One more fucking rock, I swear to God.

Shepard was beginning to understand his crew's dislike for his driving skills. The way the corporal drove, it reminded him of all the times Ash begged him to let her drive.

"Do you even have a driver's license?"

"A what?"

The marine floored it as their Mako sped over a hill. They launched forward, pivoted, and spun in an arc, landing with the rear of the vehicle facing the direction they were headed. Shepard braced himself on the wall and the seat next to him, smacking his fist off Ashley's helmet. He imagined she'd be pissed if she wasn't holding onto his chest plate for dear life.

"Just between us, Commander, but I actually think he drives worse than you do," she said quietly over their radio.

Before Shepard could respond, one of the other marines spoke up. He was in the passenger seat, fully armed and armored, and had a cocky grin on his face all the time. There was a rifle across his lap, but Shepard would be damned if he'd ever seen its equal. "How's it going back there, Commander?"

"Fine," he replied, not taking the time to process the awkward position the lieutenant was catching him and Ash in.

"And you?" he asked, looking to Ashley.

"Fuck this, I'd rather walk." She paused and watched as something passed over her expression. "Sir." After moving his hand off her head, Shepard patted her shoulder comfortingly, but Ash swatted him away, much to the lieutenant's amusement.

"Don't defer to ranks," he said casually, waving it aside. "Besides, I checked out your file after Commander Alenko told us who we were dealing with. You're a higher rank than me anyway."

"I am...was a Gunnery Chief," she said, confused.

"Yeah, then after you died, you got promoted. Like...a lot," he said, making a gesture with his hands. "Promoted to Operations Chief for Eden Prime. Promoted to Second Lieutenant based off your associate's degree and your actions on Virmire. Promoted to First Lieutenant at Councillor Anderson's request. Something about helping your family pay for various things."

"I never got a degree from anything."

He shrugged. "I don't know, then. As far as I'm concerned, you deserved it. You deserved promotions too, Commander, but..."

"I'm a Spectre. I don't need any more promotions."

The Mako was jerked to the side as the corporal swerved past a boulder. Shepard's head banged off Ashley's, and he was suddenly glad they both had their helmets on. He heard her visor snap shut as they collided, including the surprised yelp that escaped her lips.

After they recovered, Ash shoved him off her, slapping the button to remove the visor. "Stop touching me, Shepard."

"Can't help it," he replied, groaning as his head bounced off the wall. "Gotta...make up for lost time."

She choked, caught between laughing and being disgusted, and the way she hid her face while she laughed made it all the better. The lieutenant was gaping at them, eyes wide and mouth agape, but Shepard was busy trying to process what just left his mouth.

"Well..." Ashley eventually straightened, taking off her helmet to wipe tears from her eyes, and said, "It's not against regs now."

"This is getting worse by the second," Shepard countered.

"Hey, you started it."

"Technically—"

He was cut off by the crackle of the Mako's comm. "M-35, this is command. Do you copy? I repeat, do you copy?"

"We hear you," the lieutenant said, flipping a switch on the panel in front of the driver.

Something's wrong, Shepard thought.

"We have contacts attacking the colony. There are husks and some form of...insects. I—"

"Kaidan, it's Shepard." He had unbuckled himself and climbed to the front of the vehicle while he was speaking. "We're about five clicks away. What's your status?"

"Commander? God, this has gone to hell fast, sir. A ship landed a short while after Stavs and Traken left, and ever since, we've been fighting for our lives. Most of the colonists are gone, but a few of us are holed up in the—"

It fizzled out and he could see the panic flash on the lieutenant's face as he scrambled to pick the signal back up. Behind him, he could hear Ashley getting her weapons, and he decided it would be a good idea if he did the same. He squeezed past her towards the weapons locker, pulling his shotgun and assault rifle from their brackets. His handgun was already clipped to his hip, but he checked for it anyway, and grabbed extra thermal clips before sitting back down beside her.

"Dammit!" the lieutenant exclaimed, hitting his hand off the wall. "I can't raise them."

"You know how to use that gun, lieutenant?"

"Sir?"

"There's an enemy ship on-site and hostiles are attacking the colonists," Shepard said, checking his shotgun. "The Illusive Man believes it could be the Collectors. They're the ones behind the disappearing colonies."

"That's the best guess."

"Whoever it is, we're going to be fighting," Shepard continued. "Ash, when we get out, raise the Normandy and tell Joker we have a situation." She nodded. "Take point while we move through the colony. Anything that isn't human, blow it to dust. I'll be right behind you. Lieutenant, you take the corporal and cover our flanks."

"I don't know, sir. The colony is pretty straightforward. Is it really necessary?"

"Husks are surprisingly smart," Ashley said as she pulled her helmet back on, locking the visor shut. "Or they're just extremely lucky. They show up even when you've cleared your corners."

"I...yes, ma'am," he said slowly.

Shepard frowned as he hit the lock for his own visor. The officer looked...apprehensive about something. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that I'm a sniper, sir," he said. "I've never been in open combat. I stick to support roles."

Shepard opened his mouth to reply, but Ashley interrupted him. "You're a marine. You go where the Alliance needs you to go and do what the Alliance needs you to do. And you do it without arguing because that's what you're paid for." The lieutenant gulped, but nodded, turning back around in his seat. She might've been right, but that wasn't the way Shepard would've put it. As a matter of fact, it didn't sound like something Ashley would've said either.

He nudged her with his elbow and whispered, "That was a little harsh."

"It needed to be said."

"Are you all right?"

