The few days of travel were quite consistent for Shepard. He would drill the new arrivals in the morning, each weapon on the ship had been cleaned twice over by the time they reached Feros. Dryfire practices and testing their reflexes was something he focused heavily on as well. After each morning of training he'd cut them loose for breakfast, ordering them all back to cargo at eleven for more work each day.

Kaidan would aid Shepard in honing the Commando's biotic skills. While Kaidan was actually a biotic, he lacked the firmness that Shepard would readily apply. Sometimes Liara would come down to practice after Shepard suggested some training. Shepard wouldn't enforce it for the Doctor though, allowing her to come and go as she pleased throughout the practice, and taking a notably gentler teaching method with Liara. The Turian had shown herself to be more than skillful in her abilities so he didn't bother with honing her skills, but pushing to see what the Turians limit was. Having her arrange scattered tools on the workbench with one hand, using the other to catch the cubes that Shepard would occasionally toss towards her to make sure she was aware of her surroundings.

The non biotics wouldn't get away without work though, having them both learn the inner and outer workings of the Mako. With the help of Garrus, who seemed hesitant at first, Shepard was able to interchange between helping the Turians learn about the Mako and testing the both biotics skills. He would keep them working for an hour minimum before giving them the rest of the day.

The rest of the day he would often be busy talking with Tali or Iromak. Occasionally he would play a few games of poker in the mess with the others, but would often choose to turn to the quietness of his room. Filling out various reports and keeping track of the Alliance news, Westerlund News in particular. Every so often Tali would borrow his sketchbook to look at the drawings of the Geth she had made and elaborate on them.

In a few days time, they would be on the edge of jumping to Feros. Shepard sat in the left chair on the bridge, a cup of coffee held tight in his hand. His eyes watching the mass relay light up as another ship left. Hoping that they too would be able to get on their way soon.

Footsteps alerted him to someone approaching the room, turning the chair to see Williams approaching. Shepard gave a short nod to acknowledge her before turning back around. Williams would take the chair that belonged to Joker; the pilot took the spare time to get himself breakfast before they were to be sent through the relay. Williams flipped open a magazine that had been laying on the open panel. "You seem to enjoy drilling the new crew."

Shepard watched the relay flash again before responding. "It helps teach them they aren't on a vacation here. They don't get an easy ride just because the Council put them here."

"Mhm." Williams' tone made it evident that she wasn't exactly believing his answer, turning the chair to look at Shepard. The Commander would notice and turn to look at her with a curious expression.

"You don't believe me?" A simple shake of her head confirmed what he suspected, not bothering to look up from the article she was reading about the alliance. Raising his cup up to take a long drink of the hot coffee before speaking again. "Why?"

"You put two guards at the entrance to the core. You didn't do that when the others that came on board, despite my... requests. You did with them though, so you either don't trust them, or you don't trust the Council."

A small smirk forced its way onto his lips and he shook his head. "Well, I don't trust the Council."

The flash of the relay would catch the attention of Williams, who would watch it till the next flash. "And the new crew? Do you trust them?"

The Commander didn't answer, hesitant to say what he believed. Soon, pulling his eyes from the relay to look down the hall; making sure everyone else was out of earshot before turning his attention to the Gunnery Chief. "Do I have to trust a group of people I don't know?"

"So you don't trust them?"

He would take a moment to think, still having difficulty with outright saying he didn't trust them; even if his gut instinct told him not to. "I'm cautious, that's all."

Once again, all he got from the Gunnery was a quiet, unbelieving "Mhm."

Shepard sighed quietly before speaking up again. "What does drilling them have anything to do with trust anyways? I'm just honing their skills, not interrogating them." A quiet beeping alerted him to a message on his omni tool, not bothering to look at it yet.

"Not all of them it seems." The way Williams spoke made her sound somewhat smug. The feeling had rooted into her as Williams thought that she had figured out what he'd been doing. "You're trying to figure out why they are here through the Commando, aren't you?"

