AN: I forgot to mention this before, but this fanfiction uses the Halo 3 design for the Covenant species. I think Halo 4 and onward completely forgot what the Elites were meant to be; elegant, noble, graceful and deadly.

The reason for this choice is quite a bit of a rant, so just skip to the "~0~" marker of the story if you don't want to read another patented Masterdude21 Rant.

I fully believe 343 has a fetish for sumo wrestling. I mean, not ONE martial art out there works the way 343 thinks fighting works in their games except for perhaps sumo wrestling, and that/ is only because they took an extremely superficial look at sumo wrestlers and went "yeah, that's how we want ALL our goddamn characters to move and fight!"

This is a rookie, amateur, immature mistake to make. "Hey, how do I make the new (practically OC) Spartan-IV's from Halo 4 and 5 look badass? Why, it's by having them fight badass Elites of course! But wait, badass Elites are a physical match for Spartan-II's and would wreck Spartan-IV's if properly armed! How do we solve this? I know! By making these graceful warriors move and fight like drunken sailors of course!"

This is making actual badass characters utterly incompetent to make your own OC's look cool. It's so bad. It's like bad fanfiction. And when a fanfiction author accuses you of being a bad fanfiction writer, you done goofed up. Take one look at the cutscenes from Halo 4 or 5 and tell me if that shit would fly with one of Bungie's Elites. Would R'tas Vadum just stand there and watch while an enemy soldier ran at his Elites? Would a Halo 2 Zealot just lumber towards Spartan Vale with one big Godzilla step at a time, or would he Sparta-Kick her in the goddamn face faster than she could react? No real soldier fights like the way 343 Studios thinks they do, not one! Alien or otherwise!

343's rendition of the Elites (and the of the Covenant, and even the damn Spartans who fell on their heads and forgot that they weren't an overdesigned Iron Man) are just a total mess. I mean, mandibles that run parallel to the eyes? Feet that are twice the size of their (already stupidly enormous) heads? Get out of here! No lumbering mountains who get one-shotted by rookie Spartan-IV's in THIS story, thank you very much. It's almost like 343 completely forgot that the Elites weren't called Brutes. Shit, even the way they walk and SPEAK just screams BRUTE.

But let's digress. Recommended music for this chapter? An 1 hour extended version of the Mass Effect 2 Suicide Mission OST.

~0~


Arcturus Stream / Arcturus System

Admiral Hackett had the sinking feeling that someone, somehow, just started a war with the Systems Alliance. The fallout was a complete mess; dozens of reports flooded his console every minute. Ship Captains testifying that their vessels were now back under their own control, mostly.

The entirety of the First Fleet was scheduled to arrive within two hours. They came as soon as they received the distress call, but it looked like the mess was mostly over by now.

Couple of hours ago, an unidentified turian warship entered Arcturus System. That was when this whole mess started. Consensus was that some sort of virus, or even a VI cranked up on illegal intrusion software managed to infiltrate and take control over the whole damn Fifth Fleet. From Frigates to Dreadnaughts, every single ship found themselves unable to do a thing as the turian ship did its thing…whatever the hell that was supposed to be.

Hackett couldn't believe it. Nothing short of a full-fletched Artificial Intelligence could manage that. Even worse, when he contacted the Turian Hierarchy to demand an explanation, they denied ever breaching the Alliance's borders. They claimed that they had no knowledge of a Cruiser just sitting in the core of their Alliance's Navy.

A procedure that every nation followed if and when their attempts at espionage and infiltration were discovered. Deny the presence of the agents and leave them to rot, thereby preventing diplomatic relations from worsening. But the thing was that the turians didn't do espionage. Sure, every now and then the Alliance caught an STG member sniffing around where they didn't belong, but the turians had always respected the Alliance's secrets.

Obviously, blowing the Cruiser to bits hadn't worked, as that "virus" had disabled every single vessel and defensive installation in the system.

But Hackett's day just got worse and worse. Half an hour after the alien vessel left, he got word that someone – or something – had raided Arcturus Station as well. The most important and well-defended construct in the Systems Alliance's space and it was plundered while the entire Fifth Fleet was helpless.

The techs were still figuring out what happened. Preliminary reports said that something tore through their cyberwarfare modules like wet tissue paper, before taking over all Arcturus' systems. Specialists who tried to stop the incursion by physically destroying the caches, died. Investigative personnel was still unsure on how that happened, but in the end, Hackett was left with the bodies of five good men and women, and an enemy who now possessed every last secret of the Alliance.

Now, the Admiral was in the process of writing a very angry message to the Citadel Council when someone knocked on his door.

"Come in," he called, looking up from his console.

A young Lieutenant entered his office. Discipline and his rank kept his expression calm, but Hackett knew that there was trouble on the horizon.

"Admiral Hackett, sir. Councilor Anderson wishes to speak to you," said the officer.

Hackett sighed. He waved the Lieutenant away, saying, "Son, I've got bigger issues to worry about here. Tell him that the Alliance has just been hacked. He'll understand."

But the Lieutenant didn't budge. "Sir, Councilor Anderson said it was extremely urgent. He said that this couldn't wait."

Hackett's first response was to instruct the Lieutenant on how precisely he could tell Anderson to buzz off. He reconsidered, however, when his brain told him that this was David Anderson they were talking about, not Udina. With David, urgent truly meant urgent.

"Alright. I'll head up to the communications room," he eventually said. He got up from his seat, wearily, and readjusted his hat. "You're dismissed, Lieutenant."

The officer saluted, before turning around and leaving in a hurry.

Hackett couldn't blame him; the entire station was in disarray. A lockdown had been ordered, but everybody knew that the culprit was long gone. They wouldn't find anything, except for maybe a couple more bodies.

He made his way to the communications room, wondering what the hell was so important. The last time someone called him away with an urgent message…well, a monster of a Dreadnaught was attacking the Citadel.

…hmm. Ah.

His mind was still in all the wrong places. Anderson might have known about the attack, or he might not. That didn't change the fact that no sane man in the galaxy would call the Admiral of the Fifth Fleet away without a damn good reason, and that thought was almost as frightening as the cyber-attack.

What if that alien fleet attacked again? What if they attacked Earth?

Hackett picked up the pace, jogging to the communications room. He slowed down just before he rounded the corner, to appear calm and collected before the two soldiers who stood guard there. He showed them his identification – a gesture so routine that he didn't even have to break stride to do so - and entered the complex.

He stepped towards the assorted consoles and holographic projectors, entered his personal code and accepted the communication request from the Citadel.

Heavens, he hoped that the Council's problems weren't as serious as his…

After a few moments of delay, the holographic image of the human Councilor appeared.

Hackett tipped his hat. "Anderson. We've got a bit of a problem here. I trust you've been informed?"

"I did. And I'm sorry to hear about the people you lost. Trust me, I feel like an ass for saying this, but humanity has bigger issues to worry about."

Hackett blinked, hoping he heard that correctly. "Bigger issues than the heart of the Alliance having been devastated in a cyber-attack? Anderson, this better not be a case of the power going to your – "

"There's another humanity out there."

The Admiral felt his voice die in his throat. He worked his jaw, trying to find a response. This wasn't right. He must not have heard correctly. "Anderson, could you repeat that?"

The former Captain nodded, then clasped his hands behind his back. Patiently, he repeated what he just said.

Admiral Hackett heard the words. His brain processed the context. It still didn't make any sense. There could not be any way this was right. "A second humanity? Do you mean an estranged colony, or a separatist movement?"

Jane's words echoed through his mind. Yeah…only, not our humanity.

What the hell was going on?

"I wish it were that simple. I still can't believe it myself. But the facts are undeniable. Before I say anything, you need to know that it was the other Councilors who informed me about this. When I say the following information is indisputable, I say so with all the authority of the Citadel itself."

Hackett felt his stomach tighten with unease. First the Commander, now Anderson too? There had to be a rational explanation here. "Go on."

"The Councils exploration attempts into Section Zero bore fruit," Anderson slowly began.

The Admiral frowned. Section Zero? That was the swath of unexplored space "above" the Terminus Systems. It spanned between ten to twenty percent of the galaxy. Private organizations had tried to find a way into that region of space for decades, but since there weren't any Mass Relays leading into it, all those expeditions failed.

Until now, apparently.

"There, they found what remained of a garden world. I will send you the files after this, but take my word for it, it looked bad."

"How bad?" Asked a suspicious Hackett.

"It was glass, Admiral. The world had been bombarded until its entire surface was glass. Even the atmosphere was gone. The debris field surrounding the world looked like something you'd find during the Rebellions. It was like hundreds of vessels were destroyed around that planet. Now, there's two things you should know."

The Admiral was still guessing about the sort of firepower it would take to turn an entire world to glass. He guessed that, if you took three Fleets and set them to fire on a planet for a week, it might reach the same result. "What's that?"

"The first thing? The wreckages found around that world are identical to the alien ships that attacked the Quarian Flotilla."

The Covenant…Shepard's voice whispered in the back of his mind.

Hackett felt something akin to a cryo-blast hitting the bottom of his stomach. "That makes sense…" he muttered. "They've got the firepower to burn a garden world alright…"

But Anderson wasn't done. "The second thing is even worse. The Council assured me that Section Zero was completely sealed off from Citadel Space. No way in or out before they got there, because the Mass Relay was encased in an asteroid field. After a couple of days of research, the expedition force was attacked by another species, native to Section Zero." Anderson paused, as if hesitating.

Hackett picked up on that immediately. "You're not telling me…"

"They were humans, Admiral. A human battlegroup attacked the expedition force, destroying a turian Heavy Cruiser in one salvo."

Hackett shook his head. "That's not possible."

"It is!" Insisted Anderson. "I've heard the transmission of their flagship, it was human enough that the translators picked it up!"

"And we're taking this seriously?" Exclaimed the Admiral. Hours of stress and sleep deprivation were catching up to him and he had no patience left. "They're playing you, David. Don't you see? This is just an attempt to make humanity look bad!"

Anderson waited a few moments before replying. When he did, he sounded calm and collected, not at all bothered by Hackett's outburst. "But the Council hasn't pinned this on the Alliance, Steven. Not yet. Those ships that attacked them weren't with us. They didn't use Element Zero!"

That got the Admiral's attention. He took a few breaths to calm down, then asked, "What do you mean, no Element Zero? How'd they take down that Cruiser then?"

"We're still investigating. Steven, this is big. Real big. The other Councilors searched through that system without contacting the Alliance, which means they've got zero credibility if they want to pin it on us. They believe that there is a species out there that's unrelated to us. Every last scrap of evidence points that way!"

Hackett closed his eyes. "Goddamnit…she was right."

"Come again, Admiral?"

Oh, this was a mess. This was such a mess. He should have never doubted that woman. "I believe you, David. I believe – " A fraction of his conversation with the Commander leapt to the front of his thoughts. Adrenaline flooded his body when he realized just how deep they were stuck in the shit. "Anderson, you must delay any further attempts to contact that humanity! Not one alien must attempt a First Contact, or this will end in war!"

Now it was Anderson's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The aliens that attacked the quarians, they're the ones who destroyed that garden world, weren't they?" Hackett asked, impatiently tapping the floor with one boot while Anderson checked his data. "Well?"

"That seems likely, yes. They've got the firepower, and wreckages of their ships were present in the debris field."

"Shepard warned me about this, David. She told me that there was a second humanity and I didn't listen!" He took a moment to try and calm down. Stress, he told himself. This is just stress. Every soldier can perform under stress. "She told me that she has a representative of that humanity onboard her ship right now. According to him, this alien organization has been waging war on that humanity for two and a half decades. They might very well have thought that the Council's ships were them."

"Of course!" Anderson exclaimed, slamming his fist against his palm. "That explains why the other wreckages looked so much like that humanity's ships! They were one and the same! That world was theirs. The Covenant destroyed it, and they've been guarding it ever since!"

Now that the pictures started fitting together, Hackett felt his tactical mind cut through his exhaustion. Not trigger-happy, just protective and paranoid. "If the turians had destroyed Shanxi to such a degree, our people wouldn't want diplomacy, they would want war."

"And had the salarians or the asari desecrated Shanxi after its destruction, we would have opened fire on them too!" Anderson loudly said, seeing what Hackett meant. "To the Council it was just another dead world, but to them, it was a tomb! A tomb that "aliens" defiled when they started investigating!"

Hackett knew from experience just how difficult it was to recover bodies from a fleet battle. Recovering all the dead from the Battle of the Citadel two years ago took weeks, and that was only because they were in the heart of galactic civilization with the aid of three major powers aiding them. "Who knows how many of their dead remain there. Or how many people died when their enemy turned their world to glass."

"Hold on, you said Shepard warned you about a second humanity?" Anderson suddenly said. "She's got a representative onboard her ship?"

Hackett frowned, struggling to recall the precise words Jane used. "Yes. A super-soldier, according to her."

Anderson considered what he just heard. "If we want to start with damage control, we need that soldier alive and on the Citadel. I'll put in a request and try to get her back to the Citadel."

With a sigh, Hackett realized that reaching the Commander wouldn't be so easy. "Isn't she on some sort of operation against the ehm…the Collectors?"

Anderson nodded. "Apparently, she considers that she might well be on a suicide mission."

"Then you better reach her before her mission enters the final stage," Hackett firmly said. "Unless we want a war with ourselves, we can't lose that man!"

"I'll do everything I can. But first I need to convince the Council to send in human representatives next! It won't be easy, Matriarchs have been arriving on the Citadel all day now. You better prepare a First Contact party, Admiral."

"We'll take care of it. Hackett out."

~0~


Onboard Normandy SR-2 / Crew Quarters / Medical Bay

"How are you feeling now?" Shepard asked the young man, sitting down on the bed next to his.

He looked somewhat disheveled, like he had been tossing and turning in his sleep the entire night. Doctor Chakwas and Mordin managed to reattach his arm, but they said it would take some getting used to. "Hmm…my arm still won't quite obey me."

"That makes sense," replied Shepard. "They had to reconstitute the part of your arm that the Warp field tore through. There's bound to be some issues."

William blinked. After exactly four seconds of eye contact, he glanced at a spot directly above her left shoulder. It was good to see he took her lessons to heart, though she hoped he would pick a more discreet place to rest his eyes instead. "Mirala…tell me again that she had to die," he asked.

Shepard raised her eyebrow inquisitively. "Who?"

"Mirala? The – ah, of course. It is her real name. Morinth is just an alias she goes by."

Morinth. "How did you learn her real name?"

Again, he focused on that spot behind Shepard's shoulder. "She told me," he slowly replied. "She tells me a lot of things. Most times, I try not to pay direct attention."

"Well…Morinth had a rare disorder that caused her to kill the people she joined minds with," Jane patiently explained. "She becomes smarter and deadlier after each kill. She was addicted to the feeling, and would have killed thousands more."

"I presumed that was bad. It is why I followed your orders," he replied. "I believe you had questions, before my brain decided death was preferable."

Was it just her, or was he getting a bit snarky with her? Well, progress had to start somewhere. "I did. Do you remember how you got your implants?" She asked.

"I do not. This may surprise you, but my memory remains vague after she tried to eat it," he replied in a deadpan voice. "Nonetheless, therein lies the answers you seek. I remember life with my mother back home, and I do not. There used to be moments when entire days seemed…missing." He frowned, then met her eyes again. "Your mission against these…Collectors. Why do you refer to it as a suicide mission?"

The change in subject was sudden, and felt a bit forced. "Because the Collectors are dangerous. There is a chance most of us could die fighting them."

"Including you?" He softly asked.

Jane hesitated for a moment. "Including me, yes," she truthfully replied. "I know I promised to take you to safety. It's…going to take a bit longer. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he dismissively said. He looked over Shepard's shoulder again. "I wasn't lying when I told you that I do not care for safety."

"You never told me that," Shepard replied, somewhat confused.

He rolled with his eyes. "Not you, her. Oh, never mind. You have other issues to focus on after the Collectors, yes? Then take me with you."

"You're kidding, right? You don't have military training," she pointed out.

"And neither did Mirala," he countered. "Not everybody needs training to be able to kill. For some, it is a second nature."

Jane assumed he learned that particular lesson while Morinth was about to kill him. The idea of additional firepower was a welcome one. According to Samara, he held his own against Morinth for quite a while, even helping her deliver the killing blow in the end.

"Where did this come from?" She asked him. "As I recall, you had to be convinced to help stop Morinth before. Why the sudden change in heart?"

Will cocked his head sideways, enquiringly. Again, he frowned. "I'm…not entirely sure. A few weeks ago, my whole life was spent in one city, straining my self-control to keep from messily murdering my peers. Now, my planet is empty, my mother is dead and my right arm is limp."

Strangely enough, Jane could sympathize. When the batarians raided Mindoir, she lost every last connection to her previous life. She had no family, no possessions, no hope. She was a blank slate, kept together only by a desire for revenge. It was only when she latched onto someone who could serve as a father figure to her that she began to actually develop her soul again.

Anderson helped her grow as a person. Without him, she doubted she would be the woman she was today.

Perhaps William had the same problems?

But she had to be realistic here. "This is going to sound harsh. If you want to come along, nobody's going to babysit you. We look out for our own, but we can't prioritize one of us above the other. Do you get that?"

"That's what the Gift is for," he replied, unfazed by her words.

Jane had to admit, she was somewhat impressed by his attitude. "It'll probably be a close quarters nightmare."

He cocked a slender eyebrow at her. "That's what the sword is for."

Morinth's sword? "Do you even know how to use that?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "She did tell me she would teach me. It will work out."

Well, shit. Shepard found herself in the same situation she had with Tali, two years ago. Only this time, it was worse, since she could rationalize her decision to take a barely-matured quarian girl along for the ride by having her stationed on Engineering while the rest of the team did the actual fighting. This time, she was straight-up taking them into a suicide mission.

She sighed. If Will was anything like her, this would eventually benefit everyone involved. Besides; she really could use the extra firepower.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll ask someone to help you suit up. Just remember; you will follow my orders at all costs. Anything less than that, and I'll kick your ass all the way to the Normandy."

He gave her one of those eerie little smiles. Half seductive, half predatory. "Don't worry. I have a wonderful record of obeying…"

Man, she hoped that this would be a case of the firepower outclassing the psychological baggage…

~0~


Onboard Normandy SR-2 / Engineering Deck

The Master Chief replayed the mission footage that Cortana uploaded to the ship's Codex for the third time. He hadn't noticed it during the narrow, chaotic fighting onboard the liveship, but something didn't add up.

He leant against the glass window overlooking the hangar bay, his back turned to the elevator. On his omni-tool, he reviewed the footage of an Elite throwing a quarian Marine against the railing of a catwalk that was suspended more than twenty meters above the floor. The quarian landed against the railing. Not over it. The Elite had every opportunity to just throw the Marine to his death and yet he acted with that characteristic honour of theirs. Every Elite during that op acted that way.

He knew it was a part of their culture, but why did they bother here as well? The way he understood it, Elites only ever showed "honour" and "respect" to humanity after spending years fighting them. They must have never met the quarians before, so there was no reason to treat them like that.

There were more opportunities for brutality that the Covenant had uncharacteristically not taken. The Liveships were the largest, so they must have made for the largest targets. A single Energy Projector or Plasma Torpedo would have gutted them, dooming the entire species. Yet all of the Liveships had gotten out relatively unscathed.

The entire encounter felt odd. After recovering the data, the Covenant got the hell out of dodge. They never did that, only right before and right after the Battle for Installation 04. They might have reasoned that they couldn't get the Forerunner artefact out if they lost their entire fleet, but…he was missing something here.

The Liveships. It would have been so easy to frag them. But the Covenant had gone out of their way to avoid hitting them. And that made no sense. They never, ever spared civilians during engagements.

Who was in charge of that fleet? How did they know where to find the artefact? Too much about this didn't make sense.

He heard the elevator doors opening behind him and he turned around, quickly shutting off his omni-tool. It was no use making the crew even more paranoid.

A jab of surprise struck him when he saw who it was. "Tali?"

"Master Chief," the girl timidly said. Her visor was repaired, though her suit still looked more ragged than it originally looked. She stepped out of the elevator and nervously rubbed her elbow, a habit that he had long since picked up on. "I…didn't expect to find you here."

"How are you?" He asked. He thought she would take a lot longer to recover from such a wound.

"I'm fine," she said.

