Hello all! My sincerest apologies this Chapter took so long to write and upload, I've just been a bit sidetracked so I didn't write as often as I should have. Anywho, no boring spoilers here, I'll continue this down the bottom.

Mass Effect: Duty Calls

Chapter 9 - The Price for Revenge (Part 3)

Shepard's Team.

Shepard watched as the two teams made their way to their objective, his own lay behind him. He turned to face Zaeed and Gwene. "Alright guys, lets get this done and go home."

"Copy that, sir!" Gwene said, eagerly saluting Shepard. She paid Zaeed a curious look as he was uninterested in Shepard's words and just wanted to get the job done.

Shepard gave her a short nod, not lingering any longer he began making his way toward the bunker, closely followed by Gwene and Zaeed seemingly wandering at a distance. "So, Gwene." Shepard began. "Tell me about yourself." He wished to know about her if he would be working with her. "And speak freely." He quickly added, thinking the Lieutenant might be intimidated by rank.

"Of course, sir." Gwene replied. "Well, I am Lieutenant Gweneth Longoria, N7 operative of the Infiltrator class. I am trained for use in all weapons but I mainly use Sniper Rifles and Pistols as most of my work has been Stealth and Reconnaissance, with the odd assassination now and then."

"I heard the Colonel say that you haven't missed a shot in your entire career." Shepard began. "Is that true?"

"Yes sir." Gwene nodded. "100% accuracy since the beginning of my career. All shots that I have fired have hit their mark."

"I must say, that is very impressive." Shepard said, surprise present in his voice. "You must have had a good teacher."

"Yes sir, I did." Gwene said. "But it's a long story and right now I don't think it's the best time."

Shepard nodded, they had just arrived at their bunker. "I agree." He pulled out his Lancer and made his way over to the door, Gwene had pulled out her Paladin and hugged the wall next to the door. Zaeed had Jessie in his hands, ready to kill some blue suns mercs. "Alright, lets keep this simple. We storm the facility, terminating any hostile forces while keeping an eye out for any innocents, I don't want them getting caught in the crossfire. If they surrender, we do not kill our prisoners, understood?" He looked over to Zaeed, expecting that he might do just that.

"Alright Shepard." Zaeed said, now beginning to focus on the task at hand.

"Understood, sir." Gwene nodded.

Shepard saw that the two were ready, he made to push the button but before his finger could glance its surface, an explosion from one of the other bunkers grabbed his attention. "Steve!" Shepard said over the comms to his shuttle pilot that was surveying the area from above. "What the hell was that?"

"An explosion at one of the other bunkers." Came Cortez's reply over the comms. "It looks to have come from the entrance mostly."

Shepard abandon his own door and tried to get a clear sight of the bunker that had just had its door blown open. He couldn't see what was going on in the ensuing chaos. "Gwene. Use your Sniper Rifle and tell me what is going on!"

Gwene didn't need telling twice, she was immediately at Shepard's side, Sniper Rifle in hand with her looking down the scope for a clearer look. "I can't see a lot with the smoke." She said. "No wait, I see someone."

"Who?" Shepard asked, now realising that the bunker had been the one he had sent Ashley's team to.

"A woman, she is okay, she's moving." Gwene said simply, but her tone then became worried. "Oh no."

"What?" Shepard asked quickly.

"A merc has captured her, I... I think they might shoot her." Gwene replied.

"Deal with them, quickly!" Shepard said in a worried voice, he wasn't in a position to help Ashley, he knew it was her that Gwene had been talking about.

Gwene didn't need telling twice, she trained the cross hairs on the mercs head, and without hesitation squeezed the trigger and watched as the mercs head exploded from the sheer force of the bullet. "Target down." She replied.

Shepard couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief, he felt bad he had entrusted the protection of his fiancé to another, but he was confident Gwene would get the job done. "Good work, what about the others?"

Gwene activated the thermal scope of her rifle and tried to see just what was going on behind the smoke. "It's difficult to tell." She said. "My thermal scope shows the bodies of everyone through the smoke, but I can't identify who is friend or foe."

"Then we better get over there and help them, come on." Shepard said, making to run across the compound and help out.

"Wait!" Gwene quickly said. "She looks to have the situation under control, I think she has helped Garrus and James."

Shepard skidded to a halt and looked back to Gwene. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, sir." Gwene said. "Here, take a look." She looked up from the scope of her Black Widow and passed it over to Shepard.

Without hesitation, Shepard took the heavy Sniper Rifle and looked down its scope over toward Ashley's team. To his immense relief he saw that some of the smoke had now cleared and James had just helped Garrus up from the ground, they seemed to be alright. He handed the Sniper Rifle back to Gwene. "You were right. And thanks for saving Ashley's life, I owe you big for that."

"Not a problem, sir." Gwene said, her rifle compacting itself as she placed it on her backs magnetic holster. "It's all apart of the job."

Shepard smiled, he was about to make a remark but a gruff and annoyed voice cut over him. "Hurry up will you, we haven't got all god damned day."

Shepard cut Zaeed a silencing look, but he was right, the more time they wasted, the longer it would take to finish their mission. He and Gwene walked back over to the door, but a though came to Shepard's mind. "Wait. We should check the door first, in case they decided to do the same with ours."

"I think maybe I could scan the door with my omni-tool." Gwene said. "Give me a moment, I'll need to calibrate it."

Shepard nodded as Gwene began typing away on her omni-tool, he turned to face Zaeed. "Would this be something they would do?" He asked.

"It's one of the things Vido and I taught the worthless bastards." Zaeed said, his grip still tight around Jessie. "Didn't think they would still have the brains to remember it."

"Wait, you taught them?" Gwene said in astonishment and anger, she had overheard that little snippet of the conversation.

"Yeah, I did." Zaeed said flatly. "What's it to you, princess?"

"Well the fact that we wouldn't be in this mess, for one." Gwene said in a loud voice.

"Enough!" Shepard quickly interjected before it could inflate to something bigger. "I need the both of you to focus. Lieutenant, I need a scan of that door as soon as possible."

"Of course, sir." Gwene said, immediately going back to calibrating her omni-tool. "Sorry, sir."

