All the Stars

by BlueWay

When the Long Night of Solace is evaporated over Reach via the weaponized usage of a Slipspace Drive, it ferries with it in its swallowed sections the Covenant Empire and, more horrifyingly, the desperate measures that the UNSC used to fight them. When they are found in a universe on the precipice of their own history, the meaning of the term "Mass Effect" will change forever.

24. 1-17: Does this Unit Have a Soul? Pt I

A/N: Long story short: I am balls deep in work for this videogame I'm producing so I've been falling behind on updates. So sorry. Here's a thicc chapter though to compensate. We won't be spending much time on Feros, just a chapter after this and we're off.

Also hey it's 117.

---

1-17

Does this Unit have a Soul? Part I

---

Genocide. Massacre. The end of life itself. Shepard had seen what a glimpse, a slice, a part of it was like on Elysium as she saw the skies fall on them. All she had was a flannel on, a pistol taken from a dead officer as she looked behind herself and saw the militia and volunteers who had came for her for leadership. Men and women, mothers and fathers.

"We can't fall back! We can't let them know we're weak! We have to fight! We have to KILL!"

Her rallying speech had been the first true account of the public record of Commander Shepard, she screaming, with all her heart, behind the makeshift barricades of the colony before she had hopped over with a mass of civilian fighters into the first Batarian attack.

Kill or be killed, the beginning of the woman that would trace all the way into becoming Butcher.

Though this wasn't what she lived: when she went over, she didn't see Batarians and pirates. She saw machines. Figures of flesh and metal that she did not know what was what, combined into an unholy union that paused her as they walked toward her like the mutants of horror beyond her comprehension, opening fire.

She woke up to the gunshot she didn't remember in her memory: right in her forehead, blacking her out as she awoke in a snap on the bed of the Medbay, several monitoring stickers torn off of her as she threw herself to a sit immediately from laying back. A scream was held in the back of her dry throat as she remembered where she was.

Liara and Chakwas had been observing the monitors that Shepard had been attached to that day, a little more scientific inquiry prompted by Shepard herself about the dreams, the visions.

Every night, they'd get a little clearer, a little more concrete. It was hard to write off dreams when they played out the same, every night, and they showed her the same truths and revelations that had haunted her ever since Eden Prime. She'd see the exact damage of metal and flesh colliding forever, seeing the exacting detail of hows and horror. To see flesh disintegrate and replaced by the electrodes and wiring of an arcane mystery that had existed longer than time it felt like. To know something had been so permanent, so unstoppable, it was a truth she had to be reminded of almost every single night. Sometimes she wished the Batarians came back in her dreams.

No, she only got the end of civilization, and she had been helpless to stop it.

"Consistent." Chakwas commented in her usually dry voice.

It wasn't exactly in good morale for the crew to watch, in any capacity, Shepard go through her madness filled dreams, so the Medbay had been cleared for the period of the observation. She knew what it must've looked like to the rest of her men and women. That she really was going insane. She knew insanity though; knew it when Thresher Maws had eaten her squad whole and when the sky fell on Elysium. She was stronger than that, and surely, there was more credit to give her than just that.

Liara had tapped her omni several times before coming to the foot of the platform Shepard had been sleeping on. "Do you know that this isn't entirely unprecedented Shepard?"

Shepard sat up, hands rubbing down her forehead as Chakwas disconnected the nodes from her head. "There a support group for people who touch Prothean artifacts?"

Maybe Saren would've been there, she jested to herself. Liara just shook her head.

"Prothean cognition and memory technology is far beyond anything we can understand, but we know the principles of it. I personally know enough that it's not the method of transmission that is doing this to you but rather the content." She spoke politely, eyes darting between her omni and Shepard's face. "Your brain is being used as a storage drive, about. I suppose that each time it runs those memories back, your brain is acclimating, formatting almost to the exact specifications that knowledge needs to play out."

"Because that's what beacons are, right? Data drives essentially?" Liara nodded, flashing her omni away.

"Unfortunately, it's going to be nigh impossible to translate that data back to any of our interfaces, so, really, all we have is just your word."

Shepard had thought it easy enough to just explain that to the Council, to her crew even, but still it was outlandish, out there, especially when the visions were-

Lightning strike, through her temples. Worse than anything she had ever felt as far as a headache went. Her hand flew to the implant at the back of her head as it was concentrated there. It wasn't real pain, no; it was just realization, clarity in the form of cognition.

She struggled out to say as Chakwas rubbed her back easingly. "You're telling me that the Protheans were able to translate their own feelings into this data stream that's now in my head?"

Liara nodded again. "Prothean technology is very… non-mechanical, if that makes sense. The seamless integration and user interfaces toward organic forms essentially made the individual the interface unto themselves. Any present when Prothean technology is activated tend to be affected, or are able to interact with it to some degree. Like arcs of electricity, perhaps."

There was another set to her visions. One so much clearer, more distinct, and yet so much more mysterious. The image of that emblem: the eagle and world; an industrial hellscape dystopia she was chased through after witnessing an abduction from a literal black van.

It wasn't anything Prothean as far as she knew; no, it was a Human image, vision. She saw Humans in that vision. She knew it.

If the Prothean Beacon was able to transliterate memories into visions in her head, maybe, just maybe…

She had known Mai's strength only once applied to her, she trying to pull her down as the Beacon took her. She was taken too, held up, Shepard held as a conduit, a hinge, between her and the device.

"Are you feeling alright Shepard?" Liara asked again with a hint of concern, Shepard lost in her thoughts, her mental dictation of a mystery that was at the peripheral at her vision every time she saw Mai.

She shook her head. "Hah, yeah. I'm fine. Fine as anyone who's having apocalyptic visions are concerned."

Liara wasn't quite convinced. "Would you mind telling me what you saw this time then?"

Shepard told her then: Of an enemy, ground troops maybe of the Reapers. An organic-synthetic union that looked like the Husks they had encountered on Eden Prime. Grey, molting flesh bolstered by electronics. She saw Horror.

"Strange, that the Reapers would use ground troops if they are so omniscient." The Asari had noted quietly.

"Nothing beats boots on the ground, Liara." Shepard rolled her head along her shoulders, untightening them. "Wouldn't you agree?"

As was how she was pulled out of Therum in the first place. "I'm not a soldier, Shepard."

Chakwas had chuckled as she returned to her desk, thumbing in reports in the meanwhile. "Not many people in this galaxy are given the choice, Dr. T'Soni."

There was an apprehension again on Liara's lips as Shepard noticed, and it was something worth pressing. "How's self-defense training going? Been making time for it, right?" The Commander had asked, her voice turning into that of a commander. Liara had been tuned in immediately, dropping the positions of power.

She nodded once, "They've been having me do physical training first, making sure I know how to run and keep at it. It's, ah, quite a work out if I do say myself."

Chakwas scoffed, starting some of her more clerical work. "Just be glad that you are young enough to "keep at it", Dr. T'Soni."

In every aspect, Liara was the visage of a young woman, despite her species. Different than Tali, she wore her youth differently. She had already lived a life, however she had many lives to live. That was what her lifespan ordained to her, and, there was an inner thought she had on her own:

"I just didn't expect to fall into this particular line of work, so soon. I'm not a Commando."

