Author's Note: Well here we are again, it's always such a pleasure. I am really, really sorry about the long wait; I got complacent while my proof reader was away and 'may' have forgotten to write anything before she came back. Hopefully the length of this chapter will make up for the delay and I should be back to my normal schedule from now on. Anyway, I'll let you get on with it now, and as always, please R&R. It's greatly appreciated.


'What the hell was that about John?' Shepard asked. They were alone in the briefing room, the rest of the ground team had already returned to their posts.

'You know perfectly well Jane.' John replied.

'That's what I'm afraid of.' Shepard sighed, 'I thought you had put all that behind you.'

'I thought so too. But seeing those batarians trying to kill millions of people… I guess some things never change.' John walked over to the door, 'Don't worry about it Jane, it won't happen again.'


As soon as the elevator arrived at the cargo bay he walked over to the engineering deck and assumed his station. John began cycling through the various programmes Tali had asked him to fix, trying his best to take his mind off the day's events. Before long he became acutely aware of a presence behind him. He turned around to see Tali standing there wringing her hands.

'Can I help you?' he asks.

'Are you okay? We were all worried about you; I've never seen anyone so angry before and…'

'I'll be fine in a few days; you don't need to concern yourself about me.' Tali just stood there, still wringing her hands, 'Is there something else?'

'Well, dinner is being served now and, well…' John's eyes lit up as he thought of a method of forgetting about the batarians. He gave Tali a smile before answering.

'You want to hear more of my story don't you?' she nodded, 'Then let's go.' he said before walking back to the elevator, Tali following close behind. Garrus and Wrex were already standing there, waiting for the doors to close. As John entered the elevator Wrex turned to him.

'You okay human? That blood rage you were in down there would have put most krogan to shame.'

'I'm fine Wrex, it won't happen again.'

'Damn, I was hoping you'd be like that all the time, it would make you a worthy enemy.'

'We're all on the same side here Wrex.'

'So? Doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun on the side. Besides, I hear you're getting in a fight with the other human.'

'You mean Williams?' Garrus asks, 'You wouldn't believe the amount of money people are betting on that match.' Tali turned to John.

'I hadn't heard of this, why are you fighting Ash?'

'It's just a friendly sparring match; she seems to think she can beat me in close combat.' Wrex let out a laugh.

'Not a chance,' he says, 'I've seen you fight and I know where my money's going.' before anyone got a chance to respond the elevator doors opened onto the crew deck. John collected his meal before sitting down at the table. The rest of the ground team were already there so as soon as the four of them sat down he began talking.

'Where did I leave off last time?'

'You had just killed a pack of varren led by an alpha.' says Garrus.

'Ah yes, now I remember. I hope you all have some free time because this one is interesting.'


The headquarters of Clan Garstet was a mess, even by krogan standards. There was rubble everywhere and it was hard to move around without giving away their location. Still, they managed to get close to Warlord Koth's 'throne'. Jason and John both had their stealth systems active and were listening carefully to find out any information they could. Most of what the Warlord said had nothing whatsoever to do with their objective and before long they grew restless.

'I'm going to look at the chief's personal terminal, see what I can find.' John heard his partner say over the radio. He nodded his approval before watching Jason's indicator disappear through the rubble. Turning back to the krogan he noticed something strange about their weapons; though he couldn't quite think of what it was. It took him several minutes to realise that they looked like his own weapons. Weapons that were still in the field testing phase. That must be how Koth is gaining so much power, he thought, wondering who could be supplying the krogan with such high-tech weaponry. Before long he heard Jason's voice.

'It looks like the meeting was delayed because a number of the Warlord's bodyguards were injured in a raid just after we left.'

'I see, does it say when the next meeting is?' There was a short pause before he answered.

'Noon, three days from now.'

'Roger that, can you meet me in the armoury? There's something I need to check out.' After hearing Jason's confirmation, John set off across the uneven ground, travelling slowly to avoid disturbing the rubble. When he arrived at the armoury Jason was already standing there, cloak still engaged, waiting for him. Without a word they checked the area for krogan before entering the armoury and locking the door behind them. John disengaged his cloak and walked over to the nearest stack of weapons. He picked up an assault rifle and laid it down on a nearby workbench. Turning it over he was surprised to note that these weapons used thermal clips; technology that hadn't even passed prototyping yet. His partner, however, was more interested in the logo emblazoned on the side.

'Shit.' he said, letting out a low whistle.

'Cerberus.' John said as he noticed it too.

'Command's just going to love this.' Jason mumbled, motioning John to return the weapon before heading back to the door. They engaged their cloaks and headed outside. John didn't have to ask where his partner was going: he knew that information this important would have to be relayed to their superiors immediately and the only way to do so would be to use Clan Garstet's communication array. Before long they had arrived at the terminal, only to find it unmanned; the krogan rarely felt the need to use long-range communications when there wasn't a raid going on. It took Jason only a few seconds to create a message and send it. Before they could even turn to leave their HUD indicated a new message. The two infiltrators looked at each other as they opened the file; it was hard to believe command could respond so quickly.

To Vindicare team Beta.

In light of this new development, changes have been made to the mission parameters. You must observe this meeting and ascertain Cerberus' goals. You must then plant a tracking device on their ship before intercepting and destroying the Clan leader's envoy. Finally, the weapons must be disposed of. Once these objectives are complete, you are to return to the S.S.V. Agincourt.

Vindicare Command.


Three Days later

The Cerberus dropship silently descended upon the clearing. As soon as it landed, a dozen military personnel disembarked and spread throughout open area, leaving two men in scientist uniforms to drag numerous crates out of the cargo hold. Unbeknownst to them, however, two invisible men were observing their every move. One man turned to the other.

'Do you want to do this, or should I?' he asked. There was a pause as this question was considered.

'I'll do it, I want to scan the crates while I'm there.' he said before making his way over to the ship. Once his path was clear he sprinted to the side of the craft before planting the homing device upon its fuselage. After doing so he crept towards the crates and scanned them with his omni-tool before returning to his waiting partner.

