A/N: Thank you once again for reading, and especially to those who took the time out to review! Much appreciated!

It has been several days since I've heard from Siha. I try not to let it worry me; I know she has been on Tuchanka, and communications are limited. Still, I find my mind wandering during my mediations, unwelcome imaginings preventing me from reaching the clarity I seek.

Kolyat will be here soon to visit. I sit in a chair in my room, finishing a cup of the tea Siha gave me. My breathing is a little easier today, and I take advantage, filling my lungs as far as I dare before releasing it in a slow, steady stream. It is a relief to have a good day at last. My condition is worsening, despite the valiant effort of my doctors. Most days now are spent confined to my bed. Today, I walk to the lounge to wait for my son. It is a simple pleasure to be able to amble about the hospital corridors unaided. Yet there is still the ever-present fear that tomorrow will see me back in that bed.

I do not regret it, however. It gives me time with Kolyat.

The elevator doors open, and my son steps out. He smiles as he spots me in my usual chair by the window. "Hello, Father," he greets when he reaches me. He takes a seat beside me. "You're looking better today."

I return his smile. "Yes, it seems Arashu has granted me a short reprieve."

"I'm glad. Should we –"

We hear a crash. Distant sounds of scraping steel and broken glass fill the air.

The lounge is still, the breaths of a hundred people collectively held suspended in the air. "What was that?" Kolyat murmurs.

I rise to my feet, taking a quick glance out the window before drawing my son away from the glass. Plumes of smoke and fire rise from the Presidium. "Something is wrong," I whisper. Apprehension prickles the back of my neck.

The lounge has now erupted in nervous chatter. Several patients and visitors press themselves against the glass, curious to see what has happened.

"You don't think it's just an electrical fire or something?" Kolyat offers. "Or maybe a car crash?"

I shake my head. "No. Emergency services are quick to respond. More so when it is on the Presidium. Emergency vehicles would have arrived on the scene by now."

I go to the receptionist. "The lounge isn't safe. Gather everyone in the examination room corridor," I tell her. "Keep them away from the windows. Make sure they lock the doors and do not open them for anyone but C-Sec personnel." The faint crackle of gunfire drifts from the Presidium.

"Okay," she replies in a quavering voice. "But what's going on?"

"I do not know yet," I admit. "But you must keep yourselves safe."

She nods before turning to the civilians in the lounge, relaying my commands. Worried faces file past me on their way to the patients' rooms.

"Kolyat," I say, turning to my son, "do you have clearance to stall the elevator?"

"Yes, it'll only take a moment." He runs to the elevator.

"Thane!" a familiar voice calls from behind me.

"Major Alenko," I greet in mild surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I was here for a check-up." He looks around. "Do you know what's going on? I heard gunfire."

"Yes, as did I."

Kolyat rejoins us. "I shut down the elevator."

"Good," Alenko says. He brings up his omni-tool. "Maybe we can –"

The hiss of jetpacks is the only warning. I pull Kolyat behind the receptionist desk as Cerberus commandos burst through the windows at either side. Alenko dives behind a nearby couch just before the commandos open fire.

"You are unarmed?" I call out to him.

The commandos release another volley. "I didn't think I'd need my assault rifle at my check-up," Alenko shouts back. "But I wouldn't say I'm unarmed."

He brings up his omni-tool again, overloading their shields. He follows with biotics, lifting two of the commandos out from behind the couches. I rise for a moment and force them back out of the broken windows with a biotic throw. I take cover once more.

Kolyat nudges me. "Here," he says. He offers me his sidearm.

I shake my head. "You will need it."

"What about you?"

There is a narrow vent beside our feet. "I will acquire my own." I remove the grate with practiced ease. "Hold their attention. And be careful, Kolyat."

He nods then turns to fire at a commando Alenko has just frozen with a cryo blast.

I drop into the vent, landing in a crouch. I press flat against the cold metal, pulling myself along in a soldier's crawl. There is another shaft heading back to the battle above. I listen to the footsteps overhead, waiting for an opportune moment.

I spring from the vent, the noise of the breaking grate muffled by the explosions of grenades. My body moves with little thought to guide it. I duck under Kolyat's shots and slip unnoticed behind the first commando. His neck snaps in my hands. The second commando has seen me, but not before my biotics-charged hand has cracked his armor and reached his solar plexus. He doubles over, struggling to breathe, and my knee connects with his head.

A grenade falls. I leap to the ceiling, catching hold of the sprinklers. After the grenade explodes harmlessly below, I drop into the smoke, letting it mask my pursuit of new prey. I leap into a spinning kick. The smoke swirls. My leg makes contact with the head of the third man, and he is sent sprawling across the room. I drop to my knees, pick up a fallen pistol, and fire one shot through the visor of his helmet.

The smoke clears. I look about the room to reassess the situation. Major Alenko and Kolyat have dispatched the other two commandos, and I am able to relax. It is then that I notice the tightness in my chest. It feels as if I am being compressed from all sides. I take heaving gasps, filling my lungs with as much air as the broken things can hold.

"Father!" Kolyat is at my side at once. His eyes are heavy with worry.

I wave him off before he can speak further. "I'm… all right, Kolyat," I say between gulps of air. "I am… merely out of practice."

"Out of practice?" Alenko repeats. He hefts an assault rifle taken from one of the Cerberus soldiers. "I couldn't do half that stuff on a good day."

Kolyat picks up thermal clips from the floor and distributes them among us. "What do we do now?" he asks. "I should probably check in with C-Sec. See if I can help."

I press steepled fingers to my lips, thinking as I catch my breath. "I agree that we should… head towards C-Sec. It will give us a better idea of what we're up against. However…"

"It's probably the first place Cerberus hit," Alenko finishes.

