Mass Effect Generations

Chapter Nine

Casted in the Name of the Spirits Ye are…

Part Two: Journey Home

Xalen and Amy are wrapped in hooded cloaks walking down the road towards the guard outpost. The two helmeted guards see them heading their way; one of the guards walks out and stands in the middle of the road in front of the laser lighted crossbar. He watches as the couple continues to get closer to the outpost. Once they are in within shouting distance, the guard shouts out, "HALT! ID YOURSELF!" Xalen and Amy continue walking up, and the guard takes aim with his gun calling out again, "HALT! NOW OR I'LL OPEN FIRE!" The guard's warning fall on deaf eyes as they continue getting closer and closer. The guard starts to feel a bit of panic well up in him; then he calls over to the other guard, "Hey! Get out here! We got trouble heading our way!"

The other guard walks out holding her sniper gun then takes aims as she shouts, "TAKE ONE MORE STEP CLOSER AND YOU ARE DEAD!"

Xalen and Amy stop moving twenty feet away from the guards. Xalen orders while he and Amy lower their hoods, "STAND DOWN!"

The guards are shocked to see Xalen and Amy standing in front of them. The guard with the sniper gun says to her partner with her sights still trained on them, "By the spirits, it's General Xalen!" She redirects her attention back to the Xalen and Amy, "GET ON YOUR KNEES! DROP ANY WEAPONS!"

The other guard moves behind his partner with his gun still trained on them while saying, "I'll call command and have them send reinforcements."

Xalen and Amy are ordered once again to get on the ground. Xalen rises his right hand making both guards shout for him to put his arm down. He swiftly brings down his hand; before the guards can reaction two shots rings out. The female guard's helmet shatters as a shot sails in between her eyes killing her; the other shot pierces into the male's guard's throat. The man struggles to breath, but he only chokes on the blood flowing out of the wound.

The bodies fall to the ground almost at the same time. Xalen and Amy walk up to the two dead guards and they are soon joined by Terra, Valsame, and Zaxry. Xalen picks up the body of the dead male guard, while saying, "Nice shooting cadet, but you might want to adjust your aim just a bit you hit the guy in the throat."

Valsame sets Zaxry down next to the outpost, "Sorry sir, but I hit the woman guard."

Xalen gives Valsame a questionable look, and Terra follows up with, "Yeah, I slapped the trigger when I fired and screwed up my shot."

"Wow," Xalen replies walking over to the outpost carrying the dead guard, but the helmet falls off his head and hits the guard.

Valsame looks over at the sound and is shocked to the see face of the guard. "General wait!" Xalen stops in his tracks with a confused look on his face. Valsame races over to look at face of the guard. "Damn! It can't be!" The cadet runs over to the other guard and removes her helmet. "No no! This can't be happening!"

Amy asks, "Valsame, what's going on? Do you know these guards?"

He exhales while standing up, "Yeah, they were at the academy second year cadets if I'm right. When I got my orders to be your shuttle pilot, I saw them in the mess hall with the rest of the cadet core." Amy grabs hold of the female cadet while Valsame gets a hold of the male cadet. As they drag their bloody corpses into the guard outpost, Valsame finishes telling his story, "They were watching the newscast about the riots and disorder. Even though they are older than me, I could tell that they must have been scared about all the shit happening around them." They sit their bodies against the wall searching their body for any useful items.

Xalen gives a sad exhale then says, "I wonder how many more cadets are out there putting their life on the line for someone who only sees them as pieces that can be thrown away at any given second? I wonder how many more will give their lives in service of this false honor." Xalen knees down in front of the dead cadets then bows his head as he recites, "Spirits that watch over us in the past, the present, and into the future, please see that these two are allowed to the walk with you as heroes and with great honor."

Once done, Xalen stands back up with a relieved look on his face, Valsame looks at him and says, "Sir, thank you. I know they will happy to know that someone with great honor and courage gave them the last rights."

Xalen smirks and shakes his head no, "You're wrong cadet; they are the brave ones for staying true to their duty. I am just the idiot that let all this happen under his watch, but I swear on my life that I will get vengeance for all those who have lost their life to this coup!"

Valsame sees the growing anger expression on Xalen face, "Sir…"

Amy runs into the guard house saying, "We got company heading this way." Xalen and Valsame look through the window and see a small size transport truck heading towards the post. "What do you think Xalen?"

He watches as the truck gets closer then says, "From the looks of it, it must be a supply truck."

Valsame gives queer look seeing the approaching truck, "A supply truck? Why would they need that here?"

Xalen turns around to grab the slain male cadet's helmet and chest armor; while putting on the gear he says, "Well that gives us two important pieces of information. One, the people here aren't free to leave on their own will. Two, Sovereign must have plans for them in the near future."

"Sir what are you doing? Why are you pulling on his gear?" Valsame questions.

"That driver in going to be expecting the guards to greet them. If not, it could rise the alarm and that is the last thing we need right now. Here see if you can squeeze into her armor," Xalen states pointing at the other cadet.

"But sir..."

"Valsame," Amy interjects getting to blind spot in the post, "We don't time to second guess ourselves. Now signal Terra to hide. Xalen see how many there are. Once you give the signal, we'll take them out."

"But Amy if they are from the academy…"

Amy burns a hole near her hiding spot then says, "That's a risk we have to the take. If they recognize you, make up some cover story. We'll try and do this bloodless, but…"

Valsame nods after squeezing into female cadet's armor, "Right, we have to everything we can complete this mission."

Xalen finishes putting on the helmet and says through the voice changer, "Good to know that you have your priorities straight now get into position here they come."

A minute later the red supply truck pulls up to the post with two Turians in the front cab. The driver stops at the down crossbar waiting for the guards to come. The driver starts to become impatient and honks the horn. After another minute of not seeing anyone, the driver honks again while the armed escort gets out to look around. Xalen and Valsame finally walk out waving at the driver.

The driver rolls down his window then says to the disguised Xalen, "What took you so long? These rich fuckers get cranky when their dinner is late."

Valsame walks around the front of the truck while Xalen talks with the driver, "Sorry it so long, I was tied up with paperwork. What's your load and where you heading?"

"Are you joking? You damn well know what I'm carrying! I was just here two hours ago!" the driver complaints.

"Right, the last shift forget to tell us before we came on duty," Xalen lies.

Driver gives Xalen a questioning look, "Are you pulling my leg? You told me that you started your shift the just two hours ago."

Xalen and driver continue their conversation while the escort walks to the rear of the truck and sees a blood trail leading from the road to the some brushes off to the side. The helmeted guard starts to the follow the trail with his gun at ready. Valsame spots the guard walking towards where Terra and Zaxry are hiding. He starts to get nervous, but he keeps his cool and makes his way back towards the post. The driver does a quick glance and stops his conversation with Xalen and redirects his attention Valsame. "What the hell?!" the driver comments looking Valsame. "Boy why the hell are you in a woman's armor?"

Xalen tries to make a quick excuse by saying, "His normal gear is being adjusted, so…"

"The fuck it is! I talked with a female guard earlier! Wait…" the driver looks closely at his face, "I know you. Yeah, I've seen you at the military academy." Valsame's eyes widen hearing the statement.

"Yeah, we both are from the academy," Xalen states

"No, he's graduated already, and when to go pilot for the acting Primarch," the driver says while grabbing his hidden gun.

Xalen looks Valsame then back at the driver, "How do you know that?"

Just then the escort guard looks behind one of the brushes to the find Zaxry out cold with blood pooling to her side. As he yells out, Terra springs up grabbing hold of the battle rifle. The struggle alerts everyone and the driver pulls out his gun while shouting, "Get them! They're rebels!"

The backdoor of the cargo truck slides up and three more aimed guards jump out. The driver aims his gun at Xalen while two of the guards rush to aid their comrade, and the last guard races to the front of the truck and aims his rifle at Valsame. The driver smiles, "Our Sovereign will reward me greatly for your capture."

"Amy two!" Xalen shouts as he grabs the driver's arm wrestles to get the gun away from him. Valsame sees the rifle pointed at him, but as he dodges to get away. The guard fires and hits him in the left arm landing behind the outpost. Amy uses hole to sight her targets and takes them out with one shot each in the back of the head. The driver hears the shots go off and breaks from Xalen's grip then slams the truck into drive. Before he is able to escape, another shot rings out from Amy's gun barreling through truck and hitting the driver in the side and explode out his leg. The truck putts to a stop as Xalen runs to take control of it.

The backup guard moves in on Valsame as he sees him lying on his side with blood leaking from the hole in his arm. The guard trains his sights on the down cadet getting ready to finish the job, but to his surprise Valsame rolls on his back with his sidearm in hand. In a blink, Valsame fires a shot in the center of the guard's helmet killing him on the spot.

Another shot rings out and they see Terra standing holding the guard's rifle. Amy walks out of the guard post then says, "Well, that could have gone better."

Xalen pulls off the helmet looking at the bleeding driver, "If you say so." He turns to see Valsame walking over with blood dripping down his arm. "You ok cadet?"

Valsame grunts looking at his arm feeling the stringing pain then back at others, "I'll live."

Terra walks up carrying Zaxry. She sets the woman down in the back of the truck looking inside for anything to help. While Amy and Valsame walk over to Xalen. They look at the semi-awake driver, and Amy says, "He works for Sovereign what do we do with him?"

Xalen looks into the cab and asks, "Hey are going help us?"

"Fuck you!" the driver responses while spitting at Xalen.

"Cool with me," Xalen replies and without a second thought Xalen rises his gun and shots the driver in the head.

"Was that really necessary?" Amy questions.

Xalen opens the door and yanks the body out. "Look, I'm tired of these fuckers, and if they want to go to war, I'll be glad to send them to their graves."

Terra calls from the cargo hold, "Hey we're in luck." The others head towards her, and see her carrying a box with the label Sirta Foundation. Terra opens the box and finds several medigel boxes with along with other medical supplies.

"Perfect Terra can you patch up Zaxry with these supplies?" Xalen questions.

"Yeah and let me look at that arm while I'm at it Valsame," Terra commands.

Valsame nodes yes sits down in the back of the truck watching as Terra works on Zaxry's wounds. "Hey Xalen," Amy calls out before walking back into the guard post. He looks are her, "Hide these bodies, we don't want to draw any unnecessary attention."

"Sure what are you about to do?"

She gives him a sly smile, "I'm going to set up a little insurance policy."

Xalen shakes his head as he picks up driver's body, "Hey! Once you're done, move those cadets' bodies into the truck."

Amy gives a queer look, and calls out from under the desk computer, "Why?!"

Xalen dumps the body behind bush that Terra and Zaxry were once hiding in then makes his back over to the guard that Valsame killed and says, "I plan to bury those cadets in a proper manner with earned honors."

