Shepard woke up in what appeared to be an interrogation room. It had four walls, a door and a table. The last thing he remembered was him and Zaeed getting into a shuttle and then a sharp blow to the back of his head. Though his head hurt he couldn't help but respect how smart the guards were. They must have figured that he and Zaeed were less dangerous to transport unconscious.

Zaeed! Before being knocked unconscious himself, Shepard last saw Zaeed being carried into the shuttle by the guards but now there wasn't any sign of either of them. He tried to move his arms but found that they were tied to the back of the chair. A quick assessment of his situation told him that it was hopeless. The only way he was getting out was if he could persuade the guards to let him go. It was a shame that he couldn't just pull his Spectre rank and force them to release him. Still his powers of persuasion had gotten him out of tighter spots before.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door to his room opened. In walked the turian and batarian who caught him and Zaeed. The batarian had a file in his hand. After opening it, the batarian threw it onto the table in front of Shepard. Shepard could see from the information in the file that it was about him. He looked up to the batarian but it was the turian who spoke first.

"I'm Sergeant Talon and this is Corporal Provic," he said, "we know who you are Captain Shepard. I have to say your record is quite impressive. Says you're a real hero. Do you have anything to say about that?"

Shepard replied "Where's Zaeed and Commander…?"

"(SMACK)"!

Sergeant Talon smacked Shepard across the face before he could finish his question. Corporal Provic jumped when he heard the smack. He probably didn't expect it to get this rough so soon. Shepard had not expected the blow and instantly felt the shock and pain of it. He shook off the pain and looked back up at Talon. His face was now tense with anger.

"That was a rhetorical question," said Talon, "I don't care what you have to say. So you can just keep your mouth shut. All I care about is the fact that you and your friends tried to kill someone on this base. You're an attempted murderer Shepard. That's a far cry from a hero if you ask me. Then again, you Spectres think that you can do whatever you want and will not be held accountable for your actions."

Before continuing, Talon threw a punch right into Shepard's stomach. Shepard hunched over more in surprise rather than pain. The blow hurt but not as much as the slap across the face. If Talon's goal was to inflict as much pain to Shepard as possible he was off to bad start. Of course Shepard didn't plan on telling him that.

"Well that is not the case here Shepard. Your Spectre status means nothing here. You're an ordinary guy just like me. Actually I take it back. You're beneath me because I don't try to kill unarmed men who are in the middle of a peaceful negotiation."

This time instead of striking Shepard across the face, Talon grabbed him at the back of the head and threw it down onto the table. The sound of the impact was loud enough that it echoed inside the room. Shepard tried to reach up and rub his forehead but couldn't due to his hands still being tied behind him. All he could do was try to shake it off. Provic took a step towards Shepard but stopped when he saw Talon give him a cold stare.

"Sir," he said softly, "don't you think we should take it easy? The chief said that we could play with him all we wanted as long as we don't kill him."

"Shut it Corporal!" Talon ordered. "I'm in command here, not the chief. If you have a problem with this, the door is right there."

As Provic and Talon argued, Shepard reassessed his situation. Talon obviously had a strong hatred for Spectres. It was strong enough that Shepard had no doubt that he would be willing to kill him without the need for another reason. There was no chance of Talon letting Shepard speak long enough to warn them about the Dalatrass and Vido's plan.

Provic on the other hand seemed to be a bit hesitant to get rough. He already tried to get Talon to ease up but got nervous when Talon pulled rank. Shepard had a hunch though that Provic was more scared of their chief than he was of Talon. Provic was going to have to be the one Shepard appealed to for help. If Shepard mentioned the attack to him, maybe he'll take it to the chief and then the chief would order Talon off. It was worth a try.

"Listen to me," he mumbled, "there's going to be an attack on Tuchanka."

"(SMACK)!"

"I didn't say you could talk."

Despite the attempt by Talon to shut Shepard up, Provic caught what he said. He immediately got in between Talon and Shepard.

"Wait a minute Sergeant," he said, "he said there was going to be an attack on Tuchanka. The chief may want to know about this."

