Disclaimer: I don't own ME.

Both women slowly turned around; on the other side of the catwalk stood something that hadn't been there an instant before. Neither of them was actually sure what it was safe for it being a red holoimage unlike any they had ever seen. Or had they?

Maya's eyes widened when she realized she'd actually seen it before.

"What is it?" Liara mumbled.

"That's Saren's ship," Maya whispered back. An image from Eden Prime flashed in front her eyes as if she watched a vid. The giant, dark ship above the colony, rising to the sky in incredible speed. "Sovereign."

Sovereign twisted in the air in front of them slightly. "Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding," it said. If there was a speck of emotions in its voice, it might have been an insult. "This is realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!"

A chill went down Maya's spine when it finally hit home. And when it did, she realized just what kind of shit they all were in. "You are not some Reaper ship Saren found," she said slowly, and still couldn't believe what she was about to say. "You're an actual Reaper."

That forced Liara to tear her eyes off the hologram in front of them to look at the marine next to her. She was shaking her head, but somewhere inside she knew Shepard had it right. It was the only thing that made sense. A ship, no matter how advanced would never be capable of what Rana had described. A technology of this scale simply didn't exist in the galaxy.

"Reaper?" Sovereign repeated, sounding bored. "A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."

"But…" Liara took a quick breath. "Protheans vanished fifty thousand years ago." She should know. "You couldn't have been there. It's impossible! No one can live that long!"

"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident," the Reaper explained in dull voice. "Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

"Don't speak too soon," Maya hissed, narrowing her eyes at the Reaper. "We might surprise you in the end."

"Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken."

"…cycle?" Liara repeated. The two women exchanged glance. "Protheans and others before them…" Maya mouthed, proving she was thinking exactly what Liara was.

Even though she didn't speak out loud, the Reaper reacted to her words promptly. "The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of Designers and my kind."

"Designers? Who are they?" Liara echoed weakly, her voice mixing with Shepard's when she asked: "You built the Citadel?"

"Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays, our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."
"You speak as if you already knew the outcomes. You may try, but we won't go without a fight. After all you're just a machine and machines can break," Shepard whispered. There was no space for fear in her voice, but still she didn't dare to raise it somehow. Just a thought that she was speaking to kilometres long creature made her feel worthless, just like the Reaper implied. Maybe…what if…no! True, Reapers did kill the Protheans and whatever civilization had come before them, but that didn't mean they were invincible. Shepard shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment.

This time when the Reaper replied, something in his voice had changed. It wasn't so dull anymore, it was harsher…almost angry. "Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over." And the large image was suddenly gone.

The silence that followed seemed to stretch into eternity. Shepard stared into an empty air in front of her, lips slightly apart as she let out a long breath. She took a peek at Liara to find the asari watching her intently.

"By the Goddess, Shepard..." Liara started speaking quietly. "I'm afraid I know what Rana was talking about. There was a moment, when…"

"…you were convinced he was right," Maya finished for her and the asari nodded. Her blue eyes turned front as if she could still see the large holoimage. She lifted her hand slowly and touched her temple, pressing slightly as if she suddenly got a headache. "And we weren't even on board."

"He said we touched his mind, maybe…" Maya mused, but her voice was cut off by the sound of a door opening. "Commander?" Tali stood on the threshold, one of her hands still on the control panel on the other side of the wall. "We're done here. Is something wrong?" she asked, examining Liara's and Shepard's faces.

"Commander? We got trouble!"

Shepard lifted a hand to tell Tali to wait a sec. "And you don't know the half of it, Joker. What is it?"

"That ship, Sovereign? It's moving. I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half. It's coming your way and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up in there – and fast!" She'd never heard Joker panic before, but this time the guy sounded exactly this way. And when Joker was panicking…

Shepard closed her eyes for short moment. "Time to blow this place to hell."

"Right, Commander. I'll meet you at the coordinates you sent. Joker out."

"Let's go, Tali," Shepard blurted out and hurried back into Saren's lab. "Let's finish it here, guys, and quick. Troubles on the way," she said and ushered everyone into the elevator. The way to the small square they'd passed through a while ago was once again seething with geth, but the team eliminated them in record time. Maybe they could sense the desperation in Shepard. The fact there was a Reaper coming their way was enough to throw her off balance and she knew it had to be showing. Only seconds took between cleaning the platform and the Normandy finally showing up and she thought she'd go crazy during the short wait.

