Well, this will definitely be the longest chapter in the entire story because I wanted to do this masterful ending justice and thus couldn't cut anything out. It also definitely slowed down my attempts to write ahead in the rest of the story. Don't worry, I'm catching up and I hope this more than makes up for any delays (including the one I accidentally made by forgetting to post this on Sunday :/ ).

Chapter 53: Suicide

In fire and shadow we walk
The enemy that encroaches in wait below
That way lies madness
An end that cannot be avoided
Still I shoulder my fears and my woes
And I descend

You could tell the Omega-4 relay was more dangerous than the other mass relays just by looking at it. It was strange enough to have two relays in the same systems without one of them being an imposing red rather than a vibrant blue. Terra couldn't help but wonder what the ratio was of curious vessels that went through and never returned to ships that were outright scared away because they knew it was more trouble than it was worth and were right. She just hoped they were about to firmly establish a third camp of ships that safely ventured through. Then again, if things went well, she also hoped they would be the only ship in that camp.

"Approaching the relay," Joker announced through the PA as they began to move in.

Terra took up position behind him. "Everyone standby. We're going in."

"Reaper IFF activated," EDI confirmed, "Signal acknowledged."

The IFF hadn't been active for five seconds before Jacob informed them that the drive core was lighting up, which EDI informed them was an unsafe level of electrical discharge that Joker quickly rerouted. Terra didn't take this as a good sign. Still, as they entered the relay, it reacted like any other, drawing the Normandy into its field and catapulting them across space. Everything held tight as hundreds of light-years sped past them until they finally decelerated…to find themselves in the middle of a debris field. Joker reacted remarkably quickly, pulling them up before they could collide with any of the scraps floating through the space around them and then correcting the course once they had a clear path.

Terra didn't know if Joker's heavy sigh was equable to the one she just barely avoided releasing, but she silently agreed with the sentiment that they had come far too close. Hopefully that rush would be enough excitement as they made their way through. But she knew better than to count on that.

As they made their way deeper into the core, Joker looked around at the debris, Terra following close behind. "This must be what's left of all the ships that tried to make it through the relay. Some look ancient."

Terra inspected the remains in question. She could see scraps of familiar construction, though none of it was intact enough for her to tell if it was human or turian or even perhaps belonging to some other species she knew, but there were some very unfamiliar that, as Joker had stated, appeared very old. Was it possible they were Prothean? Had the Protheans once attempted this very mission, trying to chase down the monsters the Reapers had created from their own people? …on second thought, she didn't want to know.

"I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disk," EDI said.

Terra nodded. "Must be the Collector base. Take us in for a closer look." She cast one last glance at the debris surrounding them, the entire core specked with it. "Tread carefully while you're at it."

She was right to make that suggestion. They flew carefully, as slowly as they dared, with the stealth systems engaged. And yet they still found trouble. Three bogies on their tail, presumably Reaper fighters, flew in and started firing right at them. Joker took evasive maneuvers, managing to avoid the worst of it long enough to shoot one down. The next one snuck up behind them and sent out a shot that tore right into the plating but thankfully not through it. Terra made a mental note to thank Jacob and Mordin for putting in the effort on reinforcing the ship's armor.

Just as they were about to either lose the fighters or take another down, though, one seemed to preempt their next maneuver and launched itself at them.

"Alert!" EDI spoke up once the ship was stable, "Hull breach on engineering deck."

Joker ran a quick scan, finding an enemy presence on the lowest deck. "It's in the cargo hold!"

Terra quickly raced to the armory to grab the heavy weapons. "We've got this one," she told Joker before turning to her COMM, "Garrus, Grunt, meet me in the cargo bay!"

Most of the squad had been keeping their weapons on hand and constantly checking the ammo and upgrades ever since they started their approach to the relay, so Garrus and Grunt were ready and waiting when she arrived in the cargo bay. Unfortunately, so was the Oculus. The name was appropriate since the machine was basically a large eye with a laser stare that would tear right through their shields. Terra wasn't afraid of it. She was just furious it was daring to intrude on her ship. So when they saw that their rifles weren't penetrating its armor and Garrus' tech attacks weren't affecting it and they didn't have enough time between attacks to develop a strategy, Terra made the logical choice: she tossed the flamethrower to Grunt and the grenade launcher to Garrus and pulled out a particle beam they had retrieved from Horizon so all three of them could lay into it at once with heavy fire.

Grunt was clearly outright giddy with his choice of battle-master and Garrus was clearly thinking of ways to pay her back when they were out of here.

The concentrated fire did manage to chase the Oculus out of the bay momentarily, but it was in that moment that things really got worse. Joker came over the COMM to inform them that the only way they were losing the rest of the machines chasing after them was to shake them off in the debris field. If anyone else was at the helm, Terra would start frantically trying to talk him down; even with Joker doing it, she was nervous with the decision. But he was right they didn't have a choice, though EDI cautioned them that the shields weren't designed to take very many collisions, so they would have to either not make any or hope that the upgrades held. As it was, they had to reroute non-critical power to make sure the plan ultimately worked, which meant turning off the kinetic stabilizers. Terra, Garrus, and Grunt all had to hold onto something as the ship rattled and rolled. Through the hull breach EDI was keeping shielded, Terra could see just how deep in they'd dove. Which was worth it when she also saw the explosions going off behind them and the worst of the field finally disappearing in the distance.

