Notes:

CIC - Combat Information Center

VI - Virtual Intelligence


Missed Opportunities

Thessia, Parnitha, Athena Nebula

Brooks focused intensely on the newcomers as the shadows gave way to people and she nearly fell over in amazement… holy shit! It was Commander bloody fucking Shepard and her squid bride-to-be T'Soni, followed by… about damned time my crap luck changed... We have a trifecta! ... the other squid-bitch that always shadows T'Soni! There were two more figures; all heavily armed and armored… there's another Asari, also with a sniper rifle… looks like a Mantis, but strangely modified. And what the?… There's a miserable little suit-rat bringing up the rear… female, by the look of it. What is it with Shepard and always having female companions!?

After a short gap in time, a second squad cautiously followed behind. Hold on; that one's led by a fucking Turian! Damned big bastard… with a massive sniper rifle… most likely a Widow! When James strolled into view, Brooks' chin dropped as she stared in awe. What a huge son of a bitch! My God! How in the name of Hell does he find armor to fit that chest and those arms? He made the average-sized human female behind him seem tiny, but Maya noted she was not to be trifled with either; on her back was a very deadly Arc Projector! Looks like the Normandy wasn't the only one of TIM's toys Shepard pilfered after she shut down the Collectors. And there's another Asari!

Oh!…My!… God! Brooks momentarily lost her entire train of thought as she gazed in wide-eyed horror at the hulking monstrosity following behind the second squad. A Geth Prime, standing well over three meters tall and bearing a pulse cannon; its three red eyes casting their soulless gaze back and forth was reason to give Maya pause. An honest-to-God synthetic was part of the commander's team! Shit! I'll bet that big bastard can see my heat emissions despite my cloak… wait! Fucking Hell! The son of a bitch just vanished! Figures! It has a cloak of its own! So much for my luck changing!

Brooks was beginning to develop a grudging respect for Shepard's abilities at developing alliances with disparate groups. If reports were to be believed, she had instigated a cure for the Krogan Genophage and brokered a Turian-Krogan alliance... and now, as improbable as it seemed, she had apparently brought an end to the conflict between the Geth and Quarians. If the Geth have become Citadel allies, being a pirate in the Terminus just became a Hell of a lot more dangerous, not to mention the fact that the Alliance now had a race of self-replicating, intelligent machines, probably numbering in the millions or tens of millions, at their beck and call.

Getting herself back on track, she watched the last five figures enter, completely dwarfed by the monstrosity that had stalked in ahead of them. Oh shit, here's an entire group of squids bringing up the rear, constantly checking their 'six'. How can this day continue to go to Hell so badly?

Thinking the artifact, whatever it was, would be tied to the console at the base of the big statue, she began silently moving towards the front of the chamber, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Her cloak was good – it was of Salarian design – still, she took no chances that her presence here would be prematurely discovered, especially with the Geth Prime stalking the chamber. She intended to steal whatever Shepard recovered and get away clean, despite anything the commander or any of her companions attempted to do to stop her.

Thinking about her opposition, which outnumbered her team nearly three-to-one, Maya cast about in her mind for a way to even the odds. Damn it! That's it! Maya was as far away from the approaching enemy soldiers as possible, and hopefully hidden from direct view by the now-cloaked Geth, so she mentally crossed her fingers for luck. Here goes nothin'! She promptly shielded her forearm from view and quietly sent a quick text update outlining the opposition to the sergeant waiting in the stairwell at the rear of the chamber, taking care to especially alert him to a cloaked Geth Prime. She warned him to be ready to come to her assistance, assuring him he would know when to jump in.

With a feral grin, she then sent a quick text to the pilot of the A-61 loitering at a safe altitude above her, warning him to be prepared to descend and attack ground personnel in the temple on a moments' notice. All she had to do now was wait patiently for Shepard and company to gain access to the artifact.


Kurin cautioned her teammates. "Be alert. There should have been a squad of commandos here along with the scientists. Something is most definitely wrong."

