The communicator pinged, and he glanced at it before taking a second look. Hackett, requesting secure communication. He opened the channel.
"Shepard? This is Admiral Hackett with Alliance Command. We've got a mission for you," said Hackett's voice. "An Alliance officer named Major Kyle has set up a small compound in the Hawking Eta cluster. He's attracted a number of biotic followers. He's become an outspoken critic of the Alliance, and we believe he's mentally unstable. This could be trouble, Shepard."
"I'll look into it?"
"Three days ago, we sent two Alliance representatives to meet with him at his compound. They have disappeared. We believe Kyle and his followers killed them." Hackett sighed. "That compound is a cult, Shepard. They call him 'Father Kyle' now. He's set himself up as some kind of religious leader."
He folded his arms. "You said his followers were biotics?"
"Yes. Major Kyle never showed any biotic tendencies himself, though. I think he's just latched onto a group he identifies with. Many biotics feel marginalised or ostracised by society. Kyle probably sees them as victims who need his protection. And they see him as someone who will fight for them. Unfortunately, he's convinced them the Alliance is somehow responsible for all of their problems. We can't let him go on like this."
"And what were those Alliance representatives going to talk to Major Kyle about?"
"They wanted to bring him back to an Alliance facility for treatment. Major Kyle served us faithfully for many years. We weren't going to abandon him. Given his state of mind, however, he probably saw them as a threat. We're almost certain he had his followers kill them."
"What else can you tell me about Major Kyle?"
"He used to be a model soldier. But something happened to him at Torfan. Too many Alliance soldiers died under his command. He couldn't cope with the guilt. His psych evaluation showed he couldn't handle the stress of command any more. He was given an honourable discharge and early retirement. We hoped he would get better in time, but we underestimated how far gone he was. Now it looks like it's too late."
"I might be able to end this without violence," said Shepard.
"Your soldier, he might listen to you. But he's already killed two representatives. I'll trust you to use your judgment. Hackett out."
They arrived at the facility, and Shepard climbed out and went to the entrance. The console beeped. "This is a private sanctuary. Outsiders are not welcome here."
"I need to talk to the man in charge. It's important." Shepard's stance was military rest.
"Father Kyle wants nothing more to do with the Alliance."
"I want to end this peacefully. If he doesn't see me, people could get hurt."
"We won't let you take Father Kyle away! He protects us. We need him!"
"The Alliance wants someone to pay for those murders. Let me speak to Major Kyle and maybe I can find some way to help you all get out of this alive."
"Wait…" Whoever was at the console paused for a moment. "Father Kyle will speak with you. Head to the building at the far end of the compound. He'll meet you there."
Major Kyle stood there wearing robes like some kind of priest. "I am Major Kyle. I know why you have come. We have no quarrel with you. Why can't you just leave us alone?"
"What happened to those other Alliance officers?" Shepard demanded. "The ones who came before me?"
"They wanted to take me away from here! They wanted me to abandon this place. Turn my back on my family. They spoke blasphemy!" Kyle punctuated his words with vaguely disjointed gestures. "I did what I could to make their end quick and painless. I had no other choice. It was necessary to protect my children. Only I can keep them safe."
Shepard sighed. "The Alliance sent me to bring you in, Major. Can't you see this has gotten out of hand? Don't you understand you're endangering your followers?"
"I respect that you have come under a banner of peace. But I cannot do as you ask. If you take away their father, my children will be helpless."
"You ordered your followers to kill Alliance investigators. You must face the consequences of your actions. Do you really want your children to suffer your sins, too?"
"No!" said Major Kyle shaking his head. "This… this is my fault. My children are innocent. Pure. Please… I never meant for this to happen. I'm… I'm sorry."
"You're doing the right thing Major," said Shepard calmly. "Your children will be better off for it. Come on."
"Wait. If my children see you taking me away, they won't understand. They will attack and you will be forced to kill them all. You show me the error of my ways, Commander. Now you must give me time to explain it to them. It is the only way they will understand."
Shepard thought about the situation, on one hand he didn't want to kill anyone, but the other they were dangerous and he couldn't guarantee that they would follow with Major Kyle's orders.
"Please, give me one hour," Major Kyle begged. "After that, I will meet with the Alliance authorities at the gate of my compound and surrender without violence. I give you my word."
Shepard could see the truth in his eyes and if they didn't follow orders the Alliance would annihilate them.
"I'm going to trust you," said Shepard. "If you betray that trust, you and your children will suffer."
"I will not betray you, Commander," Major Kyle promised. "Thank you for this."
