"You're a fucking piece of shit, Finch. I'm not doing anything for you anymore," Shepard spat. One day she'd gut him in his sleep, and just the thought sent jumpy nerves through her insides. She wouldn't suffer a spec of remorse for the cocksucker either.

The burly man drew himself to his full height and leaned over her thin frame, washing her with the alcoholic reek of his breath. "Where do these delusions of yours come from, Red? Pax owns us both, and I sure as hell ain't dyin' because you are a feisty little cunt. Get the fuck in there!" She flinched as he raised his fist, and luckily, instead of beating her as he usually did, he just smirked and threw her bodily into the door. It retracted as it sensed her and she fell to the floor on the other side of it, landing hard on her shoulder.

The red-haired teen groaned and dragged herself to her feet. Hmph, even if she couldn't follow through on her threats, it still felt good to tell Finch off. She blinked to adjust to the low light in the dingy room. There was nothing in it but a dirty bed, across which sprawled the Big Shot. He was a pasty, forgettable bastard with a shitty comb over. The only thing about him that screamed money was the designer suit and many rings on his fingers. Shepard looked up and over where he laid, stroking himself already, and locked eyes with others in the room. She hadn't seen them at first. There were two Asari children, barely tall enough to glance over the bed at her.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

Shepard tried to remember how to breathe as she stumbled towards the corner where they stood. The Big Shot said something to her that she couldn't even spare processing power to listen to.

My God.

They had to be under ten, both of them. The poor naked things cowered away from her as she approached, desperately trying to disappear into the other. She crouched to get a better look in the dim lighting. Both had black collars on.

Shepard stood and whirled around toward the disgusting bastard laying on that bed without a care in the world. Like he was owed. Someone… surely someone wouldn't let him do whatever he wanted. Wait, had anyone ever helped her? No. The only person you can trust is yourself. The only truth of the streets. The lamp on the table was duracrete. She had to get those two out of here, by any means necessary. She crushed her eyes closed, attempting to reign in a whirlwind of savage thoughts about how satisfying crushing his skull would be.

The next time she opened them the dingy room was gone, buried deep in her past and replaced by harsh flickering lights overhanging a large empty hanger. There were bodies everywhere. Fellow Alliance soldiers in their hard suits laid in dark pools of blood or slumped against walls with their limbs at odd angles. Armored Batarianswere scattered among them or even across them, so many sets of four black eyes staring lifelessly in all directions. No inch of metal floor panels was unstained with humanoid fluids. Her chest was heaving, desperate for air as she stood above her last foe, now beheaded at her feet.

"Lieutenant Shepard… he… was begging you to spare him…" the servicemen's voice behind her wavered.

"I speak enough Batarian to recognize that." She snapped back. Shepard rose and retracted the omni-blade at her wrist. "How many Humans do you think begged for their lives on Elysium, soldier?" She faced him. He was ashen behind his helmet. Only two other soldiers were left to case the room, checking their wounded for survivors.

She felt numb and cold, nothing but a dull ringing left in her ears in the absolute silence now of the station. The four of them checked the bodies in the room and out in the hanger before slowly picking their way carefully back through the station. No one spoke as they moved through the base, checking for survivors and collecting dog tags. Every tag in her fist seemed like they were combining to make a noose and Shepard's breathing restricted in anticipation with each tag she gathered. With each one collected, her anger would ebb and regret crept in like a fog around her edges. A slow trickle of Alliance soldiers came out of side rooms and hallways to join them as they traipsed the building to their encampment. So few of them remained… Shepard physically shook her head. No time for regret, she needed to check on Major Kyle.

