…

"Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul."

(Victor Hugo)

…

MFV Explorer, October 14th, 2:56 AM, 2184

…

I chugged down yet another cup of coffee as I watched the movement of people through the windows of the station, awaiting a response from Hackett as I spoke with Captain Mal over the bridge's communications console. I was trying to get a better idea of how the battle went to pass the time. Despite how late at night it was for me, my eyes were having no trouble staying open.

"So once the cruisers were disabled, what happened?" I asked, staring at the undefinable shapes moving back and forth. Being an internal docking bay, there wasn't much else to look at.

"The station's automated defenses opened fire by that point, damaging several of our ships. The SSV Abuja took the biggest beating out of all of us since their kinetic barriers had already been knocked out, along with two of its escort frigates, the… Antietam and Kursk, I believe." Mal explained, somehow sounding more tired than me. "Based on some of these after-action reports I've read, I think they activated the station's automated defenses to act as a distraction while they evacuated all the civilian personnel, or just the ones of high importance."

"That would explain all the soldiers the boarding teams ran into." I mused, holding my hand up to my mouth as I thought about this in greater detail. "Anything of interest happen after that?"

"Fortunately, no. Once we were determined that there were no longer any hostiles on the station, we sent in teams equipped with Terahertz Locators to double check." He replied, sounding much more interested. "So far, nothing else has occurred."

I nodded, taking in a deep breath as I stared at the floor panels for a moment.

"I just can't help but feel like something else is going on here." I remarked, rubbing my Father's ring out of nerves. "Why would they all just leave? You'd think that this station would be more important to them."

"My best guess is that they're still reeling from the beating they took above Reach, and wanted to cut potential losses. That was a major force that attacked us a few months ago. Wiping out over 75% of it likely drained a lot of money and manpower." Mal theorized, pausing for a moment before going on. "I can't imagine them wanting to risk losing their science personnel along with their military force."

"I agree, but still…" I began, but found myself unable to finish. "Never mind. I'll see you later, Mal."

"Goodbye, Sean." He finished, cutting the connection with a small pop as the line went dead.

Once more, the bridge was filled with deafening silence. I stared at the idle communications console for a few moments before taking an OSD out of my pocket and inserting it into the console. It lit up, showing my collection of music as a massive list.

"Let's see…" I said to myself, flicking through the list with my finger as I tried to find a good piece to listen to.

I lazily pressed my finger against the folder marked "SOUNDTRACKS", bringing up another list of folders. I gave the list a hard flick, sending the folders flying upwards. I closed my eyes, waiting for several seconds before pressing my finger blindly against the screen.

It landed on the "Ghost In The Shell" soundtrack, immediately playing "Chant III – Reincarnation". I could only scoff at the sheer irony, throwing myself into the chair in front of the communications console and leaning my head back as the track played.

A few minutes of listening later, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

…

MFV Explorer, October 14th, 7:10 AM, 2184

…

"Hey, wake up!" I heard as I slowly opened my eyes and found they were full of moisture.

"Ugh…" I groaned as I rubbed my eyes and took a better look. Greg was standing in front of me, wearing a hoodie and a mildly annoyed expression.

"Hey, Hackett wants to see you in the CIC." He said as he narrowed his view. "I'd kick your ass into gea-"

"Hackett's on my ship!?" I yelled out in sudden surprise an my brain finished processing his words, nearly falling out of the chair as I barely corrected my balance and stood up. "Jesus, I wish I could have gotten some warning. I'm a mess!"

Greg shrugged, giving me a neutral expression as I styled my head and facial hair with my bare hands. I attempted to smooth the wrinkles out of my button-up shirt to no avail, letting out a sigh of resignation before straightening my back up and opening the door.

"Did anything happen last night?" I asked Greg as I walked, seeing Hackett in the distance with his back turned.

"Trust me, if anything did happen you'd be one of the first people to know." He dismissed, walking alongside me.

I shook my head in annoyance, taking a deep breath as I walked into the main portion of the CIC. Hackett turned to face me with an even more sunken look to his face than usual. My best guess was that he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before.

"Sean, good to see you up and about." He greeted with a firm handshake, immediately putting his hands back behind his back. "Gregory, I'd like to speak with him in private for a few minutes."