Shepard looked attentively around the room. "There's evidence of weapons fire, but no bodies... just blood trails." She looked at Kurin. "Blue blood."

"Shit!" Kurin's eyes narrowed. "Probably Reapers... taking them to turn out more Banshees!"

Shepard 'felt' Liara's shiver of disgust through the link as she responded. "Don't assume anything." She focused on Kurin. "You know anything about this place? Any idea where to begin?"

"I have no fucking idea, Shepard." Kurin shook her head in disgust. "That's what the science team was for."

"Well, that's just peachy," she mumbled under her breath. In her initial survey of the room, Shepard had noticed the multiple display cases spread throughout the room. "Split up and take a look around. Maybe one of these displays holds the artifact we're looking for."

"Hidden in plain sight, huh, Commander?" James voice was steady and calmed everyone's frayed nerves. "People got so used to seeing this stuff for what... centuries? It never drew anyone's attention. Makes sense. Best way to hide something long-term."

"Exactly. Let's hustle. No idea how much time we have before another wave hits us." Shepard walked around the artifacts while Liara played tour guide.

"That's the Goddess Athame's sword. Myth says she wielded it against jealous gods who threatened our ancestors." The pattern continued, with Athame's shield, the Athame Codex, and multiple other artifacts... with none of them seeming any more special than the others.

When they got to the bust of Janiri, they all paused. Shepard was the first to speak what they were all thinking. "Liara. I know you're thinking it... and I know Janiri is Asari, but this bust looks remarkably... Prothean."

"Javik so much as told me, during one of the few discussions we had, the Protheans intervened in our past... that they manipulated our DNA and uplifted our society, much as the Salarians did for the Krogan." Liara's faith was shaken as she looked at the statue from her new perspective. "I didn't believe him, but seeing this again... along with what he said, perhaps I was wrong. And now, with him dead, I'll never find the truth."

Distracted by the conflicting thoughts racing through her mind, she jumped when Shepard's fingers landed unexpectedly under her chin. "Don't do that to yourself, Liara. What's done is done and I'm pretty sure the alternate ending wouldn't have been very good for my health."

"Nor for mine." Liara's eyes held a frightening intensity when she turned to the commander. "You're right. Let's move on." They moved around the room and passed yet another bust, this one of Lucen, which also looked very Prothean; no one bothered commenting the second time. When they reached a display with another page of the Codex, Liara stopped and leaned on the pedestal. "Goddess. This describes how one of Athame's guides granted us the gift of biotics as a reward for our worship. Shepard..." Liara turned to the commander, her pistol dropping loosely to her side. "I killed the last living Prothean... and he knew! He could have told us so much about our past, and I've taken that possibility away from the Asari people! It's... it's almost too much to take."

Shepard stepped up to her and whispered softly so no one else could hear. "Relax, Liara. You haven't taken anything away." Liara was set to protest, but the look in Shepard's eyes stopped her. "Think about what you just did, Liara. Together, we can read these texts because of the cipher; when this war is over, I'll help you translate every single one for the Asari people. You haven't lost anything. Now, let's get this done and go home."

"Thank you, again, Shepard." Liara's eyes cleared and her pistol came back up to the ready position. "I love you."

"Yeah." Shepard smirked. "First it was the Beacon. Now it's the Prothean cipher..." Shepard stopped and let out a little laugh as Liara reached out and shoved her, her mood somewhat recovered from the shock of their discovery.

"Fine. We've got a mission to complete, Commander." Liara finally settled down, turned and resumed walking, circling around and approaching the front of the temple. When they moved past the front row of seats, Shepard glanced around quickly and squatted down next to a pair of dead Asari.

"I'm guessing these are the scientists. They've had their throats slit." She stood back up, her pistol sweeping across the room. "So much for the Reaper theory. This is the work of a civilized race." Her tone was biting with sarcasm as her eyes continued to scan the room; she gestured to the far side of the main aisle. "Looks like a third body lying on the other side of that bench." When they found nothing else, she finally walked to the front console, located at the base of a gigantic statue of Athame.