Faster, faster, faster… was she chanting inwardly as she watched the ship slowly land. The bomb was ready in the hangar and Wrex hurried to get it down. It still took another Alliance soldier from Shepard's crew to put it into its place. Tali was ready to start working on its activating as soon as it was in position. She gestured to Shepard then turned all her attention to the nuke.

Maya nodded to her sign and raised her hand to her helmet. "Bomb is in position," she said via the comm. The plan was, once the bomb would be finished, they all would meet at the same place were Joker would pick them up. "We're all set to go. Get to the rendezvous point, guys!" Only now she realized how suspiciously quiet he two of them were during the whole time in Saren's lab.

"Negative!" John's voice screamed into her ear. There was a short pause in which she could hear wild shooting. "The geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We've taken heavy casualties!"

"Sitrep?" she asked in a quiet voice. She would have asked her usual: what's the situation, but now she was afraid her voice might crack if she spoke another word. And she couldn't afford that; her team still had the comm on, so she just couldn't let it show just how much his response had thrown her off balance.

"TARFU* at the moment, FUBAR* in a minute." A pause. More shooting.

"…and you?"

"I'm fine. Kaidan's…he's here with me, but we just can't make it to the rendezvous point in time!"

She clenched her hand. "Hold tight. We're coming to get you," she whispered, her throat dry.

"Negative! Just make sure that nuke is set. We'll hold them as long as we can!"

"Bullshit!" Ashley's voice joined the conversation. "You heard the Commander! Get a grip and hold on, we're coming!" The chief caught Shepard's gaze. "I volunteer to guard the nuke," she said.

Shepard nodded. Now wasn't the time to argue. Besides, she trusted Ashley. If anyone would make sure it was safe, it was Ashley. "Tali, Wrex, stay here. Private," she said quickly, turning to the soldier who'd help carry the bomb from the ship, "you as well. Liara, Garrus, to the AA tower. Move!" she ordered and reached for the Mattock on her back.

At the same time she lifted her head as a geth ship whizzed above them. The sight of it made the party pick up a pace and now they were almost running. Time felt scarce each time they had to stop to destroy a geth or another krogan here and there, but they all single-mindedly tried to make up for the time lost in gunfights. Almost breathless, they pressed on, closer and closer and yet it seemed they were still too slow to Maya.

Her heart was beating madly. Not for the strain, but for the two most important men of her life. She knew her team and she were doing their best getting to the guys. She didn't say a word to her team, but she was dying inside with each stop and pause in progress. Not knowing what was happening to John and Kaidan was almost unbearable. Especially Kaidan's fate felt like somebody was holding her throat and slowly squeezing, making it hard to breathe. And the closer they were to the AA tower, the more the fear was stabbing into her insides.

He's here with me.

Her head was throbbing, dread clenching her stomach and lungs. She knew what he meant by that. The question was – how severe? John was willing to sacrifice both him and Kaidan so that the nuke could be set off. That could mean one thing – he didn't believe Kaidan had much chances.

"Another ship!" Liara shouted and ducked into cover. A large shadow flicked as the ship flew above them, but it didn't stop there to deploy the geth. It swooshed above them harmlessly.

"It's heading to the bomb site!" Garrus realized, his head turned to watch the ship as it quickly got lost from their sight.

"Heads up, Chief!" John's hoarse voice shouted. "A troop ship coming your way!"

"Old news, LT! they're already pouring all over this place!" Ashley shouted back, the sound of her rifle distinct in the background.

It was surprising how quickly Maya's blood could turn from boiling into freezing in her veins. "Can you hold them off?" Now she was screaming too. Things were quickly getting out of hand. She had to do something or else she might eventually lose both groups.

"There's too many! We cannot survive until you get there!"

"Should I activate the bomb?"

"No way, Tali!" Maya yelled into the comm. There was time, there still was time. But she had to act quickly. With Garrus' and Liara's eyes on her, it was easy to signal them to move out towards the AA tower.