'Just as I thought; enough weapons and ammo to start a small war.'

'What could Cerberus be getting out of this?'

'We'll just have to wait and see. The krogan will be here in an hour.'


John shifted his weight. He had been standing for hours; there wasn't a decent place to sit down nearby and his legs were still aching from all of the traveling they had done over the past few days. The tomkah bearing the krogan envoy had arrived moments before and negotiations had begun. It was impossible to ascertain the nature of the haggling as the two parties were exchanging numbers alone. This continued for a few minutes before the lead krogan begrudgingly agreed to Cerberus' price. John watched in confusion as ten krogan stepped forwards and began boarding the ship in exchange for the crates. As soon as the krogan were onboard the Cerberus team followed and without a sound the dropship ascended into the sky. Shaking off his confusion, John set about executing their plan; while the krogan weren't looking, they would plant a large number of charges in and around the crates, detonating them while the krogan were mid-transit. The Warlord would believe that Cerberus had booby-trapped the crates and pin the blame on them. The two infiltrators managed to plant the charges without being detected and quickly began making their way towards the clan's headquarters. Several hours passed before Jason spoke.

'Should I detonate the explosives now?' he asked, turning to his partner.

'I don't see why not, they should be halfway there by now.' Jason nodded before pressing a button on his omni-tool. A few minutes later the sound of the blast reached them, causing dust to fly everywhere.

'I do love a good explosion.' Jason said, a grin on his face.

'Shame we weren't there to see it, must have been big.' John replied before continuing on their journey; it was now time to execute their last order before getting off planet.

Clan Garstet was in a total panic. Word of the bombing had spread quickly and Warlord Koth was in a blind rage; which was fortunate, because he had ordered all of the Cerberus weapons to be stored in the armoury so they could be checked for explosives. Oddly enough, nobody had volunteered for the job so the weapons were just sitting there, making John's job a lot easier. They managed to deploy their last remaining explosives without trouble and made their way to the edge of the settlement. Without a sound they detonated the charges before walking over to a hidden clearing. With the push of a button, a two-man ship materialised out of the air and the pair of infiltrators boarded before ascending into the skies of Tuchanka, the still-rising cloud of smoke bearing evidence of a job well done.


'Hah! That'll teach Koth to rely on aliens to get ahead!' Wrex laughed, pounding his fist on the table.

'What would Cerberus want with krogan?' Tali asked.

'We found that out not long after, our tracker yielded results.' John replied, 'But that's a story for another time. Right now, I think I owe Ash a sparring match.'

'That's right, you do.' said the gunnery chief, 'Let's get to it, I think the crew have waited long enough.' Everybody on the crew deck immediately sprang into action, spreading the word and gathering as many people as possible while the ground team descended to the cargo bay. When they arrived John saw that a space had been cleared by moving the Mako to the side. The engineering crew had already assembled in the centre of the room, evidently having received word of the impending fight.

'I thought the Alliance didn't allow this sort of thing on their ships.' Garrus said to Shepard.

'They don't, but I'm a Spectre and what I say goes.' she responded.

Both Ashley and Thompson proceeded to remove their armour. When they were both wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt the present crew formed a ring around them as more people poured out of the elevator; it seemed the entire crew, including Joker, had turned up to see the fight. When everybody was in position John turned to his opponent.

'Ready?' he asked.

'Ready.' she said, assuming a fighting stance. John kept his arms by his sides, as though nothing were about to happen. Without warning Ash threw a punch straight for his head and the fight was on. Dodging to the side, John brought his leg around in a circle, trying to catch the back of Ashley's knees, but she sidestepped out of the way before she responded with a jab aimed at his chest. John grasped her clenched fist with his cybernetic hand and kicked at her shin in an attempt to throw her to the ground, she proved faster than he had anticipated though, and she easily managed to avoid his attack and spun in a circle to wrench her hand free before using the momentum to swing at his head. John ducked and threw himself into a tackle, knocking both of them to the ground.

Just before he hit the steel floor, John threw his hands out and rolled forwards, bringing himself to his feet. When he turned around he saw that Ash was already standing as well. He kicked at her torso with his left leg, causing her to grasp his foot with both hands. John span around, using his foot as a pivot, while swinging his right leg at her head. Ash barely managed to get out of the way of the blow as John smacked into the floor. With a grunt of effort he jumped up and punched Ash square in the shoulder. She let out a yelp of pain before grabbing his hands and kneeing him in the stomach. John recoiled slightly but continued to press the attack. He swung at her again, Ash barely managing to deflect the blow before counterattacking with a right hook. Just before her fist made contact John grabbed it and in one fluid movement brought his free hand to her shoulder, and using his right leg to destabilise her balance, he hurled her to the ground. He then proceeded to pin her down and wait for her to tap out. Sure enough, she couldn't remove him and so she conceded. John rose to his feet amidst a chorus of cheers and groans as money changed hands; Joker in particular had a considerable grin on his face.

'That was a good fight Thompson.' Wrex said, crossing his arms. John just nodded at him as the two combatants retrieved their armour. As the crowd began to disperse he turned to Ash.

'That was…interesting. You did well there Ash, not many people last that long.' she met his gaze, her eyes full of emotion. Admiration perhaps? It was a good fight, but not that good.

'Likewise Thompson, we'll have to do this again sometime.'

'I'd like that, but be sure to try harder next time okay?' this elicited a chuckle from Ashley. John headed back to the engineering deck while Ash returned to her station. Before he got there, though, Shepard pulled him over to the side.

'Just to let you know, we'll be heading to Noveria next.' John's eyes widened in surprise.

'No shit. I never thought I'd be going back there.'

'I just wanted your opinion on the place; you know it better than I do.'

'There's not much to know, it's a private planet, run by corporations. As such, everybody has dabbled in illegal activities at some point and they won't be too happy to know a Spectre is in their midst. They'll probably try and oppose everything you do, but we can use your Spectre status to our advantage: if we want to we can uncover damn near anything we want and blackmail them into submission.'

