The Hero We Deserve

by Random Equinox

Humans are being abducted, probably because someone has really poor taste. Shepard has to find out why and stop them with the help of a band of misfits. They say it's a suicide mission. So what else is new? Well, getting killed for starters...

39. Into the Hornet's Nest

Chapter 25: Into the Hornet's Nest

I wasn't sure how long it went on. Rather than plowing into—or through—the Collector base, the Normandy had bounced once or twice over its hull instead. Almost like a skipping stone over water. Only this stone had to belly-flop onto the hull and skid across it, sending up a storm of sparks with every jarring bounce and painful rattle. And the shrieking of tortured metal was so loud and piercing. We all stumbled and fell, careening off the walls and floors—again, in the case of me and Miranda. It's entirely possible that my poor oft-abused brain just went on strike until things settled down.

Because, yes, things did settle down. After what seemed like forever, the Normandy slowly came to a shuddering stop. I carefully picked myself up, wincing in pain. Sparks spat out from various computers, which flickered on and off. I turned towards Miranda. She was already on her hands and knees, and waved me off. Turning towards Joker, I saw he was slumped over the armrest. "Joker?"

To my relief, I saw him stir. "Joker," I repeated. "You okay?"

Clutching his side, he slowly righted himself. "I think I broke a rib," he groaned. "Or all of them."

"Multiple core systems overloaded during the crash," EDI reported. "Restoring operations will take time."

Right. Because this was the perfect place to sit back and take your time while making repairs. This was just great. We were forced into this suicide mission with a skeleton crew, barely escaped a premature end by crashing the Normandy into another ship, fought through a flock of eyeballs, finally blew up the Collector ship, only to crash and be crippled on the doorsteps of the Collector base. Just once, couldn't things go well from start to finish? Is that too much to ask?

Miranda and I exchanged a look. "We all knew this was likely a one-way trip," she sighed in dismay.

I conceded her point with a nod. Aloud, I said "It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings, Miranda. I'll do whatever it takes to stop the Collectors, but I plan to live to tell about it."

Joker chuckled. "I'm glad you're in charge. What's our next step?"

"First things first," I declared. "How long until the Collectors find this—" I caught myself just before calling it a 'crash zone.' "This landing zone?" I finished.

"I do not detect an internal security network," EDI said. It is possible the Collectors did not expect anyone to actually reach the base."

"And, if we're lucky, their external sensors were hit like we were," Joker suggested. "They might not know we're alive."

Could it be? Could the universe finally be throwing me a bone? If so... "Then let's make the most of it," I said. "Joker, get the ship back online. EDI, start scanning the base. When you're done that, help Joker out. Miranda, gather everyone else in the comm room.

"We need a plan."

---

I spent some time in the armoury looking over the various weapons I'd collected. Most of the choices were already made. The main question was: which heavy weapon to take with me. Should I take the grenade launcher, an old standby that had been remarkably effective and reliable? Maybe the missile launcher, with its arsenal of homing missiles? Or perhaps the Collector particle beam weapon, to fight fire with fire?

After some deliberation, I made my choice. Slotting it on my back, I scooped up the explosives Jacob had prepped earlier and headed for the comm room. The rest of the squad was already there, fully suited up. They looked up as I entered, clearly finishing off their calibrations and sighting of their weapons. I went to the head of the table, alternatively nodding at squadmates or patting them on the shoulders as I passed them.

"They say that any landing you can walk away from is a good one," I started. "By those standards, we're off to a great start." There were a couple rueful chuckles at that. "Seriously, this isn't how we planned this mission. But, like it or not, this is where we're at. We can't worry about whether the Normandy can get us home. It's out of our hands. What we can do is what we came here to do: to stop the Collectors. That means coming up with a plan to take out this station.

"EDI, bring up your scans."

A holographic schematic of the Collector base shimmered into view over the table. "You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control centre here." An arrow popped up and moved to highlight the control centre.

Jacob was looking at the schematic through his omni-tool, zooming in on various sections. "That means going through the heart of the station," he said at last. "Right past this massive energy signature."

"Looks like some sort of central chamber," I observed. "If our crew or any of the colonists are still alive, the Collectors are probably holding them in there."

"Assumes Collector architecture similar to human, but logic sound," Mordin agreed. "Volume of abductions requires large storage space. Central chamber best suited for that purpose."

"Looks like there are two main routes," Jacob reported. "Might be a good idea to split up to keep the Collectors off balance." Using his omni-tool, he brought up two more arrows that started running up the routes. "Then we can regroup in the central chamber," he continued, as the arrows merged together.

Miranda shook her head. "No good. Both routes are blocked. See those doors? The only way past is to get someone to open them from the other side."

I saw a couple shoulders slump. "Hold on," I protested. "It's a good plan so far. It just hit a snag, that's all. This isn't a fortress; there's got to be something." I looked over the schematic closely. All we needed was—bingo! I tapped my own omni-tool to bring up another arrow. "Look at this. Maybe we can send someone in through this ventilation shaft here."

"Practically a suicide mission," Jacob said with relish. "I volunteer."

Miranda looked at Jacob. I wasn't sure whether the amused look Miranda shot at Jacob was over calling that job a suicide mission instead of this whole debacle, or how he was offering to throw himself in harm's way again. Or both. "I appreciate the thought, Jacob," she told him gently, "but you couldn't shut down the security systems in time. We need to send a tech expert."

She was right, of course. Whoever we sent to go squirming through the ventilation shaft and open the doors for us would have to be well-versed in hacking techniques, not to mention flexible enough to adapt to hacking a relatively unknown system. That narrowed things down to Kasumi, Tali or Legion.

I took another look at the ventilation shaft. Something about it was bugging me. But what... wait a sec. "EDI, is that ventilation shaft connected to the heat exhaust?"

"Yes."

"How hot would it be in there?"

"Temperatures appear to fluctuate. However, the lowest temperature recorded thus far is approximately 375 degrees Kelvin."

That was... um...

"101.85 degrees Celsius or 215.33 degrees Fahrenheit," Miranda translated.

Ooh. That was hot. "Thanks," I nodded. "Those temperatures would cook any organic. Thankfully, we have a synthetic onboard—one who can hack through anything. Legion, I'm sending you into the shaft."

Legion adjusted his assault rifle. "Acknowledged," they replied. "Be advised: the heat sinks installed in this platform are not optimized for such extreme temperatures."

"Then you'd better not dilly-dally around," I said. "While Legion goes through the shaft, the rest of us will break into teams and fight down each passage. Team One takes the left shaft, with me as team leader and Miranda as assistant team leader. Team Two gets the right shaft; Garrus and Jacob as team leader and assistant team leader, respectively. That should draw the Collectors' attention away from what Legion's doing."

"Sounds good, Shepard," Garrus agreed. "Try not to waste time sightseeing."

I let everyone have their laughs before I got to the serious stuff. "I don't know what we're going to find in there, but I won't lie to you: it's not going to be easy. We've lost a lot of innocent people already. Good people. We may lose more.

"We don't know how many the Collectors have abducted already—hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands—nor do we know what they're doing with them. You know what, though? It's not important. We can't change that. We can't do anything about that. What matters is this: Not. One. More. That's what we can do. That's what we can change. We have the chance to make a difference. Here. Today. It ends with us. They want to know what we're made of? I say we show them—on our terms.

"Gear up, everyone. It's time to bring our people home."

---

Normally, I land on the surfaces of planets or objects using a shuttle. You know, something that has a ramp or is only twenty or thirty centimetres or so above to the ground. The Normandy, however, had no ramp and was a bit higher. And by 'a bit higher,' I mean two or three metres. So we had to hop down before splitting up into teams—with the exception of Legion, who, aside from their 1,183 runtimes, was all alone. Thankfully, none of us sprained an ankle hopping down. This mission had had enough unexpected snafus as it was.

Following the schematic that everyone had downloaded to their hardsuit computers, we found access points to our designated routes. It wasn't long before Team One had found themselves in a gloomy corridor. It was just like the Collector ship—rocky, cavernous tunnels with misshapen, irregular walls. Yellow lights on the walls arranged in what looked like a random, alien pattern—except for the ceiling. The lights up there looked like a cluster of eggs caught in a honeycomb net. Only a few metal columns were present to remind us that we were in a space station.

I paused a minute for everyone to activate any last minute mods before opening a comm channel. "Legion; report."

"We are in position. Exterior temperature slightly elevated. No obstructions detected."

"Understood," I replied. "Team Two—are you in position?"

"In position," Garrus confirmed. "Meet you on the other side of those doors."

"Weapons free," I said. "Good luck, everyone."

I led the team along the corridor and around a couple corners, passing a desiccated humanoid body along the way. We had just reached a large chamber—too small to be the central chamber, but still quite sizeable—one with lots of metal columns and embankments surrounding a couple hexagonal platforms. My neck started to tingle just before a chittering sound echoed out.

Without thinking, I activated my cloak, grabbed my sniper rifle and swept towards the chamber. One well-placed shot sent a Collector drone toppling to the ground. Miranda, Thane and Grunt ganged up on another drone, overwhelming it with their biotics and concussive rounds.

Team Two came in over the comm. "Garrus here. We're taking heavy fire, but we're moving forward."

"Likewise," I called back.

"Shepard!" Samara warned. "Reinforcements coming towards us!" Sure enough, three more drones were flying in. Focusing on one of the drones, she used her biotics to rip its barriers to shreds. Kasumi waited until the trio landed before detonating a flash bang grenade at their feet—and her shields paid the price. Taking advantage of their disorientation, I ordered the team to focus on the drone Samara had weakened while I tried to flank them. Unfortunately, I had only taken a couple steps before another drone stepped into view—guess it had the same idea. Fortunately, I already had my sniper rifle in hand and my cloak engaged. At the moment, one drone was as good as another.

Looking back, I saw that the team had dealt with the drone I'd designated and another hapless sucker. That just left two more drones. One of them was pinned down. The other one was in the process of levitating off the ground, courtesy of Samara. It had just enough time to let out another round of chittering before Grunt hit it with a concussive round, sending it flying off the platform. Miranda and I finished off the last drone with a tandem attack of biotics and plasma.

"Good thing we weren't banking on the element of surprise," Kasumi puffed, her shields finally regenerating. "Now what?"

"Pathing failure. There is an obstruction in the tunnel."

"Well, there's that," I offered. A few seconds of searching revealed an exit to the chamber, one that connected into a corridor. Running parallel to the corridor was a large tube-like tunnel—the ventilation shaft I'd sent Legion into. Leading the team towards the corridor and shaft, I saw Legion standing there. As they had said, there was a gate of some sort that was closed, preventing Legion from advancing any further.

"There, over by the ventilation shaft," Miranda said. "See that control panel? Looks like some kind of heat exchanger or valve."

