A/N: Hey guys, sorry about that mix-up last chapter. Thanks to V-rcingetorix for picking up on my stupid mistake :P

Chapter 10: Out in the Cold

Tali's POV

It was so different.

Not just the Normandy or the crew, but Shepard as well. Not that I didn't trust him whole-heartedly, especially after he charged through a Collossus for me on Haestrom, but there was something decidedly strange about him now.

It was his eyes, I decided. There was a war going on inside them. Clearly, he didn't need me to tell him that Cerberus couldn't be trusted. And yet, at the same time, he knew that they were right about the Collectors. He was in a difficult place and it was eating away at him. Now, he was finally starting to find people he could trust, but he still walked more stiffly than before, as if expecting a knife in his back at any moment.

Shepard would do what was right—I believed in him—but I'd be damned if I took orders from Cerberus, and I wanted them to know that. Jacob looked nice enough, but didn't they all? And EDI…I didn't even know where to start. An AI! A bloody AI! What were they thinking?

The rest of his team was little better. A bunch of criminals and terrorists with menacing glares and vicious natures. Only Garrus and Samara had ever been on the right side of the law, though the asari followed a foreign code that left no room for mercy. Overall, I was hoping that their loyalty to Shepard would prevent them from using their skills against me or the fleet. Keela, what had I dragged the Quarians into?

I sighed, taking a break from the talkative engineers and looking out into the cargo hold. One of the Commander's new team was there, the information broker he'd dredged up on Omega. I hoped she was as good as he said, because I'd certainly never heard of her and she was positively tiny. If I didn't know better, I would have assumed she was a child. Right now she was immersed in a large holoscreen displaying security camera footage, watching tensely. Waiting.

The screen was still for a long moment before a large group exited some sort of door. She seemed to sag in relief. So this was some kind of operation. Information broker indeed. As I watched, she zoomed in on a turian carrying a human child. The girl was filthy, covered in muck with sores around her tiny wrists and ankles and tearstains tracking through the dirt on her face. She pointed, directing the turian out of sight of the camera. Immediately, the blonde woman summoned more camera footage to track their movements across what had to be the notorious station of Omega until suddenly the girl sprang from the turian's grasp and flew into the waiting arms of a young woman.

Alpha, if I remembered the name right, dropped right onto her back, closing the screens, and took a deep breath. Whatever had just happened appeared to have ended well. And if it returned a little girl to her mother, the information broker couldn't be that bad. I decided that, although I didn't trust her, at least she wasn't Cerberus.

And then she pulled up another video. It was Jacob in the armory. The screen fast forwarded through hours and hours of video until Shepard appeared. She listened intently until the Commander left and then forwarded though another two days' worth of video until he stopped to talk again. I pushed away from the glass, disgusted. Either Shepard's new friend didn't trust him with Cerberus, or she was betraying us all. I needed a word with the Commander.

I summoned the elevator urgently but stepped back when the doors slid open with a whoosh of air. "Shepard! Speak of the devil!"

"Hey, Tali. Something wrong?" He frowned at me in confusion and invited me to join him. I did so quickly.

"It's about the information broker. She's spying on you."

"Oh, yeah." He nodded knowingly. "She does that to everyone."

I gawked. He knew…and did nothing? "She was looking at video footage of you talking to Jacob!"

"She's probably watching us right now." He shrugged indifferently. "Alpha is a little bit paranoid is all."

"And what if she's working for the Collectors?"

"It's always possible, but I don't think so."

I growled, folding my arms. "You can't run on a gut feeling like this, Commander. She could do a lot of damage to our mission!"

"It's not my gut feeling, Tali," he said gently, placing a hand on my elbow comfortingly. A surge of warmth raced across my skin at the contact, despite the suit. "She told Garrus and Joker something. Something that made them trust her. And Garrus doesn't trust easily anymore." He sighed heavily. "She isn't quite sure about me yet, so she watches closely, but I'm trying and I think she is too."