"Yes, Tali! I'm sorry, Commander, there's no other way."

The AA tower was closer to their position. Getting there would be quicker than returning to the bomb site. That was the only chance they all had.

"There fucking is, Williams! Just…"

„Joker, head to the AA tower. Double time!" she ordered, cutting off her brother's protests.

"Aye, aye, Commander!"

"Screw that!" he responded. "We can handle ourselves. Go back…"

"Shut it, John! Neither of you is dying on my watch if I have any say in it! Send Joker the coordinates and do it now!" And then she broke into run. She could hear Garrus and Liara right behind her, as she sprinted towards the AA tower. She counted on their enemies to focus on the pinned group there, so that they would catch them by surprise. And they did. When a spray of bullets hit the geth in their flank, they scattered around the area. The large platform was full of crates and other placed for cover so once the geth dived into them, it was difficult to hit them. But the main goal had been accomplished; the geth had turned their attention from the two salarian teams, and focused on the new threat.

"Shepard, Liara, into cover!" Garrus shouted and peeked from behind his crate. Both women obeyed and an explosion shook the whole platform. A strong blast of hot air rushed around Shepard's hiding place. She instinctively pressed closer to the crate, even though the air couldn't hurt her.

"What was that?" Liara shouted at him, checking the thermometer of her rifle. She seemed to be dissatisfied with its state, because when she leaned from behind the crate she used as a cover, she sent forward a wave of strong biotic energy that made Maya's hair on her neck stand up.

Shepard was about to jump to her feet and send forward her drone when something zoomed past her head. There was a loud clanking noise and Maya's eyes widened when she spotted the grenade rolling not far away from her on the metal floor. "Grenade!" She warned and sprung to her feet. Garrus and Liara lost precious seconds by turning their heads to see the grenade, and when they moved out, Shepard was already half-way to the next cover. A few bullets whizzed around her and her shield rippled. A geth rose from behind the cover she was heading to.

It jerked to the side, shards of its metal armour spurting out the side of its head. It crumpled to the ground before Shepard even lifted her arm to deliver a biotic punch. She dived into the cover, falling on top of the deactivated geth and at the moment another blast shook the place. Just as it died down, someone knelt beside her.

"You okay?" John asked, his voice hoarse. He'd had to shout like madman. His attention was front, sending burst after burst into whatever geth he spotted.

Instead of answer, Shepard rolled on the ground, shifting until she had a good position to shoot from.

When the gunfire finally died down, Liara rose from her cover. Her previously white armour had been blackened by an explosion, but she seemed unharmed. "To tell the truth I was afraid for a moment," she uttered, collapsing her rifle. Her eyes flicked from left to right as she read the information about her enviro-suit and kinetic barrier displayed inside her helmet.

"Your sudden arrival managed to shatter their progress. We'd be dead otherwise," Kirrahe's voice sounded from behind Maya.

But she ignored the salarian at the moment. His statement didn't require an actual answer and there were other matter she felt were more important. She turned to her brother and opened her mouth to ask him about Kaidan. She barely managed to take a breath when she was crushed into his arm. His action was so sudden she gasped with surprise. "Thank you," he rasped into her ear and let go of her.

"Where is Kaidan?" she blurted out quickly.

John hesitated, but his body betrayed him this time. Unwittingly his eyes sought the cover they had been forced into by the geth. Maya whirled and he caught her elbow. "No, Maya…"

"Let go…" she growled in quiet voice. "I'm more than his girlfriend, John. I'm also his Commander and yours, too, for that matter. And since I gave you an order, I have no idea why you're still holding my arm."

And she was free again. She could feel all the eyes trained on her when she approached the cover. Her own heart was beating madly and then it suddenly skipped one of those beats when she finally saw him. Her kneels buckled and she fell into a pool of blood that ran from under the man she loved with all her heart.

To say that Kaidan looked like a strainer would be a great understatement. He'd have to catch several bursts at once the way he was riddled with bullets. His face under the helmet was paper-white, a contrast to the crimson all over him.

"We pumped him with enough medigel to keep him alive for now, but…" John's voice trailed off.

