A/N: Welcome back, my readers! Well, it's finally here: Virmire. The second most important mission in all of Mass Effect. Also, the quote below is from the movie The Grey, which I cannot recommend highly enough. Seriously, see it right now. This quote seems to fit rather nicely for Virmire. Anywho, enjoy the chapter!

Once again into the fray…

Into the last good fight I'll ever know…

I will live and die this day…

I will live and die this day…

~John Ottway, The Grey

Into the Fray

Wow. What a night. I can't believe it's tomorrow already…well, technically it's today, but you know what I mean. I also can't believe we're about an hour from Virmire. So I basically have enough time to eat and get ready. Deciding not to waste any time, I get out of bed, trying not to wake up Ian and Garrus. They're not part of the Mako team, so they get to sleep in…lucky bastards.

I kid, I kid. I harbor no ill will against them. In fact, I'm glad I'm on the Mako team. That probably means I'll be on the infiltration team once we hit the facility.

Strangely, it looks like Kaidan's actually awake. Though he's military, so he's probably used to waking up early. Whatever floats his boat, I suppose. Not dwelling on it any further, I exit the room, heading up to grab some breakfast.

Entering the mess hall, I'm surprised to see that Kaidan is its only occupant.

"Hey, Kaidan," I say, walking over to grab an omelet.

"Morning, kid," he replies, looking up from his own breakfast. After my food is safely in hand, I go sit down across the table from him.

"So what are you doing up so early?" I ask him. "You're not part of the Mako team."

"I've always been an early riser," he tells me. "Boot camp only hammered that in further." I just nod my head in acknowledgement and concentrate on my food. It's not that I don't want to talk to Kaidan; it's just that I'm not very talkative when I'm hungry. I manage to get about a quarter of my omelet done before Kaidan breaks the silence.

"So how are things with Ash going, kid?"

"They're going well," I say, looking up from my food. "These past two weeks have been great."

"Glad to hear it," he says with a grin. "Everyone deserves a chance at happiness." Hmm…that reminds me of something. Now what was it?

…

Right. Wrex mentioned that Kaidan was sweet on somebody. I think it's time to turn the tables.

"You're right, Kaidan," I say nonchalantly. "So how 'bout you? Got any happiness waiting somewhere for you?" He seems hesitant to answer at first. After a brief silence, he decides to talk.

"You've been honest with me so far, kid. Least I can do is return the favor. I met a girl on my last leave. We hit it off, and we've stayed in contact. When this whole Saren business is over, I'm hoping to see her again."

"Sounds like you like this girl a good bit," I comment. "What's her name?"

"Her name's Kassandra, and…I guess I'm not really sure. I mean, we had a fun time together, and she's a great girl, but I don't know how far it can go with me in the service. Even if I wanted to have something more—which I might—I could only see her once every few months while I'm on leave. I don't think that's fair to her."

Once again, I'm reminded how real these former characters are. I mean, here's Kaidan, telling me something that never even gets a mention in the game. He's transcended the character that he was, and I can honestly say, without shame, that I consider him a friend. And that makes Virmire even more difficult. If he was the same character that was in the game, I would only have to worry about Ash. But he's not the same character. Hell, I'd almost go as far as to say he's my best friend on this ship. (Probably tied with Ian.) How the hell can someone make a life-or-death choice between his girlfriend and his best friend?

And now I learn that he probably has someone to go home to. He has a life beyond this ship, this mission. One that I never would have guessed. He has hopes, dreams, expectations of how his life will turn out…and that can all change today.

…

Fucking hell. As if my resolve needed strengthening. Now I'm fighting to give Kaidan a future, too.

I realize that I've been silent for a while, lost in contemplation. Kaidan's probably wondering what the hell I'm doing. Guess I should speak up.

"I think once this is all done, you should try to make it work," I tell him. "Like you told me, everyone deserves a chance at happiness." And we should all try to have some before time runs out. Because if Virmire is teaching me anything, it's that you never know how long you have.

"Thanks, Dylan." Wow, he actually used my name. "I think I needed to hear that."

