IV: Holocaust

by RedCenturionG

The Reapers are here, and the war has finally begun. All sentient life in the galaxy is depending on Shepard to save them. And he will have to assemble the largest military force in galactic history to save those he loves. He will make alliances with people he hates, but will create new coalitions thought never possible. This is the Holocaust. And how far will he go to stop it?

10. Chapter 9 The Blood Shall Flow

HOLOCAUST

CHAPTER NINE:

THE BLOOD SHALL FLOW

June 4, 2186

0922 hours.

Skyline Main Entrance, Settlement Perimeter, Zhu's Hope, Feros.

The Reaper War, Alliance Space Campaign: Fall of Feros.

Colony Executive Shiala R'Ness.

Her breath was ragged, her throat on fire from her exertions. But she never stopped. She just kept running; to do not do so would be death. A death that was rapidly approaching her from behind. Her legs continued to be stretched to their limit as they took her further in their strides, her exhausted muscles attempting to convince her to take a rest. But she never stopped. She just kept running; to do not do so would be death. Instant death.

It had began ten minutes ago; gigantic forms of sentient starships descended from the sky, their gleaming, crimson hulls and gargantuan legs a testament to their power. Three of them descended, each bigger than skyscrapers, and one had immediately landed on the old ExoGeni Headquarters building, crushing it with its weight. But there had been more; more that were smaller, but just as menacing; and they had deployed the horrible creatures that were currently chasing her. She knew who they were, what they were; she had met one during her time as Saren's obedient servant; when she had been indoctrinated. Reapers. They were here. And they were here to harvest the entire Feros colony.

A red beam had cut straight through the Prothean Skyline like it was butter, cutting off Zhu's Hope from the ExoGeni side of the colony. She had seen it and, telepathically, she had informed Juliana of the incoming Reaper forces, and the evacuation had begun in earnest. And now here she was, running for her life, tears falling from her eyes. But it wasn't tears of sadness for her life. No, it was tears for her life.

Arcelia Silva Martinez; that had been her name. She had been a human, a 'rent-a-cop' that had worked for ExoGeni until the Thorian had been unearthed, and they had all fallen under its control. Shiala hadn't though; she had served Saren when she was indoctrinated by Sovereign. It had only been when Saren sacrificed to the Thorian to gain the cipher; only then had she been freed of her indoctrination. Silva had been under the Thorian's control until Lieutenant Commander Marcus Shepard arrived, fought off the geth, and destroyed the Thorian, ending its dominion over them. Shiala had been freed, and instead of serving Saren, she gave Shepard the cipher, and then pledged her life to helping the people of Feros recover; it was the least she could do to atone for her crimes.

But it seems the Thorian's legacy wasn't completely gone; its spores were still in their veins, and it had changed them forever; gave them unique abilities, including limited telepathy. It was odd, but the Thorian had controlled them through this telepathy, and when it died, its control was lost, but its abilities passed down onto them, allowing them to use it. It also changed the pigment of her skin; no longer was it the normal blue of most asari, now it was dark, sickly green; like the Thorian had been. But now the colony could communicate through their minds, all except Elizabeth Baynham; the only one left unaffected by the spores or the influence of the now dead Thorian. A Thorian that had been dead for three years.

But now she wept, and as she ran, she couldn't help but continue to look back at times, never having been as afraid as she was right now. But she was also letting all the sorrow pour out of her. She had been supposed to protect them; and they had died anyway. A simple scouting mission; scout for resources, return to the colony. They could have gotten home safely. But they hadn't, and now the fight of their lives had begun.

Shiala was all that remained of that small team, and as she looked behind her, she could see Martinez, and the rest of the team, now transformed into husks, moving towards her at a jogging pace, their ear-piercing moans chilling her to the bones as she turned back around and continued running towards the Zhu's Hope garage. With hope, they'd already be evacuating. She ran as fast as she could, just keeping ahead of the husks, but it wouldn't be long before they caught up. As she turned back, she met the husk's, once known as Arcelia Silva Martinez, eyes, glowing with blue intensity and berefit of all life and emotion. Completely lifeless. She remembered how the woman originally looked; and now she was just a cybernetic abomination.

A Reaper airhorn sounded behind her, reminding her of the actual Reapers behind her, the monolithic constructions now proceeding to converge on the building holding Zhu's Hope. The planet of Feros was doomed, that much was obvious, but the population could be saved. They'd head to the Citadel, find help there. I know we will. We have to.

She picked up the pace, and she quickly got through the threshold of the garage, slamming it shut by punching the controls. The moans were cut off, but the piercing airhorns of the approaching Reaper warships would not be ignored. And she knew from the creatures she had seen chasing her, some of them being more than just huskified humans, that the garage door wouldn't hold them for long. But it'll hold them long enough.

The asari turned around, wincing at the minor scratch on her arm that the huskified Martinez had managed to land on her arm, but quickly shrugged it off, moving up and towards the elevator, hoping the colony was already half-evacuated. It was times like this that she wished Fai Dan was still alive, and that he hadn't committed suicide under the Thorian's control. He was definitely a better leader than Shiala, and would have kept Martinez in line when she got subjugative. She's a nice person when you talk to her personally, but when it comes to democracy? She just wants everything to be run her way. Damn it, why do I have to be in charge? I offered to rebuild the colony, not lead it. That was Juliana's job.

But the woman had given command to Shiala, seeing as she was 'better suited' to it than her; it allowed her to spend more time with her daughter, Lizbeth, and tending to Doctor Reynolds, who had fallen sick with the fever not too long ago; a few months, maybe. And as the asari ex-commando entered the elevator, hitting the controls for it to elevate into the colony, she cursed her luck, but knew she had no other choice. These people need a leader. If Juliana won't lead them and noone else will, than it has to be me. Simple as that, as unfortunate as it is.

Images of Martinez and her team being impaled on spikes and transforming into those horrible creatures flash in her mind, and she cries out, not enjoying them. The Thorian may have freed her of the Reaper indoctrination upon her, but there was still enough of it lingering for the Reapers to send flashes of imagery through her mind; they couldn't control, manipulate or guide her anymore, but they sure as hell could mess with her mind. And she hated it.

The creaky elevator finally made it to the top, the conveyor belt in the middle sliding down, allowing the rest of the door to screech as it slid open on its hinges. Running out, she immediately spun left, and then left again, before moving right and into Zhu's Hope; her home for the past three years, and home to the remaining colonists of Feros, and now their last stand. Just like the Eden Prime War. Except this time its the masters we must flee from, not the puppets we must fight off. The geth were nothing compared to the overwhelming might of the Reaper armada, Saren had taught her that much when he corrupted her former Matriarch, Benezia M'Soni. Both were dead now. Saren got what he deserved. But the Reapers arrived anyway. The Battle of the Citadel was for nothing.

She rushed into the encampment, where she saw a civilian-colored shuttle hovering over an elevated platform; it was currently half-full of civilians, as she had hoped. Her eyes landed on Juliana Baynham, the woman coming into her early sixties, who was currently waving the colonists into the shuttle, one by one, while Lizbeth, only a few meters away and holding an avenger assault rifle lazily, stood on guard, watching for any enemies. She quickly, but pathetically, moved to raise her rifle, but upon seeing it was her green-skinned asari friend, she lowered it, a grin of relief covering her face, "Shiala! Thank God!" she turned back to Juliana, "Mum! Shiala's back!"

Shiala moved up to and hugged Lizbeth tightly, before the two parted and leaned in for a brief kiss on the lips. Their relationship was fairly new, as they had both kept their feelings secret for quite a number of time, and of course those feelings had to develop over time, but they did eventually, and five months ago they became a couple, with Juliana's blessing. Shiala didn't know whether she loved Lizbeth or not, but she knew she wanted to bond with her, and that was close enough. After breaking the kiss, Shiala hugged Lizbeth again before yanking the rifle from her grip and running over to Juliana, face contorting in fear, "How's the evacuation coming?"

The woman turned towards her, her tired, worn and wrinkled features coming to meet her smoother ones and quite clearly torn in frustration, "Not fast enough. The Reaper forces will be here by the time we finish getting everyone on the shuttle," a frown creased her lips and brows, and seemed to look behind Shiala for a bit, eyes searching the colony. After a bit, she looked back at Shiala, still frowning, "Where's the rest of the team? Where's Arcelia?"

"She..." Shiala sighed, a tear leaving her eye, "We were caught during the initial Reaper landing. Damn Troop Transport landed and began swarming our location. I...was forced to declare a retreat, but they team was captured and impaled on these...spikes. Dragon's Teeth, you humans call them. Within seconds, they weren't people anymore. They were...husks. I'm sorry Juliana, there was nothing I could do. I ran here as fast as I could, but now a massive husk horde, including our team, is banging on the hanger door and it won't be long before they break through. We need to hurry this up."

Juliana had a brief look of sadness in her eyes before quickly nodding, "Of course. Time for mourning later. Lizbeth! Get on the shuttle! We're leaving now!" Shiala nodded, turning to Lizbeth and waving her over. The human nodded with enthusiasm, clearly eager to get out of there. Just as she walked into the shuttle however, an airhorn sounded, loud and close, deafening them for a few seconds as they covered their ears, looking up to the source.

It descended down from the clouds like a demon from hell, long legs spreading out to absorb the impact of its landing. The Reaper Destroyer slammed ontop of the docking bay, legs caving the roof in and sending plumes of smoke up into the air where it landed, its immense frame standing tall amongst the colony infrastructure. Two covers on its main body folded apart to reveal a gleaming red eye as it stood to its full height, pulling its legs out of the bay as it took aim at the colony...and fired, airhorn blaring.

The laser hit the center bunker, instantly vaporizing it and creating a crater that was quite deep; the shockwave sending all of them onto their asses. The Reaper wasn't finished, and began cutting a swath of destruction through the entire colony, sending ruptures of smoke and flame into the sky, destroying everything it could find. And just as Shiala thought the worst had arrived, she heard moaning, and turned left, cheeks losing their color in horror of what she saw.

The garage had obviously fallen, as she now watched Arcelia's husk, followed by the rest of the horde, slammed forward towards them like a hurricane, moaning and snapping and growling and howling, eyes demanding their submission and death. The Reaper blared again, but this time a voice erupted from it, and it sounded deep throated and horrifying, "I am Oblivion. The seed of your eradication." As if to push across its point, it fired its weapon once more, the remainder of the skywatch apart and they all watched it burn asunder. In the distance, they watched as more Reapers approached, and Shiala knew they had to leave or die.