She lifted her trembling arm and an orange holographic display was projected around it. Before she could even start with the scan, John quickly stepped forward and pinned the arm back to her sides. "Don't, sis…You don't want to know."

"Joker is on his way…" she mumbled, her voice trembling. She didn't even realize her comm was still on. She reached out to take his hand into hers. "Please, Kaidan… hold on, we'll get you help. Just don't give up…" Her eyes trailed all over his body, over the wounds, the blood, his face. She wanted to close them, to turn away from the sight, but couldn't. Something in her was convinced if she now looked away from him, he'd die.

She was only half-aware of Liara's voice in her helmet, calling for Joker to get to the AA tower immediately. She wanted to add something else, but then a blue sphere flashed past the siblings and hit her square in her chest. The biotic attack threw her across the platform where she was stopped by one of the crates.

"Hostile!" John shouted and pushed Maya down almost violently. Garrus rushed to Liara, another biotic attack missed him by a hair and trashed crates next to him. The turian didn't stop until he was at the asari. He grabbed her and dragged her behind nearest crate. Bullets chinked all around them all like a metal rain and for a moment Maya had no idea what was happening. Her body was pressed against Kaidan's after John had knocked her down, and she just tried to protect as much of him as she could.

Then she heard a distinctive thump not far away from her and steps coming closer, but no more firing. Maya grasped her rifle and rose to her feet, the gun aimed at the enemy. But she didn't shoot right away. Instead, she froze. Face to face with Saren.

He stopped advancing, too. He just looked at Shepard, daring her to shoot, his own gun in a holster on his hip. When she didn't do anything, he slowly raised his hands and clapped twice. "I applaud you, Shepard," he said, his voice strong and confident. "My geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat. An impressive diversion…Yet, all for nothing," the turian shrugged. "I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here."

"Right…" Maya whizzed, still breathing heavily. "And what is that? Getting indoctrinated? Isn't it a little bit worrisome, that your Reaper friend doesn't keep you on a leash anymore? He was dogging on Eden Prime, now he's letting you play all alone?" She wasn't stupid. Even though he wasn't wearing an enviro-suit, Saren wouldn't just approach a platoon of soldiers armed to the teeth without a protection of some sort. Still, she didn't let the turian from the Mattock's sights.

Saren didn't seem nervous by the fact; his posture was relaxed as he regarded her. And that was a good thing. As long as he kept his attention fixed on her, he wouldn't notice Kaidan. "You cannot possibly understand what's really at stake here, Shepard."

"Oh, but I can. It's you who's blind to the real threat."

"And what do you think is that, Shepard?" Saren asked promptly as if expecting her answer. "Because you of all people should know after all. You've seen the vision from the beacons."

Maya's eyes narrowed. Beacons. Not a beacon. He knew she'd used the second one here on Virmire. How? Did Sovereign tell him?

When she didn't reply, Saren went on. "It's fighting that will be the end of us. Or don't you remember? Protheans tried to fight, and they were utterly destroyed. Trillions dead. But what if they had bowed before the invaders?"

"You can't be serious," Maya hissed, shaking her head in disbelief. "Open your eyes. We're talking about machines. Do you think they'd accept submission? Why would they? Their goal is pretty clear – to kill us all. And you're helping them!"

"And what is the point of fighting even when we know we cannot win?" he countered.

"So we should just lie down and die, you say?"

Saren's mandibles twitched as he gave out an impatient sigh. "And this is exactly the reason why I couldn't come forward with this to the Council. We organics are driven by emotions instead of logic."

"So what is your logic?" Maya asked, ignoring the way her arms trembled, holding the Mattock up so stiffly like that. "To join them, help them, in foolish hope they'd spare us in the end? And what for? What do they need from us? Why would they even want our help? And is it worth the risk? Can you answer those questions with certainty, Saren? Because if you can't, then why do you blindly believe Sovereign? I'd bet my life he's manipulating you without you even knowing about it!"

His eyes narrowed at that. "No! Saren needs me," he said in harsh tone, leaning a little bit closer towards Shepard as if he wanted to attack her on the spot.

"To find the Conduit?" So it doesn't have it yet! "And once you lead it to it, what then? Come on, Saren, I've read your records. You're anything but stupid. This is Sovereign talking, not you! And it's not too late to stop it. We can still defeat it!"