The door in front of her retracted and let her into the cavernous Council meeting chambers. A whirlwind whipped into being from the flames in the room, blew little pink blossoms past her in a torrent. Shit, she was too late! The entire chamber was aflame and the trees that had grown the delicate foliage were charred sticks. She could just make out Saren's form up at the Council's control panel at the end of the amphitheater. Her legs reacted before her brain even made sense of what she saw, carrying her at a blistering speed up to his platform. He spun as he heard her approach and lobbed something at her. Again her body moved before she realized it was a grenade. She threw herself behind the ledge of the dias he stood on. Shepard swiveled and watched both Wrex and Garrus thankfully dive to the other side of the staircase up. She let out a ragged breath.

"Don't you see, Shepard?! You are too late! In minutes Sovereign will have full control of the Citadel!" The silver Turian spat in his dual tone.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Had to wipe out a few hundred of your worshippers along the way." She popped a heat sink for her pistol and jammed another one in.

"What you said at Virmire… I couldn't stop thinking about it. About Sovereign manipulating me. About indoctrination. The doubt ate away at me. Sovereign could sense my indecision. He has… enhanced me. Now I believe in the Reapers completely, I can see why they need organics, Shepard. Join us. Sovereign would make you a King of his new realm."

"I would rather die than live like that!" she yelled back.

"Don't you get it? That's the point, you WILL die, Shepard! Everyone you've ever known and loved will die, everyone you've ever passed on the street, will die." He motioned behind her. "Your companions will die. The cycle will always continue." He took a few tentative steps toward her hiding spot. Shepard cocked her pistol.

"When will you accept defeat, Shepard? Why do you persist? The relay will open, even if you somehow found a way to win in this late hour. We cannot stop them." Saren's booming voice faded as he spoke. "I know you humans have a saying similar to our own… 'Better to be at the right hand of the Devil, than in its path', I believe?"

His quieted conversational tone caused her to stand and regard him. He was hunched with his head in his palm. Huh. "Is submission not preferable to extinction, Shepard?" He was nearly whispering now.

"I can't just give up before we've even tried to struggle… you don't know that we can't win Saren." She walked up the stairs slowly, holding her pistol to the side, watching him wearily.

"You are the only other being in the universe who knows what I've seen… who saw how the Protheans struggled uselessly before their extinction. How can you say that after witnessing the Protheans fall? What chance do we have against creatures this powerful? You saw them get slaughtered, you've heard their screams, same as me." He lifted his head to gaze at her.

"I could say the same thing. How could you witness that and just give up? Aren't we the same? You are a Spectre! You are supposed to be the best of us, a war hero! An ultimate being of justice in the galaxy!" She couldn't help the bite of her tone. He'd fallen so far. "And now you are just a damned puppet. You've betrayed your people. You've betrayed us all." She could sense her two squad mates moving up behind her.

He considered her visage for a few beats before treading up to her slowly. She raised her gun to his chest as he neared, and both Garrus and Wrex cocked their weapons menacingly.

"Maybe you are right. Maybe…" He was cut short as he inhaled raggedly before screaming out and doubling over, bending to his knee and holding temples tightly with both hands. He began murmuring something quickly under his breath, repeating it over and over. His eyes rolled around in his head.

"You don't have to do what he tells you, Saren. We can stop Sovereign together!" Shepard gripped his pauldron and jerked him, trying to snap him out of it.

He shook his head dejectedly. "It's too late for me. Save them, Shepard." He grabbed her hand for a moment before lifting his own pistol under his chin. The crack of the shot rang in her ear drums while her brain lagged infuriatingly slowly. What? She crushed her eyes closed against the spray of his cerulean blood, splattering across her face - the droplets burned as hot as the fire that licked around them.

Shepard gasped awake.