Just then, the doors opened to the hold and I sputtered a little in surprise, causing the human girl to glance over her shoulder. He'd been going to see the very person we'd just been talking about! "Hey Shepard. And Tali'Zorah vas Neema. Nice to meet you." She hid all of her screens so that she could give us her full attention. I stiffened. We'd never been introduced. So she was spying on me too.

"Hello, Alpha. Just wanted to ask you a question quick." The Commander approached and stopped in front of her.

"Shoot," she ordered, stepping backward a little. If I didn't know better, I'd say that he was testing her personal space on purpose. It may be why she was having trouble being comfortable with him.

"Joker said you were looking into a matter involving a turian named Jarron Kryik."

"As in Nihlus Kryik?" I asked before I could help myself.

She nodded, and began working with her omni tool once more. "Joker mentioned that Nihlus was a friend of yours, so I looked into it. Jarron is his nephew."

"I'd like to help him out."

"I thought you might," she said with the voice of someone who was about to scold him. "That's why I made sure the issue was resolved today, before you could ask. He was taken two days ago by slavers, along with a handful of others. But Jarron's brother is a member of the Blue Suns and they raided the slavers' hidey-hole just a few minutes ago."

A picture popped up in Shepard's face, probably her revenge for standing too close, and he obligingly took a step back so that he could see the two turians exiting an alleyway. One was supporting the other, who looked a little worse for wear. Although his clothes were in tatters and bright blue blood stained his face, he looked incredibly relieved.

"They have the same pattern," I noted quietly. Both of them gave me a confused look. "Their face paint, it's the same basic pattern that Nihlus wore in the pictures you showed me, with some small differences." I looked at the black marks that criss-crossed Alpha's face then, trying to remember if I'd seen any of it anywhere else, but I couldn't place it. It was uniquely curved, where turians tended to prefer sharper angles. Strange.

"You okay?" she asked when I continued to stare hard at her.

I tilted my head, not answering right away. "Your paint is definitely turian, but it doesn't look familiar. Where'd you get it?"

She gave a hesitant smile. "I don't really want to talk about it."

Shepard laughed a little. "We've tried a few times, Tali. The crew is convinced that her turian lover was murdered and that she went to Omega to hunt down his killer, but she won't say."

"Then why not just lie? Information brokers do that all the time."

The challenge was a reference to Fist and was supposed to upset her, but her answer was so unexpected that it made me falter. "I don't want to. And I promised Shepard no half-truths either. In fact, I'd rather not mention it at all."

"Are you ever going to give us the story?" Shepard asked, almost pained by frustration but trying to be polite.

She scoffed. "Trust me, my big mouth has done more than enough damage already."

I shifted, uncertain exactly what to think of this Alpha character.

0.

Alpha's POV

"Hip healed just fine. Mission ready. Growth medium working. 3 centimeters already! Still much growing to do. 20 more centimeters to be within normal height range. Probably too little too late. Will gain 10 more at most. Need vitamin supplement to support bone density and prevent tissue from stretching. Still concerned about brain wave activity. Any more strange dreams?"

I smiled as Mordin bounced around his lab table like the hamster that Kelly always suspected he would be. "No, no more dreams."

"Very well. Report immediately if occurs again. Add these to pill regimen. Once daily."

I accepted the small bottle and was promptly shooed out of the lab. The salarian was still suspicious about the origins of my 'archaic' medical care and strange connection to Barra, but after speaking with Shepard he was stifling his curiosity as well as could be expected and forcing himself to do only the necessary procedures.

Now that Mordin had released me I was free to go on missions again, but Shepard was already on Illium with Miranda and Tali so I'd have to wait my turn. Speaking of Illium…. "Hey, EDI. Was a package delivered to the Normandy since docking?"

"Three packages have come aboard, and one of them was addressed to 'Casey'."

So Barra was on top of things, then. "Perfect. Where is it?"

