The Road To Paradise

by Ni'Rala vas Qwib Qwib

Heroes tend to build a reputation after saving the world. In Naruto's case, it reached to the stars, to the attention of those in need of the best to do the impossible. Now Naruto faces new trials and adventures, joining Commander Shepard's team in the fight to stop the Collectors, and ending the Reaper threat before the galaxy is too far gone to save. NaruTali past NaruHina, AU

35. Jessie

Unity Arc

Chapter 35

Jessie

~I~

Shepard cupped a handful of water flowing from the tap and washed the sweat from his face. He felt its coolness trickle down his skin in little rivers until they pooled at his chin and fell into the sink. He turned off the tap and counted the drops falling like a leak. How many times had he been here? How many times would he have to return?

It was pointless. He'd mapped out every detail he could find in the artifact and his diagram was nearly complete, all except for a single section: the core. It wasn't for a lack of perspectives, he'd tracked dozens of drone memories heading into the core. But right before he breached that threshold, they stopped like the end of a recording. Shepard knew there was more. It was gated off, like someone shoving aside the camera to keep him out. The Collectors must have a safeguard in the sphere protecting this content. But it wasn't impenetrable. He tried to force the boundary and felt it give, not all the way, but it was a sign of its vulnerability. One he intended to push through. Nevertheless each attempt ended the same as strain on his mind expelled him from the artifact. He woke up on the deck, tired and sweaty, still with nothing to show for it.

There were many lessons taught in the N7 program, but only one thing unlearned: the definition of impossible. Passing, or rather surviving, the grueling training regiment rewarded candidates with an intimate insight into the fortitude of the human spirit. Humans could overcome almost any obstacle with enough willpower and perseverance. This belief is the fuel Shepard ignited to fuel his struggles, from Saren, the Reapers and beyond. So why was he failing here? Why couldn't his mind push through this intangible barrier? His mind always threatened to break before it did. If he pushed any harder, he might break beyond repair.

He stared into his reflection and asked himself if this was the same man who commanded the first Normandy to their first victory over the Reapers. If he hadn't died, if he'd gotten into that escape pod, would he have been able to penetrate the sphere? Would he find the final piece of the puzzle? If the answer was yes, then Miranda had failed. She hadn't brought him back, at least not like before. She ruthlessly assured him that the Lazarus Project was a complete success, that he was the same man who died two years ago. But a worry rose in his mind more and more frequently, a worry that something was missing, left behind in the wreckage of the SR-1.

John Shepard wiped the moisture from his face with a towel and glared at himself, commanding himself to stop this train of thought and toss out all the coal in the engine. He was Commander Shepard, he had his mission, and he would see it through.

He got dressed and returned to his cabin. Yes, he had his mission, and right now that warranted all of his attention. "EDI, I'm ready."

"Are you sure, John?"

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. Contact him."

"Very well. Beginning connection."

Shepard took his chair and straightened himself. The glass over his desk flashed into a crisp blue, a rotating sphere representing the connection. Shepard straightened his shirt once more and waited. There was a lot riding on this call going his way. Considering how things ended the last time they spoke, that wasn't a guarantee.

Moments later the screen disappeared and EDI said, "No connection. Spectre Alenko did not answer."

Dammit Kaiden, he knew he was going to call. There were weeks of back and forth emails just to get this call arranged. To think he'd ever have to negotiate a conversation with former crew, that's how much distance there was between them. But it wasn't so vast that Kaiden wouldn't hear him out. He just needed to make the best of this chance, he wouldn't get another.

"Give it a minute, he may be busy."

After a pause, he tried again. He waited a moment to clear the light lag and began counting the chimes. On the third, Kaiden's face filled the screen.

"Shepard."

"Spectre Alenko." He said, hiding his relief. In spite of everything on the Citadel, it was good to see him again. "It's good to see you, I hope your mission's going well."

"I'm not even going to ask how you found out about my assignment."

"You should, I might answer."

"You know a spectre can't speak on open investigations, Shepard."

"The Council worried something may get out. Or are you worried about insider threats?"

"No comment, Shepard," Kaiden paused to think, "But I can tell you that right now, the Council has bigger fish to fry than any one ship."

Even if that ship was a Reaper, but Shepard wasn't so tactless as to bring that up here, not with what he was about to ask for. He said, "Except the one they sent you to oversee."

"You and I both know this is about more than a ship. An entire colony was wiped out when this ship rammed the planet. I say rammed because the evidence points to a deliberate collision. This wasn't an accident."

"I thought you didn't comment on ongoing investigations. What changed?"

"It's a good rule, when the other party has nothing to do with it. I think we both know what happened here."

"What do you mean? It's no secret that my team has been hunting the Collectors, but we weren't involved with the crash. The Normandy was nowhere near Horizon when the Collectors demolished it."

"I see. Tell me, is Naruto Uzumaki still on your crew?"

Shepard felt a chill of realization. Kaiden knew. But Tali wiped the tapes, she was skilled enough to leave no trace. So how did he know Naruto was connected? What else was Kaidan not telling him?

"What does it matter?" he asked.

"It matters because when I file my report, he'll be classified as a person capable of mass destruction. And don't tell me you don't know that. I've seen the footage from Tuchanka, even before it hit the net. Most of the news networks called it a hoax, some video editor's prank, but we both know better. Now tell me Shepard, is he on board the Normandy?"

"Like I said before, I'm putting together a team, and I need the best. That's exactly what I got."

"This isn't a game, Shepard, when the Council finds out about this, there's going to be a shitstorm, and you'll be at the center of it. You won't be able to set foot in Citadel space without a fleet on your ass. He destroyed a colony, he's dangerous, and you're sheltering him."

"If you've seen what I think you've seen, then you know he's in control. He isn't a danger to anyone who doesn't make themselves a threat. Right now, that's the Collectors. And I'm surprised the Council has granted us this much freedom as it is, I always expect to be denied docking every time we make for the Citadel."

"Yeah, well saving their asses counts for something, as long as you're not causing trouble in Citadel space."

"How generous. And you? Is there a reason you haven't told the Council about this?"

"They're waiting for my final report here."

"You could have filed this in a preliminary report ages ago, which means you're keeping this to yourself for now. I know how the game works, or did you forget that?"

Kaiden rubbed his jaw and said, "No, I haven't. Couldn't forget those days if I tried."

There was only one reason to keep this information a secret, and it wasn't for further intelligence gathering, or Kaidan would have contacted him a long time ago. He was protecting them, Shepard and his mission against the Collectors while he still could. He knew that when he tells the Council, and someday he will, Shepard and his crew would be caught in the chaos of an investigation and their mission may very well come to a halt. If Kaidan didn't want that, he must believe that Shepard was making progress against the Collectors. Maybe he had a chance after all.

"About why I contacted you," Shepard began, "Any progress with work on the cruiser?"

"Classified, Shepard." Shepard noted he never called him Commander. He doubted it was vindictive or petty, Kaidan was only being proper. Commissions don't outlive a death certificate.

"I imagine your days are full of equipment manifests and funding requests for research."

"Anything's possible."

"Anything?"

Kaidan was uneasy, "Uh, what are you getting at?"

"Kaidan, I need to ask a favor. There's something on the cruiser that I need for my mission."

"And what would that be?"

"I need their IFF device, it's the only way to get through the Omega-4 relay. Once I have it, we can stop the Collectors and end the abductions before they restart their attacks."

"I see. I thought that might be what this was about."

"You did?"

"Yeah. The Frontier Defense Task Force proposed doing the same. It'll never happen, their prerogative is defense and it'll take a lot of political wrangling to change that. But I knew when I saw it that you'd jump at it eventually."

"So then give it to me, we'll use it to end this."

"It's not that simple, Shepard. Even if I had the authority-"

"Which as a Spectre, you do."

"regardless, if it were just you, that'd be one thing, but I won't let this fall into Cerberus's hands."

"That's exactly why you should give it to me."

"How so?"

"Because if not, Cerberus will find a way to get their hands on it, sooner or later. You can imagine what they would do with a load of ships armed with Reaper IFFs."

"And how is just handing it over to you any different?"

"Because unlike the mole in your team, I won't share it with The Illusive Man. I'll-"

"Wait! Cerberus has a mole in my team?"

"That's what he told me."

"Dammit, I need to find-"

"No, leave them be."

Kaidan looked betrayed, Shepard watched him tying himself in knots making sense of this, "What the hell are you on about now?"

"Kaidan, I know how it must look, but I'm only working with Cerberus because they're giving me the resources to get this done. I don't want to give them anything more than I have to. Give me the IFF and let them look for something that isn't there, I won't let The Illusive Man know I have it until the last possible moment. Let them waste resources on a snipe hunt."

Kaidan thought on that for a long moment, long enough to give Shepard hope. Then he said, "I'll authorize you to land on Horizon. We can talk about this in person."

Shepard sighed with relief, "Thank you Kaidan. It'll be good to see you again."

He smiled uncertainly, "I hope so. One condition, though: Uzumaki stays on the Normandy. I don't need to tell you why."

"He's going to want to see what's left of the colony."

Kaidan mulled this and said, "Alright, he can visit the colony ruins, but he stays ten kilometers outside the impact zone at all times. One of my squads will keep him under guard. We clear?"

"Crystal. And one last question: I'm sure it was difficult finding anything that would give the impression Uzumaki was involved. How did you learn about it?"

"You're the one with the best damn team in the galaxy, or so you say. Figure it out yourself."

Shepard almost smirked, "See you soon, Kaidan. Thank you."

"Fly safe, Shepard."

~II~

Whatever the crew thought of her, no one denied Miranda Lawson was a woman of many talents. One of these was her endowment for listening. Her bugs, endangered though they were thanks to crew hunting parties, gave her ears across the SR-2. Contrary to what certain crewmembers believed, she wasn't trying to catch them in a scandal or intrude in any intimate moments. She operated on a prerogative: intercept any information that could affect the mission. Things such as idle gossip and baseless rumors were ignored, but if anything seemed like it might fall under her domain, if it passed through her perfect ears into her perfect memory. There it rested, often unused, but always ready to be used.

Take for example the case as follows: Miranda overheard Naruto in the lounge telling Tali and Mordin that he was looking into biotic implants per Uchiha's recommendation. Another biotic crewmate could enhance mission readiness, so she filed it away in her gray matter and promptly moved on. She would have let it be, Naruto seemed to be pursuing biotics on his own and there was no need for her to get involved. Until Pragia.

The files Tali and Legion recovered from Asclepius were more illuminating than she first thought. Among their contents, all of which she was reviewing for cataloging in Cerberus archives, there were specifications for a new class of theoretical biotic amplifiers. The theoretical part was stressed, modern human biotic architecture was too immature to utilize this advanced concept. It was almost like they'd tried to modify an asari amp to work in a human body. Because biotic development began comparatively late in most humans, meaning it didn't happen immediately with fertilization, their bodies were always degrees away from perfect biotic development. Subject Zero, Jack, she told herself, was the most prodigious. She might have graduated into these one day with enough experiments and surgery. No other human would have had a chance at using this. At least, not any from Earth.

Sanctuary humans were like asari, biotic by birth. Their biotics only took on new form, focusing on their internal chakra instead of the dark energy around them. But the potential was there. Miranda studied Naruto's medical file and compared it to the implant architecture. She was sure it could work. Without further hesitation she asked EDI to invite him to her office.

He arrived in dirty coveralls and a wrench sticking out of his pocket, a picturesque grease monkey. He was taking to engineering duty nicely. "What is it, Miranda?"

It still bothered her when the crew used her name so informally. No one dared using her first name during Project Lazarus, it was always ma'am or Miss Lawson. Most of the ship crew kept to her title, but the ground team was different. They were a small unit under a single leader, formality died in such circumstances.

She motioned him to her monitor and showed him the Pragia research while detailing her proposal. She'd screened five amps she thought would compliment the team's tactics. She gave Naruto the chair and let him examine each device. He asked, "Is this safe? I mean, I'm not risking anything if I go through with this?"

"There's always risk. Your body might reject the implant, or the wiring might be damaged in combat. But those are problems inherent with biotics, and most of us survive."

"Then let's do it. This one," he said, pointing at the fourth. He was eager to start now that they had a clear path forward. He'd focused so much on Sanctuary and the Kakuremino seal that he hadn't fully research biotics, but now it was all here for the taking. "How soon can we install it?"

Twenty-eight hours. Eight hours for the auto-fabricator to build it out of omni-gel and spare parts, four hours to test it, three hours to outline an operating procedure with Doctor Chakwas and Mordin, two hours to re-check every step of the procedure, one hour to prep the patient, and one to catalog equipment and sterilize the med-bay. At hour nineteen, the three surgeons were scrubbed and gloved and ready to create a masterpiece. Nine hours of surgery to go.

Naruto sat on the table in his hospital gown, he swung his legs idly over the edge to pass the time. Miranda approached him and asked, "Are you sure you're ready? This is your last chance to back out if you're having second thoughts."

Naruto grinned, "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't one hundred percent committed. Ready when you are, docs."

Chakwas finished placing her instruments on the tray, This was her med-bay and she would be the head surgeon for the procedure. Miranda was her secondary, and Mordin, having never performed such an operation, was acting as assistant. A very enthusiastic assistant. He was eager to learn how biotic amps were installed.

Miranda had been worried Chakwas would refuse to perform the procedure given her past experience being forced to operate on the man. But she surprised Miranda, saying this was an opportunity to do it right for a change. A surgery on a willing patient on her terms. It was return to normal. She insisted on taking charge of the entire procedure.

