Chapter Twenty-Four: The Grand Assault

Zane woke up to the sound of a hiss and then a click. He opened one eye and looked around. Nothing was out of place but he was naked and Tali was at the foot of the bed looking down.

"Hey, you. I'm afraid I have to tell you this, but my girl won't like it if she shows up with a goddess in my room. It can really ruin a relationship." He said and she giggled and looked at him. Her face covered by the purple mask again but he saw the smirking in her eyes.

"I think she will be fine with it." She said but her voice sounded strange. It was hoarse and sounded a little weaker than usual. Zane had a shot of fear shoot through him. She was already sick.

"Have you taken your medicine?" He said and put on a pair of underwear before sitting beside her. She laid her head on his shoulder and held up a small bottle.

"Just administered the first bit of it." She said in a depressed tone.

"I'm sorry Tali." He said and she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. Stern eyes showed -that even while sick- she was someone to not piss off.

"I know what I was getting into. You have nothing to be sorry about. And at the moment it is totally worth it." She purred and he couldn't help himself from smiling. She then gave a small giggle. "Besides, if we survive this mission. We will never get a good night's rest ever again if I get my way." Her eyes smiling at him and he smirked.

"You are going to kill me." He joked. "But at least I'll die happy." Zane said and rested his forehead on her visor and smiled. "I love you."

"Love you too. Now as much as I love to see you nearly naked you should get dressed." Tali giggled and Zane grunted before getting up and grabbing a shirt.

…

She watched him put on the black light-weight hoodie and then the N7 jacket. Followed by grabbing his signature mask. She approached him and straightened his jacket. She could feel his eyes staring at her and she smiled behind her visor. And then she thought about what Vitkin had shown her and her smile faded. The possibility that the man she loved may become a monster, haunted her.

"Zane?" She shakily asked.

"Yes?" He said in a gentle tone.

"No matter what happens…" He put a finger under her helmet and forced her to look up at him.

"Don't talk like that. Don't…" She stopped him by grabbing his hand tightly.

"We have to be serious Zane. Hope alone won't stop what may be. Just know this. I love you more than anything. More than anyone, I love you. Please, if I…." She fought the urge to tear up. "If I don't make it. Never change Zane. The galaxy is too dark for you to fall with it. Promise me." Tali said.

He was hesitant. "Tali I…"

"Promise me!" She commanded. And still, he was silent. "I need to hear you say it." She said and felt a tear fall.

"I promise Tali. But know this, it will never come to that. I would die first before that happens." She was relieved somewhat but at the same time, that was exactly what Vitkin told her.

"At that point, the man you know would be dead. Whatever is left is nothing more than an animal of instinct." It had said to her. But she couldn't focus on it for long before he wrapped her in his arms.

"Everything will be alright Tali." He said and let her go. And she looked up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You are my mate and I am yours. Never forget that."

"Kind of hard to. You seemed to enjoy telling me that last night." He said with a smile. She giggled as she threw his hood over his head and over his eyes.

"Bosh'tet." She said and then the intercom beeped.

"All hands-on-deck. We are about to hit the Omega Four Relay!" Joker said and they gave a scared -if confident- breath.

"Let's do this Lady Zorah." He said and held her hand.

"Let's my mate." And then they went into the hallways.

…

"Commander where do you want me?" Zane asked Shepard when he found him. Tali immediately went to Engineering and everyone had some sort of job except for him.

"Try to help out Joker and EDI." Shepard commanded and they both went to the cockpit.

"Zane, right chair. Warn me of debris and keep an eye on shielding. EDI is too busy plotting a course." Joker ordered and pointed to the chair Zane was to sit in.

"On it." Zane said and sat down quickly. He looked out of the viewport and saw the giant red-pulsing relay. "Fuck me." He whispered as they approached the menacing thing.

"EDI the IFF should work, right?" Shepard asked.

"In theory."

"In theory? Oh, that's great. I get to drive this bus into oncoming traffic at full speed I guess. And all I get for protection is a thin sheet of metal." Joker said.

"Can I get off at the next stop?" Zane asked.

"Sorry, buckle up kiddo."

"Boys." Shepard sternly said. And they remained quiet.

"ETA to impact. Ten seconds, nine seconds, eight seconds…" EDI began to count down and with each second that passed Zane's fight and flight instinct kicked in but he suppressed the smart part of his brain that said, "turn back you idiot!" He never listened to that side of his brain anyway.

"Oh shit." Zane said as they approached even closer. The relay began to take up most of the viewing window.

