AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here we are! The first of the loyalty missions! Hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll be taking another opportunity to advertise my discord server. /y5JYGQU (Ok, fanfic is being screwey with links. Add the old HTTPS: thing followed by discord and a period with gg and the slash with the series of letters and numbers earlier to the https thing in order to join.) Anyways, enjoy the chapter.

I had used the remaining time on our way to the Sephesa system to assign the next set of Cryo pod blocks to wake up, thanks to Voeld. The current threshold allowed for an additional three cryo pod bays. As per the arrangement with the Nexus civilians, one of those would be a block's worth of family members. The remaining two, I had decided would be both more soldiers and scientists. With a block's worth of highly skilled merchants already awoken during a previous threshold, they were doing just fine setting up an economy, and one that could incorporate the Angara. They would suffice until after we find the heart of the Vault network.

I had even taken some time to talk with Kandros about the situation on the Militia's end, and of course with Taerve Uni, which he had partial control over. His APEX teams, up until my arrival, had only ever fought Kett and the occasional Remnant as they attempted to secure additional supplies, to buy themselves time. Since rescuing the Moshae, the Resistance had in fact called for support on their own worlds on occasion, and APEX answered. On one such op, Roekaar forces had ambushed a team, though fortunately, they were all able to evac. Even more recently, they have even encountered, and had shootouts with Exiles. Fortunately, no faction had yet to directly attack an Initiative Outpost.

As for Taerve Uni, Kandros had been impressed with both Resistance firearms and tactics. He had even spoken with Commander Do Xeel and had spent time suggesting strategies that he had learned from his time fighting for the Hierarchy. Apparently, the Militia forces stationed on Taerve Uni had already been called upon for an operation, assisting Resistance forces neutralize a sizeable Kett encampment not far from their capital city on Voeld, Estraaja. To say that the Angara were pleased to have the aid of vehicles like the Mako, would be an understatement.

Content that, for now, at least, the Militia did not require my aid, I returned my focus to why we have come so far out into the cluster in the first place. Liam's contacts had gone missing, and they knew critical Initiative information, that they also had no need to know… However, that currently didn't matter. We had to find them first. We had arrived at the system, but had no other leads other than that it should be here. So, we 'parked' ourselves just outside the system's rim, and ran detailed scans, hoping to find something. This system's sun was a massive red giant. It reminded me of Arcturus back in the Milky Way. I hadn't been to Arcturus Station very often. Everyone who enlists and passes visits there at least once for the ceremony, and a soldier promoted to an officer rank does so again. No one needed to go there to receive orders, unless they were of the sort too vital for a comm channel, no matter how secure. That, was way above my paygrade.

This system also housed five planets. One of which was a gas giant. Those who took Liam's contact could potentially hide out on any of the solid worlds, but they could also leave their ship in orbit around the gas giant. We had nothing to narrow down their location. Fortunately, we may not need to scour each planet. There was a debris field orbiting the gas giant, not far from the moon which also orbited the planet. There was also something curious about this field. The trajectories of the debris suggested that there was repeated jettisoning of junk, not the destruction of a ship. And there was enough junk and radiation to screw with scans. After considering that info, I think we might have the hideout. But, even then, that would be a needle in a haystack.

"Any sign of the pirates?" Liam asked, stepping into the bridge. He was already suited up.

"Too much background radiation. Could be anything in that debris field," Suvi answered.

"Makes sense. Heard that scavengers love this place," Liam remarked thoughtfully. "Damn, I hoped Bradley or some colonists would join in."

"We'll make do with what we have. But first we need a plan to find them," I reassured.

"Well we can't go in hot. Even if we knew where they are. Why don't we play to their scavenger roots? All that debris… ever hear of the Trojan Horse?" Liam asked, turning to face me.

"Even before we left it was a popular legend back home. So... ah, I see what you were thinking," I nodded my head.

"Think we can empty out one of the crates in the cargo hold?" Liam continued.

"Sure. One that can fit you, Jaal, Vetra, and me," I answered.

"Why does-" Liam began to groan.

"Aside from her weapon skills, these are scavengers, right? She knows how they work, might be able to make this easier for us," I defended. "I know you don't like her, but you need to be able to work together professionally in the field. I can't start picking my squads like it's a damn school yard, leaving someone out for the sole reason that they don't get along with someone else. You're both adults."

"Yeah," Liam sighed. "You're right. I'll start clearing out a crate." On our way down to the cargo bay, I had called on my selected squad to join us, and began getting myself suited up while Liam worked on the crate, removing rations, crates of thermal clips, ammo blocks, other supplies, and sorting them relatively neatly to the side. I was also pleased to find an M-25 Hornet waiting in my weapons locker, a sticky note reading, "Enjoy! -V" stuck to the side. I was beginning to strap on my armor, when Vetra was the first to enter. Her brow plate raised, watching, confused at what Liam was doing.

"Uh, Scott, why's Liam messing with our supplies?" she questioned.

"I'll explain when the rest are here. Go ahead, get suited up," I answered. She shrugged, but kept her eyes on Liam. Whether she was making a mental note of where everything was ending up, or watching to make sure he didn't break anything, I can't say. Soon, Jaal joined us, and I told him to start suiting up, as I did with Vetra. I'd speak once I was done. They didn't need to wait long, and I stood in front of them, holding my helmet in my hands as Liam finished the crate. I know Liam would prefer to not have others know just what happened, but there's no way in hell I'm leading a team into danger without them knowing just what they're getting into danger for.

