A/N: Hello all! Just a heads up…posting will get even more sporadic over the next couple of weeks, probably until after Labor Day. My surgery is on Wednesday and I'm double-busy at work making sure as much as possible is done before my leave. I do have my laptop at home so a few chapters should pop up while I'm away, but I can't guarantee schedule or frequency…or even lucidity as I'll be writing drugged off my gourd.

I will still be on Facebook so if you are a member of Del's page, keep an eye there for updates. Oh, and while we're discussing Facebook, just a heads up: to anyone that posts offensive pictures or quotes, don't be shocked if I unfriend you without warning. I'm a pretty tolerant person and it takes a lot to offend me, but there are some things that cross the line for me. You can say them all you want, just don't expect them to be on my news feed.

Big hot button: Anything derogatory to any group of people. Vicious comments aimed at any group of people will result in you being unfriended. This includes anti-theist, anti-atheist, racist, and heterosexist remarks.

If you don't share my political views or religious views on some matter, more power to you. I'm not going to unfriend you because you support one candidate over another or because your religious and moral beliefs differ with mine. HOWEVER, if you come on my page and say you support Candidate A because he'll get rid of all the fucking fags/atheists/insert race-based slur here you will be unfriended. I say this because recently several new patrons to my page have gone on to post extremely inflammatory and hateful things. They weren't directed at me, but that doesn't matter: we're all one world, and what hurts one of us should damn well hurt all of us. Fortunately I caught and banned them fairly quickly.

So, yeah, just a head's up.

On we go!


Dim lights lanced through the heavy night as the shuttle descended on the krogan camp, disgorging a few shadows as it landed. Shepard broke away from Grunt's side and headed over, nodding to Javik and EDI before focusing on Yoh.

Given what they faced, she had called them down from the Normandy to join the ground attack. Liara had wanted to come to but Shepard put her foot down; right now, she had to concentrate on finding the Flotilla. Del was fully expecting an angry lecture when she got back.

"Yoh, you are absolutely sure you are familiar with these types of plasma cannons?" she asked as she lead the group over toward the others.

"Yes," he said eagerly. "I can take apart and put together most known weapons in my sleep. Especially big ones."

"A volus after my own heart," she said. She had only recently learned that Yoh was actually a weapons specialist with the Bombardment Corps, which explained not only why he had been on the Esosco but his knowledge of the rifle and pistol he'd used to kill the geth back on the Citadel during Saren's invasion. He had told her then that not all volus were bankers and merchants. It seemed some of them, like her, also got strangely excited when things exploded.

"You, EDI, and Foog will be on the shadow team," she said as they reached the others, and gestured at Kasumi. "Kas has command. When you hit the camp you and Foog will take out the plasma cannons while Kas and EDI find the Queen and release her. EDI, while Kas is working past the cage locks and security systems I want you to try and infiltrate the hostile network, bring down their communications."

"Which one is Foog?" Yoh asked. A big krogan, one of the largest there, stepped forward with a craggy scowl. Yoh was short enough he barely reached his hip.

"I am Foog," the krogan said. Yoh, completely unintimidated, looked up at him, then offered a hand.

"We will battle in glory, brother!"

Foog's look went from sneering disdain to surprise. He glanced momentarily at Grunt, before he crouched and leaned closer to the volus. Yoh dropped his hand, but did not back away.

"He's goddamn tiny," Foog said disapprovingly, then looked at Shepard. "But then, so are you, and Grunt says you are worth any ten of us."

"Yoh can handle himself," Shepard said. "He won't let you down."

Foog grunted, then straightened again. Shepard eyed him before EDI spoke, distracting her.

"We have additional reinforcements confirmed, Captain," the AI said, tilting her head slightly as if listening to a distant whistle. "We have gotten contact from an asari shuttle."

"The asari?"

"Yes. Liara has approved them and directed them to our location. According to her message they are 'a present from her father.'"

Shepard was shocked, looking upward as a faint light appeared in the dark sky. Liara had recounted to her the conversation she'd had with Aethyta back on the Citadel. The matriarch had offered her asari commandos, but Shepard had taken that as kind of a joke. It seemed it was no joke after all, and Liara had in fact called them in to their assistance.

The shuttle swiftly lowered, landing neatly next to Cortez's. A full asari commando squad disembarked, no fewer than twenty souls. Around her she could hear the krogan making noises of approval. As a species, they well knew the damage a trained asari warrior could do.

