The Causality Effect

by Unsated Explorateur

A "meager excuse for a human" is given the chance by a higher power to start again in a realm only thought fiction, and potentially change the outcome of an eons old war spanning the galaxy. (PC - fishbone76)

17. Therum

Sunflowers all around me. For miles. Funny, I disliked sunflowers.

I began walking, pushing the delicate petals out of my way, moments later reaching a clearing that gave me a view to the edge of the expansive field, the horizon bordered with a futuristic city. Vancouver, was the notion that sprung to mind.

Rustling came from behind me, making me turn away from the vista to find a little girl with strawberry blonde hair and overalls had appeared from the thicket of flowers, large blue eyes taking me in curiously. In her hand was a model Alliance fighter that she seemed to be nervously fiddling with. I almost said something to assure her that I meant no harm, but then she extended her hand with the fighter towards me, smiling to show off her prize toy.

I began to walk over to take the offer of friendship, when she flinched, eyes darting upwards. I followed her gaze, and was immediately horrified. Reaper capital ships were descending, immediately setting the city to cinders as I could only watch, realizing all I'd done to prevent this was for not…but I would do one last good deed. I turned towards the girl, to urge her to follow me away from the destruction, but found in her stead was my adult sister, I realizing they'd been one in the same. Decked in her N7 gear, I believed anything was possible in the moment.

More sound came from behind me this time, and an asari banshee suddenly appeared out of the stalks of vibrant sunflowers, contrasting the bright colors with dead-grey tone, the same shade the sky was rapidly becoming with the advent of the Reapers. The thrall was as gruesome and terrifying in nature just as in the games, but now right in front of me. I looked back to my sister, but found her being inexplicably overwhelmed by newly created human husks from the invasion of Earth.

My vision darted helplessly back to the banshee, which was creeping ever closer, knowing I was its. I mustered a defense, biotics swelling as I then expelled as much power as I could muster in and of myself, but all of it was for naught as it all glanced off the creature of nightmare's far superior biotic barrier. I kicked and thrashed as a spindly hand grasped me, lifting me high as the thing grinned, and then spoke.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THAT HOLDS ANY WEIGHT AGAINST US? THE HARVEST IS UNSTOPPABLE, IN THIS MEAGER AGE, AND ALL TO COME. FACE YOUR COMING DESTRUCTION, KNOWING THIS WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO BE THE CURE FOR YOUR TURMOIL, AND THAT WE ARE INFINITELY YOUR GREATER.

The banshee opened its mouth impossibly wide, showing rows upon rows of sharp teeth, intent on gnashing my body to fodder to fuel the Reaper war machine, and I resigned myself to the inevitable fate I knew was always coming. They were the apex of all life, after all.

A rumbling suddenly caught my attention, making me open my eyes to see the Reaper construct looked equally surprised at the interruption. At the edge of the horizon, a curtain of what had to be pure light, much more intense than I'd ever witnessed, was enveloping all, much like was expected from the Crucible, but as it reached the city, the remaining constructs stayed intact as it swept over the attacking gods of war, the Reapers in all their self-proclaimed glory vanishing in the all-consuming onslaught of light.

The banshee holding me screamed in defiance as it came ever closer, and I even felt fear as I anticipated that I would be vaporized as well. It passed into us, I hearing the rushing of wind as it did so, and I watched as the amalgamation holding me captive start to crack, white light showing across its withered body, splintering it from the inside, pieces becoming separated as the power exploded from within, blasting me away as its hand lost the grip on me, and I closed my eyes, anticipating my dissipation.

White light continue to reign through my eyelids as I curled instinctively, but nothing came – and in fact the wind had died down steadily, and I hesitantly decided to open my eyes. The sensation of soft grass accompanied the action, and I found myself staring out once again across that grassy knoll from all those months ago in the Henderson's apartment. Wait, how did I know that? Maybe it was the familiar, sudden flood of peace I had here that was the trigger, and the voice that spoke next.

"Nothing is impossible, Derek."

---

A comfortable haze surrounded me waking, as it felt like I was gradually being lifted out of what I knew now was a dream, and my senses returned. I was in a bunk on the Normandy, the day of the Therum mission.

Glancing at my omni-watch, I blinked in surprise at the fact I'd woken almost exactly thirty minutes before my alarm. Seeing that I was a deep sleeper, and the fact that I'd put my body through all that Garrus and Ashley could mesh in in our two-day journey from Arcturus, made it all the more remarkable. What's more, I felt refreshed, which was a rare occasion, and cause for celebration - even if you didn't account for all that had transpired.

Which set me to wondering what had been so special about the unconscious "adventure" I'd just had. It sparked to my mind that the sunflower field was straight out of one of the premieres for ME3 – and so was the girl that had morphed into my sister. The Reaper attack was also part of the vid, though the attack of the banshee, and my sister appearing seemed my brain's contribution to the setup.

What still befuddled me was how it had ended almost exactly like that vivid dream I'd had what felt like forever ago in the company of Helen and Oriana, nothing changing with the end "scene", the inexplicable side effects being the refreshed state I'd found myself in, and wondering why what had to be the personification of the dream, the voice, didn't come out more often. Despite the dismal beginning of the lucid experience, it had turned out optimistically, unlike most of my nightly escapes into unconsciousness. I could use more of that illusive help, especially seeing my circumstances now.

My circumstances.

My thoughts came back down to the Normandy, and today's monumental mission. This was it. Therum, and Liara were just ahead, and I was equally excited and terrified. Despite not being included in the ground mission, which I had more and more agreed with, I'd come to acknowledge there were real-world, unknown variables that could appear out of nowhere and screw everything up.

Like the fact that the heat-sinks containing the thermal energy expended by the Normandy's intense processes could fail, exposing us to the geth - and even Sovereign, if he decided to make an appearance. This would end our upstart rebellion against the Reaper "natural order" of things as quick as you could say, "Blasto!" in an onomatopoeia fashion. But, I'd have to leave those extra elements in the capable hands of the Normandy's crew, even as I felt the urge to micromanage everything. Right now, I needed to get myself in order.

Oddly, in a flash, this thought brought up something I'd yet to address – the life I'd left behind on the Citadel. With all that had happened yesterday, combined with my intentional putting off of dealing with the messages sent to me, I was at square one, the videos from Helen, Oriana, and Maw Squad still remained in my inbox, untouched. I realized with a pang of anxiety that this was potentially the last time that I would be able to communicate with those three different senders – so I needed to make it good, no matter how bad I worried about the outcome.

And so, seeing I had about twenty minutes left, and taking a deep breath, I clicked on the least worrying of the messages, the one from Maw Squad.

For some reason, shaky cams were still a thing in this present age, and that fact wasn't helped by the epileptic movement of the user. Snickering accompanied the movements, as I heard a familiar asari voice mutter some oaths in her native Thessian at the snickers, including a low, "behave". Finally, the cam focused on said asari, Teirla C'Den, doing her best to maintain a straight face.

"Masterson, you finally opened our message! I said it like that because I know how it works on those secret-like missions that you, uh, found yourself on. Makes me wonder if you were playing dumb the whole time, and were like a disgraced Alliance spec ops soldier, But! That's beside the point. I, we, wanted to let ya know – ugh!"

The asari squad leader was rudely shoved aside as the mock angry frown of Larcks Belort butted in grabbing the camera and saying, "-we're moving on just fine without you human!" The salarian squealed as he was pushed aside and Teirla gained control again, sighing.

"As I was SAYING, we wanted to let ya know we're….proud of you. Guess what! They gave us all a commendation, with all that happened at Galaxia."

The camera shook for a second as it was adjusted, the lens focusing a little, multi-colored ribbon.

"This is yours. 'Gallantry above and beyond with so few resources', blah blah blah. I think the Executor was just happy that you weren't actually there to receive it. Anyway, we'll hold on to it just in case you want to pin it on of those weird looking Alliance uniforms. Oh! Your Spectre friend has really opened the door for recruitment of humans. I think Pallin is realizing he can't hold off the avalanche of applications coming in to both regular C-Sec and the SRD. We think we're getting another human biotic trainee with us in the next couple of weeks, so we have a replacement for you, kinda."

My former squad leader kind of shrugged at that, sounding near-apologetic, for some reason. I took it in stride – not like I was hurt that I was being replaced. I was where I needed to be.

To be completely transparent though, I would've liked to spend more time with them – training, learning from the "casual" veterans who had put me at ease, except for Killek of course, and whose company I'd even enjoyed outside of "work". Maybe my mindset as a professional operative would've been more solid if we'd had more time together. No telling now, so I looked back at the screen, Teirla's amber eyes looking offscreen for a second, then back as they brightened.

"Oh, Myr actually has a few words for you. Go figure. Here she is."

The calm and composed drell herself appeared onscreen, blinking as a small smile came across her stoic features.

"Derek. I hope your present company has been…enlightening, and fulfilling. We heard about what occurred on Arcturus, and that the Normandy was present. Since nothing we have heard has indicated an obituary, we assume you are in good health."

I had to give a small laugh at this statement – towards the way she said it in an unblinking, flat fashion, if nothing else.

"We've missed your presence here, and so have only one request. That you take the coalescence of what you experienced with us, and not let it ever go to waste. I…myself, I mean, have continued to pray for you. I believe that the Three That Are One would want me to continue to encourage you that you are on the right path, and not to doubt yourself. I, myself, have no doubts. You are hesitant, but determined to improve, as I could see in our spars. Don't lose that kiihara, as my people would say. It is a great asset, with even greater meaning. You will continue to discover it, I believe."

A muttering from who I guessed to be Teirla came from off-screen, making Myrna grunt and nod towards her.

"We're being summoned. Let us know your progress when you are able. I, C'den, and the Lystheni believe in you. Saloros out."

The female drell gave one last smile before officially terminating the call, leaving me to mull it all over. Despite it being more or less a, "Hey, what's up?" call, it was able to charm me as I mulled it over.

I shook my head at the fact that we'd received a little nod for our actions on Galaxia, approved by the Executor, no less. Maybe people change, even if they don't want to - the rigid, most likely traditionalist turian no less.

A secondary thought came to my mind about Myrna keeping me in her prayers. It didn't surprise me the native of Rakhana, not Kahje, seemed to be decently religious, as Thane had been, even though he'd served his hanar masters, but both kept vestiges of their ancient culture.

What seemed slightly different though was her wording. Thane had never mentioned the Three Who Are One, unless these were meant to be Kalahira, and two other deities I didn't recall the names of. My drell spar master had mentioned the aforementioned god in her blessing towards Oriana I recalled, but that's all I knew of the matter. Plus, we didn't have the extranet at the moment I realized since we were still in-transit, so I couldn't follow up on my curiosity. For another time. I had more…. pressing issues.

With a deep breath, I clicked on the next video, the one from the elder of my self-proclaimed adoptive family, Helen. The video blinked to life, showing a low-lit hospital room, and my heart instantly sunk when I saw a bed with a familiar, raven-haired girl with a bob cut resting there, face obviously bruised and battered, before the camera panned onto her adoptive mother I knew all too well, her mouth set in a crease as her eyes looked intently into mine.

"Hello Derek. I assume you'll get this at some point or another, as you're apparently off with our first Spectre – according to Ori. Yes, she is fine, and gave me a summary, of what she remembers at least, of what happened. I also received an official statement from C-Sec as well….and then there was the note you left. All of it together…" she trailed off as she sighed, a cross between what sounded like disappointment, and a simple tiredness.

"Just the amount of things you've been involved in makes me wonder if there is something more to you you didn't tell me. I watched the broadcast of the Minister greeting Commander Shepard, and actually saw you, which means you didn't fabricate that detail, but….I do not know. Maybe I'm just shocked by the level of things you're involved in. But, to clear things up…I don't blame you for what happened to Ori. Knowing you, you were probably fretting over that. But…she did get around to telling me some other activities that you two found yourself doing that night."

A knowing grin appeared on her face at this, and I found my cheeks involuntarily heating up, as if this was some sort of FaceTime, and not just a recording.

"For the record, I've noticed the looks you both have been given each other for a good amount of time now, and I definitely realized what it was that day I came in and you both were very flustered. Call it 'been there, done that'. And…if you come back and decide to go further with my daughter, I won't be opposed to it. I'll leave the rest to between you two. I believe I can trust you to be respectful of her and her space at all times, hmm?"

She gave me a serious look at this, but only briefly before returning to the generous smile I knew her for so well.

"You know we believe in you. Stay strong for us, 'kay? I have a feeling that Spectre and you will shake things up for good. I'll talk to you later, Derek."

She smiled one last time in departure, then the video cut off. I breathed a palpable sigh of relief; one of the biggest fears of mine was those closest to me cutting me off for whatever my actions had produced negatively.

Maybe it would be more healthy to simply realize I wasn't irrationally at fault for everything around me that went wrong – Galaxia included. The fact remained that my decisions going forward, even the small, would be monumental, seeing I was caught up in very possibly the most important mission in the last 50,000 years.

With that being said, I had one more person to hear from, and while the last two videos had been relatively predictable in their composition, Oriana Lawson-Henderson was the wild card.

Did she feel like I'd abandoned her there, to go off galivanting in the galaxy? Did she have second thoughts about…"us", if there was even such a thing? I was tired of listening to my ruminations, so I clicked play as fast as I could.

The bruised visage of my hopeless-romantic romance appeared, making me gulp at her stunning features, despite her wounds, which actually only served to increase her appeal, somehow, with her newfound "tough" look. She grunted in what I assumed was pain as she adjusted the camera angle, settling it on her full-bodied face, signature bangs and bob-cut barely disturbed by what we'd gone through together.

"Hey…Derek….I barely have anything to do sitting here at the hospital, so I thought I'd talk to you," she began, but her expression became mildly frantic at this.

"NOT that you're the last thing I thought of….I just…."

She cut off as she looked away, as I could swear she said some sort of curse in a mutter, and looked to be composing herself.

"I'm stupid. Sorry. I've never really done this before. Long-distance…or otherwise. IF that's what you wanted to do. But…I hope you're okay. I watched some of what was going on at Arcturus. Mother told me she saw you with Spectre Shepard, and then it was like thirty minutes later we got pings about the attack. We didn't know…if you were okay until a couple of days later, when the all-clear was given. Everyone was going nuts…I'm glad we live on the Citadel, I don't think they'd try the same thing here…well, I mean, you got here by being smuggled, so…I don't know, maybe we aren't as safe as we all think. Like at Galaxia…"

She trailed off at this, looking troubled, as if realizing something ominous. If only she knew, I realized with a similar sense of dread.

I resolved that me and Hannah and crew were going to stop Saren before he even set foot on the Citadel with the heretic geth at his back. He couldn't be allowed to destroy even an ounce of all that was there, I wouldn't stand for it. All of my knowledge had to be worth something. He would be stopped at the Conduit, if not before. Then, we would find out, somehow, how to preserve the AI Virgil and tap into the rest of Ilos's knowledge if possible, knock the Council's collective heads together while we were at it with raw evidence, and then….

I shook myself as I'd got caught up in planning ahead, if it could be called that, and put my attention back on Ori.

"I'd really like it if we could talk about all that's happened between, uh, us, at least over text. I hate when people don't talk back to me and tell me how - what they're thinking. NOT that I think you're that way, I think it's the opposite, I just…if we were gonna get to know each-other…ugh, I hate this with everything in me. Derek Masterson, you better hurry back, shore leave or…something, otherwise I might have to cut you off out of sheer frustration, understood?" she said, combining somehow a mixture of her adoptive mother's natural gravitas, with her clone sister's unnegotiable expressions, unexpectedly making me flush as I found myself attracted to the sudden change in her demeanor, and her uttering my full name for the first time.

Her gaze softened as she blinked, seeming to understand how firm she'd just been, and a slight blush appeared across her freckled face.

"That…wasn't meant badly. I'm just….more used to being a – bookworm, is the word I think - I think we have that common. So…just…straight up tell me if this, whatever this is, is something you want to do. Okay. Stay safe…as safe as you can get as a soldier, I guess. I'll talk to you later, if you want, 'kay? By."

She gave a sort of sheepish smile, before the feed cut, leaving me just a bit shocked.

She wanted something.

Between her and me.

Safe to say I was just a bit speechless in the face of that revelation. I was twenty-two, and also safe to say was the fact that my brain felt like I'd ingested several grams of red sand with the amount of pure chemicals circulating in my system with the realization that, for the first recorded time in my life, I had a lasting chance with a girl.

Call me a nerd, reprobate, any other stereotype in the book, but I'd ignore you in this moment in favor of thinking about her.

It was intoxicating, and I only snapped out of it when I saw the time on my watch, determining that I only had time to send one message out of the three.

The Squad would be fine – Teirla had said herself that she understood how all this worked, and everything I could've said to Helen would've been redundant, so I decided to focus on Oriana. With limited time, I decided to go with a text reply, resolving later to send her a vid update, or even try to facetime with her – which still managed to give me nervous jitters thinking about.

Mulling over the crucial words, I finally came to a consensus, humorously as a side-note thinking of the entire Geth consensus being just slightly more befuddled than me if they tried to think on the concept of organic "love".

After typing out my response, then backpedaling, then more typing, five minutes later I came up with my final draft, looking it over for the final time.