I sure did. A big honking hexagonal holographic interface. "Hopefully it'll open the gate," I said, coming to a halt in front of it. Now, how to open it? There was only one button that I could see. Well, nothing ventured... I reached out and tapped the button.

With a gentle hiss, the gate opened. "Obstruction removed," Legion told us. "Proceeding."

We moved on as well, skirting another pair of dried-up bodies. It didn't take long before we bumped into another trio of Collector drones. The first one went down pretty quickly. The next one—

"I am assuming direct control."

Oh look. I was wondering when Harbinger would join the party. "Thane, Grunt—take out the other Collector," I called out. "Everyone else, focus on Harbinger."

Naturally, Thane and Grunt had the easy task. Dealing with Harbinger without getting bowled over by its attacks? That took a little more work. Miranda, Kasumi and Samara started to soften him up with a combo of gunfire and biotics.

"The path is blocked again. You must find another valve."

"Hang on, Legion," I replied, activating my cloak again. Raising my sniper rifle, I fired a shot right through its bulbous head. As I moved to open the next valve, the Collector Harbinger had possessed turned to ash.

"Look! Overhead!" Thane called out.

Another trio of Collectors, one of which was already in the midst of transforming into Harbinger. I quickly selected targets with my HUD before firing a burst of plasma at one of the Collector drones. That drone's barriers had already been obliterated thanks to Miranda, which meant it crashed to the ground in a fiery pulp. The other drone was knocked out of the sky by Thane, Samara and Grunt.

Just as we started attacking Harbinger, Legion contacted us again. "Another obstacle impeding progress. I am unable to continue without your assistance, Shepard-Commander."

Again? "Understood. Standby," I replied before checking my HUD. Looked like no one else was coming to join the party, which meant we got to gang up on Harbinger. Almost seemed unfair. By this point, Kasumi had reduced Harbinger's barriers to about half-strength through sheer determination and gunfire. In retaliation, Harbinger sent a biotic blast that knocked her on her ass.

"I know you feel this," Harbinger rumbled.

"Kasumi?" I called out. "You hurt?"

"Just my pride, Shep. Harbinger's all talk." Kasumi rolled to her knees and winced. "Mostly talk," she amended. "Oh, that's gonna leave a bruise."

Phew. I checked my HUD again. "Okay, people," I decided, "Miranda and Grunt are up, followed by Thane and I. Then it's a team effort the rest of the way. Ready?" I got several nods. "Go!"

Miranda and Grunt made short work of Harbinger's barriers, then Thane and I hammered its armour. A steady stream of bullets finished it off. Then I ran over and opened the third valve. "Path is clear," Legion told us. "Moving on."

Before I continued, I thought it was time to check in with Team Two: "Garrus?"

"Making good progress. Couple minor injuries, but nothing that a bit of medi-gel couldn't fix. You?"

"Same, despite running into the odd bunch of Collectors," I replied. "Including Harbinger."

"You too?"

"Yeah. Harbinger really gets around. Meet you at the rendezvous."

"Understood."

Legion only managed to travel another hundred metres or so before bumping into another valve. To my surprise, Team One didn't run into any opposition along the way and actually beat them to the valve. After opening the valve, we headed along another cavern-and-metal corridor and around the corner. Just as I was glimpsing another large chamber, two things happened. First, Garrus contacted us again: "We're in position, Shepard. Just waiting for the doors to open." Second, I heard some chittering. Peeking around the corner, I saw at least three Collectors.

"Assuming control."

Plus Harbinger. Aw, crap.

Once again, Miranda and I took out one of the Collectors while Thane, Grunt and Samara tackled another. Now that I had a chance to look, though, that still left us three more Collector drones. And Harbinger.

"Your form is fragile."

Yeesh, Harbinger was feeling awfully chatty today. I tried to find another target, but had to duck before Harbinger's biotic onslaught took my head clean off. Could things get any better?

"The path is blocked again. You must locate another valve."

There you go. Checking my HUD to see where everyone was—and where all the bad guys were—I selected targets. Within a minute, we'd taken out two more Collectors and dealt some serious damage to Harbinger. It wasn't all smooth sailing, though—Harbinger sent another biotic volley that hit Grunt right in the kisser. Normally it wouldn't have been a problem, but he was already a bit off-balance leaning out of cover to fire a concussive round. The biotic attack was enough to bowl Grunt over—right on top of Miranda.

Hoping that Miranda's suit would be able to handle such an extreme weight, I turned my attention back to Harbinger. By the time my omni-tool had cooked up some more plasma, Harbinger's barriers were gone. I let loose another fireball before pulling out my sniper rifle again. "Split your fire," I ordered before firing a shot. Without the help of my cloak, my shot didn't have enough velocity to kill Harbinger. Thankfully, it had taken so much damage; it didn't take many more shots to finish it off. Now we just had to finish that last drone before Harbinger possessed it.

As it turned out, Harbinger didn't possess it. It possessed one of the three new Collector drones who came swooping in.

"Alert: temperature rising."

I tapped into Legion's sensor feeds. The heat sinks were at 20% capacity. Not to be callous, but I think Legion could afford to wait a little while we dealt with the latest batch of bad guys. Once again, a combo of biotics, plasma and concussive rounds took out Harbinger's buddies while Kasumi had the dubious honour of getting first crack at Harbinger.

"Temperature rising to dangerous levels."

A quick check reassured me that Legion's heat sinks were at 33%. I tried to fire a shot at Harbinger, but a stupid pylon was standing right between us. Thankfully, the other teammates didn't have that problem. As I watched, they quickly whittled down Harbinger's barriers. I waited until they collapsed before launching a fireball. It landed just about the same time as Miranda's biotic attack.

"Temperature rising. Circuits on the verge of failure."

Heat sinks at about 55%. I waited until my omni-tool recharged, barbequed Harbinger and ran for the valve. Slapping the control, I moved on. Over the comm, Legion informed us that they were able to proceed once more.

It was smooth sailing for another minute. No bad guys. No Harbinger. Found another valve and activated it without any trouble. Ran into three more Collector drones, but managed to take them out before any of them went all Harbinger on us.

The team ran down the tunnel, which quickly led to a dead-end. Thankfully, there was a large opening to our right. Climbing through the tunnel, we were greeted by two more Collectors—one of whom was carrying a particle beam weapon. By this point, everyone had readied fresh biotic attacks, charged up more plasma or loaded additional concussive rounds, so the fight was actually over before it really started.

"The route is blocked once more. Waiting for you to clear the path."

"Shepard! Reinforcements coming towards us!"

Six more Collector drones. Plenty of cover—for us and them. And two more valves. I motioned for the team to head for the cover next to the closest valve before opening a comm channel. "I read you, Legion, but we've got company. Hold on for now."

The way I saw it, this was the best possible spot for us. We could hold out for a while, taking out Collectors. And if things got really bad for Legion, I could always open the valve and let Legion head to the next gate. Whereas if I opened the valve now, there was no guarantee that I could reach the next valve in time.

While I was chatting, the team had eliminated a Collector and injured two more. I aimed my omni-tool at one of the injured ones, only to see it lift off its feet and glow. Thinking fast, I switched targets and took out the other drone. Meanwhile, the team was keeping an eye on Harbinger, but focusing on any other target that Harbinger might want to possess in the near future. One by one, the drones dropped like flies.

"You prolong the inevitable," Harbinger said as another two Collectors touched down. One of them was just raising its weapon when Team One mowed it down.

"Systems cannot withstand this kind of temperature for long, Shepard-Commander."

Team One wasn't in a great position either—at some point, Thane had taken a hit. From the look of things, it seemed like he'd fallen down and hit his head. A quick scan of his bio-readings indicated that he didn't have a concussion, but he was certainly disoriented and wouldn't be fighting any time soon. I made a quick assessment of the battlefield. Legion's heat sinks were swimming at 60%. Harbinger had lost its barriers. The last Collector drone hadn't taken any damage. "Miranda, you and I get the last drone. Everyone else—focus on Harbinger."

Miranda's biotics quickly stripped the drone of its barriers. Unfortunately, it ducked just as my fireball hit it, so it didn't burn to a crispy critter. "Grunt, kindly put that drone out of its misery."

Grunt quickly swivelled on the spot, blew it away with a concussive round, then turned his attention back to Harbinger. The team opened fire on the glowing sucker, blowing holes in its armour. All five of us.

Wait. Five? Where was Kasumi?

A shimmering flicker gave the answer just before Kasumi decloaked and delivered a massive jolt into Harbinger's back. "Do you feel this?" she asked innocently. Harbinger didn't respond, too busy flailing and disintegrating into ash. Giving Kasumi a complimentary nod for her risky but well-timed move, I jogged over and opened the next valve.

"Proceeding. Anticipate we are nearing the end."

No kidding. We trotted to the last valve, keeping an eye out for Collectors. Nothing. Even had a chance to scoop up a spare thermal clip. Looking ahead, I could see a large door off in the distance. I reached out to activate the last valve...

"Collector drones incoming!"

I whirled on the spot, hand reaching back towards the last valve. Oh yeah. There were drones. Lots of them. I quickly tapped open the last valve and ran for the door. The team followed me in a reverse leapfrog maneuver, with half of the team laying down cover fire while the other half retreated to another location. Reaching the door, I knocked on the door. "Open sesame!" (1)

"Look out! Seeker swarms!" I heard Garrus yell over a burst of gunfire. Guess they were facing trouble. Well, so were we. Every one of us had taken serious damage to our shields. Samara was actually hiding behind what could laughingly be called cover, eyes closed as she tried to regenerate her barriers through sheer force of will. "We're in position, Legion," I told them. "Would you kindly open the doors? Now?!"

"Go," we heard Garrus call out. "We'll cover you!"

Miranda and I took out one Collector. The others took out another. That left four more Collector drones, another drone with one of those particle beam weapons, Harbinger and—oh boy—reinforcements in the form of three more drones. "Legion!" I yelled.

"The door has malfunctioned. Path blocked. Please standby."

Aw, crap. Without any other choice, we huddled by what little cover we could find and fired back at the Collectors. The fact that we took out another drone was small consolation. They still outnumbered us. Plus, Harbinger was confidently strolling towards us, eschewing any form of cover. The glowing ass knew we couldn't afford to split fire between it and its goons. Plus, if we destroyed Harbinger's current avatar, it could just as easily find a new one. This was not going well.

"Complete," Legion suddenly announced, just as the doors opened. Sweetest sound I'd ever heard. "Team Two, we're coming in hot! Team One, fall back!" I yelled.

Bolting through, I saw that the door Team Two had gone through had closed. At least we wouldn't have to worry about getting attacked on two fronts. We just had to deal with the Collectors chasing us—who had doubled in strength if that was possible. Team One stumbled behind me as Team Two assumed firing positions. "Suppressing fire!" Garrus hollered. "Don't let anyone through that door!"