"Damage report," she heard Joker over the COMM.

"Kinetic barriers stable at 30%," EDI answered, "No significant damage."

Terra breathed a lot easier to hear that. After she thanked Jacob, she was going to have to do something special for Tali.

She'd no sooner processed that relief than the Oculus came back. Garrus and Grunt took cover as quickly as she did, all three of them drawing their weapons at the same time. This round against the machine was a lot harder since it appeared to have suddenly learned to flank them while it was outside, so Terra had to keep on the move and take a few shots whenever it was physically possible. The thing did seem to consider her a priority target, giving Garrus and Grunt a few opportunities to blindside it and…oh. Terra just got a crazy idea. Here's hoping it was just crazy enough to work. She waited until the Oculus pulled away for a moment before she turned to explain the plan to Garrus and Grunt, who agreed it was utterly insane but no less insane than some other things she had tried and succeeded at, and preparing to act on it. So when the Oculus came back in, Garrus jumped straight in to draw its fire, Grunt stormed in to head-butt it (that was definitely the hardest surface he'd head-butted, yet he still shook it off somehow) and put the Firestorm to use, and Terra leaped up from behind her cover to drop down on the Oculus and fire into it point-blank where it couldn't fire back. By the time the thing managed to shake her off, the three of them had worn it down enough that it stopped functioning and finally exploded.

Garrus took a moment to catch his breath. "I think it's gonna stay dead this time."

Terra nodded as she recovered. "Right. No more jumping on things for a while."

Before Garrus could retort, Joker came over her COMM to let her know they were about to clear the debris field. The three of them headed back up to the bridge together, watching as the last of the starship graveyard they had arrived in fell behind them. With those obstructions out of view, there was nothing to obscure the station in the distance from sight. It was like an insect hive built over a metal skeleton, rocky and disturbing and more alien than any station in the galaxy Terra had set foot on before. It raised her curiosity for how the Protheans would have reacted to seeing it, but since those questions would never be answered, she focused on how badly she wanted to blow the whole base out of the sky.

"See if you can find a place to land without drawing attention," Terra told Joker as they moved in carefully.

Joker winced. "Too late. Looks like they're sending out an old friend to greet us."

Those were words Terra didn't want to hear. One look out the viewport, though, proved him right. A hatch in the base was opening to let the Collector ship that had plagued her life and death for two years crawl into the open space between them to bar their path and attack. Terra was far more infuriated to see this thing than she was to see the base itself. But there were ways of airing that out now: "We've got a Thanix cannon for a reason. Use it!"

Joker smiled at that order and carried it out.

One shot tore right through the enemy ship's armor. It was all Terra could do not to break out into a cheer at the sight of the vessel taking damage from the reincarnation of the very frigate it had once destroyed. She still wound up clutching Garrus' hand behind her back and restraining what would under any other circumstances have been a jump for joy. "Get in close and finish them off!"

"Everyone hold on!" Joker affirmed, "Gonna be a wild ride!"

It was. They were still conserving the power that would normally go to the kinetic stabilizers, so they all lost their footing every time the ship turned, which happened several times to maneuver swiftly and skillfully under and around the Collector ship. It was all worth it to see the fireworks that came the moment they battered through the ship and tore it to shreds.

So Terra's to-do list for after the mission was over was now: 1) thank Jacob, 2) quadruple-thank Mordin, 3) have a girls' night with Tali, and 4) seal off the battery to make out with Garrus nonstop for a few hours and call it gratitude for the cannon. Actually, she could get a head-start on that last one by right now throwing her arms around her turian and giving a quick kiss of victory that he wordlessly confirmed was both greatly appreciated and reciprocated.

"LOOK OUT!" Miranda suddenly called.

A shockwave ran through the space outside from the destruction of the Collector ship. Apparently, the celebrations were going to have to wait, because the entire ship buckled under the force.

"Mass effect field generators unresponsive," EDI announced, "All hands brace for impact."

They braced all they could, but it still threw them when the left wing collided with the base. Joker corrected as best he was able, yet even that did nothing, resulting in a crash landing that they were very fortunate landed with the underside of the ship touched down on the base rather than any other messier configuration. When it was over, they had a dozen hull breaches, some broken infrastructure, and a massive power loss. No casualties, though, and they had landed at their target destination with at atmosphere to accommodate them, so, as far as Terra was concerned, still technically a win.

Terra pulled herself together quickly. "Is everyone OK?"

While her squad-mates pulled themselves up with some brief affirmative answers, Joker leaned back in his chair with a groan. "I think I broke a rib…or all of them."