Amy's face sours as she finishes her work under the desk then moves to her hiding spot not before taking a quick glance at the two armor stripped cadets laying on the floor. She starts her work on the hole she made then says, "Xalen, we don't…"

He fires back walking into the guard post. His chest covered in blood with a determined look on his face, "I don't want to hear it Amy! I may be the scapegoat for your plan, but I still have my honor as a General in the Turian Military. These two were killed in the line of duty." He picks up the male cadet, "I'll make sure to honor their heroic spirits."

Amy finishes her work then grabs the female's body, "Ok, I'll go along with your wishes this time, but we are not about to make this a habit."

"Yeah whatever you say," Xalen replies. They make their way back to the truck and see Terra finishing up on Valsame. After loading the bodies, he looks at the cadet, "How you feel?"

"I'm back to normal sir," Valsame replies.

Xalen nods his approval then looks at Zaxry and asks, "What about her?"

Terra checks her pulse then says, "She's stable, but she lost a lot of blood. She going to need some time to recover, and I don't recommend that we keep her movement to a minimum."

"Alright, Valsame you ride shotgun with me. Amy and Terra keep watch in the back. They are going to check why this post doesn't response soon. Valsame show us the way." Xalen commands.

Ashley, Liara, and Sonare arrive at the captain quarter's level, and women step out following Liara as she enters her cabin. Once the door closes behind them, Ashley is the first to say, "Cap where did you get that report from?"

"That's my question as well captain," Sonare adds. "I have been with you the entire time before the briefing, and you haven't had time to receive or sent any communications."

Liara gives a stern look to her personal doctor then calls out, "Glyph!" The VI orb appears from the desk and floats over his caller. "Secure my quarters."

"Yes Doctor Shepard," Glyph replies and within seconds they hear a lock engage on the door and blue energy field coats the door. "The room is secured ma`am."

Sonare gives a wondering expression, "I'm guessing that there must be some pressing reason for the all the extra security."

Ashley looks at Liara and says, "Cap, does she know?"

Liara sits on the couch relaxing, "No. She does knows about my condition."

"Captain with all due respect, what's going on?" Sonare questions seating down in one of the chairs.

Ashley is the next to sit down and says, "I hope you don't surprise easy."

"Commander, I have been around the block more a couple times in my time, so anything you say won't throw me for a crazy loop," Sonare retorts.

"Very well, Sonare what I'm about tell you is highly classified and can not only put your life but lives of every member of this crew and my family in grave danger if the wrong people were able to gain this information," Liara starts. Sonare expresses no emotion hearing Liara's opening statement. She continues with, "Sonare what do you about the Shadow Broker?"

"Nothing more than what some intelligence reports say. The broker is known to be powerful force in the galaxy by conducting secret negotiations with world governments, collecting and dispensing key selected information gathered by its operatives, and rumored to controlled a fully trained and operational standing army."

"I wouldn't say I have a standing army, but I do have a very effective wet squads," Liara comments.

Sonare gives a weird expression and says, "How you do know that and… wait your what?"

"Yes my wet squads and the reason I know all this is because I am the Shadow Broker," Liara smirks.

Sonare shakes her head in disbelief, "You have to be pulling my leg Liara. How can you be the Shadow Broker?"

Ashley explains, "As I heard the story go, Liara and Nico ran an assault mission on the former broker's ship. From there, they defeat the broker and the captain became the new broker."

Sonare shakes her head no, "That's not possible, even if the broker was real and most people believe that he isn't, I will need to the see proof before I believe any of that."

"Very well," Liara comments, "Glyph display the S.I.N. system." Within a second, Sonare sees the glass on the display case go dark changing into display monitor. The table in front of them grows a small blue lens and a holomap of the galaxy appears along with seven holographic keyboards. Each keyboard a display monitor with the S.I.N. in bold letters and the enter password ID under it. "Glyph, set up a temp ID for Sonare T'Moka."

"As you wish Doctor Shepard. Temporary ID set up complete. Doctor T'Moka please place you index finger on reader to activate account," Glyph states. Sonare gives a nervous swallow exhale and does as instructed. The keyboard flash green and Glyph says, "Thank doctor ID account and password is activate you may use the Shadow Information Network."

Sonare shows a confused expression and Liara says, "Enter a name or subject inquiry and the network will do the rest."

"Ok let's see," Sonare states while thinking of what to do look for. After minute, a lightbulb goes off in her head and says while typing in her daughter's name, "Let's see what you network will do with this." Once she finishes, Sonare hits enter and galaxy holomap spins and the transforms to display the name and image of the young Asari girl. "This can't be possible! Jaelda! She's alive!"

Liara looks over the data being displayed, "Humm… according to the data, she is living with her mother, step father, and her five other siblings."

"Where?" Sonare questions.

"Pranas sector on one of the moons of Sur`Kesh," Liara states.

"By the goddess, they survived! I have to contact Ea`daya and let her know I'm alive," Sonare smiles with tears in her eyes.

Liara smiles getting up, "Sonare, I promise once this mission is over; you will be able to contact your family." Sonare nods her approval, Liara claps her hands and says, "Ok with that settled, I going to take a little nap before the next staff meeting, so…"

"Hold on Cap," Ashley interjects. "Before you do anything else, you have got to lets us know how you knew the sheath drive wouldn't work."

Liara gives a goofy smile, "Damn, I was hoping that you would have forgot about that."

Sonare rubs eyes free of tears then says, "She's right. I believe you when you say that you are the broker, but that still doesn't explain how, you were able to know about that issue."

Liara exhales and sits back down; she presses a button on the keyboard miniaturizing the hologram. "Alright, I'll tell you, but I think you won't believe me." Ashley and Sonare look at her waiting to hear Liara's explanation. She tells them about the dream she had with Nico and everything that happen while he was giving her the information. At the end she says, "There you have it. Nico told me about situation. Now I know it sounds crazy, but you think about it, it makes perfect sense."

Sonare and Ashley try to hide their embarrassment, and Ashley coughs then says, "Yeah to if really think about it does take out an unknown threat. Still you have dreams with Nico, and him giving you real time intel and advice. I'm not quite there yet."

"I will have to agree with Commander Vega, but with everything that has happen after the synchronization, we fully don't know the effect on Asari," Sonare voices.

"Look, regardless of the fact that my bond mate gave me this information, it still advice we need to follow or we could run the rise of the losing the Turian Empire," Liara states.

"Right Cap," Ashley states.

Sonare nods her head, "Captain, please rest while we wait for the next senior staff briefing. Commander, I'll stay with the captain. I need to finish running my test results."

"Ok, Captain please have a good rest," Ashley states before telling Glyph to unseal the door.

Once Ashely is gone, Sonare looks at Liara motions for her to go to bed. "Captain while I'm waiting, my I use the network to learn more about how my family got to where they are?"

Liara lies on the bed, "Sure, help yourself. Wake me if anything comes up." Sonare nods yes, and Liara rests her head on the pillow as sleep over takes her.

The captured truck arrives at Valsame's home after a fifteen minute drive. The cadet says, "General, I think it would be best to hide the truck in the backyard."

Xalen nods in approval then flies the truck over the three story house and lands on the empty grass space near the in ground swimming pool. The two men get out of the truck and see no sign of movement, "Valsame get the door open and be quiet about it." They walk to the back of the truck to open the door. Amy and Terra hop out as Xalen continues, "And see if you can find something so we can cover the truck with." Valsame heads off to the find a way inside. Xalen looks at Zaxry and asks, "Amy any changes?"

"No, but keep an eye on her. Terra and I are going to secure the area," Amy states running off with Terra.

Xalen gets into truck and sees Zaxry chest slowly rising and falling deaf to the world around her. He exhales then looks at the two cadets covered with a white sheet. Xalen gives a wide yawn feeling his exhaustion catching up with him. "I will be so glad when this mess is over," he states walking out of the cargo hold. He yawns again stretching his hands over his head; then he wiggles his whole body talking to himself, "Come on, no time for that. Ok, the next thing we need to focus on is getting to the meeting point with the Normandy."

From behind, someone presses a gun muzzle to the back of Xalen head. The general freezes feeling the muzzle and a man says, "Make one false move and you're dead! Who the fuck are you and why are you at my house?!"

Xalen remains calm and says, "Sir, I'm General Xalen Suisane commander to the Homestead Fleet and acting Primarch of the Turian Empire."

"Ha! You think you can fool me with such a bald face lie," the man states pressing the gun harder into Xalen's head. "Now, you got till the count of five before I make you a spirit. Tell me the truth who are and why you're here."

"Sir, I told you, I'm General Xalen and we're here just to rest and get some medical aid for the woman in the truck," Xalen explains.

"Wrong answer. Say hello to the spirits," the man states squeezing the trigger.

Amy appears behind the man in a flash with her sword around the man's neck, and Terra pointing her gun at the man's knee. "Try it and you'll be dead before you can even finish pulling the trigger. Now drop the gun or I'll drop you."

The man holds on to his gun and tensions up to, but then he hears, "Do as she says dad or I'll put a bullet into you!" The man looks to his right and sees Valsame pointing his gun at him. "General Xalen, the others, and I are trying to the save the empire, so I will not hesitate in killing you to save him and our people. Now drop it!"

The man exhales and drops the gun. Xalen turns around and bends down to pick up the gun. After taking a step away, Amy releases Valsame's father. He looks at Valsame and says, "Who are you?"

Valsame shakes his head lowering his gun then the man's his wife and older son comes out the house. The woman says, "Novicia look at him don't you recognize him it's Counet our son!"

Novicia eyes widen hearing the news, "Impossible you're supposed to be dead!"

"Dead! That's some way to greet your son. What makes you think I was dead?" Valsame retorts lowering his gun.

Amy watches him as fumbles for words for a minute; then Novicia is finally to gets out, "You ran away and at most I thought you got yourself killed. Hell, even the police believed that when they called off the search."

Amy quickly comments, "If that's true, then why do you still have an active reward posted?"

Valsame's mother speaks up while walking over to her younger son, "That was my doing. I still keep holding out hope that you were alive and maybe you would come home. Or at least, your body would be returned, so I could properly put you to rest." Once she is close enough, she puts her hand on his shoulder, but Valsame shrugs her hand away walking over to Xalen. The woman remains in her new position with her face on the verge of tears; she says, "But that doesn't matter anymore, you've come home."

Valsame says in the sharp tone, "Not likely, look we're just here to rest and regain our strength. Once that's done, we're out of here, and you don't have to worry about seeing me again."

"Counet…"

Novicia puts his hands on her shoulders, "Rutiana! Save your breath! You heard the boy!"

Rutiana's hands tremble as she says with a shakily voice, "Then please tell what you are doing with your life. Consider it a trade for staying here and for food."

