A fiery sphere swept across the cockpit windows in a blue-shifted arc as Joker flung the Normandy wide around Ma-at's corona. The ship's hull and shielding could absorb an amazing amount of punishment from weapon fire, but no technology could permanently outlast the power of a star. Normandy's course spiraled around Ma-at and terminated at the geth hub. They'd have to approach the asteroid from its far side, using the rocky body as a shield flying in its shadow, or the Kodiak shuttle and boarding party would be cooked before it left the docking bay.

"Two minutes," Joker announced over the intercom.

"Standing by," Shepard replied from the shuttle.

"You ready for this, EDI?"

EDI's blue sphere pulsed brightly. "All systems are nominal. As a reminder, in such close proximity to a stellar body, our thermal dissipation systems will not be effective. We must keep maneuvering and weapon fire to a minimum."

"That might not be up to me." Joker didn't bother to look at any of the sensor displays. Until the ship dropped below sublight, he had to depend solely on the AI's mathematical projections on where the asteroid would be. Not long ago, he would have insisted on plotting the course himself, but now he couldn't be happier to have EDI at his side. As for what awaited the Normandy at Orbital Body 413319, they would find out together.

In the Kodiak's crew compartment, the nine remaining members of the squad sat in full vac armor, concentrating on the schematic in their visor displays and omnitools as Miranda briefed them.

"Our target is on Xenophon's second deck," she said. "The ship's AI Lab. It's completely isolated, with a full suite of countermeasures to prevent an AI outbreak. Archer's research materials will be there."

Zaeed studied the schematic in his own heads-up display. "What's our entry?"

"Main hangar deck," Miranda said. "I've already got the override for the door fed into our transponder. We should be able to open it as we approach."

"Didn't you just get fired? What if they changed the locks?"

Shepard rotated the three-dimensional deck plan in front of his eyes and marked a point on the bottom of the hull. "In that case, we go in here. Ventral emergency airlock. From there, it's the same plan." He shifted the image to the second deck. The AI lab had a single door that opened to a corridor that ran across the center of the ship. "The quickest way up from the hangar deck are these access ladders on either side. We'll hit the closest one to us, leave a security element with the Kodiak, and the rest of us will take the lab."

Garrus looked up through the display in his eyepiece. "Opposition?"

Miranda spoke again. "Xenophon has a complement of thirty-one consisting of the flight crew and technicians, about as capable as our own crew. They'll put up a fight, but their main goal will be to defend the ship's control centers to prevent a takeover."

Kasumi shrugged. "We're not trying to take the ship, right? Maybe we won't even see them."

Miranda shook her head. "Standard procedure for high-risk operations is for three or four squads of assault troopers for security, led by Centurions. And they'll come straight to us."

"Fifty to sixty guns at least," Garrus said.

Kasumi's shoulders slumped. "Oh. That's a bummer."

Miranda nodded. "And at least as many down on the hub itself."

"We'll worry about them when we get there," Shepard said. "Garrus, you're in charge of the security element. Hold the bay, cover us out and back."

"Roger that," Garrus said and pulled up a schematic of Xenophon's docking bay, already plotting out positions.

"Miranda, Jacob? You know your way around a Cerberus ship better than any of us, so you're on assault. We're going to be hacking through hatches every step of the way, so Kasumi, you're with us. Legion and Tali will handle the lab. Everybody whose name I didn't call is on security with Garrus."

Samara and Zaeed both nodded, but Grunt growled under his helmet.

"Don't worry," Garrus said, still studying the schematic. "We'll be plenty busy. I guarantee it."

"We'd better be," Grunt said.

"Dropping to sublight in ten seconds," Joker announced.

Shepard braced himself in his seat. "Get ready!"

"Stand by... Five, four, three, two, one..."

Back under sublight, the Normandy's sensors and Joker's own eyes could finally make sense of their surroundings. The threat board came alive with contacts from dozens of ships and guided munitions from all directions.