An hour later Admiral Hackett contacted them.
"Admiral Hackett here, Commander. Your helmsman just forwarded your report on Major Kyle." Hackett looked back at him. "We sent in a team as you instructed. Kyle's followers have disbanded, and the Major surrendered to us without incident. Now we can make sure he gets the help he needs."
"That's good to hear, sir," said Shepard.
"To be honest Shepard, I thought this whole thing was going to end in a bloodbath," said Hackett honestly. "I don't know how you did it, but you save a lot of lives. Congratulations."
Shepard went down to talk to Wrex, who was modifying his shot gun.
"So why take to the mercenary life?" Shepard asked
"Lots of reasons." Wrex examined the selection of shotgun modifications.
"Such as?" Shepard pushed the box of ammo blocks over.
"Such as…" Wrex picked up a tungsten block and looked it over. "I need to get out of our system. I needed to eat. I needed to survive."
"Why not stay and help your people?" He began removing the damaged ablative coating from his armour.
"I tried to help. That's why I had to leave." Wrex gestured at the frictionless mod, and Shepard nodded permission.
"What happened?"
"I was betrayed." Wrex shrugged, and began taking his shotgun apart. "I was head of a small tribe. We were trying to restore order after the war, but the other tribes were against us. They followed Jarrod, one of the few warlords who survived the war with the turians. But he was old, and so were his ideas. He wanted to continue the war. He wanted us to fight: turians, salarians, each other. It didn't matter who as long as we were fighting."
He started applying the new coating. "What did you want?"
"I just wanted Jarrod to shut up. To stop his ranting. I wanted him to stop leading the tribes astray. But he couldn't understand how much things had changed." He was silent for a moment as he focused on a solder. "We didn't have the numbers to go to war. Even if we did, the genophage made sure we couldn't replenish our numbers fast enough. I told them all to forget about war. We needed to focus on breeding. At least for one generation. And for a while, we were getting through. Some of the tribes started coming around."
"I take it the warlord didn't appreciate that." He finished the chestplate.
"No. He didn't. He arranged a Crush with the tribes. A meeting on neutral ground. He wanted to talk. We met at the Hollows, near the graves of our ancestors. The skulls of our dead laid bare to remind us where we come from, and where we all go." He shrugged and started reassembling the shotgun. "It's as sacred as any krogan place can be. Violence is forbidden."
"Sounds like a trap to me. You must've expected as much." He finished the ablative coating, and started looking over the exoskeleton.
"I did. But when your father invites you to a Crush…" Wrex snapped the shotgun up and examined the modification. "Well, there are some laws even we hold sacred."
Shepard's eyes widen. "Jarrod was your father?"
"He was. Until that day." Wrex started in on the ammo block. "We talked. But we didn't get anywhere. When it was clear I wouldn't join him, he gave the signal. His men leapt from the graves of our ancestors like krogan undead! The few that were loyal to me died quickly. I escaped with my life. But not before I sank my dagger deep into my father's chest. That…" He examined his handiwork. "Is why I left. And that's why I'll never go back."
The memories on Mindoir rushed into his head. "You must have family other than your father. Did you miss them?"
Wrex smirked. "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" He shrugged. "I've got some unfinished business with my family. But that's all."
"What kind of business?"
He sighed. "Before I left, I made an oath to my father's father. I swore to recover my family's battle armour. It was taken from him after the uprising."
"What's so poor and about this armour?" Shepard asked.
"It's a relic; useless, really. But it was worn by five generations of my family before the war. It's rightfully mine. Originally, it was taken by the turian military. We weren't allowed armour or weapons after the war. Now, it's in the hands of Tonn Actus. A turian scum who collects relics from the war. He's made millions selling krogan artefacts that were stolen from my people. He's got several bases where he stores his goods. All fortified and guarded. I just don't know which base has my family's armour."
Shepard could see that this was important to Wrex. "Just tell me where to start looking."
"I'll upload the data to your nav system." Wrex nodded to him. "But, Commander, I want to be there when you find him."
As they began searching for Wrex's armour they discovered what had happened to Admiral Kahoku's team.
They had been lured it by a false distress signal got devoured by a thresher maw, they barely escaped themselves. Shepard then began to wonder if this had happened to Corporal Toombs' squad and if so Cerberus may have been involved.
They also discovered that the Majesty and everyone aboard it had been killed by privateers. Shepard knew that the Captain's brother was hoping for good news, but he knew he had to tell them what had happened.
They eventually managed to track down Wrex's armour.