"I have it here, Alpha," Kelly said with a smile. She reached under her workstation and produced a neatly wrapped brown package with 'fragile' written in bright red across the top. "Sounds pretty delicate," she remarked.

"It is. EDI, did Thane take shore leave, or is he still here?"

"Still here." The voice seemed to croak as Thane and Samara emerged from the elevator. "What do you require of me?"

I blinked in surprise and then shrugged. They were obviously taking shore leave together, not really that unusual when you considered that the Justicar shared his calm demeanor and meditative aura. They likely got along rather well. I carefully removed the wrappings and opened my package. There was a note inside from the pharmacist, instructing that shots were to be administered every three days. And in the bottom of the package were about a dozen small vials and a syringe. "Here," I inserted the vial into the syringe and held it out to him.

The drell sighed heavily. "This is the purpose of the scan you took the other day."

"Yes."

"What is it?" Kelly asked curiously, staring at my outstretched hand.

Reluctantly, Thane accepted the medication and stuck himself in the arm. "It is a treatment for my Kepral's Syndrome. It is very expensive and rather difficult to get a hold of." I waited and held out the box when he was finished so that he could return the syringe.

"My friend said that you weren't taking it like you should be. I'll leave this with Doctor Chakwas so that she can keep an eye on you."

"Your generosity is appreciated," Samara told me quietly. "We will need our entire team in top physical condition if we intend to succeed."

"But you were an assassin, Thane. Surely you could have afforded the medicine yourself?" Kelly insisted.

He turned away slightly, so as not to look her in the eye when he spoke next. "Many drell refuse the treatment, particularly in the later stages. The disease can be painful, and we have no desire to extend our lives when our bodies and souls are in such disharmony."

I winced sympathetically. "But we have work to do Thane. We need you here. And if we all get out of this…. If we all come back, then I will accept whatever decision you make," I promised solemnly. He placed a cool hand over my gloved one in thanks and then accompanied Samara to the airlock.

"How sad," Kelly mumbled. "It's like he's completely given up."

I set my expression and sent up a prayer for Barra. "Maybe he has, but I haven't."

The red-head's eyes narrowed. "Your friend wasn't just evaluating Thane's condition, was he?"

"Thane may not accept a treatment, but I'm hoping he'll accept a cure." We locked eyes for a moment before I headed down to the medical bay.

.0

When Shepard returned from Miranda's loyalty mission and finding Liara, he looked a little worse for wear and there was a tension that sparked between him and our surprise asari guest. Liara seemed not to notice and wasted no time before roaming around and gazing critically at the new Normandy, causing her crew to shift uncomfortably. If Shepard had romanced her in the fight against Saren, they gave no indication. All talk was strictly business.

I hid as thoroughly as possible the next day, but the Commander favored allowing her to glare at me, rather than enduring the unusual distance between them. Which was why she was currently sitting across from me in the mess, evaluating the way that I ate my sandwich.

Luckily, I was saved by an outcry coming from Miranda's office. I regretted that it was partially my fault, but the situation it got me out of almost made it worth it. Jack stood, waving her datapad impatiently and swearing at the XO. Right, the Teltin Facility. That was supposed to be tomorrow's big project.

"Whatever, Cerberus bitch! Don't fuck with me! There's no fucking way that you would have all of this shit about that fucking lab in here without putting the coordinates!"

"It's simple operational security," Miranda argued firmly. "The Illusive Man is the only one outside of the team on site that has the location of Cerberus facilities. You have the reports, why do you need the coordinates?"

"Because I'm going to blow the Teltin Facility sky-fucking-high! I want those coordinates!"

"Why not ask your resident information broker?" I closed my eyes as Liara's smooth, detached voice cut through the argument.

There was momentary silence and I sighed. She wanted to see my methods. She wanted to know for sure that I wasn't the Shadow Broker. Well, fine. "I was going to do that tomorrow, but I'll take a stab at it right now, Jack."

"About god damn time," she growled.

"Tell me about this 'Teltin Facility'."