"SHIT!" Joker Joker slewed the ship toward an open sector on the scan. Explosions flashed nearby as the Normandy's GARDIAN system came online.

"Joker," Shepard yelled over the comm. "What's happening?"

"We came out in the middle of a goddamn furball is what!"

Idents on the display resolved as EDI analyzed the ship's electromagnetic emissions, but the screen flickered and stuttered as Ma-at's supercharged particles clouded the display. Smaller Cerberus and quarian ships jockeyed for position, while the larger vessels tried to lock on one another in the middle of the solar maelstrom. Half of the contacts, all geth, neither maneuvered or fired. Like the ships around Ammut,they were inert, drifting in straight lines, making easy targets for the rampaging quarians.

Joker designated the closest targets. "Who do we shoot?"

"Forget 'em!" Shepard shouted over the comm. "Get to the hub!"

A single glance at the short range scan was all Joker needed. Like a slalom skier surveying a downhill run, the course through the minefield of ships became clear. He kicked the Normandy to full throttle and brought the ship about and the cockpit flooded white as they faced the nearby star. In the midst of the inferno, a tiny a black dot appeared silhouetted against the brilliance.

The entire ship shuddered from an impact. "Jeff," EDI said, "a Cerberus vessel has locked on and is in pursuit."

"Great," Joker said. He had to keep the ship's course straight and true when releasing the Kodiak. While the Normandy's screens could survive Ma-at's fury, the shuttle's defenses would collapse in seconds outside of the asteroid's shadow. "And we're showing nothing but ass, flying straight towards a star!"

"If we're lucky," EDI said, "We'll come out evenly cooked on all sides. That is a joke."

"Not now, EDI!" Joker wrenched the ship over and a cluster of disruptor torpedoes streaked past the window just as the thermal alarm indicated the heat sinks were already becoming saturated. Things were about to get very interesting.

Shepard braced himself in his seat as the docking clamp spun the shuttle around 180 degrees to face the forward bay door. On the ship's tactical display, Normandy raced toward Orbital Body 413319 with a Cerberus frigate closing right behind it.

"Stand by to launch," Joker said. "Five seconds! Four... three... two..."

The forward bay door retracted. Even with with maximum filtration and protective screens, all Shepard and Rolston could see was a solid white rectangle with a dark circle framed by the door's opening. The docking clamp released with a clank as the shuttle's mass effect generators kicked in.

"One... LAUNCH!"

The surging engines shoved Shepard and Rolston back in their seats as the Kodiak blasted from the hangar into Ma-at's blinding fury. The dark circle ahead became a cannonball hurtling right at their faces.

"Brace!" Rolston shouted as the Kodiak's thrusters vectored forward in unison. Thanks to mass effect fields, g-forces that would have gelled their bones only strained their muscles. Leftover momentum swept them onward to the asteroid. Now eclipsed by the rock, Ma-at's corona blazed in all directions from the asteroid's expanding dark side. Kilometer-long solar collection panels rimmed the asteroid's terminator like petals on a flower.

Above, a bright comet arced into space. Normandy, screens ablaze in Ma-at's heliosphere, streaked away with Cerberus frigate chasing close behind. Shepard once again watched his ship go into battle out him. "Any sign of the Xenophon?"

"Got a positive track," Rolston said. "Should be about two o'clock, low."

A magnified image showed the Xenophon hovering just above the asteroid's surface. Like most human ships, the Cerberus vessel was a giant, blocky wedge, painted white with sensor and comm arrays extending from its hull like masts on an old time sailing ship. She was almost as long as Normandy, but not nearly as sleek. A wide, brightly lit opening stretched across its aft.

"The bay's open," Rolston shouted, "They're launching a shuttle!"

A small blip on the sensor screen showed a contact departing the Xenophon for the surface. "Get us in there!" Shepard disengaged his safety clamps and wheeled through the cockpit door to plant himself in the closest seat in the crew compartment. Safety clamps re-engaged and the cockpit hatch sealed to protect Rolston from vacuum. "Ten seconds! We're going in the primary docking bay! Forward bench forward, aft bench to the aft!"