Drone after drone fell under the combined might of my squad. I managed to take out Harbinger myself with my trusty Widow sniper rifle. Still, the Collectors were steadily advancing. Each time a drone fell, it was closer and closer to the doors. Just as I thought things were going to get really bad...

...the doors sealed shut. Phew. "Nice work, Legion," I panted. "I knew I could count on you."

Legion was busy locking out the door controls so no one could get in, but spared a moment to acknowledge my compliments with a nod.

"Shepard?" Miranda called out. "You need to see this."

---

I turned away from the doors and walked towards Miranda. As the squad followed, my eyes took in the chamber we were in. It was the most... artificial and technological chamber I'd seen so far. Long vertical metal beams and plates covered the walls. Only the gold stasis pods bulging from the walls suggested that this was the work of Collectors.

And the size! It was enormous! Like that room on the Collector ship, the one that housed thousands of stasis pods, it seemed to go on forever. My eyes looked up, trying to see how tall this room was. It was at that point that I noticed three things. First, there were a lot more pods than I'd realized. They weren't as clustered as they were on the Collector ship, but there were definitely just as many pods, if not more. Second, the vast majority of those pods were empty—which begged the question of where they went. That brings me to my third observation: the pipes. Large tubes extended from the walls in huge bundles, stretching across the chamber. And every single stasis pod was connected to at least one of those pipes.

I'm sure Miranda had seen all that as well, but that wasn't what occupied her immediate attention. No, she was waiting by one of the stasis pods. A woman was inside. Brunette. (2) Asleep. And her outfit...

"Looks like one of the missing colonists," Miranda said.

"There's more," Mordin called out. "From the Normandy. Over here." I glanced over. To my delight, he was right. Looked like everyone who was abducted from the Normandy was right here!

Turning back, I spotted something new. I bent down to take a closer look. It looked like some kind of mist or gas was spilling into the first stasis pod that Miranda had found. Rising to my feet, I saw that the woman's face had suddenly developed red patches. At first, I thought it was like the red scars I'd had when I first woken up almost a year ago. But no, this was more like flesh. Like patches of skin had fallen off.

Then the woman opened her eyes. She blinked rapidly, the confusion on her face rapidly turning to horror. A look that was probably similar to the one on my face. "My god! She's still alive!"

As I watched, more and more skin sloughed off. The exposed flesh quickly decayed, turning from a bright, crimson red to a dark, necrotic black. The woman desperately started slamming on the pod's lid with her bloody fists. Her mouth opened in a silent scream. I struggled to open the lid, but I couldn't. I couldn't help her. The damn lid was sealed shut! I couldn't help her!

Helplessly, I stared at the woman, who now looked more like a burned corpse. Only this corpse was still alive, larger and larger chunks of dead flesh falling off her frame, slamming against the lid in a futile effort to get out. She finally succumbed and slumped to the bottom of the pod, leaving a trail of bloody smears on the lid. As I watched in horror, she quickly started shrinking—no, dissolving!—into a grey slurry that drained out through vents at the bottom of the pod.

"Get them out of there!" I yelled, whirling towards the squad. "Hurry!"

I gave the woman a last apologetic nod, though she was far beyond the point where she could have seen or acknowledged it, before running for another pod. The squad was already struggling to get the other men and women out. I passed Jacob, who was hitting one of the pod latches with the butt of his shotgun. Kasumi and Tali were working together to pry a pod open, so I went to the next one and pulled. To my relief, this one opened—maybe the pod seals engaged when that mist thing was spilling in, to prevent any of it from leaking out. All I knew was that Goldstein was falling into my arms, still unconscious. I gently lowered him to the ground and sprinted towards another pod. Jack and Samara were using their biotics to crack open a couple pods. I cracked another pod using ol' fashioned muscles and sweat, pulled Patel from its confines and moved on. Grunt was busy ripping lids off two at a time. I pulled out Matthews and continued on my way, dodging Thane as he carefully extricated a slumbering Kelly. Miranda was at... the last pod? Oh thank god. Running over, I helped her open the pod and caught the woman inside. "Doctor Chakwas?" I said. "Are you okay? Doctor Chakwas?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my crewmates wake up. Some of them were stumbling to their feet, still groggy and disoriented. "Shepard?" I focused on Dr. Chakwas, who'd woken up by this point. "You... you came for us," she whispered.

"No one gets left behind," I replied simply. Extending a hand, I helped Dr. Chakwas to her feet.

"Thank god you got here in time," Kelly babbled. "A few more seconds and... I don't even want to think about it."

She was right, I realized. By some cruel roll of the dice, the only people we'd saved were the crew of the Normandy. We were too late to rescue anyone else. "I can't imagine what..." I stopped myself before I could finish such a tired cliché.

"The colonists were... processed," Dr. Chakwas said slowly, her eyes filled with shock and horror. "Swarms of little robots, spilling into each pod one by one in a horrible mist. They... they melted their bodies into this grey liquid and pumped it through those tubes."

I glanced up at the tubes running near the ceiling, the ones I'd seen earlier. It was all I could do to suppress a shudder. That's what those things were for. "Why are they doing this?" I asked. "What are they doing with our bodies?"

"Perhaps that goo is some form of raw genetic material?" Miranda speculated. "Though that still doesn't explain what the Collectors need it for."

"I don't know myself," Dr. Chakwas confessed. "I'm just glad you got here before it happened to us."

"So are we," Miranda replied, surprising everyone—except, perhaps, me—with the warmth in her voice. "But we still have a job to do." She looked around at everybody. "We've done well so far. Let's hope we can finish the job."

I activated the comm again. "Joker? Can you get a fix on our position?"

"Roger that, Commander. And we've been monitoring your communications as well. All those tubes lead into the main control room right above you. The route is blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in."

"I cannot recommend that," EDI put in. "Thermal emissions suggest the chamber is overrun with seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once."

I looked at Mordin, who confirmed EDI's assessment with a silent shake of his head. "What about biotics?" I asked. "Could we create a biotic field to keep them from getting near us?"

"Yes..." Samara said slowly, "I think it may be possible. I wouldn't be able to protect everyone, but we might be able to get a small team through if they stayed close."

"I could do it, too," Miranda added. "In theory, any biotic could handle it."

Miranda was standing right next to me, which made it easier to murmur my next question instead of asking it out loud where everyone could hear: "Who would be best suited to maintain a field like that? Honestly." Miranda bit her lip for a moment before quietly replying "Samara... or Jack."

I knew it took a lot for Miranda to admit that, so I didn't bother asking her again. "Samara and I will take Team One through the seeker swarms," I decided, both to maintain team cohesion and to avoid adding insult to injury. Besides, Team Two might need a biotic of Jack's caliber if they ran into a similar concentration of seeker swarms. Speaking of which: "Team Two; provide a diversion by going through the main passage. We'll open the security doors from the other side and meet you there."

"Sounds good," Garrus agreed. "We'll keep the defenders busy while you slip around the back."

Dr. Chakwas coughed to get our attention. "What about me and the rest of the crew, Shepard? We're in no shape to fight."

"Didn't expect you to fight," I reassured her. "Joker?"

"Still listening, Commander," Joker replied. "We have enough systems back online to do a pickup, but we'd need to land at least ten klicks back from your position. Any other site won't be able to bear our weight."

Aw, crap.

"We can't afford to go back, Shepard," Miranda said in dismay. "Not now."

She was right, of course. We didn't have that kind of time. But I couldn't expect the rest of the crew to make it back on their own—they'd never make it. From the look of things, they'd be lucky if they could put one foot in front of the other. "Mordin, Tali; escort the others back to the Normandy. Tali, once you've arrived, I want you leading the repairs. Get the Normandy fully operational, or as close as you can manage. Mordin, you'll assist Dr. Chakwas in looking after the physical needs of the crew." Or take over if Dr. Chakwas wasn't up to it, I silently implied.

Mordin gave me an understanding nod before activating his omni-tool. "Joker, need location of landing zone. Will meet you there." He paused for a moment. "Location received."

That left Team Two with only four people. Even with Samara occupied with generating and maintaining a biotic field, Team One still had six people. "Kasumi, go with Team Two."

"Thanks, Shepard," Garrus said. "We needed the extra manpower."

"Plus, it will make Samara's job a bit easier," Miranda added. Samara gave what could have been a grateful nod.

"We've all got our assignments," I declared. "Let's move out!"

---

I couldn't help but wait until Mordin and Tali led the rest of the crew out of the chamber, even though time was of the essence. Partly because there was the chance that I might never see any of them again—not that I could afford to say that out loud. (3) Partly because looking at them reminded me that the Normandy was at least somewhat operational and that the entire crew had been retrieved. It might not seem like much compared to the daunting task before us but, at the time, those victories seemed huge.

Once they were out of sight, though, it was time to get going. My squadmates wished each other good luck, split up into teams—with Kasumi joining Team Two—and headed off. This time, I couldn't wait until they left. If I did that, they'd do the same, and we'd never get anywhere. I let myself have one last indulgence and stayed until Kasumi joined Team Two before heading off with the rest of Team One.

It only took a few minutes to get to the chamber Joker and EDI mentioned. I brought the team to a halt before we entered. "All right, Samara's going to be keeping the seeker swarms away from us as we walk through the chamber. It's our job to deal with anything else. Miranda, Thane; if Samara has to drop the field, either because she's exhausted or she's under attack, one of you will have to take over. Any questions?" There were none. "Okay, let's get to it."

Samara closed her eyes, gathering her strength. After a minute, her hands started to glow, growing in intensity from a gentle flicker to a brilliant blaze. Slowly, Samara spread them in a wide, circular pattern. A transparent dome of biotic energy expanded from her body. It spread outwards, quickly at first, then slowing to a stop.

I looked around. The biotic field was about ten metres in diameter. More importantly, it looked stable. How stable remained to be seen. "Samara?"

"I am ready."

"Legion, open the door."

The seeker swarms descended on us as soon as the doors opened. I held my breath as they hit the field... and stopped. Aside from a slightly brighter flicker of light, the field stayed steady. Samara had done it! "This is a good start," I approved. "Let's move out."

"Try to stay close," Samara reminded us, before starting to move.

We made sure to keep pace with her. No one wanted to step out of the field just because we were slow—not even Grunt, though that may have been because he found the prospect of being defeated by tons of tiny insects to be a tad galling. As we walked, I noted that this part of the chamber was actually composed of a series of corridors—each looking more like tunnels than anything else.

A hiss of static blared over the comm. "Garrus here. Team Two is in position. Waiting for your orders, Shepard." At least, I think that's what he said—a surge in static masked part of the transmission. "You have a go, Garrus," I replied.

I heard nothing but static.

"Garrus? Garrus? Damn," I cursed. "The swarms are interfering with the comms." At least, I hoped that was the reason.

Giving up on any further communication, we headed down a ramp. Or started to head down it—we'd only gone a couple steps before Samara spotted some hostiles. "Incoming!" she warned.

