"We're ready, Captain Alenko."

Tristan nodded as the Normandy left the Earth's orbit, his arms crossed as he watched the monitors in front of him. Edison is piloting the Normandy, with his mother sitting at the console beside him. "We have exactly an hour before the flares begin, Captain." EDI said, "Everything's in order. The latest retrofits have fitted the Normandy and the shuttle with additional defenses against the sun's heat. All we need to do now is to send Meiou to the Shield."

"The Shield?" Tristan asked, and Thanikah shrugged from behind Edison's seat, "That's what the quarian engineers called it when we were making it. They're not much on calling names."

"I heard that." Amira said from the InterComm, "If it was up to quarians, we would have called it something in our language, but you other species won't be able to pronounce it."

Tristan chuckled, "Shield is fine, Amira. It is what it's supposed to do anyway. Where are you?"

"I'm down here in the Cargo Bay, Tristan." Amira answered, "I will be taking Meiou to the Shield."

He nodded, "Alright, I'll go get her." He turned around, heading for the galaxy map only to see Jarred and Meiou had already joined them. A miniature representation of the sun floated over the galaxy map, which showed a long vessel, its tip facing the sun, which Tristan guessed is the Shield. Several circles dotted the atmosphere around the sun, making a distinct pattern, which happened to be the Biotic Relays. Meiou looked worried, looking at the ship's schematics of the Shield, her hand clasped on her chest. Jarred stood beside her, and he had his arm around her.

He came to her and nodded slightly, "You ready?"

Her violet eyes rose him, looking fearful, but she closed them, and the fear vanished, showing only determination, "Yes."

"Captain Alenko?" Engineer Radley came forward and saluted, "I've been ordered by Dr. T'Soni to bring Ms. Seishiro to the shuttle. She had received some new intelligence on Cerberus, and would be very busy for today. I will be her replacement for the final checks and launching of the Shield."

"Okay." Tristan looked down at Meiou and saw that she was holding Jarred's hand tightly, "You'll be fine, Meiou. Head down to the shuttle when you're ready."

Tristan headed back to the bridge, and Engineer Radley nodded at Meiou, "Please head down to the shuttle, Ms. Seishiro."

As the human left, Jarred felt like he was glaring at him again, and he turned to Meiou, "That engineer has been giving me the creeps since he came aboard. Are you sure you're okay to go with him?"

"I have to, Jarred. I don't want to Earth to be turned to a crisp." She said, and she smiled up at him, "Besides, I promised you we'll go back to Surin Island when this is all over. We still have to reclaim our honor at beach volleyball."

Jarred chuckled, "Yeah, I guess so." But he sighed, and leaned forward, looking down at their hands. "Be careful, Meiou."

She smiled, and leaned forward as well, her forehead touching his. His eyes widened, remembering that his mother did the same to him and her father. It was the turian way of saying 'I love you'. She reached up and touched his mandible, "I'll come back to you." She leaned forward again, kissing his lips before moving back.

Jarred didn't feel like letting her go. There was something in his gut that seemed to wrench as she started walking away from him, her fingers slowly slipping from him. Finally she let go, smiling at him before walking towards the elevators to head to the shuttle.

He swallowed, lowering his head. Something didn't feel right to him. It was a nagging feeling that he had never felt before. He headed to the bridge to talk to Tristan.

"Tristan." Jarred said and the young captain turned to him, "Something doesn't feel right."

At this, Tristan's brows furrowed, "What do you mean?"

Jarred shrugged, "I don't know. I just feel it. Like something's wrong. Like there's something… off."

"Don't you think you're just nervous about Meiou being in the Shield?" His friend said.

"I don't know. I just…" He sighed, "There's something wrong. I could feel it."

"Tristan, Meiou and Amira are in the Shield." EDI announced, and they turned to her, "Opening communication channels."

The screen in front of them flickered to life, and they saw Meiou standing before a sphere console, removing her gloves. Engineer Radley was operating on a console, and Amira on another. "Why are you removing your gloves, Meiou?" Amira asked.

"Jack said it's to make sure that nothing hinders my biotic energy." Meiou said, "I'm not sure how it works either, but it does."

"All set, Ms. Meiou… Ms. Amira." Engineer Radley said, and Meiou nodded, placing her hands on the round console, and spreading her stance, "Please release your biotic energy in 3…. 2…. 1."