Through the shuttle's nose camera, the entire squad watched their approach to Xenophon's belly. It wide hanger gleamed white under bright overhead lights. Without warning, a marquee of red beacons glowed around the bay door and it slid shut from the top. Everyone in the crew compartment instinctively braced for impact.

"Hang on!" Rolston yelled. The shuttle slid sideways beneath the closing bay door. It pitched, bounced once, then scraped sideways across the deck on its belly as the hanger door slammed shut behind it.

A light over the Kodiak's hatch turned solid green and it opened to reveal Xenophon's docking bay door. Shepard detached and propelled himself out and to the right with Jacob close behind. Tali clutched her shotgun and rushed after them, not daring to slow down because Legion and Miranda were right behind her.

The hangar began re-pressurizing and soon alarms echoed throughout the bay. After peering around the Kodiak's forward thruster mount, Shepard marked a path on the squad's tactical displays and checked over his shoulder to make sure everyone was present.

"We're in position," Garrus said over the radio. "You're clear forward!"

"Follow me!" Shepard charged to the fore end of the hangar deck. Tali kept her eyes on Jacob's weapon-packed back as she ran, keeping her interval, all the time scanning for threats and cover as they weaved through the crates and equipment on the deck. The sprint ended with the entire group lined up next to the hatch leading to the port stairs. Its panel glowed bright red.

Shepard stepped aside. "Kasumi!"

Omnitool out, Kasumi knelt in front of the panel while her friends kept watch over the hanger and elevator doors. "Drones up," Shepard said as the thief worked. Tali touched her omnitool and Chiktikka rezzed in next to her. Legion did the same, and soon two of the spherical drones hovered over Kasumi's shoulders. Seconds later, the door indicator flashed green. Kasumi moved aside as the door opened and remote drones zoomed through and up the sublevel stairway.

"Clear," Tali said, monitoring Chiktikka's progress in her visor.

"Affirmative," Legion confirmed.

Shepard and Jacob pushed through the hatch with Miranda, Kasumi, Tali and Legion right behind. Unlike Normandy, the sublevel walls and stairs were all polished white without a speck of grime. Their boots left a trail of black smudges as they ascended.

"Up one deck," Miranda said as they reached the first landing, "Then aft. The access ladder will be in the back of the corridor."

"Garrus," Shepard said. "We're on deck three on our way up to two. What's your status?"

"Contact," Garrus's voice was calm, as always. "Cerberus troopers just came down the elevator. I count twelve-" there was a burst of weapon fire, followed by a loud laugh that could only be Grunt. "check, eleven enemy targets. Shouldn't be a problem."

At the top of the stairs, Shepard's team found themselves in a curved corridor leading forward and to starboard, both ways ending in a sealed hatch. There was no sign of a ladder, only a ring of red light on the ceiling in the corner.

"How do we get up there?" Jacob asked.

"The rungs are retracted," Kasumi said and ran her fingers over the wall, feeling for seams. She looked up. "They probably pull in flush when the hatch is locked. Fancy!"

"Can you open it?" Shepard asked.

"Psh." Kasumi sounded insulted. She waved her omnitool over the wall, opened a concealed panel and executed another sequence. The red ring in the ceiling turned green. A hexagonal hatch cover slid aside and glossy white rungs extended from the wall.

Tali checked the mission time on her HUD. They had been on the ship for just under two minutes now. Hopefully, Miranda had been correct when she said that the Cerberus personnel would concentrate on protecting engineering and the bridge. Getting in and out should be easy as long as they didn't know where the Normandy team was headed.

"Drones," Shepard said, and the pair of glowing spheres shot up through the hole to the second deck. "What have you got?"

"Corridor leading forward is clear," Tali said. "Two doors on the left are closed."

"Crew compartments," Miranda said. "They surround the second deck. They should be empty with the ship on alert."

Legion spoke as well. "The corridor terminates immediately to aft in a locked hatch."

