"I'm telling you guys this is straight out of a horror vid, just look at the whole situation."

We were finally at Peak Fifteen and things were looking fucked to put it delicately. The garage we entered had been left partially open, as a still-burning Mako blocked the overhead door from closing completely. Now that we were in, the eerie combination of dim, blood-red lights, a repeating VI blasting across the intercom and mutilated corpses greeted us. Oh yeah and not only were the geth and krogan that littered the floor punctured with gaping wounds, some of the geth appeared to have been corroded, so whatever attacked them apparently has the ability to melt metal.

"Wolf, shut the hell up and keep your eyes and ears open for whoever or whatever did this."

Oh yeah, almost forgot Chelsea was still pissed off at me thanks to our little spat back in the Synthetics Insights office which was definitely the scariest and most annoying part of this live reenactment of a horror film…hopefully I'm not the first one to die.

"I can't help it. When I'm nervous like this, words just come out. It's like I have no control over what I'm saying. If I don't keep filling the air with meaningless chatter then I'll have to think about the specifics, and I'd rather not let my imagination fill in the blanks of what could have done this." My boot flipped over a biotic geth and I grimaced at the charred marks that had eaten their way through its chest. "If Woley were here he'd make some obscure pop-culture reference to some old Earth shit but I'm stuck with the vague one."

"For the love of God Wolf."

The younger twin interrupted his sister. "It's fine Chelsea, I gave Wolf free reign to talk away so just let him do his thing. If it makes you feel better you can mute his feed until I say otherwise."

"Thank you."

"Is it kind of weird that I can never get along with both Sheps at once? Either I'm on Caleb's good side or Chelsea's but never both? I mean, in the beginning of this epic space adventure, Chels had my back and now it seems like Caleb has been by my side more often than not. Maybe I'm rubbing off on him." Musing to myself, I kept up my scan of the garage, pistol in one hand and other ready to launch a biotic attack at the first sign of trouble.

The direct line to the Normandy fired up and the voice of our wisecracking pilot drifted through the static. "Alien."

"What was that Joker? You're breaking up." The commander halted dead in his tracks and his hand went to the earpiece on his helmet as if that would help in some way.

"That's the reference Wolf was looking for, the Alien series. A team of assorted badasses goes to investigate a ship that's sent out a distress signal, which then lets a razor-tailed death machine onto their own craft. Then it starts picking them off one-by-one. Think they even had a remake of the first one thirty years ago or so but the press didn't like it since it didn't showcase the idea of peaceful first contact." There was a long pause as everybody just kind of took in the fact that that's what he had interrupted us for. "It's not a one-to-one comparison but the similarities are there. You're going to investigate a research facility that's gone dark for a few days now, the atmosphere is super creepy and apparently there's some kind of bad shit going down. That's close enough for me to be really happy to be here sitting in my comfy chair and not down there with you guys having to deal with xenomorphs."

"Joker…"

"Shutting up." He responded to the commander's single-word threat. "Last bits of advice. Don't let it bleed on you, stay away from anything that looks like an egg, splitting up to investigate is always a bad idea and lastly, watch out for the vents… They always like to use that shit to move undetected and then, wham! You've got a face full of double-jaws ripping your throat out."

"Is that everything?" The commander's weary tone of voice was contradicted by the small smirk that could be seen through his visor.

"Last thing. If one of you has to go out, please yell, 'game over man!' But seriously, just be careful not to bring anything back with you on the Normandy. I would hate to see my baby become the future nest for an alien queen."

"Your concern is noted."

As the communication between us and the ship ceased, Liara cocked her head in clear confusion. "I am afraid that although the words Flight Lieutenant Moreau was speaking were understandable, they did not make any sense to me. No existing race that I am aware of still has something as archaic as a, 'queen,' ruling over their entire species. Although it would be fascinating to do an in-depth study if they did."

"I didn't get it either Liara so you're not alone." Tali backed up the other female non-human in the group.

"Your human vids sound interesting."

I should have figured that something like that would appeal to Wrex. Tough old bastard would probably find some way to make sure that whatever the subject was it wasn't nearly as tough-sounding as just having to survive daily life on Tuchanka, no matter how horrifying.

"Alright. Now that's out of the way, let me take a look at this data Wolf got for us." A digital display sprang to life from his omni-tool and he studied it for seemingly two seconds before coming up with our next move. "Alright, we can get to the main facilities using that stairwell on the left. I want a tight cluster as we move, back to back so nothing comes up from behind us."