"I can no longer believe that," Saren responded, taking a step back from her. "The visions cannot be denied. The Reapers are too powerful. The only hope for survival is to join with them. Don't you see? My way is the only way any of us will survive. I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have ever existed. But you would undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you must die." And he darted forward.

A shot rang through the air. The bullet missed its target and Shepard didn't have the opportunity to shoot again. A massive wave of dark energy hit her and threw her back. She could hear more shots being fired, while she was falling, but it had little effect on Saren.

Shepard tried to get up as quickly as she could, but Saren was faster. Before she could even spot where she'd dropped her Mattock, he collided with her, sending them both back on the ground again. She gasped when her back felt the impact, the ground knocking the wind out of her. She continued gasping for her breath, unable to move, when she felt Saren's three-fingered hand close around her neck. She wasn't even aware of the bullets hitting her back as Saren put her in line between him and his enemies as a human shield.

Her vision started blackening at the edges, but no matter how much she fought the grip, she couldn't loosen it. She heard loud roaring in her ears and then Saren's head flipped to one side, looking at the sky. Using probably the only opportunity she'd have, she punched him in a face with all the strength she could muster when he looked back at her. His hand was gone within an instant as he took a step back and Maya fell.

A hell of gunfire broke when she fell heavily on her hands and knees, gasping and coughing. One of her hands went to her neck instinctively as if it could help her breathe. Next moment, someone was helping her up.

A shadow passed over them and there she hovered in all her beauty. The Normandy. The reason why Saren had gotten distracted.

"John, I'm fine. Get Kaidan…" Maya rasped, still holding her neck, eyes searching for her Mattock. Someone grabbed her under her elbow and forced her towards the Normandy's opened ramp. Garrus helped her climb up and followed her. Once inside, he turned around and extended his hand, helping Liara. Salarians quickly boarded the ship as well and Kirrahe helped John get the wounded marine in as well. The ship was in the air before the ramp closed.

If not for the lack of air and slight dizziness, Maya would have sprinted to the cockpit. This way she simply trotted as quickly as she could to deliver orders. Not that Joker needed them. He was already circling the bomb site by the site she stopped behind him.

Joker's usually beaming face was twisted into an angry grimace as he targeted one group of geth at the time. Each time he fired the Normandy's cannons, he growled: "Take that, you bastards. And that and that…"

Breathing heavily, Maya watched him take out almost all of the geth, while her friend on the ground took care of the little he missed. If she had the air for it, she would have moaned at the sight of them. Wrex had Ashley over his shoulders as he ran towards the ship, and Tali was half-running, half-limping behind him, supported by the Private.

"Get us out of here," she said in a hoarse voice. "To the Citadel."

"You don't have to say that twice, Commander," he replied through gritted teeth. His hands did their usual dance and the Normandy turned upwards.

A thick, red beam cut through the air for a second, hitting the position where the ship had been just a second ago. Joker tensed as he manoeuvred the ship to this side and the other one, avoiding another laser shot at them. The Sovereign was in the air right above them, waving its robotic tentacles as he prepared for another attack. Joker spun the ship, making a pirouette around its own axis while steering it to the side. The laser missed again. A loud, angry noise like nothing Maya had ever heard before sounded through the air when the Normandy zoomed past the gigantic Reaper. At this moment, the Normandy's scanners picked a massive explosion on the surface. And then the ship jumped into light speed.

Shepard leaned against the backrest of Joker's seat, touching the cool surface with her forehead, while the pilot relaxed in it. He brought his hands up and took off his cap, sliding it down to cover his face.

"Joker…?" Maya whispered into the backrest.

"Commander?" His voice was muffled by the cap.

"You were right. You know how to make her dance."

"What was that thing?"

"Sovereign. A Reaper," she responded and pushed herself from the seat. She told him because he asked, but wasn't exactly ready to discuss the topic with anyone. She still didn't know what to think of it all, what it meant, save for big troubles and besides – her mind was simply elsewhere. She wasn't even aware of her journey down to the second deck.