The Asari Commandos, Shepard had known of them very well. A few applicants for the Joint Asari/Human Biotic integration units had been passed over by her, having served with some, and the bar had been high. Even at her very best, she was only as good as an Asari Commando on a bad day with their Biotics.

"Again, Liara, ain't asking you to fight, we just want to make sure you can."

And, in some sense, Shepard had wished Liara more: To see how far she could push herself.

"Well, thank you for that," Liara answered before rubbing the muscles on her side, letting loose a pained groan. "But I also do have to thank you for the sores. Even Tali knows how to throw a punch."

The fact that the Quarian had been throwing mean punches now it had risen some sort of concern, but Shepard wrote it off. "I've been meaning to get down there and do some personal PT with all of you, but, well, I think you know how busy I am. Still, I'll always enjoy some hands on time with my crew."

That had put an admittedly dumb smile on Liara's face at the thought. "Well, I'll look forward to it."

In that very same stroke however that smile had gone away. Shepard's Omni had flared. It was Pressly. "Ma'am," his voice came out of the device. "We need you on the bridge."

Shepard had given off a flashy, toothy grin. "Looks like we'll get hands on sooner than later."

Swinging her legs off the bed she had been out the door without a second to look back, leaving Liara simply tapping her finger against her cheek. "One would think having a record of the apocalypse on their mind would weigh a person down."

Chakwas had known better as she looked up from her console. "Perhaps." In what type of galaxy birthed a person like Shepard? Not a kind one, that she knew.

---

Her stride had been with purpose, a purpose that only the luckiest knew, holding her shoulders broad and her fists wound tight. When she arrived on the command deck she arrived as women of action always do: With gusto.

"Commander on deck!" Pressly had called for attention, harkening back to those old naval ways. She would always be a Marine first rather than a sailor, but some traditions were sacred among the order as she set up onto the command podium.

"Status report?"

Pressly had been at his station along the main navigation consoles, before that great holographic stream of the galactic map. It had once been pristine in its display, tasteful infographs highlighting systems and fleet formations of the Alliance, however that had all been sidelined by what had been essentially Shepard's marker notes, messily highlighting leads and planets of interest. Above that, one planet noted had rung out red, pulsing, asking for attention. She had known what it meant but Pressly had laid it out.

"QRF has been requested from Feros. It's something beyond their ability to handle."

Feros had been an interesting case study so far. It had asked for assistance from the Colonial Authority very early on against the Geth threat, hours after Eden Prime, however that assistance had been reeled back and asked for almost as if representative of the tides themselves. Inquiry and communication with the colony had been spotty, but what information could come out spoke to a bipolar colony that didn't know if they could handle the Geth on their own or not. Up until now, they did, the occasional Geth picket harassing them. Between that and their nature of being an Exo-Geni funded endeavor, the Alliance thus far had been cold to following through.

Though when QRF was signaled it had been a ultimatum. It truly meant help, in the more dire need.

Normally the Normandy had been excused from Alliance doctrine of answering QRFs so far, as painful as it had been. Its mission had been too important to be sidelined, however Feros had been different due to the very constant nature of the Geth constantly prodding at it. Why nothing had been done proactively had been a extension of caution: not wanting to kick the beehive with the Geth if a full intervention was put in place to dissuade. After all, if by way of observing the Geth's constant movements in regards to Feros, they could try and figure what had been going on with them hopefully.

Now was the time to less observe and more to kick in teeth, Shepard had decided. The former route the Normandy had been taking had been on the path of checking suspected Prothean points of interests along the Attican, chasing leads and misgivings from pirates or otherwise as requested by both Council and Alliance manifestations, however Feros would take precedent now.

"We have any idea what's going on?"

"No ma'am. All surveillance within Feros has gone dark," Pressly answered. "Seeing as the rest of the Navy has been hands off with Feros, we suspect the Geth knocked what satellites and comm buoys we had in system finally."

"Prior force estimates then?"

"Company strength observed overall," Pressly slid a report from the last report on Feros. "No Geth combat ships present, as far as anyone could tell. Alliance and Turian patrol fleets have kept Feros relatively isolated from the larger Geth movements in the Attican."

Prodding attacks, scout ships seen in one space lane or another, the Geth testing their feet in the wider galactic waters had been what had been happening outside of the Normandy's journey. The Alliance Fleet and the Turians upping patrols amidst heightening tensions with the Quarians and Covenant. Shepard knew Altis was playing host to an invasion fleet like the Galaxy had never seen, but for the meantime, it was Human and Turian mostly answering distress calls from mining facilities or colonies furthest out from Citadel space.

"Shame." Joker had said over the comms, even if he had technically been in the same room, just up further the nose. "The Normandy still needs to break in for ship-to-ship combat."

Shepard never enjoyed the notion of the Normandy going ship-to-ship. For as long as she had known outside of fighter-bomber doctrines, the Normandy was a particularly prototypical example of the glass cannon stereotype. She didn't want to be onboard if the Normandy took a hit. A ship designed for stealth would obviously have to sacrifice something, and she knew its torpedo and guns had been far beyond the capability of some destroyer-classes.

"Leave the fighting to me, Joker. Wouldn't want to mess with the Normandy's paint job."

"Well, fine by me. Only means your paying me to do half of what I'm trained for." All pilots needed a challenge, a fight; nothing as mundane as being a simple transporter for what had been the spearhead against a galactic threat. She sympathized with Joker at that moment, but her two halves had been fighting at that moment: between leveling with him and annoyance that he did want the Normandy to get into a fight.

She had her priorities, signaling to Pressly, a faint hand gesture sent his way. "Set course for Feros and drop a status update next comm buoy we hit."

Pressly himself had motioned to some of the navigation crew, they nodding and affirming as the adjustments were made to the current navigation data. "Aye ma'am. ETA three hours."

With a nod Shepard spoke into her omni. "Joker, activate the stealth drive. We're going dark. If this is some ploy to get us out in the open, we'll do it on our terms."

"Roger dodger ma'am."

"Pressly, you have the con."

"Yes ma'am."

The VI of the Normandy affirmed as Shepard had summoned the intercom to her omni, she speaking into it again as soon as it was finished. "This is CO Shepard to all away team personnel. QRF to Feros has been called. All hands, we are Red-Con 1. Marines, gear up immediately. Briefing in the Well Deck in ten."

Marines on the crew deck not predisposed to security had rushed down the stairs, the entire Normandy abuzz now with movement as over half of its crew had made its way down the decks, those sleeping spurred from their rest as the call was made. The pomp of power, the wealth of military, and all that war err gave had manifested in Shepard as she felt that same electric feeling of command and military.

She too had stepped away to go down to the Well Deck, but not before stopping by the Medbay on her way down. The door had already been open, one of the Hitmen already halfway out: Doc. "Commander." He nodded at her, a satchel of supplies in hand. "See you down there."

The Commander had given the combat medic a nod as he disappeared into the elevator, being held open by other Marines.

Chakwas had rose her eyebrow as Shepard stepped in, almost jealous. "Commander? Take care of her, shall you? Dr. T'Soni is quite reliable company."

"I'll see if I can squeeze her in with the twenty-something other Marines I got."