Oriana,

It's so good to hear from you, even if you're still confined to your bed at the hospital because of what happened. I decided to be completely honest with you, because I really don't know any other way, haha. I…would love for something to happen between us, I'm just, well, confused how to go about it. Maybe we're not meant to know, or go by some set formula. Maybe if we admit we don't know what we're doing, that would make it easier. But, regardless, I want to know you better. I'm not sure when the Normandy will be back at the Citadel, what with us chasing down a fugitive and all, but know it's one of my immediate priorities to come see the two of you. Maybe, then, if you're up for it, we actually could go out on something resembling a "date"? I don't know if it's called that anymore, my parents were old-fashioned, as long as they were around, but I think I'm being clear. Anyway, in other news I'm sure you're dying to hear, Commander Shepard is amazing. She, along with another N-soldier, were key to us beating back the terrorists on Arcturus….and I got to see it all. I can't believe I'm here with her. It's a dream I'm living…and I couldn't have done without the two of you. I think about the alleyway a lot, and, as cheesy and unprovable as it is, if I was meant to be there. I couldn't believe no one else was paying attention to you when you were hurting and alone, so maybe…I don't know. I just know that despite it all, all the crap we've been through, I'm glad I met you. Okay, I have to get off, our first major operation is starting soon. Just remember, even if the worst happens, and I'm not able to see either of you again….know you were a star, a star that outshined my past, and helped me to be who I am now, for all that is worth. God willing, I'll see you soon. Love you both so much.

All my love,

Derek

I sat back with a resigned sigh, hitting the send button, being amused by the response that said I was 58th in the queue line on the Normandy for outgoing data packets. Wasn't surprising, especially since I guessed I wasn't the only one a little tense about the outcome of our first official mission, and wanted to say something at least before we all rushed kicking, screaming, and guns blazing into the relatively unknown.

This was gonna be interesting, to say the least, and my sweaty hands went along with that notion. In conjunction with that thought, and to only heighten my apprehensiveness, my omni-tool pinged harshly, something I cursed myself for not changing yet, and displayed a group message, looking to be contained to our ground team, reading:

Game time, everybody. Everyone report to med bay for a final checkover by the doc, then we'll go over the operation one more time. Ten minutes, everyone.

I jumped up at this, not wanting to disappoint my sister with even the little amount of responsibility she was giving me as Commander. I put on my fatigues, strapping on my combat boots, that automatically sized themselves comfortably to my feet, the vision of future ideas by the Back to the Future set of movies finally coming to fruition, and cracked my neck to relieve any more tight muscles and stressful endorphins built up that I could, and headed out.

I found the area outside the crew quarters a controlled frenzy, crewmen headed this way and that, all fast-walking somewhere with intentionality, though not actually running or even jogging, keeping that modicum of military urgency on-the-level. I even noticed surprisingly Chief Engineer Adams over near Kaidan's station with I surmised to be another engineer, a utility panel open on the wall as they seemed deep in discussion, and elbow grease, over the inner components. I smiled at that, relishing still in the fact that this was real-world dynamics, and interactions were happening everywhere that weren't part of a pre-determined script.

I absentmindedly started to wonder if I'd ever get used to this, all of it. Part of my brain wanted to tell me it was all just a fantasy trip, as I'd had problems with dissociative symptoms in the past, but my senses tended to disagree with this, as every sensory input was working as nominally as in my past dimension. Plus, it wasn't like I was actually fighting my insertion in what had to be one of the greatest dimensions out there….if you weren't counting the civilization ending AI's coming for us all. Yeah. I guess it was a subjective experience. It was my purpose though now, and I would give it my heart and soul. For what that was worth.

With this on my mind, I entered the med bay, finding it jammed pack with a hero fest all-in-one, the whole ground team, minus Hannah, being present, all standing there in seeming awkwardness as they waited for Doctor Chakwas and her two associates to check them over, the good doctor unblinkingly and unperturbed it seemed in the face of the nervous atmosphere, though her attendants seemed to be stealing furtive glances at the frowning aliens especially (if it could be called that with Garrus and Wrex).

"Hey bud. Excited to watch us throwdown?" came a chirpy voice to my side, and I realized it was Jenkins speaking as I turned away from the humorous, if not socially anxious scene in front of me.

The combat specialist was smiling warmly, though not grinning as I had pictured. I did marvel though at his ability to stay bright, even as we entered a hot combat zone potentially. Probably came with the territory.

"Uh, it would be great if there was no fighting at all," I replied, trying to strike a neutral stake.

"Mmm," Jenkins shrugged with arms crossed. "Always good to be ready for things to go FUBAR. I mean, that's why I do what I do, don't know about you."

Yeah. I'd already had a lot of those situations unintentionally, so you'd think I'd be used to them by now – even embracing it. That was a hard Nope. But, speaking of FUBAR incidents, Jenkins, against all efforts by my dimension's screenwriters, had survived in real life despite the surprising presence of the geth on his home planet that had turned the whole galaxy upside down.

"So, how would you rate Eden Prime then?" I asked, trying to sound humorous as I tried to learn more about this alt-universe occurrence.

"Oh…that was terrible. An 11/10. Seeing the place that you grew up literally burn to the ground…makes you angry. Almost got me KIA. See, we initially thought when we landed that the geth were just some locally-networked VI drones being controlled remotely – probably no match for us, except in swarms. Then, we saw the…spikes. With people strung up on 'em. Geth actively placing more on them. They were about to put more people on them, and I wasn't about to let them kill more innocents. The Commander told me not to engage, but at that time I wasn't directly under her command as an N soldier. I rushed in. It was an ambush. Geth know how to conceal themselves very well. It was so…weird to see them all turn on me at once…same fluid movement. If the LT, Commander, and then Williams, who'd been hiding away herself in a guerilla way, hadn't blazed that whole area, I wouldn't be here. Shepard railroaded me. And I deserved it."

Jenkins actually looked uncomfortable at this, but continued a moment later.

"But…then she told me of the times she'd screwed up. And that was the end of it. She's only three years older than me, but….there's a reason she's at the top of the N list. That's all I got to say. You'll see it in action. She's the worst Devil Dog for Saren to match up against. Yeah, you got the Butcher out there doing his thing, who might give that bird a run for his money, but he'd be dirty doing it – no better than that other piece of crap. Collateral damage, and so on. That's why Shepard was the final Spectre candidate, and not him. If we're gonna appear at least halfway not-insane to the galaxy, she's the one you want. But –,"

"Mr. Jenkins. Please, cease your banter for a moment so you can be cleared for your assignment," came the firm, distinctly motherly voice of Doctor Chakwas to finally give pause to the mostly one-sided talk between us.

Said soldier's eyebrows actually shot up as if his hand had been caught in a cookie jar, which made it all the more laughable, especially considering he was worthy enough to reach the N1 designation. I guess they weren't all rough and tumble "get some!" soldiers like Vega.

"Coming, Doc," he answered, recovering his composure, smiling, and making his way over as I turned towards the others gathered.

I was startled to see that our two resident quarians were using some sort of non-human scanning station off to the side, then vaguely remembered seeing the contraption being loaded into the Normandy before we left Arcturus as part of the Chief Minister's support package for our alien allies. Now I knew what it was for. There was a HUD as a broadband laser scanner went from top to bottom that showed the complete and complex anatomy and suit composition of our two brave quarians, Keenah at the moment being the one operating the controls, his fingers flitting across the haptic keyboard that had what had to be keelish symbols displayed across – not to mention it was in a hexagonal shape compared to the traditional rectangular QWERTYUIOP human configuration.

Taking this in, I wondered just where the Minister had managed to get such an intricate piece of work, and so fast. The Migrant Fleet, as far as I knew, was still a nomadic entity, despite its apparent partnership with the Systems Alliance, and I hadn't heard of any sort of embassy present on Arcturus Station.

Then again, there could've been one of those "safehouses" present on the considerably sized space station that quarians had established under the noses of the authorities, just like on the Citadel. It seemed like an ingenious move in the wake of all the species' of the galaxy suddenly turning on the Quarian Collective of Republican Worlds three-hundred years prior. Go to ground, and continue to support the millions of now refugees across the galaxy. A tall order was a drastic understatement.

But back to the two in front of me, I had an ironic thought that if something did go critically wrong during the mission, as in, the hull being punctured and all the crew being exposed to outer space, our two alien engineers would probably be the safest with their closed-off suits that had to be prepared for any sort of emergency.

The clinic door suddenly whooshed open, ushering in my commanding officer and half-sister, Hannah Grace Shepard. "Attention on deck!" Ashley Williams barked, the humans in the room, bar Doc Chakwas, snapping to attention, me heeding the call as well as I saw the starkly colored red hair of my now elder sibling before anything else of her features.

"At ease, the four of you," I heard Hannah say, humor reaching her voice as she singled out our species, as well as acknowledging those present that were not familiar with our military protocol. "Doc Chak, how's everyone checking out?" Hannah asked at an informal parade rest, turning to regard our resident physician.

"Physically optimal as far as my instruments can tell me. Give my regards to the Minister for procuring extensive biometrical scanners for our…extraterrestrial compatriots. The only member of your ground team who refused any sort of examination was Mr. Urdnot Wrex, saying he was like, ehem, hopefully I get this right, 'a healthy dothrakar ready to rut'."

Several of the attending members of the team snickered at this, not excluding one of Chakwas's corpsman, the krogan himself snorting with a close scowl, though his meaty lip turned upwards in betrayal to his façade.

"Well, who am I to go against the overwhelming wisdom of an eight-hundred year old battlemaster? Just don't complain about cramps later from trudging up loose lava hills, 'kay?" Hannah snarked with crossed arms as Wrex snorted again, making me think of that kind of stereotypical elder age person who turns up their nose derisively as if to say, "I don't need to explain myself to you young 'uns."

Hannah let the issue lie though as she glanced over the different faces present, a frown adorning her face - the "Commander" look as I'd come to find more familiarly.

"Alright team, to business. We're dropping out of FTL in ten, is what Lieutenant Moreau tells me. Within half a minute, the Ops alley will be able to get us more or less a full picture of what we're up against – if anything. We'll try to establish comms first with the digsite and the marine garrison down the road in Nova Yekaterinburg. Depending on the response, I'll be either be making a nice courteous Spectre visit to the Doctor T'Soni, or we'll be going in guns blazing. I want all combat suites up and loaded in twenty minutes – Therum's orbit is within range in twenty-five. Load phasic rounds just in case. Remember, this is a relatively unknown enemy – more than half our team has never gone up against geth platforms, myself included, in extended duration. Ms. Zorah, Mr. Briezh, and our battlemaster here are the only ones that have even skirted across the synthetics several times, and two of them will be staying onboard for the operation, so we need to keep it tight. Anybody have questions about their role in the upcoming operation? I think I've briefed each of you that aren't familiar with Alliance spec ops formations how we're gonna run this shindig."

A few people in the room seemed to frown at the idiom used, not just the aliens present, but I just smirked inwardly at my sister's early 21st century mannerisms coming out with her language.

This didn't abate the pit of anxiety welling up through my stomach and up into my throat that we were going into my first anticipated combat zone – and it had to be Therum. If Eden Prime, or Arcturus wasn't the Normandy's trial by fire, then this was without a doubt. Hannah was still talking with confidence in contrast to my thoughts, and I had to wonder where that gravitas had originated from. Even all the ground team members surrounding me were holding themselves in a self-assured manner, no noticeable sort of fear leaking from their composures that I could discern. Which wasn't much. Sigh. I still needed to get to that "sweet spot" of combative mentality that allowed to me shut out other unnecessary stimuli.

Garrus especially seemed to be adept (ironic, I know, considering my last job's title) at this, so I needed to spend more time learning from the future Archangel. Dang, that was such a cool name. He really deserved it. But, he only got it from being on Omega, after giving up on C-Sec and the Spectres once more after….Shepard died. I had to keep my heart from constricting on that one. The fact that our collective hero was also my sister didn't make things any easier on my mind – imagining her being spaced, and dying a slow, agonizing death from asphixyation….

"Alright! Let's gear up. See you in the cargo bay in ten. Masterson," Hannah said in Commander tones, getting my attention, "Pressly is already up in the Ops alley. Report to him. He'll link you into the data feed so you can be apart of Overwatch. Dismissed."

I blinked, barely remembering to salute like everyone, and barely catching the nod Grace gave me, our connection relaying her assurity to me. Everyone filed out, now silent, and grim looking, I guess the gravity of the upcoming engagement finally setting in.

I set a brisk pace for Deck A, not really looking forward to sharing the room with Pressly, who still seemed pretty leery of me, but still wanting to get this over and done with. Maybe game canon and logic wouldn't dictate how this would go, and we could enlist Liara's help, no dangerous strings attached.

But then I reviewed what I knew about Saren. He was a former Spectre, and knew when he had to silence certain parties. He did so with Anderson a couple decades before, preventing the man who most deserved the position other than my sister from getting it, simply because the god-forsaken turian was trying to cover his tracks. He didn't want any information getting out about him or his associates, meaning his second-in-command's daughter was either on the capture or kill list.

Yep, not going to happen, you piece of turian s'kak. Retribution was coming. Did I even want to try persuade him to stand down from his complicity in galactic genocide? Sovereign might've not even needed to indoctrinate him in the beginning, only appeal to his bloodlust and grudge against humanity-at-large, promising him the ability to cut us all down at will if he'd only comply with the galaxy-cure all philosophy of "salvation through submission".

Seriously, what were the Leviathans thinking when they created the stupid Star Child? A race that had conquered the entire galaxy didn't think to put protocols in place like, "oh hey, don't kill us, the people who created you, which would be the antithesis of your mission"? What kind of utterly twisted logic was propelling Harbinger, Sovereign, and the Reaper fleet at this very moment? Yes, in canon there was an explanation, but this was not canon. We'd already proved that. Besides, what was to say Starry-Eyed Child Monster hadn't lied to every sentient race before this cycle if they got so close to killing the Reapers for good, spouting out nonsense to divert them away from its true purpose? We wouldn't know until we reached the end of the rabbit hole, but I was determined to get us there ASAP Rocky.

But, I digress with my monologue, because I just saw the face of Charles Pressly, the man giving me a nigh-scowl, despite the conversation we had that I thought had cleared the air. Maybe he just didn't like babysitting. I couldn't blame him, this wasn't my ideal situation either.

If I had my way, I'd have been dropped in this universe with an Iron Man-like nanosuit warmachine, kaiju-destroying robot, Titanfall wiping-the-floor-with-you mech, or all the above - where I didn't have to put my physical body at risk, and so doing could jump right into battle and wail on some heretic flashlight geth, and zombified husks.

But, the eternal wisdom of the Man Upstairs begged to differ, so here I was, being watched like a hawk like I was an enemy of the state. Which, in all honesty, was technically kinda the truth. I was a both a Shadow Broker lackey and human Cerberus vessel for an advanced VI, maybe even AI watchdog, cutely named Penelope, that was, at this moment, most likely taking very detailed notes on all the goings-on of this advanced stealth vessel – all through my wide, unbelieving eyes.

Based on all I knew about the Navigator and XO of the Normandy, this was grounds for immediate expulsion out the airlock if we looked at his propensities. I had to remind myself though in the face of that absolutely terrifying reality that unless the Cerberus construct decided to start controlling my body (despite its firm answer to the contrary) and go completely Terminator on everyone on the bridge, I'd be peachy. More or less.

"Masterson. Good timing. Here's your comm earbuds. Link them up with your omni-tool. Follow me," Pressly uttered flat and official as he handed off two squishy in texture small white balls the size of a pea, I staring at them for a moment there, befuddled at the fact that it had one button on one side and an opening I guess for the speaker, but no actual mold.

But, hesitant to even ask questions to the stoic Navy man that was already leaving me behind, I put them in my awaiting ears, and pressed the buttons on each, and almost with immediate impulsiveness jumped as I felt them move, and increase in size, until they felt completely form-fitting and I heard a ping coming my omni-tool, requesting to pair.

I wonder if this will allow me to drown out whatever propagandic nonsense Penelope has for me today, I mused absently as I confirmed the request, and caught up with the fast strides of the Normandy's Navigator, catching the sliding doors to the conference room before they closed.

"VI, open Overwatch combat overlook," the XO commanded in deep baritone, not even a second going by before a 360 full-color holographic display sprung to life around us, encompassing the whole room.

I found myself slowly rotating my body to drink in the different panels of information, live readouts of drive-core output displayed on one side, a 3D celestial map with the Normandy's position on the solar plane displayed on another, a countdown timer also showing us in T-minus fashion how fast Therum was approaching - only five minutes to go.

Weapon loadout was also indicated in green to another side, I catching the familiar word "GARDIAN" attached to the layout, along with a few other keywords and titles. Finally, I noticed the helmet cams of the ground team members on the final panel, the video feeds all shaking as each of the squad of 6 went through final checks of their combat hardsuits, each of their HUDs slightly different, I noticing especially as Garrus and Wrex snapped on their respective helmets the symbols on their displays briefly appearing in their respective native languages before our displays translated them into English.

But the chief thought popping into my mind was one of the most predominant questions many players like me had had after playing the beginning of the saga in reference to this panel, and I had to voice it.

"Sir, I have a question about the Eden Prime mission," I said speaking up as I took my eyes from the cams to Pressly. The man in question turned around from what he was perusing, and gave me a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Speak freely cadet," he responded, still sounding flat, though it sounded like there was curious tone somewhere in there.

"Was Spectre Nihlus's helmet footage recovered? Or…any sort of recording around where Saren decided to land? I would figure this show that he was guilty in everything that happened," I said, scratching my head habitually as Pressly stared at me.

There was silence for a second as he continued to examine me for God knows why, before his eyes briefly went to the ground team panel, as if he'd connected the dots as to why I'd ask such a random question – and then back to me.

"No. For one, maybe two reasons we haven't been able to confirm. One, is that Saren was able to access his former comrade's files after-the-fact and deleted any sort of evidence, or did it on-site before the Commander arrived. Two, and this has been corroborated by our quarian – allies, that the geth have a data wipe ability that they've used in past engagements. Apparently, back in the day, the Rannochians installed a spyware protocol that helped keep state secrets, into the geth – so that their proprietary software couldn't be stolen. Now it's coming back to bite us all collectively where it hurts."

The Navigator gave a grimace at this, no doubt cursing the quarians in his head. He went on.

"The geth, the Commander hypothesizes, have used it to create a new form of jamming, which selectively shuts down electronics, like on Eden Prime. All the cameras you see have been hardened against such measures as a result. The Commander and Chief Minister had a look into it after Arcturus. The hardening tech is classified though," Pressly stated, still giving me that look, like I wasn't already standing on a stealth vessel of classified nature with classified elements and parts.