"Now this is the place. My armour is here somewhere."
"Then let's start looking," said Shepard.
Wrex took a deep breath, and flared his biotics, throwing a half dozen crates into the smugglers that had just charged into the room. They went down like bowling pins, and he took out his shotgun almost casually. Then started giving Tali a brief lecture on reloading in combat conditions, while demonstrating.
They then began looking through the crates until Wrex found some ancient krogan armour that had seen better days.
"This is it," he said holding it out. "I can't believe my ancestors ever wore this piece of crap, but at least I've got it back."
"I'm glad we could help you get it back," said Shepard.
Wrex smirked. "I might just be starting to like you, Shepard."
They continued wondering through space and actually managed to come across a group of ExoGeni personnel who had been overrun by Thorain creepers. They soon discover that them destroying the Thorain had caused the creepers to go out of control.
The lead scientist tried to bribe him, but Shepard wouldn't accept that. She ordered the security guards to attack, but they weren't a match were trained Alliance soldiers and so they ended up killing everyone.
He made his way to the bridge made his way over to Joker. "What's the problem Joker?"
"We're just passing Terra Nova, but…" Joker looked up at Shepard. "I don't know how to tell you this Commander, but an asteroid is heading straight towards it and it has rocket engines attached to it."
Shepard's eyes widened. "When will it make contact with the planet?"
"The computer estimates about four hours," said Joker. "Not enough time to evacuate the planet." Joker then paused. "Hang on, I'm getting something on the emergency channel. Passionate through."
"Hello? Hello?" said a female voice. "I heard your transmission. Can you hear me? They haven't found me yet, but I can't talk long… Please. Shutdown the fusion torches or we're all going to die. God, I hope you're hearing this."
Then it went dead.
"It's gone dead, Commander," said Joker.
"Drop us off on the asteroid then head towards the planet and warn them of the impact, we may be able to save a few thousand if we fail," said Shepard.
"Aye, aye, sir," said Joker.
They soon landed on the asteroid on the mako and then drove to the nearest torch and suddenly the defences began to fire on them. Fortunately the mako's cannon was strong enough to tear them down.
"What's going on here, Commander?" Ashley frowned.
"I don't know," said Shepard. "But we need to shut those torches down or else millions of people are going to die."
"Right behind you, Shepard," said Garrus.
They entered into one of the torches and found the cause of the problem a group of batarians with a pack of varren.
"Batarians," Shepard snarled.
"Harak. Chetk! Chekt!" one of the batarians yelled.
The varren then ran towards them, but they were shot down by Wrex and Tali with their shot guns. Liara and Kaidan then use the biotics to lift the batarians up before they could run for cover and the rest of them shot them down.
"What are batarians doing here?" Ashley stared horrified.
"No idea," said Shepard.
He noticed that his companions were staring at him funny, because the all knew about his history with batarians.
"We can figure out why they're here later, but right now we need to shut down that torch," said Shepard.
They soon rushed to the control room and managed to hack it to deactivate the torch. Then their mysterious contact contacted them on the radio.
"'m reading that the torch is offline," she said. "Was that you? Can you hear me?"
"Who are you? What's going on?" Shepard asked.
"My name is Kate Bowman," said the woman. "I'm an engineer. I was part of the team assisted to bring the asteroid to Terra Nova. We were attacked yesterday by batarian extremists. I've been hiding since they arrived. I think they know the torch went out."
"Why are they doing this?"
"I don't know. But if this asteroid isn't slowed, millions of people on Terra Nova are going to die," said Kate fearfully. "If I find out anything I'll—I've got to go. Good luck."
They made their way back outside and they found an old man standing there.
"Hey," said Shepard.
The man quickly turned and fired his pistol at Shepard, realising too late that he was human. Fortunately, Shepard shields protected him.
"Oh, God!" he gasped. "I didn't mean to… are you hurt?"
"Takes more than that one shot to bring me down," Shepard assured.
"Sorry," he said apologetically. "I didn't realise you are human until… well. Guess I'm not much of a soldier."
"I know you're scared. But I'm here to help. Commander Shepard with the Alliance."
"Simon. Simon Atwell," Simon nodded. "I'm the chief engineer on this rock. Listen—we don't have much time. The batarians fired at the fusion torches. You've got to shut them down before we hit Terra Nova! There are four million people down there, Shepard. I—my family. They live in Aronas. My kids and grandkids. Nice community. Good schools…"
Shepard held out his hand. "I don't have time to do the math in my head. What happens if we don't stop this rock?"