She dropped into my chair and crossed her arms, fixing me with a threatening glare. "It's a Cerberus lab where they studied biotic kids. It was closed down when I escaped eight years ago."

"Eight years…" I sighed. I couldn't even pretend to use sources, not with Garrus leaning casually against that cryo pod, drawn away from his calibrations by the shouting. Me and my big mouth. "Guess we do this the hard way. Did you have to wear any protective equipment when you went outside? A breather or anything?"

"We didn't go outside!" She snarled aggressively.

I put my hands on my hips, taking a firmer stance with the irritable biotic. "You escaped, didn't you?"

She kept the scowl, but gave in, admitting: "I didn't need anything. I blasted the door off and ran to the shuttle."

"Alright, Siri. Project me a galaxy map. Hide all suns. Hide all planets that require artificial atmosphere. Hide all planets with heat, cold, or pressure hazards."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," she growled, rolling her eyes. "I thought you were an information broker?"

"This is what we do, Jack," I growled right back. "You either do this, or you pay someone else to do this. Isn't that right, Liara?" The asari nodded, never taking her eyes off of the projection. "Siri, hide all planets past the Perseus Veil. Jack, were you in Citadel Space, the Terminus, or the Traverse?"

"Terminus."

"Siri, hide all planets in Citadel Space and the Attican Traverse. How many planets are left?"

"There are 482 planets unhidden."

"What else can you tell me about the planet? I'm guessing it wasn't highly populated?"

"No," she scoffed. "The plants choked out anyone else who tried to build there."

"Siri, hide all planets with major settlements. Hide all desert planets. How many planets remain?"

"73 planets remain."

"Any other details you can remember, Jack?" She snarled something explicit, so I tuned her out and paced, trying to think of one more thing to narrow it down. Surely the plants were significant enough, if only I could come up with a way to word it…. "Siri, hide all planets with an atmospheric nitrogen level lower than that of Earth. How many planets remain?"

"24 planets remain."

"Good enough. Siri, compile the names of the remaining planets into a list. Then search the Alliance website for a description of the planet and get me five pictures off of the extranet for each." The VI obediently brought the screen right up in front of me and I sorted through each individually, narrowing them down further still. I was relieved to see that Pragia was still on my list and that I hadn't made a mistake with the Nitrogen levels thing. "68 percent mountainous…no…80 percent ocean…no…73 percent magma…no…giant killer bees?" I glanced at Jack for this last one and she shook her head. After a few more minutes of reading to myself, I settled on 4 possibilities. "Okay, let me see your Cerberus files."

"What? Why?" Jack and Miranda demanded in unison. There was a fierce glaring contest and I took the opportunity to swipe the datapad. "Hey!"

"These four remaining planets look about the same and all have aggressive plant growth. I need the files to find the one we're looking for," I explained hastily, typing each of the planet names into the pad. Predictably, a search in the operations database revealed nothing, but I had more luck elsewhere. Construction specialists were, apparently, less disciplined than operatives because the site manager slipped up in his report. "Here we go. There was a facility built on—"

"Pragia."

All eyes turned to Jack, who was studying the pictures that Siri had selected with great interest. She gave particular attention to a snapshot taken from orbit. That must have been what she saw as she floated away during her escape. Hatred smoldered in her eyes. Without a word—without even breathing—Jack turned on her heel away from the holoscreen and stormed into the elevator. Goldstein, who had been riding inside, fled, but the biotic maintained control until she was well out of sight. Only after presumably reaching her hole in engineering did the Normandy begin to shift and groan.

We all exchanged uneasy glances. "What the hell—anybody know what's going on? Joker's pissed." Suddenly, Shepard appeared from the direction of the elevator, casting an eye around the room as if expecting to see a five ton boulder rolling back and forth in the mess.

Again, everyone hesitated. I gave him an uncertain smile. "Um, you might want to talk to Jack."