"Let's go," Shepard said and hoisted himself up the ladder. Like everywhere else, the second deck's corridors were a spotless glossy white. A gold stripe ran the length of the walls at shoulder height, with a hexagonal black and gold Cerberus logo in the middle of the section. Shepard lead the column forward, with each of them training a weapon on the door to each compartment as they passed, halting at another hatch at the end.

Beyond, according to Miranda's schematic, was the central corridor connecting to the lab. Ten meters long and narrow, it would be a death trap if they were caught in the middle. Along with the rest of the squad, Shepard crouched low while Kasumi opened the first hatch, which revealed another hatch directly across and one immediately to the right. He looked at Tali and pointed to the forward hatch. "Can you seal that?"

Tali slipped around her friends and removed a panel from the wall. "On the Normandy I have to fix everything," She said as she began cross-connecting the door's circuitry. "Here I get to break them."

"Fun, isn't it?" Kasumi said as she worked the lock panel on the hatch leading to the lab.

Tali pulled back as a shower of sparks spewed from the wall. The holo panel on the forward hatch now blinked ERROR. She slid back around the corner next to Legion. "That should hold them," she said. "Especially since they'll have to fill out a maintenance request before they can fix it."

Miranda sighed and shook her head.

"Ready," Kasumi said, and Shepard waved her back around the corner. She knelt behind the wall behind Legion and pressed the execute button on her omni. The door slid open and the opposing wall exploded with a shockwave that made their kinetic barriers shimmer in unison. Sparks flew as enemy fire ripped into the portside wall.

"Um, contact," Kasumi said with a grin, pulling her Locust from its hardpoint on her armor.

Without prompting, Tali and Legion sent their combat drones zooming around the corner into a hail of rifle fire. Chiktikka recorded four Cerberus troopers in black armor at the far end. The two in front dropped to their knees to let the two behind fire over their shoulders. "Four in the corridor, opposite end!"

A blue glow enveloped Jacob's upper body and he flung his arm around the corner. The Cerberus soldiers thrashed as they floated helplessly into the air. Miranda stepped around, aglow with biotic energy. The the front-most soldier disappeared in a flash that sent his comrades smashing into the ceiling and walls.

"Go!" Shepard yelled, and he and Legion fired and advanced even before the enemy troopers hit the floor. Tali ran along behind them, ready to clean up with her shotgun. Smoke filled the air and black streaks marred the polished white corridor. Shepard waved Tali to the far end. "Seal the whole junction. Jacob?"

"Yo!"

"Go back the way we came and watch the aft hatch. Make sure no one comes up behind us."

"Roger that." Jacob trotted back down the corridor past the thief, who knelt in front of the hatch to the AI Lab at the middle of the corridor.

"Kasumi, how are you coming?"

"Working on it," Kasumi said. "Cerberus should really diversify their security systems. Got it!"

Shepard jogged back to her. "All that practice you got the Normandy paid off huh?"

Kasumi put her hands on her hips. "Are you complaining? 'Cause it sounds like you're complaining."

"Garrus," Shepard called over the comm. "Status?"

"Another squad just came down the stairs you went up," Garrus said. "Port side. We're engaging. Watch yourselves."

"Roger that. Jacob you copy that?"

"On it, Shepard. Got eyes on the access hatch. Negative contact."

"Kasumi, go cover him. We'll be there in a minute."

"You got it, Shep!"

The lab door opened to a large hexagonal room, shiny white like the corridors. Its outer walls were dominated by lab stations and consoles, all locked and under computer control. Geth platforms lay disassembled on the workbenches, with others clamped against upright against the walls. Several of the workbenches were shrouded with shiny metal tarps. Ribbed hoses and cables dangled from beneath, with the shape of a geth platform visible under each.

"Legion, Tali?" Shepard stepped to let the technicians work. They both had their omnitools out, scanning the stations, looking for a way to interface while he and Miranda secured the rest if the room. Shepard kept his rifle in hand as he examined one of the geth platforms clamped to the walls. Its head drooped with no power to its systems. "Legion, these guys going to be a problem?"

