Chapter 28: Out of the Frying Pan

After I got back, I wrote up and filed my report. Changed into something more comfortable. Fed my pets. I was just about to start my rounds when Traynor contacted me. "Commander? Councillor Tevos would like to speak with you in the Comm Room."

So much for that idea. Now I had to change into something more… stiff. The things I do for politics. After donning my dress uniform, I headed down to the Comm Room and opened a connection to the Citadel. "I read your report, Commander," Tevos said when her image appeared. "We had no idea the situation had deteriorated so quickly."

No. You were too busy keeping the monsters locked up. "If we had known about this earlier, we could have tried to evacuate the monastery. By the time we arrived, though, it was too late. That's why I set off the bomb. There are no Ardat-Yakshi left."

Obviously a lie, but I wasn't about to tell them that there was one left on Lesuss. Somehow, I highly doubted they'd believe that Falere would stay in self-imposed seclusion on her own recognizance.

"May the Ardat-Yakshi find peace," Tevos said. "What the Reapers did to them was monstrous."

"We might face them again," I warned. "The bomb took care of all the Reaper forces in the monastery, but there's no telling how many of them were transported off-world beforehand." Again, a bunch of Reaperfied asari that could wreak havoc on the galaxy, all because the asari couldn't—or wouldn't—evacuate them in time. (1)

"Then we will face them when the time comes. In the meantime, I had another team of commandos headed to the monastery that I can now formally transfer to Admiral Hackett's command."

Wow. Guess she was still reeling from the realization that the Citadel wasn't impregnable. Because Saren's assault didn't teach that lesson the first time around. Not that I said that, of course. "That would be great. A single asari commando's seen more action than a team of human special-ops soldiers. I'm sure I speak for Admiral Hackett when I say we're grateful."

"They'll serve you loyally, Commander. Farewell."

Okay. Now I could go on my rounds. I kept my ears open for the latest conversation between the privates guarding the War Room. Sure enough, they were chatting away. "I just figured you'd be more sympathetic to someone joining Cerberus," Westmoreland said. "You've never been big on aliens."

"Yeah, I enlisted to kick ass just like everyone else," Campbell admitted. "But I need a better reason than 'it has scales' to go kill somebody. And if Cerberus is taking our dishonourable discharges and Cat-6 washouts, that's just one more reason they're not worth a damn."

Amen, I thought as I headed to the cockpit. "Hey, Commander," Joker nodded. "Heard about what happened down there. Glad you managed to talk Samara down."

"I'm kinda surprised by that, myself," I admitted. "Never thought I'd see her even think of flinching from her 'duty'."

"I don't know," Joker said. "On the one hand, that Code's all she's had to live by for… god, centuries. Then the galaxy goes to hell and the old rules don't cut it anymore. I mean, we're cutting some corners, right?"

"A few. But there's a difference between cutting corners and choosing not to follow rules that don't make any sense."

"Yeah, that's true. And if the Alliance thinks we're wrong, well, they can always court-martial us after we save the galaxy."

"Way to stay positive, Joker," I approved. Then I turned to EDI. "What're you doing?"

"Monitoring reports of proton storms and other space weather. With the Reapers attacking the comm buoy systems, critical warnings may be lost."

Ooh. Yeah, I didn't think of that. "Remind me again: how bad are these storms?"

"If we are warned? Not bad. If we are not warned? Very bad."

Wow. What a shocker. "Thanks for the info, EDI," I sighed. "Adjust our course as needed."

"Understood."

As usual, Traynor was the last person I visited on Deck Two. "The Crucible project received some new tech from the asari government," she told me.

"I'm glad they've decided to help the war effort." Finally.

"Everybody has to fight now, no matter how pretty you are. I learned that the hard way. Not… not that I'm saying I'm pretty, because that would be really egotistical. Only I am, if I do say so myself. I don't go out of my way to do so and it's not like I keep score or anything, but I'm fairly sure I've turned a couple heads. Wow, that sounds bad. What I mean is—"

"I get it," I interrupted.

"Right. Um, one more thing, Commander." She pointed to the side of her station, where someone had painted a couple computer keyboards. "Do you know anything about that?"

"Just an acknowledgement of all the data you've 'analyzed the crap out of'," I smiled. "Unless you'd like a promotion instead."

"Oh God, no."

"That was a rough mission," Kaidan said when I saw him on Deck Three. "The Reapers are an ingenious and ruthless enemy. That's the worst kind. Poor Rila. Poor Falere."

"Yeah."

"Probably the first time I met a real Ardat-Yakshi. Glad I didn't tangle with someone like Morinth—that I know of, anyway. Think I dodged a bullet there. Seriously. Think I would've been a goner."

"You never know," I said. "Morinth had this way of dominating people. Understandable, considering she'd been going at it for four-plus centuries. Still, it's possible. You just need to have the right motivation."

"Or the right person to snap you out of it," Kaidan grinned knowingly.

