Shala opened her eye, and glanced at Ulysses as they slowly deposited Freeman under the pile of rubble. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like she was going to have a heart attack from the sheer terror of hearing that… thing… speak.

"Ulysses… what was that?" She rasped, dully realizing that Freeman was once again frozen in time, while Ulysses gave her a harsh look.

"That is the cause of our collective suffering on this world." The elder Vortigaunt thumped his cane hard on the ground. "This one has been… moving to thwart its machinations; just as how it has been moving against us. An eternal dance of one trying to stop the other for over what you call a millennia." The melancholy was clear in his mental voice, and he waved a hand.

The purple glow surrounding Shala faded, and her Sea trader outfit faded away to her envirosuit; her Raelk and Sehni still on full display. Shala touched her Sehni-patch, the eyepatch made from her old Sehni, and she looked at Ulysses.

"You want me to help him. Keep the other away from him." She said in realization.

The ancient Vortigaunt nodded and thumped his cane on the ground. "For the moment, all it can perceive is its hatred of us, so we shall lead its attention elsewhere, so the Freeman and the Alyx Vance may work without interruption. Without your aid, we will be forced to act and draw its attention onto them once again. Your powers are small enough to pass unnoticed, but potent enough to turn the tide and prevent any... unforeseen circumstances."

Shala wasn't sure how, but that phrase managed to carry a tremendous weight of dread with it. "Is he... is it one of the Combine? Is that what we're fighting against?"

Ulysses hissed a breath. "It is not allied with the Combine, nor are its patrons. That does not make it an ally. It was through its direct manipulation that the Humans learned to cross dimensions into Xen, and in so doing attracted the attention of the Combine."

He leaned wearily on his cane.

"We stand on the farthest edges of a war that has ravaged universes, but the powers involved are now at a tipping point. If the two Great Foes can be provoked into openly engaging one another, rather than engaging in endless Proxy Wars in other dimensions, then they will both tumble into a ruin they may never recover from. Uncountable trillions of worlds will know freedom from their oppressors for the first time in Eons."

Shala stared at the old Vortigaunt for a moment, struggling to speak for a moment. What was that phrase the humans used? No pressure? "So, what we are doing here is trying to kick off a cascading failure of a system that's stretched to the breaking point?"

Ulysses slumped in relief. "The Queen Shala'Raan is and will be a wise ruler to her people, and a great ally. For now, we leave the Freeman and the Alyx Vance in your care."

He turned away and began that peculiar chant she had heard in the tunnel, and walked into nothingness.

Shala blinked and time resumed around her, only she was not buried in the rubble with Freeman; now she was standing in some small clearing, the ruins of a building surrounding her. She looked up and saw the swirling reddish-orange clouds that surrounded the top of the Citadel, lightning and energy cascaded off the massive structure; and she could see massive pieces falling off the Combine Superstructure.

Groaning and rubbing her eye, Shala turned to the sound of loud, heavy footsteps; which sounded like a mech of some kind.

Settling into a fighting stance, Shala drew upon the Vortessence and narrowed her eye; tilting her head in thought as the footsteps drew closer. The Combine have no Mechs that I am aware of, they only use Synths. So what is this? Some friendly Ymir mech?

Her ruminations were cut short as… something jumped up from behind a wall and landed atop the pile of rubble. Shala looked it up and down, and she could see the Mech was doing the same to her; much to Shala's concern.

Oh Bosh'tet; if this is an AI, I'm going to be very unhappy. She grumbled.

Taking a step forward, she held out her right hand, which held an orb of Vortal Energy. "I don't know what you are, Mech; where is your master?" She asked.

The Mech's VI beeped and whirred for a moment, before it looked over her shoulder; and to her surprise, pointed at the pile of rubble behind her.

"In the rubble?" She asked.

The Mech sat on its haunches and nodded, wiggling back and forth for a moment, and Shala sighed. Of course these crazy Bosh'tets make a superpowered Mech with an AI stuffed inside it. She grumbled, knowing that the way it responded was far too 'organic' for a VI of any kind.

Shaking her head, she said, "Alright; let's dig your master out of the rubble. I don't know where my friends deposited them exactly, but I know they are in the general area."

The Robot nodded vigorously, and ran down the pile of rubble; practically shoving Shala out of the way and began lifting rocks out of the way. Shala watched it work for a moment, then rolled her eye. "Let's make things easier shall we?" she asked, stretching her arm out and clenching her fists.

The Robot stepped back, whirring and beeping in surprise; then happiness as the rubble was cleared away to reveal a young woman.

Shala frowned and narrowed her eye, studying the human for a moment.

She wore a simple jacket that seemed to be made of leather, those blue pants humans seemed to be fond of, a shirt; and she had light brown skin and blackish-brown hair with a few red streaks in it.

Shala flicked the rubble away as the female coughed and rubbed her face, opening her eyes. "Ah, thanks for the-" She stopped and looked at Shala, her eyes widening by a considerable margin, her jaw dropping.