Shepard shook his head, turning his attention back to the relay to admire the bright blue flash as another ship left. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, from what I heard at least, you had been drilling her and questioning her. Especially when the Turians aren't around." Shepard would nod to confirm her suspicion, keeping his eyes on the expanse of space in front of him.

"I have, so what? Shouldn't I know their capabilities?" Pausing to take another drink from his nearly empty mug. He was simply avoiding pressing his ideas onto the Gunnery, who seemed to have the opposite on her mind.

"But why press her more when the Turians aren't around?"

Shepard spun the mug around in his hands for a moment, considering just what he should tell her. Once again, turning around to check if anyone was nearby. "You'll keep this to yourself, Gunnery?"

John received a short nod from her, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before voicing them. "Something is going on, and I believe the Commando is in on it."

"What?" Williams spoke with a tone of disbelief, her eyebrows pressing together in a mild amount of confusion as she watched him. "Like, something bad?"

The answer to her question eluded him, as he had been wondering the same thing for several days now. "I don't know, but she isn't like a regular Commando. They're tough, confident, and resilient. But most of all, they're extremely cut off, where she is much more… open."

"Open?"

John would nod, setting his now empty cup to the side. "Have you met a Commando? Or tried to talk with one?" Williams would shake her head, turning to look down the hall to make sure they were still alone.

John let a barely audible sigh escape from his lips as he sat forward, his hands folding together in front of him. "Well, they don't tend to be very friendly. Unless you already know them and are friends with them, there's a good chance that you'll be brushed aside as just an irritant to them unless they have to work with you."

"How many Commando's do you know?"

"Kaidan and I worked alongside a squad of them for a few months. They weren't friendly, but they knew how to handle a firefight."

"So... you're suspicious because she's friendly?" This only made Williams more confused, reaching up to rub the back of her neck. "You kinda sound crazy, you know that?"

John nodded as he watched the relay flash again. Starting to hope that they'd be moving along soon. "I understand that, which is why I asked you to keep it quiet."

"I understand."

"Good."

Silence would take over the bridge as Williams started to read an article out of the magazine. Shepard watched the relay till he would finally finish his coffee. Getting up to depart, stopping at the doorway before he did. "Hey, Williams."

"Yeah?" The Gunnery would swing the chair around to look at her Commander, pulling the magazine onto her lap.

"Thanks for not making any trouble for Iromak." With that he would turn and leave, giving a short nod to Joker as he passed. Chuckling lightly as he heard the pilot accuse Williams of stealing a handicapped spot.

Heading downstairs to check the message on his computer. In the Mess he passed Kaidan, Wrex and Ashley, the three of which were playing cards. John opened his door to find Tali sitting on his bed, flipping through one of Joker's magazines. Tali would look up to see John stepping inside, beginning to stand up. "Sorry, I was just looking for a bit of privacy from the others."

John would shake his head as he chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, I understand that feeling. I'm just here to check my messages then I'll be on my way." Shepard would sit in front of his computer, flicking the monitor on.

"Well this is your room John, I understand if you want some privacy." Tali would grab the magazine as she started heading towards the door. Stopping as she saw the questioning look he gave her.

"I'd much rather spend time with you rather than be alone." John would turn back to the screen in front of him, tapping through various tabs. Tali would take the seat next to his desk rather than leaving. "Have you messaged your home yet? I'm sure you've got some people worrying about you."

Tali would find a small smile forming on her lips as she watched John. "I'm sure they know that I'm fine, we are taught to take care of ourselves before leaving after all."

"Speaking of which, I never got to train you." Tali would pick up the geth fighter sitting on his desk, looking it over with a feigned curiosity. John's eyes flicking over to watch the fighter for a moment before continuing to type something out.

"You do know that I can take care of myself, right?" Tali would turn her attention to the screen for a moment to see him filling out some sort of form. Just as he was about to respond, she posed another question to him in hopes to skip the subject of her home. "What are you filling out?"