"Listen up," I stated. The others, while still getting ready, were watching intently, only the occasional glance away as they ensured that their armor was properly secured. "I'm sure you're all wondering why we've dragged ourselves to the other end of Heleus for a personal mission, and why we're emptying out a crate. Well, I'll tell you, but I only request that it not leave this room. And I also request that you, respectively, say nothing to Liam about it. He's already been beating himself up, and when I first heard I was a bit rough myself. Our concern just needs to be getting this over with. So, Liam attempted to make a contact among the Angara. Name's Verand, and she and her entire crew have gone missing, in this system. While we are here to rescue them, this has also become a matter of security for the Nexus itself. Verand and her team have vital intel on the Nexus. Nav coordinates, security codes, even comm frequencies. Liam believed that she would be able to modify some of our tech the Angaran way. Whoever took Verand, could potentially get this data out of her, and use it against us. It's even possible they already have this information, and are planning to sell it or use it against us," I explained. Vetra clearly looked exasperated, brow plates furrowed and mandibles twitching, mouth slightly open trying to figure out why Liam made the choices he had.

"For what it's worth, Verand has worked with the Resistance before. She's reliable, and I doubt she'd talk so easily," Jaal attempted to reassure.

"So, there's the crate. The culprits likely hide out in this debris field and spend their time scavenging it. So, we take this crate, pump it full of air, seal it, keep our helmets on, and jettison the crate into the field with us inside. We should stand out as a good bit of scavenging, and be taken on board. Once on board, neutralize the threats, and find Verand. If we're out there too long, and no sign of a ship, the Tempest will come back for pickup," I explained.

"Trojan horse. Simple," Liam called out, wiping his hands as he appeared done.

"What's a horse?" Jaal questioned, confused.

"Really don't like it, and bad metaphor," Vetra remarked.

"A horse is a four-legged animal back on Earth. Humans would ride them around. As for the metaphor, you'll probably hear the story in the cultural center," I shrugged. "As for the plan, it's the only one we have. We keep our helmets on at all times. Even if the scavs do pick us up. We'll be on a hostile ship, we don't want them to vent the atmosphere, let alone the room we're in, and then be exposed to a vacuum. If one of us does get sucked out, the Tempest can use your Quantum Entanglement comms to locate you for pickup. Still, let's try to avoid that, shall we?"

"Come on, we've wasted enough time. Let's hit the go button, shoot pirates, and save people. We got this," Liam stated confidently.

"We have a chance, Liam. We may not even get picked up by scavs," I reminded. I don't want his confidence to build on the chance we just sit in that crate for a few hours and find nothing. If that happens, I'm contacting the Nexus for them to change their codes, and prepare for an attack.

"And I'll make the most of the chance. You'll see," Liam replied, still confident. I'm going to need to talk with Lexi after all this.

We had been sitting inside the crate for at least an hour, the Tempest waiting just outside the debris field, waiting. Boredom had already set in. We had our mag boots keeping us standing, and I was playing Tetris on my Omni-tool to keep busy, when the crate shook. We must have entered a place with atmosphere as I could hear the whirring of mechanical arms moving us and setting us down. Now, we were all standing, facing the exit of the crate, weapons ready.

"We'll wait to be set down, wait for anyone to move away, and then quietly open the doors," I ordered. The sound of machines stopped, and I heard footsteps moving away. After another moment, I keyed the crate to unlock, and I slowly pushed it open.

"Sonuvabitch…" I muttered. I could see the walls of the ship. It was Kett.

"This isn't right," Liam murmured.

"Liam… you said to expect pirates. And this? Is a fucking Kett ship," I groaned. I poked my head around the corner. This was a large cargo bay. "A big one."

"Change... Change of plan?" Liam awkwardly attempted to defend.

"Why would the Kett be scavenging? Normally they ignore scraps," Jaal muttered. And then alarms started to blare. WHY WERE ALARMS BLARING?!

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Vetra groaned.

"Doesn't change why we're here. Find Verand, and get out! Somehow…" Liam stated.

"Alarms, Liam," I reminded.

"I know! I know!" he replied.

"Move it! That cargo is your pay!" a voice ordered. That wasn't a Kett voice, that was Angaran. Female. The fuck?

"An Angara? What?" Jaal remarked, confused. As we all were. I poked my head around the corner again. Yep, Angara, and she was ordering around another pair.

"There's no breach, it's your shit sensors," an Angaran man accused. I holstered my rifle and raised my arms in the air.

"Cover me. Maybe they'll talk. I'd rather not shoot Angara without confirmation they're bad guys," I ordered. I stood, and stepped into the open. The same woman giving orders earlier turned, hearing the noise of footsteps. She had a helmet on, so I couldn't see her expression, but she was reaching for her rifle.

"Stowaways! Kill them!" she growled, and I dove back by the others.

"Weapons free!" I ordered, getting my gun back out. The sound of their weapons surprised me again. Clearly not energy based, those were projectile based. Bought from exiles?

"Tell Calot we have stows! We have stows!" A man called out, apparently SAM had allowed us to listen in to their comms. An Adhi turned the corner, attempting to latch it's jaws around one of us, but was easily shot dead before it could do so.

I ran behind an adjacent crate, allowing one of the others to fire as well. I was pleased to find that a single round from my Sweeper appeared to do the job, no shields to stop the round, and the armor around the head hardly thick enough to keep the round from breaking through and into the brain, so I switched it to single fire mode, Jaal using his rifle to do the same, and Vetra standing in between us, tech armor activated, and her Cyclone tearing apart anyone in her sightline.

My shields flared, but did not collapse as a pair of rounds impacted me from above. Turning to look as I dived into new cover, there was a catwalk almost just above us, and other crates could be used to get us up there. I allowed my shields to recharge, and noticed that the main room was, perhaps, clear, corpses strewn across. I ordered Vetra and Liam to stay there, and watch for others, and Jaal and I cloaked, finding ourselves behind a pair of pirates watching for the rest of us. We slit both their throats, and our cloaks fell.

"Report in! What's going on down there?!" a male voice demanded through the ship's intercom. I saw a console around a bend in the catwalk, lights blinking, and called the others up to join us. "For the last time, report! We just fixed those bay seals. If you idiots blew them, I'll have your skins!" the voice demanded once more. Sounded like he was the leader of these pirates, and that he relied on fear to try and keep order. He's weak, unsure of himself. How the hell did they score a Kett ship? I was keying the terminal to respond, and smirked, thinking of just what to say. We saw it in a movie just a few nights ago.