Jarred, Tristan, Edison and Thanikah watched as Meiou's body glowed blue from biotic energy, and from another screen, they watched the Shield vessel release a ray of biotic energy. Jack's training had worked, her shield spreading out faster and wider than the Citadel as they watched. The energy spread out to the relays, spreading it to other ways in a chain reaction. Pretty soon, the whole sun was encompassed with blue biotic energy.

"Wow…" Tristan watched in amazement, and Thanikah nodded in agreement.

Jarred stared hard at the screen, watching Meiou as she concentrated, pushing her biotic limits. He saw beads of sweat starting to form on her face. He saw Amira press something on the monitor.

"The temperature is increasing!" Amira cried, and he heard Meiou grunt in exertion, "Get ready, Meiou! Strongest flare to occur in… 3… 2… 1!"

The Normandy crew watched as the sun glowed bright, turning bright yellow, and fire seemed to explode from inside the biotic bubble. Meiou yelled, pushing her shields to hold, the blue biotic field pulsing. And finally, the flares lessened, cooling down to an orange color. The biotic shields faded, but there was not much change after it disappeared. They had done it.

"YES!" Tristan cried as the Normandy cheered and clapped, and Jarred breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Meiou let go of the console, stepping back, a bit unsteady on her feet. She seemed to look at the camera, and she smiled tiredly, her chest heaving from her efforts. It was then that Jarred noticed something. He pulled at Tristan's arm.

"Tristan, where's Nicholas?" Jarred asked, "Shouldn't he be in the Shroud, checking Meiou's vitals?"

At this, Tristan's eyes widened as he remembered, but as he opened his mouth, somebody cut him off.

"Lieutenant Commander Vancair!" Leena Traynor shouted, running towards the bridge and Jarred turned to her, "There's a transmission from your parents. Something's happening."

"What?!" Jarred said, looking at Tristan, and they ran towards the terminal. Jarred pressed a button, and soon the sounds of explosions greeted his ears.

"Mom! Dad!" Jarred cried out at the microphone, "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Garrus' voice drifted from the speakers, "When you guys left, these ships came down and started shooting at us!"

"It's Cerberus, Jarred!" Jane's voice shouted, "They found us!"

Jarred and Tristan's eyes widened, "What?! How can that happen?"

"I don't know! Go ask Liara!" Garrus said, and Jarred heard a pistol going off, "Nice shot, Jane! Listen, we're going to try and get out of here. We'll contact you when we're safe. Get me my sniper rifle, sweetheart."

Shots rang out from the speakers, and it sounded like Garrus had finally has his hands on a sniper rifle. Jarred could hear footsteps and soon his mother's voice spoke again, "We'll contact you when we can, Jarred. Don't worry. Just…"

But the transmission ended, and static filled the speaker. Jarred pressed the button frantically, "Mom! Dad!"

Tristan laid a hand on his shoulder, "Come on, let's find Liara."

Jarred and Tristan headed to Liara's side of the ship, only to see that it was empty. Jarred looked around, trying to find the asari, but he found a slim-three fingered hand instead.

"NICHOLAS!" Jarred shouted in despair, and pushed a table away from the salarian. Nicholas was unconscious, his eyes closed, and green blood was coming out the side of his torso. Jarred felt for a pulse on the salarian's neck, and Tristan began applying medigel to his wounds.

"He's alive, but barely." Jarred said, and he looked up to see Grunt, lying on his side, thick red krogan blood spilling from a wound on his shoulder, but he was breathing. Tristan went to the krogan and applied medigel as well, as Jarred put a hand on his ear, "Thanikah, get over here in Liara's office. Nicholas and Grunt are shot. I can't find Liara."

"What?!" Edison and Thanikah both cried out, and Jarred heard footsteps as Thanikah ran from the bridge. Soon the door opened and the drell appeared beside Jarred, "I'll take him to the med bay right now." She said, and she helped pull the salarian up as Tristan did the same to Grunt, who was awake now but heaving in pain.

"Jarred…"

He turned around to see Liara, on the floor with her head on her hand. He rushed to her and thanked the Spirits to see that she was not bleeding. "Liara, are you hurt?"

"It was that Engineer… Radley." Liara said as Jarred helped her up, "He was a Cerberus spy, Jarred. But it didn't show up in my files. He was so well-hidden… he knocked me out and took the coordinates to your parent's island."

"Why?! Why does he want to kill my parents?" Jarred said as he helped her walk towards the medbay.

"Revenge, I guess." Liara said, "They've been after Jane for ages…"

"Jarred! Tristan!" Edison's voice shouted from their earphones, "There's a Cerberus ship heading for the Shield!"