Shala just smiled lightly, "Your thanks is appreciated. Since you aren't wearing a bright, painfully orange HEV suit… Alyx Vance I presume?"

"I… uh… yeah." Vance finally replied, still sounding gobsmacked.

Shala had to resist the urge to laugh as she waved her hand and dispelled the dust in the area. So this is why Ayita does this sort of thing. I must admit, this is entertaining. "Come then Ms. Vance, let us find Dr. Freeman and get a move on. We have things to do and places to be." She said, already turning and walking away to the next life sign she sensed.

This should be fun.

Alyx Vance coughed at the dust tickling her throat as the rubble was surrounded by a green aura, and slowly lifted itself off of her. Vortigaunts. She thought, closing her eyes and looking away so dust didn't get into her eyes. She had heard them chanting just before the reactor exploded, and then she woke up here.

Hope they have some explanations for me. She grumbled, already mentally preparing herself for the mental gymnastics that came with talking to a Vortigaunt. As the light came pouring in, Alyx opened her eyes and coughed again.

"Ah…" She started, "Thanks for the-" She stopped dead, all thoughts in her head grinding to a halt.

What was standing in front of her was alien, but it wasn't a Vortigaunt. The first two details were that it was a she, and that she was dressed.

Said clothing was a form-fitting suit with silver and purple accents in floral motifs. The top of her head was covered by a hood, and she had an eye-patch made from the same purple and silver cloth covering her right eye. She also had what looked to be an old army automatic, though there were definite combine upgrades visible.

"Your thanks is appreciated. Since you aren't wearing a bright, painfully orange HEV suit… Alyx Vance I presume?"

Alyx was again caught off guard, this time by the surprisingly deep yet motherly voice. "I… uh… yeah." She managed to say, cursing herself for displaying her surprise in such a way. For all I know she's some kind of Alien Ambassador, and I'm screwing up first contact.

She almost squinted at the alien. Is she... smug? Do aliens even know what smug is?

When she didn't say anything more, the Alien gestured for Alyx to follow. "Come then Ms. Vance, let us find Dr. Freeman and get a move on. We have things to do and places to be." Already moving to leave.

Alyx had to bite down a curse, and pulled herself to her feet and hauled herself after the Alien. She nearly froze when she realized that DoG was right next to the Alien, holding the Gravity Gun of all things in one of his 'paws.' Giving her pet robot a quick hug, she jogged after the Alien, trying to keep up with its brisk pace.

For something shorter than me, she moves fast. "So uh…" Alyx started, picking her way through the rubble after the Alien. "I never caught your name." she pointed out.

"That is because I never gave it." The Alien replied, but she had an amused lilt to her voice. "I am Shala'Raan of the Quarian People." She said, "We must move quickly, the Citadel is coming apart; and we must inform your leaders I found you, once we find Dr. Freeman of course."

"You seem awfully well informed about my people."

Shala glanced over her shoulder. "A hazard of working with Ulysses I suppose." She frowned and reached up and touched her eyepatch. "Not without cost of course." She resumed her brisk pace. "Besides, this is not the first time some of my people have been to your world."

Here, Shala seemed to grow nostalgic, "My son understands your people quite well, a little bit more than one would think."

Wait… what- "What does that mean?" Alyx demanded. Is it like those old fairy tales dad told me about humans getting abducted.

"My son married a human woman; gave me an absolutely lovely Granddaughter, who I'm technically supposed to be babysitting. But no rest for the weary I suppose." Shala answered, glancing at Alyx again; her sole eye glowing brightly in the dim lighting.

Alyx found herself struck dumb, and she promptly cloused her mouth so she didn't stick her foot inside it again.

A child… I heard the suppression field in North America is weaker and it allows for Children over there but… After thinking it over for a long moment, all she managed to say was, "you… don't look that old; you look like you're only a little older than me."

Shala just huffed at Alyx's response, "I shall take that as a compliment, and you should know looks are deceiving." Then she frowned and looked up. "We don't have much time. Let's hurry."

Even as the dropship landed, Palla was resisting the urge to shake her head in disbelief at the size of the city below them. City 17, its original name long since lost even to the people that used to live in it, was actually one of the only places on Earth post-7 Hour War to grow in size as opposed to shrink thanks to decay and low population.

The other Commanders were already being sent with their own squads to other parts of the city, and its sheer size meant that they had a lot of ground to cover and a lot of people to evacuate.

"Hey Lieutenant? What do you think about this hare-brained scheme the higher ups have come up with?" She heard one of her new replacements ask, and she had to resist the urge to punch the idiot.

"It's better than us sitting on our asses and twiddling our thumbs while the Citadel slowly counts down before it goes nuclear." She replied, giving the young Quarian private a harsh glare, and the kid wavered under her glare.