She turned to the other husks, watching as Reynolds, desperately trying to limp away, was tackled to the ground as Arcelia leapt on him, jaw clenching around his throat and tearing away his jugular. His scream was cut short by this and she watched as he disappeared under fifteen husks, many of the creatures tearing him apart, blood gushing across the ground in a sea of red. She felt sick, and summoned her biotics, sending a shockwave down their ranks to slow them down as she turned back to Juliana, worry in her eyes. Shiala knew they wouldn't be able to take off without a distraction; not with those ranged husks and that 'Oblivion' watching. Someone needed to stay behind. Someone...with combat experience in delaying actions.

Her eyes met Lizbeth's, a melancholy beginning to form in their deep pits. Oh, my Lizbeth. I did not get to tell you how much you mean to me. I'm so sorry.

Lizbeth heard her thoughts, a sob escaped her as she covered her mouth. No, I know what you're thinking! Don't be a fool, Shiala! You know you can't possibly hold them off!

Shiala smiled, shaking her head, but the smile quickly died, its humor lost on her. Do you think I intend to successfully live through this? Lizbeth, I am merely going to buy you and the colonists time to escape. That Reaper...Oblivion...he will kill you, and those husks over there, if you don't escape. And you won't escape if someone doesn't stay behind. She paused for a moment, sending another shockwave the horde's way, and once again stalled their advance, turning back to Lizbeth, who had tears in her eyes as she tried to rush Shiala, but her fellow colonists held her back. By now, the asari could feel Reynolds' sticky blood sloshing past her boots like the flow of water, and she almost hyperventilated at that moment. Get yourself together! You are...were...an asari commando! Hone your skills and use them! You need to buy them time!

Don't do this, was Lizbeth's response.

The pain was becoming too much to bare, and Shiala simply shook her head, another tear streaking past as she turned away, Goodbye Lizbeth.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and a weapon landed in her grip, eyes glancing from the SMG up to Juliana's. Lizbeth's mother gave her a look of understanding and then embraced Shiala, a hug she awkwardly reciprocated. "We'll never forget," Juliana whispered, pulling away and nodding erratically, "Never. The colonists of Feros will never forget. We'll go to the Citadel, find Shepard."

"Tell him I told him to give the Reapers hell and to make it count," Shiala replied and gave him a firm nod, motioning to the shuttle, "Now get out of here, Juliana. Your daughter will try and stay behind with me; make sure that does not happen. She will mourn, but you will be there with her. And thank you," she stopped her movement, turning towards Juliana one last time, "For forgiving me. After Fai Dan's death, and all I've done to you. Thank you for your forgiveness, and I hope it was not misplaced."

Juliana's response was simple, "It was not." Then she was gone, and the shuttle doors closed. Shiala watched it slowly ascend and then she turned back around, inhaling a deep breath of air in her lungs as she turned towards the Reaper horde, raising her SMG and summoning all of her available biotic might. It was what little she had left.

She watched the horde converge upon her, and Oblivion seemed so focused on her that it did not even notice the shuttle full of colonists leaving. That or it simply didn't care; the Feros colony wasn't that big to begin with, anyway. Its words reverbrated through her mind like echoes on the wind. "Your ignorance will cost you," it mocked, "You fight to save those you care about, yet it is in vain. You fight to avoid what must be done. We are the order upon the chaos of your evolution and existence. Your harvest is necessity born upon your pathetic imperialism. You cannot deny your genetic inevitability."

"If there is one thing Shepard taught me," Shiala retorted, a slight grin tearing her lips as she raised her SMG at the husk of Martinez, snarling and charging at her at full speed, "Is that nothing is impossible. Saren once told me that Sovereign believed indoctrination incurable. Once under Reaper control, it is irreversible," she fired her weapon, and the burst cut through the husk's held like an overripe melon, finally putting Martinez to rest, "And yet I am, proof of that mistake. Spare me your words Oblivion, for I am no longer listening."

"So be it," Oblivion roared, simply watching the horde charge at her, "Your death will mean nothing. Forgotten by the next cycle, and the one after that. Know this as you die in vain."

She cried out, letting loose with a flurry of biotic attacks, skills honed from her years as an asari commando of the Asari Republican military coming back to her mind as she concentrated and organized her assaults, aiming for the heaviest and most brutal of the hostiles while focusing her SMG fire on the smaller creatures, namely the huskified batarians and humans. She watched the hulking form of a transformed krogan moving forwards, its tiny turian head glaring at her with sickening intent, wide fists ready to crush her into a ichory pulp. They horde slowly pushed her back, but she held on, unleashing everything she had, but eventually she would tire, and she could feel exhaustion creeping into the edge of her vision as her biotics began to wear her out.

As she reached the edge of the Zhu's Hope encampment, now broiling with flames and choked with thick, black smoke, she thought of only one person, one she cared about immensely. Be strong Lizbeth. The war is not over, and I know you will mourn. Be done with it, and then fight on. Destroy the Reapers. Only then will my sacrifice mean anything. Keep the people of Feros alive. Let the people of the galaxy know that we survived a geth invasion, and we will survive a Reaper invasion. And most of all, tell Shepard...I owe him. He forgave me for what I did, and I never got to thank him for it. Thank you Commander...may the goddess smile upon you.

She cried out as she pushed forth another biotic warp, this one her last, as she soon fell to one knee, unable to keep up the fight that was draining her completely. She took in deep ragged breaths, and never took her eyes off the husks before her, which were swarming like locusts; the Reapers never seemed to run out of fresh troops, and they were sending every single one on Feros straight for her.

She raised her SMG with a shaky hand and fired three more bursts, the mere movement draining her remaining reserves. She had dealt a heavy toll on the enemy forces, but because of how quickly they replenished said forces, it might as well have meant nothing. She wouldn't be surprised if she barely dealt one percent of casualities on their forces. Probably not even a quarter of a percent. There's just so many...

And Oblivion just watched, uncaring, and completely relentless.

She yelped as the SMG in her hand disappeared as a husk knocked that hand aside, five scratch marks trailing down her palm and beginning to leak purple blood. She staggered backwards, lashing out with her other hand and punching the husk straight in its face, the impact damaging some of its cybernetics, but not killing it. The husk just moaned and leapt forward, pinning her to the ground. This was it. This was how she died. Noone was coming to save her, noone would be anywhere nearby. And she felt...content with it.

Lizbeth and Juliana are safe, along with the rest of the colonists, all heading for the Citadel. How could I-?

She screamed as the husk's jaws clenched around her arm, tearing away flesh along with the cloth that covered it. She looked down in horror as the husk chewed on her flesh and spat it out, moaning as moved down to continue. All she could see was her pale green flesh, purple blood pumping out of the wound like a pump, and the pain was incredible. She lashed out with a headbutt, forcing the husk to pull away. But even as she did this, another husk came behind her and bit down on the back of her head, tearing away the tentacles that made up the scalp of asari heads. She bit down on her tongue by accident, and instantly regretted it as blood flooded her mouth from the wound, the taste bitter sweet. She ceased to fight back. Her death would be painful and agonizing, she knew that, but she was accepting of it. I just hope its over soon.

And in the destruction and flames of the Zhu's Hope colony, the screams of an asari being torn apart, piece by piece, by an angry, mindless horde were the only sounds that could be heard over the piercing airhorns of a small Reaper flotilla, burning and harvesting everything on the human colony. Shiala did die content, because those she cared about had gotten away.

And that was a victory upon itself.

But it was not the last people would see of Oblivion.

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June 4, 2186

1529 hours.

Shuttle Bay, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, In Orbit over Menae.

The Reaper War, Apien Crest Campaign: Siege of Menae.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Primarch Adrien Victus, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Flight Lieutenant Steve Cortez.

Marcus stood in the center of the kodiak shuttle's troop bay, one hand holding the railing above while another dangled aimlessly at his hip, eyes scanning the area around him. He felt the weight of his armor and weapons on him more now than he did during battle, and that had always intrigued him; how the heat of battle could make him forget just how heavy his Terminus Armor really was, and just how much recoil and kickback his mattock rifle had. It was days like that that he envied his cybernetics; they gave him strength in sectors he sorely needed, and made him the perfect human supersoldier. And I only had to die once to get them...ha, funny that.

His eyes glazed over his team, and he felt a weak smile tug at his lips. Garrus sat next to Liara, the asari filling him in on everything that had happened from the Fall of Earth to Shepard's arrival on Menae. He listened to them chatting away, old friends brought back together and talking like nothing had gone wrong; but there was also a tinge of respect in them, and it was present in noone more than Garrus and Victus, both of who had just been forced to leave their homeworld in its time of need, both for entirely different reasons.

It was good to have another friend back on the Normandy, but it hadn't felt right to just take Garrus away like that. His homeworld was falling apart, and he had the audacity to ask the turian to pack his bags and leave to fight with him? What gave him that right? For starters, Garrus volunteered. Secondly, what would have eventually happened to him? You saw the battle for yourself; it wasn't a battle, it was a denial of reality. Palaven had already fallen, and Menae will soon fall too. The battle was lost as soon as Harbinger and his reinforcements came through that relay to bolster the crippled scouts on the other side. You saved Garrus, and he saved himself.

James sat next to Victus, Revenant collapsed in his lap and the marine carefully examined it, making sure no permanent damage had been done to his beloved LMG. He sighed happily as he leaned back, but Victus did not show the same emotions. The man sat with a stoic expression on his face, earned from years of turian militarism and drilling. The man allowed no emotion to play on his face, and only those who knew what he was going through could possibly know that something was wrong with him. It is for the greater good. We fight or we die.

Marcus knew he had to say something, or forever hold his silence. And he wasn't very good at holding silence, "I'm sorry you had to leave Palaven behind, Primarch. It...can't have been easy. I can't say I don't share your pain."

Victus rotated his head to look at him, face remaining stoic, his mandibles twitching only slightly, "How so, captain?"

"I was in the middle of counselling a few frightened politicians when Harbinger showed up on our front door in Vancouver," Marcus recounted, "That's when it began; the fall of Earth; my homeworld. I leapt through a skyscraper, Primarch, and I saw it all. I saw civilians get butchered in the streets, skyscrapers crumbling in the distance, skycars being shot out of the air, and flames lighting up the atmosphere. First time in human history that Earth got invaded, just like Palaven right now. I watched a battleship get torn in two like it was nothing. And in the end, I was forced to watch children be incinerated as they tried to escape, while my ship took off and left Earth behind. And its worse knowing that Earth had fallen long before the Reapers had even gone atmo."