Chakwas had chuckled as she twirled over in her seat and desk, getting ready for the inevitable combat injury reports that were to come of this. QRF reactions were hardly bloodless, if ever. Liara herself had been holding a clipboard by her own terminal, staring at Shepard, unsure, but knowing what was to come. The Commander had only casually walked over despite all the energy in the air. "Shepard?" Liara asked up, staring at her.

"Doing something?" She gestured at her typing.

Liara had grimaced once before smiling sweetly up at her new Commander. "Writing my will."

A huff of air through Shepard's nose. She didn't know if it had been a joke or not.

Reaching a hand out she had done nothing but pat her shoulder, coaxing the Asari up. "We'll set you up with some light armor and a sidearm, but when we hit the ground, don't worry. I've got Marines for a reason."

The inevitability that she was to participate in a military operation had been palpable, the anxiety in her shoulders Shepard felt. Still she was nothing but encouraging, if not for Shepard but for herself. "It's certainly an opportunity. Exo-Geni never cleared Asari researchers to get this close." There was a hint of cautious optimism in Liara then, but perhaps it was a front, put up for Shepard.

"I don't expect you to fight, nor do I want you to," Shepard continued. "But if push comes to shove, follow our lead."

"Keep my head down, I presume?"

"And don't get in the way." It was such a hostile statement Shepard had been surprised she had said it all, even with her own motherly tones, but it came out with the necessity of breath. It surprised her, but there was always a reason why. Shepard had herself pretty well figured out at this point in her life, as best she could determine. How many of her people died because they couldn't keep up with her? Fumbled as they tried to follow her stride?

Somehow Liara had extrapolated this, the way her eyes widened, the way she bit the bottom of her lip. It was very much a warning to her that she understood in one timid nod.

---

He woke up as men of action always due: with a call to that action.

"This is CO Shepard to all away team personnel. QRF to Feros has been called. All hands, we are Red-Con 1. Marines, gear up immediately. Briefing in the Well Deck in ten."

JD had caught Shepard's announcement over the intercom as he looked up from his mid-nap daze, Mai already stepping over him as she had crouched down into her armor's storage, her gaze cast at him, seeing him awake.

"Gear up." She said simply, as if he had missed.

"Yep. Ya." He nodded, shaking himself awake as he palmed himself up, almost rolling over to his locker as he had donned his own armor and gear in record time. His BDU jumpsuit he had practically slid in after so much practice. He didn't take much care to take off the hardened alloy parts of the armor from the jumpsuit, the pauldrons, pads, and such, reaching to his sides to sip and seal it before his helmet had gone on.

It was odd, perhaps, that he hadn't developed much sentimental value to the whole affair, this was, after so many years, only his third armor set. Though he had done well enough to keep it going, even now. The fact that the Alliance had retrofitted barriers and even some medigel dispersion system to it had only given him utility that he wished all ODSTs had gotten.

Naturally he had gone to Mai after he had slid on his helmet, she already settling up with the armor on her top half, leaving JD to kneel before her and clamp her armor pieces down on her lower section. It was a routine now.

One that, under any other pretense, was awkward. A pretense that had been quickly dissipating.

"How much time do you save by having me do this as well?" He had locked in the armor piece at the base of her spine.

Mai slid on her helmet as the two reconvened in a stand, the bulk of her Spartan-ness assumed once again. She considered for a moment. "Enough time."

At some point she had gotten their two weapons respectively, she passing his SMG along to him.

"Huh. Right."

The Normandy Well Deck had been something to see, when brought to full readiness, every locker thrown open and gear put on as was typical of QRF functions. Mai and JD had done their research. QRF in this galaxy had been the same in their own; if anything, JD had been supremely familiar. ODSTs were often attached to QRF missions where speed was of the essence and landing zones needed to be established for colonists to evacuate. That's where he and the ODSTs came in.

Still, despite whatever moto shit was said, the technicality of their existence meant this:

There wasn't just one Marine Corps.

There had been enough of Hitman already in the Well Deck, but when the mass of the rest had come from the elevator, so began the cadence that JD had recognized, kicked off by Emerson.

Mama, Mama, can't you see?

(Mama, Mama, can't you see?)

What this Corps has done for me?

(What this Corps has done for me?)

A platoon's worth of Marine Raiders starting a singing cadence had activated some indoctrinated part of JD, the need to move hitting his legs. He wouldn't be as degraded to start jogging in place, but that would've hit his spot as Hitman piled in and started opening their lockers, dawning their gear and armor.

Put me in a barber's chair

(Put me in a barber's chair)

Snip, snap and I had no hair

(Snip, snap and I had no hair)

And if I die in a combat zone

(And if I die in a combat zone)

Box me up and ship me home!

(Box me up and ship me home!)

"We're lucky, Mai." JD spoke softly.

"Hm?" The Spartan turned to him as they waited by the Mako, looking at the gear up go on.

"Same galaxy, same Marine Corps." Same Humanity, same everything at times. Mai supposed that there was comfort in it.

Put me in a set of Dress Blues

(Put me in a set of Dress Blues)

Comb my hair and shine my shoes

(Comb my hair and shine my shoes.)

Pin my medals upon my chest

(Pin my medals upon my chest.)

Tell my Mama I did my best

(Tell my Mama I did my best)

There was much enthusiasm to Hitman's singing as Tali and Garrus had appeared from the elevator and core respectively, taken aback by the entire show, unsure if they had wanted to intrude on the entire affair. Wrex had been less than caring as he appeared behind Tali, only to wedge his way into the Marine mass and simply grab his shotgun. It was all he needed, personally.

Ashley and Kaiden had appeared soon after. For Ashley, she had settled right in, belting out the same cadence as Kaiden went to open his mouth. Perhaps it was to stern, to speak against this scene, but he snapped up. There was no real use, a mental shrug on his shoulders as he put on his armor.

Mama, Mama dont you cry

(Mama, Mama dont you cry)

Marine Corps motto is "Do or Die!"

(Marine Corps motto is "Do or Die!")

"Keelah…" Tali had appeared next to Garrus as they awaited, touching his elbow gingerly.

"Show offs." The Turian scoffed for the sake of his own military.

It's not as if they were unwelcome as a whole as Loke had caught Tali and Garrus standing asides, she motioning them over for them to gear up, and they did, getting caught up in the wave of Marines. There was a certain empowering feeling that washed over the Quarian, being among men and women of action, doing what they did best in their life. How easy, how used they were to gearing up, making sure their armor configurations and helmets snapped on tight as they placed their ID tags across their backs. In a fireteam that big it was needed:

Loke, Emerson, Bannon, Harris, Lamareux, Anne… The names went on and on, and if Mai and JD weren't already acquainted, they had found the names of Hitman all spelled out on their backs.

The miracle of it being that Shepard needed no such tagging as she appeared out of the elevator, a Liara T'Soni in her shadow.

"Commander on deck!"

Every soldier their had snapped together, at attention, Shepard giving a formal salute down as she found her locker. "At ease. We geared up?!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Or currently trying. Kaiden had appeared next to her, already in his kit as he looked over Liara, who followed, unused to being surrounded by so many people that looked like they could kill her. "Orders, Commander?"

She had been half-way zipped up in her own black armor plates as she answered. "School circle." She told Kaiden.

"School circle!" He echoed out, automatically the Marines forming around Shepard and her locker, even Mai and JD coming over by beckon.

