Nick was a couple dozen meters away, having just come face to face with a pair of husks. He hated the creatures ever since he had read about them, back when they were still just considered deep space superstition... Just like the Collectors. He ejected another thermal clip, inserted a fresh one, and leveled his heavy pistol at a husk that had been cut down in the firefight. It twitched, still trying to grab at his boots. With two loud bangs, the husk stopped.

"Nick!" Vox called.

"Yeah?" Nick snapped his head around. Vox was standing a few meters way, crouched behind some crates.

"Shepard is hit. You better get over there." The turian nodded in the Commander's direction, his gaze still scanning for targets.

"I'm on it. Just... Hold the perimeter." Nick's words were short and lacked their usual fire. The medic jogged over to Garrus, stopping when he could see Shepard down on the ground.

"Where're you hit?" he knelt down, and holstered his pistol. He pulled on one glove, and popped open the medkit before pulling on the other. "Come on, talk to me." He motioned with his hands, a very slight tinge of annoyance detectable in his voice.

"My hip," Shepard answered. "Garrus, move your hands."

He hesitated, but moved his hands. The blood-soaked gauze stayed where it had been pressed, but Shepard plucked it off so she could unclip her armor and free up her hip for proper treatment. Applying bandages on top of her armor would just defeat the purpose...

"Hey Solus!" Shepard called. "Give me some good news about those husks."

Mordin examined the nearest of the husks, looked around the immediate area, did some things with his omni-tool, then walked over.

"No husks creation spikes on colony. Collectors brought husks with them." Mordin said.

Shepard frowned. Bad news, but nothing she hadn't expected. "Great. No doubts about the Reapers now..."

"Shepard, can you move your leg?" Garrus asked.

Shepard looked at him, then down at her leg. She twitched her foot and rotated her ankle, then moved her knee a bit. Pain exploded down her leg from the point of her hip and made her see stars. She gasped, her hand going down to her thigh. She half nodded half shook her head. She could work through the pain. She'd fought her way through worse.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She grunted.

"Shepard..." Garrus frowned.

"I'll live, Garrus." She said sharply, looking at him.

He glared at her. "You won't get far if you can't walk."

Shepard moved her hand out of Nick's way. "I can walk, I can run, I can race a fucking marathon."

"Cara, you're not superhuman." Garrus snapped.

The use of her given name made her flush hotly. He hardly ever used her given name. Just like she only used his clan name when she was giving orders or angry, he only called her by her given name when they were off duty together or if he was royally pissed at her. Judging by his tone and expression, he was royally pissed at her.

"Garrus. I still know my limits." She told him.

"No, you don't. Not since...since this," he said, making a vague gesture at her.

"You just gestured to all of me." She said flatly.

"Yeah, because with your brand spanking new cybernetics, nobody knows what you're capable of or what your limits are. Not even you." He shot back.

"You know what, you're right," Shepard nodded. "But, for now, let's just assume that I'm not at my breaking point yet. I can walk."

Garrus nodded. "Fine. But when this is over, you and I are having a little chat."

"Fine-ow!" Shepard flinched, looking at Nick.

Nick had his head down, focused on the wound through her hip. Shepard couldn't tell if he was forcing himself to hold his tongue, if he was smug or if he was ready to get up and hide behind Vox if she tried to hit him. Shepard kept her hands on the ground beside her.

"You got something to say?" she prodded, curious.

"Me?" he paused, looking up from the of Shepard's wound on his omni-tool. "I've got plenty to say, you know me." He cleared his throat, and chuckled nervously. "But the only thing I'm going to say right now is that your wound is mostly superficial. Mostly soft tissue damage, and it may have scraped your bone a little... Nothing a little medi-gel won't fix."

"Everything okay over here?" Vox took a few steps over, casually holding his rifle up over his shoulder.

Nick rifled around in his kit for a moment. "Yeah, yeah. How's that perimeter thing going?"

"Mordin is keeping an eye out, told me to check on you." Vox replied.

"Check on me, check on us? Listen, I don't need to be babysat. If Mordin was concerned with Shepard, he would have come over himself. He is a damned doctor after all." Nick applied a dose of medi-gel to Shepard's wound, stopping the slow but steady flow of blood. He packed up a few of the supplies, pausing before he snapped the kit closed. "You want pain meds? Medi-gel has some but not a whole ton. Not sure what'll be more distracting; fighting through pain or fighting through narcotics. It's up to you."

"I'll be fine without them." Shepard answered.