"I'll take lead with Wrex." Chelsea volunteered.

"That's fine. Liara and I will be able to control flanks with our biotics which leaves Wolf and Tali as the rearguard." Why me? I'm going to have to put my back to everything and just walk backwards as we go through this fucking place which definitely sounds like my idea of a good time. "Let's move."

I flicked on my thermal vision just as I heard the sound of movement behind a stack of crates. "Possible contact to my left."

"Move in, we're with you Wolf."

I could've sworn I heard the skittering of multiple legs but as I rounded the cover, my heat imagining didn't reveal a damn thing. "You guys heard that too right? I swear I'm not losing my mind."

Wrex was the only one to back me up as the rest of the team shook their head no. "Yeah I heard something." He took his helmet off and started to sniff the air. "I can't pick out scents with all the dead krogan and geth fluid everywhere. I'll keep this off going forward though. Maybe I'll pick something up that I recognize."

"Roger that."

We finally made our way up the stairs and started to move through the facility. The curving walls, flickering lights and random puffs of steam that jetted from the ground did nothing to ease the tension that was in the air.

"Gun turrets up ahead. Deactivated though so we're good for now." Chelsea warned.

"I do not presume to be a military expert but these seem to be facing the wrong way." Liara mused.

"Unless they were less concerned about keeping other people out and more worried about containing whatever's in there inside." I practically moaned. This was looking more and more like a movie every second and I was hating it. "If you look at it from that point of view then it makes total sense."

"Why do you have to assume the worst Wolf?" Tali jabbed me with her pointed elbow from her position next to me.

"Or they could just have a problem with a mass mutiny from employees." Caleb tried to offer some alternative explanation.

"So they either really do have something holed up in there that now seems to be loose judging from that massacre back there or they're the worst employers ever." Wrex grunted sarcastically. "Great options Shepard."

"Regardless of what it is, we need to be on our guard." Caleb motioned to get back into formation as we passed the inactive machine gun emplacements.

"Elevator to the left." Of course there's an elevator, why wouldn't there be. "Checking out this room to the right here."

As Chelsea led the way with Wrex at her side, trailed slightly by Liara and Caleb who both were already alive with biotic energy just in case, me and Tali took up the rear. While they explored what appeared to function as a security station, the two of us swiveled to face the hallway we had just come from.

I took a knee, cradling my shotgun as I kept watch. This silence was driving me crazy. I'm not going to lie either, the sheer unknown of the situation was making me more tense than usual. If I had a choice, I would have taken a fight with an asari commando over slowly trekking our way through the creepy research facility while some mysterious enemy was out there. My mental databanks were whirring with what could have possibly even done that kind of damage but nothing was coming to mind…unless miniature thresher maws are a thing.

"Hey." As I came out of my trance, Tali's hand was resting on my arm. "It'll be fine, we're going to figure this whole thing out and capture Benezia too."

"You're eerily good at knowing what's going on upstairs with me you know that?"

"It's not that tough. You're just really easy to read, for me at least. I don't know if the rest of the team picks up on your body language but if you know what to look for it's rather simple." Bright eyes shone back at me from behind the young woman's purple-tinted visor. "Don't worry though, your dark secret's safe with me."

Oh if only you knew. I wish the fact that I felt like a kid who was terrified of the monsters in the shadows was my deepest secret right now. "If you ever learned how to blackmail people you'd be terrifying, you know that?"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

We were rejoined by the rest of our team whose search had apparently been fruitless. At least, judging from the scowl on Chelsea's face. "Nothing." She slugged me in the shoulder as she retook the lead position. "And I've got some good news Wolf, I don't think you're insane anymore. There's something out there and it's keeping tabs on us. Multiple somethings if I had to guess."

All six of us filed into the lift and it didn't take long for us to start our ascent. "You heard it too then?"

"We all did." Caleb responded in her stead as Chelsea seemed to be thinking about something now. "It sounded like movement in the vents."

"Worst part of that is Joker's right about something."

I tried to laugh it off but my joke fell on unhearing ears. Instead an eerie silence took up residence as the doors in front of us opened. "Watch every corner. If it can fit in the vents, there's not too many places it can't hide."

Fuck me. Why does the commander have to say shit like that? It makes it so much worse than it only being in my head.