There wasn't much I could say to that, so I wandered off. To my surprise, I found Garrus, Javik and Ensign Copeland in the Port Observatory. "…everybody was fighting the rachni," Garrus was saying, "trying to push them back through the relay. Finally, the krogan were turned loose and stopped them."

"I see," Javik said.

"But when the krogan rebelled, we had to deploy the genophage to stop them," Garrus continued. "Wasn't the only rebellion. A thousand years later, the geth revolted against the quarians. That was a whole other war. Then along came the humans—hey, Shepard—my own people tangled with them for a while. And now, to top it all off, we've got the Reapers. And Cerberus, just in case we started to get bored. What about you?"

"The Oravores fought the Densorin, the Enduromi conquered the Vandomar and the Zha'til turned against the Zha," Javik replied, quickly rattling the names off.

Garrus shook his head. "So… I guess nobody really ever gets their act together."

"The Synril claimed to have found the path to eternal peace," Javik offered.

"Yeah?" I piped up. "What happened to that?"

"The Ditakur preferred war and wiped them out."

"I hope you guys had alcohol," Garrus sighed.

Javik merely grunted and walked towards the bar. Maybe he was thirsty. I looked at Garrus. "How did this all get started anyway?"

"We were just telling Copeland here about what the Reapers did to the Ardat-Yakshi. It's a brilliant tactic, when you think about it."

"But it's evil."

I stared at Copeland. "So?"

"When has that ever mattered in war?" Garrus added.

"Yeah, but… converting other life forms into Reapers? I can't wrap my head around that."

"Makes sense to me," Garrus said. "It ensures you never run out of cannon fodder. Eliminates any local resistance."

"And for every soldier you add," I put in, "your enemy loses two: the one you converted and his buddy on the other side who can't pull the trigger on a friend. That kind of thing'll have a seriously corrosive effect on morale."

Copeland stared at us in disbelief. "You sound like you admire them."

"Same way I admire a virus or a thresher maw," Garrus shrugged. "They've adapted perfectly to their situation."

"But the Reapers want to destroy us," Copeland protested.

"And a virus or a thresher maw doesn't?" I asked in return. "If you want to take them down, you have to learn about them. Figure out what makes them tick. What are their strengths? Their weaknesses. The Reapers are the same."

"None of us have any intention of sitting back and letting the Reapers walk over us," Garrus agreed. "But if you don't respect your enemy's capabilities, you're in for one nasty surprise after another. Like the one we found down there in that monastery."

"That's if you're lucky," I added. "If not, you'll only live long enough to find one nasty surprise."

While Copeland thought about that, I joined Javik at the bar. He was busy touching bottles. I didn't want to think what impressions he was picking up from them. "Some of the crew seem shocked by the monstrosities we have encountered," he said.

"Some of them haven't seen anything like this out of historical vids, simulations and war exercises," I replied.

"They haven't seen what the Reapers could corrupt after a hundred years," Javik said darkly. "That was our war. Every battle conjured a new nightmare." He looked back at Copeland, who was just getting up to leave. "This human holds such childish views of war. Your species has much to learn."

"He'll learn," I said. "We all will."

Javik grunted. I wandered over to Garrus. "Samara's the kind of soldier we need in this war," he said. "Nothing gets in her way. I just hope I'm not in her way someday. That woman means business."

"What we need are soldiers who can adapt," I said.

"That's what officers like you are for."

"Or you," I replied. "God knows we need some flexible thinkers to deal with all these horrors that keep popping up."

"Like mutated asari," Garrus shuddered. "The Reapers are just a giant nightmare factory that never stops, huh? I can only imagine what the Reapers are doing to the drell. Or the hanar. Or the vorcha. This could get a lot worse before it gets better."

"'Could'?"

On that bleak note, I went to visit Liara. She was busy talking to Glyph when I arrived. "Have we heard from Agent Detrace yet?"

"Checking… Agent Detrace has not reported in for over eight hours, Doctor. According to her update schedule, she is now seven hours and thirty-eight minutes late."

Liara closed her eyes. "She was stationed on Valchir when the Reapers invaded. I think we can assume what happened. Inform Agent Calamis he's now in charge of reporting Reaper activity past the Lowas relay."

"At once, Doctor."

Shaking my head, I checked the intel terminal. Glyph had done some research on Matriarch Gallae. Apparently she was quite influential, with ties to Asari High Command and the Council. And I had her codes. Now the security protocols would eventually realize that a dead asari couldn't possibly be placing orders, but there would be enough of a delay that I could probably use them once.

Liara had been thoughtful enough to compile a short list of things I could authorize using Gallae's codes. The most useful choices were getting discounts at various Citadel stores… and opening elite training facilities, battle simulations and combat software programs for reconditioning soldiers. I chose the latter.

While I was here, I stepped over to the Broker Terminal and sifted through the various e-mails and files she'd intercepted. Like this one:

Dr. Lok,

I was working on that problem you sent me last night, and I think I've found a solution for synchronizing the Crucible's energy bursts. Punch the attached capacitor redesign into your projections. It should shave 3.6 milliseconds off the mass-effect field's activation time. You can see where that leads. If you approve, I'll send the schematics to Manufacturing. We'd need roughly 250 000 by tomorrow morning for testing.