"Precisely. We must exercise extreme caution."

The Major shoulders his rifle, frowning. "I'll go with you as far as the Commons."

Kolyat eyes him curiously. "You're not coming to C-Sec with us?"

Alenko shakes his head. "I'm a Spectre now. I have to protect the Council at any cost."

"But there are civilians out there!" Kolyat snaps at him. "They need our help more than the Council does!"

Alenko appears apologetic, but holds his ground. "No. We can't let Cerberus take control of the Citadel. Those civilians will suffer a lot more if they do."

I put a hand on Kolyat's shoulder. "This is not the time to argue." Silently, I offer a brief prayer to Kalahira for the souls of the departed soldiers. I then turn to Alenko. "I am ready."

"Wait," Kolyat says. He runs to an aid station at the corner of the lounge. He obtains packs of medi-gel and an oxygen mask. When he returns, he hands two packs to each of us and clips the mask to his belt. "Ready."

I glance at the oxygen mask and smile at his thoughtfulness.

The elevator is too much of a risk. Instead, we take the emergency exit, a stairway that leads down to the Presidium Commons. I take the lead. It has been many years since I did regular work on the Citadel, but the back alleys and service tunnels have changed little from the memories I see in my mind's eye.

We step out of a service tunnel and emerge near the bank. The Commons are eerily deserted, yet there is evidence of chaos at every turn. Shattered advertisements flicker with unintelligible messages. Café tables lie on their sides with the half-eaten remains of a dozen meals littering the ground around them. A few remaining civilians run in terror, clinging to the fingers of loved ones as they flee.

"Looks like Cerberus moved on from here," Major Alenko says in a low voice.

"So it would appear," I agree. "The Commons do not provide a tactical advantage. It is likely that we will only encounter a small detail of commandos, left to contain the civilian population."

"Let's hope so."

I catch his arm before he has a chance to lead us onward. "We should try to get a message out to Shepard," I tell him.

Alenko pulls his arm away. "Shepard was with Cerberus. She might be with them again. For all I know, she's in on this."

I raise a brow, truly surprised. "You believe that?"

"I… Honestly, I don't know what I believe." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "You trust her?"

His words puzzle me still. Siha and I are partners. Love cannot flourish where there is no trust. "Without question."

Alenko studies my face for a moment. "I'll help you hack into the emergency channels, but then you're on your own."

I bow my head in silent thanks.

"There's a C-Sec outpost near here," Kolyat puts in. "We'll be able to hack into emergency channels there. We might be able to see what's going on at headquarters as well."

We move past the transit station and elevators towards the corridor that leads to the apartments. The armored footsteps of Cerberus troops fall heavy on the pavement nearby. They stand guard, no doubt keeping the herded civilians from escaping. We hide behind the wall, flattening ourselves against it.

My chest still feels tight. It is difficult to keep from coughing.

Alenko holds up a hand, raising fingers to time our attack – one, two, three. He rounds the corner, lifting the soldiers off their feet with his biotics. Kolyat fires at one while I send a warp field crashing into the other. Kolyat's aim is true; it takes him only two shots to dispatch of the guard. I allow myself a moment of pride. I smile at him briefly before finishing off the final guard with a shot to the head.

We hurry down the long corridor, encountering several assault troopers as we step out onto the landing overlooking the gardens. The battle is not difficult, and it is not long before we reach the stairs just outside the C-Sec outpost.

Major Alenko turns to us. "It's hard to tell," he whispers, "but I think there are three of them in there."

"Four," I correct him, listening to the footfalls, the light creak of armor. "There is a centurion in the back."

He nods. "Four, then. The other three are just troopers, so they shouldn't be too hard to take out with biotics. Concentrate fire on the Centurion."

"Understood," Kolyat says, dropping another heat sink into his pistol.

When Alenko gives the signal, we round the corner. Blue blasts of biotics slam into the soldiers before they even face us. Alenko overloads the centurion's shields. Kolyat and I fire. An assault trooper beside Alenko is not yet unconscious and gets to his feet. They struggle for a moment, until the Major pierces the trooper with his omni-blade.

Soon, the centurion falls as well. Kolyat wastes no time. He runs to the console. "The network's down, but some of the security cameras are online," he says. "Let me see what's going on at headquarters." There is a pause as he flips between camera feeds. He curses under his breath.

"Trouble?" Alenko asks, coming around the desk to look at the feed.

Kolyat nods. "It looks like a warzone. There's so many of them! Look, there's even an Atlas."

Alenko points to another screen. ""They're all over the docks too. Transport shuttles. They're bringing in more troops."

Kolyat looks up at the Major. "We need help. We need Commander Shepard."

Alenko gestures for Kolyat to step aside and he takes over the console. His omni-tool comes alight as he hacks into the terminal. "Even if she's not with Cerberus anymore, she won't get here in time. Last I heard, she was on Tuchanka."

"She will be here," I say, watching the courtyard for movement.

Alenko appears skeptical. "How can you be so sure?"

I give a small smile. "It is her nature. Arashu guides her to where she is most needed."

The Major's brow furrows, but he says nothing, returning to his task. Moments pass in silence.

"We're in," Alenko says at last. He enters a command into his omni-tool. "I've transferred control to you, Thane. You should have open communications throughout the station."

"Thank you, Major."

He glances toward the courtyard. "I have to get going. Somebody has to reach the Council before more Cerberus troops come through." He heads to the doorway. "You shouldn't stay here," he tells us over his shoulder. "Once they don't hear back from these guys, this place will be swarming with commandos. Watch your backs, and take care of yourselves."

I nod. "You as well. Thank you again for your help."

He leaves, his footsteps fading quickly. It is odd, but I feel as if I will not see him again.