Valsame eyes his parents and gets ready to say something when Xalen says, "It's a deal. Terra finish securing the area, Amy secure the house. Counet help me. " They nod and head inside.

"Why did you do that? We could have just tied them up," Valsame complains while helping Xalen pick up Zaxry's limp body.

They put one arm over each shoulder slowly walking to the door, "Think about it if we took them hostage, then that will just add one more problem to your already long list." They walk into the house and Rutiana leads them upstairs to the guest bedroom. Xalen thanks the woman; then asks for them to be left alone. Once she is gone, they lay Zaxry on the bed and continue their conversation while Xalen checks over Zaxry's body, "Look, I'm not going to pressure you into doing something that you don't want to do, but Valsame that is your family. Whether you believe it or not, they care for you, and judging by the look on your mother's face, she more than happy to see you."

Valsame snorts hearing his statement, "I bet is all an act."

Xalen looks at the cadet with a sad expression, "Cadet, you heard about what happened to my parents in command ethics right?"

Valsame looks out the window and says with pride, "Yes sir, your mother sacrificed her ship and crew to protect the Density Ascension from the Geth. Your father took command of the vanguard fleet when the Reapers attacked." He turns to look at Xalen, "Sir your parents both died heroes of the empire."

Xalen gives muffled laugh walking over to the arm chair in the corner, "You're right they are heroes, but if you want to know the truth, I hated them." Valsame face is full of shock hearing the statement. "Yeah, it's a big surprise huh. That is what I thought, I was so mad at them leaving me like they did, but it wasn't until the war was over that I realized that they did it not to be heroes. They did it because they love me and wanted to protect all those who they swore to protect."

"General, I don't see how that has anything to do with my ex-family," Valsame fires out.

"Cadet why did you join the military?" Xalen questions. Before Valsame can reply, he continues with, "You told us that you wanted to serve and protect your follow citizens right!" Valsame nods yes and Xalen adds, "That includes your family as well! Look, I can understand the stresses that come with differing opinions, but in the end your parents care about you. With the way things are going, if our mission fails, this could the last time that you ever see them again. The least you can do is tell them what you have been doing since you left home." Valsame frowns hearing Xalen's argument.

"Why would they care?! All they worried about was money!" Valsame fires back.

The Turian General gets up and walks over to Valsame. He puts his hand on his shoulder then says, "Fine consider it as a mission. You told us that this place is your parents' vacation house. Find out why they are here, and see if they have another information that could be useful to us."

Valsame exhales then says, "As you wish sir."

"Good," Xalen replies back. "While we are here, we'll keep your other identity secret." Valsame nods and the men start towards the door. "Oh! Before I forget, I don't know what use this will be, but I going to give you a battlefield commission. With all the shit we have been through, you have more than earn the right to be an officer, so I'm promoting you to the rank of first lieutenant. That should make your parents happy to know their son is an officer. Now lets get going."

Downstairs Valsame's family is in den talking with each. Once the two officers reach the main floor, they are called into the kitchen by Terra. Before they start talking, Amy walks in from the other end of the kitchen. Once they are all together, Xalen starts with, "Counet go and talk with your family and see what you can find out." Valsame nods and walks out.

Amy says, "Everything is all clear. I set up motion sensors along the way, so we won't get any unexpected guests."

Terry adds in, "I tapped coms line and set up a scrambler, so anything signals we send out won't be traced back here."

Xalen finishes with, "Good, Zaxry is sound asleep upstairs. Terra how long do you think she'll need to rest before we can move her or before she wake up?"

"She still needs a doctor the medigel only stabilized her, but she still can go either way," Terra explains. "As for moving her, I think nine hours should would work well enough. Do you think that will be too long?" Terra questions looking at Amy, but is surprised to see her looking out the opening into the sitting room watching Valsame talk with his family. "Amy," she calls out drawing her attention, "Did you hear what I said?"

"Yeah, I'll contact the Normandy and see what their status is before answering that question. For now, we just need to let her rest," Amy states. She looks back out at the family and asks, "Xalen, why did you send Valsame out with his family?"

Xalen leads against the counter, "To gather some information."

Valsame looks at his parents and brother waiting for them to say something after telling them how he was able to join the military, but they remain quiet. Just as he opens his mouth, Rutiana says, "Thank you Counet."

He looks at her with confusion, "For what?"

"For telling me what happened to you after that night. When Castis told us that you weren't in your room, your father and I didn't care or worry the second we heard that," Rutiana starts. Tears start to form in her eyes while continuing, "In truth, we didn't do anything the first five days. I thought you would come to your senses in a little time and come back home but days turned into a week then two weeks then a month. After that, I started to the worry not seeing you at the dinner table or anywhere. I told Novicia, we were fools to let you go like that!" She gets up and grabs Valsame's hands with tears trailing down her face. "I thought you were dead! We should have taken your thoughts and feeling about wanting to serve serious instead of a joke. Every night, I cried and cursed myself for being so stupid."

Novicia jumps in with, "She's right son. We didn't… I didn't think you would believe so strong in your ideals that would you leave home." Novicia looks to his left feeling tears start up and tries to fight them while saying, "I feel that I was too harsh in my judgement, and I know now that you are not your brother. You are your own man. Son."

Valsame keeps a stern face looking at weeping mother then his father and lastly his older brother. He exhales and tells his mom to get up. "Thanks… I guess."

Castis then says, "Brother tell us what you have been doing since your disappearance."

"Well brother, I become first lieutenant and trained as a pilot," he states.

"Ready," Novicia states. "How many missions have you flown?"

Valsame quickly says, "That's classified."

Rutiana finally stops crying then says, "Classified? Why would your flight missions be classified?"

Amy and others walk into the room and Xalen says, "It's standard protocol and with current situation unfolding we can't run the risk of any information given out no matter how far in the past it has happened."

Castis inquires, "Why? What purpose does it serve keeping everything so close to the chest?"

Xalen quickly answers, "To the keep the pilots' family safe from those who would want revenge. Now let's change gears to why you are here. According to Counet, this places was supposed to be empty."

"The General is right dad. Why are you here? You're not normally here during this time of year," Valsame adds.

Novicia shifts in his seat then says, "We were ordered to evacuate. In fact the whole city was ordered to leave."

Castis quickly rebuts with, "That not true dad only the high living quarters were given the order."

Terra follows up with, "How do you know that?"

"One of my employees contacted me asking if the office would be opened given the massive military present in city," Castis states.

Everyone is shocked by this information, but Xalen pressed the topic, "Military present?"

"Yeah, he said that five capital ships and nine cruisers were circling the area and the mayor was ordered to defer to the fleet commander's command."

Xalen rubs his hand under his chin thinking about Castis' employee account. Amy then asks, "Xalen did you give the order to the Homestead Fleet to hold the remaining large cities?"

"No that wouldn't have been possible," Xalen states. "The moment everything started spinning out of the control was at the same moment I lose all contact with the military, so those orders couldn't have come from me."

"Maybe someone else in the command structure did it," Valsame comments.

"Its possible," Xalen adds.

"Then that person must be one of the worst officers you have," Castis comments.

Xalen gives Valsame brother a queer look, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well for starts, they only evacuated our area. Not the suburbs, urban, or anywhere else," Castis states.

Terra folders her arms with a sour look on her face, "I don't like where this going, but how else was this weird?"

"Well, according to the employee, he said the ships over the city were loading some massive cargo in crate containers." Xalen's eyes narrow trying to visualize what the containers look like and what was inside them. Castis continues with, "Lucky, he was able to see into one of the containers."

Amy asks, "What was inside?"

"Missiles!"

Xalen hears Castis and his heart nearly skips a beat, but Valsame throw his heart into overdrive when he questions, "How big are they? Are we talking about Titan or Eclipse class?"

"I don't know brother," Castis replies.

Amy notes the look of growing panic on Xalen's face as she asks, "Think about this way, were they the size launched during the initial attack from the Reapers?"

Castis rubs his chin and says, "No, he said they looked to be bigger. Maybe the length of four city blocks?"

Xalen gaps forgetting to breathe with the color of his face washing out while drawing everyone's attention. He is finally able to get out, "What city?"

Novicia answers, "Vorecia Olymsis."

Xalen faces fills with fear hearing the name and looks ready to fall to the ground. In a voice full of fear, he says, "Reaper Titan Cain class missiles. By the Spirits!" Everyone gives a weird look trying to figure what he means until he adds, "Amy get in contact with the Normandy. They need to get here quick!"

Liara finds herself floating in space among the stars, nebulas, colorful planets, and other wonders in the galaxy. She looks to her left then right then back in front as is surprised to see a man standing straight as he floats among the stars with her. She recognizes him right away with his long braided and dressed in his Alliance Naval Uniform. "Nico!" she calls out getting his attention. As he turns around, Liara flies over to him and catches him in her embrace.

"Hey what's this? Sleeping while on duty?" Nico jokes with a smile on his face.

She smiles back at him, "It's your fault. Sonare told me it's good for the pregnancy to take naps once in a while. Plus, I get you see you." Nico only smiles while shaking his head and hugs her as she rests her hand on his chest. After what it seems to be a few moments of pure floating and listening to his heartbeat, Liara says, "Nico are you real?"

He looks down at her and asks, "What you do you mean?"

"I mean, are you really my Nico Shepard or the dream of somebody dreaming?"

Nico smirks, "That's a hard one to answer?"

"I'm just worried that you aren't."

Nico pulls away from Liara and looks at her eye to eye, "Liara, I am real. I am Nico Shepard the one and only, and I will there to see out children grow and live. I promise you."

"Thanks," she smiles back.

From behind Nico the voice of a child calls out, "Nico."

They turn around to see the shape of a little boy made up clear blue light and crystal walking up to them. Liara looks at the child in wonder and asks, "Nico is that our child?"

Nico shakes his head, "No, this is my friend Leo."

"Leo?"

"Yeah, that's the name I give him when we first met," Nico says.

Leo says, "Nico it's time, we have to go."

"GO!" Liara exclaims. "GO WHERE! WHO IS THIS CHILD!"

"Calm down Liara," Nico states. "Well to put simply, Leo is the spirit and free will of a Reaper."

Liara eyes bug out looking at the glowing child as he greets, "It is good to meet Liara Shepard."

"How…"

Nico cuts her off, "It's a long story and one saved for another time. Liara, I promise the Reapers are no longer our enemies. Listen, once you are finished with things on Palaven, we will have more time to chat and play, but for now focus on the mission at hand billions of people are counting on you." Nico lets go of Liara and starts to float and fade away from her. She tries to fly after him while calling his name, but Nico only smiles as he turns transparent and fade into the blackness of space, "Liara, I know you will do great with your first mission. We will see each other someday soon, so don't some smooth talking guy or woman get you before I come back."