—Dr. Cole

Well. Good to see she was keeping busy. "How's it going, Liara?" I asked when I finished.

"I can't stop thinking about Falere and her sister, Shepard," she admitted. "Poor Rila… but I'm glad she set off that bomb."

"You're not upset that the monastery was destroyed?"

She shook her head. "No, not after what I saw. I don't care that they were Ardat-Yakshi. To be turned into such creatures? Nobody deserves that."

"I hear that," I nodded.

Maybe the universe finally felt pity on me and thought I needed a bit of cheering up after all the grimness of the last day or so. It would certainly explain the conversation I stumbled across in Engineering. "So I hear the Illusive Man drinks bourbon," Ken said. "It all makes sense now."

"What do you mean?" Gabby asked. "You love whisky."

Ken practically gasped in outrage. "Hey, scotch, my dear girl. That scunner drinks American bourbon. Completely different."

"He's a psychotic megalomaniac, Ken, and you've got problems with his choice of liquor?"

"You've obviously never experienced the peat aroma of a fine Islay scotch."

Adams was nowhere to be seen. Guess he wasn't interested in scotch. Or peat. Neither was I. At least, not enough to stick around. Given that I'd just seen Javik, my next stop was the starboard cargo bay to see how Emily was doing. "So are you doing a story on the asari who were turned into Reaper creatures?" Traynor asked.

"The Ardat-Yakshi? No."

"I'd think that story would be perfect for you. The hidden dark side of the most beautiful race in the galaxy?"

"Except that ANN has a huge asari audience. If I do that story, I could lose them."

"That seems a bit like pandering."

"Funny," Emily sniffed. "That's what I said. My bosses said no. Though I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that the head of ANN's married to an asari. Conflict of interest and all that. Though you didn't' hear that from me, of course."

"Of course."

"Makes you wonder if it's worth all the headaches. I could go somewhere else, you know. Second Star Broadcasting is still headhunting me. They're a good group. Very well respected. Got a lot of critical praise for their Garvug story."

"But..."

"But I'm on the Normandy! Seriously, you can't top that!"

"I understand completely."

Me too. (2)

Then there was the odd debate I wandered into on Deck Five. "I've always loved the M-35 Mako," James said. "It's got heart, you know?"

"Oh, come on," Cortez scoffed. "The M-44 Hammerhead is vastly superior."

"Come on, that thing is made of tissue paper," James laughed. "At least the Mako can take a few hits."

"I'd hope so! That thing handles like a drunken rhino. No agility whatsoever!"

"More like a bull… that can climb and climb for days!"

Cortez curled his lip in disdain. "It only climbs because of its stupid, vertically aligned mass effect fields. Jump or stick. That's it. No speed, no lateral movement—" (3)

"Hey, with a cannon like that, who needs to move?"

"If you want that, why don't you stick with the old M-29 Grizzly?"

"Hey." James sounded genuinely hurt. "I love that tank."

Cortez laughed. "You would be one to love grizzly bears, Mr. Vega."

James joined in the laughter at first, then stopped. "What… what's so funny?" (4)

While James pondered that mystery, I bought a few more weapon mods. As I made my purchases, Cortez turned to me. "Commander, could you do me a favour?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"The next time you blow up a monastery, could you send a heads-up once you've left the premises? Some of us worry about you."

"Hey!" James called out. "What about me, Esteban? I was there, too!"

"I assume your legs run off as much as your mouth does. No explosion could catch you, Mr. Vega."

Sitting back, I spent the next ten or fifteen minutes listening to the good-natured banter. It was kind of relaxing, if I do say so myself. No care, no worries. Just hanging out, listening to two friends bash each other. It was nice.

When I returned to my quarters, I checked my e-mail. And quickly found out that I would be very busy the next time I went to the Citadel. Lots of people wanted to hang out with me. Individually. Miranda. Jack. Joker. Jacob. Kaidan. Garrus. Even Samara.

From: Brynn Cole
Subject: Crucible Update

Dear Commander Shepard,

Thank you again for all you did to get our group out of that facility on Gellix.

Admiral Hackett is an amazing man and it's a privilege to work under him. The construction of the Crucible is presenting its challenges, but my team and I are determined to crack its mysteries. Although I never rely on luck, in this instance, I fear we may need a little.

Stay safe, Commander. I hope our paths cross again.

Sincerely,
Dr. Brynn Cole

I found myself envying her. Most of my random interactions with him were through audio conversations—and, more recently, briefings, debriefings and updates through the vid-comm. Hell, I'd only met him face-to-face once—after the debacle in the Bahak system. It was enough to get a sense of the kind of man and leader he was, but it wasn't the same as working under him on a regular basis.