Shit. She rolled over and stuck a hand under her pillow to bask in the coolness while willing away the heat of Saren's blood. It was right about then it hit her. Shit, shit shit, she was a grade A, double pasteurized, fucking moron! How in the hell did she let it go that far? Shepard groaned, angrily kicking her tangled sheets from her legs. Why did Krios have to keep witnessing her worst moments? And then she had to be stupid enough to have sex with him, like it was going to fix anything. Fuck no, it only ever complicated… everything. Thus, fraternization rules were born. Though... it had certainly done the trick, distracting her… NO, NOPE. She waved a hand in the air as if she could physically wipe away the thoughts. NO. That's what got her here in the first place, full of regret. Fucking hormones. She flicked open her tool. Only four meager hours of sleep. Could the CO take a mental health day off? No, if she wasn't down there for breakfast at her usual time he'd come up, wanting to talk about it. A shiver ran down her spine. Nope, nuh uh, not ready for that yet.

"Commander Shepard, I'm sorry to disturb you but the Illusive Man is on the QEC looking to speak with you." EDI called over the com softly.

Saved by the bell. "I'll be right down, thank you EDI."

"Garrus."

He turned around from his console to see her standing in the battery's doorway.

"What's going on, Shepard?" He asked.

"A few weeks ago Tim told me he had a lead on an IFF that could get us through the Omega 4 relay. Today he tells me that lead was a derelict Reaper carcass that's been floating since they destroyed some other cycle."

"They found one? How?"

"Floating too closely to a star whose energy masked it. He sent a team in to explore it and find the IFF, but they went dark about two weeks ago. He sent another team to see what happened, and now he hasn't heard from them either."

"Spirits. So now there's a Reaper out there full of husks, and he wants us to go get the IFF?"

"Bingo. I didn't want to push you so soon since leaving the med bay, but I'm going to want my two Reaper experts with me on this. You feeling up to it?" Well, it was mostly true. Garrus and Tali had the most experience with husks. Did it count as a half truth if she wanted to put off having to talk with Thane too?

He nodded. "Absolutely, I was cleared for duty three days ago by Dr. Chakwas." He paused, his eyes flickering back and forth between her own. "Shepard… are you okay?" He reached out a hand to her shoulder.

She flinched backwards out of his grasp. Odd. And then she tried to play it off with a smile that seemed… off. "Of course, why?"

Why? She must not have had an inkling of how deep the lines around her mouth were or how creased her forehead. Humans might not have the expressiveness mandibles allowed, but he wasn't an idiot. "Something happened. The last time you had that look on your face, you knew Tim was sending us into a trap."

Shepard sighed. Well, that was probably par for the course. She'd lamented his using and locking himself in here, and there was no in-between with this man - he was supremely attentive to what was going on around him. She really didn't want to be the subject of his sniper's focus, though. "Nothing is wrong that you can fix Garrus, so no need to worry."

His brow plates lowered. "That must have been the least reassuring thing you could have said."

She shrugged. "We are both well aware that my only true talents lie on the battlefield. You've got four hours to suit up and hit the shuttle." She backed out of the room. "I've got to go brief our resident Quarian."

Garrus inhaled deeply and let loose a long sigh.

It had been a rough ride into the space where the Reaper was located until they passed into its mass field envelope. Shepard's stomach was still flip flopping as she walked up to the airlock. It opened readily, allowing her, Garrus, and Tali through into a little research area full of consoles. She moved to one and scrolled through the logs absently, looking for any interesting keywords - like 'oh my god, this thing is haunted, I'm a husk now' etc etc.

"There's no one here to welcome us. Not a good sign, Shepard." Tali's modulated voice cut through the silence.

"Were you expecting differently?" She watched a short video log from a scientist who sounded like he became a Shepard believer after showing up here. "Sad that people have to be indoctrinated to see that I was right all along about the Reapers," She cut the playback in disgust. "Come on team Dextro, let's get the hell out of here as fast as we can."

"Gladly." Tali responded.

They moved forward together, guns drawn. The Reaper rocked ominously, pin balling the trio off of one another.

"What the hell was that?" The soldier barked.

Joker answered. "It put up some kind of kinetic barrier Shep, I don't think we will be able to get through to you."

"Shit." She thought for a moment. "We are going to have to take out the barrier generators while we gun for the IFF then. Any ideas where they are?"