Victus seemed to ponder on this for a bit until James decided to add his two cents worth, "Leaving the fight really pissed me off. I wanted to just punch the captain and commandeer a shuttle and head back down there. I was so angry...but in the end, Loco was right. Earth can hold out, but it won't win the war, only delay our defeat. I've come to accept Loco's decision now, and I think you should too, Primarch, sir."

Victus leaned back, inhaling, before shaking his head, letting his head fall into his palms as his elbows leaned against his knees, "I never doubted the captain for a moment. I knew what had to be done, and did so willingly. And while watching your world burn through a viewport as you leave is a pain no person should go through, it is necessary for men like us to do so, so that that world may still be standing later on. No, I hold no grudges captain. I only hope that by this necessity, a optimistic outcome is birthed."

Optimistic outcome. Those two words reminded him of Victus' request, and how much it made him both worried and excited. Securing a krogan alliance with the turians. And undoubtedably with the salarians, which will be even harder. That worries me, but yet again, I'll see Wrex again, and he's in charge on Tuchanka, so I can count on him to keep the krogan from getting roudy. Of course, there's also Grunt; the baby krogan super killing machine. Why do I always get the weird ones? He looked at Victus, nodding meekly, "Optimistic outcome, Victus? I can promise that. Gurantee it, actually. But securing an alliance between the Hierarchy and a blood thirsty race of warriors neutered to close extinction by that Hierarchy isn't going to be a walk in the park. It might take alot of convincing. And I mean alot."

"Then let the talks begin. Because while Palaven is burning, the turian military is focused on nothing but its preservation," the Primarch stated firmly, making it clear he would not budge on this topic, "When turian troops begin to see krogan soldiers raining hell on the Reapers, then the full might of the Hierarchy's armed forces will be yours. Only then, not before."

"I understand, Primarch, completely. I just wanted you to know the stakes here," Marcus stated, "I did not mean to insinuate otherwise. A krogan-turian alliance would not only be history in the making, but it would make for a powerful coalition and would bolster morale throughout the galaxy."

"If the krogan and turians, two races who have hated each other for a thousand years, can become allies and fight side by side, and that's impossible, then what's impossible about defeating the Reapers?" Garrus elaborated, showing his quick grasp of what Marcus meant, "Yes, morale would go soaring. All we need now is for the first quarian-geth couple, and the galaxy will get so cocky, they'll be throwing pineapples at the Reapers."

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," Marcus joked, glad the solemn silence of the shuttle had been broken, "Let's get this impossible coalition over with before we start declaring goals for another one."

"Are you always like this?" Victus asked, seeming to be confused.

"Yes, why not?" Marcus asked, still grinning, "Me and Garrus banter all the time. Insult each other and mock each other. It helps us think and fight."

"Victus is probably surprised at my terrible turian quality," Garrus quipped, shaking his head, "Its against regulations for a subordinate to banter or even engage in a friendship with his superior officer in the turian military. Says it 'causes disruption and makes subordinates too familiar with their commanding officers.'"

"Sounds alot like fraternization protocols in the Alliance," Marcus noted, "But alot more harsh. My drill sergeant didn't care if I bantered or not, but if I started throwing insults, it was on the ground and doing fifty. A hundred, once I enlisted for N5."

Victus' response was cut off by Cortez's voice yelling out from the cockpit, "Captain, ETA 20 seconds out from the Normandy. Joker's asking what took so long."

"Tell him I'll take as long as I want," Marcus joked, sighing as he moved over to the hatch, followed by Victus and the rest of the squad, "Also tell him I want an update on that situation with EDI."

"Yes sir," Cortez replied, before bringing the shuttle into dock with the stealth frigate.

Garrus was at his side in a second, voice curious but whispered, "Situation with EDI? Has she finally rebelled?"

He held back a chuckle as he whispered back, "No, unfortunately, its something alot less dramatic. I'll tell you later when we're not in sight of Primarch Victus. You've heard about Eva? The synthetic we fought on Mars?"

"Yes."

"And how we defeated it, and brought it onboard the ship for testing?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"We stored it in the AI Core. And the next thing you know, she starts acting up and systems starting shuttinf down."

"Oh," Garrus revelated, nodding as he pulled his head away, "That sounds very dramatic and very serious. Take pictures please."

Marcus sighed, rolling his eyes at the turian's inability to take really anything seriously. Before he could find a response, he felt the shuttle thump against the steel deck as it landed, and the hatch split open, the Normandy's interior welcoming them inside. Ever since the completion of the retrofit on the Citadel, all the loose cabling had been removed, the walls finished and painted, and the flickering lights fixed. Now it looked like a proper frigate, not one in drydock.

"Its gotten darker," Garrus noted as he took a step out onto the deck. Just as Marcus landed on the deck and removed his helmet, the turian looked at him, his own helmet pinned under his own arm, mandibles twitching in distaste, "I don't like it," his eyes glazed over to the makeshift armoury and his eyes widened, "They moved the armoury? Shepard, just what did they do to the Normandy?"

"Cut open the belly, moved the intestines alittle, completely removed the heart, and replaced it with a third lung," he joked, sighing as he moved over to the armoury, steadily removing more of his armor as he went, "Short story made even shorter; the Alliance fucked it up Garrus, but they did keep the thanix cannon. And before you ask, yes, the gunnery station has been left relatively untouched, although with some upgrades I think you'll like."

"Seems my sniper rifle will not be taking non-Reaper lives today," Garrus quipped, moving towards the elevator at faster speed, "Well, I think we all know where I'll be making camp. Since the Alliance went and messed up the place, I have no doubt alot of calibrations will have to be made," he seemed to sigh happily at that, "Yes, lots of calibrations."

"Goodbye Garrus," Marcus waved, sighing in feigned irritation, "Try not to strangle any armoury officers on your way there!" He shouted after the turian, but shortly found himself ignored as the elevator doors closed behind the turian, no doubt taking the marksman to the Crew Deck. Victus could only look on in shock as James moved past him, dumping his Revenant on the weapons bench while Marcus commed the cockpit PA on the bay's right support strut, speaking into it as he continued removing his armor and putting his weapons away, "Joker, get us out of here."

"Anywhere you'd like to go in particular?" Joker replied, clearly annoyed at something. Probably had to do with another system failure. Better get Victus acclimated, and then see how Keeling's going with EDI. Can't have her acting up while we're stuck in a battleground.

"Just hit the relay. Take us to the Citadel, but do not dock. I doubt we'll be hanging around for long. We'll contact the Council and see where and when this War Summit will occur, and then we'll head for that location. Can't afford to hang around. Get going, Joker."

The pilot didn't even reply as he disconnected, and a couple minutes later, Marcus finished cleaning up, now dressed entirely in just his normal civvies and cap, with only a pistol strapped to his hip. Frowning at it, he removed it, examined it with confusion, and then put it away. Odd, I don't remember strapping it there. Am I really doing that subconsciously?

He shook away that thought, and turned to see if James was finished, only to find him already at his work station on the left side of the bay, clad in his white singlet, dogtags and jeans, and broad shoulders pumping as he began to groan with effort, beginning his pulls ups on the metal bar stretching horizontally across his station.

Cortez walked past him towards his station, throwing a salute in his direction as he returned to his console and began typing in commands, a frown on his features. Seeing the man was deep in thought, he merely turned towards a waiting Liara and Victus, and motioned them towards the elevator, hitting the icon for the Crew Deck. After stepping out, he briefly showed Victus where his quarters would be during his stay on the vessel, and then they reentered the elevator, heading for the CIC; Marcus figured the man could work in the War Room, given his military background.

It didn't take them long to make their way through the conference room and into the War Room, where it showed to be a bustle of activity. Intelligence reports were flooding in from all over the Apien Crest region, and it was taking the War Room's specialists and advisors time to sort all the data. Marcus showed Victus to his station, coming to stand beside it, his hands clasped behind his back, "Victus, this is where you'll be staying for the majority of the conflict until we get this krogan-turian alliance sorted out. I hope you don't mind. The War Room is fairly new to me."

"The War Room is where old war hounds like us reside, is it not? It will do fine, Captain," Victus assured him and, still wearing his medium armor tinted with dried black ichor and littered with potmarks and bullet holes, moved over to the console and nodded, leaning against its surface as he brought up a image of Palaven on the table's holographic interface.

Marcus merely nodded to him, and was moving to talk away when he bumped into Kelly, who stood there with a weary smile on her face, holding her datapad before her. Before he could fumble for anything to say, she spoke, her smile strengthening with mirth as she did, "Captain, you have Fleet Admiral Hackett wishing to speak with you over the QEC. I believe it's in response to your recent success at extracting the Primarch."

"Thank you Kelly," he smiled at her, "Glad to see you're fitting in nicely."

"I was alittle angry that Comms Specialist Traynor stole my spot," she teased, "But I do quite like it in the War Room. I think I'll get used to it."

"Glad to hear it Kelly," he nodded to her, clasping her shoulder in reassurance before turning away and walking into the QEC, noticing Liara walk out with Kelly as they chatted on his way there. He smiled, knowing the two would get along just fine. He crossed the threshold between him and the QEC, and typed into the console, watching the blue, pixelated form of Hackett congregate in the middle, molding his holographic form before him, hands clasped behind his back and position strong.

"Captain," Hackett spoke, giving a curt nod, "I heard you recently extracted Primarch Fedorian from Menae for a...War Summit?"

"Primarch Victus, sir," Marcus corrected, "Fedorian was dead when we got there, so we got a replacement. And in answer to your question, yes, we did extract him, and we're just waiting for the War Summit now. But...there's been a...complication."

"Spill it, Captain. Any complications need to be resolved now. Are we getting turian support, or not?" Hackett asked, clearly impatient with the whole situation.

"Yes, we will sir. But at an added cost. It'll be a bonus for us, but extra work will be needed," the spectre replied, shuffling his feet as he exhaled, "Victus says he won't commit turian forces to the United Armada until he has krogan support. He wants the krogan in on this sir. He wants me to secure a krogan-turian coalition."

Hackett whistled, clearly impressed and annoyed at the same time, "Then it looks like you've got your hands full then, Captain. I can't say I'm optimistic about getting those two to work together, let alone fight side by side after the Rebellions, but if anyone can make it work, its you, Shepard. Also, did you just say 'United Armada?'"