"Negative," Legion said as it hurried around the workstations around the perimeter, looking for a physical connection. It stopped and stripped a panel from the wall. "These units are inoperable."

"Good."

"This node's active," Tali said, planting herself in one of the black leather chairs in front of the consoles. "Legion, I've got a live connection here."

"Affirmative," Legion said, manipulating its omnitool interface. "Scanning network..."

The two humans continued to search the compartment as the Normandy engineers worked. Miranda approached one of the covered work benches and peeled back the mylar blanket, her weapon level. She winced at what she saw, then glanced about to make sure neither Tali nor Legion were looking. She switched her comm to a private channel. "Shepard."

"What have you got?" Shepard moved behind her to look at what lay under the reflective sheet. Instead of a metallic head, he saw matted hair, pale skin, and vacant eyes. The quarian's helmet had been ripped from his envirosuit at the neck and a cluster of tubes was jammed down his throat. Electrodes jutted from bloody holes drilled through his forehead and scalp, connected by a bundle of cords to the tubes hanging over the side. A shallow pan beneath his head kept his blood, now thick and coagulated, from staining the table's clean surface. Mercifully, the man was dead. "Looks like Archer's up to his old tricks."

"No," Miranda said, glancing at the other covered tables. "This is for memory extraction. This must be the crew of the Littano. That's how Archer was able to exploit the quarian virus so quickly. They ripped the details directly from their minds." She lowered the blanket back over the corpse and resumed her search around the room.

Shepard wasn't surprised that Miranda knew what the apparatus was, but didn't want to know how she recognized it. He glanced over at Tali and Legion. There was no reason to disturb either of them with the gruesome discovery.

"Alert," Legion said. "Heretic virus code located. Commencing download."

"It's not going to affect you," Shepard said. "Right?"

"Our code base is not compatible, but we are isolating the virus from our execution paths as a precaution."

"Good job." Tali looked at Normandy's geth with admiration. It had bypassed the security put in place by Cerberus even before she'd broken through the second firewall. Her omnitool chimed, signalling the delivery of the code via Legion's omnitool. She stared at the display, mouth agape. Native geth code scrawled across the screen. She had seen nothing like it, even during her direct interfaces with Legion. Simple and elegant, the master key to geth consensus now resided in her wrist computer. The power to control the geth was now literally in the palm of her hand. All they needed to do was upload it to a hub. But it would need to be altered first, as it was Xen's version, designed to return the geth to quarian control.

Where is the Fleet right now, Tali wondered? Was the Navy still massing at Dholen, waiting for word from Xen to strike? With the entire collective offline in a self-induced coma, had the quarians taken advantage of the opportunity to attack? If so, how long would they have before the geth woke up and fought back?

Shepard's voice from behind made Tali jump. "How much longer?"

"We've got it," Tali said.

Legion switched off its omnitool. "Confirmed, Shepard-Commander. We are in possession of the virus."

"Let's go!" Shepard strode toward the door, waving his team out.

"Wait," Miranda stood hunched over a desk, her eyes wide. "Shepard, come look at this."

Twin streaks of light erupted from Normandy's Javelin launchers, converging on the Cerberus frigate Apollo. Already overwhelmed by fire from the quarian ships and overheated from extended operation, the Apollo's GARDIAN could not keep up. The ship's hull crumpled like tin foil as spacetime itself alternately expanded and collapsed around the detonating warheads. It's fuselage kinked back on itself, then exploded as the eezo core breached containment.

"Great shot, EDI," Joker shouted and opened the ship's throttle wide, shooting the Normandy past the battle. While the quarian and Cerberus ships remained locked in a close dogfight, the Normandy was on neither offense or defense, free to make quick strafing runs through the battle and discharge heat before turning back around to make another pass. While the quarians and Cerberus faced off with knives, Normandy kept jousting through, on occasion landing its a blow with a powerful lance.

"Thermal discharge complete," EDI announced. "H-cells charged to full capacity."