'Kid' was probably too harsh a term, since he was likely only a year or two younger than her, but she felt decades older; plus all the combat experience she held compared to all the fresh replacements just put her on edge.

She felt like they were going to get screwed over by these new replacements at some point.

Sapius' death still sent pangs into her heart.

He was her brother in arms, and the loss of the other Expiditionary's hurt as well. Of the original Fifty people that had made it through training and received their Bayonets; there were twenty left, most having been killed in City 1 during the Gonarch's assault and the capturing of the Palace.

And of those twenty, eight had been wounded and had to be shipped back behind the lines, leaving only twelve Veterans left.

Palla had been forced to reorganize the Platoon into something resembling a cohesive fighting unit again; with her vets placed into command positions, while she tried to make sure all the new kids received proper instruction.

They were Marines, yes, but Palla had seen the Migrant Fleet Marines training regime; and she had not been impressed in the slightest. Maybe it was too harsh, but she thought that they had been coddled too much and hadn't earned her respect.

Speaking of earning things. Palla subconsciously reached up to her collar and rubbed the single silver bar pinned to each lapel. 1st Lieutenant Palla Fenneba, Commanding Officer of 'Easy Company' of the Systems Alliance Expeditionary Corps. Why do I detect some hidden meaning that I do not see, she wondered.

"BAST!" She snapped.

The Staff Sergeant broke out of the crowd of a hundred troopers milling about, and jogged up to her, keeping his head on the swivel. She could see in his eyes that he held the same amount of distrust and disdain for the new replacements.

The arrogance some of the older Marines displayed made her want to punch them. "Yes EllTee?" He asked.

"Get the men into the proper perimeters and get the squad leaders over here for a briefing; I'm meeting with Commander Calhoun, since he's overseeing the Evac." She ordered.

He gave a quick nod, but didn't salute, which she appreciated; "Aye ma'am." He replied, before turning and jogging back to the crowd, shouting them into action and passing word around.

That particular rule had been drilled into them from day one, and one that she had no intention of breaking.

Never salute in a combat zone, isn't that something; hmph, in the hegemony, you saluted those in the upper classes even if they were lower ranked and you were on the ground bleeding out. She grumbled, remembering the horror story's her older brother had told her.

Shaking her head, she made her way over to the command post; which was a simple pavilion set up in the middle of some rubble, where Commander Calhoun and a few other rebels and a few civilians stood around a table with a large map on it.

Behind him were some radios and a holoscreen with more grizzled looking humans, and two scientist looking types; who were in the midst of talking.

Tilting her head, she made sure to listen in as she approached.

"-ordon and Alyx should be making their way to the core to retard the reaction and buy us time to evacuate more citizens; and that strange Alien woman with them assured us that it would buy us the time we needed." A Bald headed human was saying, looking far too cheerful in Palla's opinion given the situation at hand.

Then she caught the one word he'd said, Strange Alien Woman? Does he mean Admiral Shala? Is that where that Ulysses guy dumped her?

She was shaken out of her thoughts when a human female at the table scoffed, "Meh, my moneys on her betraying them; I mean, look at the vorts, they helped bring the Combine here. Can't trust these Aliens I say."

Palla bristled, then thought a bit about what the Gunny would do... other than cracking skulls.

"I know exactly what you mean," Palla said nonchalantly while taking her helmet off, "you never know what some alien might do when your back is turned."

The original speaker was turning while nodding until she saw Palla's face. The Batarian Lieutenant relished the confusion on the woman's face as she tried to figure out which pair of eyes to look at; a feat made all the more difficult as Palla slowly blinked one eye at a time.

"Now if you are done insulting the admiral responsible for bringing the relief force to your ravaged little world, we have an evacuation to plan." Palla turned from the sputtering woman and faced the bald hologram.

"Yes, let's do that." The dark skinned human on the screen agreed, sharing a look with the bald man. "I don't suppose you've been told how big this explosion is going to be when that damned tower goes up." He questioned.

"Beyond it being really big, no sir; and I would prefer to know so we can prioritize the areas that need evac the most." Palla replied, setting her helmet down on the table and looking down at the map.

"I'm afraid that there's no saving this city once the Citadel explodes. We estimated that the Dark Energy Flare would be equivalent to the Tsar Bomba itself." The Bald Scientist exclaimed, sounding intrigued in a sort of Salarian way.

"I'm afraid that reference is lost on me… and the rest of the people here." Palla admitted.

"About 50 Megatons, if not more." The dark skinned human stated simply.

She grit her teeth and hissed. "That's gonna be one hell of a minimum safe distance. Do we have a timeframe, rally points, or rough estimates on how many civilians are left?"

Calhoun swiped a hand across his head. "Short answer is too soon, a bunch but they're contested, and too damn many. If we could take care of just one of those issues, we'd be golden."

Palla gave a grim smile. "Well, we can't do anything about the first or the last, but I am quite ready to deal with the second. Mark the Ell-Zees on the map, and I'll start putting birds in the air and boots on the ground."