Shepard had started almost immediately, throwing up her omni and sending the mission info to all. "As I said, we got QRF request from Feros. Don't know why they'd taken to holding off on calling it in, but they've pulled the trigger and now we're shooting, oorah?"

"Oorah." The entire Marine complement had rattled off.

"We've been ignoring QRFs up and down the Attican ma'am, what makes Feros special?" Hitman as a whole spoke for each other, one voice was as good. That was their unit cohesion. Shepard had known it well. On crews she had been in command with before it got to the point where her voice did speak for them all out of trust.

She answered the voice. "Feros is different. For some reason or another the Geth keep sticking around this place, and now they've made a substantial attack against the colony."

"What's our prerogative ma'am?" Emerson asked aloud, bypassing Kaiden.

"Our prerogative," Kaiden answered for Shepard, "Is the civilian livelihood."

Shepard could only affirm. She liked to see this friction between Kaiden and Emerson, secretly. For as much as an empath Kaiden had been, he was still supposed to be a Marine. This was part of it.

"Affirmative." Shepard backed up. "However," she knelt down, throwing her omni up only to transmit it to the omnis of each Marine and ground team member there. "Once the situation is stabilized, we go hunting as well. If the Geth have found what they're looking for, so should we."

"For what, then, ma'am?" It was Ashley's time to speak up, but Shepard didn't answer.

"Artifacts or data stores similar to the Prothean Beacon." Liara answered, still in her uniform, so soft compared to everyone around her. This was her area of expertise. "If what happened on Eden Prime correlates directly toward their intention of securing a Prothean device, then we can expect the same here."

"Respectfully Doc," Bannon spoke up referring to Liara, her voice so very distinct compared to the American-accents that had rounded out the translators and the crew. "I don't think I could tell what a Prothean artifact would look like, and if I do, well, I ain't exactly in the mood to get mindfucked like the good Commander, ya?"

Shepard laughed it off once, harshly. "Well, that's why she's coming with us. Feros is a former Prothean ecumenopolis."

There was a light of familiarity, at least, with Hitman for Liara. The graces of Ryder had been with them, so she felt at ease with them in such a sense that what had happened next hadn't been too radical: Chief Weston had taken out an armor case and a pistol.

"All ready when you want, ma'am." He nodded at her, "I recommend."

"As do I." Shepard affirmed.

There was an anxiety as Liara looked down on the crate, seeing it open and the plates of armor so like those that the Marines wore on them. Kaiden had touched upon her shoulder once. "Haven't taught you much, Doc, but it should be enough. Long as you stay behind us that is."

Mai and JD had bore witness to the first uneasy trials for Liara, before Hitman and Kaiden, trying to gauge what would she need to be trained for to keep up. The same process that played out for Tali had been enacted on Liara, the distinct issue being that Tali had been born with a hatred for Geth. Liara? Not so much. She wasn't a fighter, and it showed as she used her Biotics to try and throw some of those who had been training her for practice; it showed in the way she fumbled with a handgun.

JD had heard Garrus mumble to him, witnessing all of it: "Amateur."

"Stay behind Chief Gul, she got enough room for ya." A voice from the crowd, and Mai had actually affirmed as well in a nod, silent as she was.

She had been almost as much of an enigma to the Asari as the Protheans had been, some untouchable being whose even its allies stayed away from as if radiating a bad aura. To be fair, how could she not give off such an impression?

It was the first time since Therum that Liara had looked up and down Mai, seeing the monster more made of mental than man look at her too, and in her black visor she saw a starless sky.

She had jumped when Tali had ribbed her. "Hey, the first drop is always the hardest." Behind her own purple visor she had winked at the good doctor. "Could be fun."

"That what you been having? Fun? When I send you out there?" Shepard shook her head in a half-disappointed swagger. Tali had shrugged in jest, a shotgun slung over her shoulders in short order. Garrus had had that sympathetic look to his face plates. He knew in some piece of himself that they, they as aliens, were in over their heads on that ship. It wasn't as if they had a choice, whether or not they did want to be here. The galaxy needed them to be there.

"If I can choose to feel anything out there, shooting pyjacks, I choose fun." Wrex had been more than receptive, backing Tali up. The way he had added to her training, her drills, it spoke to a Krogan right: the right of pain. Of anyone in that galaxy the Krogan had been able to claim pain itself as their defining trait, given to them by the circumstances of long-ago history placed onto their very genes. The Quarians were the runner-ups, and Wrex say that in Tali as he had punched her down one day, dead center of her chest.

"Do you know what it's like to keep fighting? Even after taking the hardest hit in your life?" He told her as she coughed up into her throat, feeling as if something was broken inside of her, crawling back as Wrex approached on the training mat. The Marines watched. JD and Mai had looked on. Garrus was nowhere to be seen.

She could not say anything as her voice was robbed from her, Wrex's shadow cast on her.

"Do you know what it feels like to fight against everything?" He said again, reaching down, grabbing her legs, and throwing her onto the otherside of the mat. "One day you're gonna get hit in combat, and whoever the enemy is, they won't be as nice as me."

Mai's eyes glazed over as her own memory of Onyx came forth: How she became the entire class's mortal enemy, and they were told to try and take her down. How many did she fight off? What did Kurt think when she did stand alone, remaining where all else failed?

Tali landed on her stomach, crawling again away from the monster.

"You think they're gonna just let you crawl away, welp?!"

She rolled over onto her back, reaching down to her boot, an item there that people had forgotten: A knife had been drawn as she pointed it at Wrex.

He smirked.

"Do you even know what you're doing with that thing?"

That thing; knives. He glanced at Mai, knowing that of anyone there she had been the most qualified. Even then and there there was still a dare of a challenge.

Wrex had placed his hand upon Tali's shoulder and she had seemed comfortable with it, of all things.

"What's up with the colony itself?" Another Hitman had asked. "They alive?"

Shepard nodded fiercely. "Out of comms, but presumed currently engaged."

"They Alliance or Private?"

As was always the nuance with the colonies.

"A corp called Exo-Geni has headed the colonization effort here. You know how it is: first come, first serve, and they make the bet that if the planet has any particular resources they're entitled to it." Shepard responded with a certain irk. "Dr. T'Soni, you would be better disposed to talk about Feros, actually."

And that Liara had been as she stepped up. "As we stated, Feros was a Prothean world to the highest degree. Its surface covered completely by the Prothean civilization in both infrastructure and, unfortunately, dilapidation given the rot of the planet. Given the structural decay and latent radiation given off by the ruins, settlement here was, and still is, inadvisable, as only the larger towers peek above the toxic dust clouds."

"You ever been, T'Soni?" Emerson asked in turn. Always focused on the particular details of a mission like any good Marine Raider.

She shook her head sadly. "Alliance permissions for Prothean worlds has always been… stringent, especially when it came to privatized colony worlds."

"Well, now's your chance." Shepard had decided. "Saren wants something here, and he's sent the Geth for it. Pay him back for Eden Prime."

"Oorah." The crowd had resounded.

"Good. Now standby. We'll see what our insertion options are and then it's point and shoot."

---

Shepard amongst her men had been a moralizing feel. Of the many Extranet articles on her, one had been an interview from a Marine that had once been in her fireteam:

"Being asked to go out on a mission with the Commander? It was if I was being asked to be the 13th Apostle!"