"Anytime, Kaidan," I say, smiling.

And now, as if on cue (and due to narrative causality), Jenny and Ash walk into the mess hall. We exchange greetings as the girls get their food and take their seats. Ash sits next to me and gives me a surprise kiss on the cheek, echoing that moment in the elevator a few weeks ago before our date. I'm surprised by the suddenness of it and the fact that she's so open about it. Jenny, who took a seat next to Kaidan, just gives a small smile and doesn't comment. I guess that's one more person who knows about us. Though you know what? I don't care anymore. Let people know. We have too little time to worry about what people think.

I smile, too, and give Ash a quick one-armed hug before going back to my food.

The rest of breakfast is a pleasant affair. Liara also shows up after a while and the entire mess hall is filled with conversation among friends. Unfortunately, it comes to a much too sudden end. With fifteen minutes left before we drop in, Jenny, Ash, Liara, and I head down to the cargo deck to suit up.

The cargo door opens, and I'm met with the sight of a beautiful garden world through the turret's sights. That's right, I somehow got put on the turret. Liara is sitting up front to navigate and help with any tech stuff, and Ash and Wrex are stuck in the back with nothing to do. Poor them.

Joker swoops the Normandy in low and releases the Mako's clamps. Jenny throws the vehicle into reverse and slides right out of the cargo bay. Our wonderful pilot was actually flying low enough where Jenny didn't need to turn the thrusters on to slow our fall. Once again, I'm reminded how lucky we are to have Joker as our pilot.

We come to a stop in the shallow river bed, the Normandy already a speck in the sky.

"Got a clean drop, Commander," Joker says over the radio.

"Great job, Joker," Jenny says. "Now keep the Normandy safe while we deal with those AA towers."

"Yeah, yeah. I know the drill. Radio in once those towers are offline. Joker out."

Here we go, into the fray.

Jenny stomps on the accelerator, shooting us forward down the river bed. The beautiful landscape passes by my sights. I've got nothing on the radar, but I'm still wary, constantly turning the turret, never looking at the same area for too long. Here and there I see one of those weird crab-looking things.

"What are those things?" I ask for the simple purpose of starting a conversation.

"They appear to be some sort of native creature," Liara answers. "I have never encountered such species on any other planet."

"They look harmless," Jenny adds. "I'd say you can ignore them."

"Got it," I say, going back to scanning the area. We twist and turn our way down the river bed, making pretty good time. From the looks of the map, we're about half way to the first checkpoint. We round yet another corner when…

Is that…

"Geth drones!" Jenny warns. Yep, those sure are drones right in front of us. How the hell did the radar miss them? Whatever, doesn't matter. I just need to kill those things.

I take aim at the nearest drone, lining the thing up in my reticule. Let me say this right now: I'm really freaking glad that this turret has gyroscopic stabilization. In layman's terms, it means that no matter how crazily Jenny drives, my sights keep the same orientation. That makes this whole aiming while moving business much easier.

Anywho, I finally get the damn thing lined up and pull the trigger to the main gun. In an instant, the drone explodes.

Wow, there was actually surprisingly little recoil with that. While I'm waiting for the main gun to cool down, I start shooting at the other drone with the machine gun. The damn thing is wildly inaccurate, but it pumps out so many rounds that it really doesn't matter. The drone is nothing but scrap in a matter of seconds.

Wow, this turret kicks ass! I wish I could have used this more often. With those two drones out of the way, Jenny continues on down the trail. The next fifteen minutes or so are spent pretty much the same way. See drones, kill, move on, repeat. To tell the truth, it's gotten pretty boring. At least it looks like we're almost at the first checkpoint. Hopefully that'll spice things up a bit.

We turn one last corner to be confronted by a long straightaway leading up to the gate. The gate is closed, of course, which means we'll be getting out to open it. But first, I need to take care of the geth troops outside.

Jenny guns it, charging us straight at the geth line. Before she even started, I began sending cannon and machine gun rounds downrange. It really is amazing how much this turret kicks ass! We're about half way to the gate, and I've already killed three quarters of the geth outside. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that there aren't any armatures or colossi. Not that I'm complaining. I'm perfectly alright being able to kill the geth with one shot of the main gun or a short burst of the machine gun.