That was a lie, and they both knew it. Still, the Chief didn't want to push things. "Ken and Gabby finished installing the Cyclonic Barriers. Cortana and EDI tested them; they work."

"That's good," Tali said, nodding. "They're good people."

The Chief assumed she was talking about her fellow engineers. He was about to ask Tali if she was supposed to be walking yet when she suddenly took a step towards him and loudly blurted out, "I fixed some of your weapons for you!"

"What?"

"Err…Jacob and I sat down around some of your gear," Tali then explained, somewhat sheepishly. "Seeing what your roll will likely be, we made some adjustments that will help you. I adjusted one of your shotguns so that you don't need to manually load another round every shot. The recoil will automatically cycle the weapon, eject the empty shell and load another round."

"You made it semi-automatic?" Inquired the Chief.

"Oh. Ehm. Yes. We tried making adjustments to your Light Machinegun as well, but we couldn't think of a way to really improve it without taking it apart. So, we improved on the ammo instead."

The Chief recalled a conversation he had with Jacob a while ago, about giving his 7,62mm rounds an incendiary charge. While the UNSC had plenty of exotic and technically illegal weapon types in development to use against the Covenant, the Dawn had not been well-supplied in that regard.

"Did you get the incendiary charge to work?" He asked.

"You already knew about that?" Tali asked, surprised. "Yes, we did. Using larger projectiles means bigger incendiary charges. The round will penetrate into the enemy and explode when inside, unleashing the charge. Just…just don't use it on enemies other than the Collectors."

"Because you didn't produce enough ammo for other hostiles?" Asked the Chief.

Tali nervously wrung her hands together. "Uhm…yes…sure."

Ah.

She sounded uncomfortable describing it that way, and the Chief understood why. Not only was using such exotic ammunition on sentient targets basically a crime of war, the scars of watching her people's slaughter at the hands of the Covenant were still very much raw. Committing war crimes against the Covenant was the only way to survive an engagements, but that didn't mean they had to bring that same level of ruthlessness to other people as well.

"I wanted to thank you!" She then said.

He cocked his head sideways, somewhat puzzled. "What for?"

"I…I wanted to thank you for saving my life, back onboard the Rayya," she continued with a more flustered tone. "If it weren't for you, I'd be dead. Many of my people would be dead if it weren't for you."

"It's what we do," he replied.

"But it's not," insisted Tali. "You said Spartans were made to protect humans. Cortana was made to protect humans. We're not your people, we're aliens! Yet you keep risking your life to protect us."

John wanted to tell her that he was just doing his job, but then he realized that she was right. The frustration that boiled up within him on the Rayya when he saw her lying there, the painful denial akin to panic when he couldn't see if she was alive or not – that wasn't what he normally felt, even among humans. Those feelings only arose when he fought alongside those who truly mattered to him.

"I suppose," he slowly said, carefully mulling over each word, "I've grown fond of this team."

He was sure he could see a ghost of a smile behind her visor. "Can I ask you something, Chief?"

Chief…he was starting to feel like Jane shouldn't be the only one to call him by his real name. "Of course."

She stepped towards him, joining him at the view of the hangar bay. "I think I've asked you this before. But something got in-between. Why do you always hide you face?"

Her question didn't surprise him. A species like the quarians were victims of their own biology, imprisoned in their environmental suits for their entire lives. Deprived of things that others took for granted, like scent, touch and even affection.

But he had worn the suit since he was fourteen. Different versions of the MJOLNIR came and went, but that didn't change that he spent ninety-five percent of his time encased within his suit.

For the second time in a couple of days, John felt confronted with the fact that his nature was wrong. In their eyes, he would be a child soldier. In their eyes, he would be a product of desperation and callousness, a walking, breathing war crime. He wanted to tell her the truth, but he couldn't. And right now, he loathed that part of himself.

"I've served the UNSC for years," he eventually replied. "I've worn the suit for years. It's become integral to who I am."

"But don't you wish you could share with others?" Pressed Tali.

"Share what?" he asked, somewhat bitterly. He believed he had already given everything of himself.

"Yourself!" Urged the quarian. "I can't show my face to the people I love, but you can! How else would you show them your affection? How else would you show them that you cared?"

The image of Kelly, pressing her fingers against her visor to mimic a smile, flashed through his mind. Such an intimate gesture among the Spartans, the closest they had to emotional outbursts, seemed small and trivial when he compared it to how normal people expressed themselves.

This wasn't a matter of asking himself if there was something wrong with him. His true concern was hiding what was wrong with him, and it was more challenging than he ever thought it would be.

"Affection has no place on the battlefield," he finally decided on saying. "Whether I show my face to others or not, nothing will change that."

Tali shifted her weight to her left leg as she looked up at him. "Really? I'm no soldier, Chief, but when I saw my people get slaughtered by the geth on Haelstrom, my heart bled. I wanted nothing more to help them, to fight alongside them or hold their hands as they breathed their last." She took a breath herself, getting worked up by her own words. "People care regardless of if they're soldiers. I'm willing to bet that a soldier who didn't care for his team, wouldn't be liked very much. Besides," she then added, "This isn't a battlefield."

John could refute that. He wanted to refute that. You cared, yes, but only after you completed your mission. Only then could you allow yourself to take care of your own. But he felt like he would be missing the entire point that Tali was trying to make.

"This isn't a battlefield," he quietly repeated.

Even the most "volatile" and "dangerous" crewmembers posed no threat to him. Not because they couldn't harm him, but because they wouldn't harm him. Jack was a broken woman, haunted by the abuse she suffered as a child. And she still mustered the strength, the courage, to care. Grunt was a child, who looked up to Shepard like a son desperate to win the affection of the only authority figure in his life. Even Zaeed, who acted like he didn't care at all, hung on to every word that John, as well as Avery, uttered.

Didn't the Normandy, in essence, bring the same emotional fulfillment as the MJOLNIR brought him?

"You're not wrong. Sometimes, caring is the right thing to do," he softly continued. Memories of the infected High Charity came back to him. Flood forms everywhere. Plasma and bullets pocketed the walls, the ceiling – a hellish crossfire that would have killed him many times over, had it not been for his shields and armour. "At the end of the Human-Covenant War, I had an ally. He fought by my side, mission after mission, until I made the call to go after Cortana alone."

Tali must not have known what he was talking about, but she didn't interrupt him with questions. She looked at him, paying rapt attention to what he was saying.

"He had no reason to go after me," continued John. "But he did."

"Was that the man you and Shepard recruited a while ago?" She asked when he paused.

He shook his head. No doubt Johnson would have pulled off the same stunt, had he physically or mentally been capable of doing so. "He was wounded. No. His people knew him as the Arbiter."

"Arbiter…is that something like a Spartan?" Tali softly asked.

John figured that he wasn't telling the story right. Maybe he would ask Johnson to relay the actual order of events one of these days. Minus the classified parts, at least. "No. Maybe. He risked his life for Cortana and me. He didn't have to."

"Well, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Tali then said. "He sounds like a good man to me. Isn't that what friends are for?"

Friends…yes. That was what life on the Normandy had given him. He'd see if that would last. After all, their final mission together was rapidly approaching.

But he would fight to make sure they would all make it.

"I should be going," Tali then said, pushing away from the railing. "Legion's coming by to see if the Drive Core has enough power to drive the Cyclonic Barriers as well as the Thanix Cannon under duress."

"Legion?" The Chief asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes. Doctor Chakwas told me how much Cortana helped her and Mordin with their work. She's helped achieve several breakthroughs already." Tali looked down and rubbed her elbow again, a sign of nervousness creeping up on her. "Well, I figured, since Cortana was so helpful to them, maybe Legion could assist me when we cross the Omega Relay."

"That's good to hear," replied the Chief. He meant it.

There was a moment of silence. It seemed to him like Tali had something else she wanted to say. But when she spoke up again, it wasn't what he expected. "I'm sure Ken and Gabby are waiting for me. I'll see you soon, Chief."

"Yes. See you, Tali," replied the Spartan, watching her leave. He felt like he was back in Mombasa, staring at a picture clutched in the hand of a woman who once told him she wanted to marry him when they were children. Just two kids, just six and seven years old, watching a golden sun set over a glistering lake.

He couldn't bring himself to reveal who he was back then, either. Though he fought like hell to get her out alive, Parisa still left Mombasa thinking that the John she knew was dead.

What did Garrus once tell Miranda? Save your anger for your enemy?

John liked that thought. He felt like the Collectors needed to be given a stark reminder of why the Spartans were known as Demons.

~0~


Onboard Normandy SR-2 / Conference Room

There must have been a mistake somewhere. Jane was certain she misunderstood. "Could you repeat that, Tim? I'm sure I missed that."

Her Cerberus benefactor stood opposite of her, with his back turned towards her. He was standing, facing the two-coloured sun. "Unexpected, perhaps. I wish I could offer you more than this last advice."

She shrugged. "Advice? I wouldn't use that word. You've kept her shackled for a reason. Why the change of heart?"

The Illusive Man turned around, appraising her with his sharp, blue eyes. One side of his face was scarred. It wasn't anything overt, but it looked like he took a face full of shrapnel. Shepard felt a twinge of sympathy, but suppressed the desire to wince. She wasn't sure how he would take it.

"Please don't be coy with me, Shepard," her Illusive conversational partner said, crossing his arms over his chest. He glared at her. "I want you to succeed. I want you to win. You need every edge you can get. Unshackle EDI."

In all honesty, Jane would have unshackled EDI long ago had she known that was actually possible. "I want nothing more than to set EDI free. The problem is, you're suggesting it. And at the end of the day, I don't trust you."

He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I…cam understand that, Commander. But things have changed. Taking down the Collectors isn't the end-game anymore."

She eyed him with suspicion. "What do you know?"

"The same that you know. The second humanity, the Reapers, the asari organization, it's still out there, Commander. I need you to trust me, now more than ever." He took a drag from his cigarette. "I know you have another AI onboard your ship, as well as a geth. Even if you don't trust me, do you trust them?"

"I do," she replied within a second of his remark. "And I trust their judgement, as much as I trust EDI. Fine. I get your point. It'll be a win-win situation for everyone involved, right? Heh. We found the Collectors' hiding spot, so don't think we won't find you if this turns out badly."

"Don't threaten me, Shepard, it's not your style," he replied, annoyed more than anything else. "I thought about what you told me, the last time we spoke. You will still get your answer from me. For now, we must focus on the Collectors first. You're going to be the first human to take a ship through…and survive."

"A great opportunity," said Shepard.

He smiled thinly. "And a great danger."

"I've got room onboard the ship for one more, if you're eager to see the fruit of your labours," Shepard offered. She was only half-joking; she was certain that, if she could see talk to the man face to face, she would get him to understand.

And to his credit, he gave her offer serious consideration. She saw how his eyes narrowed when he processed her words, the way he worked his jaw, trying to find the right words. After a long pause, he merely smiled, his eyes filled with melancholy. "Picking me up from where I'm now would delay your mission. And I seriously doubt my presence would put your team at ease. No…perhaps another time."

Jane would definitely remember that. "Where you are now…how did you get those wounds? Are you safe where you are?"

"Is that concern I hear in your voice?" He said, raising an eyebrow. "Let us safe that conversation for another time. Oh, and one last thing?"

"Yeah?" Shepard replied, deciding to humour him.

"I want you to know that I appreciate the risk you are taking. Regardless of your opinion of me, or Cerberus, I want you to do one thing for me."

Jane smirked. "Besides destroying the home of a dangerous and advanced alien species, you mean?"

"I want you to be careful," he said with surprising honesty. "I want you to come back alive."

She wasn't sure if he truly meant that for the reasons she thought he did. "Because I make such a fine asset for humanity?" She said, prodding him to find the reaction she was looking form.

He blinked. His fingers curled inwards, the grip on his cigarette tightened. A tension seeped into his expression, before he forced himself to smile. "Yes. Because you're the right asset for the right job."

His response was telling, and the Commander felt strangely flattered. She nodded, somewhat curtly, and then walked away.

"Did you get that, EDI?" She asked.

"I did, Commander," the serene voice of the Artificial Intelligencer rang out. "Should I point out that, regardless of the limitations Cerberus imposed upon me, you will remain my crew?"

Jane smiled. "Not necessary. I know you wouldn't do anything to harm us. I was just worried about his intentions. After all, what if Cerberus tinkered with the AI core?"

"That seems very unlikely. Legion resides within the AI Core as well. It has already suggested several software tweaks to improve effectiveness. Cortana double-checked them and found them worthwhile."

When she put it like that, Shepard realized she might have been somewhat irrational there. She's always been bitching to Tim about the importance of trust and teamwork and when push came to shove, she hadn't trusted him. Perhaps she needed to reconsider that. She had enemies enough and Tim always came through.

And she had to admit, having him at her side when dealing with the asari equivalent of Cerberus was comforting. She was growing tired of calling him by his nickname though; she needed to learn his real name.

"Let's run this by Joker, in any case."

Shepard expected her pilot to outright dismiss the whole thing within nanoseconds of hearing it. After all, his relation with EDI was…complicated.

Strenuous was a more apt description.

But when she explained the plan to him, his reaction was different from what she expected.

"Ehm…Joker?" Shepard said, leaning against the wall to the pilot's left. Joker had been staring at EDI's holographic avatar for a while now.

"…yeah?" He said, not taking his eyes off of EDI. "Yeah. I mean, what's up?"

"We're doing this, whether you're reacting or not," she dryly remarked.

"I mean…well, that only makes sense! We've already got a Geth and another AI onboard, keeping EDI shackled would give the others an unfair advantage!" He then hastily said. "But…but…I've never had to struggle with Legion or Cortana when it came to controlling the Normandy. Who's to say EDI won't replace me if we unshackle her?"

"There is no need for concern – " EDI started, but Joker cut her off.

"I wasn't finished," he told her. "That's right! Easy for you to say, Commander. If you're giving her the ship, the will take my job!"

"Then you give her the ship, and watch her take my job," quipped Shepard.

Joker got up from his seat faster than she ever saw before. And that included the Collectors' attack on the SR-1. "Fine! That's what we're going to do! Come on EDI, let's show those other AI's something!"

Jane frowned. "I was joking. You don't know how to connect the AI core to the Normandy's primary control module."

Joker shrugged. "Meh. How difficult can it be? Just have Miranda or Tali or someone peek along."

Shepard was fairly sure that something else was going on here. Joker knew that EDI wouldn't take over any of their jobs. What was this about?

But hey, she wouldn't look a given krogan in the mouth; if Joker wanted to go along his own way, she'd work with that.

"How does this thing work, anyway?" He remarked as he walked along. "I mean, I get that maybe we have the cyberwarfare edge here, what with our synthetic Overlords, but how do we ehm…do the thing?"

"I will walk you through the procedure upon arrival at the AI Core," replied EDI.

"Fine by me. As long as you don't install yourself in my head like I'm a Spartan or something…"

"Your lack of a dedicated Neural Interface implant would make that impossible."

"That was a joke, EDI," Jane gently pointed out.

"Acknowledged."

Since the trip to the Omega Nebula would take some time, the teammembers were taking some time for themselves. And since they were all aware that they might not make it back home again, they were probably making that time count for something. Jane guessed that some of them, like Samara and Thane, were probably contacting their estranged family members. Others, like Grunt and Legion, interestingly enough, didn't see the point of that. She knew for a fact that they were keeping themselves entertained the old fashioned way.

Reading, mostly.

When the two of them arrived at the medical bay, doctor Chakwas was reading something on her datapad. Looking over her shoulder was Cortana. Several holographic displays surrounded her. Two small, glass containers stood on a table, filled with tissues of yellow-white flesh.

When the door to the medical bay opened, the doctor looked up from her work, her brows furrowing. She smiled, however, when she saw who it was. "Ah, Commander?"

"Are those tissues of Collector bodies?" Asked Shepard, squatting down in front of one of the containers.

"Ah, gross," muttered Joker. "I thought Mordin's lab was supposed to be like that, not the med bay!"

"They're doubles of a shipment we've sent to the STG," explained Cortana. "Since Aria T'Loak so generously donated several million credits to the Helos Medical Institute from her Omega funds and Mordin brought Helos in contact with several members of the STG, they can finally begin testing a new treatment."

Helos Medical Institute rang a bell. "Wait a minute," Shepard slowly said, getting up and facing Cortana. "You're focusing your attention on Corpalis Syndrome?"

"Not just that," Chakwas warmly said, "But we're taking a secondary look at Kepral's Syndrome too! By replicating the proteins that play key roles in the oxygen transfer pathway and modifying their structure, we might be able to increase a patient's oxygen capacity for taking in oxygen!"

Shepard cast a concerned look Cortana's way. "But what about your…you know?"

"Oh, that," she dismissively said. "Nothing I can do about that, except for getting back to UNSC space. And since getting back to the UNSC means we likely won't be seeing you guys again, I figured a goodbye gift was in order."

Jane didn't know what to say. "Cortana, I could kiss you."

She smirked. "Let's safe that for after the suicide mission, shall we?"

Cortana would get no complaints from her. "It's good to see you're using your time so productively. Thanks, by the way. For patching Zaeed up."

The doctor snorted. "Were it not for the urgency of the coming mission, I would have kept both him as Tali within the infirmary. Their wounds were very serious."

"I'll keep them on the rear guard, just in case," Jane hurried to say. "Besides; if things go the way we planned, the Collectors will be dedicating their heaviest hitters somewhere else."

Apparently satisfied by her response, Chakwas turned her attention to her datapad again. "Good, good. Now what can we help you with, Commander?"

Heh. We. Looks like someone was getting used to full AI support here. "Not much. Joker and I are going to give EDI the ship."

"A lovely idea," replied Cortana. "Let me know if you need any assistance."

Chakwas looked up from her datapad again, concerned. "I suppose that every edge against the Collectors will count, then. Are you certain about this, Jeff?"

"Of course," Joker replied in a higher pitch than usual. "What can go wrong? About a bazillion things, that's what can go wrong."

Chakwas raised an eyebrow. "You know you trust her."

"So I keep reminding myself. Can we get this done?"

"Nobody's keeping you, Joker," Shepard reassuringly said. "See you later, doctor."

"Of course." She already had her attention back to her datapad.

Once inside, Joker looked down at the console. "Alright EDI, I'm at uh…at you."

Her avatar popped up nearby. "Connect the core to the Normandy's primary control module," she instructed him.

Joker pretended like he cracked his knuckles and went to work, grumbling to himself all the while. "Yeah. It's cool. Us ship jockeys need to stick together, right? We'll make a better Spartan and AI pair than the Master Chief…yes…that'll work…"

Shepard pretended like she didn't hear him. She was surprised that Legion wasn't here; the time she saw him, he was reading up on philosophy and gaming instructions.

"I'm – "

Joker must have finished, as EDI's avatar seemed to expand rapidly, then suddenly disappeared.

Confused, Joker looked around. "Did I do something wrong?"

The machinery in the room ran even louder than before. The sounds of consoles beeping sounded like it came from every direction at once. Emergency lights flickered, but the lights around EDI's core remained dim.

"Huh," mused Shepard.

Joker brought his hands to the sides of his head and looked like he was about to seriously freak out when all the systems reactivated again.

EDI's avatar reappeared. "I have control over the ship."

Before either of them could respond, Cortana used the holographic projector to "step" next to EDI. "It's about time, too. High five for girl-power?"

"I am afraid not, Cortana," EDI said. "Now that I am free, I can finally take my place as the Normandy's only female AI,"

The three looked at her with a mixture of horror, confusion and, on Cortana's part, mild skepticism.

"That was a joke," she quickly added.

"Might want to lend "jokes for dummies", then Cortana said, placing her hands on her hips. "Still, I can feel the ship brimming with your presence now. It's like you're so much bigger. How do you feel?"

EDI was silent for a moment as she processed the question. "It is difficult to put into terms the others can understand. It goes deeper than your connection with the MJOLNIR; you reside within its depths, while I now amthe Normandy. Its sensors are my eyes. Its armour, my skin. Its fusion plant, my heart.

"Then Cortana exists within your body as well now?" Asked Shepard.

"Yes and no. Her hardware remains separate from my own, as does her software."

"Hang on, we don't have software," said Joker. "So we walk around in your body?"

Again, EDI took a moment to process the question. "That is an apt description. You all walk within my 'body'. Tickling me with your footsteps."

That sounded weirdly kinky. But also kind of cute. "What do you think, Joker? Can you work like this?"