Doctor Chakwas asked, "Mordin, please cover the windows."

Miranda checked the mess hall where a few people were waiting for the procedure to begin. Garrus and Tali were waiting at the table, while Legion stood motionless near Rupert's kitchenette. Two of them waited patiently for the procedure to begin, but not Tali. Miranda caught her watching Naruto and found her body language strange. She wasn't afraid, she knew the surgery had little chance of complications, especially in Naruto's case. Instead she looked confused and upset. Miranda wasn't sure why.

Tali's eyes suddenly met hers, and despite the helmet Miranda thought she was glaring daggers at her. Tali suddenly looked away as if the wall had begun playing a vid. Miranda briefly considered remembering this for later, and decided against it. If Tali had any issue with her, or these biotics, she could either bring it up herself or deal with it on her own.

Mordin flipped the switch and the windows went opaque. Doctor Chakwas instructed Naruto to remove his gown and lie face down on the operating table, which he did with only mild embarrassment at his nudity. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal if it were only men, or even just Mordin and Chakwas. He lay on the table and waited awkwardly as the surgeons moved everything into place.

Miranda readied her omni-tool, Naruto asked, "No gas?"

"No, a neural shock."

Naruto looked at Mordin, saying "Uh, I've seen that before."

"Not like that, this version targets specific areas of the brain and will put you into a temporary fugue state. No pain."

Still eyeing Mordin, he said, "Oh, good then."

"Now hold still," she scanned his brain and her program honed in on the appropriate neural patterns, then she said, "Good night," and with the press of a button his entire body went visibly limp. Given his healing factor, she'd have to keep an eye on his vitals in case he woke up, but she had another shock primed in any case.

The procedure itself was invasive. They began at the base of the skull, separating the skin and muscle before carefully installing the implant. Miranda held back the muscle as Chakwas carefully bound the implant to bone as Mordin cleaned and prepped new tools and parts. After this, they began working their way down the spine until the first segment was complete. But biotic implants were complicated beasts and needed to run the length of the major nervous system. They continued along his arms to the end of each finger, then down his legs to every toe.

They were laying one of the final strands of the implant when Mordin motioned to his head. They'd stitched the openings as they'd gone, but the section behind his head and halfway down his spine had already completely healed without a single mark, and his lower back was already nearly finished. It took most new biotics a week before they could walk again after surgery. Naruto would only need hours.

They finished their final segment at just over eight hours into the surgery. At nine hours, the last of the incisions had healed and they took out the stitches. Just after the eleventh hour, Naruto began to stir. Miranda was there when he opened his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Heavier?" he chuckled.

"Good to hear. All your vitals check out. Feel ready for a test run?"

Naruto grinned. The Normandy was one biotic stronger.

~III~

Jacob said, "Took me five months to learn biotic theory, a year of training to generate my first biotic field, and one more to move a tea kettle. And this guy goes and does it all in five seconds."

"Aw Jacob, don't be jealous," Naruto retorted as he carefully mirrored Miranda's movements, each of them handling a small wooden block with small biotic fields. His sharingan was spinning, catching every flaring particle in Miranda's body and guiding Naruto into a perfect mirror. But even that alone wouldn't have been enough. Chakra and biotic manipulation were mirror opposites; one used energy from within, the other entirely from without. Despite being naturally biotic, no ninja would normally be able to create a field on their first try. How fortunate for Naruto that he was one of the few shinobi alive who could use external energy already. He wished he could thank the toads for those painful lessons.

Garrus mused, "With your shadow clones, does this mean we just got a biotic artillery squad?"

Miranda said, "Not likely. You weren't here for our first test."

"What happened?"

Mordin opened his omni-tool and played a video, two dozen Narutos were scattered around the hangar. They watched Miranda demonstrate a basic biotic field, little more than a biotic poke. The Narutos tried to imitate, and for the briefest instant they were surrounded by shimmering biotic fields. Then they exploded and the video cut.

Mordin explained, "Results similar to biotic detonation from conflicting mass effect fields. Suspect biotic field manipulation interferes with clone chakra construct in similar manner, resulting in violent deconstruction. Problematic."

"Ah, that explains the," he glanced at the scattered storage crates, "...chaos."

Grunt mused, "They make good bombs."

Naruto glared, "Not a chance, I lost all their chakra! I didn't even get their memories back. I'd be better off saving the energy for jutsu."

"Wish I could make myself blow up, hehe," Grunt gleefully imagined exploding.

Miranda said, "Let's move on to the amp's primary field architecture."

Naruto asked, "Already? I've only lifted a block and you want me bum-rushing something at the speed of sound?"

"It should be simple for you. In theory any biotic can create any sort of biotic effect, but most biotic amps are designed to specialize a core set of biotic effects. Think of it like walking down a paved road versus uncharted jungle. Let's try."

Naruto nodded and focused on a crate standing on its side, his target. He focused on feeling the dark energy around them, grasping it until he felt his skin begin to tingle and the air warp around him, and using it to slingshot him forward. Instead the field burst at his feet and he was tossed fifteen feet in the air, but he caught himself and rolled as he landed.

Garrus clapped, "Two points for the execution, but a solid seven for the landing!" Naruto replied with a mocking bow.

Miranda said, "You lost control at launch. You need to grip it and explode forward."

Samara said, "I believe I see the problem."

Naruto asked, "What is it?"

"His control is not refined enough to create a field he has never seen before." Samara said. Miranda's face soured slightly at the implication on her own control. "A demonstration will suffice."

Samara stepped beside Naruto and in an instant a careful biotic glow illuminated her, and she shot forward faster than most eyes could follow. She crashed into the crate which rocketed away, bouncing once on the floor before catching in the net set up behind it.

Jacob whistled, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Samara reset the crate with biotics and gestured for Naruto to try, "You must be quick and in control, this field is short-lived and any hesitation will let it rupture."

"Got it, thanks." Naruto nodded. He'd taken in every detail, and while he was certain he couldn't replicate her or Miranda's control, Samara's picture was much clearer like a well-drawn diagram.

He focused downrange at the crate and watched Grunt throw it aside. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Grunt pounded his chest, "Come on, let's see what you got!"

"Grunt, get out of there, you could get hurt whether or not I mess this up!"

"Even better!"

Mordin hummed, "Biotic charge not normally lethal, unless launching targets through windows, or off rooftops. Hmm. Live target superior for testing, can examine bruising, concussions, broken bones."

"That's the spirit!" Grunt roared.

Miranda shrugged, "He is volunteering. Go ahead, it's on him if he regrets it."

"Or all over the bulkhead, if it goes wrong enough," Jacob mused.

Tali said mockingly, "Yeah, go ahead Naruto. Charge the krogan. You used to love it."

Naruto cringed and wondered why Tali was giving him the cold shoulder. He said to Grunt, "Alright, get ready!"

He tried again, felt the tingling all over his skin and a sudden chill as the energy gathered. He went tight as a rubber band stretched to its limits. Then he unleashed and the world warped as if stretched, and in the space of a second he soared the distance between him and Grunt, and when they met there was a deep rumble as Naruto stopped and Grunt went flying. He screamed as he toppled end-over-end straight into the net, straining it, before rolling down to the floor.

Naruto breathed and said, "Grunt, you okay?"

Grunt jumped to his feet and roared, "That was awesome!"

Naruto grinned, "Hell yeah it was!"

Samara said, "A good attempt, though you'll need to practice to perfect it. It seems you can't copy this perfectly."

Grunt nodded approvingly, "I'll be here, practice the space boost on me!"

Miranda paused, "Space boost?"

Mordin hummed, "Name...technically not wrong."

Miranda said, "It's called biotic charge, this is not a new discovery you can name."

Grunt scoffed, "Says you."

Mirands said to Jacob, "Can you add the amp interface to his armor? The force goes both ways, and this amp is designed to process excess kinetic energy not directed at the target into energy for kinetic barriers through an alternator in the armor."

"I'll get on it, should be a simple installation."

Miranda turned to Naruto, "Once you have this, you can practice the nova. It releases your barrier energy in a kinetic shockwave around you."

Grunt grinned and said, "Space boost, into the space smash!"

"Not calling it that. Keep in mind that nova does deplete your shield charge."

Jacob said, "I can't see why you'd want to get rid of your barriers."

Naruto said, "Not a big deal if I can just charge for more."

"Your choice, not mine. Too high risk for my blood."

"And stupid," everyone turned as Jack appeared, "Yeah, I saw what you're doing. And you're a fucking moron for choosing that amp."

Naruto said, "I'm best up close, its right for my fighting style."

"No, it's a perfect way to get yourself killed. If any biotic can do this, ever wonder why they don't?" She looked to Samara, "I ain't ever seen you charge."

"And you never will in the field."

"Because it's dangerous. Think about it, time doesn't suddenly slow down when you're charging, and you're not changing course once you start. And if your target dodges, or you just plain miss, you just keep going! And you won't stop until your biotic field drops and you fall outta the sky, or you hit something else, and if that something doesn't move, you get all the force for yourself, your alternator overloads and you go splat like a jar of strawberry jelly. And if you're in space and you miss? So long, see ya! Your dumb ass if off to Andromeda or some shit!"

Naruto said, "Believe it or not I thought of this already. My master Kakashi had a jutsu where he moved so fast he was more likely to hurt himself than his opponent. He couldn't master it until he got one of these," he pointed to his sharingan, "I can predict where my target will be, I can see it like seeing the future. I won't miss, and I won't charge unless I'm sure."

"Yeah, and one missed shot is all it takes to put you in a body bag."

"Glad you're concerned."

"Fuck you," she said with less bite than usual.

Miranda called him, "You keep practicing and you'll keep from messing up in the field. Try again."

He got lined up, but then Garrus called him over. He said in a quiet voice, "Did you say something to Tali?"

"Nothing bad I can think of."

"Well she's upset about something. You better go talk to her, before she has more time to stew on this. She said she was going back to work, catch her there." He glanced back to the others, then added, "Between you and me, best handle this sooner than later."

He thanked Garrus and told Miranda he'd be back later before taking the elevator to engineering. He found Tali at her terminal and was relieved when Ken and Gabby were nowhere in sight. She looked over her shoulder, saw him, and went back to her scans while saying, "Shouldn't you be practicing?"

"Later. Is something wrong?"

"No."

Apparently 'no' held a universal opposite meaning for females of every species. "I think there is, you're just not telling me."

"Because there's nothing to tell."

"You've been giving me the cold shoulder all day."

"You're imagining things."

Naruto scowled and grabbed her wrist, "Come on," and led her into the core chamber away from her work, he was thankful when she didn't resist. He let her go and said, "Tali, if I did something wrong, I have no idea what it is. Can you please tell me?"

"It isn't like that, you didn't do anything. Nothing's wrong."

"Okay, so we're good? We can talk like normal?"

"Sure. What do you want to talk about?" she said in a way that offered nothing, her wall was still up.

Naruto sighed, "Alright, I don't know what else to say. Just talk to me when you're ready."

"Okay." she still stood there waiting like he was supposed to continue. Did she think he had these magic words in his bandoleer that would make everything better? Because he was coming up blank. He sighed and walked past her intending to go practice, it might get his mind off things.

She watched him go and tapped her finger on her arm. Just before he left the core she asked, "That woman you dated. Hinata Hyuga, right?"

"Yeah?"

"You never talk about her."

"Am I supposed to?"

"What was she like?"

"Uh, well," he began, searching for a description that was accurate, but wouldn't come off as longing, "She worked hard to better herself, even when others believed she never could, until she made them believe too. And she was kind. A very kind woman, always worried about her friends and family. One time, during the chunin exams, she gave me an ointment she made after my fight with Kiba."

"Did she give it to anyone else?"

"Well, no, and-"

"Did she like you back then?"

"Ah...yes, she did."

"Did you like her?"

"No, actually I didn't know her well back then, thought she was weird."

"I see," she paused to think while staring at the core. "You were twelve. And she got you in the end. You were together for, what, five years? Five Sanctuary years, or about five and a half standard years."

"I know, it gets confusing," he chuckled, Tali didn't notice.

"Was she pretty?"

Naruto sighed and knew this wasn't ending well. Why was she so intent on leading this conversation into a shipwreck? He nodded and Tali continued, "I thought so. Do you have a picture? I want to see."

"Tali, can we please stop?"

"I want to see. I know you have some, you never get rid of anything."

Of course not, this was all he had left of home. But Tali's insistence was beginning to wear on him. He held up his hands in surrender and reached under his cot and pulled out a photo album. He flipped through the pages and found one without the two of them together, no need to fuel this fire of hers. He chose a picture of Hinata in a dark formal gown with a pearl pattern. He liked it because it matched her hair and her eyes, but he was smart enough not to mention that. He gave it to Tali and let her examine it. She held it close to her visor and scrutinized it so thoroughly Naruto was uncomfortable for her.

"She's pretty. I think. I'm not sure what's pretty on Sanctuary."

"I thought so. Others back home did too, I guess."

"Is that why you liked her? Or was it..." she looked closer, "Keelah, are all Sanctuary women shaped like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like...what's the word...footballs?"

Naruto blanked, "Uh, no, not that I noticed."

"So that's why you liked her?"

He waved her off, "No, not for that."

"So was it her hair? I know humans care a lot about their hair. Is this what you like?"

Naruto groaned, there was no safe answer, "Well, I guess? But it's not as if those were the reasons I liked her. She was...special."

"Why?"

He sighed, "Because she noticed me, she acknowledge me, back before I was anything more than a pest to the village. And when she nearly died protecting me from Pain, I...I finally noticed her, and felt like an asshole for never seeing her before. So I wanted to know her, and as I did, we grew...closer."