"Uh, everything's under control. Just a simple weapon malfunction. How are you?" I replied. Liam snorted, knowing the quote, and while Vetra took a moment, I heard snickering as she remembered. Jaal said nothing, but was likely smirking under the helmet.

"What is this?" the leader, likely named Calot, given the order given earlier, questioned. "Get cameras on the bay!" he ordered. A pause: "Well figure it out!" Seems like the ship doesn't quite agree with them. A vid screen above the console. An Angaran man was seemingly holding the camera. Bluish skin, fury in his eyes. Yet that fury was hardly intimidating. It was closer to the fury of a child, than anything else. "Stows? This ship is property of Talon Wing. Now you're property too, just like the rest. I don't let property me-" he began threatening. I looked down at the console and pressed the same button I used to answer the call, and the vidscreen and audio disappeared.

"That was a boring conversation anyway. So, shoot pirates, rescue contact?" I suggested.

"Uh… She's here… somewhere." Liam muttered, looking around the room and stepping forward. "Think they salvaged this thing?"

"I don't think that Kett would just hand over a warship," Vetra remarked.

"SAM, can you get the ship's schematics? Maybe locate where everything is?" I questioned.

"No, Pathfinder. While I am detecting almost no firewalls, I am detecting that the hardware ends. Wires that would connect me to the mainframe housing such information, are missing," SAM explained.

"Then we find Verand, and fast. This way?" Liam suggested, moving towards a door, and we followed. He pressed a button to the side of the door to open it, Vetra and Jaal at my side, and the door opened. To reveal a large gun quickly turning to face us and charging it's shot. We readied our weapons and were about to move when the door closed again, and the round impacted the door. "Not that way," Liam remarked, walking away. "Start there!" he pointed to the other end of the room. "Let's go!" Oh boy, this is going to be a mess, isn't it?

"Damn amateur," Vetra muttered over a private comm. While we're all connected on a secure comm, thanks to QEC, we have the option to establish a secure, private channel with other crewmembers, quickly able to switch between them. I snorted at Vetra's comment and we both returned to the main channel.

"Fight to the door they came in!" Liam called out, as more pirates stormed out of the door he pointed at.

"And if the captives aren't' there?" I questioned.

"They have to be somewhere!" Liam exclaimed. Damn it, I was trying to imply that we need to find a way to get the ship's layout, not just going through doors at bloody random. Adhi began to rush us at a distance, but were easy targets quickly put down as we entered cover from the pirates.

I counted four, and one had a sniper, and the flare around him as I attempted to put a round in his head told me he had shields as well. Now his laser sight was pointing at me, so I returned to cover. Jaal was on the other side of the catwalk, the side closest to the large open space of the cargo bay and was taking shots at the others. Like an idiot, the sniper pointing its sight at me still fired, hitting a completely different end of the crate I was against than I was at. With the opportunity present, Liam overloaded his shields as I drained them, then Vetra, with a barrage from her Cyclone, put a few rounds in his head. As he died, a trio of pirates emerged from another door downstairs. With our superior cover, we took them out before they could find any.

"Those shuttles, they're from Verand's outpost!" Liam called out.

"How would you even know?" I questioned, confused. He wouldn't have had the time to go around outposts.

"Shut it!" he replied angrily. Was he pissed because things were going wrong? Or at me? He stormed to the door the pirates came out of. "This has to be it," he muttered, keying it to open. Only it didn't. "Sealed?! Console override?" he suggested, and I moved to interface with it. I was finding nothing while I was searching through its systems. They were a mess. Liam was pacing anxiously behind me.

"Come on! We have to find Verand!" he exclaimed, sounding quite panicked.

"Damn it Liam! We can't find her if we don't know where the fuck we're going in this ship!" I replied, annoyance creeping into my voice. His anxiety, his nervousness, was all getting contagious. Adding on to the fact our plan only extended with how to get on the ship, and it was a bad recipe.

"Well something has to go right!" he argued. "You take a risk for the right reason, it's supposed to work!" he yelled out, slamming his fist into a crate. Alright, that's pretty naive of him.

"You dent your locker, the principle is going to be pissed," I remarked, still searching through the files. It was to both try and calm myself, and him down.

"It isn't a joke!" Liam yelled back. "I jumped us here blind! We don't know where anyone is or how anything works!" as Liam was talking the console's vidscreen activated, showing Calot. Before he could even speak, Liam slammed his fist onto the controls and it deactivated. "And now we're fighting some asshole who wants everyone chained. It's like hitting Andromeda all over again!" Calot brought the vidscreen on again.

"I've sealed the bay. There's-" he began. Can't he see we're having a conversation? I slammed my fist onto the controls as I began to reply to Kosta.

"Don't make this about the whole Initiative. We're here to help and… why am I the one defending your plan?" I questioned, exasperated.

"I don't know!" Liam sighed, waving his hands in the air. The vid screen activated once more, and a truly pissed looking Calot was there.

"I will not be ignored anymore!" he growled.

"See? Total asshole," Liam remarked, gesturing towards him.

"That's it! Space them!" Calot ordered. Ah shit. Least we all had our helmets on.

"But Calot we-" a pirate began to debate. He drew his pistol and shot the man.

"I will not be ignored…" he muttered, and the comm closed.

"Hold on to something," I ordered, moving to grab onto the console.

"Such an asshole," Liam muttered. As I was about to take hold, the cargo bay doors behind us opened, sucking us out towards space, and all the atmosphere with it, even a few other bits of loose supplies. We were tumbling through the vacuum but there was some railing in our path, miraculously, all four of us managed to grab hold, Liam avoiding a piece of cargo coming his way. We wouldn't be able to keep this up for long, but when the air in the room is gone, there won't be a vacuum pulling us out anymore. If we can just wait it out… You know, I think I see a way to reconcile a little bit right now.