"A request to get a crew to deep clean the Fedele, it's probably considered a health hazard right now. Then a… slightly adjusted report on what happened aboard the Fedele."

"Adjusted?" Tali would lean on his desk, turning to look at him, her eyes squinted just slightly.

John would slowly nod as he continued tapping away. Her look made him quickly realize she wanted an actual explanation. "Saleon had sent out a distress signal, we responded. It was technically an alliance rescue because of that. I'll need to write a report that doesn't say I let Garrus kill Saleon."

"Why did he do that?"

John faltered on his answer, his typing slowed as he thought how to answer. "Well, you might want to ask him about that… I'll just say, Dr Saleon was not the type of person that I would have afforded any mercy for."

"I see…"

It didn't take long to find out just why Feros went quiet. The comm buoy that once had provided a link to the rest of the known regions, was now just scrap that had been blown to bits. Pressly immediately had a message sent to the next closest buoy to warn the Alliance should the Normandy not make a successful trip. Shepard would have Joker turn on the stealth system before the pilot made a slow approach to the landing pad near the colony.

The scans revealed a Geth Ship currently sitting on top of one of the buildings close to the landing pad. Finding out about the Geth ship made Tali both curious and worried. The innards of one could hold quite the valuable find, but the inherent danger from the sheer numbers of Geth made it something to be very cautious of. Tali would warn John about the risks involved when dealing with such numerous Geth; their ability to strategize alongside their reaction times would give the Geth a heavy edge in a fight.

"Then we need to take out that ship."

He said it so casually that she almost thought he hadn't heard her warnings. Shepard had already made sure everyone within his own crew was ready to move out before they touched down. The group of three Turians and an Asari were ready to move out. Vitesia, the biotic Turian would ask as to whether Shepard was going to allow them the usage of the Mako.

Shepard simply told her that it would be deployed if needed, but not until then. The biotic didn't seem pleased at his response but made no further queries. Leaving the cargo bay via the elevator, allowing Shepard the time to get himself readied up. While he double checked his armor was secured, the Turian he actually was able to tolerate spoke up from next to the Mako.

"It's nice of you to bring more like myself aboard, but you could've left out the biotic." Garrus' comment made Shepard chuckle softly under his breath. Turning to face the approaching Turian with a curious look.

"They're nothing like you, Garrus. I actually want you on the ship, the same can't be said for them." Shepard would turn back to his locker to grab his pistol and slide it into the holster on his hip. "What's wrong with a biotic? Did one break your heart? Or your bones?" There was a faint hint of curiosity in the Commander's voice as he questioned Garrus.

Garrus would let out a slow dry laugh at Shepards questions, shaking his head afterwards. "No, it's just that most biotic Turians are special forces."

"That doesn't really answer my question, Garrus. What's wrong with that?" Garrus looked around to double check that none of the new crew were still in cargo, it was just Garrus, Shepard, Williams and the two guards at the core's entrance. The only other person in earshot was Williams, who couldn't help but listen in as she worked on her weapon without the new shows breathing down her neck.

"Not to be rude Ashley, but-" Shepard put a hand up to stop Garrus, who would give a questioning look to the Commander.

"Williams won't say anything." John would turn to look over at the Gunnery, his left eyebrow raised slightly. "Will you?"

"Not a word."

"Good." Shepards gaze would once again turn to the Turian standing next to the lockers. "Garrus, please continue."

"I'm guessing you don't know much about the Turian military." Shepard shook his head as he listened to Garrus. "Well, nearly every biotic Turian is part of a cabal."

"Cabal?" John grabbed his helmet from the locker before closing it over and turning to face the Turian.

"Yeah, it's a biotic exclusive unit. I'd be surprised if the others two were biotics as well." Shepard watched Garrus as he spoke, trying to figure out just what Garrus was getting at.