He wiped a hand over his face tiredly. "Okay. Alright. Jack." Heaving a heavy sigh, he turned to head back the way we came, stopping only to throw a sideways glance back at me. "By the way Alpha, we're making a stop at Karumto to see if we can find Dr. Cayce. We'll be there in about an hour, so be ready. I'm taking you and Mordin this time."

"Right." I winced a little, remembering how I hated the Firewalker missions. I was awful with the Hammerhead. But Shepard always drove anyway, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

.0

I was wrong.

The Commander driving was a big deal.

A very big deal.

I almost thought that even I could do better, and I'd been a terrible woman driver long before vehicles left the ground. Mordin and I clung to our safety harnesses in terror as the bottom of the Hammerhead slammed into the ground over a deposit of Iridium. "Hah! Made it!" Shepard cheered triumphantly from the pilot's seat after jumping a cavern of molten lava.

"Site unstable!" the salarian pleaded. "Should focus on locating research base!"

"Just one more second!" he called back, activating the vehicle's probe. The whole thing began to buck wildly as the drill shot dirt straight up at us.

"It was nice knowing you, Mordin!" I shouted over the roar, but he didn't hear me.

The probe beeped, indicating that the iridium was secure. "Alright, got it. Let's get to that base." I clung once more to my harness for the next death defying jump. Another pocket of iridium and a crumbling tunnel followed and I really began to question Shepard's sanity. There was bravery in the face of danger, there were even adrenaline junkies, but this—this fell in the realm of 'stupid freaking idea'.

When we made it to the research base Mordin and I launched ourselves from the shuttle, relieved to be on solid ground even if that ground was in a volcano. Luckily, the old salarian was composed enough to empty the medical station on the wall before the Commander led us up the shivering ramp into the heart of the base. I had a feeling we'd be needing it later.

The air was thin and smelled horrible when the door opened to reveal a perforated metal walkway over a lava pit. "Breathers!" Shepard choked, pressing the button on the back of his armor to unfold his helmet. Mordin and I used simple glass-like breathers instead, with the unfortunate side-effect of burning eyes. Still, we followed Shepard through the smoke in the next room and into the main lab on the right.

It was much more spacious than I remembered it being in the games, with a high ceiling and an ominously beautiful view of the inside of the volcano. Office supplies were scattered from the quaking, but it was very streamlined. "Split up and search. Make it quick," the Commander ordered. We nodded back, breaking off.

On the upper deck, Mordin went through the logs and soon Dr. Cayce's voice began to haunt the abandoned lab. He was talking about Prothean ruins and the Reapers, the pitch of his voice rising with every sentence. Clearly these people were onto something big. I searched the locker on the lower level for some spare credits and scanned a computer monitor. I was in the middle of downloading another one of Dr. Cayce's logs when Shepard started pressing some buttons he shouldn't have.

Giant, house-sized boulders began to fall from above, showering sparks and splashing molten metal onto the window in front of us. The Hammerhead's VI sounded an alarm. "Activation of research base power grid has triggered additional volcanic instability. Recommend immediate departure."

"We need to go!" the Salarian shouted, motioning to the both of us and guiding us back the way we came. Unfortunately, the gases from the volcano burned his eyes and he didn't see that the floor had collapsed until he had already walked off the edge. He crashed to the lower deck, banging his head and breaking his mask.

"Mordin!" Shepard called, reaching down after him. I put a hand on his weapon mount to guide myself and help pull the disoriented doctor back up to our level. "You okay?" the Commander demanded, but Mordin was too busy coughing to answer.

"We gotta get him out of here and back to the Hammerhead!"

"How?" Shepard growled, motioning to the hole in the floor. "Our way out is blocked."

"We'll have to go around." I threw one of Mordin's arms over my shoulder and removed my mask, pressing it to his face as we made our detour through the living quarters. If Shepard was wondering how I knew about it when I could barely see, he didn't ask. I made sure Mordin had at least stopped coughing before pulling the mask back for a few deep breaths of my own. Luckily, the trip to the Hammerhead went quickly after that.