"Zaeed." Shepard said, looking to the rough bounty hunter. "You are on point. You know their tactics better than anyone, and we need to be prepared for anything."

"Alright Shepard." Zaeed said, nodding that he understood his plan. Truthfully he would have taken point anyway, there was too much at stake for him to leave it down to a couple of soft hearted Alliance soldiers. He had been aiming for revenge against Vido for over 20 years now, it made his blood boil that he had come so close once, and that Shepard had completely ruined it. This time would be different, this time Vido would die.

"Calibration complete. Let me just scan the door." Gwene said, now aiming the tool at the door while it gathered some readings. They soon came back to her with surprising results. "The door is clear. We should be able to open it without issue."

"Alright, some good news." Shepard said, pulling his Lancer out and aiming it toward the door."Okay people, weapons at the ready, and get the door."

Gwene had taken her Paladin from her hip and held it carefully with both hands and aimed it at the door like Shepard. Zaeed had been closest to the door so he ended up pressing the button on the control panel and the doors gently slid open. Zaeed was the first to proceed into the deserted hallway, swiftly followed by Shepard and Gwene, immediately the door behind them shut with a loud hiss, causing all three to look back at it. Refocusing their efforts, they pushed on and went further down the hallway to the next door, Gwene immediately began scanning the door once more for any hidden traps that lay behind.

"Something doesn't feel right." Zaeed said. "It's too quiet."

Even Shepard had to agree, it was far too quiet. "I half expected them to at least have set up an ambush for us at the first door."

"Yeah, me too." Zaeed said, taking a quick look at his surroundings. "Or maybe we just haven't run into it yet."

Shepard nodded. "I just wonder how the other teams are going, hopefully they're getting through just as easy as us."

"Door scan complete." Gwene suddenly said, backing away from the door. "Nothing, again."

"This feels too easy." Shepard thought. No mercs that he fought in the past had ever made it this easy to infiltrate a stronghold, it could be a tactic to lure them into a false sense of security so then they could spring a trap and catch the unsuspecting off guard, then effectively bring them down easily. But he wasn't going to let anything as easy as that bring him down. "Weapons at the ready." He ordered as Zaeed went to open the door. "Check every single crook and cranny, I don't want any surprises leaping out and catching us unprepared."

Surprisingly, the room they had entered was completely empty, not a box or human being around, it was beginning to feel like a ghost town.

"This has got to be a trap." Gwene said, looking around the room for anything out of place. "I say we just fall back and wait them out, they don't have anywhere to go."

"No!" Zaeed answered loudly. "I'm not letting that crafty bastard get away again. This ends now."

"Last I checked, it's not your call to make." Gwene said coldly, the grip on her pistol tightened in frustration, this silly old man was going to get them killed. She looked to Shepard, hoping that he might side with her.

Shepard was weighing each option heavily, it would make more logical sense just to wait them out, no casualties and the Alliance would have all the power if it came to negotiations. But something else came to mind, he remembered Bryson passing on one key fact of information. "While it is a sound strategy, we have to push on. There are Alliance personnel inside and the mercs won't let them live if it stretches their resources too much."

"Of course, sir." Gwene said. "I'm behind you all the way." While she was disappointed Shepard didn't agree with her, he did make a point, there were Alliance personnel inside, and there wouldn't be any way she would disobey an order from her superior officer, she had been taught better then that.

"Alright, then lets move." Shepard said, nodding to the other door that rested on the rooms left wall. They all three arrived at the door. "Lieutenant, work your magic."

Gwene was already ahead of Shepard, her omni-tool active and already scanning the door.

Shepard took this opportunity to turn to Zaeed. "Listen. If Vido is here, and if they use the hostages as shields, you are not to do anything unless I say you can, alright?"

"No deal Shepard." Zaeed said, his tone beginning to get angry. "I've had to live with this for 20 fucking years, he is not living another day longer."

"This isn't up for debate!" Shepard said loudly. "I bought you along because you know more about the blue suns than anyone, not to settle your revenge. If it comes to it, I will let you deal with him as you wish, but remember this is my mission, not yours." Shepard's grip tightened around his Lancer, he knew Zaeed would have something to say about that, but if he let his gun do the talking, Shepard would as well.

Zaeed looked absolutely furious, his good eye twitched as if he were considering just turning on Shepard and fulfilling his desire for revenge. His own grip tightened around Jessie, the desire to shoot Shepard was overwhelming, his already boiling blood called for it. "Shepard." He said in a low tone that sounded even more dangerous than if he were yelling. "20 fucking years I have had to live with that bastard haunting my nightmares. If he is here, I will kill him, no matter what, and you will not stop me."

"I know, Zaeed." Shepard said, not backing down from Zaeed. "But you need to listen to me. I don't want this turning into Zorya again, this time we do it my way, and maybe you will get your chance, but he might not even be in this bunker, did you think about that?"

"Of course I thought about it, Shepard." Zaeed replied, his tone beginning to rise. "If he isn't here, then I'll go to the others and kill him there, but I'm NOT letting him get away again."

Shepard's look grew darker, Zaeed was beyond reason and it would jeopardise the mission if he didn't put aside his lust for revenge. He remembered facing a similar situation back on Virmire when Wrex found out Saren had a cure for the genophage, it didn't matter now considering it had been cured, but back then he was willing to go through Shepard to procure it. Fortunately, Wrex was smart, he knew it was unethical, and neither if them had to shoot the other, but this situation was just as bad, Zaeed's obsession just couldn't comprehend Shepard's words. "Zaeed, I'm warning you for the last time." Shepard said slowly, and in a warning tone. "I need you on my side here, I know how far you are willing to go to kill him, but ask yourself, is it really worth it? Is it really worth sacrificing innocent lives, just to take one?"

Gwene had finished her scan of the door, but she didn't dare say a word, she just looked between the two as they stared heavy daggers at each other, the tension was so thick it would take more than a knife to cut it. Both their hands were firmly gripping their weapons, as if daring the other to raise theirs first.

"Dammit Shepard." Zaeed suddenly blurted out, the grip on his assault rifle relaxing. "If you're trying to avoid another Zorya, you aren't doing a good job."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked, not following what Zaeed had said.