As we finally reached the top, a loud, animalistic screech followed by gunfire broke the silence.

"Chelsea move up and investigate. Take it slow."

"Yeah yeah."

The six of us continued our measured walk through the now icy corridors. It was impossible to say if things had already gone so wrong here that the snow was retaking control or if they just designed it that way but the fact that it wasn't a gloomy grey wall already made me feel a bit better. Well, it would have if some nightmare wasn't waiting for us on the other end of this door I should say so that judgement will have to wait for the reveal.

As the panels opened in front of us, I spun from my rearguard position and saw a lone geth in its final throes. Its companions had already been taken apart or corroded in much the same manner we had seen downstairs, but this one was just holding on despite the fact that one of its legs was gone and half of its head was missing.

"Fuck." Chelsea swore loudly as she pulled out her shotgun and put the thing down for good. Three blasts probably wasn't necessary but I don't think anybody blamed her for venting a little bit. "Nothing's here. Again."

"Keep moving. Around this corner and up the stairs according to the schematics Wolf…acquired for us." I could practically hear the commander wince just thinking of my methods.

The snow-covered floor crunched underneath our armored boots as we proceeded into a glass-encased walkway. One more high-pitched squeal announced our arrival but again, no enemy made themselves known.

"Fuck come out here and show yourself!" Chelsea practically spat out the words before muttering in a much lower tone of voice. "I swear, if these bastards are trying to make me go insane from the paranoia they're doing a damn good job of it."

"Relax boss, no need to jump at ghosts just yet. Haven't met anything yet that can stand up to a good old-fashioned krogan headbutt."

That got a light chuckle from the group that only served to illustrate just how on edge everyone was. The laughter from us all was almost eager, as if it would keep whatever horror lurked around the corner at bay.

"Keep moving through this tunnel." Our leader pointed straight ahead with an emphatic gesture. "The elevator at the end here should take us right to the emergency backup generators. Once we get those running we should theoretically have access to the rest of the station here."

I didn't even grumble about the elevator, it just felt wrong right now. As I backpedaled slowly, the quarian girl beside me keeping step all the way, it was impossible to tell whether the noises were real or if I was just imagining shit at this point. The passage of time felt meaningless, every second was a stress-filled minute that only served to put you further on edge.

"Goddamn it." I muttered under my breath, only for Tali to give me a sideways glance. "Sorry, I just hate this."

"I don't like it either but there's nothing we can do right now."

"Yeah I know, that's why I hate this. Some shortcut to Benezia would be nice right about now."

Trusting in my teammates to guide me, I didn't turn to face the same direction as them until Liara was kind enough to give me a warning. "You are about to back into the side of the elevator Nathan."

"Right."

I tucked my pistol onto my belt and pulled out my shotgun as we ascended through the murky darkness, the only light coming from the eerie red bulbs that seemed to be the only thing to survive the power issues this place was having. Well I guess the eerie VI on repeat made it through alright too…could have done without that if I'm being honest.

God I'm on fucking edge right now. I leaned back against the elevator wall and sorted through my omni-tool to the music section, thinking back to the tune my old squadmate Ben would play. For a song called, "Killing in the Name Of," it had an odd way of getting me calm and battle-focused which was definitely what I needed right now.

A loud beep interrupted my zoning out and I looked down to see a message from the commander. "Are you listening to something right now?"

I just nodded slowly as I lazily typed back. "It helps my nerves."

"Hey whatever works. Just keep one eye on me for a signal if anything mission-critical comes up."

Giving a quick affirmative response, I tried my best in the crowded elevator to soothe my frazzled nerves. I was only able to get through half the song before the commander made a slashing motion across his throat, signaling to kill the tunes. Guess it's time to go back to work.

As the doors opened in front of us, we retook our respective positions. Chelsea and Wrex led the way up front and Liara and Caleb provided biotics from the flanks, which left me and the engineer to backpedal our way through the long, narrow room once again.

The scrambling footsteps were everywhere now as the noise came to an almost roaring crescendo compared to the silence from the squad. It was underneath us. It was above us. It was in the fucking walls for God sake.

We were trapped.

As I spared a quick glance over my shoulder, I saw that the Lion of Elysium was studying the floor layout intensely. It was as if he was trying to memorize every last detail, not knowing if or when he'd have the chance to look again. I was in the process of losing my mind when he seemed to come to a decision, his head bobbing resolutely.