Brynn was right that we'd probably need a little luck, at the very least, if we were gonna get through this. Which was why the next e-mail was rather timely:

From: Coreen Lemaes
Subject: Asari squad ready

Commander Shepard:

As of an hour ago, Asari High Command has assigned my squad to support you. We will ride with the Second Fleet until it's time to deploy.

If you'll allow me a personal note, I knew a few of the commandos who went down to that monastery on Lesuss. Nothing will bring them back. But hearing that that place went up in smoke is the only good news I've heard in weeks.

Ready to serve,
Capt. Coreen Lemaes

Like Anderson said the last time we talked, even a little bit of good news was better than nothing. Sometimes it was just a small thing, but it's surprising how that might be the only light in the darkness that surrounded us these days. And in Lemaes's case, news of the monastery's destruction was no small thing.

Miranda wasn't very happy when I saw her the next day. At first, I thought it was something I did. Something I said. Or maybe even something I forgot. One of the hidden joys of maintaining a relationship in the midst of a galactic war.

Turned out it was something else entirely: "My squad of ex-Cerberus operatives is in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You mean Charlie's Angels?"

She rolled her eyes. "They're still not willing to call themselves that, Shepard."

"Fine," I relented. "So what's the problem?"

"They're monitoring Cerberus ship movements in an area with unusually high sensor coverage. There's no way to recall them for other assignments without drawing attention."

"And there's a reason to recall them?"

"There are multiple reasons, given how many operations Cerberus has, but the main reason is the base they've established on Noveria."

"Noveria?" Huh. That took me back. Last time I was on the frigid little ball of ice was when I was hunting Saren. He had a stake in one of the companies that had leased a lab from the Noveria Development Corporation, a private organization that owned the planet. It made sense that Cerberus was interested in Noveria: thanks to the fact that it was outside Citadel jurisdiction, it was free to perform advanced, cutting-edge research that might be too dangerous or controversial to run anywhere else. Besides, the local mass relay was a midway between human space—specifically the Exodus Cluster—and salarian space. If Cerberus had a foothold on Noveria, that meant they would be in a strategic position to seize the best tech the galaxy had to offer and use it in strikes against several key human and salarian worlds. "Tell Joker to set a course for Noveria. Meanwhile, have EDI open a channel to Admiral Hackett."

I headed to the Comm Room to wait for Hackett. To my surprise, he got back to me within a few minutes. (5) "Commander, what can I do for you?"

"Admiral," I saluted. "I understand there's a situation on Noveria."

"That's correct," he nodded. "Cerberus has a strategic advantage in the Horse Head Nebula, thanks to the fighter squadron facility they've established on Noveria. We want to seize it and regain control of the area, but their air defences are too strong for a conventional frontal assault. Losses would be too cost-prohibitive."

"My schedule's clear for the moment," I offered. "How can I help?"

"Our intel suggests a possible point of entry: a small platform above the main landing pad. Theoretically, a shuttle could drop off a squad to storm the facility, though the pilot would have to leave immediately to avoid being shot down. From there, you'd need to bring down their defences so we can send in the troops."

"Then that's what we'll do," I decided. "We're already en route to Noveria. If you can forward the intel reports, we can whip up a plan of attack."

"Will do, Commander. Thank you… and good luck."

Hackett's intel was dead-on. By the time Cerberus realized they were under attack, my squad had already disembarked from the shuttle onto the platform. Though part of our haste may have been to keep our blood flowing—it was damn cold, today.

Unfortunately, the reports on their defences were just as accurate. I opened things up with my sniper rifle, dropping an assault trooper who thought a smoke grenade would be enough to keep him safe. Hurrying to a large crate, I tried to set up an attack on one of the Centurions. EDI was able to zap his shields. I squeezed the trigger. Unfortunately, he ducked behind another crate just in time. So I reloaded and waited. It was only a matter of time before he came out of hiding, hoping to attack one of my other squadmates, only to walk right into my sights. Liara was next, grabbing several troopers in a singularity. Rather than detonate it, we let them spin around while we took pot-shots at their heads.

Meanwhile, Miranda, Kaidan and James were focusing on the landing pad below, using their superior vantage to keep any hostiles from coming up to join the party. Garrus and Javik occupied themselves by firing at the floors above us, keeping the number of troops trying to attack us to a manageable level. So I led Team One over to deal with another target in the far corner, trusting the other teams to watch our backs.

Again, EDI opened things with an EMP. The suddenly vulnerable Centurion dropped a smoke grenade. He probably felt safe for a couple seconds before the bullet from my sniper rifle buried itself in his cranium. We fired several shots to keep the hostiles pinned down before moving to our right in an attempt to flank them.

Only they flanked us first. It was the telltale clank of metal boots on ladder rungs that alerted us first. Activating my cloak, I waited until a trooper climbed the nearby ladder before firing. Easy kill, that one. Sadly, the Centurion that followed was a little harder to take down. Not to mention a better shot: by the time we dispatched him, my shields were drained. I had to duck and find cover so they could regenerate—though I did take out another trooper who was wandering around.