But looking back at the camera panel, I realized there was so much I didn't know about Hannah in this dimension. Seeing she was just entering adolescence back home, I hadn't gotten a good glimpse into her intellect, which was increasingly on display here. Apparently, she'd been apart of the freakin' Normandy's construction, or at least the very diplomatic procurement of different methods to go about constructing it – and she was savvy enough to guess that the geth would have a few tricks up their sleeve electronic warfare-wise, and wise-up to seek out countermeasures. I'd initially pegged her as a Vanguard simply based off her combat style, but could she be an Engineer, too? I mean, there were no class limits here, so it was completely possible.

"Exiting out of FTL in thirty seconds, sir," came Joker's voice, no BS as usual, cutting off my inner dialogue. Pressly's eyes immediately became hardened, and he touched his ear.

"All hands, prepare battle stations. Set readiness status to Delta One. Ready payloads for engagement," the XO said firmly, and a couple of seconds later the ambient lights dimmed considerably, making me look around, and to Pressly, who saw my expression and simply said,

"Unnecessary systems are reduced to help with combat."

I nodded, my curiosity sated, both of us waiting in silence as we both anticipated the moment we'd all been waiting for. As the T-minus timer hit zero, the ship around me seemed to brake rapidly, giving me that feeling in your stomach like it had turned upside down, while the movement carried my body with it slightly, and my footing stuttered before I caught myself on one of the conference room's seats, finding Pressly hadn't moved a single inch in contrast, as he came out of parade rest and narrowed his eyes at the wide HUD in front of us.

"Sir! Indicative ship debris in geostationary orbit! LADAR is scanning now to determine ship class!" came a crewman's voice a second later over the comms, causing my stomach to sink even more.

"Adams, I need stealth operating now, possible enemies in range! Communications, I need an uplink yesterday with the SSV São Paulo if they're still there, and one with the ground garrison. Give me something, anything. Ping civilian channels, if need be. Let's keep this by the books people," Pressly barked over the comms, before clicking his comms again.

"Commander, we have possible enemy contact. I'd suggest preparing for a hot drop insertion."

"Understood, Pressly. Everyone to the Mako!" Hannah responded coolly, no hint of nervousness present that I could catch, I seeing all the combat team's cameras jostling slightly as they began moving.

And so, it began. There was a few trepidatious seconds before the same crewman's voice came across, a little more on edge this time.

"Sir, scans indicate debris is of the SSV Welles. Simulations are running to determine type of armament used to bring about its destruction."

"Keep it up, Bordeaux. Moreau, get us to LEO on the double – we'll stretch the systems a bit for this one. Firing Alley, prime the Achilles missiles. I want us to shove them down the throats of who I think this is," Pressly said with a bit of venom that was unexpected, and I heard a chorus of affirmatives ring across the channel.

In the tense seconds that followed I felt somewhat helpless to help in any facet as this was happening. This definitely wasn't canon – or at least wasn't shown as part of the Therum mission before the Mako dropped onto those basalt plains. All I could do was watch.

"Sir! Battlecruiser class vessel, along with four frigates detected in LEO. Quarian, along with turian fleet data suggests they're geth," a voice came across urgently, causing Pressly to whip around to consult the HUD panel with the globe of Therum, several bogies appearing in front of the Normandy's icon.

"Have they noticed us at all?" he asked cautiously, eyes flitting across the readouts, as if not quite sure if the Normandy truly had the ability to avoide detection from an AI race.

There was a pause on the other end of the comm before, "I don't believe so, sir. Past engagements indicate a very quick response, and retaliation time from the bogies. If we were identified, their armament would already be glancing off our hull."

I saw the XO's head nod, and he made an affirming grunting noise.

"Very well. If data is to be believed as well, much of their computing power is locally stored on those ships. If we can go in, blow them to kingdom come, that'll leave any of their ground troops more or less chump change for the Commander to mop up. I want our missiles to be air-jettisoned, before being fired up and cluster-bombing their defenses. Lieutenant Moreau, I know what you want to do. You have my permission to proceed. Don't kill us. All hands – secure harnesses!" Pressly barked, though I don't know why he had to increase his pitch when we had obviously sensitive comms indicated by how I flinched.

The Navigator then strode over to the nearest chair to the HUD's as I observed, clueless to how I should mimic him, and watched as he pressed something on the underside of one of the armrests as he sat down, two slots opening up on each side of the chair's form, he pulling down the straps to buckle on each side of him in unconspicious slots I hadn't seen before. He then looked up, and found my eyes.

"Well, you can either be sent to the med bay with a concussion at the end of this, or find a seat," he said gruffly, gesturing with eyebrows raised. I quickly moved to assent, heart starting to beat quicker as I realized where this was heading.

"Beginning high velocity insertion in ten seconds," Joker's voice came over the comm with a hint of…was that excitement? How in the world did this guy see this as fun? Yeah, playing the video game you laugh and it's all in good humor as a more or less outside spectator, but when your life is on the line, and in the hands of a maverick pilot that had the adrenaline rush of a vorcha? I was starting to feel sweat bead on my head.

Strapped firmly in, I prayed genuinely to God that this wasn't the end of my journey – that he didn't freakin' resurrect me, or whatever it was, just for me to die at the hands of a maniacal Seth Green.

That's when the deck below me began to tilt. I was later informed that the inertial dampeners on the Normandy mostly compensated for directional changes, pitch and yaw, but it was called high velocity maneuvers for a reason. And my stomach started to register that fact only a couple of milliseconds after my eyes.

"Achilles away, 1 and 2!" came the strained shoutout as we began to dip, then abruptly we rose, starting to tilt dramatically as I heard another TacOps ensign declare, "Impact in 3, 2, 1….." There was a dramatic pause as I guess data was still incoming as I clenched my fist, and surprisingly as I looked over, Pressly held the same posture as he glared at the HUD.

I began to doubt that we had achieved anything, until the same voice came over the comm, starting out slow and measured before shouting, "Good effect…I repeat, GOOD EFFECT!"

The comm channel exploded in a cacophony of irregular shouts and cheers as the Normandy righted itself and I had to turn down the volume of earbuds as everyone estatically celebrated our first hunter-killer score, and I had to smile despite myself.

"Normandy 1, Geth flashlights, 0!" came Joker's voice with a whoop, and I let a full grin reach my face as my eyes strayed to Pressly, the only other person in the room, finding even he was sporting a smirk, but it quickly vanished into a determined scowl.

"Alright everyone, cut the chatter. That was the just the cruiser. We need to address-,"

The ship suddenly shook all around me – more like vibrating strongly, but I didn't like it at all. The response was immediate.

"TacOps, what in God's name was that?" Pressly said urgently, finally looking just a bit apprehensive.

"Sir, the geth are firing wildly with their – I believe it's GARDIAN batteries. There's no method to it, they're just scatter-shotting!" Pressly's eyes looked confused for a second, but then they cleared. "They're trying to ping us. They know about our stealth. Joker –,"

"Sir! Incoming missiles! Six inbound! Belay that…. they're already detonating…" whoever that technician was trailed off as we all listened on suspense, wondering where the heck this was going.

A couple of seconds later, Pressly barked, "Report!"

The response was slower than before. "Sir….the clutter of debris left behind from the detonation is roughly in the shape of a sphere around the remaining geth frigates….I think….Firing Alley is confirming to me they can't lock on from our current degree of inclination!"

Pressly looked to be mulling over the most recent report, and his eyes dawned with knowing a minute later.

"It's inexpensive shielding. They can't quite get our location, so they're going on the defensive…. Ejiofor, what is the composition of the debris, and can we cut through it?"

"Titanium alloy balls LADAR confirms….and, yes sir, we could, but that would exhaust the rest of our armament that can be air-deployed, leaving the GARDIAN array to do the rest, and that would most certainly expose us. We-,"

Suddenly, a loud pinging noise came from the HUD, mine and Pressly's eyes collectively darting to it, as the large text read, Incoming Systems Alliance Encrypted Message, SSV São Paulo.

"God be good, they're still alive! Onscreen!" Pressly shouted, an establishing connection…. appearing, before a dark atmosphere appeared widescreen, sparks making me flinch as they flitted in the background, and a shouting man's voice could be heard before said man, a darker complected human male appeared, white beard showing his age, though his determined eyes offset that.

"Normandy, never thought we'd ever be in the same sector, much less see you coming. I didn't even think to ping the Alliance bandwith until one of my technicians saw that battlecruiser explode so easily. Very indicative of Achilles loadouts. But, time is running out, who am I speaking to, Commander Shepard?" the man asked, squinting at the screen.

"Negative, this is temp Executive Officer and Navigator Charles Pressly. Commander Shepard is readying for an orbital drop after we figure what to do with your geth problem. I believe I'm speaking with Captain Morelo, sir?" Pressly replied, the official tone never leaving as he entered parade rest, the opposing Alliance-clad captain grunting and nodding.

"That's right. CO of the half-debilitated São Paulo because of that 'geth problem', and head of Battlegroup Therum. We'd barely registered that they'd come out light-speed before they immediately released what had to be everything they had. Battlegroup movements are classified and heavily encrypted, so I have no clue how they were able to lock on so easy. Either hacked us without our techs realizing at all, or they had inside info. But, that'll have to be resolved later, I'm rambling. I can't contact any of my frigates, and after the first salvo against the enemy, I pieced it together pretty fast that we needed to go dark, or risk being completely vaporized…they managed to knock out half of our electronics with some sort of crazy EMP bomb before we could retreat to the dark side of the moon, which is where we are presently, most systems powered down to avoid their sensors. Atmo is barely holding, my engineers were able to jury-rig some systems for it to hold till help came…which seems to be you. What's keeping you from blowing the rest of those gearboxes to hell?"

Pressly let out a breath of air, making a measured response.

"They've deployed a frankly ingenius 'defensive net' made out of debris to keep us from locking on with our heavier armament, sir. It's a stalemate at the moment, unless reinforcements come soon. I don't know how much we're risking speaking with you sir, much less sending a communiqué over tightbeam to let the rest of the fleet know, which would take too long anyway, as you know, for them to reach us. My firing alley is working on solutions."

"I can hear the doubt in your voice, Navigator Pressly. I understand that. These synthetics have the processing power of a fleet in just the – what, four frigates of theirs? And they know what they're up against, but not likewise. I know your vessel is built more for reconnaissance and less actual warfare, so I'm pretty sure without knowing classified information that you probably only have, ehmm, two or three more of those Achilles missiles? I haven't had any contact with the ground since the regular update we have between us that was before they arrived, and they don't have any GTA batteries anyway, so that's no use. What I can offer you, is a distraction. Before – you interject," Captain Morelo said with an uplifted hand at Pressly's almost distraught look, "we're of no use otherwise. We can give them a target so that they're drawn out of that 'defensive net' – at least some of them. I think you know the stakes better than I. The Normandy, the pride and joy of our fleets-," I noted the slight hint of sarcasm in his voice, "-and geth appearing in the same system, very little time apart? Something's up that I'll leave to scuttlebutt, and just do my duty. I also have heard of your supposed pilot, who took your very same vessel for a 'test run'?"

The look on Pressly's face was priceless, and to make it better Morelo chuckled in response.

"Mhmm, thought that was him. Jeff Moreau is a sort of celebrity for that stunt. But, in all reality, it proves to me if we go forward with this plan, he has the cajones and skill to pull it off. Confer with your crew, see if this is a viable P.O.A. Send us a text titled, 'GO' or 'NO GO', and we will defer to you. Pressly, Normandy, let's carry the day." Morelo saluted, Pressly stiffening and doing the same, and then the feed cut. Pressly sighed once more, before looking straight up at the intercom.

"Lieutenant Moreau, I'm assuming you heard that," he spoke flatly, the smarmy human replying, "Loud and clear, sir."

Pressly shook his head before speaking again, "TacOps, I want your verdict."

"Tertridge here, sir," came the reply a couple of seconds later, and my heart lifted to hear the familiar English voice. "We've been crunching numbers, and the sims during your conversation, and it's doable, if the geth push out of the envelope, and we have around a minute to close the distance. We are going to be slightly exposed no matter what, with only two Achilles left. We're going to have to use our GARDIAN array at close quarters to down the remaining frigate or two. Joke-I mean, Lieutenant Moreau says he can get us close enough where they will be unable to fire whatever heavy duty armament they have – which we suspect are low-grade antimatter missiles."

Pressly perked up at that and looked startled. "Did I hear that right TacOps? They're using antimatter in all their torpedoes?"

"Uh…cannot confirm or deny that, sir. But that's what most likely took apart the SSV Welles, according to the sims. A very…clean detonation, so to speak, sir, and very efficient. It wouldn't take but one of those to completely rip our shields and hull to less than dust in close quarters."

"I figured that, thank you TacOps," Pressly returned with a slight sense of sarcasm, causing the channel to fall silent as the Navigator put a fist against his chin, and was mulling it over.

"Commander, come in," he said after a moment, I hearing over the bandwidth, "Go ahead, Pressly." After a moment, he spoke slowly.

"We have limited options, ma'am. The SSV São Paulo is still operational, but barely. No contact from the ground, or the other frigates apart of the battlegroup. The geth have deployed a sort of defensive shield so we can't lock onto them. TacOps says we can risk it with the São Paulo's help as a distraction to lure the geth out as we duck in through the envelope, but I'm not entirely sold. There's too much room for the unknown. In addition, I am only a Navigator, not a Battle Operations Commander, which I highly recommend we look into once this cluster is over - but I do not have the experience to give us several different strategems. It's a 4:1 game, ma'am, what are your orders?"

I leaned in, or out I guess of my seat, kinda unintentionally, but from anticipation, as I realized this was the do or die moment, all hanging over Shepard's – I mean, my sister's head. And that kinda terrified me. Static noise pervaded, for a couple of seconds, as it sounded like Hannah was whispering to – Garrus? That would make sense, considering his experience with a broad amount of weaponry - which, that meant he had some experience with larger weaponry that he hadn't told me. You always saw him on the SR2 messing with the big guns, and to my eminent knowledge, no explanation was given for that, other than that he was a gun nut in general. But, that was all for later, as my sister-Commander had reached a decision.

"Do it, Pressly. If there isn't another option other than sitting back and allowing the geth to reach their objective before reinforcements arrive, and TacOps, along with Captain Morelo is for it – then do it. Saren's not getting the doctor, and whatever Prothean data troves are down there, understood?" my sibling answered, her tone uncompromising, passion pushing her determination to see this through.

That's my sis, I thought with a mental smile, though apprehensiveness with our new course of action sent spikes of adrenaline straight through my veins, and into the pit of my stomach, squelching my other emotions.

I took a deep breath as Pressly responded intently and with no waver in his voice, "Understood, loud and clear, ma'am. TacOps, send the GO text to the São Paulo. Adams, check drive output. Firing Alley, have your trigger fingers ready. Moreau….same to you. Once confirmation is received from the Captain….full speed ahead."

A chorus of affirmatives came over the channel, and we didn't have to wait thirty seconds before a cry of, "Confirmation received! São Paulo is moving to position!"

Not a moment after that, I felt a slight amount of movement as Joker gunned the engines, and sent us on a whirlwind vector towards the heretic geth.

"Sir! São Paulo leaving far side of the moon….movement from tangos! Affirmative, they're taking the bait!" Pressly nodded, not bothering to reply, also looking to be grinding his teeth behind those closed lips of his.

I felt my heart-beat increase as I clenched the armrests tighter, the next call-out coming moments later. "Two of the frigates leaving the envelope…São Paulo is dispensing available firepower! Two frigates remaining in shield."

They're waiting on us, I realized with a sense of dread as I heard the next thing that gave me pause. "Sir….I think I'm seeing this correctly….the envelope is moving! The 'shield' is mobile, it's closing behind the frigates!"

"Firing Alley, jettison missiles NOW! Take down those exposed frigates! Moreau, max velocity, get us inside that envelope with all you got!" Pressly barked with an urgent ferocity in addendum. And here came those G-forces once more, coinciding with my increased prayers. At this point, I didn't care if I hurled, as long as we survived this engagement that no one from my time could possibly understand.

"Missiles away! Ten seconds to targets!"

"Frigates spinning up payloads, targeting São Paulo!"

"C'mon baby, don't fail me now, you got so much to live for…"

Thinking along similar lines to what sounded like Joker's whisper, I closed my eyes, waiting for it. The ship was actually fully shaking now, as we closed the gap as fast as allowed.

3,2,1…

"WE'RE IN! Firing Angels, give 'em hell!" our pilot practically cried out, and more vibrations accompanied his shoutout as I saw onscreen the GARDIAN array light up, the bar next to the 3d model of the batteries slowly filling up as they fired nigh instantly after the call.

Suddenly, one of the hologram reps for the two geth frigates inside the shield winked out, and I shouted in victory, maybe prematurely, but Pressly was too glued to the HUD to bother.

"Mother-Frick! Brace for evasive maneuvers!" Joker shouted.

"Shields taking hits – debris, and scattershot enemy fire!" came a shoutout with an accompanying oath. "Compensating!"

"Ay Dios, missile away from remaining bogie, shot in our random direction, advise evasive-,"

"Already doing that, hang tight!" came Joker's gritted response.

And we flipped – fully. Upside down. This was officially worse than the most nausea-inducing rollercoaster ride. With a wrench to my stomach we righted ourselves, and my head slammed against the padded chair – but I still almost saw stars as I let out an "oh," that was almost breathless, and the bulkhead rumbled even more dramatically this time.

"Missile detonation against geth net, negative effect!"

"We're in range, take 'em now!" Joker called back, ignoring the last comment that we were slightly less in the firing pan now, in favor of singling out the final enemy.

"Firing!"

More vibrations. Silence.

"…Full effect, bogie terminated!"

"Defensive wall breaking apart, I repeat, disseminating, and drifting towards atmo!"