A tall one in the lead broke off from the others and headed toward them, shedding her helmet. Though they would later be revealed to be a deep midnight blue, her eyes looked black as she strode forward.

"Captain Shepard?"

"Here," Del took a step forward, and the asari stopped, bowing her head slightly in greeting.

"I am Atyana V'Dess, Commander of the Colorless Wind. We are at your disposal."

The name niggled her a little. Shepard was sure she had heard it before, but couldn't place from where.

Liara told me of course. She must have.

"We're glad to have you, Commander," she said. "We were just about to go over the battle plan; we have a little over two hours left. This is Grunt, in command of Aralakh Company. Also you will see rachni in camp…they are on our side."

"Rachni?" She was understandably surprised at this, but recovered quickly. "Understood, we shall not engage them."

"You and your team will join the krogan, the rachni, and myself as we hit the Cerberus camp from the east…"

She continued to outline the plan. As soon as Kas and her team gave the signal, the bulk of their forces would engage Cerberus directly, distracting them and hopefully drawing their attention away from the Queen and the plasma guns. As soon as the guns were down and the Queen out of harm's way, the Normandy could come in and mop up.

"My girl Ficea is small and fast, and used to doing recon," Atyana said. "Let her join your shadow team on the Queen's cage. She won't hold them up and she can help cover their backs."

"Done."

"We need to get moving if we're going to be in position in time," Kasumi said. Shepard nodded and gripped her hand a moment.

"Be careful. You too, EDI. Come back in one piece, dong ma?"

She then turned and looked at Yoh. "You too, my friend."

"Thank you, Captain," he said, then looked at Grunt. "Don't worry. I'll make it my priority to protect Foog and get him back safely."

It was clear by his tone that he was completely serious. Shepard hid a smirk as Grunt and Foog both stared at the volus, who unabashedly leaned up and patted Foog on the hand, as if to reassure him.

As the teams broke up, Grunt shook his head, then clapped Del on the shoulder. "Gonna be a hell of a fight," he said with a grin. "Just like old times. Almost makes me feel sorry for Cerberus. C'mon, this way. I got a present for you."

"Oh?" Shepard frowned, following the young krogan as he lead her across camp.

"Boys took out a small Cerberus patrol that got a little too close," he told her as he approached a tarp-covered mound. "We liberated them of their toys…including this. Thought you might like it."

Grabbing the tarp he hauled it off. It had been covering a turret-bike, and it looked brand fucking new, at that. Balanced on two wide wheels, the bike was enclosed and heavily armored, bearing a pair of ratchet guns at the front that could be operated by the driver. On the back was a nearly enclosed platform where a second rider could stand and operate a heavy turret, the weapon offering nearly 360 protection and capable of firing rounds big enough to put a hole in a tomkah.

Shepard's dark eyes glistened. "Grunt…you are my favorite krogan."

He rumbled a pleased laugh. "Trick is…which of us drives and which gets the big shiny gun?"


It was less than an hour before dawn would start to rise, and the sky was a heavy, black, seemingly starless expanse above. From here, they could see the distant lights of the Cerberus camp. Shadow had gone in and the rest of the company were just waiting for the signal.

Shepard stood beside the idling turret-bike, taking a long look around herself. The few vehicles they had were gathered and rumbling. Clinging to the outside of them or even perched on various hoods, the krogan were dark, mountainous shapes emitting thin white clouds of condensation in the cold air, interspersed with the asari. Wilcher, Vega, and Javik stood near her, and all but covering the field around and between them, the rachni formed a living sea, appendages waving a little as they rocked back and forth, moving to a music only they could hear.

Then a voice filled her ear.

{Captain, we have a concern.}

It was EDI, and she was not supposed to be transmitting this way. Slapping her hand to her helmet Shepard immediately had a bad feeling.

"You've secured the line?"

{I have successfully infiltrated the Cerberus communication network. They are unable to hear us, Shepard.}

"What's the problem?"

{This camp is not the only force here,} EDI told her. {The krogan surveillance was unable to pick up the much larger threat. According to what I have gleaned from their network, there was a second rachni ship that came down on this planet. Cerberus got to them first.}

"Fuck!" Shepard turned and strode over to Riot, already yanking off her glove. "A second ship? The fuck is this about?"