As she reached for the console, her hand froze, hovering above it. Sensing Samantha's dismay, Liara stepped quickly to her side, concern etched deeply in her tone as she queried, "Shepard! What's wrong?"

"The statue." Shepard sounded forlorn, knowing she was about to cause her lover additional emotional strife. "There's a Prothean beacon here."

"What?" Liara hissed the question quietly, forcing herself to remain relatively calm in the face of such a revelation. "I admit it is strange this place has been so well preserved with the low percentage of our population that still worships Athame. A hidden beacon, being preserved for study, would most certainly explain it!"

As Liara spoke, Shepard's hand continued to hover over the console and the voice of her lover faded into the background as the beacon 'spoke' to her. It wasn't in the form of verbal communication, but the console resonated beneath her touch, as if searching for something within her. Shepard's eyes drifted closed and a soft glow drifted from the console to envelope her hand before slowly creeping up her arm.

She was suddenly yanked back from the console with a biotic pull and practically collapsed into Liara's arms. The Asari lowered her gently to a sitting position; her concern increased significantly. She had apparently said something to which she had expected a response and, getting none, realized the commander had slipped into some sort of trance. "Shepard! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

Shepard blinked a couple of times to clear the haze, both from her vision and from her mind. "Yeah. I'm fine." She stuck a hand out. "Help me back up." As Liara pulled her easily to her feet, Shepard continued speaking. "I have to activate it. All these years, the Asari have chipped away at the knowledge stuck in this device, but they've never been able to fully power it up."

Liara's puzzled expression told her she needed to explain better. She walked away, toward the closest of the artifacts and Liara followed. "The scientists have energized the beacon many times over the years, but they couldn't sustain it long enough to actually activate it. It was enough to glean limited knowledge from it, but they never revealed its true purpose."

Liara frowned. "That would mean they have been hoarding Prothean knowledge... and it is as we feared. At least parts of our Matriarchy are guilty of treason against the Council."

"Even a small amount of data would give your people an edge, Liara." Garrus' voice rang in from the side. "But I'm sure the Turians have a hidden military archive as well."

"The Humans certainly did." Shepard looked at her lover. "No one knew the extent of the Human archive on Mars until the Reapers were in Kite's Nest and Hackett gave you full access to the back room; all races have their secrets, but that's not what matters. There's something in that console; it searched my mind and found the cipher... and I suddenly knew how to power the damned thing on."

That statement got Liara's attention and stopped her brooding, the scientist in her winning out over the disappointed follower of Athame. "What do we need to do?"

"It's all about tapping into data streams and reconstructing matrices." Shepard reached out to stop Liara's return to the console.

Liara looked at her questioningly. "Shepard. If we need to reconstruct matrices, I'll need to hack into the console."

"No, you won't. It's not in there." Shepard looked at a few of the artifacts before approaching one. "They're here." She waved her hand above the descriptor plate on the artifact and it began to glow softly, eventually emitting a barely perceptible beam of light that shined on the statue.

"By the Goddess... literally! All these years and the answer was right under their noses... yet they never would have been able to access it!" Liara looked at Shepard in amazement. "But now, thanks to you, we can get our answers!"

"Thanks to everything that's happened to me, anyways." Shepard blew out a heavy breath. "Just because we can activate it doesn't mean it has the info we need."

"We'd better hope that it does." Liara reached over, gripping Samantha's hand reassuringly. "And there is only one way to find out, Love."

Shepard moved from artifact to artifact, gradually finding those required to power up the beacon and connect all the nodes of the matrix. Shepard wasn't counting, but after the fourth or fifth connection activated, the group ducked to cover as Athame shed her plaster disguise. The statue shattered, revealing a glowing beacon hiding within.

Shepard looked up at it with trepidation and wonder; it was larger than any she had yet encountered and while it potentially held knowledge they desperately needed, she didn't look forward to interfacing with such an obviously powerful beacon. The smaller ones she'd tangled with had left her disoriented and tired; she feared what a beacon of this size would do to her.