The whole ops alley went up in cheers again, but this time more subdued and less lasting as everyone seemed to expect something else foreboding to happen as Pressly sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Good job everyone. Perkins, I need an uplink with the São Paulo, let's check on their condition."

The Navigator looked over after saying this, giving me a nod as he unhooked himself, his once flawless and stirling uniform now wrinkled and disheveled thanks to our flying acrobatics. I unclipped as well, about falling out of my chair with vertigo and dizziness, increasing the feeling of nausea as I staggered up, fighting my body's urges down, Pressly huffing.

"You'll get more or less used to it. See Chakwas after this for something to take the edge off," he said, I not hearing anything deranging in his voice actually, just genuine advice.

"Thank you…sir," I responded, and he nodded as a notice that a connection had been established appeared.

"Normandy. That was pretty close for comfort, but it seems the gamble payed off. We owe you our thanks," once more the visage of the Captain appeared, but the background was actually lit up this time, I noticing the damage to his bridge was extensive as crew rushed around, all of them seeming to sport some sort of battle scar to their forms.

"Can we provide any assistance? Seems all enemies are taken care of in orbit, that just leaves the ground – whatever troops they were able to dispense before we arrived," Pressly stated, returning to his stance of parade rest. Morelo grunted, nodding in thought.

"We'll be fine. Maybe send over your doctor and her corpsmen once you're done groundside, but my engineers should be able to keep this things up and running until either the spaceport on the ground can assist, or reinforcements arrive. Just sent the distress call. ETA to arrival is expected to be five hours. Let's just hope and pray no more of the enemy decides to show up before."

"Understood. We'll sweep from Nova Yekatinburg to our objective for the geth – as far as what I've read, there's no other civilized areas of note, correct?" Pressly inquired, which the Captain responded with a chuckle.

"No, no….that's it. A bunch of nothin'. Whatever they, and you, are here for, it's in that swath, unless there's some unknown Prothean what-have-you besides the sites we know of."

A voice interrupted the Captain's dialogue and caught his attention offscreen, to which he talked to in a lower voice for a second before returning to looking at us.

"Seems the damage here on my ship needs my attention. I'll leave everything else to you Normandy, if there's nothing else?"

Pressly simply saluted in return and shook his head, causing the Captain to do the same and nod, before the feed cut, and the elder man immediately touched his ear.

"Moreau, get us going – we need the Commander and her team on the ground ASAP. TacOps, I asked for any return from civilian comm channels – what do we got?"

"Sir, it's entirely possible the geth on the ground are jamming civilian frequencies to prevent any outgoing traffic. I'm not currently registering any pings, and that's with maximum output bandwith," a voice replied, causing Pressly to look grave, but determined.

"That means they're still active down below. Let's keep our eyes peeled, this isn't over yet, everyone." The Normandy's icon slowly began drifting closer to the globe of Therum as Pressly commed Hannah once more.

"Commander, we're beginning our descent. ETA to Serrice University digsite…." He looked at the readout with the updated time, "-five minutes or so."

"Understood. Anything from the ground yet?" she asked, sounding slightly worried.

"Not as of yet. Things may clear up once we enter inside whatever may be jamming our signal in about thirty seconds."

"Keep me apprised," my sibling responded, then clicked off her comm. We resolved ourselves to silence as we waited for the next deadline, Pressly checking briefly on the Normandy's what amounted to "lifesigns", which, despite appearing slightly in the orange-to-red range from our space engagement, was holding steady.

Right before the half-minute mark, static suddenly sparked to life in my ears, and I heard faint what sounded like yelling, or at least urgent voices.

"Comm station, I need that interference cleared," Pressly commanded, a couple of seconds later the voices becoming intelligible.

"This is the Therum 1st Infantry Battalion, issuing a distress call to SA Central Command. We are under attack from what appears to be synthetic enemies, possibly the AI race known as the geth! Take note, enemy appears to be using holding tactics – not pressing their advantage, as several hundred platforms have been sighted at Nova HQ. Contact lost with garrison at Prothean Dig Site Beta. Advise extreme caution on descent – enemy flak platforms appear active, codename dubbed "Armature", along with offensive drop ships. Please advise. This is the Therum 1st Infantry Battalion…."

The message looped, and Pressly grimaced.

"Moreau, take us on recon path across Nova City, towards the digsite. Firing Alley, tag any geth you can, and ready the GARDIANs. We're going to alleviate the pressure on our boys below if we can. Comms, hail that same frequency. Advise them, Danger Close."

Everyone confirmed, and a live view of the ground from five-thousand feet up popped up on the HUD at Pressly's command, showcasing an almost sepia-colored dismal hilly terrain complete with frequent explosions into the air of magma as we flitted by at jet fighter speeds.

Not a minute later, a blocky cityscape noticeable by its stark white color compared to the landscape around it appeared, as an ensign called out, "Identifying known geth platforms….tagged! Twelve larger Armature-class warframes, thirty-two Prime-class, one Colossus, and several hundred smaller bots."

Oh Lord, I thought, saying a short prayer for the soldiers down there that were probably way underprepared for something like this that came straight from the unknown void.

"Slowing to Mach 3 for danger-close flyby. Firing Alley, on my mark," Joker stated, a voice replying, "Locked!"

"3,2,1…Mark!" Joker's voice emanated strongly, and my eyes darted to the screen, feeling the pulsing vibrations of the GARDIAN array beneath me sync up with the gatling-like display on the HUD as we flitted across the battlefield below, I barely being able to track the effect produced.

"Scanning…sixty-seven percent of targeted enemies downed. Attention! Geth code-named "Colossus" resisting air-to-ground attacks in thirty-one percent larger capacity than projected," the Normandy's VI stated in monotone a second later, causing Pressly to frown.

"VI, log that observation. We'll need to share that with Alliance Central Command," he muttered that last part.

"Incoming transmission, Therum Battalion HQ!" came a surprised, but official voice, as static hit our ears.

"Unknown vessel, we have visual on you – we appreciate the assist. The synthetics have been riding us hard down here, wearing us down slowly. Looks like you took out one of their local jamming units, so we could get through. Please state your future intent in Alliance space." Pressly heard this, and looked to be in thought about how to respond. He smirked, then finally touched his comm.

"Therum Battalion HQ, this is the SSV Normandy, Alliance Ops code three-dash-delta-xray. Good to know you needed an actual visual sighting to realize we're here. We'll need you to hold off the rest of those geth for a bit longer, our main objective is the retrieval of our objective at one of your dig sites. Any intelligence on the garrison would be appreciated before our onboard Spectre is dropped off there."

There was if I had to guess a surprised silence on the other end of the radio band, until I heard some intense whispers, before a gruff, but measured voice responded.

"Normandy, this is Major Taylor Benhail, CO of Therum 1st Infantry Battalion. Glad to have your help today, we were losing hope of not being overwhelmed, but I think we can handle the rest of the enemy after that pretty impressive display. Concerning the garrisons at the Prothean dig sites – we haven't had contact with them in over twelve hours, and we've been too bogged down with the frontal assault on the town's defenses to send anyone to investigate. The lieutenants in charge are LTs Barton and Ivanov, of Alpha and Beta respectively. Beta is actually the main dig site – we used that classification to throw potential saboteurs or thiefs off – hopefully it's come in handy here," the Major informed, I hearing a small sigh attached to that piece of info.

"Understood, Major. Don't worry, we'll take care of your geth problem. You'll be happy to know geth ships in orbit have been taken care of, so they should be a bit softer down here, since they co-op their processing power. Keep us posted, and we'll do likewise."

"You got it, Normandy. Good hunting, and give them the beating they deserve. Therum HQ out," the Major answered, and then the line clicked off.

"Half a minute to LZ, cargo hands and Mako brace for bay door opening," Joker's voice stated next.

"Commander. We're dropping you about half a klick away from Prothean Dig Site Beta. This seems to be your best bet for finding the doctor according to Therum HQ. The garrison head is LT Ivanov, I would suggest keeping a look out ma'am. Geth jamming in effect," Pressly informed, I only hearing an affirmative clicking of the comm from the other end, the Navigator looking satisfied enough with this. And so came the "main mission".

"Mako optimal. Jettison ready, Gaither," Hannah called over the comm to the Specialist as Joker said coincidally, "Cargo bay fully open in 5,4,3,2,1…."

"Ignition!" Hannah pronounced with a shout, and our cargo bay cam showed us the Mako nearly kick up smoke as it screeched towards the open air, mass effect thrusters firing as it hit open air – and then they were gone.

A new icon appeared on the HUD, that of the Mako as it nearly freefalled from a thousand feet up. A new map appeared, showing a radar-produced terrain of the ground, with the Mako hurtling towards it like a warhead, intent on destruction of its target.

Anyone from my time would have called this maneuver fanatically suicidal outside the Fast Furious movies, but with the advent of nigh-weightlessness provided by element zero and its broader application of mass effect, we'd achieved the "impossible". Faster-than-light travel, "magical" biotics - and mechanized slags of metal dropped straight on your head, not breaking a sweat. Even knowing this, recognizing the technology had been tested, I couldn't help but feel a little trepidation at watching the rapid descent, and even hearing over the team's comms the muttered swearing of the Gunny herself (as Wrex laughed) didn't help to allay the secondary shaking-in-my-boots at the thought that I'd most likely be in the same situation when the day came. A small counter appeared above the Mako telemetry onscreen, counting down to groundfall.

Five, four, three, two, one….

I heard a collective grunt go through all the individual comm channels of the ground team as the Mako slammed into the ground at sixty kilometers-per-hour, bouncing their cams before everything was still.

"Everyone good? Sound off," Hannah called out, everyone ratifying that they were peachy. "Good. Jenkins, anything on radar?"

"…. Affirmative. Some pretty large blips about quarter a klick out, ma'am,"the soldier replied.

"Heard that. Vakarian, since we're clear for the moment, disembark – give us some eyes-on uphill where the Mako can't reach. We need to determine the geth formation ahead, and if they've established any chokepoints or ambush zones. We'll trade info between the Mako's larger radar, and your recon assets. Let's get it moving, we're on the clock,"Hannah commanded, the Mako's back door dropping down as the turian in question wasted no time in jumping out, and – wait, was he flying?

His camera had shown him on ground level with the Mako, before abruptly he was in the air, going in the direction of the top of the nearest steep hill. Our visual on the turian as the Mako rumbled and took off shook for him as well as he hit the top of the hill with a thud, taloned feet accustoming better to the volcanic soil than that of a human's.

"Don't get shot down, bird,"I heard Wrex comment wryly, confirming my question. He had jump-jets. I hadn't seen this at all in the original trilogy, except from Cerberus troopers, and even then only mundanely. I'd been taken away from my universe before I could actually play the next installment of the series, only seeing trailers of its inception, which showcased what I assumed to be the player utilizing this facet to their advantage, quickly scaling obstacles with a natural fluidity that had got me excited. Knowing Garrus, I didn't think he would utilize this new thing without it being thoroughly optimal, so I was even more eager to see our universe's Archangel rain down some justice on the cohorts of Saren from above.

"Thanks big guy. Commander, as you know, the Mako's route is basically one way to the dig site. These hills are pretty difficult for the Mako to scale with the loose volcanic soil, and have a steep gradient, so I'd recommend not trying."

"Tell me something I don't know, Garrus,"my sister commented dryly, using his first name pointedly as background rumbling could be heard as the APC rolled along and her camera showcased her hands on the steering wheel.

"Just don't want mine, and Mr. Gaither's work on that thing undone if we can help it, due to, ahh, overzealous drivers,"came the measured, but still inflected with humor response from the recon sniper. "Don't worry Commander, I have you covered up here."

The beloved turian sounded more confident than I remembered from the first game, but maybe that was because he was just confident in his abilities, drilled over a decade of experience, at the least. I didn't actually know his age, though I'm sure it had been mentioned somewhere, but I guessed maybe twenty-eight some odd years for him.

Hannah snorted in return though, replying, "Noted, Vakarian. I'm sure my experience and instincts driving away from thresher maws as they tried to rip me up from underneath will temper my worst habits not covered by N training."

Intense silence dominated the channel as Pressly frowned with what looked like concern as I felt the icicle-temp tone as well, my mind instantly flashing to the knowledge I'd uncovered only a day after reaching this dimension. My sister had been through Akuze. That had to have been her reference. What sounded like some form of remembrance had decided to lash out at the well-meaning comment by the detective, stifling any form of response as only the rumble of the Mako could be heard, until Jenkins coughed and said in a slightly urgent voice, "Commander, the large radar blips are a couple hundred yards ahead."

"Vakarian, give us a visual,"came the close to terse response from Hannah, Garrus quick to respond, "On it, Commander."

His cam zipped up as he performed another jump, flying a couple dozen meters farther up the craggy hill, keeping stride with the Mako due to his ability to expediently cross terrain the APC couldn't. He then stopped, raising his Mantis.

"Shepard, you're coming up on a clearing – looks like it's a small fracking station. Bodies, maybe Alliance marines and civvies facedown are present. Geth, looks like in powered down states, are there. One Armature."

"Can you hit the Armature in its weak spot from your vantage point? Maybe aim for the hydraulics, so when we assault, we'll have leverage,"Hannah pointed out, the frigid tone from earlier already gone, the pragmatic Commander in its place, which actually had me worried. How was she able to clamp down on her probable PTSD so easily? But, at the moment, there wasn't time for that, and everybody knew it.

"Understood. Switching to tungsten-coated, FMJ phasic rounds. I'd appreciate it if you reimbursed me for these afterwards, Commander. They cost me an arm and a mandible."

"If they get the job done, I really don't care about the price, and I don't think the brass does either,"my sibling replied dryly as she halted the Mako, consulting the APC's HUD as it switched to a more simple radar frontal view.

"Appreciated. Setting up now."

Garrus's cam showed him balancing his Mantis against a boulder that also gave him cover from potential backlash from the geth units….looked like 100 yards away.

"Okay. Since the geth are in a low-power state, looks like the Mako is having issues pinging them, so we're completely replying on visual contact. Williams, be ready on the rail gun, and gatling. We'll take out the Armature first and foremost with the Mako, and soak up any damage provided by the single geth units that aren't occupied by Vakarian. He'll be our main distraction though as I'll have Alenko and Wrex pop out and hit them with a biotic salvo, followed by Jenkins with some tech suites, and Williams and I. Should do the trick."

"Well, let's get to it already,"Wrex grunted as Kaidan added, "Ready and able, Commander," and Jenkins uttered in his chirpy voice, "Yes uh-ma'am," and Ashley answered concisely, "Yes ma'am."

"Vakarian, on my mark. Three. Two. One…."

Everyone's helmets jerked at once – the Mako crew from Hannah gunning the engine, and Garrus from his Mantis bucking as it recoiled into his bony shoulder, and therein through his body, as the vid feed from his connected scope caught the bullet sailing at .05 percent the speed of light towards its target, hitting its bullseye on the lower end of the Armature's curled up body where the legs connected with the main frame, sparks flying as the armor was pierced, and the screeching of the AI construct could be even heard as it responded by immediately awakening, flashlight "eye" immediately jerking towards the exact direction of the shot, turret already impossibly charging a massive bluish white ball of energy, unleashing it at Garrus's position as he swore with a word I didn't recognize and immediately engaged his pack.

He flew upwards, the ball of energy I didn't have a name for absolutely shattering the rock he'd been behind as the turian's cam showed all the other geth "troopers" also come online as fast as their elastic underbodies allowed, and begin to immediately pepper the sniper with gunfire, with long-range accuracy that could only come from precision AI.

The Armature began charging another shot, moving its head, trying to predict Garrus's trajectory, but this was its fatal mistake as it hadn't taken into account another enemy: the Mako.

"Firing!"Ash shouted, the Mako's mini rail-gun rattling its carrier as it fired a high-density slug at its equally lethal enemy, hitting dead-on the main frame that staggered the geth platform, that tried to turn and fire the energy ball at its new, more present danger, but missed as my sister yanked the steering wheel, literally drifting past the attack as it sailed overhead and tires squealed…then she straightened the APC as she shouted, "Fire again!"

Ashley didn't need any other prompting, the rail gun booming almost immediately as the gatling mini-gun also spit rounds for good effect, slamming into the Armature that had lost its ability to move at all from Garrus's shot, the resulting explosion of the large geth platform being terrific in nature, sparks and smoke blasting everywhere, even a piece of its form bouncing off the Mako and the mini-shockwave knocking a couple of Geth platforms off their feet as Hannah barked, "Go, go, go!"

The Mako's back door slowly came down, until Wrex booted it, making it completely fall flat onto the loose volcanic soil, splashing particles into the air. The battlemaster didn't waste any time, his shotgun extending lightning fast as just around the corner was a geth trooper, which, despite being knocked flat by the explosion, was using its synthetic polymer body to agilely jump up – until a certain krogan blasted it back into the dirt with a one-handed Graal Spike Thrower blast, a gurgling noise resulting as the beast of a sapient chuckled and move to the next.

To my mild surprise, Jenkins was only a couple strides behind him, armor servos whirring as he sprinted to catch up, a geth that looked to have been close to ground zero of the Armature explosion but was still operational was bouncing to its feet, but an electrical attack from the N-designated soldier staggered it before Jenkins closed the distance and drew a golden omni-blade and severed its head in one fell swoop.

Kaidan and Ashley weren't far behind him, though they seemed to be taking a more reserved route, backs to eachother as they followed him, Ashley whipping up her Avenger as a geth unexpectedly emerged out of one of the prefabs present on the site, yelling, "LT! 4 o' clock!"

She began rattling off shots on the geth as the biotic in question whipped around, glowing blue already, and lifted the geth before it could pop off some shots in return, and then in a move I'd never seen before, clenched his fist, the gesture communicating very effectively to his implant what he wanted, the geth platform groaning before its appendages cracked inwards, shattering a second later, and the machine collapsed to the ground, inert.

