Hey everyone! Happy Holidays! I really never know what to put in these little bits at the beginning. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and especially to those who have left reviews. I know, I say that all the time. I think I've even said I say that all the time before. I just want you all to know that I appreciate it. Anyways, Merry Christmas, and I hope you enjoy your present!


He picked up the beaker and swirled it around, frowning at the lack of reaction inside. "Da dum da dum hm hm hm hm." He marked down a note in his omnitool and moved back to his microscope, examining the specimen once more. If he had more resources and better equipment, he could have narrowed down the possibilities for a cure significantly and produced the various strains simultaneously, allowing this plague to be put to rest without too much effort. As it stood currently, with his dwindling medical supplies already stretched thin in an attempt to keep his patients alive and his relatively barbaric instruments and makeshift lab, the virus was presenting a much greater challenge. He would have to be smart in order to avoid wasting his precious medicines on failed attempts. Luckily for Omega, he liked challenges. And being smart.

"Da da dee dee da da da dum scientist salariaaaaan," he sang quietly to himself, his mind hard at work. Transmits independent of species. Humans immune. Why? If engineered with result to wipe out ward, why not kill them too? Not important, focus on cure. Can use human immunity, spread to others. But how? Piggyback off disease itself, neutralize plague and spread cure?

"Dr. Solus!"

Mordin looked up from his table, blinking several times as he stored his train of thought away for later analysis. "What?"

His assistant, Daniel, was breathing heavily and struggled to speak through a stutter caused by fear. "The…there are p-people…"

"People, yes, what people?"

"Blue Suns. They want our medicine. I locked the door, but they sounded like they were going to break it down. What do we do?"

Mordin's mouth twisted into a small smile. "Haven't properly introduced myself. Will do so now. Tend to Beth, will need another dose of pain reliever. Oh, Gorbesh likely dead by now, dispose of body while I'm gone. Will return shortly."

"Dispose of him?" Daniel said, revolted. "Where?"

Mordin inhaled sharply. "Anywhere. Doesn't matter. Not here, could cause panic in patients. Also unsanitary. Use back door, less eyes that way."

Daniel grimaced, but nodded. "Okay. What are you going to do?"

"Not to worry. Situation under control." Mordin tapped on his omnitool, and a few LOKI mechs fell into step behind him. "Didn't reprogram security mechs to look pretty."

He walked up to the door, where someone was banging incessantly on the outside. "Hello."

The knocking stopped. "Open the fucking door!"

Mordin surveyed the group with the security feed linked to his omnitool. "Do you require assistance? More than happy to help, please leave weapons behind and you will be treated."

"We're not leaving our guns, and we're getting what we came for. We need that medicine, and you're going to hand it over to us or we'll blow this piece of shit apart."

Mordin started typing away as he continued their conversation. "Wouldn't advise that. How will you get medicine? Better used when not blown apart."

"Wh…whatever. This is your last chance: if we have to break down this door, you're dead. All of you."

Mordin chuckled. "My last chance? No, was your last chance. Would have spared you if cooperative." He opened the door, watching impassively as the mechs mowed down the mercenaries. The Blue Suns tried to fire back, but all of their weapons were malfunctioning. After they were all down, Mordin walked up to each one of them and put a bullet in their head. "Can't be too careful."

He decided to leave their bodies as a warning to anyone else who thought the clinic might be an easy target. This crude but effective security measure should allow him to concentrate on more important tasks. After all, it wouldn't be too long before the plague symptoms started manifesting themselves in him. His hand absentmindedly rubbed the lump where his horn used to be. Maybe wouldn't be so bad.

Ridiculous. Who would save patients? Can have personal crisis later. Work to do.


The fire popped and sizzled in the middle of the street, beginning its decline to flameless coals and embers as its fuel source diminished. A charred hand broke off of the pile, crumbling into ash and bone as Shepard's group approached. Tali had made it a general rule to shut off her mask's olfactory functions in Omega, especially in an area with an active plague, but she was doubly glad to have done so based on her companions' expressions.

"Burning bodies in the streets. This is a goddamn mess." Zaeed held his head in a peculiar manner when he scanned the perimeter, no doubt due to his blind side. "Whoever did this is long gone. If this is where they're burning people, I doubt there's anyone left on this side of town."

A cough drew Tali's attention, and she saw a figure sitting against a wall in the distance. "There's at least one."

Shepard adjusted his grip on his rifle. "Let's see what he knows. Maybe he can point us towards Dr. Solus."

The batarian's eyes were blood-shot, and the skin underneath was baggy even for his race. He would produce a couple of weak coughs every few seconds, and a small trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. When he noticed his visitors, his face contorted into as much rage as he could muster, which wasn't very much. "Humans…come to gloat? Finish what you started?"