"Liam! Hold me!" I jokingly ordered. Obviously, if he were to try, he would no longer be holding the railing. Liam began laughing.

"I'm sad I can't punch both of you!" Vetra remarked, both annoyed and maybe a bit angry, though I knew not at us as she kept trying to hold on. However, I did hear Jaal laugh.

"Get on the junctions! Go!" A familiar voice called out, patched into our comms. August Bradley?! "You folks need a hand?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Augie? You have timing," Liam chuckled. And the cargo bay doors began to close.

"Would have come in sooner but we didn't know how we could help. Settlers aren't soldiers. But a wreck of a ship with bad shielding? We've got engineers son," he explained, chuckling at the state of this ship. It really is a piece of shit, isn't it? "Oh! Power surge! This beast does not like being prodded!" With the doors closed, we were able to get to our feet above the railings, letting our arms relax. But our weight began to shift, yet we weren't moving. Not until we started trying to balance out the weight.

"It's the artificial gravity! Everything's shifting!" I called out, as the gravity shifted to a ninety-degree angle. I saw Vetra and Jaal both rolling along, towards the ground, Liam moving to fall flat on his back, but I used my biotics to soften my landing, even able to right myself up before I hit the ground.

"Jackass," Vetra groaned.

"Liam, Scott, you ok?" Bradley asked over the comms. I looked around, getting our bearings. Our feet were planted on the wall on the far side from where the crate we came in on was placed. So the door we originally tried to get through was straight ahead.

"We're here, things have just gone a little sideways," I joked.

"I hate you. I really, really hate you," Vetra groaned, but I could hear a faint chuckle. Jaal just groaned, and I think Liam was snickering.

"Get to engineering and fix the gravs!" Calot was speaking over the intercom. There was another pause. "Then I'll do it myself!" he growled, and a trio of shots could be heard. Dumbass.

"Sounds like we made him angry," Bradley chuckled. "You take care of the fighting. Find Verand. We'll keep this junk heap stable." With all the junk that's been tossed around, this was going to be a lot of climbing.

"Ah hell," Vetra muttered. "We lost the map. SAM, little help?"

"I'm having difficulty analyzing predictive meshes. Walls are not floors," he replied.

"Was that snark?" I chuckled.

"Not intentionally. However, I will keep this in mind," he answered. I was leading my team carefully through the climb across, as Liam spoke.

"I knew they'd show. Knew they'd find a way to fight," he stated.

"Bullllshiiiiiit," Vetra hummed.

"Moment of weakness," he defended. I opened the door, and there were a pair of pirates struggling to deal with the gravity themselves. They began raising our weapons, but no one had any cover, and we quickly put them down. At the end of the hallway, another door, which I led my team towards.

"Bradley, you guys got an estimate on just how big this thing is?" Vetra asked.

"Big. Definitely one of their warships. Dreadnaught?" he answered.

"Big ship. Would draw in a lot of recruits," Liam remarked.

"I'm curious as to how they even got their hands on it," Jaal murmured. I opened the door, more Angara. One had heavier armor, but the idiot had no helmet. It wouldn't matter how good his armor was if his head was exposed, and he fell.

"Get me grav control! Idiots!" Calot exclaimed over the intercom.

"Fight him for it!" Bradley ordered. And here is an example of an idiot leading idiots through panicked fear, and an ex-military man leading a collection of intelligent, skilled techs. Not hard to figure out the winner.

"Kett foundation, Angaran patch job," A woman called out.

"Forty percent functional at best. Partially stripped," A Turian man reported. "Oh, hey, Pathfinder? Thanks for waking up my daughter." Darket's dad?

"Parted out and then dumped. A Junker," another woman called out, a slightly English accent.

"Just who all are we working with here?" I asked.

"Chief Engineer Grace Lito. Thanks for fixing Eos," the first woman to speak thanked.

"Kuriada Camlin. I owe you a debt I'll never be able to repay," the Turian spoke.

"Westie. Just happy to help," the last stated.

"It's greatly appreciated. Just keep the ship steady, help us find Verand," I ordered, leading my team down the hall again. On top of a crate, I could access a door. Might be a way around. I opened it, and a body fell out, Angaran. But didn't look like one of the pirates.

"Resistance fighter. I'll take his ID tags, send them to Evfra. He will be remembered," Jaal murmured, taking the tags and resting his arms over his chest. Unfortunately, we had no more time to do anything else with the body, and had to keep moving down the hallway. At the far end, the room had, unfortunately, begun turning to a ninety-degree angle. Unfortunately, that was upwards, and we needed to climb along pipes reaching through the floor and the corners of the room. As we climbed, there was the sound of crates and other debris crashing. Looking behind, I saw just what happened.

"Ah shit, door's blocked," I grumbled.

"And that was our way back. Now we're committed to this route," Vetra remarked.

"Bright side, no one's sneaking up on us from behind," Liam stated.

"Unless we pass another door that the pirates could potentially use," Jaal retorted. We climbed up to the rooms door, and great. Shit's blocked. Sighing, I turned to see if there was another way. Behind and above us, I could see a ventilation grate, one that we could easily reach. I took out my Sweeper and shot out the metal bars, clearing us a path through, and led the others across. There was another hallway straight above us, once we crossed the gap, but our jump-jets wouldn't take us high enough for that. There were more crates collapsed to the wall, now the floor, that we had to maneuver around in the shaft.

"Hard to believe they could hide a ship this big," Liam muttered.

"It's all the radiation and debris. Keeps all the smart people from stumbling on them," I joked. I couldn't hear anyone reply, but I was sure that it didn't go over anyone's head. At the grate at the end of the shaft, I bashed the butt of my rifle against the crates to allow us passage. Looks like another cargo bay like room. Equipment to move supplies, crates all the way down at the 'floor,' I was about to continue down when Jaal lightly grabbed my shoulder.