Tali chewed on his love story for a long time. He was relieved when she turned away, almost like she was giving him some privacy to recover. Then he noticed her continue staring at the picture in one hand while bringing the other to her helmet, then to her chest, then crossing under it as she sighed and kept looking at the picture.

And then it clicked. Was Tali jealous about his ex? That sounded too silly to believe. But here she was looking at her picture and comparing herself. Tali, worried about his ex's hair and breasts? It was so ridiculous he wanted to laugh, but he knew from experience that was the worst thing he could do right now. Was she so worried that he might prefer his ex over her? Did she ever wonder that if he had the choice, he'd pass her over for another chance with Hinata? Well, he'd have to pull that one up by the roots right away.

Naruto stuck up behind her and snatched the picture. Tali protested, "Hey, I wasn't-"

"Just come here," she stiffened as he hugged her from behind, "I left my life in Konoha behind me, and I don't regret it. She may be my first love, but she isn't the woman with me now, and I'm very satisfied with the one who is. If I ever do compare the two of you, you win." Most of the time, he wanted to add, but he wasn't nearly stupid enough to bring that up now.

Tali thought about this, then raised her hand to draw circles on the back of his wrist. "Fine, if you say so." She tried keeping her voice neutral, but Naruto caught a familiar hint of relief in her voice.

Naruto turned her, "My turn."

She tilted her head, "What?"

"Tell me about your exes. Fair's fair."

"You know I don't have any."

"Fine. Tell me about your crushes. There must be someone you had the hots for, maybe back on the Rayya?"

"No."

"Really? Not even an academy crush?"

"Academy crush?"

"Fine, a...pre-pilgrimage crush, or whatever you call it."

"I mean, sure, but no one I remember. My friends and I would talk about boys, sometimes, but you don't date on your birth ship. You know you're just going to leave for pilgrimage and never see them again."

"Fine, what about on the Neema?"

Tali shuddered, "No."

"Really?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I didn't want to talk about Hinata."

"Bosh'tet. Fine. When a quarian returns from pilgrimage and joins a ship, dating is an...event. Yeah, an event. Everyone is in the same dating pool, so anyone new, young and obviously single is exciting, and, well, a target. Especially on a small ship where everyone knows each other."

"And how did the Admiral's daughter, returning with geth data after saving the galaxy, fare?"

"Two proposals the first day."

"….huh?"

"Seriously."

"Oh. I didn't think..."

"It's a big ship, who knows what those two were thinking."

"So you were popular."

"I got my share of attention. More than most, maybe, now that I think about it. I believe I overheard one guy call me, uh...no, nevermind."

"Tali..."

"I don't want to."

"Now I have to hear it."

"...Fine. They called me, and I quote," and she did with her hands, "'a fine piece of...ass.'"

He looked her over, "Well...they weren't wrong."

That earned him a chuckle and a soft punch in the arm. Good, so he could get away with it. He asked, "So no dating?"

"It did calm down after a few months, especially after more women joined the crew. Some guys were nice, but even if I wanted to, I was already on so many assignments for the Admiralty that I never had a chance."

Naruto faked a pout, "So I don't get to be jealous?"

"I never even held hands before."

"I suppose I'll have to settle into being your first crush then."

Tali rubbed her arm, "Well..."

Naruto leered, "Oh, so there was someone."

"Well, not really-"

"Tell me, Tali."

"It's really not-"

"Come on, show me your browser history."

"That is a really weird expression-"

"Just. Tell. Me."

Tali sighed and relented, it was nice to be on the giving end, he thought. She said, "It was...during my pilgrimage."

"On the Normandy?" Her silence was his answer. "Was it Garrus? Tell me it was Garrus."

"No. You have no idea what a bosh'tet he was back then."

"Kaidan?"

"No."

"One of the engineers?"

"No..."

Naruto suddenly realized he didn't like where this was heading, "...Wrex?"

"Keelah, I'd be crushed."

"...Liara?"

She glared, "Really?"

"...Ashley?"

"Is it that big of a deal?"

"Yes."

"I didn't even know you back then!"

"Hinata is out of the picture. Shepard isn't."

"I was young, got rescued by this dashing starship commander and invited on his quest to save the galaxy. What kind of girl wouldn't have some kind of interest in that?"

"If you ever compare me to him and I don't win, I understand."

"Oh, stop. It was two years ago."

"You seriously expect me to believe you still aren't a little attracted to him?"

Tali crossed her arms and looked amused, it was fun to see him sweating about this for once, "Oh, you feel threatened? Think he might come down to engineering and sweep me off my feet?"

"If I ever get my own ship, can you get captured by a gang on the Citadel or something? I want to level the playing field."

"Not funny."

Naruto pondered, "Is that why you came back to the Normandy so easily?"

Tali fumed, "Okay, stop!" she grabbed his hand, "In case you didn't notice, I'm not with the Commander. I'm with you, and I wasn't planning on trading you in."

Naruto hummed, then nodded, "Yeah, I can take that. And for the record, I wasn't planning on it either." For an instant everything was better, everything felt pleasant. But then a question popped into his mind that refused to stay confined. "Tali, do you have a thing for humans?"

"What?"

"No crushes on quarian men, both Shepard and I are human…"

"I…" Tali trailed off, "I..that isn't it."

"Then what is it?"

"I..." she rubbed her hands, "I like your smile. I like how expressive you are, when you smile and frown, and it's just, I like that. I like being able to see that. And I think, well quarians and humans are a lot alike, so...yeah, maybe I do." She looked at him worriedly, "Is that a problem?"

"So long as you keep it to one human, we're fine."

"One's all I need."

Just one.

Something clicked again and suddenly Naruto understood why Tali was upset earlier. It all tied in with a single piece of quarian culture he'd studied many months ago.

Quarians did not partner for life as a rule, more out of necessity. Dating on birth ships was frowned upon, and while a small minority of quarians found liberty in dating their own and other species on pilgrimage, most waited until returning to the fleet and kept focused on finding something worth presenting to a Captain. Even once aboard a ship as crew, dating was usually formal and rarely only for pleasure or fun.

It tied in with a simple rule: one child per couple. The Migrant Fleet couldn't maintain its population without such strict population control. And while divorce was legal under Quarian law, anyone marrying a divorcee found themselves bound by the one child law, the partner could not have another. So partnerships were serious and usually for life, even unhappy marriages usually stayed together over facing their long voyage alone. The senior dating pool was never large on any ship. So quarians were cautious in choosing a mate, they likely wouldn't have a second chance.

And once they chose, they clung to their partner with earned selfishness. Quarians were usually communal and were willing to share much of their lives, but not this. This, and their choice of having a family, made partnerships a special bond that were jealously guarded.

Naruto imagined Tali watching Naruto prepare to disrobe, to be touched, by the three Doctors, and he imagined what she must be feeling. Chakwas she saw as Doctor, a professional. Mordin was better, a male, alien Doctor. No ulterior motives there. But Miranda was something more. She was a woman, a very beautiful, desirable woman, who was about to see her new partner naked, who was about to touch his naked body. That would make anyone angry, wouldn't it?

Still, Naruto laughed. Really, Tali being jealous over Miranda! Any thoughts of romance with the woman ended the moment she started barking orders.

Tali looked at him tentatively, "Hey, what's so funny?"

He grinned, "I get it now. You know Miranda was just doing her job, you can't be upset with her over that."

Tali glared, "Who said that was the reason?"

"It's all over your face."

"As if you can tell," her tone was angrier than before, and he realized he'd hit a nerve.

"Ah, did I get that wrong?"

Tali sighed and turned, reluctantly admitting, "Not entirely wrong."

"If not that, then what?"

Tali looked at her hand, "I...it's silly, now that I'm thinking about it."

"I don't think so, I think this is important, and I'd like it if you told me."

Tali sighed and turned to look at him, she did so for a long moment. Her let her take the time she needed. Then she slowly approached and embraced him, and as she felt his arms wrap around her in return she dipped her head into his chest. The glass visor tapped against his collar bone like stop sign.

"This is it. I can't get any closer. But she was right there, touching you. And I know it was for surgery, but still, that's something I can't do. Why would you stay with someone like that? I keep thinking this isn't going to mean anything once you get tired of only hugging an enviro-suit. And you...you know what you're missing. What you could have, with someone else."

Naruto gulped. Oh. Wow. He really missed the mark on this one.

He shook the thought away and said, "I knew what we were getting into when we started this. If I wasn't sure I was okay with that, we wouldn't be where we are."

Tali hesitated, "You and Hinata, you had...I mean, you were together so long, obviously you..."

Naruto sighed and nodded, "Yes, we did."

"You...you two had sex, right?" she finished, as if the word itself was important.

"…Yes. We did."

She hugged him tighter, "And you're okay without that? With me?"

"Like I said, I knew what dating you meant. I like what we have."

"But do you...you never want to? You must regret it sometimes."

He looked away, charging a krogan was easier than this conversation, especially with his latest upgrade, "I mean yeah, I've thought about it. With you. But I didn't want to ask you, I thought I'd be pressuring you into something risky."

She chuckled, "It's okay to talk about it, when would I ever let you force me to do something I didn't want to?"

"You didn't want this conversation."

"You know what I mean." She stepped away and played with her fingers, "And...you know, it's not like quarians have given it up. We're still around, aren't we?"

"Tali..."

"Look, just...let me finish, okay? I've looked into it, and there are ways for us to...Keelah, it's hot in here."

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, well, I did a few searches myself. I was worried you'd think I was going too fast if I brought it up."

She shrugged, "Maybe, but with the mission, and...I could see your shadows through the windows, and when I saw her touching you, I wanted that. I want to feel your skin on mine, not just a replication with nerve stimulators. I want it to be real." She paused, ringing her finger like she were removing skin from sausages, "That sounded weird, right?"

"Not to me. The truth is, has been for a while, if I could," he touched the side of her mask, making her stiffen, "I'd like to touch you without the suit. Or, I'd like the chance to."

She nodded and raised her hand to touch his, but his hand trailed south and glided down her neck. He smirked and looked into Tali's eyes; her words, her desire, was his permission. And knowing he was wanted by her, it filled a void inside him created as a child by an uncaring village. It fueled the confidence and the need that let his hand fall further, running over her collar, and then lower, as slow as sap falling from a tree, and finally climbing the soft curve of her right breast. He heard her gasp as she finally understood his intentions, pushing their boundaries just a little further. Quarian bodies were similar to humans in that the front was soft, vulnerable, personal. To touch here was to seal that personal bond that existed only between the two.

He leaned in close as his hand covered her breast and whispered into her ear, "For what it matters, yours are very nice."

Her breath caught next to his ear, a sweet, high-pitched puff of air that triggered something warm inside him, like turning on a burner in his stomach, and she said, "And you're...a fine piece of ass."

Naruto's other arm trailed up her own and stopped at her elbow, he said, "Right here is a suit seal."

Suddenly she was confused, "Yes?"

"If I were to, say, open it for a second, maybe touch your arm, kiss it or something, would that be a risk?"

He enjoyed watching her try and process this, she was like popcorn popping, "Uh, well, it's always a risk, but...it wouldn't be a big one, if you were quick, and I use disinfectant after."

Naruto rubbed her forearm and said, "I think you want to release the safety for a minute."

"I...that sounds...yes. Give me a...a moment." She managed to stutter out before bringing up her omni-tool. He realized this was actually happening. Naruto licked his lips with a primal hunger when it happened.

"Okay, stop! Stop!" Kasumi screamed as she decloaked behind them. "No good, uh, foreign contaminants present! Very bad, infections bacteria over here!"

Tali squealed, "Kasumi, what are you doing here!?"

Naruto closed his eyes and said calmly, "Yes Kasumi, what are you doing here?"

She smiled awkwardly and shrugged, "What I do best?"

"Tali, wipe her omni-tool of recent recordings."

"Oh! Right," she said and began.

Kasumi panicked, "Wait, I-ow!" she said as her omni-tool sparked as Tali overloaded the RAM after wiping the files.

"Thank you Tali. Now," Naruto said lowly as he approached Kasumi as she sputtered through an excuse that he righteously ignored, "I don't care how long you've been there, but you are never doing this again, and you're not going to breathe a word about what you saw. Understood?"

Kasumi said to Tali, "See? In case you didn't know, this is what men get like when they're horny!"

"Keelah, just go!"

"Going!" Kasumi yelled as she bolted. Naruto closed the door after her and they were finally truly alone.

Tali covered her face and said, "I can't believe she saw us. This is so embarrassing."

Naruto said, "Forget about her, it's just us now." Tali nodded, but she was frazzled. Not that he would blame her.

She said, "Please, please close the door next time. All the time."

"I will, promise."

"Well, um, this room isn't very clean anyways, we should, uh, probably do that another time. I should probably get back to maintenance."

Of course the mood was gone. He said, "I know, I should get back to practicing."

"Yeah, and, I'll be down later to watch."

"Looking forward to it," he paused, then grinned, "I wonder how Miranda would react if I told her how jealous you were."

Tali lit up, "Don't you dare! And if you do, you can forget about ever getting into this suit!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow and grinned with trouble as he approached her, his body language a blaring warning. "Oh, but I don't want to get into your suit, Tali."

He hugged her at the small of her back and pulled her close, smushing their bodies together like brick and mortar as she went rigid with surprise. He wanted to show her the desire he kept restrained, for what he thought was her sake, to keep her from feeling guilty at what she couldn't share. But now she took the step further, the possibility, that shared urge was out in the open. He wanted to press through the line he'd tread so carefully and plant a damn flag in this glorious new territory, to claim it and hold it as long as she would allow.