Consulting my HUD again, I tracked another hostile on the move. I headed to one of the rooms in the facility to intercept him. While I was waiting—because he took his sweet time responding to our attack—I indulged in a bit of looting. What? It's okay if there's nothing going on. When the Centurion finally arrived, we bombarded him with an EMP, a fireball and a healthy dose of biotics. Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

I backtracked along the route the Centurion had taken. Didn't take long before I found a trio of troopers. A grenade kept them off-balance until I could bring my trusty sniper rifle to bear. I popped their heads like blood-filled balloons, but not before they called for reinforcements. One by one, more troopers came in. One by one, we took them out.

"Shepard, this is Team Three," Garrus reported. "I think we're clear."

"Team Two confirms that," Miranda added. "Don't worry, Shepard: we'll be sure to restock on thermal clips and seek out any items of value. Though the snow may delay our search somewhat."

"Thank you," I said, ignoring the way EDI and Liara shook their heads. "Team One will start looking for the control centre. We have to take down their defences before the Alliance launches their assault.""

That took a bit of searching. It wasn't like Cerberus had a nice floor map posted for our convenience. At first, I had to settle for scrounging up spare parts, medi-gel and credits from random datapads. And schematics for advanced heating unit stabilizers, which wasn't that odd a discovery considering how cold it was here.

But we eventually found it. "We've found the control centre," I reported over the comm. "All teams; converge on my position."

Naturally, there was a problem. "Damn it," I cursed. "This'll take awhile."

That was when the rest of the squad arrived. "Nice of you guys to join us," I greeted them. "Good news: we've found the security consoles that controls the facility defences."

"Commander, you've got enemies inbound," Cortez reported, his voice piping in through the helmet speakers. "ETA: twenty seconds. Someone's gotta get those defences down ASAP."

"And would that be the bad news?" Miranda asked innocently.

"Actually, the bad news is that the consoles are heavily encrypted," I groaned. "The party crashers would be the 'worse' news. EDI, you're up."

"Understood."

"Get ready, Commander," Cortez warned as we found cover. "You're gonna get swarmed. And I won't be able to—damn it!"

"Cortez?"

"I've been flushed from cover. (6) Nothing I can do. Retreating to minimum safe distance."

"No problem. Get out of there."

"We'll wait for your all-clear, then relay to the strike forc—"

Cortez was interrupted by a particularly loud alert that blared out from the PA system: "Warning, warning: security breach," the facility VI intoned. "Initiating lockdown failsafe."

That lockdown didn't do anything to help the Guardian who arrived first. Aiming carefully, I fired a shot right through the slot in his shield, through his helmet eyepiece and into his brain. "Cortez?" I asked afterward. "You still there?" Nothing. "Cortez?""

"Shepard, outside channels have been scrambled," Liara told me.

Part of the lockdown failsafe, no doubt. Wonderful. "Just bring down their defences," I replied. "We'll worry about that later."

A quick sensor sweep indicated most of the Cerberus troops were coming at us down a single corridor. I decided to do a bit of scouting to confirm that. Activating my cloak, I went around the corner. Sure enough, there were two hostiles—a Centurion and a trooper. I highlighted targets with my HUD before dropping the trooper with a single shot. As my cloak shut down, the Centurion lost his shields, courtesy of Miranda. Then Kaidan hit him with his biotics. The secondary explosions were still subsiding when I fired another headshot.

More hostile were arriving. They were still coming from the same direction. "Team Three, move around and flank them from the right."

"Right," Garrus said. He motioned to Javik, who got up and followed him out through the door.

"Team Two will stay here to monitor their movements and watch EDI's back," Miranda called out.

"Sounds good," I nodded. "Heads up! Incoming!"

We began launching fireballs and biotic blasts. Scored a lot of hits. Several injuries. Even a kill or two. The main objective was to keep Cerberus at bay and pinned down until Team Three could get into position.

Then two shots rang out. Two life-signs dropped off my HUD. Garrus and Javik were in position. "Okay, play time's over," I announced. "Light 'em up!"

The Cerberus forces were wiped out before they knew what hit them. "EDI, how's it going?" I asked.

"Defence system deactivation prioritized. Awaiting shutdown command."

"My efforts have been successful," EDI reported. "However, the shutdown command must be synchronized." Looking back, I saw EDI waiting by one of the consoles. Miranda moved to the other one. They synchronized the countdown with hand gestures, then inputted the shutdown command. I held my breath.

"Defence system deactivated. General order seven slash seven triggered—establish contingency defences."

"Shepard, I'm tracking a large scale deployment to the landing pad," Garrus reported.

"Then that's where we need to go," I decided. "Let's move, people!"

As we ran towards the landing pad, we saw a ladder at the far end of the corridor. A Centurion had just finished climbing down the ladder, with a Nemesis sniper at the top covering him. Before they could react, I had already selected targets and given the order to fire. Twin EMPs from Miranda and Kaidan fried the sniper's shields before Liara froze her with a stasis field, leaving her helpless before our merciless onslaught. Meanwhile, EDI zapped the Centurion's shields. He dropped a smoke grenade to mask his movements, but not before I hit him with a fireball. The resulting explosion finished him off.