"This is the second time you've managed to speak me down from shooting you." Zaeed said simply. He may seem like a heartless bounty hunter, but he did have a heart.

"So I have your support?" Shepard asked, feeling the grip on his Lancer lessen.

"Yeah, you got it." Zaeed said. "But I still want Vido all to myself."

"When we find him, he is all yours." Shepard said. His inner thoughts breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't want to have to go head to head against Zaeed. "That reminds me, I spoke to Aria earlier in the day. She is offering a large reward for the one who brings her Vido's and Vosque's heads on a silver platter."

"Really?" Zaeed said, musing at the thoughts. "Well, that gives me something to look forward to then." He looked toward Gwene. "I don't suppose you have a silver platter in that handbag of yours, sweetheart." He said.

"Excuse me!" Gwene replied loudly, she had now left the disliking of Zaeed phase and now had entered loathing, how he could be angry one moment and then joking the next was beyond her. All she wanted to do now was take that smug expression that had just come up on his face and shove it so far up his ass that it would never see the light of day again. "Say that again, I dare you." She said in a low and angry tone, her hands balling into fists.

"Alright, that's enough you two." Shepard quickly stood between the two of them, he couldn't deny he was a little humoured by the two bickering, but they had a mission to do. "Lieutenant. How is the door coming?"

"Scan completed." Gwene said, snapping out of her agitation and resuming her formal attitude. "Nothing is showing up."

Shepard nodded, another door with a clean slate, this was beginning to become very suspicious. "Well, I always thought we would be walking into a trap, and this proves it, no merc has ever been this sloppy."

"I hear you." Zaeed agreed. "What's our next step?"

"Spring the trap." Shepard said simply. "But we will have our own ready." He turned and looked to Gwene. "As an Infiltrator, what tech abilities can you use?"

"I can cover myself with a tactical cloak, I can create a decoy and if I'm feeling really nasty, I can fire a cryo blast from my omni-tool." Gwene said, going through the list in her head. "Oh, and the Colonel gave me these sticky grenades as well. I haven't used them yet, but I'm itching to try."

Shepard nodded, thinking through Gwene's abilities, as well as his own and Zaeed's. To make matters more annoying, he remembered that his own Biotics weren't working properly, it didn't make much sense to him as he was able to tap into them earlier on in the day, but those weren't exactly combat grade biotic power. Shepard was still able to use his weapons, but something didn't feel right about using them, they had much more recoil than he was used to and he found it difficult to aim. "Alright people, lets push on. Gwene, get the door, Zaeed, you're on point."

Gwene had taken her position by the door controls on the doors right while Shepard and Zaeed had taken up position on its left. With a push of the button, the door opened and swiftly Zaeed filed through first, followed by Shepard and Gwene, both providing cover for Zaeed as well as searching for any hidden traps. They reached the other door and immediately Gwene began scanning it for hidden traps, after a few short seconds, her omni- tool began flashing, it had come back with a reading on the door.

"Unsurprisingly, sir. My scans of the door are negative." Gwene said, looking at the result of the scan. "I really don't like this, sir."

"Me neither." Shepard admitted. "But we have to push on, get the door Leiutenant."

Gwene nodded, she reached out and pressed the button in the doors control panel and immediately the door opened. What Shepard saw on the other side was something he didn't expect at all, at least twenty assault rifles were all pointed in their direction, the mercs had caught them completely by surprise. With their own weapons hanging loosely at their sides, there was nothing they could do, they were completely outnumbered.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands behind your heads, now!"

Shepard didn't have much choice, he dropped his Lancer to the ground and looked over to Zaeed to do the same, he looked over to Gwene to tell her to do the same, but she wasn't there, in fact there was no trace of her whatsoever. It suddenly dawned to him, she must have slipped under her tactical cloak when she saw the mercs, he prayed that they hadn't spotted her. "Alright. We'll comply."

"You two, restrain them and take them to the boss. He'll want to see our catch."

Two of the blue suns holstered their rifles and approached Shepard and Zaeed, the roughly forced their arms down and bound their hands behind their backs with cuffs, they also picked up their dropped weapons, intending to make them trophies of their capture. They immediately began to march the two through the group of mercs and through the large room, Shepard couldn't help but look around as they were marched, he saw a lot of the stolen supplies the council had told him were stolen. From the ones that had already been opened, they were weapons, rifles, pistols, shotguns and sniper rifles lay spread out, just what were the mercs planning to do with all this weaponry, it was enough for a small army. His thoughts were cut off as he felt as one of the mercs roughly shoved him as he had slowed down to admire the stolen hardware.

The two were marched into another hallway, taking a right and being lead to one of the VI mainframes, Shepard remembered as he had already lead an assault to retake this training facility from a VI that had gone rogue, later he learned that the VI that he had shut down had turned out to be EDI. The door before them opened, Shepard and Zaeed were roughly shoved through, three more mercs were waiting for them, and behind them, sitting down at what appeared to be a makeshift desk made from a large crate was Vido Santiago. He had risen from his seat and approached the two of them. "Well, Commander Shepard. We meet again." He said in an amused tone as he pushed passed the mercs and stood in front of them, his arms folded and a smug grin spread across his face.

"Actually, it's Admiral now." Shepard said in a cold tone, he wasn't going to let Vido intimidate him.

"Admiral?" Vido said, now beginning to laugh. "I suppose the Alliance would like their poster boy to be well kept." He took his concentration off of Shepard and looked to Zaeed. "Zaeed. It's always a pleasure to meet my old acquaintance."

"Piss off!" Zaeed spat.

"Charming as ever." Vido said, still highly amused by the situation. He looked up from his two prisoners and made his way from the two and back over to his desk, sitting on the chair while putting his feet up to rest on the crate, the extranet terminal flashing in front of him. "Bring them here." He barked. The mercs fell into line, shoving Shepard and Zaeed over to Vido's desk, when in front they kicked the backs of their knees, forcing the both of them to their knees, though Shepard's landing hurt more as they had kicked his bung knee.

The mercs then placed their confiscated weapons on the desk and stepped back. Vido reached forward and picked up Shepard's Lancer. "Why the hell do you have something like this? This is a relic."