Ashley started to say something when the corporal swerved. The Mako wasn't made for such jerky movements; he swerved again and Shepard felt the ground shake under an explosion. There was a third swerve, accompanied by another bang outside the vehicle, and then another, much closer, right in front of the driver's small window. Across from him, a deafening pop collided with the wall and threw them backwards. They hit something, flipped over it, and landed upside down. He was lying on his back on what was now the floor, along with the corporal and the lieutenant. Ashley was trying to pull herself free of the harness holding her to her seat.

"Where'd it come from?" he growled out, hand clamping down over his shotgun. Shepard pulled it closer as he coughed, wiping a streak of blood from his eye. Minor, split skin right at his hairline.

"Don't know, Commander," the lieutenant replied. He sounded as pained and stuck as Shepard felt.

Ashley landed with a thud, groaning, just as another shot hit the Mako. It tore straight through the armor, cutting it like glass, as the yellow beam of God knows what shot right back out the other side. Gunfire peppered the weak point, small and barely noticeable, bouncing harmlessly off the intact areas of the Mako's plating.

Shepard swapped out his shotgun for his rifle, maneuvering past Ashley to the hole allowing light through. He smacked the butt of his rifle off the edge, making it just wide enough for him to see and shoot out of, and braced himself for the coming fight. Behind him, Ashley and the lieutenant were arguing over the corporal (who had apparently been killed in the crash) instead of working on getting them out of the damn truck.

"Ash!" He sighted on one of the brown forms weaving between the rocks, pulled the trigger. Its head exploded in a fountain of clearish-green fluid.

"Commander?"

"Get us the hell out of here!"

"Yes sir!"

Shepard took down another of the insect-like things, the Collectors, while she climbed onto the roof. He glanced back to make sure she was following the same idea he was; holding herself up by the seats, braced by a foot, and kicking out the hatch. Whatever the lieutenant was doing, it wasn't helping much, mostly just shouts into the radio about a man down. Between the incessant banging of Ashley's kicking, the continuous firing of guns, and the lieutenant's panicked shouting, Shepard started to wonder why he signed up for this shit. He could've gotten off his mom's posting whenever he wanted, but instead, he took an oath, and he was damn well going to live up to it.

He ducked as the metal was pelted with more rounds, but when he straightened to return fire, he saw one of those yellow lasers coming right back at them. This time, it was aimed for his position, which also afforded a clear shot at Ashley. Completely oblivious, focused on getting the Mako open.

Shepard lunged, locking an arm around her waist and yanking her down not a moment too soon. The beam shot straight through the torn hull and hit the hatch, blasting a smoking hole the size of his fist through the metal. Ashley shoved him off as soon as it was clear and got right back at it, fortunately managing to pop it out with only a few more hits. She dropped back into the Mako and went to the back, rooting through the weapons locker for whatever, and Shepard took his opportunity to get the lieutenant moving. His hand locked around the light suit he wore, dragged him from the radio, and threw him into the body of the vehicle.

"Climb!" he ordered, pointing at the exit. That seemed to snap the man back into reality and he did as told, hauling himself and his rifle from the now smoking Mako, and dropping off to the side opposite of the Collectors. "Ash, let's go!"

She was stuffing something into a field bag, but he didn't get sight of what it was. "Get out of here! I'm right behind you!"

He didn't hesitate to put his assault rifle on his shoulders and get through the hatch. He didn't wait to help her out either, even if he wanted to. Shepard leapt to the dirt beside the lieutenant, resorting back to his shotgun, as the man loaded a thermal clip into his rifle. A moment later, Ashley dropped to the ground between them, holding something that looked dangerously similar to a live grenade. It was out of her hand before Shepard could ask, whipped over the top of the Mako. The Collectors paused their shooting for a brief second, but that was all they needed to hear the grenade go off. It crackled, letting off a brighter than usual light, and Shepard frowned.

"The fuck was that?"

"Inferno grenade," Ashley panted. He could hear the grin in her voice. "Cerberus tech. Found it the other day in the armory."

"You don't just stumble across tech like that."

"Maybe I helped come up with it," she said, shrugging as she pulled another from her bag. "Maybe I didn't. Either way, they're dangerous, and you don't want to be caught in the crossfire."

"Thanks for the tip," Shepard replied, shrugging off his rifle. The lieutenant was still watching around the front of the truck, which gave him a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What is it?"

"Uh...sir? That ship, it's...massive."

He and Ashley exchanged glances before jogging around to see what he was talking about. As soon as Shepard's eyes landed on the vessel, his jaw nearly unhinged. "Oh. My. God." He was in awe, sure, but a disgusted version of it. Seeing something so huge...it reminded him of the Reapers.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Shepard?"

"Reapers?"

"Yep," she answered.

"We better get to that colony, fast."

She nodded as the lieutenant stood to join them. "Scuttlebutt's gonna need some help with that thing."

Shepard turned back to the Collector ship, eyebrows furrowed. Something about that ship stirred a primal hate in his chest; he couldn't explain it, but finally seeing the Collectors, finally seeing the enemy they were fighting, it put everything into perspective for him. Now there was an enemy. Now they had someone to fight. Now he had someone to blame for the missing humans.

Then he saw Ashley standing beside him, that same grim determination she had marching into Virmire. No fear, no hesitation, and he remembered why he was able to make that call. Because the mission always came first, because their lives were second to the fate of the galaxy. They signed up for the Alliance knowing the risks. They swore to uphold humanity's core values, and they swore to protect each human being like they were family. They were to die instead of the humans back on Earth, or the humans here. It didn't matter, but it was their job.

Seeing an enemy gave him that resolve he needed to leave Ash on Virmire. Failure wasn't an option now, just like it wasn't when they were fighting Saren. The Collectors couldn't keep taking colonies. And he'd make sure they'd stop, one way or another.