By the time we reach the ramp leading up to the top of the gate, all the geth I can see are dead. However, I still see some on the radar. Looks like we're doing this on foot. Jenny parks the Mako and gives the order to hop out.

Once we're all out, Wrex and Ash—being the resident tanks—take point. Liara stands behind and between them, and Jenny and I flank Liara, forming a sort of triangle without a point. There aren't any geth in sight, so we head up the ramp to the walkway that sits above the gate.

Lo and behold, as soon as we get out of sight of the Mako, two geth troopers are waiting for us. Against the five of us? They last about, oh, seven seconds. Jenny and I overload the same geth by coincidence, causing it to explode, and Wrex and Ash each pump a shotgun round into the other one.

Moving on, we come to a sort of tunnel into the adjacent rock formation. According to the radar, there are three geth inside the room at the end. Cautiously, we approach the tunnel. It's about fifty feet long and offers no cover whatsoever. Once inside, we start to run, knowing that we're in trouble if we get caught in here. For whatever reason, the three geth at the end of the tunnel don't start shooting at us.

Ash and Wrex storm into the control room and immediately start unloading their shotguns into two of the geth. Liara enters next and lifts the third geth up into the air, making it an easy target for Jenny and me.

With that taken care of, Jenny wordlessly flips the single switch on the wall. Behind us, we hear the sound of the gates opening.

Back in the Mako, everyone takes their previous place, which means I'm back on my beloved turret. I lean back, expecting a repeat of the previous section of trail: endlessly repeating boring encounters with drones.

I'm sadly disappointed. Right after the first turn, there's a whole squad of about 10 geth on the trail. Well this is different. Luckily, they're just regular troopers with an occasional shock trooper: nothing that can do any real damage to the Mako. Unfortunately, they're all spaced out, meaning I can't get multi-kills with one cannon round. Guess I'm doing this the hard way.

There's absolutely no rhyme or reason to my shooting. I pretty much let loose with the machine gun till it overheats then let off a shot from the main cannon. Rinse and repeat. Though I gotta say, even with the gyroscopic mount for this turret, all of Jenny's evasive maneuvers are making it somewhat difficult to aim.

"Think you could go five seconds without messing up my aim?" I yell down to her after a particularly sharp turn caused me to miss my shot with the main gun.

"I'm trying to keep you alive long enough to aim!" she yells back at me. There's not really much I can say in response to that, so I just grit my teeth deal with it.

Finally, after a grueling five minutes spent trying to kill ten geth, we finally drive away victorious.

Unfortunately, this trend continues. It seems like after every bend there are more and more geth per group. As if that wasn't enough, they start getting rocket troopers, juggernauts, and destroyers. Now that the geth can actually do some damage to the Mako, Jenny becomes even more erratic with her driving. I can't really complain since we're hit maybe once with every ten rockets shot at us. Still, it just means that each successive group of geth has more time to prepare for us.

On the last straightaway before the next checkpoint, there are fewer geth than before. Too bad they're all primes. Looks like five of them. Fuck. These bastards are tough enough to take two direct hits from the Mako's main cannon. They also have uber-rocket launchers. Oh this is gonna suck.

"You ready for this, Dylan?" Jenny calls up at me.

"Whenever you are," I tell her.

"Then here we go."

She floors it.

As we hurdle towards the geth at speeds that would make a NASCAR driver hang his head in shame, I unload with everything this turret has. Cannon shots are immediately followed up by barrages of machine gun fire. Believe it or not, a cannon shot plus enough rounds to overheat the machine gun actually kills a geth prime.

That is if all the machine gun rounds hit. And due to Jenny's necessarily crazy driving, less than half of the rounds actually hit. As it stands now, I might as well just ignore the machine gun.

Also, as much as I might hate what Jenny's driving does to my aim, I also know it's the only thing keeping us alive. We've nearly taken a few hits that would have been bad.

