need to worry bout is following Shepard's lead and staying alive long enough to kill some Reapers."

Nodding my head, I watched as a group of marines hoisted up one of their own on their shoulders and started singing a drunken rendition of Happy Birthday. Laughing along with Vega, we raised our beers along with them and sang along. Eventually the group calmed and safely placed their comrade on the floor and returned to their individual tables.

Vega was nursing the rest of his beer when I noticed my omni-tool beeping. Tapping once, a message from Shepard sprawled out in front of me. Scanning it quickly, I groaned and stood; punching Vega in the arm.

"Eh, what's that for Loco?"

Draining my beer, I threw a credit chit onto the table. "We're going to Palaven."

"Ah, shit."

Xxxx

The shuttle rocked as we entered Menae's atmosphere, Palaven's moon, and flew straight through a cloud of anti-aircraft fire. The Kodiak shook as shrapnel pinged off the hull and I chuckled when Steve cursed and adjusted our course.

"Reapers messing with your shuttle, Steve?" I shouted from the troop bay, rocking back and forth in my armor.

A muffled curse was the only reply from the pilot as Shepard came into the bay; tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she watched combat statistics scroll down the screen of the monitor in front of her. Vega glanced up from his chest, shoving spare thermal clips into his pouches as we readied to disembark.

"Palaven…never thought it would look like this." Liara whispered as she looked over Shepard's shoulder; armor now replacing her lab coat.

The asari had surprised me when she first stepped onboard the Normandy; clothes torn and bloodied from the fight inside the Archives. I hadn't fought beside her before, but if what Intel on her said was true…let's just say I didn't want to piss her off.

"Earth was much worse." Shepard said, her voice low as she unclipped her helmet from her side and pulled it on; hissing as it pressurized. "Vega, you're gonna hang back with Steve this time; keep him safe."

The marine nodded as he stood and moved into the cockpit.

"LC, you're coming with me and Liara to pick up the Primarch, hopefully it'll be a relative cakewalk." Shepard ordered we stood by the shuttle door; waiting for it to open. "We've got a friend in the Turian Military…maybe he's down here."

Standing, I shouldered my M8 and grabbed hold of a rung above my head as the shuttle door hissed open revealing a horde of husks swarming what was supposed to be our LZ.

"Shit! Husks swarming the LZ!" Shepard shouted as she opened up with her assault rifle.

Rounds skipped across the ground as Shepard zeroed in on the monsters; the sound of her rifle deafening in the cramped interior. Moving beside her, I opened up as well; shoving Liara to the side as the shuttle landed.

Storming out, I lashed out with my boot and caught a crawling husk in the face; black gore splattering my armor. Pushing past me, Shepard ran up towards the entrance of the turian outpost; waving with her hand to lower the ramp. Pivoting, I emptied my thermal clip into a trio of husks as they leapt towards Liara; earning a grateful nod.

We slid inside the outpost and made our way through to where the CO was said to be. While Shepard spoke with the general, I made myself useful and pulled a shroud over a few bodies; their fight was over now.

Standing up, I reached up and pulled my helmet from my head; scratching at the fuzz that was growing on my chin. Liara was by my side, a data pad in her hand as she scrolled through something; her eyes occasionally darting up to the sky.

"Doc, tell me something." I muttered, pulling a thermal from my thigh rig and tossing it in the air.

Liara turned, tucking her datapad away. "What would you like to know?"

Shuffling over to where a stack of rifles, I pulled a tarp over them, covering them from the dust and debris. I watched as a trio of turians raced past us and out of the outpost; gunfire and shouting heard immediately after.

"How is it that Commander Shepard has made it through so much shit and stayed sane?" I asked, turning to face Liara who looked back at me with a quizzical look. "I mean, the Blitz, her colony being destroyed and then everything that has happened in the last few years. Any normal person would have been off their rocker by now."

Crossing her arms, Liara shrugged her shoulders earning her a glare from me. "Perhaps you should ask her yourself."

"And perhaps she would shove her sidearm into the side of my head if I asked her what her favorite food was." I muttered, picking up a pebble and tossing it.

I stayed silent, watching Shepard argue with the general before tossing her hands up and storming down the ramp.

"Commander?"

Pushing past, she pulled her rifle off her back and stormed off, heading the same way the turians had. Following her, Liara and I only exchanged glances before shouldering our weapons and taking up her flanks.