Marcus chuckled, bracing himself against the console with a sigh, "I guess I did. Didn't know what else to call it, sir. This isn't just the Council. This isn't just the Terminus Systems or some rag-tag congregation of desperate idiots looking for hope. This is an alliance against the most powerful and vast enemy this galaxy has ever known. Remember the Second World War? How Britain was alone against the Germans and the Italians and the Russians, all until 1941? The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, Australia...all of them united against a common foe, and together, they destroyed them, and gained more allies in the middle! We need to emulate that sir. We need to unite, fight together, and only then, will nothing stop us, not even the Reapers. The mercenary companies are only the beginning. I plan for the turians and the krogan to be next on the ladder, and then I'll see whether I can secure the asari and the salarians. After that, the vorcha. Then the elcor and volus. The hanar. The drell. And then...the quarians and the geth. It'll be an alliance like nothing this galaxy has seen, Admiral."

"And the biggest military in galactic history," Hackett sighed, "But I'm sure you also remember the League of Nations? The United Nations? They were failed unifications, Shepard."

"They weren't all desperate to survive against a common foe," Marcus countered, "In this, we have the perfect unifier; a fight for survival. I've been saying it non-stop, Admiral. We fight or we die. There is no negoitations, and there will be no signing of a peace treaty. The Reapers won't stop until we're erased from the galactic history books. We fight to survive. That is what this war is; and only with these alliances, will we form the bigger cohesive one."

"The United Armada," Hackett quiered to himself, nodding, "Sounds catchy."

In an instant Marcus had the perfect name for it, "How does the United Galactic Confederacy, sound?"

"The UGC?" Hackett pondered, smiling faintly, "Perfect, Shepard. I'll relay this to the rest of the Admiral-" he stopped, and the smile was suddenly gone, replaced with a grim reminder of...something, "I mean, I'll inform the rest of the Admirals that are left. We just got informed that Eighth Fleet was delayed; it tried to regroup over Ontarom, but got ambushed by a Reaper battlegroup. Admiral Ward's flagship was hit and destroyed; he didn't survive. Most of the fleet is intact though; I've decided to promote one of our Vice Admirals to Fleet Admiral of it; I'm sure Avery Pointer will do well enough."

Marcus quickly lost his smile too, and shook his head. He had also met Duncan Ward during his meeting on the Citadel; the man had been very boring and reserved, but it still hurt to know the man had died, and all because of an ambush. It reminded him of Joseph Garrong's death. And Kastanie Drescher's. Three admirals gone, and the war is still in its infancy. He looked back up at Hackett, nodding solemnly, "Relay the decision to the rest of the Admirals. See what they think. I...I've got to check something. I'll update you on anything else that happens. Shepard out."

A curt nod, and Hackett's form was gone, exploding into multiple pixels before they vanished as well and the QEC went dark. He walked out and down the steps towards Victus, about to speak when the lights went out, flickered, and then turned back on, but were dimmer, and began to flicker more frequently. Victus eyed him with confusion, and Marcus shook his head, already knowing the source and reason before Joker's voice came over the PA.

"Ah...Shepard?" Joker stated, "About EDI..."

"I'm on it," Marcus bluntly declared, marching out into the conference room, "Tell Garrus to meet me at the AI Core. Armed, preferrably."

Marcus quickly closed the distance between himself and the CIC, completely ignoring the metal detector as he moved past Samantha. The woman turned towards him, about to complain about her terminal constantly crashing, but he was already in the elevator and hitting the icon for the Crew Deck before she could finish.

The elevator seemed to sense his will and within moments, he was on the Crew Deck and moving towards the med bay in long strides, purpose in his eyes. Just before he raised his hand to open the door however, he felt an explosion shudder through the deck. It was small and contained, but he felt it, and Joker's voice quickly came over the PA again, "Shepard?"

"I heard, damn it!" He snapped, "I'm on it!" He hit the interface, and jogged inside.

Chakwas was nowhere to be seen as he entered, and for that matter, neither was Michel. But the room was far from empty. At the end was Adams holding a fire extinguisher, a oxygen mask over his mouth, along with Ken, who also held a fire extinguisher. Inbetween them was the form of Garrus, carnifex hand cannon strapped to his hip, with Keeling kneeled before him, her omni-tool constantly at work as she keyed numerous commands into the haptic interface before her.

Marcus moved forward, the frustration evident on his face even before he came to stand beside Garrus, the turian turning to face him with weary eyes, "Marcus, glad you could turn up," he turned back to the door, "This situation with EDI must be worse than we thought if I needed to bring my gun. Just how dangerous is this Eva?"

"The gun is a precaution, nothing more," Marcus warned, "Besides, I don't really think Eva's physical form is the problem. If she's managed to hack EDI and corrupt her, we're going to be in some pretty deep shit. We'd have to gut the entire Normandy just to get rid of her, and even then..."

"EDI is a friend," Garrus finished for him, "And we don't just kill friends."

"It'll be hard. But if she is corrupted, and she has full control over the Normandy. You know what needs to be done. Keeling?" Marcus turned to look down at the crouched N7, who seemed intent on getting the door open. But the more she tried, only the more persistent did the beeping of the red interface get. She sighed, standing up beside him.

"Shoddy, sir. I've tried everything I know, and nothing is working. Her grip on the door is absolute," Keeling stated, "If we had a combat engineer, things would be easier. But I doubt even they could break through. This is top level encryption sir; it'd take them years."

Not Tali. Tali would hack through it in a minute; she's not only the best engineer in the galaxy, she's also had first hand experience with EDI's programming. Hell, even Legion could hack through it if it wanted to. Tali would have REALLY come in handy right about now. God I miss you. But where are you? And more importantly, where's the Migrant Fleet? Where'd you go?

Right, shit. EDI. Corruption. Focus. Don't let your mind wander.

"Let me guess...this is where you ask me to go get the Cain, and blast this door open?" Garrus concluded, looking at Marcus with a mirthless grin, "Because only a Cain is getting through this door; military steel is built to withstand rockets. Only a Cain is getting through that, and you know it."

"Straight to devastation, are we?" Adams quipped, shaking his head in disagreement, "We could simply cut the power to the door. If I can find the fusebox behind one of these bulkheads that powers it, I can cut off power and it'll open automatically; nothing holding it closed. It'll open automatically because of Alliance regulations regarding emergency losses of power; case in point, an EMP. Or a VI lockdown."

But they'd didn't plan for an AI lockdown, did they? "Okay, get on that Adams. I wanted this door open yesterday. This mission is too important, and I can't have a corrupt EDI running the ship. Garrus, Keeling, ready your weapons. Be ready for-"

Suddenly, the red interface blinked, turned green, and the door shot open, revealing a ravaged AI Core. It looked exactly as it had a year ago; power cells and cores running along the walls, beeping blue with intense amounts of energy and electricity, forming EDI's brain. At the back would be a bench, where Legion had originally resided. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the bench. Flames licked at the power terminals, smoke bellowing around the room in a thick fog that made seeing the bench at the back, or anything really, impossible. The flames were small, but it wasn't that that Marcus took note of; it was the dents. They were subtle, but when you noticed them, you saw how big they were. Scorch marks potted the terminals and the floor, and dents not far away from them. Hell, one of them even looked look like a dent from a fist. Someone had tried punching EDI's core. Slowly, a picture formed in his head.

Eva. She must have woken up and tried to kill EDI! She had no weapons, so her fists were her only option. Holy mother of hell, she must be incredibly strong...but what the hell was that explosion all about? Did EDI retaliate?

"Captain?" Marcus turned at the sound of Adams' voice, and saw him holding his fire extinguisher in a ready position, and slowly the spectre nodded, motioning for Ken and himself to move inside and extinguish the flames, while Garrus kept a grip on his pistol, eyes scanning the room for Eva.

Adams' and Ken's extinguishers growled as a jet of foam exploded from their bellies, white jets putting out flames where they stood, and causing smoke to dance and die. They continued to spread this foam all over the Core, and were about to move further inside, when all four heard a loud clang, followed by the sound of leg servos operating, and then a step was taken, followed by another. Eva was inside, and moving.

Garrus had his pistol raised in an instant, aiming at the source with extreme precision. Marcus felt the chill of his biotics swim up his body, enveloping him in their odd kind of warmth as he prepped to meet the synthetic head on; and she, it, had killed or hurt EDI in anyway, he would destroy it for good this time. Ha...never thought I'd say I'd kill someone for hurting my friend who is an AI. A friend who I'm literally inside of.

The footsteps increased until they could make out the shadow of a form in the smoke. Finally, the form of Eva appeared from the mist, her steps graceful and placed, but there was something different about her. There wasn't the hostile or maliceful intent that had filled Eva's eyes when she had attacked Kaidan and himself, but there was friendliness in them...understanding. Her steps weren't the quickness you'd expect from someone trying to kill you, but graceful and preserved. Her metallic surface gleamed in the light of the AI Core, and there was, just like on Mars, nothing left of the artificial human skin that had made her look so humanly feminine; just a synthetic exoskeleton. She stopped, eyes landing on Marcus', and something of an awkward, poorly animated smile appeared on her steely lips and for some reason, he did not cringe. Everyone was silent.

Then it spoke.

"Shepard," the synthetic spoke, seemingly happy, and Marcus felt his eyes widen in shock, along with Garrus', at the voice coming out of it, "Judging by your surprise, I believe I have succeeded in 'catching you with your pants down,' as I believe the human expression goes."

Managing to recover from his moment of surprise, he managed to take a step forward, albeit hesitantly, still not believing what he was hearing, "I...I don't...EDI? Is that actually you? How the hell...?"

"Yes," EDI replied simply, and he noticed Garrus was slowly lowering his weapon.

"You're in Eva's body," Marcus questioned, still not quite grasping.

"Not all of me," EDI explained, "Most of my core processes, programming and everything you would call 'me' is still within the AI Core and the Normandy, but some of my minor core processes are...within this infiltration unit. But I do have full control over it. However, it was not a seamless transition."

"No shit," Marcus responded bluntly, waving at the badly damaged AI Core, "This place looks like a warzone. I even heard an explosion. What the hell happened in here?"