Stick with Shepard and you'd be alright, that was the feeling JD had gotten with Shepard, though he had been wary of it. How many times had he felt that sense of security with dead ODST sergeants?

One time too many.

Mai at least never trusted anyone to lead. No one that hadn't been a Spartan that is.

That was just how she operated. So, it left the two naval SOF off to the side as usual, waiting for the three hours that it would've taken to get to Feros to pass.

"I prefer Chess." Shepard declared, invited to a little waiting game of Poker by the Marines.

"Aw, come on Skip, it's nice playing a game where luck is involved." Ashley had basically bullied the Commander into sitting as the two sat across each other in that circle, surrounding an overturned locker used as a table.

"Because we're the monument to good luck, right Williams?"

"We make our own!" At that moment Ashley had a winning hand, slapped down onto their table as those playing had all given out a roar of displeasure.

With Shepard, every moment, looking from the outside in, or the inside out, it felt like a moment in time, in history. A photo taken then and there might've ended up in the history books.

No wonder that those that found themselves outside of that circle had been like Liara: In over their head and not sure of what to do yet, dragging an armored case, approaching the two spooks.

Garrus and Tali had found their place besides Mai and JD, or, at least more specifically, JD, leaning against the Mako or sitting against the tires. There they had their quiet chattering, looking on at what Human Marines were like in those precious moments before deployment. In short, as Tali observed, they didn't look like they knew what was coming.

"You tend to, after a certain time, not worry about what you're gonna get sent into. It's really not worth it." Garrus wiped the scope of his sniper rifle down with a fiber cloth. Shepard had asked him to bring a long gun, and so he would.

"Really now?" Tali leaned her head over, tapping his shoulder with the rim of her helmet.

Garrus could only nod. "Whatever happens to you, happens. No use worrying about it."

Each day, without fail, JD had liked Garrus more and more. To think this was how he was going to get acclimated into a galaxy with aliens that weren't Covenant; it was too perfect.

Perhaps it helped that some of those aliens had looked Human. That was why he had seen the pensive look on Liara's face as he approached him. "Hello."

JD had lifted his hands from resting on his gun, a light wave. Letting the armored case down at her feet she turned over to Mai, she standing rigid in the shadow of the Mako's rear section. "I've been advised to hide behind you, if there is any fighting." Liara's timidness had only intensified as she had approached Mai. Through the glint of his visor Garrus had caught the feeling Liara felt.

"She really catches up to ya, if you're not prepared." He mumbled, putting asides his sniper rifle and crossing his arms, leaning back against the Mako and looking up at the Normandy's dark ceiling. "I don't know how JD does it, truthfully."

"Neither do I." JD had been surprised Garrus had coaxed out some banter from him. He had also been surprised he heard the way Mai's tech suit had sounded when she turned her head to look at him, her head tilted. Garrus and Tali had been surprised when Mai's helmet depolarized, showing her face behind it. Such technology hadn't yet been common place amongst helmets that were standard issue in the galaxy. As for why she did it, Mai had spoken in that peculiar shared language, looking at JD. Some signs were facially bound. More common place in Japanese Sign Language he personally knew, but in ASL it had their place, especially when she had scrunched the bridge of her nose and her eyebrows and gave her head a little shake.

HUH?

She had taken the banter literally. It hurt her in some small way, at least, and JD hoped he was reading her right. He shook his head defensively as he brought his right hand to his chest before wiping the heel of his left palm along his right index finger.

I JOKE.

Had she been taught that sign yet? It crossed JD's mind as she rose an eyebrow and held it. It wasn't as if humor or comedy had been a particular part of their articulation and education so far, past that one moment of reflection on the cuteness of girls.

In light of this he had simply finger spelled the word JOKE out.

The particular fluentness of JD's hand had been still enthralling, and fingerspelling, in its stride, had been complicated at its face to the uninitiated, of which everyone else were.

"They do that." Garrus had explained as frankly as he could. "Even though verbal communication probably would be more convenient, faster, etcetera etcetera." Garrus hadn't known why JD had known. Mai wouldn't forgive his ignorance however, not as that death glare cut through the polarized visor and Garrus had remembered why the helmet was for as much his protection as it was hers.

JD shook it all off, head tipped at Liara. "We'll take care of you, don't worry. We all will."

How soft his speaking voice was, Liara had noticed after the sparse interactions they did have so far. It was a nice voice, but it reminded her of Matriarchs who had spent centuries in solitude.

"Well, I'm glad to hear." She croaked out, the zip of Mai's visor polarizing again heard and tensing Liara again for a moment. "I was also wondering if, if you could, helping me into this armor…?"

It had partly been because he had been seen helping Mai into her armor that Liara had looked at JD specifically as she asked. The rest was out of logical deduction between the Quarian, Turian, and whatever Mai had been. It was no matter however; he had known how to put on regular Alliance armor. It reminded him of suits that firefighters put on back on Luna, and, in any case, he had been fitted for some armor in case of his BDU's own failure. As versatile as the ODST BDU was, it hadn't been the same piece of work as Mai's own. Inevitability would eventually dictate when he would stop wearing the skin of another life. If anything, this current BDU had lasted longer than any set he had before. The Kinetic Barriers had seen to that.

"It's ah, pretty simple Doctor T'Soni." JD had rigidly said, unsure. "You have to get down to your skinnies if you don't have a standard Alliance uniform on tap." She didn't.

"I- uh, would like some help regardless. This gear is borrowed and I don't want to damage it." She said slowly.

In the back of his head ODST squadmates in deployments past had been chiding him. Helping a woman into a suit of armor by stripping down? A fantasy played out. And it wasn't as if he personally was blind to Liara's Asari-typical looks. Very appealing to the Human imagination with its natural curves, seen even through the lab uniform she had borrowed from Chakwas.

"I have a partner," Liara had been confused at JD's admittedly awkward wording, glancing at Mai as the shock trooper immediately reeled back. "I mean, ah, a girlfriend, back home. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it."

"Spirits, he's whipped." Garrus thought he was being sneaky as he whispered in Tali's ear, she eliciting a giggle, and then a moment of disappointment.

"That gonna be your excuse for everything, JD?" Tali poked at him verbally. He had shrugged, Tali shaking her head in exasperation and pushing herself off the ground. "Come on, Doctor T'Soni, I'll help you."

"Ah, just Liara if you may."

The two women had disappeared behind the Mako with the case. Mai had been as much of a privacy curtain as any as they moved behind her.

"You got a picture of her that you look at at night?" Garrus broke the cushion of sounds that came behind them all, of Liara disrobing and Tali trying to figure out what from what on an Alliance standard issue armor. JD looked over at him, not a word said, giving nothing but a blank visor. "Sorry. A lot of Human war movies have this scene where one of the tragic characters looks at a photo of their love before doing something stupid, or dying."

JD deadpanned even more than usual. "You believe everything you see in movies?"

"Well the first propaganda films from the First Contact War told me all Humans do was kill each other and expand. And they showed it in my history class, so yeah, maybe."

Inwardly Mai had remembered that part of being a Spartan: Of being a symbol. She never was the subject of the UNSC propaganda machine, but she had seen their results. Posters of their helmets, beckoning men and women of action into war, promising a future if it was fought for. To stand for Humanity was to stand with the Spartans; the unkillable soldiers. Just thinking about it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Yeah, I've got a picture." JD thumbed back behind him. "In my locker."