That was when two things happened.

The first was Lieutenant Commander Caleb Shepard giving the loudest, most authoritative yell I had ever heard. And the second was an almost otherworldly shriek that preceded the loud clanging of metal as vents burst in from every direction, as if a hundred bombs had gone off at once.

"Fucking get ready!" The commander swore uncharacteristically.

All at once, the dark room was lit up by the blasts of gunfire. Through the thermal lenses of my Recon Hood I got an eerily clear glimpse of the monsters that had been plaguing us. Bug-looking things as big as your foot skittered across the floor towards us at a breakneck pace. They were so clustered they were almost more of a single mass than any distinguishable entity. Well at least until they were shot that is, then they exploded with a sizzle of goo that did not speak well for anyone they were to touch. Behind them were the apparent culprits of the noise and for the second time in weeks I saw a species that were supposed to be extinct.

Rachni. My thought was confirmed a second later by a bellowing scream from the member of Clan Urdnot, his ancient enemy now standing in front of him.

This time they weren't frozen though. The fuckers were as big as a Great Dane and with pincer-like claws that proved they could punch through a geth at the very least, and acid-spitting tentacles to boot I almost found myself wishing for the darkness again. At least that they were immobile like that one in the crate. Now I had a good guess where Cerberus was getting their research subjects from at least though.

"Front facing Bio-Cade now!"

Stowing my shotgun, I did a one-eighty and thrust both palms forward. Deadly streams of acid were impeded for just long enough before I had to drop the barricade, the effort alone already causing me to grunt heavily.

Indiscriminately firing at the mass of bugs on the floor, I waited for further orders. This was an unknown enemy. Pirates and geth I could deal with by charging in and blasting with a shotgun or biotics but I wasn't looking to come out of a charge only to find a hole in my chest.

"The VI core is on the other side of the room." Caleb's palm lit up and he hurled a Singularity into the mass of unending creatures and Liara detonated the biotic combo a second later but it did almost nothing to stem the flow as we inched our way through the room. It was like fighting water. The second you displaced it, even more rushed to take its place. Right now the six of us were an island in a sea of rachni. "We need a tech expert to get down there and activate the power."

"Keelah." Tali muttered under her breath as she flicked her wrist outward, activating an incinerate module that threw a fireball at the ground behind us. We were still back to back with Liara and Caleb swiveling forwards and backwards as needed and the quarian woman's attack gave us back-liners a little bit of breathing room. "I guess that means me?"

"Nailed it in one Buttercup." Chelsea cursed loudly as acid splashed at her feet and corroded away a bit of her leg armor in a matter of seconds. The culprit didn't live long enough to admire the damage done however as the attention of her N7 Typhoon was quickly drawn to the attacker and a stream of bullets ripped it apart in a hissing display of green blood. "These things are fucking persistent."

"They certainly do not seem to have intentions of ceasing their attack." Liara mused.

I don't know how the fuck she can be so calm when we're getting fucking surrounded right now by a seemingly innumerable enemy. It was all Tali and I could collectively do to keep these fuckers at bay as we continued our slow walk to the core.

My finger jammed the trigger a half-dozen times at one of the big rachni but that only pissed the thing off if its screeching was any indication. It's response was to come even closer and it was all I could do to erect a barricade just larger than my hands that stopped the thing's claws a half-foot from my chest.

"Tali, please do something! Kinda tied up here…" Was all I managed to grunt out.

The purple shimmer that was extended just in front of my hands changed into blue as I trapped its pincers in a stasis field that kept it locked in place. As I could feel the beads of sweat starting to drip down my face from this prolonged effort the admiral's daughter swung upwards with her knife, separating it from the two objects in a heartbeat. Well at least our practice sessions have paid off.

From there I was able to pull the Lancer off my back and hose the thing down with lead. Even after having it's appendages severed and six bullets from my pistol lodged in it, the rachni would not go down. No wonder it took the fucking krogan to eradicate these damn bugs, they're resilient as all hell.

"Thanks for the assist." All she could manage in return was a nod as our attention was quickly forced back on the spider horde. At least the big fuckers on our end of the battle were clear for a split-second now.

A fact that the commander evidently made track of as he diverted my fire to the front lines where a group of three large bastards had just sprung from out of nowhere. Really need to come up with a name for those. "Wolf. Grenade front."