"Lieutenant, hang back and cover us with your Mantis; Liara, we're heading for the comm tower that the turians can't seem to fix by themselves." Shepard ordered, glancing behind to make sure I was hanging back. "No heroics this time or kill steals."

Smirking, I climbed the barricade and settled in beside another turian sniper; his eye to the scope as he scanned for targets. Pulling my rifle to my shoulder, I settled my crosshairs briefly on Shepard's shapely posterior before zooming out and dropping a husk with a shot to the chest.

"Nice shot, Hackett, figured I was being watched." Shepard's voice crackled in my earpiece. "Liara, get up on the tower."

"Shepard, you're a sitting duck by yourself, recommend I come and join you."

Firing erupted beside me as the soldiers on the barricade opened up on the husks and cannibals that were coming down in the meteor showers. I joined in, my rifle bucking as I dropped husks and cannibals alike. Fumbling for another clip, I watched through my scope as Liara scrambled down the tower ladder and I tensed when Shepard was grabbed from behind and thrown to her back; a husk raising its arm in anger.

"Shepard!"

I fired wildly, my round tearing through the husk's shoulder and giving Shepard a chance to empty her thermal into the husk. Standing, Shepard wiped gore from her face and reloaded; a subtle wave in my direction.

Sighing, I opened a private channel. "Owe me a beer for that one."

"Yeah, hit me up once we're back on the Normandy with the Primarch."

Xxxx

"Garrus, do you really think that Victus will make a good Primarch?" Shepard asked as she led the way to the main barricade; climbing the ladder and mounting the turret placed there.

"The man is a good leader and military service runs in his blood. I couldn't think of a better example of a leader, but finding him will be the tough part." Garrus said as he fired into the mass of husks climbing the barricade. "Last I saw of him, he was north of here, reinforcing some of his men with his personal guard and himself."

"Damn…sounds like a regular Rambo." I joked, tossing a grenade and laughing as it exploded among the horde; synthetic blood splattering everywhere. "Man, its like fish in a barrel!"

"Rambo? Fish in a-"Garrus asked, reloading quickly and resuming fire. "What are you talking about?"

Reloading, I relocated beside Shepard, her focus on reloading the turret and firing again. He armor was scuffed and covered in gore, but somehow her pale face was untouched except for a bloodied lip. I smirked when the image of a warrior goddess popped into my mind.

Always the dreamer and thinker, aren't I?

"Shepard…what is that?"

Rotating the turret, her eyes widened when a massive reaper hybrid…a massive brute of a monster. I opened up immediately, my rounds rebounding off the armored plates.

"Shepard, plates are too thick…I think-

I was interrupted by the turret opening up and I watched as the high-powered rounds tore up the dirt and the synthetic flesh of the brute. Grinning at its cries of pain, I primed my last grenade and threw it; watching as it landed at the feet of the reaper and exploded. Gore and blood splattered the ground and even reached my feet.

Groaning, I kicked the flesh away and leapt over the barricade after Shepard; Garrus following behind. We made our way along the path to where Garrus had said Victus was last. We had minor skirmish after skirmish along the way; even dodging a crashing gunship, exploding violently. No survivors.

"Commander, I understand that we are going to have this summit, but where's the meat? Asari, salarians? What about the Krogan?" I asked, huffing loudly as we rushed to Victus' last position.

"The Krogan haven't forgiven the Turians and Salarians since the Genophage and so they will not becoming." Shepard said, her own breath labored as we ran. "I don't understand how the galaxy can't come together for once…just once!"

"Well, when giant robot squids attack everyone, you'd think that would bring us together." I explained as I slid down a steep incline. "But that would mean that the galaxy makes sense…so, of course the species won't come together."

Passing me, Shepard rounded the corner and I caught sight of the northern outpost; on fire and explosions towering over the buildings.

"Very academic explanation, Hackett. Come on, no one's taking this Primarch from me!"

Following Shepard through the barricade, I opened up with my rifle, stitching up the side of a cannibal before it could fire on us. Sliding behind a pile of rubble, I pulled a turian soldier down; rounds hitting the wall where he was standing.

"Soldier, where is Victus?" I shouted, blindly firing over my head to no effect.

The soldier blinked rapidly, shaking his head to clear it. "Humans?"