Liara caught her thoughts through the link and looked to Garrus. "We need to cover the entrances and protect Shepard while she interfaces with the beacon. You've seen before how they work; you know she'll be completely vulnerable as she does so."

"You got it, Liara." Garrus quickly divided everyone into four groups. Knowing they wouldn't be separated anyway, he put Liara and Riana with Shepard... and the group was quickly joined by Lieutenant Kurin.

"As the lead Asari military representative present, I'm staying with Shepard and the beacon."

"Understood, Lieutenant." Garrus nodded quickly in agreement and pressed on. "The rest of our teams will stay the same. They've worked well all day, so no sense changing up at the last moment. Tali; you'll have Vega and Cayla, along with Chiktikka... I'll keep Sarah, Legion and Sasha." He looked at the Asari squad now minus Kurin. "So, who's next in line after Kurin?"

Cylia Gani stepped forward. "I am her second."

"Alright. You're in charge now. You take the entrance, I'll take the left flank... and that leaves Tali with the right. Acceptable?"

When no one complained and they all moved to their respective positions, Garrus looked over to the group still surrounding the commander. "Whenever you're ready, Shepard."

Shepard gave Liara one last glance before approaching the console and she felt a little tickle at the back of her mind. {You are not alone on this one, Samantha. I'll give you whatever strength I am able to provide.}

Somewhat calmed simply knowing Liara was there, Shepard took a deep breath and held her hands out toward the beacon, prepared to be lifted off the floor and have her mind assaulted by thousands of images... only it didn't happen. Instead, a glowing ball of light burst out of the beacon and floated down to floor level. Shepard spun away from the beacon and shouted, "Barriers!"

With military honed reflexes, everyone was instantly shielded by the Asari within each group as the light bobbed about, finally settling in front of Shepard and speaking. "Obtaining chronological knowledge. Hold... Timescale established. Post-Prothean cycle confirmed. Reaper presence detected. This galactic cycle has already reached its extinction terminus. Systems shutting down." The ball started to ascend back to its point of origin.

"What?" Shepard shouted at it. "Don't you dare! We need answers!"

The ball spun quickly and returned to its previous position; it then moved closer, directly in front of Shepard, the biotic barriers doing nothing to stop its progress. "To what question?"

"The Catalyst." Shepard signaled with her hand to drop the barriers. Liara and Kurin both complied immediately, willing to save their biotics for later if it became necessary, with Riana reluctantly following suit; seeing their barriers drop, the other groups also released their energy and everyone was surprised when the ball of light moved a short distance away from Shepard and coalesced into the form of a Prothean.

Liara, surprise evident in her voice, exclaimed, "It's another Prothean VI!"

"I am called Vendetta, an advanced virtual construct of Pashek Vran, overseer of the project you refer to as 'Crucible.' He died fighting the Reapers in the battle of Tranbir Nine. Your remaining time is also at an end."

"No, it's not." Liara glared at the construct. "We have the plans and the Crucible is nearly complete. All we are missing is the Catalyst."

The Prothean projection looked at her, Riana and Kurin. "You are Asari." It then turned back to Shepard. "And you are Human, yet it is within you that I detected the Prothean essence. How is that possible?"

"You should know we don't have time for long explanations! Short version is I met an ancient plant called a Thorian. It held several Protheans in thrall and eventually consumed them, along with all their memories and, I guess, their very essence. That knowledge was put into something referred to as a cipher and passed to me. I can understand, speak and read Prothean, activate your beacons and use your memory shards because of it."

"That is an interesting development; one we did not anticipate."

Shepard growled, "That doesn't matter! What does matter is whether or not the Crucible will work! What happened during your time? Why didn't you use it?"

"We were sabotaged from within. A splinter group argued we should dominate the Reapers rather than destroy them. It fractured our order of battle. Later, we learned the separatists were indoctrinated."

"We have the same problem now, with a group called Cerberus." Shepard spit out their name like something vile had landed on her tongue. Vendetta ignored her statement and went on to explain how their studies indicated a repeating pattern of destruction, with similar sub-patterns recurring over and over through the millennia.