"Not from what their records say, besides, the… Commando is with them as well. I still don't know why you don't like special forces."

Garrus would let a slow exhale escape from his mouth as he tried to sum it up into words. "They're almost always in groups, big ones. Ten to fifteen biotics in a single group, and in small groups or single soldier missions, they often are used as infiltrators, saboteurs, even assassins."

There were several moments of silence as Shepard thought about what had been told to him. "I see…"

"I'm not saying they're here to stop your mission, I'm saying that they probably have orders you don't know about." Garrus would grab his sniper rifle before going up the elevator to get ready to go.

Shepard sat in silence for a while as he tossed around just what Garrus had told him. Wondering if it held any true relevance or not. Occasionally Williams would turn to look at Shepard, she had already finished cleaning her weapon. Now just double checking her work.

Turian military.

Cabal.

Cabal is a subsection of the Turian military.

It didn't matter how he tried to reason it out in his mind, something about it bothered him. "Shepard?"

The sound of his name got his head to perk up, turning around to look at Williams. "Yes?"

"Are you worried?"

Her question wasn't what he had expected. Turning his head to look at the elevator as he pushed himself off the crate he'd been sitting on. Just as he was about to answer, Pressly's voice cut in over the intercom. "Commander Shepard to the CIC."

"Yeah, but that's not a new thing."

Shepard arrived at the CIC to find Vitus Stradus arguing with Pressly. Pressly stood between the Turian and one of the officers on the deck, one of the marines standing off to Pressly's left side. Shepard would let out a quiet sigh as he walked up, giving the marine a short nod to have him return to his post at the door.

Shepard didn't even get the chance to speak, Vitus turning to speak to him first. "Good, you're here, Spectre. I need access to your communications array to remain in contact with the Council." Vitus turned to point at Pressly, his mandibles twitching. "Your subordinate says that I do not."

The Commander would stare at Vitus for several long moments, his emotionless gaze remaining fixated till the Turian turned to look at Shepard. "That is correct." Shepard turned and gestured to the crew member standing at their station. "Officer Barret overlooks all incoming and outgoing communications that go through official channels. Get your omni tool linked with the ships array and you can send messages from there."

Shepard was about to head to the bridge, being stopped by the Turian who was more insistent than Shepard had thought. "These messages are for the Council, and the Council only. I can't let a-"

"Then don't send the message, in any case, it won't reach them for days without a comm buoy in the system. So messages are gonna take some time till we get another online or we hop systems."

Vitus wouldn't push it further, realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with the Commander. Shepard continued to the bridge to find Tali, Joker and Williams, Tali was giving both a thorough yet confusing talk about the Geth and the way they operated. Joker was doing his best to listen while he brought the Normandy closer to the planet. He had to do so gradually, as any amount of heat could expose the Normandy to the Geth ships' sensors.

As soon as they landed Shepard assigned Kaidan, Garrus, Wrex and the two marines that had previously been guarding the core, to keep the area outside the airlock clear. Not wanting to let the Geth get the drop on them.

He was glad to have done so, the group encountered several scouts a few minutes after exiting. John's initial plan was to pull Williams, Wrex, and Iromak with him. Much to John's dismay though,Tali had already planned on going. Insisting that she go to scour any Geth they come across.

John would eventually buckle on his position of keeping her safely aboard the ship, although he had her agree to make sure that someone was watching her back whenever she was busy dismantling a Geth. While Shepard was discussing Tali's need to use caution; The three Turians would make their exit, followed by the Asari who barely made it into the airlock before it closed.

The group of four passed by those guarding the airlock without a word. Wrex watched the Turians with a wide grin as they passed. They had nearly gotten out of sight before the voice of Kaidan shouting after them. "Hold on!"

The only one out of the group that bothered to stop on the first call though was Vaay. "Shepard says he's pulling the Commando off your squad."

