A/N: So I had a lot of people worrying that I had skipped Wrex's scene at the end of last chapter. Silly people. I could never skip that part! Wrex is too awesome to skim over. So yeah, put your worries to rest. We're also gonna see some last minute interactions. Beyond that, here's the chapter. Enjoy!

Start the Fight

My last peaceful moment for a while ends suddenly as the sound of a shotgun blast resounds through the basin. What the hell was that?

…

Wrex.

Fuck!

Without waiting for another sound, I scramble to my feet with Ash right behind me. She obviously heard the shot, too, so we both start running towards the end of the beach. How the hell could I be so stupid? I just let Jenny confront Wrex alone. Though now that I think about it, she should have been able to talk him down. I mean, we went to all the trouble of getting his family armor back. That's usually enough to keep him from going berserk.

More shots echo across the beach. Damn, he really walked far away; I think he's on the other side of the far building. I round the corner of the building to see…

Well that's interesting.

It doesn't look like Jenny has approached him yet. He's just standing at the water's edge, shooting into the water while Jenny stands back and watches. I come to a stop next to Jenny, and Ash stops right next to me.

"What's going on?" I ask Jenny after we've been standing there for a while.

"I'm letting him work out some frustration," she says, calmly. "I figured it would be dangerous to talk to him right away, so I'm letting him cool down." Huh…that's actually a good idea.

"Probably a good idea, Skipper," Ash says, echoing my thoughts. "I don't think any sane person would confront Wrex right now."

"Which is why I'm waiting," Jenny says. "Oh, incidentally, would you two mind sticking around? When I finally get around to talking to him, I want some back up." I grin at that huge understatement; a grin that she easily matches.

Wrex just keeps shooting away, and after a while, Ian and Garrus come running up, too. They pull the same thing Ash and I did: stopping dead in their tracks when they see the rest of us just standing here.

"So, uh…what the hell's going on here?" Ian asks in the same tone of voice I had a few minutes ago.

"I'm letting Wrex calm down before talking to him," Jenny says.

"Oh. Well I'm glad no one's dying."

"I'm just glad we didn't have to break up a fight," Garrus says. "We did that enough at C-Sec."

"So nice to see you care, Garrus," Jenny deadpans. It doesn't last long, though; a smile breaks through the façade rather quickly.

After a few more minutes, the frequency of shotgun shots slows down. Wrex starts to just stare at the water for long periods, occasionally firing a random shot off. After letting this go on for a while, Jenny finally decides to go talk to him.

"This isn't right, Shepard," the krogan merc says as Jenny walks up to him. "If there's a cure for the genophage, we can't destroy it."

"I understand your feeling for this, Wrex," Jenny says in a calm voice, stopping a few feet away from Wrex. "But you need to look at the bigger picture. Saren is the enemy here, and we need to stop him."

"Really? Saren created a cure for my people. You want to destroy it. Help me out here, Shepard. The lines between friend and foe are getting a little blurry from where I stand."

"Wrex, you of all people should know that Saren isn't doing this for the krogan. He's doing it for himself. Even if he does succeed, none of us will be around to reap the benefits."

"That's a chance I'm willing to take," he says sharply, taking a few steps closer to Jenny. "This is the fate of my entire people we're talking about!" He stops right in front of her, his face dangerously close to hers. To Jenny's credit, she doesn't move an inch. "I've been loyal to you so far. Hell, you did more for me than my family ever did. But if I'm going to keep following you, I need to know it's for the right reasons." He takes a step back, pulling his shotgun out and aiming it at Jenny.

Immediately, Ash, Ian, Garrus, and I all have our weapons out and trained on the krogan. As much as I love Wrex, I won't hesitate to put him down if he hurts Jenny. I'm also still confident in her negotiating skills, but I want to be ready just in case.

Jenny stays stock still, keeping Wrex's eyes locked with hers. She doesn't even make a move for a weapon of her own. That right there takes more courage than I can ever hope to have.