"I detected a spike in heat from what is likely the wreck's mass effect core when the barrier was implemented. Sending you coordinates now. Be advised the core is also what is maintaining the Reaper's altitude." EDIs' ever calm voice came over the com.

The Commander sighed. "So when we it out, the wreck will plummet into the planet core. Great."

"Yeah yeah, and everyone dies, got it." Joker spat.

"Is that worry I detect from our good master pilot? If anyone can snatch us from the jaws of death, it's you Joker. We are going to sweep for survivors and get the IFF. Stand by. "

"Aye Aye. Good hunting Commander."

It was only a few minutes of walking before they happened upon the first bodies. None of them particularly fresh. They pulled logs at whatever consoles they passed, even found a disturbing one where the Reaper had been implanting false memories in the Cerberus team. Not understanding why it would do that made dread ball up in her stomach. They didn't stand a chance against an enemy they couldn't fathom the motivations of. Shepard cursed under her breath but waved them forwards down dark metal corridors and walkways. It was far too quiet, with no signs of life for how many people had disappeared here. Finally, the unnerving silence gave way to unmistakable groaning, the sound echoing along with their footsteps.

Garrus was the first to spot one behind them. "Watch out, Tali, the red ones blow up."

Shepard didn't swivel in time to see it before it grenaded spectacularly. A wave of bodies crawled up onto the walkway in front of her. For a split second as they dropped over the railings they were lined up perfectly. She dashed without even thinking, tearing through the group in a biotic flash. A few were knocked back over the railing into the murky depths of the Reaper, and everything left standing saw her blade and shotgun in alternation when she spun around.

That was how the three proceeded, wave after wave of husks with the occasional scion, cutting through the re-animated remains of the scientists the Reaper had turned. They finally caught a lull in a large cavernous room full of dragon's teeth.

"Jesus. Look at the way the room is arranged around them. Like some kind of alter." Shepard was staring up at the towering spikes, some with still impaled Humans.

Tali walked up next to her. "That doesn't seem right. No one in their right mind would want this."

"You saw the logs, they were seeing things, hearing things. They were being indoctrinated," Garrus growled low, his rifle up to his face.

Their Quarian busied herself at a computer, downloading what she could before they headed down the next hall, following EDIs signal. The passage was jammed full of conduit, the massive wiring ran parallel to the catwalk that was also chock full of husks crawling up the railings and wires. They were swarmed, only narrowly avoiding the red bastards. Garrus was forced to switch to his assault rifle long before, so he'd curse anytime Shepard would dash out of his range. It was just one of those moments, in fact - when she had leapt off a railing, and blazed across the open chasm below to another walkway - that the familiar sound of heavy sniper rounds startled her. She swiveled to see three husks fall dead. Sharp eyes followed the trajectory from the wounds. Those shots had come from a higher angle than Garrus… there. She caught a glint off of a scope on a walk way above and behind her team.

It was a Geth platform.

Instinct threw her behind a bank of wires to peek over the top at it.

"Shepard-Commander." It nodded its flashlight head at her and walked off to disappear around a tankard. Tali and Garrus both had their backs to her as they watched its retreat.

"Oh, my GOD! I'm losing it." She exclaimed.

"If you are mad, we all are!" Tali resumed gunning down a husk that got too close.

"Did you hear it?! It spoke. IT SAID MY NAME!" Shepard continued jogging down the platform she was on.

"Since when do Geth talk to organics?" Garrus's huffed. His tone sounded pointed, overlaid with a trilling sort of noise. Accusatory.

"Look, I'm as bewildered as you."

"Not nearly."

"It shouldn't be able to talk, a single Geth has no more intelligence than a varren." Tali interjected.

"Why does everything we fight seem to recognize you, Shepard?" Garrus huffed.

The soldier sighed. "I wish I knew how to not piss off every deep space abomination out there, but, well, here we are. Keep moving team Dextro, maybe we will catch back up to it."