"I'll show you my last partner if you show me yours." Garrus asked steadily.

It was certainly a request. "We that close now, Garrus?" JD tilted his heat at him.

He held up one hand defensively. "I just want to know what an attractive Human female looks like by your mark. I trust your judgement. It's not like I'm gonna steal it and go to a corner somewhere and, uh, do my business."

Fair, JD thought, shaking his head. It only affirmed to him that Garrus did, at some point, serve on a ship and all it entailed. His looser squadmates had taken turns sharing dirty photos sent over by their partners. The Turians had been no different it seemed.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll go get it after they're done-"

"Ah no rush. Just was curious, ever since Tali learned you were taken she's been gushing to me about what type of woman would have you." This time it had been Mai that tilted over to look at Garrus. She wouldn't dare say anything but the fact she moved had said enough. "Said you reminded her of one of the Marines she grew up with on the Flotilla, strong and quiet type. Apparently, those are popular but I don't see it."

"Well you're neither or."

"Oh, you pain me Durante."

Mai looked away, seeing the two lapse into banter. JD had never sounded like that with her. Perhaps it had been something that was distinct with being born to police, or perhaps it had been some masculine bond; whatever it was, it seemed normal. She wasn't.

"That really how Tali read me? Strong and silent?" JD had said, quieter, trying to make sure said Quarian couldn't hear.

Garrus had taken a beat, mouth open, but no sounds. JD had found out why as he found said woman in front of him as he looked away, leaning with her arms akimbo. Even behind that smoky visor there had been an eyebrow raised.

"Also nosy." The ting of her fingers flicking against his visor had been like a coin drop, JD recoiling ever so slightly as he had allowed it to pass. "Now how'd I do?"

The standard base layer configuration of an Alliance infantry armor had been more body suit than armor and kit, meant more for mechanics or second-line troops. It would protect against shrapnel, but without barriers, gunshots wouldn't be reliably protected from. The darker sheen of it had matched Kaiden's armor in a way, giving her contrast from her blue skin.

"Lighter than I expected." Liara had twisted her body around, trying to find some point of stiffness.

"The Humans usually have some small exo-skeleton built into their armor. Doesn't really improve strength, but it balances out the weight of that whole deal… Least what they told me at my military academy." Garrus commented, standing up, using his sniper rifle as a crutch for a moment, looking her up and down. "Not bad, Dr. T'Soni." It wasn't surprising. Asari and Human evolutionary development had been a fluke, given their similarities.

In Tali's hand had been Liara's pistol, but she had been hesitant, offering it up to JD. "You're good at this. How about you, you know, give her the rundown?"

JD nodded promptly, taking the gun offered.

M3 Predator. Typical light pistol.

He weighed it in his hand a few times. Not that he had known much of civilian firearm ownership in this universe, but back home as he knew, the M6 had become the standard model both in and out of the service.

The number of weapons being bounced around here hadn't been as uniform. Benefits of the lack of wartime necessity creating efficient production lines.

"No training?" JD asked.

She shook her head as he approached. "No."

Asari Commando units had been galaxy famous, Mai recounted as Liara stuck in her shadow unwittingly. "Your mother didn't teach you?"

There was a hint of suspicion behind that.

Liara had kept shaking her head, view gazing down. "My mother was never… the teaching type. To me at least. Even when I was born she was a Matriarch, preoccupied with her dealings. I had nannies, assistants, none would even think to teach me how to shoot a gun."

Mai remembered her cover story: An orphan abandoned on a ship. Yet the truth of it had been she had a mother. Her Mother. What did she teach her?

How to survive? How to exist? How to persist?

How much of that was Ambrose and Mendez, and how much of that was the woman they took her from?

Mai had held her rifle a little more rigidly, looking away, wondering why she had asked at all.

There wasn't much for JD to teach Liara, not when it was clear her role: not to get into a fight. Sights, how to aim, safety, cool-down, things of that nature. This was not a woman who had been aiming to fight, this was a woman who had to fight as a last resort. Then again so was he, in a way.

Liara had slid the pistol onto a holster at her belt, magnetically locked. "Thank you, Chief Durante."

He nodded. "JD. Just JD."

"We're lucky," Liara had started as JD turned away. "That we're fighting the Geth."

"Hm?" Tali had poked her head around, taken away from a quiet whisper of nothings with Garrus. That magic word had always piqued her interest.

"It wouldn't be the same as shooting something that's alive."

"What do you mean, Liara?" The Quarian had asked, unsure if her translator was getting across right. In Quarian tongue it sounded very similar to something so ingrained in history, she thought it intentional. A long time ago, before the suits, before the fleet, before the great exodus and the galactic shame, it is recounted that what would become the Geth asked this:

Does this unit have a soul?

"The Geth are artificial. Synthetic. I suppose even if they are what we think of as alive, they're not alive. Like us."

Tali scrunched her eyes. "Well they aren't at all."

"I- uhm." The assuredness in her voice, it made Liara quiver for a moment. "It's just musings. Yes. I'm just musing. I've never taken a life before. And with my reading on the Covenant recently, I suppose I have a recent idea based on faith and the spiritual."

Tali had soured internally at the idea of the Covenant. She wasn't particularly religious herself, but just thinking about how theological the Covenant had been was, if anything, sickening to her.

Garrus had usually sharp eyes, a sharp face, his species descended from that of raptors and birds of prey. When his eyes had gone soft it meant something. "It's not something you plan for. Dr. T'Soni."

Tali remembered how she had gotten onto the Citadel, finding a moment of safety before finding Dr. Michel. She had been tracked by Saren's assassins, and she had made a trap for them inside of a trash incinerator. The way she killed them, how they melted, she felt okay with it despite the brutality. It was her only choice. "If it happens, it happens. Don't let it bother you."

"Maybe it should bother you if it doesn't." JD had meant to say that much quieter, hoping that a roll of cheers from the poker game would hide it, but nothing could get away from Mai or the Turian right in front of him.

"You good?"

Garrus had reached out, touching JD's arm for a moment, the minute jerk of Mai's arm toward his direction unconsciously making him back away.

There was less ambiguity with the Covenant on whether or not they had been alive or not. Sure, their relentless drive had been drone like, mechanical, but at the end of the day their war was that of faith. They had faith, they had belief, they were as alive and in touch with the notion of their own mortal souls to be in service to it all. They were sentient beings with as much of a range of emotions as him. He couldn't hide behind that alien idea of them anymore. Not when they had been here, not when they had been perfectly capable of interacting with that new galaxy, same as him.

He didn't regret the hundreds of Grunts, dozens and dozens of Elites and Brutes he had gunned down.

The only thing he regretted, then and there, is that it had made killing Humans as readily doable by him.

"First time it happened to me. I was ambushing the enemy. They had no chance. It was orders." He said quick, fast, didn't want to hold it within him to stew and make him mysterious. Not when it was toward a man who had been a detective. "Tali's right, it just happens." He gestured a finger at the Quarian. "Yeah, just happens." he said quietly.

"It's better if you hate the enemy." Mai had looked away at some unknowable something, out toward the door to engineering. At first the three of them had wondered if she had said anything at all, but she turned her head back over. "If they deserve it, then you're just making things right."