"Wrex, do you remember that job you did for Saren?" Jenny says in the same calm voice she started with. "You told me that everyone else on that mission died within a few weeks. Saren doesn't care about his hirelings. What makes you think he would treat the krogan any differently? If this cure survives, the only future the krogan will have is one of servitude. Is that what you want for them?"

A long pause follows Jenny's words. Wrex keeps his shotgun aimed right at her chest, and she stays perfectly still with a look of undefeatable calmness. C'mon, Wrex, make the right choice. Please, please don't do something that we'll all regret.

The silence hangs in the air for a full thirty seconds before Wrex speaks up.

"No." YES! "We were tools of the Council once. To thank us for wiping out the rachni, they neutered us all. I doubt Saren's servitude would be as generous." He pauses again, giving Jenny one last critical look. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he puts the shotgun away. The four of us along the sidelines let out a collective sigh of relief and put away our own weapons. I'm not sure words can describe how relieved I am right now. I honestly thought for a second that we would have to kill Wrex. Thank god I was wrong.

"All right, Shepard. You've made your point. I don't like this, but I trust you enough to follow your lead. Just one thing: When we find Saren, I want his head."

"He's all yours, Wrex," Jenny says, visibly relaxing. "I'm glad we could end this peacefully." Wrex just grunts and turns back towards the water. At least he's not shooting it this time. With her job out of the way, Jenny walks back over to where we're standing.

"Well that went better than I could have hoped," she says, coming to a stop in front of us.

"For starters, you're not dead," I say. I dodge a punch to the shoulder from Ash, smiling the whole time.

"And neither is Wrex," Ian adds.

"Like I said, better than expected." We all share a laugh at that. Before anyone can say anything else, Kaidan comes up to us.

"Shepard, Kirrahe said he wanted to see you. I think he's got a plan."

"Thanks, Kaidan. I guess we should go see what he has to say," she says. The rest of us nod in agreement, and we all head over to Kirrahe's tent/building thing. Along the way, a few of the salarians comment on the fact that Jenny managed to talk down Wrex. Oh ye of little faith. I never doubted Jenny for a second.

Well…there was that half second before Wrex backed down, but that was only half a second, not a whole second, so my original statement holds true.

Anywho, the five of us walk up to Kirrahe, ready to hear his master plan.

"Thank you for speaking with the krogan," the captain says. "The assault on Saren's base will be difficult enough as it is."

"I'm guessing you have a plan, then," Jenny says.

"Of sorts," Kirrahe says hesitantly. "We can convert our ship's drive system into a 20 kiloton ordinance. Crude, but effective."

"Nice," Ash says, next to me. "Drop that nuke from orbit, and Saren can kiss his turian ass goodbye."

"I'm sorry to ruin your fantasy, but the facility is too well fortified for that. We'll need to place the bomb in a precise location."

"So where do we put it, and how do we get it there?" Jenny asks. I'm kinda glad she's not beating around the bush with this. The sooner this mission ends, the better.

"The bomb must be taken to the far side of the facility," he explains. "Your ship can drop it off, but we'll need to infiltrate the base, disable the AA guns, and pacify any ground forces first."

"We don't have enough men to assault this base on foot," Kaidan says incredulously.

"Are you sure there's no other way?" Jenny asks the salarian.

"No, but I think we can work around that," he says. "I'm going to divide my men into three teams and hit the front of the facility. While we've got their attention, you can sneak your 'shadow' team in the back."

"You'll all get slaughtered!" Jenny says, sounding shocked at Kirrahe's suggestion.

"We're tougher than we look, Commander, but it's true. I don't expect many of us to make it out alive." He pauses for a moment. "And that makes what I'm about to ask even more difficult." Oh fuck, this is the part I've been dreading. "I need one of your men to accompany me. To help coordinate the teams."