"Look, down there. More pirates," he pointed out. I followed the path made by his finger and I could see one leaning against the wall. Paying closer attention, I could see another pirate, but I doubted that that was all. And this was a large room. The second one was far away, and at a lower level than the other. Well, moving ahead would be more likely to block our views of the two we could see now rather than provide us with a view of all of them. So, I ordered Jaal to take aim at the far one, as I moved back, allowing him room, and took aim at the close one. We counted down, and pulled the triggers, killing both. To both my surprise, and confusion, the other pirates in the room began to scatter. Not get into cover, just run out into the open, climbing up structures, in the open. That made them easy targets for us to mop up.

"What's wrong with you squits? There's only four of them!" Calot exclaimed over the intercom.

"A little help on the outside makes all the difference," Bradley retorted, patching himself into Calot's comms.

"And numbers ain't everything dipshit," I called out, pulling the trigger on yet another Pirate, and inserting a fresh thermal clip. I couldn't see any more pirates running around, and began to suspect that the room might be clear. Was not certain, but the shields should hold from any surprised. I led the team down to some pipes, so that we wouldn't just try and jump, or fall, rather, straight down to the floor, and in case there were pirates left, leave us with a good angle to retaliate. As I hit the pipe, I green bolt of energy whizzed straight past my head, narrowly missing. Sniper. The others, fortunately, are not either blind nor deaf, and entered cover themselves, keeping their heads down.

"I'll cloak and get around. He won't be a threat much longer," Jaal offered, as he vanished from sight. A few moments later, we heard a body hitting the floor, followed by a gunshot. "You're clear, there was another with the sniper," Jaal explained, and we stood, descending safely to the 'ground.'

"Scott? Grace is working on the lockdown," Bradley informed.

"Thanks for the chance. Let's get eyes on some data. Can you spot a control hub or console? In the room? Have your SAM push a scan of it to me," Grace Lito requested.

"Wilco, looking for one now," I replied. At the lowest point in the room we could reach, it appeared that there were many consoles, fallen onto the floor. But SAM confirmed that none were what we wanted.

"Scott, I can see a door up here. Might have the console," Jaal suggested, waving us up from where the sniper was. I joined him up there, stepping past several dead pirates, and I could see the door he was talking about. It was open, and there appeared to be a console inside. I nodded my thanks, and jumped across. I scanned the console, and SAM transmitted.

"Thought so, Calot did a bypass. Here's two access points to hit. I'll sync when you activate," she explained. She sent me the access points. One was back where the first Pirate we saw in the room was, and the second was down by the door. I activated the one farthest first. Got a few data packets too. Apparently, Calot had been in several groups before, all of which made a… less than positive impression. He went out with the Talons and killed at least some of them.

"Got the access point. Onto the next," Grace informed.

"And we know a bit more about Calot. Big chip on his shoulder. Must have made him snap. Now he's just a danger to everyone," I remarked, heading to the next access point.

"Small man, big gun," Liam murmured. Guess a few old faces were coming to mind for him. Access point was synched, and Grace confirmed that she was establishing her connection. Few more data packets.

"He found and retrofit a derelict, then uses it for pirating?" Liam questioned, either confused or disappointed.

"A man who gave up. Seen it before," Vetra muttered.

"I've accessed their security. If you can even call it that. Door controls and cameras," Grace informed.

"Watch the monitors, Pathfinder," Westie called out. All the monitors on the consoles in the room lit up, with the same image. Prison cells.

"There's Verand! And… the hell? They have humans locked up too!" Liam exclaimed.

"Guess you got your timing wrong, Liam. Calot wasn't hitting the Initiative 'soon,'" Bradley remarked.

"They're hitting it now… shit. We have to stop this," Liam stated, concerned.

"Working on it," I replied, waiting for the door to open. It did, and as soon as the last of us stepped through, a pulse of energy seemed to stretch across the ship, and we struggled to balance our weight. "Gravity's shifting!" I cried out as the four of us fell flat on our asses. Now the ceiling was the floor. Interesting…

"Get off my ship," Calot growled over the intercom.

"Augie?" Liam checked to see if he was still there.

"We're here. We'll find a route to those captives, don't worry," he reassured.

"When can the floor be the floor again?" Vetra muttered to herself, standing up and readying her weapon. I opened the door, and oh, this room was rather familiar.

"Aaaaaaand it's the cargo room," I mumbled.

"Again?!" Liam groaned.

"What do you mean you can't see them? Well, get ready everywhere!" Calot ordered over the intercom. Ok, that's one helluva stupid order. We don't know where the intruders are, so let's spread out our forces everywhere so that where they eventually will be, will easily break through.

"We're shooting him, right?" Vetra requested in a grumble. There was a door to the right that was previously blocked, but Bradley needed a console first. And there seemed to be a control room on the other side of the room. We climbed over the crates piled up on the 'floor.' Not only did the console, when activated, unlock the door, with several pirates coming out, but the crane in the room moved towards the same side. Not sure what the use was, but it was there. We kept our distance, staying in the control room, and Jaal and I comfortably neutralized the pirates, as they lacked sufficient cover. Content with our efforts, we journeyed through the door they came through. Westie confirmed that the prison block should be down that way. Honestly, these guys were fucking idiots. At least when it comes to combat, they're goddamn brain dead.

"Cycling power to the doors ahead. But it seals the one behind you," Bradly informed.

"Not like we're turning back anyway," Liam retorted.

"They're bunkered in the next room, Pathfinder. Sniper, maybe two. And… cages?" Westie called out, confused with the last one.

"Jaal, you and I will take out the snipers. Liam, Vetra, watch for Adhi," I ordered, opening the door. Sure enough, two snipers. Jaal and I both used a pair of tech attacks on each, frying their shields before they could fire. We paused a moment, making them uncertain, then stepped out and fired, eliminating both as an Adhi ran up towards us, about to jump onto one of us, yet we stepped to the side and Vetra opened fire with her Cyclone, the rounds striking it while it was in the air and knocking it back with the force of the rounds. Another followed, but Liam shot it dead with his Charger. The rest were simple pirates, no true issue, though one had managed to drain most of my shields and supply it to her own, but I simply returned to cover, waiting for it to re-charge as the others eliminated her.

