Kal looked through the binoculars, his horse snorting and pawing the rocks impatiently.

Kal absently reached forward and patted the steeds neck, "Shhh… calm Nehya, we shall be moving soon; I promise." He mumbled, while the horse flicked its ears in annoyance. After a minute he spotted it, the next village they would be liberating. Kal gave an absent huff, that damned word had resulted in more combat experience for him in the past few months; than in his seven years in the Migrant Fleet Marines.

He noted idly that he was turning twenty seven in about a month; he wondered how humans celebrated their Lifedays. Ash had told him how she had celebrated her twenty first Lifeday; that being getting absolutely wasted, and waking up mostly naked in a dumpster.

He watched as several Technicals patrolled around the village; and noted with distaste that they were rounding up Men and Boys and taking them into the biggest building in the village.

Kal had to resist the urge to growl in anger; as he watched children as young as Ara and Nek being taken.

"Sir? What happen?"

Kal lowered the binoculars and looked behind him with a sad smile; Ara looking up at him with wide eyes, her Lee-Enfeild still slung across her back as she tried to look around him to see down into the valley.

Her long black hair fell in front of her face, preventing her from seeing; and Kal quickly spun the horse around and guided it down away from the ridge line; "Nothing Important Ara." He replied in Dari.

It had become a part of their lessons, since the twins could now speak English somewhat coherently; and he and Ash had a basic understanding of how to speak Dari, the two would speak in Dari while the twins would speak in English when around each other to help increase fluency. They would only speak their native tongues to correct the other or ask for a word.

A huff drew him out of his thoughts, and he looked down to see the girl crossing her arms and looking down; her tanned skin and brown eyes reminding him of Ash in that pose. His amusement and thoughts were interrupted when she said in Dari, "You never let us do anything…" And she sounded close to tears.

Kal immediately hopped off the horse, and held out his hands; and Ara stared for a moment, before reluctantly allowing Kal to lift her down. Finding a big rock, he sat down and gestured for her to do the same.

"Ara… Ash and I only want to protect you and Nek. You told us about your parents…" Kal trailed off when Ara shuddered, and acting on instinct; he drew her into a sideways hug, which the girl quickly returned.

"You want to protect us from seeing all the violence; but we have already lived a life of one." Ara replied sadly.

Kal nodded slowly, "Perhaps you have, but that does not mean you need to continue living one."

Ara looked out over the village. "What other choice do we have? You and the Yōulíng will depart once you are done here; then Nek and I will go back to fighting." There was a resignation decades older that Ara should know in her voice.

Kal pulled her into a deeper hug, putting his other arm around her; and the girl unconsciously snuggled into his arms. He smiled lightly, remembering what he had told Nomad back when they had their little reunion on the Citadel; So this is what it's like… He thought.

After a moment, he said; "Ara… Ash and I would rather die than leave you and your brother behind." He smiled again as the girl looked up at him, distrust in her eyes; but also hope.

"You would take us to the stars?"

"We will." Kal promised.

I trotted my horse up to the last outcropping of cover in the entire valley; that being a giant rock that had probably been carried down the last time there was a massive rainstorm and flood.

Probably a few hundred years ago; if I were to lobby a guess.

I swung off the back, and plopped down onto the ground with a grunt; I may have spent the past few months riding this horse, but that didn't mean it was any more comfortable than the first time I had ridden the stupid thing.

I pulled my riding goggles down from above my jeep cap's brim, and quickly flicked on the night vision capabilities while unslinging my Beowulf and sweeping the series of shallow trenches that lead to the Village.

Looks like Kal was right, they do dig fast. I mused, noting that much of the Earth was freshly dug.

I reslung my Beowulf and grabbed my MP5SD, making sure it was loaded and ready to go; and thanking my lucky stars that Garth and Bowman had been able to send it up to the mountain base. I glanced over my shoulder as I heard a slight shuffling; and saw Colt sidling up to me, his own MP5SD drawn and ready.