Well, crap, I thought in awe, as I heard Alenko starting to breathe more noticeably, probably from the exerting attack. My eyes glanced to Ash's camera, and I almost shouted to her to watch out, as I saw in her peripheral another geth that looked bulkier appear above her on a overhanging rock face, with an oversized Widow-looking rifle, sighting her down, but it was blasted by a one-two punch from outside of view with what looked like a concussive shot, then an actual bullet that caved in its head as I heard, "Scoped and dropped!" as Garrus flew into view, landing very fast next to the body with a finessed roll, and used his rifle butt to sever the hand away from the rifle, muttering to himself, "Oh, no you don't, no self-destruction on my watch."

He then picked up the mostly-intact geth rifle, and slapped it onto an empty mag-lock, before jumping once more into the fray, which already seemed OP in the team's favor with my sister jumping in next to Wrex, wrecking shop biotically, the individual geth platforms with no more tricks up there sleeve being brow-beaten with superior firepower and flanked, were reduced to scrap shortly, thus ending the team's first engagement with the geth.

Ashley let out an impressed whistle that still sounded a little shaky, while saying, "That's how it's done. Think we can do that with every round of flashlights we come across?"

Hannah didn't reply, rushing over to the human bodies strewn across the ground, Kaidan doing the same, flipping them over as the others watched, both bringing to life their omni-tools, medical diagnostics becoming displayed.

"Rigamortis is already setting in. They've been deceased for a while,"Kaidan murmured, his gloved hands closing the eyes of one of the marines who's faceplate had been cracked and splattered with blood, making me shiver at the shocked expression that had been on the youthful man's face the moment he'd been taken unawares by the synthetics. He looked around my age. Probably just trying to get started with his life seriously, and….this brought it all completely to a halt. No replays. Nothing.

"Scan forms of identification. We'll handle the bodies later. If it's not LT Ivanov, or someone else in charge, we need to keep moving. There's potentially still people alive close to, or at the dig site. Back to the Mako in half a minute,"my sister commanded, steel in her voice, but for a different reason this time, and I think it was apparent why.

One, she had to be the one in charge that kept her composure, and two, she was used to this, in the worst of ways. Akuze. The Skyllian Blitz. And my heart was wrenched for her. She'd been so bubbly back home and full of life, and though there were glimmers of that adolescent girl here, it seemed to have been overridden by her experiences, her duty, and a shade of trauma.

"Holy Mary, mother of God, I ask you to look after these souls as they join with you and Christ. They didn't deserve this. I ask that they receive a hero's welcome…"murmured Ash sacrosanctly as she scanned the bodies she was closest to, the ID's appearing on our overwatch HUD. Pressly touched his comm.

"Commander, looks like a few geothermal techs, a sergeant, and his squad, plus one Prothean junior researcher. No Lieutenant Ivanov, or Dr. T'Soni."

"Understood. Vakarian, you know what to do. Everyone, let's head out."

Garrus took off without another word, zipping a dozen yards into the sky, while the team filed back into the Mako, the tires spitting up soft soil as Hannah put it into gear with a new urgency that I'm sure everyone felt. The geth weren't playing around, so neither would she.

The next five minutes was relatively uneventful – except for the fact that the "roadway" was littered with both burning vehicles, corpses, and geth bodies, the team stopping to check each body for survivors – and scan the ones that were inert, while putting a bullet for good measure in the synthetic bodies, just in case they were "playing us for a pyjak" as Wrex so eloquently put – at least, that's how my translator put it. The rest of the team seemed more than happy to oblige, with the dormant approach the geth had taken at the fracking station, not to mention their more or less unknown nature. And then…something actually lined up with canon.

"Commander, looks like we've reached a natural impasse…or, wait, it looks slightly artificial. Prothean? Doesn't matter, I guess. Dig Site Beta ahead, but no way for the Mako to go forward, though there is a walkway through two pillars, with some scaffolding set up around it. I'm seeing outpost towers, but they are vacant. Going to hike to another angle for better vantage," Garrus reported in, and I instantly touched my personal comm with my sister, before she could reply.

"Hannah. I remember this. Large geth presence, including an Armature. I don't know if the layout is different, but this is where it got thick for me."

Looking up, I found Pressly giving me a concentrated look, making me wilt as I hoped to God my sister hadn't keyed him in to our personal channel. But, after a couple of seconds, he made no sort of move, and glanced back at the HUD, as I heard an affirmative click from the other end of our channel that let me know she'd heard. I just realized that what I'd informed her of she could've probably deduced on her own, since this was the main dig site. Of course there'd be an increased geth presence here, probably stalking the Prothean ruins, looking and waiting to find more people that had initially escaped their grasp, or waiting to ambush with ease newcomers mounting a rescue, like back at that fracking station. But they hadn't expected my sister and the Normandy.

The team disembarked at my sister's orders, the Mako being backed into the entrance hind-first as to dissuade any sort of larger enemy from trying to follow them – and then in a turn of events Jenkins programmed the turret on the APC with Garrus's help over the comms to be fully automated, and be keyed to like a sentry turret to shoot geth platforms on sight.

"She's good to go, ma'am,"Jenkins affirmed as he patted the turret's top before jumping down as the rest of the squad kept guns up, scanning the way forward.

"Good. No time to waste. Let's move. Wrex, be our front."

"Are you saying I'm a bullet sponge?"the krogan grumbled, though he sounded like he only half-cared.

"Well, considering you can erect the strongest barrier biotically out of us all, well…yeah," Kaidan spoke up first unexpectedly with his dry tone, and I snickered as I heard Jenkins chuckle and Hannah snort.

"Watch yourself cub. I got a few more of those anti-biotic throwables,"the krogan hit back just as dry, and I found it weird to hear the native Canadian being called a cub, but I guess we all looked that way to the middle-aged mercenary.

The said human didn't respond, which I wasn't surprised about. His joke (if it was that) had been as bluntly truthful as it was humorous, which seemed to be his style. Plus, they were nearing the first clearing.

"Garrus. What do you got on overlook?"Hannah asked, the group beginning to move forward, slowly and methodically.

"Got as close as I dared, Commander. You're coming up on an excavated area with an outcrop covering it – looks like it could be the living arrangements for the camp. It's a collection of smaller tents all clustered together, one larger, longer one in the middle – could be the mess tent. No thermal life-signs, and no actual bodies in sight. My electronic warfare suite isn't picking up anything either in a hundred yard radius," the turian reported as he continue to look down the barrel of his rifle's scope, scanning here to there.

"Alright. We see it now. We're going to clear each of the tents by splitting into two teams. Jenkins and Alenko, go with Wrex. Clear the right side. Me and Williams will take the left. Let's converge on that large, central tent. Keep it tight. Vakarian, keep a watch for any incoming geth."

Everyone clicked their comms in affirmation, no protest given to the superior officer from the Alliance soldiers, Wrex not even offering a rebuttal. They split, my eyes interchangeably glancing to each video feed as I noticed how quiet it was in contrast of what you'd expect from this kind of area – the only sound being the breathing of the team, and the distant report of magma exploding up from underground, acting as a volatile white noise.

The two teams reached each of their assigned supposed living areas, Hannah and Ash both going to each side of the door, my sister's gloved hand going flat against the entrance, and a humming suddenly emanated from that hand, and then a flash suddenly appeared on her HUD, and the whole area therein suddenly lit up in an exoskeleton-like display, showing in a barebones way the contents of the upcoming room, my eyes combing the startling results from the unknown type of scan. Looking over, I noticed Jenkins had done the exact same move on their end of things, hitting the door with his glove, and receiving a "readout" of the room.

"No lifesigns, no bodies whatsoever,"Hannah commented, sounding suspicious as me and Pressly also both combed the wirey-produced layout of the separate habs.

"Think they have the ability to mask their energy signature, Commander?"Jenkins asked in a lower than usual voice, mimicking Hannah.

"Possible. Quarian data suggests maybe. We'll have to rely on visual contact. Let's enter with barriers up. Jenkins, have your EMP toys ready. Williams, pellet grenades at the ready. If they are masking themselves, I don't want any of them duping us, or escaping,"Hannah commanded, biotic shield blossoming in a dark blue around her and Ashley, the opposite woman flinching only slightly as she primed her secondary armament through her omni-tool, the diagnostic showing her armor compartment where the grenades were located flash green.

"Ready, ma'am,"Ashley responded in the affirmative.

"Let's hit it. Breach, in three, two, one…"

Team Hannah burst through the door with Ashley's powered servo kick, and a silent behemoth

shoulder slam from Wrex as he also held his biotic barrier and barreled through the door, shotgun ready.

Nothing. Nothing greeted both teams. Except blood smears.

"Hab quarters definitely. I'm seeing both asari and human blood present," Hannah reported, omni-tool scanning the floor that had one large, spread out pool of it…like someone had been dragged.

"Seeing some turian appliances and keepsakes over here, too. No blood yet, though….hold up, bullet holes in the walls. Scanning….geth rounds confirmed,"Jenkins added, and the pit in my stomach only grew.

Wrex sniffed deeply, and that's when I saw his helmet was off, and in one of his meaty hands. "It smells like fear in here. They were caught unprepared."

"How do you figure that?"Kaidan asked in his measured voice, though there was curiosity added to it - just a bit.

"Krogan are predators. Their respiratory system is highly evolved to work in their homeworld's lethal environment, to pick out selective targets,"piped in Garrus in a way that seemed to surprise everyone, as there was silence, until Wrex muttered, "I can speak for my own, bird."

"Not as eloquently as me though,"Garrus answered after a moment, the pride creeping into his voice ever so slightly to tone the accomplished C-Sec veteran's past accomplishments he wasn't too bothered to show off. "I've had to go up against several cases of krogans being able to 'smell' the fear hormones coursing through me and others, but-,"

"Alright, let's stow it. Thank you Vakarian for the insight into krogan biology, and thank you Wrex for the clue. I'm sure you can go into the details later, but for now we need to focus on finding these researchers that were bodysnatched. Move up everyone, let's search and scan the rest of the hab area," Hannah ordered, stifling any sort of rebuttal from forming on the part of our resident krogan, who just huffed – or, snorted, whatever – and led the way once more.

What was missing from ME1 Therum was the human element – in the most broad sense. The only thing you interacted during the mission was geth, that krogan leading said geth, and Liara herself. No sign of any other intelligent life, despite evidence to the contrary. Now, all heaps of it could be found in the area that looked to be inhabited by dozens of researchers, befitting of a Prothean dig site, I watching as the two teams passed all sorts of personal apparel hung up, strewn about on bunks, picture frames with loved ones adorning walls full of archaeological murals showcasing accomplishments – everything. Smiling pics of children, of several different races, intersected with quirky science trinkets, a deck of Skyllian Five could be seen on a table erected in the middle of the hab walkway that Hannah and Ash had to step around, while a floppy gel holo-pad lay still active on of the bunks. Not getting creepy or more heartrending by the moment, at all.

Still nothing. Which brought us to the mess hall. The most blood smears of different colors could be seen here, chairs haphazardly thrown everywhere as things were upended in every sort of way, showcasing a struggle. Tent flaps and canvas flowed violently in the hot Therum wind, as it looked like bullets had vivisected the place to pieces.

"Ma'am. Both standard mass effect bullet marks here, as well as alternative geth rounds,"Kaidan spoke up, then Ashley found the sheared-in-half Avenger, with a human trigger finger still grasped on. I looked away from this as I shivered, willing myself to keep listening.

"Commander, Alliance Marines were here. This…."Ashley trained off, I hearing both the disgust and another emotion in her voice – was it a mix of nervousness and remembrance? I could hear the shake of the head in Hannah's response. "Not necessarily. One of the researchers could've picked up a gun to fight back. Let's see-,"

"Commander! A hatch in the back of the galley! Can't penetrate it with my scans. Looks like it leads beneath!"Jenkins exclaimed, his modified Incisor rifle with the barrel shaved down to be more of an AR was pointed downwards, a hard metal door indeed in the floor.

"Hmmph, that's odd. The rest of this place is a pop-up. Okay, everyone, let's gather around that hatch. Jenkins, Williams, same drill as earlier, have your throwables ready. Don't want to give the geth a way to jump-scare us. Get ready,"my sister orated, the whole team going to the corporal's position, readying their different solutions to the geth problem.

"Are we good? Alright, Alenko. Open the hatch in three, two, one…."

The lieutenant's biotics flared, and the hatch rumbled, before it cleanly lifted up and out, still attached to its hinges – but then a bright light flared all of the team's cameras as a shaky voice shouted, "Freeze! I swear you're gonna get it if you-,"

"Stand down! I'm Lt. Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy Council Spectre. I'm here to help!"Hannah barked in return, trying to deflate the sudden standoff before it escalated.

"Oh my God. I'm-," the voice continued, but cut off as it sounded like something impacted the ground, and the light left, as another more steady voice entered with, "Frick, Anders, there he goes. Can we get some help down here please?"

The team's helmets brightened, showing two humans – one lying inert, I guess Anders – on the ground, while another bearded man in armor knelt down beside him as I also saw a small cluster of asari and salarians gathered around, looking clueless as to what to do.

Kaidan didn't even need a word from his Commander, but jumped down the dozen or so feet and went to the unconscious man's side as our band kept guns ready – just in case. The lieutenant did a quick scan of the unconscious man apparently named Anders, while telling the other human, "Prop up his head. Does he have any preexisting conditions you know of?"

The newfound knowledge that Kaidan seemed to be somewhat certified in first-aid was overshadowed by the fact that we'd found survivors – actual survivors other than Liara here.

"Mmm, no idea, I'm barely familiar with him. We're on different platoon details – and he just arrived the day before from Nova. I'm Staff Sergeant Maldez. We were in the chow hall when it all went down. Just gotten off from duty, so at least we had our gear. But, those bots were cutting through people like – paper, and there were too many. So, I grabbed Anders and these civvies and got us down in this storage area."

"The geth didn't come after you?" Jenkins asked from up above, sounding technically, and curiously suspicious, and Hannah didn't interject, also seeming to want an answer to this.

"They're geth? Mother-," Sergeant Maldez almost swore from his position holding his fellow soldier's head up, but one of the three salarians interjected and spoke up quickly, noticing the suspicion, "The volcanic soil can be deceiving. The igneous bedrock is very hardened here, for the most part, preventing any sort of scans those – geth, as it seems, from penetrating it. The Protheans, after all, wouldn't have built an underground outpost here if it could be easily penetrated."

The scientists, or what have you, all murmured in nervous agreement with this, before one of the asari with white clan markings added on with insistent energy.

"I told the sergeant here we recently found a series of tunnels built by Them, and had connected it to this storage area by a bored tunnel. We were about to move the cafeteria so as to start serious examination, but then there was a slight cave-in, and then this…" the scientist's eyes dropped, and she had nothing more to say.

"I see. I am sorry for all that you've had to endure, but we're here to help. First things first, sergeant," Hannah spoke, her subject perking up from staring down at Anders, "I need to know the last known location of either of your superiors, LT Barton or Ivanov. If we can establish communication with them, link up with them, and any other survivors, that is paramount."

"I was apart of Ivanov's platoon. Anders is apart of Barton's. On last check-in he was handing over duties to the night watch up top at the main facility, but that's as far as I know. Patrol duties were divvied-up mostly by two's across the digs, so…that means we were pretty divided," the man uttered with a cloudy look, knowing what that probably meant for his fellow soldiers. Hannah wasn't having it though.

"Not anymore. There's a local electronic blackout, as it seems the geth are partial to doing, but we have hardened systems, and we are going to take it to them. We'll make sure of it. I have one more question, is anyone familiar with one Dr. Liara T'Soni?"

The asari group of scientists seemed to perk up with this, though the tone was of confused curiosity.

"I am. My name is Senera Elantis, vice chief researcher. Dean Matriarch Waleda mentioned in passing that a…human Spectre was coming to speak with attaché T'Soni, but I thought she was joking. After all, no human has…well…and to talk with the girl, no less…"

I could see by Senera's change in expression from one of haughty disbelief, to then one of backtracking with a slight stutter, that my sister was frowning in her direction.

"But! Maiden T'Soni had a – habit of intensely studying certain abstract constructs in the main complex, and was prone to overworking in order to prove her, umm, theories, so there's a chance she was still up there at the time of the attack."

"Hmmph. Fair enough. Then, we have our objectives," Hannah responded, and then looked interchangeably at the science team. "I expect you are all exhausted, and malnourished. My team will give you all some of our emergency rations, to hold you over till this is mopped up. None of it's asari or salarian-inclined, but it will get you back on your feet. Alenko, how is Mr. Anders?"

"Same as probably the rest of them. Dehydrated, possible concussion. Fainted probably from the stress. He's a greenie alright. About to give him some smelling salts to get him on his feet, and should be okay until we get medevac here,"Kaidan answered with a positive tone, a compartment popping open on his armor with multiple packets, the lieutenant removing one of them, and waving the crystals underneath the human's nose, the man who wasn't far removed from a boy just like me, eyes popping open to accompany a sharp intake of breath, before he sat up, Maldez steadying him.

"Good. I want you all to show me this tunnel system you spoke of. It might allow us to move undetected by the geth, if we can remove the rocks in the way. Let's get-,"

"Commander! I've got erratic visual only on possible geth about to hit your location! The s'kak are barely sitting still, they're jumping this way and that, I can't get a precise shot,"Garrus warned, muttering an oath. And despite him not recognizing this new enemy, I did. Geth Hoppers.

"Hannah. They're Geth Hoppers. They'll try to take you out with laser-focused, heavy-caliber shots. They're like geth snipers. Pretty dangerous," I added hurriedly, trying to get the the info right enough that she could respond accordingly.

The comm line between me and her clicked briefly, before she shouted, "Normandy squad! Fan defensive position! We have highly mobile, highly lethal geth units inbound. Alenko, stay down there and see if that cave-in is moveable with all our biotics. If so, we'll make a path that way. Keep the scientists hunkered down, and throw Maldez one of your extra pistols. Positions, everyone!"