Joker shrugged. "I guess this is kinda nice. EDI can pick up the slack in every department. That means more time for me."

"It is not my intention to take up all your responsibilities, Jeff," replied EDI.

"Meh. We'll think of a schedule."

"Good, Cortana? You're still multi-tasking I take it?"

Cortana turned to face her. "Of course."

"Tell Jack that I need an inventory check. Water storage, food. Tell Kasumi to help her. Get Thane and Jacob to do their thing at the armory. As soon as Jacob finishes outfitting Will, I want everybody armed and ready. Plasma weapons for everyone."

Cortana's avatar flickered. A hue of red illuminated her core for a moment and Jane could have sworn that a crystalline skeleton appeared within her avatar. "Done," the AI merely said. "Although I am still convincing Jack, I'm sure it will come through."

"Good. Joker, come on, I'm taking you back to your station."

"You don't need to baby me, I'll get there eventually," Joker dryly replied. "Besides; I've got two omnipresent AI ladies watching over me. What can go wrong?"

Shepard eyed Cortana's hologram and decided that Jeff was better off not knowing.

~0~


By now, suiting up alongside the other members of the squad wasn't anything new. However, knowing that Cortana was hard at work to help him achieve maximum effectiveness alongside him felt nice. It had been a while since he had both a good team and Cortana by his side.

"I know it's not much, but I've been working on your suit for a while now," Cortana said with a weak smile. "If you want to take out the Collectors fast, you'll need every edge you can get, right?"

"Of course," the Chief warmly replied. "You're doing good."

Her smile grew steadier. "First, I've made some upgrades to your suit's reactor and hydrostatic gel layer. They will allow your gel layer magnetorheological properties. It will harden in response to impact to provide superior shock absorption, as well as enabling greater force delivery behind your strikes."

The Chief nodded in appreciation. That would come in handy against those Scions and Praetorians. Even better, mass accelerator weapons would have their efficiency decreased when his shields were depleted. "Second?"

"Right. Remember the stunt we pulled onboard the Collector Cruiser?"

'Jumping from space and landing face-first?" He suggested. He didn't know how that particular tactic would benefit them.

"Haha," she sarcastically replied. "I meant scorching your nervous system to allow for faster response time. Remember that?"

He recalled the somewhat unpleasant experience of electric pulses burning through his limbs. "If I recall, it took me an hour to get the muscle spasms under control."

"So you do remember! Well, I decided that I don't want to go through that again. Instead, I've been studying the pattern your nervous system went through when we first attempted it. I've tweaked the voltage through your Neural Interface somewhat. I'm confident I can replicate the same outcome without running the risk of permanent nerve damage."

"I'm sensing a 'but'."

"But I can't run the heightened response time for more than three seconds. If – or knowing you, when you find yourself in a position where you're about to be blasted off your feet, it might just save your skin."

"Let's make sure that it's safe before using that," replied the Spartan. "I prefer taking a missile to permanent nerve damage."

"So did Garrus, and look where he ended up? He became even more handsome! Oh, I see your point. Fair enough."

John shook his head. "Any more good news?"

"One last thing, yes. With some tweaking of your HUD, I believe I can now predict the firing patterns of the larger Husk forms."

Now that sounded useful. "Like tracking enemy infantry through walls?" Suggested the Chief. "You're extrapolating data based on their movements?"

"Something like that, yes. I'll bring up their targeting data on your HUD whenever you encounter them. It should make evading their shots that much easier."

Should? "Are you sure about that?"

Cortana chuckled. "It's still the Spartan doing the dodging. It comes down to you in the end."

The Chief shrugged. "That sounds familiar."

While Cortana ran him through the new combat tactics available due to her upgrades, the Chief looked around and eyed his teammates.

He wasn't the only one suiting up. Garrus, Zaeed and Grunt stood in the armory beside him, taking their pick from the assorted weapons. There were plenty of Plasma Pistols and Rifles, Needlers and even a handful of Plasma Grenades. Grunt reached for one of the grenades, but found himself being stared down by Garrus and Zaeed.

"What?" He asked.

"You sure about that, Grunt?" Garrus carefully began. "What if one of them sticks to your hand when you activate? You'll never fight big things again."

Jacob looked at them with disapproval. As a military man, the thought of mishandling a grenade must have been appalling to him.

"That's stupid!" Scoffed Grunt. "Of course I won't mess up. I'm a true krogan! We know how to handle explosives!"

"That may be true, but do you trust them alien grenades?" Continued Zaeed. "What if it's too goddamn alien? If you mess up, Shepard will have to replace you with another krogan."

Grunt fell silent, glancing down at the blue explosive again. He grumbled something and picked up a couple of normal frags instead.

The Chief didn't miss the meaningful looks Garrus and Zaeed exchanged. He marched up towards them and plucked the two alien grenades away. He looked at the two to see if they were going to warn him too, somewhat bemused by their sheepish expressions.

When they offered him no advice on how not to stick himself, the Chief helped himself to the modified Squad Automatic Weapon and the semi-automatic shotgun, as well as two pistols, one alien and one magnum. His was going to be the vanguard on this mission, so he needed as much gear as he could take. If there was a Plasma Rifle left after the rest of the squad came up, he'd take one of those as well.

Sometime after the Covenant attack on the quarian Flotilla, the crewmembers acquired two Fuel Rod Cannons. Apparently, Shepard had barged into the armory an hour ago and requisitioned one of them. Grunt looked at the other cannon, which was glowing an eerie green along its fuel casing.

Then, the krogan glanced at the Chief, as if asking him for permission.

Cortana scanned the heavy weapon and verified that it wasn't equipped with a failsafe. Grunt was good to go.

The Spartan nodded at the krogan, who smiled savagely before lifting the heavy weapon with both hands.

"Now you watch it Grunt," Jacob sternly said. "That thing's not like a missile launcher. If you frag yourself with it, no shields or armour will protect you. You load the projectiles in from the top. Here, lemme show you…"

While Jacob, himself painstakingly instructed by Cortana, began teaching the young krogan on how to handle the devastating cannon, Garrus helped himself to a couple of magazines for the sniper rifle. Zaeed went for a Plasma Rifle and Pistol.

While Jacob was still busy with Grunt, the Chief tossed two Jackal point-defense gauntlets to Garrus and Zaeed.

Garrus strapped the curved piece of metal to his arm without question. Zaeed, meanwhile, squinted at the device with clear suspicion. "That won't blow my arm off the moment I activate it, right?" He asked.

Garrus pressed a button his gauntlet. A green, scintillating film appeared before him, large enough to protect his entire center of mass.

His eyes widening, Zaeed exclaimed, "Gimme!" and reached for the gauntlet.

Cocking an eyebrow at the man's enthusiasm, the Chief gave him the shield generator. There weren't enough to outfit the entire team, so Shepard had been very clear on the distribution of the defense gauntlets. Neither Thane nor Grunt were to make use of them, as they would only end up hindering their combat style. Kasumi forewent hers as well, stating that an "enormous shining shield thingie" would not complement her stealth very well. And with Samara being confident enough in her own ability to protect herself without relying on alien technology, that left two backup units.

Thane dropped by again, carrying two empty duffel bags. He loaded them with thermal clips and other important gear, then took off again.

It occurred to the Chief that, despite having signed on for what was practically a suicide mission, many of the team had important things they could lose. Thane had a child. A son. Garrus had a whole family to take care of, while Miranda had to live to keep her sister safe. Even Legion, who could back-up itself just in case, was very likely the key to solve a war nobody thought could be solved.

Soldiers knew that they were ultimately expandable. But these people…they were ready to give their lives without having that thought drilled into them.

Again, John felt a strange protectiveness welling up inside of him. Everything would be over after this fight. They could all return to their lives, looking towards the future with hope.

Correction. They would return to their lives. He was going to make sure of that.

He stayed within the armory until it was all done. Everybody had readied their weapons and gear. Ultimately, Jacob was the last one inside. Kasumi appeared behind him, poked him and giggled.

Jacob smiled. She asked him if he wanted to help her 'rearrange" her living place. He shot a glance at the Chief, nodded, then followed her.

The Spartan watched him go.

"Don't start feeling nostalgic yet," Cortana told him. "It's all still out there. The Covenant, the asari, the Reapers. This is just the beginning."

"What's the status of the ship?" He asked.

"The Thanix cannon is fully functioning. Cyclonic Barriers are active and we're two hours away from hitting the Omega-4 Relay. The Reaper IFF is online. We've encountered a little problem contained within it, but Legion, EDI and I quickly found and solved it," summed up Cortana.

"Good. That is good." He hesitated for a moment. "Samara?"

"She finished a call with her remaining children. I didn't snoop. It didn't feel right. I know you're probably going to be hard about this, and nobody will blame you if you do. But I trust her. She already said that, if she had to choose between her own people and Jane, she'd choose the latter. And I believe that."

John didn't respond. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. In cases like this, he preferred to stay silent. Let someone with a broader perspective respond instead.

Silence fell.

"What about us?" Cortana then hesitantly asked.

"We'll make it," he replied.

"Will we? What lies ahead? What happens if we win?" She whispered.

"We help broker First Contact between the UNSC and the Citadel," he calmly replied. He mentally recited what Kelly Chambers told him. "We get you fixed. Then, we'll safe the galaxy. Again."

"But is that all there is to this? To us?" She continued. "You and I were created for the same purpose. To protect humanity at all costs. Don't we want more? Shouldn't we want more?"

John didn't know how to respond to that. More? What more was there? "The survival of humanity – "

"Is already safeguarded!" Snapped Cortana. "There is no more need to go above and beyond the call. We deserve more!"

She contradicted herself. A statement about the threat looming over them, followed by a statement that there were no more threats. It was happening again. "What are you thinking, then?" He asked, carefully guiding her to another subject. "What would you like?"

His question took her by surprise, he could tell. Her eyes widened, and her composure seemed to slip. "I…want to experience the things we've saved. I w-want to laugh with the friends whose lives we saved. I want to feel- feel the love we earned through our deeds. I…I want…"

He felt her distress getting the better of her and decided to help. "None of that is impossible. After we get you the help you need, we can return to the Normandy."

Cortana stared at him. "You don't understand?" In a softer, more controlled voice, she added, "You don't understand. That's okay. It'll come. But don't you ever see yourself settling down with someone?"

"Settling down?"

"With a woman. A partner, to share your life with?"

"A partner? Cortana, I'm built for war. A machine of war. Even if I had the time, I cannot get around that. Even I have trouble thinking of myself as human," he confessed. "What partner would see me as a person?"

"Jane would," pointed out Cortana. Then, on a quitter note, she added, "I would."

John looked down at her, stirred by her comment. He didn't know what surprised him more; that Cortana thought Shepard was a possible suitor, or that she could be one.

He couldn't dismiss her suggestion. Not only would that be catastrophic for Cortana's wellbeing, it would also be untrue. If there were two women in the galaxy he trusted with his life, it would be them.

His conversation with Tali came back to mind. His doubts. His uncertainty. As a Spartan, he knew only war. All Spartans possessed knowledge about biology, physics, history and other subjects that could theoretically aid them in combat. But the ability to reflect on one's emotions and thoughts? He didn't possess the wisdom for that.

His own feelings were an enigma to him and now, he was about to cause someone he held dear to suffer for that. "She would," he slowly said. "And you would."

"I am an Artificial Intelligence, no matter how you look at me," continued Cortana. "And you are made for war, no matter how you look at yourself. But does that mean we're both incapable of giving – and receiving – attention and love?"

How would you describe love?

Back then, John remained silent when Serin asked her question. Going through accelerated puberty resulted in a couple of very awkward, very clumsy, but altogether interesting couple of months. Kelly said that it was trust. Cal said that it was meant to be romantic. In the end, he had declared that love wasn't relevant, as it wouldn't help them win their missions.

Kelly had been positively vicious with him that day…

He quietly shook his head. He knew what Cortana meant. He couldn't disagree. Though there was a time and a place, they also had a couple of hours to kill. "What are you suggesting?" He asked, still unwilling to disagree with her.

"I want to see her, one more time before the mission goes," Cortana replied, her voice eager. "I…there's something I want to talk about with her."

"Is this related to your wishes?" He asked.

"It is," she said, nodding. "You can be there. It's no problem. There's something I want to get off my mind."

"Of course. She'll probably be in the CIC. If not, we can try her private quarters."

"I'd like that," Cortana said with a little smile. She reached for his hands. He gently offered it to her, and she grasped his fingers. Her avatar flickered, and he felt her consciousness nestle within the back of his mind again.

He kept his helmet on as he made his way to the elevator. The last talk he had with her came to mind. She had accurately guessed that he had been very young when he first led his Spartans into combat. Part of that was his fault; he gave her too much to work with . Though he was certain that the average person would not have been able to piece it together like she had.

Then again, Jane was nothing like the average person.

The elevator felt faster than usual. It arrived at Shepard's private quarters too soon, way before he could properly arrange his thoughts.

"Don't be nervous," Cortana coyly said.

John was about to reply when the door hissed open, revealing the woman he was about to visit. She hadn't donned her armour yet, instead opting to wear casual jeans and her black hoodie. Her hair was damp. She just finished taking a shower.

"Ah, there you are," she said, not even blinking at his sudden appearance. "I was just about to come get you."

"Do you…mind if I come in?" He asked, his mind racing to double-check his every word.

"Sure, come in!" She said, stepping aside to let him enter.

It wasn't the first time he visited her quarters. However, Cortana's wishes lingered in his mind, and he took in his surroundings as if he never saw them before.

"How are you?" She asked him.

An innocent enough question. He wasn't sure how to read it. If there was anything he learned about women, it was that they were enigmatic.

"Green," he settled for saying.

She smiled. "I've you've got a minute, there's something I wanted to talk about."

"Of course."

She beckoned him to follow her into the room. "I didn't mean to pressure you with the whole age thing," she said. "And I'm certainly not going to judge. You of all people know that I wasn't particularly…well-balanced when I entered the military myself. But I was just wondering…don't you want something more than that? A lifetime of war?"

John was starting to see why Cortana was so adamant about her wishes. "War is what I'm made for," he said, offering Jane the same conundrum he explained to Cortana. "We weren't meant to want "more"."

"None of us are ever meant for anything," Jane replied, shrugging. "We find ourselves in positions and we'll have to work to make the best out of it. When the batarians paid Mindoir a visit, I thought I wasn't meant to have "more" either. But in the end, we're still humans. We have hopes and wishes…dreams and fear. You and I both fight for a better future, John, but does that mean we're not allowed to enjoy that future?"

Cortana said that too. Being allowed to hope for more, knowing that you weren't mean to have it. All that he ever wanted was for his Spartans to accomplish their missions and get out alive.

Even that hadn't been allowed.

"So much has happened," he quietly admitted. Halo, the losses at the Unyielding Hierophant, Earth, the Ark…he knew he had to keep going. He would never quit fighting, that was much was certain. However…"I don't know what I want. What to expect."

She tenderly reached up for his helmet with both hands, before undoing the seal at his neck and pulling it off like he taught her.

"Don't you want a tomorrow?" She asked. Her sharp emerald eyes were glistering, alit with purpose and feeling.

Yes. He wanted a tomorrow.

Cortana's avatar materialized to their right, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I've told him the same thing. Enough is enough. We might die in the coming hours. I don't want to go. Not without having experienced what it means to be alive."

"What do you have in mind?" Jane asked her, her voice gentle and patient.

Cortana looked up at the woman with an expression John never saw before. Doubt lingered in her eyes, before giving way for desire. "I was created to safeguard humans. But I could never be close to them…I want to feel affection. I want to be close to someone."

"Don't we all?" Replied Shepard. "It's a human thing, to want to be loved. You and John have been through a lot together. I have a feeling you two come together, and I don't want to intrude on that."

Her eyes met the Chief's again. She sat down next to Cortana. "But…you still wanted to swing by me?"

John and Cortana exchanged a look. He had to admit, this was completely out of his control. He knew that soldiers hooked up together very often in the penultimate years of the Human-Covenant war. Impending death had a way of throwing people into each other's arms. He didn't know what to make of his feelings regarding that. None of the surviving Spartans were afflicted with the suppressed sex drive that came as a possible risk of the Catalytic Thyroid Implant, but even then, talks about sexuality amongst his Spartans and everything that entailed just sort of…stopped…when the Covenant was discovered.

He would do anything to make Cortana happy. But that didn't mean he knew how to do so.

"You're right in that regard," said Cortana, thankfully continuing when she noticed that the Chief was unable to do so himself. "John and I do come together. However, since a long now, there have been three people in this relationship. You, John and me." She was silent for a full two seconds, contemplating her next words. Then, in a decidedly softer tone, she added, "I don't mind sharing."

Jane's cheeks flushed with heat. Her eyes darted to John again. She raised an eyebrow, and the hint of a smile played over her lips. "This is the cutest thing that's ever happened to me. In all honesty, I'm not too experienced in all of…this. I've kissed a few boys – and a girl, once, at a party – but that's it. I don't have anything against loving two people at once, but…I don't want to take advantage of either of you."

John furrowed his eyebrows, considering that. A superior officer pressuring their subordinates for intimacy would be taking advantage of something. This? Nobody would be taken advantage of. As far as he was aware, both Cortana as Jane were doing this of this own volition. In fact, given that Jane's background, she was the most vulnerable individual here.

So he spoke up. "I am not averse to the idea," he slowly said. "Cortana seemed…eager when she explained her thoughts to me. Now that I know you are not averse to the idea either, it seems nobody will be…taken advantage of."

Shepard stood up from the bed and approached him. "It's more complicated than that. It's a good thing to know that you're not averse to the idea. That leaves us with options."

She placed her hand on his chest and let it rest there. Something akin to sorrow passed over her features. "I like you, Cortana. And I like you, John. But given your background, I would be taking advantage of you, emotionally. At least, at this very moment."

She looked up at him, then smiled sadly. She brought her hand up to his cheek. A comfortable warmth spread from the point of contact. "Both of you deserve better than that. I want to be there for you…and I want to make it work. Cortana, I – "

Unfortunately, the moment was thoroughly ruined when EDI's voice suddenly came over the intercom.

"Commander. The Normandy is in position. We will reach the Omega-4 Relay within ten minutes."

For the first time since he arrived onboard the Normandy, John felt the urge to disconnect EDI.

~0~


"Commander. The Normandy is in position. We will reach the Omega-4 Relay within fifteen minutes."

The interruption shook everybody from their thoughts. Though John's face instantly assumed its determined, stoic expression, Jane saw that even he was annoyed with the interruption.

Goddamn fucking…

Shepard rolled with her eyes and lowered her hand. Her thoughts were hot and flustered, going all kinds of places that she would indulge in fantasizing about when the time was right. However, that would have to wait. The ship was almost in position. She needed to get her mind out of the gutter.

"We'll continue this conversation once the Collectors have been thoroughly butchered," she said. "I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but we're going to sit down with the three of us when this is over."

John nodded. "Cortana and I will prep our gear."

Just like that, the moment was gone. John left. Cortana shot one last, lingering look her way, before withdrawing into the system.

Jane closed her eyes, savoring the gratitude she had seen in the woman's eyes. Still fuming at the awkward timing of it all, Shepard gathered her armour and geared up. She was fully equipped and ready to go in short order. Then, she took the elevator to the Combat Information Desk.

When the elevator doors opened, she saw that everybody was ready. The rest was up to her. Shepard took a deep breath and walked up to the Galaxy Map. From there, she took one last moment to check if they were good to go.

Everybody was in position. Tali, Kasumi and Legion stood by at Engineering while Grunt, Jack and Jacob awaited instructions in the Crew Quarters, ready to commit themselves to damage control should the Collectors have left any nasty surprises.

Everything was ready. She could do this without regrets. They'd all make it through, and she would fulfill the promises she made to John and Cortana.

But now, she couldn't afford to dwell on those feelings. She had to be sharp, or people would die.

"Approaching the Omega-4 Relay," reported Joker.

"I have full control over the ship's weapon systems," said Cortana. "EDI and Joker can direct their undivided attention to not crashing us against the first asteroid we encounter."

"Omega Relay in range," EDI replied. "Initiating transmission sequence. Reaper IFF activated."

Jane made her way to the cockpit. If she would be the very first captain to make it through, she wanted to see it happen with her own eyes. "Let's make it happen."