"Assuming control."

The Collector drones were moving too fast for us to take out, though we did manage to disable the barriers on two of them. Harbinger stayed behind for a moment, hovering in mid-air as if taunting us. None of us took the bait, so it flew down to join the drones.

"On my way," Garrus said over the comm. It looked like my transmission got through after all. At the moment, though, I had other concerns. Samara thought the same: "I can't fight back while maintaining the field. Tell me when you're ready to move." She crouched down and closed her eyes, just in the nick of time—a volley of gunfire tore through the field and almost took her head off. It was then that I realized Samara's field was attenuated to block lower-velocity attacks like the seeker swarms. Made sense. Expecting her to generate a field strong enough to deflect gunfire would be asking too much. Unfortunately, that meant that she was especially vulnerable to any attacks. Guess it was up to us.

"Okay," I replied, leaning out long enough to select targets with my HUD. It looked like Harbinger and the drones had landed on a lower section of the ramp directly below us. Why they did that instead of landing in our midst and wreaking all sorts of havoc was beyond me, but I wasn't one to argue. Especially since Harbinger was more than capable of nailing me with its biotic attacks, even from a poor tactical position. "We will end you," it taunted before launching two such assaults. They knocked both Miranda and I back, spoiling whatever retaliation we had been planning and making a serious dent in our shields.

Ignoring Harbinger—and my heavily damaged shields—I quickly recovered, gave my orders and silently counted down from three. On my mark, Legion and Thane took out one of the injured drones while Miranda and I finished off another. Grunt dropped the barriers on a third drone, which quickly became target practise for the team. Then it was Harbinger's turn. Bit by bit, we whittled down its barriers. I was aiming my omni-tool at it, prepping a plasma discharge, when I felt several impacts against my shields. Whirling to my left, I saw one more drone. I caught Miranda's eye and motioned to it. With an elegant flick of her wrist, she crushed its barriers before turning her attention back to Harbinger. I set the drone on fire before following suit.

Only I couldn't find it. Where was Harbinger?

I felt a tingling at the back of my neck just before Harbinger stepped around the corner. Apparently, it had decided to sneak up the ramp and take us head-on. Grunt took out what was left of its barriers with a concussive round. Thane followed up with a biotic attack. Legion shot it at point-blank range with its sniper rifle.

Harbinger ignored all of that, raised one fiery arm and hit me with another withering barrage of biotics.

My shields blinked out in an instant. I felt like someone had broadsided me with an aircar. Everything in front of me blurred. There was a lot of yelling and shooting, muffled against this roaring sound in my ears and the pounding of my heart. In my imagination, I raised my arm and fired another stream of plasma at Harbinger.

The din died down as my vision came back. Looking down, I saw a Collector-shaped corpse quickly burning to ashes. Maybe I wasn't imagining things after all.

"All clear!" Miranda announced.

"Are you ready to move on, Shepard?" Samara asked.

I coughed once and swallowed, wincing as I tasted the sharp, coppery tang of my own blood. "Yeah," I nodded, as my shields regenerated. "I'm ready."

We continued down the ramp, slowly going around the corner. Just like Harbinger had, only in reverse. "Hostile engaged," we heard over the comm—guess Team Two had run into some trouble as well. Speaking of trouble, I thought I saw something moving through up ahead. Squinting through the haze created by Samara's biotic field and the seeker swarms; I saw a hexagonal platform touching down. Now that I knew what I was looking at, I recognized its unique high-pitched whining noise. "Hostiles!" I called out. "Dead ahead!"

The platform landed somewhere further down, beyond our line of sight. We all trained our weapons in that general area, though, so we were ready when the next wave of hostiles came charging. Well, as ready as you can when facing abominations and husks. "Miranda and Thane, target the lead abominations. Legion, snipe the husk. Grunt, hit the left abomination on my mark," I quickly ordered. "Fire!"

Miranda, Thane and Legion smashed through the armour of their targets. "Mark," I shouted before launching a fireball at the right abomination. Grunt hit the left one a second later. Both of them blew up, taking out the husk in the process. My HUD indicated that there were two more hostiles up ahead, which turned out to be another pair of abominations. Thankfully, they came stumbling along a good half-minute later, by which point we were ready for them.

Unfortunately, no sooner had we blown them up to smithereens then another six or seven of Collectors swooped in. It was easy to tell which one was Harbinger: it was the only one glowing and saying cheesy phrases like "I will show you true power" or—

"Preserve Shepard's body if possible."

Okay, that was a bit more creepy than cheesy.

"Taking cover," Samara cried out. "Let me know when you're ready to move."

This bunch had a slight advantage, and not just because Harbinger was leading the way. We found that out when Miranda and Thane launched their biotics at two of the drones. To our dismay, that little trick only damaged their barriers instead of collapsing them entirely, which meant they were the major-league drones. (4) As further proof, they erected semi-circular golden barriers in front of them to block further attacks.

Grunt was outraged by this, as he let out a roar before firing a concussive round at another Collector. That guy was merely a drone, as its barriers collapsed in a heartbeat. I was just about to fire some plasma when something caught my eye.

It was Harbinger—trying to sneak up on us again while we were distracted! "Harbinger sneaking around the left," I hollered. Legion instantly switched to their assault rifle, which would be more effective against barriers than their sniper rifle. They also deployed a combat drone to buy us some much-needed time. Harbinger started slapping at it. "There is no escape, human," it warned.

I decided to ignore Harbinger until I could hand out some orders. "Miranda, Grunt; keep up the pressure on the other Collectors. Thane; with me."

By the time Thane and I turned our sights on Harbinger, Legion and their drone had dealt a lot of damage to its barriers. One biotic blast from Thane was all that was needed to punch through, clearing the way for a round of high-temperature plasma from yours truly. Harbinger impatiently patted out whatever fires it could.

It should've been watching out for Legion, who was switching back to the sniper rifle for a headshot.

As Harbinger's puppet disintegrated, I checked my HUD. Miranda and Grunt had managed to take out two more Collectors. As I watched, another one lost its barriers. Several bullets hit it before it could erect a golden shield. Unfortunately, I still had a clear line of sight to it and my omni-tool was ready with another dose of plasma.

After the guardian went up in flames, that left three more Collectors. For some reason, Harbinger decided to possess the last Collector, the one whose barriers weren't decimated by Miranda and Thane's biotic attacks. I wasn't complaining—it was far enough away that we could afford to systematically take out its buddies, thus denying it any more bodies to make us of. Once they were eliminated, we started whittling down Harbinger's defences with a steady stream of biotics and plasma, taking care to avoid its attacks.

"No one left to shoot at," Grunt pouted.

"Take heart," Thane advised, "we will likely face several more."

"Woohoo!"

"Let us continue," Samara urged.

I noticed that Samara now had both of her hands raised above her—as opposed to having one raised and the other by her side—as if she was pushing the biotic field forward. Which might have been true, for all I knew. "Samara?"

"Let's go," she said. Was it me, or did her voice sound strained?

I stared at her carefully. She seemed okay. So I shrugged and motioned for her to start moving again, the team taking care to keep pace with her. As we marched, I surreptitiously tapped into her hardsuit and started a continuous analysis of her bio-readings. I might not have the first clue of asari physiology or biochemistry, but if any readings started to dip, at least I'd be able to pick them up.

"Nice shooting," Garrus complimented. Obviously, he wasn't talking to any of us.

Before we could speculate who he might have been talking to, a moan echoed out through the chamber. Samara came to a stop. "This area has a good deal of cover," she said.

I had to agree. If my sensors were working, we had a steady stream of hostiles heading our way. And based on their speed, we were probably looking at more husks and abominations. "This is a good spot to hold our ground," I said. "Everyone, get ready." We readied our weapons as Samara found a place where she could huddle down and minimize her exposure while still maintaining the biotic field.

Sure enough, an abomination and a husk came sprinting towards us, followed by a scion. According to my HUD, there were several more husks/abominations right behind them. At first I was going to leave the scion to later, focusing on the targets that might maul us to pieces. Then I realized that the scion was way too close for comfort. If I stuck to my original plan, the scion could smash through all our defences before we knew what hit us—in which case, it would be a toss-up as to who would kill us first: the scion, the abominations or the husks. "I got the scion! Everyone else, weapons free!"

Quickly cloaking, I raised my sniper rifle and fired off a shot. The lumbering hulk's armour took some damage. It was all I could do to keep from tapping my foot impatiently as my cloak recharged and the team. As soon as it was ready, I could fire another shot—wait, it was ready now! Cloak, aim, fire! Still alive? Damn it! I couldn't afford to stand around and wait, so I switched to my heavy pistol and fired off a full clip. That did the trick, though the scion managed to hit me with a biotic shockwave before it hit the dust—

An explosion sent me to my knees. Shakily, I stood up. If I had to guess, an abomination had managed to push its way through Samara's barrier, sneak in and blow up—either by a stray shot or by its own kamikaze choice. Whatever the reason, my shields were gone and I was hurt. Bad—I could taste some blood inside my mouth. Again. Plus I'd landed a bit awkwardly. Judging by the lance of pain shooting up my leg, I think I twisted my ankle. Right now, I definitely wasn't in any shape to stay put and fight.

As if I needed further evidence that the dice were rolling against me, I spotted two husks inside Samara's biotic field, an abomination about to step inside and who knows how many more galloping towards us. I stared at my HUD's readouts, hoping something on the display would give me a solution. Or at least signal that my shields were gonna regenerate sometime—what was taking so long, anyway? That was the only reason why I saw targets being selected. I'd take credit, only this time it wasn't me. Looked like...

...Miranda?

Hoping she knew what she was doing, I followed her lead and sent a fireball of plasma towards the abomination. Miranda ripped the armour off of a husk—the other one didn't have any left, apparently. A second later, Thane sent a wave of biotic energy surging forward, sending the abomination and husks flying. Grunt fired a concussive round as soon as they cleared Samara's biotic field, blowing the abomination—and husks—to kingdom come. Meanwhile, Legion was stalling the next batch with another combat drone.

"Good job," I wheezed. Miranda acknowledged me with a nod as my hardsuit finally administered a dose of medi-gel and started regenerating my shields. The team began firing off the odd shot, mixed in with some biotics and plasma whenever we could, while Legion's drone just stood there and let itself get smacked around by the husks and abominations. By the time the drone finally succumbed, Legion was ready to deploy another one to take its place. This went on for another minute or so, much to my delight. Best couple minutes in the last... quarter of an hour? Seemed like longer.

"Are we safe?" Samara asked.

Miranda managed to hit the last two husks with the same biotic attack. Grunt hit one with a concussive round while I fried the other. "Yep," I replied, taking a tentative step forward. My leg was able to support my weight without any trouble—man, did I love medi-gel.

"Perfect."