Another Centurion came around the corner. He froze momentarily before lifting his weapon. Big mistake: Garrus took out his shields, Javik hammered him with his biotics and I took him out with one shot.

More hostiles arriving. We'd never make it down the corridor and up the ladder in time, so we'd have to make our stand here. Activating my cloak, I darted to a nearby pillar. From there, I had a better line of sight to lob fireballs and fire my sniper rifle. As I did so, EDI launched an EMP at a combat engineer. His shields were still standing, though, so Liara snagged him in another stasis field. Guess she was trying something new. That allowed the rest of Team One to finish him off at their leisure. Meanwhile, Miranda, Kaidan and Garrus were dropping EMPs on anyone else with a set of shields. James and Javik fired concussive rounds and biotic attacks as quickly as they could. And I was doing what I did best.

"Commander, Cortez here." At least, I think that was what he said. There was a hell of a lot of static. I crouched down and turned up the audio gain. "I'm trying to break through the interference," I heard.

"Cortez, I read you," I said. "Come in."

"There you are, Commander. Had to get through the interference."

Speaking of interference, we'd mopped up the latest round of Cerberus goons and I couldn't detect any more in the general vicinity. Time to advance, I thought.

"Area clear. Signalling the strike force—wait! Scans picking up something coming your way."

By that point, the squad had reached the main landing pad. "Details, Cortez."

"Proximity alert," the VI announced. "Deploying armed response."

Because all the Cerberus hostiles we'd encountered so far weren't armed in the slightest. I made sure my weapons had fresh thermal clips and waited. It didn't take long. "Atlas!" Miranda shouted.

I'd have to take her word for it, trusting her genetically enhanced eyesight. All I could see was a really, really big blur dropping down from the sky. "Give it everything you've got!" I shouted. "EMPs from Teams One through Three, in that order. Kaidan, go after Garrus."

As soon as the Atlas landed on the, well, landing pad, we attacked. EDI zapped it, then Liara hit the mech with her biotics for a secondary explosion. Next, came Miranda and James. Then Garrus and Javik. By that point, the Atlas had realized how precarious the situation was and fired off smoke grenades to hide itself. However, we could still see enough of it to guess where the weak points were.

By the time the first smokescreen dissipated, the shields were gone. Seeing that, Kaidan wisely hit the Atlas with his biotics instead of an EMP. So I paused from firing my sniper rifle long enough to launch a fireball. Then everyone opened up, laying down a withering barrage of gunfire. Within seconds, the Atlas fell to the ground and exploded.

"No more hostiles," Miranda reported. "I think we're clear."

"Anyone wounded?" I wanted to know.

"Just the usual minor flesh wound," Garrus said casually. I watched with some concern as he limped towards me. "Atlas got a lucky shot. Grazed my leg. Nothing serious."

I scanned his vitals just to make sure. Having confirmed that he wasn't downplaying a critical injury, I opened a comm channel. "Cortez? Do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Commander. Scans are clear. Strike force is inbound and will assume control of the facility. Coming to pick you up."

"Copy that, Lieutenant."

And that, as they say, is that.

Every now and then, the shuttle sees the occasional bit of chatter. If it's heading towards a hot zone, the occupants are usually busy reviewing what intel we have or planning the first few moves. Things get a little more casual on the way back. "That last mission on Noveria shows why I love the Kodiak," Cortez called out from the cockpit.

"All you did was drop us off and bug out," James pointed out. "How are you proud of that?"

"I seem to remember being shot at the whole time, and everyone coming back in one piece, Mr. Vega," came the retort.

"Yeah," James snorted. "Next time park it and come join the party, Esteban."

Meanwhile, Liara and Javik were talking. Well, Liara was talking. Javik was mostly staring at the floor, occasionally deigning to grunt, nod or shake his head. Eventually, Liara got up to ask Garrus something. I smoothly plunked my ass down in the seat she'd vacated. "What's up, Javik?"

"You asari continues to question me," Javik grumbled. "I'm beginning to wish her kind had never learned to talk." (7)

Ah, Javik. The Prothean social butterfly. "About what?"

He sighed heavily. I just stared at him. He stared back, then sighed again. "This time? What I eat. Many ask that question. They will never know. It is harder to be poisoned that way."

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Javik: the paranoid Prothean social butterfly.

"Is it true you keep fish in your cabin, Commander?"

Somehow, I had a feeling I just found out what Protheans ate. At least, one of the things they ate. For the sake of my fish, I decided not to answer that question.

Then there were conversations like the one EDI and Miranda were having. "What're you two thinking about?" I asked.

"The holographic theory of existence," Miranda replied.

"Huh?"

"The holographic theory of existence posits we are just two-dimensional information painted on the cosmological horizon," EDI elaborated. "However, the holographic consciousness I recognize as myself is only able to perceive matter and energy. Thus I am able to theorize the nature of existence, but never experience it."