Calhoun smiled and nodded, even as the woman scowled. "Much obliged. Let your pilots know there's a few spots with more defenses than others: Autoguns, Warp Cannons and Suppression Devices. There's also reports about a few Synths roaming around, so be ready for a fight."

Palla nodded as her Omnitool loaded the map with the indicated Landing Zones and Hot-Spots. She put her helmet back on and tuned out the whispered remarks from the speceist human. Her own Sergeant fell in beside her as she passed the objectives on. "Twelve Ell-Zees, five are hot with potential OpFor armor and Close Air Support. Signal Normandy to ready our own CAS. We'll hit the five hot zones first; once the Resistance gets boots on the ground to hold those positions and move civies, we move to the next one."

"Got it, Ell-Tee."

The Platoon had cleared and secured three positions before running into the first real opposition.

"Oh Ancestors… that is a really big war machine."

Palla reached over and shoved the kids head down, and growled; "Unless you want to draw its attention, stay out of sight." Shaking her head, she turned to Bast even as he adjusted his Pulse Rifle; which he had looted from some dead Overwatch Soldier.

Most of the troops had taken to doing that, but they all made sure to keep their old rifles too, just in case. Even the rookies had picked up on that particular habit, which gave her some hope for them; but not much considering the fact that they were still making very avoidable mistakes.

"Bast, what do you see?" Palla whispered.

"I see 'bout three squads of standard Overwatch Transhuman Soldiers; none of those fancy shields they reported seeing at Little Round Top." He mumbled. "And of course we got that Strider too; no Hunter's though, which does concern me."

Palla squinted two eyes at the Strider, then the surrounding rooftops. "I'm more worried about these 'Suppression Nests' the Resistance were talking about. CAS would make short work of the Strider, but we can't call it in with Anti-Air."

She looked over at one of the kids. "Alright Pedestal; you, Thing-One, and Thing-Two are with me on that rooftop so we can scope out any Combine Emplacements."

The Quarian and two Salarians she had indicated crouched to move. "What in the Ancestor's name is a Pedestal?"

Palla locked a grenade onto her Combine Auto-Shotgun. "It's like a Pillar, but shorter and less useful. Now!" All four bolted for the building Palla had chosen while Bast and the rest of the Platoon harassed the Strider to keep it distracted. Pedestal immediately deployed a drone to scout the fastest route to the roof.

He passed the clear route on to the rest of the team, and Palla had to smirk behind her helmet at the rookies' quick thinking. "Maybe not that useless after all." She admitted while patting him on the shoulder.

Ignoring the questioning glances from Pedestal, Palla gave a signal, and another squad advanced up the roof; leapfrogging from Palla's position to the safe spot that Pedestal had marked out for them.

Turning to Pedestal, Palla jerked her head, "Think you can mark the 'Suppression Nest' for Bravo team to take out?" She asked.

He nodded. "Drones are visible as a safety measure, not a function. I might even be able to disable the emplacements for a short time, as long as none of those 'Synth' things are involved." Pedestal and the rest of the Migrant Fleet had taken a special dislike for the Combine's synthetic war machines.

Palla nodded, "Alright; get at it kid." She then brought up Bravo team on the radio. "Okay, Baker, take your squad and move it up towards the Suppression Nest; we'll cover you. Bast, how are you holding up?"

"Well, we have it's attention!" Palla could hear the eerie call of the Synth before firing its Warp Cannon, both through the radio and from outside. "We can corral it into that fountain park we saw once you're ready to call in Danger Close!"

"Just hold a couple mikes." She turned to the kid, "Well?"

"Al-most-GOT IT!" He gave a triumphant cackle as he fired a charged shot at the Suppression device; the Combine mechanism sparking and sputtering as it struggled to reboot it's AI and electronics.

"Baker! GO!" Palla snapped, spotting the team of troopers scramble towards the device and the small team of Combine soldiers guarding it.

Drawing her CM-1, she quickly began picking the Overwatch soldiers from a distance to better cover Bravo team; and was rewarded by a series of very satisfying headshots, even as the Transhumans fell back dead. She gave a varren-like smile as Baker rushed forward and set several satchel charges at the base of the device; before Bravo team scrambled backwards and into cover.

"Heads down!" Palla shouted, shoving the kid to the floor; before jumping on top of him a moment later.

CRACK!BOOOOOM!

Palla winced as shrapnel rained down the area, feeling one piece smack into her back; sending a stream of blue sparks flying as her PCV's High Impact Reactive armor deflected the deadly projectile. Thumbing the radio, Palla grumbled; "Kind of overdid it with the explosives Sergeant Baker; just one would have been enough."

"Eh, wanted to be sure Ell Tee; I'm taking Bravo and meeting back up with Charlie in corralling the strider." Baker replied.

"Do it." Palla nodded, then blinked and looked down as she felt a thin hand tap her on the shoulder. "Ah."