It wasn't five seconds later that I heard it – the telltale thwumping sound of elastic fiberous polymer appendages expanding and contracting with an amphibian's efficiency. How the geth had learned this organic trait was null in the moment, as they were here.

Hannah ducked behind the metal buffet construct – which was the only thing saving her shields as the spider-like silhouette of the Hoppers on the canvas tent was the only warning before a crack rang out, shredding a hole through the tent fabric and glancing off my sister's barriers as she ducked, and it impacted her flimsy cover, causing it to careen back several feet.

The synthetic creature, with its brothers, wasted no time, springing into close quarters, sending the whole space into an impromptu chaos as the team tried to compensate for the new enemy – biotics being flung with abandon from Wrex and Hannah, while Jenkins hit one of the geth with magnetically-propelled electric bolts from an arm compartment that flashed open, that hurtled then towards the geth, who was in the process of aiming down its next victim as the telltale laser-sight was zeroing in, but was struck in its moment of weakness with the attack, making it seize and fall to the floor and spasm as the blonde marine whooped and moved to the next Hopper, specifically the one Ashley was trying her best to follow, but was getting the better of her with its speed.

The soldier had finally caught up with the thing – but only after it had stopped for a second in front of her like a prowler, sticky fingers and toes glued to the floor as it looked straight at her – and pounced.

Reviewing the slowed footage would show that as it flung itself at the unprepared soldier, its skin had separated and opened at the finger tips, serrated metal sliding out to act as melee "claws" to completely ignore shields, penetrate and shred armor in a way never seen before. I sure hadn't seen it coming, and was helpless to assist in the two seconds that it elapsed – but that was Jenkins's moment to shine.

The Hopper was lunging, and then swiped for the marine, but only half succeeded, because that was the moment the corporal deployed his omni-shield in a Hail Mary move, catching the swipe from one of the Hopper's hands aimed at the gunnery sergeant's throat, but the one aimed at her chest, after a slight glance off the omni-construction, losing some of its steam, scraped deeply into the armor of the woman, causing her to cry out and curse, dropping her AR, but she didn't give up, drawing her pistol as she punched the Hopper in the head like you would a shark as it tried to crawl over the shield, before emptying her clip into its face as Jenkins power-kicked it off, and it fell limp.

Knowing they were safe for the moment, my eyes darted to the other feeds, seeing the Hoppers were trying a similar tactic with my sister and the battlemaster, but they weren't having any of it.

Wrex, seeing the crouching prowl of the Hopper closest to him, ignited a flaming bright biotic barrier and roared as he charged it, knowing the geth had little room to maneuver, limiting its options. It tried to crawl backward as it charged a shot, blasting the barrier as I winced, expecting it to go through, but I should have had more confidence in the eight-hundred year old mercenary's ability to create a exceptional barrier.

In that moment, I remembered one of the stories told in ME about how a krogan warlord had blocked an asari frigate shot with his barrier during the Krogan Rebellions. Whether that was pure fiction or not, the point was this upstart synthetic was not beating the weathered representative of the Tuchankan species – much the opposite.

With another one-handed blast from his Graal, the Hopper's shields were dropped, and with a biotically-wreathed fist, Wrex encapsulated the geth, and in a K.O. move, slammed it into the ground, causing the light from the synthetic's "eye" to wink out.

The other Hopper was trying to charge my sister after it failed to pierce her barriers, but was not ready for the rapid-shot automatic AA-12-like shotgun Hannah sported that covered the whole potential area the geth could maneuver in with wide-spread mass effect flechettes, easily shredding the spindly creature's shields, and then with biotic power the N7 backhanded it while she muttered, "Sit down."

She added a double-tap as it attempted to rise from the floor with her Carnifex as her shotgun had overheated, causing it to lie flat, riddled with large holes as fluid leaked out of it.

Out of the peripheral of my sister's cam I noticed another spider-like form outside the mess tent, a red glow emanating from it – but then it went flying as a large-caliber mass effect round impacted it straight in the cranium (or what passed for it), and another flying silhouette replaced it, touching down a second later with a thump.

"Finally. They don't sit still. All clear out here Commander. I suspect they were drawn by the electronic signals from the science team that were uninhibited after you opened the hatch,"Garrus said, stepping inside the eviscerated tent, rifle cradled in his grip.

"My thoughts exactly. We need to dispense with the outgoing signals from their tools immediately. Otheriwise I have no doubt we're gonna get swarmed here soon. Everyone five-by-five?"

"I took a nasty - claw to the chest, but omni and medi-gel should do the trick – for now, Commander,"Ashley reported, as she popped open a small canister from an armor compartment on her leg, a drizzled a shiny, silvery liquid, which I assumed to be omni-gel onto the ripped portions of her hardsuit, and I watched as within a dozen seconds the "gel" solidify in the gaps, hardening almost to the level of her armor as she slapped it to test its integrity. Omni-gel was a wonder of nanite technology, which dissolved materials into a workable semi-molten state for a massive amount of short-term applications, that I almost couldn't believe with my 21st century eyes.

"We'll need to keep an eye out for those…hoppers. Geth now are proficient at CQC is something we're going to have to report to High Command and the Council. If we can avoid conflict with them for now, we should. Speaking of – Alenko, how's our rock problem looking?"

The team began walking back over to the underground hatch with the geth problem dealt with temporarily, as the lieutenant replied measuredly, "…I think we can manage it, what with the sheer amount of biotics we have between the three of us. Only a small opening though, at risk of straining ourselves, and causing an even larger cave-in. It'll be one-by-one through the gap."

My sister thought for a minute, then answered. "If we can reach the main dig site without being spotted by the geth up-top, I think it's a good risk. Any enemies we encounter in the tunnels can be dealt with easy enough with biotic coverage and suppressing fire. Let's do it."

The squad, single-file, dropped into the underground hatch, Garrus pulling up the rear, and closing the hatch as he descended, my Commander-sister instructing the whole shaken science team to shut down their omni-tools, unless absolutely necessary, as was needed with the asari that said she had a holo-map of the known tunnels to navigate by, and Maldez, plus surprisingly a few asari, had combative programs from their military days to use, just in case.

Anders was also up with an "up and at 'em" from his fellow marine, although a little shaky and slightly blushing at my sister, who was above-average height for her gender, and stood straight and confident above the soldier as he apologized for his conduct. With a smile I saw from Kaidan's helmet, she assured him it was okay, seeing this was first deployment apparently.

"This is all an enemy none of us here have faced before," Hannah proclaimed, her voice becoming more pronounced, meant to catch everyone's attention, "so don't be hard on yourself. With that being said, we're going to have to be incredibly careful, if we're to get out of this with just a couple of bruises and scratches. If I say hit the dirt, I want you to comply. If I say jump, you say 'how high'. I know we're not all present or past soldiers, and you may be scared. I am too. This is a boogeyman that came out of the void, the Goddess's Abyssal Hold – what have you – but I'm not going to let this keep us from rescuing whoever they haven't tried to ruthlessly murder, and showing them we won't take this lying down. They don't have permission to take whatever they want. It's time to fight back. Alenko, Wrex, let's get this pile of rocks moved."

The three of them moved to the cave-in, Wrex shrugging past the scientists with a grunt as they hurriedly moved out of his way as I noticed the strange looks they were giving him, to the cave-in a couple dozen yards away, and activated their biotics.

The luminosity itself from their combined might was enough to brighten the underground room to twice the brightness it was before, casting the place in an almost ethereal light as I onlooked, the three of them placing all of their will onto the center part of the rock barrier, as Hannah said, "Three, two, one!"

They all grunted and strained in unison, grabbing several of the larger rocks, and painstakingly pulling it towards them , before dropping them to the side, repeating this process for a couple of minutes, before a sapient-sized hole was formed, and they all released their energy, and peered through the gap.

"Very sparsely lit. Lights on, everyone," Hannah commanded, helmet lights and omni-lights piercing the darkness only held back by utility lights superficially erected by the science team days before.

"Bubble formation around the Serrice personnel. Let's keep it tight and alert," my sister said additionally, hefting her shotgun that I'd yet to identify and leading the way through the hole.

The tunnels were lit like you'd probably expect for a dig; but that wasn't the main feature everyone seemed drawn to – it was the seamlessness. There were no "breaks" in the wall, just a seam-less expansion deeper into the defunct Prothean complex. There were, of course, curves, descending angles, and the floor was caked in a good level of dirt, but that was to be expected it seemed - the asari scientist relishing the chance to speak on something other than the carnage of the day.

"This complex was built, we think, very late in the Prothean Empire's span, plus or minus a hundred-and-fifty years before their fall. I'm sure you've noticed the smooth and un-truncated design present here too. Scanning the passageway has indicated very small nano-seams, which is a marvel of engineering. I-,"

"Doctor, I appreciate your zest for your occupation, but unless the information is paramount, I would ask that that you keep discourse to a minimal. I would like to make sure just in case we run into any of the enemy, they have the least amount of surprise, including through sound."

"Oh! My apologies," came the almost bashful reply from the scientist, and several moments went by only with the kind of awkward sound of pitter-patter shuffle the research group had moving forward, until the chief researcher asari from earlier….Atlantis? Elantis, that's right, spoke up with, "Spectre-Commander Shepard, I would ask that you make it one of your primary objectives once we reach the main dig to make sure the geth do not cart away any of the caches and specimens that we've unearthed. They are inherently invaluable, and I'm sure the Council would agree unamimously with-,"

"Miss Elantis, I would ask like I did with your associate for you to keep talking to a minimum, and will assure you concurrently that I am fully aware of all variables present here, as well as coinciding pertinent Council protocols, and will focus on rescuing your fellow colleagues that actually carry out the research first, and caches second. Rest assured, no geth will leave planetside while I stand on it."

Oooh. Burn on your crest. According to Wrex's feed, the vice-chief researcher looked to add something additional, but the krogan gave her a slight nudge to the back that made her stutter and look back with a look of incredulity tinged with a bit of apprehensiveness, and I about laughed. But she shut her trap, and another awkward silence descended, only a low chuckle from what sounded like Maldez being heard to grace the most recent dialogue.

So, I wasn't the only person to notice the tinge of coarseness that my sister had for the somewhat-calloused request of the scientist. Ms. Elantis had already proven her disdainful inclination to her associates, even if it was "just" Liara, a junior attache as it were, which wasn't far departed from canon it seemed.

Another half-minute went by of trudging along, only the overhead utility lights and helmet-lamps providing precious clarity needed, until the asari scientist with the directions spoke up with, "Umm, Spectre, we should be approaching a small atrium ahead."

"An atrium?" my sibling asked, sounding slightly surprised at the usage of words. "Yes. Meeting forums are not something we exactly associate with our predecessors, but there was one built in to the complex here."

"How far from there to the central dig?"my sister queried, the scientist replying, "The atrium was one of the main places of study for a good amount of time, until we realized and postulated that our predecessors did not…stand on ceremony that much, seeing the atrium has a…spartan aesthetic. We suspect they were more…mentally driven, and so prioritized –,"

"Ma'am, may I remind you again, short and to the point please,"Hannah gently but with a firm undertone cut her off, causing the eager scientist to stutter as she answered, "Yes, forgive me. The room has several corridors branching off, several deeper into the complex, but one is an access route to the surface that we jury rigged with our own equipment."

With this statement, my brain suddenly caught up, and I realized a potential possibility, and so I clicked my comm. "Hanna-um, Commander, according to my intel, Dr. T'Soniwas…last investigating Prothean forcefields in the complex. Maybe you can reach her faster if you keep going."

There was a pause, before my sister's voice asked, "Doctor, would we be entering the main complex if we continued through the other tunnels?"

"I – uh, yes, we would, but all the administration cohabs are aboveground due to risk of cave-ins - that would be most likely where the Dean Matriarch was -,"

"Doctor, excuse me. Sergeant Maldez, what was the protocol for an enemy attack if evac wasn't possible?"

"Well, ma'am, if evacuation could not be coordinated, take shelter and defensive positions at

the most hardened location possible, and hold out as long as possible for reinforcements."

"The inside of the Prothean facility being the most hardened location, I'd assume."

"Yes ma'am."

Silence, except foosteps, then, "….We keep going through the complex. I'd rather not chance the risk of tangling with larger platforms that can be deployed up top at the risk of our, and any other of the resident science team we may come across. These corridors can create bottlenecks we can use to our advantage, especially if we come across those hoppers again. Everybody in agreement?"

There was a chorus of low affirmatives and I nodded in relative relief. If that Armature was up there from the video game – I just knew how many times I died from that thing my first time. Not that Hannah was me, someone who'd face down a literal Blitz of batarians, and thresher maws, and survived, but it seemed she wanted to err on the side of caution all the same, to my distinct relief. And then came the first problem.

"Jenkins, ready that recon ball of yours. Wrex, Alenko, biotic sphere at the ready. Vakarian, concussive. Maldez Williams, keep the civvies back and cover us. We're not taking-,"

"We're not giving you anything, you synthetic abominations!" came a distressed feminine voice from several dozen yards away as a heavy whoomp sound could be heard, and a bright blue spark of biotic light lit up the corridor enough to show that the tunnel terminated very shortly ahead into a circular space that had to be the atrium – and also showed several asari futiley struggling with geth captors - larger ones than we'd seen so far.

Hannah's hand came up in a fist, the universal sign for halt, and signaled everyone down as her helmet visor then zoomed into the tense dilemma taking place.

Before our collective eyes, as the asari struggled in its grasp, one of the 8 foot tall geth knelt down, and extended its hand, suddenly a small needle protruding from the finger, and with mechanical speed and precision stuck itself into the asari's arm as she gasped, before the needle after a few seconds withdrew into the geth, who dropped the woman onto the stone floor without a care, her not moving, and another compartment popped open on its side, a rod being dispensed that extended suddenly into a a tripod looking setup that terminated at a very sharp end at the top – and, despite never seeing one assembled in real time, I understood what they were doing, what it was.

A Dragon's Teeth. But, I didn't even have to give my sister warning, she'd seen enough.

"Jenkins, cluster overload, now! Wrex, to the front, slap down that Prime geth! Vakarian, concussion! Everyone else, supporting fire, watch for civvies! Weapons free!"

With silent precision, I saw all of the squad line up shots, the VI's in their suit naturally singling out the geth platforms as enemies for precise targeting, Jenkins launching a mass overload EMP wave from his omni-tool that blanketed the whole atrium with electronic "noise" hash that served to confuse the synthetics for several more moments as Wrex roared and charged, blasting with his Graal in rapid succession at the nearest massive geth that had been assembling the DT, specifically aiming for its mobile servos in the legs, cutting it down to size as it collapsed, shields being shredded by the high-powered phasic flechettes the battlemaster had employed that got lodged in the armor, doing further damage as the krogan literally jumped on the back of the synthetic, and, despite the geth flailing about, one handedly while holding on its neck in an armbar move, Wrex pressing the muzzle of his gun he'd been charging to its max setting against the neck area, pulling the trigger a second later, severing the head of the Prime unit as it collapsed to the floor in an explosive spectacular ending.

If the other geth had the ability to feel surprised, they didn't show it in the slightest as they recovered from the electronic attack faster than Jenkins had expected, judging by his muttered oath as they turned their massive guns on Wrex as he was still getting up, but with a twist one of the asari that were now unguarded managed to hit the platforms with an albeit small shockwave, staggering the geth as the rest of the squad opened up with everything they had as they rushed into the room, surrounding the units on all sides, bombarding them with too much to juggle, Hannah covering the victimed asari in a protective biotic bubble as the platforms collectively exploded.

"Everyone okay?"she asked as she released the biotic energy, the two asari who'd been briefly captured looking shell-shocked at the menagerie of persons in front of them, not to mention race types. The one that had been…needled, and had biotically tried to fight back, was the first to recover, her dark blue, almost purple in color eyes blinking as she frowned.

"Are you that new Spectre? Athame, I wasn't expecting…this. But, I'm glad you're here. I did my utmost to provide cover for my fellow colleagues…but I don't think it was enough. Kasara Manis, former huntress of the High Matriarch. I hope I can shine some light on the situation here."

My brain immediately went into overdrive as I sat up more rigidly in my seat that I'd taken as I realized the significance of who this person was – at least to me, but it was worth mentioning.

"Commander, my former squad leader was also a former huntress of the High Matriarch. She should have a tattoo that says in High Thessian, 'A huntress lies in wait' if you want to verify."

Because she was listening to me, the silence between what Kasara said and my sister's response was a tiny bit awkward, but Hannah made up for it. "A huntress lies in wait to help, no? May I see it?"

Looking at everyone's cams, most everyone look confused even as Kaidan went to assist the other two asari up and check their condition, seemingly unperturbed or offput by the turn in conversation between his Commander and the supposed huntress.

"You speak the truth, Spectre, they do indeed," Manis replied, lifting up her scientific uniform's sleeve to show the telltale eloquent asari script that I'd seen a couple of weeks ago on the scaly skin of Teirla C'Den. "I am curious to learn how you know of us."

"A Spectre has their ways," Hannah responded smoothly, not missing a beat, "but I'd like to get the quick tale of how an elite huntress turned scientist found herself in current company."

Kasara chuckled weakly, with some mirth attached to match the setting as she stood.

"Our people have long lives, Spectre, which can come with a sense of….wanderlust, I believe is the human equivalent. I found myself in the interesting position of both having a curious mentality towards the cosmos, as well as my experience with the High Matriarch entourage. My alma mater, Serrice University, was practically stumbling over each other's fringes trying to give me a commission to work in the volatile Terminus Systems where – uninitiated – researchers can meet a sudden end if they're not careful. So, I was contracted to provide a measure of insurability to this dig. Why are you here, newly-minted Spectre?"

The boldness caught me off guard, but it didn't come accompanied by any sense of true surprise that there was a human among the ranks of that elite galactic cadre now.