The pirates were dead, the door opened, and I could hear a mechanical whirring on the other side. We had to push on. We climbed up, and there were both unarmed humans and Angara hands in the air, pirates guarding them with large mechs, their backs turned to us, bent down watching. The mechs were bipedal, heavily armored, and appeared to have their power cells vulnerable on their backsides. Shoddy design if you ask me. As we climbed through, the pirates noticed us, and all turned.

"That's them! Get the Hydras! Take them down!" a Pirate woman ordered. With their attention drawn, the Mechs activating and turning towards us, the prisoners lowered their arms and attacked the guards. Guess we gave them their chance.

"See that? There's our captives kicking ass!" Liam exclaimed.

"And big mechs coming to us!" Vetra cried out, and we jumped down to grab cover. The mechs had a three eyed, gyroscopic 'face,' in the center of their torso, and two arms. One a claw, the other a gun barrel. One mech steadied itself, three lasers painting themselves on me using its three eyes, and pods on its shoulders began to open. Missiles.

"GET DOWN!" I ordered, and we took cover behind a large crate. Somehow, it didn't collapse. "Jaal, Vetra, take right, shoot its eyes! Liam, you're with me on the left," I ordered, taking my black widow and shooting the gyroscope. On the second shot, the lights dimmed and the mech reeled back. I could hear Jaal's rifle discharging and Vetra's onslaught, along with more glass breaking, but mech was still accurate with its main cannon.

"Shoot the fuel cells on its back! I have an idea!" I called out. We focused our fire as the mechs drew closer, taking cover as needed from its other arm. I laughed as it attempted to fire missiles again, but couldn't lock on, the barrage simply going everywhere except forward. Soon, I noticed that the fluid in the cells began to leak, drops hitting the floor behind. With that, I stood and ran, using both jump-jets and biotics to launch myself over and behind both. I activated my flamethrower and ignited the fuel, the flame traveling into the fuel cells before reacting violently, both Mechs exploding. Vetra let out an impressed whistle, sounding a lot like bird song with her Avian 'lips.'

"Who designed these pieces of shit to have their vulnerabilities so large and easy to see?" I remarked, gesturing at the piles of scrap. "Ymir mechs were tougher than those."

"Looks like a modified construction mech," Vetra hummed thoughtfully, then ran a scan. "Thought so. Stolen Initiative tech, looks like a bit of Rem-tech too. Design seems to be similar to the ATLAS mech, a manned heavy weapons platform the Alliance had in the works. Jump jets, Eezo core to lower mass. Crude, but effective if used right," Vetra explained, nodding her head.

"If it's Initiative tech, maybe they bought these from Exiles. In that case, expect to see more in the future," I warned.

"Come on, I need to see what happened on the other side of the door," Liam requested. With my focus back on the mission, I nodded and moved to the console, trying to open it.

"Hello? Anyone alive out there?" A woman's face questioned. Human.

"We read you. Exiles?" I requested clarification.

"Trading ship out of Kadara. Nexus?" she replied.

"There's more options than that now. My Pathfinder team and I have made sure of it," I answered.

"We heard the pirates say 'Pathfinder.' Didn't believe them, she remarked.

"Is Verand alright?" Liam asked into the console's mic. There was the sound of movement coming closer.

"Liam? What are you doing here?" an Angaran woman, obviously Verand, responded.

"Didn't want you getting killed over what I told you," Liam muttered.

"I'd never give that up. Regardless, Calot hasn't asked anything. I don't think he knew we knew anything," she reassured.

"He dumped her in here, same as us. We're all just labor. Half the ship is our handiwork. It's a piece of shit, let me tell you. It's draining him. He can't be a threat to anyone with all the scavenging he needs to do just to keep it afloat," the woman scoffed.

"Found a project car, didn't count on maintenance," Liam remarked.

"We have people on the outside screwing with Calot's systems, been helping us get through. And we'll need more. Can you get the door?" I requested.

"I was working on them earlier. Let's see," she murmured, and I heard the sounds of her messing with tech. "Bah, got the override, but we need power. Fault's on your side."

"We'll find a way. Hold tight," I answered. I keyed my comms. "Bradley?"

"Kuriada, can you get them a path?" Bradley questioned.

"Allow me," he answered. The tone left me suspecting he had a grin. A door at the side of the room opened. Nothing to help us climb to it, but that's what jump-jets are for. It led to a kind of maintenance room. A generator was inside, least that's what I think it was. And I saw a door above it and to the side, might be something that way.

"Pathfinder, there's a problem. Dace says that the override only pulls the lock. That allows the door to open under its own weight," Verand explained.

"So we need to make things right side up," I finished. "Hear that Bradley? We need this ship right side up," I called out.

"Understood. Kuriada, we've been fighting those shorts, think we can…?" Bradley trailed off.

"Roll with it?" he finished. I'll take that as a yes.

"Hear that? Hit the power, and hang on," he warned.

"Finally," Vetra muttered.

"It's starting to make me dizzy," Jaal chuckled. We found the console directly above the room with the bulkheads. I allowed the others to grab onto pipes, railings, whatever they needed so that they wouldn't just fall flat to the floor. With my legs wrapped around the top of the console, looking like an upside-down T, my ass cheeks resting on the horizontal line of the T, and my arms wrapped around, keying my omni-tool to interface. As I pressed the final key, I held on for dear life. Power surged through the ship as the gravity reverted itself to normal.