She pushed herself up off the kid, noting with some amusement that she had accidentally smothered his face with her body; and was crushing him under her weight. Probably doesn't help that I've got a foot on him in terms of height, and a hundred pounds of muscle to boot. She mused as she pulled him up off the floor. "You all good kid?" She asked.

Pedestal coughed and wheezed slightly, "I think you crushed my ribs."

"You calling me fat, private?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

He coughed slightly. "No, Sergeant, but I saw movement on a roof on the other side of the plaza. There might be a second nest."

Palla grimaced, and quickly looked out over the side to the other side of the plaza; "Baker, one of my guys reported potential movement on the other side of the plaza; you see anything?" She asked, slipping back into seriousness.

"Gimme a sec here… yeah, MG nest from the looks of things. We're in a bad spot, we can't get a good shot at it."

Pedestal seemed to perk up, "I got it." He exclaimed, peeking his head up and aiming his Pulse Rifle.

Palla's eyes widened, "KID WAIT!"

He fired the Energy Pellet, sending the concentrated sphere of Dark Energy across the rooftops; the ball ignoring gravity.

It immediately struck the MG nest, vaporizing the gunner and spotter. But, a third and fourth shooter immediately whirled around and sprayed the rooftop; and Palla dropped to the floor on instinct.

She winced at the wet THWACK!

The two Salarians dropped to the ground, one with a smoking hole in his head, and the other with blood gushing from his chest. Pedestal fell to the ground next to her screaming and holding his shoulder and his leg.

Dammit.

Palla closed her eyes for a moment, and blocked out the kids screaming, before popping up and firing two well placed shots, taking the last two overwatch troopers heads off. Once she was sure they were dead, she knelt next to Pedestal, who's screams had tapered off to whimpers of pain.

His visor had a massive crack and hole in it; and she removed it so plexi-glass didn't get into his eyes, before she started administering AGE to the Pulse wounds.

"Bast, get that Fucking Thing in position, then drop the hammer on it!"

She barely heard the 'Copy' from her comrade as she was moved aside by the Squad Medic. She turned to face the road and watched 'the show'. She could only take grim satisfaction as she saw the fiery contrails of a pair of delta-winged fighter/bombers diving on the Synth's position.

There was a sharp crack as one fired a high intensity GUARDIAN shot to disable the Synth's defenses. The Strider rocked and wailed as it's back was scorched. It started to turn to face the new threat, just as a pair of hyper velocity missiles exploded less than a meter from its main body.

The hybrid creature was all but obliterated by the twin blasts, leaving its three legs suspended in the air for a moment before silently clattering to the ground.

"L-l-lieutenant, is it dead?"

Palla turned and knelt next to the Kid and glanced at the medic, who was already stripping him out of his environment suit. Before the AGE treatment, this would have been incompetence at its highest; but now it didn't cause any concern.

The medic caught her glance and nodded, "He's in shock, but he'll live."

Palla turned her attention back, and forced down her irritation for the moment. Chew him out once he's on the fleet and recovering. She reminded herself.

"It's dead." She opted to say. "You're gonna be alright Kid, what's your name?"

"B-b-bal'Xen." He replied, and she could see his face tint purple under his tan skin. "Yeah, my mother's the former Admiral." he admitted.

Explains his eagerness to prove himself. "Anything you want me to say to her?" Palla asked, glancing at the medic as he administered a sedative and anesthetic.

His face colored even as his eyes drooped, "Yes, tell her she's a Bosh'tet Tuho; and that I'm better than her. At least I… have… honor… Goodnight…" He closed his eyes, and the medic threw the emergency blanket over him.

Palla just shook her head as two more troopers helped the medic move him onto the stretcher and carried him to the waiting dropships; not even looking away as she heard Baker walk up to her. "Remind me to slap the shit out of him when he's fully recovered."

The human snorted, "Overconfident?"

"The opposite, he wanted to prove himself; and nearly got killed for it. Got the other two rookies killed as a matter of fact." She replied, shaking her head. "Alright, we got shit to do. Send the word out, this evac point is now clear."

"Copy that Ell Tee."

"The core's been stabilized." Ayita breathed out, rubbing her temples.

Cato shot up from where he'd been sitting. "Are they okay?! Is mother alright?!" He exclaimed, rushing up and grabbing Ayita's shoulders, shaking her slightly, "Answer me woman!"

Ayita very calmly grabbed his hands and moved them off her shoulders while placing her palm onto his chin, taking in his light blue-grey skin and midnight blue hair as she did so. "Cato, honey, please calm down; your mother is fine, as are the Freeman and Alyx Vance." She said slowly, "They managed to stop the reaction, and they stole some important data while they were at it."

Cato breathed a massive sigh of relief, and slumped in his chair, "Oh thank the ancestors; 'Yita I could kiss you." He replied.