The last of his words echo as he disappears. Liara keeps flying in his direct with her arm extended out and calling out his name as she starts to fade away.

Liara quickly sits up as her eyes spring open breathing heavy, and her right arm reaching out to grab something. Sonare looks from her tablet at Liara then says, "Sleep well captain?"

Liara lowers her arm then shakes her head to loosen the muscles in her neck. "I don't know if I can say I slept well, but I will have to get use to these daily naps."

Sonare smiles going back to reading the information while adding, "Just wait soon you will be able to create the telepathic link with your daughter and she will talk your ears off."

"Can't wait. What are you reading? Did you download the data regarding your family?" Liara questions looking at her doctor.

"No, I reviewing your test results."

Liara moves to edge of the bed then says, "Is there anything wrong?"

Sonare shakes her head, "No, all your results are positive, but you are showing an elevated level of testosterone. We can probably chalk that up to the fact that you bonded with a male human. I have seen cases in the past where that is known to happen."

She looks at the Asari captain's distant expression on her face. As she opens her mouth to ask another question, Glyph comes flying up to Liara, "Doctor Shepard, I have an emergency priority one call from Agent Crescent."

"Ok Glyph patch it in," Liara orders getting off the bed and walking over the couch. The holographic screen appears from the center trouble, and Liara says, "Agent Crescent, I am receiving your transmission. Give me your report."

"Sir, a major issue has just been brought to my attention. I will let the acting Primarch fill you in," Amy says.

In the war room, James, Ashley, and Garrus are standing around command table arguing about their EVAC plan. The ship's XO looks at the holo-diagram and says, "No! No! Hell to the No!"

"Ash, what's wrong with our plan?" James questions looking at his angered wife.

"I rather think its good bold plan and fairly direct," Garrus adds.

Ashley looks up at the men and fusses, "Yeah! A rather direct way to getting us in the middle of one hell of a fire fight!"

"And the problem is?" Garrus inquires.

"We are supposed to do a quiet extraction not fight the whole damn planet!" Ashley exclaims.

"Ash, this is something Loco would do, right Garrus?" James asks looking at his Turian friend.

"Well…"

Ashley quickly interjects, "He wouldn't run a mission with the high chance of us getting killed."

"Ashley ninety percent of the missions we went on with him had a high chance of getting us killed, but we pulled through just fine," Garrus states with a smile on his face.

"That is true and all, but with don't have Nico here leading the mission," Ashley states folding her arms.

Garrus fires back, "Don't worry I'll be leading the mission."

Suddenly they hear fast walking and Liara walks around the corner while saying, "That all well and good Garrus, but the Council would lose their mines if they found out I let you do that." Ashley nodes her head in agreement and Liara continues, "I take it that we have a plan? Where everyone else?"

"We decided to the break into teams to come up with the plan," Ashley states.

"Well call everyone back," Liara orders the while moving the private coms room. "Ashley, I want President Lawson, Admiral Hackett, and Primarch Victus in the briefing as well."

"Yes ma`am," Ashley states.

Liara heads into the room closing the door behind her, "EDI, I need a secure comlink to the Council priority one." EDI confirms the request and a couple minutes later all the Council members appear in holographic form.

Thirty minutes pass and all the senior staff, Adm. Hackett, President Lawson, and Primarch Victus wait in the main part of the war room. Miranda says, "Ashley what is taking Liara so long? I have nine other meeting I have to go to before going to Congress."

The door opens to from the private comlink room; Liara walks and says as she steps up to her console, "Sorry madam president, the briefing with the Council went longer than I expected."

Adm. Hackett looks at Liara, "Captain is there a problem?"

"Yes sir," Liara states pulling up a 3D map of a city. "Primarch Victus do you recognize this city?"

The Turian leader looks at map, but Garrus jumps in saying, "That's Vorecia Olymsis."

"Shepard, what does this have to do with your mission?" Hackett questions looking at the 3D display.

Liara looks at Victus then says, "Would you like to explain Primarch or should I?"

"Adrien what she talking about what? What is so important about Vorecia Olymsis?" Garrus questions with an annoyed tone.

Liara quickly follows up with, "I take it that you were left out of the loop on this one Garrus."

"Adrien…"

The Primarch jumps in with, "Missiles!"

"Missiles," Ashley echoes, "what do missiles have to do with our mission?"

Victus looks at the map with a disappointed expression on his face, "Vorecia Olymsis housed a secret weapons lab."

James chimes in with, "Ok, so what type of weapons were you developing there?"

Victus lowers his head thinking about the worst case scenario while Liara explains, "I received word from our team on the ground that the city has fallen, but before the fall someone saying that he was from Homestead Fleet brought a number of ships to the city. He ordered to mayor to stand down and creased control; then he ordered all the high income families to Evac while his associates raided the weapons lab. They took everything then left. After that, the city fell apart."

Hackett folds his arms then looks at Victus, "That's not good."

Miranda is the next to speak up, "Do we at know how many missiles were taken or the type of missiles?"

Victus finally chimes in with, "According to the last report, five thousand missiles were operational and another ten thousand were in the final stage of manufacturing. As for type, we deemed them Reaper Titan Class Missiles."

"Reaper Titan Class? What the hell is a Reaper Titan Class Missile?" Joker questions.

"Is it anything like the Titan class?" Hackett inquires.

Victus exhales, "No, in fact it is more advance than any missile currently used by any species. We co-developed it with the Salarians."

"Ok, but doesn't tell us what they do," James comments.

"The missiles are designed to carry five super charged M-920 Cain warheads or a modified Cerberus mega M-490 Blackstorm with FTL and mass relay proportion along with a VI piloting system," Victus states.

Everyone but Liara is shocked hearing the missile's design and capabilities. Garrus is the first to say, "What the fuck were you thinking making weapons like that? We all have seen the destruction one Cain can do, and you decided to the put five on the same damn missile!"

Miranda follows up with, "Not using Garrus' more colorful language, how was the Blackstorm modified?"

"According to the engineers, they increase the speed, power, and range of the detonation core," Victus explains with his head still lowered.

Miranda puts her hand on her forehead and after a minute she says in a controlled tone of voice, "You realize what you have done right?"

"Ma`am," Hackett says, "What is the M-490 Blackstorm?"

Miranda answers with, "Blackstorm was an experimental device the weapon group in Cerberus created. It was designed to create an artificial black hole."

"A black hole!" James calls out.

"Relax commander, it's micro black hole that would only last for about three or five seconds and encompass a very limited area; however," Miranda pauses looking at Victus and growls out, "Thanks to the Primarch's adjustments, you have created a weapon that can make a fully bloody functional and stable black hole!"

Garrus shakes head doing his best not to scream, "Do we know who has the missiles?"

"Without a doubt, Sovereign's forces must have them," Liara states adjusting the holomap to zoom out.

Victus says with a remorseful tone, "I'm sorry about this. My intention was to have method to stop the Reapers if they came back to attack us."

Ashley speaks up, "Well, we are pass your good intentions Primarch. Captain, what did the Council have to say?"

"Nothing has changed, we need to complete the mission and rescue our ground team, but if possible we need to get any remaining information about the stolen missiles and other weapons," Liara explains.

"Alright then Captain, what is your plan to get to the surface?" Hackett questions.

Liara zooms out the map with the city still in the center, "Informed our ground team that the rendezvous point will in the city. As for the landing operation, we…"

"Have one ready to go ma`am," James quickly jumps in with a smile on his face.

Ashley shakes her head and mumbles out, "I can't believe we are going to this."

Liara looks at Ashley and asks, "Something wrong commander?"

"No ma`am," Ashley snaps back.

"Go on James," Liara states.

James zooms the map back in so the whole city is showing, "Garrus and I figured a city meeting spot would be the best."

Garrus jumps in, "The buildings and state of the city would give us plenty of cover and protection from Sovereign's forces. Judging by their latest moves, I think Sovereign's main intention is to consolidate power in some other region there by making Vorecia Olymsis our best opening. As for getting to the ground, I gamble that the enemy ships are just stolen Turian ships, so that will give us another advantage." He types something into the console and the image of a Turian cruiser appears up. "My guess Sovereign is going to have these type of cruisers waiting for us, but he made a critical error. These ships can't navigate very effectivity in the atmosphere that makes them slow and damn near hard adjust course. After seeing the way Joker pilots the Normandy, I can tell without a doubt it will be hard to catch us after we enter. Add to that, cruisers can only enter the atmosphere slowly to fast they fly apart on re-entry."

James continues with, "Once we are planet side, we'll split into the two teams: Sniper and Ground." James zooms in once to three tall buildings place at the tip of a triangle in converging intersections. "Sniper team will take point in each of these building; that will give them a vantage point to cover all thruways. Ground team will meet will join and reinforce the team already there."

Garrus jumps back in with, "We'll have to both types of ground ships. The Hammerhead will get Sniper team in position."

James follows up with, "While the Mako, transports Ground team to the pickup point."

Hackett bring his right hand under his chin and says, "Sounds like a good plan and once you get back the Normandy you'll execute Operation Scapegoat."

The two men nod in agreement, but Ashley voices out, "Captain is way too reckless."

"How?" Liara questions folding her arms.

Ashley states, "First off, where is the Normandy going to go while the teams are doing the Evac? Also the city isn't going be empty, we might have to fire on civilians and it's going to be hella hard establishing a secure area."

"You have a point, but" Liara looks closely at the map, "we don't have many options. As for the Normandy," she zooms the map out far enough to show a large body of water. "EDI how much water pressure can the hull withstand?"

Greg comments looking at the map, "I have a bad feeling about where this is going to go."

"After the retrofit, the hull should withstand about five hundred psi on Earth, but accounting for Palaven's water density it will about four thousand psi," EDI states.

Garrus adds, "That's beyond the deepest point in the ocean."

Liara looks to the helmsman waiting for his input. Joker says after a couple of minutes, "I not to fond of moving her underwater, but I can do it."

"Alright, Ashley I know you have objection about this plan, but…"

"No need Captain,"

Liara nods then continues with, "Ok. As for the teams, Garrus, I'm right in assuming that you will lead the sniper team?"

Garrus snickers, "Could there be anyone else?"

"No I figured not, so we need the two more for Sniper team," Liara adds.

"Count me in Garrus," Ashley volunteers.

"Me to," Sonare says.

Liara gives a surprised expression, "Sonare you're a sniper?"

"Yes ma`am. If I wasn't commanding a squad, I was the lead sniper. Besides this will allow me to watch over you," Sonare states.

Liara nods in approval then says, "As for Ground team, James I know it was your idea, but I will be team lead." James gives his ok, and Liara continues with, "James, Ophiuchus, and Keyriwn will make up my team. Ophiuchus, at last word, Chancellor Zaxry took a serious wound and lost a great amount of blood, but they were able to stabilize her."