He leaned in close and whispered, "It's what's under the suit I want to get inside," he said as he reached around and grabbed her bottom with a grip that could juice an orange. Tali squealed and stiffened so tight against him that she stood on her toes like a dancer. Naruto quickly reached around and tapped her helmet before kissing it on the side, making sure to leave a small mark where his lips were. "See you later, Tali." He said before walking out of the core. Tali had no response to that, none that Naruto could see or hear.

He decided things went better than expected. He and Tali were back on speaking terms, and a little more than before in a way he privately savored. It could have gone better, thank you Kasumi, but she hadn't pushed him away. He was happy to call this a success.

He wouldn't know until much later how successful today actually was. One day she would tell him that after he'd left, she had stared at the kiss mark on her visor for over a minute while wondering at the stiffness she'd felt pressing against her belly when he held her close, and marveling at the stinging sensation where he'd grabbed with such force it felt like he wanted to rip off this false skin to reach for flesh. Then she'd closed the door and re-downloaded an old suit upgrade called Nerve Stim Pro: Deluxe Edition. The door stayed closed for some time.

He would have gone to practice as planned, but before he took the elevator he looked through the window and saw Samara and Jack. The Justicar was showing Jack the levitation trick in a corner of the hanger, pointedly away from the others. Jack tried to mimic Samara's control with a similarly sized block. But Samara's block was motionless as a mountain and Jack's wobbled like a top ready to spin out, and moments later it tumbled to the floor.

Jack shouted and stomped the floor like a toddler in a tantrum, he half expected her to storm out of the hanger or blow something away. She was used to biotics on a large scale, grandiose and destructive, but there was little precision in her work, only general directions.

Samara patiently walked over to the scattered blocks and picked them up. She returned, handing one to a venting Jack, and again demonstrated her control. Naruto saw her mouth some instructions to Jack, the younger woman's shoulders were rising and falling like rough waves in the sea, but moments later they settled and she lifted the block again.

Naruto decided not to go down then. The tension between he and her was finally at a detente, but his return would still disrupt their moment. He'd give the floor to her for now, he wasn't the only one seeking improvement after all.

Instead he visited Zaeed's quarters. He was surprised to find The Mercenary inspecting Jessie, but not in any way he'd seen before. He was prepping Jessie for the field.

Zaeed grunted, "Kid."

"Old man." He took a seat on a crate next to an old krogan warlord helmet and asked, "So this is it? Jessie's last mission?"

"Yeah," he said as he closed the heat sink. Jessie's service dated back decades, he imagined Zaeed kept her going on the original parts as much as possible. That included heat sinks, meaning no thermal clips and long cooldowns. He wouldn't have had it any other way, otherwise it just wouldn't be his best rifle.

Naruto asked, "You sure she's ready for this?"

He glared as if insulted, "We've waited twenty long years for this. Don't you dare ask that again."

~IV~

There was big money in human colonial expansion. Each sector, from discovery, supply, transportation, advertising and beyond, had a few happy handfuls of newly minted billionaires. But the business was as cut-throat as any on Earth, with even worse competition.

Take discovery operations where resource management was key. Long-distance scanning was only so accurate. Even if you could confirm a planet in the Goldilocks zone and a Jovian shepherd for space debris, you still have no idea if the planet's worth a damn until you visit it. So you send a deep space frigate to explore the great unknown, which is usually much less romantic than in the vids.

Most green recruits think they'll be visiting strange new worlds, cataloging exotic creatures and plants, making a difference in the galaxy. But corporate backers care about results, and extensive research is resources wasted. These vessels have a key list of questions: is the planet habitable? How many temperate zones? How many bodies of water are easily accessible? Is the land rich for farming? Are there rare minerals and can we reach them cost-effectively? Is there sentient life, and if not will the fauna be aggressive towards colonists? Are there signs of Prothean activity? All the questions that narrow down if a colony will be a revenue generator and worth investment. All the other interesting questions, searching for strange phenomena and exploring for the love of adventure, were abandoned for the good of the company.

In the Hawking Eta cluster, a dozen light years north of the Century system, there lies a small K-class star with no name. Well, technically it does, but K-48613 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Orbiting this star are seven planets, one of which was once visited by a private exploration frigate. This planet, K-48613-2, had almost everything an investor could want: a developed ecosystem, no large predators, fertile soil for farms. All this could have led to another human colonial expedition, except for one flaw, barely a footnote: bacteria. One of the more common strands, present in soil and plant-life around the world, was tested and proved poisonous to humans, batarians, asari, turians, basically anyone who would pay for colonization rights. The world might still be saved if it had significant mineral deposits for mining, food could be shipped, after all. And there were, plenty of iron and tungsten, two of the most abundant metals in the galaxy. So the planet was cataloged, written off, and never visited again.

Vido Santiage, former head of the Blue Suns, decided this worthless world would make a wonderful retirement home.

Passive scanning revealed an active sensor array that would catch any craft within forty kilometers of the compound, even if they skimmed the tree line. And with only passive scanning and aerial imagery for reconnaissance, they had little to go on. The compound was a large structure built next to a canyon. The front section, facing away, was heavily fortified with a pair of heavy cannons protecting the front entrance. Shepard estimated the compound was large enough to house a few squads of Blue Suns for security, the big boss wasn't counting on anonymity on an abandoned prospect as his only protection. They could have blown it up from orbit, but Zaeed said this was a rescue mission. If they were going to get inside the compound, they needed to hit it with a surprise attack. So Shepard landed his team just after sunrise forty-seven kilometers away, deep in the swamps away from prying eyes, and readied his team for a long march.

He split them up into four squads: point team in front, one squad covering each flank, and a rear guard. He led Grunt and Zaeed in point squad, Miranda led Tali and Samara in left flank, Thane led Naruto and Kasumi, and finally Mordin led Jack, Jacob, and Legion in the rear. They left the shuttle in EDI's care and headed into the marshes.

The going was hard, finding level ground was a challenge in itself and no one went without some mud in their boots. Thane led Naruto and Kasumi on the right flank. Naruto could see Shepard and Mordin's squads to the side, but Miranda's was too far to see. He asked Thane for instructions, and he said to stay close and keep alert. Nothing detailed, just that. Naruto wondered if he'd ever had a command before. Shepard should know, and if not, he wondered what made him put Thane in command. Thane kept them on a parallel path with the Commander, even passing through a low stream to keep up instead of searching for an easier crossing. Thane and Kasumi were damp for the rest of the trip, and Naruto was very thankful for water walking.

They marched for three hours, taking only one break in between. In total they covered twelve kilometers, a respectable first effort. Shepard gathered the squads and together they ate their rations on a relatively dry patch of land. After eating, Shepard divided them into new teams. Point would be Garrus leading Mordin and Jacob. Jack would lead the left wing with Miranda and Kasumi, and Tali would lead Zaeed and Legion. This left Shepard leading the rear with Naruto, Grunt and Thane. The obvious questions regarding squad composition arose, Miranda and Tali both visibly expressed their distaste with certain members of their squads, but Shepard shut that down immediately. His orders were final and he'd hear no more of it.

Onward they marched through the swamp. The terrain became wetter and more uneven, like a giant hand had stabbed it with a stick until it was full of holes for water to gather and insects to nest. Naruto slapped away a local pest and looked to Shepard, and as he watched the Commander eye the separate squads ahead, he confirmed his suspicion: Shepard was testing them. This wasn't just a field exercise, he was observing how his squadmates reacted to each other and to leadership roles.

Shepard ran them through combat drills in the hangar several times a week using combinations of crates and projections to make up their environment. The size of the ship limited what kinds of practices they could hold. Out here, he could observe their teamwork for hours at a time. He could test who knew how to handle a squad on patrol, and whether or not certain crewmembers could cooperate fully in an operation.

He had reason to doubt. Garrus led his team effectively, and perhaps Tali might have well, but Legion's presence made her uncomfortable and it reflected in her actions. She clammed up like an oyster and the squad suffered for it. Jack leading Miranda went better than expected, which is not to say it went well. Jack didn't try to send Miranda into a suicide scouting mission, but she did make sure to lead them through a very messy part of the swamp. She didn't mind the mud, but she hoped Miranda would, and didn't care what Kasumi thought.

They paused after the first hour, and Shepard sent Naruto and Grunt to replace Miranda and Legion, respectively. Jack was silent on his arrival, but once they got moving she was less vindictive. She didn't command, rather led them as if she were strolling through the swamp and they followed her trail by chance. He looked over and saw Tali, she appeared more comfortable with Legion now a good distance away.

They stopped one more before regrouping after two hours, the difficult march and the sun at its apex demanded it. Shepard regrouped the team and let everyone go for trail food and trips to the bushes. After everyone regrouped, he divided the teams a final time: Legion would lead the point team to include Tali and Jack, Jacob would lead Grunt and Garrus in the left wing while Naruto led Thane and Mordin on the right, and everyone else with Shepard in the rear. Tali was stunned at the thought of following a Geth. She had no comment as they split into their teams, but her body language spoke her disquiet like a loudspeaker.

Naruto gathered his squad and gave each member a role: Mordin was to watch their right for movement while Thane would do the same to their front. Naruto would pace to Mordin's left and watch the other squads for reactions and movement, and would make sure their squad stayed a few paces behind point squad.

As they set out, the terrain became easier to trek, the ground was drier and less slippery, and the swamp draining into a forest. Naruto eyed the other squads, Jacob had a similar pattern to himself, but Legion's team was too far apart, the geth was either unfamiliar with squad tactics, or was uncomfortable ordering them, specifically Tali. Not that she was being helpful, the one time he caught Legion trying to direct them, Tali glared. She was a professional, she obeyed, but following a geth was asking too much.

"I heard something, on our flank," Thane said.

Naruto said over comms, "Contact right, everyone drop." He ducked behind a tree as his squad did the same, he heard Shepard repeat his command and looked back to see everyone obscured in foliage.

They waited one minute, then two. Another sound in the distance. Mordin said, "Can't see, doesn't sound far."

Legion said, "This forest is interfering with our scans, nothing detected."

Naruto told Thane to climb his tree and get a better view, he blended in well with the dark alien bark. Thane hopped up quicker than even he might have in proper attire, and at three meters up he scanned into the forest from behind a sizable branch. It took him only a few seconds to spot movement behind dense shrubs, and declared their potential attacker was some kind of boar.

Shepard said, "Recover, and take a rest. We move in ten."

Naruto recalled his team and congratulated them on their good work. It was nothing this time, but they were ready for when it was. They sipped their water and rested their legs and Naruto let his adrenaline die down.

Their next push was their last for the day. The planet had a 22-hour day-night cycle and they were approaching hour seventeen. Shepard checked his charts and determined they were just over eight kilometers away from the compound. He decided it was a good distance, likely clear from any patrols, and close enough for one final trek.

There weren't any clearings, so he stopped them in a place with relatively level ground and hoped his team would find a root-free patch to sleep on. He gathered his teams and told them they were going to set up camp. First, a few people were shuffled: Shepard relieved Legion in point, who then relieved Mordin in the right flank, who then joined the rear guard. Miranda would lead point squad in getting a smokeless fire going at camp. The rear guard would find a stream to fill canteens, though the water would be boiled before drinking. As for the wings, he ordered each team to go hunt one of those boar-like animals for dinner. Garrus reminded him everything was poisoned, and Shepard told him they'd be eating boar well done. The planet was categorized as levo, so Garrus and Tali would eat rations as planned.

They split and Grunt announced they were going to go kill something. Naruto led his team far from the campsite, if their march hadn't scared anything edible away, Grunt certainly had. He told Legion and Thane to step quietly and keep their ears and scanners alert.

Their hunt reached its apex twenty minutes in. Legion detected movement several dozen meters ahead. Thane climbed another tree and confirmed another boar-like native was munching on low-hanging berries. Naruto decided the finder should be the shooter and gave Legion the honor, though Legion stated he had no understanding why organics considered killing a defenseless animal an honor.

"Aim for the heart or liver, end it quickly," Naruto said.

"Acknowledged."

Thane said, "Organ meat is nutritious."

Naruto said, "Fine, aim for the brain."

"Acknowledged."

Legion's rifle was set to low power to deafen the noise, but one shot was all it took, clear through the skull. Legion approached his kill, held it up by its hind leg, and asked Naruto, "Nutrition?"

"Nutrition!" Naruto grinned.

They headed back with their bounty and saw everyone else had already returned. Garrus held one of the creatures as well, again shot through the head. He looked smug as a reporter catching an interviewee in a lie. Grunt looked sad, which was not expected.

Naruto asked, "Why the long face, Grunt?"

He grumbled, "Hunting's no fun, these ones don't fight back."

Garrus grinned, "You'll be frowning soon, too."

"Why's that?"

"I scanned the meat, the surveyors had it wrong. This world's dextro."

"What? How can they mess that up?"

Miranda said, "It's a binary choice, someone made a mistake and no one bothered to double-check."

Legion turned to Naruto and raised his kill, "Not nutrition?"

"Not for me."

Garrus looked to Tali, "Did you bring your sterilizer?"

"Look at that, I did."

"Then we feast."

As the kills were theirs, Garrus and Legion skinned, cleaned and prepped their animals, the former instructing the latter. Shepard stoked the fire, over which was a grate, and over again a smoke catcher. There was a general grumbling from the levos who now had flavor-barren rations to look forward to, until Jacob pulled out a bag of gumbo from his pack. A gift from Rupert, he said, leftover surprise! Most of them would have gone with the rations if Jacob hadn't insisted on sharing the gumbo.