"It's reliable." Shepard said through gritted teeth, trying to mask the pain from landing on his knee.

Vido just shrugged and threw it back onto the desk, now reaching out and picking up Jessie. "Speaking of relics."

"Put her down, you son of a bitch!" Zaeed yelled, attempting to get to his feet and leap at Vido, but a hard knock on the back of his head from one of the mercs put him back on his knees.

"Yes, you were always so attached to this rifle, weren't you?" Vido asked. "Yes, I remember it all too well. I'm surprised it isn't a rusted up pile of scrap."

Shepard could tell by the look in Zaeed's eyes just how wild he was getting, to have the one responsible for 20 years of torture standing before you and insulting something you hold dear to you would make any man want to kill their captor. Deciding it was a good time to interfere, Shepard spoke. "Why the hell are you doing all this?"

Vido roughly threw Jessie onto the desk, which caused Zaeed to growl with suppressed rage. "I think I will let our employer do the talking." Lazily, Vido reached a hand out and typed into the terminal.

Soon a comm channel had been opened, and an annoyed Batarian voice spoke back, whoever it was, Shepard thought he recognised the tone, but then again sometime he couldn't tell between one Batarian or another. "What do you want. I told you not to call unless it was important."

"It is. I have a little surprise for you." Vido answered. He turned the terminal around so whoever he was calling could see the bound and captured Shepard.

Shepard watched the terminal with interest, he was finally beginning to get to the bottom of everything that had gone on. When he saw the face of the one who had hired the mercs to cause so much trouble, he began to feel his own blood boil. "Balak." Shepard said in a tone full of hatred and anger.

"Shepard." The Batarian terrorist replied in a matching tone.

"I always knew you were a sick bastard." Shepard growled. "But this is just low, sending these mercs to attack our ships after war."

"Don't talk to me about low!" Balak spat back. "I haven't forgotten what you did to Bahak! You mercilessly killed three hundred thousand Batarian's, and for what."

"Don't you dare insinuate that I didn't have a choice!" Shepard yelled back and cutting Balak off in mid speech, truthfully this was something that had hit him very hard. The ghosts of innocent lives had haunted him since sending the asteroid to collide with the Alpha relay, effectively creating a supernova that took out the entire Viper Nebula. "If I could have, I would have found another way to save them all, I tried to warn them but I was already too late. I'm truly sorry for what happened, but I had no other choice, the reapers would have arrived in the Nebula and used its relay as a back door to the Galaxy."

"Enough of your lies!" Balak roared. "I am done talking to you, your lies are an insult to the Batarian race." Vido had turned the terminal back to face him. "I'll pay you whatever you desire, but bring me Shepard alive, I want to deal with him personally."

"Triple our rate and I'll deliver him unharmed." Vido said simply.

"Done." Balak replied. The comm was cut after that, their transaction had been completed.

Vido shut off the terminal and stood from his chair. "Well Shepard. It appears I have new orders." He looked to his mercs. "Prepare to leave, we have our orders. Have the other teams checked in?"

"Vosque checked in while you were on the comms, they are dealing with some intruders but they have everything under control. Gladak hasn't responded to our hails."

"Remind me why we hired that overgrown lizard anyway." Vido said rhetorically. "Never mind, we need to get out of here quickly, I don't care about those two, they're disposable." Vido turned his attention away from the mercs and now looked to Zaeed. "Speaking of disposable. I can't have any mad dogs wandering around, it's time to put you out of your misery." He picked up Shepard's Paladin pistol from the desk, he aimed it at Zaeed and without hesitation pulled the trigger.

The pistol discharged loudly, a single bullet flew from the chamber at high speed and embedded itself in Zaeed's stomach. The hardened bounty hunter couldn't help as he grunted loudly with pain, he doubled over in pain and the heavy gunshot wound was now beginning to bleed profusely. "Zaeed!" Shepard couldn't help but yell in shock, he tried to get up and help, but a heavy knock from a mercs rifle butt instead knocked him onto the ground. He felt the sharp shock of the blow on the back of his skull, it was an odd sensation, that blow had sent a powerful surge throughout his entire body.

"Leave that fossil here to die." Vido said darkly as he watched Zaeed crumble onto the ground. "Get Shepard on his feet, we are leaving now, before more of the Alliance shows up."

"Too late."

Shepard looked up at hearing the new voice, it didn't belong to Vido, or any of the mercs, it belonged to Gwene. He saw that she had emerged from beneath her tactical cloak and now had her own Paladin pointed directly at the back of Vido's head. The other mercs had now trained their own rifles on Gwene, but she wasn't going to have any of it. "Gwene?" Shepard said in disbelief as he got to his feet, truthfully he had forgotten that she had disappeared under her tactical cloak seconds before they had been captured.

"Drop your weapons, all of you! Or your boss dies!" Gwene said in a sharp tone. Her hand wrapped tightly around her Paladin, her finger threatening to squeeze the trigger. "Now!"

"What the... How did you..." Vido began, but feeling the force of the barrel being forced harder into the back of his head quietened him.

"That's enough out of you." Gwene growled. She looked to the mercs with a sharp glare. "You have until three, then your boss gets whats coming to him." She went quiet, watching to see if any would comply, and none did. "One..." She began. The mercs were looking amongst themselves nervously. "Two..."

"Just do it!" Vido suddenly blurted out, it was something he didn't want to admit, but he was afraid of death. The mercs complied with confused looked, they all dropped their weapons and they all fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Good. Now all of you, hands behind your head." Gwene said sharply. The mercs complied and placed their hands behind their head. "You." She nodded to the closest merc. "Get those cuffs off of Shepard."

The merc complied, he stepped forward and released Shepard from his binds. As the merc stepped back away from Shepard, he had dropped to his knees to see if he could stabilise Zaeed, he was already lying in a poll of his own bloods. "Zaeed, hold on, we'll get you some help." Shepard said quickly, reaching down and trying to stop the bleeding with his own hands.

Zaeed had turned pale, he wasn't concerned about dying anymore, instead he looked up to the desk where their weapons lay. "Shepard..." He said weakly. With a bloodied hand, he pointed up to it, more specifically to Jessie. "I need... To finish... Him now..."