'I'd rather not do that.'

'We may not have any choice Shepard.' John turned to walk away but then became struck by an idea, 'Where will we be docking?'

'Port Hanshan.' upon hearing this John let out a groan, 'What's wrong with that?'

'If Anoleis is still in charge, we may have a very hard time down there. I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it, though. If you need me, I'll be in engineering.'


'Approach control, this is SSV Normandy. Requesting a vector and a berth.' Joker said. Commanders Shepard and Thompson were both present in the cockpit, the rest of the team spread out behind them.

'Normandy, your arrival was not scheduled. Our defence grid is live and tracking you. State your business.' came the response over the radio. Garrus rolled his eyes; it didn't matter that this wasn't the Citadel, corporate bureaucracy was the same everywhere.

'Citadel business. We've got a Council Spectre on board.' that was what Garrus liked about working with a Spectre; no amount of red tape could slow them down now.

'Landing access granted, Normandy.' the voice said, sounding slightly sullen, 'Be advised you will be subject to an identity check on arrival. If your identity cannot be ascertained, your ship will be impounded.'

'What a fun bunch, I think I'll take my next leave here.' Joker said with his usual sarcasm.

'They haven't changed a bit since I was last here.' Thompson mumbled before turning to Shepard, 'You'll want to be careful, the presence of a Spectre will be unwelcome here.' she just nodded in response. Once again Garrus felt his thoughts turn towards Shepard: she was an…unusual woman. He just couldn't forget how she had reacted back on Asteroid X57; it wasn't the choice he would make, but he could see her reasoning. I wonder what she would have made of the Saleon case… Garrus thought as the ship came in to dock. Almost immediately the two Commanders walked into the airlock, the rest of the ground team following behind. After they exited the Normandy, they were greeted by a security team.

'That's far enough.' the lead female said.

'We're not here to cause problems.' Shepard replied.

'This is an unscheduled arrival. I need your credentials.'

'I'm a Spectre, my name is Shepard.'

'Load of horsecrap, ma'am.' the other female said. Garrus already didn't like her; she was being far too hostile for his liking.

'We will need to check your identity. In the meantime I must inform you that weapons are not allowed on Noveria. Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons.' Before the woman could take a single step forwards, the entire team raised their weapons.

'Why don't you come over here and try it, see where that gets you.' Wrex said from behind him. The security team took a few steps back, clearly intimidated by the sheer number of weapons pointed at them.

'Stand down. Their house, their rules.' Shepard lowered her gun.

'If you say so, I hope your shields are working.' Garrus mumbled, following suit. It was then that a voice came over the intercom.

'Captain Matsuo stand down! We have confirmed their identity, Spectres are allowed to carry weapons here.' Garrus began smirking; being with a Spectre certainly had its perks.

'Very well, I hope the rest of your visit here will be less confrontational. Parasini-san will meet you up those stairs.' the security team stepped aside, allowing them access. When they crossed an unseen threshold, alarms started sounding from every direction. Almost immediately a dark-skinned woman in a long dress appeared waving her arms.

'It's alright, they're just weapon detectors, you're clear to come through.' Shepard walked up to her, 'I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. We apologise for the incident in the docked bay.'

'I appreciate your help.' Shepard said.

'You understand our security chief was only doing her job. One of my duties is seeing to the orientation of new arrivals. Do you have any questions?'

'Has anyone unusual passed through here recently?'

'Unusual? An asari Matriarch passed through a few days ago. Lady Benezia.' upon hearing this Liara gasped.

'Benezia-? She is here?' this would complicate things, Garrus had no idea what could be going through her head at that moment.

'Can I speak with her?' Shepard asked.

'Benezia left for the Peak 15 research complex days ago. To the best of my knowledge, she's still there.'

'Could you tell me how to get there?'

'You will need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave this port.' Thompson became slightly agitated by this.

'Wonderful, just wonderful.' He mumbled.

'Understood, can we go in now?' Shepard continued on, disregarding Thompson's comment.

'Yes you can, the administrators office is just round the corner.' Parasini said before leaving the way she came. Shepard turned to Liara.

'I imagine you want to talk to me, Shepard. About my mother.' said Liara.

'No, I don't. I trust you Liara, you're part of my crew after all.' Shepard responded.

'Thank you Shepard, that means a lot to me.' everybody starting walking towards the elevator, except Thompson, who walked over to Liara.

'Hey, are you okay?' he said.

'I will be fine, thank you. It was just a shock to find out that Benezia is here.' Liara replied.

'Well, if you need to talk, I'm here for you.' Thompson was being very gentle here, a far cry from his behaviour on the previous mission.

'Thank you Thompson, I'll keep that in mind.' she said as they arrived at the elevator. A few moments later they were in a large plaza. A large plaza with almost nobody in sight. The place was pretty much deserted. They walked over to the Administrator's office, the guards waving them through. When Parasini saw Shepard, she told her that Anoleis was waiting for them in the room behind her.

'Here we go.' Thompson mumbled under his breath. Garrus was curious to see why he was acting like this about the Administrator, after all, how bad could he be? Garrus soon found out when the fast-talking salarian stonewalled them throughout the entire meeting. Everybody was getting more and more agitated while the irritating bureaucrat denied them the right to leave the port. Thompson breathed a heavy sigh after they left his office, 'He was exactly as I remember him. I'm surprised he didn't recognise me though.'

'Looks like we're on our own, I wonder if that Parasini woman could help us.'

'Worth a shot.' Garrus said as Shepard led them back to the reception area.

'You've never worked in the corporate world, have you Shepard? You can't bludgeon through bureaucracy.' Parasini said upon greeting the Commander.

'So it would seem. I need an alternative.'

'Talk to Lorik Qui'in. He should be at the hotel bar. Can't say more, not within earshot of Mr Anoleis.' she whispered.

'I'll do that, talk to you later.' Shepard left the office and began walking toward the bar, 'What do you make of this Thompson?'