"We good?" I whispered.

He nodded and tapped the side of his helmet, "We're good Boss; private comms are now secure."

I gave him a thumbs up and switched on the private comms to Archer and Phil; "1-2, 1-4 status?"

"We've reached the other side of the village boss; we'll start infiltration now." Archer replied.

"Copy that, radio silence unless going loud; or you hit a serious snag." I ordered.

"Understood 1-1, 1-2 out."

I quickly activated my cloak while adjusting the stock to my MP5; and I heard Colt do the same, before he sighed "Boss, you get the feeling we're being used?" He asked.

I snorted, "I don't think it, I know it; we'll talk about it later Colt." I replied, the finality in my tone settling the matter. It was a little rude, but as much as I wanted to talk about it I couldn't bring myself to face the reality of our situation; that being, the General was hiding something from us.

And I wasn't just talking about the General of the Militia.

Colt and I tied our horses up, and silently slipped into the nearest trench; a whole network of the damned things criss crossed across the valley around the village, which would stop any attacks unsupported by Armor dead in its tracks.

But it gave us more than enough cover in the night, and the general lack of night vision gear by the EA occupiers gave us the advantage.

As we snuck around, I began mentally recording every single hole in the trench walls that led to underground bunkers; even as Colt silently attached a sticky bomb to the entrance to each of them. While it may not kill all the people exiting the bunkers, or collapse the tunnels; it would certainly cause confusion in the ranks, and that was good enough for us.

It took about twenty minutes of what was essentially silent crouch walking before we finally exited the trench and reached the town.

I took note of the dirt and clay wall surrounding it, and with a nod to Colt; I pulled myself up over it, and hopped down to the ground, quickly drawing my MP5 as I did so. The four of us had no intention of going loud, since we would have to spend the night here; and any dead bodies would trigger a search, but it never hurt to be careful.

A quiet thump told me that Colt had managed to vault the wall behind me; and I turned to check to make sure he was still okay.

He dusted some sand off his Cloak, and gave a thumbs up.

"I take point." I signed, prompting another nod as we quickly began to move forward through the village.

It was slow going, as with the village being under military occupation and due to be attacked; you would think the civilians would be under curfew. Adding to that, with the winter finally beginning to turn to summer after the past few months of near constant wind and snow; It was finally raining rather than snowing.

There were a number of large fire pits in the village, and they lit up entire streets and the village squares; and there were crowds of twenty or so people just hanging around in the fire pits.

"Incoming, three hostiles 2 O'clock."

I immediately pressed myself under the eaves of one of the houses; making sure that I was sheltered from the rain so my Cloak would not leave a shimmer. I heard the wet footsteps as the three militiamen stalked past; grumbling about the rain, and moaning that the Prostitutes at the Brothel were going to be charging extra because of the cold.

I had to resist the urge to snort; Islamic fundamentalists, and they still have hookers and prostitutes. Who would have thought. I mused. Of course, hypocrisy was not a cultural trait ingrained into one population.

I frowned as the sound of crying reached my ears.

Shaking my head, I pressed forward; Colt sticking close to me as we weaved back and forth between alleyways, trying to stay out of the rain as much as possible. I shook my head again as I realized that the sound of crying was getting closer. The father in me immediately winced, as I recognized the sound as that of an infant that wanted its parents and was hungry.

I grimaced, but kept walking; as much as I wanted to, I couldn't break into someone's house just to check up on a child.

Colt seemed to share my discomfort, as he whispered, "Jesus, someone needs to change that kids diaper or somethin'."

"I read you on that brother." I replied, as the sound got louder and louder the closer we got to the center of the village. Then I realized something, the sound of the infant crying wasn't being muffled by the mud and clay walls of any of the houses.

Was it just some baby and its parents caught outside in the rain?