"Yes sir." Greg nodded in agreement, quickly walking over to the elevator and punching in the floor below. As soon as the doors were closed, Hackett turned back to me.

"So, I just got off the comm with your Admirals… I had to pull a few strings, but I've secured the transfer authorization to move the lab module containing Shepard and the experimental equipment to Reach." Hackett explained, walking around the holographic map in the center of the room. "Once there, it shall be temporarily attached to one of your Orbital Defense Platforms."

"I hope they didn't give you a hard time, sir." I said, holding up one of my hands.

"They didn't want me to attach a newly secured chunk of a hostile space station to one of their giant guns, but it's safer inside the influence of those energy shields." He mused, staring up at the image of the nebula and surrounding area as I sensed a tinge of annoyance in his voice when he mentioned the ODPs.

He had a reluctant look in his eyes, one that betrayed other thoughts going through his head.

"With all due respect sir, if this is all you wanted to tell me, why would you have come to meet me in person?" I asked, looking into his eyes as he met mine and let out a sigh.

"Last night, we received a coded transmission from an unknown source." He admitted, walking back over to me and stopping six feet from me. "After deciphering it, we discovered it was from a small group of Cerberus scientists who supposedly defected during the evacuation of the station. They're hiding out on Xawin, hoping we can grant them asylum."

"Geez, this just keeps getting better and better." I scoffed as I shook my head and put my hands in my pockets. "Any idea if they're connected to this specific project?"

"No, but we do believe that their leader, a Dr. Nathan Sterling, has some connection to their biological warfare division." He answered, keeping his focus on me. "I'm sending you and two other Coalition ships there to make contact. If all goes well, they'll be taken into custody and brought back to Arcturus for further questioning."

"You're sending us?" I questioned with a mixture of confusion and worry written on my face. "Pardon me, sir, but shouldn't we be here overseeing the transfer of this lab module?"

"Son, I've got plenty of capable hands available to move the lab. I'm sending you and your team because you have more experience interacting with these types of people." He reasoned, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, the SSV Thermopylae is one of the best ships under my command, and you're already well acquainted with the MFV Idenna from what Admiral Gerrel has told me."

"Mal is going to be heading the mission?" I quipped in mild surprise, knowing that his ship classification would make him the flotilla leader.

"Indeed he will." He confirmed, giving me another stern look. "Listen, if the mission goes well… once you reach Arcturus I'll send word that you're to be supplied with some premium goods of your choosing. Food, domestic goods, maybe even some other things. I know you don't get that many luxuries living on the edge of the galaxy."

I rolled his offer around in my head for a few moments, thinking it all over before coming to a decision.

"If you're going to make us do this, at least have my wife sent home." I pleaded, locking eyes with him. "We have a child back on Reach, and I don't want to risk anything happening to both of us."

"Agreed." He nodded, offering a handshake. I accepted it with full gusto, refusing to break my eye contact with the man. "If we do this right, we might have valuable new allies in our war against Cerberus."

"We can only hope." I remarked, still not liking the situation I now found myself in.

…

MFV Explorer, October 14th, 10:11 AM, 2184

…

I stood in the hanger of my ship as two shuttles pulled in, one of them an old Batarian scout shuttle, and the other a brand new Alliance Kodiak. Captains Mal and Weir were boarding. It was a tight fit considering how small the hanger of the Explorer was, but they managed to pull it off. After they had left, we'd be getting a Mako IFV for use during our mission.

Mara would be picked up by the shuttle dropping off the Mako, then taken home by one of the quarian ships overseeing the move of the lab module.

Behind me was Greg and Lenlo, who both had their hands patiently folded behind their backs. Greg had decided to stay on our ship to help with the transfer to Arcturus, and Lenlo was joining us because he was my ship's CO. If we were going into unknown territory here, I needed everyone on my ship to be up to speed.

The shuttles landed with gentle thumps, slowly opening up and revealing the Captains. Mal didn't need any introduction, he was as good as a friend as one could possibly have in the Migrant Fleet. He was flanked by Lemm, who I was actually surprised to see again. The only unknown here was Captain Simon Weir, who came out with full dress blues and was followed by one of his men, who I guessed was either his CO or an assistant.