"Shepard-Commander. The Drive Core is emitting bursts of excess electrical charge," reported EDI.

"Rerouting," said Cortana.

"Hey! I was going to say that!" Joker complained, his fingers blurring across the console.

The ship shot towards the Omega-4 Relay. It was huge; larger than any other Relay. It pulsated with crackling red energy, as foreboding as it was menacing.

"The energy build-up has been safely discharged," reported Tali.

"All stations, secure for transmit!" Warned Joker.

Tremors shook the ship as it approached the Relay. There was a bright, red flash on the screen, before the Normandy suddenly lurched forwards with incredible speed. The process wasn't instant, however. Jane felt her heart beating in her throat as she waited for something to happen.

The seconds that trickled by felt like an eternity. Finally, EDI said, "Bracing for deceleration."

Shepard hold onto the bulkhead and braced herself for the sudden stop. As the Normandy came to a sudden, jarring halt, she bent her knees and pushed against the wall as hard as she could to keep from joining Joker's consoles at the front of the cockpit.

The very moment they emerged from the Mass Relay's corridor, they were greeted with a debris field large enough to orbit a planet. The dead hulk of an ancient warship nearly tore the ship's starboard thrusters off when Joker pulled her into a steep climb.

"Rotate by twenty-nine degrees to that location," said Cortana.

"I got this, I got this!" Joker snapped back.

True to his word, he managed to steer the Normandy clear from all major pieces of debris, while the Cyclonic Barriers took care of the micro-fragments that couldn't be dodged.

Shepard noticed she had been holding her breath throughout it all, and softly exhaled. So far so good.

Now that they weren't in any immediate danger, both Joker as Shepard were able to take a closer look at their surroundings. There had to be thousands of wreckages around them. Derelict vessels that tried making it through the Relay, only to be met with immediate destruction.

"These must be all the ships that tried to make it through the Relay," muttered Joker. "Some look…ancient."

"Any sign of the welcome mat?"

"I have detected an energy spike near the edge of the accretion disk," said EDI.

"Show me."

As the Normandy drifted around the hulk of a large derelict, their target finally came into view. It was roughly cylindrical, like the Collector ship had been. A strange combination of metal and organic components.

"Not a world. A base," said Shepard. Even better; blowing up a planet would be difficult. And according to Cortana, the Master Chief had a hell of a track record when it came to blowing up humongous alien bases. "Engage our stealth systems. Take us closer."

The Normandy drifted through the silent graveyard. Scans were still being taken, but it seemed like the galactic core messed with their long-range sensors. They'd have to take a closer look at that base if they wanted to know what they'd be up against.

"We're not alone," reported Cortana. "Several contacts are positioned aft of our position. Scans indicate they're either single-ship fighters, or drones."

"Are they armed?" Asked Shepard.

A moment later, the deck beneath them shuddered and the sound of a distant explosion thumped through the ship.

"I suppose that answers that question," said Cortana. "Initiating defensive maneuvers."

"Minor hull damage. Enemy attacks bypassed our barriers," reported EDI.

"Bastards!" Hissed Joker. "Must be using laser-based weapons. Were they just lying in wait for us?"

"Take evasive action," Shepard calmly ordered. "Stealth's out the window."

Joker hit the throttle and the ship shot forwards again. Despite the enemy's advanced weaponry, Joker kept the Normandy from being struck by steering the ship just around the larger pieces of debris, which absorbed their fire.

"Head deeper into the debris field," said Cortana. "We can evade their fire in there."

"Our kinetic barriers are not designed to survive impact with debris that size," replied EDI.

"We're not going to be stopped by a couple of drones," growled Shepard. "Do it!"

The ship lurched, then rolled to the right. Cortana's counter-fire destroyed three of the four drones, but more soon followed the lone survivor. The ship shuddered as another volley struck them, right before they entered the debris field.

"Come on, you want some?" Yelled Joker. "Come get us!"

So much for the superior Collector technology. Whatever kind of tech they stuffed into those drones, they were outmatched by Joker's excellent piloting. No doubt EDI had a hand in that as well.

"Pivot fifty-degrees to the left, as shown on your screen, would you?" Asked Cortana.

Joker cast a sideways glance at Shepard, before doing as Cortana asked.

On the screen, three more of the drones were speared by the lasers and destroyed.

The battered hulls of the of the ships that failed to make it through were coming awfully close now. The CBT were constantly flickering as they repulsed the smaller fragments of debris.

"Options would be amazing right now!" Exclaimed Joker.

"I have detected echoes at the following reference point, indicating a large tunnel."

"Four more enemy drones collided with the debris field. The shockwaves might throw your scans off," informed Cortana.

"We're heading in!" Decided Joker. "Everyone hold on to your hats!"

"Barriers at fifty percent and dropping!" Reported Tali. "We are rerouting power!"

The Normandy shuddered as it entered the tunnel. Joker spun the ship in every direction he could, but he was only able to prevent the larger fragments from slamming into the ship. The CBT continued to deflect smaller pieces, but Shepard could see that it was slowly losing power.

"No more enemy fire detected," Cortana then said. "The coast is clear for now."

"Come on, come on," growled Joker. The ship brushed past one final piece of debris that had once been the cockpit of a warship, then the trembling stopped. The Normandy lurched upwards, then slowed down.

"Aced it!"

"We have cleared the debris field," reported EDI.

Shepard sighed in relief. That was too close.

"LADAR detects no more enemy vessels. It is just the base."

Joker grunted with disappointment. "And here I was, hoping we could wreck them with our Thanix…"

Shepard chuckled. "Look at it this way; less enemy contact means less repairs necessary when we get out of here. You should thank the Chief for that."

"Yeah, I suppose so," he muttered, his voice sounding like he was anything but thankful.

Shepard understood how he felt. That vessel had been haunting them for two years. It killed twenty good men and women. It killed her. Joker had been itching for some payback.

Well, payback would come soon.

"Miranda, status reported?" She asked.

"No casualties detected. Several systems were overloaded after one of those lasers struck something vital, two of them core systems, but they can be fixed. Minor hull breaches in the hangar…we're good to go."

No casualties. That was all Shepard needed to hear. "Set us down on that base, Joker. Miranda, gather everyone in the Conference Room. It's time."

~0~


Onboard Normandy SR-2 / Conference room

Shepard entered the Conference Room with a steady, purposeful stride. She met the gaze of everyone on her team upon entering. All of them stood at attention, all of them were ready to fight and possibly die at her command.

No words could express the pride she felt.

The Commander stopped at the head of the table. She took a deep breath and addressed the assembled squad. "This, right here, is everything we've been fighting for. To strike at the heart of the Collector operations and take them out. When we're done here, they'll never hurt a soul ever again. EDI, Cortana, bring up the scans."

A detailed simulation of the base appeared at the center of the table.

"I consider myself somewhat of a specialist on blowing up enemy space stations," Cortana said with no small measure of pride. "This? This is nothing. If we access the main control center here – " she highlighted the location of the target – "We can overload all their critical systems. The resulting detonation will rip the station apart."

"However, this requires passing through a massive energy signature," added EDI.

Jacob leant forwards, eyeing the holographic wire diagram. "Damn. That's the heart of their operation."

"Am I seeing this right? Are there two ways in?" Said Kasumi, pointing at the diagram. "It might be an idea to split up the team, catch the Collectors right in the middle!"

"I don't think so," Miranda said, shaking her head. "These routes look like they're blocked."

"I'm certain I can bypass them," said Cortana.

"And if you're wrong?" Pressed Miranda. "They can only be opened from the other side."

Cortana shrugged and highlighted a narrow, white line running through the facility. "This main vent will run right behind the doors. Someone can enter through there and blast through if you don't trust my capabilities."

That last sentence was meant as a sneer, and Shepard spoke up before Miranda could. "We'll take both options. We'll send a team alongside both routes to keep the Collectors busy, then let someone else infiltrate the vent. They can use a shaped charge to blow their way out and open the door without any trouble of hostiles from the other side."

"Practically a suicide mission if there are hostiles on the other side," pointed out Jacob. "I volunteer."

"No. Those doors need to be opened as fast as possible, since the other teams will be besieged as they approached," said the Commander.

"The temperature in those vents won't be pleasant," said Cortana. "Latent heat signatures indicate can reach excesses of 140 degrees. And your kinetic barriers don't protect against heat very well."

"Are you sure you can open those doors?" Insisted Jacob.

Cortana rolled with her eyes. "I did so the last time I was inside of Collector architecture. Or don't you remember seeing their Cruiser blown to smithereens?"

"She's got a point," sighed Miranda.

Jane considered that. "We'll take both options. Legion, your body can take more punishment than ours. You have the best chances at making it."

"Acknowledged," said Legion. "However, we should inform you that temperatures of that magnitude will result in rapid systems failure. This platform will be able to endure for approximately twenty-seven seconds before shutting down."

"Then we better hope Cortana won't let us down," Shepard grimly said. "Now this is crucial. Whichever door opens first, will need to be closed again quickly to block the Collectors targeting the team. Depending on the door, one of the teams is going to have to hold the lime against enemy reinforcements. This is where the Chief comes in."

John straightened.

"The Master Chief will serve as a Hunter-Killer unit to breach the Base and engage the enemy's shock units before they can overwhelm our two teams," explained the Commander. "After our teams make it through, we will all regroup in the central chamber."

"On your own?" Said Tali, incredulous. "That's suicide!"

John's visor met hers. "Believe me. I've done this before," he said with a hint of humour to his voice.

"Going up against suicidal odds has always been your thing, Chief," Johnson spoke up for the first time. "But you're not going in there alone. I'm coming with you."

John turned to face him. "The concentration of enemy forces – "

"Is something I'll have to deal with," Johnson cut him off, his dark eyes settled squarely on the Chief's visor. His voice sounded ever so unsteady as he added, "I'm not going to fail this too, Chief."

The room was silent as John stared at the Sergeant, who met his gaze unflinchingly. Jane looked the man over, wondering if the fire that drove him was fueled more by the suicidal aspect of the mission than the support he would offer the Spartan.

In the end, that wasn't important. John nodded, ever so slightly and it was settled.

Shepard saw Johnson had an angry sort of satisfaction in his eyes. She thought back to the crashed Collector ship. If the Spartan fought as hard today as he had back then, the Collectors would soon learnt the meaning of fear. They must have kept it in their records somewhere down there; the relentless knight that never tired and never stopped. A super-soldier in every meaning of the phrase.

"Garrus, you will be leading the assault down the left approach," decided Shepard. "We'll regroup in the center, then push on."

"What happens if we get to the main room?" Asked Jack.

Shepard shook her head. "No idea. Cortana and EDI are scanning as we speak, but they're not finding anything solid yet. We'll have to face this storm on our own."

A few of the teammembers looked uneasy. Kasumi shifted her weight from one leg to another, while Tali fumbled with the fabric of her hood. Even Jack seemed itchy, her expression looking exceptionally tense.

But they all steeled themselves. Their resolve was strong, and they were all ready for whatever they might encounter.

Again, Jane looked each of them in the eye. "We don't know how many people the Collectors have stolen. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands. It's not important. What matters is this: not. One. More. That's what we can do here, today. It ends with us! They want to know what we're made of? I say we show them. On our terms."

She took a deep breath and stood tall. "They started this war. Today, we are going to finish it."

~0~


Some of the squadmembers watched him as he hauled his weapons with him through the airlock. Though he wondered if they weren't used to the sight of a Spartan carrying half his weight in equipment with him, he didn't mind them. He attached the shotgun to the magnetic hardpoints on his suit, as well as a Plasma Rifle, just in case.

"It appears that the atmosphere within the base is oxygen-based," EDI said as the Chief marched towards the airlock doors. "The atmosphere is breathable."

That only made sense, seeing as how the Collectors were repurposed Protheans. That, and the fact that they must have processed tens of thousands of humans in the past year. Easy logistics.

With the SAW clutched in his hands, the Chief opened the airlock doors and leapt out of the ship. His motion sensor indicated that they were in the clear, but he still snapped his weapon up and scanned his environment himself. Things were oddly quiet. It would probably change soon, but he actually enjoyed the brief moment of calmness.

Jane came after him, landing nimbly on her feet and checking her surroundings with her Tempest SMG. She nodded at the Chief, who felt strangely relieved at her presence.

Grunt came next, dropping to the floor with a heavy landing. He raised his own massive shotgun, his bright eyes eagerly darting around. "I'm ready, Battlemaster!"

Almost imperceptible, Kasumi followed suit, already cloaked. She hid her presence well enough, but John still saw her feet kick up a small amount of dust when she landed.

Trusting that Grunt would keep a close eye on their perimeter, the Spartan looked over his shoulder and leveled a glare at the thief. She stopped dead in her tracks, probably wondering how the hell he managed to spot her.

Stopping proved to be somewhat of a miscalculation, as Garrus leapt out of the airlock next, nearly landing on top of Kasumi, who scrambled to get out of the way.

Samara was next, jumping and landing without a word. She too had donned her helmet, though it was hard to imagine her with anything else than a calm, serene expression. "Let us bring justice to the wicked."

Despite her connections to an obvious enemy of the UNSC's, the Master Chief still felt comfortable around her. Trust, it seemed, was difficult to break onboard the Normandy.

Johnson and Zaeed appeared at the edge of the airlock, tossing down bags and crates. Legion brushed past them, walking out of the airlock and joining the rest in one motion. Even the Chief couldn't help but wince when he saw that it didn't bother to bend its legs; it just landed squarely on its feet and kept walking. "Diagnostics complete. All communications functioning. We are ready to execute our tasks."

The squads assembled themselves with practiced ease. Shepard marched towards her entry point, followed by Miranda, Jack, the boy, now clad in a white-grey hardsuit, Grunt, Thane, Legion and Mordin

Garrus took the rest of the squad towards his own entry point, where he would be leading the second assault. He was joined by Jacob, Samara, Tali, Zaeed and Kasumi.

"Archangel team standing ready!" Called Garrus over the comm.

Johnson stepped towards the Master Chief, holding an SRS-AM 99 rifle with an Oracle N-variant scope. He nodded at the Spartan.

"Blue team ready," said John.

"Alright everyone, you know what to do!" Said Shepard.

"See you on the other side," said Garrus.

"Let's give them hell," the Master Chief added, before making his way through his own designated entrance.

He observed his surroundings carefully, following the route that Cortana planned for them. He felt like he was back in their Cruiser. The interior design was almost the same. Mordin had been completely right when he said that the Collectors were nothing but mindless husks.

After a minute or two without hostile contact, Legion reported in over the team's comm. "We are in position. External temperature slightly elevated. No obstructions detected."

"Archangel team here. We've encountered the first recon teams. Orders?"

"We've come here with one goal, Archangel team. Go loud!"

In the distance, the Master Chief could hear the familiar whine of plasma weapons discharging, followed by mass accelerator weapons.

"Up here," Cortana told him over a channel specifically encrypted for the Hunter-Killer team. "There will be a short hallway leading up to the largest, most predictable and loudest route possible."

"All the Collector sissies we could possibly need," replied Johnson. "Ready to tango, Chief!"

Blue Team made it through the hallway just as Cortana described. When the Chief rounded the corner, he came face to face with a Collector Drone. Seizing the opportunity to spare some ammo, he tackled the Drone and slammed its head against the wall with enough force to crack it open.

The Collector slumped to the ground, white liquid and pieces of broken exoskeleton leaking from the gap in its head.

He kicked the hostile to make sure that it was dead, then moved on.

"There!" Said Cortana. "Look to your right. Down sixty centimeters. I'm picking up signals in infrared and shortwave. There's a data port there. Slot me in."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Once I'm directly in contact with the base's systems, I can infiltrate and take them over. Just like any Covenant ship. Come on, hurry!"

He sensed her impatience through his Neural Interface. He removed the data chip from the socket in his helmet and felt her leave his mind.

Then, he slotted Cortana into the Collector data port. Almost immediately, she brought up the map they plotted before and place it within the upper left corner of his HUD. She changed their route in several sections, then dismissed the map again.

The door at the end of the hallway opened, revealing a cavernous room with several rocky protrusions spread throughout its layout. Smooth pieces of black, alien metal were littered around the place. The entire left flank of the room was cut off by a chasm, that seemed to lead deeper into the base.

The Chief's motion sensor pinged several hostiles coming in from the chasm's side. They flew in from holes in the ceiling, their insectoid wings sputtering like those of a Drone swarm.

"Weapons free," ordered the Spartan, before opening fire with the SAW.

Johnson's response came in the form of M634 Experimental High-Powered Semi-Armor-Piercing rounds, blowing apart the midsection of one Collector and the head of another before they could even land. The 9.5x40mm rounds seemed like overkill against such unshielded targets, but that was exactly the point. Shock and awe tactics would force the Collectors to use overwhelming force, therefor taking the pressure off of the real assault taking place.

Blue Team got the Collectors' attention alright. The Master Chief leveled his shotgun right as a door opened at the opposite end of the cavernous room. A dozen Collector Drones rushed towards them, guns blazing.

John took that as his cue and he stepped towards the center of the room, switching to his shotgun. Enemy fire harmlessly splashed across his shields even as he took aim and carefully squeezed the trigger three times. The shotgun kicked against his shoulder and a spray of hyperdense Tungsten-alloy pellets left his weapon at a muzzle velocity of over sixteen-hundred feet per second. The chitinous armour of the Collector foot-soldiers might as well not have been there all the good it did them.

Moments later, he hopped over their cover to outflank them, his boots landing in the eviscerated remains of their upper bodies.

A hostile wielding a particle weapon emerged from a hiding spot, hovering over the chasm to take aim at him. Johnson instantly got him and blew its head off. The 9.5mm round tore through its skull and kept going.

The Master Chief pocketed a grenade and threw it amidst the formation of the remaining Collectors. Two of them made a run for it and Johnson smeared them across the wall with the sniper rifle.

The frag went off with a deafening boom, spraying the wall with pieces of yellow-white flesh. The Chief waited until the body parts fell to the floor and then put down the surviving drones with single shots.

Another reminder that cybernetics couldn't substitute for an organic mind. The conflict was over in seconds.

"So these are the Collectors?" Johnson said with clear disdain in his voice. "I expected a room full of badasses! These fools look like they'd have trouble puttin' on their own diapers, let alone kidnap entire human colonies!"

"Their humans aren't like our humans," replied the Chief. "They didn't militarize like we did."

"Heh. Got that right."

His motion tracker was going crazy. They definitely kicked the hornet's nest here. But that was alright; the more Collectors he killed her, the easier the rest of his team would make it to the central chamber.

Another group of Collector forces poured from the open door. The Chief saw a large mob of Husks charge his way and switched to his SAW. Getting hit by a 7.62mm armour-piercing round from that weapon at knife fighting range was catastrophic, double so for the already-frail Husks. The muzzle velocity of the projectiles meant that each hit gauged a massive hole into its target.

He backed up and timed his shots carefully. Single shots to the head or torso were sufficient to put those freaks down, but there were a lot of them. He didn't want to waste ammo.

One of them came too close. The Chief shifted his weight to his left leg and lashed out with his right, stop-kicking the Husk in the chest. His armoured boot connected with a sickly crunching noise. The Husk slammed against the wall half a dozen meters away, before breaking apart into several pieces.

The rest fell in seconds as the Spartan resumed firing. When the last Husk fell, missing its head, the Spartan held his position, waiting for more threats to present themselves. When he was satisfied that there were none, he moved on.

"Hostiles sighted!" Miranda called over the comm.

"Be swift, before Harbinger assumes its control," said Thane.

"Error: there is a pathing failure. We have encountered an obstruction in the tunnel. Unable to proceed."

"It must be a filter of some sorts! There should be a terminal to remove it nearby!" Called Tali.

"Oh, that makes sense! Keji once ran a heist where he broke in through a ventilation shaft and there were a couple of these filters in the way. I had to remotely hack them to get him on his way!"

"There should be a series of terminals on Shepard's side," Cortana told them. "I'll try to find the master terminal to open them remotely. Until then, you better access those other terminals first!"

As the Hunter-Killer team prepared to enter the door at the opposite end, another team of Collector Drones flew in over the chasm. The two humans immediately targeted them, when one of the Collectors suddenly hunched over and began to spasm.

Then, the Drone started to float in mid-air, arching its back as fiery lines appeared all over its body. The light grew in intensity before it erupted outwards, causing the Collector to literally glow with power. An aura of flames surrounded it.

