A/N: Here is the fourteenth chapter of confessions! Thank you so much for following this story and I do appreciate all of the feedback. Please continue to show your support if you do want me to continue this! 3

Everything was in complete chaos the very moment that the shuttle touched the landing pad. Rina could spot the gun towers miles away from their current destination, and she could feel her stomach churn nervously. There were geth running all around the homeworld, and who is to say that all of this wasn't a trap. Rina didn't have the slightest clue about what they would be walking into, but Miss Shepard and Tali seemed to have a good idea. That was enough to calm Rina down in the meantime, and she made sure to follow close behind them.

"It's too quiet," Tali muttered as they walked through the rocky path that was left completely pitch dark.

The commander gave a short nod of her head, her piercing blue eyes being the only thing that could be seen through the helmet. "They might have spotted our shuttle on the way down. Keep an eye out." the woman gave the order and the others responded in unison.

There was a small group of geth that were camping out around a bonfire, and Rina could feel her heart pounding in her rib cage like it was going to jump out. It's been a long time since she left the safety of the fleet for her pilgrimage, and she was still feeling the trauma from it. Everything had ended so badly when she reached the end, but she refused to let it stop her from the task they needed to complete. She told the admiral that she wanted to be of use to the rest of the team, and she was going to keep her word, no matter what.

As the small group inched near the campsite, the synthetics were alerted by the footsteps and they went on the offensive. "Get down!" Miss Shepard called to her team before the geth opened fire on the area. The human captain was the closest one to Rina, and pulled the woman down with her before she could get hit.

The young quarian took a sharp breath as she remained close to Shepard trying her best to block out the loud sounds from the gunfire. She wished that she could turn off her ear filters to block out the noise, but she knew better. Rina would need to hear the orders that Miss Shepard was going to give her, so she would have to stay strong as long as she could. Everything seemed to be going smoothly up until she heard a loud grunt from someone on the team, and she immediately jumped to see what it was.

It turns out that it was the human male who was grunting, and she could finally see what happened. Kaiden dropped his pistol onto the ground, and fell to his knees while clutching onto his shoulder for dear life. "Damn it, they got me." his voice was low as he slowly pressed his back against the boulder that was shielding him.

"Kaiden!" Rina could hear the distress in the commander's tone as she left her side to rush over to the human biotic. "How bad is it?" she managed to reach the man's side safely, still remaining in the squatting position.

"I'll live," Kaiden reassured as his hands remained clutched onto his shoulder and he turned to face the commander. "I gotta stop the bleeding though before it gets bad." he released a soft grunt as he tried to shift his body in attempt to get more comfortable, it didn't work.

Commander Shepard nodded immediately as she placed her gun inside of the holster before activating the medi-gel on her omni-tool. "Tali, cover us!" she called to her engineer as she began to work on the biotic.

It was impossible for Tali to fight the geth on her on as well as protect the rest of the team. There were at least five of them all shooting at them, and some were moving over to invade their territory. Tali was quick to maneuver over to the other quarian and pressed her back to the boulder without turning her head to face her. "Listen, I need you to help back me up," she used her free hand to reach over to grab the spare pistol in her holster. "I know you don't have any firearm experience, but I need your help. Please." the older woman begged in the softest tone - one that Rina could not refuse.

With a reluctant nod of her head, Rina reached for the pistol that was offered to her and rose it upward. She was familiar with with using guns, but it wasn't anything near Tali's expertise. Before their pilgrimage, every quarian is required to learn a minimal of combat training, and she wasn't any different. It wasn't the guns that she was scared of, she was more frightened of the people who were wielding them. "I'll do my best, but I am so much better with tech." she muttered as Tali crawled back over to her own boulder before she began shooting at the Geth.

During the battle, Rina remained hidden behind the boulder and only shot at the geth when they were distracted by Tali, and only managed to shoot one. There were sudden flashbacks that were trying to resurface from within her during the battle, but she pushed them away as best as she could. No, she couldn't afford to dwell on those memories right now. Not when the rest of the team needed her - her team needed her. Tali was able to hack her way into the last remaining geth and fry its systems before they were safe to come out from hiding.

"Is he okay?" Tali questioned as they both ran over to Shepard's side to check on their injured squadmate.

"I'm fine, let's keep moving." Kaiden reassured everyone as he slowly struggled to get back onto his feet with the fresh banaged that was covered in his blood. It was better than nothing, and they cannot afford to waste time with Admiral Korris needing their help.

The entire mission was a dreadful one. Rina could feel her eyes burning at the grizzly sight of the butchered quarians that were littered everywhere as they were getting closer to the gun towers. It was difficult for her not to get upset over it because these were their civilians who were thrown into this war. Surely, they deserved better. At first Rina was excited over the idea of them going home, but is it really worth it now? All these bodies laying around were telling her otherwise, but that would mean that their deaths were for nothing if they give up now. The younger quarian took a sharp breath as they pressed onward towards the guns, she wasn't going to give up this time. Especially since none of these people could make it this far, she wasn't going to let their deaths be for nought.

Tell my son, tell Jonah, that his father made it to the homeworld.

Rina will make sure that the son receives the dying message. The son will receive the news about how wonderful and brave that his father was for achieving the one thing that many quarians were not able to experience, and she will write it out in her own blood if that is what it comes to.

When the small group made it to the guns, Shepard had the others cover the exits while Rina went to work on the AA guns. They were successful, that is, until they made it to the last AA gun. All of the geth were starting to surround them, and the screaming and gun sounds were enough to rattle the young woman who was trying desperately to complete the hack. Everything was starting to become too overwhelming.

Damn it! They broke through! Rina, take Jayce and get the hell out of here!

This entire time, the young quarian was trying desperately to repress those troubling thoughts for as long as she could. With everything going straight to hell, it was impossible for her to ignore any longer.

"Rina! Hurry up!" Miss Shepard's voice could barely be heard over the guns blazing all around them, and Rina bit down on her lip and tried to focus on the code before her.

I can't! Like you said before, we're a family and we're going to stay together!

"Damn it! One of them slipped through!" Again, the voices could not be heard over the gunshots and Rina was lost in her own world trying to get the codes in. Before she was able to enter the last set, she could feel a strong burning sensation coming from her right shoulder, and she turned her head to see the gaping hole that was clean through her suit.

"Rina!" The quarian woman immediately fell to her knees from shock, and the last thing she could remember seeing before her vision blacked out was the small group of three running towards her.

"She's down! I need an emergency evac now!" The commander hollared to their shuttle pilot for an emergency pickup.