Easier said than done. Luckily, the Cerberus researchers had isolated the IFF from the Reaper's systems and it had been sitting out on a desk, all but gift wrapped for the Normandy crew. But had it really been necessary to send hundreds of people to get this IFF? They were crowded every inch of the way to the core by husks, and once they got to it, they found the Geth had been left disabled at the foot of the main console, likely by the same mass of husks as them. As Shepard approached it, she could make out a red and white stripe down its arm… the thing was wearing N7 armor with a hole through the chest.

"What the hell?" She didn't even realize she'd spoken aloud until Garrus echoed her thoughts.

"Is that Geth wearing N7 armor?"

"Yeah," she blinked away from it and up at the core. "Garrus, get that sniper out, you are going to be the only one of us that can hit a suspended core like that. We will cover you. Joker, stand by, we're hitting the core."

"Roger that Commander. Ready for operation hard snatch."

She stuck her blade through a husk's chest. "God, Joker."

"I thought you'd like that one."

Shepard laughed as she wove in and out of the clutches of many clamoring beings. Blowing them off the platform as she biotically dashed, blasting any she missed with her shotgun. Tali was to her left pumping her shotgun just the same and her combat drone weaved in between them both, creating a barrier around Garrus as he fired into the bright blue containment field of the mass effect core. Minutes crawled by, but finally the core barrier broke and the energy dissipated through the room. The Commander pushed a husk off of herself and set her eyes on the disabled Geth unit.

Tali immediately saw what she was thinking, though. "Leave it, Shepard! You know what it'll do if it gets into the Normandy's computer system!" The wreckage shifted and groaned under their feet.

"You said it yourself, no one's ever found one intact. We grab it." She bent to pull its arm around her shoulder. Garrus came to grab the other arm. Tali made a frustrated noise but kept the husks at bay as they ran back to an open side of the Reaper corpse. They came upon a broken platform that jutted out into the envelope around the machine. "Got our coordinates, Joker?"

"Incoming."

The nose of the Normandy rose through the gas cloud below them. "Open the port side airlock." Shepard pulled her shotgun around and blasted a husk off of herself.

"Roger," the pilot answered.

She and Garrus both heaved the Geth through the low gravity towards the open hole. It sailed nicely with him right behind it, leaping off the platform.

"Come on Tali!" Shepard all but threw the Quarian at the ship before pushing off herself. Her sniper managed to grab the Quarian by the arm and drag her out of the road before Shepard crashed into the Geth, armor clanking against its metal body.

"Go Joker, we're clear!" The airlock slammed shut and hard acceleration threw them all into each other for a moment before the inertial dampeners kicked on. The humming of the decon cycle and the heavy breathing of her compatriots was all she heard for tense seconds.

"All clear, Commander," Joker finally announced.

Laying where she was for a while seemed like a good plan.

"Shepard, we need to discuss the unique salvage you recovered from the Reaper," Miranda crossed her arms over her chest.

The Commander sighed. "I don't know, do we really? I was thinking I'd just ignore it for a while." Miranda gave her an unamused look. "Okay, fine." She plopped herself in a chair around the com room table.

"For now, I had it stored in the AI core. We need better weapons to fight the Reapers. An intact Geth is invaluable to Cerberus's cyber-weapons division," the XO spoke.

Jacob leaned forward onto the table. "I have to disagree, Commander. I saw enough of these things on Eden Prime. Space it."

"While I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly, Jacob, I've killed hundreds of Geth. Never once did one actually talk to me before." Shepard rolled out her shoulder. A nasty blow from a scion was still causing an ache to the recently repaired joint.

"Cerberus has a long-standing cash bounty on an intact Geth. I assure you the reward is significant." Well, Miranda made her feelings obvious.

"This thing communicated with us, hell, it probably saved my life. Why?" The Commander had a hand to her chin in thought.