The Geth doctor's blue color brightens then dims, "I believe that moving her could cause her condition to become unstable, but without an exam I would not know what medical tools to bring."

"I understand, but I believe medigel will hold her until we get back to Normandy," Liara states.

Grunt growls looking at Liara. She senses his glare and looks at him motioning him to speak his mind. "Why am I not on the Ground team?"

"Because Grunt, I have bigger mission for you and EDI," Liara says. He gives her a smile, and she adds on, "It is likely we won't able to get back into orbit without going through a fire fight, so EDI I want you to prepare a beacon that will transmit our signal. As for your mission," Liara has the map zoom back in to the city and she points out, "We are going to need a hardline to keep the transmission alive sending out. Steve will transport you two the media hub in the city. Grunt you will be their main line of defense; you are to stop anyone who tries to interfere with EDI's mission." Grunt gives a pleasing laugh, and the Asari captain finishes the briefing with, "Once we are on the way, we will observe radio silent. Any messages that need to be sent must be encoded and sent back here. Samantha will coordinate between all the teams. Lastly call it something from Nico, we may all be Spectres, but let's try to keep the body count to a minimum."

Miranda smirks then says, "Liara, I will get our intelligence networks working to see what more we can learn about the missiles and any other weapons that were in that research lab. As for you Primarch Victus, I am not the habit of telling other leaders what to do, but I believe the Council might have some questions for you."

Garrus quickly jumps in with, "Well I have no problem telling people what and what not to do! Victus go talk with the Council because whether we like it or not; we are going to need their help to settle this mess afterwards and you can consider this my resignation!"

"Garrus!" Victus calls out in distress.

Liara follows up, "Let's not make any snap judgements. Primarch, we will contact you after the mission is completed; then we can make those decisions."

Hackett is the final one to add, "Well with that, the First Fleet is standing ready at the Mass Relay stocked up with medical and food supplies. Just give the word and they will be on the way."

"Thank you Admiral. EDI what's our ETA?" Liara question.

"Last than twenty-five hours," EDI replies.

"Alright, get your equipment ready and prep. If there isn't anything else, we are dismissed," Liara orders.

Amy closes the uplink then turns to look at Terra, Valsame, and Xalen. "Well, it's only a matter of time before the enemy traces that signal, and then they will be on us. I plan to be gone long before they get here."

"You'll get not argument from me," Xalen states. "The Evac point, on the other hand, wouldn't be my first choice."

Terra says, "We need to gather any intel and hopefully a lead to where they took those missiles."

Amy nods in agreement then focuses on Valsame, "That aside, Counet what do you want to do about your family? When the enemy comes looking for the person responsible, your family will be captured and questioned."

Xalen follows up with, "And based on their past actions, I don't think they will take the high road nor will your family survive if they don't give us up. This leaves only one option that insures that our mission remains secret."

Valsame exhales hearing their statements, "Alright I get what you're aiming at. My family has to come with us, but we run the risk that they are going to be more of a burden than a help!"

They all refocus their attention when they hear Rutiana's voice, "Counet…" they all look at her, but only Valsame's eyes show surprise. She moves closer to her son with a calming smile on her face, "I feel I know the real truth behind your words. In truth, you don't trust us, and you have all the right to do so because our past actions." She looks from her son to Xalen, "General, I promise if we come under question by our so-called protectors, they will nothing from us about you or your mission."

Valsame tighten his fist hearing his mother's statement and feels the heart strings pulling for his family hearing his mother's statement. He grins his teeth then says in a commanding tone, "No!" Everyone looks at him as he continues, "I won't let that happen! You're right mom, I don't fully trust you and dad, but I'll be damned if I just leave you to their will!"

"Counet…"

Valsame looks at Amy, "How long do you think we have before they are able to track our signal here?"

"I give it about nineteen hours at max," Amy replies.

"Hear that mom?" Valsame questions; then he raises his voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "This goes for you, brother, and dad, ready to leave to in twelve hours. Pack only the essentials nothing more."

Valsame's parents and brother nod their heads; then Amy says, "Ok since we are all in agreement, Counet go get some rest because we are going to be one of our pilots."

Xalen is the next to voice, "So Amy you have plan?"

"Yeah, while I was scouting the area, I saw high speed sky cars in the garage. With a couple modifications, they are going to be our ticket out of here. After that, we head for the Evac point, and just in case, I am going to set up a couple of surprises for unwanted guests," Amy states. "Now if you excuse us, we have work to do bring what you are taking and leave it next to door. Terra, take the first watch. Xalen come with me."

Valsame's family heads out followed by the newly made lieutenant and Terra. Amy and Xalen move out the kitchen through the opposite side and head for the backyard. Once they are outside, Amy says looking into the back of the truck as Xalen grabs some supplies. She says, "Xalen, you know that we can't take them with us."

"Yeah, and we really don't have time bury them," Xalen comments.

Amy sits on the end of the truck looking out at the clear orange bright sky, "How do your people feel about burial fires?"

Xalen grabs the last things he needs carries it out the truck, "It's not uncommon, but won't that attach the wrong attention?"

"Nope," Amy smiles. "In fact, it's all part of my plan."

Amy grabs a bag from the truck opens it up to pull out a small purple brick wrapped in plastic. Xalen looks at the white printing and feels a cold chill run down his spine. "That's Pu584!"

"Yup, otherwise known as SMN the Solid Micro Nuke."

"Where the hell do you get that?"

"Believe it or not, they had this in their cargo shipment. My guess, they were going lay this shit all around here. Just in case, one of the neighbors got a little too vocal," Amy states while putting purple brick back into the bag. "I say let's put this stuff to good use."

"Amy, you'll level the entire area if you use all of that!"

"I'm not crazy Xalen, I'll only use a brick and a half. That will wipe out just everything on this block. I'm taking the rest with me. The broker will be happy to find out who their supplier is." Amy picks up the bag then moves closer to Xalen, "Listen, get them ready then get some rest you're going to be our other pilot." She turns around swaying her hips as she moves away, but stops and calls back to him, "Say a pray for me to honor them. I'll see you later."

Xalen only smiles back watching as she walks away, "Sure and thanks Amy."

Valsame is fast asleep in his room when he is shaken awake by Xalen. The young officer opens his sleep filled eyes and Xalen shakes him harder saying, "Lieutenant, wake up! Wake up!"

Valsame swiftly comes around and is shocked to find the acting of Primarch, "Sir! Are we under attack?!"

"Get dress and get your family up!" Xalen orders then races out the room.

Ten minutes later, Valsame is the first one downstairs and sees Amy and Xalen watching something on Amy's omnitool. "Hey what's going on?"

Xalen and Amy remain silent watching as another set of guards searching the empty guard post. Valsame joins the others in watching the surveillance video. The three listen as the new guards call around to find out what happened to the previous watch. They listen for another couple of minutes, and another group of guards make their way inside and look around the outpost. Amy's eyes narrow when they hear the guards shout out they found the dead bodies tucked way. Amy then states, "Xalen, looks like they found the bodies."

"How do you plan handling them?" Xalen questions.

Amy takes a deep breath then exhales, "Time to cause some chaos." Xalen and Valsame give questioning expressions. Amy types in something then a powerful explosion rocks the night air.

Xalen and Valsame race to the window and see a big smoke trail rising into the sky. Xalen calls out, "Amy!"

She jumps in with, "No time to complain! Xalen help me with last mods to the cars. Counet, wake Terra and get Zaxry down here, and tell your family to hurry up!" The young soldier rushes upstairs; while Amy leads Xalen into the garage.

An hour passes as Xalen and Amy put the final touches on the two sky cars. Once they are finished, Terra and Valsame load Zaxry's sleeping body into one of the cars. Amy calls everyone together and explains, "Alright, Terra, Novicia, Castis. You three will with Xalen while the rest will be with me. Castis, Novicia, I can assume that you know how of fire a gun right?" They give her a semi-blank look, and Amy bops her forehead with her hand then says, "Look, I'll make it easy for you." She pulls out a spare hand gun and says, "You point this end at the bad guys then pull the trigger. Do what you did when you first tried to kill Xalen, but this time pull the trigger." She shoves the gun into Castis' hands.

Xalen steps in with, "We are heading for Vorecia Olymsis in order to meet up with the exaction team from the Normandy. Now, I won't sugarcoat it for you, most likely, we will be facing a hazardous environment with people gunning for us. If we come under fire, Rutiana you are responsible for taking care of Zaxry. Novicia, Castis and you will cover your wife and Zaxry. Your main goal is to find cover and stay out of the fighting. If worst comes to worst, cover us while we fall back to your position don't be a hero."

Terra finishes setting up Zaxry and putting any needed supplies. She walks up and calls out, "Amy, we have problem; check your omnitool."

Amy pulls up video feed and sees a three vehicles coming down the road. Xalen sees a bright light shining down in the backyard. Before Xalen says anything, they hear a rapid knocking on the front door as a male voice calls out, "Security! Open up!"

"Shit!" Xalen exclaims looking at the screen from Amy's omnitool. "Time to the move!" Everyone starts running to the cars while hearing a growing pounding on the front door. Valsame runs to his car and starting the engine quickly followed by Xalen starting his car.

Before Amy gets into the car, she throws four small silver disk with a cycling red light at the door. Amy jumps into the car telling Valsame and Xalen to power up the shields for the car. Just as the shields power up, the guards smash though the door, but they are welcome with four powerful explosions killing the first five guards in around the door. Valsame looks at Amy with smile, "That's some welcoming for our unwanted guests!"

"No time to gloat! Others are pushing in," Amy states before activing her omnitool. The screen shows a timer with thirty seconds. "Counet, Xalen stand by!" Another ten guards races into the house shouting for everyone to come out. More guards come racing into the house spreading out in all directions shouting everyone to come out. Each guard leads with their assault rifles while kicking down any closed doors. Amy watches everything unfold on her omnitool and sees a four men group heading for garage door. She starts the timer as they start banging down the door; Amy tells Valsame and Xalen, "On my mark." The timer quickly ticks down and when the clock reaches ten seconds; Amy tells the men, "Gun it!"

Valsame goes full throttle smashing through the garage door followed by Xalen's car. They stir the cars up into the air then are surprised to see so many guard cars around Valsame's house. Amy looks at the timer as it counts down 5… 4… 3... 2… 1 when the timer hits zero. The night air is lighten up and rocked by a massive explosion absorbing everything in a three mile radius.

Xalen looks in the rear mirror seeing the giant smoke cloud. He calls over to Valsame's car, "Damn Amy, you sent them off with a real bang."

Novicia looks at explosion with a shocked expression, "My house!"

Xalen glances back at Novicia, "What would you prefer, your house or your life?"

Novicia looks at the Turian General and says, "You make good point."