Vaay said nothing, only looking back and forth between the Human and Vitesia, the other biotic. Vitus spoke up before her though. "He doesn't get to decide that."

"As Commander, he does. He has decided that he needs her help for this mission."

Vitesia now turned around, crossing her arms as she glared at Kaidan. "Then why didn't he tell us himself?" The Lieutenant was about to answer, stopping as the Commander stepped up next to him. Iromak and Tali remained near the airlock, the Quarian had already begun to pull apart some of the destroyed Geth to look for any variations or aberrations since her last encounter with them.

"Because you left without consulting me. You also didn't get your omni tool synchronized with our communications array, so I couldn't get in contact with you directly." Shepard turned his gaze to Vaay who stood between the two, confusion evident in her eyes.

"Helyt." The Commando's attention would snap to look at Shepard. He would give a short nod towards the Normandy, his eyes turning to fixate on Vitesia. "Have Officer Barret connect your tool to the Normandy, on the CIC."

Vaay would look at the biotic Turian, as if waiting for confirmation from her. Once she realized that Vitesia had no intention of disputing his order, Vaay would return to the Normandy to find the Officer. Shepard remained where he stood, his glare shifting between the three of them. "This is a human colony, where are you going?"

"We're just doing as ordered by the Council." Cavius snapped at Shepard, which only got a raised eyebrow from the Commander. While they were turning to leave, Shepard would speak again.

"Since I can't get into contact via your tool, make sure you're back on the ship by the time we're leaving. I won't bother waiting for you."

The group of Turians would leave, Shepard watching them till they were out of the docking bay. Afterwards, Iromak and Shepard would have a quiet discussion away from the general group. Williams kept an eye on Tali while she worked on one of the less broken Geth. Once Vaay returned from the Normandy, the group set out to get to the colony with Shepard leading.

John kept Tali close behind him, Iromak and Williams each took up either side of Tali as they walked. Wrex and Helyt would bring up the rear, following a few meters behind the others. They would not come across any active Geth, but did find the remaining scouts that the group of Turians had encountered. Shepard would occasionally have Iromak and Williams branch off to check different areas before they moved on.

Shepard said he was making sure no Geth were going to sneak up onto them, but Williams had a feeling it was more about the stray group wandering about. When she tried to question Iromak on what he thought, he would often deflect the question or give a vague answer. Eventually giving up on the prospect and simply following her orders.

Whether he had been looking for Geth or Turians didn't matter though. Any active Geth seemed to have been dispatched by the Turians, who were nowhere to be found.

Shepard would round a corner to see three weapons trained on him, all held by colonists with calmer demeanors than he had expected. Iromak would quickly sidestep away and pull Tali gently from their lineup of weapons. "Stop, right there." The Commander would oblige to the request. Slowly pulling his right hand away from his rifle, still holding it from the underside with the left.

"As you can see I'm no Geth, so how about you lower your weapons." Shepard could almost feel Williams breathing down the back of his neck, not knowing that she had a hand gripping the back of his armor. Ready to pull him into cover if they opened fire.

The colonists were quiet for a long minute, making Shepard wonder if they had even heard him. "I'm Commander Shepard, from the Alliance. I'm here to resolve the situation and keep you all safe." After that they would slowly, and in unison, lower their weapons. John would let a quiet breath slip from his lips, his stance relaxing as he used his right hand to motion forward.

The first colonist would step over to stand in front of the approaching Commander. Pointing back to a small building behind her. "Speak with... Fai Dan… through there. He is our leader." The woman's slow speech and awkward pauses caught Shepards attention. Stopping to look her in the eyes, noticing that she seemed to be gazing through him rather than at him.

Slowly John would raise his left hand to wave it in front of her face. Unresponsive at first, she would blink several times before her eyes tracked his hand. "What's your name, ma'am?"

The woman would drag her eyes up to look at him, lacking any discernible emotion for Shepard to read. "Greta Reynolds."