Garrus had sniffed, looking down at his sniper rifle. If he stuck as a military man he would've been fast tracked to sniper. He was that good. "I don't think so, Chief Gul."

"Do you?" To be questioned by a Spartan, by someone who had been so sure of what it meant to kill, it had made Garrus waver. Though this was different. This wasn't empirical. This was what he believed as he sucked in the spit between his fangs and nodded at her.

A common thread had come up: survival, or orders.

"My first missions were S&Ds of Batarian outposts, often times the Turian Navy would just send fireteams out with no support and told to do what they could. More efficient that way, helped give troops experience they said… But I'll tell you, I might've had orders to kill, but really, when you were all alone on a dusty rock in the middle of nowhere, with half your squad injured and the other half shell shocked, you're killing to survive, not because you were ordered to."

"Even with Batarians? Even with Turian Mercs?" Mai questioning had been new to everyone.

Garrus had surprised himself with how fast he shook his head.

"I didn't kill with my orders because I hated the enemy, Chief Gul." Garrus had twitched his facial plates for a moment, grinding his jaws. "I could've been a pirate, in another life. I can't think of those who chose that life too lowly, not if they didn't have a choice. Chances are if we're fighting, we never had the choice to do so."

To read Mai's silence was a skill. One that JD alone had barely attained.

The silence she spoke that day, looking at Garrus, it had been that of confusion. She turned away.

"I see." Leaving her mouth, remembering her missions; so many. So many people. So many killed. How many deserved it?

---

Most of the time, QRF responses were full of, usually, Makos being dropped from the sky amidst gunfire and explosions, Marines rushing out from the well decks of ships as they raced to save the day.

As with all things when it came to Shepard, this wasn't it.

No Geth ships in atmosphere. No unified colonial traffic control. No radio going off the hook screaming for help. Just the silence of the Normandy skirting over the dead world.

This galaxy had offered questions that JD couldn't begin to comprehend of his own, answered only by the Covenant of all people. Had there been a Prothean-type civilization before Humanity? As the Covenant had now answered, translated and all, explained in their press releases, yes. The Covenant had been chosen by the Forerunners, the ones who had built the foundations of the Galaxy.

The Forerunners, at least to him, hadn't been as readily known to Humanity at least then the Protheans. He had only known of the Forerunners through reading up on the Covenant's public releases. The fact that this galaxy had used the Relays to start off had meant everything.

Still, looking down on an entire world: dead, maybe Shepard's visions had a point.

Maybe there was something out there, ready to reap.

The entire Marine contingent of the Normandy had been brought up to the Command Deck, because, as it turned out-

"Apparently they've got a landing space big enough for the Normandy to proceed with regular docking procedures." Pressly had reported.

"Gotta love the private sector." Joker had been leaning up out of his seat a bit, peering out the windows at the sky scrapers that had risen to the Normandy's flight altitude in atmosphere, rolling clouds offering only peeks at the city beneath. "Always gotta make things easy."

That many people up their people had been squeezing by to get through, though if it meant coming out fast, it was tolerated as Marines and guests stood in a line, with Shepard and Liara at the front by Joker, the rest having started the line at the airlock.

Where the colony was had been relatively indistinct according to the Colonial Authority, but it hadn't been anything the crew had been unprepared for.

"We've triangulated where this colony is." One of the sensory officers on the Command Deck rattled off. "Joker, you've got your coordinates."

"Thank you, Mike." The pilot had rattled off teasingly, the entire Normandy doing an abrupt turn over port.

Even with the inertial dampeners there was some sway to it. Only Mai had felt it coming, her boots magnetizing as every other person on the deck had shifted a foot over. A very predictable outcome given how many people were standing.

Joker gestured at an imaginary something above him. "Seat belt sign was on, people. Your fault for not listening."

"Fuck off Joker." A Marine had yelled out from the back, only fueling his short laugh.

Shepard had only patted his chair as Liara had been off her feet and on the arm of the copilot seat. She he had actually apologized for. "Sorry about that. Wasn't meant for you. Just had to remind the ground pounder who's really in charge here."

"I'll beat your crippled fucking ass you cunt! You're gonna be shitting broken bones next time I get to ya!"

Liara wasn't entirely convinced by it all, but it wasn't for her to question as Shepard reached a hand out, pulling her up. "ETA Joker?" The Commander asked, ignoring what he had just pulled.

"Now."

"Oh alright then." Alenko had been one of the first lined up, ready to head out, Shepard's hand signaling him. "Lieutenant Alenko, you're on point with Hitman, secure the colony and we'll call it from there." Kaiden had nodded, affirming, arms crossed and ready. Shepard had only then moved to look at the special guests who had been relatively off to the side, still braced in case Joker had done another hijinks. Only Wrex had been intractable, unbothered. "As for the VIPs, you're with Chief Gul and Chief Durante for now." As what everyone who hadn't been Alliance military had been called: VIPs.

"Came with you to fight, Shepard." Wrex drawled out. "Not to follow."

"One step at a time, Wrex."

The Normandy had shifted down, the reverse Gs of it lowering, the great shadow of a tower above them. Joker had easily slid her into a landing port. He was disappointed with it, raising his arms into the air. "Really? My first QRF mission and all I get is this?"

The docking clamps around the Normandy had slid into place as if he was in another other Alliance shipyard or space station.

"Yep. That's it Joker… Pressly!"

"Aye ma'am!?" he yelled from the back.

"You have the con!"

The doors to the Normandy's airlock had unlocked at that moment, and suddenly all the Marines had went gun up. Ready, even when in the belly of their own ship.

"Airlock access is clear." Hitman's pointwoman Loke had rung out, the ship's docking point open and revealing the stony access way on Feros. The ship's VI had been screaming for both redundant doorways between decontamination and the outside world to be closed but with that many Marines shuffling out, it wasn't worth the effort on a world with breathable atmosphere.

With a click, Shepard's helmet had gone on, her rifle activated as with one hand gestured Hitman had moved out. "VIPs, stay back. Come out when I signal. Gul, Durante, stick with them."

It was odd by all accounts: usually QRF forces had dropped in in the middle of engagement, but things had been quiet. Too quiet. That was why when the shadow of a human figure had popped out on the balcony they had raised their hands, surprised to see over twenty Marines push out toward them.

"Identify!" Kaiden had yelled out, rifles pointed at the single figure. It had indeed been a Human man.

"David al Talaqani! I'm a colonist!"

Kaiden had looked back to Shepard as she was in the rear position, she cutting forward, leaving the Chiefs with the VIPs in the back. Al Talaqani had a rifle strapped to his back, his clothes that of a maintenance worker. By no means clean, and by all accounts roughed up. Shepard had approached him, waving her men down as she had simply gestured for them to push past and secure a perimeter. The unease that al Talaqani felt had barely been assuaged as Shepard offered a hand to shake.

"Commander Shepard. The colony called for a QRF?" She said promptly.

He nodded weakly. "Fai Dan did. He's our leader. He needs your help preparing for the Geth."

"Thought you guys were handling them well enough?" She asked the tired colonist earnestly.

He was tired as he answered. "Small recon groups, but not an entire shipworth of th-"

"Contact!"