Now that the battle had finally begun in earnest, Caleb's cool demeanor returned. Which was good because I don't know if anyone else was feeling it. Wrex seemed to be on the edge of a Blood Rage, Chelsea was practically foaming at the mouth, Liara was visibly starting to look apprehensive and Tali was almost frantic in her spinning this way and that to protect our rear.

Attaching my AR to a magnetic strip on my right shoulder blade, I brought the grenade launcher out and slapped an incendiary grenade in there. If there was one thing I noticed from the attack so far, Tali's fire attack had definitely cleared some space for us so they did not like the hot stuff one bit. Although I guess that was a pretty universal trait for sentient species, it seemed to hold a special place in their heart.

"Down in front." I muttered under my breath as I lined up the trajectory with the aid of my hood's combat VI. Once I was satisfied, I gently squeezed the trigger and the hollow sound that accompanied the tube full of dangerous chemicals being propelled joined the din. Two of the rachni caught on fire and their pincers went every which way as they flailed in agony. As the splash zone continued to widen, the third flew backwards in a visible panic as the swarmers continued their suicidal rush towards us, not caring one bit for the flame that engulfed at least ten of them in the blaze.

"Solid effect…good placement Wolf." Caleb gave a quick compliment before returning me to my position. "Return to former assignment helping Miss Zorah."

"Roger that." I kept my shotgun out this time as it seemed to both do the most damage to the sizable ones and the blast was wide enough to usually catch at least a couple spidery things in its path. As I returned to my post, I did a quick grenade round check and found that I had two frag rounds left but only one each of the EMP and incendiary ones. Fuck but I should have brought more fire rounds with me. The EMP shit is kind of useless right now with all the geth seemingly butchered by these things.

"How you holding up?" I quickly queried my back-line partner.

"I'm doing just wonderful." Her omni-tool flared to life and an electrical current sprang towards a canister laying haphazardly on the ground. The miniature explosion caught a soldier, that's what I'm fucking calling them now in my head, that had just dropped from a vent in the ceiling.

"How'd you know?" I ran forward and buried three full loads of shotgun pellets deep into the creature's carapace, putting it down for good. Hopefully. It was hard to tell with these fuckers, so there was no kill like overkill in my book.

"Didn't." She flicked her arm sideways, as if drawing a line across the ground and as I rejoined her a stream of flammable liquids burst to life, creating a small wall of flame that separated us from the crowd. "Took a guess that it would be ignitable and I was right."

I didn't have more time to muse on the subject as Chelsea yelled in glee. "We've punched a hole to the VI station! Get your asses in gear and sprint like a fucking drill sergeant on your back!"

The sentence probably didn't mean much to the non-humans in the room, but I booked it like my life depended on it, that was a serious fucking statement. We arrived at the tall white semi-circle in a matter of moments, crossing the other half of the room in mere seconds compared to the minutes we had just spent slogged in combat.

As soon as we arrived, Caleb dropped a singularity dead in the center of the path and I finished the combo two seconds later with a warp that sent rachni pieces everywhere. "Your turn Tali."

The young woman stood at the platform that went down into the heart of the computer, taking a few seconds to compose herself. Seeing her nervousness, I tried to ease things along, showing a confident nonchalant attitude that I did not feel at all.

"Relax Bubbles, I'm not gonna let anything hurt you. You get down there, get this power back online and don't worry one bit about what's going on up here." I looked to the rest of the crew who all were resolutely facing the still oncoming horde. "We've got this shit."

"Just…don't go dying while I'm down here you bosh'tet."

"Wasn't planning on it." I slammed the button on the side and sent her down into the mass of wires and glowing displays. "Uh, maybe make it quick though? Just in case."

The last thing I saw of the quarian woman was the orange glow of her omni-tool reflecting off her visor as it flared to life, illuminating the dark pit she was descending into. God I hope the rachni don't have a way of getting in there that doesn't include going over our dead bodies. If I pushed the button that sent that sweet, naive girl to her death I don't know how I'll live with myself.

"Everything go ok?"

I stepped back into the firing line and was now shoulder to shoulder with the commander. For once, he was giving his biotics a rest and was using an SMG to rip into the spidery small ones, leaving the big ones to the people with the heavier weapons. There still was seemingly no end to the terrifying beasts, so that meant we'd have to utilize more biotics in the long run and if there was still an elite group of asari commandoes waiting for us at the end of this tunnel then we'd absolutely need them. Assuming of course they hadn't been set upon and torn to shreds by these things.