"Multiple core systems overloaded during the crash," EDI stated, "Restoring them will take time."

Miranda shook her head. "We always knew this was likely a one-way trip."

Terra wasn't letting that stand. "We do whatever it takes to take down the Collector base, but I'm not losing my ship again or anyone on it."

Joker smirked. "Glad you're in charge."

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

"So if we're lucky, they might not even know we're alive."

A slim chance, but Terra was taking any advantage they could get at this point. "Everyone to the COMM room!" she ordered to the whole squad, "Time to move in."

Five minutes later, the 13 members of the Normandy squad were gathered in the COMM room, all preparing their weapons as EDI compiled the data they needed to establish their battle plan. Once Terra had confirmation everyone was ready, she took the front and had EDI display her scans on the holo-table.

"You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control center here," EDI explained, highlighting the point on the scan as well as their current position.

Jacob checked the scans. "That means going through the heart of the station, right past this massive energy signature."

Terra looked at the signature. "That's the central chamber. If the crew or any of the colonists are still alive, they're probably holding them there."

"Looks like there are two main routes. Might be a good idea to split up to keep the Collectors off-balance then regroup in the central chamber."

"No good," Miranda countered, "Both routes are blocked. See these doors? They only open from the inside."

As much as Terra didn't like the idea of splitting up, this seemed to be their only option, so she started looking for a way around it. "There's always another way." She quickly ran through the scan until she found something. "Here! This ventilation shaft opens on our end and comes out on the other side of the doors. We can send someone to sneak through that way."

"Sounds like a suicide mission," Jacob said, ignoring the irony of his statement. Then he turned pointedly to Terra. "I volunteer."

"I appreciate the thought, Jacob," Miranda said, "but you couldn't shut down the security systems in time. We need to send a tech expert."

Tech experts they had. Garrus and Mordin had more than a few technical skills, after all, and they had some genuine hacking aficionados in the form of Tali and Legion. When it came down to it, though, there was one person Terra trusted more than anyone when it came to tech conundrums. So Terra made the call: "Tali, you're up."

Tali smiled behind her helmet. "I won't let you down."

No, Terra couldn't help but think, You never do. "The rest of us will break into two teams and head down each passage. That should at least draw the Collectors' attention away from the vents."

"I'll lead the second fire-team, Shepard," Miranda stepped up, "We'll meet you on the other side of the doors."

"Not so fast, cheerleader," Jack scoffed, "Nobody wants to take orders from you."

"This isn't a popularity contest! Lives are at stake! Shepard, you need someone who can command loyalty through experience."

Terra had a problem with this one. Miranda had been the logical choice since she was used to taking charge and had technically been her XO this whole time. But Jack's concern was genuinely valid, so it had to be someone else. And there was only person on the team who knew how to lead like she did, who she would trust with her squad-mates' lives. She hesitated to say it, though, since she didn't like the thought of going in there separately. But it had to be done. They both knew it. So she steeled herself and said it: "Garrus. Second team's yours."

The rest of the team each seemed unsurprised (because who else could she possibly have picked?) or astonished (because she literally never went anywhere without him except for Samara's hunt on Omega) while Garrus himself was stunned. He hadn't been expecting that. As Miranda was giving some offhanded comment about "at least he knows what he's doing," he looked at Terra as if to ask if she was sure about this. She answered with a reassuring look as she nodded, letting him know she trusted him and she could make it without him long enough to get this done, if only because he was only a COMM away. The last time he had led a team hadn't ended well, but he knew by now that she understood him better than he understood himself. If she thought he could do this, if she had faith in him, there was no point in arguing. So he nodded and prepared to step up.

This was the point at which Commander Shepard was to give a rousing speech to the squad before they started assigning people to the first and second teams. In this instance, though, Terra felt the need to inspire outweighed the need for eloquence and adjusted course accordingly: "We don't know what we're gonna find there. We don't even know how many they've taken. But what matters is making sure they don't take one more. We are stopping at nothing to save our people, every last one of them, and to stop the Collectors once and for all. We stand together and we cannot fall." She drew her pistol, turning to lead them into the fray. "They wanted to know. Let's go show them what we're made of."

Once everyone was in position to move out, it was just a matter of dividing the team. Tali to the vents. Terra, Grunt, Miranda, Legion, Mordin, and Kasumi down the main hall. Garrus, Zaeed, Jacob, Jack, Samara, and Thane down the secondary corridor. It was remarkable Terra and Garrus were able to part ways with nothing more than a few meaningful looks (even that much drew some knowing smirks from some of the other squad members), yet they managed nonetheless. In a few moments, the mission was underway.

Terra took the time to watch everyone head out when they moved in, making sure no unforeseen speed bumps impeded them right at the start. Once she was satisfied on that count and had everyone on the team accounted for over COMMs, she led them into the base itself. As was to be expected, the Collectors caught sight of them before long and began to deploy to hamper their progress. With five people behind her, it barely slowed them down at first. Then, of course, Harbinger showed up. Terra took that as a comfort, though, since this thing apparently could only take command of one Collector at a time and thus couldn't be causing problems on Garrus' side.