"X57 is 22 kilometres long. Twice the size of the asteroid that wiped out the Earth's dinosaurs. It would be like millions of fusion bomb striking at once. Millions. The heat of the blast… a thousand kilometres away, clothes will ignite. There'll be global wildfire. Air shock will flatten everything for hundreds of kilometres. Terra Nova will die, Shepard. Not just our colony—the planet. There'll be a climate shift. Mass extinction. The ecosystem won't recover for thousands of years. Millions, maybe."
Shepard knew that Batarians were mostly slaves and pirates, but even they wouldn't destroy an entire planet. "This doesn't make any sense," he said shaking his head. "Batarians run criminal gangs. Unethical, but profitable. They don't destroy worlds. What does this gain them?"
Simon shrugged. "I've heard all the stories. Slave rings ranching people like animals. Pirate bands burning colonies to the ground. But this is… The Citadel Conventions forbid asteroid drops. I never thought the batarians would go this far."
Shepard shook his head. "Most batarians aren't genocide madmen. But these ones are terrorists."
Simon nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's just—this isn't how I expected the world to be when I rolled out of bed this morning."
"Batarians everywhere, and I need to shut down all three torches. Anything else I should know?"
"One of the torches is surrounded by blasting caps. We were set up to excavate when we arrived at Terra Nova. I rigged them with proximity detectors. That tank of yours will set them off, so you'll have to go on foot. Even then, they'll exploded if you get too close. Just go slow and easy and you should be fine."
"You set them up. Can you disable them?"
Simon shook his head. "Not from here, no. There are manual controls by the entrance to the torch facility, inside the blast zone. You can disarm the caps there. One last thing: I had a crew working off-side when he attacked hit. I'm worried about them. These batarians are ruthless. I saw them smash the faceplate of guys working vacuum. And those there varren… I don't think they always wait for corpses before feeding."
"I'll look for them. But the torches have to be my priority."
Simon nodded. "Yes, you're right. Saving Terra Nova's more important than my team. There were a bunch of engineers over by the main facility, but they're probably all dead. That, or being held hostage by the batarians."
"A woman named Kate Bowman contacted me," said Shepard. "The batarians haven't found her yet."
Simon looked up. "Katie's alive? She's one of my best engineers. Sign on with her brother. Aaron, I think his name is. He's part of the security detail. I hope they're okay."
"You better find a good place to hide," Shepard advised. "If the batarians come back and find you…"
Simon nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll make myself scarce. Good luck, Shepard."
They found Simon's team all right, but unfortunately there were all dead. From what they could use the batarians shot them, burnt them to death and allow the vacuum of space to suffocate them.
Making their way to the second facility was much harder than the first, they were able to take out the turrets all right, but the blasting caps beneath the service prove tricky.
"Stay behind me and follow my steps," said Shepard to the others.
They managed to get across them and began shooting the batarians guarding the facility and then disarmed the blasting caps.
When they entered into the facility they had to fight their way towards the controls, but they were no match under their firepower and managed to disarm the second torch.
"Are you there?" Kate asked over the radio. "You've got to hurry. You've really pissed them off. Their leader's setting charges everywhere. I think he's gonna blow the whole facility."
"Get away from there," said batarian voice.
"Don't shoot. Please," Kate cried.
Kate was now facing down an entire squad of batarians who had her and her brother at gunpoint. Their leader then approach them with fury in his eyes and force her brother onto his knees.
"Who shutting down the torches?" he demanded pointing his pistol at her brother's head.
Kate could only watch helplessly instead into a brother's eyes. The look he gave her told and not to tell this terrorist anything.
"I won't ask you again," he said.
Kate couldn't bear to watch and turned her back away and heard a gunshot. He then turned to one of the batarians.
"Find the problem and deal with it!" he said. He then looked to the others. "Get her out of here."
"Shepard?" said Ashley looking at him.
"We have to shut down that third torch or else more will die," said Shepard.
"But it sounds as if the gonna blow the main facility," said Garrus.
"We've only got two and a half hours before this asteroid hits the planet," said Shepard. "And there's no telling what defences will be facing once we reach the third torch."
"Let's hope we get there in time," said Kaidan.
They soon reached the third facility and clearly they got there before they got the defences up, because they were dealing with this much more small resistance than Shepard had assumed.
They got inside and began making their way through towards the torch controls shooting any batarian that got in their way. Wrex just charge in there head first knocking them aside as if they were ragdolls.