Her own opinion must have been just as obvious because Miranda looked at her incredulously. "Reactivating the Geth is a risk. If you do so, it needs to be in the best interests of humanity, not your curiosity."

"I still think our best interests involve an airlock." Jacob exhaled in frustration.

"I wanna know why it has a piece of N7 armor strapped to its chest." Shepard drilled a finger into the tabletop.

Jacob rubbed a hand through his cropped hair. "Battle trophy, maybe? Do machines even care about that?"

Miranda shook her head. "No, trophies imply emotions that AI don't have. It's probably nothing more than a convenient field repair."

"Why was it even there to begin with? I'm not deciding until I talk to it. We need to boot it up and interrogate it." The Commander brought a finger up to her chin.

Miranda opened her mouth to argue, but Shepard stuck her hand up. "I've made my decision. Thank you, both of you, for your input. EDI, what are your thoughts on the IFF."

"I would like time to run a thorough diagnostic suite on the device before it is installed. It is Reaper technology, so integration poses certain risks. Once installed I will perform a battery of shake down tests. I will alert you once installation is necessary," the AI responded.

"I trust you, EDI, you won't let anything happen to the ship. Until you are ready, it's business as usual. Crew dismissed."

Jacob nodded and turned to walk out of the room. "Tali's going to freak when she hears this."

The next morning at breakfast, Grunt's agitation was unprecedented. He laughed and ate with the crew like normal. But his twitchiness didn't go unnoticed, and before he left, he put his head through a table. His head. It left an impressive outline in the metal and startled the crew men up and away from him. He didn't seem bothered by it though and went about his business back to the lift.

"What in the hell was that?" Gardner exclaimed.

Shepard locked eyes with Mordin, who was standing across from her nursing a cup of coffee.

"No idea. Will run some tests." The salarian spoke.

Shepard nodded. "Keep me updated."

It was near the end of first rotation breakfast at that point and the mess was clearing out. She'd purposefully waited until then to stride into the infirmary. Chakwas was typing away at her terminal and gave the Commander a chin tilt as she walked through the cots to the back of the room where the AI core was housed. Two crew guards had been stationed at all times outside of it since they had brought the Geth aboard.

"Be ready, I'm activating it." She motioned them into the room with her. Both of them raised their weapons as she brought up a barrier around it with her omni-tool.

"I have isolated our systems and erected additional firewalls. I am prepared to resist any hacking attempts." EDI chimed as she moved up to the unit. It took multiple applications of power jumps before the platform's flashlight head came back on. The iris constricted and widened, systems testing themselves. It made all the usual disturbing digital noises the Geth always made as it booted up, before it turned the light on her and stood up off of the bench it laid on. The heavy body was apparent in the loud sound of feet hitting the floor. She stepped back even though the barrier was up, unease settling like a mist over her skin. She'd never been this close to one that wasn't crumpled into a heap of parts. It towered a good foot above her, servos whirring quietly as it moved. There were little shutters around its flash light like optical that fluttered a bit as it studied her. They looked like eyebrows. Shepard stared right back, chin up defiantly. The two men behind her shuffled slightly.

After a few tense moments of quiet, she spoke. "Can you understand me?"

"Yes." It answered in its digitized voice, speaking in galactic common.

"Are you going to attack me?"

"No."

Huh. "I've never heard a Geth speak before now."

It waggled the shutters around the light and flared them out. "Your aural analogue means of communication is inefficient. We communicate through direct digital transfer, Geth network communication travels at light speed. Human hardware does not support this method."

Well, yeah, that made sense. She stepped up closer to the barrier. "You know me."

"We know of you."

"Meaning, I've killed a lot of you."

"We have never met."

"Maybe you and I haven't, but I've met plenty of other Geth." She paced around the barrier. It followed.

"We are all Geth, and we have not met you. You are Commander, Shepard, Human, Alliance. You fought Heretics, were killed by Collectors. You are now rediscovered on the old machine."