There was a small crowd gathered around an opened door to the infirmary. Wrex, Garrus, John and a few salarians stood there side by side, silently observing whatever was happening inside the small sick bay. When Maya approached them, they parted, letting her through.

First she noticed the black bag on the nearest bunk, but it was too small for it to contain a human body. Then she noticed Tali and Liara. The asari had her back to the Commander. She was using her omnitool to scan Tali lying on another bunk. The quarian was breathing quickly, but shallowly, and her hands were twitching, clenching to fists and flexing again. The light in her helmet was blinking constantly, but she was talking too quietly for Maya to hear her words.

Chakwas stood at another bed. Ashley's face lacked any colours and she was unconscious while the doctor was treating the shot wounds she got. And there Maya's eyes lingered for a moment little bit longer than strictly necessary, before they moved onto another bed.

"How are they?" she asked, her voice still weak. Her throat suddenly hurt like hell and she could swear she still felt Saren's fingers around it.

Kaidan was still in the enviro-suit, unlike Ashley, and his blood left smears on the white sheets under him. According the machine above him, his heart was still beating. It was weak, very weak, but beating. A pack of blood was connected to his arm, filling him with the vital fluid.

"We need to get them to the Citadel, Commander," was the doctor's answer.

"We're en route." A pause. "Excuse me." She turned around and squeezed through the crowd again, heading to her cabin this time. There she sat down on the bead heavily. Her hand ran along the sheets unwittingly, while she stared in front of her. Three hours ago she'd laid there, snuggled up to Kaidan, and everything was fine. Now his life was at stake and there was nothing Maya could do about it. She threw her helmet away. It hit a table lamp and knocked it down. There was aloud noise when it hit the floor, but she didn't give a damn.

She closed here eyes as tears started to blur her vision. And it was as if someone had burnt the image onto her eyelids. His pale face, blood all over him…

She clenched her teeth, hands packed in fist tightly at the memory. She shook her head, silently denying it all, as if it could help her undo what had happened to him. As if her own will was strong enough to take it back or make it good.

A door hissed and whooshed open. Maya quickly wiped the pained expression from her face when she glanced to it, blinking the tears away.

"Sis…" John mumbled, stopping right behind the door. It seemed he was unsure whether to come in, hesitating. He waited for her to say something, but she just couldn't talk at the moment, choked up with emotions. Wanting to appear as strong as everyone else believed she was she tried to smile. Her face protested fiercely and she ended up with her face hidden in her palms as tears finally brimmed over.

She was immediately in his arms as he sat on her bed next to her. He didn't say anything; he respected her far too much to feed her with lies how everything would be all right, when nothing was sure at the moment. So he just held her and let her cry.

I just realized it's been quite some time since I last wrote a chapter with one continuing story, not several scenes in a row, f I ever wrote such a chapter. Never mind, author's rambling is author's rambling :)

* I doubt you don't know what the acronyms mean, but just to make sure:

TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up.

FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.

I know there are other, less vulgar, ways to explain it, but I just wanted to post it exactly the way it was meant in the story. John was at a really tough spot, didn't think he'd ever get out of there alive, and at the point you just don't care about your language.

Another thing - I know the Bioware just wanted us to make a decision in the game. It's needless to say I didn't like it. I liked both characters, Kaidan and Ashley, because they were individuals, each had their strong and weak points and to tell the truth the first time I was making the decision the romance I'd started with Kaidan pretty much made it for me. Maybe someone will think me a fool for saying so, but I just hated it, because I really felt like sacrificing my own friend (kudos to Bioware for making such believeable characters that got under my skin without me noticing it). But back to what I wanted to say - I once again altered the story because I am conviced there was the time to save Ashley too. Or maybe not save, we have no idea what condition she was in by the time Joker picked the shore team, but since the nuke exploded when the Normandy was already out of the atmospehere...well, I just say there was time to pick her up, too. But the developers just wanted us to make the choice. I respect that, but this is my fanfiction, so... :)

Also, I know I've pretty much copied the dialogues with Sovereign and Saren - credit goes to Bioware here - but I just consider these two talks so important for the storyline that I didn't try to change them much. Besides, I like them this way.

And now finally - thank you all for reading, hoped you liked this one :) And see you next time, guys.