Laira actually tossed them around like a ragdolls thanks to a biotics and actually mow down anything that got in her way. Kaidan and Garrus covered Shepard and Tali as they made their way to the controls.
"Now we can deal with the batarians," said Shepard.
As they made their way down they found a welcoming committee, a bunch of batarians aiming their rifles at them.
"Don't come any closer," said the squad leader. "We can do this the hard way… or we can end this peacefully."
"I didn't think you batarians knew the meaning of the word," Shepard glared.
"Look, I'm just doing my job here. Hijacking this rock wasn't my idea. I signed on to make a little profit. A quick slave grab. Nothing more."
"This isn't just some slave grab anymore," Shepard glared. "Millions of people are going to die."
"Don't you think I know that? I'm just following orders here. If it were up to me, we'd have already left."
"Well, it's not too late," Shepard pointed out. "You can still leave."
The batarian shook his head. "I don't think so. Balak would skin me alive and sell my hide of spite." He shook his head. "Crazy bastard. The whole mission's gone to hell and I'm gonna pay for it."
"You keep listening to this Balak and you'll end up dead."
The batarian shrugged. "Maybe. I had a bad feeling from the moment we landed. Now Balak wants you dead. And what Balak once, Balak gets. I can't change that."
"But I can!" said Shepard pulling out his pistol.
"Dammit!"
Shepard then shot him and soon they had a firefight, but it didn't last long because they had better armour and shields and they actually aimed. Plus they had a few biotics on their side which sent them flying.
They found the card on the squad leader but allow them to access the main facility.
"Now let's take care of this Balak," said Shepard.
"The place will be very well defended," said Garrus.
"We have to rescue those hostages," said Shepard.
Main facility was indeed heavily defended, but nothing they have dealt before and they manage to break through its defences and entered into the underground facility.
The batarians then came out shooting, but they proved no match for them might. Shepard led them as he, Ashley, Wrex and Garrus took the front while the others took the rear. Eventually they managed to fight their way into the hub.
"You humans," said a voice. Shepard turned and found, who he assumed to be the Balak glaring down at him. "You're almost more trouble than you're worth."
"I'm just getting started," Shepard glared.
"Predictable. But this is over." He then looked down at Shepard with hatred in his eyes. "I'm leaving the asteroid. If you try to stop me, I'll detonate those charges and your help and her friends are all going to die."
"You don't get to leave, Balak. Not after what you've done."
"What I've done?" Balak glared. "This is nothing compared to what's been done to the batarians. We've been forced into exile. Forced to survive on what we can scrounge up. It's been like that for decades."
"Why take it out on these people? They didn't do anything to you or the batarians."
"Didn't do anything?" Balak glared. "Aside from colonising the world that could have been ours? Aside from using resources that could have been ours? We were left to defend ourselves. But the humans were stronger than us. We knew that. The Council knew that. But it didn't matter. It was you. You and your kind are the only reason we're in this position."
"How does killing innocent people make up for that?"
"We had no options. Sometimes you need someone's attention before they'll listen. That's why we attack you one Elysium. That's why I'm doing this. You forced our hand!"
"You attacked us first," Shepard reminded. "When we retaliated, you ran off to the Council hoping for help. When you didn't get it, you hid. You've got no one to blame but yourselves."
"Enough!" Balak roared. "You couldn't possibly understand… Actually, you just don't want to understand. And I'm done wasting my breath." He then held out a trigger at his thumb hovered above it. "Now, if you want your friends to live, I suggest you step aside."
As much as Shepard wanted to kill him, he could endanger the hostages. "You can go. But this isn't over. I'll find you eventually."
"Maybe," Balak shrugged. "But I made sure you won't follow me today. Those charges are still on a timer. But I have if you want to save your friends."
Balak then walked up and Shepard and the others began the hunt for the bombs. Unfortunately, few of Balak's men remain behind and he had the security drones reprogrammed to shoot at them. Shepard and Kaidan rushed all over the facility as the others protected them as they disarmed the charges.
Shepard had just disarmed the last charges when Simon approached.
"He left? Is that—is that all right?" he frowned.
"Letting him go is better than the alternative," said Shepard. "I thought you were going to say someplace safe?"
"I—There might have been something I could have done to help," said Simon. "I thought I should be here. I know the asteroid better than anyone."
He then looked at Shepard with a grateful look and relief. "You did it. Another hour and our course would have been irreversible. I ran the numbers, Shepard. X57 would have struck the capital city. The most densely populated region. But that's not going to happen, thanks to you."
They then made their way over to where the hostages were being kept. "Is Katie in here? Is she all right? Is her team?"