Of course, the fact that Garrus' side was advancing so easily was pretty suspicious to the turian. It was nice to be leading a team again, even in an assault of this magnitude, but half his mind was constantly thinking of her. So it was merely a tactical maneuver to keep his head in the game when he ducked down to reload his rifle and hacked into her COMM so he could hear what was going on at the other end of the base. Nothing more than tactics. Really. There was definitely something reassuring to hearing her voice in his ear when he was scoping down his next target. It was worth whatever her response would be to this particular action. …or maybe he just wouldn't tell her. Maybe.

Terra and her half of the team held their ground with relative ease (Grunt's ferocity coupled with Miranda and Mordin's prowess at disabling their enemies' defense was ridiculously effective) despite the obstacles slowing them down. It was Tali who met with actual trouble. The vents were sealed in eight different places to reroute the heat flow, blocking Tali's progress through the shaft and heating up the portion she was occupying. Luckily, there were maintenance panels on Terra's side that Legion was easily able to hack into to disable the coupling units and open the seals. Unluckily, all of the panels were in very exposed positions and even the geth needed a few seconds to work through the system, so the rest of them had to cover it. Knowing Tali was potentially in danger until all those seals were out of place, though, motivated Terra to push just a little harder. She wasn't letting the Collectors get in her way now.

Within a matter of minutes, Garrus' half of the team had reached the doors. While the others were watching his back, he properly accessed Terra's COMM to inform her "We're in position. Are you almost clear on your end?"

Terra finished off a Collector and turned to look at Legion, disabling the fifth of the eight seals. "Uh…almost. How long can you wait?"

Garrus turned to watch Jack send out a shockwave that outright killed half of the Collectors behind them and lined up two of them for headshots from Thane. He shrugged. "Long enough."

She believed him, but she still signaled the others to pick up the pace. It helped that Legion seemed to have figured out the weaknesses in the Collectors' system and was hacking through the vent seals much quicker now. It also helped that Grunt had gone full blood-rage by now and was tearing through even Harbinger once Miranda had warped through its armor. Most of all, it helped that Terra was taking out all of the emotions that had been boiling inside her the past two years (yes, even when she was dead) on every single Collector that crossed her path with the intention of keeping her from helping Tali and meeting Garrus, that had put her people in danger and taken two years of her life away when her family and her mate had needed her. If they touched her crew, they would find a worse fate than getting spaced was waiting for them.

The final panel was at the end of a mad dash past what had to be three dozen Collectors. Legion preempted Terra's command to circumvent them, though, over-clocking its barriers to run in and hit the controls. Terra calmed down a little bit to know Tali was in position and out of danger, leading her team up to the doors to wait.

Tali hacked through the door on Garrus' side without a hitch. Garrus quickly led his half of the team through. Seeker swarms poured into the chamber behind them, forcing them to hold position until Tali got the door closed.

Unfortunately, Terra could only wait so long. The Collectors they'd been forced to duck past had called backup. "We're in position!" she called through her COMM, "We need this door open now!"

The second Garrus heard her, he took action, pulling Tali away from the door to get her to the other one. "Go! We'll cover you!"

Tali nodded and raced over, setting to work on the controls. "Something's wrong! The door's stuck!"

Terra had to fight the urge to panic when she heard that (and fight Grunt's urge to head-butt the door to "loosen it"). She focused on holding their position and making sure no one got hurt in the process. Tali would do it.

And she did. Before long, the door opened, letting Terra and her half of the team race through. The obvious downside being that the door was now stuck open with nearly 100 Collectors on the other side.

Garrus had just managed to get the other door closed when he heard Terra ordering the others to fall back. Not happening. He quickly ordered the rest of the team to regroup. "Suppressing fire! Don't let anything through that door!"

Even with all of them working together, it was a difficult task to keep the Collectors at bay. They managed anyway, Tali finally slamming the door shut and sealing it behind them.

Terra took this chance to catch her breath since she wasn't sure they would get another one. "Nice work, Tali."

Tali nodded. "Let's not do that again."

Terra smiled as she agreed, giving the quarian a friendly hand to bring her back to her feet.

"Shepard!" Miranda called as they opened the path to the central chamber, "You need to see this."

Terra wasn't sure she wanted to, but she went along with it, following Miranda down the path. As the others entered behind her, she took in the scene before her. Tubes and pipes ran along the ceiling of the entire chamber. The metal walls were lined with the pods that had carried away the Collectors' human captives. It was about as populated by them as the ship had been. Against her better judgment, Terra approached one and found that these pods could be seen through, revealing one of the missing colonists inside. The rest of the pods were clearly occupied, likely with the stolen Normandy crew. Terra wasn't letting this stand, quickly scanning the pod for some means of opening it before…before…

The pod was going active somehow. And the colonist inside woke up when it did. Terra moved fast, trying to get the pod open, but there was no way she could have. The colonist inside died clawing at the door as her blood filled what became her coffin.