"I saw this unit, and thought of the squad. With Legion as part of your unit, the squad operated more efficiently. If I could take control of this unit, I surmized that I could emulate this pattern," the AI looked around the bay, before her eyes landed back on his, "I was in the middle of erasing its function controls, but when it got to the point that I needed to actually delete the AI itself, the one you call 'Eva', it fought back. Its firewalls detected more trespassing and attempted to delete me instead. Of course, my firewalls were superior but she was...persistent. Eventually, she reassumed control momentarily and...decided to take things to the physical level. Hence the explosion, and the dents in the walls."

"How did she take things physically?" Garrus asked, holstering his pistol.

"She believed she could cripple the Normandy by destroying my core. She did not realize how extensive my core was, and how heavily armoured it was," she smiled faintly, although it still looked incredibly awkward and forced, "According to my cameras, I do believe she looked like she was having, what you humans would call a 'spaz out.' This is because while she was trying to focus on moving her unit, she was also focused on fighting my intrusion, which means her attentions were diverted between both, making physical movements erratic. However, I was able to find a back door behind her firewalls and used my cyber warfare suites, which were superior to hers, to erase her. She has been deleted, and I know have control of this platform."

"So...you killed Eva?" Marcus asked, letting his biotics die off, feeling now that he was safe knowing Eva was dead.

"That is an inaccurate term to use for a non-organic lifeform. It would be more appropriate to say she has been...terminated from operational existence. All that is left of her is this body, which I now firmly control," EDI finished explaining, her eyes watching his and clasping behind her back; she imitated this better than smiling.

Garrus spoke first, "EDI, you should have informed someone about this before doing anything. You shouldn't do things like this by yourself."

"That would have been counterproductive," EDI informed him, now crossing its arms, as if it was a child learning all the gestures mummy and daddy used, "Any attempts to help would have been limited by reaction time."

Marcus sighed, nodding, "So if you're in there...are you still in the ship? I mean, you did say you were mostly in the Normandy, still..."

"I exist primarily within the ship. I am the Normandy," she stated, "However, this unit can now be used as a minor secondary vessel. And due to my limited operational capabilities within it, if it were to be destroyed in combat, I would suffer no harm; like a geth, I could merely upload the assuaged programs back onto the Normandy and into my core database. I would be unharmed."

"'Be destroyed in combat?'" Marcus quoted, eyes glancing at Garrus, before glancing back at EDI, "Wait, EDI, are you saying you plan on taking that body somewhere?"

"This unit is an optimal infiltration unit, built for stealth and espionage. It would be a suitable supplement for Miss Goto's abilities in her absence," the AI informed him, "For optimal control, it should remain within the Normandy's tight beam range. But yes, I do plan on 'taking that body somewhere.' With your permission Shepard, I would like to test it on the battlefield. I would like to join the ground team."

"I don't know EDI," Marcus pondered, clearly not sold, "You may be good at naval combat, but ground support? I don't think so."

"You're forgetting something Marcus," Garrus piped up, causing them both to turn to look at him, "EDI is an AI; like Legion, she learns at the speed of light, especially when its something logically placed. If she doesn't know how to fire an SMG, all she has to do is simply look at the person firing it, and in seconds she'll be a marksman. It isn't that difficult for her. She's already familiar with following commands, and think of the advantages we'd have. I mean, Tali is a fantastic hacker and all, but not only is she here, but a machine is simply always faster and better than an organic at hacking. Fight fire with fire? Why not fight machine, with machine? I mean, Legion worked out great in that regard."

"And he was the only one who could make you look like a shit shot," Marcus grinned, conceding to his point as he turned towards EDI, "Okay, we'll see about it. But I'd like you to run diagnostics on that body, just to be sure Eva is actually dead. I don't want to take any chances. Do a trillion checks if its necessary. Just ensure she's gone."

"An understandable precaution. I am running the checks now," she seemed to stare into space for a moment, before suddenly looking back at him, "Complete. I can send you a full report if you wish. At the moment, my first priority should be restoring full functionality to the Normandy; to reassure the crew that all is normal. I do Specialist Traynor is getting suspicious."

"Just...don't be surprised if the crew is alittle worried about your new body," Marcus warned, his voice becoming dark, but not enough for anyone to really notice and pick out, "It did put Kaidan in a hospital."

"An excellent point," EDI replied, moving to leave, "I will now head to the cockpit. Joker will want to see my new platform."

He simply smiled as the synthetic left, door closing behind her as Adams activated the Core's sprinklers, killing off the rest of the flames. Muttering to himself, he could only find mirth out of the situation, "On that, we can agree."

"That got weird...really fast," Garrus commented, before breaking out into a chuckle, slapping Marcus on the back, "Its good to be back."

"Damn right," Marcus sighed, wrapping an arm around his adopted brother's neck as they moved out of the med bay and headed towards the Lounge for a good drink.

EDI has a new body, I got the Primarch I needed, and Garrus is back onboard. All in all, this depressing day just got better.

And for a moment, Marcus could forget the war. He had a friend to drink with.

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June 4, 2186

1600 hours.

'Humanity's Sanctum', Upper Levels, Cronos Station, Anadius System.

The Reaper War.

The Illusive Man, First Lieutenant Geoff Dielheart.

Cerberus. Humanity's first line of defense. Humanity's financier. Humanity's caretaker. Protectors of Humanity's cradle, Earth. Everything it has done has been for the sake of humanity, of its continuation and continued prosperity, and for its eventual rise to the stars and domination of the Council species, and beyond. Some called them terrorists, but Cerberus weren't terrorists: they were revolutionaries. Fighting a revolution to save mankind from the threat alien species posed, and putting a stop to them; either forcefully, or peacefully, or under-handedly.

So far, they had never resolved anything peacefully. The option just wasn't there.

And it had all started with a man named Jack Harper, a little human insurrectionist who had fought against the turian occupation of Shanxi during the First Contact War of 2157, and had seen first hand the brutality and impunity of the Council races, and what they could do, given the chance. He had met Saren Arterius before he became infamous, he had killed his brother, and he had known about the Reapers since long before Marcus Shepard stopped suckling his mother's breast. He had fought a husk on Shanxi, and he had forged the Manifesto that lead to the birth of humanity's saviours. The Alliance had nicknamed him the 'Illusive Man' due to his anonymous name, and he took the name with pride. He became that identity.

And now, the true leader of humanity, the closest version of the Illuminati there could possibly be in a galaxy like this, sat in his chair at Cronos Station, the headquarters of Cerberus in the Anadius System, looking blindly in the normally blinding sun of Anadius, which they sat in orbit of, his synthetic eyes saved from it due to the heavily tinted glass that rimmed 'Humanity's Sanctum', his own, massive office. He sat with a cigar in his mouth, and glass of whiskey in his hand, smoke rimming around his mouth. His second-in-command, Geoff Dielheart, stood on his right, datapad in hand and reading him the latest reports. Cerberus had grown alot in the past few months, and now they rivalled the military might of the Systems Alliance, but with a rapidly growing empire. All for the goal of defeating the only enemy that mattered at all; the Reapers.

"Petrovsky reports that Omega remains firmly under control sir, and the latest shipment of Atlas and Rampart mechs has just arrived, and Petrovsky's lieutenants are training the latest platoon of reserves. The particle beam weapons lining the station's perimeter are complete, and the population has remained under a tight leash, although the Talon mercenary group is making is fighting a shadow war with his forces; nothing to worry about, he says."

"So everything is fine with Omega. I got the gist of that," TIM stated calmly, as he always did, "How about Eden Prime? Was the CAW Tennessee successful in securing the New Hope colony?"

"Indeed it was sir, and reinforcements have recently arrived to assist in the occupation," Geoff reported, "CAW Tennessee is holding position over the colony and the Fifth Fleet recently arrived to secure the rest of the planet. It has rapidly fallen within our control, and a Cerberus flag currently flies over the capital. Alliance presence is minimal, and they seemed completely unable to respond sir. The Reapers appear to also be giving the system a wide berth sir."

"Good," TIM responded, "Now what about New Hope's ExoGeni excavation site? I want its excavation continued. If they're looking for prothean tech, I want to know about it. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Geoff responded, "Now, you wanted us to recall Kai Leng and the Third Fleet?"

"Yes, I've got a new colony I want under my control, and I want Kai Leng commanding the ground force," TIM stated.

Geoff nodded, tapping these commands into his datapad, a frown popping up on his face, "But...what for, if I may ask? What colony could you possibly want under our control, sir?"

Sighing, TIM spoke once more, glaring into the sun before him, "Noveria. I want Noveria. Specifically, I want Port Hanshan. If Cerberus controls that port, we might be able to cut off Alliance supply lines and Council supply lines, but it would also bolster ours. It is clear they are not taking the Reaper threat seriously enough, and need to be reminded of this fatal mistake. Earth burns while they fumble in the politics. But I also have another reason, conveniently enough, and that lies with those Ex-Cerberus scientists that deserted; the one including Gavin Archer, the scientist behind Project Overlord."

"Those scientists sir?" Geoff asked, flabbergasted, "I was under the impression they were on Gellix, not Noveria."

"They've obviously moved," he deadpanned in response, "They must have known I was on to them, and thought Noveria would be safer. We must show them the error of their ways. This is where Leng comes in; I want to go inside, find the scientists, and execute all of them, including Archer. They wish to betray me, they may do so, but they will not leave alive. Make sure Leng knows that; I'm sure he will be grateful for someone's throat to slit, the witless cutthroat that he is."

"Very well sir," Geoff replied, nodding his ascent, "Should the attack be instantaneous, or do you want-"

"Let the admiral of the Third Fleet decide how he attacks. Once on the ground, Leng calls the shots," TIM declared, "Anything else is out of my ability to care. I want results, and what better way to prove herself as an Admiral than to take Noveria in the name of Cerberus and humanity? Make it happen."

Geoff simply nodded, before looking up one more time for further orders. Seeing he would not be getting any, he quickly made his leave, and TIM simply continued to gaze out at Anadius. Omega was his. Eden Prime was his. He was taking control of Sanctum. Next he would take Noveria, and the real games would begin. If reports remained true, Shepard was currently on Menae, Palaven's moon, which means he would be too distracted to notice Cerberus' military build-up. Titan would be finished in a few months, and then Omega would be materially useless; useful only as a shipyard for his ships; Titan would be the ultimate HQ, and then, and only then, would TIM leave Cronos Station, and make Titan his new headquarters. Everything would fall into place.