"I am... in agreement with Garrus," Samara said. "Shall we move on?" She got to her feet and pushed forward without waiting for a reply.

"Incoming!" Grunt warned, as a pair of husks popped up. I managed to hit both of them with a burst of plasma, just as Miranda had earlier. While the flames were still licking over their glowing bodies, Thane and Legion took them out.

Looking back to see how the team was doing, I realized that Samara was visibly trembling. I pulled up her life-signs for the last half-hour. To my horror, they had all dropped dramatically. "Samara?"

"I will hold on... as long... as I can," she insisted.

Miranda shot me a look, then darted ahead to the edge of the biotic field. Her next words were music to my ears: "I can see the exit to the chamber! The ramp slopes straight down towards it!"

"Need to... get there... soon," Samara forced out. She was hunched over now, eyes squeezed shut, not even looking where she was going at this point. But she could probably feel the trickle of cerulean blood slowly dripping from her nose. "Samara, keep moving forward," I quickly ordered. "Miranda, Grunt and I will take point. Legion, cover our rear and guide Samara. Thane; same deal as Legion, but be ready to generate a biotic field of your own. Hang on, people: we're almost there."

Some might have viewed the next few minutes as a breeze. The ramp sloped downhill, at a sharper decline than the previous sections, straight towards the exit. Only a couple husks reared their ugly heads, and they only popped up one at a time. On the other hand, Samara was definitely on her last reserves of strength. I watched uneasily as her biotic field shrank incrementally, in an obvious effort to preserve its integrity as long as possible.

"Shepard-Commander! Collectors advancing from the rear!"

I spared a look behind me—and quickly regretted it. Grunt moved to the rear—more to face the "fun" head-on than to shield Samara from incoming weapons fire, I guessed. "We must move quickly, Shepard," Thane said.

"Almost there!" I urged. "Come on!" We picked up the pace, double-timing it to the exit. The Collectors kept pressing, sending drones forward in a mad, sacrificial rush to get their hands—claws, whatever—on us. And it was working: they were getting closer and closer. Miranda and I gave up all pretence of being the point guard and joined the rest of the team at the rear, while Samara kept going, one shaky step after another. "Hurry, Shepard!" she cried.

Time seemed to slow. The Collectors kept coming. If I thought the previous rush of husks and abominations was endless, I was mistaken. This was endless. Collector after Collector after Collector. We took them down one by one with every weapon and tool in our arsenal. But for every Collector to collapse, two more seemed to take its place. For every metre we took forward, the Collectors took two more. Soon, they were right up against the boundaries of Samara's biotic field, their presence as pressing as the seeker swarms.

Then I heard a hissing sound behind me. Dreading the worst, I quickly glanced back...

...and my heart soared. That sound was the sound of doors opening! "We're at the exit!" I yelled.

Samara turned around on the spot. She brought her hands, still glowing, towards her. Arcs of biotic lightning began bouncing between them, building in intensity until it was almost dazzling. With a triumphant scream, she thrust her arms forward. Her biotic field suddenly exploded outwards, sending all the remaining Collectors and seeker swarms flying backwards.

That bought us enough time to run—or stumble, in Samara's case—through the doors. Somehow, I resisted the urge to do a happy dance as they closed shut behind us.

"...do you copy? Come on, Shepard? Where are you?"

Now that we weren't surrounded by seeker swarms, the comm interference had vanished. "I copy, Garrus," I replied. "What's your position?"

"We're pinned down at the door," Garrus yelled. "Taking heavy fire!"

The entire team was running before Garrus finished. Even Samara had gotten a second wind. "We're coming," I shouted. "Just hold on!"

Legion went straight for the door controls while the rest of us assumed firing positions, taking care to leave clear paths for Team Two. The last thing they needed was to escape enemy fire only to get accidentally mowed down by friendly fire. "Legion!"

"One moment. Overriding lockout—now."

"Come on!" I yelled as the doors opened. "Path's clear!"

Team Two retreated through the doors, guns blazing. We opened fire immediately, sending a storm of bullets flying towards another swarm of Collectors. "Seal the door!" I told Legion, somewhat unnecessarily, as their fingers were already flying over the door controls. The door did seal shut, but not before Garrus doubled over.

Oh shit.

I felt this plummeting sensation in my stomach. Time seemed to slow as I rushed over. Just as I was skidding to a stop next to him, Garrus straightened up. "Bullet punched through my shields," he explained. "Don't worry: my hardsuit stopped it."

I patted him on the shoulder, not trusting myself to speak. It looked like the rest of the squad was fine as well, so I reached up to activate my comm. "Joker? Can you read me? Are you at the rendezvous point?"

"Reading you loud and clear, Commander," Joker's voice came back. "Dr. Chakwas and the rest of the crew just showed up. We didn't lose anyone—"

Whatever he said next was drowned out as the squad—yes, even me—erupted into cheers. EDI took over once the noise died down. "Professor Solus assures me that the entire crew is well-rested after their induced slumber in the stasis pods. Tali and I have already assigned everyone repair assignments."

"Excellent," Miranda smiled. "Now let's make it count. EDI, what's our next step?"

"There should be some nearby platforms that will take you to the main control console," EDI said. "From there, you can overload the system and destroy the base."

"I see them," I confirmed. "We have plenty to choose from." Over twenty, at first count.

"Uh, Commander? You got a problem."

Aw, crap.

"Hostiles massing just outside the door. Dozens, if not more. Won't be long until they bust through."

It didn't take long for me to figure out that my plan had just been thoroughly scuttled. I quickly clambered onto the nearest hexagonal platform and turned to face the squad. "There are too many platforms for us to take," I said. "Even if we could pilot them all, the Collectors could just summon more and follow. However, if we left a rearguard behind, they could defend this position and keep the Collectors from overwhelming us."

I was about to suggest that one of the teams advance while the other team hold off the Collectors, husks and everything but the kitchen sink. EDI's next words, however, derailed that plan: "Alert: revised estimate of enemy forces at 83 and counting."

"Shepard, pick a few people to go with you," Miranda suggested, "and leave the others here to defend this position. That should buy you some time."

"And give the rearguard a fighting chance," Garrus agreed.

Wait—what? Why did everyone think I was going to volunteer for this task instead of staying behind and... oh, screw it. Knowing my complete and utterly lamentable lack of self-preservation, I probably would have volunteered. Heck, I already had by stepping on this oversized soapbox. Once this was all over, I really needed to have my head examined.

Miranda pulled herself onto the platform beside me. Either because she knew I would have picked her or because she wanted to stick with me to the very end. (5) "Grunt, you're coming with me as well. Everyone else—Garrus is in charge. Follow his lead."

Grunt didn't so much pull himself on as he jumped up. "I'm ready, Shepard," he growled.

"Anything you want to say before we do this?" Miranda asked.

Actually, I did. For once. "The Collectors, the Reapers—they aren't a threat to us. Or humans. They're a threat to everyone. They're a threat to everything. Everything we believe in. Everything we care about. Everything that makes us who we are. Those are the stakes we're fighting for. That's the scale.

"It's been a long journey. We've all fought hard—both against the enemies around us and the demons within us—and we've all come out with a few scars. But we've also come out stronger. United. I know that I've led you in and out of more scrapes than any sane being could ever imagine. The first couple times, I did it because I knew the stakes. But that's changed. Now I know we have each other's backs and can handle anything that's thrown our way. I can honestly say that I have never, ever been prouder of any squad under my command.

"Now it comes down to this moment. So I have to ask you to fight hard one more time. To look out for each other the way you have countless times before. We win or lose it all in the next few minutes. So let's make every minute count. Make me proud. Make yourselves proud."

"We'll do our best," Garrus said. "Good hunting, Shepard."

"You too," I nodded.

I took one more look—perhaps the last look—at my squad, all mismatched and disparate. Every scratched, dented and bloody hardsuit. Every battle-tested, modified and optimized weapon. Every ex-con, psycho, bounty hunter, so-called terrorist and all-around misfit. This was my squad. Stronger and more united than you could ever imagine.

Then I turned around and activated the platform controls. With a shudder, the platform released its docking clamps. A whining noise built up as it picked up speed and flew away.

---

It wasn't until the rest of the squad disappeared beneath me that I realized how huge this chamber was. It just seemed to stretch on forever, making me feel insignificant. Not for the first time either—what is it about Collectors and Reapers that they want to make things so big? I mean, I couldn't even see the walls, that's how big it was. As we soared onwards and upwards, I found myself wondering if we'd ever see the top. I mean, we'd have to, since the main control room was above us.

We started to slow down. At first, I thought that was a good thing. Maybe the platform was programmed to slow down once we arrived rather than rapidly decelerate to a screeching halt. But when we halted in mid-air, who-knows-how-many-kilometres above the ground, that's when I knew something wasn't right.

"Enemies incoming!" Miranda warned.

She was right, of course. A platform was angling towards us on an intercept course. Exactly the same shape and size as ours, only ours didn't have three Collector drones milling around on it. Our attacks were already flying as the platform docked slightly to our right. Miranda's biotics stripped the barriers off a drone, opening the way for me to set it on fire. Grunt smashed through another drone's barriers with a concussive round. Several shots later and it dropped to the ground. The last drone had just started to fire back when Miranda hit it with her biotics. Grunt went for a concussive round before I could do anything. The impact hit the drone and sent it flying off the platform. Peering over the edge, I saw it plummet out of sight. Why it didn't open its wings and fly back, I'll never know.

When I looked back up, another platform was touching down. Three more Collectors. Miranda started things off again. This time, though, her biotics weren't enough to tear down her target's barriers. The golden hemisphere it raised in front of it told us this was a guardian. Grunt's target lost its barriers in a blink, though. Guess they weren't all tougher models. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I sent some plasma flying its way before focusing on the guardian. We sent it staggering back with a constant barrage of gunfire until its barriers were stripped away. Then I introduced it to a fireball. Sadly, two were needed to drive things home. And I got several more scratches on my hardsuit—yeah, I lost my shields again. By the time I'd finished, Miranda and Grunt had depleted the barriers of the last Collector—another guardian, by the look of things. That one was just as vulnerable to fire, thankfully.

Once I barbequed another bug, I tried to engage the platform controls. Nothing happened. Unless you count a third platform coming to join us. As it docked to the left of the second platform, one of the four Collectors rose up into the air and started glowing.

"We are Harbinger."

Aw, crap. We would have had even odds if Harbinger hadn't shown up. Then again, it was a miracle we'd lasted this long without it joining the party.

Harbinger started walking towards us, a drone tagging along. That drone succumbed almost immediately. "Leave the dead where they fall," Harbinger said dismissingly. All heart, that guy.

Miranda kept an eye on Harbinger while I focused on another drone, whose barriers had been kindly stripped by Grunt. Pulling out my sniper rifle, I snapped off a shot without bothering to cloak. Didn't need, too—without barriers, my Widow rifle was more than up to the task.