"Another Patrol incoming at 12 o'clock." Colt hissed, and I cursed as I slipped into the alleyway; and winced as the infant's wails had reached an ear splitting level. I froze in my tracks as I realized something, even as the guards voices drew closer; and my camouflage adapted to its environment.

The baby's cries were coming from inside the alley.

I slowly turned towards the sound, already feeling my blood start to boil; and saw that it was a young woman, probably in her teens at the oldest, holding an infant that was crying. She stared at me in wide eyed terror, but said nothing as the patrol reached the entrance to the alley.

All three snapped to the woman, who I realized had no face covering; and all three sneered in disgust. "Ah… another one from the brothel, and it seems she has her little babe with her too."

"Who do you think knocked the whore up?" A second asked, as all three began to walk into the alley; the woman taking a step back while her child began crying even harder.

"Who cares; she had a child out of wedlock. We must bring her to the square for punishment; the child too." The third snapped.

The other two hummed in thought; before the first replied, "Sure… why not."

My blood turned to ice, as the three militiamen stalked past me towards the baby and the terrified woman; the baby's wails had seemingly increased tenfold. I stared in horror as they walked up to it; and stared down at her, expressions mixed between pity and contempt.

I couldn't take it anymore; I drew my MP5SD, and took aim at the one that had suggested for the group to stone her to death.

I took a breath… then released it.

PFT!PFT!

Number three dropped to the ground dead as a spray of blood erupted from what used to be his head. The other two whipped around in surprise, at their comrades' sudden demise. The woman gave a strangled shriek in terror at the sudden bloodshed.

PFT!PFT!

Number two, the one that had callously joked and wondered about who had impregnated the woman; dropped from the hole in his heart, if he even had one, and the hole in the brain. Number three opened his mouth to scream even as he unslung his AK, while the woman had clamped a hand over her mouth.

PFT!PFT!

I blinked in surprise as he dropped to the ground dead; and turned to see Colt striding up, a fire in my fellow Ghosts eyes as he watched the barbarian drop dead to the ground. Exchanging nods, I slung my submachine gun and walked over to the infant and her mother; taking off the Shemagh wrapped around my neck, and grabbing another that wasn't bloody off the body of one of the dead militiamen.

Without a word, I walked up in front of the young woman, who I could see was in her mid teens at the oldest; her child was still crying, but had seemed to have tired itself out. Working quickly, I cleaned the filth and blood off of her face using the Shemagh I had taken off the terrorist; and quickly made sure that no one had heard the exchange as I did so.

Once that was done, I quickly but gently wrapped her face up in my Shemagh to help cover her face.

"Boss! We gotta move." Colt whispered.

I turned to look at him, and nodded; even as the woman drew her baby close to her chest as she kept rocking it. I just gave a nod, whispering "Peace be with you sister." Before we disappeared into the night rain.

As we reached the center building of the village, somehow without being detected, I drew my Hi-Standard. The commander of the enemy garrison lived here; his assissination would seriously disrupt the enemy ability to defend. And hopefully he had a map that led to the factory or research facility or whatever it was that we had been sent to destroy.

I gestured for Colt to take point, and he nodded and drew his own Hi-Standard.

Click-Clack.

I smiled and gave a soft sigh in relief; Archer and Phil had made it with no problems.

I chinned my mic, and hissed; "We hit a snag, carry out as planned; will brief you inside."

"Understood lead." Archer replied.

With that done, I nodded to Colt; and he quickly picked the lock to the door. We couldn't risk the amount of noise a normal breaching procedure would emit; so we had to sneak in. Not a difficult process all things considered; at least until you considered the fact the house didn't have any windows to crawl through.

click...

Colt quickly pushed the door open and slipped inside; and I followed suit a moment later.

The lack of guards was not a big surprise, as the lax security on the perimeter and in the town itself indicated this commander was particularly arrogant in his belief that he was safe from any form of retaliation.

Well… it was time to change that line of thinking.