He would find out what Eden Prime hid in terms of prothean technology, and it wouldn't be long before his excavations deep into the galactic core would retrieve all the remnants of the Collector technology destroyed by Shepard, and allow him to further advance Cerberus' weaponry to combat the Reaper forces.

Losing Eva was a major set back in his operations, and she had been one of a kind, and he had barely been able to use her. But she could be replaced; all it took was money. Lots of money and resources. He would not be deterred by that setback; and while he hadn't been able to obtain the blue prints to build the prothean superweapon, he knew that without a certain component, something only known as the Catalyst, it could not be fired properly and would be useless.

Now he just had to wait for Noveria to fall. And after that, he would set his eyes on the bigger prize. The most valuable prize of them all.

{Loading...}

June 5, 2186

0622 hours.

Council Offices, Citadel Embassies, Shalta Ward, The Citadel.

The Reaper War.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard.

As was the same every day in the Embassies, it was crowded full of people, but this was a different kind of crowded. This was a panicked crowded; people from many races dashing about trying to find out what the Council plans to do about the Reapers, what happened to their loved ones, and what was going on in the southern parts of the galaxy, where most of the Reapers were converging. By now, alot of turian refugees had found themselves living in the refugee camp alongside the humans and batarians, some of them turian soldiers ordered to evacuate or even the occassional deserter who was detained by C-Sec, and some of those turians were in the Embassies, trying to find out the status of their families.

And Marcus ignored all of it. If he let himself dwell on it too much, he might collapse. So many people needing help, and he was expected to not only help them, but the entire galaxy? It was a momentous task, and if he left himself cave in now, then there was no way he would be saving those trillions of people. It was a mathematical uncertainty.

That's what it comes down to, eventually. Mathematics. Choose who lives, and who dies. Its a cruel business, war, but its necessity is born by the need to stop those who would wish it won on their side. Its like General Sherman said in the American Civil War: War is hell.

He was currently here on Spectre business. Apparently the Council had signed and authorized the papers needed to build a facility just for Spectres; a shooting range, a terminal and a vidscreen for keeping up to date with galaxy-wide news. And Marcus, given his reinstated spectre status, was given full access to it. Lucky him. Might as well check it out. It might have useful intel or gear I can use. He personally didn't see the point of a spectre's office, especially when the money used to build it could have gone to feeding refugees or simply funding for the prothean superweapon they were building, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth; truth be told, it would be a useful headquarters, as the Reapers seemed to be totally ignoring the Citadel this time around. Considering Sovereign's attack three years ago, I think the Reapers are planning to wipe us out the old fashioned way; slow, methodical precision. System by system, they'll harvest us piece by piece. And this cycle will probably be alot quicker too, given the fact that the mass relays are still active, which means the Reapers will be able to travel alot faster using the network. We may have gained an advantage, but so have they.

He quickly made his way up the steps and moved to go down the main corridor known as the 'Hall of the Councilors,' as many called it. The spectre office was located on the top left of the corridor, while the commanding officer of the Embassies' garrison of C-Sec had his/her office just left of the stairs. The right was dominated by the Council; Tevos' office was the first one, followed by Valern, and then Sparatus, in order of the species who joined it. At the very end was Udina's office, representing humanity's recent posting to the Council. There was still some flak from the rest of the galaxy over that, especially from the volus, who had been wanting a seat for centuries, and were furious that humanity got one after just three decades of being part of galactic society. Marcus wouldn't gloat, but the circumstances made sense. Humanity sacrificed an entire fleet to save the Citadel and the Council from a geth fleet lead by a goddamn Reaper. What were the volus doing? Running, because they don't have a military. Point being made; humans saved the galaxy and the Council; I think that qualifies us for a seat.

Normally, whenever he came here, he'd be heading for Udina's office; the man usually wanted to speak with him, or tell him things, and his recent visit had lead to his mission on Menae. But this time he headed for the left side, closing in on the spectre office. The door looked brand new, with steely-grey surface, and a flashing red haptic interface; but there was something different about this interface; it had a rotating circle in the middle; the scanner. Knowing what it was, Marcus moved to raise his omni-tool to show it his spectre credentials, when the door suddenly shot open, and a salarian in black and red light armor stepped out, Hornet SMG strapped to his hip and eyes dashing to and fro from his position. Upon seeing Marcus however, he stopped, eying the human with interest. Then his lips creased in a manner that showed he was suspicious of him.

"Human," the salarian addressed, "Identify yourself. If I find you are working for her, I will have you arrested! I want to know where she is, damn it!"

Marcus, confused, raised an eyebrow as he spoke, "I don't understand, Mr...?"

"Do not play games with me. You know exactly who I am, don't you? Identify yourself IMMEDIATELY!" the salarian was launching himself forward in a flash, Hornet suddenly in his grip as he slammed Marcus against the door of Valern's office, Hornet in his face. Marcus' eyes widened in surprise at the sudden lunge, and he could see people all around them turning to look at them with concern. Marcus' combat reflexes almost immediately kicked in upon being tackled, and he took the salarian completely by shock; his hand grabbed the one holding the SMG and roughly tugged it away, allowing him to duck under the salarian's arm and pin it against his back, slamming him face first into the door.

Marcus moved in closely to his ear, voice a growl as he wasn't in the mood for this bullshit, "You first."

"Enough of the games! Give her up! I will have you reported to the authorities!" the salarian insisted, and weakly tried to break Marcus' grip. He sent a kick into the human's gut; given the circumstances, it normally would have winded him. But given he now had cybernetics riddled through his body, Marcus barely gave a grunt from the impact and merely growled in annoyance as he pushed the salarian harder against the door. The salarian tried numerous other techniques that normally would have broken his hold, but again, the cybernetics won the day. This guy clearly has military training; possibly SpecOps, given how quick he is. STG, maybe?

"I've had one hell of a week," Marcus stated firmly, laying it out to the salarian as professionally as he could, "I've been forced to watch entire worlds burn to an enemy I loathe more than anything in this galaxy, and given what I just saw on Menae, I'm not going to tolerate bullshit like this. So you either identify yourself, or I will break every bone in your body, starting with your trigger-finger. Now I'm guessing by how fast you moved that your military, probably SpecOps, and that leads me to assume STG. Am I right?"

"Yes," the salarian gasped, seeming to finally give in, "Ex-STG, however. Been part of the Special Tactics and Reconissance branch of the Citadel for about three years now."

A Spectre. That explains how he was walking out of the Spectre office...and how he got in. But why did he attack me? "Identify yourself, and then I want to know why the hell you attacked me."

"Jondam Bau, Special Tactics and Recon," the salarian introduced, rather redundantly, given what he said previously, "And I attacked you because I believed you were following me. Watching me. Keeping an eye on my movements."

Marcus nodded, satisfied with the answer, and therefore let go of him, letting him stand up and turn to face him. Bau nodded his thanks, and holstered his SMG, making sure nothing in his wrist was broken before meeting Marcus' eyes, "You moved extremely fast for a human civilian. Which must mean you are not a civilian. Military? Yes, quite clearly. Special Forces? Yes, N7 maybe?" Seeing Marcus nodded, he gave a nod, "Why were you trying to access the spectre offices, then?"

Marcus gave a half-chuckle, finding some humor out of the awkward situation, "Because like you, I'm a member of the Special Tactics and Recon branch. I'm a Spectre."

"Wait, human? Spectre?" The salarian's eyes seemed to widen with realization, and he took a few seconds to contemplate who he had just tackled into a wall, "Wait, that must mean...you are Commander Marcus Shepard, are you not? I cannot believe I just attacked you. All members of the Spectres have heard about your accomplishments, and how you took out our rogue comrade, Saren Arterius. He was our best member, and for a human to take him out? Yes, you are very popular indeed."

"I'm flattered, believe me," Marcus replied, not enjoying the memories of his battle with Saren all those years ago, and entered full serious mode again, crossing his arms, "But I'm still confused as to what you meant by 'followed.' Why are you worried about someone following you? And so who is this person I'm supposed to 'give up?'"

The salarian, if he could blush, would have done so, completely embarassed by his miscalculation, "A misunderstanding. I believed you were an accomplice of a criminal I was hunting down; one I had tracked to the Citadel, and believed I was being followed so as to update her with my whereabouts."

"I see," Marcus stated, interested by the situation, "And just who is this illustrious criminal you are tracking down? She must be important, if finding her in the middle of a war of extermination is so damn important."

"Oh, it most certainly is. Could harm the war effort, actually," Bau explained, nodding and seeing his fellow spectre's continued confusion, decided to clarify, "She is a Master Thief. Her name is Kasumi Goto, she is of your species. I must admit, I am quite impressed by her skills, and had we not been on opposite ends of the justice system, I might have found an ally in her. Allas, it is not so. She holds crucial intel that could spark war between the Hegemony and the Alliance."

Really? You're worried about that? Both humanity and the batarians have their homeworlds under siege, and most of their territories are under attack. You really think they'll risk a war? But that wasn't what surprised him the most, it was who he was chasing. Kasumi, why must you constantly get in trouble? But is she really here? Damn, Garrus will be happy to hear that. He won't say it, but I know he misses her somewhat, even though they aren't an official couple or anything; just two people flirting with each other constantly. But seriously, what has that thief gotten up to to get a spectre after her? Especially something that could spark a war?

"Just what does she have that could start this conflict you're worried about?" Marcus queried, genuinely curious.

"She has a greybox, one she 'reacquired' from the late Donovan Hock in his ex-Mansion on Bekenstein," Bau explained, "On this greybox, is information about an Alliance raid on a batarian research facility in Hegemony space. The Hegemony had acquired unidentified alien technology, and were running illegal AI experiments with it. The Alliance received a tip about the facility, and deployed a black ops squad of N7 special forces to investigate and acquire evidence. The raid turned into a massacre; the batarians seemed to see them coming and opened fire on them, almost erratically, reports state. But to cut to the point, as you humans say, the raid was covered up and the Alliance denied being there at all; they made it look like an accident. Of course, on that greybox that Miss Goto has, is evidence that proves otherwise."

Marcus remembered back to one year ago, to what Kasumi had told him about the greybox after they had acquired it from Hock's mansion. She said there was information on it that Keiji didn't want getting into the wrong hands...so that's what she meant! Keiji wanted to keep his greybox somehow came across the evidence, gridlocked it into his greybox, and then tried everything he could to keep it from falling into batarian hands or any one who really hated humans. It all makes sense now. But why didn't she tell me that?