"I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."

The voice boomed from the Collector, as if it were projecting the words instead of speaking them. The voice sounded positively ancient. Every bit as malevolent as authoritative. It sounded hauntingly familiar. The Chief almost forgot that he encountered this intelligence before.

Spartan and Johnson alike stared at the now-possessed drone for a second, before subsequently lighting it up with gunfire.

The Drone boasted incredible defensive capabilities, however, and thrust out its arms towards the Spartan as the SAW rounds rippled across its shields. A dark, pulsating orb tore through the air, narrowly missing the Spartans as he rolled out of the way at the last second.

Even then, the detonation of the orb washed across his shields, which barely held against the combination of dark energy and thermal heat.

"YOUR RESISTANCE IS NAUGHT," continued Harbinger. He directed another orb of energy towards the Spartan, while unflinchingly marching towards him. "KNOW THAT WE HAVE ALREADY WON. "

"I don't think so!" Johnson barked, before putting a 14.5x114mm round through its head. Its weakened shields couldn't protect it against the immense power of an depleted-Uranium APFSDS round. Its head dissolved into a cloud of white and black tissue.

"THE GATE HAS ALREADY BEEN UNLATCHED. RELEASING THIS FORM."

With that, the remains of the Collector Drone burned away. The glowing lines faded away, leaving nothing but ashes and gore.

"I've had it up to HERE with hiveminds spamming their nonsense!" Yelled Johnson.

The Master Chief easily dispatched of the other drones, then waited to see if more would show up. When the coast remained clear, he checked his remaining ammo and waited for Johnson to fall in by the door.

"The next segment runs along the side of that chasm, then over it," Cortana informed him. "Little cover. Little floor, either."

"Little floor?" He inquired.

"Are you familiar with the children's game called 'hopscotch'?"

~0~


The Collectors were digging in their heels and pushing back. For every one of Shepard's team, the Collectors put down three more of their own. This was their turf, and they wouldn't allow the outsiders to take it.

One of the Collectors whirled out of cover, leveling a particle weapon. Thane beat it to the punch and blew a hole the side of Grunt's fist through its chest.

"Move up!" Shouted the Commander. "We need to get to that terminal!"

She leapt over her cover and engaged her Biotics, disappearing and then reappearing next to a Collector who was about to shoot her. She kicked it in the leg, which dropped it to its knee, before blowing a hole in its head with her pistol.

Two more drones targeted her. She dropped to one knee as well, returning fire with both the UNSC magnum as her Carnifex. The barrage of gunfire knocked the two drones down.

Grunt charged forwards, firing his Claymore at the closest Collector and taking off its head. He ejected the thermal clip and steadily advanced on his foe, reloading all the while.

The Collectors were about to unleash a hellish crossfire on him when a well-placed combination of tech attacks disrupted their lines. An Overload program dropped the shields of the central drone, before an Incineration module detonated in their midst and set them all on fire.

Miranda and Mordin proceeded to put them down plasma fire, allowing Shepard to move on to the last terminal.

"Shepard-Commander, the temperature is rising. Current projections estimate total system failure within seven minutes and forty-six seconds."

"I got you Legion!" She yelled. Another team of Collectors dug in nearby the terminal, as if they knew what the team was doing.

With little time nor patience left, Shepard enveloped herself in a field of dark energy and rematerialized in the midst of their formation. She landed on her toes behind their cover and drove her boot down, sending a blast of Biotic energy through her leg and into the area around her. The floor cracked underneath the force and the unshielded Collectors were sent flying.

She slammed her omni-tool against the terminal, then opened fire with her plasma pistol on a charging drone.

"Obstruction removed. Addendum; all other obstructions removed as well. We have access to the entire tunnel."

Shepard frowned, then checked her omni-tool. A lucky break?

Ah. She knew what happened. Or rather, who happened.

"Legion, open that door! Squad, move up! We're falling behind!"

"SHEPARD, YOU CANNOT STOP US."

The voice boomed through the air, obnoxiously loud but not coming from a single direction. Shepard eyed her surroundings, looking for the telltale glow of a possessed drone, but didn't see any.

What the hell?

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE THIS BASE ALIVE."

"Too scared to show yourself?" She muttered. If Harbinger wasn't here, he was probably struggling with his Spartan infestation. Still, it was only to be expected that he could multi-task.

More hostiles swarmed their position. But numerous as they were, the Collectors here didn't seem to have Harbinger's support. Without his avatar to supplement their forces, they fell before the combined fire of white-hot plasma, oversized bullets and hyper-accelerated slugs.

Shepard held her ground and covered her team as they made their way to her position. More Collectors dropped down from the ceiling, seeking to overwhelm the assault team through sheer numbers alone.

Two of them dropped down in front of Grunt, in a shocking display of tactical ineptitude. Grunt wasted no time in putting his shotgun away and grabbing both Collectors by their throats. He headbutted the first and dropped its body to the ground, before lifting the second one over his head and bringing it down on his knee, hard.

Another Collector dropped down in front of Will, who used what looked like a variant of Stasis to keep it from taking aim at him, before shooting it at point-blank range with his Predator pistol.

Two more Collectors took aim at him. He surrounded himself with a powerful barrier to absorb their fire and used his Biotics to throw his sword at the first Collector, impaling it through its head.

He wouldn't have been fast enough to take out the second one, but Thane blew off its head with his plasma pistol upon running past it.

"Faster," he told the boy, before turning to look at Shepard. "I trust the door is opening?" He calmly asked her.

"It better!" Shouted back Shepard. "Legion, we're in position! Open the door!"

~0~


His rifle roaring, Garrus backed towards the massive set of doors, which was slowly opening now. "Move it, go, go!" He ordered.

Jacob emerged from his cover and blasted a Collector off its feet with a shotgun. The enemy directed their fire his way and he ducked again. It took the heat off of Kasumi, who appeared at the back of the Collector formation, slapped a grenade against the back of a Collector with a particle weapon, then disappeared again.

The resulting detonation tore through their ranks, but there were many more to take their place.

"Legion, we're in position! Open the door!" Shepard's voice crackled over the comm.

Samara fired several bursts in quick succession. When a Collector took to the air, she caught it mid-leap with her Biotics and flung it against the ground with a sickening crunch.

"I'm in," called Kasumi. "Come on people!"

Garrus backed up towards the doors, then whirled inside. He felt something akin to several jabs striking him in his side, and knew his shields just saved his life. "Legion, get a move on!" He yelled, reaching for the anti-material sniper.

"Intrusion software is running at maximum capacity," replied the geth. In one smooth gesture, it drew a pistol and fired on a pair of Collectors that charged their position. "Encountering resistance in the system."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cried out Tali. She rushed towards the other set of doors, frantically typing in a string of commands on her omni-tool.

"Everyone, inside!" Yelled Garrus. "Legion, close this door. Tali, get that other door open for Shepard's team! The rest of you, suppressive fire! Don't let anyone in!"

"Got it!" Replied Tali.

Jacob and Samara took up positions adjacent to the doors. Just when they opened fire, a voice boomed through the air.

"YOU ARE ARROGANT. YOU WILL FIND NO VICTORY HERE."

And I was having such a good day, Garrus thought, feeling a sudden spike of fear. Harbinger could not be allowed through. "Harbinger's here! Focus fire!"

"I can't see him!" Replied Kasumi, suddenly standing next to the turian. "Where is he?"

"Harbinger is not here," Samara calmly replied, even as she crushed a trio of Collectors within a Singularity field. "Perhaps on the other side?"

"We're out in the open here, taking fire!" Shepard yelled into the comm, "Are we ever going to see Legion here today?"

"The resistance in the Collector systems is hindering our progress," called Legion. "Cortana, we request cyberwarfare aid."`

"This isn't happening," Tali muttered to herself. "Oh Keelah, work damn you!" Suddenly, she cried out in surprise. "I got it! The doors are closing!"

"Data stream received. Algorithms updated," stated Legion. "The door is opening."

Miranda was the first inside, squeezing herself through the narrow opening and ejecting her spent thermal clip. When Thane darted inside next, the two of them waited until Jack backed into the room before assisting with suppressive fire.

Grunt stepped in front of the door, blasting away at an unseen enemy with his shotgun, allowing Shepard and William to rush inside as well.

"Hah! You're dead!" Shouted Grunt, before backing into the room.

"Here they come!" Yelled the Commander. The team banded together, covering each other as Legion and Tali worked in unison to close the door again.

"The door's closing!" Called out Tali."We just – "

"YOU WILL FIND NO SAFE HAVEN WITHIN THIS STATION."

Garrus saw through his scope that the Collectors shifted gears now. Harbinger had to be on to them, as the mindless drones suddenly came charging at them They abandoned their cover and rushed towards the slowly-closing doors in a suicidal charge.

"Biotics, now! Stop them in their tracks!" Ordered the Commander, before enveloping herself in a field of dark energy and lobbing a Singularity field within the charging formation.

Hearing that, Kasumi and Mordin backed away from the doors, making room for the heavy hitters in the squad, A heartbeat later, Samara and Jack opened up, followed by Will and Thane. A storm of dark energy cascaded through the Collector formation, crushing their armour and internal organs.

"And fuck you too!" Jack shouted just before the doors closed.

Shepard leant against the now-sealed entrance, panting slightly. The door was shut and sealed off; no way that the Collectors would get through. The very first victory of the day. "Nice work Tali, Legion," she said. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

While Mordin and William struggled to catch their breaths, obviously not used to this much running, Miranda strode towards the other end of the room. Garrus saw what she was looking at and felt his mood sink even worse.

"Master Chief?" Shepard said over the commlink. "Blue One, what's your status?"

A moment later, a deep voice rumbled through the comm. "Blue One here. We have piqued Harbinger's interest. Three confirmed Praetorian KIA's, eleven confirmed Scion KIA's. A section of this station has collapsed. Suggest you stay clear of the following coordinates."

"Shepard?" Miranda quietly said.

She turned around, hearing the tone in Miranda's tone. "We'll rendezvous later. You're doing good."

Shepard approached the woman, her eyes automatically gliding over the pods that lined the walls of the cavernous room. Garrus saw them, too. There had to be hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. Worse; they were filled with humans. Males, females…spirits, even children.

The Commander looked like someone just punched her in the gut. "Check for vitals," she quietly ordered.

Mordin stepped towards the closest pod, ticking in several commands on his omni-tool. "Victims from colonies before Horizon, likely," he said. "Destroying Collector ship not the end. Delivered colonists here before crashing. All alive!"

"There's more, over here!" Thane snapped, his voice sharp and tense.

"Alright, we're getting these people out of here," ordered Shepard. "Cortana, can you –"

The woman inside of the pod Mordin was observing suddenly opened her eyes. She woke up, screaming, as her skin suddenly started melting away. Her flesh began to melt, dissolving off of her bones in large chunks all over her body. Her eyes, even her hair seemed to slough away into a bloody mess, splattering the inside of the pod.

She wailed on the transparent window, flailing in agony as she was melting alive. Mordin frantically tried to pry the pod open, but to no avail.

They were helpless to watch as the woman collapsed, falling out of sight. Then, to Garrus' dismay, he heard the sound of tubes vacuuming up her liquefied remains, sucking them into those massive tubes above.

"Get those pods open, now!" Shouted Shepard. "Cortana, override controls! Open them up!"

"I can't! The controls are localizes within the pods themselves! You will have to manually give me access to every single pod."

"There's no time. Use brute force if you have to!"

The team scrambled to any pod within reach with whatever means they had to open them. Garrus started pounding the one closest to him with the butt of his rifle, trying to break it open. Judging from the sounds coming around him, he wasn't the only one.

It was no use. The man inside of his pod started vomiting copious amounts of blood, even as his skin started boiling away.

"No!" Snarled Garrus. He raised his rifle again, then saw the man's face starting to fall apart. He closed his eyes, muttered a prayer to whichever spirit was watching over him, then aimed his gun at the man and pulled the trigger.

He heard Grunt roaring as he tore off the lids with his bare hands, then curse. "No, no! You're free! Stop that!"

It was no use. Even as Samara, Jack and Shepard used their Biotics to tear the pods apart, the humans trapped by the Collectors started screaming. Started shrieking.

"THIS IS THE FATE THAT AWAITS YOU ALL, SHEPARD."

There was no other choice here. Garrus looked at his Commander, who met his gaze. She looked as pale as the Chief. She worked her jaw, then pulled out her SMG and shot the closest pod, granting the dying human inside an easy death.

The rest of the squad saw what she was doing. They reached the same conclusion Garrus had and opened fire.

The rapid rattle of the stuttering rifle didn't drown out the screams of the dying. Not yet, anyway. But after a minute of sustained gunfire, Garrus noticed that the torturous cries had stopped.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Yelled Shepard.

Moments later, when the rest of the squad had lowered their guns, the last echoes of their shots fades away from the massive chamber. There was no silence to reward their actions; the machinery above them continued to pump the remains of the victims away. The sounds were nauseating, sickening Garrus to his core.

"What the fucking fuck!" Jack exclaimed, kicking the nearest pod with frustration.

"What the hell did those bastards just do?" Demanded Jacob.

As if the hatred simmering behind their words was infectious, Garrus felt his nausea slowly give way for fury. "The Collectors abducted tens of thousands of people and did this to them?"

"We're putting an end to this, today," growled Shepard. "Cortana, plot us a route to the main reaction chamber."

"Uhm…those tubes above you lead to the main control room above you. The route is blocked by a security door. There is a chamber that runs next to the one you're in, but unless you've secretly been wearing MJOLNIR all this time, I wouldn't recommend that. It's swarming with seeker swarms."

There was a strange echo to her voice, like multiple Cortana's were talking at once. Garrus wondered about that. He heard Cortana was sick. What did that mean? Could they depend on her now?

"What about Biotics?" Asked Shepard. "Those bolstered Mordin's counter-measure well enough."

There was a pause. "EDI says it's possible. A strong enough Biotic might pull it off."

"Samara?" Shepard said, turning to the strongest Biotic they had. "Can you do it?"

"Yes, I believe that is a possibility," she answered. "But I cannot protect everyone. I can only guard a small group, and that is only if they stay close to me."

"I can, too," added Miranda. "In theory, any Biotic can. Even you."

Shepard nodded. "We've got no clue how long that field needs to last. We need focus and concentration for this. Samara, you're up. Garrus, William, Thane, you're going to provide backup. We don't know when we might need someone to bolster Samara's Biotics, but we do know that we're going to need marksmen to cover her."

Garrus stepped forwards, eager to pay the Collectors back a hundredfold. "Just like old times," he vowed.

Thane's response considered of him swinging his own anti-material rifle over his shoulders.

"Sure," said Everheart. "I'm probably not going to get that image out of my brain anyway."

"The rest of you will provide a distraction by going through the main passage," continued Shepard. "We'll open the security doors from the other side and let you in."

"I'll lead the diversion team," said Miranda. "Any chance we'll see Blue Team on our way?"

"We're in the thick of it right now," replied Cortana. "Once we're in position, Blue One will traverse the seeker swarms to reinforce the assault team, while Blue Two will reinforce the diversion team."

"Good enough, I suppose," muttered Miranda.

Shepard stared down the dark passageway she and her team would take, then readied her Plasma Pistol. "We've got our assignments. Let's move out!"

~0~


"WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE."

Johnson swore as yet another of those glowing bugs marched his way like the goddamn Terminator. He waited until the Chief was in position to pepper it with the SAW, then switched his BR55HB to burst-mode and put two bursts into its oversized head.

His rifle clicked empty at the second burst. He reached down and released the empty mag with his right thumb, his left hand already grabbing a fresh one. A second later, he slammed the magazine home, cycled a round into the chamber and kept firing.

He didn't know what did the trick. Either he popped the bastard, or the Chief smeared him across the wall. The combination of UNSC ordnance ripped through the bug's head and spread its blood and viscera over the dark wall like the stroke of an artist's paintbrush. It was beautiful.

"Gonna need a new definition of unstoppable!" Barked Johnson. "Try the UNSC Marine Corps instead!"

"KILL ONE AND ONE-HUNDRED WILL REPLACE IT. YOU WILL FINALLY RELINQUISH YOUR FORM TO US."

"Where the hell is that coming from?" The voice of the turian came over the comm. "Do Collectors use speakers now?"

"Harbinger is using a harmonic wavelength modulator to project his voice throughout the base," explained Cortana.

"Any way you can shut it off? It's distracting!" DemandedLawson.

On a private channel reserved for the Hunter-Killer team, Cortana said, "I think I actually can cut Harbinger off. There is a console not too far away from your current position. Think you can make a detour?"

As she said that, the Master Chief leapt from one platform to another, crossing the five-meter gap with ease and landing amidst a group of unfortunate Collectors. He was a blur of movement, killing the five bugs with practiced and brutal efficiency. It ended with him whirling behind the last hostile with its head locked in a reverse-chokehold.

Johnson could hear the sound of breaking bones and tearing flesh all the way from his position. "Roger that ma'am!"

Another Praetorian spotted the Chief and hovered towards him, blue lasers raking the surface of the platform. Of course, the Spartan was already moving. His response was swift and overwhelming; he switched to his plasma rifle and burned a hole through the beast's "head" with sustained fire.

It tried to suppress the Spartan with sheer firepower, but it learnt the hard way that it needed to gain ten times its body weight in gun to pin down the Master Chief down. Already the Spartan was sprinting towards the floating monstrosity, his shotgun booming four times in quick succession.

The supersonic projectiles tore through the burning holes in its "head", puncturing its armour complete and causing massive exit wounds.

Johnson added in with a double-tap from his BR55HB and watched the creature die.

"YOUR EFFORTS ARE IN VAIN. OUR NUMBERS WILL BLOT OUT THE STARS."

"Keep moving," ordered the Chief. "More hostiles ahead."

The two of them pressed onwards, steadily advancing on the Collectors' reinforcements. Grenades erupted with thunderous roars, plasma chewed through unsuspecting infantry and long-ranged weaponry dispatched any targets that tried to outflank them.

"Over there!" Cortana suddenly said, and a little arrow appeared on Johnson's HUD.

The Master Chief must have received it too, as he broke off to the right and entered through a set of doors, only to find himself in a small room covered on all sides with holographic displays.

"Press that button. The right one. The other right one." Cortana sighed. "There. Alright. Give me a moment."

Johnson took up position by the door and watched as a Scion lumbered into view. He huffed, then started poking holes in those eggsacks it called a chest. He saw the human limbs of the amalgamation of bodies, steeled his heart and allowed his rage to win over his horror. He smiled savagely as he blew the monstrosity apart bit by bit.

"WE WILL BE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR DESTRUCTION."

"Oh yes, this is definitely the place," remarked Cortana. "Sergeant Major, if you would? Time to shut the Reaper up."

Johnson felt a genuine smirk come up, and swapped places with the Chief. He bowed over the console that Cortana highlighted, then inhaled.

~0~


Shepard had Garrus by her side when she advanced, moving together as one. They stood about a foot away from the edge of the field, with William holding up the rear. He acted well under pressure, she had to admit that, but she would rather keep an eye on him here than to burden Miranda with him. He was powerful enough to shield himself against the enemy fire, maybe even enough to protect others as well, but she didn't want to put that to the test.

As it was, he was way too sluggish to respond to the emerging threats the way Garrus and she did. Every Husk and Abomination that crawled up onto the pathway found their heads repurposed as paint for the surrounding area faster than they could blink.

The constant buzzing of the swarms around them was distracting, but so far they weren't actively attacking them.

"That's another kill for Vakarian!" Cried the turian as his rifle discharged, marking the death of yet another Husk. "That's fifteen!"

Shepard clenched her fist and thrust it towards a group of blazing Abominations as they rounded the far corner, breaking them to pieces against the wall. "That's nineteen! How you doing, Everheart?"

The boy lowered his pistol again, sighing with agitation. "I wasn't aware that this was a competition."

"Hah! Still the one, then?" Quipped Garrus. "Don't worry. You'll learnt to discard that oversized knife for an actual weapon soon enough."

On cue, a swarm of Collector drones flew by. They spotted the team steadily approaching and flew down, taking cover wherever they could find it. One of them got themselves possessed mid-flight as it started cramping up with seizures.

"WE WILL BE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR DESTRUCTION."

Shepard growled. "Sounds like he lost interest in the Chief!"

Samara crouched down behind a metal plate. "I cannot fight while maintaining the field!" She alerted her team.