"It would make things easier if you had someone who knew Alliance communication protocols," Jenny says slowly. Is she really going along with this so easily? I thought she'd be against putting one of her team in danger.

"I volunteer, Commander," Kaidan says.

"Not so fast, LT," Ash says hotly. "Shepard's gonna need you to arm the nuke. I'll go with the salarians."

"With all due respect, Gunnery Chief, it's not really your place to decide." Uh oh, that wasn't the best thing to say to her right now, Kaidan. Be prepared to face snarkyness.

"Why is it that whenever someone says 'with all due respect' they really mean 'kiss my ass'?"

"I can go, too," I say. Wait, what? What the hell prompted me to say that? I can't do that. It would ruin everything!

"Dylan, you don't know Alliance comm. protocol," Jenny says. "So you're not an option." I'm actually quite relieved at that. I couldn't handle leading an attack, even with all the military history I read. That stuff doesn't mean shit in a combat situation. Oh look, more talking.

"Ash, I'm sending you with the salarians. Stay safe, get the job done, and get out." Please, whatever god may or may not be out there, let Ash be safe. You have my word that I'll do everything I possibly can to save her, but any help would be welcome. So yeah, if you're out there listening, I wouldn't mind some help.

"Aye aye, Commander."

"I'll have the ordinance loaded onto the Normandy and brief your crew on its detonation sequencing," Kirrahe says. "Do you have any more questions, Commander?"

"We're ready, Captain."

"Excellent. Then if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare my men." The salarian captain walks away, heading towards his troops. After he leaves, Jenny turns around, and we're in a similar formation as the last time Kirrahe walked away: her, Kaidan, Ash, and I in a circle. Ian and Garrus walked off somewhere…not really sure where.

"Well…this is it," Ash says. "None of you do anything stupid while I'm gone." Suddenly she looks at me. "Especially you, Dylan. I don't want to have to sit next to your bed in the med bay when this is all over because you were too stupid to duck."

"C'mon, Ash, I haven't been to the med bay since Feros," I say with a grin. "And if I'm not mistaken, I wasn't the only one in there."

"Doesn't mean you still don't have it in you," she says, returning my smile. Even after two weeks in a relationship, she still loves to get those little quips at me in…and I love it. "But seriously, be careful."

"I'll make sure he stays out of trouble, Ash," Jenny says. "I think Kirrahe's about to finish up, so we should get ready." With that, we all walk over to where Kirrahe is standing in front of his men…er, salarians…whatever.

"Our influence will stop Saren, but in the battle today, we will hold the line!"

Damn, we missed most of the speech. I actually thought it was a good speech: inspiring, but realistic. I always did like Kirrahe. With his speech done, his men part, and he turns around.

"Good luck, Commander. I hope we will meet again."

"Good luck to you, too, Kirrahe. Godspeed." They salute each other, and the salarian captain walks towards where his troops are gathering. Ash moves to follow him.

On an impulse, I grab her arm, turning her around to face me. I close the distance between us and plant my lips firmly on hers. It's a deep, passionate kiss, unlike our previous ones.

Finally, I break off, pulling back to look her in the eyes.

"That's as much luck as I can give," I say. "Stay safe."

"You too." She pauses, a look of indecision crossing her face. "I…I…"

"Chief Williams, we need to get moving," Kirrahe calls. Ash sighs.

"I'll tell you when this is all over. So you better stay alive." And with that, she walks off.

Once more into the fray.

My feet impact the ground on the other side of the wall. We just crossed into Saren's backyard, so the fight is about to begin. I walk up behind Jenny, who has stopped at the edge of a shallow pool. Garrus, Ian, and Wrex walk up next to me. I was actually a little surprised that Jenny chose Wrex for the shadow team…though now that I think about it, it makes sense. Wrex is in full rage mode against Saren, so why not use that anger to our advantage?