Shepard frowned. "What do you mean? We didn't start anything."

"Don't patronize me." The batarian coughed some more; the talking appeared to have irritated his lungs, as the wracking was stronger than before. "Scum. Killing us with a plague, then coming to steal from our corpses. You don't even have the decency to wait until we're dead." He was now coughing after every other word, and his eyes were bulging out of his head from the strain. "I hope you…burn in hell. You'll pay…you'll all pay…you…"

Shepard crouched next to the man. He feebly waved at the Commander. "Get…away…"

"Hold still." Shepard put some medigel on the batarian's throat, letting it seep beneath his skin. "There. It's not a cure, but it should ease the pain for a while."

The batarian rubbed his chest, and his breathing lost the crackly rasp it had before. "You helped me? Why?"

"Not all humans are monsters. Just like not all batarians are slavers and murderers," Shepard said evenly. "Maybe humans did start this plague, but we aren't them. Now, there is a clinic being run by Dr. Mordin Solus in here somewhere. Can you tell us where it is?"

The batarian slowly got to his feet, using the wall to push himself up. He considered Shepard for a while before nodding. "Yeah, I can. Just follow the road behind you for a couple of blocks. It'll be on the right with a bunch of dead Blue Suns outside, you can't miss it."

"Thanks. You know, you might want to go there yourself. It's a better shot than just sitting here waiting to die."

"Maybe. I'll think about it." The batarian watched them intently as they walked away and disappeared farther into the ward, his glittering eyes never blinking.

"We might need that medigel later on," Miranda said. "You shouldn't have wasted it on some bitter fool who will die in a few hours anyway."

"So showing kindness is a weakness?" Tali rounded on her. "He was in a great deal of pain. We couldn't have just left him there."

"Then we should have wasted a bullet instead of a dose of medigel, of which we have a very limited supply." Miranda crossed her arms as Tali glared at her. "I am not being needlessly cruel. Our mission is more important than the life of one civilian, and if one of us dies during this particular foray because we lacked a source of first aid, that makes our odds of succeeding against the Collectors that much worse."

"I see your point," Shepard interjected before Tali could continue. "I respect your opinion, but this is my mission. We do things my way, understood?"

"Of course, Commander. I assume I am allowed to voice my thoughts, however?"

"Somehow, I don't think withholding my permission would stop you from doing so anyway," Shepard said with a smirk. "Knock yourself out."

Based on Miranda and Zaeed's lack of reaction to Shepard's command for Miranda to render herself unconscious, Tali filed that away as yet another human phrase that made no sense. I really need to pull up a list of the most common ones and program my translator to recognize them.

Most of the buildings in Omega weren't in the best of shape, but this particular area had a pervasive feeling of disuse and disrepair. With no people filling the alleys, the trash and neglected houses were more noticeable, and the occasional corpse or mass burning didn't help lift the gloom.

It was a surprise when they encountered a group of people clustered around a small apartment complex. Their armor was clearly Blue Suns, and Shepard walked towards them casually. "Greetings and salutations," he started, but before he could proceed with the peaceful approach, Zaeed tossed an inferno grenade in the middle of the mercs, scattering them and setting a couple ablaze.

"What the fuck?!" Shepard cried out as he dove for cover. Tali saw movement in the corner of her eye and turned just in time to see a second group of people appear from around the side of the building.

"There's more behind us!" Tali hunkered down between a concrete barrier and a railing, bullets raining all around her.

"Heads up!" Miranda called out. Tali looked up and saw a couple of bodies floating above her, blasting them before they could get their bearings and shoot at her. The sparks flying around her lessened, and she chanced peeking over the side to locate the enemies. A batarian was crawling forward across the street from her, slowly advancing on Miranda's position. She wouldn't be able to see him until he was directly on top of her.

Tali quickly overloaded his shields and sent Chatika after him before ducking back down. She spent the next thirty seconds hacking into various mercs and messing with their electronics. Suddenly, she heard a thump next to her, and she looked to her left to see a surprised man crouching next to her. She tackled him before he could bring his rifle to bear, grappling with his weapon as she fell on top of him. The gun went off several times as the man's finger got trapped in the trigger guard, but he held on tightly as they rolled around in the small space. His knee connected with her abdomen several times in a row, and she almost released her hold before she managed to get her legs in the way. She tried to return the favor, but their limbs were too entangled to get much force in the enclosed space.