"Damn…" Jarred said, "So this was the bad feeling I was getting."

"Go! I'll be okay." Liara said as they reached the medbay, and she sat in one of the beds, "I'll take care of Grunt and Nicholas. They might be after Meiou. Go!"

Tristan and Jarred sprinted from the med bay as Liara began gathering supplies, with Thanikah helping her, they headed to the bridge to see that the camera's that showed the inside of the shield has gone static. Another screen showed that the sun's flares are finally done, and the biotic shield is gone. Jarred saw a cruiser heading towards the Shield.

"Can you reach Amira?" Tristan asked worriedly, but Edison shook his head, "I tried, but the communications are down. I heard what Liara said, I think Radley hacked the communications." He pressed a few buttons on the screen, "With the shuttle gone, I'm going to have to get you there myself. Put your helmets on and head to the cargo bay. You're going to have to jump from there."

"Alright." Tristan and Jarred said as they ran to the cargo hold, putting on their helmets and preparing their weapons. Jarred could feel his hands shaking in anger as he loaded fresh clips to his assault rifle. Tristan nodded to him, and he followed the captain to the cargo bay doors as they opened on the airlock connecting to the Shield.

"Tristan, I detected only one Cerberus vessel near the Shield." EDI said from their Comms. "It has launched a shuttle headed for the Cargo Bay."

At this Jarred finally understood, "Damn it! They're taking Meiou!"

Jarred and Tristan ran into the Shield, before entering the area where Amira and Meiou was. They looked around, and finally located Amira on the floor, near the console.

"AMIRA!" Tristan cried in despair as he bent over the quarian, who was now bleeding from her abdomen. Jarred scanned her with his OmniTool. "Damn it." He stood up and fiddled with the console, "Normandy, do you copy? I need an evac! Amira's hurt!"

"Hang on! We're on our way now!" It was Lenna Traynor, "I've got Jose with me."

"Tristan, you'd better stay here with Amira." Jarred said as his captain covered the quarian's wounds with medigel, "Traynor and Cruz are on the way. I'll see if I can reach Radley."

Tristan nodded, determined to keep Amira alive as Jarred ran ahead. He saw a few Cerberus soldiers loading a black and glass tank into a shuttle, with Radley directing them. He squinted as he ran, and saw a human in the tank, her eyes closed.

"GIVE HER BACK, YOU BASTARD!" Jarred cried out as he pulled the trigger on his assault rifle, killing some of the soldiers, but Radley had loaded Meiou's tank into the shuttle and was starting to hover away. Radley had the guts to look back at Jarred and smirk, as the shuttle hovered. Jarred grit his teeth, and loaded a single cartridge on his sniper rifle using his legs. He lifted the rifle, and took aim.

The shuttle was several meters away from him, but he took a deep breath, and exhaled, squeezing the trigger. He saw his bullet hit the mark, hitting a part of the back end of the shuttle.

Somebody closed the cargo doors again and he looked up to see a human, with dark skin and blue eyes, holding a rifle. It was Jose Cruz.

"Lieutenant Commander Vancair!" Jose said as he helped the turian-human up, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said as he stood, and started walking back, "Did you get Amira? How is she?"

"Ms. Krios is with her now. She and Traynor took her to the med-bay on the Normandy. Captain Alenko has also headed to the Normandy to check on Grunt and Nicholas." The Alliance engineer said as he walked beside him. "Ms. Amira's wound is… pretty bad, and her suit sprang a leak. They're doing the best they can to help her. Nicholas was shot pretty badly, but he's alive and in recovery. Grunt has fully healed and is awaiting Captain Alenko's orders."

"Thank the spirits for krogan metabolism." Jarred said as he and the engineer headed out of the Shield. There was a shuttle waiting for them, and Cruz quickly jumped into the pilot's seat. Jarred looked down at the floor to see blood all over it. He swallowed, "Are you sure Amira's going to be alright?"

"Yes, sir. She is stable." Cruz said as he piloted the shuttle out of the Shield and towards the shuttle bay of the Normandy. "Ms. Thanikah has ensured us that she will make a full recovery, provided she does not get any infection."

"Any news on my parents?" Jarred said.

The human was quiet as he lowered the shuttle, finally he said, "No, sir. I'm sorry."

Jarred jumped out of the shuttle as soon as Jose landed and half-ran towards the elevator and to the Med Bay, but it was closed. He peered through the window to see Nicholas sitting on a bed, pale, but still alive. He gave a small smile to Jarred and raised a finger to his ear, "Sorry, Jarred. Cannot come in. Thanikah and Liara conducting sterilization and observation on Amira's injuries. Too weak to assist, but giving instruction."