Terra set aside her horror and disgust in favor of her drive to act, calling out to the entire squad to open every pod they could reach. It took a frantic moment for any of them to figure out how to penetrate the seals on the pods before they managed to get one open. After that, it was as if they had all opened at once, letting out every surviving captive they could find. All of their lost crew members were accounted for, though none of the colonists were, and all of them collapsed before finally coming back to themselves.

Dr. Chakwas was the last one outing, falling into Terra's arms as she slowly awoke. "…Shepard? You came for us."

Terra helped her up. "Was there ever a doubt I would? No man left behind, doctor."

Chakwas managed a small smile before the weight of the situation collapsed back on her. "The colonists were…processed. Those swarms of little robots, they…melted their bodies into gray liquid and pumped it through these tubes."

Terra had seen the last one. Now the horror and disgust of the sight was compounded with outrage. "We're shutting them down. Hard."

"We've done well so far," Miranda nodded, "Let's hope we can finish the job."

Terra turned on her COMM. "Joker. You got a fix on our position?"

"Roger that, commander," Joker answered, "All those tubes lead into the main control room. It's right above you. The room is blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in."

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

Terra started strategizing again. They didn't need to hide if they could hold the swarms at bay. They needed a shield. "What about biotics?"

Samara nodded. "Yes, I could maintain a field to get a small team through if everyone stayed close."

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

Yeah, in theory. Terra wasn't taking chances with her team's life. They needed someone they knew had enough power to keep up something like that for a long time, which left Samara herself or… "Jack's with me. We'll head through the side chamber while everyone else goes down the main passage, then we'll open the security door from the other side and regroup in the control chamber."

Garrus didn't give himself a chance to hesitate this time before stepping up. "We'll keep the defenders busy, you slip around the back."

"What about the rest of the crew, Shepard?" Chakwas spoke up, "We're in no shape to fight."

"We've got enough systems online to do a pickup," Joker answered, "but we'll need to land a ways back from your position."

"We can't afford to go back, Shepard," Miranda asserted, "not now."

"No, but they'll never make it without help," Terra countered, "Jacob can take them back."

"On it," Jacob nodded, "Joker, send me the coordinates, I'm on my way."

Terra quickly readied her weapon. "Let's get moving while we still can. Grunt, Legion, you're on me."

Garrus didn't like leaving her again so soon after regrouping, but it was only for a few more moments before they could stick together through the final push, so he resigned himself to watching her go and hoping Grunt and Legion would be sufficient to watch her back. Besides, she wanted him to protect the rest of the squad in her stead, and he wasn't about to let her down. So he took up the lead and went to the main passage.

Terra was glad she told Jack to take the precaution of creating the shield before they even entered the corridor, because "overrun" had been an understatement. She could barely see five feet past the barrier for swarms upon swarms of tiny robotic insects. Having seen was those things did to people, she told Grunt and Legion to keep close as they moved in (Legion was a geth, so it might not have the same reaction to the swarms, but Terra wasn't willing to test that). The corridor itself seemed to be fairly short, so it wouldn't be so bad if maintaining the barrier didn't slow Jack down. It did, though, so they just had to deal with the feeling of being closed in by a flickering cloud that wanted them dead. Not to mention their COMMs failed almost immediately and Terra lost her link to the rest of the team. It was almost a relief when the Collectors showed up.

Garrus wasn't so relieved. When he had the second team ready to start storming the main passage, he called Terra to let her know and was met with static. He tried hacking in again, only to be met with interference on her end. She was out of contact until they reached the end of the hall. Not good. He forced himself not to worry, though, because he was no good to anyone if he was busy worrying about her. He just had to trust Jack to keep her safe until they reached the next chamber. Honestly, that was harder than leading the team against everything the Collectors threw at them.

Terra, on the other hand, was again feeling like Garrus had the better end of the split. Not only did he have more backup and maneuverability than her this time, she was still drawing Harbinger's fire. Jack couldn't even help them because it was taking all she had to hold the barrier in place—a barrier that she could only keep thick enough to keep out the swarms and not to actually hold off enemy fire, at least not as much as Terra would prefer. In this particular situation, Grunt was a bit out of his element, seeing as how he couldn't charge anybody without running right into the swarms, but he just made use of his shotgun to take down all the hostiles that came too close while Terra and Legion sniped down the rest. She was amazed how well she worked with the geth (not quite as well as with Garrus or Tali, but extraordinarily close); she was going to have to bring it out more, maybe even make friends with it.

Making friends with a geth. Still not how she had seen things going when she started this mission.

They moved in short bursts between waves, keeping their heads down in case any got the jump on them. They fell into a rhythm within the first two, all working together from their small sector and holding their opponents at bay. It was only when they were approaching the end of the corridor and a series of husks began to flood in that they actually met with some difficulty. Terra and Legion were forced to fall back as far as they could and go on the defensive to avoid being flanked. At the same time, though, Grunt was able to charge in again, back to joyously blasting his opponents apart, and the husks couldn't last long against that. The Scion at the end was the true obstacle, one Terra and Legion were fully prepared to combat with the full force of their rifles…until Grunt charged it at the edge of the barrier, tore off its arm, and beat it to death with it.