Shepard couldn't believe it, even in deaths grasp, Zaeed still wanted to fulfil his own revenge. "Alright. Gwene, cover the mercs." He had gotten back to his feet and had picked up Jessie.

"You got it, sir." Gwene said. She aimed her Paladin away from Vido and had it trained on the mercs.

Out of the corner of his eye, Vido spotted the Paladin. He wasn't sure if Shepard had him covered, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight. In a flash, Vido's fist went flying and managed to knock Gwene's Paladin from her hand. Using the momentary distraction, Vido bolted, straight passed the mercs, yelling as he went. "Kill them! Quickly!"

The mercs leapt into action, they all dove for their dropped rifles, Gwene had quickly leapt to recover her Paladin that had been knocked out of her hands, following up with claiming her weapon back, she took careful aim and fired at Vido, the bullet cutting through his thigh, but he continued to run away, amidst the pained cursing. It was now Shepard's turn to react, without thinking he quickly armed himself with Jessie and fired at the mercs, he sprayed the entire clip on them as he wasn't able to aim properly by firing from the hip. The mercs now all lay dead in a pile on the floor, all having been shot countless times from Shepard's poor aim.

Shepard quickly dropped to his knees to check on Zaeed, he was still breathing, his own hands clutched the heavy wound, trying to stop the bleeding. "Hold on, Zaeed. We're getting you out of here." Shepard said, activating his own omni-tool to administer a dose of medi-gel.

To Shepard's surprise, Zaeed shook his head. With a bloody hand, he weakly pointed to the door that Vido had ran through moment ago. "Get him... Kill the bastard... Use Jessie, she'll... Take care of you."

"Zaeed." Shepard said softly. He knew there wasn't anything he could do to help Zaeed now, but the least he could do was make his dying wish come true.

"You go, sir." Gwene said, kneeling at Zaeed's side as well. "I can take care of him."

Shepard nodded. "I'll get it done, Zaeed. Don't you worry." Without a second glance, he broke into a sprint, leaping over the guard and through the door. His knee was in some pain, but he could handle it, he wasn't going to let Zaeed down. He sprinted down the hallway, stopping to open the door, it opened quickly and he ran into the large room, many of the mercs that Shepard had forgotten were here spotted him and began to open fire, forcing Shepard to take cover behind a nearby crate.

"Keep firing and advance on him!" One of the mercs yelled.

Many bullets impacted all around Shepard, he was safe while behind the crate, but he was quickly running out of time, he had to come up with a plan of counterattack, and fast. He raised Jessie over the top of the crate and fired blindly, hoping it would buy him some extra seconds, he wasted an entire clip then bought it back down to eject the spent thermal clip. He wasn't sure how many he had killed with the blind fire, but firing blindly wouldn't be enough, he only wished his biotics would work properly, then he wouldn't have any issue in taking these mercs down, and the more time he wasted with them, the harder it would take to catch up to him. He was quickly running out of options, he had to at least try use his biotics again, he focused and let the dark energy envelop him as he glowed blue, he quickly thrust out his hand at the crate, hoping to create a shockwave.

To Shepard's utter delight, a heavy shockwave flew out of his hand, impacted with the crate and sent the now large projectile toward the advancing mercs. He watched as it flew towards the mercs that had bunched together and had been firing at Shepard, they all watched in horror as the large crate flew toward them, many leapt out of harms way, but the unlucky few were flattened by it with a sickening crunch. Shepard took this opportunity and quickly broke into a sprint once more, he didn't have time to deal with the remaining mercs now, otherwise Vido would escape again, and he wouldn't let that happen.

Shepard continued to sprint, the open door leading to the exit suggested Vido wasn't too far ahead, he quickly checked the seals on his breather to make sure it was secure, he had already suffocated to death once from a rupture, he didn't want it happening again. He punched the door control and it slowly opened after equalising with the outside pressure, it finally opened and Shepard leapt outside, looking around for any sign of Vido. He turned to look behind him and saw as a speeding Mako was driving right at him, Shepard quickly leapt out of the way and managed to avoid getting run over by the rover. Shepard leapt back onto his feet and watched as the Mako drove out of the compound and down the slope, he had been able to catch a quick glimpse of just who had been driving it, Vido. "Dammit!" Shepard cursed loudly, but all hope had not yet been lost. "Cortez! Do you copy?" He yelled over the comms, hoping his shuttle pilot would hear, wherever he was.

"I copy, Shepard." Cortez's reply came. "Sorry sir, that other Mako came from nowhere. It's mounted with an AA battery so I was forced away." The Alliance Kodiak quickly came back into view, landing just in front of Shepard.

"That's fine, but we need to catch it." Shepard said, climbing into the now open canopy of the shuttle. "I don't want it getting away."

"Copy that, hold on this will be a bit bumpy." Cortez said.

The canopy sealed shut, and the cockpit door opened, he felt a lurch as he felt the Shuttle become airborne, then with a swift acceleration followed. Shepard immediately took a seat in the co-pilots chair, he knew Cortez was more than able to fly this on his own, but Shepard wasn't aiming to take flight controls, rather he was aiming to use the Kodiak's weapons. "I've got a visual." Shepard said.

"I see them, hold on I'll take us lower, it will give us a clear shot." Cortez said. The shuttle flew through the air at a rapid pace, they had already gained on the speeding Mako, trying to escape.

Shepard didn't hesitate, he aimed the Kodiak's guns on the Mako and began to fire. The shots impacted all around the Mako that had begun to take evasive manoeuvres, it's AA battery came to life and was now aiming up at the Kodiak. "We're being targeted!" Cortez said quickly. "Taking evasive manoeuvres!" He then began to put the shuttle through its paces, Anti-air missiles began firing up at the Kodiak. The whole shuttle lurched as it danced through the sky, managing to avoid the incoming missiles, it now made it harder for Shepard to target to Mako.

"Get us lower and hold her steady!" Shepard said.

"If I do that, I might not be able to avoid that missile fire!" Cortez replied, continuing to make the shuttle avoid the constant missile fire.

"We'll be fine, Cortez." Shepard said, looking over to his shuttle pilot. "I trust you."