Finally, after five minutes of near misses, I finally deliver the death blow to the final prime. Good fucking riddance.

We round the corner at the end of the straightaway to see the second checkpoint waiting for us. This is also the one with the AA gun. We go through pretty much the same process as the last gate: I kill every geth I can see with the turret then we get out and finish the rest of foot. Just as before, there are a few geth in the control room, but nowhere near enough to pose a serious threat to us. This checkpoint is cleared in a matter minutes.

Inside the control room, there's an added console: one for the AA gun. Jenny fiddles with the terminal for a minute before backing away.

"I'm reading that the grid is down, Commander," Joker says over the radio. "Making my approach to the salarian camp."

"Copy that, Joker," Jenny says. "See you there." She clicks her radio off and walks over to the gate controls, flipping the switch to open the gate. One more checkpoint to go.

The Mako speeds through the recently opened gate. According to the map, the final gatehouse is about half the distance that this one was. Personally, I'm happy about that. The turret is starting to lose its luster.

Surprisingly, the first few twists and turns contain no geth. Maybe they gave up…

Ha, fat chance. But seriously, I'm not complaining about the lack of geth. I'm perfectly content to just sit back and enjoy the rest of the drive.

Alas, 'tis not meant to be. For as we round the latest corner, we see two colossi.

Yeah, you read that right. Two. Not one, two. Both colossi.

Fuck me.

Echoing my thoughts, I hear a groan come from the driver's seat.

"Time to bring your A-game, Dylan," Jenny tells me.

"Gee, thanks for the warning." Whatever response she has for me is drowned out by the report of the main gun. I decide to focus on the right colossus first. I don't hold anything back, keeping my finger glued to the machine gun trigger whenever the main cannon cools down.

Holy fuck this thing can take a lot of punishment! I've probably hit that synthetic bastard with five shots of the cannon. Meanwhile, Jenny's doing a wonderful job of dodging the giant siege pulses from both colossi.

Finally, I kill the first bastard with the seventh cannon shot. So now I know what it takes. I turn my attention when the entire Mako suddenly shakes.

"What the hell happened?" I yell down to Jenny.

"We took a hit," she yells back. "The shields are still up…barely. Take that thing out as fast as you can."

"Doing my best."

The recoil of the main gun travels through my body for the umpteen-millionth time today. The final duel has begun. I lay into it with everything I have, and the colossus returns the favor. To her credit, Jenny does a great job dodging the siege pulses. Unfortunately, the giant geth has a machine gun of its own, and it's using that to slowly whittle away the Mako's shields.

After six shots from the main gun, I only need one more. It's cooling down after the sixth shot, so I start firing the machine gun. The colossus also starts to charge its siege pulse. Oh no, I don't want that thing to fire again.

C'mon, c'mon cool down you fucking cannon! The geth's about to fire! I get the beep telling me the cannon's good to go. My finger tightens on the trigger.

The geth fires.

I fire.

The geth falls.

The Mako shudders.

"Shit, that last pulse made contact!" Jenny yells. Wow, Jenny almost never swears. That's not good. "Shields are gone, hull integrity has been compromised. The capacitor is fried, meaning we're not getting our shields back any time soon. We can continue on, but we're especially vulnerable right now. Dylan, first priority is rocket troopers. If even one of those hit, we need to bail."

"Roger that," I say. The pressure's on now, I guess. Really can't fail now.

The Mako limps into the salarian camp after a tough final fight. I somehow managed to take out the geth rocket troopers before they did any damage to the Mako. After that, it was the same process of clearing the checkpoint and opening the gates.

Joker's already warned us of the little surprise waiting for us. I can only imagine Jenny's reaction to this. Hopefully she can reign in her desire for headshots.

Anywho, she parks the Mako in the shallow water next to the camp. We hop out and walk across the admittedly beautiful beach to where Kaidan is standing in front of a green salarian in white armor. He's got black eyes and seems slightly buffer than an average salarian. So this is what Kirrahe looks like in person.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Kaidan asks as we walk up.