A solid metallic clang brought their attention to a small sphere that landed a few inches from their heads. Tali's blood ran cold when she saw the red light blinking on the side. Before the merc could react, Tali pulled him in an unexpected direction, dragging his body over the tiny bomb. His eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen, and he let go of the gun in an attempt to scramble away. Tali let go of the rifle as well, wrapping her arms around his and keeping him pinned on the grenade. He let out a short scream before a heavy force lifted them off the ground for a split second, and when they landed again, he had quit struggling. A large pool of blood oozed from under him, and Tali crawled off the corpse with a shudder. I think I just found my new least favorite way to kill someone.

She continued what she had been doing before, providing technical support until the bullets stopped whizzing over her head. She cautiously raised herself up, seeing Miranda and Shepard doing the same from their respective hiding places. Zaeed was standing in the middle of the original group of mercs, breathing heavily. The good half of his face was caked in blood, though it appeared to be someone else's. Shepard quickly came over to her, checking her over for injuries. "Are you alright? That's a lot of blood."

"I'm fine. Grenade got my friend here."

Shepard paled when he saw the merc. "If he hadn't been here to take that grenade…"

"But he was," Tali reassured him, but she could tell he was still on edge from her close shave. He looked up as Miranda walked over to them, a freshly applied bandage on her arm. "You good?"

"Yes, Shepard."

Shepard focused on Zaeed, who was still standing by himself in the middle of the battlefield, and his jaw locked as he strode over to the grizzled veteran. Uh oh.

"I hope you have a good explanation for the shit you just pulled," Shepard said heatedly.

"Yeah, I do." Zaeed nudged the chestplate on one of the bodies. "See that symbol? Blue Suns."

"So?"

"So, they would have opened fire the moment they noticed the four heavily armed jackasses walking right up to them. I know how they operate. I saved your life."

Shepard shook his head. "Just throwing a grenade without so much as a warning is not saving my life. I had a plan in place, if you had just followed my lead."

Zaeed tore off a piece of cloth from one of the downed foes and wiped his face. "Look, I was brought on to fight these Collectors and try to survive this goddamn suicide mission. I'm not going to let myself get killed on some random sideshow because you need to feel in charge, kid."

Shepard's eyes hardened. "That's Commander. Apparently you didn't hear me when I told Miranda this a few minutes ago. I don't need to feel like I'm in charge: I am in charge. If you've got a problem with that, I'm sure your payment can be rescinded."

Zaeed made to bring up his rifle, but Shepard had a pistol underneath his neck in the blink of an eye. "Unless you'd rather have a more violent conclusion right now." The tension grew as the two men stared silently at each other, neither one moving a muscle while Tali started to sweat. Miranda wore her normal indifferent air, but she had carefully moved herself into striking range of Zaeed. No doubt concerned about her investment; wouldn't want all that work wasted. Finally, Zaeed's lips pulled back in a poor caricature of a smile.

"I like my money very much where it is right now, thanks. You're the boss, Shepard."

Shepard holstered his gun, turning his back on Zaeed without a second glance. "Good. The clinic should be just up ahead. At the very least, there shouldn't be any more Blue Suns in the area, or they would have come running when they heard the shooting."

They traveled the rest of the way in silence. Tali and Miranda kept Zaeed within their sights for the duration, both ready to strike at a moment's notice. On the other hand, Zaeed and Shepard moved with an almost infuriating amount of nonchalance that put Tali even more on edge. Still, they reached the clinic without further incident.

There were quite a few bodies strewn about haphazardly around the entrance to the clinic. Hanging next to the door and directly above the carnage was a cheery sign that read 'All are welcome'.

Shepard stepped forward and knocked on the metal frame. Tali heard a whirring noise and saw a small camera spinning around and focusing on Shepard.

"What do you want?"

"We need to speak to Dr. Mordin Solus."

"You're human. You're immune to the plague. Go away, if you know what's good for you."

A strong cough burst its way out of Tali's lungs, bending her over from the force of it. Must be something stuck in my throat. She tried to clear her throat, but the tickle that appeared remained stubbornly in place. Shepard brought her forward into the camera's view.

"My friend here is really sick. We need to see him, please."

The voice sounded irritated. "Yes, fine, fine. Leave your weapons and don't try anything funny."

After they had all placed their obvious armaments aside, though Tali knew that each of them had their fair share of tricks they kept hidden, the door slid open, allowing them to enter. Shepard gave Tali a small wink. "Nice job."

Tali shook her head. "I didn't mean to do that, but that was quick thinking on your part." She started coughing again, and her ribs felt ached from the pressure. Once she finished, she noticed the tiny flecks of blood on the inside of her visor. Oh shit.

Shepard put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I…I think I have it. The plague."