"Suit yourself." Nick turned away briefly, snapping his kit cosed. He turned back, offering a hand to help Shepard up. Garrus was already there, practically stepping in front of him to get the Commander to her feet. It wasn't jealousy that bothered him, at least not the romantic type. It was exclusion-even after she had harped on him becoming part of the crew, he still felt like they were giving him the could shoulder half of the time.

"Alright," Shepard said, walking forward with only a slight limp. "Let's move out. O'Neil, Solus, cover flanks. Vakarian, Castus, on my six."

"Aye, ma'am" Nick sighed, checking his thermal clip before following. Vox merely acknowledged with a silent nod.

There were more attacks from Collectors as the team ventured deeper into the colony. They were only able to find one human that had not been frozen by the insects. He lay most of the blame for the attack on the Alliance; Nick nodded in silent agreement. He directed them to a central depot where a set of defense towers the Alliance had come to install were located.

The fighting got even more intense as they continued. Nick had never seen this many husks before, or even knew so many different forms of them existed. He managed to keep his mouth closed, while keeping a steady stream of fire on any target that presented itself. Even with a constant flow of fresh thermal clips, his pistol became steadily hotter, close to the point of burning his hand.

"I am so sickofhusks!" Shepard yelled.

She ejected a spent thermal clip and shoved a new one into her rifle, then swapped it for the Collector particle beam weapon. The rifle had a hard kickback and vibrated as it fired, but the beam cut through the husks like a hot knife through butter.

"Yeeaaahh!" she laughed, grinning like an idiot. "Hahahaaa!"

"You're having way too much fun, Shepard," Garrus said over the comm, amusement in his voice.

"You have to try this!" she shouted back over the loud hum of the particle beam generator. Garrus just laughed.

"I'd love to give one of those a try," Vox commented as he ducked behind cover, nodding at the Commander's new weapon.

"Like I said before..." Nick placed the red hot pistol down on the ground for a moment, shaking out his burned hand. "Never ceases to amazing me how you people revel in finding new ways to kill people."

Vox scoffed. "What do you mean 'you people'?"

"Shut up and keep killing." Nick picked up his weapon, loaded a new thermal clip, and unloaded into one of the husk creatures.

When the fight was over, everyone congregated near the control hub at the center of the depot where the defense towers were. Shepard looked at Nick.

"How you holding up?" she asked. "I know you were serious about taking off if you saw a Collector, but-I need you, Nick. Chakwas likes you, you have more field and trauma experience than the Cerberus idiots Chakwas was staffed with, but what I really want you to stay for is this," she held her arms out a little, then dropped them. "Patching up our sorry asses on the field and watching our backs. I need you on the team."

Nick cleared his throat, pausing to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead at the same time. His head was still pounding, sending out waves of dull pain with each heartbeat. "Come on, Commander. This isn't the place for me. You saw how I was on Omega; you're looking for a team player. That's not me." His voice was low, almost a grumble, but still held its usual fiery tone.

Mordin nodded in agreement with Shepard. "No one I know, besides myself, with more field experience. Good at improvising effective treatment with available supplies. Would be very beneficial to team if you stayed."

"You heard what I said, salarian. I'd just get people killed." Nick snapped, irritated.

Shepard was about to say more when she heard what sounded like a hydraulic pump opening a heavy door. She looked up. Something enormous emerged from the Collector ship and flew toward them. Her eyes widened as it got closer and its shadow fell over them. It had crab-like legs and a vaguely beetle-like body and its belly hung loose, swinging as if on Bungee cords. Inside its belly were skulls with glowing blue eyes.

"What..." Garrus gasped, lifting his rifle.

"Ohhh, shit. Scatter!" Shepard cried.

She grabbed Nick and hauled him behind a stack of crates. Garrus and Vox went one way and Mordin went the other. Shepard took the Collector particle beam rifle off her back and shoved it into Nick's hands, then took her assault rifle off her back and checked the thermal clip. She peeked around the side of the crates they were hiding behind and not a second later, two blue fiery beams erupted from the monster's eyes, skimming just past the crates. Shepard reared back with a startled cry, one hand flying up to her face.

"What the hell?" Nick stared down at the strange weapon in his hands. He swiveled his head around, trying to make eye contact with any of the other team members. Shepard screamed. He instinctively stood, bring the Collector weapon to bear on the strange creature. He dove back behind a metal crate after a few seconds, as the creature pointed its own weapons in his direction.