"Welcome aboard, everyone!" I greeted with a full smile as they approached, giving both firm handshakes as soon as they were within arm's length. "Captain Weir, it's good to meet you."

"Likewise!" He returned with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, nodding his head. "I've heard good things about you and your ship, Michaels. I look forward to seeing you and it in action."

"I think you'll like Captain Mal, he's a good friend of mine." I redirected as the two men shook hands. "Knows his crew better than any ship Captain I know."

"How do you pronounce your ship's name again?" Mal asked with genuine curiosity, focusing hard on Weir. "Thermopay?"

"Thermopylae." He corrected with the proper pronunciation, looking at both of us. "She's a good ship, named after one of the most influential battles that took place in Ancient Greece."

"The Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas and his army of seven thousand Greeks managed to hold the mountain pass against one-hundred and fifty thousand Persian soldiers for three whole days." I recalled from deep within my brain, remembering my history classes well.

"Ah, this guy knows his stuff!" Weir said out loud with gusto, giving me a friendly pat on the shoulder as he looked back to Mal. "This is a smart friend you have here, Mal!"

I could only imagine that Mal was smiling behind his helmet. Weir was friendly, almost like my Uncle Arthur from my old days. I liked his spirit.

"So, shall we get down to buissness?" Mal inquired as I nodded and we all piled into the elevator. Less than a minute later, we were all gathered in the CIC in front of the galaxy map. My whole crew was here for the briefing, leaving us with a serious atmosphere.

"So according to the data Hackett has given us, our defecting scientists are here on Xawin." I began to explain as Kirva operated the map, showing a holographic representation of the frozen planet in question. "The planet is engulfed with ice storms, meaning that if they are hiding there like they claim to be, they'd be limited to the shuttle they used to escape. The Thermopylae, call sign Lambda, and Explorer, call sign Delta, will land within four miles of the transmission, wherein our ground teams will proceed to the pickup location."

"What are we doing during all of this?" Mal asked with folded arms, knowing he wanted to have a piece of the action.

"Mal, you and the Idenna, call sign Alpha, will be our backup in case things so south down there." I stated, pointing at the 3D topographical map. "You'll cover our airspace and warn us if anything jumps into orbit or any other unidentified signals are seen near or around the surface."

"Alright, sounds reasonable." Mal nodded in agreement. "We'll be your guardian angel during this little trip, I suppose."

With that, I nodded to Weir, allowing him to say his part.

"If we are met with any hostiles, we are to immediately assess the strength of our attackers and respond accordingly. If it's a small force, we eliminate them. If it's a larger force, we retreat to our ships." Weir explained as the map displayed our ships in the planned landing zones. "If these people are serious about defecting, we will split them up into two groups for security and take them to Arcturus where Alliance Intelligence will debrief them."

"This is a dangerous situation, people. I expect you to all give it your best." I expressed as seriously as I could, looking everyone in the eyes. "We will make our jump to Xawin at eleven-hundred hours. Good luck."

With that, everyone dispersed, leaving me standing in front of the map with only Mara at my side.

"I really wish you didn't have to do this." She mused, doubt clearly written on her face.

"It'll be alright." I reassured, grasping her hand tightly as we stared at the galaxy being projected in the center of the room. "While I'm out there, I'll get you and our little girl something special."

"That sounds nice." She mournfully agreed, giving me a tight hug. "If anything happens out there, anything at all, don't take any risks that aren't necessary. I want you to remember you have a family waiting for you at home."

"There's never going to be a day where I don't remember." I promised, still holding her tight as I gently patted my hand on her back. "Give her a little extra love for me while we're gone."

"I will." She agreed, pulling away from me and picking up the bag containing the gear she had brought with her and walking into the elevator. "I love you."

"Love you too, hon." I finished as the doors closed, leaving me alone.

I stared at the doors for a few more moments, thinking of Reach for a few moments before taking a deep breath and walking back to the bridge.

I knew I'd be home soon. There was just one more job to do.