The hours swiftly pass by as they ride in the cars heading for the city. Valsame watches the horizon as the sun starts to rise and hears the soft snoring from everyone in the car. He calls to Xalen, "General, how's it going on your end?"

"Nice and smooth lieutenant," Xalen replies. He checks his radar and reports, "My radar is clear."

"Same here sir, but everyone is asleep in my car," Valsame reports.

Xalen smirk shaking his head, "Well, just make sure that you keep your head on a swivel."

"Roger sir," Valsame states as he looks ahead to see the outline of Vorecia Olymsis city. He sits up in his chair amazed at the site of the city burning with smoke rising from multiple locations. "This is horrible! We were rebuilding! Now we are burning once more!" He looks to the left and sees an object heading towards them. "General, I have got sometime come toward me from the west."

Xalen looks in the direction to see two sky pickup trucks. "Lieutenant, be ready! If they come at us, break hard and use your boosters to power to outskirts of the city."

"Roger sir," Valsame replies. He turns to his right, "Amy! Amy! Wake up!"

The Shadow Broker agent slowly wakes up stretching out her arm, "What's going on?

Trucks pulls up alongside of the cars yelling out, "Pull over! Pull over!"

Valsame rolls down his window looks at the two men in the cab and three in the bed of the truck pointing guns at them. "What do you want?" Valsame yells back at them.

"Everything!" one of the men yells. They keep moving in same direction without any change in speed. The man calls out once more, "This is your final chance! Land and surrender!"

Xalen orders, "Counet! PUNCH IT!" On his orders the two car break left and right into a power dive. The two trucks quickly follow behind the cars with men in the bed of the truck hold on as the rush of air washes over them. Xalen and Valsame's car pull out of the power dive only five hundred feet from the ground.

Valsame loses sight of Xalen's car, but he is shocked to see both trucks on his tail. The raiders open fire on his car, yet the kinetic barrier is able block the incoming fire. Amy warns that barrier is reaching its limit; Valsame tells everyone, "Hold on!" Valsame whips the car into a hard left bank turn, but second truck is able to keep on his track with men opening fire once more. After five rounds hit the barrier, Valsame slams on the brakes making the car snap to stop allowing the truck to get ahead of them. Amy rolls down her window, and uses her assault rifle to fire a fast at the enemy truck. She kills one of the men in the bed with a shot through his head. Another round hits a man in shoulder knocking him down while others duck for cover. Amy gets another shot off pegging the man in passenger seat. Before she is able to deliver the death shot, the men in the bed of the truck open fire once more and are quickly joined by the men from the other truck. Amy ducks back into the car as Valsame sees the other truck coming on an intercept course. Without a second thought, Valsame goes to full throttle adding the boosters. The car races pass the second truck; however, they are amazed to see the trucks keeping pace with them. The Turian lieutenant mutters a couple of curse words before pushing the car into a sickening climb while doing corkscrews to avoid as much incoming fire as possible. His moves are so intense that Rutiana passes out from the crazy maneuvers. After ten corkscrews, he levels the car, but had lose sight of the trucks. Without a moment to spare, Valsame guns at full speed to the city.

Xalen flies low to the ground doing his best keep them blind from any radar. He watched the air fight; then realizes since the trucks weren't able to keep up with their cars, Xalen goes full speed ahead. His path is cut off with one of the trucks while the other comes racing up behind them. The general grits his teeth and puts car into a dive. He levels out only inches from the ground, and they start to hear bullets rain down around them with some shots hitting the barrier. Xalen hits the boost and aims upward. The first truck dives down while the men open fire. Shots fly pass the car, and once the truck is out of firing range, Xalen does a head spinning tight turn to get on the tail of the diving truck. Terra aims her sniper weapon out the window at the enemy truck. After a couple of seconds, she is able to target the driver and with a sample pull of the trigger the Turian's brain is scattered all over the front windshield. The truck does a sudden nose dive as the covered passage tries to take control with little to no hope. Terra quickly comments, "One down!"

Xalen jerks the car to right avoiding another round of fire and he says, "And one to go!"

Valsame steers his car behind the remaining enemy truck. Amy takes aim once more as a wave shots come at her. She focuses her sights and fires destroying the rear float engine. The truck starts to smoke heavily, and she follows up with launching a magnet grenade. Amy sits back in her seat then tells Valsame to pull off. A few seconds later, Amy triggers the grenade blowing a sizable hole in the bed of the truck along with killing most of the men. They watch as the truck goes down in a flames and smoke.

Amy calls over to Xalen's car, "We're all clear! Push towards the city." The two men comply with her order and stir towards the city.

A few minutes later, both cars pass the outskirts of the urban area when they are greeted with a barrage of rocket fire and anti-aircraft fire. "Fuck!" Valsame shouts weaving the car left and right to avoid the shots. "What the hell is this shit?! I thought Sovereign abandon the area!"

Amy pulls up the scans of the area, "It's no good the area is to well-fortified!"

"Amy," Xalen calls over, "the area is too hot! We need to pull back!"

Amy agrees by saying, "Right! Counet bring us around! We'll go on by foot."

"You'll get no argument from me," Valsame states adjusting the car's heading. Xalen's car follows behind them as another round of shots come rocketing up. The two drivers do their best avoid the fire, but some for shrapnel from the AA guns weaken the kinetic barriers. The cars' hull is starts to get laced with the metal fragments, and Amy adds to the stress when another AA shot explodes near them, "Shields are gone!"

"Fuck!" Valsame exclaims when a red light starts blinking. "We're losing power! Hold on, I'm taking us down!"

Xalen shouts over the line, "VALSAME AIM FOR THOSE BUILDINGS THEY'LL PROVID….."

The line suddenly goes dead; Rutiana is the first to cry in terror, "By the spirits! Novicia! Castis!"

Amy looks over and sees Xalen's car on flames rocketing down. She tries calling over her comlink to Terra or Xalen, but the line is not able to connect. "Valsame, can we follow them?"

The lieutenant tries to adjust the car's course, but he reports, "No good! The controls are died! Mom brace Zaxry! Hang on Amy!" The sky car comes flying down at an even level with smoke pouring from the engine. The car lands and slides along the pavement crashing into everything in its path. It hits a minor bump in the road making it go airborne for just a second then hit the ground with a painful pound. The car side swipes a tree and goes into a deadly spin with neck breaking stop as the rear of the car crashes into the side of a burnt out building. In their wake, a tailing trail of fire with broken parts littering the torn up ground. Valsame is the first wake up by shaking his head. He feels something wet moving down his forehead. He moves his hand to touch his head moaning in pain. Valsame looks at his hand then says, "Is everyone ok?"

Amy grunts rubs her forehead leading forward, "Yeah, but your flying needs work."

Valsame snickers at Amy's response, but Rutiana cries in a panicked voice, "Blood!"

Valsame and Amy quickly turn around look at the panicking woman, and Amy questions reaching over to check Zaxry, "Where is she bleeding? Her pulse seems stable."

"No!" Rutiana exclaims, "I'm the one bleeding damn it!"

Amy shakes her head continuing to check over Zaxry while Valsame looks at his mother and questions where the blood is coming from. After she tells him, he complains, "For crying out loud! It's a superficial cut you don't need to worry so much!"

Amy follow up with, "We have bigger things to worry about like who shot those missile off and what happened to the other car?" She finishes checking over Zaxry and turns back forward activating her omnitool. "Amy to Terra!" they hear nothing but static, "Amy to Terra come in!" More static comes over the comlink. "Amy to Xalen! Do you read me?!" Static still plays back. "Damn! This is bad! We have no clue what happened to the other team."

"Can you locate their clash zone?" Valsame asks while dispensing medigel on his mom's wound.

Amy types on her omnitool making a map pop up, "Yeah, I got a lock on their location, but it's over a mile away. I think I can route us through the safest route, but who knows what is waiting for us out there and what we will find at the crash site?"

"There all done," Valsame states leaning back from his mother. He looks at Amy, "We got no choice; we have to risk it. Here mom you're going to need this." Valsame hands her his pistol then says, "Mom, you're going have to carry Zaxry." Rutiana looks like she is getting ready to complain, but Valsame cuts her off, "No whining! Amy and I have to cover you two while we head to the Primarch's car."

Amy sends out a quick pulse scan and reports, "The coast is clear; we need to move before someone finds us." Amy hits the release for the canopy, but the burn cover only rises a little before is sticks. "Shit Valsame give me at hand with this." He nods in response, and they push together to get the top to lift up. When the top is out of the way, Amy scans left then right with her assault rifle drawn. "Clear! Come one we need to move!" Valsame picks up Zaxry and hops out the car followed by Rutiana. He quickly hands her to his mother and draws his weapon scanning the left side. He gives the clear sign, and they start walking with Zaxry on Rutiana's back, Amy in the front, and Valsame bring up the rear.

They quickly make their way off the main road into back alleys and small side streets. Rutiana looks up at the smog covered sky then back at Amy calmly walking ahead of her. Rutiana shrugs her shoulders move Zaxry a bit then asks, "Any word or sign from my husband's car?"

Without turning around, Amy says, "No, if anything had changed, Terra would have contacted me."

"What do you think could have happened to them?" Rutiana inquires with a worried tone.

"I'm not trying to think about it."

"But…"

"Mom!" Valsame jumps in, "I know you're worried, but in missions like this you can't let your worries overwhelm your thinking. You have to keep a clear head and remain focus."

"Counet…"

"Shhh….." Amy orders holding her gun up. She looks through the scope; then says in a hushed voice, "We go movement!" She spot a small alcove in the alley. "Rutiana quick hid in there! Valsame take the left; I'll take the right, we'll catch them in a crossfire."

"Roger," Valsame states while moving his mother into the dark alcove. He sets up just ahead of her in a kneeling positions.

Amy looks up to see a fire escape ladder; with grace and deadly beauty she gets up to the first landing and aims down the alley.

Four figures make their way down the alley with what it looks like one of the figures being shouldered by another and third figure is being carried on the back of the last figure. Valsame looks at the approaching figures and signals Amy that he is ready to attack. Amy aims down a target; she looks at the figure being carried. After they get about another ten feet closer, Amy shouts out, "FREEEZE!"

The figure looks to rise a gun while others get into a defensive position. A male voice calls out, "Who are you?!"

Valsame cocks his head to recognizing the voice, "General?"

"Valsame is that you?"

Valsame flashes his weapon light down the alley and is surprise to find everyone from Xalen, "Amy it's the others!" He quickly stands up rushing over to them. Amy jumps down to see Terra's ankles wrapped in torn cloth, and Xalen's left leg complete bound up. Valsame is the first to ask, "General what happened to you?"

Amy is the next to say, "I want to know as well, but we can't do it here. We need to find a secure area."

Novicia answers, "We're close to my office building; I think we should be safe there."