By the time I lowered my sniper rifle, Grunt had joined Miranda in attacking Harbinger. Between the two of them, Harbinger's barriers were almost gone. Checking the status of my omni-tool, I aimed it at Harbinger and waited. One concussive round later and Harbinger's barriers dropped. Miranda's biotic attack landed a split second before my fireball, the combination crushing through most of Harbinger's armour. We only needed a couple more shots before Harbinger succumbed.

"Releasing control of this form," it uttered before disintegrating into ash.

Absently noting how chatty Harbinger was, I tried to wake up the platform controls again. Still nothing. Looking up in frustration, I stifled a groan when I saw another platform swooping down for a landing. We could already tell that Harbinger was there by the tell-tale glow of its carapace. Just before the platform docked, it swivelled, revealing that it was actually an amalgamation of three platforms joined together. To our dismay, six Collectors—plus Harbinger—were scattered across them.

"Seven of them!" Grunt roared. "Now we're having fun!"

Miranda and I exchanged a look. "This is your fault, you know," she told me.

"What?" I frowned.

"You're a bad influence on him."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, he certainly didn't learn this from me."

"Is this your idea of a joke?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey!" Grunt interrupted. "What's wrong with you two? We've got all these Collectors to shoot and you're busy talking."

Miranda and I exchanged another look, this one more of embarrassment than anything else. "We thought we'd let you enjoy yourself," I said, masking my chagrin with a casual nonchalance.

"Oh, I did," Grunt grinned. "Got two kills already. Plenty left for you, though."

Aw, he's sharing. Isn't that thoughtful?

Miranda turned her attention on one of the guardians, pummelling it with a biotic onslaught. I tried to help out with some submachine gunfire, but was blocked by one of those golden shields. I tried to get to a better vantage point so I could better direct the fight. There we go! On my order, Grunt sent the guardian staggering with a concussive round, one that shattered its barriers and left it open. A second later, it was staggering again. This time because of a plasma fireball. After that, all it took was a good half-dozen bullets.

I was so focused on taking that guardian out that I kinda forgot about Harbinger. Big mistake—it was sneaking up on our right. Miranda spotted it first, hurling a sphere of biotic energy into it. Harbinger returned the favour, clipping her on the side as she tried to dodge. As she tumbled to the floor, I quickly emptied the rest of my clip into Harbinger. Grunt followed suit with a concussive round as soon as he could load it. Next, I set Harbinger on fire.

"Your extinction is inevitable," it announced, just before hitting me with, not one, but two biotic blasts. They ripped my shields to shreds and sent me staggering back out of cover. The other Collectors promptly took advantage of my vulnerability to seriously dent my hardsuit. Coughing and choking, I dropped to the ground and dragged myself back into cover. My vision was getting blurry and blood-hazed again—probably because I banged my noggin against my helmet one too many times. This time, I could at least see Harbinger's glowing body stalking towards me. Actually, there were two of them—guess I hit my head a little harder than I thought. Taking a deep breath, I programmed another plasma round, reflecting how bad my pyromaniacal tendencies must be if I could do this on autopilot. I even knew when the plasma was ready without looking. Squinting to focus, I lifted my arm, aimed somewhere in front of me and let loose. To my delight, I hit the glowing sucker! "You fight your own rebirth," it hissed as the plasma consumed it.

That left two. One pesky Collector toting a particle beam weapon. One Collector who was suddenly levitating in the air and saying something ominous like "Face your annihilation." Well, it would be more ominous if we hadn't faced that particular brand of annihilation several times today, not to mention over the past year. Besides, Harbinger was quite a ways from us, so we had plenty of time to take out its buddy first. Harbinger turned its head back and forth, realizing that it was all alone.

"You insult a future you cannot comprehend," it intoned. "You fight your own rebirth."

"You already said that!" I yelled.

Before it could say anything else, Miranda and Grunt smacked it with a double-whammy of biotics and concussive rounds. While it was swaying, I quietly activated my cloak, raised my sniper rifle, and drilled a neat hole right through its beady, glowing eyes.

Quickly turning back to the control panel, I tried to get the platform going again. Nothing. I tried again. Still nothing. So I tried a little 'percussive maintenance.'

"Shepard," Miranda said with a slight note of amusement, "I'm quite sure that hitting it with your fists won't help."

"True," I admitted. "But it makes me feel better."

"It does, right?" Grunt beamed.

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Why don't you turn your frustrations on the next platform?" she suggested.

Ugh. She was right. Another platform had just touched down, just like all the others. This time, though, there were no Collectors. No Harbinger. Just two scions and three abominations, the latter quickly charging towards us. Miranda and I quickly blew the first one away. The other two kept loping forward... then suddenly stopped. They cocked their heads in unison, flames licking over their bodies. Then they took a step to the left. Stopped. Took two steps right. Stopped. Took a step forward. Stopped. It was like they were really confused as to how to get to us. Miranda, Grunt and I looked at each other, shrugged, and took them out one by one.

The scions were just as easy. They just waited for us to approach them, not even bothering to respond until we attacked. Even then, only one scion—the one we hit first—tried to hit us. The other scion just stood there. Maybe they—like the abominations—needed some direction in any situation where their normal instinctual urge to kill wouldn't suffice. The fact that they weren't getting that direction could mean that the squad was thoroughly occupying their boss's attention. Or maybe the universe was finally giving me a break.

Whatever the reason, I wasn't complaining.

After the last scion slumped, I did a quick search. For once, I wasn't looking for loot—though I did scoop up a spare thermal clip. No, I was looking for a platform with a working control panel. Naturally, it was the last one. Pushing the dead scions off the platform, I watched them drop out of sight before engaging the thrusters. With a shudder and a clank, the platform detached itself from the rest—which, now that I looked at them, resembled a nice piece of honeycomb—and flew up towards an oval portal in the ceiling.

"This must be the main control room," I said as we entered the passageway. "All the tubes lead to this spot. EDI, are you reading me?"

"Affirmative."

"What's going on up there?"

"The tubes are feeding into some kind of super-structure. It is emitting both organic and non-organic energy signatures."

We passed through into the main control room at last. Our eyes were immediately drawn...

"Given these readings, it must be massive."

"Shepard, if my calculations are correct, the super-structure... is a Reaper."

I found my voice at last. "Not just any Reaper—a human Reaper."

"Precisely."

It wasn't complete, not by a long shot. But there was no mistaking what it was based on. A long dark metal spine dangled in the air, cold blue light running up its length like an obscene Christmas tree. Thick bands curved around two large lumps and a metal sphere—creepy analogues of a pair of lungs and a heart if ever I saw one—all made of the same mysterious metal. The Reaper was hanging by its upper arms, which were attached to four giant tubes—two on each side—as well as some thinner cables. Thinner being relative, since they were probably as thick as my waist. The lower arms weren't finished yet—either that or they'd been ripped off. A bundle of cables hung from each unfinished/amputated arms, looking eerily like sinews. The giant skull—which would look human if it wasn't for the extra left eye—bowed forward.

We barely noticed when the platform docked with another three platforms, too occupied with the... thing before us, so awesome and titanic and terrifying. As we stared, armoured sheaths retracted along the tubes, revealing their contents—a fiery liquid. Glowing wreaths of energy spread outwards from the transparent glass, flickering madly like a roaring fire.

"Okay," I said at last. "The Reapers really don't have any concept of thinking small, do they?"

"How many..." Miranda started before trailing off.

EDI filled in the blanks. "It appears the Collectors have been processing tens of thousands of humans. Significantly more will be required to complete the Reaper."

"What do the Collectors gain by turning humans into this... Reaper shell?" I asked.

"They may be facilitating the Reaper equivalent of reproduction," EDI suggested. "However, it may also serve another purpose."

"Such as?" I prompted.

"The process of rendering humans down to their base components may be a way of extracting information and memory on the genetic level. Theoretically, this 'genetic memory' could be stored on an AI's neural network. The Reapers may seek to compile the knowledge and essence of these individuals into a single entity."

"But why us?" I said. "The galaxy has so many other species, but the Collectors—and the Reapers—are specifically targeting humans. Why? Is it because of our genetic diversity?"

"Given their history, it is likely that the Collectors tested other species, only to discard them as unsuitable or as a lower priority target. The Collectors and the Reapers may see humans as a unique threat, whether because of their genetic diversity, the adaptability and rapid growth that they displayed as they integrated into the galactic community or some other factor," EDI speculated. "Regardless of the reason or reasons, absorbing them would allow them to both destroy and understand humanity."

"But the Collectors were once Prothean," I pointed out. "Why didn't the Reapers use them to build a Prothean Reaper instead?"

"Probabilities suggest they likely attempted to create a Prothean Reaper after subduing the Protheans," EDI replied, "and failed. Over time, they found a new use for the Protheans and adapted them. Changed them to suit their needs. Turned them into workers. Tools for the Reapers."

Ah. Plan B. I used to like Plan B. This time—not so much.

"Why are they building it to look like a human?" I asked. "Is it deliberate?"

"It appears that a Reaper's shape is based upon the species used to create it," EDI said. "Whether it is intentional or a by-product of the creation process, I do not know."

So the species used to create Sovereign looked like squids and cuttlefish? Huh.

Grunt scratched his head. "Why do they need humans at all? Aren't they just machines?"

"While early encounters suggested a purely synthetic origin, recent evidence indicates that the Reapers are, in fact, a hybrid construct of organic and inorganic material. The exact construction methods remain unclear, but it seems probable that it involves, if not requires, the absorption of a species' very essence."

That reminded me. "You said 'significantly more' humans would be needed to complete this thing," I recalled. "Just how many more humans do you think they'd try to take?"

"Preliminary extrapolations suggest millions," EDI replied. "Perhaps more. It is impossible to know for certain. The Reaper appears to be in a very early stage of development. An embryo in human terms."

Millions or more? That's a lot of essences to absorb. More importantly, that would take forever. Even if the Collectors and their Reaper masters hit every remaining human colony, that still wouldn't guarantee enough humans to meet their 'quota'. The only place that would suit their needs... was Earth.

"This isn't going to stop with the colonies, is it?" I shuddered, despite my best efforts.

"No. Present population levels of all registered colonies are insufficient for the requirements estimated to complete this Reaper. It is likely that the colonists abducted up until this point were used as a test sample. A proof-of-concept. The ultimate goal would be to upload all humans into this Reaper mind. This would require the harvest of every human settlement in the galaxy. The obvious final goal... would be Earth."

Hoo boy.

My mind desperately grabbed at the first possible thought before it shut down out of sheer, yet completely understandable, panic. "So it's not alive yet? We can still stop it from being..." Born? Popped out? "...created?"

"The process can be stopped, but it is unclear exactly how much it has developed. I cannot, for example, tell you if it has awareness."