"I'm coming around again! Find us another target!"

EDI paused for a split second. "Stand by. I am detecting a change in the total number of active tracks maneuvering in the target area."

"What?" Joker pulled up the scanner. "We got inbounds?"

"Jeff," EDI said, her voice calm, though if she were organic it would have been understandable if she screamed with abject panic. "The geth ships are reactivating."

"What is it?" Shepard, Tali and Legion converged on the Cerberus operative. The holo display in front of Miranda showed a series of different graphs and counters, all showing rapidly decreasing values.

"The geth runtimes in the hub have powered down," Miranda said. "All of them."

"What do you mean?" Shepard leaned in to look at the screen. "Weren't they already shut down?"

"No, they were deadlocked, trying to block the Cerberus commands, but they were still online. Now they've all shut down."

Legion emitted a low buzz. "The entire hub is in the midst of a power cycle. This behavior is repeating throughout the collective."

"Keelah," Tali stood upright. "It's a collective-wide reboot. Cerberus couldn't break the loop so they've essentially rebooted. As they come back online, they'll revert to Cerberus control. There's hundreds of platforms down there, Shepard! And thousands more at Ammut! We have to get there before they wake up! If we get caught in there after-"

Shepard didn't need to hear any more. He lead his team back into the corridor, hand pressed to the side of his head. "Garrus! We've got the package. We're on our way back!"

"Roger that. You're clear down here, but we've got a problem. The hangar door is closed."

"Shit," Shepard looked back at the lab. "Legion, Tali? Can you override the door from here?"

"Negative, Shepard-Commander," Legion said. "The lab compartment is isolated from the other ship systems."

Tali sprinted past to where Kasumi and Jacob guarded the aft hatch. For some reason, her ship mates didn't seem to appreciate the danger they were facing. "We can do it from the hangar itself. Come on! We've got to go!"

Once again following the pair of combat drones, the squad dropped down to the deck below to the deserted stairway. "Friendlies coming in," Shepard shouted over the comm, making sure the tactical net showed their position as well.

The white deck and walls now spattered bright red and a half dozen bodies in Cerberus-issue combat armor lay at the bottom of the stairs. Grunt stood over them, Claymore in hand, covered with as much blood as the deck. They couldn't see his face beneath his helmet, but he sounded pleased with himself. "Shepard."

As much as he wanted to compliment the krogan on his work, Shepard rushed past him into the hangar. "Watch the stairs." At the far end, Garrus lay atop the roof of the Kodiak behind his sniper rifle. He raised a fist in the air as a welcome. Zaeed and Samara both watched from behind cover. "Spread out. Find that control panel."

"Over here," Kasumi said, pointing to a small windowed room in the corner. By the time the others joined her, its door stood open. Kasumi stepped aside to let Legion pass. "After you, sir."

"Stand by," Legion said, and after manipulating its omnitool, one of the panels turned green. "Accessing network..."

The Illusive Man paced back and forth in Anadius's red glow, his cigarette leaving a trail of smoke behind him. "How long, Doctor?"

Sweat beaded on Doctor Archer's forehead, visible even over the holo projection. "We're regaining control, albeit slowly. By forcing restarts, we've been able to eliminate the conflicting instructions. As they reboot, our altered code will take effect and we will regain control. Smaller clusters will recover first. I'm already getting responses back from some of the ships, but-"

"How long?"

"Seven or eight more minutes for this hub, longer for the larger ones at Ammut and Tikkun."

The Illusive Man turned back to the holo displaying the status of the small fleet sent to escort the Xenophon. Only three of the six ships remained. The quarians were fighting with a ferocity The Illusive Man had never seen. Without the geth to bolster their fleet, the Cerberus ships would not last much longer. "The quarians may break through before then. What can you do to expedite the process?"

"Anadius," said a new voice on the channel, that of Captain Scott. "This is Xenophon!"

"What is it?"