'The only two ways to cut through corporations are bribery and blackmail. Seeing how our dear friend Anoleis behaved back there, I'm more in favour of the latter. The way Parasini talked about this Qui'in fellow, I'd guess that he has the information we need to do just that.' Shepard nodded before they entered the elevator. Upon arrival at the bar they saw a well-dressed turian watching them closely. Garrus knew that the other members of his team were unfamiliar with turian behaviour, but he was somewhat disturbed by how intently this man was watching them; it wasn't normal. Commander Shepard approached him.

'Afternoon. Sit down, have a drink. What can I do for you.' he said in a jovial tone. Garrus was definitely concerned now: this man was far too friendly.

'Are you Lorik Qui'in? I was told you could help me.'

'You are the Spectre that just arrived, are you not? What could an old turian like me possibly help you with?'

'I'm trying to find a way into the garage. I need your help.'

'How fortuitous. I have a problem I need dealt with; the Administrator closed down my office recently. He has become quite wealthy after taking direct control of rents.' Garrus could see a smirk appear on Thompson's face: this is just what they needed.

'I'm sensing a connection there.' Shepard said.

'Indeed. I acquired evidence of the Administrator's actions. His goons are ransacking the place as we speak. I sense you wish to leave this port, Anoleis would be disinclined to let you wander. If you recover the evidence from my office, I will give you my garage pass, as well as a sum of credits.'

'You have a plan?'

'I do. However there is one more 'fly in the lotion' as you humans put it.' Garrus couldn't help but roll his eyes at this; even he knew that was wrong, 'Anoleis has members of the Hanshan security force searching my office. Ms Matsuo is unaware of their outside employment.'

'I'll focus on getting the data. I won't fire unless I have to, but I shan't hesitate; they are corrupt after all.'

'Quite, here's a keycard and an OSD; the keycard will grant you access to my office and the OSD has an auto-execute decryption protocol.' Shepard turned to leave, 'Oh and do try to keep the bloodstains off the carpets would you?' Garrus was thoroughly unsettled by now; what was a person like him doing on Noveria? His questions would have to go unanswered though, as they were already filing into the elevator to leave. When they arrived at the office in question, they were confronted by a pair of security officers. Almost immediately the sound of guns being drawn echoed throughout the office and the two guards found themselves staring down the barrels of a large number of weapons.

'Freeze! Hanshan security. This office is sealed.' the female said, she was trying to sound assertive but the quivering Garrus could hear in her voice clearly told him she was scared.

'Lorik Qui'in gave me a pass in.' Shepard said, lowering her gun.

'Qui'in? Are you working for him? He's under investigation.'

'Anoleis is paying you to shake this place down. Does Captain Matsuo know you're here?'

'Hey, Anoleis is the one who want's Qui'in. He's got a varren up his ass about this guy.' she nervously looked around the office, 'Why don't you pretend you didn't see us and we'll pretend we didn't see you.' the woman said before walking off with her partner.

'Why didn't we shoot them? They were corrupt.' Wrex grumbled.

'They probably didn't have any choice, besides they didn't shoot us.' Shepard answered. The team began advancing cautiously through the office. Before long, gunshots could be heard as everyone scrambled for cover. Garrus kicked over a desk and hid behind it, switching to his sniper rifle. As Garrus peeked his head over the desk he saw three guards pinning them down from a balcony above them. One of the guards was spraying the wall Shepard was hiding behind with a blistering wall of bullets, effectively keeping her out of the fight. Fortunately, three enemies could not confine them all to cover and Garrus was being effectively ignored, so he took aim with his sniper rifle. With a single pull of the trigger the guard fell, brain matter exploding against the armour of his colleagues. They staggered back, looks of sheer horror on their faces at seeing one of their friends executed in such a brutal fashion. Seizing this opportunity, Wrex pulled one of the two remaining guards towards him with biotics. The poor man then received the full force of a krogan head-butt, causing him to fall limply to the floor. Before the final man could even process what just happened, he was riddled with holes as the remainder of the ground team opened fire on him.

As they neared the top of the stairs, two more guards ran out from behind a side room. Before they could release one shot, however, they both fell to the ground, clutching their throats as Thompson materialised out of thin air. Now the way was clear to Qui'in's personal office. Upon arrival, Shepard slid the OSD into the nearby computer. A few seconds later, a beeping noise was heard, signalling the end of the transfer. Shepard retrieved the OSD and began to leave the office, but stopped when she saw a small contingent of guards led by none other than Sergeant Stirling. Garrus permitted himself a grin: he was going to enjoy this.

'I don't think you're supposed to be in here Shepard.' she said, taking a few steps forward.

'You have me at a disadvantage, Miss…' Shepard said, a smirk beginning to form on her face.

'Oh, now you're going to show some respect? I'm Sergeant Kaira Stirling, Elanus Risk Control Services. Anoleis would throw you off world for what you did here. I won't. You know what we did to cop killers on my world?'

'You're searching a place you're not supposed to be in for bribe money. You know what we do to dirty cops on my world?' Wrex growled.

'I didn't want to fight them. They fired first.' Shepard answered, ignoring Wrex's comment.

'Well I don't need a gun, to rip you to pieces.' Stirling said, her squad drawing their weapons. They're out in the open, facing superior odds. What do they think they're doing? Garrus thought as he drew his assault rifle and opened fire. Suddenly, the trio of guards were wrapped in a blue glow and lifted into the air, courtesy of Liara. The otherwise trivial fight suddenly turned into a slaughter as they offloaded their weapons into the helpless forms. Within seconds they fell to the ground, very dead, and Shepard continued on her way. When they exited the elevator back onto the plaza, Parasini was waiting for them.

'Commander. There've been reports of noise from the Synthetic insights office. Would you know anything about it?' she said

'It's probably Anoleis' thugs ripping the place apart.' Shepard replied.