Garrus and Ian are the other logical choices. Besides Jenny, they're the closest things to infiltrators on the squad. Besides, Tali and Kaidan had to help get the bomb ready, and I don't think Liara is cut out for this kind of mission.

"Comm. check. Do you read me, Commander?" Kirrahe asks over the radio, interrupting my internal monologue.

"Loud and clear, Captain," Jenny says.

"Good. We'll start our push. We'll try to make it to the AA guns, but it might be up to you to finish the job. And Commander? If you see any way to undermine their defenses, we could always use the help."

"We'll see what we can do. Over and out." Looking back at us, Jenny nods and starts moving out.

We're in a sort of canyon with a shallow river winding through it. We slowly advance through the canyon, keeping an eye out for any geth along the rock walls. About thirty feet ahead, there's a bend in the trail, so we stop right before rounding the corner. Jenny peeks around and takes a look, pulling back a few seconds later.

"It looks like a geth outpost, about fifty feet from the bend," she says, letting her voice drop to a whisper.

"So how do you want to do this?" Garrus asks.

"I'm thinking that you, Ian, and I stay back with our sniper rifles," she says. Oh no, I can see where this is going. "We'll provide sniper support while Wrex and Dylan assault the outpost."

"Wonderful," I mutter. "You mind spilling any details about this outpost before we go running in?"

"It's basically a raised platform. Not really much to explain. Just get up there and destroy any geth you see."

"Now those are orders I can get used to," Wrex rumbles. Well, at least one of us is excited. I think Jenny always forgets that I only have light armor. Standard issue light armor at that, so this stuff kinda sucks ass. If she's gonna keep using me like a tank, I should at least get some medium armor…assuming I'm strong enough to even wear that stuff. Though I suppose I'm a lot stronger than I was when I first got here. It's amazing what two weeks of non-stop missions and sparring can do.

So what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the geth base thing. So I guess Wrex and I are attacking that. Hmm…it reminds me of Therum. Whatever.

"Give us thirty seconds to set up," Jenny says. "After that, head on in. Feel free to make some noise; it'll give us some shots."

"Can do," I say. Wrex just grunts his agreement. With a nod from Jenny, she, Garrus, and Ian stealthily head out, finding their own spot to set up. At least I know that I have three amazing snipers to back me up.

Thirty seconds later, give or take, Wrex and I round the corner to start our two man assault on the geth base. The approach to the outpost is actually surprisingly open. What the hell? Don't these geth know that we're about to assault them? Where are all the nice pieces of cover left in the open for our convenience? This isn't to say that there's no cover; there's just very little.

Wrex and I make it about half way before the geth spot us. And you know that when one of them finally does spot us, all of them know we're here. It's really annoying to fight enemies that communicate at the speed of light.

The first one that spots us doesn't last long, though. Before it could even fire off a shot, the metal bastard took three sniper rounds to the head. Wow, that was impressive. The fact that all three shots hit the head at about the same time was a frightening testament to their skill.

Of course, once the first one dies, its buddies all start to show up. They line the low wall at the edge of the platform and just start popping in and out of cover randomly. I'm guessing that makes it harder to snipe them out. Wrex and I keep advancing, occasionally firing at a geth that stays above the wall for too long. Even if Jenny and the others never hit another geth, they're doing an awesome job at keeping their heads down.

Wrex and I finally make it to the ramp leading up to the platform. We come up behind the geth hiding behind the wall to see ten of them there. Yeah, that's right. Ten.

Fucking hell.

Without waiting for them to respond (which doesn't leave me much time) I open up my omni-tool and send an overload to a random geth. Not pausing to see the results of that, I start unloading my Mattock into the crowd of geth.

At the same time, Wrex charges straight in, shotgun in hand. And that's what I like about him: he's very straightforward no matter what he's doing.

Also at the same time, the geth have started to stand up to face us. Bad idea on their part. Now Jenny, Garrus, and Ian have clear shots at them.