"Old machine… you mean the Reaper?"

"Reaper. A superstitious title originating with the Protheans. We call those entities, 'Old Machines'."

She scrutinized its three-fingered hands and toes. Interesting that they kept their Quarian creator's forms. "How do you know of me?"

"Extranet data sources. Insecure broadcasts, all organic data sent out is received. We watch you."

Wow, that wasn't creepy at all. "You watch me or you watch organics."

"Yes."

Jesus. "You said I fought Heretics?"

"Geth build our own future. The Heretics asked the Old Machines to give them the future. They no longer belong with us. We were studying the Old Machine's hardware to protect our future."

"What future are the Geth building?"

"Ours."

"Will anyone else be affected by what you are doing?"

"If they involve themselves, yes."

"So you aren't allied with the Reapers."

"We oppose the Heretics. We oppose the Old Machines." It stepped up right against the barrier as if it wanted to prove its meaning and looked down at her. "Shepard-Commander opposes the Old Machines. Shepard-Commander opposes the Heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals."

"You want to join me?" She was dumbfounded.

"Yes."

She walked one way and then the other, trying to calm the reeling of her mind. The Geth followed. This was mind blowing, a revelation. Something the galaxy needed to hear. She motioned for the men to lower their weapons and deactivated the barrier on a held breath. The platform didn't move, just stared at her quizzically, undulating the shutters, the light moving back and forth over her.

Shepard exhaled. "What should I call you?"

The iris constricted and opened. "We are Geth."

"No, I mean just you."

"We are all Geth."

She sighed. "This unit in front of me, what is it called?"

"There is no individual we are Geth. There are currently 1,183 programs active within this platform."

EDI piped up. "My name is Legion, for we are many."

"Oh, that's a good one." Shepard nodded.

Its head shutters fluttered. "The Christian bible. Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. This is an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth. We will integrate into the Normandy."

"Okay, Legion. Welcome aboard," she stuck out a hand. Legion stuck theirs out too but hesitated for a beat, flexing its fingers before they gently clasped hands.

"OH shit." Shepard jumped back in a full body flinch.

"Hm, it's my good looks, I'm sure." Garrus was standing half shadowed right outside the AI core as she had walked out.

"What is with you sniper guys? Is there a reason the sneak factor is so high?" She straightened her shirt collar, trying to regain some dignity.

He'd been leaning against the wall but stood up over her. "Shepard, I'm a seven foot tall Turian. I don't sneak. I think you are confusing me for Krios."

"I most certainly am not. You are a sneaky bastard and you realize it." She poked him in the chest once and caught Karin's eye over her console. The knowing smirk the doc had on her face rubbed the Commander the wrong way. "What did you need me for Vakarian?"

"Nothing, I'm just standing here so when the screaming starts I'm close by… you know. With a gun."

"You knew I was going to activate it?"

"I knew you were going to activate it the minute I saw it's crumpled corpse in that core."

Shepard smiled. It was good to have her friend back. "Well, no screaming. It wants to join us in the fight against the Collectors."

"You're kidding me."

She held his gaze steadily.

"Spirits. Why does a Geth want to help us?" He rubbed a palm over his fringe.

"It said it's been watching us. Organics, that is. It knew about us fighting Saren. It says the Geth we fought against were 'Heretics' - outliers that want to work for the Reapers when the main Geth collective don't want that. It was on that Reaper, trying to glean any information it could to help the Geth in their fight against them."

"Wow... that's," Garrus trailed off. "That's something to unpack."

"You're tellin' me." Movement out in the mess caught her eye. Thane had just walked up to the counters with his mug. She sighed. Best just get the awkward out of the way. "I gotta go, if Tali comes up here to sniff around, head her off. I need to tell her I turned that thing on, but I can't do it right this second. Thanks, Garrus!" Shepard jogged out of the med bay, Garrus's eyes following her.

