Shepard sat at the terminal closer to his bed, slowly typing data into it. His omni-tool had been linked up with the terminal and all the data he had collected on his crew had been imputed.

He typed in his personal observations on his alien companions. Liara was first; she would take the longest simply because he was putting in everything about her.

As expected, Liara had only rudimentary skills with the mass-accelerated weapons, and almost no talent for close combat. She had almost floundered at every strike, and would have been taken out quickly if it had been a real situation.

Mason eased back in his chair and quietly popped his knuckles. While Liara didn't do very well by most people's reckoning… the readings on her biotics were unbelievable… and that was without an amp. She could muster up a throw of almost a thousand Newtons and could put out any biotic that he had even heard of.

Talk about overwhelming force…she was unbelievably strong with biotics, but had almost no actual combat skills… she could clear a room, as long as she had something, or someone to hide behind.

Several lines on the screen read:

Dr. Liara T'Soni

Weapons Assessment: Sniper Rifle: Untrained (2 Sighting Issues); Assault Rifle: Untrained (23 Mobile Accuracy Minimal); Shotgun: Untrained (16 Unaccustomed to Recoil); Pistol: Untrained (63 No Outstanding Problems).

Technological Assessment: Electronic Skill: Reasonable ; Decrypting Capabilities: None ; Tech Mine Proficiency: Low.

Biotic Assessment: Barrier: Throw: 6m Radius, 1050 Newtons ; Warp: 67 Standard Disrupter Torpedo Strength ; Lift: 6m Radius, Disperses 1,500 Kg ; Singularity: 20m Radius ; Stasis: 17 Seconds.

Miscellaneous: Close Combat: Low (Lacks size, strength, speed, and skill) ; Durability: Low ; Medical Training: Notable ; Armor Proficiency: Light.

Personal Assessment: Take on missions when expecting numerous opposition. Always pair up with Wrex, to act as mobile cover for her. Encourage use of Singularity and Throw. Prioritize Pistol and Shielding for equipment choice.

Satisfied that he had put everything he needed to into the file, he saved it and moved on. He pulled up a screen he already had, this time it was Wrex's.

The Krogan remained a bit of a mystery to the Commander, he was pretty sure he had a bead on the Krogan's personality... but his history was almost unknown, as was what he was really capable of.

He typed in several additions to the assessments on his Krogan companion, updating his reaction time and putting in some new data on his training in close combat. He then plugged in the same for Garrus and Tali, updating the data on them as well.

Mason leaned back in his chair, skimming over the data he had put in just to be sure it was what it was supposed to be, before moving on to the next issue at hand.

Ferros.

He slipped from one console to the other, the anti-decryption software on this one wasn't exactly Spectre grade, but this one had direct access to the extranet. He kept his important files on the normally blue console, but to get new data he went to this one.

His fingers danced on the keys and he brought up all the information on Ferros, it wasn't that he didn't trust Captain Anderson's info... it was just that he wanted to be sure, and the extranet held volumes of data if you knew how to use it.

The Spectre pulled up some interesting information on Ferros...

...if you were bored sensless.

Out of all the figures he found and lengthy histories and studies, only a couple really mattered to him.

The population count, he had to know how many people to expect and how many he might hope to find.

Exo-Geni was the corporation that had bothered with the colony in the first place, that would tell him the kind of people to expect: Corporate Jackasses.

The colony and its' surrounding area was primarily 'repurposed' Prothean ruins, giving him an idea what architecture to expect, how much cover, and the like... the place would be too much rubble and too little open space for casual use of a sniper rifle...

The details on gravity, average wind speed, air pressure, and predicted weather conditions for the estimated arival time were the last thing on his list.

He did a quick number crunch in his head, given the current modifications to his rifle, he would need to adjust his aim to the left by... two millimeters per seventy-five meters of range and up by... one? No... one point five millimeters per hundred meters of range.

The easy stuff out of the way, he had the hard decision in front of him... who should he bring?

Too large a squad and it becomes unwieldy, but as much as he preffered to work alone at times, Shepard knew full well he needed his crew and squad.

It was best to keep a highly skilled squad between three and four people, five tops. And Mason knew he could solo a stealth mission.

Trouble was... who to bring? Each of his available squad memebers had considerable talents... but he had to measure their talents against what he was expecting.

He knew he wasn't going to bring Tali. Yes, they were expecting Geth. Yes, she had unbelievable talent with tech mines and hacking. Yes, she could use a shotgun. And yes, with the improved armor he had gotten her, her kinetic shielding was almost twice his own... But...

Maybe it was because she reminded him of his little sister, but he didn't want to drag her into a full out firefight unless he had to. It was possible they wouldn't even get to use the Mako, and odds seemed in favor of there being a number of rocket-launchers, which would kill her regardless of kinetic shielding. They were expecting an invading army of those synthetics. At very least she wouldn't be on the ground team this time.

Garrus? Well... while the Turian had a number of skills, his best ones wouldn't really be much use. The tight quarters would make his sniper rifle relatively inneffective, and if they weren't careful, his tech mines might harm them as well.

The Lieutenant was definitely out. Mason had only respect for his record, but... Kaiden's talents mirrored Shepards own in a number of ways, only, not as good as Shepard. And Kaiden had almost no skill with any gun but the pistol. There wasn't any point dragging him along.

Shepard knew he was going to bring Wrex. The krogan was more of a tank than most of his people, and with the better armor and a good shotgun, he could wade through the enemies. And in a pinch, his biotics could take the pressure off. Definitely someone to bring on a close combat mission.

Williams? Or T'Soni?

He considered it for a full moment. Ash had considerable skill with every weapon class and could take a beating. The woman was a marine through and through, and they were expecting an invading army of geth... But she had no other major skills aside form some basic first aid training.

Liara though, with her powerful biotics, would decimate the geth in closer combat... more so than Mason himself even... but she couldn't use a gun very well and was still relatively untested in battle...

Shepard rocked back in his chair, letting his hands fall in his lap as he pondered the question.

It was very likely that Liara's skills and knowledge of the Prothean's would come in handy here, but she needed to be tested in battle safely.

Mason wasn't going to send someone into battle to die if he could help it.

And as tough as Wrex was, it'd definitely be best if there was someone else in the squad who could take a beating, Mason knew he couldn't.

So what would the best solution be?

Take all three of them of course.

Wrex would play bodygaurd for Liara, Liara would keep the geth off their feet, Shepard could bring down their shields and mess up their weapons, and Ash could shoot geth all day long. Everybody wins, except the geth, they get to lose horribly.

His mind made up, Mason checked the the E.T.A. counter, two hours left.

He reached up, turning off the console with his other hand, "Joker?"

"Yeah Commander?"

"Could you page Ash, Liara and Wrex. They're the lucky ground team."

"Sure thing Commander, where should they meet you?"

The Commander pondered it for a moment, "Mess, we'll debrief there and move depending on whether we can land or have to drop in the Mako."

"Right away Commander."


A.N.): I might just add the first part of Ferros to this chapter... I doubt it though... Still, any comments or criticisms are appreciated. I like to know what people think of my stories. And thanks to everyone that's reviewed so far!