"How are you feeling, Nick?" Jarred said.

"Felt better. But happily not joining Mordin Solus yet." The salarian gave a weak chuckle, "Thanikah actually a good medic. Considering taking her as apprentice." But soon he frowned, "Meiou kidnapped?"

He nodded, and Nicholas slowly shook his head, "Implications are problematic. Cerberus going to conduct experimentation again. Must find them as soon as possible."

"I'll take care of it Nicholas." Jarred said, "You just rest up. I'll get her back, I promise."

The salarian nodded and leaned back into his bed as Jarred headed to the bridge, where Tristan and Grunt stood behind Edison.

"Tristan." Jarred said as he entered, "Is the Cerberus ship gone?"

Tristan turned to face him to see that the captain looked a little tired, "Yeah. It's gone."

Jarred realized what was really worrying his friend and he gave him a pat on his shoulder, "Hey, man. Amira's going to be okay. Thanikah and Liara is not going to let her down."

He nodded, and sighed, "The question now is where they headed. They just took the Relay to God knows where."

Jarred smirked, "I did just plant a tracker on the Cerberus shuttle."

At this, Tristan chuckled, "Good work. Edison, see if you can get a position on Jarred's tracker."

Edison nodded, "Already on it, Tristan. They seem to have headed over the Artemis Tau cluster. Looks like they're hovering over the Spartan system."

"Then that's where we'll go." Tristan said, before looking up at Grunt, "You fit for duty, Grunt?"

At this, krogan grinned, and showed the scarring that had healed. "I'm always ready."

"Captain Alenko?" Traynor said from the CIC, "There's an untraceable message coming in. It's a female, but she won't say who she is."

Jarred and Tristan looked at each other, "Patch it through." And Traynor saluted as she pressed the button and Tristan spoke, "This is Captain Tristan Alenko of the Normandy. Who are you and how are you able to contact us?"

"That's strange. I haven't contacted this ship in ages, but the name is familiar." Said a soft female voice in the intercom, and Grunt's back straightened, "Alenko… Alenko… I know I've heard it from somewhere. I think Shep mentioned him once…"

Jarred blinked, "'Shep?' You mean Commander Shepard?"

"Ah, you know her?" The woman said again, "I would've thought that she'd still be running the Normandy, but I guess she really is gone from the Reaper Wars."

"Kasumi Goto." Grunt chuckled, and Tristan and Jarred looked up at the krogan, "You sneaky little thief. Where have you been?"

"Oh! Is that Grunt?!" The voice exclaimed, "Well, there's a voice I remember. How have you been, Grunt? I haven't seen you since we had Shepard's shore leave party."

"I've been good." Grunt said, "Captain Alenko and his team are my krantt now. He's Councilor Kaidan Alenko's son. His father used to work with Shepard."

"Ah yes, I remember now. Kaidan was that Alliance guy in the party, doing push-ups with James and Jacob." Kasumi said again, "Anyway, so I'm guessing this Alenko kid is the main man now? Then I have some information for you that you might want to hear."

"Let's hear it." Tristan said.

"I've stowed away on a Cerberus ship." Kasumi said, "A woman has just been boarded…"

"Is it a human? With white hair and skin and violet eyes?" Jarred asked immediately, "Is she alright?!"

"So she's with you?" Kasumi said, "She's fine, but she's bound up tight. A lot of security detail, too. She had a helmet on and she can't see a thing. Apparently, it's so she can't use her 'abilities', at least that's what I've heard. We're at the orbit of Sparta."

"Yeah, we figured out as much." Tristan said, "Is there any way we could infiltrate that base without being detected?"

"If your shuttle has activated stealth systems, then you can enter from the top side of the cruiser." Kasumi said, "I can hack my way into opening one of the airlocks, but you would need to hurry. Once they've detected that the airlock is open, I'm pretty sure they would come and investigate. I can make myself undetected if I can, unfortunately I can't say the same for you guys."

"That would be enough." Jarred said, "We're on our way as we speak."

"You'd better hurry." Kasumi said, "She's safe for now, but I've heard that she's scheduled for experimentation soon. And from what I've seen before with Cerberus, she won't last long if that happens. You might as well be rescuing a corpse…"

Jarred and Tristan looked at each other and Jarred swallowed. He began praying to all the Spirits that he would still be able to get to her alive.