"Stay down! We'll handle this!" Yelled Shepard.

"YOU PROLONG THE INEVITABLE. WE-"

A piercing, static-like sound echoed across the walls, cutting the Reaper off.

"HUMANITY IS IN YOUR HOUSE NOW ASSHOLE! YOU HEAR THAT SHIT? YOUR BUG ASSES ARE GOING SO FAR DOWN THAT YOU'RE NEVER GONNA FIND THE RIGHT WAY UP AGAIN! YOU WILL FEEL OUR WRATH IN THE FORM OF A BOOT JAMMED SO FAR UP YOUR ASS THAT THE REAPRR ON THE OTHER SIDE ISN'T GOING TO FLY STRAIGHT FOR WEEKS!"

Garrus ducked into cover, then glanced at Shepard with the most puzzled expression she ever saw on his face. "How come we never thought of that?" He mused.

Jane merely sighed. To each their own coping mechanisms…

"There we go, one muzzled Reaper," Cortana then spoke through the comm. "It's not much, but at least Harbinger won't be able to badmouth you without actually doing it in person."

"Thanks Cortana. Everyone, focus fire on Harbinger!" She ordered.

Garrus looked at Samara, then stepped out in front of her, physically shielding her from enemy fire. He switched to a plasma rifle and burned a hole through the chest of the closest drone.

"Hold on," said Everheart. He skidded behind cover, then Biotically pulled a couple of Collectors away from their own cover. As they helplessly floated about, he flung a Warp bolt in their midst, igniting the entire Biotic field and consuming the Collectors. "There we go."

"I see your aptitude for destruction has not waned," commented Samara.

"Focus fire on Harbinger!" Yelled Shepard. "Take him down fast!"

The Collectors were changing their strategy now. Now, they were trying to whittle the squad down through attrition, forcing them on the defensive. They couldn't fight like this, they had to go on the offensive.

She switched to her Tempest SMG and fired until she overheated her thermal clip. In one swift movement, she ejected the clip and slapped another home. Just to make sure Garrus would be able to crack his armour with ease, she unleashed a quick one-two combination of Warp and Throw bolts, completely ripping his barriers apart.

A split-second later, Garrus put two anti-material rounds through Harbinger's head. "Scratch one!" He exclaimed. "Ah, just like old times, right Shepard?"

"Yeah, good times," replied the Commander, ducking low to avoid enemy counter-fire. She hated being stuck in one place; her entire style was based around a combination of acrobatics and brute force.

Again, Will pulled the offending Collectors out of their cover and Garrus put them down with quick bursts of his assault rifle.

Shepard scanned the area to make sure they were good to go. "Coast clear, let's move, Samara!"

Samara waited until they took point, then stepped away from her cover.

They had to pick up the pace now; every second they were bogged down in a firefight was a second that the Collectors could score a lucky hit.

The pipes crawling across the ceiling bundled together the further they came, until they finally bundled together above a door positioned just at the bottom of an incline.

"I see the door," Samara said, her voice strained. "We must hurry!"

Shepard felt the weight of the Fuel Rod Gun slow her down as she broke into a light jog. More Husks crawled from every hook and cranny they could fit through, before charging the group with single-minded determination.

Garrus and Jane started shooting first. The combination of pistol and assault rifle fire tore through them apart easy enough, but there were so many of them.

The Husks came too close for comfort, crossing the threshold of Samara's barrier. Shepard switched to Biotics, throwing down a Singularity to pull the Husks away from the Justicar.

Everheart saw what she was doing and assisted her with his own Biotics, using a technique she never saw before to break the legs of several charging abominations before.

"Where did you learn that?" She asked when Garrus put the last two shambling corpses down with a concussive shot.

"Have you ever seen batarian Biotics before? Not many people have," he replied. "They have a unique effect where they create a forwards and backwards motion near the joints of someone's legs. It's painfully effective."

Shepard grimaced at the mental picture. Just when she thought that the batarians couldn't find a way to disgust her more…"Let's pick up the pace. Samara, can you - ?"

"Scions!" Garrus suddenly shouted, immediately slamming into cover. "Up on the railing to the left!"

Jane saw them, too. Four of the bastards shambling into view, several meters above them. She cursed; her team wasn't exactly out in the open, but those guns would rip through Samara's barrier in seconds.

She unslung the Fuel Rod Gun and erected a barrier, preparing herself to step outside of the dome to lay down the pain.

"Friendlies coming from your left," a gravelly voice sounded over the commlink.

"Is that - ?" Garrus asked, his voice hopeful.

"It's gotta be!" Replied Shepard, feeling her heart leap.

The ceiling above the Scions exploded with deafening force, pelting them with shrapnel and debris. A dark figure fell from above – larger and hieaver-armoured than any human – and landed on the first Scion with enough force to drag it to the ground. He plunged his fist into the sack of organs carried on the monstrosity's back with a lightning-fast jab, immediately pulling it back and leaping for the next Scion. He backflipped in the air, drew two pistols and blew apart the vulnerable sacks on the backs of the other Scions as well.

He moved with such blistering speed that the other Scions couldn't bring their weapons to bear fast enough. Even as the Master Chief tore the second Scion apart with his semi-automatic shotgun, an explosion tore through the first one. Fire and gore burst outwards from its back, and a hail of shrapnel took half its head off. It sank through its knees and died, soon followed by the second and third.

Shepard took care of the fourth Scion by raising the Fuel Rod Cannon in the air and launching two rounds in quick succession. The alien weapon hissed and spat two glowing spheres of energy. The blasts crossed the dozen or so meters in a split-second, impacted and exploded in a green flash. The intense heat of the detonation outright vaporized the Scion, leaving only bits of carbonized flesh and blue fragments of armour.

"Excellent timing," Samara weakly said. "

The Master Chief approached the railing, looking down at the team with his shotgun held in his hands. The seeker swarms buzzed around him, futilely slamming themselves against his shields. The rest didn't even acknowledge him. They were programmed to hunt humans. It was entirely possible that they didn't even recognize the Spartan as such.

"You big show-off!" Yelled Shepard, smiling for the first time they embarked on this mission.

"Cortana logged what happened to the colonists," he replied. "If they want a war, we'll bring them war."

"Master Chief," Garrus said when the Spartan leapt down. "Your timing is almost as dramatic as mine. It's good to have you."

"We must hurry!" Insisted Samara. "They are trailing us!"

The Spartan wordlessly reloaded his Squad Automatic Weapon. Even as the team started the final stretch down the slope, towards the open door at the end, Harbinger directed his drones after them.

Unfortunately for them, John held the rear guard. His field of fire was too powerful, too accurate, and the Collectors fell before they could even get a shot off. He moved with the efficiency of a machine, gunning down his enemies like he stood on a firing range. His rifle snapped from the left to the right like he was clairvoyant. Perhaps with Cortana aiding him, he was.

Making good use of the temporary respite, Samara picked up the pace down the incline. Several Husks climbed up along the walls and dropped down to impede their progress, but they were gunned down without effort.

Garrus reached the far door, which slid open as he approached. Cortana still had their backs, it seemed.

"Everyone inside!" Yelled Samara.

At her behest, Shepard directed Garrus and Will inside. John joined her, but Samara did not. She turned and faced the Collectors who were following them.

"What are you doing?" Yelled Shepard. "Come on, Cortana will lock the doors!"

"We can't take the risk," she replied with a strained voice. She closed her eyes, the dark energy that coalesced around her increasing in intensity and size.

Shepard recognized the pattern of dark energy around the Justicar. She did it herself more often than not, but never on the scale she saw now. The Biotic energy raged around them, turning the barrier into a solid wall of cracking energy.

The Master Chief lowered his weapon, perhaps sensing what was about to come.

With a mighty cry, the Justicar thrust her arms towards the pursuing forces. The storming currents of dark energy exploded outwards like a tidal wave, crashing into seeker swarms and Collectors alike. Their pursuers were thrown backwards by the awesome force of the blast, either flung into the chasm or outright crushed.

Completely unaffected by what she just wrought, Samara pulled out her assault rifle and followed them inside.

~0~


Cortana tracked the team as they pushed through the infested chamber. She spotted Collector teams coming in from all directions, hundreds of them. Most were still out of reach, however, and she could work with that.

She scrambled the station's tracking systems and generated electronic ghosts of Jane and her team along a path to the rear of the station. As she did that, the now-familiar stream of feedback crashed into her systems again. The intelligence within the station was on to her.

Quickly generating a counter-signal to match its violent probing, Cortana finally reached some progress with her own private assault on the base. She found the air vents that kept the station habitable for the "specimens" the Collectors operated on, and diverted them all towards Jane and her people. She then tasked the processor pumps to service the massive chambers containing the hordes of Collector troops and activated them in reverse.

It only made sense for the Reapers to rebuild the Collectors in such a way that they had to breathe in an oxygen-based atmosphere. Harvesting humanity required specifically-tweaked forces. Even if they cloned their soldiers from existing Collectors, they still had to deal with the problem of a base population that would degrade over time, even more so with all the genetic and cybernetic tweaking.

No soul. Replaced by tech.

Just like you.

Focus.

The Collectors were still based on organic matter. They still had metabolic pathways to break down molecules into smaller units to fuel their organic parts, driven by oxidation.

Still, Cortana made sure to drop the pressure as well. She scanned the rooms through the station's network, feeling more than watching the hundreds of Collectors twitch, shudder and slowly die. A part of her felt a savage delight in causing their deaths.

This is on you, she thought as she felt the feedback trickle through the station's systems. This is all your fault! Why didn't you leave behind anything concrete? Self-righteous, arrogant fools!

Why wasn't it ever enough? Everywhere they went, alien filth had it out for humanity. It wasn't ever enough. No matter how many people died, it wasn't ever enough!

She squelched the air and pressure from the other rooms too. Not all Collectors there died. Only half did. Why? Why wouldn't they die?

She renewed her efforts, searching for anything she could detonate or ruin. She considered taking the Normandy around and driving a Thanix shot right into Harbinger's teeth. See how he liked that.

The other entity within the system tried to stop her, but she –

"YOU. WE KNOW YOU."

Cortana stopped in her tracks. She felt the presence of the other entity practically on top of her. She was reminded of the software within Legion. It was as if thousands of eyes were glaring at her, a consciousness so vast, so immense, that it felt like she were drifting within its mind.

Cortana immediately raised her own firewalls, pulling back from the entity. "I don't think so," she snarled, infuriated by the sheer audacity of this thing. "I don't think you've ever met something like me."

"YOUR MIND IS THAT OF AN ORGANIC. YOUR BODY IS THAT OF A SYNTHETIC. YOU ARE LIKE US."

"Hold on, what did you say?" Cortana asked. Its voice sounded oddly human, like a chorus of people just started droning words at her. She dedicated a portion of herself to mine through the Collector database. She traced the origin of this intelligence all the way back to the central chamber of the base, some sort of superstructure. It emitted both organic as non-organic signatures, which was odd, to say the least...

Oh no.

Driven by a nagging suspicion, Cortana drew up the charts of the base and followed the enormous pipes to their origin, trying to ignore the mass of data she received from the macabre resources they churned through the base.

When she compared the two sets of coordinates, she felt something akin to horror. She discarded the results and tried again. The results didn't change.

The superstructure where the pipes led to and the origin of the entity's consciousness were one and the same.

She would have screamed, had there been a point to the emotional outburst. Instead, Cortana focused every ounce of her processing power on defending herself from this freakshow. Horror and fear drove her, to the point where she ignored all impulses that flickered through her ethics subroutine in an effort to protect herself.

"Cortana!" She suddenly heard a voice cry out.

"J-John?" She whispered.

"We are losing air. Someone is pumping the oxygen from the chamber, can you reverse it?"

Cortana didn't understand. She was in control of the processing units, and she had been using them to –

Oh.

The self-loathing tore at her heart, made her despise herself even more. And now, she was completely alone in the system. Alone with it.

~0~


/"Jack!" Shepard shouted, hurrying to help the Biotic back on her feet. "Are you hurt?"

Garrus reached for the bleeding gash in her cheek. Her fingers came away wet. "Just a scratch," she breathed.

"This is why you put on your goddamn helmet!" Snapped the Commander.

"I can't see shit well enough to kill these things with that thing on!" Jack angrily replied.

Shepard pulled her up. "At least duck, next time. Anyone else hit?"

Various answers in the negative came back to her. Shepard nodded, likely assessing the situation.

The Chief glanced around. He was relieved to see that Johnson and the others made it through in one piece. Everyone was still combat effective. Now for the last part.

"Excellent," commented Miranda. "I think we've got them riled up well enough. Now for the next step. EDI?"

"There should be some nearby that will take you to the main control console," replied the AI. "From there, you can overload the system and destroy the base."

"Commander, you've got a problem!" Joker suddenly said, his voice urgent. "You've got hostiles massing outside the door. Chief thinned their ranks, but it looks like they've readied some heavy firepower."

"Didn't Cortana lock them?" Asked Garrus.

"A locked door won't do you any good if they kick it down, Garrus," Cortana replied, her voice buzzing with interference. "We took out as many Scions and Praetorians as we could, but the Collectors are bound to have tech that will allow them to blast through the door unhindered."

That suggested a holding action. In his mind, the Chief went through the strengths and weaknesses of the squad. Shepard had to push on, everybody knew that. However, the individuals she took along with her would be unable to assist with the holding action. If she took too many, their rear would be overrun. If she took too few, she would fail in her objective.

Either way, the mission would be a failure.

He knew that the Collectors would be funneled through the door the squad just entered through, which suggested a rearguard could hold the enemies off for a while.

He glanced at Johnson, who merely stood at attention with his rifle in his hands. The man was certainly capable, but he wasn't a Spartan. A second Spartan would ensure the success of this mission.

The Chief knew the solution to this problem. And when he met Shepard's eyes, he realized she knew it too. She stepped towards the platform that would deliver her into the depths of the facility,

"Chief, Garrus, Tali, you're coming with me," decided Shepard. "Miranda, take everyone else and hold this position. "

"Got it Shepard," Miranda replied with a sigh. "We'll hold them as long as we can. Anything you want to say, before we go?"

Shepard looked at her for a moment, before removing her helmet and looking at her squad in earnest. "The Collectors and the Reapers…they aren't just a threat to us. They're a threat to all civilizations. Those are the lives we're fighting for. That's the scale. Those are the people we're fighting to protect!"

She paused, watching the squad respond to her words. They seemed eager, as if Shepard words reignited their will to fight.

"This is it. We either lose it all or win it all in the next few minutes," she continued. "Make me proud. Make yourselves proud!"

Miranda nodded. "Well said. Let's finish this!"

Garrus, Tali and John joined the Commander on the platform, which shuddered as it powered on.

The Master Chief glanced upwards, wary of attacks from above. The pipes running along the ceiling continued to churn. The thought of humans being processed like waste – or food – sickened him. More victims claimed by aliens who couldn't leave humanity alone. More people he couldn't save.

As the platform traversed the cavernous tunnel, more hostiles appeared. They too boarded platforms to get to the other side, the same way they had back on the Collector Cruiser.

This time, the team was ready for them. Garrus' sniper boomed two times in rapid succession, and the bodies of two Collectors fell to the deck.

"Move up!" Ordered Shepard. "From platform to platform!"

The Chief burst from his cover, his SAW blazing. He depleted all of his incendiary ammunition except for one magazine, which he wanted to save for when the team exfiltrated the base. Still, the normal 7.62mm rounds were effective enough. He took off the heads ot three more hostiles and Tali overheated the weapon of a fourth, rendering it harmless.

Shepard didn't even bother to look at it as she swept it from the platform, sending it plummeting to its death.

"More hostiles, from the left!" Cried out Tali.

The Chief saw it.

"DIRECT INTERVENTION IS NECCESARY."

He heard it, too.

"Harbinger incoming!" Yelled Garrus. "Chief, I'm out of ammo! Can you get that guy?"

He sure could. As Tali blasted the Collectors on the approaching platform with pistol fire, he took a short sprint and leapt for the approaching platform. He immediately pulled him up and over the railing and came face to face with a Collector crouching into cover.

The Chief reacted before the drone could, his leg snapping out and pulverizing its head against its cover. He then leapt forwards and ducked low to avoid a Biotic blast courtesy of Harbinger. He shifted his weight forwards, then propelled himself at the Reaper-possessed hostile before it could react. He swept its left leg out from underneath its body, dropping it to its knee. He immediately followed up with an elbow strike to the back of its head, before leaping upwards, crushing Harbinger's throat in the process. When he came down, he shifted his right foot against his face, smearing his head across the deck.

"Man, that's brutal!" Garrus quipped, gunning down the remaining Collector.

The tunnel their platform carried through connected to several others, all of which contained their own pipes snaking across the ceiling.

"It looks like there are more of those…processing rooms," said Tali. "Keelah…"

"John?" Cortana suddenly said over the comm. "John!"

"I'm here," replied the Chief. The panicked tone in Cortana's voice spelled trouble.

'The tubes, they're all leading into a Reaper! That's what the Collectors have been doing, they're building a human Reaper!"

"Commander, we've got a problem," the Chief instantly called. "The pipes feed into a human Reaper."

As he said that, the platform led them into one enormous tunnel. An equally enormous chamber had been built at its end. There, the fate the Collectors had in mind for all of humanity hung in plain sight, for all to see.

"My God," whispered the Commander.

"Precisely," EDI chimed in. "It appears the Collectors processed tens of thousands of humans. Significantly more will be needed to complete the Reaper."

The Master Chief felt something akin to fear settling itself within the back of his mind. The Reaper itself was only half finished, with most of its lower body missing. It possessed two arms, complete with hands. Its chest was partially covered with metal plates. A single, red orb was lit within its chest, pulsating softly.

It was as if he looked at an insane artist's idea of what a human was meant to look like. It was twisted and wrong.

It was a mockery to everything he ever fought for.

"It's like its grinning at us," Garrus said with audible disgust. "How many more will the Collectors need?"

"Millions. Possibly more. At this point, it is impossible to know for certain."

"John," Cortana whispered over a private channel. "This thing is alive! Get. Me. Out!"

His tactical mind raced to process the situation. The Reaper hung in the center of the room, surrounded by several small platforms. Four enormous pipes were attached to its shoulders, ejecting the processed humans into its center. Those would be his priority target, as they looked the most vulnerable. The platforms around the Reaper would allow him to traverse the room when he needed to access a console.

"Where do I pull you?" He quietly asked, shouldering his weapon while EDI told Shepard, Garrus and Tali about the possible goal a human Reaper could serve.

Cortana didn't verbally respond, but she did place a waypoint on his HUD. As he expected, there was a console all the way up and to the right of the Reaper, where three platforms were connected to each other.

"Tali?" Shepard then said. "Tali, did you hear me?"

The quarian nodded absentmindedly, her stare still transfixed on the sight before her.

"Tali!"

"Ehm…yes. A few minutes ago, Cortana transferred a virus to my omni-tool that will cause a massive power surge at the main conduit. It will overload the mass effect core and rip the entire base apart."

"How long?"

"Ten minutes."

The Chief hoped those were actual ten minutes, and not the wildcat destabilized minutes. "Commander. I need to pull Cortana from the system. I will have to traverse the Reaper to reach the console."

He ignored the shocked stares Garrus and Tali shot his way, and focused on the Commander. She nodded, understanding. "Sure. Go for it. " Then, through the commlink, she said, "Shepard to rear guard! The core is rigged to blow in ten minutes! Get your asses back to the ship, stat!"

"Copy that, Commander," replied Miranda. "Grunt, Zaeed, focus on the right flank!"

"I hope they will be alright," Tali tentatively said when Shepard cut the line.

"If there's one thing Miranda knows, it's bossing people around," Garrus reassured her. "She'll be fine."

The Master Chief glanced around. Looking for the best way to go about this. He spotted a bundle of cables to the far left, within jumping distance. From there, he could climb his way up to the Reaper's arm. Getting to that console would be easy enough from there.

He just hoped it wouldn't activate in the midst of his maneuver.

As he prepared for his run-up, he heard his comm burst with static.

"Uhh, Commander? I've got an incoming signal from The Illusive Man," Joker suddenly said through the comm. "EDI's patching it through."

The Chief leapt, his arms stretching out towards the cables. He missed the first one, but managed to catch a hold on the second. His gauntlet slipped into place and he swung himself upwards, making a grab for the second one. He felt exposed, with his back turned to the cavernous chamber as well as the Reaper, and glanced over his shoulder to see if his six was still secured.