Terra blinked. "Grunt? Remind me not to get on your bad side." Once she was sure they were clear, she signaled Jack to keep moving. Jack was struggling now—even she couldn't maintain a barrier like this forever. They were approaching the exit, though, so Terra supported her as best she could for the last few meters. It was working well enough until they actually started closing in on the door. Then the reinforcements came. Legion and Grunt were able to hold off the worst of it so they could hurry, but Jack was still having trouble just staying upright.

Until Terra opened the door to let Legion and Grunt hurry into the next chamber. Then Jack turned right around, called all the biotic strength she had left, and unleashed it in one massive shockwave that threw every living thing in the corridor back. As she made sure Jack was recovering enough to get past the door and seal it behind them, Terra made a note not to get on her bad side either.

Once the door was sealed, they were clear of the interference and their COMMs sputtered to life again. Terra would take comfort from that if not for the first thing she heard being a voice she loved driven frantic. "—Shepard, do you copy? TERRA! Where are you?!"

She answered as quickly as she could. "I'm here, Garrus. What's going on?"

"We're pinned down at the door and taking heavy fire!"

Terra moved faster than she ever had in her life, pushing Legion to the nearby control panel to open the door as she readied her rifle. She was not letting anything hurt her turian. "We're coming, just hold on!"

Legion had the door open in two seconds flat, immediately exposing the entire chamber to a volley of Collector fire. Once Terra was certain everyone was accounted for, she signaled Legion to slam it shut before anything else got through. And the exact second it did so, Garrus took a shot to the gut, between the plates in his armor. Terra reacted instantly, stowing her gun and racing to his side with the medi-gel ready to go.

He took her by the wrist when she arrived. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

She sighed with relief, laying her head on his once she was sure it really was just a flesh wound. "Don't cut it so close, hon." After exchanging some lighthearted smirks in response to the comment, she turned to check on everyone else. No injuries to report so far, so she pinged her COMM.

"Mr. Taylor's group just arrived, Shepard," EDI answered, "No casualties."

One less weight off her chest then. They were nearly home-free, too. Going exactly as planned for once. She had hoped, but she wouldn't have bet on that. Things never went to plan.

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

"Commander?" Joker cut back in, "You've got a problem. Hostiles massing just outside the door. Won't be long until they bust through."

Ah. There was the kink in the plan, then. Terra moved to secure the platform, wasting no time in telling the rest of squad "We need to establish a rear guard to keep the Collectors from overwhelming us."

Miranda agreed. "Pick a team to go with you. Everyone else will stay here and defend this position."

Terra had barely turned to check ranks before Garrus and Tali had clambered onto the platform alongside her. "I didn't even say anything yet."

Tali smirked. "You didn't have to, Terra."

Garrus nodded. "We're right behind you."

Terra couldn't help but smile. "You always are." She turned to the rest of the squad. "We've made it this far. They're not stopping us now." She smiled again, letting her commander side fade to show how she had truly come to regard them all—a family. "Make me proud." She had no doubt they would.

The platform carried them halfway to the main control chamber before it stalled to allow an ambush by Collector forces. With Garrus and Tali behind her, Terra had little trouble tearing through them. All they were doing by throwing themselves at the Normandy crew was giving said a crew another platform to carry them across the gap.

"We're at the heart of the station," Terra spoke into her COMM as they began to near their final destination, "EDI, what can you tell us?"

"All the tubes lead to a large structure," EDI informed them, "It is emitting both organic and synthetic energy signatures. …Shepard…if my calculations are correct…the structure…is a Reaper."

No sooner had the AI said so than they emerged in the chamber to see it. Terra shuddered at the sight of it. "Not just any Reaper…" It wasn't exactly a Reaper like Sovereign. It was only half formed, for one thing…and that form was in the shape of a human.

It wasn't even Terra that seemed the most disgusted by this revelation. It was Garrus. As the platform clicked into place and allowed them to move freely again, he set to snarling at the mere sight of it. Those were his mate's people that had been taken and experimented on and harvested to create that thing, her kind's form it was mocking. He wouldn't stand for it. "This thing is abomination. EDI! How do we destroy it?!" He said it with as much conviction as he held his rifle. He was destroying it no matter what the answer was.

"The tubes feeding the organic material into the Reaper are a structural weakness," EDI answered, "Destroying them will cause the Reaper to fall."