"Yeah, humans, whoop die-fucking-do." I shouted as I grabbed the turian. "Where the fuck is your CO?"

Finally snapping back to reality, the soldier pointed towards where the battle was fiercest. Cursing, I moved forward, ducking under fire and sliding beside Garrus and Shepard. Garrus was dropping reapers left and right with his Viper and Shepard was resorting to her sidearm.

"Shepard, ammo!" I tossed her a few thermal clips and pivoted to crouch beside her. "Turian soldier said Victus was over on our right flank; they're hard pressed, ma'am!"

Nodding, Shepard leapt from her position and charged the reaper's; her rifle unloading round after round, catching the reapers by surprise.

"Fuck!"

Racing after her, I staggered as a heavy round clipped my shoulder. My shield held and I tackled a husk to the ground; jamming the barrel of my rifle into its screaming maw. Garrus had held back, dropping a marauder behind me and weakening a cannibal for Shepard to finish it off.

"Hackett, move up! Take the right…Garrus, take left and swing round!" Shepard ordered as we moved forward.

Kicking in the skull of a cannibal, I watched as another meteor shower began, raining reaper reinforcements including two brutes. The brutes roared together and charged forward, trampling over two turian soldiers and crushing them to a pulp.

"Shepard, we gotta take them out!" Garrus shouted over the gunfire.

"No shit!" She replied as she rushed forward, a primed grenade in her hand. "Fire in the whole!"

The grenade soared through the air and exploded on impact; toppling the massive creature. Leaping onto its chest, Shepard drew her shotgun and rammed the barrel into its chest; firing rapidly. The brute roared in pain, weakly raising one of its arms.

I watched as Shepard expended her thermal clip right as the brute used the last of its strength to swat Shepard like a fly; sending her flying across the battlefield and slamming her into the outpost where Victus was.

"Shepard!" Garrus shouted as the last marauder fell to the ground. "Shepard, do you hear me? Jane?!"

From where I was, I could see her struggling weakly to reach her shotgun as the last brute lumbered towards her, oblivious to all the fire we were pouring onto it. Sprinting forward, a turian rose up with what looked like a heavy launcher. Grinning, I shouted for the alien who turned and tossed the weapon to me as I rushed past.

"Garrus, get the bastard to turn for me!"

An increased amount of fire impacted the brute and a heavy concussive blast sent it reeling. Spinning towards us, it roared and charged forward; backhanding a turian medic who attempted to reach Shepard. Taking a knee, I shouldered the launcher and watched through the sights as the brute grew larger; my finger itching to pull the trigger.

"Dammit Hackett, fire!" Garrus shouted.

I grinned as the brute exploded, my shoulder aching from the recoil. Garrus moved past me, tapping my shoulder. I moved to join him, tossing the spent launcher to the ground as the surviving turians gathered around us and Shepard, who was leaning heavily on Garrus' shoulder.

"General Victus, I presume?" Shepard asked the lead turian, his armor bearing the Palaven insignia.

"Commander Shepard, you sure like to make an entrance."

Grinning, I moved over to Shepard and pulled her arm around my shoulder. "You have no idea. Cortez, head this way, we found the Primarch."

His eyes bugging out, Victus took a step back. "Primarch?"

Grimacing weakly, Shepard nodded. "Fedorian is dead, you're the next in line. I need you to come with us to a summit of the species."

Turning around to look at his men, Victus waved his hand at the destruction around us. "You truly believe that I will leave my men and people to sit and play diplomat? Then you truly do not know who I am."

"Look Victus, Earth was hit harder than this so don't you dare think that I want to be here picking your scaly ass up. If getting you to that summit helps my planet and people then I'll drag you by your damn feet to that summit." Shepard growled as she pointed an armored finger at Victus who took on the look of a turian surprised.

Sighing, Victus looked up as Cortez landed the shuttle. "Give me some time to say goodbye to my men."

With that, I lead Shepard to the shuttle, her body leaning even heavier on me as we neared the shuttle; James leaping out.

"Good job, Commander. One Primarch as ordered." I joked as we boarded the shuttle and I laid her on the seat. "Anderson would be proud."

Smirking, Shepard waved her hand lazily in the air. "One Primarch and now one summit coming up…I have to wear dress blues; just great."

Chuckling, I smoothed her bangs back and wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Ha, you're going to regret saying that."