…

MFV Explorer, October 14th, 10:56 AM, 2184

…

I sat calmly in my chair on the bridge, waiting for the signal from Mal's ship for us to initiate a coordinated jump. Once in the system, we had to move fast to avoid any attention from any other potential parties. Going in without any recon was risky, but we didn't have the benefit of time.

I was donned in full combat gear, ready to run down to the hanger as soon as we were entering the atmosphere. Me, Dimitri, Dan, Lenlo, and Kirva would all be taking our new Mako onto the cold, undeveloped world while everyone else stayed on the ship and kept everything warm for our return. If everything went to plan, we'd be bringing people back with us.

I still wasn't sure what to think about these supposed "defectors." Barring the thought that it was all a trap, I felt deep reluctance to allow former Cerberus members onto my ship after everything that had happened. These people knew what they signed up for, but the occasion brought another thought to my mind...

Part of me wondered how many other scientific talents they had treated like us. Were we a special case, or did Cerberus employ many other scores of scientists, subjugating them to the same threats and demands we endured? It made it seem obvious why people would want to defect, but I knew that wasn't their whole buissness model. I was certain there were plenty of scientists who truly believed in Cerberus' ideals.

That's why caution had to be taken with these types. Anyone claiming to be an innocent scientist could be an undercover Cerberus operative.

"Sir, we've received the signal." Lenlo announced from his station, looking back at me as his console lit up.

"Link our drive to their signal and jump on their mark." I ordered as a small timer appeared in front of me. It counted down from 00:47, marking less than a minute until our mission officially began. "Keep yourselves steady, people."

I watch the number tick down, feeling my heartbeat increase as it got closer in closer. The moment it reached 00:00, I took as deep a breath as I could as the fabric of space folded and warped around us, jumping all three of our ships instantly into view of the icy planet.

"Jump successful, running scans of the system…" Sira announced as I looked up at the bridge camera, knowing Lydia was already far ahead of her.

"Looks clear." She announced through my earpiece before Sira concurred with her. "None of the other ships have detected activity."

"Alright, take her down. Lenlo, you're in charge while we're gone." I ordered to everyone before standing up.

Once on the hanger deck, the doors opened revealing the Mako, which took up what little remaining space there was in the area. It was brand new, not a single scratch or dent to be found. Dan was already inside of it running diagnostics on the 155mm cannon with which he already had previous experience with from the Dragoon project.

Dimitri was still putting on his armor as Kirva sat quietly next to the IFV with her Graal Spike Thrower. The gun was both bigger and longer than her arm, leaving me curious as to how she could carry it around, let alone fire it.

"Sean, Mako is ready for deployment." Dimitri announced, snapping the last piece of his armor in place. "You shall be my navigator, while Dan controls turret."

"Understood." I nodded back to him as we all piled into the vehicle. "You ready, Dan?"

"As r-ready as I ever could be." He replied in an unsure tone, giving the main gun a full 360-degree spin from the gunner's copula. "I feel like I'm inside of a Soviet-era tank considering how bad this gun depression is."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine." I dismissed, looking at the woman with the tooth necklace dangling from her helmet. "How about you, Kirva? You doing good?"

"I just hope I get to see some action." She answered, slamming a new ammo block into her fearsome weapon.

"As much as I'd like to see you in action, I hope it doesn't come to that." I shot back as our radio crackled.

"Landing in thirty seconds!" Sira announced, sounding slightly stressed as I felt the planet's own gravity tugging slightly as we moved through the atmosphere. As soon as we landed, a resounding boom vibrated through the ship, indicating we had made a successful landing. "Opening hanger doors…"

Said doors groaned as they slowly opened, revealing an icy tundra in the middle of a full-blown ice storm. Dimitri revved the engine, bringing a little more heat into the crew compartment before stepping down on the pedal and sending us careening outside the safety of our ship.

We were on our own until further notice.

"Delta to Lambda, we are one the ground and proceeding to the transmission location." I announced over the comm, feeling myself shake back and forth as we ran over a rocky patch.

"Understood, Delta. We've made landfall as well, heading to location now." Weir replied, sound cool and collected.

I felt my stomach lurch slightly as we went over a small hill, causing Dan to yell in excitement.