"We've been boarded! At least a dozen of them! Sir- it's Shepard! He's on the ship! We're holding engineering and the bridge-"

The cigarette dropped from the Illusive Man's mouth as he rushed back to his chair. "The virus. He's going for the lab."

"What?" Archer scowled. "That's ridiculous. Even if he somehow managed to defeat my security, he couldn't do anything with the virus unless-"

"He delivers it to the hub," The Illusive Man finished Archer's sentence. He searched through his holo screen for the Xenophon's command console. "Captain Scott, you are to relocate the Xenophon immediately. Get as far away from the hub as you can."

"But sir," Scott said, "The only direction we can go leads us straight to the quarians. We're not equipped for combat! And if we leave the dark side we'll burn up-"

"You have your orders, Captain."

"What are you doing?" Archer said. "If we lose the Xenophon, we lose quantum entanglement communication! How will we-"

The Illusive Man didn't hesitate. With Shepard on the Xenophon, there was only one way to prevent further interference. He opened the Xenophon's navigation console. With the press of a finger, he engaged the research ship's engines at full throttle without bothering to select a course. It would either crash into the asteroid, or be flung from the protective shelter of its shadow. Either way, the Xenophon would follow orders even if her captain did not and Shepard would be removed from the equation.

"The bay door is open, Commander!" Rolston called from the Kodiak. True to the pilot's words, the shiny white door of the hangar retracted to reveal a black rectangle full of empty space.

"Atta way, Legion," Shepard said and called out to the squad. "Let's get to the hub. Move it!"

"Alert," Legion said. "We have intercepted errant control inputs being sent to the Xenophon's navigation system."

"What?" Shepard moved to stand behind Legion along with Tali and Miranda.

The geth projected what it was detecting over the workstation's main holo. "The Illusive Man is sending remote commands to the navigational console of this vessel. We believe he is attempting to destroy the ship. I am able to block the command, but it is repeating over an increasing number of threads. Stand by... stand by. Commands are now also being sent to activate the ship's auto-destruct protocol."

"Well let's go!"

"Negative," Legion said. "We are blocking the commands. If we terminate our connection, the Xenophon will be destroyed."

"Commander, what's wrong?" Garrus asked.

"Stand by," Shepard said. He looked Legion. "Shut down the receiver."

"We are attempting to do so. Xenophon's countermeasures are defeating our attempts. We do not have enough runtimes to effectively counter all of them and maintain control over the helm at the same time."

"Kill the self destruct mechanism then. Or the drive core."

"Unable."

"The ship was designed to resist outbreaks," Miranda said. "It's in its design. The longer he stays connected, the stronger it will get."

"Tali, Kasumi, give him a hand!"

Both Tali and Kasumi stepped forward, their omnitools out and ready. But what took Legion a fraction of a second to do would take the organics much longer. Legion's flaps expanded and contracted. "Shepard-Commander, you must leave immediately. You must implant the altered virus before the hub completes its power cycle. We will hold the Xenophon's position until you are clear."

Shepard stared at the geth, the full meaning of Legion's words finally registering. "We're not leaving you here."

"You have no choice."

"Shepard," Garrus said again. "What's the hold up?"

"Wait," Jacob shook his head. "We can't do that They'll tear him to pieces. And when they do, the ship will go too."

Kasumi stepped forward. "And since he's unplugged from the collective, he can't archive. He'll die!"

Shepard turned to face the rest of the squad. "All of you get back to the shuttle. I'll stay here and cover him."

"What?" Tali said. "Wait, no!"

"Come back for us after you've delivered the updated code."

"No," Tali shook her head vigorously. "If you're staying, I'm staying, too."

Shepard grabbed her arm and led her toward the shuttle. "Tali, no! You're the only one other than Legion who can reprogram the virus! Get going, now! All of you!"

Garrus spoke urgently over the tactical net. "What the hell is going on over there?"

The entire squad froze around the door to the control shack. Every one of them knew what staying behind meant. In front of the panel, Legion stood motionless, concentrating every one of its processes on preventing the Xenophon from destroying itself.