An aide came barreling into the conference room just as Anderson finished briefing Hackett on all the current events.

"Admiral! Councilor Valern is on a secure channel, he says he needs to talk to you, sir."

"Patch him through to here."

"At once, sir," she replied with a sharp salute.

An image of the salarian appeared on his console.

"Councilor," Anderson said with a nod.

"Admiral, although I had been informed of your intentions, I was skeptical. After all, getting even a smaller version of a working QEC through a system under guard seemed an impossible task."

Anderson smiled. "Well, let's just say that our new QEC is not the only innovation that made today possible. Do you have any word on what the asari plan to do next?"

Valern shook his head. "Not yet. You said that you have forged an alliance with the turians. What exactly did you mean?"

"We just finished breaking the blockade. Ground troops are being deployed. If the asari continue on this path we will fight for the freedom of every race in this galaxy, starting with the turians," Anderson said, his fists clenched at his side.

"The asari-"

"And the batarians," Anderson added.

"Yes, I've received reports that they are involved in the conflict on Palaven. I can understand what the turians are getting from this alliance, but I'm unsure what the humans hope to gain."

"Besides being the right thing to do? What was happening on Palaven needed to be brought out, lest we all suffer at the hands of a joint asari and batarian power grab. And what happens if either of them decide to take by force what another race already holds? No, it is in all of our interests to bring their alliance to a standstill and show the galaxy what they are really like. My question now is where do the salarians stand?"

Valern shifted his feet. "The dalatrasses have authorized me to side with the Alliance should the asari fail to agree to leave Palaven peacefully. They came to the same conclusion as you have: an asari-batarian alliance would be detrimental for the peace of the galaxy."

Anderson let out the breath he had been holding. Maybe with the salarians backing them, they would be able to convince the asari that they needed to end this now.

Saren stalked towards the wreckage and of course, that is when the rain started. Not a gentle rain, but a fierce summer storm complete with lightning. He snarled up at the sky when a bolt struck nearby. The earth that had been plowed up by all the fighting rapidly turned to mud in the heavy rain. They slid across the terrain as they made their way to where the ship had crashed. Those heading to find the team of snipers faired just as badly.

"I've got one," a turian shouted to his right.

Saren glanced over to see who it was. The turian helped up his fellow soldier and got them to their feet, but it wasn't Nihlus. Saren's heart had seized in his chest when he had gotten that brief glimpse of Nihlus's eyes, wide and fearful, in the light of the ship going down on top of him and his squad. He tore through the debris searching for a sign of Nihlus, something, anything. A few more survivors were found and a few dead as well, but still no sign of Nihlus. Only one place left to look, under the wreckage of the ship itself. He looked up to find several of his people waiting for a command.

"Help me lift this up," he said, his hand waving at the largest piece of the fuselage on the ground.

They joined him, and together they heaved the broken ship up enough for Saren to be able to look underneath. Several bodies lay under it, and while his people held it up, he grabbed the foot of the first one and dragged it out. Once out, he flipped the body over, but it wasn't the one he needed to find. He knelt down and found that she was still alive at least.

"Here, someone get her out of the way. There is at least one more still trapped underneath," he barked out.

A soldier moved up and dragged her out of the way. The metal dipped a little as the two holding it up began to tire. Saren got down on his belly and wormed his way underneath until he was able to grab a part of the turian still underneath, a hand it felt like. He tugged, but nothing happened. He snarled and pulled harder. The person groaned in pain but didn't budge. Working his way back out from under the broken ship, he stood up and looked around. The rain still came down furiously all around them, half blinding them all. He spotted three more of his people coming up towards where he stood, but without the one he desperately needed to find.

"Over here, now! We've got a live one trapped under here," he yelled, his voice breaking under the strain of trying to outdo the sound of the rain and thunder around them.