"Give me one moment Miss Reynolds." Shepard would take a couple steps back and open his omni tool. After the press of a button he began to speak into it. "Kaidan, get Chakwas ready to move to the colony. Greta Reynolds needs treatment, looks like an extreme case of shell shock. I'm guessing that more than one of these colonists will need tending to." Once Kaidan confirmed his request, Shepard would have Wrex and Helyt return to escort the doctor.

Shepard would have Williams stay with the three colonists watching the door till the Doctor arrived. Iromak went to help a colonist who seemed to be working on a pipeline, though he kept his rifle close at hand should it be needed. John and Tali continued through the building Greta had pointed them towards.

After additional direction from another colonist, Shepard would find himself speaking with Fai Dan. The Commander was considering another case of extreme shock that the leader was managing to keep himself working through. The Commander would stay with Fai Dan until Wrex and Helyt arrived with the Doctor. Giving Wrex an order to stay with Chakwas and keep her safe.

Shepard attempted to convince the leader to pull the colonists back to the Normandy till the situation was handled. Every attempt to convince the leader was met with resistance from the leader and interruptions from other colonists. Eventually he would stop trying to compel Fai Dan and gather his squad. Moving along the path Fai Dan had told Shepard so they could get to the bridge that would lead them to where the Geth ship was.

Coming upon a garage, Shepard was quite surprised to find three additional colonists that had been holding the area down. After a bit of discussion, he found that the colonists had managed to keep the Geth at bay before sealing the doors. They had remained to ensure that the door held. It took a small bit of convincing, but he would get them to open the doors to allow him to exit.

The Commander was somewhat surprised that the surviving colonists hadn't utilized the Mako sitting within the garage. It did allow him to commandeer it without taking away from their total firepower though. Williams would take up the turret, Tali taking the sensors to check for mines or incoming missiles. Iromak and Vaay sat near the rear exit hatch should they be needed to get Geth off the Mako.

Shepard had only barely pulled out of the garage when Tali spoke. "Tag, right side… friendly?" Tali would lean up to look out the window to see Vitesia standing on the side of the bridge.

"Uh… John?" Tali would look at the Commander, who was already staring at the Turian through the window.

"I see..." After a few moments he would open up a side hatch, ducking his head out the hatch to look at them. Shouting out to the biotic so she could hear him. "You aren't lost already, are you?!"

Silence was the only response he received from the Turian, who would use her Biotics to lift herself up into the building they had left. Shepard watched her go till she was out of sight, his left eyebrow raised slightly in curiosity. Soon after pulling himself back into the mako and closing the hatch. "Well, that was a nice discussion."

"Why was she there?" Tali questioned Shepard with evident curiosity, keeping her eyes on the sensors for anything incoming.

"Excellent question." Shepard would get the mako moving before posing a question. "Miss Helyt, would you care to elaborate for us?"

The Commando's head snapped up to attention as she was addressed. "What?

"What are your Turian friends doing?"

There was a pause as the Commander waited for an answer from the Asari. Iromak turned his head to look at her. Noticing several nervous ticks immediately. The rubbing of her left hands palm with right hand. Eyes that darted around the Mako instead of focusing on a single spot. Helyt would answer, even if it was with heavy hesitation. "They… don't exactly include me in what their plans are."

"They must've said something about what they're up to, not much of a reason for them to split off."

"No." Helyt would shake her head, looking down at her hands. "I just follow their orders… or, did follow their orders."

Shepard didn't try to push the Asari on the subject. Instead giving Williams a heads up on the Geth that had set up a defensive line on the bridge. A line that would've proven itself effective if they had been on foot, the high fire rate of the main gun would easily dispatch the foot soldiers. The armature variant would be able to withstand the smaller arms fire, the mass accelerator however would prove much more useful against them.