"Just keep shooting at that thing," she said to Nick. "That rifle has some hard kickback and vibrates pretty strong so keep a tight grip on it."

"Good advice if I ever heard any." Vox quipped from his nearby position. Nick shot him a glance, before taking aim at the creature again.

When the blue beams vanished, Shepard leaned out of cover, brought her rifle to bear and opened fire. Garrus had some distance on the monster and loud rifle cracks signaled the use of his sniper rifle. Submachine gun and more assault rifle fire echoed in the air. The monster hovered from place to place, forcing them to move cover constantly. EDI kept them updated on the progress of the defense towers as the monster chased them around the depot, firing particle beams from its eyes and trying to flatten them under its belly when it got close enough.

The defense towers were at ninety percent when an exploding propane tank knocked Vox off his feet. The monster drifted toward him while he was stunned and Garrus tried to throw it off its course by firing slugs from his sniper rifle at its eyes, but it was unfazed. Shepard broke cover and sprinted toward Vox's position, a biotic aura flaring around her body as she fired at the monster while she ran. Fiery golden beams ripped past her while she ran and the monster shrieked in annoyance. But then it flared its crab legs and dropped. Vox rolled and the monster slammed into the ground just shy of his legs, but the tip of one of its feet hit home, piercing clean through his armor. Blue blood erupted from the hole when the monster lifted off into the air again.

"VOX!" Shepard cried.

As she reached him, the defense towers came to life. One opened fire on the monster, killing it in three shots, and then it joined the other towers, firing on the Collector ship. Shepard knelt beside Vox and set her rifle aside, her fingers making quick work of the safety clips on his chest plate. She pulled the armor off and tossed it aside. Blood spilled from Vox's shoulder and she yanked his trauma kit off his belt, ripping open a packaged bandage. She pressed the bandage pad to the hole in his shoulder and put her weight behind it, leaning forward on her knees while she clamped her hands down on his shoulder.

"What happened?" Nick shouted, dropping the Collector weapon as he ran over. He knelt next to Shepard, leaning in over the injured turian. "Shit..." he quickly pulled on a pair of gloves, continuing to swear under his breath.

Garrus and Mordin came running as the Collector vessel powered up its engines. Shepard looked up, and then the ship fired its engines. Hurricane-force winds buffeted them as the ship began lifting off. Shepard bent over Vox's head, shielding him from flying debris.

"They're pulling out!" Garrus shouted. "There's no reason to stay. Most of the colonists are on board...they got what they came for." He added as the ship rocketed into the sky, the flare of its engines the only thing visible of it.

"Vox!" Nick shouted, gently pushing Shepard's hands aside as he took over putting pressure on the wound. "Vox, talk to me." The turian didn't respond. "You've had worse than this before, wake up." Vox sputtered, but no coherent words came out. "God damn it." Nick was genuinely worried now. "Shepard, take over again." She obliged, putting her own hands back over the wound. He did a quick scan on his omni-tool. The light coughing noise Vox made grew louder and gained in intensity. It grew into a light chuckle.

"What?" The turian managed to ask between laughs, fighting back a grin.

"You asshole," Nick snapped angrily.

Vox's brow ridges went up. "That's what I get for being injured?"

"We nearly thought you were done for." Nick continued his scan. "Don't move. That thing severed an artery in your shoulder. We'll have to clamp it before we move you... And I think I forgot to bring my pain meds..." he caught something moving out of the corner of his eye, but didn't pay too much attention. The rest of the team didn't seem too worried. He grabbed supplies and made sure he had what was needed to stop the bleeding.

The man they'd met in the bunker came running. "NO! Don't let them get away!"

Shepard looked up. "There's nothing we can do. They're gone."

The man paced back and forth in a near-panic. "Half the colony's in there!" he cried. "They took Egan and Sam a-and...and Lilith! Do something!"

Shepard pressed harder on Vox's shoulder. "I did my best!" she snapped. "You just hid in your damn bunker."

"If it wasn't for Shepard, you'd all be on that ship." Garrus said.

Mordin knelt down and gestured for her to move her hands. She shook her head. "He'll bleed out if I move my hands," she twisted to look over her shoulder at Nick.

"Shepard? Wait, I know that name..." the man from the bunker turned. Shepard looked up. He glared at her. "Sure, I remember you. You're some type of big Alliance hero." He said with disdain.

Shepard opened her mouth to reply, but a frighteningly familiar voice interrupted her.

"Commander Shepard."