Cortez paid Shepard a quick glance and then broke into a smile. "Can't say no to those eyes. Alright, but if we do get shot down, you're buying."

"Deal." Shepard said with a grin. He liked how Cortez was able to ease the thick tension with a simple, yet effective joke. "Now lets do it. Just, nothing too fancy."

Cortez couldn't help but grin. "Fancy is all I'm about Shepard." With a great lurch, the shuttle went into a steep dive, rocketing towards the ground and the sudden increase in g-force forced Shepard into the back of his seat. The ground drew ever closer, for a moment Shepard though they were going to crash, but Cortez had pulled the shuttle from out of its dive, managing to avoid all the anti-air fire. "Quick, shoot the mako before it can target us."

Shepard didn't need telling twice, he bought the Kodiak's weapons to train on Vido's Mako and began to fire. The first round managed to impact with the Mako's kinetic barrier, but the bombardment of heavy slugs bought down the shields, now leaving it open for a fresh attack. The shuttles weapons were cycling through a cooling and reloading phase. "We've got him now." Shepard couldn't help but say.

"Dammit, we're being targeted again." Cortez said. "We have to break off and gather some altitude."

Just a few more seconds and Shepard could fire the shuttle weapons again. "Hold off, Steve. The weapons are almost ready to fire again."

"If I don't pull up now, I won't be able to avoid that missile fire." Cortez said, now beginning to get a little worried with Shepard's recklessness.

"Just a bit more..." Shepard said, watching the cycles progress bar, it was sitting firmly at 98%.

"Shepard..." Cortez said in a warning tone, every second they remained at their low altitude the harder it would be to avoid the anti-air missiles.

98 quickly became 99, then quickly changing to 100, the board lit up green and the Kodiak's weapons were ready to fire again. "Weapons hot."

"Then shoot before they shoot us down." Cortez said quickly, his hands at the ready, just in case they needed to out manoeuvre any missiles.

Shepard slammed his fist down on the firing controls and the Kodiak's weapons lit up, firing a barrage at the undefended Mako. Fortunately, many of the bullets had caused considerable damage to the now smoking Mako, whatever had happened to it, made it come to a slow stop, unfortunately it hadn't bought down the weapons systems and several missiles fired from the battery. "Shit!" Shepard cursed loudly. "Evasive manoeuvres!"

Cortez didn't need telling twice, he pulled the shuttle into a a steep ascent. With some tricky flying and manoeuvres Shepard didn't think possible in a Kodiak, they managed to avoid most of the missiles, with the break neck movements, it had out a strain on the shuttles controls, it wasn't rated for surface to air battles. The missile impacted with one of the rest thrusters, causing the shuttle to lurch violently and drop into a dive, wildly spinning out of control.

"Dammit! One of our rear thrusters is gone!" Cortez said loudly, while fighting to correct the shuttle. The ground drew ever closer, Cortez had managed to right the shuttle and was beginning to pull up, but it would be enough. "Brace yourself! This is going to he a rough landing!" Rough was an understatement. The shuttle slammed nose first into the surface of the moon, digging in and causing the whole shuttle to flip and slam hard onto the ground, coming to a rough landing on its roof.

Shepard couldn't help but groan in pain, his whole body hurt and his head was spinning, the blood rushing to it as he was hanging upside down, still safely secured to his seat. "Cortez? Cortez, are you alright?"

A weak reply came from next to him. "I'm fine, Shepard." Cortez said. "But I need to get a breather quickly, before the shuttles mass effect field drops and I can't breathe."

"Alright, hold on." Shepard said. He looked up to the bracer across his body, it kept him firmly planted to the seat, it had probably saved his life from the crash. He reached up to hit the emergency release, the bracer became loose and flipped open, causing Shepard to fall from his seat and land on his front. He couldn't help but grunt in pain as he felt a sharp pain spread from his knee, but he pushed it aside, he managed to stand up and opened the emergency compartment, inside was a survival kit, a breather with plenty of oxygen, rations that would last a week, and a Predator pistol with thermal clips. Shepard quickly grabbed the breather and oxygen, he stepped over to Cortez and handed it to him. "Here. Put that on and then I'll help you down."

Cortez took the breather and placed the mask over his mouth and nose, creating an airtight seal so he could breathe normally. "Thanks Shepard." Shepard nodded, he reached to Cortez's emergency release for his bracer, he pushed it and quickly caught Cortez as he fell, gently breaking his fall. Now our of the pilots seat, Cortez stood up and began flexing his neck, trying to stretch it out after getting some whiplash. "I don't want to say I told you so, but..."

"Yeah, yeah." Shepard waved it off. He took the Predator with thermal clips and handed it over to Steve. "We aren't done yet. Vido is still nearby, and we have to finish him off."

Cortez took the pistol and loaded in the clips. "Alright Shepard, I've got your back."

Shepard nodded, he stepped out of the shuttles cockpit and booted open the canopy, the mass effect fields had dropped as the shuttle then lost power. Shepard stepped out onto the moons surface and began to look around for any sign of the damaged Mako, he managed to spot the smoking vehicle not too far away from their crash, but he had a change of heart about backup. "No, you wait here, call the Normandy for a pickup." Shepard said as he reached to pull Jessie from his back, fortunately she was still in one piece. He began to limp toward the smoking Mako.

"Alright." Cortez replied, confused Shepard had changed his mind. "But what are you doing?"

"Unfinished business." Shepard replied simply. He didn't even look back at the downed Kodiak as he limped toward the Mako. All he was focused on now was the damaged Mako, any movement from the disabled vehicle and he would put them down without hesitation, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that as he had questions that needed answering. He reached the disabled Mako, he began to walk around it to see if he could gain access to its hatch, but as he approached it he noticed that it had already been opened. Footsteps on the surface lead away from the Mako, and the two owners of them were within sight just a short distance away.

Ignoring the pain of his leg, Shepard broke into a run to catch up with Vido, there was another one with him and they appeared to he supporting him along. Shepard was well within distance now, he came to a halt and raised Jessie. "Hold it right there!" He called out.