Colt quickly peeled off to the left, and I took the right; the kitchen, which was beside the stairs. My CROSSCOMM Glasses highlighting Archer and Phil in blue as they pressed in from the other side of the house; having presumably snuck in through windows.

I swept the kitchen, as a series of soft pff's reached my ears from Colt's and Archers respective rooms. Upon making sure there really was nothing in the kitchen, I circled back towards the stairs.

The other three were already waiting for me; and I jerked my head towards the stairs.

Colt took point, while I brought up the rear; keeping my MP5 pointed down towards the main entrance. Any curious militiamen or locals now would derail the whole op. There was only one big room on the second floor, and the walls were lined with desks and lamps and chairs. The only exception to this was a single cot; where our target, who we confirmed after referencing his face with the photograph we had been provided, was snoring away.

As much as I wanted to take him alive, we couldn't. Our orders from both the General and from Shepard were quite clear, the risk of him escaping or being recaptured was too great. I gestured for the other three to begin searching the documents for the maps and locations of the facility while I walked up to the enemy commander.

I glared at him for a good long moment; then raised my hand, and pulled the trigger. He jerked slightly, and his snoring cut off; but nothing more beyond that.

"Boss, we got the map and location; saving it to the CROSSCOMMS now." Colt's said.

"Good…" I replied absently.

"Sir… If I may ask, what happened that made you so mad?" Archer asked, sounding very suspicious.

I just sighed, "Phil, search the kitchen for any hiding places and ammunition; if only so we don't have to steal some. I've got a story to tell you guys; and we got till morning before the attack."

Shepard walked through the battlefield, absently checking any dead laying on the ground to make sure they really were dead. She had yet to hear from Fireteam Kingslayer beyond the fact that their mission was a success.

She was really not liking this planet more and more; and just wanted to get back to the nice comfy Normandy, and be with Garrus and Eve. Hell, she was willing to go to England and deal with her fussy extended relatives, all of them griping at her that "A Lady of the House of Shepard must marry a human", and all that fun stuff.

The Lee's had seemed like a much more stable blue blooded family in comparison to the Shepard's.

"Ell Cee…" Speak of the devil and he shall appear. She thought, and turned to see August walking towards her; his Balaclava stuffed into his pocket, and his Beowulf slung around his shoulder. She noted with amusement that he had regrown the mutton chops he had worn on the citadel; but the nicks on his chin and cheeks told her that he had used his knife to do so.

As the Major walked up to her, he pulled out a folded up sheet of paper and handed it to her. "Got the location of that damned complex Grant wants us to capture. We take it, and we go home to the Normandy; simple as that." He stated, turning his eyes outward to the trenches.

"How close are we?" She asked, already fearing the worst as she unfolded the map.

"Not far in all honesty; it looks like the General is keeping his end of the Bargain, all these towns and villages we've been liberating have been getting us closer and closer to the facility while shoring up our flanks and rear. I'm thinking we call in Garth's team and Bowman and hit the facility as soon as possible." He explained, taking off his glasses and cleaning them absently.

The familiar rush of potential action mixed with her desire to be back on the Normandy; to be home was almost intoxicating. It reminded her of another long distance mission on another arid world.

She shook the painful memory aside for the moment. "Not until after we have eyes on the Aye-Oh. Let's do this clean and by the numbers so none of the brass on either side has to call us back here." She spat into the dusty berm that used to be a defensive trench.

Lee grimaced and shook his head; "Ell Cee, I respect and trust you a lot; and I'll follow your orders, but I want it known that I disagree ma'am. That facility must know that the Army's getting closer and closer with each passing day; and they have to be tightening their defenses with every minute we give them. For God's sake they shoot anyone that even sees the facility, much less knows about it." He pointed out, taking a long puff from his cigar as he did so.

Neither said anything for a long while, and then Lee said out of nowhere; "Grant is hiding something from us."

"He's a General, and we aren't; there's a lot of things he doesn't tell us because it isn't our business to know." Jane settled into a parade rest stance to cover her own unease; why the hell were they out here instead of chasing Saren down?