Shepard's heart stopped and she turned her head.

Kaidan Alenko emerged, looking a little rumpled. He continued speaking, "Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel." He stopped and looked at the man from the bunker. "You're in the presence of a legend, Delan," he turned his gaze back to Shepard, "and a ghost."

Shepard stared in wide-eyed, slack-jawed shock. Garrus bristled. Mordin glanced between them all. Nick looked around, most intrigued by the Commander's reaction. He managed to keep his mouth shut, fighting back the urge to ask questions.

Delan scoffed, his arms crossed. "All the good people we lost and you get left behind. Figures." He uncrossed his arms and made an 'I give up' gesture. "Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types," he spat as he walked away.

"Ha! Wish I could go with ya!" Nick shouted at the man as he walked away. The man responded by flashing an obscene gesture before disappearing into the bunker he came out of.

Shepard watched him go, then looked up at Kaidan. Nick moved in again, ready to take over for putting pressure on the wound. He gave her a light tap on the shoulder, letting her know he could handle the injury from here. Reluctantly, Shepard moved her hands and got up, backing away and letting Nick do his job. Mordin helped him. Garrus hovered near Shepard as she stepped around Vox and closer to Kaidan. Kaidan closed the distance between them in three steps and caught her up in his arms. She stiffened, her arms lifting. Hesitantly, she wrapped her arms loosely around Kaidan's waist, keeping her blood-soaked hands held out.

"I thought you were dead, Shepard. We all did." Kaidan said softly, a hint of anger in his voice.

He held her tightly for far too long before letting go of her and stepping back. Shepard fought the urge to run away as she stared at him. His eyes were red and glassy with unshed tears, yet he also looked angry.

Shepard swallowed and said the first thing that came to her head. "You don't sound too happy to see me. Something bothering you, Kaidan?"

He glared at her. "Yeah, something's bothering me," he spat. "I spent the past two years believing you were dead! I thought we had something, Shepard. Something real. I... I loved you." He stepped closer, reaching down to take her bloody hands. "Thinking you were dead tore me apart. How could you put me through that? Why didn't you try to contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?"

"Now this is interesting..." Nick mused as he worked on Vox's wound.

"What? How bad is it?" Vox lifted his head slightly.

"Hm. Pretty bad. Looks like we have an ex-lover rearing his ugly head."

"Oh. Never a good thing." The turian sighed, letting his head fall back onto the grass.

Shepard's jaw dropped. He thought she faked her death and did all this on purpose? She snatched her hands from his and he flinched slightly in surprise. Anger bubbled inside her so fast she had to resist the urge to attack him.

"It wasn't my choice!" she snapped. "I died! I spent the last two years in some kind of coma while Cerberus rebuilt me."

Kaidan's eyes widened. Betrayal flashed across his face and he backed away. "You're with Cerberus now?" his eyes flicked past her. "Garrus, too? I can't believe the reports were right..."

"Reports? You mean you already knew?" Garrus replied.

Kaidan regarded them warily. "Alliance intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonies. They got a tip this colony might be the next one to get hit." He settled his gaze on Shepard. "Anderson stonewalled me, but there were rumors that you weren't dead. That you were working for the enemy."

Working for the enemy? Shepard bristled. A biotic aura flared faintly around her, barely visible. "Cerberus and I want the same thing: to save our colonies," she growled, "That doesnot mean I answer to them."

Kaidan stepped closer. "Do you really believe that?" he asked, incredulous. "Or is that just what Cerberus wants you to think?" he glared at her. "I wanted to believe the rumors that you were alive, but I never expected anything like this! You turned your back on everything we believed in. You betrayed the Alliance. You betrayed me."

Shepard fought to restrain herself. "Kaidan, you know me! You know I'd only do this for the right reason. You saw it yourself!" she gestured at everything around them. "The Collectors are targeting human colonies. And they're working with the Reapers!"

"I want to believe you, Shepard," Kaidan shot back. "But I don't trust Cerberus. They could be using the threat of a Reaper to manipulate you. What if they're behind it? What if they're working with the Collectors?"

"Damn it, Kaidan!" Garrus charged forward and Shepard put her arm out, catching him around the waist and stopping him before he could get to Kaidan. "You're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat!"

Shepard gave up trying to talk to Kaidan. He wasn't listening. "I can see you won't listen to reason," she said.