Riot reached up and took her hand, and the colorful music filled Del's mind again.

She was shown how the Queen and Riot had arrived here. They had taken a ship to scout this planet for a suitable colony. When Riot was of age, they were hoping it would be to here that she would come, to raise her own children. Their ship was not far from here, and these drones were all the crew of that vessel- however this particular ship belonged to the Queen, and would not function without her guidance.

Shortly after she had been taken, Riot had contacted the rest of their people, seeking aid. They had sent a second ship to retrieve them…and it seemed something had gone wrong. Riot had believed the ship crashed, but more likely it had been shot down by Cerberus and its surviving crew taken captive.

"This would have been nice to know earlier!" Shepard said as the rachni released her hand. Even without the contact, she felt the shame from the young Queen.

Young. I have to remember that, she's a Queen but she's still very young. She just didn't think.

Touching her radio again she asked, "EDI, when you say Cerberus got to them-"

{They are not prisoners. They have been subjected to the same form of indoctrination as Udina and Valern.}

"Fuck!"

{They belong to the Tide.}


"How many are there?" Atyana asked.

"EDI guesses about four hundred," Shepard replied, looking at the small gathering. "We've got five hundred but they've got that many troopers alone. We're seriously outnumbered here."

"Can Kas still get the Queen out?"

"They're working on it, and the second team has reached the plasma guns. We're going to have to go ahead with the attack. To pull out now means sacrificing the Queen and giving Cerberus even more rachni troops."

"We should kill the Queen," Atyana said, prompting an alarmed squeal from Riot. Shepard held her hand out toward the young rachni- a gesture to wait and not an offer for communication- and shook her head.

"No, that's not an option."

"It may be our only option," the asari said. "Take out those plasma guns and bring your ship in to raze the entire camp. The Queen will be lost but not the species. Riot can take her place."

"Riot is far too young yet to take her place," Shepard said. "I don't know how long young rachni need the influencing songs of their Mothers, but I know what happens to them when they don't have it. Even if that wasn't a factor, I am not going to let the Queen die. Not if I can stop it, and most certainly not at my order."

"Your desire to preserve life is admirable, Captain, but the facts remain. We are strongly outnumbered. Far more will die if we engage their forces. I consider the loss of one life far more acceptable than the loss of potentially hundreds."

"Shepard's pulled off the impossible before," Wilcher said. "And she's right. Riot is this Queen's successor and she's too young to take over on her own. We don't know how many rachni are out there right now. We don't know they'd even listen to Riot. We save the Queen, and we have potentially millions of rachni in this war, fighting on our side. She dies, and you have just as many millions left unguided and in chaos…and certainly in no shape to help against the Reapers in any great number, even if they don't turn into a threat themselves."

Atyana frowned, looking over the waiting group, thinking a moment. Then she nodded. "I see your point."

"So, we need other options," Del said with a nod. "Full frontal attack is all but suicide now. If we could cut off Shiva's control of these rachni that would be one thing."

"So what would cut off Shiva's control?" Grunt asked.

"Destroying Shiva," Shepard said dryly, then pinched the bridge of her nose. She frowned. "Grunt, you've had that camp under surveillance for days now. None of your men saw any sign of rachni?"

"None but ours," he replied. Shepard hit her radio.

"EDI, these indoctrinated rachni troops…where are they?"

{Beneath the camp ,} she replied. {They have created a series of tunnels in the neighboring hillside and remain underground.}

"Directly under the camp?" Shepard asked.

{Slightly off-center, but I estimate that at least 83% of the camp sits atop their burrows.}

"Is the Queen's cage in that portion of the camp?"

{Just outside of it. There is bedrock beneath us, difficult for burrowing.}

"Ok, hold tight." Her attention returned to the others. "The Tide rachni have burrowed under the camp itself. If we can get some ordinance in there, we can collapse the tunnels. It'll take out a good portion of the camp as well as a lot of their rachni soldiers."

"And we should be able to pick off the rest," Vega said, then grinned. "I like this plan."

"Explosives we have," Grunt said. "But we need a way to get them down there."

Immediately Riot reached for Del's hand again. Shepard looked at her. "She'll send some drones in. They'll be able to find the entrances quickly and Cerberus may not realize they're not their own soldiers. They can carry the explosives in and set them in key locations, make sure they detonate."

Then she shook her head, speaking to Riot. "It'd be suicide. Any drone that went down there would die with the others."