Garrus would've scoped down all four of the tubes in question right that second had they not deployed shields. It was likely the shields would come up again when the next samplings of "organic material" came through, but before that could happen, another wave of Collectors came in to head them off. Terra and Garrus kept their sniper rifles at the ready, leaving Tali and her shotgun and drone to hold off any hostiles that came too close. Harbinger was coming out every 30 seconds now, but Terra knew how to deal with it. The Collectors soon learned the main issue with facing down Terra Shepard, Garrus Vakarian, and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy at the same time: on the rare, rare chance you manage to land even a single hit on one of them, the other two react with astonishing ferocity. The monsters that use to be Prothean fell all the same. Almost immediately afterwards, the tubes in the ceiling lowered their shields. Terra and Garrus each let off two shots and all four tubes shattered, the entire proto-Reaper collapsing into the abyss below.

Terra quickly made her way from the platform to the control center. "Ready the Normandy, Joker," she called into her COMM, "I'm about to overload this place and blow it sky-high."

"Roger that, commander," Joker answered, "The rest of the team is holding. We'll be ready on your signal."

Terra was holding him to that. She knelt down to open the central control and expose it—

"Shepard."

One word from that voice over her COMM and Terra was fuming. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! She was about to lay into the Illusive Man and ask him how he was even connected to their COMMs. She elected to forego the second part of that—it was fairly obvious that either someone on the crew was giving him one last chance to appeal to her (with either terrible or perfect timing) or some of the surveillance EDI had warned her was still in place on the ship (once the shackles had been removed and permitted her to say so) was connecting him to their communications. Instead, she settled for "I'll give you five seconds to get off of this line."

"Don't be hasty, commander. I'm here to offer a compromise."

She'd had enough of compromising with this idiot. It was only because she was busy exposing the controls that she didn't hang up so hard she might crush her COMM.

"I'm looking over the schematics from EDI's scans."

Surveillance then. The second they were back on the ship, she was making use of the time they would have newly acquired to have EDI and Miranda help her track down every last device perpetuating that problem and smashing them all with a hammer.

"A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors but leave the technology intact. This could be our chance. They were building a Reaper. That kind of information could give us the edge we need."

"And you think I would let you have it?! Why by all the spirits would I ever trust you?!"

"Shepard, think this through. I didn't discard you because I knew your value. Don't be so quick to discard this facility."

That was as much as the squad was willing to sit through.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Tali stepped in, "You didn't discard her?!"

"Not to discount the fact that you saved her life," Garrus added, "but you had no right to do what you did to her!"

"You know what?" Miranda cut in from the other side of the line, "He's right. We didn't. And you don't have any right to desecrate the memory of the people who died here either!"

"Miranda," the Illusive Man retorted, "don't be shortsighted! Tell them—!"

"Or what? You'll kill me? Replace me next?"

"I gave you an order!"

"I noticed. I just don't care. Shepard doesn't answer to you, and as of this moment, neither do I."

"I'm with her," Jacob added, "Consider this my resignation."

Terra smiled. Good to see she had a team she could count on. "EDI? Do me a favor and delete that frequency this time."

"Shepard!" the Illusive Man tried one last time, "Think about all Cerberus has done for you! You—!" It didn't matter what he said next. EDI made sure they didn't need to hear it.

Terra had already cut her ties with Cerberus, but it was nice to slam that door behind her and ensure Jacob and Miranda followed along. She would take some real pleasure in the finality of it when she was sure her ship was wholly and indisputably hers. First things first, though, she finished her work on the controls, letting Tali step in to complete the hack itself and set the overload. "Let's get moving. We've got ten minutes before this entire station explodes."

That was when the platforms started shaking.

"…please don't tell me there's a Reaper behind us."

Tali winced with dread as she looked behind them and saw a metallic hand reach up from below to grab the farthest platform. "OK. I won't tell you."

Terra groaned, grabbing Garrus and Tali and ducking down as the proto-Reaper emerged to send an energy blast out in all directions that would have decimated their shields if not them. "Nothing's ever simple."

In this particular instance, truer words were never spoken. The proto-Reaper was utterly invulnerable to their fire except in its eyes and exposed heart, which were only visible when it was popping up to attack, and the Collectors were still coming. Seeing as how poking their heads up for more than a few seconds or changing their position with the proto-Reaper attacking the platforms themselves, Terra told Garrus and Tali to stay down with her and not go anywhere. Tali quickly switched to her pistol and called her drone to guard their perimeter while Terra and Garrus started sniping the proto-Reaper through the eyes as quickly as they could every time it dared to peer out at them. In her head, Terra was ticking down the ten minutes left to them to clear out and frantically searching for a weakness to exploit so they could finish this thing off and run. Neither Garrus nor Tali seemed to have any special attacks that prove an advantage over even those weakest points in the monstrosity's armor. If Mordin hadn't upgraded their sniper rifles so well, shooting it would be an even slower solution. Think, Terra, think, there's always something.

That's when she heard the now eerily familiar sound of Harbinger "Assuming direct control."

…

Light bulb.

She didn't give herself a chance to talk herself out of this or even explain what crazy idea she was about to carry out to Garrus and Tali. She just told her confused teammates to cover her while still staying down and started circling around. There wasn't much time to move between attacks from the proto-Reaper, so she made full use of any cybernetics enhancing her speed as she snuck up behind Harbinger, who was thankfully distracted temporarily by Chatika. Then when the proto-Reaper stuck its head out again, she did what was indisputably the craziest thing she had done so far (yes, including tackling two different krogan battle-masters and a YMIR mech) and jumped out to draw the fire of both the proto-Reaper and Harbinger.

