Jorge reviewed the mission in his head as he went through the process of removing and storing his armor.

The mission had failed. Jenkins was KIA, the Council SPECTRE Nihlus was KIA, possibly by a fellow SPECTRE, and the beacon, primary objective of the whole mission, was destroyed. The colony spaceport had been partially destroyed by the vessel takeoff. There were civilian casualties, in the high double digits at the very least. The enemy, the synthetic Geth, had deployed never-before-seen technology that was capable of turning humans into cybernetic slaves in minimal amounts of time. Their objective appeared to have been intelligence denial, as they had prepared to destroy the spaceport to prevent the beacon from falling into the Alliance's hands. They had then vanished without a trace, the Normandy was the only vessel in the area and had not pursued. Things looked grim.

On the Normandy, the Captain was debriefing the conscious ground team one at a time. Shepard was still unconscious in the medical bay, under the watchful eye of Doctor Chakwas.

He had just finished stowing the MJOLNIR armor in the chest at the foot of his bed when Alenko, in crew slacks, came around the corner of the Mako. The man looked tired.

"Captain wants to see you, Op Chief. He's in his cabin."

-{()}-

Anderson was silent as Jorge related the mission, from his point of view, to the Captain for his report. He did not interrupt, merely looked thoughtful and took down notes on a personal terminal. It was only at the end that he asked questions.

"So... Saren. Did you ever see any turian other than Nihlus?"

"No sir," Jorge replied. Seeing another turian at all would have been quite an event for Jorge.

"And the only proof we have is from the dockworker?"

"Maybe not, sir. The scientist, Manuel, mentioned another turian, before the attack, but he didn't name him."

"I know. I don't doubt he was there, but without any proof..."

"I have the audio logs from both Manuel and the dock worker, sir."

"Send them to me, I'll add them to the report, but without definitive proof I doubt the Council will even give him a hearing, much less a trial," Anderson said vehemently. His apparent anger gave way to a weary sigh.

"Well, I suppose it could have been much worse. What's your opinion on Williams?"

"Sir?"

"With Jenkins dead, we're short a man on the ground team. I've debriefed the Gunnery Chief already, and I was thinking that she'd be a good substitute. But I want to run it by the rest of the ground team first." Jorge thought for a moment. She had shown skill, situational awareness, and bravery when necessary. She was no different than many other marines that could be picked, except that she had fought by Jorge's side- and survived. If he had been in his home universe, fighting Covenant, she would have his highest respect for surviving that long. As it was, she still seemed like a fine substitute.

"She's a good soldier, sir. I have no objections."

"Good. We'll be arriving at the Citadel in fourteen hours, so take the time until then to get some food and rest up. Dismissed."

What a mission. Jorge hadn't failed many missions before. Even if the casualties were extreme, Spartans got the job done. But then, there wasn't much else that he could have done- sure, he could have forged ahead on his own, blown through the pitiful resistance that they had run up against, maybe shown up in time to save Nihlus and kill this Saren, and get to the beacon before they armed the bombs. Except, that wasn't his place. As with Noble, he was a part of a team, and also like Noble, he was not the commander of the team. He was talented in the art of war, but he was no leader. It was his job to be heavy support, the big man with the big gun. He had learned long ago, first with his fellow Spartan II's, then with Noble, that he was a much more effective as a part of a team than on his own. It was his job to follow, and Jorge believed he was the better for following Shepard's lead.

His feet took him to the medical bay. The smooth blue doors parted for him, revealing that he was not the only one concerned for the condition of his superior officer. Both Alenko and Williams were there, staring at the unconscious Shepard. Alenko in particular looked haggard and tired, but his eyes never left her sleeping form. They barely even looked up at him as he took up a position against the wall. The door opened again, admitting a silver-haired woman.

"The Commander is stable and in good health," Chakwas began, "which is more than I can say for you, Lieutenant. You need to eat something."

"But..."

"No, no buts, Lieutenant. You used a lot of energy today, you need to eat. And drink this, for your blood sugar. I don't want to see you passed out in the bed next to the Commander because you were too obstinate to take care of yourself. Go get something to eat," she shooed. Alenko reluctantly tore his eyes off of Shepard and headed towards the door. Chakwas smiled triumphantly before turning to Williams and Jorge.

"As for you two, I'd prefer it if you'd leave. Shepard isn't going anywhere. And I will be certain to alert all of you when she wakes up, but for now you should all get something to eat. Oh, and Williams, the Captain wants to see you in his cabin."

Satisfied that his superior was at least in stable condition, Jorge exited with Williams. Though he wasn't particularly hungry, eating something wouldn't be a bad thing. Alenko was already wearily getting packets of foodstuffs out from the cabinets behind the large mess table. Jorge joined the Lieutenant while Williams crossed the mess to the Captain's cabin. Neither talked while they prepared their respective meals, though Jorge did take note that the Lieutenant had grabbed a special freeze-dried meal that was larger than his.

A ding signaled that his meal was done. Grabbing the reheated, rehydrated meal, Jorge took a seat across from the Lieutenant, who was already digging in to his meal with ravenous hunger. And what a meal it looked like, it had to be twice the calorie count that Jorge's was. Footsteps caused his head to turn.

"The Captain asked me to serve on the Normandy," Williams said with excitement. "I said yes." Jorge noticed Alenko visibly flinch.

"Congratulations, welcome to the team," Jorge said with a smile before digging in to his own meal. Typical tasteless freeze-dried food, better than field rations but not by much. His eyes, however, were on the Lieutenant.

"Yea, congrats," Alenko replied in a slightly sour tone. Williams' face fell slightly. The man must have been more affected by Jenkins death than he had originally thought. That he was showing signs of taking it out on the Gunnery Chief was not good.