Shepard smirked for an instant as Liara muttered under her breath, "I knew it! Why does no one ever listen to me?"


Maya was close enough to the control console where Shepard and the several Asari were listening to the glowing orb that had manifested from the beacon to understand the implications of what it was saying. She was getting ready to summon the gunship, but something about this glowing orb fascinated her. Need to learn more…

She had never seen the Prothean that Shepard and crew had stolen from the Cerberus excavation site on Eden Prime, but the carved images around this place, the line drawings of supposedly ancient Asari, were beginning to make sense to her now; they were actually images of Protheans, ancient Protheans, from over 50,000 years ago.

Her thoughts ran wild as she listened to this… program… this construct, tell of their efforts at fighting the Reapers being sabotaged by a splinter group. How can this be? This… VI, said the separatists spoke of controlling the Reapers? Maya heard Shepard agree with the VI, naming Cerberus as the splinter group of this era. The VI had just watered the tiny seed in Maya's mind… a seed of doubt… about Cerberus… the Illusive Man… all of his 'Humanity first' rhetoric. Is it possible?… Is the bastard indoctrinated; is he such a megalomaniac he believes he can control these things? Are his misguided efforts at galactic domination by Humanity simply leading us down the road to extinction? No, I can't believe it! He has to want them defeated! He simply has to… doesn't he?

Maya had to put her confusion aside, now! Shepard was getting ready to take the VI. She sent the authorization code to the pilot of the A-61, telling him to come down hot. Things were about to get very interesting.


Vendetta kept speaking and paused only when it spoke of the Reapers as being only servants of the pattern. "We never determined who was the master."

Shepard's eyebrows rose. "Then I guess we have one up on you. It was a race called the Leviathan. They built the Reapers and programmed them to find a solution to a perceived problem in their now-ancient time... one of synthetics evolving to the point of overtaking their creators. The Leviathan feared it would eventually cause the extinction of organic life."

The VI hesitated for a moment as it processed the new data. "So they attempted to solve the problem of synthetics killing their creators by creating a synthetic?" The VI's voice actually sounded surprised.

"Yes." Shepard sighed. "I see you also recognize the flaw in their reasoning."

Vendetta paused for only a moment before responding to Shepard's statement. "You say your Crucible is nearly complete?"

"Yes!" Shepard stepped toward the construct. "There is still hope for this cycle. All we need to know is what the Catalyst is. Trillions of lives are at risk!"

"Trillions of lives are always at risk." Vendetta was very matter of fact in his response. "But if the Reapers have already arrived to end your cycle, then this discussion may be too late."

"It's not! Most of the advanced galactic races have assisted us in the construction. If you tell us what the Catalyst is, we can finish the weapon and break the cycle!" Shepard cussed under her breath at the stubbornness of the damned VI, hoping their chance wasn't slipping away from them.

"If what you say is true, you have advanced beyond what we were able to accomplish... and have earned the right to try... but I must confirm your assertions; bring me to this Crucible. If it is truly ready, I will interface with your systems and assist with the Catalyst to..."


As soon as Maya heard the VI agree to go with them, she reactivated her omnitool and sent three simple letters to her sergeant. 'NOW'

The VI stopped talking immediately when a concealed door to the side of the beacon burst open. Sensing the Cerberus soldier upgrades, Vendetta spoke rapidly. "Indoctrinated presence detected. Activating security protocol." The VI projection immediately returned to ball form and winked out of existence as weapons fire flooded into the room.

Without hesitation, the Asari surrounding Shepard threw a combined barrier up to protect the group, giving the commander a chance to draw her weapon. As she pulled her Graal from its lower back sling, she shouted, "Move!" They sprinted back into the rows of seating, seeking what little cover they could find. As they did so, a number of flashbangs, grenades, and smoke canisters popped, sending shrapnel flying and totally obscuring whatever force was attacking them, effectively blinding the augmented Normandy crew.