A pause, and she scowled. "I'd rather find a way that doesn't cost your people their lives, Riot. I-"

She turned her head as six drones broke off from the rest and lined up nearby. She shook her head again. "No, they'll be throwing their lives….Riot, I understand but-"

She paused again, then sighed and nodded. The young Queen released her hand. "She insists they're volunteers, that they want to do this," she said. "She says they'll do anything to help save the Queen. She's just as damned stubborn as-…all right. If we're going to do this we need to move fast, before our shadow team is discovered. Grunt, get some explosives and let's get these rachni on their way."


Dawn was pearling the sky, and with each moment that passed, the two shadow teams were more and more at risk.

Yoh and Foog had disabled one of the plasma guns and had reached the second. Yoh was rather inconspicuous but Foog was harder to keep hidden. The light was helping in that it allowed their work to go faster, but they had only minutes before the burgeoning daylight would give them completely away.

At the cage, Kasumi, EDI and Ficea were a little better off. The cage itself was a huge solid lockbox which allowed a great deal of cover. With her cloak, Kasumi could move around with impunity, working on the security systems and the locks that were keeping the box sealed. She had very nearly gotten it open when EDI suddenly looked at her and calmly said, "Brace yourself."

A belch of dirt and rock geysered into the air on the other side of the camp, joined within seconds by a second, and then a third. The ground shook madly with the force of the explosions, and Kasumi gripped hold of the cage controls to steady herself. The sky darkened again as the dirt and smoke began to pour into the air, and the shaking was still going strong when they heard the first of the gunshots.

Turning her head, Kasumi watched as half the sprawling camp behind them was consumed by the roiling earth, as if the ground itself was chewing it up. A prefab broke in half and tumbled into the growing pit, and she was sure she heard more than one scream.

"Uh…it's not stopping," Ficea said in sudden alarm, as the collapsing edge of the chasm continued their way, drawing rapidly closer. With a muffled curse, Kasumi was forced to abandon the controls, grabbing EDI by the arm. The three women fled the collapse, the dirt seeming to sag and fall away directly at their heels.

They rushed around the side of the cage, and the thief could hear the deep groan of the metal box as it began to lean, the solid surface beneath it spilling downward.

Then the shaking steadied. As if it were drunk, the cage rocked forward at a cant, then went still again, two thirds on the solid bedrock that EDI had detected, the rest hanging precariously over the gaping maw of the collapsed tunnels.

The air was far from silent. The sharp high reports of small arms fire could be heard above the deep concussive booms of heavier ordinance, the roar of various engines, the shouts of fighting men and women. Bracing one hand on the side of the cage, Kasumi hurried back toward the front, and then cursed. The controls were gone, the cage door out of reach over the crevasse.

"If you can reach the door can you get it open?" Ficea asked, stopping at Kasumi's side and surveying the situation.

"I can get any door open, but how will I reach-"

She broke off with a sound of surprise as she was suddenly enveloped in biotics. Warm static rippled over her skin as she was lifted off the ground, passing over the chasm and in toward the door.

"Well that's handy," she said as she dug out her tools again, immediately setting to work. She got through the first lock, gesturing to Ficea to lift her a bit higher, and started to work on the second. Something seemed to scream as it flew just overhead ,slamming into the cage hard enough to dent the metal and send it rocking again. Broken bits of stone and nearly molten rock rained down on her and she recoiled, instinctively lifting her arm to protect herself. Ficea pulled her back over the chasm and away from the worst of the debris, but she could feel heat boring into her forearm. Slapping at it frantically she managed to dislodge a few embers, sweeping them away from her skin.

"I'm all right," she called after a moment. "Get me back to the lock!"

She was moved in closer again, wincing a bit as she heard more heavy explosions. Getting the second lock open she had Ficea lift her toward the third. This one was the hardest, as the lock was just beneath where the rock had hit. The damage had warped it a little, and in the end it took her gritting her teeth, prying with as much sheer brute strength as she could manage, before it popped free. Hauling the release mechanism for the door she watched as it rumbled open, Ficea lowering her down and forward, setting her just within the lip of the dark cage.

Kasumi settled her feet, grabbing the edge of the door to steady herself as the biotics holding her weightless faded away. In the shadowy depths of the massive lockbox she could see a giant black shape curled tightly; the enormous rachni Queen.

She wasn't moving.