On the field, Shepard was all business, watching his flank, making sure that the team was moving safely and would safely open the gate doors for Tali before anything would happen to her and to them. Miranda and Grunt followed him, watching not only their flank but his as well.

"Shepard, only one more! I need you to open the last gate!" Tali said through the comm. Grunt also yelled through the comm. "Shepard! Collectors ahead!"

"Grunt, Miranda, cover me! I have to get Tali out of there!"

He ran straight to the left, a few feet away from the button. Both Grunt and Miranda give just enough cover for Shepard to open the gate quickly. All he needed were a couple of seconds.

"Garrus, we're at the door. We need this door to open now!" Shepard shouted at Garrus. They were taking fire. Shepard could hear Garrus yell at Tali to open the doors.

"The door's jammed!" Tali said as she was hacking into the gate's systems. After a couple of seconds, she was able to open the door and Shepard and his team ran in.

"Hold this position!" Shepard yelled.

"Nothing gets through!" Garrus said.

Tali was trying her best to get the door closed. After a couple of seconds, she did. No casualties on either team.

Once they had all made it pass the doors, they explored the room, finding one of the colonists from Horizon.

"It's one of the colonist, Shepard." Garrus said.

"Yeah. If she's here, that must mean that our people are here as well. Stay sharp."

Shepard walked over to the glass container where the colonist was in. He touched the container. He had seen a lot during his time fighting against Saren and now the collectors but never something like this.

He saw the colonist waking up. She looked straight into his eyes. Suddenly the container made a sound and the colonist started screaming. Shepard couldn't believe what he was seeing. She was melting away. It was something that he couldn't describe. She was dying and he wanted to save her.

But it was too late. She was gone. He looked over to the rest of his crew and yelled, "Hurry! Get them out of there!"

Grunt walked over to Yeoman Chambers and broke the glass open. Chambers fell right out and fell into Grunt's arms. Miranda carefully worked her way around the glass, looking for small cracks and pushing it open. Shepard ran open as Miranda was opening the glass, Dr. Chakwas landing perfectly into Shepard's arms.

"Dr. Chakwas? Doctor, are you okay?"

"Shepard. You came back for us."

"No one gets left behind." She hugged him. Thankful that Shepard came back and didn't hesitate in saving the rest of the crew.

"We've lost some good people. They gave everything to get us here. It's up to us to make it mean something and do them justice. The collectors, the reapers - they aren't a threat to us, they're a threat to everything, everyone. Those are they lives we're fighting for. That's the scale. It's been a long journey and no one's coming out without scars. But it all comes down to this moment. We win or lose it all in the next few minutes. Make me proud. Make yourselves proud."

"Well said. Let's go finish this."

Miranda said after Shepard's speech. Everyone had their orders and Shepard had no worries when it came about his team. They were the best and they wouldn't let him down. He looked over at Miranda and Tali. Two people who meant the world to him. He worried but he knew that this was the last battle.

Author's notes: Sorry sorry sorry a thousand times over for the delay. I just couldn't finish this chapter. More to come! Thanks for waiting!