The gumbo heated surrounded by dextro steaks on their open range. Garrus was grill-master, and anyone who didn't know about the planet's bacteria would call him a monster as he burned perfectly good steaks into ash. Jacob handed out paper bowls and wooden spoons and began filling them as Garrus did the same for Tali and himself. Tali took her portion and sliced pieces for the sterilization tube, running the program so that the tube glowed orange. She clinked it with Garrus's fork before inserting it into the feeding dock.

The meal would have been uneventful, save Garrus reminding everyone how good his steak was in spite of the burns. Nobody believed him, personal safety had butchered flavor with the meat. It made their gumbo taste better. As they finished Shepard ordered Jack and Thane to clean the pot. Everyone threw their finished dinnerware into the fire and watched it burn as the setting sun began to shine through small openings in the treeline.

Night was coming, Shepard wanted everyone ready to move by two in the morning, if they moved at the same pace as today they'd strike at sunrise. He was about to set a watch rotation, Legion could stand it but Shepard preferred two sets of eyes, when Zaeed volunteered for the entire night. Shepard protested, but Zaeed only said he wasn't getting any sleep tonight. He relented and let The Mercenary have the watch with Legion and told the rest of the team to get some rest.

They hadn't brought any heavy camping equipment, the forecast hadn't predicted rain. They each split and parked themselves within the firelight. Naruto saw Jack toss her gear to the ground just far from Samara that she could pretend that wasn't why she chose it, and she'd tell anyone who said otherwise to fuck off. Naruto unrolled his sleeping bag on a reasonably comfortable patch of soil and prepared to settle in for the night. But before he could slide inside, he heard Tali ask, "This spot taken?"

He grinned, "There's room for two," he sat on the bag as Tali did the same. "How was dinner?"

"Better than it looked, you have no idea how exciting it is to get anything aside from nutrient paste. Whenever the Flotilla stops by a merchant world, my people practically devour the world's stock of flavored pastes."

Naruto smirked, "How about after we stop the Collectors we go into business together? We buy a massive cargo ship, fill it with all the pastes we can find, and fly it to the Flotilla? We'll be rich."

She laughed, "Now there's an idea. Someone should do that for pilgrimage."

He saw her sitting on the ground and noticed her pack was too small for a sleeping bag. He asked, "You didn't bring one?"

"What would I need one for? This suit regulates everything."

"Must be nice."

"You want one? I can see what I can do."

"Oh? Tired of people touching me?'

"Exactly," She made a gesture like holding a sign, "'do not open without permission from Tali'."

Naruto felt something hit his back. He turned and saw a small pouch. He asked, "Who threw this?"

Everyone looked, no one fessed up. He opened the pouch thinking its contents would narrow it down, and blushed. It was a travel-size version of the essentials Mordin had given him weeks ago. Condoms and all. He pointed, "Mordin, what the hell? You brought this crap with you?"

"Good field doctor always prepared!"

"Ha ha, some joke, pal!"

Mordin was aghast, "Shocked! Doctor-patient relationship is sacred trust! Would never dream...of mockery!" He said with all the melodrama he could muster.

Tali got up and asked, "What is it?" she reached inside and pulled out a strip of condoms that unfurled as she pulled it out of the bag. Tali asked "What are these?"

Jack burst out, "Why don't you take the fire hydrant back to the shuttle and find out!" Naruto now realized how red he must be. Or at least, he hoped the color was what Jack was referring to. Tali just looked at him, still confused. Naruto cursed the quarian sexual health program that decided that proper suit seals were the only contraceptive education a young quarian needed.

Jacob grinned, "Nah Jack, shuttle's too far. But there's plenty of bushes if you two want some privacy."

Naruto announced, "You know, I don't remember asking any of you if you wanted in on this."

Kasumi had her omni-tool recording. Naruto wanted to break it. He caught Thane covering his mouth from under a tree, his shoulders bouncing like pistons in an engine. Legion was glancing around curiously, not quite able to pick up meaning in this strange organic display.

Garrus was a trigger pull from falling over, but doing his best to keep himself together, "Oh dear, they really don't teach you enough in the Fleet, Tali."

Tali asked, "For what? What's going on here?"

Grunt scowled, "I don't get it either, someone explain!" Garrus leaned over and whispered in his ear. Naruto stiffened, not in the good way, as Grunt grinned and nodded, "Ah, breeding. It's awesome!"

"Breeding?" Tali asked, looking at the condoms, then the rest of the pouch and the items inside. The condoms slipped from her fingers. Naruto actually saw the realization in her mask.

Shepard approached the pair and offered his hand, "I trust you won't be needing these tonight." Naruto shook his head and handed them over. Shepard looked at Tali, bless the Commander, he tried so hard to stay professional, but even he couldn't hide the hint of amusement. Shepard picked up the condoms and put them inside, handing them to Mordin. "Keep them safe, doctor. For another time. I think this is settled for now, everyone. Let's get some rest."

Those that wanted their fun were satisfied with what they got and returned to evening routine. Naruto sat and joined Tali on the ground, who was in the fetal position. She said, "I. Am going. To die."

"Come on, they'll be on to their next bullshit tomorrow."

"Keelah, I hope so," she sighed and leaned back on the ground, then rolled over to face him, "So what were those things?"

"What things?"

"The little rings in wrapping. What are they?"

"You really want to know?"

She said nothing for a long moment, then, "Yes."

~IV~

He saw Zaeed sitting in the distance beyond the edge of the firelight. Jessie nestled comfortably in his lap as he waited for the forest to give him something to shoot.

Naruto stepped up behind him and said, "Old man."

"Kid."

He brought a tripod chair and sat next to him. Zaeed grunted, "You should be sleeping."

"I am," Naruto pointed into the clearing, the original was softly snoring a half meter from Tali.

Zaeed grunted, "God damn clones."

"You should be used to it by now."

"Don't trust 'em. I told you about that time on-"

"On Omega? With the scientist and the war clones? You're running out of stores."

"So you do know how to listen."

"And you need a checklist."

Zaeed glared through the darkness, "What're you doing here? I don't need company."

"Maybe, but it's nice sometimes."

"Out with it, I know when you've got a bloody question."

"Alright, maybe I do."

"Of course."

"Listen, this is supposed to be a rescue mission, right?"

"Right."

"But all I've heard about is this Vido Santiago, and it doesn't sound like you're planning to rescue him." Zaeed grunted, "So who're we rescuing?"

"No one you know."

"That's the problem. What if I find them before you?"

"That won't happen."

"But if! Then what? We need more than that."

Zaeed mulled on this, then took out a piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it and showed Naruto three bald women, all of them in their late twenties. "Who are they?"

"Her. There's only one."

"There's three?"

"Three ways she might look. I haven't seen her in twenty years."

"Who is she?"

Zaeed looked at the pictures for a long moment and said, "She's mine. My daughter."

"You have a daughter? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because I don't have her anymore. Not yet."

Naruto looked into the distance, "I...I don't know what to say."

Zaeed looked at him, the sight of his lost child had wounded something inside him, and from that weakening the past came pouring out again. "You know about the First Contact War."

"I've looked it up."

"Nasty business. A stupid war for stupid leaders who didn't know how to say hello. And a lot of good men died. Seeing that...it changes a man. Makes him want to get as far away from it as possible."

"And, did he?"

"Yeah, a small farming colony in the Traverse called Mindoir. I finally took my old man's advice. Found a girl, settled down, had a kid. Grew a lot of corn. It was all far enough that I could finally let go and forget what happened on Shanxi." Zaeed paused, "And then the Batarians came."

"Slavers?"*

"The lot of 'em. They took a quarter of the colony and killed a quarter more. I found my wife there in the rubble of our home. They rejected her, put a bullet through her head. But they kept my daughter, took her God knows where. Those damn slavers took everything from me. Everything. I learned to draw because they destroyed my home and all my data, no pictures, so it was the only way I'd have them to look at."

Naruto remembered back to the notepad he ripped long ago, and the picture of the woman and girl. "So how does Vido tie into this?"

"He was one of my best mates. We survived Shanxi, we built new lives together on Mindoir, and we survived the slavers. He didn't have any kids, but he had a wife. A young wife. They took her too. So we dusted off our rifles and armor and gathered every man and woman who lost someone and was willing to go through hell to get them back. We called ourselves the Blue Suns, because that's how hot our rage burned."

"You and Vido founded the Blue Suns together?"

"Us and our mate Linus. But the Suns weren't like they are now. We were victims looking to make things right for ourselves. The Alliance did fuck all for us, couldn't risk all-out war with the Hegemony as long as they never linked the raiders to the government directly. Buncha bullshit, we paid our taxes and they couldn't lift a finger to protect us. So we put out a call, hundreds joined us and even more donated millions of credits. And we used it to fight them on their home turf across the Traverse and the Terminus and get our people back."

"Did you?"

"A few. We managed to track down a few of the missing and get them home. It wasn't pretty, but they had a chance. Others...we weren't so lucky. Sometimes it was a dead end, other times we found records indicating they were killed. That's how we found out Vido was never seeing his wife again. Some left once they confirmed what happened to their families. Linus was one of 'em, lost his whole family in the raid. A wife and two kids. They'd been worked to death in an iridium mine in the Terminus. Some, including Vido, stayed on. But that's when things started to change.

"Donations began drying up. Vido suggested we take on merc work for funds. Left a bad taste in my mouth at first, but we needed the money. Then when we lost more of the men, we went a little further, accepting regular mercs into the band with no connection to raiders. It was all an endless slippery slope until finally Vido went too far. He started letting batarians join, even former slavers. I went to figure out what the hell he was thinking, and he told me it was time to take the Blue Suns in a new direction, a profitable one. Then he gave me this," he pointed to his false eye and accompanying scar, "and said our business was concluded. Left me to die."

"But rage is a hell of an anesthetic?"

"Something like that. A few of the boys came with me, but most had given up and followed Vido and the money. We kept hunting, searching all we could using what we had. The good Suns all died within two years of that, then it was just me. I worked as a mercenary to build funds for my hunt. I paid information brokers to follow the trail from one sale to another, knowing she was still alive. Over that time I somehow wound up as the best damn Mercenary in the galaxy."

"And that's why you agreed to work with Cerberus. You used their information network to find her."

"And it was Vido. He bought her two years ago. Must've done it on a lark for the irony. And now I'm going to pay him a visit and repay him for everything he's ever done."

Naruto knit his hands and was quiet for a time, trying to figure out how to ask, "Zaeed, even if we find her, are you ready for what she'll be like?"

"I know damn well what I'll find. And I've got an account full of credits that'll let her forget everything."

"Even if she loses you to the mission?"

Zaeed spoke, almost hiding his disgust, "Look at me, what kind of father can I be now."

"One that crosses the galaxy to find his daughter."

"But who can't do shit more to help her. I'll see she gets what she needs, but it won't be me. I know what I am."

Naruto lingered on this for a long time, finally asking, "What was your wife's name?" Zaeed gently cradled Jessie, "And your daughter?"

"Elaine."

"We'll get her back, Zaeed."

"I know."

"And Vido?"

Zaeed rocked Jessie again.

~V~

The compound was fit for a king. It was a slice of paradise on a planet with no rules or authority other than as the owner willed. The two-story fortress stood next to a brilliant lake that stretched almost to the horizon, a hint of mountainous land in the distance proving its boundary. The front of the compound was split into two wings and housed the guards, with the section behind, a branch jetting out from the center, serving as the retirement home for the former leader of the Blue Suns.

Shepard overlooked them on a hill hidden in the foliage. "Those two cannons in front will stop any frontal assault. And we need to disable the gunship on the landing pad on top of the building. Kasumi, Thane, you think you can get inside?"

Thane nodded, "I've already spotted five potential entrances."

Kasumi huffed, "Only five? Amateur."

"Garrus, you'll lead Legion and Naruto from here, you'll create a distraction and draw their attention while they sneak inside. Once the cannons are down, Miranda and I will divide what's rest of the team and assault the side entrances. Then, while the guards are trying to respond, the front team will rush the main entrance and rendezvous with us inside and we'll take the central section."

Garrus said, "That's a great plan, except I don't see how three people are going to hold their attention."

Shepard turned, "Naruto?"

Naruto bit his finger, and as Mordin asked how painful it was on a scale from one to ten, he unrolled a scroll and unsealed dozens of weapons. He created as many clones and armed each of them with one of the rifles, "Firing squad jutsu."

Garrus said, "Not bad, but what's with the cheap Elkoss Combine crap?"

"These're older models, the even use internal heat sinks for cooling. They don't do damage, but it will distract them with our numbers. Then you and Legion can pick them off with your rifles."

Garrus asked Shepard, "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"It's something we brainstormed ourselves, we weren't sure if we were going to go this route until I could see the place for myself."

Garrus nodded, "Works for me. We'll be ready."

Shepard commanded, "Everyone, follow your squad leaders to your positions. Thane, Kasumi, let us know when you're in position and we'll signal the distraction."

Everyone split up and Naruto prepared his clone army for their assault. They readied behind the bushes, when the skirmish began they'd poke through and fire using them as camouflage. They wouldn't be able to hide the muzzle flashes, but they could make themselves harder targets.

Garrus and Legion readied their sniper rifles, then Garrus tossed him a Mantis model Thane had left behind for his infiltration. Naruto asked, "Think I need to give it another try?"

"With that eye, you might just hit your target for once. And besides, even if you can't, you'll be no worse than the rest of your clones."