"Three seconds, two seconds, one second …impact." And then as quickly as they were blocked by a giant relay they were soon being propelled faster than ever before. A red haze covered the window and for several minutes, that was all that could be seen. As the time to begin approached and Zane had cracked everything he could he did the next thing he did to ease his nerves. He played music…

Stronger than steel
We are standing tall
United brothers one and all
Made of metal
Ready for war
Gonna give you some
We'll blow 'em all to kingdom come
Made of metal

The Normandy rocketed out of the relay's pull and began to drift in space for several hundred kilometers.

"Oh shit. We got debris directly ahead of us." Zane said. "I think."

"You think? Have you ever flown before?' Joker asked.

"Bad experiences but like most of my plans, I'm winging this. It works…mostly." Zane said and saw a giant red dot get closer to the Normandy's outline. "Pull up Joker!" He yelled and Joker reacted immediately. The debris barely missed them and in a few moments, the engines came online. "Thank you Tali." Zane said to himself.

"Alright EDI give me a course and we will traverse it." Joker said in concentration.

'Cause I am made of metal
Shine in the dark
Forged in fire
Razor sharp
'Cause I am made of metal
Into the fight
Castles burning bright
Made of metal
Made of steel

Zane bobbed his head to the beat and continued to look at his screen and controlled the direction the shields focused on.

"That's neat." He thought and did as much as he could to help Joker make it passed the initial ship graveyard. The ship took several scraps from the large bits of debris and the Normandy shook in response to each scratch.

"Man, it will take forever to repaint this thing." Zane said as he continued to redirect shield strength to the front of the ship.

"If we are lucky the Collectors will have paint." Joker jested causing Zane to grin and they concentrated on their job.

The Normandy finally managed to reach a point where they were not having to dodge several dozen bits of debris and could breathe. Those in the cockpit looked around the Normandy and made not of the ship "corpses" that surrounded them. Hundreds of thousands of ships surrounded them. Each older then the last and some looked as new as only a few hours old. Skeletons drifted and lifeless suits and pods drifted in the field of death and it gave an eerie feeling to the galactic core.

"Damn. How many people died out here?" Joker asked.

"Too many." Zane and Shepard said in unison. In the distance, several black holes could be seen and Zane knew much more were out there but nothing was behind them allowing for gravitation lensing to make them seen. It made him feel small and vulnerable and most of all…useless.

"Alright, Joker take us further." Shepard gently ordered.

"You got it." And the Normandy began to slowly move forward. Zane was sure to scan each bit of space he could see.

"Anything we should worry about Zane?"

"Oculi. Reaper fighters. They fire a beam and it will cut through the Normandy's hull eventually." He warned.

"Understood. Keep an eye out boys." Shepard commanded and got a silent affirmative in response.

"Got a ping. 300 kilometers to our front and on approach." Zane announced.

"Debris." EDI confirmed and Joker pulled up over it and then he pulled down to get under another large piece of debris. But then several alerts came to Zane's screen and they began to move fast and erratically.

"We got movement. Looks like Oculi."

"Affirmative." EDI said and Joker cursed before commencing evasive maneuvers. He used the debris to his advantage and managed to make several Oculi crash and burn.

The Oculi made several strafing runs against the Normandy's hull but the armor held.

"Thankfully we upgraded the plating." Miranda said and Zane nearly forgot that she was even in the cockpit.

"Oculus moving on our six." Zane announced and saw the blip stay on their tail and he knew what it had in store. "It is going to enter the cargo bay!" Shepard went to the intercom beside Zane and pressed a button.

"All specialists to the cargo bay. Crewmen, keep doing your jobs." He let go of the button and nodded to Zane and Miranda. "Let's go and deal with this thing."

…

The team waited patiently for the Oculus to arrive and Zane knew it was only a matter of time before the giant eyeball showed up.

"You hear that?" Garrus asked and Zane listened acutely for anything and could hear a sound that could only come from a beam weapon.

"Here it comes." He said and soon enough the giant flying orb blasted through the hall.

"Open fire!" Shepard ordered and the team let a torrent of bullets loose on the Oculus.

"The red orb! That's its weak point." Zane stated and he saw more bullets hit that area of the Oculus. After taking quite a bit of damage, the Oculus defended itself. A large red beam escaped through its "eye" and began to burn a path through the cargo bay.

"Cover!" Shepard exclaimed and the team ran for the nearest bit of cover. Zane and Tali got side by side behind large cover.

"So…how are we?" He asked and she laughed before coughing.

"I'm fine. How are you?" She asked in a joking tone as the super-heated beam went passed their cover.

"Still sore just so you know." He said.