'Smartass huh? Well, I can work with that. Meet me at the hotel bar, before you speak to Qui'in.' Parasini walked off towards the bar elevator as Shepard looked at Thompson. He just shrugged and they followed the woman to the elevator. By the time they got to the bar Parasini was waiting for them in a secluded corner.

'Let me reintroduce myself: I'm Gianna Parasini, Noveria internal affairs.'

'Why is an internal affairs agent here?' Shepard asked.

'The board knows about Anoleis' corruption. I've been on his trail for months now. I want you to convince Qui'in to testify before the board. With his evidence, this planet could run profitably again.'

'I like that; we get our garage pass and put that arrogant bastard in jail. Everyone's happy.' Garrus said.

'So long as we get our garage pass, nothing else matters.' Shepard began to smirk again, 'Though taking Anoleis down would be a big bonus.'

'Don't worry; you'll get your pass.' Parasini replied, 'Just uphold your part of the bargain. When you've finished with Qui'in, you'll know where to find me.' she walked off towards the elevator.

'Well Shepard, looks like it's time for you to work that charm of yours.' Thompson said, a twinkle in his eye. Shepard winked at him, a sly smile touching the edges of her mouth.

'You guys wait here, I'll deal with this.' Shepard walked over to the Turian and began speaking with him. Qui'in became more and more agitated as the conversation went on, until eventually he just sat back in his chair and waved Shepard off. A pit began to form in Garrus' stomach until he saw the smile on Shepard's face, 'Well that's that seen to. Let's go talk to Parasini, I'm sure she'd love to finally make the arrest.'


They entered the garage after showing the guard their pass and began making their way towards the Mako waiting for them there. Garrus felt uneasy as he walked through the silent room, he could feel something watching him. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and drew his pistol, but as soon as he took aim, it was gone.

'Something wrong Garrus?' Shepard asked, diverting his attention.

'We're not alone here Shepard. I—' Garrus was interrupted by the sound of metal hitting metal. The squad turned to see a large number of geth closing in on their position.

'Shit.' someone said from nearby as everybody ran for the crates. Garrus' back slammed into the metal surface as bullets began flying all over the place. He drew his sniper rifle and waited for an opening. He didn't have to wait for long as the sound of bullets hitting his cover abated. Garrus looked around the corner to see Thompson in the thick of it, providing them with a distraction. Garrus aimed his rifle at a red geth platform holding a rocket launcher, about to fire at Thompson. With a sharp crack the first bullet impacted the geth's shields, knocking it back a step. Garrus unleashed another bullet on it before the shields fell. With one final pull of the trigger he sent a round flying through the glowing optics of the geth trooper, causing it to flicker and die. He surveyed the scene to find several geth suspended in the air while yet more were diving for cover from a geth prime that had turned on them. Garrus began picking off more geth platforms one by one, executing each with well-practiced precision. Left. Breathe. Fire. Aim. Fire. Suddenly the garage went silent as the last of the geth fell. The door opened behind them as Captain Matsuo stepped into the room, a look of disbelief on her face.

'Commander Shepard, what have you done here? Why are there geth everywhere?' she asked in an incredulous voice.

'You think I smuggled geth here just so I could kill them?' Shepard smirked, 'I'm all for improving my personal image but I think you've been watching too many vids.'

'Damn it, they must have been in Benezia-sama's crates.' Matsuo mumbled, ignoring Shepard, 'I'll have to go report to the board, if word of the geth gets out there will be an investor panic.' Garrus shook his head as the security Captain walked out of the garage. Typical private sector police. He thought as they began to file into the Mako. As usual, Garrus took his place next to Shepard, the now-familiar gunnery controls spread out in front of him. Shepard gunned the engines and the doors opened to reveal a raging blizzard. Garrus shivered uncomfortably even though the Mako was climate controlled: turians hated the cold with a passion and this frozen ball of rock was a far cry from the tropical climate of Palaven. Fortunately they could make out the edge of the pathway through the snow, so they didn't have to worry about falling. Before long they came across a tunnel that had been blockaded by the geth but Garrus made short work of them, the Mako cannon destroying a turret in a shower of sparks and molten metal and the machine gun ripping through the shields blocking their path. The smaller geth proved even less of a problem as Shepard crushed them under the weight of the Mako without slowing down.

The rest of the journey to Peak 15 went by in a similar manner, any geth resistance being destroyed by the power of the Mako's guns. Garrus was actually getting quite bored by the time they reached the facility and he was glad to be able to give his trigger finger some rest. After emerging from the Mako Garrus came to the conclusion that he really didn't like the cold. It was therefore with great relief that he walked through the doors into the Peak 15 research facility. They walked into a large, open area with crates scattered all around; the same crates as the ones in the garage. Garrus drew his assault rifle and prepared for a fight. Sure enough, within seconds a large number of geth platforms appeared, along with a few krogan. He noticed Thompson and Wrex make a beeline for the enemy krogan and so decided to confine himself to shooting at the geth targets. Firing up his omni-tool, Garrus launched an overload on the nearest geth, downing its shields, before spraying it with bullets. As soon as it fell to the ground he moved on, watching as another geth platform was lifted up into the air and thrown against the far wall. Garrus brought down the shields of another before being forced back into cover due to his weapon overheating. He muttered a curse under his breath as he switched to a pistol and jumped back into combat only to see his target writhing on the floor with electricity sparking across its metal frame.

Garrus turned just in time to see another geth running straight at him; he barely had time to leap out of the way before it was upon him. He landed on his back with a dull thud as the geth stood over him. It was just about to raise its shotgun when Garrus swung his legs into those of the geth, causing it to fall face-first onto the floor. He brought his pistol up to its head but the thing flailed its arms, causing him to lose his gun. With a snarl, Garrus closed his fingers into a fist and punched it in the head. Hard. Hard enough to knock out its optics. Garrus quickly grasped onto its head with both hands, pulling as hard as he could. With an almighty screech the metal sheared and the geth platform finally stopped moving. Grunting in pain from the dull ache where he had hit the ground, Garrus lay against the wall, trying to catch his breath. When he saw a pair of legs in front of him he realised the fight was over. Looking up he saw Commander Thompson, a mischievous smile on his face.