"Stay put until we can come up with a plan," Kirrahe replies.

"Are you in charge here?" Jenny asks. "I need a sitrep."

"I'm Captain Kirrahe, Third Infiltration Regiment, STG," the salarian in question replies. "You and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hotzone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Jenny asks, sounding slightly exasperated at the news.

"We stay put until the Council sends the reinforcements we requested." The four of us (Jenny, Kaidan, Ash, and I) share a look. This is awkward. Kaidan's the one to break the news to the poor guy.

"We are the reinforcements."

"What? You're all they sent?" he asks, voice full of disbelief. "I told the Council to send a fleet."

"You're message was garbled beyond comprehension," Jenny tells the captain. "They sent us to investigate."

"That is a repetition of our task," Kirrahe says, sharply."I lost half my men investigating this place."

"So what did you find that warrants a Council fleet?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"Saren's base of operations." I hear a sharp inhale from Jenny, Ash, and Kaidan. "He's set up a research facility here, but it's crawling with geth and very well fortified."

"Is Saren here?" Jenny asks. "Have you seen him?"

"No, but his geth are everywhere, and we've intercepted some comms referring to him. This is his facility, there's no doubt about that."

"So what's Saren researching here?"

"He's using the facility to breed an army of krogan," Kirrahe says.

"How is that possible?" Wrex rumbles, walking up from where he was standing before.

"Apparently, Saren has found a cure to the genophage."

"The geth are bad enough," Jenny says. "But an army of krogan…he'd be almost unstoppable."

"Exactly my thoughts. We must ensure that this facility and its secrets are destroyed."

"Destroyed? I don't think so," Wrex says. "My people are dying. This cure can save them."

"If that cure leaves this planet, the krogan will become unstoppable," Kirrahe says, seemingly ignorant of the fact that a krogan is standing right in front of him. "We can't make that same mistake again."

A low growl escapes Wrex. He quickly crosses the distance between himself and Kirrahe. I'll give the salarian credit: he only takes a single step back. "We are not a mistake," Wrex states, pointing an accusing finger at Kirrahe. He gives the STG agent one final glower before stalking off.

"Is he going to be a problem?" Kirrahe asks once Wrex is out of earshot. "We already have enough angry krogan to deal with."

"Don't worry about him. I'll talk to him," Jenny tells the captain.

"I would appreciate that, Commander. Now, my men and I need to rethink our plan of attack. Can you give us some time?"

"Of course, Captain. We'll talk again soon."

"We won't be long, Commander. I suggest you take whatever time you can to relax." And with that, he walks off, presumably to assemble his lieutenants. Jenny turns around to face Kaidan, Ash, and me, forming a little circle.

"Looks like we're in a bit of a mess," Kaidan says.

"That might just be the understatement of the year," I mutter. The three of them give me a look, which I return with a grin.

"I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for Wrex," Ash says, ignoring my comment. "He looks like he's going to blow a gasket."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him," Jenny says.

"Just be careful, Jenny," I tell her, giving a weak smile. "Would be a shame to lose you to an ally."

"Your concern has been noted," she replies, dryly. "Now you guys take Kirrahe's advice and relax while you can. That's an order." I give a playful salute while Ash and Kaidan spout off a "Yes ma'am."

Ash and I look at each other and walk off to the water's edge together. I sit down on the sand with my boots in the crystal clear water. Ash sits down next to me and rests her head on my shoulder. I place my arm around her waist and lay rest my head on hers in the classic pose.

We don't say anything. We don't need to. Both of us understand too well how dangerous this mission is. I also know too well that this could be our last personal time together. So we sit on the beach, taking comfort in the other's presence, and admire the beauty of the near-tropical vista in front of us. It's a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

A final peaceful moment before we head once again into the fray.

A/N: So there ya go. The Mako section of Virmire is over. This chapter was very much an action sandwich: Dialogue at the beginning and end, and a whole bunch of action in the middle. But hey, it's Virmire. What can ya do?

Anywho, next chapter is gonna start the infiltration. Not sure how far I'll get. Either way, until then, ta ta!