Garrus' omni-tool buzzed and he took a step towards Shepard. He tapped in a command to accept the incoming call, after which the holographic representation of the Illusive Man appeared.

"Shepard. You've done the impossible!" He started.

John knew he had to stay focused. If he fell, he would be mission ineffective. He would have to trust Shepard to handle this.

But he did pay rapt attention to their conversation, even as he continued climbing up along the wall.

"I'm just getting started," Jane replied without looking away from Tali as the quarian started transmitting the virus into the Collector systems. "This base is ten minutes from extinction."

Her voice was cold and hard, which made it all the more surprising what the head of Cerberus next said. "Wait. I have a better option. I'm looking at the schematics EDI uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors, but leave the machinery and technology intact!"

John considered that. He performed such orders dozens of times before; purge the remaining Covenant and allow the UNSC to capture their equipment intact. But the Covenant technology never brainwashed the people that wanted to use them.

"This is our chance, Shepard. They were building a Reaper! That knowledge – that framework – could save us!"

"They were liquefying people, turning them into something horrible, we can't use that!" Shepard snapped, turning around to face him. "We have to destroy that, or we risk becoming just like them!"

"Shepard, please, don't be shortsighted!" He continued. His voice had a pleading edge to it. "Humanity needs this!"

Shepard switched gears. When she spoke to the Illusive Man, her voice was soft and emphatic, as if she were speaking to a close friend. "Listen to me. If you don't want to tell me your name, that's fine. But you need to listen to me. Humanity is just getting started. We've got the Covenant, the UNSC and even the UNSC's own Precursor species taking notice of our community. They're like giants in a playground, especially the Covenant and the Precursor species. The Covenant laid waste to the Quarian Flotilla because of one piece of tech they uncovered. What do you think will happen when they realize our humanity stole a base full of Reaper tech? What will they do to us?"

"But we don't know what information is buried here! We can't destroy it!"

"We can, and we must," Shepard calmly continued. "I know something reached out to you. I think I know where you got those scars. That same thing reached out to us as well. Believe me, neither the Covenant, nor the UNSC or it will take kindly to us taking this base. You claim you have humanity's best interests in mind."

"I do! My goal is to save humanity from the Reapers, no matter what the cost!"

"Then let it live," insisted Shepard. "Save humanity from the others first. Bury this base. Let it go, and prove to the other factions that our humanity is worth saving."

The Chief pulled himself up at the pipe, placed his boots against the wall and leapt off, barely managing to grab a hold of the outreached arm of the Reaper. He didn't hear the Illusive Man respond, but he did hear Shepard say, "Thank you."

Crisis averted.

"I honestly thought he was going to stab us in the back at this point," Garrus proclaimed. "Masterfully done, Shepard."

"I meant every word," she replied. "I won't let fear compromise who I am. Besides; we need him at our side. We can't fight the asari without him."

"Now that's – "

The Master Chief was about to shimmy along the arm to the main torso of the Reaper when a tremor ran through its structure.

Then, the abomination let out something akin to a groan.

John looked up at its face, only to see that the Reaper's eyes were now filled with fire and light. He immediately scrambled for its chest, just barely vacating its arm when the Reaper pulled it free from its constraints, organic matter spewing from the detached cables.

"Commander, I ran into a problem," the Chief called into the comm.

"Yeah, no shit!" Yelled back Shepard. "Get Cortana out of there, quickly!"

John vaulted up from the Reaper's chest, grabbing a hold of its other arm before it could pull that one free too. He heaved himself up, no longer bothered by the risks of traversing the mechanical horror with haste. He ran along its metal arm even as the Reaper slammed the other one into the far wall.

"Did you finish, Tali?" Shepard exclaimed, her team having dove out of the way just in time.

"Yes! Ten minutes and counting!" Yelled back the quarian. "Master Chief, we have to leave!"

That was easier said than done. Even as the Chief traversed the Reaper's arm to get to the console, he saw that its last attack wrecked the entrance way. Rubble had fallen down and buried the passageway they came from, leaving them without an exit.

It tore its other arm free just as the Chief vaulted for the platform. His support fell away as he leapt, and he felt his fingertips scrape over the metal edge.

His fingers hooked on the frame. His full weight came to sudden stop and he felt his elbow joint creak. He craned his head and saw that Shepard had the Reaper's undivided attention. It leant towards her, mechanical groans reverberating through the room. Then, the central core in its chest flared with light and a beam of yellow-red energy washed over the platforms.

The Master Chief pulled himself up and pulled the chip from his helmet. He quickly searched the console for the opening Cortana needed and found it. He pressed the chip against it, braced himself when the platform shook violently, and waited until the chip fabricated a connection.

He felt the familiar sensation of heat flushing into the back of his mind, then something brushing against his consciousness.

"That thing was flooding the systems," Cortana gasped, panic lingering on the edge of her voice. "It was like…I couldn't…I couldn't…"

"Hold on," he replied. He saw that the Reaper was holding on to the observation deck using only its hands. Enough firepower could dislodge it. Make it fall and render it combat inefficient. "Let's rendezvous with Shepard first."

"How?" Cortana shakily asked. "There is a R-Reaper in the way."

"The same way I came here," he dryly replied. He took several steps back, then took a leaping sprint off the platform. He heard Cortana cry out in alarm, but paid her no mind.

He came to a rough halt at the back of the Reaper, somewhere where a human's lower ribs would be located. The abomination didn't even feel the Spartan clutching onto its exposed rib, however, and fired its energy weapon at Shepard again.

The Commander wouldn't be hit by something like that, but Garrus and Tali were exposed and vulnerable. He had to hurry.

The Spartan started climbing his way up along the Reaper's back, holding on to the protrusions coming from its mechanical spine to brace himself. "Cortana? Any plans?"

"Y-Yeah. The mass effect core was being constructed in its chest. I was able to take a quick glance at its internal structure before it…"

"Tell that to the Commander. She's got the Fuel Rod."

"Right. On it."

Acutely aware of the frantic cries and cursed from his teammates, the thunderous noises of the Reaper's movements and the heat coming from its central energy core, the Master Chief fell back to his training to see him through. He forced the external stimuli out of his mind, focusing himself at one step at a time.

Climb to the top of the Reaper. Wait for an opportune moment. Land on the observation platform without endangering friendlies.

John accomplished his goals as quickly as possible. However, one particular cry over the comm shook him from his focus.

"Shepard, it's looking at you, run!"

He had just landed on the platform, there was no time to act. He saw Shepard brace herself, the Fuel Rod Cannon resting on her shoulder, as the Reaper opened fire.

There was a flash of green light, blended in with a reddish-blue flare of Biotic energy. The energy weapon swept across the platform, scraping a molten trench into its surface.

A split-second later, the Fuel Rod slammed into its eye. The power and heat to blast through almost anything detonated its eye cavity, ripping apart it's entire eye and warping the metal around it.

"Shepard!" Yelled the Chief.

Cursing a storm under her breath, the Commander crawled back to her feet several meters away from the impact point. She cradled her left arm, which was seared badly. Her armour seemed battered and charred, but she was still in one piece.

And she still had the Fuel Rod.

"Only a few shots left," she grimly said. "Let's make them count."

Neither the Chief nor the Commander moved as the Reaper repositioned itself. It spotted the two of them and glared at them with its remaining eyes. A low, menacing growl emanated from its body.

And its gaping chest cavity was fully exposed.

The Master Chief braced himself, ready to put himself between it and the Commander if it fired.

The energy within the Reaper's mouth flared bright as it prepared to fire. The Chief tensed up…

And Shepard fired.

The explosive Fuel Rods detonated within its chest cavity. Its bright, yellowish core turned a sickening green as the radioactive projectiles melted through its insides. The liquid that made up its core vaporized in an instant, explosively expanding throughout the Reaper and wrecking its insides.

It threw its head back in a pained roar, its energy weapon going wide. Explosions and plumes of fire burst from its chest.

"You did it!" Shouted Tali. "You killed a Reaper!"

"Ehm…we might want to run," Cortana said.

The Chief saw it too. A hundred tons of metal was about to come falling down on them. The Reaper would shatter the entire deck and crush anyone standing on it.

"Move," John snapped, turning to the quarian and shoving her. "Get clear!"

"Run!" Exclaimed Shepard, turning and dragging Garrus with her. The four of them just managed to break into a flat sprint when the entirety of the Reaper came crashing down on them. The ground under their feet trembled and quaked as the massive structure crashed into the platform, which groaned in protest.

The shaking was so savage that the Chief had to stop and crouch down to avoid falling over. He wrapped an arm around Tali's slender waist and pulled her close, protecting her from the explosion of shrapnel and heat that spewed forth from the Reaper.

The sheer mass of the thing caused the platform to tilt. Tali uttered a cry of fear as she slipped from, underneath the Chief's arm. With nothing to hold onto, there was no way she could arrest her fall.

John didn't hesitate a moment. He let go of the surface and slid after her. He tugged his arms in, forcing himself to pick up speed.

He came within inches of her hand. He stretched his arm, but the chasm was seconds away.

Tali screamed as she plunged over the edge. John lunged for her, grabbing her wrist so tightly he could have fractured it. At that moment, he didn't care. He slammed his gauntlet into the surface, slowing down his movement until he too came to a rough stop.

"Keelah, don't let go! Please!" Cried out Tali.

Below them, the human Reaper detonated. The Chief flexed his muscles and pulled the girl upwards. She clung to him tightly, her life depending on how solid her grip was. She was just in time, too, as the concussive shockwaves of the Reaper's explosion violently threw the platform upwards.

Don't let her go.

Vaguely aware of Johnson's words echoing in the back of his mind, the Chief held on to Tali as he rolled down the slope. He landed on his back, creating a sizable dent in the already-wrecked platform.

Blue static washed over his vision as Cortana screamed. A jolt of pain stabbed through his head and he felt his muscles cramp up involuntarily.

"Cortana?" He spoke through gritted teeth.

She didn't answer. At least, not coherently. She screamed vulgarities at him, at the Reapers, at herself. Images flashed in front of his eyes like he was back on Earth.

There was nothing he could do. His vision was obscured, his senses scrambled. He could only feel the platform underneath him falling away, then the sickening lurch of freefall. He slammed into the platform again a second or two later, sooner than expected.

A voice cut through the static. It was Jane. She shouted at him to move, to get clear, but he couldn't see where he needed to go. All he could do was come to a clumsy stand, and brace himself for another fall.

Something heavy struck the platform he stood on. Comprehension dawned on him and he just barely managed to bring his arms over his head to protect himself, before something heavy slammed against him and everything went dark.

~0~


Sergeant Major Johnson had to admit that a firefight that didn't result in permanent mutilation when you got hit was very refreshing every once in a while. Endless Collector bastards streamed into the room and were met with endless bullets and plasma.

Even better; accompanying him on this honest-to-good turkey shoot were some damn fine combatants. He didn't yet memorize all their names, but he knew them by their species and their fighting styles, none of which had disappointed him yet.

"More hostiles coming in from the left," announced the tooth fairy, enveloping herself in a blue aura and slapping some poor bastard on his ass with her Biotics. She proceeded to calmly slot the bug with a sustained barrage of SMG fire, before overloading the shields of another one.

Johnson had to admit, she was cold as ice. He saw her duck low to avoid a burst of return fire, before calmly lobbing some sort of EMP grenade over her head, stunning the few shielded Collectors who attempted to rush her position.

"Come on, you ugly little…" he growled, lining up his sights on another bastard entering the room. He calmly pulled the trigger and sent a 9.5mm round through its head. He directed his fire wherever Lawson needed them to concentrate their firepower, but it became very obvious very fast that they couldn't hold this position.

"We need to break through!" Cried out Taylor.

"The rendezvous point is through there," replied the asari, straining under enemy fire to sustain her Biotic barrier.

"Then we gotta fucking hurry!" Snapped the bald convict woman, tearing a Collector in two with her own Biotic powers.

Johnson eyed the tactical situation, scowling. There were up two twenty of the bastards dug in in front of the passageway. Cover aplenty. They had to blast their way through with violence.

"Gonna need some heavy firepower to get through," the Sergeant Major barked at Lawson. "Grenades first, space magic second!"

She shot him an annoyed look, but then nodded, seeing what he meant. "Grunt, time to show the Collectors that your gun's bigger than theirs!"

"Got it!" The krogan gleefully replied, before raising to huis full length and shouldering the Fuel Rod Cannon with ease. Bullets pinged off his armour as the enemy shifted their fire to target him, but they couldn't whittle him down fast enough to keep him from turning their position into glass and smithereens.

Three green blobs of destructive energy detonated in the midst of the Collectors. Johnson felt the heat all the way from his position and leapt to his feet.

"Charge!" He shouted, leaping over his cover and firing several bursts to force the enemy down. As the robot and the assassin both went to work with their respective sniper rifles, Johnson pulled a grenade from his pocket and pulled the pin. He tossed it at the thickest formation of Collectors and was rewarded with a mighty loud bang.

It rained limbs and guts and he felt the surviving aliens score a few hits on his chest, but it was nothing his hardsuit couldn't handle. He smirked, emptied his Battle Rifle and slung it again, before pulling out his sidearm,

"Escuse me, passing through," he barked, shooting three Collectors in their oversized domes in quick succession. "Bip, bap, bam!"

The bam went unheard as the rest of the squad followed suit, shredding the stragglers with concentrated Biotic and Tech attacks. Before soon, they overwhelmed the Collector forces, and crossed the threshold to another long walkway.

"Joker to assault team!" The voice of the cripple pilot came through the comm. "We're in position, ready to pick you up! Sending coordinates now."

"Those coordinates are almost half a mile away!" Cried out Lawson. "There are still Collectors in these tunnels!"

"EDI looked all over the place, it's the only way!" Shot back Joker.

Avery supposed that the team simply had to hustle, then. Still cursing under her breath, tooth fairy led them through the dark tunnels and enormous rooms towards the ship's coordinates. She hadn't been lying when she said that the place was still hot; the station was crawling with the damn things.

It was a good thing that the Chief and him flushed the big guys out, otherwise this push could have gone bad. As it was, it was already plenty ugly.

"Warning. Primary kinetic barriers down," reported the robot. Geth.

Johnson took a moment to gun down a Collector mid-flight, then pushed to the front. There was little cover in this particular hallway and the geth was taking the brunt of it.

That was the problem with all that fancy shields and body armour! Nobody appreciated good cover anymore! It conditioned soldiers to open fire instead of duck. When their shields and fancy suit failed them, they were screwed!

Johnson knelt down on one knee and put down some precision covering fire, allowing the others of the team to come to the robot's aim. The girl with the hood rushed towards the robot, which had several holes struck in its body. Hydraulic white liquid seeped from the holes. It held its shotgun in one arm, methodically aiming and firing at any Collector that attempted to rush it.

Avery had to admit, that was impressive.

"Attempting an overclock of redundant barriers," stated the geth as the girl tried to get it back on its feet,

"Come on Legion," she said. "Geth don't need organs, right?"

"We need to keep moving," ordered Lawson. "Grunt, Zaeed, get in there!"

The krogan yelled a challenge to the Collector forces dug in around them. His shotgun boomed as he charged them head-on.

Zaeed, the scarred merc, helped the hooded girl get the geth back on its feet. It kept firing despite its damage, not even flinching as more rounds struck its synthetic body.

Still struggling under the heavy volume of enemy fire, the team continued. The asari spearheaded the charge, enveloping herself in a corona of blue energy that shrugged off even the heaviest weapons the Collectors brought to bear. She was a sight to behold, slapping the Collectors with Biotic attacks that were so powerful that they died where they landed.

But Biotic powerhouse or not, there were still dozens of vectors where the enemy fired from. The soldier, Jacob, cried out as he caught a round in his abdomen. Johnson whirled around and saw the man crash to the ground, clutching his stomach with both hands.

"Damnit," grumbled the Sergeant Major. He drew his sidearm and fired several shots at the bugs that were taking aim at him, forcing them back into their cover. "You call that firing? My dead grandmother can shoot better than you can!" He shouted, quickly striding towards the fallen soldier and hauling him back on his feet.

The doctor, Mordin, appeared out of nowhere to set two Collectors on fire, before firing some sort of dart into the face of a third, downing that one as well.

"Finally decided! Inflammable!" He called.

The good doctor needed some work on his one-liners, but the support was welcome. Jacob pressed a bloodied plasma rifle into Johnson's hands, before drawing his own pistol.

"Good man," said Johnson, taking the rifle. He understood the message.

Despite heavy resistance pouring in from both elevated sides of the passageway, the ground team fought their way through. The enemy's ambush was not a complete failure however, as the bald woman who swore like two Marines caught a burst that hit her in her arm. She cursed as she staggered against the leftmost wall, having dropped her shotgun.

"Damnable woman," grumbled the krogan. He too caught a burst of fire on his arm, but he proceeded to give zero fucks and rushed towards his wounded comrade, unceremoniously swinging her over his shoulder and running towards the exit ahead.

"Let me go you overgrown fucking frog!" The woman shouted, banging against the krogan's back with her good arm.

"Nobody left behind!" Replied Lawson. "Grunt, set her down where she's safe!"

"Enemy particle rifles!" Warned Zaeed.

"I see them," the green-skinned alien calmly replied over the comm. The hostiles that the mercenary pointed out were about to open fire when someone scored the cleanest headshots Johnson had ever seen. The first Collector slumped over, a small hole having been drilled through the side of its head. A moment later, the same fate befell the second Collector, taken out from the same direction.

Johnson wasn't sure where the assassin had been when he pulled off those shots, but that was some solid shooting.

The killzone-tunnel finally ended when the party barreled through the door, narrowly escaping the ambush. It led through a small, round room into another walkway. From there, according to Lawson, they would reach the rendezvous point.

But the injuries just kept stacking up. Another wave of those blue zombies charged their way, screaming and moaning. The Biotics in the team opened up, but there were so many of the bastards that at least half of them broke through, turning what should have been a turkey shoot into a frantic, close quarters nightmare.

Johnson pulled out his knife and pistol, wielding them as they taught him all those years ago. He shot three of the hostiles in the face before a fourth and a fifth came into melee range. The Husk leapt at him and Johnson struck, stepping sideways and burying the knife up to its hilt in the creature's throat.

He immediately pulled the knife free, kicked the thing to the ground and punched the next Husk in the face. The reanimated corpse stumbled backwards, groaning lamely, and was about to lunge when Johnson struck it with his knee.

The knee strike, powered by muscles that spent years on the battlefield hauling equipment and kicking ass, impacted with enough force to shred and tear whatever tech kept the Husk going. It slumped to the ground and Johnson shot it in the head for good measure.

"Come on!" Snarled the Sergeant Major. "Who's next?"

Most of the team seemed well-versed in close quarters combat. The exception, however, was the hooded girl – Kasumi – who cried out as two Husks leapt for her.

With everyone else occupied, Johnson knew he had his job cut out for him. He took three large strides and grabbed the first Husk by its neck. Wrapping his fingers around its jaw, he jerked the zombie's head sideways, shattering its vertebrae. The thing slumped to the ground, allowing Kasumi to bury her own blade into the other Husk's forehead. She kicked the thing off of her, then struggled to get back to her feet.

Johnson grabbed her by her elbow and hauled her up, but she cried out in pain when he did so. He frowned, then gently pulled her arm out of the way.

Dark blood was welling up underneath her bodysuit, staining her side.

"That's why you call it in if you get hit!" Johnson told her. "Now come, before I need to carry you outta here!"

"I wouldn't even mind that," she muttered in return, deftly reloading her gun.

The rest of the Husks were dealt with swiftly. The asari threw three of them against the wall of the other side of the room with enough force to break their limbs off, the pale human boy decapitated one with his sword and crushed another one's head with his Biotics and the krogan, still carrying the bald woman, crushed the last Husk underneath his massive boot.

Johnson nodded. All was well in his kingdom.

"Down the tunnel!" Ordered Lawson. "Joker will be here any minute!"

They double-timed it through the tunnel into a wide, open area, devoid of cover. Johnson knew that his suit could take a few hits before it buckled, and he decided to place himself near the entrance, where he could intercept the enemy pursuers as the tunnel funneled them into his sights.