'Nicely done Garrus, remind me never to agree to spar with you.' Garrus just chuckled, too winded to make a proper comment as Thompson helped him to his feet. He bent down to retrieve his pistol and joined the rest of his squad by the door; noting on his way that there was an awfully large pool of blood around the krogan corpses. When he reached the top of the stairs he heard a VI mention something about a power outage, but he ignored it and continued on. When he walked through the door, Garrus was confronted by an odd sight: two deactivated turrets facing the wrong way.

'They must want to keep their own in more than they want to keep others out.' he mumbled as they walked through the corridor and into the elevator. When the elevator arrived, the squad emerged into a large room, with about five geth in it. Before the geth could even react, they had been destroyed by the concentrated firepower of Shepard's team. As they neared the centre of the room, Garrus became overwhelmed by a very strange scent, one that he had never experienced before. The entire team raised their weapons when they heard noises coming from the walls.

'Great, geth and wall-monsters. Definitely missing from my last visit.' Thompson said under his breath.

'Don't worry, I'll protect you.' Wrex chuckled as the noises grew closer. His laughing was cut short, however, when he caught sight of the source of the noises. They were like no creatures Garrus had ever seen; definitely insectiod, with two pods protruding from long, whip-like appendages. With a screech it came rushing at them, barely even slowing down, even with the sheer amount of bullets riddling its body. The two pods opened and shot a viscous, green liquid at Ashley. She just managed to dodge out of the way as the green liquid splashed up a concrete wall and began eating away at it. Acid! This is going to make things interesting. Garrus thought as Wrex ran up to it, bringing his shotgun to bear. He fired again and again, causing the thing's blood to splatter all over the floor. He continued beating it to a bloody pulp long after it was dead. Shepard walked over and touched his arm.

'Wrex, what the hell is wrong?' she asked. Wrex looked her in the eye before answering.

'These things aren't supposed to be here Shepard! My people destroyed them long ago, every single one!' Garrus reeled back at the implications of this.

'Damn.' he said, looking at the corpse again. Now that he thought about it, it did look like those old vids. He just didn't understand how they could be here, over a thousand years after their destruction.

'What the hell are rachni doing here?' Thompson asked.

'We'll just have to go and find out won't we?' Shepard said as they made their way up the stairs and to yet another elevator. As they slowly ascended upwards, Garrus could almost feel Wrex's anger. They walked out of the elevator to find more rachni, these ones considerably smaller than before, waiting for them. They ran towards the squad unbelievably fast and they only just managed to kill the small creatures before they could reach them. Each rachni exploded in a haze of acid. Next to the entrance was a backup power generator that had sustained some small amount of damage. Tali immediately began work on it and before long she had the power up and running, but apparently the VI was broken and would need to be fixed so Tali walked over to the back of the room and descended into the pit housing the station's VI interface databanks. Once again, the expert machinist had things running in no time at all and she resurfaced after only a few seconds in the hole before a holographic image of a woman appeared above the platform.

'It looks like you're trying to restore this facility. Would you like help?' it said

'You're the virtual intelligence that runs this place?' Shepard asked.

'This system is monitored to respond to the name "Mira". May I ask your name?'

'Commander Shepard, Citadel Tactics and Reconnaissance.' Garrus stopped listening at this point, as the VI then began to list the various tasks that would need to be done before they could reach Benezia. The first objective was the reactor core, so they headed there first. When they reached the bottom of the elevator, Garrus was glad to note that their opponents were geth; he hated facing those rachni. Garrus raised his pistol and nailed a geth platform that Liara raised into the air as Wrex charged forwards, letting all his anger loose in the heat of battle. Garrus saw Kaidan raise another geth while Ash shot it to pieces. Tali unleashed an overload on the nearest geth to her and Garrus took that opportunity to shoot it through the head. The fight was soon over and Tali walked over to the reactor core.

'The He3 fuel line's been cut; shouldn't be much of a problem, though.' she began fiddling with her omni-tool. Pretty soon the severed pipe was covered in a thick, grey ooze that hardened quickly. When the omni-gel was finished Mira's voice came over the intercom stating that the reactor was now online. With their first objective complete the team filed back into the elevator, bringing them up to the service room. As they began walking towards the tram lines Garrus noticed the strange scent had returned. He was about to warn his comrades but before he could say anything a panel was thrust back and one of the large rachni pinned Thompson to the ground. It began scratching at his armour, tearing great gouges in it, but upon seeing it being ineffective it reared back and opened up one of its pods. Just before it fired Wrex threw it out of the way, but some of the acid still hit Thompson's right arm as his face contorted in pain. Wrex proceeded to destroy the rachni with multiple shotgun blasts to the face while Shepard helped Thompson to his feet.

'Are you okay?' she asked, concern etched across her features.

'I'll be fine, the acid hasn't hit anything vital, though I doubt I'll be indulging in close combat anytime soon.' he said in a gruff voice. There was something Garrus didn't understand, however, that he intended to find out.

'You looked like you were in pain there, how's that possible?' Thompson turned to face him.

'The cybernetics I was given have nerve-simulators that hook up directly to my nervous system. Helps in combat, amongst other things. Hurts like a bitch when they plug it in though.' he answered, walking towards the door, 'Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. We need to focus on the mission.' They piled into yet another elevator that would bring them to the tram lines. When they reached the top Garrus was assailed by the scent again, much stronger this time.

'We've got company.' he said, aiming his assault rifle at the door. As soon as the door opened Garrus caught sight of four large rachni surrounded by the smaller rachni. Oh boy. He thought, opening fire on the smaller creatures. He saw two of the large rachni get engulfed in a blue glow before being raised off the ground while a third became frozen in place. Garrus' assault rifle made short work of the little exploding things and once he had finished on them he turned his attention to the bigger rachni. The one untouched by biotics had made it half way across the room before being killed and the frozen one was beginning to move again, so he opened fire on that. The team pumped round after round into it before it finally succumbed to its injuries. Wrex ran forward as the two floating rachni hit the ground, grabbing one and hurling it against the wall, leaving the rest of the team to kill the other one. Before it died, however, it managed to get off one shot at Wrex, causing the krogan to grunt in pain as the acid seared through his armour. With a final screech of pain the last rachni fell and the team moved on.