The merc and Vido both turned their head to look at Shepard, through Vido's visor, Shepard saw the unmistakeable look of fear in his eyes. The merc was the first to react, quickly reaching for their pistol, but Shepard already had the upper hand, with a controlled burst, he fired at the merc, all three bullets piercing the armour and killing the merc. The dead weight fell to the ground, bringing Vido with it, the wound in his thigh still present. "Please!" Vido said in a pleading tone, even his voice was scared as he tried forcing the dead merc off of him. "Please don't kill me!"

Shepard now stood above Vido, Jessie pointed directly at Vido's breather helmet. "Tell me what I want to know." He said in a dark tone. "Why did you attack Luna base?"

"B... Balak wanted us to set up a forward operations base." Vido answered quickly. "After the war, he planned to launch an attack on the Alliance."

Shepard couldn't help but curse silently. "And the wepons?"

"They were to supply his army with." Vido answered again. "I'm cooperating, see? Please don't kill me! Show mercy!"

"Shut it!" Shepard growled loudly. He placed a foot on Vido's gunshot wound and began to apply pressure, the mounting pressure made Vido whimper with pain, and he tried to lift Shepard's boot of his wound. "What about about all the Alliance personnel that you killed? Did you show them mercy?" He put his full weight into his foot, crushing Vido's wound more and causing him to howl in pain.

What Shepard didn't realise was that the dead mercs pistol lay just beside his foot, Vido had spotted it and began to adjust his hand so he could quickly grab it and shoot Shepard. "No, you're right. I'm truly sorry for what I did, if I could take it all back, I would. But a mountain of credits is something you just can't refuse."

Alarms went off in Shepard's head, Vido's entire tone had changed, there was no longer any hints of fear in his voice, if anything it was full of confidence. Then something dawned to him. "Just where were you trying to escape to exactly?"

"I was to meet with my personal ship, a nice little cruiser should be along to pick me up at any moment." Vido said hoping to draw Shepard into his bluff as his hand closed around the pistol at Shepard's foot. "Then we were going to bombard the facility."

"What about the prisoners, the weapons, your own men?" Shepard asked in a frustrated tone, what he was saying now wasn't making any sense.

"All replaceable." Vido said, his confidence rising as he was looking for an opportunity to raise the pistol and fire.

Things still weren't adding up for Shepard, his words all felt like hollow lies, but at the same time he had to presume he was speaking the truth. "Alright then, I just have one last question for you. Where is Balak hiding?"

Vido couldn't help but laugh. "Do you really think he would tell me?"

"Yes." Shepard responded quickly. "Now I ask you again, where the hell is Balak?"

"Fine, I'll tell you. But only if you let me go." Vido said, feeling that his opportunity had come.

"The Citadel Council will grant you full immunity if you co-operate." Shepard said. "Now, tell me where to find Balak."

"Alright, I'll tell you." Vido said, now feeling as though he were invincible. The Citadel Council would offer him immunity if he disclosed Balak's location, if he played his cards right, he might be able to get away from all this as well as the weapons and Minagen back at the facility. "He is currently hiding in the Vular system of the Kite's Nest. He never told me which planet, but he would have left our payment in a buoy orbiting Vana."

It made sense that Balak would hide in the Kite's Nest, the Batarian home system. His search had been further narrowed by Vido spilling the beans, and now he could finally catch up to that terrorist bastard and do what he should have done a long time ago, put a bullet between all four of his eyes. "Thank you, Vido. You have been a big help." Shepard ejected a thermal clip from Jessie so now he had a fresh clip ready to fire.

The confident look on Vido's face vanished as he saw Shepard prepare to shoot. "W... Wait, you promised you would give me..."

"Immunity?" Shepard said, cutting Vido off. "I said the Citadel Council would, but guess what. I'm Alliance."

Now realising Vido had been lured into a trap of Shepard's, he had no choice but to act. He lifted up the pistol and took aim at Shepard, looking to shoot him in the chest, but Shepard's reaction was quicker, he saw down the barrel of the pistol as it took aim at him, swiftly he took his foot Vido's wound and kicked the weapons from Vido's hand, discharging from the sudden shock. Realising his opportunity had been lost, Vido desperately tried reasoning with his would be executor. "I... I can give you credits, lots of credits!"

"You already have, by telling me where I can collect your payment." Shepard said simply, his finger wrapping tightly around the trigger. "Oh, and by the way, just as Jessie will be sending you to hell, Zaeed sends his regards." Without hesitation he squeezed the trigger, a flurry of bullets flying from the barrel and silencing the screaming Vido's pleads of mercy. His hand fell to the ground as he had reached up to try and shield himself from the incoming bullets, a pool of blood began to spread from Vido's body and soak the moons surface, he was dead.

Shepard breathed a sigh of relief, with Vido now dead, the Blue Suns threat on Luna had come to an end, it was finally over. Jessie began to compress as Shepard placed her on his magnetic holster, now all that was left to do was regroup with his team back at the training facility and complete their mission. He left the scene of his victory and began to walk back to the downed shuttle, the before the crash played back in his head as he limped back, he wondered just how much he would have to buy to appease Cortez for getting them both shot down.

Before he reached the downed shuttle where Cortez sat on the ground, a comm came through. "Admiral Shepard? Can you read me?" It was Gwene's voice that came through.

Shepard activated his own comm and spoke. "Copy that, Lieutenant. I read you." He replied.

"I... I'm sorry, sir." Gwene said, her tone was quiet, very quiet. "I tried to stabilise Zaeed as best I could, but he lost too much blood from the gunshot wound. He's dead."

Shepard halted immediately. The worst feeling in the world was losing a man on the battlefield, but when that person was a good friend of yours, it really hit home. Too many times had Shepard have to bury those he had considered his true allies and friends, now Zaeed had been added to that list. This was his price for revenge, the ultimate price that any living being would have to pay, his life. "I... Thank you for telling me Lieutenant."

Gwene's voice came back over the comms, it bought with it a worried and concerned tone. "Again sir, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine, Gwene." Shepard replied. "It's not your fault and I'm sure you did the best you could. Shepard out." He shut off the comms and continued to the shuttle. Even though it was already quiet on the moon, there was a deathly silence that haunted Shepard now, one that he had encountered all too much in his military life. All he wanted to hear now as any sign of life from anything, he didn't care what as long as it was something to drown out the bitter silence.