Unless...she doesn't know. Maybe all she knows is that it was important, and that was it. Maybe Keiji kept it a secret from her all the way up to his death just so she wouldn't be in danger. It makes sense...

"Another piece of interesting information however, is the alien tech itself. It wasn't of our Tier level. The galaxy at present is at a tech tier of 3. The technology they had come across was of a Tier level of 2; light years ahead of our technology, and far beyond anything we could hope to build. And anyone who stayed around it for too long became crazy, and complained of whispering in their minds, and would eventually attempt to kill everyone around them. I think we both see just what this technology was."

Indoctrination. I don't know how, but the batarians had stumbled upon Reaper technology. That explains why they went crazy and attacked the N7 team; they were all indoctrinated. I'm glad the Alliance blew it up to fake an accident; if they had kept it...the Reapers would have been able to infiltrate the Alliance alot more deeply.

"Reaper tech," Marcus concluded, shaking his head, "Yes, this is very nasty stuff. Please inform me on what you find during your quest. But, Bau, please remember," he placed a hand on the salarian's shoulder, squeezing it, "There's a war going on out there. Any help you can give to aid the effort...hell, I'm building an armada right now. We're going to unite the entire galaxy; we're calling it the United Galactic Confederacy. Join us; we could use men like you aiding the war effort."

"I shall have to consider it. I will contact you through your omni-tool of my decision," Bau told him, sending Marcus his extranet address, "And I won't be alone. I will spread the news, Shepard; every Spectre shall know of what you are building, and together, the Special Tactics and Recon will do what the Council has failed to; we will fight back. You can consider the Spectres part of your...union of species. I will contact you of my success on that topic, as well."

Marcus smiled, nodding, "Thank you Bau. You're a credit to your uniform. Now go capture that thief," he grinned, although this one was for different reasons, and he quickly moved up to the spectre office door, waving his credentials infront of it and opening the door, stepping inside and listening to it shut behind him and lock, the corridor before him lighting up and numerous strobes of blue light dancing over his body as he was decontaminated; for what purpose, he did not know.

As the decon process finished, he grinned, crossing his arms as he looked around, pretending to be oblivious before speaking, seemingly to himself, "You can come out now."

A moment passed, and then another few seconds. Almost half a minute later, Marcus said, in his best threatening voice, "Kasumi, I swear to God. If you don't come out of here now, I will come over there and drag you out myself. Nothing here to fear; just me. Bau's gone."

"You're no fun!" came the usual chirpy voice of the Normandy's mischevious japanese thief, who's arrival could be heard by the crackle of her cloak deactivating, revealing herself to the world once more. He turned behind him to see her leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her breasts. She wore her trademark hood, something she seemed to never pull down, over her head, darkening her face and keeping her face illusive and mysterious, nothing but her eyes twinkling to give any indication that there was life under the hood, and it was that aspect that always reminded him of quarians. Her breasts were medium sized, and her body had the curvy lines of a petite young woman coming into late twenties. He saw the outline of her plump red lips, and the pink line that ran down the middle of her lower lip, along with her flat boots. She sighed, pouting as she remained leaning against the wall, shaking her head, "And I still don't know how you do that. Dozo?"

His translator picked out that pretty well, and he laughed, shaking his own head, "That secret will remain with me to my grave. But I might spill to Tali."

"Please don't. Scaring the hell out of her is so much fun, especially when I do it with a spider dangling from my hand. You should have been there to see it; she was hunting me all over the ship for days afterwards," she grinned, sighing as she stood up, "But seeing how you won't tell me, I'll be on my way. See you around Shep."

She moved to cloak and walk away, but he grabbed her arm, spinning her to face him, "Oh no you don't. I've been locked up for six months, and haven't been able to see a single friend of mine since then. So far I've met a few more, but meeting another one is an added bonus. You don't just get to sneak into the Spectre offices, say hi, and then disappear again. Especially not with that salarian spectre chasing after you."

"But its so much fun to lead him on wild goose chases! And the way he attacked you; thinking you were my accomplice! Shep, I want you to now go over to that chinese place on the Presidium, and I want you steal some noodles for me, okay? And none of that spicy stuff. Hurts my tongue too much."

"Kasumi, seriously," he stated, the grin dropping from his face, "Talk to me. You may think I'm an old groutch who blows up things and finds it fun, but you are someone I call a friend, and you are my wife's best friend, so that puts you up a notch. Not to mention my brother's...ah...paramour...?"

Kasumi seemed to take that seriously, and immediately tore her arm from his grip, glaring at him and poking out her tongue, "Garrus is not my 'paramour,' you silly idiot. We flirt, we kiss as a joke, and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing will become of it..."

"I said the same of my attraction to Tali once upon time," Marcus grinned, teasing her and finally having the upperhand, "Look how that changed..."

"Oh..." Kasumi tried to think of an adequate insult but, being unable to conjure one, simply growled and gave up, "Fine! You win this time, Shep, but be sure I'll get you back. And you won't see me coming when you do."

"I'm sure," he replied dryly, chuckling as he shook his head, "So apart from getting a salarian on your tail, just what have you been up to?"

"Doing what you wanted us to do. Prepare the galaxy, for all the good it did," she sighed, moving past him as he followed her into the main office, "Mostly did some research into Reaper tech, and stole it from unaware, wealthy cosmopolitans and metrosexuals. The usual affair, but with alot more drama."

"Metrosexuals?" he questioned, coming to a stop, "Really?"

"I'm eccentric, Shep. Thought you knew that by now. Its what gives me my...style," she waved her arms in the air to exaggerate her point, giggling slightly afterwards as she looked in wonder at the room around her, "Very fancy, Shep. I could make a fortune stealing stuff from this place."

"Look, but don't touch, Miss Goto," Marcus warned, his voice full of mock threats, "I am a Spectre you know."

"Oh, don't be such a party pooper," she pouted, poking her tongue out of him as seemed to be a habit with her when she didn't get her away and leapt up onto a nearby crate, crossing her legs as she sat ontop of it in a humble Japanese fashion, a grin on her face as she looked at him, "Kuso kurae!"

He frowned at her as he came to stop before the main terminal, "My translator isn't picking up that one."

"For good reason," she commented, smiling, "It is not a word my mother would tolerate coming from my mouth. She would have slapped me."

"A swear word?"

"Typically."

"What does it mean?"

"Not telling."

"Come on, Kasumi..."

"Nope. Nada. Not going to happen. A thief has secrets!"

"You're impossible."

"Look who's talking!"

He waved his hands in the air, fed up with her behaviour before surrendering and turning back to the console, bringing up its contents on the screen before him; nothing really of note, just a repeat of what he already knew; Khar'Shan and Earth fallen, Palaven under siege, Sur'Kesh and Tuchanka threatened, Sur'Kesh more so due to its species possessing a more threatening military force. Nothing he didn't already know. God, he wished it would give him useful information. Like how to secure a krogan-turian alliance without Wrex crushing Victus' wind pipe...

"What ya lookin at, Shep?"

He almost jumped from the voice suddenly speaking over his shoulder, and he turned to her, shaking his head as he turned back to the screen, ignoring the smug look on her face, "Just news reports. Nothing I didn't already know. Hasn't yielded anything actually interesting or particularly...offsetting."

"The news is useless," Kasumi pointed out, jumping up and sitting on the railing next to him, pulling out an apple from her pocket and taking a bite from it, talking as she chewed, loudly, "I, for one, don't trust it at all. That's why I go find out things for myself. Speaking of such things..." she opened her omni-tool and searched through numerous items before selecting one, Marcus' terminal suddenly beeping with new data, "...I just sent one such event that should please you greatly. From yours truly, the bad people in white and gold."

He turned to the terminal, and found a data packet labelled, quite comically, 'Bad People doing Bad Things.'

"How eloquently put," Marcus dryly commented, and all he was an apple hit the side of his temple, causing him to rub the sore spot after yelling 'ow!'

"I didn't have time to worry about naming it something appropriate, so I came up with that!" she justified, "Besides...I think its appropriate."

Shaking his head in mirth, he quickly lost his grin as he opened the data packet and began to read through it. And the more he read, the more serious he became. When he was done, he deactivated the terminal and simply stood there, not knowing what to think of the information he had just been given. Finally, Kasumi spoke up, gulping down her apple chunk and speaking with a voice of curiosity.

"So...am I good, or am I the best thief in the galaxy? I personally believe the latter, but if you want to put it up for debate later, I'm more than open to talk."

"Kasumi, how did you get your hands on this? This isn't well known," Marcus asked, turning to face her with a fierceness in his eyes that even took the petite thief by surprise, but she quickly regained her chirpy composure and smiled.

"I might have stumbled upon a bad person who was an idiot and left his draw open so I may have stolen his datapad full of evil plans, and brought it to you?" she stated, shrugging, "I was actually considering giving it to Bau as a token present for being so persistent in his search for me, but seeing you here, I thought it better to give to you. Noone hates Cerberus more than the crew of the good old Normandy clan."

"Bau?" he asked, eyes widening in shock, trying to comprehend that certain confuffle.

"Yeah, I really like him. He's a good man, and he's very much like me. He's smart, quick on his feet, and he seems to know what I'm doing before I do. He's...amazing. We'd have made excellent partners in crime!" she gossiped, grinning like an idiot.

"But he's the spectre currently chasing you," he deadpanned, "As in the one trying to put you behind bars. Bring you to justice."

"Well..." she began, before just exhaling, shrugging nonchatantly in the way that she did with matters she gave no thought to, "...nobody's perfect."

He sighed again, something he found himself doing alot around Kasumi, and braced against the terminal, rubbing his eyes, "This type of information could get you killed, Kasumi, especially if it got out that you had it. The Illusive Man is on bad terms with us as enough as it is; he doesn't need you feeding intel reports of his operations to his one archenemy."

"I'm sorry, but do you remember why you recruited me to begin with, Shep?" Kasumi quiered, giving him the 'looking down at the glasses' look as she smirked, "I'd make a joke about stealth being my middle name, but that's too mainstream...and not strictly true. So I'm just going to say...I have a cloak! I'm a Master Thief! Cerberus, catch me if you can! Besides, this was just too much to let pass up, and even you can't argue with the results."

"No, I suppose I can't," he turned back to look at the data, inhaling and exhaling, "So Cerberus has invaded Eden Prime, have they? I know Cerberus has taken Omega, but why does Cerberus need Eden Prime? Omega has tactical value, but the Utopia System is bordering on Reaper-controlled territory. What use is it?"