Ayita gave him a coy smile, "Well… I could do a bit more since Ori isn't here" She replied, kissing him softly. They both began to work quickly, removing their clothing, when a flash of pain stopped them both dead.

"AH!" Ayita shouted, holding her temples and collapsing to her knees as she fought down screams of pain.

Cato howled and wanted to gouge his own eyes out, feeling like nails were being driven into them. "Whats-AH!" He fell back onto the floor, holding his temples while Ayita summoned a pair of spheres in her hands.

"Telepathic. Enemy." She ground out, slowly crawling towards the doorway, seeing flashes of some grub-like creature glaring at her from some far off location. She curled up into a ball and focused on simply blocking out the burning spear driving into her mind.

Then, just as quickly as it had entered, it left.

"Ayita…" Cato slowly stood, not having received anywhere near as much pain as she had since the probes had done nothing more than keep him contained in his own mind.

He knelt next to his wife even as she shivered on the floor; and he quickly grabbed a blanket and covered her up, all thoughts of intimacy gone. "What… what was that, huneey, talk to me."

"They know… they know what they did…" she whimpered. "They know about the Freeman."

Shala shook her head, trying to get her bearings after the train crashed.

The Stalker, as Alyx called them, seemed to take exception to that as it began snapping and screeching at her. She heard Alyx in much the same predicament. Shala didn't have enough freedom to get a good Vortal wind up, but her CM-1911 was in reach.

-BLAM-

The Stalker gurgled and slumped over, no longer struggling to break free.

Shala winced as blood dripped into her eye, blinding her for a moment before she quickly wiped it away. Using her powers, she shoved the casket-like containment device off of her; hissing in distaste at the wrongness she felt from the Combine Synth.

Killing the poor soul had been a kindness, living such a tortured existence.

Wiping her eye again, Shala looked back over and fought the urge to flinch as Freeman dug himself out of the wreckage, looking no worse for wear.

How is he able to sneak up on me so often? She swore silently, before turning her attention back to Alyx, who was struggling to keep the Stalker she was trapped under from biting her face off.

-ZAAAP!-

The Stalkers head disappeared, before the containment device was pulled backward, allowing Alyx to crawl out from under it. Freeman crawled past Shala as Alyx curled up into herself for a moment, and hopped out to sweep the area for hostiles; before he seemed to remember the only weapon he had was his depowered Gravity Gun.

"Freeman." The Scientist turned one man army turned to face her, and Shala tossed him her CM-1911 and a few magazines to go with it. "I expect that back once we're out of here; I'll check on her." She ordered.

The man nodded, and activated the flashlight in the gun and on his HEV suit before disappearing into the darkness; the beams of light being the only things she could see of him.

Turning back to the young woman, Shala grimaced and crawled over to her. "Are you alright Ms. Vance?" She asked calmly, using her best grandmother's voice.

"God! I..." Alyx gave a few shuddering breaths before collecting herself again. "Thank you." She looked around. "Where's Gordon?"

-blam blam blam-

"Making sure it's safe to leave this wreck," Shala remarked as she helped Alyx down through the hole in the train. She looked wearily back at the various thrashing near corpses in the train, weighing the strain of putting them out of their misery.

She shook her head and followed Alyx down. "Let's keep moving before he gets too far ahead."

Palla fired her rifle into a small group of Overwatch Ordinals, sending them scrambling for cover. Baker started waving his arm and shouting at the civilians, "Go! Go! Move your asses! Get on those dropships!" He bellowed out at them.

Bast and his squad quickly began moving the civilians towards the small airfield that had been set up on the old decommissioned highway; even as the Overwatch patrols continued firing at both them and the soldiers defending them.

"Lieutenant Palla," the Resistance radioman came over on her set, "We have an immediate retasking for your unit! Sending coordinates now."

Palla growled even as the new waypoint popped up on her HUD. "That's underground; I didn't exactly bring my shovel." She snapped angrily. "Besides, we're protecting these civilians for the evacuation!"

"I understand, but we have a confirmed contact with Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman. They say-"

"Do they have a third party with them?!" Palla cut the human off.

There was a short delay. "Commander Calhoun just confirmed Alyx, Gordon and an unidentified Vortal alien. They have vital intelligence and need immediate extraction. We're sending a platoon of Lambda troops to take over at your current Landing Zone; but according to Commander Calhoun, the Combine are sending everything they have available to their location."

"Copy Lambda; QEF moving out." She turned to her troops. "Marines! New mission: extract Her Royal Stubbornness Admiral Shala'Raan and the humans with her."

The men all grumbled unhappily at leaving the civilians behind, except for the Quarians who all cheered at the prospect of rescuing their 'Queen'. Rolling her eyes, Palla quickly sent a fireteam to secure the entrance to the Subways, which was where the waypoint had been set; even as she went about getting her men into gear.

It took a few minutes, but eventually the Lambda fighters arrived.