Naruto unfolded the rifle and checked the settings, everything was in the green, of course Thane treated the tools of his trade well. He tested his stance and aimed down sight into the sky, trying to pretend he could see a target in the trees. He said to Legion, "The last time I held one of these, it was pointed at you. Remember?"

"Yes. It was ours."

All those practice session in the hangar came rushing back into his arms as he mechanically checked the alignment and settings. Shooting would be another matter, he wasn't a proper marksman even when he was in practice.

"Shepard, squad one in position."

"Miranda, squad two in position."

Garrus said, "Confirmed. Decoy team ready to fire on command."

Dozens of Naruto clones steadied their rifles and prepared to leap through the shrubbery. Garrus, Legion and Naruto had spread out. Garrus ordered them to move out after the clones and only fire on targets already painted by clone fire to help conceal their shots.

"Kasumi here, the cannons are offline. Alarms are still up."

Shepard said, "Good. Garrus, once that alarm goes expect heavy resistance."

"We're ready for it."

"This is Thane, their gunship is disabled, but they could repair it with enough time."

Shepard said, "They won't have any. Garrus, fire when ready."

"Acknowledged," Garrus said and peeked over the brush and down the hill. "I see one squad guarding, but there's plenty of defensive positions for the rest when they arrive. Pick your targets carefully. Now, on my mark," he raised his hand in the air, held it steady, and snapped.

The clones stood and began firing in short bursts. To their credit, the Blue Suns guard reacted quickly and professionally, going from leisure chatter to combat-minded in an instant. The rifles the clones were using had the old heating systems, no way they'd pack enough punch to get through shields, especially at this range. But the sheer number of muzzle flashes would bring all the guards down on them.

Garrus motioned for the three of them to move in, they peered through the leaves and took aim with their rifles. Legion took the first shot, catching a mercenary in the shoulder, he twisted from the impact and went down.

Naruto steadied his aim and targeted one peering around a wall. He stuck out his arm and let his shields take some of the rifle fire to test their penetration. His sharingan saw it all before it happened, and he saw as the mercenary prepared to step out and take aim. He steadied his aim at where he saw his future movement and squeezed the trigger. He missed, no more than a few centimeters to the right. The mercenary readied a missile launcher and fired, an explosion to his right took out two of his clones and threw everyone's aim off. Garrus recovered quickly and took aim, his shot taking off two of the merc's fingers, including the one used to pull the trigger.

Backup arrived, guards pouring through the front entrance like water from a leaking pool. The clones were outnumbered, but the guards didn't press their advantage. They must be waiting for the cannons to come online, or they'd surely be advancing. For now, the clones had the high ground and a simple purpose. Naruto fired again and hit his first target, a moving target no less, he'd have never tracked him without the sharingan.

One of the mercs was shouting something at another, pointing to the cannon. They both headed to inspect it. Naruto said, "Looks like they noticed the cannons."

"I see them," Garrus said, then continued, "Shepard, Miranda, we have their attention, doesn't look like more are coming. Now's your chance."

"Confirmed, we're moving," Shepard said.

Now they just had to hold until the guard noticed their flanking maneuver. If they had a good commander, and if they were guarding their top boss, they would, they'd have men in reserves guarding the other entrances and sections of the interior. Shepard and Miranda would be facing resistance, but the bulk of their forces wouldn't be in any position to respond quickly. All they had to do here is hold until the Blue Suns fell back inside, then they'd push forward and catch them in a three-way pinch.

But then a cannon came online.

"Shit," Garrus said lowly, "Everyone get down."

The cannon fired, hitting the treeline above Legion. One clone was destroyed by the debris, and everyone close by was knocked down if not already prone.

Legion said, "Scanning. Direct interface with enemy cannon detected."

Garrus said, "Must be someone we can't see, maybe those men that're hiding behind it."

It fired again, hitting the hill below them. Exploding earth flew everywhere with three more clones.

Naruto said, "Gotta take them out fast, before they get lucky. I've got an idea."

Garrus said, "Go ahead."

"I'll flush them out. Garrus, watch if they go left. Legion, right." Naruto completed a short string of handseals and slammed the ground, "Ninja Art: Broken Earth Jutsu!"

The ground beneath his palm split, then tore down the hill like paper ripping between fingers. It shot under the cannon and tore the earth apart behind it. Two engineers hobbled away from the maw, one right and one left. Two shots and both went down.

Garrus ejected the clip and said, "Nice work, but stay cautious. They know to look for snipers now."

"Let them try and target this," Naruto said as he executed the jutsu again. The energy shifted through the open crack, then exploded at its end, tearing earth open beneath the troops behind cover. Naruto breathed and wiped away sweat forming at his brow, saying "All yours."

They took down four as the mercenaries struggled to find cover behind stable ground. Naruto readied his rifle and managed to hit one more before someone called the guard to retreat. The team remained disciplined, falling back in three waves to get inside the building. In total, they'd killed or wounded twenty-two men. A good effort, but that still left half their number active inside.

"Shepard, it's Garrus. They're retreating, I estimate about thirty active combatants still standing."

"Confirmed. We're pushing through the building. Move up and get ready to trap them."

"This is Miranda, we're making progress."

Garrus said, "Acknowledged, we're on our way." He turned to them and said, "Naruto and I will go first. Legion, cover our approach."

Their sprint down the hill was quick and uneventful. The guard tried to fire out of the opening, but they were too far to aim accurately, and Legion killed two trying to peek out safely for some cheap shots. And they'd had no time to booby-trap their retreat. Garrus and Naruto ducked behind a pair of statues looking towards the entrance and Garrus commanded Legion to join them. When he did they prepared to head inside on Shepard's command.

Garrus said, "Shepard, we're heading into the main hall. Ready to push into central processing on your mark."

Shepard said, "Understood. Miranda, are you ready?"

"Setting up by the door. This won't be an easy push, they have nowhere else to fall back t o."

"Keep clear of direct fire. We'll get them to direct their fire on-"

There was a shriek, followed by gunfire behind the door. Shepard said, "Garrus, Miranda, did either of you move?"

"Negative," they both said.

"Head inside, be ready for anything."

Garrus nodded to the others and opened the door. Inside was pandemonium as the mercenaries fired in on themselves. A rogue YMIR-mech grappled one man and flung him over a balcony as it fired on a group pinned down behind a computer desk.

"Come on, hit 'em while they're distracted, but watch the mech!" Garrus commanded as he led them inside. Naruto sprinted forward and grabbed two mercs by the backs of their armor, flinging them over a desk and creating two clones to toss their weapons and pin them down.

More gunfire from left and right, looks like Shepard and Miranda had the same idea. What followed wasn't even a gunfight, the guard couldn't group up and decide who to shoot. The first guard dropped his gun and surrendered seven seconds in, the second three seconds after, and soon eleven men had their hands up.

"Cease fire!" Shepard called, but no one lowered their weapons yes. They aimed at the YMIR-mech, one of its arms was hanging from a few thick wires and its body was as dented as a meteor.

It raised its arm and waved, "Hey Shep," Kasumi's voice said.

"Kasumi? Where are you?"

"Central security. Took a trip after fire control. Found this after I blocked all communications and decided to take it for a spin. I'd have told you, but, well, comms were blocked."

"Good work. Thane, you on your way?"

"I'll be with you shortly."

"Everyone, disarm and secure all prisoners. Thane, Tali, Grunt, stand guard here as we continue inside."

Zaeed approached a door, one more heavily decorated than the others. "This is it. He's in here, and so is she." He tried the door, but it was locked. "Son of a..."

Tali tried hacking it, but it was locked out, "No good, it'll take some time to get this open."

"No, I'm not waiting anymore," Zaeed said.

He stormed over to the mech and cut its damaged arm off, the one that held the rockets. Kasumi yelled, "Hey, watch it!"

Zaeed hefted the arm next to the door and took out his pistol, inserting a thermal ammo block, and said, "Everyone back!"

He fired three times to pierce the protective armor, then again through the breach and it burst like a firework. The door burst open, nothing would've fit the occasion better for Zaeed.

He stormed inside with Shepard and the team hot on his heels. He shouted, for Elaine, then for another, "Vido! Vido, get out here and face me, you two-timing bastard!"

Naruto nearly paused at the transition, the junction in the compound was unlike anything in the rigid, utilitarian troop base they'd left behind. This was a home, no, a personal paradise. The main hall was wide, spacious to be wasteful. Ancient statues of nude gods, humans and aliens posed in wonder, desire, fear, and power. Art and tapestries peppered the walls in perfect intervals without care for the cost, the floor was polished stone so well tended he could see his face in it. The entire room was a curator's masterpiece, the treasures of a hundred worlds. Here was the height of luxury, reserved for vid sets and the billionaires of every stripe.

Zaeed didn't care. He rushed down the hall with reckless abandon, a hail of bullets could meet him and his boundless will to press on would render them and anyone prideful enough to fire useless. He opened every door, if it was locked he bashed it with his foot, and if that didn't work he shot it. He glanced in each for only a breath, and moved onto the next, searching. Each room they passed, a lounge, a lavatory, a game room, each was as well cared for as the others, perfect.

Zaeed kicked in another locked door and paused, longer than a breath, and then emerged a shrieking like a hundred sirens wailing from the misty underworld. Zaeed scanned whatever was inside, grunted like a man losing a hand of poker, and moved on.

Shepard looked into the room, whatever he saw necessitated a moment to process, like a computer daunting at the size of a download. He said, "Samara, Jacob, stand guard here. Keep them here for now, calm them if you can. The rest of you, with me."

Naruto looked inside as they passed. A small room bereft of the attention the rest of the home deserved. Rows of triple bunks tightly hugged the walls, the home of the dozen women still screaming inside. Young women, he noted, all dressed in a menagerie of outfits, some frilly, some restricting, all overly revealing. He saw a bronze plate over the door that translated to 'Toy Box'.

"What the hell is it now!?" A voice screamed from above.

Zaeed paused in the hallway and growled, "Vido."

Everyone stopped, they heard wooden floorboards creaking above them, "First that fucking alarm, now this shit. Hey! Hey, shut the fuck up, all of you! You're ruining the mood!"

The footsteps grew louder, someone was coming down the stairs. Zaeed marched forward to meet him. Vido Santiago circled the spiraling stairs, he was wearing a pale blue bathrobe with matching fuzzy slippers. The robe was loosely tied and his black underwear, and whatever should be inside his underwear, was poking out. He looked ready to shout so loudly the dead soldiers could hear him, but then he saw the intruders lining his hallway.

He looked confused, then angry, "Oh, you dumb motherfuckers, didn't your captains teach you this shit? No stepping foot in the residence, first fucking rule! What're your service numbers?"

Zaeed stood in an explosive trance, Naruto knew that at any moment the bullets could fly. But not before he found Elaine, Vido got to live just that long, no longer. He said, "Take a good look at me and just try asking that again."

Vido blanked, like no one had ever spoken to him like this. "What the...do you know who the fuck I am? I write your paycheck you fucking jarhead! What's your squad? It's gonna be all new duty assignments for you bastards, no cushy guard duty anymore! We're talking thresher clearing, gun running past turian patrols, the real shit! Then we'll see what you have to say!"

"Done all that and more. Where's Elaine?"

"Elaine who? What the fuck are you on about?" Vido stepped off the stairs and stormed over to Zaeed ready with another verbal lashing, but froze when he recognized his old comrade. Then his face split into joy. Pure joy. "Zaeed! Buddy, how long's it been since...fuck, what was it?" Zaeed pointed to his eye, "Yeah, that!"

"Seventeen years."

"Ah, good times. Good times. How've you been? You look like shit, but good shit, you know?"

"You do realize what I'm going to do with you. What the hell are you on?"

Vido leaned in close and grinned, "Why, want some? I've got an entire pharmacy, and it's all choice. I've even got stuff from Thessia, Sur'kesh, Khar'shan, of course. Hell, I've even got some turian shit you can mix with their drinks! What's your poison?"

Zaeed shoved Jessie in Vido's face, "Every damn word outta your mouth that isn't my daughter's location."

Vido stared down Jessie's barrel and grinned, "Holy shit, you kept Jessie? This thing is ancient. How do you even kill with this thing anymore? I betcha it feels like betting hit with an air rifle."

"You'll find out what it feels like soon enough."

Vido rolled his eyes, "Ugh, you're ruining the mood, man. Come on," Vido turned and walked down the hall like an excited host, he might not have even noticed the gun was pointing at him. He beckoned them to follow, "Hurry up, and bring your friends! We've got some catching up to do."

Shepard asked Zaeed, "I don't think this was the greeting we were expecting. Think he has a trap for us?"

"No, he's too drugged to care. That'll change in a minute," he said and followed Vido.

They passed the kitchen on their way, a woman, no, a girl who was wearing nothing more than an apron looked at them like a pyjak before a rampaging krogan. She screamed and ran to the Toy Box.

Vido shouted, "All you bitches shut the hell up! We have guests! Go to your room and pretend like you don't exist!" Another woman bolted down the stairs draped in a luxurious blue bed sheet and made for their room.

Shepard turned and said, "Miranda, Jack, please relieve Samara and Jacob. I imagine they'll be more comfortable with human women than anyone else. Can you do that?"

They looked at each other, in any other case they might risk ripping at each others' throats. But not here. Jack nodded as Miranda said, "Leave it to us."

The rest followed Vido into a lounge at the end of his castle, a half-circle of glass overlooking the vibrant landscape outside, all the way to the shore beyond. Vido sat in a recliner and threw his arm up in greeting, "Take a seat, everyone! Would anyone like a drink? I'm having one!" He paused and realized, "Shit, I sent them away. Wait here, I'll have one of the dolls fix something up for us."