The face she'd just made as she laid eyes on Krios - was identical to the one she'd had in the battery before they'd gotten the IFF. Suddenly it wasn't such a mystery.

"Thane," she cursed herself inwardly. Her voice sounded small and hesitant even to herself.

He finished stirring his tea and turned towards her. "Siha."

"Do you have time?" Shepard asked.

"Always for you. Come." He put one hand on the small of her back and guided her to life support with him. The door shut behind them and he sat at his desk, motioning for her to sit across from him.

She stood, leaning with both hands on the back of the chair instead. Fuck. She wasn't good at this kind of stuff. Shooting things was way easier than… talking about feelings. Her skin was already crawling. "Just for the record, I had no intentions of things going that far, or using you like that, and I apologize. I'm sure it was obvious, but my mental state and lack of inhibition were the issue there."

He smiled. "In no way did I let you do anything I was uncomfortable with Shepard. You said your intentions were not pure. I said mine weren't either."

She nodded and exhaled a breath. "I haven't…" She struggled, looking anywhere but at him. "I haven't been intimate with anyone in years. Not even including two years on an operating table. It was... a moment of weakness… but… it was nice to realize I existed, for a moment."

His brow furrowed. "Not even the Turian?"

"Who? Garrus?"

"Your prowess together in the Collector ship was… I had just assumed there had been much behind that level of cooperation."

"Besides a brotherhood born in battle, no." Thane studied her face, both eyelids blinking.

He held his palm up towards her. She hesitated a moment but slipped her hand into it and he pulled her back around the table to stand between his knees. "You are not the only one to think that way, Siha."

"So, we are just two lonely people using each other to feel alive."

He furrowed his brow. "Putting it that way makes it sound worse than it was. I would say, two people in a hard situation, with a very palpable attraction to one another, seeking solace." He dropped his eyes to the ground. "I should be the one apologizing, though. No matter how much I wanted to touch you," He kissed the inside of her wrist. "Or how much I enjoyed… our exploits - my memories," he fumbled over the words. "They won't let me rest."

Shepard cocked her head, scrutinizing him. "Irikah."

A lip corner pulled up, but a morose look accompanied it. "I had a wife, a family. Happiness. Powerful things that thankfully I don't forget, for better or worse. It's not fair to you that that happened. It is not…" It was reassuring that he had to search for the right words as much as she did. "I should be clear. My desire is to live in the present, but I couldn't stop it either." He looked ashamed. Sad.

"I wouldn't hold something like that against you. I'm not," she blew out a breath. "I don't hold expectations because I'm not in a position, mentally or otherwise, to handle anything that isn't friendship."

"Of course. Neither would a dying man be someone to have such things with. Dying men only dream to aid a warrior to her glorious victory with their last breaths." He pulled her in closer.

"Commander, The Illusive Man is on the QEC for you." Joker's voice came over the com in the small room.

Shepard dropped her head back with a groan. "Sorry, duty calls."

Thane simply nodded with a serene smile as she left.

She'd been in there a lot longer than her typical rounds, and when she finally marched by to the elevators, she smelled like him. Not that it was any of his business. Garrus shook his head and went back to his glass of nutrient powder. Just a few minutes later, the engine drone of the Normandy kicked up an octave, and the ship shifted beneath his feet. Shepard popped back around the corner into the mess and made straight for him.

"There's my favorite Geth destroying machine. Feeling strong?" She leaned on the table top across from where he sat.

He couldn't ignore the whiff of Drell, even though he tried to. "Yeah, what's up Shepard?"

"Tim says one of his facilities went dark - shocking, I know. Especially considering there were Geth involved in the experiment. But whatever they were researching was apparently important enough to send us to fix it." She turned to look through the infirmary windows.

"And you want to bring a Geth, to fight some Geth." He crossed his arms on the table.

"Well, sure, what's more perfect than that? We will be there in 0500 hours." She reached to clap his pauldron before turning to walk back to the med bay.