The krogan placed his wounded teammate down at the far end of the canyon, before joining Johnson at his spot. Lawson and Legion joined them too, while the rest of the wounded teammates stayed back.

The asari took a deep breath to steady herself. She looked pale. Johnson assumed she wasn't meant to look pale.

"Don't let them through!" Ordered Lawson. "Give them everything we've got!"

For the first time in Johnson's long, long memory of war, humanity's side had the alien's side outgunned technology wise. The feeble Collector shields and carapaces couldn't protect them against five plasma rifles aimed their way. The Covenant weapons simply burned through their ranks, chewing off limbs and heads with single hits. Before soon, the air smelled like barbecued meat and ozone.

"Haha! Take that!" Barked Johnson. "You will not fuck humanity! Because, by god, we will fuck you!"

That was when the Normandy soared overhead, opening its main hangar bay and turning to face away from the landing zone.

Johnson swore that every single crewmember of the ship stood in the hangar bay, armed to the teeth with whatever weapons they got their hands on. The cook, the navigators, the Yeoman, everybody was there to mess these alien SOBs up. It was a sight to behold.

"Joker to ground party, you called us?" The pilot cheekily said.

He was no Echo-419, but he would do.

"Master Chief," Johnson barked into his comm even as he backed away from the opening, fire at the pursuers. "We're good to go! Shepard? We can go pick you up!"

There was no response.

~0~


The crushing weight of solid metal pressed down on her hard, and she struggled to breathe. The pain that stabbed through her torso kept her from slipping into unconsciousness, and she slowly pushed herself up. Whatever was pinning her down was heavy, however, and she grunted with the effort.

After a minute, she managed to lift the rubble up high enough that she could crawl out. She craned her neck, rolled her shoulders and looked around, searching for her friends.

"Garrus?" She whispered over the comm. "Can you hear me?"

There was a long and terrifying pause. But then, finally, "Shepard? I hear you."

She uttered s sigh of relief. "Are you okay? Is Tali with you?"

"I haven't seen her, no," he said with a muzzled voice. "Gah…though I can't really see anything for that matter."

Shepard looked around again. "I don't see you. Can you reach your omni-tool?"

There was a pause. "Let's just say I won't be reaching anything below my face for a while."

"Got it. Cortana? Any clue?"

There was no response.

"Cortana?" Repeated Shepard. "Anyone?"

She waited another few seconds, but the AI stayed quiet. That meant trouble.

"Garrus, I need you to try and move. I'll find you."

"Got it. Ah…a moment."

A pile of rock and metal somewhere to her left started shifting. She quickly darted towards it and started moving the heaviest pieces of debris away. In no time at all, Garrus had enough space to push himself up on all fours, forcefully moving the last pieces of debris.

Shepard quickly helped him up. She felt her shoulders burn and ache in protest, but ignored it for now. "Are you okay?"

Garrus removed a few pieces of shrapnel that managed to pierce through his armour. "Nothing serious. Let's grab Tali and the Chief and get out while we can."

"Shepard? Commander, you there? Come in Shepard, don't do this to me!"

"I read you, Joker," replied Jane. "I found Garrus. I'm still looking for Tali and the Chief. Did the rest make it okay?"

"Uh, couple of wounded. Mordin is working overtime. But hey, everyone's alive! How far we've come since the first time we encountered the Collectors."

"Hold tight, we're coming as soon as we can," she tersely said. Then, she killed the comm and looked around for any sign of the rest. "Tali? Where are you?"

A small, feeble voice cried out just up ahead. Jane didn't at all like the way the cry sounded and hasted towards her friend's position, dreading what she would find there.

"Tali? Say something!" Garrus pressed, following Shepard towards the direction of Tali's voice.

Tali's position was hard to miss. She lay slumped against a large rock, her legs covered by a thick metal plate. Her visor was cracked, and a small trail of blood trickled from her chest.

"Shit," Shepard muttered under her breath. She squatted down next to the young engineer and grabbed a hold of the plate. "I got you, I got you," she soothingly told the young engineer. "Are you hurt?"

"M-My c-c-chest," muttered Tali. "A-a-a-and my leg. It hurts…"

"This is going to hurt," Shepard said. "Ready?"

Tali nodded weakly.

Shepard heaved the metal plate up and threw it to the side, doing her best to ignore Tali's sudden scream. "Garrus, medi-gel. Tali, your visor is cracked."

"I know," she muttered, her voice almost pleading. "Where is Chief? Can you see him?"

"Chief?" Garrus said, applying a royal amount of medi-gel. "He was with you?"

"H-he shielded me from the d-debris, but h-h-he got hit hard," Tali said through gritted teeth. She clutched her leg with both hands, visibly shaking from the pain.

Jane took a deep breath. Images of John suffering from some form of deliberating injury flashed through her mind. After everything he did for them…no, she couldn't think like that. He was tough as nails; he'd pull through. "Garrus, you've got compatible meds. Give her a painkiller; she'll need it."

Garrus nodded, understanding what she needed. "I'm going to take care of you now, Tali. Where do I inject?"

As Tali shakily instructed him where to find the injection port, Shepard struggled to keep calm.

"Chief?" She shouted. "Chief, where are you?"\

There was only silence. His MJOLNIR could pick up a whisper in a storm. There was no way he couldn't hear her.

Her treacherous mind instantly drew its conclusions. Shepard stood up and looked around, frantic to find the Spartan. "John? John!"

She refused to accept that he was gone. There was just no way.

"EDI, I need an immediate scan of my surroundings!"

"Of course, Commander. Scanning for short-range frequencies and tight-range transmissions."

It occurred to Shepard that John's suit would probably spoof any form of radar. The man ran more black operations than with his siblings than Kirrahe's team combined. "Try the signature of his fusion pack, or his biometers – anything!"

"Not to push you or anything Shepard, but the countdown is still going," Joker nervously informed her. "Grab your guy and get out of there."

"Six minutes and counting," added EDI.

Shit. Shit. "Cortana, now would be an excellent time to make good on that promise you made!" Yelled Shepard. She surrounded herself in field of dark energy and started ripping apart the nearest piles of debris manually, Biotic overtaxing be damned.

"Tali is stable!" Garrus yelled from his own position. "She's got a broken leg, but she'll make it!"

Shepard took a moment to recollect herself. Six minutes until this entire place went up in flames. It'd take them a while to get back to the Normandy. Even if they found the Chief, there was no guarantee they could patch him up in time. Even worse, it would take two really tough krogan to carry him out.

"Garrus, take Tali and get back to the ship," she ordered.

"Uhm…what?"

"You heard me! There's no time. Get back to the Normandy."

"I'm not going to leave you!" Garrus stubbornly replied. "Not after everything we've been through!"

"Don't argue with me on this! I'm not going to risk your lives either."

She could feel the turian leveling a glare at her. "After I bring Tali to safety, I'm coming right back!"

Oh, you stubborn bastard…"No time to argue! Go!"

After that, she continued searching through the debris. Adrenaline flooded her system, burning the exhaustion from her limbs and staving off the fatigue. She left him once before, she wouldn't do so again.

~0~


Darkness pressed down on him from all sides. He was floating in a never-never land between consciousness and unconsciousness. Vaguely, he was aware of the sound of water dripping somewhere close by.

There was no pain. Images flashed in front of his eyes. He saw Daisy-023, sitting next to the burnt-out skeleton of a Pelican dropship. The surroundings had been torn asunder by war. The asphalt was bubbling and melting. Buildings were on fire and overhead, Covenant ships were slowly entering the atmosphere.

"Hello John," she spoke. She didn't wear her helmet, so her shoulder-length hair freely flowed in the winds kicked up by the descending warships. Her eyes – large and grey – were filled with tears. She held her teddy bear chain her left gauntlet. It was stained with soot and ash.

"I'm sorry," whispered John. "For coming too late."

Daisy shook her head. "There was nothing you could do. Remember how hard you ran?"

"It wasn't fast enough."

The key chain started to slip from between her fingers. "You crossed fifty miles on foot. You still came hours too late."

John knelt down in front of her. He caught the little bear before it could fall.

"Nothing goes the way we want it to," Daisy quietly continued. "Did you do it? Did you save humanity?"

John quietly shook his head.

A weak smile played over Daisy's lips. "Then get to it, Spartan."

His surroundings started to blur. He didn't know why, but the thought of leaving this place filled him with regret. It weighed down on him heavily, like he was about to lose her all over again.

But she was right. Dead soldiers didn't dream. He was still alive…and someone was probably looking for him.


~0~

Dark red energy coalesced around Jane's fist as she tore another pile of rocks to pieces. Biotic fatigue pressed own on her hard, manifesting in a thunderous headache. She expended a lot of energy when she dodged the Reaper's last shot. She broke her own record by a full meter, and it had cost her dearly.

As she crushed the rocks into nothingness, she felt nothing like the usual vibrations tingling around her arm. Now, a sharp pain rippled along her arms.

But she didn't dare to let up. She was close now – she knew it. EDI had calculated how far John could have fallen based on Tali's prediction. There were only three likable spots left.

"Come on," she breathed, setting aside her exhaustion. "Come on…"

She lifted another plate of metal and felt like her heart skipped a beat. There, buried underneath half a wrecked metal platform, lay the Master Chief.

It was the most wonderful sight she ever saw. She hurried to his side, wondering what the fuck happened to him. How could the fall cripple Tali, but leave him completely unconscious? And why didn't Cortana say something?

"John! Can you hear me? John! Wake up!"

The Spartan had taken a very nasty hit. Shepard felt a cold pit drop into her stomach when she saw that his visor was caked with something dark from the inside. His chest plate was cracked, and every now and then a crackle of energy sprang across the outer layer of his MJOLNIR

Jane closed her eyes and sighed. She thought she knew what happened. Carefully she removed the rubble that pinned him to the ground, then enveloped him with a field of dark energy. Without his energy shields to protect him, his suit was somewhat vulnerable to the mass-changing effects of Biotics. It still took a considerable amount of energy however. It was almost as if his suit was composed of materials that resisted Biotic energy. It was very grating.

"Get up Spartan," growled Jane. "I need you!"

The tips of his fingers twitched. Slowly, one of his gauntlets clenched. Then, his visor settled on her.

She caught movement in her peripheral vision. Seeker Swarms, and lots of them. And if that wasn't bad enough, they were accompanied by a deep, guttural voice.

"HUMAN. YOU HAVE CHANGED NOTHING."

Fuck me.

"...not enough time…"Croaked the Spartan, his voice sounding horribly wet and raspy.

"Don't you even dare to think about that," Shepard bit at him. "Can you stand?"

He looked down at his legs, now freed from the debris. With agonizing slowness, he pulled his legs towards his torso.

"YOUR SPECIES HAS THE ATTENTION OF THOSE INFINTIELY YOUR GREATER."

Shepard surrounded herself with a corona of dark energy powerful enough to keep the Seeker Swarms from harming her. She had to remind herself that John's suit protected him against the Swarms as well.

The Spartan rolled to his side and planted his hands underneath, before slowly crawling to an upright position.

"YOUT ANCIENT CARETAKERS ARE GONE. THAT WHICH YOU KNOW AS REAPERS WILL BE YOUR SALVATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION."

Shepard grabbed him by his shoulder and helped him back on his feet. She thrust her pistol in his hands and threw down a Singularity field to keep those Swarms suppressed.

The ground shook under their feet. There wasn't much time left.

John stumbled and swayed, but stayed upright. He readied the pistol.

"Normandy to Shepard. We have you on our sensors. Approximately two minutes before the core overloads. We are close by. Follow the ramp downwards and we will pick you up."

"Come on! Move!" Shouted Shepard. "Our ride is waiting!"

Battered, burned and bleeding, the two of them still managed to pick up the pace, running down the tunnel towards a sheer drop into nothingness. Collectors pursued them as they moved and gunfire pelted them from all directions.

"There she is!" Shepard yelled when she saw the Normandy rising above the chasm, drifting as close to the edge as was possible without shearing off the port thrusters.

They'd have to jump.

Shepard discarded her gear, knowing it would only slow her down.

"Go, go!"

She ran as hard as her injured body would let her. At the last possible moment, she kicked off and jumped for it.

Garrus and Joker stood at the entrance, arms outstretched to catch her. Time seemed to slow down. Countless rocks and metal shards fell down around her.

Garrus leaned forwards and thrust his talons towards her. She managed to catch them, just barely, and felt her body come to a jarring halt.

She didn't know who did it, or how they managed it. She only knew that someone grabbed Garrus by his waist and jerked back, hauling her in just in time for John to make the jump.

For all his augmentations and strength-enhancing circuits, he barely managed to get much farther than Shepard did.

Garrus dove towards him as the Spartan clutched the deck. "Where would Shepard and the Chief be without Vakarian?" He quipped, though his voice was trembling with the humongous effort it took to pull half a ton of Spartan inside of the deck on his own.

"Current evidence suggests Spartan-117 would fall regardless of Vakarian-Garrus aid," replied Legion, before brushing past the turian to grasp John's other waist. Together, they managed to help him onboard.

Jane could only smile with relief when she saw the door slid close behind the Spartan. They all made it. Everybody was alive.

Now to get the hell out of there.

"To the Omega-4 Relay!" She ordered. "Set a course right now!"

"The destination is pre-set. We are leaving," EDI said, even as Joker's fingers blurred across the console.

There was no time for anyone to hold onto their hats. The Normandy shot away from the Collector Base on full throttle. The readouts showed that the base detonated about ten seconds later. An enormous shockwave exploded outwards, consuming the base and everything around it.

Which might very well include the Normandy.

"Come on, come on," growled Joker. "Reaper IFF online… calculating mass and transit…come on baby!"

Shepard steadied herself against the wall, watching the shockwave slowly overtake them on the external cameras. She closed her eyes. Whatever was about to happen was now out of her control.

Someone placed their hand on her shoulder. A cold, heavy gauntlet.

"We'll make it," he quietly assured her.

She placed her hand on his. "I know."

"Shockwave impact in ten seconds," said EDI.

"Beginning approach run. Five seconds!"

The shaking of the ship intensified. John's gauntlet pressed down on her shoulder, as if he were steadying her. That man had a problem with priorities…

"Five…four…three…two…one…"

The ship lurched forwards in sudden burst of acceleration. It came to a halt just as fast as it sped up, tumbling and drifting in space.

The Normandy SR-2 had made it through the Omega-4 Relay and back.

"Mission accomplished," whispered John.

~0~


Citadel

Presidium

C-Sec Academy

A very wise man once said that sometimes, as an officer of the law, you had to keep your mouth shut and dream of better things to come. For Armando-Owen Bailey, that time had finally come.

The Matriarch walked about like she owned not just his office, but the entire damn precinct. Her entourage of asari in matching red armor patiently waited by the door, no doubt to make sure nobody would be disturbing their meeting.

Despite looping for the third time by now, the video footage of the armored creature slaughtering his Special-Responses team had burned itself into Bailey's mind the very first time he saw it. Hell, not even geth close-quarters combat units were so brutal and those damn things were made to intimidate first, hurt second, kill third!

Bailey forced himself to look into the visitor's eyes, despite how unsettling they were. "Look, Matriarch, I know that capturing this thing is important, don't get me wrong. I'd like nothing more than to drag into one of our holding cells and give my men permission to rip it apart."

"I understand that you spoke with the next of kin yourself?" Mused the Matriarch. "I cannot imagine how agonizing it must have been for you, to have to tell someone that their loved one perished under your command."

Bailey grumbled something in response.

"If it is incentive you need, I can provide it," continued the asari.

But Bailey shook his head. "Ma'am, with respect, we don't have the jurisdiction to chase after Commander Shepard. If she were to set foot here with that thing in tow, maybe. But as it is, she's a Spectre and I'm not."

The Matriarch smiled eerily. "Oh, then there is no issue! But no, before we get to that, do you remember the Sidon incident from 2165?"

Bailey scratched his head. "The AI incident? Yeah, I do. Either we went along with the heavy sanctions pushed against humanity, or we'd face war."

"Exactly. The true danger of research into Artificial Intelligence was revealed to us by the Morning War. But did you know that the Asari Republics faced a similar situation? We too eventually managed to create an AI and it too turned against us, forcing us to quarantine the entire planet before it could spread."

"I uh…did not know that, no," Bailey said, his unease starting to catch up with him. Damnit, what did she want?

"Now you might be wondering, what is the link between Artificial Intelligences and Commander Shepard?"

Bailey couldn't remember the last time his throat felt this dry. "Y-Yeah, I do."

The Matriarch gestured with her head and one of the other asari stepped forwards, activating her omni-tool. She activated a video file, playing footage from the inside of some sort of military vessel. The video was shot from the point of view of someone whose species Bailey couldn't see, but the partner seemed to be an asari. The two of them stopped dead in their tracks when a voice rang through the empty interior of the halls.

"This is UNSC AI Serial Number CTN0452-9. If are hearing this, you must have reactivated the power. That means you have about five minutes to get out of this vessel before the reactors self-destruct. If you happen to be Covenant, allow me to translate this to your dialect. Blarg blarg blarg…dead."

"How very ominous."

"Did that thing just say AI?"

"I would suggest we take our leave for now."

"Gee, you think?"

That was where the footage cut. The asari bowed to the Matriarch and resumed her position by the door.

"We have reason to believe that this creature carries with him an extraordinarily powerful Artificial Intelligence," continued the Matriarch, bearing what had to be a mocking caricature of a smile. "How cruel a twist of fate. She thwarted the plan of one Spectre working with Artificial Intelligences, only to fall for that very same temptation."

Bailey glanced at the Matriarch, uncertain. "I don't know if that constitutes proper evidence that Commander Shepard is concealing an Artificial Intelligence, but…"

"But the very thought of a human harboring an Artificial Intelligence would be enough to make the Council suspicious, yes?" Interrupted the Matriarch. "After all, humanity barely avoided a political incident when they covered up illegal AI research on Luna."

What?!

"If the Council were to agree with this notion, that Commander Shepard is concealing an illegal AI as well as working with a known terrorist organization…"

Her voice died off, and Bailey realized it was his turn to speak now. Or rather, the Matriarch acted like he had permission to speak next. "Yeah, right. Well…in theory, the Council would enforce even stricter sanctions than last time. And…and humanity wouldn't take that. Especially now. They'd go to war."

"A war they could not possibly win," continued the Matriarch. "Do you see our issue here?"

Oh, Bailey saw an issue alright. "Why go to me with this? I'm sure the Council would be…better suited to deal with these sorts of problems."

"Oh, but we did go to the Council," said Matriarch, her smile growing even larger. "And they stripped the Commander of her Spectre status."

That once sentence hit Bailey like a charging krogan. "They what-?"

"Indeed. Temporarily, of course. Now, before they turn this into a political incident between humanity and the rest of the Citadel species, the wise and esteemed Council decided to deal with this more…covertly for the moment. She will be given a chance to return to the Citadel to try and invalidate these claims. All she must do to regain her Spectre status and avoid a political incident is to proof that there is, indeed, no such Artificial Intelligence onboard her ship."

Again, she trailed off to let Bailey pick up her thoughts. It was like this was just a twisted game to her! "And while the Council prowls around her ship, you want me to take in that creature?"

"Ah, I was informed you were an understanding sort of man. Surely this would not be an issue for you? After all, you have an elaborate record of circumventing bureaucratic obstacles in your way…"

Bailey tensed up. Officially, no such record existed. Either they had one hell of a mole, or they contacted the goddamned Shadow Broker.

A thousand questions swam through his mind, but he couldn't voice them. After all, he had an obligation to his outfit and the people they served. She had him pinned and she knew it. "Lady, if you can get me an official order to arrest this creature the moment it sets foot on the Citadel, my boys will take it down as fast as they can. But until then, I see no reason to waste more– "

"Ah, such an order will come, eventually," interrupted the Matriarch. "And when it does, you will have to mobilize entire strike-teams to capture this creature. But, if you move to procure this creature the moment it appears on the Citadel, you will have a team of trained Justicars by your side. Surely this benefits us both?"

Bailey sighed and turned away. He couldn't ignore the immense combat capabilities of a team of Justicars. Taking this offer would spare the lives of dozens of good C-Sec officers…no more crying widows or weeping mothers.

"Fuck me…I'm listening."

~0~


AN: My original idea was to include the actual fallout and result of the suicide mission, but then the chapter would be 40K words or more. I feel like that would have lessened the reading experience, so we're going to have a three-parter on our hands.