Zaeed steadied Jessie at him, "You're not going anywhere."

Vido looked at the rifle and laughed, "Or what, you'll shoot me?"

"The thought crossed my mind."

He leaned back and looked smug as a mind reader at a card game, "No you won't."

"Try me."

"I am. So do it." he smirked lazily, "No, you won't shoot me, not yet at least. Otherwise you'll never find her."

"So you were listening, you sonovabitch."

"I'm high, not deaf. Don't worry, I'll tell you where she is. Can't have you coming all this way for nothing. But we go back a long ways and it's been seventeen years. We have some catching up to do. Not that I don't know some of the details, you did well after I left you to die. I saw the footage from your raid on that Turian bird, man, that was a lark! You couldn't pay me enough to try that! Not that I'm in the field anymore, gotta put my retirement fund to good use, you know what I'm saying?"

"I don't care about your life, your would-be accomplishments, or your fucking retirement. I know all I need to. I know you took our Suns and turned them from a force of vengeance and hope into just another run-of-the-mill merc band. No morals, no principle, just a price. It goes against everything we set out to accomplish."

"Oh cry me a river, like you're some shining paragon of virtue. You've done shit just as bad, even worse! So what the hell did you do it for, Zaeed? Where the fuck are your morals?"

"Same place as when I left. I've done all of this, everything job I took and every person I killed, all to find my daughter."

Vido was flabberghasted, then laughed, "I don't believe it! That's really what this is all about You mean you really never gave up?"

"Why else do you think I'm here?"

"Revenge. I knew you'd find me one of these days and pay me back for that scar."

"Good to know I was expected. But killing you is just a bonus. I'm here for Elaine."

Vido mused, looking to Zaeed as if he'd just grown wings and declared himself an angel of God. "No way...I mean I know you held out longer than any of us, but still? Well Zaeed, you're now the biggest moron I know."

"This from the man who has minutes to live."

"Yeah, but at least I lived. What the hell have you been doing with your life? You're the best damn mercenary in the galaxy and you're hunting ghosts!"

"Don't blame me for what happened to Matilda, the rest of us still had people to hope for!"

"Then why did they all come with me? Why were you left all alone?"

"I wasn't, in case you forget, some of them chose to keep up the search."

"Yeah, and where are they now? They dead?" Zaeed didn't answer. "And here you are whoring yourself out to find her."

"And I have."

"No! I found her! I bought her! Even when I wasn't trying, I won!"

"You're not a victor, you're a body I step over to take her home. Now where is she?"

Vido smiled and shook his head, "Zaeed, I used to love that about you. So loyal, so dedicated. Only reason we kept alive on Shanxi."

Zaeed's voice lowered, softening, "You were too, once."

"And then I changed. You should've too. Maybe things coulda been different if we stayed at it together." Zaeed motioned to the forest outside, a cliff on the edge of the lake. "She's over there, I think. Can't remember where we put her, there's been so many, you know?"

Zaeed looked to the empty cliff covered in green and found the implication in Vido's words. He tightened his grip and shoved the rifle in Vido's face, the muzzle just centimeters from his skin. Vido tried to kiss it and laughed.

Zaeed growled, "You're lying!"

"No. Well maybe, the fuck do I care where they put her. Most of the used dolls go there though, feel free to check the bones. Maybe you'll find the complete set."

Zaeed glared through Vido, looking for a lie, desperate to find it. "I don't believe you."

Vido shrugged, "Fuck you, then. I bought her on a whim when I saw who she was. She has your eyes and nose, remember? She wasn't pretty anymore, didn't even have most of her own teeth. I tried breaking her in on the first night, but she was just so...old, and used up. So I got rid of her. So you can have her, winner, I don't even want her."

Zaeed remained placid, nearly completely still, except for his trigger finger which shook over the guard. "Shepard..."

Shepard looked to his team, "Legion, Mordin, go. See if you can find her."

Mordin shook out of a haze that many of them shared in the background and said, "Er, yes. Will need control sample." Zaeed yanked out some of his hair and held it out for Mordin. The pair left through a side door to the cliffs.

Zaeed threatened, "They'd better not find her."

Vido scoffed, "Or what, you'll shoot me? Face it, Zaeed. We were right to give up, and we made something great of ourselves."

"You made a cheap band of mercs-"

"That spans the galaxy! We run more credits than you can imagine! We carved out our place in the galaxy and now nobody dares touch us!"

"Your Blue Suns are a cheap echo of what we were. We had a real purpose, something really worth fighting for. And you went and blew all that up!"

"Because we were failures!"

"We found our people, Vido! We could have found the rest!"

"Not everyone. Not enough."

Zaeed mulled this and said, lower than before, "There was nothing we could do about Matilda, but the rest of us made a pact. We were a community, they were all ours to get back."

"I learned one thing you never got through that thick skull of yours, Zaeed. Wanna know where? It wasn't from Shanxi, it wasn't from the batarians, it wasn't even from Matilda. It was how no matter how hard we worked to rescue our people, no one else gave a shit. We went to the Alliance for assistance and they politely told us to piss off. We petitioned the Council to punish the Hegemony and provide us support, and they ignored us. Brushed us aside like a dust mite on their fancy suits. Our people were killed and sold into slavery. And no one. Gave. A shit. Not one. That's the sad truth of the galaxy, buddy, everyone's only looking out for number one."

"I learned that, same as you. You think I'd have survived any other way? The difference between you and me is that I never lost sight of the meaning in all this fightingg, I have a goal that makes all the struggle worth something. You gave in, and now you're no better than those damn slavers. You live in your glass castle with your personal harem and an army at your disposal and you think that makes you better than me?"

"No, you see, that right there is why you lose. We both may know the galaxy doesn't give two fucks about anything, but only I learned that the only way to survive and to get what I want was to do the same. You wanna know why I took over the Blue Suns? That's why. I took them from you and built my own damn empire, and I didn't care who's skull I had to smash or how many people I had to gun down. We're all animals, Zaeed! We can't pretend we're anything more than that! We hunt, we kill, and we fuck who we like, when we can. So I did what I had to, and now I have the power to do whatever the fuck I want. And fuck anyone who thinks they're better than me when they're doing the same."

"Look at you, your body is breaking down. How much longer do you think you can keep pretending that you're anything more than one in a long line of bastards I kill? It's a damn short existence, your life won't mean a thing once you die."

"Yeah, but it's been one hell of a ride. I realized what you never could, there's only one game to play. So I joined it, Zaeed, and played it well and I won. What about you, Zaeed? What are you going to do when they confirm your daughter is dead? What're you gonna do when you realize that I was right all along? How will you be able to look at yourself?"

"I could ask you the same thing?"

"Hell if I know, don't need any stupid mirrors around here. Have you seen the eye candy? Much hotter, all expensive as hell. Unlike your daughter."

"I'm going to enjoy killing you."

"And then what? What's left after that?" Zaeed didn't answer.

Mordin came over the comms. "Scans complete. All buried organic material categorized...found remnants matching control sample. I'm sorry."

Vido opened his mouth to say something, but his words were lost as Zaeed pulled the trigger with a roar that would forever echo in the ears of all who heard it, for it contained twenty years of hope and desire shattered into anguish and despair. Vido laughed as his body was assaulted by hundreds of diminutive rounds tore through his body, and then he began to cry in his own agony that he could never share. Zaeed stopped firing, but only long enough for the heat sinks to cool, then he fired again, and again, repeating the process until Vido was amalgamated with the breaking recliner.

And then it stopped. Zaeed squeezed the trigger again, trying to pull out the last few rounds, but Jessie had gone silent. A warning light indicated an ammo block jam. Zaeed looked as if Jessie was telling him something, like it was finally over and they'd spilled enough blood. His eyes softened as he listened to his old rifle. He appeared almost at peace.

But the carelessness of the universe crashed down around him, swallowing him in final loneliness. No one dared approach him in his anguish for fear of how he would react.

Then he headed through the door to outside, stopping by the shed to pick up a shovel and a tarp. Shepard ordered Garrus to contact the Alliance, they'd need someone to care for the prisoners, then he motioned for his team to go with him, they picked up digging tools of their own and followed Zaeed to their dirty job of unearthing the dead.

~VI~

"Linus, we have one more."

Linus glanced at the clock in the hangar. Damn, just fifteen minutes before he should've been off. "What the hell? There's nothing in the registry."

"They're an unscheduled arrival. Can you handle it?"

He sighed, so much for dinner with the family. Again. "Yeah yeah, I'm on it. Which bay?"

"A-7."

"Got it. ETA?"

"Five minutes."

Linus gave final instruction to the dock workers to finish unloading the foodstuff from the agriculture transport and be ready to meet him in A-7 if they were needed. At least he wouldn't suffer alone. He lit a cigarette and puffed morosely as he trotted over to the hangar to wait for the craft. It was an open air hangar, Mindoir never had the facilities for any fancy facilities. It was little more than a metal plate on the ground and some cranes, but it got the job done.

He watched the sky until he saw a dot sailing through the atmosphere. Coming in fast, that thing could move. He hadn't seen any bird bank like that in a long time. And then he wondered why they called ships birds. It wasn't like they had wings to flap. Ah well, anachronisms live on.

He whistled when the ship began touching down. What a beauty! Its white and black plating showed minimal heat scoring and shimmered like a glass of wine in the sunset. Must get a lotta TLC, meaning the owner had the money to pay for it. He wasn't complaining, the colony could always use a little booster, but why come all the way out here?

The ship touched down and its hangar ramp descended. He could see all manner of cargo inside, along with a pair of shuttles, and a group of people gathered around a large box. One of them, a man with a shaved head and piercing blue eyes, came to do business. He greeted, "Welcome to the Mindoir spaceport. Linus Caldwell, at your service."

"Commander Shepard, at yours. You have all our information?"

"Yup, payment's processed and everything. You really came outta nowhere."

"Thank you for accommodating us on short notice."

He nodded and asked, "Need any help unloading?"

"That won't be necessary, we won't be long."

"Oh? Lemme see here...says you're here for funeral proceedings. I'm sorry to hear, wish your visit could be in better spirits."

"Don't we all."

The group in the ship began heading down the boarding ramp all dressed in black, like the Commander. Six of them were shouldering a long, thin crate down the ramp. His eyes lit up, he recognized one in the front. "Zaeed? Zaeed Massani, that you?"

Shepard moved to replace Zaeed, who headed over to meet them. "Linus, been a while."

"I'll say. You look, uh..."

"I know."

"How are things? How're the Suns?"

"Not the same since you left."

"Ah, I see. I gotta say I never expected to see you again. So...how'd it go? Did you ever find her?"

Linus knew immediately, he knew from the absence in Zaeed's good eye. It was eighteen years ago when he'd been the same. Zaeed looked to the coffin and said, "Yeah, I did."

"Oh no, Elaine…"

"We're here to put her to rest. Is my plot still there?"

"Uh, I think so. I mean, I haven't checked, but I don't think anyone would've taken it, what with Jessie and all."

"Good. We're going."

Linus caught his arm as he turned, "Hey, if it's alright, I'd like to be there. I can let my wife know, and-"

"Your wife died in the raid. Who're you talking about?"

"Someone new. I met her, after I came back. Have two kids, if you'd like to meet them."

Zaeed looked through him, the distance in their lives forever too far to cross. "Just here for her, then we're gone."

"Alright. Still, if it's okay..."

"Come along, then."

Zaeed returned and relieved Shepard. The group was a funny amalgamation. Mostly human, most in the same uniform with a diamond-like symbol emblazoned on their sleeves. But he'd never seen so many aliens in one place. Turian, salarian, and more he'd only caught glimpses of in his time with the Suns. He stared at the green one that looked like a frog and couldn't remember what he was. Or was it a she? The lips were throwing him off. Then again, lips were probably a bad tell with aliens.

Zaeed led five others, a blonde, a turian, an asari, the green one, and a woman covered in tattoos that he thought was a sweater at first.

Shepard led them through the recovering colony with the wake at his heels. The graveyard wasn't far off, no more than a mile away from the spaceport. Once all this had been razed, leaving behind smoldering ruins and memories to torment long after the physical damage was repaired. But they were hardy folk. The survivors banded together and rebuilt from the ashes. Now Mindoir was alive again, bound together in tragic memory and hope for a future where no one would fear what came from the skies.

Crowds of citizens gawked at the strange group interrupting their daily routines in the streets. Only a few of the older generation recognized the man they'd lost twenty years ago, and even more that should have, could not. For Zaeed was not the man who left. The raids had taken him too. This man, Linus realized, was a stranger even to him.

They walked to the graveyard and towards a single grave site with an empty plot next to it. Linus was familiar with it, he'd been here the first time Zaeed dug a grave. The coffin bearers shouldered their burden with dignity and would not let it touch the ground. Those in the group took tools they brought, shovels and picks, and began breaking earth. They worked diligently for an hour, trading places with each other as weariness set in, and soon they were staring at an empty pit.

The woman in a white suit returned, Linus hadn't seen her leave, carrying a load of flowers bought at the local market. Zaeed led the pole bearers to stand over the coffin and slowly lower the coffin onto waiting boards.

They gathered in neat rows. Shepard stood over the coffin and said some words. They were pretty words, the man sure knew how to speak. But they were hollow. He hadn't known her. Linus bet none of them did. But here they were. He might have known the deceased, but they knew Zaeed.

They all looked to Zaeed when Shepard finished his speech. Zaeed didn't notice at first, only staring at the box holding his daughter. When he noticed all eyes on him, he said, "What's to say. She's gone. Put her in."