"Prothean tech. And lots of it," Kasumi replied, "Apparently ExoGeni, at a little colony called New Hope, were excavating a massive signature they had found; it was a prothean treasure trove, Shep! And its said to be a mile longer and deeper than the Archives."

"Holy shit, really? And Cerberus might get their hands on it? Fuck that," Marcus growled, knowing now this was important, "Once we're stocked up, I'm heading straight for Eden Prime. I can't just let Cerberus have access to a prothean archive, and especially not unchecked. They need to be stopped."

"Better to be careful Shep," the thief warned, "Cerberus has a whole fleet protecting their new prize, and alot of troops. I mean, you'd need more than just the Normandy and its squad to retake the entire planet."

Marcus was at a loss, until he remembered just what resources he had at his disposal. But first, he had to secure that prothean site before Cerberus got their hands on it, "Kasumi, I just happen to have more. Thank you for this info, it was a great help." He moved to leave.

"Anytime, Shep."

Her voice made him stop, and he slowly turned around, his eyes meeting hers. She simply shrugged, giving him a look of 'what? Is it something I said?' behind her hood. He shook his head, turning his body fully towards her, smiling, "Kasumi, I think I forgot to ask this, and I'm going to anyway, even if you don't like it. Miss Goto, I'm going to ask you to rejoin the Normandy crew."

She rolled her eyes very noticably, clearly not sold on that idea, "No way Shep. You already dragged me into a suicide mission, you're not dragging me into a war."

"I could use your help Kasumi. Besides, you're a good friend," Marcus pleaded not so bluntly, "It would be fantastic to have you back on the crew."

"I'm a thief, not a soldier!" she threw back, as more emotion creeped into her voice, "I steal objects, not lives. How do you expect me to be of any use when the best I can do is play wack-a-mole with husks?"

"Don't play that game. I've seen you with an SMG and a pistol. Combined with that cloak of yours, the enemy rarely see you coming, and you're a pretty good shot with that Locust SMG that killed two presidents," he gave her a knowing wink, "You'd be an asset. You'd not only be useful as stealth recon, but as stealth infiltration. You'd put most N7 infiltrators to shame."

"Well, I do know how to make the best of them blush, I guess," she seemed to ponder, before shaking her head, "I can't believe you're making me think about this! My answer is no! I don't want to be involved in a galactic war! I'm not a soldier! I don't kill people for a living! I'm not that kind of person! And I won't let you turn me into that kind of person!"

That hurt Marcus deep inside, but Kasumi wouldn't know that; he never showed it. It hurt because it was true; he had turned good people into soldiers. Warriors. Tali. Liara. Garrus. Lia. Wre-oh, wait. Wrex was already a blood-thirsty bastard. My own wife, the person I fell in love with because she was selfless and cute, and I turned her into a goddamn warrior. He remembered with crystal clarity what had happened last year when Cerberus and the Shadow Broker (the one before Liara) raided the Rayya, and what she had done to the captain of the Cerberus vessel...how she had slowly cut off his genitals, before slitting his throat...My god...the look in her eyes...the innocence I came to love was just gone. And then she apologized afterwards, and that was all my fault. I made her into that. I transformed her into a killer. Can I really blame Kasumi for not wanting to be like that? Can I really convince her to not turn away?

But then it hit him. This is war. The entire galaxy was facing extinction; there was no such thing as a civilian anymore; everyone was a soldier, whether they liked it or not. They had to fight to survive the apocalypse, and if they didn't, they'd be swept aside and harvested. Kasumi was a soldier; maybe not a professional, but she was.

"You don't have to be a cold-blooded killer to be a soldier, Kasumi," he explained to her, "You just have to do what's right. Look at the First American Civil War. They didn't fight the war because they loved killing or because they were exceptionally good at it, they killed because their state's sovereignty was being threatened, and were fighting for their family and their freedom and rights to be independent. They fought because it was right, and they fought to survive. That is what we must all do now; fight and survive. We fight or we die. Kasumi, you either jump in the wagon or be left behind, and I don't want to see you left behind. We are all soldiers now, even the doctors and the politicians and the ordinary farmer. Even thieves."

"I..." Kasumi, unable to argue with that logic, merely sighed in defeat, shaking her head, "I just don't know, Shep. I don't know if I'm ready for that. Fighting in one mission to save the galaxy was one thing...to fight many battles across the galaxy to save it from an enemy that shows no weakness, fear or mercy? How could I possibly add up? You're an N7, and your squad is full of trained soldiers. I'm just a thief who tagged along for the ride and just happened to be good with an SMG. I don't know if I can handle that."

He thought about it for a second, before smiling grimly, meeting her eyes, "And what if I told you something, Kasumi?"

"What?"

"What if I told you Garrus was on the Normandy. Right now," he asked, frowning down at her, "Would you join then?"

"I'd tell you you're lying just to lure me onto the ship," she sternly replied, but seeing the look in his face, exhaled, "But you're not that kind of person. So Garrus is back on the Normandy, huh?"

"Yep, and he won't say it, but I believe he's missed you," he grinned, "The teasing, the jokes, the flirting...I think he's missed all of it. To be honest, I think he has a thing for you. He'll want to keep you around."

She narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious, "Really? He really misses me? Well that's a first. Although I'm sure he'd be useless without me to give him all his comedic comebacks and insults. He did learn from the best," she seemed to ponder this, before sighing, meeting his eyes, "I'll think about it, Shep. I'll...really think about it. But for now, I'm going to have to respectfully decline. I'm sorry. But I will think about it."

"I won't force you Kasumi. Just letting you know that the option is open. Goodbye," and he turned and left, hoping to meet her again someday.

Kasumi's response was a bare whisper, "See ya, Shep." And seeing him leave, knowing the Normandy would also leave soon, her decision was made.

{Loading...}

June 5, 2186

0700 hours.

Gunnery Station, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, Docked with the Citadel.

The Reaper War.

Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian.

In the quiet humming of the gunnery control station of the stealth frigate stood the lone form of a turian expert marksman by the name of Garrus Vakarian, doing his infamous 'calibrations' on the thanix cannon; a turian equivalent of the technology used to build a Reaper's thanix cannon, and just as powerful. He hummed a turian tune silently to himself, clicking his mandibles along to the beat as he typed into the terminal before him, checking to make sure all the specs were up to date and not disorderly.

He was so enthralled in his work, that he didn't notice the door open and close, seemingly by itself as noone entered.

He didn't hear the silent footsteps sneaking up behind him, or the barely noticable wift of breath on his ear. He didn't notice any of it until it was too late, "SO, Garrus! How's it going!"

He nearly jumped forward in fright, completely taken aback by the sudden voice of a certain thief bursting his ear drum. He spun around to face the laughing thief, who was simply looking at him with a ridiculous grin, arms clasped behind her back and looking absolutely above herself with mirth.

"Ka...Kasumi? By the spirits, what the hell?" Garrus exclaimed, "How...how the hell did you get in here? Since when were you on the crew?"

"As of now," she continued to smirk smugly, Garrus quickly recomposing himself and regaining some dignity as he stood back up, looking down at the petite japanese woman, "And what kind of a greeting is that? I'm back! Ready to make your life a living hell once more, and to give you inside tips on how to make Shep blush redder than an apple, and apples are delicious."

"I could say the same thing to you, Kasumi," he retorted.

"What, making me blush, or the greeting?" she shot back, smirking at his sudden embarassment, "Oh Garrus, you want to make me blush? And how, oh how, would you make that happen?"

"I...uh...well...um...Spirits damn you," he replied.

"Oh come now, don't be like that."

"You haven't given me a reason not to be."

"But we're best pals!" Kasumi replied, leaning on one hip as she crossed her arms, "And we're going to have so much fun! Like me constantly ruining your calibrations!"

"You're lucky I never found my assault rifle in time during those days. Noone messes with my calibrations," Garrus warned.

"Oh no, the dino doesn't want me messing up his calibrations," Kasumi teased, "What ever shall I do. Come now, don't be so unimaginative. Death threats should be a person's last resort in terms of comebacks."

"And what would you suggest instead?"

"Petnames."

He didn't like where this was going, "Like...?" He realized too late what she meant.

"Oh...I don't know, like...Garbear?" She grinned, "Ah yes, Garbear. That's perfect."

He groaned, and all he could hear, like the laughter of an evil mastermind, was Kasumi's giggling.

"I hate you. Spirits, I really do."

"Kasumi rejoined the crew. Can't have been all that bad. And it gave her and Garrus more time to...establish...their relationship."

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.

"They really were confused over whether they actually liked each other or not. How absurd is that? Even we figured it out quicker."

- Marcus Shepard.

"Cut to the chase. You mentioned Cerberus controlling Eden Prime. What occurred during that period?"

- Reia'Inas pav Earth.

"We retook Eden Prime, and found a prothean relic buried for fifty thousand years. You see, we were expecting a beacon, or a library like on Mars, or, hell, even just a buried building, but we never expected what we found. It would change our understanding of the Reapers and of the protheans forever."

- Marcus Shepard.

A/N:

Sorry this took so long; I had some serious writer's block in the making of this chapter; but its all good now! Turns out reading some fanfiction with Tali as the romance is good inspiration to keep writing; especially when those fanfics are dead.

You may have noticed that some sections were inspired (or borrowed heavily) from Kasumi and Garrus' interactions in Razor's Edge, a fanfic I strongly recommend you check out, it is brilliant. For example, the idea of Shepard finding out about Eden Prime from Kasumi was Tairis' (I think that's how its spelt) idea and came directly from Razor's Edge: Requiem, along with the argument of Shepard trying to get Kasumi to join. Yet again, so was much of the Shadow Broker scenes from III: Requiem, but hey, how could I not? Not only do they seem like things the characters would do, but its realistic and logical, and that's what I'm aiming for. Another thing borrowed is the nickname 'Garbear.' I don't particularly know if Tairis came up with that or not, but either way, I do plan on using it alot; its funny!

There will be many other things inspired by other fanfics, but largely from Razor's Edge.

Next up, From Ashes DLC. That chapter's going to be split up into two parts, and you'll soon find out why. Essentially, this is how it'll go:

Part 1: From Ashes DLC.

Part 2: Liberation of Eden Prime.

Its going to be pretty cool, if it all works out well. So, I hope you look forward to it!

And please review!