"I'm after Saren Arterius, and bringing him to justice. This is the beginning," my sister replied succinctly, hands on hip as she answered with a steady gaze towards Manis, before she casually broke it and glanced towards Kaidan, who was assisting the other asari up, her eyes still slightly glazed over, it seemed. "Is she okay?"

Kaidan nodded, replying, "Just a few minor lacerations, I applied medi-gel." Hannah grunted in response.

"Good. We can't afford to slow down. How long have the two of you been avoiding the geth?" she said, turning back to the two asari in front of her. Kasara sighed.

"It's been a day at least, maybe more. That's why I couldn't put up much of a fight against those larger units, because of all the effort I expended shielding the other personnel as they escaped to the tunnels. That was in the beginning of all this."

Hannah nodded concisely, and looked around.

"So, sounds like everyone adhered to protocol then, like Maldez said. That's good news. Bad news…our group is getting too large to handle without someone being vulnerable to the geth, and catching a bullet when our backs are turned….are there access tunnels built to traverse the dig in an expedient manner?" the Spectre asked no one in particular.

Both Kasara and the vice-chief researcher Senera both looked to speak at once, the latter speaking loudly with, "We were making headway with boring extension accessways, but those were only in the very central complex. We've only been here two months, after all, and it's paramount we didn't affect the precious Prothean value-,"

"Thank you, Miss Elantis. Huntress, did you have something to add?" Hannah calmly interjected as she realized the academic asari was going to reinforce her early point, turning instead to the more blunt scientist/huntress.

"Matron Elantis covered the basic points, but I was briefed on these tunnels by the university, as well as conversed with Alexei – mmm, the commanding officer of the Alliance detachment, Lieutenant Ivanov, to determine the best defense if attacked, Spectre," Manis replied officially, a faint hitch in her rhetoric sounding when she named the lieutenant, and while the alien academic staff seemed unperturbed by the casualness, the use of the soldier's first name briefly paused my sister's response.

"You were going to use the tunnels to fast-track the evacuation across the dig site?" Hannah mused, and the opposing soldier nodded. "Did the lieutenant specifically say where a defensive stance would be taken?"the N7 asked next.

"There were several, but like the honorable matron mentioned, they were unfinished, and we couldn't decide on one certain chokepoint to defend, but several, dependent on the enemy's current stance."

"Okay. Alenko and Jenkins, front and center,"my sister called out after a second of thought, the two soldiers responding quickly by quick-timing to their Commander.

"I want you to accompany the huntress, and the rest of the party through the access tunnels. You'll act as front and rear guard, and locate the rest of the faculty and garrison, while Williams, Wrex, Vakarian and I find T'Soni. Keep it clean cut."

"T'Soni, hmm? Just had a conversation with her recently over tea. She might be one of the most precocious - and hardest to keep quiet about academia - little things I have come across in my recent years. Naïve to a fault, though her mother did teach her a few things," Kasara observed, but then frowned and made a thoughtful noise.

"…It was gossiped in higher circles that her mother had formed a partnership with a certain turian…I see why you are here now. Let us not keep you, Spectre. I have my duty, and you have yours. I will corral everyone, and venture to find Ivanov and the others. May the tides treat you fairly."

"…One more thing, huntress. Do you have any idea why that Geth Prime was trying to take a sample of you?" my sister interrupted as Kasara began to walk, and the asari turned around, frowning.

"I…have no clue. I was so dazed, I barely noticed it. I'd…expended all I could, and resigned myself to the the Goddess's embrace. My only thoughts were for my companion here," she said, gesturing to the asari scientist she'd been with, who gave a grim, tired smile in return.

"Very well, huntress Manis. Let us be about our business," Hannah said with a nod, although a hint of unresolved worry tinted her voice at what the geth were up to, and I likewise felt chills. The heretic geth were an obvious front for the Reapers, and so I could venture to guess what they were up to. But, at this moment, there was no telling. A problem for later.

Kasara Manis gave my sister a silent deep bow, and turned to gather the group of bedraggled and shellshocked scientists while Kaidan and Jenkins clustered around Hannah, who put her hands on her hips after she keyed the squad channel and said, "I chose you two for diversity's sake. Biotics and technical expertise. Once we find T'Soni, we need to exfil her, and then look to shutting down this geth threat for good. Keep me apprised of developments, and Pressly as overwatch with the vid feeds can do the rest. Find Ivanov, protect the scientists. Also…keep an eye on Manis. She seems a bit…off. Clear enough?"

"Yes ma'am!" they sounded off, both saluting before also joining Manis as the rest of the squad joined the N7.

"Enough of this sitting around, my quads are starting to itch. Let's go get the runt," Wrex rumbled, hefting his shotgun and scowling, and my sister nodded, saying, "Time is of the essence. Now that we have the maps to this place, we can quick-time it. Let's keep this tight, with overlapping fields of fire."

"What's our POA if T'Soni turns out like her mother, Commander?" Ashley piped up, and I had to subtly shake my head and rub my eyes. Ash was really turning out like her pseudo-character from the games – suspicion for anything non-human. My sister's answer was collected, but with a measure of steel in it.

"We shut her biotics down, restrain her, and take her in for questioning. Regardless of her attitude towards us, we need her insight into her mother and the Protheans. Anything else?"

The rest of the squad was silent, Wrex already saying his peace, and Garrus his temperately cool self, as usual. "Good. Alenko, Jenkins, we're off, keep them safe," Hannah called out, and they gave a wave from their position near the group of Serrice personnel. And here came the climax, as I sat on the edge of my seat.

The way ahead again was sparsely lit, but steady changes began to occur. One, the tunnel was no longer a "tunnel", but more of an actual hallway it seemed, architectural flowing lines beginning to appear, providing a more aesthetic look that a species would take ownership of, although it continued to be limited in scope in the "spartan" way that the Serrice archaeologist had mentioned. And then, after a couple of minutes of silent walking, blue, blowing lines began to appear out of the nano seams, to where the team could finally turn off their lights. Several moments later, static came over the comms as the voice of Kaidan cut in and out with,

"Comm – an – der, we're on our – wa – y-,"

"Pressly, is there any way we can clear up the static?"Hannah asked, and the XO Navigator pressed his comm, replying with, "It appears, according to their suit pings, that they're going deeper underground, which is the probable reason for the interference. I'll see what I can do."

Kaidan continued to speak, his voice clearing for a second as he said, "Commander? Can read you better. We're progressing, according to the map, and Manis's directions. ETA, ten minutes to goal."

"Good, seems we're getting somewhere as well, keep it – son of a – down!"Hannah suddenly shouted as she threw up a lightning quick biotic bubble, as I saw an angry red Carnage ball of energy collide with the brilliant blue, the kinetic force shaking the team's cams as a large geth construct made itself known, its plasma shotgun already glowing for another shot.

Wrex's Graal and Ashley's Avenger were already barking in response as Garrus's underbarrel attachment made a thoomp sound as it dispensed a concussion round, slow enough to bypass the kinetic barriers of the synthetic as it hit at the weakest part of the construct – the fingers.

The blast unarmed the platform, also partially dismembering the appendages themselves, as its shields were brought down by the powerful fire of two firearms working simultaneously, making the hulking AI respond in a way I hadn't seen yet – charge. It seemed to know that it was losing, and as a last ditch attempt, wanted to use its weighted metal body to throw its opponents off balance.

Unluckily for the collective geth programs, it was facing not one, but two lethal biotics who had no tolerance for such a strategy. As it charged, Hannah and Wrex also did likewise, both illuminating in blue, the N7 herself pulsating with collective amassed energy, and yelling as she dispensed it as a warp "javelin", sending it hurtling at the opposing enemy, staggering it, while Wrex roared and slammed his fists into the ground, actually cracking the ancient architecture as a shockwave was produced, cascading and hitting the platform, sending it flying into the hallway's side, dismembering the synthetic completely, as a wow seemed to escape both mine, and Ashley's mouth at almost the same time, if it wasn't for the latency.

"That's how you deal with these upstarts, runts," Wrex said with a rare grin back at the group, but was interrupted as his shields flared, and a host of other warframes came out of the now apparent end to the hallway a few dozen yards away.

The team responded, Ashley with a magnetic glove causing a cued compartment to pop open in her hardsuit, a small sphere zipping into her hand, her thumb depressing a button on the top, and she threw, right into the throng of synthetics, a spare moment passing before what had to be a hundred small objects blasted outward in a flash, slashing into its recipients, collapsing multiple of them as the gunnery chief whooped, while the squad's fire did the rest, clearing the way forward.

"Well done chief, we're getting more of those,"Hannah commended, her camera showing the marine's mirthful smirk in response. They moved forward, coming out of the opening, and into a large cavern, where the architecture ended suddenly except for large stone pillars holding everything up, Serrice equipment and prefabs to the right, and to the left…containment cells. Just like in the games.

"Spread out,"Hannah uttered, the squad taking a winged formation in clearing the lower level of the cavern dig, but a faint cry caused everyone to pause.

"Ma'am, did you hear that?" Ash asked, rifle panning to and fro.

"It's from up there," Wrex said certainly pointing to the second level erected catwalk, already trudging that way.

"Faint lifesign, organic,"Garrus informed, his specialized visor HUD, outlining in a wirey way the human – or asari form, with amplified strength. The squad moved quickly up the constructed stairs, the shimmering nature of an all-too familiar force field barrier becoming apparent, and then…it was her.

The final member of the Normandy SR-1. Liara T'Soni. A scaly-smooth cerulean blue face with beautiful white splotches as well as purple freckles adorned the edge of her head crest, with black, accentuated eyebrows that were furrowed as I saw her eyes were closed. Her body was suspended mid-air, arms stretched to each side of her….and she was crying.

"Goddess of oceans, hear me…" the team's suits auditory sensors picked up as a emotional gasp escaped her lips as small tears drifted slowly down her cheeks.

"Dr. Liara T'Soni?" Hannah ventured softly as she peered into the self-made prison of the scientist, the asari's head jerking up with panicked deep blue eyes.

"What? No! I have nothing to give you, I know nothing!"

"Ms. T'Soni, my name is Shepard, I'm an Alliance marine, we're here to help, you're safe," the Commander continued gently as she offered an assuring, warm smile.

This barely assuaged the panicked archaeologist as she squinted at the team, erratic voice answering, "No…it's another trap. I will not give in. Those machines attacked, and that krogan - gunned down those around me, then taunted me when I became helpless here, saying that turian Saren would buy off, or hurt anyone who tried to keep me from him and my…mother," she finished quietly, fresh tears streaking profusely down her cheeks as I could hear the betrayal and unbelief in her voice.

There was a silence for a second as the team exchanged looks, before my sister pressed on, saying, "Miss T'Soni – Liara, can I call you that?"

That caught the asari's attention for a second, though she still looked wary.

"My intention is to bring Saren to justice. He has wronged a great many people, and it is my utmost goal to make sure he does not cause any more harm. I'm here because he thinks, for some reason, that you are a threat to his plans, and wants you to be silenced. So, I need your help to find out why - and maybe in so doing, we can also reason with your mother, who has become caught up in his plans. Please, doctor, let me help you, and then we can see if we can bring an end to all this horror."

"You…could be simply saying all this, just to make me cooperate. I don't know you, Shepard, and I don't know my mother anymore. How could she…follow such a creature…but I might as well resign myself to the Goddess's embrace at this point…," Liara murmured, her head hanging once more.

I felt my heart steadily dropping at this, as I hadn't thought of what the asari who became the Shadow Broker in my universe's depiction of her's trials, and what she'd been subjected to viscerally coming to this crossroads in her life. She was so innocent, for this to be thrust upon her, much like me. The Reapers didn't care though about our collective innocent naivete, hadn't cared about her vaunted Protheans either…

Wait, the Protheans. They physiologically communicated, according to Javik, predominantly through physical touch. This could mean….oh God, how hadn't we thought of this before? It was even shown off in the final iteration of the trilogy!

"Commander," I said quickly, opening my comm, "I think I have a way you can prove yourself to her. You know what happened to the Protheans. You have the beacon's imprint on you. See if you can interact with the forcefield in any way."

Pressly gave me a look as I said these things, and I noticed that I'd forgotten to keep our channel private, meaning everyone had heard. I shifted nervously in my seat, but if this paid off…then it was a game changer. There was another silence as every one groundside gave their attention to my sister, who looked pensive, thank God, which meant she wasn't throwing out the idea.

"Ms. T'Soni," my sister spoke finally, catching once more the asari's attention, "I'm also here because something has happened to me. The Alliance unearthed a functional Prothean beacon on one of our colonies, Eden Prime."

This made the archaelogist's eyes widen, maybe unintentionally, as Hannah continued.

"It contained a warning that is now burned into my brain. I can tell you more later once the danger is averted, but just know now, that you are right about the cycle of extinctions. I read your dissertation. So, one: I need your help disseminating the message from the beacon, and two: I need your knowledge to stop whatever Saren and your mother are doing to bring about the next cycle. Please, doctor, let me help you, so we can in turn keep the galaxy safe."

"How – how did you interact with a functional beacon? All beacons we have encountered have driven the people insane that have tried to communicate with them!" Liara protested, eyes now alert and wondering, which my sister responded with a chuckle filled with dark mirth.

"Trust me, doctor, I am far from okay after seeing what it gave me. I just hope to put – whatever I saw to good use. Please help me to do so."

An unexpected, almost pleading tone came through with the last utterance from my sister, causing me to perk up even more. How badly had the visions affected her? After all this was over, we badly needed another talk….so maybe I could help her through what it all meant.

A long silence as the scientist looked uncertain, even fearful, but then her face became suddenly determined, and she answered, "Okay. I don't want to die here. I hope you're not what I thought you were…or some hallucination brought on by nutritional deprivation. I will help you, if I can. But…I don't know how you will get through this containment field. I activated it in a panic with only half-knowledge of its controls," Liara supplied, looking once more a little helpless.

My sister smiled at this. "I just might have an idea." She cued her comm.

"Masterson, what's the next step?"

I sat there for a moment as everyone figuratively, and in Pressly's case, physically stared at me, thinking of what to do now. I vaguely remembered in the mission to awaken Javik in ME3 that Shepard interacted with "shards" of the events leading to the Prothean's entombment, learning his story through the beacon's imprint. But that was it. Not much else was given. Liara herself learned through melding with the Commander, though that process was also muddied in the details.

In ME2, it was possible to find another Prothean beacon, but it was much of the same process of activating it as in ME3, but it didn't provide any more clues to the apex race than in ME1. So, in essence, time to fly by the seat of our pants. But, based off of how the asari in front of us's way of creating a conducive environment to "bring out" the imprint, I decided to try one thing.

"Commander. I want you to think of the vision. Close your eyes, breath deeply. The Protheans were a race of physiological telekinetic touch. Their senses were attuned with their surroundings. Walk around the field while doing so, and see if you – sense any sort of response."

Hannah began to do so with no objection, the team moving out of the way while they and Liara watched with bated curiosity, my half-sibling walking left first, breathing deeply as I'd asked, her arm maybe unconsciously reaching out towards the ancient stone, the ancient tech layered therein. Her hand came to rest on the stone, and she flinched, her closed eyes suddenly rapidly moving under the eyelids, and her suit's audio picked up a slight hitch in her breath.

"There's – something here…I can't describe…but it's faint, I can't get to it," came her staggered voice, and she pulled away. Before the moment could fade, I urged her, "Try the other side."

She walked more slowly, almost hesitantly to the other side, her eyes now opened and wary, before she stopped in front of the other stone face, taking another deep breath, albeit unsteady this time, and placed her gloved hand on it, and it was like she was electrocuted.

A full gasp escaped from her mouth this time, and her sparkling blue eyes turned green. She suddenly jerked towards the forcefield, as if being drawn, Garrus shouting, "Commander!" as he rushed towards her, but her hand connecting with the field first, and with a wink…it was gone, as was the inner forcefield surrounding the asari, the woman yelping as she was dropped unceremoniously, crumpling on the floor, barely moving.

The green pigment in my sister's eyes faded as she blinked, demeanor still glazed over for a couple more seconds, before she focused, her once again blue irises finding the the asari maiden strewn on the cold stone floor.

"Dr. T'Soni," my sister murmured, barely being able to be heard, as if she was remembering something faint - before her body moved, passing Garrus, who'd been scanning her, the equally astounded crew jumping into action and following, Hannah then tucking her hands under the debilitated asari's form, and lifting.

The two set of eyes between them connected, shock existing plentifully in the young maiden's.

"How?" Liara asked, voice raspy, but still able to communicate her befuddlement. Hannah looked thoughtful for a second, then she gave an uncharacteristic nervous chuckle, saying, "I…don't know. It's, umm, a new power of mine apparently."

The Commander, seeming fully lucid now, offered her hand to the weakened scientist, who in turn with a faint tremble reached out and grabbed the gloved hand, my sister apparently lifting with too much force, as this led to the asari stumbling and almost falling over, if Garrus hadn't been there to support as well.

"Oh Goddess, I'm truly unwell…" Liara mumbled, as I notice her eyelids barely staying open as the turian detective began scanning her.

"Shepard, she's both nurtionally and hydrationally deprived. It doesn't help that the asari evolved aquatically and this planet is the exact opposite. We need to get her to the Normandy on-the-double."

Hannah nodded at this, when Ashley interjected with, "Commander, a moment." Their two comm lines clicked off as they shared a private line, after a moment Garrus's cam showing Hannah's head shaking vigorously as it looked like the two were discussing something.

"….That's final, Williams, stow it for later," my sister suddenly said with a certain edge to her voice, mixing her commanding voice with a layer of ice that made me even bristle, as I wondered what they had most likely argued about. Considering what we were dealing with, it had to be the addition of Liara to our ship. Ashley's body language betrayed her, hands flexing off and on her Avenger, even as her visor stayed opaque and she said responded, "Yes, ma'am."