August just grimaced, "Remember how pissed you got when you realized my Ghosts and I were keeping secrets from you? More specifically secrets that nearly got us all killed and would have been a great benefit to know about? Yeah… I'm getting that vibe here. I don't have the evidence, but my gut tells me something's off… and the last time I didn't listen to my gut; I nearly got my jaw punched off." He replied, looking off into the distance as the rest of 1-4-1 trotted around the perimeter on their horses.

Jane simultaneously wanted to call Lee out on his borderline Gross Insubordination, and equally to openly voice her own concerns. But in the end, she was the Commander. Lee hadn't said anything that out-and-out required disciplinary action, and he wasn't wrong.

"We have our orders, Major; and until those orders cross the line, then neither do we." She stepped beside him and kept her eyes on the horizon. "We'll do it your way. Once we have eyes-on, your people will act as forward observers to make sure there aren't even two bricks left stacked when the dust clears."

Lee nodded and smiled; and Jane noted with amusement that he almost went to salute, but seemed to check the motion. The two nodded, and went back to their respective duties. But no matter what she did, Jane couldn't clear the doubts now clouding her mind.

She swore to investigate further once she got back to the Normandy, until then she had a job to do; and dammit was she going to make sure it got done.

Garrus buzzed in a mixture of amusement and impatience as San jogged around the hanger bay; the poor kid sweating like crazy, while he held an unloaded Beowulf over his head and dressed in full combat gear.

"Pick those knees up, San; you don't want to look sloppy now, do you?"

San's attention shifted to Garrus' left, where Eve's avatar stood smiling. She flickered into a strange outfit for a moment; a very… truncated outfit which included two strange fuzzy masses on her hands. "Go San!"

Garrus looked towards his 'daughter', who flickered back to her 'sweats-&-hoodie' look before he got a glimpse. He knew something was up, but it seemed to perk San up so he let it slide.

"One more lap, and then..."

"All hands, general quarters; rig for maneuvers."

Garrus turned to Eve, who had a distant look. "Sensors picked something up on the edge of Passive." She looked at him with a small amount of concern. "There's not supposed to be another ship in the system."

Garrus looked towards San, who had already stowed everything and was rushing towards engineering. He quirked a Turian grin. Sharp kid; he might just make it. "Thanks sweetie. Tell Pressley I'm on my way up." He told Eve.

Eve nodded and blinked out as he headed for the elevator.

That was another benefit to having an AI on board the ship; the damned thing actually moved between decks faster. Granted, the Quarians had needed to modify it; and Eve had needed to write a whole new program to control the stop and start protocols, but it was still much better than the old one. In fact, Garrus suspected that he would be spoiled for the rest of his life; and that any regular elevators he entered from this point forward would be slow as hell.

He stepped onto the CIC deck into the comforting familiarity of Military Controlled Chaos. The sensor map was once again dominating the Galaxy Map Holo-table, while crew and technicians reported back and forth. Senior Lieutenant Pressley was standing watch next to the map. He held up a hand to keep Garrus quiet for a moment, just before an 'Anomaly' indicator lit up on the hologram.

"That's the third one inside our passive sensor range; no source of emission, just a blast of energetic particles like an FTL emergence."

Garrus considered the map. "The Varren?"

Pressley pursed his lips. "Looks like the Imam has learned yet another new trick. I'm pretty sure this is their version of our own FTL scanner, but for the moment they're just probing."

Garrus buzzed in concern, not the least because this was a dangerous situation. He had a daughter now, and she was in danger right alongside him, to say nothing of the double fist of Quarian Pilgrims they had aboard. He wondered if this is what father had felt like when Garrus, Solana and Mother lived where he was stationed.

"Do we have a rough area where they might be?"