They hurried to his side. He pointed at two of them to help hold the wreckage up and the last he motioned to follow him. She was more slender than he was, perhaps she could reach in further than he could. They wiggled their way underneath until they were by the fallen turian. He was about to curse at the dark when he remembered his omni-tool. He flicked his talon across it, causing the device to come to life. The soft orange glow seemed bright under here and he found a tool on it that would act as a light source. He selected it and then rapidly dialed it down, as it was far too bright for the confined space. Now he could see that the left side of the turian was still trapped under part of the ship with their face turned towards the machine. The trapped turian began to cough and wheeze, from either the mud or rain, the conditions making it difficult for them to breathe.

"Turn their head; we need to make sure they don't inhale any mud or water."

She nodded and between the two of them, they got the face turned towards them. In the light, Saren could make out the face of his lover, even though it was splattered with mud and blood.

"Sir! Another ship is coming towards us," one of the turians currently holding up the ship said.

Saren tamped down the anger and rage flowing through his body. They needed to get Nihlus out of here, now.

"Can you lift it higher? His body is still partially trapped under the ship."

The metal groaned and it moved a little higher up.

"Grab his shoulder and pull with me," Saren ordered as he took hold of Nihlus's leg.

Together they heaved, but Nihlus only shifted a little. They needed more people to lift the ship up higher, but they were out of time. The next order he had to give was sure to destroy his soul.

"Get out of here," he snarled.

She looked surprised, but thankfully she didn't question his order. Saren followed her out from under the ship. He stood up and pulled out his pistol.

"Lower it as gently as you can while we deal with our enemies."

Saren closed his eyes and turned away from the sight of the ship being lowered back down onto Nihlus. If there was anything decent left in the world surely he would survive, but Saren had little hope there was any to be found. If the weight of the ship didn't kill him then the rain and mud would finish him off if they couldn't get rid of their enemies quickly enough. His people followed his lead, readying their weapons as they sought cover from this newest threat.

Even through the rain and the dark of the night, they got brief glimpses of the neon blue of a ship's engine heading towards them. Saren stared at it as it drew closer and closer. It was big - too big to be just a gunship. Rage and anger threatened to boil up inside of him and consume him. He forced it back down until it became a hard nugget of ice that cooled his blood and cleared his head.

"There is no more retreating. There is nowhere to go. We live or die here, but by the Spirits we will show them that we are turians to the end and we will make them pay for every step they have ever taken on our world."

The answering cry of the soldiers around him made him glad more than ever that Shepard had been able to return him to his people. He was likely going to die here, on this field of mud in the rain. Nihlus had most likely already joined the Spirits, but Saren would make sure they wouldn't take him alive this time and he would take as many of them as he could with him.

The ship slowed its approach as it neared where they waited. It hesitated; the field was in no shape for anyone to land anything close to the size of the ship that hovered over them now. Through the rain, they watched as a door was flung open, and the light coming from inside the vessel illuminated large shapes. Then those shapes leaped out and down onto the ground, landing with a heavy thud. Several slid as they fell in the mud. These were not asari or even batarians. There was only one species Saren had met that was that bulky, the krogan! He stood up and waved his people to stand down. His soldiers looked at him in disbelief as Saren left his cover to approach these new beings.

"Sir! You can't go out there," one hissed urgently at him.

"Stand down. I believe these are the krogan that were pledged to aid us."

Saren continued out towards the ship. One of the newcomers pointed in his direction as he spoke to one of his comrades. Saren was now close enough to see that they were indeed krogan and his feet moved faster towards them. If anyone could move a ship, surely it was these behemoths! One turned towards him, a large familiar set of scars running down his face.

"Wrex?"

"Saren? Ha! Looks like we missed all the fun. Where is Shepard?"

"I don't know, but I need that wreckage over there moved. Nihlus is trapped underneath."

"Right then."

Wrex motioned for several of his people to follow him and the three krogan followed behind Saren as he raced towards the destroyed gunship, slipping and sliding as he went. The krogan grunted as they heaved up the twisted piece of metal.

"Higher," Saren ordered even as he dropped down to try to reach Nihlus.

"You heard him. We don't want our new allies thinking we are a bunch of weak and soft asari, do we?" Wrex asked.