"I've got Mordin," the Commander called, wrenching the hatch open. "You get the controls."

I stiffened. "Wha—no, Shepard. I can't—" the rumbling of the volcano smothered my words, even in my own head. Support beams began to screech as they twisted in the seismic activity.

"JUST DRIVE!" he barked urgently.

"We're going to die here!" I growled back, climbing into the vehicle and jumping into the pilot seat obediently. Okay, this couldn't be that hard, right? I pressed the big, glowing red button that read 'start vehicle'. We immediately began to levitate. Behind me, the hatch closed and the ventilation system kicked on, clearing the air of toxins.

"Joker, can you hear me? We need extract! I say again, we need—damnit! No signal, Alpha. Get us out of here."

"Uh…okay. Buckle up!" The hanger doors slid open when the Hammerhead came to life and I pushed forward on the controls, guiding us out and to the left. Unfortunately, all of the other labels were either scratched out or missing entirely. Crapcrapcrap. Okay, lava pit. I needed to accelerate. Maybe these buttons on the top of the steering thing were like left and right trigger? I pressed the right one, unleashing a missile from the right side of the shuttle. Nope.

"This volcano is already exploding!" Shepard screamed from the rear.

"Well, I don't exactly have time to read the manual!" There was a big blue button right in front of me so I pressed it and we leapt into the air about 15 feet. Not the one I was looking for, but important all the same.

"It's just like a skycar! Same controls!"

"Skycars don't have missiles, Commander! How do I accelerate?"

"The petal on the floor!"

"Right, got it." I pressed on the petal and pushed the controls forward again, throwing us back into the seats and making my jump as lava began to creep up onto the plateau behind us. "Okay, I can do this." Suddenly, the wall to our left exploded and I over-corrected, sending us roughly into the opposite side of the little tunnel we were in. The force threw all of us to the floor and I clawed my way back into the pilot seat. "Maybe not."

"What the hell are you doing up there?" Shepard called, finally taking my advice and getting Mordin and himself buckled into their harnesses.

Damn, I was going to get us killed unless Shepard took over. "I told you that you didn't want me to drive!"

"I have to hold the oxygen mask, you're the only other one here!"

I pushed us forward again, jumping a ledge as carefully as possible with my newfound blue button. Still, no matter how delicately I tried to drive, I still smashed us into the roof of the tunnel. More rocks began to collapse around us. "Shepard, I have a confession to make! I haven't driven anything since cars had four wheels and ran on petroleum gasoline!"

There was a long pause as I desperately grasped at the controls, trying to jump the collapsed sections of pathway. This was ridiculous!

"So you really were cryogenically frozen then…."

I bit my lip. How? "You knew?"

"Mordin guessed…. So how long were you…how long were you frozen?"

"…169 years. I've only been awake for 2." I dodged more falling debris, heart beating even faster as the end drew near.

"Only 2 years? But you…that means you woke up on Omega! How did you survive that?"

I cursed mentally, I was so stupid! How could he possibly be thinking straight right now? "Listen, Shepard, this isn't some kind of trust exercise! I need help here!" We jumped another destroyed bridge and saw the end of our tunnel. Joker's voice suddenly burst through the comms.

"Damnit, Alpha! Accept my transmit—Alpha? I'm here at the end of the next tunnel and the cargo hold is open!"

I gasped and ceased breathing as I watched the hole in front of me collapse. But I had to go. It was the only way to reach the Normandy—the only escape—and the window was closing fast. I kept the petal to the floor, shooting us through the falling rock and over the rough ground. We caught on things sometimes, with a crunching sound and a whiplash, but I held on and kept us going.

There was blue sky and I pressed my thruster button, but even from here I could tell we weren't going to make it. My stomach went into my throat as I punched it over and over again, but we were falling. What the hell was I supposed to do? There was nothing down there to land on! I had just killed us all!