Amy agrees by saying, "Good idea; Novicia you lead the way. Valsame and I will run point guard. Let's move!"

The eight of them quickly make their way Novicia's office building. Thirty minutes pass by, and they arrive at the thirty story Nova Medical building. Novicia is surprised to find front windows and doors smashed in. "What the hell happened to my building?!"

Valsame does a quick sweep and answers, "My guess looters. They must wanted anything of value. Amy what do you think is it secure enough until extraction?"

Amy does a quick glance then replies, "If we barricade the entry of a hallway and office, we should be able to hold out for a while."

They make their way into the building and set up their defenses. Once anything is set up, Amy takes the first watch while Valsame treats Terra and Xalen. Amy finishes her patrol and joins Xalen and the others. "Valsame, what supplies do we have left?"

"Well, we have four medigels left and enough food for about two days," He replies.

"Ok, that should be enough to last us until the Normandy gets here. Xalen, what happen after were shot down?"

"Long story short, we got hit and started to go down. Terra jumps out using her biotics to try and level us out, but it was no good. She landed on her feet after us clashing, and my leg got smashed under dashboard," Xalen explains.

Amy looks at Terra passed out then says, "The most important thing is that everyone is alive, and now we just have to wait until the Normandy gets here."

The Normandy rockets through the mass relay space approaching the exit relay. Joker sits up at the front helm with EDI going over the last projections for entering the Turian Imperial space. In Liara's cabin, she puts on her new N7 armor that is vaguely familiar and resembles Nico's but for a female shape. Sonare helps the Capt. with the last pieces of armor and sits back on the couch as Liara looks over herself and checks out the new additions to her armor; then she asked, "Did you take the medication I gave you?"

Liara looks at her after setting up the final connections with Glyph, "Yes I took all the medication. What does it do anyway?"

"It's what we give Asari commandos who are with children it basically increases the metabolism rate and solidifies a defensive chemical balance to help ensure that the embryo is safe. Now what about the other the medication did you take that as well?"

Liara gives a sickening expression as she tells her, "Yes, the gritty medication nearly made me gag and throw up what I had for breakfast this morning. Let me take a guess that medication is to help increase my blood flow right?"

Sonare gives a quick smirk then says, "Close but no. That medication was a protein enhancement. We don't know how long were going to be in the field and as a possibility that we will most likely miss a meal or two. In truth, that would not be the best thing for you in your condition, so the protein supplement that you drank will be able to provide enough nourishment for you for the next seventy-two hours. After that, you have another one in your supply kit that you can drink."

Liara walks over to the desk where Nico's helmet sits on display. She grabs hold of the helmet looking it over and letting the past memories wash over her, "Don't tell anyone about this but I'm nervous."

The Asari commando gives the captain a strange sideways look and replies back, "Why would you be nervous? You been on tons of missions with Nico and the rest of the crew."

"Yes, but Nico was the one leading the mission or he was nearby to back me up if something was to go wrong. This time I'm all by myself; I know I have the rest of my squad and the crew behind me but it is just one of those things that I'm nervous about."

Sonare stands up and walks over to Liara putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Liara what you're feeling now is what we Asari commandos called first mission jitters. I don't know if your mother ever told you, but all Asari women who decided to take up a career in the military always get this nervous feeling that we didn't plan everything right or something is going to happen or some unforeseen circumstances going to kick in. As my old CO told me, you have a team behind you and your training, so stop worrying and get your blue ass in gear."

Liara shakes her head with a smile her face, "Sounds like my dad, so I'm guessing you're telling me to get my butt in gear."

"Well ma'am if it works get to it," Sonare says with a gleeful tone.

Liara nods yes, and Glyph comes floating in, "Dr. Shepard, I have finished my analysis of the modifications to your armor, and I am picking up a higher energy draw from your kinetic barriers than normal along with a secondary kinetic field around you."

Sonare says, "Don't worry the readings that you're picking up our within the bounds of the new modifications I added to Liara's armor. Now the new kinetic barrier on there will allow you to take more fire, but it means that you have a longer recharge time. The secondary shield around you will give you enough time to run for cover and get out of the line of fire. Before Glyph brings up the other modifications, I'll go ahead and let you know the medigel dispenser in your armor is set for an automatic distention. If and when your armor takes more than three shots directly. You also have a new modification that I was able to get from a couple of friends of mine from the Citadel. It creates a protective shield coating in case of a crash or some other strong collision. I'm sorry to say though you're pretty much their guinea pig for this new upgrade."

We are gives a questionable look then says, "I don't know how I feel about being a guinea pig, but it allows me to lead my team and I'll deal with."

Sonare explains the last couple of new features on Liara's armor when Joker's voice comes over the PA system, "Capt. we are approaching the exit relay T -2 minutes."

Liara responds back as Sonare and she are heading to the elevator door, "Understood Joker make the ship wide announcement and standby to go red alert. I'm on my way to the bridge."

As the elevator goes down to the next floor, Joker's voice can be heard over the ship wide PA informing everyone about the ship status. Sonare tells Liara, "Capt. I recommend that you sit up front with Joker and let Cmdr. Vega call shots from the CIC."

"Not a bad idea, take your station at my private terminal and strap yourself in," Liara orders as the doors open. The women head to their designated areas, and Joker surprise to see Liara taking the seat to his left. "Don't worry Joker I'm not here to second-guess you. Ashley is going to call the shots in the CIC I'm going to do my best to help EDI breach their firewalls. Is everyone ready?"

EDI nods yes and Joker says, "Alright everyone let's do this! Exiting relay in 5…4…3…2…1." The Normandy deaccelerates out of the relay space and reenters normal space in a brilliant light. The signaling alarms rings out to the ship as the three in the cockpit see nine of Sovereign's ships waiting for them. The enemy vessels close in as they begin to open fire on the Normandy. Joker steers the ship hard to starboard in order to get out of the main line of fire; he pushes the ship to full speed driving the Normandy out of the fire range. The enemy vessels power up order to give chase. "Alright here's where the fun begins! Everyone hold on!" Joker whips the ship into an in inverted barrel roll as the targeting systems pick up the signals of individual fighters. He rotates the ship 180° and starts bearing down on one of the oncoming vessels.

Liara says, "Garrus weapons free!"

The Turian Vice-Primarch gives a smile and says with a joyful tone over the speaker, "Roger that!"

Liara then turns to EDI and ask, "Can you breach their firewalls?"

The AI quickly responds back with, "I have already begun, and I got access to three of their ships. What are your orders?"

"Put their fusion plant into meltdown. Joker target the enemy vessel's bridge and fire!" Liara orders. The nose of the ship lines up with the oncoming vessel the two bow mounted cannons lower from the holstering position. The two cannons charge up with a mix of blue and white light into a growing energy ball in front of the ship and when Joker hits the firing button the beam launches from the vessel at one of Sovereign's vessels. The beam eats through its kinetic barrier and smashes in with a brilliant explosion into the bridge. The beam continues on for and exits out of the vessel leaving the crippled ship to drift into space with fire erupting from the impact points. "Good shooting Joker," Liara praises. A second later three bright flashes erupt from the center of three other enemy vessels. The light grows bigger and bigger until the ships explode simultaneously with an emanating shockwave. Joker is able to stabilize the ship before the shockwave hits but enemy fighters that are too close to the vessels are caught up in the blast wave and completely destroyed.

Ashley calls from the CIC to the helm, "Capt. we are detecting five more incoming vessels."

"We have done all we can for now here. Joker set course for Palaven," Liara orders.

Joker programs in the destination and jumps the ship to FTL speed but he reports, "Capt. looks like the remaining ships from the welcome party are coming after us."

Ashley follows up with, "And the five other ships are have changed course to intercept us."

"Understood, what's our ETA?"

"Thirty-five mins Capt.," Joker replies.

Liara folds her arms and closes her eyes thinking for a moment of a way how to deal with the oncoming threat. She mutters out for a second, "After that, we don't know what type of welcoming committee were going to get we get to Palaven." Liara continues to mutter to herself for couple more minutes then she taps the comlink to talk with Garrus, "Garrus what is the turning rate for a Turian cruiser coming out to FTL speeds?"

"Normally it takes about two seconds for a cruiser to change its trajectory after coming out of FTL. Why would you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking there's a way how we can knock out all ten of the ships without firing a single shot, but it's going to take some precision flying. EDI was the precision rate for turning on the Normandy after coming out FTL?"

"Approximately .35 seconds," the AI responds.

Liara taps her head for a second thinking about the information she's been given then her eyes spring open with an idea. "EDI set the nav computer to take us out of FTL approximately 100,000 km before we enter the atmosphere."

Joker gives a shocked expression then says, "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Capt. are you serious at that close of a distance will most likely burn up before we can even enter the atmosphere. Let along the deceleration is going to be murder on us."

"I know Joker that's why we need the precision flying. If EDI can adjust our heading just before we start to enter the atmosphere and we get caught in the gravitational pull, we can slingshot ourselves at a high rate to avoid being followed by any of Sovereign's ships. What do think EDI, you think you can pull it off?"

"It would not be a problem Capt. but I recommend that we actually make it 150,000 km that way it also gives me a second or two to see if I can breach their firewalls and download any relevant data I can get my hands onto."

"Okay make the necessary calculations and inform the crew. This is going to be one hell of a ride!"

Ashley listens to the plan and then says, "It's Ilos all over again! Oh well Joker did it once and with EDI's help he'd will be able to do it again. Cap, once we make the maneuvering thruster move, I recommend that we scan the area to see how many ships we'll be dealing with and also you might want to try do an orbital scan of the city if possible."

"Good idea commander," Liara replies. The Normandy continues to rocket at FTL speed with the ten enemy vessels trailing a couple seconds behind them as they reach their destination; Joker turns over helm control to EDI and sounds the collision alarm one minute before they pull out of FTL. EDI kills the engines then continues on the suicide path straight towards the planet other enemy vessels pull out at the same time but quickly notice the trajectory the Normandy is on. The captains of the vessels order an immediate course correction, but they fail to recognize that the helm control systems are not responding properly. EDI orders the process to fire at the exact moment while the ten ships continue along the suicide path and start to glow a bright orange red as the heat from the friction of the atmosphere interacts with the hull. While the Normandy slingshots at full speed and across the atmosphere sphere, the enemy vessels kinetic barriers and other vital systems one by one begin to fail in explode. From the CIC, Sonare watches as the ten ships burn up in pieces of the ship fly apart until the mass effect core's explode creating a showering rain of burning debris parts. "Good job EDI!" Before Liara can give her next command another alert signal goes off as the Normandy falls under attack from three other of Sovereign's cruisers and a wave of smaller gunships.