"Spirits!" Garrus led his team in from the left flank, but couldn't see anything, so none of them dared fire for fear of hitting one of their own. Tali was having the same problem on the far side, but they heard cheers from the Asari at the back of the room covering the main entrance. The last Asari gunship had returned to provide cover fire. Cylia Gani was immediately on comms. "We've got air support! Work your way..."

Her transmission was cut off abruptly as the gunship opened fire. The Cerberus crew grinned as the guns ripped across the back of the temple, shredding the squid in charge and ripping through the other three at will. As he watched them fall, the gunner laughed, "Experts at infiltration and sabotage. What the fuck good does that do you now, ya fish heads!"

Nilya Vura managed to survive the onslaught and slide behind a support column, still not realizing who it was attacking them. "Goddess. They're firing on us! They must be indoctrinated!" She used her scant supply of medigel in an attempt to stop her bleeding. She shouted urgently into her comm, "I'm hit, but safe for now. Stay forward! You come back here, that gunship will rip you to pieces!" She hunkered down behind the column and prayed for her own survival.

The ordnance from the gunship reached Tali's group on the right flank and both Vega and Cayla took fire. Tali had taken cover while she worked her omnitool to launch Chiktikka; it was the only thing that spared her from injury.

Up front, Shepard's team had gotten separated in the smoke and Liara suddenly heard someone behind her. She turned, thinking it was Riana, only to see a rather large Cerberus Centurion... leering at her and much too close. She tried to call up her biotics, but there wasn't time. His hand was already closing on the top of her chestplate and the bastard was amazingly fast and strong. She felt her head snap back as he yanked her off her feet and threw her at a fuzzy shape in the smoke, as if her weight meant nothing. She grunted in pain as she smashed into the butt end of Garrus' swinging assault rifle; he had seen a big shadow coming at him quickly through the smoke, so thrust his rifle up as a last ditch effort at protecting himself... and they both went down in a heap.

A very dazed Liara ended up on top of the pile, preventing Garrus from being able to free his assault rifle as the Sergeant pulled his Carnifex and promptly pointed it at Liara's head. The Centurion pulled the heavy pistol's trigger twice in rapid succession just as a brown streak flew past him. Riana had heard the commotion and arrived at the last second; having no time to initiate a better course of action to protect the Lady T'Soni, she simply dove across in front of him, hoping to interfere with his shot.

Shepard had just killed a Trooper and was closing quickly on the shots when she saw the Centurion again aiming his pistol. She couldn't see through the smoke to determine who he had in his sights, but it didn't matter. She biotically charged and smashed him violently across the floor, his shot going off-target. Shepard proceeded to spike him to the floor with her Graal before spinning to take on an Assault Trooper who suddenly charged in from her left, appearing out of the thinning haze.

An injured James Vega hobbled over and literally stomped on the pinned-down Centurion, crushing the hand that had held the Carnifex. "Had about enough of you fuckers," he muttered. He raised his assault rifle and set it against the Centurion's faceplate as he pulled the trigger.

With the smoke dissipating, the commander could see much better and she watched as Kurin and Sasha tag-teamed on yet another Trooper, finally taking him down and working their way across the room in an attempt to assist Shepard. When Sasha arrived at her side, she pointed over Shepard's shoulder. "Shepard. Dr T'Soni requires your presence... She has been injured."

"What?" Shepard's focus narrowed to only a single being in the entire galaxy and she suddenly realized she couldn't connect through the link. She turned around worriedly and quickly located Garrus, leaning over Liara's prone figure. As she started to run toward the Asari, the gunship showed up again and strafed the room, causing her to cuss and dive for cover. She continued to crawl across the floor to reach her downed fiancée.

When she arrived, Liara's eyes were closed and a bandage was wrapped around her upper right arm. "Li?" Shepard's voice was concerned, but strong, and Liara opened her eyes the moment she heard it.

"I'll be fine, Shepard... I'm just terribly dizzy... but Riana isn't here." Liara looked at her beseechingly with unfocused blue eyes.

"I'll find her for you. I swear." As Shepard shifted to a crouched position to better look around, the gunship stopped firing and an eerie silence fell for a moment... just before the voice of Maya Brooks echoed through Temple.