Palla kept her distaste for how sloppy the human rebel fighters were to herself; knowing that it would probably only cause unnecessary friction with them. She fought down a scowl when she realized that the female Rebel Commander that had been making racist comments against aliens in general was the one in charge.

"Commander Locke." Palla said respectfully, knowing there were times to be confrontational, and times to swallow her pride.

She didn't escape her life as a Pleb by being unable to reign in her emotions.

"We got things here." The female replied coldly, though Palla didn't miss the distrustful glare; "Go get Freeman and Vances kid eh?" She asked.

"We'll do that." Palla replied, "BAKER! You and Bravo are on point. BAST! You and Alpha are the rearguard, you keep that entrance to the subway open; or I'll haunt you for all of time." She snarled. "Charlie, you're with me."

"Aye Ma'am!"

"Careful of the headcrabs." Palla warned.

Internally, she really didn't know what the people assigning the replacements were smoking or consuming. She had called Pedestal a kid, even though he was in his early 20's; while Palla was in her early 30's now. But Pedestal had been an old man compared to the little girl that stood at Palla's side as she worked her way through the dark halls.

The Human man was one of the vets, Husky, mainly to offset the rookies' inexperience. Three week wonders; how appropriate that term is. Palla grumbled. One was an Asari Maiden, who had joined up from Omega; and was prickly and cold, but she was competent even if she made dozens of rookie mistakes that made Palla want to scream in frustration.

But that was nothing compared to Shorty, as Husky had taken to calling the Quarian woman.

She was a Biotic, which had been a genuine surprise, but more than that, she was only fifteen. Lied about her fucking age to join up in this war; and since she's a biotic they waved her right on through.

Palla glanced at Shorty, who truly was tiny; at least in comparison to Palla and Husky, who both had at least a foot on the small Quarian. She looked like a strong breeze would knock her over, and she looked like she was scared of her own shadow.

Pretty much the only thing that Shorty had going for her was her biotics; which she was apparently very proficient at, though Palla wouldn't have put it past her to lie about that too.

Pillars protect me, if this is what Gunny dealt with, no wonder he always looked grumpy. She's almost young enough to be my child. Palla mused, remembering that many Batarian women would care for infants from the age of ten upwards even if they could not yet bear any.

The second we're out of here, she's going back to her parents. Palla vowed, instinctively jerking to the side when she heard a rush of air.

A headcrab smacked into the wall and flailed on the ground as it tried to right itself.

-Shink!-

Palla withdrew the Bayonet, not even bothering with activating the plasma blade, before continuing onward. "Be on your guard, headcrabs tend to strike from the darkness." She advised the two rookies.

Omega snorted, "They seem rather clumsy." She mused, while Shorty just stared at the creature, or the puddle of blood more accurately.

"So is a drunk in the Afterlife," Palla kept looking around the tunnels, "doesn't keep them from trying to knife you and rape the wound; so head on a fucking swivel."

The maiden grumbled, but did tighten up a bit. There were a few more of the disgusting creatures as they slunk through the tunnels, but it wasn't until they were less than a kilometer from their objective that the platoon ran into real resistance.

"Ell Tee," Baker yelled over the radio, "significant Zombie contact! Some of them are armored and-Shit!" There was an explosion that rocked the tunnel and cut off the transmission.

"Double time, Marines," Palla barked as she broke into a jog to where Baker's squad was apparently fighting for its life.

The gunshots dealing with the zombies were close, and Palla swore at the darkness surrounding her; and the fact that she had been separated by the other members of her squad. She wasn't worried about them though, Husky had a straight head on his shoulders, and would keep the squad safe.

Palla came upon a pile of bodies, and grimaced at the sight.

Most of them were human civilians, all of them had been mauled to death; but there were also a few Combine Civil Protection Officers, their Secret Police. All of them had also been mauled to death, but it seemed as if they had indeed tried to protect the civvies from the Zombies shuffling around.

A small bit of redemption for them I suppose. She mused.

A shuffle of movement, and Palla reacted on instinct; whipping around and firing her CM-1 towards it. She missed, but the thing gave a loud Squeak of surprise and terror; and Palla nearly dropped her rifle in surprise and fury.

It was Shorty, looking terrified even as her glowing silver eyes widened in terror.

"Are you fuc-Pillars! Mother fucker!" Palla stomped forward, and grabbed Shorty by her Sehni and yanked her forward; ignoring the tearing sound as she pulled the Quarian teen forward.

She shoved Shorty forward and held her head in place, forcing the Quarian to stare at the pile of human corpses.

"YOU SEE THAT!?" Palla roared, the past few months of death and frustrations finally reaching its breaking point. "YOU SEE THAT KID!?" She held the Quarian there for a few more seconds before spinning her around to face Palla.

"You almost just joined them right there! If I had aimed just a few centimeters to the right, your guts would be all over the ground!"