"Well I can tell you one thing," I said grimly, "I am not going to sit by and let any more of my species get pulped to make that thing. We need a way to blow it straight to hell before the Collectors finish the job."

"It's hooked to those tubes," Miranda suggested. "If we damage them, we may be able to kill it."

"At the very least, the tubes injecting the genetic fluid are a weak structural link," EDI agreed. "Destroying them should cause the supports to collapse and the Reaper to fall."

A sudden whining noise interrupted us. I looked up, closed my eyes and sighed. "Give us a minute, EDI," I said. "We've got to take care of some old friends first."

Four Collectors were flying down. Three of them were aiming weapons at us. The other was just staring. It was with a detached sense of resignation that I watched as it transformed into Harbinger. "The void awaits your ascension," it proclaimed.

Miranda, Grunt and I immediately hit two targets, killing one and weakening the other for death by gunshot. Guess those two would ascend before I would. I glimpsed some movement out of the corner of my eye and wheeled around, gun at the ready. Luckily, my trigger-finger wasn't too twitchy, or I might have hit Grunt in the back. Or the ass—he was climbing onto one of the platforms to our right. It was a bit higher than the others, which would give a better vantage point. I followed him, Miranda close behind. Standing up, I looked to see where Harbinger and his buddy were. In hindsight, that wasn't a great idea. Almost got hit by a particle beam and Harbinger's biotics. Speaking of our favourite chatty Collector, Harbinger was getting way too close for my liking. Time to take it out. I got Miranda and Grunt to hit it with a biotic barrage and a concussive round. That didn't take out its barriers, so I had to hose it down with submachine gunfire. Once its barriers were down, I set it on fire—which, once again, wasn't quite enough to take it out. Had to resort to good ol' fashioned bullets.

Harbinger, of course, promptly possessed the last remaining drone. The only upside was that we managed to score a couple free shots while it was hovering and transforming in mid-air. Then I got everyone to duck. If I knew Harbinger, it wouldn't be able to resist coming after us.

Sure enough, Harbinger came stomping out. We rewarded its impatience with a biotic explosion and a concussive round to the kisser, which dropped its barriers in a heartbeat. While it was still flailing, I fired off a fireball—no pun intended. Harbinger made another pithy comment—specifically "This hurts you." Which would have been more impressive if its' biotic attack had actually hit anyone. Rather than sneer or laugh, I simply indulged my penchant for pyromania again. As Harbinger's avatar burned to a crisp, the armoured sheaths retracted. A coincidence, I'm sure, but I wasn't complaining. I pulled out my pistol, made sure the warp mod was activated and pointed it towards the top left tube. Might as well see how much damage those tubes could take—

—did the tube just shatter? Somehow, in the midst of my shock and surprise, I had the presence of mind to lower my aim and fire again at the bottom left tube. Again, the tube shattered. Yeesh, they sure don't make Reaper fluid tube thingies like they used to! With a loud creak, the Reaper sagged to the right—its right, my left—like a scary giant who'd had one too many drinks. We watched in anticipation, hoping that the sudden shift in weight might be enough. But the remaining tubes proved strong enough to support the Reaper's weight.

We were so busy watching the tubes that none of us reacted in time to fire off another shot before the armoured sheaths slam shut. That was forgivable—I probably wouldn't have been able to switch targets, aim my pistol and fire in time anyway. Missing the arrival of the next platform until the four Collectors it was bearing opened fire—that was unforgivable. Putting blinders on your situational awareness like that can be fatal.

On the bright side, we proved that old theory about how you can make something ingrained and instinctual if you do it often enough. How else can you explain how we killed one drone outright, collapsed another drone's barriers and dove for cover—all without thinking? Mind you, Miranda and Grunt lost their shields again, so I guess it wasn't entirely perfect. I motioned for them to stay down while their shields regenerated and target one of the remaining Collectors on my mark. That mark being yet another round of plasma—no sense wasting several gunshots when a single fireball would do. Besides, I didn't see any spare thermal clips lying around.

My plasma successfully fried the wounded drone. The other Collectors swivelled on the spot and summoned golden hemispheres, positioned to block any further barbeque attempts. Smart plan. Would've worked too—except that I had two other members on my team. Members who weren't above moving to a different position that wasn't impeded by pesky golden barriers. A quick round of biotics, concussive rounds and gunfire made short work of the barriers protecting one of the Collector guardians. That guardian tried to run for cover... only to run right into the sights of my sniper rifle.

Decloaking, I watched in satisfaction as the guardian flopped over like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Then I checked my HUD. One more hostile left. No more enemy reinforcements on their way. Three-on-one odds. Harbinger still sulking from the last who-knows-how-many-times we blew away its molten butt. I allowed myself a small smirk before ordering Miranda and Grunt to new positions, positions that made it impossible for the guardian to avoid getting hit. No matter where it moved, one of us could shoot it. If it stayed still, one of us could shoot it. Caught between a rock and a hard place. Nice to have someone else be in that situation for a change. As Grunt dealt the killing blow, I pulled out my pistol again. If I was really, really lucky...

...YES! The armoured sheaths retracted, offering a brief window to shatter the glass tubes. Two shots were all it took. A loud shriek pierced the air, followed by a long stuttering groan as Reaper Baby drooped down. (6) For a second, I thought the remaining cables would be enough to support Reaper Baby's weight. But no, the cables started snapping one by one, the sound muffled by more screeching and groaning. Reaper Baby sagged lower and lower until it finally dropped out of sight. We warily walked towards the edge to check things out, but Reaper Baby had already fallen out of sight.

Okay, now that we were temporarily out of harm's way, time to see how everyone was doing. "Shepard to Team—" Wait. We never actually got to figure out the team names, did we? "Shepard to Team Two Plus," I finally said. "What's your sitrep?"

There was a loud barrage of gunfire over the comm and some muffled yelling. "Say what?" I called out.

"Jack here," we finally heard. "Everyone else is a little busy."

"You all okay?"

"No one's dead. I'm having a blast taggin' them as they come."

"So should I take my sweet time in finishing things off over here?"

"Nah, feel free to call for an exit anytime!"

Despite the cavalier words she'd tossed out, there was an undeniable tension running in Jack's voice. "Head to the Normandy," I ordered. "Joker—prep the engines. I'm about to overload this place and blow it sky high."

"Roger that, Commander," Joker replied. I closed the comm channel and pulled up the schematic of this station. If EDI's scans were right, the primary power regulators should be right... about... here! I reached down and tapped a control panel that was lying flush against the floor of one of the platforms. With a heave and a hiss of pressurized gas, the regulators rose to shoulder level. As I knelt down to figure out the best place to plant the explosives, Joker contacted me again. "Uh, Commander? I've got an incoming signal from the Illusive Man. EDI's patching it through."

TIMmy? Really? Didn't he have a cigarette to smoke? Stifling a sigh, I got to my feet and turned around. Miranda patched EDI's signal through her omni-tool. A holographic image of TIMmy appeared, sans smokie—and legs. "Shepard," he greeted me. "You've done the impossible."

I decided not to mention he'd apparently done the same by taking a hacksaw to everything from the waist down. Or that he'd somehow gotten a signal all the way out here. "I'm not finished here yet," I said instead. "This base is ten minutes away from being blown sky high."

"Wait. I have a better option."

Oh this should be good.

"I'm looking at the schematics EDI uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors, but leave the machinery and technology intact."

He couldn't be serious.

"This is our chance, Shepard. They were building a Reaper. That knowledge—that framework—could save us."

He was serious. I really shouldn't be surprised at this point. "Did EDI tell you what they did to all those abducted colonists?" I asked. "They liquefied them. Turned them into goop and mixed them all up to create the creepiest Reaper I've ever seen. We have to destroy the base and stop them before it's too late."

"Don't be short-sighted," TIMmy chided. "Our best chance against the Reapers is to turn their own resources against them."

"I'm not so sure," Miranda said slowly. "Seeing it firsthand... using anything from this base seems like a betrayal."

"If we ignore this opportunity, that would be a betrayal," TIMmy insisted. "The Reapers were working directly with the Collectors. Who knows what information is buried here? This base is a gift. We can't just destroy it."

"Sure we can," I replied. "No matter what kind of technology we might find, it's not worth it. Not when it's been tainted like this."

"Shepard, you died fighting for what you believed. I brought you back so you could keep fighting. Some might say what we did to you was going too far, but look what you've accomplished. I didn't discard you because I knew your value. Don't be so quick to discard this facility. Think of the potential."

"Oh I'm thinking of the potential all right," I frowned. "I'm thinking of all the things you did, all the suffering you caused, and all the lives you sacrificed or ruined in the pursuit of some so-called potential. Forget it: we'll fight and win without it. I won't let fear compromise who I am or what humanity stands for."

TIMmy clenched his jaw for a moment before turning around. "Miranda. Do not let Shepard destroy the base."

"Or what?" Miranda scowled. "You'll discard me for someone else with potential?"

I could have sworn I saw a vein in his neck throb. "I gave you an order, Miranda!" he hissed.

"I noticed," Miranda said coolly. "Consider this my resignation."

TIMmy quickly recovered and turned around. "Shepard, think about what's at stake. About everything Cerberus has done for you. You—"

Miranda cut the connection before he could finish. I went back to the power regulator and placed the first explosive. Miranda knelt down beside me. "You know," I grinned, "if I didn't need to focus on rigging this thing to blow, I'd kiss you right now."

Miranda shot me a dazzling smile. It... er...

...

...um...

...

Damn it. So much for focus.

The next thing I knew, the explosives were placed and Miranda had this knowing smile on her face. "Let's move," I said, trying to save face by activating the countdown timer and closing the regulator. "We've got ten minutes before the regulator blows up, the reactor overloads and this whole station comes flying apart."

9:59

To punctuate that point, the floor shook underneath our feet. Then it shook again. It actually tilted sharply. A large object rose up and landed on the platform. It looked like a...

...giant arm?

Aw, crap.

With a mechanical whirr, another arm reached up and latched onto the platform. Bracing itself against the platform, Reaper Baby pulled itself up. It loomed over us, all three eyes glowing with a malevolent glare. Without thinking, Miranda hurled her best biotic shot at it while I let fly the hottest plasma my omni-tool could muster. According to my sensors, both attacks struck home and dealt... next to no damage whatsoever. This would take far too long. If reinforcements didn't come to tear us apart, the base would rip itself apart and take us with it. I was in the midst of pulling out my sniper rifle and checking to see whether I could cloak when I saw a red swirl around its mouth. It started off as a couple sparks before flaring to life, growing in heat and intensity like a brushfire turning into an inferno. We ducked for cover just seconds before that firestorm exploded outward. We could feel the heat, even through the hardsuit.

All I could think was: great. Reaper Baby's got a case of the burpsies.