Hannah didn't respond, instead turning towards Garrus and Wrex. "So, apparently there's a krogan, maybe plural, with the geth. Since we need to assist Dr. T'Soni, Wrex, I want you to take the lead again. We also need to get a sitrep on the other team's location, which is going to be a mother with this bedrock interfering, and they were going deeper than us. I -,"

The ground suddenly undulated and shook underneath the team's feet as my memory was triggered, but this wasn't right. There had been no need to use the –

"Com – m – ander, hostiles – use – laser…trying to bury us – en-route – up top," the comm line sparked to life with sounds of gunfire coming across with Alenko's voice and sounds of chaos, my sister swearing, even Liara, with sweat beading across her face, becoming more alert.

"Oh Goddess, that had to be a mining laser," Liara said frantically, despite not hearing Alenko's statement.

"What's the significance of that, doctor?" Hannah asked urgently, Garrus helping her to turn and look at my sister.

"The excavator – contractors used it to bypass hardened bedrock for us. If used unproperly…it could lead to – a seismic event," Liara said between short breaths. As if to mirror her ominous warning, the chamber all around shook greatly, making my sister swear again.

"We must – get to the elevator. If we stay down here…" Liara said, even more raggedly this time, trying to urgently walk forward on her own strength, which only resulted in almost collapsing before Hannah and Garrus caught her again.

"Dr. T'Soni, you can't in your state!" Hannah chastised, almost like Dr. Chakwas would if she'd been there.

"I can't…go through…another…" Liara tried to say, lacking any more gumption to continue her sentence as her head lolled.

"Let's get her to the elevator. Joker, get here on the double. Have Chakwas prepped for medevac. Make sure LZ is cleared of hostiles. We're coming up."

"Aye, aye, secure and away ma'am," Joker responded, I hearing the determination in his voice.

"If he doesn't get here in time, I'll kill him," Wrex added with only a hint of joking.

"Ma'am, what about the other team?" Ashley shouted over the now continuous rumble as the team moved as fast as they could towards the elevator, Liara being hefted in the air by Garrus and Hannah to move more expediently.

Between breaths, Hannah answered, "Alenko said they were headed up top. According to the maps, their tunnels will converge onto our exit. If they're double timing it, they'll reach it at the same time we do."

"And if they don't?" Ashley pressed as they reached the elevator – a hollow spheroid shaped thing, the pillar console that I assumed was the controls jury-rigged somehow to allow a galactic-standard holographic interface which Hannah slammed with her fist.

"They will. The LT, Jenkins, and Manis are capable…and if not, you will evac T'Soni to the Normandy while we take down any geth in our way and connect with them. I'm not losing anyone to a cave-in of all things."

The lift groaned as it pushed upward, the cavern around still shaking, making my already soaked hands worse as I found myself reliving my memories without any safeguards. I was muttering a grateful thank you as I saw the top incoming, but it was dreadfully ironic how it was way too early for that.

As they crested the apex of the shaft, the form of several krogan, one of them a giant among them, definitely the size of Wrex, plus a dozen different geth platforms, revealed themselves, the giant krogan wearing what had to be battlemaster armor, a blood claw emblem on the center of it, was grinning at the team.

"Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun. Hehe, especially with Urdnot Wrex as an opponent! And a Spectre! You took Master Saren's place with those spineless idiots on the Council. He would be…eager…to either see your head on a spike brought to him, or subject you to Sovereign himself."

"Krandok. You piece of varren crap. How many credits did that turian buy you, and your krannt with?" Wrex growled out before Hannah could respond, eyes simmering with what looked like old hatred, the opposing krogan simply laughing.

"Spare me, you old washed up maw carcass. You would've done the same – if you'd stuck around long enough," he said, holding the grin that invited trouble.

"What's the real reason you're in my way, krogan?" Hannah interjected, cold steel easily evident in her voice as she ignored their revival of age-old spats.

"The asari there. Her mother wants her at her side as they build a new order that the galaxy will tremble at. The stars will quake, the races of the galaxy will bend the knee, and –,"

"And. Our answer is no. She'll stay with us, thanks," Hannah cut off the hulking krogan, handing over Liara to be set down by Garrus as it became evident that this would only end with one party walking out.

Popping sounds, which sounded awfully close to gunshots, suddenly rang out from behind the team, Ashely's helmet cam specifically turning to show the hallway Hannah had mentioned earlier that converged on their position, although nothing showed, and was overshadowed by the not-so-subtle seismic rumbling of the chamber, then the bellowing laugh of Krandok.

"Good! That means I can dismember you one piece at a time, and –,"

"- Die screaming, you son of a varren," Wrex interrupted, is Graal extending and wasting no time as it began rapidly spitting out projectiles at the host of enemies in front of him, shredding the shields of the smaller geth troopers with ease, sending the platforms flying as everyone else dove into action, Hannah throwing up an immediate biotic bubble to shield everyone bar Wrex from the immediate reprisal to his actions as the geth immediately responded, pulse rifles whining as the krogan collectively roared, shotguns blasting as they charged, but did not anticipate the power of my sister's barrier as she went with her hands from extended, to clasping them together as she grimaced, and then with a yell pushed them out again, communicating to her implants her intention, the bubble detonating outwards towards the attackers, the brilliantly blue shimmer of the mass effect field slamming over them, knocking even the stalwart couple krogan, minus Krandok, who responded with his own barrier, to the floor, giving time for the Normandy team to act.

Garrus activated is jump jets, his Mantis zeroing on those weaker platforms not completely outright destroyed by Hannah's reprisal, precise headshots blasting away several flashlights as he zig-zagged this way and that in the air, providing an elusive target as the geth recovered, but were met with the rest of the team's firepower.

Ashley threw another one of her signature pellet grenades, disorienting, if not dismembering some of the geth, the explosive splash damage working its magic on the weaker armored opponents, though this was wasted on the krogan.

As my eyes flitted back and forth between the feeds, one roared once more and charged Wrex, while another did the same with Hannah, but the worst thing to see was that Krandok was the closest to the now-isolated gunny, and he closed the gap between them too fast.

Ashley, who had drawn her secondary shotgun for the close quarters, managed to get off one shot that glanced off the krogan's barrier before she was uplifted off the ground and slammed into one of the pillars, gasping in pain, her only saving grace being her armor that kept her from being absolutely crushed by the titanic force of the behemoth krogan, who looked like he had enough power to cave in her head with an upcoming headbutt - but a sudden shot came from the vigilant turian from above, a sniper round piercing the barrier of the krogan, but only just, causing Krandok to snarl and offer a one-handed Claymore shotgun shot that was almost point-blank in the enclosed space, the kinetic force shattering Garrus's shields and blowing him back, his feed flailing wildly, indicating a fall, then a thud as he hit the stone ground.

With the turian's threat dealt with, Krandok returned to his original prey, but the soldier had taken advantage of the distraction to summon her final grenade from the slot in her armor, slapping the grenade onto the armor of the krogan, and with armor servos whirring in assistance she pushed with both feet off his body, and away from the impending blast, causing the krogan to roar in pain as his armor was torn asunder.

The grenade, though, was not meant as a high explosive, meaning the damage was kept to the armor, leaving its wearer more or less intact as he stumbled to his feet and gave a hate-filled glare at the still recovering Ashley, raising his shotgun to finish her off, as I could only watch in horror as everyone else was still occupied with their threats.

Every one, except Liara.

"Leave her, you monster!" came the startling scream from her place on the ground where she'd been left, forgotten for the moment in the frenzy and heat of battle, which in the end was an unexpected mistake.

The asari, glowing in blue, extended her trembling arm, the biotic power coalescing around the scaly hand until it was almost unbearably bright, the representative of the species with the most biotic might summoning all she had as she whimpered from the strain, before she yelled and thrust it at the unwitting krogan, the orb of bright light slamming into him and slinging him backward, slamming into the wall with a crack.

The momentous move on Liara's part stopped the fighting for just a minute second as she fell back, spent, as the two remaining krogan seemed shocked by the fact their krannt leader had been floored, which left them open to both Hannah and Wrex.

With an impressive biotically amplified high snap kick to the throat, Hannah sent her enemy staggering back as he clutched his collapsed windpipe, allowing her to lift her automatic shotgun and blast him to inertness, while Wrex executed a one-two low-blow move as he slammed his foot into the quad-region of his opposer, then headbutted him as well, before viscerally gripping the disoriented krogan's head crest and chin, and wrenching in a twisting motion to snap his neck.

The chamber was oddly quiet as only the sound of Ashley and Garrus recovering slowly could be heard – as well as the coughs of Krandok as he lay strewn on the ground, hacking up blood as Wrex padded over.

"Disgrace," he muttered as Krandok's eyes went wide and he looked to say something before the aged mercenary above him pressed the gun muzzle to his head and pulled the trigger.

"Son of a…T'Soni," Hannah said as she rushed over to the crumpled form of the archaeologist, as I noticed the shell-shocked onlooking of Ashley as the team came together. "Wrex, grab her. Throw her over your back if need be. We need to exfil –,"

Renewed popping sounds like earlier echoed through the chamber, the team's guns flying up again as they expected another threat, the specific noise coming from the hallway behind. They weren't disappointed, as seconds later, a hurtling geth platform encapsulated in blue came crashing into their vicinity as the hallway lit up with gunfire flashes, as several more of the synthetics came into view around the upward rise as they backpedaled, being pushed back by a mass amount of mass effect ordinance, Hannah's team jumping in to catch the AIs in a pincer move, effectively bringing an end to the threat.

A moment later, Kaidan Alenko's form came into view, seconded by Huntress Manis, who was assisting a limping man in an Alliance officer's field uniform up into the chamber, followed by a mass throng of about dozen and a half people, mostly personnel in Serrice University tattered science uniforms, plus a few soldiers, including Sergeant Maldez and Jenkins.

Surprising relief seemed to cross the LT's face as he saw his CO, which turned into a another frown as he saw the slung-over body of Liara with Wrex.

"Commander, is that -,"

"Yes. No time for talking. Is that Lieutenant Ivanov?"

Kaidan nodded but the said man responded for himself.

"Comm – ander – Shepard, thank – you for coming to our aid," he answered with a rich eastern European accent between strained breaths as I noticed a pool of blood on the chest region of his uniform, and he wasn't walking straight on his left leg, being assisted by Manis.

"Shh, shut up," the asari herself said coarsely with a slight tinge of concern to the man as she noticed the harm even a simple action was causing him. She looked at Hannah then, looking concerned, exhausted, but determined all in one.

"His left lung is partially collapsed from shrapnel. Medi-gel is barely holding it together. Virtually everyone here needs some sort of medical attention."

"The Normandy is coming in for exfil. We need to move now, this place is probably coming down because of that mining laser," Hannah said with urgency, looking at everyone. "I need you all to double time it! Those that are fully mobile, help those that aren't. Let's go!" she urged, leading the way towards the exit.

The cave rumbled once more, and rocks actually began to tumble around the mass of people, as if to emphasize the Commander's exhortation, which kicked everyone into gear. Jenkins helped a couple servicemen in the back, while Alenko lent a hand to an asari, even using his biotics to lighten her weight, as the throng rushed to and up the man-made ramparts that led to the surface, several close calls happening as rocks collapsed parts of the railing, but they were almost there. As this occurred, I cast my glance over to the Normandy's underbelly cams as we came in close to the exit, our course triangulated by the team's location markers.

That's when I saw it. Out of the loose volcanic soil hillside, submerged in the silicate was a giant Geth Colossus that was suddenly expanding out of its hybernetic state, telltale light glowing as the Normandy closed in, sending a spike of adrenaline through my veins.

"Joker! Colossus!" I shouted as I tapped my comm.

"Mother – I see it! GARDIANs, target that geth!"

The answer was quick, as the lasers criss-crossed the giant's shields, but so was its response, as an immense ball of energy shot out of AI's cannon, flying too slow to be caught by the ship's kinetic barriers, slamming in close proximity to the GARDIAN array, and the cam I'd been watching, electromagnetically knocking it and our defense out as the ship shook.

-

-

I was moving before I realized truly what I decided, everyone's voices screaming in my ears as disaster was now possible. The Normandy didn't have anything to fight back with without the GARDIAN array, and the ground team was completely unprepared for such a threat as they surfaced. I had to give everyone time. Time to do…something. I didn't know what, but it was the only option if I didn't want to see someone die in the next few moments, whether that be in Engineering, or part of the people on the ground. I was most expendable. I wasn't even meant to be here. No one else needed to die. I assumed being hit with the Colossus's weapons would be relatively painless way to die with the size of its ordinance – and so my mind was made up.

Pressly shouted at me as I sprinted out the door, but I didn't hear him. My mission was once again at the forefront of my mind, blocking out any other stimuli. Except one incessant variable.

Pilgrim, what are you doing? came the calm, but terse voice of the VI Penelope in my mind as I paid no mind to the servicemen giving me bewildered looks as I traversed the stairs with no regard, heading for the emergency access ladder to the cargo bay.

"What I must," I answered, finding the hatch near the medbay, jumping down the whole chute with biotics to slow me, still landing with a slam and a grunt near the Mako's usual position.

Pilgrim, that is a Class 5 threat, there's very little I can do to assist you. You will be terminat –

"Shut. Up." I said with clenched teeth as I saw the halfway-open cargo bay door, and beyond it, the Colossus. My destiny.

Suddenly, two bodily forms were next to me. I looked over, finding Tali and Keenah, both with shotguns at the ready. This served to pull me from my tunnel vision for a moment, but then Keenah simply nodded at me – and both quarians sprinted for the opening.

Something akin to courage formed in me, and I joined them, jumping up and out the dozen feet to the ground, biotics alight as the hairs on my skin stood up.

The Colossus was charging for another shot when Tali and Keenah began blasting, omni-tools awhir as I sent biotic warp after warp at the thing, trying to do something, anything to get its attention. And we did as its shields blossomed with our fire, the construct's head jerking our way, and firing its ordinance.

We scattered, but not fast enough to escape the blast radius, upending me as I flipped, slamming into the ground, and seeing lights. My head was now ringing and my ears nigh deaf as I struggled to stand, and face the threat at least one more time. I noticed the pulse gatlin cannon on the underside of the Colossus as it spun up, pointed straight at me, and I smirked despite it all. If this was what it took.

I erected a biotic bubble as Teirla C'den had taught me, centering the biotic mass around my body as I channeled all my passion and will into the wall of pure zero mass. The cannon fired, each slug feeling like a slap to my body as I grimaced, trying to hold, until I couldn't. Or maybe it couldn't.

Suddenly, there were no more hits to my wall, as I looked up, not understanding. That's when I saw that the Colossus had swerved towards the dig entrance – where my sister, standing strong and tall, despite being bloody and battered, several cuts and bruises adorning her face – had surfaced, shotgun at the ready as she looked from the Colossus, to me, eyes full of righteous indignation, the image in my head of a mythic Valkyrie once again surfacing as apt comparison.

"Normandy team, weapons free!" she shouted over the sounds of exploding magma and heated air, I seeing Kaidan, Jenkins, Alenko, Garrus, Ashley, and Wrex, surfacing from the dig, and releasing all they had at the AI construct.

The team methodically spread out to tag-team the giant, while the others of the dig surfaced as well, Kasara, and several of the scientists providing cover with biotics as the Colossus struggled to multitask as I jumped back into the fray, as did Tali and Keenah.

"Masterson! Biotic pull!" Hannah suddenly shouted at me as I was dispensing warp fire at our enemy, I noticing the biotics of our group illuminating all together, and initiating the intent of grounding the Colossus.

I nodded, reaching out to add my collective energy to the effort, straining as the thing was immensely weighted, its appendages trying to dig in to the loose volcanic soil to stop its descent under the atomic pressure, but to no avail.

In its last moments, the being began charging another desperate shot as I looked on in apprehension – but there was nothing I could do, as I was in the process of bringing it to the ground. It fired right as we brought it down, the mass ball of energy flying over my head, and impacting close to Kasara's biotic barrier specifically, making her cry out as she attempted to hold – but her focus was on both holding the barrier and assisting Ivanov, making her biotics wink out as the wall soaked up some, but not all of the strike. She, Ivanov, and several of the scientists were upended as a shockwave of debris was thrown into the air, taking them with it.

As the dust settled, I glanced across the battlefield, seeing the Colossus was a smoking wreck, then finding Kasara slowly coming to rest on of her knees, before her eyes found inert form of Ivanov, giving her sudden energy as she rushed over, her fingers checking for a pulse.

"No, no, Goddess, no!" she suddenly cried out, and my heart skipped a beat, despite not knowing either one of them. My glazed perception as I came down from the adrenaline rush of…everything suddenly caught another immediate inert form that was closest to me that had been dropped by Wrex in the fight. Liara.

Her body, to my desensitized shock, without warning began convulsing before my very eyes, more horror taking its place in my heart.

"Pressly! Get Chakwas and the medics down here now!" I heard my sister's distant voice, but all I could see was the frail…so frail…asari in front of me, her body giving way to the wounds she received - and I moved, summoning my biotics and placing her in a stasis and pulled her towards me, and my arms.

She dropped into my grip, sweat from her uniform soaking into mine, her weight light, as her convulsions became more rapid. I struggled to maintain my grip on her as I didn't heed anything else, the heat so oppressive, telling my ever-more heavy body to simply move towards the open bay of the Normandy where I saw Chakwas and her two attendants were rushing off the elevator with stretchers towards me, several impatient moments passing before we met in the middle, shouts from her and the medics making no sense to me as they wrenched my charge from me and placed her on the stretcher, the seizures continuing.

She was so helpless. What could I do? I did what I could only think of the moment, grasping her smooth-scaled hand in mine, wondering if the physical touch might bring her out of whatever this was.

As contact was made, her eyes suddenly shot open, startling me as I noticed her pupils were pure black, and as I realized what this meant, I felt a tingling on the back of my neck, then a feeling vertigo and dissociation as if I was not my own, and then the jet black color of her eyes became all of my existence.