Cortez spotted Shepard as he approached, he stood up to greet the war hero. "Sir. Good to see you made it back in one piece. The Normandy is two minutes out and will pick us up first."

"Good to hear." Shepard said as he nodded to his shuttle pilot. Instead of making short conversation, he leaned up against the downed shuttle and slid down it so that he was now sitting on his rear.

"Shepard?" Cortez asked, noticing his body language. "Is everything alright?"

"I wish it were, Steve. I really wish it were." He replied in a soft tone.

"Did something happen?" Cortez asked, kneeling down to bring his face to Shepard's eye level.

"We lost someone." Shepard said in that same soft tone.

"Who?" Cortez asked, feeling nervous as to who it might be.

"Zaeed." Shepard said. He began to feel the un-vented feelings of the past war begin to surface once again, for the sake of those all around him he was always keeping them bottled up inside as much as he could, constantly afraid of what might happen if he exploded.

"I'm sorry, Shepard." Cortez said, reaching out a hand and placing it on his shoulder in a comforting manner. "I heard he was a good man."

"That's the second time something like this has happened. First Anderson, and now Zaeed." Shepard thought outloud.

"Anderson? Admiral Anderson?" Cortez asked, retracting his hand. "What do you mean the second time."

Shepard couldn't help but sigh again. "The second time someone has died by my hands." He held up his own hands and looked at them, he felt they were dirty with a blood that would never wash away. "Steve, can you keep a secret?"

"Of course, Shepard." Cortez replied. "Anything for you."

Shepard nodded and gave the tiniest of appreciative smiles. "When Anderson and I were on the Citadel, just before the beam fired... I killed him."

Cortez couldn't believe what he was hearing, Shepard killing Anderson? It was impossible, it had to be. "You killed..." He began. "But... What?" He couldn't find words to describe what he had heard.

"I shot him." Shepard said. "But at the same time, I didn't."

"I... I don't follow." Cortez said, now more confused than ever.

"Just before I fired the beam, the Illusive Man appeared and tried to stop us." Shepard said, recounting the story he wished to leave behind him forever. "He... Manipulated me into firing my pistol, straight into Anderson's stomach."

"But... That's not your fault, Shepard." Cortez said, now in complete understanding. "You didn't kill him, it was all the Illusive Man."

"But it was my finger that pulled the trigger, not his." Shepard said.

"Stop trying to blame yourself." Cortez said. "None of that was your fault, the Illusive Man is the one to blame for all this. We both know Anderson is the last person you would shoot willingly."

"But..." Shepard began.

"That's enough." Cortez said, bringing their conversation to an end. "I promise you that I would keep it a secret, and I will. Just stop blaming yourself for things that were too far out of your control."

Shepard made to reply, but it was cut short as the Normandy came into view and landed just behind their position, it's cargo bay doors opening so the two may enter the ship. "I think you need some rest, sir." Cortez said, standing up and holding his hand out to help Shepard up. "Maybe a long overdue vacation is in order. When did you last have one?"

"I had one for about two years. I pretty much slept the whole time." Shepard said, taking Cortez's hand and pulling himself up.

Cortez's face broke into a grin as the two began to make their way over to the Normandy, he was glad to see that Shepard's sense of humour still worked. "I meant one where you got to do whatever you wanted. Get a little R&R."

"2176." Shepard replied.

"Ten years?" Cortez asked, almost feeling his jaw drop. "Ten years without a Vacation, you've got to be kidding."

"I was given two weeks leave while I was stationed on Elysium." Shepard began, now beginning to walk up into the Normandy's cargo bay, Cortez just behind him. "Just before I was able to check into my hotel, guess what happened. The Batarian pirates attacked the colony."

"Why not take time off during?" Cortez asked, now joining Shepard in the cargo bay.

"I just never really took time to myself." Shepard admitted. "I got offered a position in the N7 program after Elysium, then it was just one assignment after another, I didn't really care about leave, just getting the job done." He paused. "Now, get up to the med bay and get yourself looked at, I know you're hurting." The cargo bay doors had sealed shut.

"Of course, Shepard." Cortez said, now moving toward the elevator. "Don't forget our deal, we got shot down so you're buying."

Shepard didn't say anything, he just let Cortez walk away in silence. He looked around the cargo bay and saw that he was the only one down here, which was good as all he wanted was to be alone right now. This was his way of mourning those he lost under his command, he separated himself from everyone and withered away in silence, though when Thane passed away in Huerta, he went straight to Purgatory and drank himself half to death. Again he was always drawn back to the question he had asked himself so many times 'why them and not me?' Whichever higher power that controlled the galaxy seemed to love keeping Shepard alive, but letting those all around him die without remorse. The frustration inside Shepard began to boil up, he didn't even realise his fists were clenched tightly and were shaking with untamed anger, this wasn't just about losing Zaeed, but everything bad that had happened throughout his life.

A small amount of pent up anger and frustration seeped through, in one moment Shepard ripped off his helmet and three it as hard as he could, it flew across the cargo bay and smashed the visor from its impact with a support beam. What came from Shepard was something he had never done before, and it scared him a lot, he emptied his lungs in a loud and ferocious roar of anger, bouncing off the walls of the cargo bay as it echoed all around him. He wouldn't deny he did feel slightly better after letting off some steam like that, but now his body was shaking, the adrenaline rush that he didn't realise he had was now wearing off. He shut his eyes and felt himself beginning to calm down, all he wanted now was for this day to just end.

Phew, glad that's over... This Chapter was annoying as hell to write, one day I hit a block, next I fall asleep while writing... I'm too bloody inconsistent. Anyway, I apologise to all you Zaeed fans out there, I never really liked him in the first place, so I didn't have any remorse in killing him off (Insert evil laugh here).

I think that's all I'll say for now, for me it's getting late here and I want to upload this and then hit the hay, seriously its getting hard to see my screen as my eyes just want to shut and I'm not letting them, so we are fighting it out, and my eyes are winning... Bastards...

If you have any querries or anything like that, just flick us a PM and I'll get back to you ASAP. Dont forget, leave a nice review :)