"I think so, hell I was probably more nervous than her as a matter of fact."

A soldier stomped it's way over the smaller comrades surrounding it and I threw a lift orb that sent it upwards toward the ceiling, only to come crashing down in one of Wrex's biotic slams. After that it was Liara's turn to buy time as she wound up and threw a singularity in the center of the hallway, once again buying us a precious few moments of peace before the miniature black hole was detonated when the asari maiden couldn't maintain it any longer.

"It's good you talked to her. I was going to give a little pep talk or something but I figured you could handle it better considering the subject."

What does that mean? "I don't know why I would be more qualified to give anyone a pump-up speech over you but alright, I'll take your word for it I guess."

The krogan in red armor guffawed loudly as he crushed a bug underfoot, seemingly not caring as the dangerous liquid coated his shinpiece. Regeneration's a hell of a thing. "I'd take the commander's word on this one Wolf. That suit hides a lot but it's hard to fool this." He brought one of his massive fingers up to his nostrils and gave them a tap. "This thing doesn't lie."

"Can we just get back to killing these things?" I was still at a bit of a loss and I didn't like not being in on the subject matter. Plus, holding the line was taking every bit of my concentration right now.

"Don't have to ask me twice." The battlemaster's statement was punctuated by a blast from his Claymore shotgun.

Chelsea's strained voice came from my left. "Can you get up a Bio-Cade Wolf? Heat sinks on my weapon need a breather."

"Are your human weapons sturdy?"

Seemingly puzzled by the question, the platinum blonde Spectre hesitantly answered. "Yes?"

"Then club 'em. Works just as well for me."

Chelsea sighed. "Unfortunately we don't all have your krogan levels of strength Wrex. Otherwise I'd love to do that, trust me."

He just grunted and without another word, I punched forward and created a wall of biotics between us and the creatures. Instead of drenching it in acid though, this time they just stopped as if studying the object in front of them. One of the bigger rachni tapped the glowing purple obstacle experimentally, as if feeling for some kind of weakness. I really don't like this. These things are persistent enough already without learning about how to counter shit.

All at once, the rachni stopped its inspection and gave an ear-shattering screech. Just as quickly as they appeared, the horde faded into the vents like a mist evaporates before the bright morning sun. I've got a feeling we haven't seen anywhere near the last of these fuckers. At least we survived this one intact though. Well, mostly at least.

"Injury report!"

Wrex was the first to sound off, studying a large gash in his stomach-region as he talked. "Wounded but nothing I won't just come back from."

"I'm going to need another heavy dose for the warp-burn on my arm soon." Chelsea studied the charred piece that covered her arm before looking down at her leg. "Left side armor is still structurally intact but I got hit by acid splash."

"Anyone else?" Caleb continued his questioning, still holding an SMG in one hand that was complimented by his other fist which glowed blue with biotics.

"I am alright other than a headache."

"That's the first signs of biotic exhaustion." Caleb gestured my way. "Wolf do you have enough supplements to help her out?"

"C'mon Shep, when do I not carry extra of the good stuff?" I fished out a nutrient bar and smoothie, handing them both to the asari maiden. "Anyone carrying stims by the way? I don't know how long this is going to go for but I could use a boost."

"I've got you covered." Caleb of all people came through in the clutch. Never would have figured he'd be the type to stoop to stims but it seems there's a lot I don't know about the Lion of Elysium. "It's on the back center compartment of my armor. Take your pick."

"Bro…seriously?" Chelsea looked on disapprovingly. "You told me you didn't need those anymore. I thought you said you stopped relying on them last time we talked?"

"We don't have time for this right now." Caleb practically growled as he handed me one of the objects and I let my omni-tool distribute it through my system, the jolt hitting almost immediately. "There's already been enough distractions on this mission without something else coming up."

He looked very pointedly through his visor and I decided to make myself scarce, heading back over to the quarian on Pilgrimage stuck in a VI core. God this mission's got everybody on the freaking edge. Might as well go talk to the one bastion of calm I can count on in all this. "Hey, you all good down there Tali?"