A cloaked and shielded Maya Brooks carefully avoided the destructive fighting going on behind her, her goal simply to deactivate and download the newly revealed Vendetta program without anyone seeing her. The gunship had been a major surprise to everyone on Shepard's team, and it continued to keep things interesting by rapidly ascending away from the entrance as it drew weapons fire, only to return on a random basis to spray the interior with AP rounds from its chin-mounted heavy guns. As a ground support weapons platform, it was deadly effective.

Program safely downloaded, Brooks pulled a small demolition charge from a pocket on her hip and placed it at the center of the control console for the VI program. Once detonated, it would insure that any data backups would be obliterated, or no longer accessible by the Asari caring for this place. She quickly checked the area around her, paying particular attention to the synthetic monster guarding the entrance against the return of the gunship. She was counting on her little surprise package to distract everyone long enough for her to board the gunship and make her escape.

Knowing her Assault Troopers were nearly all wounded or dead, she ran down the right side of the chamber, trusting her cloak to keep her movements invisible to all. She nearly took a tumble as she tripped over the body of one of the commandos Shepard had added to her squad; she took a moment to glance at the face of the Asari, her eyes open wide and unmoving in death, before redoubling her efforts to reach the edge of the plaza outside the main entrance to what was rapidly proving to be a deathtrap for everyone.

Standing at the edge of the opening, she keyed in the sequence to call the gunship down. She'd have to time her actions perfectly if she wished to remain unscathed. The A-61 would come down to a hover sideways, keeping its chin guns pivoted 90 degrees while enabling her to access the rear facing ramp, keeping their combined exposure to a minimum.

As her 'ride' came down to a hover, it raked the interior of the shrine again, even as the pilot expertly pivoted the ungainly looking craft to his left and lowered the ramp. The spare pilot and gunner from the APC stood armed on the ramp and provided cover fire as Maya ran and leaped onto the edge, turning as she decloaked. She silenced the weapons fire with a single slashing motion across her throat and shouted out once the weapons fell silent. "Shepard! I have a message from the Illusive Man!" Her voice boomed through the sudden silence. "You!…Lose!" So saying, she lifted her hand and pressed the trigger button in the middle of the remote detonator, setting off the small explosive device she'd placed on the control console.

A wave of smoke and debris came rolling out of the shrine, surprising even Maya with its power. She ordered the pilot to get the Hell back to Eva's Vortex before one of the people remaining inside managed to get off a lucky shot. Standing on the ramp as the gunship whirled and accelerated away, she saw Shepard running towards her, pistol up and firing. Several rounds pinged off the gunship's shields, the final two shots whizzing past her ears and hitting the inside of the cargo area after the shields had apparently succumbed to weapons fire.

In a final act of insolence, Maya raised a hand in farewell, then turned and entered the A-61 as the ramp came up. She had the program! She had succeeded, against a force more than twice the size of her own, and kept the Alliance and the Asari from getting the program that had been hidden away in the Temple. For once, she was looking forward to reporting to the Illusive Man.


"Fuck!" Shepard yelled in vain at the retreating gunship, her pistol worthless against its armor, but she fired until the heat sink couldn't handle any more. She dropped her arm in defeat and slowly turned back into the Temple. "Oh, Gods." Before her were the results of their failed effort. Three of the commandos had died as soon as the fight had begun, their riddled bodies littering the entry in still growing pools of thickening blue blood, but one was missing. It gave Shepard a small bit of hope as she queried anxiously, "Vura? Where are you?"

A waving blue hand caught her attention from behind a side support column and Shepard ran over to hastily kneel at her side. What the commander saw provided her with a small glimmer of relief. The commando had propped herself up against the column and had a med kit open on her lap. "I'll make it, Shepard. Took a shot to my shoulder. It actually spun me to the ground and saved my life. Everything else went over my head and gave me time to slide into cover." She grunted in pain as she pushed herself more upright. "Go. Tend those who need it."