With a loud growl, the krogan lifted the piece until it was shoulder height. Their muscles strained to hold it there. Saren quickly pulled Nihlus out from underneath it and the krogan dropped it back down with a loud clang. He slid down in the mud beside him and found that he still breathed and a ragged breath of relief escaped him. The iciness that had gripped his body at the thought that he had lost Nihlus finally released its grip and he could breathe easily once more.

"We don't know where Shepard is; she and Vakarian were on a ledge. I sent a group to search for them, closer to the mouth of the cave," Saren said, one hand waving towards where the rest of his squad had gone.

"You two, stay here and keep an eye out for more asari," Wrex said, pointing at two of his people. "The rest of you follow me; we've got some more people to find."

"Wrex," Saren called out. "If your people have omni-tools, put them on to translate your language to turian."

"Of course. You heard the General, put your translators on. We don't want any misunderstandings."

There was some grumbling, but the orange glow of omni-tools glowed in the dark, bringing the faces of their owners to light. Saren heard some of his people gasp around him. Even though he wanted more than anything to stay by Nihlus and keep him safe, he knew his duty was to go along to make sure there were no problems between this first meeting of the two races. He pointed at one of the turians by his side.

"You, you're in charge. Keep an eye on our injured."

The turian saluted and took his place beside the fallen while Saren stumbled through the mud to catch up to the krogans.

"Wrex."

The big krogan stopped and waited for the turian to catch up.

"Where are the humans?"

"They couldn't drop their makos so they are driving them up to here."

Wrex clapped Saren on the shoulder. "Don't worry; you've got the krogan here now. Looks like we missed a helluva battle though."

"Shepard took out a squad of makos with the Cain."

"Dammit! I knew I should have gone with all of you."

Saren shook his head at the krogan's distress at missing some of the carnage.

"She took out an entire outpost with the thing."

"Ha! I would have loved to have seen the faces of the asari when they went to find out what happened to their camp."

They arrived at where the ledge had been. The rocks now lay strewn all over, including over the entrance to the cave. The search team looked up and drew their weapons at the arrival of these new aliens. Saren quickly moved in front of the group.

"Put them down. These are our allies and they are here to help us."

The turians saluted and put away their guns, unease still evident in every movement they made. With the added muscle of the krogan, the rubble was cleared far faster than the turians could have done alone. The first thing they found was the misshapen remains of the Cain. Wrex growled a little louder at the sight of the weapon he had coveted for a long time. But if the Cain was here, then Shepard should not be far. They all dug a little harder and their reward was a pocket amongst some of the rocks that held two bodies curled together for protection. Wrex shoved the others aside so he could reach down and gently touch the side of the woman's face. Her skin was warm to the touch and her eyes opened and blinked in the light of all the omni-tools.

"Wrex?"

"Shepard," he said, his relief at finding them alive contained in that one word. "You broke the damn Cain, and I never even got to fire it!"

Amala gave a weak laugh that turned into a cough, which woke up the turian beside her, his blue eyes blinking rapidly in the light as he gazed up at all the faces peering down at them.

"Blame the asari; they shot a rocket at us."

"And it's a mystery how you survived that," Wrex laughed.

"Clean living. Though I think my arm is broken. What about you, Garrus?"

"Yeah, definitely think an arm is broken as well, and my head hurts, too."

"Well that's cause you've gone and broken some of those damn spiky things on your head."

Garrus tried to use the arm not underneath him to reach back to feel his head, but instead a hiss of pain escaped him.

"Yep, broken. Crap. You guys just going to stand around looking at us or are you going to help get us out of here?" he growled out.

Wrex started laughing once the two occupants had been lifted out, for there in between where they had been were the two sniper rifles belonging to Shepard and Vakarian.

"Oh sure, you go and save your precious rifles, but not my Cain!"

Shepard laughed. "Sorry Wrex. If it helps, I got to fire it a couple of times."

"I heard. I miss all the fun."

~A thank you to Mordinette for being my beta and willingness to discuss stories at odd hours, thank you! And another thank you to the readers, it always makes me happy to see so many people enjoying my story!~