And then ducked down when they both fired, causing the proto-Reaper's attack to incinerate Harbinger's puppet while the energy blast it had set off flew into the Reaper embryo's exposed heart.

"Has anyone ever told you you're absolutely insane?!" Tali asked when Terra dove back down to their level.

Terra smirked with a shrug. "Worked, didn't it?"

Naturally, that was the moment at which the proto-Reaper started struggling to pull itself back up again.

"…sort of."

Tali rolled her eyes behind her helmet and took it from there, one shot from her pistol and a self-destruct from Chatika finishing off the titanic abomination. "You're welcome."

Things still weren't any simpler, though. Just as they abandoned their cover, the proto-Reaper came crashing down…sending the platforms they were standing on tumbling down. Garrus and Terra just barely managed to keep their footing, but Tali stumbled and started falling. Terra reacted without even thinking, diving into a slide to reach out and catch her. Terra only managed to catch her as she was falling off the edge, but the platform they were on was just level enough for them both to get back on with Garrus' help. No sooner were they out of immediate danger, though, than the platform outright dropped.

The next thing Terra knew, she was collapsed on a floor near the end of the chamber. She quickly pulled herself together and checked everything—Garrus and Tali were right there with her, shaken up but OK; they still had two minutes before the detonation; COMMs were functioning. She rushed over to help Garrus and Tali back to their feet to get ready to run.

"Commander!" Joker came over the COMM just as they were back on their feet, "Come on, Shepard, do you read?"

"I'm here, Joker," she answered, "Did the ground team make it?"

"Everyone's fine, they all got back onboard. We're just waiting for you."

Terra had been so busy fighting for her own life that she hadn't realized just how much she was worrying for her team. Hearing they all made it went far beyond relief.

"Human."

She'd celebrate later.

Garrus and Tali only needed to hear one word and see the seeker swarms emerging to start running. Terra took a few shots to let them get ahead, but it did nothing to deter the robot bugs, so she stowed her pistol again and raced after her companions. They had one minute left.

"You have changed nothing."

They had a clear shot through a corridor that led outside. Terra pinged Joker's COMM to make sure the Normandy would be ready to meet them there. Then she caught up to Garrus and Tali and kept running. 45 seconds.

"Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater."

More Collectors were coming out of the woodwork to slow them down, but Tali was able to hold them off with some help from Chatika. The exit was in sight. 30 seconds.

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

The Normandy did indeed fly in to meet them there, hovering in place so Joker could open the portside airlock and, in a rare show of firearm proficiency, lay down some covering fire. Garrus hurried in to jump aboard, Tali close behind. Terra was right behind them until a collapsing platform came down and broke the rock path leading up to the jump. But Terra didn't stop. She was about to see how far those Cerberus cybernetics could get her. She got as much of a running start as she could then jumped off of the edge, reaching for the airlock. She just barely made it, clinging to the floor. Garrus and Tali were right there and quick to pull her up. The moment she was back inside the airlock, she slammed down on the door controls and cut them off from the Collectors' fire, letting Joker drop the gun and hobble back to the pilot's seat.

"Detonation in 10," EDI warned, "9…8—"

"Yeah, we get the gist of it, EDI!" Joker snapped, "Everyone hold on!"

Terra was rooted to the bridge as they turned to fly away. Her eyes were glued to the viewport to watch the Collector base disappear into the distance.

And explode.

Once the Normandy had safely jumped away, the entire squad gathered, celebrating at the knowledge that it was finally over, that they'd done it, that they had won and all walked out alive. Grunt was still overjoyed at how glorious their final stand had been. Several of the others took the time to extol or support Terra's final decision, Miranda and EDI promising to help her remove any and all remaining Cerberus surveillance from the ship. Joker was handling some intel EDI had managed to compile over the Reapers, including evidence that "Harbinger" was one of them. The crewmen were still taking the time to display their gratitude for the rescue. Tali outright hugged Terra.

Garrus didn't get the chance to do anything before Terra jumped to kiss him triumphantly, ignoring the smirks and eye rolls from their squad-mates. He returned the embrace instantly, one arm wrapped around her waist to keep her close as the other drifted up to run his talons through her hair. He was so enamored with the sensation that he was reluctant to separate until the time came he had to breathe.

She stayed close, her every breath a warm and gentle caress on his scars. "Let's call home."

He smiled. Now that there was no question of their survival odds, there was no reason they couldn't give their family the good news they were undoubtedly needing. All of it. Seeing them again would certainly feel like confirmation that the worst was behind them. They needed that. "Tonight."

She clung to him, looking forward to the reunion and the period of peace they had won, however brief it might end up being.

They had braved the core itself and conquered it. Nothing was going to stop them now.