"Yeah!" He exclaimed, leaning down from the cupola to look at me. "Doesn't this remind y-you of Pasadena, Sean? Doing that p-paintball match in the middle of the snowstorm?"

"You and I remember Pasadena Paintball very differently." I replied, voice dripping with obvious sarcasm. "All I remember is slipping on that frozen puddle and knocking all the air out of my lungs."

"You two worry me sometimes." Dimitri commented, shaking his head without looking back as he focused on the terrain outside. "Did all of you and Dan's… tactical experience really come from archaic games such as paintball and airsoft?"

"You'd be surprised how good it can be for building tactics and practicing team movements." I argued, leaning back slightly in my chair as I briefly looked over at Dimitri. "We did airsoft professionally for two years before going on our contract with DARPA."

"You forget It also h-helps that we're both avid military history f-fanatics." Dan supported, his voice slightly muffled being up in the cupola.

"What's a DARPA?" Kirva asked, obviously confused by what we were talking about.

"It's an acronym. It stood for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency." I explained, looking back at her. "Dan and I used to work for them before joining the Alliance."

"Quiet, we've nearly reached destination." Dimitri hushed as we began to roll more slowly.

We slithered to the top of the last hill overlooking the general area, barely able to see the shuttle in the distance. If it hadn't been for its running lights I wouldn't have been able to see it at all.

"Wait for Weir's team to show up." I urged, scanning the icy, rocky terrain waiting for them to appear. After a minute of waiting, they finally appeared over the opposite ridge.

"We're ready." Weir announced over our locked comm, as I gave him confirmation and opened up our signal.

"Dr. Sterling, this is Captain Sean Michaels of the MFV Explorer." I began, speaking clearly and concisely into the Mako's microphone. "Can you read me, over?"

The line sat idle for a few moments before I finally got a response.

"Captain Michaels… thank God you are here." An accented male voice answered, sounding British. "I was hoping Hackett would send somebody for us. We thought we could land here and discharge our static from the escape jump, but the ice got into our thrusters and seized them up. We're trapped inside of the shuttle without any hard suits to brave the cold."

"I understand your situation, doctor." I reassured, barely keeping my nerves in check as I spoke. "We'll find a way to get you out of there, but you do understand you and everyone else in the shuttle will be taken into Alliance custody, correct?"

"I don't care if I have to rot in a black site prison for the rest of my days. As long as you get me and my friends out of here and far away from Cerberus, you can do whatever you damn well please to us." He agreed, helping ease the feeling in my gut slightly as I switched channels.

"Did you get all of that?" I asked Weir, getting a quick response.

"Yeah, this isn't the first time we've run into a situation like this. Something similar happened before on Mavigon." He admitted with what I could only imagine was a neck scratch. "We're in luck though. The Mako comes with everything we need to get them out of there quickly. There are six electric blankets in the back left compartment, along with a set of rebreathers in case they don't have any. What we'll do is back our Makos as close to the shuttle as we can, get in there, wrap them up, and run them into the cabins of the Makos before frostbite sets in. It should be as simple as that."

"Sounds good." I agreed, seeing nothing wrong with his plan. "Link over to channel Four-Beta so we can coordinate with these people."

I switched back over, hearing talking in the background.

"Sterling?" I asked out loud, hoping to get more information out of them before we left our vehicles. "Listen, we have a way to get you and your friends out of there, but it's going to require full cooperation on your part. How many of you are in the shuttle?"

"Seven of us, including me." He answered in a quickened voice.

"Alright, here's the game plan. We have two Makos here, and we're going to partially split your group up for space and security reasons." I began to explain, making sure every word came out of my mouth correctly. "Four of us are going to come into the shuttle with what you'll need, and then we'll explain the rest of the plan."

"Understood, we'll get ready." He finished, cutting the connection.

Weir and I's Makos slowly made their way closer to the shuttle, ready for anything. When nothing happened, we got as close as we could together and backed up to the side hatch of the shuttle.

With another puff of air, I put my helmet on along with Dimitri and Dan as I pulled open the hatch and went out into the cold with Kirva. We both carried the electric blankets and rebreathers they'd need, trudging through the thick snow as bone-chilling cold leeched through my suit. Weir and one of his men did the same, ending up next to us once we were at the shuttle.