Shepard realized his theory was right. Provic was starting to get interested in what he had to say. He also noticed that Provic was insisting that the chief should know about the attack. The question was why would the chief really be interested in hearing what Shepard had to say? Shepard figured that question would have to wait for later. He needed to give Provic more information.

He continued, "tell your chief the Blue Suns and the Dalatrass are behind it. That's why we were here trying to…"

Talon didn't listen to either Provic's pleas or Shepard's request. Instead he angrily shoved Provic towards the door and threw the table to one side of the room. Afterwards he kicked Shepard in the chest causing him to fall backwards. The pain Shepard felt on his forehead was quickly forgotten when the back of his head struck the floor. Up until now, Shepard silently took every blow Talon gave him. This time he let out a grunt when he felt the impact. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Provic was no longer in the room. He hoped that Provic was on his way to get the chief. Then he realized that Talon was standing over him pointing a shotgun right at his head.

"You Spectres will say anything to save your skin." Talon growled, "there's nothing you can say that will save you. So do what I've been telling you to do since I got in here and keep your mouth shut. Otherwise I'm going to be really tempted to skip the firing squad and just shoot you myself."

That last statement made Talon smile and then he began to chuckle.

"You know what," he continued, "that actually sounds quite enjoyable."

Talon then took the shotgun's safety mode off and moved it so that the barrel was now pressed against Shepard's forehead. It caused some slight discomfort because of the earlier blows Shepard took but he didn't care. A shotgun shell fired at point blank range would blow his head to pieces and he wouldn't be feeling anything anymore. He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

A Few Minutes Earlier

Ashley had been nervously pacing for a while ever since she was left inside an interrogation room. Before the krogan security chief had a chance to ask any questions, he took a call that made him leave the room after it ended. Ashley couldn't help thinking that they might have found Shepard and something bad happened to him. Her fears were relieved a little when the door opened and the security chief threw Zaeed into the room. Zaeed started to rub a lump on the back of his head when he got up from the floor.

"Zaeed," Ashley said walking up to Zaeed, "where's Captain Shepard?"

"He's fine," said the chief, "he's in another room with two of my men."

Zaeed cleared his throat, "I've got a nasty bump on the back of my head but I'm all right too. Thanks for asking."

"Sorry Zaeed," said Ashley, "I'm glad you're okay. Chief I demand to see my captain!"

"You'll get your chance to see him when we put you all in front of the firing squad!" shouted the chief.

"Firing squad?!" exclaimed Zaeed. "You sentence us to a firing squad just like that?"

"Those are the rules around here. The goal of this facility is to provide a safe place for all parties to negotiate without having to be afraid of being killed. Any attempted murder is treated as a capital offense and is punishable by death."

For emphasis, the chief ran his finger across his throat like he was slitting it with a knife. Zaeed growled while Ashley gave the chief an angry stare. This caused the chief to smile. He had gotten their attention. He decided to push them a little further.

"Your captain will be here soon. My men said they wanted a chance to 'play' with him before we shoot him."

That was all Ashley could take. She charged at the chief with her fists flying. Zaeed was barely able to grab her to keep her from reaching the chief. The chief didn't even flinch. His smile just grew larger as he watched Ashley fight to break free from Zaeed.

"YOU BASTARD!" Ashley shouted, "IF YOU LAY ONE FINGER ON HIM I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Calm down Williams!" said Zaeed struggling to hang on to Ashley.

Suddenly the door to the room burst open and Corporal Provic charged in. He was slightly out of breath as he approached the chief and whispered something to him. The chief's reaction indicated that it was something that seemed to spook him.

"Is he serious?" he asked the batarian.

"If you want to find out you better come quick," the batarian replied, "the sergeant is starting to get really rough with him. I think he might kill him."

The chief shoved the batarian out of his way and exited the room in a hurry. The batarian turned around to see Zaeed loosening his grip on Ashley. There was no pointing in holding her back now. She was now falling to her knees and had one hand cupped over her mouth. It also sounded like she was whispering "no."