"Big baby." She commented before the team began to open fire at the Oculus the two of them soon joined in before the Oculus eventually flew away.

"It'll be back." Shepard supposed and Zane nodded. The team created a circle and then the same sound from before came back. This time it was on the other side of the room and soon the Oculus was beside the elevator.

"Oh, fuck me!" Zane exclaimed when he saw the beam coming at him. He rolled out of the way and got as low as he could as the beam followed him.

"Zane, you okay?" Garrus asked.

"Yea but please get this thing off me. It's getting hot over here." He said as he felt the sheer heat coming from the beam, through the cover, and into his back. Zane heard a rush of gunfire soon follow and the heat subsided. He peeked his head out and saw everyone opening fire at the Oculus and he joined in.

The Oculus tried to escape again but after so much gunfire it was too damaged to make a clean getaway. The Oculus flew out of the cargo bay but soon crashed into debris. The team cheered for a moment but then Joker warned of another Oculus on the way.

"Great." Garrus sighed.

"Get ready everyone and get some cover." Shepard ordered.

Tali, Zane, and Garrus grabbed the same cover and waited patiently.

"Hey there Lovebirds." Garrus joked. And Zane chuckled.

"Hi, Garrus." Tali groaned but in a joking way.

Garrus didn't have time to make a comeback before another Oculus ripped through the Normandy's hull and into the cargo bay again. It went through the middle of the room and spun around as fast as it could. Its beam managing to keep everyone down behind their cover. The Oculus reached the end of the cargo bay and paused for a moment. A hissing sound could be heard and the venting of heat came out of several exhaust ports.

"Now! Its overheated!" Zane shouted and began to open fire. The rest of the team followed soon afterward. The sheer number of bullets that pelted the Oculus' hull made it desperately try to escape and it met the same fate as its compatriot from earlier.

A tense moment befell the cargo bay and soon the team got the feeling that the battle was over. Zane soon realized how quiet the Normandy had gotten. And how still the Normandy was.

"We are out of the large debris field I think." Zane commented and the intercom came online.

"Commander you may want to get up here." Joker said and people began to make their way out.

"You okay?" Zane asked Tali quietly. A small cough came from her but it wasn't a coughing fit…yet.

"Yea just an annoyance right now." She said and gently rubbed his arm with the back of her hand and he gently grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"Let's hope it remains that way." She nodded and they entered the elevator.

…

Zane retook his place beside Joker but felt like it was pointless. They were out of the debris field and there was nothing on the screen. But he knew what was coming next. Far in the distance was the Collector base. It looked like a much larger version of the Collector ship and was just as menacing as he thought it would be.

Zane looked closely and then a red dot appeared on his screen, "Fuck." He cursed and saw the dot get larger. "And here I was hoping they only had the one." He commented and then he soon saw the Collector ship come out of its hanger.

"They are going to lose another one once we are done." Joker stated with a smirk.

"Damn straight." Zane cheered and the Normandy zoomed towards the enemy ship. The enemy ship fired its golden beam and Joker expertly dodged the beam.

"Let's show them our new teeth." Shepard ordered and Joker pressed a few corresponding buttons. And two blue beams erupted from the Normandy and made contact with the ship. Fires, sparks, and debris exploded from the Collector ship.

"Yea take that you son of a bitch!" Joker yelled.

"Let's get these pests." Zane said calmly but deep inside he was ecstatic.

"I swore you would pay you fucker. I'm making good on my promise." He thought and the Normandy made another strafing run. Followed by another and another. Until Joker made one last strafe. The beams burned through the Collector ship's hull with ease and a chain reaction occurred. The ship exploded in a golden fire but a shockwave rocked the Normandy.

"Ah damn it!" Joker cursed and lost control for a moment of the Normandy. But that moment was all it took for the ship to collide with a part of the Collector base. The blow knocked the Normandy further off course and hit another part of the base.

"Joker land the ship!" Shepard commanded.

"On it." Joker replied and he skipped the Normandy across the base's hull before it came to a grinding halt.

"Well…that is one way to stop." Zane said and rose from his seat. "You okay Joker?"

"Yea I'm fine. I think I broke a rib. Or all of them." He said through gritted teeth.

"Shepard to crew come in, injury report."

"Scraps and bruises in CIC nothing to worry about." Miranda said.

"One concussion on deck three but Chakwas is seeing to it." Garrus reported.

"Engineering is okay." Gabby said.

"Alright, Ground team, meet in the meeting room." Shepard said and Zane made his way towards the back of the Normandy.

"Easy part is done. Now for the hard part." He commented as he cracked his fingers.

A/N: Song: Bloodbound: Made of Steel