"EDI might not be the only one limited in this way," Miranda added. "We were theorizing that the Reapers may also be in a similar situation."

"Hey, will you look at that?" I said brightly. "We're back."

Well, we were. Which was a good thing for the sake of my sanity.

It wasn't the last time I saw Miranda that day, of course. Aside from my usual rounds, we had another training session in the fine art of sword fighting.

We'd begun these sessions by going over the proper way to hold a sword—also known as Lesson Number One. Lesson Number Two, in case you were wondering, was the best way to position my feet. So what about today?

It started off by talking about balance, which you'd think would mean a whole philosophical discussion about Ki and zen and the universe. And, I suppose, you'd be right. Certainly Miranda tried to convey that. But she was pretty up front in admitting that she was just repeating what her teacher—sorry, sensei—had said. It wasn't that she regarded the whole thing as a bunch of mystical mumbo-jumbo. Rather, she was more interested in the practical aspects. The most effective and efficient way to fight and why it worked.

Then we reviewed Lesson Number Two, because footwork was really, really, really, really important.

I think the only new thing we discussed was how I needed to relax. According to me, anyway: Miranda didn't like the 'r' word. Her point, however, was that my movements should be fluid and smooth, something that would be kinda difficult when your muscles are all clenched up.

After that, Miranda walked me through a lot of exercises involving various attacks, parries and manoeuvres, all in a variety of stances. Some of them we'd done before, some of them were new. Every one of them was repeated many, many times.

This sounds duller than it actually was. As if I was just describing something that I did over and over again. Probably because that's exactly what happened. While Miranda had been gradually adding new things each time, I'd basically been doing the same exercises over and over again. There was no wild kung-fu action or dazzling swashbuckling. No, we were just making sure that I mastered the fundamentals without picking up any bad habits along the way. Eventually, this would all become automatic and I could graduate to more complicated stuff. Kinda like my martial arts training during Basic.

I had just finished showering after that when Traynor called up. It seemed Hackett had read my AAR and wanted to chat. "This was a major victory, Commander," he said. "A crippling blow to Cerberus operations in this sector. Now all we have to do is maintain control of the facility."

Oh, was that all? "Cerberus won't make that easy," I frowned.

"And we won't make it easy on them," Hackett retorted. "Thanks to you, we can use their own defences against them. We're talking state-of-the-art sensor grids, AA guns and maybe more: the strike force I sent in found a squadron of advanced fighters. They're fast, agile, remarkably fuel-efficient and pack surprisingly heavy firepower for their size. I've ordered them to install Alliance-approved VIs and sweep them for any bugs. Assuming we get the green light, I intend to press them into service.

"As I said, this was a major victory. Tell your squad they did good, Commander. You should be proud."

"Thank you, sir," I replied, "I'll be sure to pass on the message."

"One more thing, Commander, the turian fleets are stretched thin. We need more support ships… and we think the quarians are willing to talk. They've already sent an envoy ship to meet you in the Far Rim."

"Understood, sir. I'll look into it."

"Be careful," he warned. "We've gotten reports of instability along the geth border. Hackett out."

Yeah. I had a bad feeling why there was all that instability. The reports I'd read suggested the quarians were recalling anyone who was on their Pilgrimage and investing heavily in weapons and military upgrades. Maybe I was wrong, but somehow…

Like I said: I had a bad feeling about this.

The envoy ship was indeed waiting in the Far Rim—specifically in the Dholen system, for anyone who cares about that. It looked like a mass relay, which wasn't too surprising. (8) What was surprising was that its hull wasn't radiating a lot of heat. And it seemed to be venting heat the same way the Normandy did. Or in a similar fashion, anyway. Which made it the quarian equivalent of a stealth ship. We exchanged the usual opening hails and arranged for the quarian contingent to come aboard.

Unfortunately, nobody told me that the Admiralty Board itself was gonna chat with me. So when they strolled into the War Room, they caught me in nothing more than my standard fatigues. Probably for the best: I hate my dress uniform.

"Commander Shepard," Admiral Raan greeted me. "It is a pleasure to see you again, though I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Likewise," I said. "It's too bad we had to meet again in the midst of the war. Speaking of which, I'd hoped for your support in the fight against the Reapers. Is that why you're here?"

"Seventeen days ago," Admiral Gerrel said eagerly, "with precision strikes on four geth systems, the quarians initiated the war to retake our homeworld—"

"Oh for crying out loud!"

Gerrel was taken aback. Apparently he wasn't used to people interrupting his warmongering. But I didn't really give a crap right now. This would confirm my worst fears over the mass recall of quarians, the militarization and the instability along the geth border. Great. This was just fucking great.

"I can understand your reaction, Commander," Admiral Koris—also known as the geth-lover—said stiffly. "It was a clear violation of our agreement with the Council to avoid provoking the geth!"

"A treaty violation is nothing compared to recovering our homeworld and advanced AI technology," Admiral Xen dismissed. Not surprising, considering how disturbing, creepy and batshit crazy she was.