"You show up after two years and tell me you're working with Cerberus. Where does reason figure into any of this?" Kaidan spat. He took half a step back. "You've changed. But I still know where my loyalties lie. I-"

Shepard lost it. She launched herself at Kaidan, slamming her fist into his jaw. His head snapped around and he staggered back, a biotic aura flaring brightly around him, but Shepard hit him twice more before he could get an attack out. Garrus' arms went around her waist and he lifted her off her feet, hauling her away from Kaidan before she could get him on the ground and lay into him. She tried to throw him with a biotic field, but he canceled it out with one of his own.

"Yousonofabitch!" she screamed, trying to buck herself out of Garrus' grasp, but the turian's arms wouldn't budge. "Pull your head out of your ass and look at the big picture! The Collectors are working with the Reapers. I know you remember Sovereign and what it did to Saren, Kaidan-youwerethere! You know what the Reapers did to the Protheans. This is bigger than Cerberus, this is bigger than all of us. This concerns the whole galaxy! The Reapers are a threat to everything!"

Kaidan backed away, wiping blue blood off his face with shaking hands. The parts of his skin the blood had touched were red, swollen and blistering, as if he'd fallen into a bush of poison oak. "I've got to report back to the Citadel. They can decide if they believe your story or not."

Shepard tried again to break free of Garrus' grasp, but he only held on tighter. "We both know how that's going to turn out," she snarled at Kaidan's back as he walked away. "The Alliance will try to blame Cerberus, just like you did."

Kaidan stopped and turned to look at her. "A leopard can't change its spots. Cerberus can't be trusted. Goodbye, Shepard. And be careful."

He turned and walked away, disappearing between two small storage buildings. Shepard watched him go and when his footsteps faded, Garrus put her down. She stood there, trying to control her anger, but after a moment, she exploded, sending a couple heavy crates flying to the other side of the depot with a blast of biotic energy.

"Goddamnit!" she screamed.

Nick raised an eyebrow, casually glancing over to Shepard. He put the finishing touches on Vox's bandage, having been able to clamp off the artery.

"Remind me not to piss her off." He spoke in a low voice, now preparing a sling for Vox's arm.

Vox grinned. "I would, but I have a feeling you'd ignore me. Plus, it might be entertaining."

"Cara!" Garrus snapped, grabbing Shepard's arm. "Calm down!"

She tried pulling away from him but he wouldn't let go. She glared up at him. "Let go of me, Garrus," she said, a warning in her tone.

He tightened his grip. "You can't change his mind, Shepard. You know him, he's always been that way. He feels betrayed and chasing him down to pound him into the ground will just make it worse. You heard him when he said he loved you."

Shepard tried again to pull her arm free. "But it was-"

"I know what it was," Garrus interrupted her. "But he doesn't feel that way. He's always been..." he seemed to struggle for words, "He's always...worshipped you."

Shepard scoffed. "He loved the idea of me, Garrus. The image of the hero the Alliance put on a pedestal. A drunken one night stand and he thinks..." she shook her head. "I thought I made it clear then what it was, but I guess today just proves how selective his hearing is."

Finally, Garrus let go of her arm. "And you're surprised?"

Shepard snorted and rolled her eyes at him, then turned her attention to Vox. She was still angry, but Garrus was right. She stepped over to Vox and knelt by his head, staying out of Nick and Mordin's way. "How you holding up, Vox?" she asked gently, keeping any hint of anger out of her voice.

"Wound serious but no longer life-threatening," Mordin said. "However, must get him back to ship for proper treatment."

"He'll be okay." Nick narrowed his eyes at the doctor. "He'll need surgery though."

"Hey, I'm right here." Vox looked between them, concealing a sly grin. "I think she asked me."

Shepard nodded once. "Alright, you sit tight. I'll bring the shuttle over."

She grabbed her rifle and stood, walking away. Garrus made to follow her, but she waved him off and told him to stay with Nick, Vox and Mordin, in case an angry survivor tried anything. He nodded. Shepard left them in the depot and made her way back to the shuttle, plucking a discarded oil rag off the ground and using it to wipe Vox's blood off her hands and rifle as she went.

She made it to the shuttle without a problem and told Joker to let Chakwas know she had incoming patients. She flew the shuttle back to the depot and landed it, grabbed a litter from the emergency first-aid compartment in the floor, then helped Nick and Mordin get Vox onto the shuttle.

"That guy back there was a huge dick." Nick commented to Shepard as they loaded Vox into the shuttle. "If there's one thing you can ever count on me for; its the fact I'll never worship you, ever."