As the blood began rushing to my head, I carefully worked to right myself up. It was starting to take longer than I liked, so I hit fuck it. I used my biotics to stabilize myself and let go. As I gently began falling to the floor, I righted myself up, allowing my feet to hit the floor. Jaal was the only one already righted up. Vetra and Liam both grumbling to themselves. I gestured for Jaal to help Liam and I moved to help Vetra.

"Does the lady require a hand?" I teased.

"Shut it and help me," she grumbled. Chuckling, I used my biotics to gently lift her away from the pipe she had clutched to, spun her right side up, and set her down. "My experience rock climbing does jack shit when it comes to shifting gravity as I hold on to completely smooth surfaces," she remarked.

"You were a rock climber?" I asked, as I began leading the others back towards the bulkhead from before. Now all the rooms were starting to look normal, even with debris tossed all over the place.

"Was a hobby back in the Milky Way. I'd like climbing them, looking out as I climbed, seeing how far I progressed, let alone the view, and then when I reach the top I'd just sit back, let the burn subside, just look out," she explained.

"Most I've ever done is just those walls in gyms. Never did too bad," I remarked.

"Tell ya what. Someday, we'll find a world with good mountains to climb, and climb it. But no biotics, that's cheating," she chuckled.

"Sure, I'd be game," I answered. By now, we were back in the room with the bulkheads. They were open.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your exit vehicle will be waiting at the nearest airlock," Bradley informed. "Grace will evac, but we can't have Calot chasing us." The meaning was clear. Kill Calot.

"Location?" I asked.

"Engine control. Past where they had the captives," Westie answered.

"Find him, kill him, leave. Can do. After all this, only one thing to say," Liam stated. "Proud of all our people, Pathfinder. Let's do this."

"Gah, FINE! Take them! I'll chase you down and burn you where you live!" Calot growled. "My Talon wing will never let you sleep!"

"Hey, we put him right side up, didn't we?" Bradley chuckled. We entered the holding cells. Dace and Verand and their people were waiting.

"Glad we finally have our feet on the floor, instead of everywhere except," the human woman, Dace, chuckled.

"Indeed. What's the plan?" Verand asked.

"You all will stay here. Rather, stay a room behind us at all times. We'll take out Calot and his goons. After, we'll head to the airlock for evac," I ordered. A few of the prisoners groaned at not being able to join the fight, but they stayed there. At the other end of the room, through the door, the pirates had lined up some crates for cover, and were set up, ready to fire. A trio of rounds impacted my shields, but they held as I dove to the side of the door, all of us in cover.

"Inducted cooling systems?" Kuriada laughed. "Override." We could hear the pipes in the next room bursting, and some of the pirates crying out in pain. Weapons drawn, we entered to find that some of them were frozen over entirely. Whether or not they were alive, or just frozen stiff was unknown. However, we didn't wait to find out. Some were on the floor, crying out as they held a frozen arm or leg, that would not move. We put them all out of their misery.

"You know, I might be turning around on this plan, Liam," I remarked, as the last of the pirates in the room were now confirmed dead.

"Huh, me too," Liam chuckled.

"Set coordinates for Eos!" Calot ordered. I'd be concerned if there was any chance of this ship reaching there before we killed him. "What do you mean it's not responding?" Case in point. "GAH! EVERYTHING TO ENGINEERING!" he demanded. "Yes, even that! No, I don't care if it's eating!" Well, they have something big, and hungry, here. Kett ship? Not hard to figure out.

"Get ready for a Fiend," I warned.

"This is not happening…" Calot murmured, still had the intercom on. Past the door, a small hallway, solar lamps and another door. I could hear a large creature growling. Yep, Fiend. I pulled a grenade from my belt with my left hand, thumb ready to begin detonation. The door opened to engineering. We couldn't see the Fiend, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. Instead, Calot, flanked by a pair of pirates, stepped forward, weapon in hand, in front of the Eezo core above us. His armor was green and brown, a clear patchwork look to it. His skin was of a purple shade and there were lines on his head of a black color. Sign of his rank aboard the ship?

"Get a ship, fill it with shooters, and I'm still disrespected! Fine. Fine!" Calot growled.

"Calot, I'll give you one chance, and one chance only. You and your men, lay down their weapons. Cease hostilities. You'll be taken to Aya and face prosecution at the hands of the Resistance. Once you've served your time, maybe you'll even be able to do some good," I offered. He raised his weapon.

"No one is taking anything from me ever again, Pathfinder. I'll kill you myself!" he roared. As he said that, a shield formed around him and the Eezo core. He wouldn't be shooting like that.

"There's his pet!" Vetra called out. To the right, sure enough, a Fiend was lumbering its way across the catwalk over to a ramp down to face us.

"So much for killing me yourself huh?" I called out, as I raised my weapon to take care of both the pirates and the fiend. The fiend didn't have guns, so Jaal and I worked to wipe out the pirates quickly so we could focus on the Fiend. I highly doubted these were ALL the pirates on board.

"The shield's pulling straight from the drive core. We'll find a way to hack it," Bradley called out. With Calot calling for reinforcements, I moved to stand in front of the Fiend, grenade in hand. I keyed the detonation sequence and it began opening its mouth to roar, preparing to charge me. I counted on this, however, and threw the grenade, using my biotics to help guide it into the beast's mouth, adding extra force to shove it down its throat. The fiend made a coughing like noise as blood and bits of flesh spewed out from its mouth. Hell, it even loosened its lower jaw, dangling by bits of flesh as the beast fell over, dead.

"No! That Fiend was mine! It's all mine!" Calot cried out. I almost felt pity for him. A broken man. But he needed to die, he's a danger to too many people.

"Got a console Pathfinder! Hack it!" Kuriada called out. I ran to the nearby console and established a connection. More pirates arrived from the opposite side of the room, but we had already bunkered down. And, we had to wait here anyway. SAM's estimate time confirmed that the firewalls here were absolute trash. Likely wouldn't be able to keep out a virus from a damn porno site, let alone an AI.