"EDI give me back control the ship standby all weapons!" Joker orders as he preps to begin evasive maneuvers. His wife quickly complies and he whips the Normandy into another gut turning maneuver, but the gunships are able to keep up as they continue to fire weakening the ships kinetic barriers. "Dammit kinetic barriers are down to 43%! Sweetheart you might want to tighten your precision flying software just a tad bit. Reroute all necessary parts shields! Garrus get some target lock on these fuckers and take them out!" Joker is able to get behind the line of the gunships and quickly locks on to them he fires out away the missiles, yet they are able to avoid them and continue their assault on the Normandy. "Dammit were too close to the planet it's messing with the targeting sensors!"

"Jeff shields are back up to 82%," EDI replies as she starts to launch a new waves of viruses to hack the cruisers.

Joker pulls the ship out of the low atmosphere and starts making a beeline path towards the three pursuing cruisers. He rocks the ship port and starboard doing his best to avoid the shots coming in from the cruisers and the pursuing gunships. The Normandy's main guns power up once more and tear into the middle cruiser making it go down in a massive blaze while the cruiser to the right starts to list support and accelerate. EDI says, "I've got control of the right cruiser the left cruiser is about to lose kinetic barriers." She directs the confiscated cruiser into the already burning middle ship and pushes the engines to Max causing both cruisers to crash into each other. The third cruiser sees the oncoming to ships and starts to move away. Joker cuts the engines letting the pursuing gunships ahead then pushes back the full throttle with them now being pursued by the Normandy. Garrus unleashes a barrage of missiles and shots from the smaller cannons at the gunships.

The enemy gunships do their best to scatter, but Garrus is able to knock out five it the ships and disable two more, but another five ships come in from the Portside. The five ships unleased a continuous barrage that strikes the Normandy on the top side of the ship. The two remaining operational gunships that the Normandy was pursuing turn around and start to unleash another barrage Joker banks the ship to starboard to avoid the direct on shots but a couple of the missiles are able to catch the portside wing weakening the kinetic barriers over the two engines and causing an alarm to trigger stating that the far Portside engine is off-line. "Dammit! Engineering I got an engine out what's the word on it!"

Greg calls back by saying, "We are working on it Joker!"

Tali is the next to say over the intercom, "Joker I am doing a bypass but you got to keep them off that wing the kinetic barriers there are down to 15% one more shot and we can say goodbye to the port engine!" Tali works swiftly from her workstation in her quarters, and she is able to bypass the rupture conduit getting the engine back online. "EDI I'm reading a leak off of the port one engine."

Before EDI can answer Greg jumps in grasping his station as the ship is rocked by another wave of bombardments, "I'm picking up the same thing here Tali. Joker got to find a way to either take out those fighters or were going to lose that engine!"

Joker continues to focus on steering the ship as he yells back at them, "we think I'm trying to do! Garrus you got to find we had a get those gunships!" The Normandy rockets pass the oncoming gunships as the remaining two join up with the five pursuing and unleash a hail of bullets at the fleeing Alliance vessel.

"Joker I'm doing my best here but I cannot get a solid lock on these fuckers! They must some type of signal scrambler I never seen before! EDI can you hack them?" Garrus yells working to targeting systems.

EDI's HUD streams information at an unbelievable speed. "Garrus, I am task to max ability dealing with the warships and protecting our own systems."

Joker whips the ship hard to port as three missiles go streaming by. A red light starts to flash again warning of an eezo lead coming from the damage engine. The Normandy pilot starts to the fight with a sagging response from engine one; then he looks ahead to see the two collided enemy cruisers starting to pick up speed as the three cruiser fires shots at the oncoming ships. A blub goes off in Joker's head, and he call calls to engineering while speeding towards the ships, "Greg keep that eezo bleed going in fact increase the bleed off. I have an idea to kill five fighters with one shot!"

"Jeff! If that leak gets hits…"

"It won't trust me!" Joker replies while steering the ship towards the oncoming ships.

Greg exhales while typing into his control panel to increase the bleed off then says, "Alright Jeff, our lives are in your hand."

"Got it!" Jeff replies. He steers the Normandy into a flight path that weaves around the enemy fighters. The ship speeds up and flies up in front of the enemy fighters letting the eezo fluid spray over the ship. Once the fighter is covered in the blue-white fluid, Joker tracks down another fighter spraying is down. The fighters try to steer away from the fluid, but Joker is easily able to keep the ships squarely in the bleed off. The Normandy slings around battle space ejecting it's life blood onto the remaining enemy vessels. Soon all ten fighters are flying blinded by eezo. Joker calls, "Garrus, lock on to the eezo radiation!"

Garrus changes the target scanner and gets a lock onto ten fast moving eezo signals. "Here goes nothing!" Garrus exclaims as he hits the firing button. Ten missiles launch from the Normandy locked onto their targets. The enemy fighter pilots struggle to the clear their windows, but the missile alarms go off into their cockpits making them panic and perform radical flight maneuvers while blinded. Everyone on the Normandy hold their breath as they watch the missiles close in, and with a collective cheer, everyone rejoices as the missiles find and destroy their targets. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Great job Joker!" Garrus shouts as one by one the attacking fighters are blown up. Nine fighters are quickly destroyed, but tenth fighter seem to be putting up a strong fight to out fly the missile. Garrus watches the radar closely; then his heart jumps into his throat when he sees the direction fighter is moving in. "Joker we have a problem!"

Joker quickly responses with, "Yeah! I see it! Greg! Kill that eezo bleed!"

"I can't not without killing engine one!" Greg fires back.

"Joker! The fucker must have picked on what we were doing! He's trying to take us out with him!" Garrus adds.

"Yeah! I kinda noticed that!" Joker exclaims trying to get away from the pursuing fighter. Joker curses under his breath when he sees the fighter closing in. "Think Joker think!" He yells to himself looking from a way; then he looks ahead at the fleeing cruiser with a big smile on his face. "Greg! When I give the word kill the bleed!"

"But engine one…"

"It will be fine, I can deal with it! Just be ready," Joker orders as he steers the ship towards the cruiser.

"Joker, I hope you know what you are doing," Liara comments with a worried tone while looking at the incoming cruiser.

Joker smiles then says, "Don't worry Capt. I pulled the same trick when we were fighting Sovereign at the Citadel!"

Liara grips on her chair, "Yes, but I was fighting on the ground with Nico against Saren while you were doing that!"

"Then you better closer your eyes Capt.!" Joker exclaims while rotating the ship to be upside down to the cruiser. Joker sterns ship extremely close to the enemy ship's hull. EDI warns Joker about how close he is getting the ship's kinetic barrier. Joker ignores her warning and gets so close that both barriers are reacting to get other while sailing down the topside. He checks the rear view to see the fighter and missile still coming in, and the eezo pouring onto the ship's hull. Jokers keeps pace with the movement of the cruiser, and after the eezo spreads the bridge he orders, "Garrus, fires an aft missile! Greg, kill engine one!"

The men follow his orders at the same time while Joker pulls the ship away from the cruiser. The fired missile slams headlong into the fighter while the other missile and fire from the explosion ignite the sprayed eezo. The last view of the cruiser shows the whole topside hull on fire. EDI finishes the job by firing the main engines of her hacked ships and clashing them into each other. The resulting explosion allows everyone to breathe a sigh of relief; then Liara says, "Looks like we're clear. Joker takes us in."

"Roger Captain," Joker replies navigating the ship down through the atmosphere. EDI's scans show no ships or enemy contacts in their flight path. "Captain our LZ is clear."

"Good, take us in," Liara orders then says over the PA system, "All stations be ready for submersion." Joker positions the ship over the water then slowly lowers the ship into the water. It takes about ten minutes for the ship to reach the lake bed. Joker lets Liara know when his settles the ship and powers down the engines. Liara nods her approval then taps the PA system, "All senior officers' report to the war room."

Five minutes go by and all the officers are gathered in the war room. Liara starts things off by saying, "Good job everyone especially to you Joker. We got to Palaven in one piece. Greg give me a damage report."

The chief engineer looks at the Asari captain then walks up to the circle holographic display than tights and a couple of things on the consul making a 3-D image of the Normandy appear up. "Well, I'll start with the good news first. There's no reports or signs of leaking into the ship except for starboard observation where we got hit but kinetic barrier holding that steady. As for shields, the kinetic barriers are holding at 15%. Now for the bad news, first off the worst of the worst engine one is completely dead."

Ashley interjects by asking, "What do you mean by completely dead?"

Greg exhales while zooming in on that the damage engine and the connecting wing, "To put it simply, when Joker told me to cut the power to the engine to stop the Eezo bleed, we had to do a hard lockout. In other words that engine won't come back online until we can get into it and repair the damage to the fuel transfer pipe the ignition sequence power regulation bars so on and so on. Add to that, thanks to the Eezo bleed, we don't have enough to initialize FTL speed nor enough power to kick engine one in to gear. Plus, if I am guessing correctly and Tali can back me up on this, we don't have enough Eezo to actually produce enough power to get out of the atmosphere. Long story short were stuck here until you get a Eezo transfusion or something else happens. On the lighter side, we have power to the entire ship but that's it."

Liara rubs her chin thinking on what Greg has told her as James asks, "Can you repair it while we are on the retrieval mission?"

Greg shakes his head no and says, "I wouldn't recommend it. If any of that water got into the engine we don't know what type of adverse effect in my half after that barely be able to get maybe 2% of the work done for you guys came back. None the other hand, if everything works up nicely we should be up to get to a Turian shipyard if there any still intact or once the Alliance backup comes here they can help with our repairs."

Liara is the next one to speak by saying, "Alright short of it is people were stuck here, but we knew that was going to possibly happen on the way here. EDI is everything set up for the broadcast?"

"Yes Capt. I was able to get the buoy off before we enter the atmosphere and in a stable orbit. Once we have set up our relay at the broadcasting tower, we should be able to perform the broadcast without any trouble."

"Good," Liara says as she walks to the consul and brings up a map of the area. "We are on borrowed time right now, and we don't know the status of our team on the ground. EDI start scanning for the signal of our contact you know to look for. Ashley, James, and Steve prep the ships to move out within three hours. Joker keep a wide open scan of the area. Look for any ships that might be entering the area or that might be close to us. Greg and Tali do what you can to make any repairs try to get the kinetic barrier a little bit above and 50% if at all possible. Samantha, I need you to set up starboard observation room for the broadcast. Ground team members should be ready to leave within four hours. That is all dismissed."

Hey everyone thanks for leading this latest installment to Mass Effect Generations and please leave any comments so we know how we're doing.

Also please check Youtube for the first audiobook release of Neo Sonic Underground let us know what you think.

Coming Soon:

Chapter Ten:

Cast In the Name of the Spirits Ye…

Part Three: Final Judgement

Just remember comments are our Eezo and let's keep it flowing.