Shorty trembled as tears welled up in her eyes, but Palla wasn't done; "You lied about your age and experience all the way to this literal Hell in the Galaxy!" Palla spun her around again and held her there. "You understand what I'm saying!?"

Shorty stared at the pile of corpses, then muttered; "Oh… oh Keelah I'm-" She started panting and then ripped off her mask and the torn remains of her Sehni, revealing a shock of lavender-gray hair and tan-gray skin; though her current skin tone looked closer to white.

She promptly vomited onto the ground, shuddering all over and sobbing, and Palla sighed; feeling her sympathy and pity overcome her fury and frustration.

Walking up to her, Palla knelt down and rubbed her hand on Shorty's back, "Alright kid… s'alright, let it all out. You shouldn't have been sent here in the first place; but damned if I don't make sure you get back home to your parents."

"D-d-don't have any." Shorty admitted, spitting out some vomit and gagging again. "Don't even have a clan. That's why they took me, because I don't have anyone left to go to."

Palla frowned, then sighed, "Well, I'm keeping you alive regardless, what's your name? I can't keep calling you 'Shorty'."

"Lera." She replied, still panting, but was no longer trembling or vomiting.

Palla nodded, "Well Lera, I'll make sure you learn from this." She stated simply, before turning to the sound of footsteps in the darkness. "Husky."

"All good Ell Tee?" He asked.

"Yeah, just needed a quick chat." She replied, getting to her feet, "How're things going with the Zombies?"

"Cleared them out, and we found Dr. Freeman, Alyx Vance, and Admiral 'Raan… or is it Queen Shala?" Husky mused, even as Omega popped up from behind, sweeping the area.

Palla just rolled her eyes, "Let's just get out of here."

Palla sagged into her seat, glancing at the Admiral, Freeman guy, and Ms. Vance as the dropship began flying through the air.

"We made it." She rasped.

Bast and Husky quickly strapped in next to her, looking out the still open ramp even as the last of the trains ran down the tracks while the dropships scrambled away in pretty much any direction they dared go.

It didn't matter which direction, just so long as it was away from the rapidly melting down Dark Fusion Reactor.

A Flash of light blinded her for a moment, and everyone in the shuttle looked away for a moment; before Vance gasped in horror, "Oh my God… the transmission is going out."

Palla turned and screamed, "PILOT! FASTER!"

"Popping the cork, aye!" The pilot hauled on the controls and the transport pitched nearly perpendicular. All of the passengers were pinned to their restraints as the craft raced for the edge of space.

An explosion of pain nearly made Palla black out, and she held her head, but as quickly as the pain came it left. Turning to look back outside the hatch, Palla's jaw dropped as sparks of energy flared around the Citadel; while a massive sphere of blueish-white energy expanded outwards at an alarming speed.

Omega started panicking and trying to undo her restraints when Lera pinched her eyes shut.

There was a flash of blue from the tiny Quarian, and everyone felt like they were trapped in gelatin. Palla could feel the ship being buffeted, then launched forward like a kicked pyjak. Once the violence passed, Palla saw the small Quarian slump in her seat with a trickle of blood coming from her nose.

Shala looked towards the cockpit. "Pilot?"

"Whatever that shield was, it saved our asses. We're way off course, but I've got Normandy's beacon. Calling us in."

The Admiral sighed and looked over to where Palla had unclipped herself and was checking her Marine over. She was about to unhook Lera when Doctor Freeman stepped up to her. He put a hand on her shoulder, then pulled out a half dozen spare CPV batteries.

The Batarian stared for a moment, then took the offering. "Thanks, Doc." She began hooking the fresh power supplies into Lera's CPV. "Commander Calhoun said you lot had some serious intel. I sure as hell hope it was worth it."

Vance just glanced at her belt, "Yeah… here's hoping."

There was a long pause, and Palla almost began to truly believe that they were in the clear, when the pilot swore loudly over the intercom. "SHIT! Incoming Missiles! Strap yourselves in now!"

Palla swore violently and jumped back into her seat, Freeman doing the same next to her. They had just managed to secure themselves, when the dropship jerked to the right and shuddered; a massive explosion made the entire dropship ring like a giant bell, rattling Palla's head around.

"WE'RE HIT! WE'RE HIT! GOD DAMMIT!" The Co-Pilot bellowed.

"I have control! Everyone brace! We're going in hard!" The Pilot screamed.

Palla closed her eyes and said a quick prayer to the Pillars for support, and then everything went black.

A/N: Nothing much to say honestly, because most of the events of Half Life 2: Episode 1 kinda become irrelevant with Shala's presence and the Migrant Fleet overhead supporting the rebels; meaning the evacuation goes much more smoothly.

With that said, the events of Episode 2 are… much less easy to avoid.

Now then, leave a review and let me know what y'all think.

A TV Tropes page would be loved and appreciated.

Oh! Check out my new story, The Whispering Wolf; a Game of Thrones-Mass Effect X-Over.

And I will see ya when I see ya.