"Didn't you already tangle with the geth before?" I groaned.

"You are correct, Commander," Raan confirmed. "Three hundred years ago."

"After we attempted to kill them," Koris said archly.

"We didn't try to kill them, Koris," Xen sighed. "We tried to deactivate them. It wasn't murder."

"No," I disagreed. "It was murder."

"Commander," Raan tried, "the quarians never intended to create a true AI. It was an accident."

"Accident or not, they were living, sapient beings," I said angrily. "And that still doesn't excuse the fact that your solution was to try to kill them."

Raan, Gerrel and Xen looked at each other and shuffled their feet like they were naughty children. I thought the analogy was fitting. Because that's exactly how they were behaving. Selfish, self-absorbed children with no thought to the consequences of their actions, either to their own race or to every other race that was being slaughtered by the Reapers. Even their bickering right now in the last few minutes smacked of juvenile immaturity. And they were the leaders of the quarian people.

"Don't bother," Koris snapped at the other admirals. "Admitting we were wrong would undercut the justification for this suicidal invasion plan."

I ran my hands over my face. "I can't believe you're throwing yourselves at the geth. Again. When we could use your help against the Reapers. Remember them? I warned you about last year? They're the guys running rampant across the galaxy? Does any of this ring a bell with you?"

"Some of us chose to ignore that bell," Koris groused. "And we may have destroyed our people for good."

"We'd driven the geth back to the home system when this signal began broadcasting to all geth ships," Gerrel explained, tapping his omni-tool. A holographic image of a large planet—presumably Rannoch—appeared. There were two fleets facing off—one geth, one quarian. The geth fleet began blinking with green lights, which presumably represented the signal Gerrel was talking about. And it didn't take a genius to guess the source of that signal. "The Reapers."

"Under Reaper control, the geth are significantly more effective," Gerrel confirmed. "Our fleets are pinned in the home system. If we're going to win—"

"Win?" Koris interrupted, his voice a mixture of incredulity and shock. "You insisted on involving the civilian ships, Admiral Gerrel! We need to retreat or we'll lose the liveships!" (9)

"You've got to be kidding me," I sputtered. "You sent civilians into a warzone?"

"After arming them, of course. They're not defenceless."

There was a very long list of reasons why that was a Really Bad Idea. But clearly it would be a waste of breath to go through said list. "Where's the signal coming from?" I asked instead.

"Here." Gerrel highlighted one of the geth ships and zoomed in. The size of me suggested what kind of ship it was before he confirmed it. "It's a geth dreadnought. It can outgun anything we've got and it's heavily defended."

I had the distinct feeling of déjà vu as I gave my proposal. "The Normandy's stealth drive can get us in detected. I could board, then disable the Reaper command signal."

"Yes," Xen agreed. "Cutting off the signal should throw the geth into complete disarray."

"And while they're confused, you get to the mass relay and retreat," I said firmly.

"Good," Koris approved. "Our civilian ships have seen too much fighting already. Are you certain you can disable the signal?"

"Am I certain I can disable a signal that I've never encountered before? The signal that's making mincemeat out of your ships—civilian and military? The signal that your people are facing because they insisted on revisiting a war with the geth instead of joining with the other races in a greater war against the Reapers? That signal?"

…

"We'll get you out of there safely, Admiral," I scowled. "Assuming your colleagues pull their helmets out of their asses instead of pulling another bullshit stunt."

The other admirals shuffled their feet again. Apparently they were expecting more diplomatic niceties. Too bad. The way they were acting, they were damn lucky I didn't bend them over my knee and give them a good spanking.

Raan finally coughed to break the awkward silence. "Our newest admiral has also volunteered to offer technical expertise on this mission."

Yeah, that's right. The Admiralty Board traditionally consisted of five admirals. One of them was missing. The doors hissed open and Admiral Number Five walked in. She nodded her greetings at me.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, reporting for duty," she said.

(1): Sadly, this would not be the last time that the leaders of my people let a situation metastasize from a manageable problem to a disaster because they refused to admit their sins.

(2): Me three.

(3): Shepard later told me that this debate was fairly common amongst those familiar with Alliance infantry fighting vehicles. He wholeheartedly agreed with the downfalls highlighted for both the Mako and the Hammerhead, having had firsthand experience with both.

(4): A euphemism occasionally used by human gay men to describe a large, husky man with a substantial amount of body hair.

(5): Hackett had put Shepard on his list of people who had clearance to contact him personally, no matter what, a privileged position due both to his past accomplishments and the pivotal role he played in the Reaper War.

(6): After going over the intelligence reports Hackett had provided, Shepard had found a crevice in a nearby mountain where Cortez could wait.

(7): A sentiment that he made abundantly clear.

(8): Shepard had the opportunity to see the Flotilla firsthand in 2185 when he cleared Tali's name of treason. He observed that most of the ships resembled mass relays, likely a reflection of their nomadic culture.

(9): The three ships that provided virtually all the food for the entire Flotilla.