Shepard was going to roll past them without a second thought, slowing to a stop as Tali asked whether or not he'd mind letting her look the remnants over. Once John was certain the area around them was clear, he and Tali would climb out. John slipped his helmet on as he turned around to stick his head back into the Mako. "Williams, you're driving. Go make sure that the

Geth don't dig in up ahead, contact me if anything comes up. Helyt, you get on the turret, and follow the Gunnerys orders as if they were my own. Got it?"

The Commando would give him a nod as she climbed into the turret seat in the middle of the vehicle. "Yes, spectre."

Shepard would give a short nod to Iromak before pulling down the hatch to seal it, patting the back of the vehicle to let Williams know she was good to move. While the Mako rolled away, Shepard would walk over to stand next to Tali. His rifle held in hand as he looked around for any movement. Staying decently close to Tali as she went over the Geth that were intact enough for her to look through.

While looking back to where they had come from, the faintest bit of movement would catch his eye along the top of the building. Shepard wondered if the Turians were looking for something or watching him and his team.

If they're both reporting back to the Council, do the Salarians not care? Doesn't seem like them to leave evaluation on someone else's shoulders.

"John, would you mind helping me flip this over?" Tali was attempting to get to the back of a geth prime. Shepard would quickly aid her in turning over the hunk of off white metal before looking around again.

"So what are you looking for anyways?" Shepard kept shifting back and forth as Tali worked. Walking to look along one side of the bridge, then the other. Making sure nothing was going to sneak up on them.

"Do you remember that one Geth we found when picking up Doctor T'soni? The one with a synthetic muscular system?"

"I do."

"Well, I've been looking to find more of it on other types of Geth, and discern what it's purpose is. Why the Geth would incorporate it into their systems, and how they made it."

"So it's not part of the first Geth the Quarians created?"

"No, and from what I can tell so far. Its use is pretty exclusive to certain types of Geth."

The quiet clicking of a bored Turian could be heard quietly echoing throughout the building, soon stopping by Cavius cutting it off. "Is this really necessary?" Cavius spoke in a rather annoyed, but quiet tone. His back pressed against the wall of the old, crumbling building. Sunlight lighting up the old, dusty room as the ceiling had crumbled away long ago.

"Is what necessary?" Vitus was kneeling just next to a window. Using the sight on his rifle to look down the bridge, watching the Commander closely. His finger off the trigger to avoid accidentally shooting at him.

"Scoping this out, what's the point? We have our orders, why not get it done?" Cavius' impatience was a constant test of Vitus' nerves, and personal ability not to shove him off the building.

"We have orders to keep our eyes open and report back, that's it. Until otherwise, we follow the initial plan."

"Which, I thought the plan was to get rid of that which was in our way. Not sit on our asses all day thinking about it."

Vitus would groan to himself as he sat away from the window, letting his rifle lean on the windowsill. Tapping open his omni tool before reading out what it said. "Track and report movements on Feros. Will relay instructions as needed."

"So without a comm buoy, we're stuck without any instruction?"

"No." Vitus reached up to rubbing his forehead lightly. "Did you even bother reading the intel?"

"I read it!" Cavius spoke in a defensive manner, looking away as he knew it was a lie. "I was doing that last night."

"Right…" Vitus didn't even try to say otherwise, only continuing to brief him. "There's a comm station set up by the company that funds the colony. They use it for the companies' more... illicit communications. It's a lot harder for someone to track your messages if you have your own station. That's what Vitesia went to go look for."

"You mean the biotic? We should've pushed against bringing her."

Ignoring Cavius' snide comment, Vitus would grab his rifle to look along the bridge. "They're moving, following after the Mako by the looks of it."

This took a ridiculously long time to get done because life has been eventful for me. More so than I would personally like.

It may also seem like an awkward stopping point, because it is. If I wanted this chapter finished properly, it would take a lot more time. I sectioned off the rest I've been working on into the next chapter so that I can actually release something.

I fully intend to finish this writing project regardless of how long I must work at it.

Thank you for reading.