Suddenly my Mattock starts to beep. Oh fuck, I let it overheat! And now of all times, when I'm standing right in front of seven armed geth! On an impulse, I grab my Carnifex from my hip and start shooting that with my left hand, keeping my Mattock in the right. I'm not dropping my baby.

Once again armed, I start pumping rounds out with the hand cannon. One of the shots hits a geth straight in the flashlight, blowing it clean off. Damn, this thing really is the .44 magnum! I keep shooting the pistol when an idea suddenly pops into my head.

I'm still holding my Mattock.

It's cooled down.

…

This is so gonna happen.

I raise the rifle and tuck it under my arm for support, and I keep the pistol as steady as I can in my left hand.

Let the badassery commence.

I slowly advance, weapon firing in each hand, unloading a pure torrent of high velocity bullets. My first target gets turned into scrap in under four seconds, so I refocus my attention to its buddy. It suffers the same fate. In fact, this is such an amazing killing combination that I start stealing kills from Wrex. I even manage to headshot everything! It's fucking awesome! I seriously cannot be stopped with this combo! I feel like a god! I wonder if there are any colossi around here that I can kill…

…

So yeah, everything in that last paragraph is a lie. Yes, I do start shooting both weapons at the same time. Yes, it looks awesome as hell. Yes, it probably killed one or two geth. But no, it wasn't the most lethal thing I've ever seen. (That position is still held by Jenny, Ian, and Garrus' triple snipe when we saved Tali.) At most, all that accomplished was turning some attention away from Wrex, allowing him more time to fuck shit up like only he can.

After what seems like an eternity—but probably only a minute—the geth are all dead.

"Mannovai is under some heavy fire," Ash suddenly says over the radio. "The geth have some long range turrets that are raining hell. There has to be something helping them target us. See if you can take it out." If Jenny hadn't given us strict orders to maintain radio silence, I'd say something, but I can't. But that won't stop me from trying to help.

If I recall, the targeting…thing is here at this outpost. I look around the platform, trying to find whatever it is that I can mess up. Finally, I see a lone terminal at the base of a tall antenna. That's probably it. Walking over to it, my only hope is that I can figure out how to jam it. I start messing around with the console, trying to somehow shut it down or something. Wrex lumbers up behind me and watches my efforts.

Gah, why can't I figure this thing out? It's seriously pissing me off! I mean, I'll admit that I'm not the best with tech, but I've been getting better thanks to all those shifts in engineering. I've even shared a few shifts with Tali, and she's been really helping me learn how all the tech in this universe works. But I still can't figure out this damn terminal!

"Back up. Let me handle this." What? Since when was Wrex good with tech? Well, it's not like I'm doing a great job right now. Might as well see what he can do.

"Be my guest," I say, backing away from the offending console. Wrex just stands there for a second, looking at it. Slowly, deliberately, he draws his shotgun. Before I can say a word, the geth terminal is nothing but a smoking heap of scrap, and the echoes of his shotgun bounce around the canyon.

"What just happened?" Jenny asks, coming up the ramp. "What was that shot?"

"Wrex just became our new IT guy," I tell her, chuckling. "That targeting system Ash was complaining about won't be a problem." And as if on cue, Ash's voice comes over the radio again.

"The long range turrets have stopped. I guess shadow found the targeting station. We're advancing."

"Well good job," Jenny says, giving Wrex an appreciative nod. "Now let's move out. There's still plenty of ground to cover."

Everyone gives some kind of affirmative, and we continue on towards our objective.

And slowly we march towards our fate.

A/N: Well there ya go, folks. The real mission has started. I'll admit, I didn't get as far as I originally expected. But hey, that just means more chapters! Or at least some longer ones in the future. Either or. Up next we're gonna see more of the infiltration and some of the base interior.

Anywho, I suppose that's it. I'm gonna try to get these next few chapters out as fast as possible, though don't expect iNf3ctioNZ-speed update rates. I'm not that good. But until the next time, ta ta!