"Doing fine, thank you." Some muttering drifted upwards towards me and a smile spread across my face at the curses, translated and untranslated that reached my ears. "This thing is so unstable I'm having to transfer every bit of power one by one and making sure not to crash it all the while. Whoever designed this as an ideal way to repair it is an idiot."

"I'll take your word for it."

She sighed loudly. "I take it the rachni have retreated since there's no gunfire and you're standing here chatting with me?"

"Yeah." I couldn't help but give a quick glance around. Now that we knew these things could come from just about anywhere, it didn't ease the tension in the room. "For the time being at least."

"Everyone ok?"

I shrugged even though she couldn't see it. "More or less. Chelsea's arm is still pretty fucked up from where she got hit with a warp in that fight in the SI office and now she got some acid splashed onto her leg. Thankfully the armor took the brunt of it though. Wrex looks like he took a glancing claw in the side of the stomach but he says he's going to walk it off."

"They're both stubborn. They'll make it through alright."

I put my back against the bone-white walls surrounding the VI core and slumped down, cradling my shotgun across my lap as I grinned. "You're one to talk."

"Hey, I am not stubborn." Her accented voice grew thick with insistence. "It's just that I usually happen to be right about things whenever I have to deal with bosh'tets like you." That only made my laughter grow louder which didn't help the situation one bit. In fact, it only made me receive a slap on the back of my head for my trouble as the girl apparently was finished down there. "You're such an idiot."

"An idiot who knows how to fight thankfully."

I just stayed seated as the other four members of the team rejoined us. It didn't take long for Shepard to demand a status report. "Tali, what were you able to find down there?"

"To sum it up, Matriarch Benezia took the tramway to another part of the station. However, the trams are currently offline and the only way to activate them is to head to both the roof and the reactor to kickstart the thing. I've done all I can from here and anything else that happens needs a manual connection established for the VI to finish the repairs."

"Good work Tali." He gave a nod before bringing his hand up to rest at the base of his helmet.

"You thinking of splitting up?" Chelsea sprung a question as he pondered.

"Bad idea." I shook my head. "Remember what Joker said about the horror vids? Shit always goes wrong once you start dividing people up."

My bad attempt at lightening the mood fell on deaf ears seemingly as no one even moved to acknowledge it. "I think if we move fast, we should be fine." The Lion came to a snap decision. "It's not like they can swarm both of our groups at full-force if we split up and with as narrow of fighting quarters as we've been in, the numbers change won't make a huge difference."

"I'll take Liara and Wrex to the reactor. That sounds like a whole bucket-load of fun."

Caleb nodded. "And I'll take Wolf and Tali to the roof. Meet back here at the entrance to the trams, anything goes wrong then blast it out over frequency five-two-eight point four-nine-one. Sync omni-tools now."

"Done." Chelsea nodded and then waved her hand. "Let's get a fucking move on boys, no time to sit around here with our thumbs up our asses."

As they disappeared down the hallway, I turned to Caleb. "Anything similarly inspirational to say Commander Shepard, sir?"

"Just-" He exhaled sharply in annoyance at the whole situation. "Try not to take an acid bath or get impaled by one of these things."

I clapped loudly as we entered an elevator and ascended to the roof. "Words to live by sir. You're a true orator."

"You know Wolf, sometimes I regret letting Woley talk me and Anderson into signing you on."

"You're not the only one."

I put a hand over my heart. "Wow Tali. And here I thought we were friends."

A/N: Happy Friday to all you lovely folks reading this, hope the weekend treats you well. Not much to say other than I cannot wait for Summer and Persona 5 has its hooks all the way into me right now. Andromeda was pretty good but this game caused me to kick it to the curb immediately which shocked me.

Thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for still continuing to Beta for me.

Review answering portion:

RSC: A whole lot probably :/ I've had some roster ideas floating around for the interim that I'll probably be sending your way Saturday/Sunday so keep an eye out and let me know what you think.

GJD: You are not far off. I don't know if he'll exactly be on a broker level of information gathering but Wolf is going to take a new direction in the upcoming months.

Dekuton: Well, he might be making a couple trips out to Omega before ME2 even rolls around so meeting back up with Aria after the whole, "letting Wolf/Woley potentially get killed," thing could be fun.

Ronnambi: Thanks for the review!

TIP: I know what you mean, I've thought about going back and condensing down the first 20 chapters or so but that's a shit-ton of work and I frankly don't have the time. Just writing this out in my spare hours is already enough of a task.