I looked down at the console, ready to press every damn button in the cabin, and found instead a lever with the words 'thru—trols . I don't know how I managed to read 'thruster controls' from that, but it was pulled down only slightly. This must be what regulated the power that went into our 15-foot jumps. I needed more power. Yanking the lever all the way back, I pressed the jump button once more and we rocketed up with amazing force, gravity smashing my face down into the steering column and breaking my nose. Eyes watering, I managed to raise my head just in time to see us crash into the roof of the cargo hold. This time I went up and out of the pilot's seat, grasping for something to hold onto as we turned around and began to freefall. The levitation boosters cushioned our impact, but I still met the floor hard and the vehicle skidded across the bay, disabled.

Distantly, I heard Garrus on the comms. "They made it Joker, get us out of here!"

I rolled onto my back, hissing in pain and clutching my head. In the rear of the Hammerhead, Shepard and Mordin sat strapped firmly into their seats. Both were pale and their eyes wide, but appeared unharmed by my adventurous flying.

"Alpha…I think we need to talk."

I gave the Commander one last, very tired, look. "How's Mordin?"

The salarian answered for himself, breathless but recovering quickly. "Still experiencing dizziness and nausea. Head pain, too. Probable concussion. Will need to see Dr. Chakwas."

There was the sound of wrenching metal as the damaged door of the Hammerhead was yanked open. It took them three pulls, but light soon flooded into the cabin, along with Garrus and a handful of crew members. "Alpha, are you okay?" the turian demanded, looking me over as if he wouldn't have believed me anyway.

"Mordin needs a stretcher," was all I could manage and he relayed the instructions urgently.

"Goldstein, get the stretcher for Dr. Solus! Can you sit up?"

"Yeah." A hand under my back helped me into an upright position and I spat blood that had been trickling down the back of my throat. "Just a broken nose for me, I think. But Mordin has a head wound and Shepard may need a change of pants…. I may need a change of pants."

He sighed in relief at that and brought up his omni-tool. "I'll just give you a shot of medi-gel."

I pushed the arm away. "Don't waste it. Besides, I want to reset my nose before it gets all crooked again."

"I can do that," he said quickly, reaching to hold the back of my head. I held as still as possible and he gave a sharp tug. There was a shriek that must have come from me, but a couple of blinks and the pain subsided.

I ran gentle fingers along the top of the appendage until I was satisfied that it was straight. "Thanks."

"No problem…. Shepard?"

"I'm fine, Garrus," he said with a hint of amusement. "Just a little whiplash. I'm taking Mordin to the Med Bay. Think you can clean this mess up?"

"Yeah, I can handle the Hammerhead."

The Commander met my eye for a split second, though I was too tired to try and figure out what it meant, and a moment later he was gone, following the stretcher. I turned back to Garrus, who was still watching me closely for signs of injury. He was kneeling very close, I noticed, and I shifted away a few inches. Heat was rising in my face, I knew, but I did my best to suppress it.

"I thought we lost you guys for a second there," he said quietly, hand still on my back.

"Y—yeah, don't ever ask me to do that again." He cracked a small smile and visibly relaxed at my mood. "By the way, Joker was talking to me on the comms. How did you guys know that I was the one driving?" I frowned at my own question. We hadn't been able to get through to them at the base. They should have assumed that Shepard was our pilot.

Garrus hesitated. "Well, when you entered the research base, Shepard set the radio to send all transmissions to your earpieces and to the Normandy, so that you could use the Hammerhead's VI…. The reason you couldn't hear us was because you didn't have the comms set to receive our signal."

"…But you could hear us just fine…." He nodded. "…Everything?" Another nod. "So…how many—"

"Miranda, Jacob, Liara, and all of the crew in the CIC."

I ran my fingers through my hair and took a deep breath. Stupid! So stupid! What was I thinking? I didn't have the judgment to spare about that kind of secret. It had seemed like the thing to do, since we were all going to die anyway, but now…. Now, everyone knew that I was 170 years out of my element. "Okay. It's okay. I can…I can handle this."