'I'm beginning to hate these more than turians.' Wrex grumbled.

'I'm touched Wrex, does that mean we're friends now?' Garrus asked.

'Only until these things are dead. After that it's business as usual.' Garrus shook his head as Tali reconnected the tram lines. Once that was done they headed back to the server room and then made their way to the tram station.


'Stand down.' said the lead human, the other two lowering their weapons. Shepard stepped forward, 'Sorry. We couldn't be sure what was on the tram.'

'I'd only be upset if they fired.'

'Even hopped up on stims my guys know the rule: two legs good, four legs bad. Look. You're human, and that's enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are.'

'My name's Shepard, I'm a spectre.' the man raised an eyebrow at this.

'Well I won't look a heavily armed horse in the mouth. Those things overran the hot labs a few days ago. The first we knew, the bastards were clawing into our command post. We had a lot more staff back then.'

'You were taken by surprise and had civilians to protect. You did a good job.'

'Yeah, well. It sure doesn't feel like it. The board sent an asari to clean up the mess. She went to the hot labs yesterday. We haven't heard from her since.'

'I'm not going to let any more of your people die.'

'Here's the key card for the hot labs elevator, you'll need it if you want to follow that asari. Oh, and if you need any first aid, Dr Cohen's down in the med bay.'

'I've got work to do.' Shepard said, turning to leave.

'Yeah, I hear tha—' he was interrupted by the sound of clawing in the vents, 'Aw hell, man the perimeter!' suddenly a pair of rachni emerged from behind them and the team sprang into action. Wrex immediately tackled one of them while Liara suspended the other in mid-air, allowing everyone else to shoot at it. Once both had been dealt with, they walked over to the elevator and made their way to the hot labs.

The neutron purge had been activated, but Garrus sensed something wasn't right. As the door opened back into the hot labs, he saw why; there were dozens of rachni in the room, all waiting to get a shot at them. Realising there was no way they could fight them all, the biotics in the team cleared them a path through the mass of creatures. Garrus ran as fast as his legs would carry him, diving into the elevator. As soon as the rest of the team was inside he hit the button and they started ascending. Garrus breathed a sigh of relief that suddenly turned into a gasp of pain. He found, to his horror, that some acid had splashed onto his arm. Thompson immediately grabbed at his armour, trying to tear it off before more acid could reach his skin. Garrus just stood there, his face contorted in pain, as the rest of the team tried desperately to help. After what seemed like an eternity the pain went away and was replaced with the cooling numbness of medi-gel. Garrus looked down to see that the armour around his left arm had been removed, exposing the acid burns. It wasn't pretty. Regardless, Garrus tried to continue on as though nothing had happened, despite the concerns of the team. They had more important things to do; like find out why they were lied to about Matriarch Benezia being in the hot labs. When they found the security chief, he was surrounded by a large group of armed soldiers that had not been there before.

'I'm sorry about this Shepard, we've got orders from Benezia. Open fire!' the security team drew their weapons just as Garrus dived behind cover. The bastard sold us out! He thought, drawing his assault rifle. His first target was their leader, the one who had betrayed them. Opening up his omni-tool, Garrus selected the overload program, activating it on the leader. Before the man could retreat to safety, he received a burst to the head, courtesy of Garrus' assault rifle. The rest of the security team fell quickly, no match for trained professionals. Shepard walked through the nearest door and took the elevator down. When they arrived they saw a volus being held at gunpoint by an asari commando. Before words could be exchanged the commando ducked behind cover, throwing a biotic warp in their direction. The warp hit only air, however, as the squad scrambled for cover. In the end it was not necessary as Liara held the commando in a biotic lift, allowing Wrex to execute her with a single shotgun blast to the face.

'You should leave. Wherever I go, I am the only survivor.' said the volus.

'I won't let anything happen. Why was she trying to kill you?' Shepard asked.

'Why do you think? We failed. Saren sent the matriarch to remove us.' Liara looked startled at this.

'Benezia's alive? She's here?' the fear was clearly present in her voice.

'She ordered Ventralis to send you to the hot labs. She expected the rachni to kill you.'

'Just point me in the right direction.' Shepard said.

'Through the checkpoint, just keep going.' the volus walked off, muttering to himself about getting out of here. They walked through the door into a natural tunnel through the ice, and Garrus once again thought of how he hated the cold. As they slowly made their way through the tunnel, Garrus began to notice that scent again. When they rounded a corner, he saw the source: a single rachni. Within seconds, the creature was lying on the ground in a pool of its own blood, riddled with holes. They continued on through the tunnel until they reached a door, beyond which was a large room. In the centre of the room, accessible through a raised platform, was a containment tube. From where they were standing, Garrus couldn't tell what was in the tube. Standing in front of the glass container was an asari dressed all in black, with a very strange headdress. The figure turned towards them.

'You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it towards happiness or despair.' she turned back to face the tank, 'Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies. I won't be moved by sympathy, no matter who you bring into this confrontation.'

'Liara's here because she wanted to be here, not because I forced her to come.' Shepard said.

'Indeed? What have you told her Liara?'

'What could I say mother? That you're insane? Evil?' Liara was getting more distressed, 'Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?'

'Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have.' Benezia asked, ignoring her daughter completely. Garrus could see Liara struggling to fight the urge to say something. Thompson could be heard mumbling something behind them.

'I have. That was a good mission; I'll have to tell you about it sometime.'

'I can't believe you'd kill your own daughter.'