After checking for herself that Vura would truly be okay, Shepard moved quickly toward the front to return to Liara's side. "Sound off! Garrus? You have everyone? Anyone seen Riana?"

"Missing Campbell..."

Garrus didn't finish before Sarah shouted out. "Here! Riana's hurt really bad and she was bleeding like crazy. I'm trying my damnedest to keep her alive! I could use some help!"

Shepard sprinted toward the voice, along with Tali, and found the duo tucked in between two rows of seats. Sarah filled them in as she continued to keep pressure on Riana's thigh. "She dove across in front of Liara as that Centurion took his shot. The first round hit her in the shoulder and ripped her barriers down, leaving a Hell of a bruise and spinning her sideways. The second shot was much worse. Without her barriers, that damned Carnifex ripped right through her armor... bastard had armor piercing rounds... It smashed her hip and ricocheted into her thigh. Nothing Doc Chakwas can't fix, assuming we can keep her from bleeding to death. I'm also worried about her head. Not sure if it was from hitting the floor or if she hit the seats as she fell in here, but she's got a big gash on the left side behind her temple."

Shepard stood up and got on comms. "Normandy. Lock on my coordinates. We require an emergency extraction. Non-mobile injured so we cannot meet you... repeat... cannot meet you! Cortez will have to come in hot to the upper Temple entrance. We'll be ready."

She looked around at her ragtag group; they had grown to a total of fifteen. Now, three were dead, two were seriously wounded, one of which was critical, and the extent of Liara's injuries was hard to determine... with her unfocused eyes, Shepard knew there was some type of head injury, but couldn't tell how bad it was. The remaining eight had only minor injuries, but Steve still had to somehow manage to get to them and evac them safely to the Normandy. Shepard sighed. "Come on. We need to be near the entrance when the shuttle gets here. He can't loiter or we'll all end up dead."


Responsible for monitoring the progress of the ground team, Traynor had forwarded the list of injured to the Med Bay. Her heart was in her throat at the report of Riana's injuries; the Asari had been shot... twice... and severely wounded in the right hip and thigh – she'd lost a good deal of blood and was being cared for by Sarah Campbell. She had also sustained a punishing bruise on her left shoulder (she was left-handed, damn it!) and a head wound of unknown severity.

Traynor had to literally grab onto the edges of her console in the CIC to keep from running full-tilt to the Med Bay to see Riana as she was brought back to the Normandy. She was always aware, (in the back of her mind, at least) that any one of the ground team could be seriously injured, even grievously injured during combat with enemy forces, whether Cerberus or Reapers. This was truly brought home to her only recently... when Bethany Westmoreland was killed.

Traynor had to keep wiping her eyes in order to maintain her focus on the screens in front of her; her heart was beating so fast it felt as if it would burst from her chest any second, but she managed to suck it up and continue doing her job, as much as she wanted to be in the Hangar Bay when the shuttle arrived with the wounded.

Having monitored the firefight over the comms, Traynor could only hope the report she'd heard was exaggerated. Who are you kidding, Sammi? If anything, they had held off on fully describing her wounds to keep people from panicking. In the weeks and months since her arrival on the Normandy, Riana had become the love of her life; to think for even an instant this war would… dare… that Cerberus would dare… to take that away from her… impossible! I will not let that happen! Focus! Get your reports completed, processed and archived so you can go see her!

Traynor redoubled her efforts to accurately record everything that had happened on Thessia, including the Cerberus attack on the Temple. How is it that the Illusive Man has the information we need almost before we do? It's almost as if… no, not a chance. Between Edi, Miranda and Mordin, plus Shepard's six-month incarceration where the Alliance overhauled the ship… no, they've just been incredibly lucky! Focus, damn it! It took a massive amount of concentration, but she was finally able to finish all the files and get them sent to Admiral Hackett's office, with backup copies filed on the Normandy's server and a datapad copy for the Commander's review.

Traynor decided to go to the mess area for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. If Dr Chakwas happened to leave the Med Bay while she was eating, so much the better – it would give her an opportunity to ask how Riana was doing.