I banged my fist against the side of the shuttle, watching it open as the four of us quickly moved inside. The small compartment was empty, everyone having moved into the pressurized cockpit. As soon as the pressure was stabilized again, the door slid open revealing the seven escapees. Their uniforms were the first thing I noticed. They were lined with the usual black and white Cerberus colors, and were all very clean. None of them appeared to have any weapons aside from one of them, a colder-looking pale woman with a black ponytail and piercing blue eyes.

"Hello, I a-am Dr. Nathan Sterling, and these are my colleagues." He greeted, walking to the front of his group as he gave everyone's names "Dr. Watterson, Dr. Sadler, Dr. Keller, Dr. Gastwirt, Dr. Lawson, and Dr. Kaznyk."

I stood there for a moment processing all their names before something ticked one of my warning boxes. It immediately brought me to a cautious state.

"Lawson?" I asked out loud, remembering that name from the recordings Dan and I had listened to yesterday as the woman in question buzzed with a blue field of energy. She was a biotic!

"Hold it, bosh'tet!" Kirva threatened, leveling her Graal Spike Thrower at the woman as Weir and his right-hand man did the same. The other six scientists backed away, seemingly confused by the sudden turn of events.

"How do you know me?" The woman asked in the same Australian accent I remembered from the lab recordings, still crackling with biotic energy.

"You're one of the people who were involved in that project on Minuteman." I answered, taking a single step towards her as I narrowed my gaze on her. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

She looked harder at me, giving Kirva and Weir quick looks before focusing back on me again.

"Is it all still intact?" She asked in a slightly lighter tone, still ready to strike at us at a moment's notice. "Is he still stable?"

"He is." I answered, giving her a reassuring nod. "We're having the lab moved to Reach where we'll finish the work you and your colleagues started."

"So you know what we were doing then." She relaxed, allowing her biotics to charge down as she resumed a relaxed stance. "Listen… I know how it all must have looked considering our reputation, but the work we were doing-"

"Save it, I'm not interested in hearing it." I shut down as her face became hardened again. "You could have stuck with your group and escaped with everyone else, but you decided to join them and defect. Why?"

She took a deep breath, taking a few steps forward until we were nearly in each other's faces.

"I left because I knew if I stayed there would be no chance of working on Project Lazarus again." She reasoned, staring into my eyes with her soul-piercing steely blue eyes. "I don't leave my work half-finished, it's unprofessional."

I examined the features of her face for a few more moments, looking for any possible ticks that could indicate she was lying.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" I asked, giving her the same exact look. "How do I know you're not going to stab us in the back?"

She responded by handing me her sidearm, then plucking the biotic implant out of the port on the back of her neck and handing it to me.

I examined her face one more time, accepting her gesture as everyone relaxed and lowered their firearms.

"I can respect wanting to finish your work." I nodded, putting the amp and handgun inside my rucksack. "Now, we can't be here for too long, so gather around and listen up. We're getting you guys off this rock."

…

A/N: Things continue to get more and more interesting as time goes on! What will happen next? Will Miranda hold up her end of the bargain and come peacefully, or will she attempt to overthrow the Explorer and her allies? You guys will just have to wait and see!

I was on quite the kick for this chapter now that things are speeding up again! College hasn't been too obstructive either, giving me plenty of time to write! For those interested, I'm not basing Miranda's looks off her ME2 and ME3 counterparts. I've decided to us LuckyFK's "Miri" rendition on deviantART, considering it gives her a much more professional, realistic look. I highly suggest searching for it, LuckyFK is a great artist.

I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!

…REVIEW RESPONESE…

Tusken1602: I hope I answered your questions with this chapter!

Sajuuk: As I stated before, I aim to keep the technology in this story within the realms of realism. Just because you like something from another sci-fi universe doesn't mean it'll appear here.

BJ Hanssen: While I fully understand what the canon description of suitless quarians is supposed to be, I decided to go with a slightly different concept because I simply wasn't a huge fan of what they came up with for ME3. Still, I appreciate the thought.

February 18th Guest: Yes, Mass Effect is the only thing that never happened in their universe, because Mass Effect IS their universe. Everything else happened normally.

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