"Balak was holding them hostage," said Shepard. "I let him go to save them."
"That a terrorist go, or sacrifices innocent lives," said Simon shaking his head. "I-I'm glad that's not a choice I had to make." He then looked at Shepard with concern. "Is that—will you get in trouble for that? I mean, he could do the same thing somewhere else. Couldn't he?"
Truth was Shepard wasn't entirely sure. "Yeah, he could. Balak seemed like a practical man. Practical, but callous. I'm sure he'd been in my position, Miss Bowman would be dead now, along with all the terrorists. But I'm not going to sacrifice people who happen to be between me and my target."
"So what happens now? The bad guys get away?"
"Balak getaway today. But we'll still be after him tomorrow, and the day after that. Me, my crew, and every other crew in the Alliance. He'll run and he'll hide. But eventually he'll slip up, and we'll get him. Bag eyes never get away, Simon. Not unless the good guys give up."
Simon just smiled. "Well. I wouldn't want you after me." He closes eyes and looked back at Shepard. "Shepard? Thank you. For my grandchildren's lives. I don't think I'll stick around, though. Not with the team gone. Too many ghosts. It's time for me to get back and spend some time with my family."
He then approached a cabinet and opened it up and inside were various items. "But, before I go… I'd like to offer you something… maybe you'll have more usefully than I will. As lead engineer, I get some quality items. Take your pick, you've earned it."
Shepard's eyes fell upon a set of quarian armour. "You have quarian armour? That's hard to come by."
"We had a few to install the torches," said Simon as he handed Shepard the quarian armour. "They really knew their stuff. You're welcome to take it."
Shepard looked at Simon. "One more thing. You asked me to look for your missing engineers."
Simon looked up. "Have you found them?"
"Yes, all of them," said Shepard sadly. "Their bodies, anyway."
Simon looked crestfallen. "Oh. I—I see. Well, then. I guess it's better than not knowing."
"Take care of yourself."
"Be well, Shepard. We owe you."
Shepard then approached the hostages and found that Kaidan was all the attending to their wounds. Shepard approached the young woman, who he assumed to be Kate Bowman.
"I can't believe you let Balak go… to save us," she stared. "I have expected you to just let us die. Sacrifice the few for the many."
"Then I'd be no better than the batarians," said Shepard kneeling down towards. "Besides, Balak won't get away with this. I know who he is now. He can't run forever."
She smiled as she looked up at Shepard as tears ran down her cheek. "You sound like my brother. He was always stubborn. But always willing to do the right thing… no matter what."
Shepard assumed that he was the one that Balak shot over the radio and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I wish I could have saved him, too."
"It's not your fault. You did what you could," said Kate as he brushed away the tears. "At least Aaron died in the place he loved. He was the one who convinced me to join the team here. Said it would be an adventure."
Shepard could tell that she was trying to hold back tears, but she ended up failing. "I—I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I should see to Aaron."
Shepard nodded, all too well. "I understand. You're not the only one who'd lost a loved one to batarians. I was on Mindor."
Kate looked at him. "I'm so sorry—huh. I don't even know your name."
"Shepard. Commander Shepard."
"Thank you, Commander Shepard. You're not exactly what I expected, but thank you."
Shepard placed a hand on her shoulder. "There was a brave thing you did, Kate. Contacting me on the radio, risking your life."
"'Stubborn and determination' runs in the family," Kate shrugged. "My father was in the Alliance, back on Earth. I think he was disappointed that none of his kids signed up, but he'd be proud of Aaron." She then wiped away the tears on her face. "Sorry… I'm just…"
"You've been through a lot. I'll get out of your way," said Shepard. "So long, Kate."
"I appreciate that, Commander. Goodbye."
Once they returned to the Normandy, Shepard sent a report to Hackett and he in turn contacted him.
"Commander, I read your report on the situation on Terra Nova, you just saved millions of lives," said Hackett.
"Just doing my job, sir," said Shepard. "I would also like to personally recommend Kate Bowman for an award."
"Yes, I think she deserves," Hackett nodded. "Now about this Balak, you let him go to save the hostages?"
"Sir, I know that he is a menace, but I don't regret my choice," said Shepard.
"I understand, I can't save Alliance Command agrees, but I understand," said Hackett. "We'll inform the Council of this dilemma and will strengthen security on any similar projects to make sure this doesn't happen again."
"Sir, I'll personally hunting down once I bring Saren to justice," Shepard assured.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Commander," said Hackett. "Hackett out."