"You alright, Lieutenant?" Jorge asked slowly. His eyes watched Alenko's every move- he saw the stiffening, the expressionless mask come over the face.

"I'm fine," Alenko replied nonchalantly. He didn't meet Jorge's eyes, instead concentrating on picking at his food. Silence reigned as Jorge studied the man, eyes never wavering. Eventually, Alenko's gaze rose to meet his- a defiant stare that dared Jorge to do something.

"Jenkins was a good soldier. His death was not your fault," Jorge voiced quietly. The mask turned to anger in an instant.

"You didn't even know him," Alenko responded, voice cold with rage. "You didn't even stop to mourn him, not even for one instant, you heartless bastard. Hell, you didn't even stop to look at him after he was down, you just forged ahead like a damned machine. So I don't want to be hearing about what I should be feeling from you, got it, Operations Chief?"

"I've seen many soldiers die before, Lieutenant. I know how to handle loss. And I don't mean to talk badly of Jenkins. But Williams had nothing to do with his death, leave her out of it," Jorge replied quietly.

Alenko glared at him with undisguised fury before taking his remaining meal and heading towards the sleeping pods. Jorge didn't turn to look at him as he stomped away. Taking a seat next to him, Williams let out the breath she appeared to have been holding.

"You think the LT is going to be alright?" she asked quietly. Jorge went back to his meal.

"He'll be fine, he just needs some time," he replied amiably. Hopefully.

"I hope so," she echoed. It was another few bites of his meal before she spoke again.

"What did you do before this, that you saw soldiers die?"

The question caught him off guard. For a moment, memories of the Covenent flooded his mind. Of Noble team carrying out their orders- while the brave, unaugmented, unshielded Marines who accompanied them were slaughtered to a man. He banished that line of thought.

"Special Forces work," Jorge began. "High risk targets. Alliance wanted them done quietly and with minimal resources, so they'd send me in with a few other N soldiers. It was dangerous work, we didn't always come back with everyone. But we always got the job done."

Williams remained silent as he finished his meal. He thought it best to not disturb her thoughts as he disposed of the plastic container and headed towards the freight elevator.

-{()}-

Jorge was bored. Not unheard of, but it was rare for a Spartan to be bored. He had gone over the mission a thousand times in his head already, every last detail in his enhanced mind examined to evaluate what he had done wrong and what he could do better next time. He found little to improve on, mainly to keep a closer eye on the Lieutenant as it seemed the Lieutenant was not as far above standard Marine training as Jorge had previously thought. He idly flipped through the extranet before stumbling upon a turian video playing on a page.

Flick.

Jorge gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. The video was interrupted by a chiming note on his omni tool, closing the window before he could do anything else. It was the mission report to Alliance Command. Jorge headed towards the mess to read it, barely noticing the Gunnery Chief doing the same.

The garrison had suffered over 70% casualties, most had been protecting the dig site when the attack hit. Williams was so far the only survivor from the 212 th patrol that she was a part of. Civilian casualties numbered in the hundreds, saved only because the bulk of the main colony was settled well away from the dig site and spaceport. Enemies confirmed to be Geth. Unknown technology used to convert humans into cybernetic thralls. Nihlus dead, witness claims responsibility on one turian named 'Saren'. Unknown ship confirmed to have been present in atmosphere. No exit vector known. Beacon, destroyed.

"Damn," Jorge muttered to himself. Final proof of their failure, reported to Command and likely the Council from there. A simple pickup turned into a disaster.

"You said it," Williams agreed, drawing his attention. "And thanks for what you did earlier, the LT apologized a little while ago."

"Not a problem," Jorge replied. His thoughts were interrupted as both their omni-tools beeped. Checking the new message, he saw it was from Chakwas. The Commander is awake. Williams gave a sight of relief and made to get up, no doubt intending to go to the med bay.

"No," Jorge told Williams. "Let her get her bearings." She didn't like it, but she sat back down, this time facing the med bay doors. Anderson, however, went straight from his office to the med bay. Through the door Jorge caught a glimpse of Shepard sitting up. At least she seemed to be alright.

A few moments later the doors opened again, allowing Chakwas and Alenko to leave the room before closing again. Chakwas took up a leaning position by the doors while Alenko headed towards a station near the sleeping pods. His eyes refused to meet Jorge. Two minutes later, the door opened again, this time to reveal none other than the Commander. She looked none the worse whatever the beacon had done to her. Both Jorge and Williams rose to greet her. Jorge patiently waited for Williams to finish talking with Shepard before she came to him.

"Good to see you back on your feet, Commander," Jorge greeted. A warm smile came across her face.

"Thank you, Kadar. It's good to be back on my feet. I'm sorry, but I have to talk to Joker in the cockpit..."

"Ma'am."

Jorge watched Shepard walk confidently towards the stairs, disappearing into the stairwell. Content that the Commander was physically well, Jorge headed to the elevator so that he could prepare for arrival on the Citadel.

-{()}-

Alright, another short chapter. Well, I've found that my 3000 word resolution probably isn't going to hold, at least not for chapters in between major missions. I'm sorry, I just can't mercilessly pad out chapters, its just not my nature. On the other hand, mission chapters should be around the same length as the Eden Prime chapter, maybe longer. And I'm going to try to do the whole Citadel visit in one go, so expect a long chapter next- and that unfortunately means another long wait. I've set aside some time dedicated to writing, but with school I'm not certain how well that is going to hold. So I'm sorry to say it's probably going to be a while before I update again.

On the other hand, I've added a Q&A chapter, just after the foreward. If you have questions, post them in reviews or PM me and I'll add them to the Q&A section, so check it out.