'I now realise I should have been stricter.' Benezia clenched her fist, surrounding herself in a biotic glow. Suddenly, doors all around the room were flung open, revealing a number of asari commandoes. Garrus aimed his rifle at the foremost asari, only to be flung to the floor by their biotics. While getting up, he noticed Thompson was floating in mid-air. Aiming his rifle again, Garrus opened fire. The biotic barriers surrounding the asari absorbing the shots. He continued to fire, however, until he saw the shots begin connecting. With a single pull of the trigger, the asari's life was ended, the round piercing her throat. He saw another asari being flung against a nearby wall with a sickening crunch while the third received Ashley's shotgun to the face.

Benezia once again clenched her fists, this time sending a wave of geth at them. Garrus, Tali and Kaidan all activated overloads simultaneously, completely disabling their shields while Wrex, Ashley and Shepard tore through them with gunfire. Thompson was nowhere to be seen. The last geth was killed by Liara, who threw a box into it hard enough to shear its chest plate open. Next, Garrus heard a thud, and the body of an asari commando that had been sneaking up on them fell to the floor as Thompson materialised above her. Benezia called in one more wave of geth, dispatched just as easily as the last. Finally, Shepard and Liara walked over to Benezia, who was hunched over a console. It was at this point that Garrus saw the contents of the tube: a rachni much larger than any they had encountered.

'This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear.' she said, turning towards them.

'The rachni didn't cooperate with you, why should I?' Shepard asked, a scowl on her face.

'I will not betray him. You will—you…' Benezia paused, clutching at her head, 'You must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions. Briefly. But the indoctrination is strong.' Liara looked shocked at this revelation, but seemingly decided against saying anything.

'So you could turn on me again?' Shepard asked.

'Yes. But it would not be my will. People are not themselves around Saren. You come to idolise him. Worship him. You would do anything for him. The key is Sovereign, his flagship. It is a dreadnought of considerable size and its power is extraordinary.'

'Sovereign's not like other ships, where did it come from?'

'I cannot say. It was not built by the geth. Its technology is far above that of any living species. The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. It is subtle at first. I thought I was strong enough to resist. Instead, I became a willing tool, eager to serve. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago.'

'Someone on Noveria found it?'

'The rachni inhabited that part of the galaxy. They can share information across generations. I took the knowledge from this queen. I was not gentle.'

'You can still make it right. Give me the information.'

'The data is on this OSD. Here, take it.'

'Knowing the coordinates is not enough. Do you know where Saren planned on going after there?' Liara asked. Garrus could hear a distinctly strained tone in her voice.

'I am afraid I do not. He would not tell me of his plans. You must find out his destination quickly. I transmitted the coordinates before you arrived.' Benezia once again clutched at her head, almost driven to her knees in pain, 'You have to stop—me. I can't—his teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should—uh, you should—' Garrus could hear the pain in her voice. Benezia nearly collapsed on the floor and Liara tried to run forward to help her but Shepard held her back.

'Mother! You can fight this!' the despair in Liara's voice was almost unbearable, 'Please mother you have to fight him!'

'I was always proud of you Liara.' Benezia turned to look away, tears streaming down her face. All was silent for a few seconds before she turned to face them again. All emotion had been drained away and there was a hollow look in her eyes, 'Die.' she said, raising her arm. Before she could do anything, Shepard shot her in the chest. The round was not deflected at all; clearly Benezia was too exhausted to erect a barrier. She looked up at the ceiling.

'No light? They said there would be a…' her voice trailed off as she breathed her last breath. Liara ran forward, mourning over her mother's body as Shepard approached the console. The rachni began twitching slightly as they approached. Garrus heard a noise from behind him and was startled to see one of the asari commandoes stand up and begin shuffling towards the tube. It turned to face the group.

'This one. Serves as our. Voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low. Spaces. Your musics are. Colourless.' the asari said in a hauntingly stilted voice.

'What are you talking about?' Shepard asked.

'Your way of communicating is strange. It does not colour the air. When we speak, one moves all.' this time the voice was considerably less stilted, 'We are the mother. We sing for those who are silenced. We are rachni.' Shepard took a few steps towards the tank.

'You're controlling her?'

'She is weak to urging. We sing through touchings of thought. She has colours we have no names for. She is ending. You are not in harmony with those who seek to control us. What will you sing?' Wrex stepped forward.

'Shepard, you have to kill her. Those tanks are full of acid. Use them. My people fought and died to kill these things. You can't let her live.' Garrus decided to voice his opinion.

'For once, I agree with the krogan. These things are a menace to the galaxy, they need to be killed.' Ashley was the next one to speak.

'We shouldn't be making this decision. It's the Council's problem.'

'If we hand them over to the Council, that will be the same as killing them ourselves.' Kaidan argued, 'There'd be no point.'

'We have the chance to right a terrible wrong here Shepard. The galaxy made a mistake with the rachni.' Liara said. Tali nodded her head.

'I agree. Genocide is wrong, it doesn't matter who's the target.'

'Your companions speak the truth. You can free us, or silence us forever.' the rachni said. Shepard turned to Thompson.

'You're the only one who hasn't said anything. What do you think?' He took a long time to answer.

'Who are we to say that they should die? What gives us the right to be the arbiter of justice? To condemn an entire race to the annals of history? Genocide is wrong, yet we inflict it upon them. Why? Because they would do the same to us? Because they are a danger to the galaxy? No. It is because they don't look like us, so it's easier to do. Would we do the same if the turians tried to take over? Or the asari? No. We wouldn't.' he turned to Wrex, 'You've been on the receiving end of a genocide campaign Wrex. Do you really wish that on another people for no other reason than because your ancestors fought them?' Wrex stared at him for a few seconds before answering.

'No. I guess not.'

'Exactly. I will still follow you, regardless of your decision Shepard. But I know where my vote lies.' Garrus was gobsmacked. He had thought Thompson would join him but instead he was in favour of saving it. Garrus decided he would never understand humans, although it was a good point Thompson raised. So he wasn't surprised when Shepard decided to free the rachni. She turned away from the now empty tube and turned her eyes to the ceiling.

'The Council's just going to love this.'