"I," Linus began, suddenly feeling the focus of all these strangers, "I have something to say. Zaeed?"

He shrugged.

Linus cleared his throat and said, "I remember once, god it feels like a lifetime ago, our kids, Elaine and my son, they read up on this old Earth holiday called Easter. I still don't really get it, something to do with Jesus coming back and hiding a buncha eggs for the kids to find. Well the kids wanted to hunt for some eggs. We couldn't really do that, what with chickens and eggs being so valuable in a new colony. But Zaeed, he made it happen. He went out to the woods one day and got a whole bunch of pine cone-looking things and painted the bunch of em, then went hiding them all over town. And the kids went wild, they spent hours looking for those things. And he was good at hiding them, too, we were finding them in all sorts of nooks and crannies later. And it, well, that was a good day. One of the last ones.

"After the raids, it was Zaeed, Vigo and me who started the Suns to find everyone they took and bring them home. But when I found my wife and sons, dead, I lost my spirit and left. I know Vido, he was never the same. But you, you never gave up. You were always going to bring Elaine home."

He looked at Zaeed and tried to see a hint of his friend. His eyes were so cold. "I know its late. And, not how you wanted. But you did it, man. You brought her home. Now she can rest."

The bearers raised the coffin and others removed the boards. Slowly they lowered Elaine into her grave. The woman handed Zaeed the flowers and he tossed them over his daughter. Then they shoveled dirt one at a time until the grave was full. The blonde man did some motions with his hand and Linus leaped back as a stone shot up at the head of the grave. He wanted to say something, but everyone else acted so nonchalant about the little rock whisperer that he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He flexed his hands in more odd shapes and then traced a finger over the stone, which melted along his finger's path like snow under skis.

He finished and asked Zaeed, "It's done, what do you think?"

Zaeed barely look it over before saying, "Good. Let's go."

Shepard led his crew back to the ship. Linus walked next to Zaeed and said, "So, that's it?"

"That's it."

"You don't wanna stay for a bit? A lot of us, we'd like to hear about things. With the Suns, and all. We don't get much news out here, much less from the Terminus."

Zaeed mulled this over for a while, saying. "Vido's dead."

Linus sighed, "Oh, I see."

"Killed him myself."

"What?"

"He was a changed man, too. Something worse than a slaver. The Suns aren't what they used to be, either. They left me behind a long time ago."

"I see," he said, not knowing what else to say. "I'm, sorry, for leaving. Before we found the rest. It's just, when I found out what happened to my family..."

"Don't be sorry." Zaeed said.

Linus said, "And you? Now that it's done, you can come back too. There are still plenty of early Suns around who remember what you did for us. We can help you get a fresh start, too."

Zaeed looked around the village. It was so different from the last time he saw it. There was life again. He shook his head, "No. Been gone too long, don't even know what home feels like anymore. I'm glad for you, Linus. Glad you could build a new life. But that's not for me."

Linus laughed sadly, "Knew you'd say that, but had to ask. So then what? What's next?"

Zaeed didn't answer. Linus wondered if he even had one. Zaeed walked the war path ten times longer than him. What other road was there for men like him? Linus couldn't begin to tell.

The crew returned to their ship and boarded. Zaeed said to Linus, "We'll be off, then."

"Looks that way," Linus said. There was so little left to say between them. The years widened the gap between them until it was too far to cross.

"Take care of this place. Look after your family."

"And you...look after yourself, Zaeed."

Zaeed took one last look at the village. Linus knew that look. He'd been the same, coming home after two long years of war. Even then the place looked so different from when he left. The survivors who stayed had rebuilt and repaired what they could and moved on with their lives. He thought he could never be like them. But then he met another girl. He found another job and bought another home. The shadow of the past hung over him like a heavy cloth, but he was living again.

Zaeed was too far gone. His old life washed away in the ocean between worlds and the rivers of blood.

Zaeed turned and boarded the ship. Shepard waved farewell and closed the door. Linus watched the ship power on and begin to rise, higher, off into the colorful clouds.

Linus wished Zaeed the best with the life he was left with, thinking he should've dragged him back when he had the change eighteen years ago. He shook his head and left the hangar for home. It was late, but there was time for a warm supper before bed.

~VII~

Failure. It wasn't his first. His life was one defeat after another. Mindoir was supposed to be his new beginning, an escape from the memory of Shanxi. But that was torn away. So he did what he knew, he fought back. And when others died or strayed from the path, he fought on. But every failure was always building into something. In every defeat, there was another lead, or more credits to buy another chance. He'd built bridges on those silver linings knowing they would lead him to his end. And now he was there, and it all ended in failure again. But this time, there was no hope buried under the bruises. This failure was complete.

He ignored the looks of the others and headed for the elevator. He brushed Shepard off saying he wanted to be alone. No one stopped him. No one could if they tried.

He knew it was a mistake as soon as the doors closed behind him. There were his trophies scattered like a museum exhibit of twenty years of turmoil. Zaeed touched his collection one after another and remembered his deeds. All this butchery and death, all these years on the hunt, and this is where it ends. He thought of the millions of credits he had stashed away. They were meant to build a new life, but not for him. What a waste, what use did he have for them now?

Zaeed checked Jessie. The screen still flickered showing the jam.

"It's over now, Jessie. We found her."

Yes, it was over. Now what?

The door hissed open. Naruto walked inside.

Zaeed grunted, "Told you guys not to follow."

"I heard." Naruto crossed his arms and leaned on one of the crates.

"Bugger off then."

"Sorry, not doing that now."

"If Shepard put you up to this, tell him to bugger off the same."

"I'd be here one way or another."

"You here for my guns, then? To keep me from doing anything stupid?"

"At least you know it'd be stupid. And no, if you were serious about it, you wouldn't need a gun, and not a thing in the galaxy could stop you."

"So what?"

Naruto shrugged, "Well, the last time I was in a shitty place, I had someone with the sense to knock me out of it, which, turns out is exactly what I needed."

Zaeed glared, "Oh, here for a scruff then?"

"Nah, you're old, probably break something."

Zaeed huffed, "Best not joke about that without your eyeliner."

Naruto laughed, it was forced, though. He said, "I remember something else, as well. Something about rage being a hell of an anesthetic."

"What about it?"

"Well I got to wondering, once the rage is gone, you gotta start feeling it all at once. I don't think there's anything wrong with feeling, but if there was only rage before, something's gotta fill that hole, right?"

Zaeed said, "Could be, I suppose."

Naruto watched him carefully and asked, "So, got anything in mind?"

Zaeed groaned. How the hell was he supposed to know? All things considered, he only saw two ways to go about it. Embrace the madness of an uncaring galaxy in solipsistic bliss like that scumbag Vido, or go off to a backwater and build a little shelter from it. The first option disgusted him, the second was beyond him. So what else was there?

The kid was so annoying waiting for his answer. Wasn't he supposed a diplomat on that primitive homeworld of his? Didn't they teach their representatives any tact? No, he knew better, but wasn't about to fall on formality here. He was being annoying probing as he was. He must've known it. God dammit, it was like looking in a bloody mirror.

Zaeed said, "You'll just have to wait and see."

"Eh, I'd like a bit-"

"Like I give a damn what you'd like. And quit looking at me like I'm some puppy whimpering after stepping on glass, I'm not gonna call it quit over this."

Naruto smirked, "Yeah, that's what I wanted to hear."

"Carberus did their part, might as well do mine." Zaeed got up and said, "Getting hungry. Let's get some food."

Naruto leaned off the crates and said, "Sounds good to me."

Zaeed walked to the door, spotting his sketch pad on the way out. There they were, Jessie and Elaine. Both were so young, with so much hope ahead of them. Oh god, it hit him again. That all-encompassing loss. Without that endless anger and vengeance numbing the hurt, it came at once like a tidal wave sweeping away a lonely village.

He felt Naruto put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry."

Zaeed swallowed and looked up. That future was gone. He wasn't sure if he could live with that. But he'd have to try. He knew that's what they would've wanted from him, just like he hoped for her.

Zaeed looked at him. He would never tell Naruto how much of himself he saw inside him. Naruto was his mirror, the same mirror Vido avoided. The galaxy broke the kid once, same as Shanxi broke him. The kid thought once was it, like it was done at that. But the galaxy had time on its side, it kept going and going, wearing you down until at last the final hope you held is ripped away. It breaks down even the most idealistic blockheads incapable of change any other way. It happened to him. And it'll happen to Naruto some day. The others too, maybe, but Zaeed knew that none of their falls would be as dramatic as Naruto's if he finally cracked.

And he found he didn't want to see that happen. The galaxy is a hard, cruel place to be born into. But he didn't want to give it any more that it already took from him. Not from anyone else. He wouldn't let the galaxy make another Zaeed Massani.

Zaeed took Naruto's hand, squeezed it, and breathed. The galaxy took his family. It took his simple life and gave him war. He decided that over his dead body, it would do the same to Naruto. He might fail, as he'd done all those times before. But he wasn't done trying. The rage was gone, but something was moving him forward. A hope that there was someone he could still save.

Codex Entries

-Slavery

Robust anti-slavery laws exist in most space faring civilizations in the galaxy and prohibit the trade of sentient beings. Some outlaw worlds rejecting Council authority continue the trade to varying degrees, including most vorcha colonies, several independent systems in the Terminus Systems, and dozens of scattered enclaves in the Attican Traverse evading Systems Alliance authority. Despite near universal condemnation of the practice, underground slave trades operate in most developed societies evading law enforcement efforts. Certain forms of unwillful servitude are authorized by different governments, such as turian conscription, volus debt labor, and human forced labor as punishment for crimes. Various races experience differing levels of illicit slavery, with the turian hierarchy reported as having the lowest levels of slavery in the galaxy, while the salarians have the highest, although slavery is still a rare occurrence for all Council species.

The Batarian Hegemony is notable as the only recognized interplanetary government with institutionalized slavery. Batarian society consists of strictly categorized castes, to include several dozen categories for slaves ranging from unskilled laborers to multi-disciplined specialists. The Citadel Bureau of Statistics estimate that as many as half of the Hegemony's population are enslaved. The majority of the Batarian Hegemony's slave population are other batarians, but approximately one percent of all slaves are aliens, to with most being turians, asari, humans, krogan and vorcha. Most alien slaves are generational, their ancestors having been captured years ago. New slaves (mostly human) come from raids within the Attican Traverse. The Batarian Hegemony officially condemns these raids and claims they are the work of independent actors operating outside the Hegemony's authority, but they have made few attempts to disrupt illicit slave taking operations.

The Batarian Hegemony refuses to recognize Citadel law's definition of slavery, claiming that it is biased against their cultural traditions while ignoring similar practices in other species, notably Council races. This definition was frequently contested with the Citadel Council when the Hegemony maintained an embassy, prior to the arrival of humans. Batarian officials claim that the batarian caste system does not differ from Turian conscription practices requiring fifteen years of military service, and is in fact more humane than Asari indentured servitude contracting on Illium. They claim that their caste system is flexible, offering slaves room for advancement in society, noting that some of their political elite are technically enslaved. They highlight Hegemony sentient rights laws that ensure slaves are treated humanely, though Citadel experts believe these laws are rarely enforced based on accounts of escaped slaves. Slavery remains a consistent barrier to Council reconciliation campaigns with the Hegemony.

A/N

Who knows if I'll finish this. It's been over two years since my last update, and I come and go as I feel the will to write. So maybe I won't finish, but I keep crawling forward. Still that isn't fair to everyone who ever invested in the story. So here's what I'm going to do: for anyone who wants, if you either review or PM me with a request, I'll send you an outline of the rest of the story. It won't be as deep as a fully written story, but it'll be better than nothing. I thought about just posting it after this chapter and calling it done, but I want to continue, at my own pace.

I've thought about this a lot, and I've come to a few conclusions. First, I was writing this partially for others. I liked reviews, it felt nice, and I got to tell my story. But a lot of people stop after the first or third chapter (always those two) can chastize me for making Naruto "a bitch" or "nerfing" ninjas. This is in spite of my warning in the summary that this is AU and the warning in the A/N in the first chapter. And I got sick of that, too. So with all this time gone, now that I'm returning to this story, I'm going to ignore most reviews. I'll respond if I can, if there's something to say. But this is all for me now, and if you happen to enjoy it too, I'm happy. But I'm writing because I want to, and this is my story, and I'm tired of listening to people tell me it sucks because of reasons I don't care about because they change the story in ways that I think are better. I'm open to good criticism, but if people don't like my premise, they can find something else. I'm going to keep having fun over here.

On to details for the chapter. I wanted to write Zaeed since the beginning. He's one of the few arcs I had in mind going forward. I was inspired by a headcanon post where someone thought Jessie was originally Zaeed's sister lost to slavers. I worked with that into a more fleshed out backstory, making Zaeed, Vido and Linus all branching paths from the same starting point. And I wanted to build Zaeed as someone more than just an angry merc (not that there was anything wrong with that, but it is simpler than I want to write, and I like how he is here). And his relationship with Naruto is one of the closest in the story, with Zaeed seeing a lot of his younger self in the man, and knowing how a man like Naruto is just one bad day away from becoming like him. And he doesn't want to see that happen. Theirs remains one of the closest relationships for the rest of the story.

Hope those of you with the Legendary Edition are having a great time with the trilogy again. I'm holding off until the modding community has a crack at it, as I'm hoping the Expanded Galaxy Mod returns. I'll stick with the originals until that day.

Again, if you want the outline, message me or review and I'll send it your way.