"What?!" Shepard immediately went into panic mode, his words tripping over themselves. "I thought your suit filtered the air it received, how did something get through?"

Tali shook her head. "This virus must be engineered. They really covered all of their bases to make sure it could infect quarians, though." She brushed away his hands and smiled. "Hey. I'm not just going to drop dead. We're here to see the doctor anyway; let's go talk to him before we start worrying, okay?"

"Why aren't you worrying more?" he asked with a hint of frustration. "This is really serious. I can't believe I let you come in here."

Tali knocked into him as she started to walk past. "Let me come in here. Keelah. Anyway, I'm a quarian. We deal with disease and allergic reactions all the time. Besides, I survived flying through a mass relay with you in a Mako. This is not how I go out."

Zaeed blinked. "You did what?"

They moved through the small corridors full of sick and dying people lying on cots and mattresses. A salarian was standing in the middle of a conglomeration of vials, microscopes, and needles, muttering to himself as he messed with something on a table.

"Dr. Mordin Solus?" Shepard asked, taking in the doctor-like coat the salarian had equipped. His eyes snapped to them, blinking several times before he began to speak in one of the strangest cadences Tali had ever heard.

"Yes. Who are you? Human, well equipped, not Blue Suns, Blood Pack impossible. N7, Alliance designation, non-Alliance personnel accompanying. Alliance wouldn't send people to Omega. No point-"

Shepard held up a hand. "Good Lord, do you ever take a breath?"

Mordin inhaled deeply. "Yes."

Shepard couldn't help but smile at that. "I'm Commander Shepard. I was sent here to recruit you for a mission to stop the Collectors, but we actually have another problem-"

Mordin cut him off, pacing as he spouted out a string of sentences. "Collectors? Hm, may have similar goals. Plague artificial in origin, vorcha lack ability, humans lack motive. Plague suggests advanced technology, Collectors one of few species capable of producing it." He nodded to himself, kneeling down to retrieve something from underneath his workbench. "Who sent you?"

"Cerberus," Shepard responded. Miranda gave a small huff of annoyance. He looked at her. "He'd find out soon enough anyway. Now, about the other thing-"

"Cerberus? Pro-human splinter group, acquiring non-human aid, interesting. Must be desperate."

"Yes," Shepard said, growing impatient. "Entire human colonies are disappearing. Anyway-"

"Yes, have heard rumors. Hm. Cannot leave, however. Plague devastating, must stop it first. Already have cure, just need to spread through ward."

Shepard, who had been about to blow a gasket, had the tension visibly drain out of him. "You have a cure? Would it work on quarians?"

Mordin locked onto Tali, placing a hand under his chin as he studied her. "She is infected? Verifies hypothesis, certainly not a natural disease. Should work independent of species." He paused. "Natural immune system may be problematic." He started rummaging around in his pile of tools.

"What do you mean, problematic?" Tali asked.

"Accelerated time frame. Plague normally takes days to complete cycle. How long have you been exposed?"

"Less than an hour."

"Good." Mordin walked forward with a small tube and handed it to her. "Found vial, should link with induction port. Not the cleanest environment, may experience reaction. Doesn't matter, must take cure now."

Tali hesitated as she looked at the unsealed vile. "I feel fine. What's the rush? Can't we administer this back at the Normandy or something?"

Mordin smiled. "You won't. Take it, exposure minimum, reaction minor at most."

As he said that, Tali felt a wave of dizziness take over her, and she fell against Miranda as she lost her balance. It was gone just as quickly, but her muscles had been sapped of their energy, leaving her with a pervading sense of tiredness.

"Okay, you might have a point." She attached the tube and almost opened the seal to accept the medicine before she gave Mordin a sideways look. "You aren't just trying to kill me with this, right?"

Mordin chuckled. "Suspicious. Understandable. If I wanted you dead, simply refuse cure."

She nodded. "Alright." She took the cure, squashing down her survival instincts that were screaming at her for interacting with an unclean vial. She could see anxiety written on Shepard's face and grinned at him. "See, I'm feeling better already."

Or at least, that's what she tried to say. Instead, she fell to her knees and started heaving, keeping the contents of her stomach down through sheer force of will. Sweat broke out all over her body, and she started shivering uncontrollably. Shepard rounded on Mordin, picking him up off the ground by his collar. "What did you do to her?!"

"Cured her. Lengthy process, unpleasant, will take time. Will recover, not to worry. Would appreciate being put down."

Tali groaned as they brought her over to a small cot in the lab, curling up into a ball as pain wracked her body. Deciding that unconsciousness was a better alternative to this, she let the wave of darkness that had been threatening to envelop her lead her far away from the fire that was eating away at every nerve in her body.