As if ashamed of its poor manners, it ducked down, almost dropping out of sight, but keeping an eye just above the platform. Big mistake—my cloak was on-line and my sniper rifle was ready to go. Not the easiest shot I've ever made, but definitely not the hardest. Hit that sucker while it was playing peek-a-boo and actually scratched the sucker. Now if I only had an infinite supply of thermal clips and all the time in the world, I might be able to get us through this.

9:00

Unfortunately, I only had 13 clips and we were out of time—Harbinger and a couple buddies had flown in via another platform while we were trying not to get barfed on. Miranda and I eliminated one of the drones, but that left a lot of Collectors milling around. Plus, Reaper Baby came back. Just in time—I had an idea: "Concentrate your fire on the Reaper!" I yelled.

Grunt eagerly switched to the biggest target in the room. Miranda gave me a questioning look, but complied. Rather than explaining, I just fired another sniper round without bothering to cloak—yes, I had my reasons—and then switched weapons. I activated my cloak just before pressing the trigger, figuring it was better to charge it up undetected. The cloak deactivated just as the charge reached maximum power. "Hey," I yelled as I shimmered back into view. "Say hello to my little friend!" (7)

The resulting explosion took out Harbinger and his drones. It also created a nice, big crater in its head. Reaper Baby quickly ducked for cover. No matter—it would be back. And I'd taken care to modify my hardsuit so it could carry more power cells. As a result, I had enough ammo to fire one more shot from the Nuke Gun. Which reminded me: I needed to reload.

I slotted in the last power cell just as Reaper Baby returned. Once again, I cloaked and aimed. Reaper Baby started feinting and dodging left and right, no doubt realizing what was in store for it. Not fooled by its antics, I just trained the Nuke Gun on it, readjusting as necessary before letting the second round fly. Once again, a huge nuclear explosion lit up the room. I stepped out to see what had happened. The smoke cleared...

"Oh come on!" I howled. Reaper Baby was barely clinging to its unholy life, but it was still up and about. "Seriously?"

Reaper Baby hurled another energy barf-ball at me. This time, it landed dead-centre, frying my shields. In response, I dropped the Nuke Gun, yanked out my pistol and fired the rest of my clip—a measly two shots.

As it turned out, those measly two pistol shots accomplished what two nuclear rounds couldn't. Reaper Baby reeled back, a geyser of flame erupting from its left eyes. It swayed for a bit, seemed to steady itself, then fell forward. Its giant arm flew through the air and slapped the platform, which tilted violently with the sudden, if temporary, increase in weight. Grunt stumbled, but managed to catch himself. So did I. Miranda, though...

Oh no.

Miranda lost her footing, fell down and started sliding down the platform. Without thinking, I threw myself after her. I waited as the distance closed between us before stretching out my arm. Miranda reached for my hand, grabbed it for a brief second, then lost her grip. She was almost at the edge now. I had only one more chance to save her. She slid off the platform. I lunged for her...

...got her! I quickly grabbed the edge of the platform before I slid off myself. I got a good grip and heaved, lifting Miranda back onto the platform. "You owe me one," I grinned.

Miranda was about to respond when the Reaper Baby blew up. The platform suddenly jerked back the other way, dislodging itself from the other platforms and sending all of us bouncing and sliding back the other way. Its thrusters kicked in, stabilizing it somewhat, but we were still flying wildly through the air, jerking from side to side, careening towards another platform—

---

When I came to, the first thing that came to mind was: this was the third time this mission that I'd gone bouncing off the floor. It was getting really old, really fast.

The second thing was: "Oh my god! Miranda!"

I tried to get up and find her, only to realize the third thing: I was pinned down by a big honkin' piece of metal. More like a pillar, really. I took a deep breath and pushed it off. I'd like to say it was my manly muscles, but the hardsuit servomotors helped.

Getting to my feet, I rushed over to Miranda. She was also pinned down. I lifted it off—using my knees, of course—and pushed it aside. Then I bent down over her. She was still. Too still. A trail of blood trickled from her forehead. "Miranda?"

She didn't respond.

I shook her gently. "Miranda?"

Shit.

"Miranda. Come on. Wake up. You have to get up. We did it. We rescued the crew. We stopped the Collectors. We stopped the Reapers. We won. Now we have to go. Please wake up. You're starting to freak me out. Come on. You can't be... you just can't! Please wake up. Please.

"Please."

...

...

"Shepard?"

My head jerked up. "Miranda?"

Her eyes fluttered open. She murmured something. "What?" I asked.

"I'm okay. Don't freak out."

"Right. Not freaking out. I wasn't freaking out."

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Then what were you just doing?"

"Babbling," I replied. "There's a difference."

"Well, now that we've got that sorted out, can you help me up?"

"Glad to," I nodded. I lifted her to her feet. She stumbled briefly before I caught her. Our eyes met. Our bodies swayed together. Her lips, ever so soft, let out a soft groan.

Wait. No. Her groan couldn't possibly be that deep. But that only left... oh.

Right. Grunt. Killjoy.

I ran over to Grunt who—surprise, surprise—was also pinned down under some metal. I heaved it off, thinking to myself how my biceps were sure getting a workout today.

"Is he okay?" Miranda called out.

With a huff and a puff, I hauled Grunt to his feet—boy, was he heavy. Grunt's eyes popped open. He looked around for a moment before focusing on me. A grin spread across his face, stretching from ear to ear. "LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!"

I turned back to Miranda. "I think he's okay," I confirmed with a straight face.

"Do you copy? Commander? Come on, Shepard, don't leave me hanging. Do you copy?"

"Joker, it's Shepard," I replied. "We're all okay. Did the rest of the squad make it?"

"Everyone's back, safe and sound," Joker reported. "We're just waiting on you."

Then something occurred to me. I checked my HUD, which I had synchronized to the countdown timer.

2:00

Aw, crap.

"Send us the coordinates for the extraction point, EDI," I snapped. "We'll..." I broke off, staring at the shadows. They seemed to be getting darker. And closer. And they were moving around like...

...bugs?

Aw, crap.

"We'll be coming in hot!" I yelled. "Miranda, Grunt; let's move!"

"Shepard, you've changed nothing," Harbinger's voice boomed out as the seeker swarms flew after us.

1:48

A Collector reared its ugly head. Miranda and Grunt passed me as I paused to shoot at it until it ducked for cover. "Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater," Harbinger continued.

1:29

We raced down a tunnel that led towards the landing site EDI specified. It seemed to go on forever.

1:06

"That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction."

We took a left and skidded to a stop. In front of us, at least three Collectors froze. We stared at each other. One of the Collectors came to its senses first and lifted its rifle. Without a word, we turned tail and ran the other way.

0:57

Bullets and energy beams flew past us, somehow missing us despite their sheer volume. We ran up a thin ramp towards a set of platforms hovering in mid-air. Beyond it was nothing but a long, long drop into the abyss.

Then we heard a familiar whine.

The Normandy rose up before us. Despite the large scrapes and gaping holes, despite the Cerberus colours and blatantly obvious advertising, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Scratch that, I amended, spotting Miranda in front of me—it was the second most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

The Normandy turned to starboard, opening the port airlock—the one next to the cockpit. Garrus was there, assault rifle at the ready. So was Zaeed. And Samara. And Thane. Pretty much every member of my squad trained and certified in the operation of long-range weapons.

And Joker, of all people.

Yes, my trusty wise-ass pilot was there, front and centre, toting an assault rifle. He was the first one to open fire, I think. Judging by the squeals and squawks behind me, he was doing a damn good job, too. (8)

0:45

Miranda and Grunt ran across the platforms and jumped onboard. I was still racing up the ramp, dodging the increasingly large pieces of debris that were falling down as the Collector base began shaking itself apart.

0:33

A large metal bracing fell down, knocking the platforms askew. Joker and the others briefly stopped firing as the platforms went spiralling away. That left one huge gap between me and the Normandy. Not having any choice, I broke into a flat-out sprint, feet flying underneath my feet. I propelled myself those last few steps, reached the edge of the ramp and flung myself forward. I flew across the gap, legs still churning, arms wind milling in an attempt to move me just a little bit farther. I was almost there. I was going to make it. I was actually going to...

...

...aw, crap.

My hand was about the only thing that made it past the threshold into the airlock. I slapped it down hard and grabbed the floor for dear life as the rest of me succumbed to the unforgiving laws of gravity. Behind me, the Collectors opened fire once more. Everyone above me returned the favour. Everyone except Miranda, who dropped to her knees, grabbed my arms and braced herself. With her support, I managed to haul my sorry ass onboard.

"Now we're even," she grinned.

Jacob slapped the airlock controls. The doors sealed shut. As the Normandy pulled away, I pushed my way through the squad, nodding random thanks along the way. Joker was one step ahead of me, already limping towards the pilot's seat as I burst into the cockpit.

"Detonation in ten, nine, eight—"

"Yeah, I got the gist of it, EDI!" Joker yelled, tossing the assault rifle aside as he dropped into the pilot's seat. "Everybody hold on!"

The Normandy jumped forward, blasting through the Collector base and back into space. As Joker banked her into a sharp turn and sent her flying past the base, I glimpsed small explosions bursting out one by one along the hull. We were about a hundred thousand kilometres away, just barely skimming over the debris field, when the base was obliterated in a massive supernova. The conflagration billowed outward, consuming and disintegrating derelict vessels as it swept towards us. We silently urged the Normandy to fly just a little bit faster as we darted towards the mass relay, the only one connected to the Omega 4 relay that had brought us to this hellhole. Just a little bit faster, we prayed, as the raging inferno grew closer and closer. Joker's fingers flew over the console, simultaneously keeping the Normandy on its approach vector while connecting to and engaging the mass relay. Just a little bit faster...

...a flash of light...

...and we entered the transit corridor, speeding back to the Terminus Systems. A second later, the cockpit—no, the entire ship—burst into deafening cheers as the magnitude of what we had done hit home. We did it. We actually did it.

We rescued the crew.

We stopped the Collectors.

We stopped the Reapers.

We'd won.

---

(1): A phrase from the story "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," used to open the mouth of a cave where the titular forty thieves had hidden their treasure.

(2): Shepard would later found out she was Lilith Blanchet, the last surviving colonist from Horizon.

(3): One of many challenges faced by those in command.

(4): Shepard apparently took some time to designate this particular breed of Collectors. By the time he went through the Omega 4 relay, however, he had settled on the term 'guardian.' An appropriate description, I think.

(5): Both, I'm sure.

(6): Shepard's penchant for nicknames continues unabated.

(7): A reference to the 1983 version of the vid Scarface. It should be mentioned that the protagonist's 'little friend'—an M16 assault rifle with an under-barrel M203 grenade launcher attachment—was significantly less powerful than Shepard's.

(8): I suspect the residual, albeit misplaced, guilt over losing Shepard two years ago and losing the rest of the crew during the integration of the Reaper IFF motivated Mr. Moreau to repay a longstanding debt.