Charles panned back about half a light minute and waved to a general region. "We've had 'Spirit-sightings' along this area, but they're constantly changing course and I'm not inclined to pick a fight just yet by bracketing them and giving our position away." Pressley huffed and crossed his hands behind his back. "Like your Councilor Sparatus said; we want Balak, not one of his Allies' ships."

Garrus nodded, but his mandibles twitched in mild irritation. There just seemed to be something... off about the way they were being directed in their pursuit of Saren and the Triple Alliance.

"Is it just me, or are we being given the runaround?" Garrus almost jumped at Pressley's nearly prescient question.

Garrus buzzed absently, even as the human officer continued. "The first real lead on the Imam's plans and operations we secured was the suit back on Noveria, and then we were suddenly called back to perform IT services? And now, instead of running down clues on either the suit or backtrack the team on Noveria, the Commander's dropped cold on some EA backwater while we're playing pattycake with a Varren because of a rumor Saren might have come through here." Pressley scowled at the hologram. "Not even Command-by-Committee explains this complete lack of operational focus."

Garrus said nothing beyond a sharp nod of agreement, and a buzz of confirmation; as Pressely went back to tracking the Varren.

Garrus winced as he felt his earpiece buzz slightly, while Eve whispered; "Dad; It's Councilor Sparatus, he wants to speak with you regarding 'rumours of AI on the Normandy'." She said it in fluent and perfect Palavanese; ensuring that no one but Garrus would understand it.

His mandibles tightened in dismay.

They had kept the illusion and deception going for a healthy amount of time, but it seemed that the game was up now regarding Eve. Still, Garrus and Jane had their legal loophole; and If it meant hijacking the ship and fleeing to the terminus to protect his daughter, then so be it.

Shaking his head, Garrus announced; "Excuse me Gentleman, the Councillors want to speak with me; I'll be in the conference room if you all need me." The other officers gave absent nods; and Garrus quickly walked to the conference room, rehearsing his speech over and over in his head as he did so.

The Original plan had called for both him and Jane to make the argument, but with Jane still at least a week away from finally completing the groundside campaign; according to her lost comm's burst giving them updates anyway, he would have to make the case himself.

"Eve… have you managed to perfect that Turian Teenaged girl projection yet?" He asked, thinking that it would make Sparatus more sympathetic than if she appeared as a human.

"Well… yes, I've used it to scare San a few times when we're… hanging out, but why?" She asked, sounding very confused.

Garrus didn't like that pause, but ignored it as he had more pressing matters at the moment. "You know how Joker likes to joke about how it's easier to ask forgiveness rather than permission?" Eve nodded hesitantly as she shifted into her 'Turian Form'. "Well, we're about to put that to the test. Go ahead and connect the Councilor."

A/N: we finally get our first Ghost Recon-esque mission for the Ghosts while under 1-4-1. Beyond that, I don't have much to say about this chapter in particular beyond the cracks growing larger.

I do have something to say about the development behind this chapter.

It was going to be darker, a lot darker; and it was going to be another thing based on the realities of life in the middle east, along with China and India. That being, how infant girls are treated.

Originally, Nomad was going to come across a mountain of dead infants; with a still live one recently being added to the pile. All would have been female, because the cultures in India, the Middle East, and China all are biased against them; they want a son to carry on the family name and so that they can have better opportunities in life, and potentially bring their families up in social status.

In India, it's gotten better; but in the Middle East and China?

Yeah… alright, what about you Ian?

Ian A/N: Another new face and another Cannon cameo, so some fun there. We begin to see the frayed edges of the intelligence apparatus. What could be meant by the deal between General Grant and the Warlord? No spoilers, so I can't really say more.

I did enjoy the snippet on the Normandy, both the wholesome Papa Garrus moment, and letting Pressley shine at what he does.

Pilot: Alright, Check my profile for the link to the discord.

I am still taking submissions for GST side stories and the challenge I have posted on my profile.

I again apologize for the delay for HL:E, but college completely blindsided me.

Leave a review and tell us what you think, the feedback helps us greatly.

And we will see ya when we see ya.