Sergeant Talon was laughing as he slowly began to pull the trigger on his shotgun. Shepard's eyes remained tightly shut as he anticipated the shot. His eyes opened when he heard a crash. He looked towards the source of the sound and saw that it was the door having been broken down. Standing in the doorway was the biggest krogan Shepard had ever seen. The krogan was angrily staring at Talon.

"Stand down Sergeant!" he ordered. "The corporal tells me that this human has information about an imminent attack on Tuchanka."

"He's lying Chief," said Talon not taking his eyes away from Shepard, "he's just a Spectre making up stories in an attempt to save his own skin."

Chief? Shepard silently breathed a sigh of relief. The krogan was the chief that Provic was talking about. It also explained why Provic insisted the chief should hear what he had to say. Only a krogan would care that much about the safety of Tuchanka. Still Shepard felt it would be wise to ensure he had the chief's attention.

"Do you have a family Chief? Living on Tuchanka perhaps?"

Whatever anger the chief had displayed on his face vanished and he started to look a little nervous. He hesitated as he contemplated how to answer. But Shepard didn't need him to answer. The hesitation was all he needed to figure out that the chief did have a family on Tuchanka. It was true that Shepard took a shot in the dark asking him but he knew if he did, it was the best way to get the chief's attention. The only thing a krogan cares for more than fighting was their family.

"The man we were shooting at is the leader of the Blue Suns mercenary group and they are being hired to release a bio-toxin in a densely populated region in Tuchanka. If you value your family's safety, you will let me and my squadmates go so that we can stop them."

The chief fell silent for a second. Talon finally turned to face the chief. His face indicated he was shocked and appalled.

"Chief you can't tell me you believe what this guy is saying," he said, "he's bluffing. There isn't going to be an attack on Tuchanka. Even if there was, there's no guarantee that your family will be killed by it.

"Maybe," said Shepard, "but even if the attack doesn't kill them, the following war certainly will."

"What war?" the Chief asked.

"Chief! I'm telling you….!"

Without hesitation, the chief pulled out his sidearm and pointed directly at Talon's head. Talon flinched when he stared down the gun's barrel. He slowly began to lower his shotgun away from Shepard's head. His mouth began to open in an attempt to speak but the chief just shook his gun to indicate that he was serious. The chief then gestured his head towards the door. Talon got the message and grumbled as he made his way towards the door.

Once the door closed behind him, the chief holstered his sidearm and pulled out a knife. He then bent down and cut the restraints off Shepard's hands. Now that his hands were finally free, Shepard reached up and rubbed his forehead. It was still slightly sore from the beatings Talon gave him. He then rubbed his wrists to help get the circulation going again. It was then he noticed the chief holding out his hand. Shepard took it and the chief slowly helped him up.

"Now," the chief said as he leaned against the wall, "what's this about a war?"

"The person who hired the mercenaries is a salarian Dalatrass who is going to use the attack I mentioned to make the krogan go to war with the other races. This will force the Council to fight back and they might feel they have no choice but to do something worse than the genophage to ensure that the krogan can't rise up against them ever again."

The chief rubbed his chin as he contemplated what Shepard had told him. He was frozen with indecision. He knew that the laws of the base said that Shepard and his squad needed to be legally executed for attempting to commit murder. On the other hand, if Shepard was telling the truth, his family and the krogan species as a whole were in danger. He finally decided that he had no choice. If anyone could save the krogan, it was Shepard. After all, he had heard the stories about how Shepard helped to cure the genophage. The chief walked back towards the door and opened it. He then gestured for Shepard that he could leave.

"Just promise me you'll kill that pyjak Dalatrass and the mercenary leader," he growled.

"I can't promise I'll kill the Dalatrass, there would be severe repercussions if I do," Shepard replied, "but I promise that I will kill the mercenary, especially because one of my squadmates wants him dead just as much as you do. Speaking of which, where is my squad?"

"In another room like this one," the chef replied, "I'll have Corporal Provic bring them to the front entrance and you can meet them there."

"Good, as long as it isn't Talon."

"It won't be. I'll have him sent to my office. He and I are going to have a LONG talk once I see you off."

"Thanks Chief," Shepard said as he proceeded to walk out of the interrogation room.