"This ship makes me invincible!" Calot roared, as the hack completed and the shields weakened. In addition, the last of the pirate reinforcements poked their heads up, earning them a bullet in the brain.

"You're a damn idiot, Calot. Your ship can't protect you from someone already inside the damned thing!" I called out as Kuriada marked the next console.

"Think you're tough? I rule here," he growled.

"And I lead," I retorted. He rules by fear, I lead by example. That's why we're better. The next console was on the other side of the room, second level. And coincidentally, decent cover all around. Vetra set up on the side closest to the drive core, with me to her right, Jaal and Liam behind us. Both ways to us were protected. Someone with rapid fire, someone with marksmanship.

"Throw everything at them!" Calot ordered. There won't be anything left except two pirates to protect him when we're done with this hack. Our lines of fire were perfect. Anything that came into view was killed near instantaneously. Adhi or pirate. And no grenades were being thrown.

"I'll cage you. Make your people what I was, NOTHING!" Calot threatened.

"With all the men and Adhi we're killing, you'll certainly have the room for it! Not sure how you'll manage capturing us in the first place though," I retorted snarkily. He growled, but could do nothing. He continued throwing insults as we killed his men and hacked the systems, but they were lacking confidence. In its place, fear. I hadn't responded to any more, but when I was, my tone held everything his lacked. A blind man could listen to a recording of nothing else other than the dialogue in our fight to know that Calot was doomed.

"Drive core shield… Redirected!" Kuriada called out cheerfully.

"Go get em, Pathfinder," Bradley stated. We wiped out the last of his men coming to us and I gestured for my team to remain. They glanced amongst themselves, but nodded. As I stepped out, I quickly shot both of Calot's guards, killing both. As Calot began to fire back, I simply formed a barrier in front of me, deflecting all his shots away, and stepped closer. Nervously, he stepped back, still firing, before he lost his footing, stumbling and falling on his ass. Weapon out of his hand, but not out of reach. I dropped the barrier, and pointed my rifle at him.

"It's over, Calot. Your men are dead, and my readings say that this drive core is going to blow, the only thing preventing that is my people redirecting the power. But that won't last forever. Come to Aya, face justice," I offered, one last time. He breathed heavily, several times, and then looked up, fury in his eyes. His breathing quickened, getting closer to animalistic growls, and he glared. He roared as he attempted to lunge. I didn't give him the time. A trigger was pulled, and the upper part of his head was evaporated, what was left, was sizzling. With the sound of my gunshot, the other turned the corner to find me holstering my weapon, shaking my head at the corpse on the floor.

"That's him done, the fool," Liam muttered.

"Standing by for evac, Pathfinder. Hit the airlock when you're ready," Bradley called out.

"Let's go. There's nothing left here," I stated.

A shuttle had returned my men and I to the Tempest, and, with both the former exiles and Verand in tow to Prodromos. Having removed our armor and weapons, Liam and I both entered the bridge.

"Ha, don't tell me a stock shuttle can mag-lock like that. I saw," Kallo chuckled, talking with someone via the comms. Bradly, a vid screen for a vid call where I would normally use the galaxy map from, was laughing.

"Don't spread it around. There you two are. Safe and sound?" he asked.

"All good Augie," Liam answered.

"We got everyone out just in time. The inside of that boat is six kinds of irradiated now," Bradley remarked. "Hold on, someone wants to say goodbye. He keyed something and the image of him was replaced with Verand.

"Thank you, Liam. I didn't expect… whatever that was," she smiled.

"You gave them plenty of trouble on your own," he grinned in reply.

"Maybe. But it's good to know your friends will come," she replied. "And, their friends." Liam glanced at me as the image returned to Bradley.

"We'll get these people where they need to go. The exiles want to come to Prodromos. Verand says we may even get some Angara. That's good news," Bradley explained. Huh, unexpected, but not unwelcome.

"No detours. We went through a lot to keep everyone in one piece," I stated. I'd certainly be calling the Nexus to update our security codes and comm frequencies. While I saw no reason for Verand to be confined anywhere in the meantime, I'd rather reduce the risks as much as possible.

"I hear that. And Liam? Next time, let's just do cards. I'm too old for this shit," Bradley requested.

"I'll believe that when you do," Liam grinned. Bradley chuckled, and gave his farewell. The vidscreen faded, and Liam gestured for me to follow him, and he led me to the meeting room, looking out a window towards Calot's ship. I stood, hands on the railing, looking out as I waited for Liam to begin.

"That worked out! Everything just… just so…" he trailed off, losing the false confidence and hollow positivity he began with. I turned to look at him and he raised a hand. "Before you start, I want you to know, I… ah, well, I'm sorry. I mean, this was a mess. Even though we won, it wasn't by much," he began. He looked nervous, regretful, even, at the ordeal. I think he learned his lesson. "And it was all worth it. You showed Verand that 'Pathfinder' can stand for everyone." Good so far, but come on Kosta, say it… "But… I need to be smarter about taking risks. I'll… talk with Vetra. You're right. Sorry. Okay. Go ahead." he ended. Alright, I think I can be content with this.

"We did good." I stated, with a small grin. Liam appeared flabbergasted.

"What? Really?" he asked through light laughter, not quite believing it.

"Could do with a little less dangling in open space, but…"

"You got it," he breathed a sigh of relief, joining me in looking out at the ship. "Think that thing would survive a jump back to the Nexus?" he asked. 3… 2… 1…

It exploded. Violently. Parts shooting out every which way, the ship splitting apart. Some large chunks, some small chunks. With a glance, I could see the fake smile on his face, and the "well shit" look in his eyes as the very lesson he just recited about being careful with risks slapped him in the face.

"Probably not," I remarked casually. Liam released the breath with a chuckle. "Sounds like the lesson was learned. We're good, Liam. Just always keep that lesson in the back of your head and we'll stay good," I stated more seriously.

"Understood. You won't be disappointed," he replied, turning to leave.

"Kallo, take us to the Nexus," I ordered.