This was more like it. The appearance of Geth on that walkway, seemingly from nowhere, the way that the Marines all bunched up had desperately tried to make themselves smaller or along the walls. The last few of them had still been walking out of the Normandy when the gunfire started.

A small patrol, no more than three Geth units seemed to have come out of the walls as the entire Marine group either dived against the walls and those up front had went gun up.

Shepard had charged al Talaqani, bringing him under her as she laid on top, covering him.

The three Geth units had been outgunned by a factor of six at least, so when they were cut down behind al Talaqani no one had been surprised. They were just an appetizer, a welcoming party perhaps.

Shepard had joined in on that fire as their mechanical bodies hit ground, back on the Normandy still Tali had poked her head out as soon as the gunfire started, raring to go.

"Tali." JD had called out behind her, warning her to stay, her shotgun held in a white-knuckle grip that spoke to an eagerness that betrayed her.

Shepard had yelled out as a man painfully writhed beneath her stomach. "Secure the dock! Everyone else on me! We're pushing out to the colony!"

It was a hint toward the Protheans that they had ships similar to stature to the Normandy: these docks had been designed for ships of her size. They weren't designed for combat as Shepard pushed up with Kaidan and Ashley on her wings, al Talaqani keeping his head down as an entire platoon of Marines went around him.

If Tali had felt the urge to fight, then Wrex and Mai had been drowned in that feeling, the two side by side for once, not breathing down each other's necks.

JD, Garrus, and Liara had been just fine where they were, Joker still in conversation distance.

"Yeah, that'll be a Marine wrecking ball for ya." The pilot said blowing a raspberry.

"So I hear." Garrus roughly commented, sniper rifle his shoulder. "The violence of action is effective."

So, the reserve group had waited a few minutes, the distant shots of gunfire going off, heard from the exposed Normandy. A choice unit of Marines had been left behind for dock security, but it had left the rest out.

Mai had thought otherwise. She had winged JD's shoulder for a moment, and then, unexpectedly, Wrex's. The Korgan had grunted, but he had known her intention as she took a few steps out of the Normandy. Of all the people there who wouldn't stand by, he would understand as the two moved up and out, out of sight, past the Marines on guard as they wouldn't dare stop the two monsters.

JD had been left alone, not following. It was his initiative now. The comm channel had been heavy with combat chatter, throwing fire at Geth that had been in that very tower. All of it had reeked of aggression, of fighting.

It seemed far enough away by JD's gauge at least. "Hey, Garrus," the shock trooper asked of him, the Turian leveling his sniper rifle ready. "On me."

He nodded. "Ladies?" The Turian asked behind him, they had been expecting, and Tali had been raring to go. Liara had that shake in her step, the memory of that same Geth gunfire rattling her, a hand on her pistol, still in its holster. Tali had pushed past Garrus, more purposefully bumping into him in good jest, Liara had to be beckoned with a shift of his hand.

Al Talaqani had his head between his hands, sitting behind crates as one of the Hitmen had stood ready above him, rifle out. "Helluva fireteam." the Marine mumbled. Al Talaqani had looked up to see that black shock trooper and the Turian up front.

"A Turian?" The colonist had been surprised, Garrus had nodded as he aimed up and out at the ready.

"More than that." Garrus thumbed back. "All we're missing is a Drell, Volus, and Batarian for a true diversity."

His snark was appreciated as a meaty explosion had went off, shaking the dust off the roof of the bay. JD reached a hand down, grabbing al Talaqani up. He was weak, his grip barely there as his rifle was left behind on the ground. "Your settlement nearby?" The shock trooper asked.

"Yeah, yeah." he said. He was strained by this whole deal; JD had seen many settlers out along the colonies have this dead look in their eye: their entire lives destroyed after being built.

Liara had looked up at the ceiling above, the ancient Prothean ruins that had been denied to her because of private interest. It took her mind off the present gunfire echoing further in.

"Mind leading us there? We can help out while we can secure the area." JD asked softly.

Mai had been proactive. "Hitman 1-Actual. VIP Section is moving up the rear to the colony."

"Copy all." The sound of gunfire behind her voice had been heard as Mai sent off the message.

This was what it was like, following in Shepard's wake. The bits and pieces of Geth left, the bullet holes and scorch marks, it led the way into the tower proper, Wrex and Mai on point. Hell had been brewing around them and they were just missing it. Still they were walking in more than the steps of Shepard.

Liara had took every step so precisely, her head craned and cocked up and down, seeing the geometry of her surroundings. "We walk where they did." She said, beneath a helmet put on.

Tali had been more focused on the pieces of Geth, disintegrating and exploding around them, still, she entertained the good doctor's words. "Yeah?"

Liara nodded as Mai and Wrex had led up the stairs by Al Talaqani's prompting, the man silent, amongst foreign people, aliens, and that machine of a woman. "How many billions of Protheans called this their home? All just wiped out, just like that? Leaving behind nothing but these ruins which still stand, which still function?"

How many ghosts? How many souls had been left there, and why?

These Protheans were lucky, a thought for both Mai and JD. Glassing left nothing human behind. Just the blackened rock and the crystallized crust of a world damned. Was it an infestation? A disease that reaped the Protheans? Or was it themselves?

Garrus had looked down a long corridor, only seeing a squad of Hitmen attend to one of their own, clutching his stomach as one of them passed some biogel over it.

Fighting had been close, but not close enough for some of them. The tower rocked with it, Al-Talaqani shaking with each concussive rock. He felt a pain beyond them folding his arms across his chest and shivering.

They walked through that tower, missing battles, missing firefights led by Shepard, but eventually they had made it to what had been the colony on Feros: Zhu's Hope.

Colonies were often built on the skeletons of the original colony ships, and it didn't surprise anyone there that it was built into the bones of a freighter.

The UNSC wouldn't classify a colony of that size as one, JD knew, more of an outpost, but the Alliance operated on different guidelines. The very fact that there was a "colony" here meant that it was a planet within the Human domain, and all that that meant as far as galactic politics went.

Prefabs and tents, a sorry looking state, but Mai wouldn't judge. Better than she had it on New Jerusalem.

Entering into the open-air perimeter, defenders posted on low walls and crates, looking at her, aiming guns at her as she entered.

"Geth!" They yelled at her.

She had shrugged off one shot to her shields, barely moving as she gestured back behind her.

Al-Talaqani had rushed up. "It's me! It's me! They're part of the QRF!"

"God in Heaven! Is that what's going on?!"

It was odd to be in the midst of Hell and not be the cause of it, Mai feeling her kinetics recharge back in as the rest of the procession moved up, spooked by the report of one gunshot hitting Mai. Only JD remained behind, an arm out holding Liara back.

"Shit, the Alliance got a lot more diverse since we got here!"

Mai had raised her hand in as much of a calming presence she could. Normally in these instances she would've already been on top of them, drilling into their heads. Times had changed, pinging her radio. "Hitman Actual. We've made contact with the colony. Awaiting on you."

A battle-heavy response, filled with the cool tones of a woman who had made her life in it. "Copy. We'll rendezvous. Broadcast your coordinates."

Even with that promise the fighting around them didn't stop, but eventually, eventually, they had subsided altogether, replaced by the march of boots. Though there had been a moment there, standing at the barricades, dirty colonists looking at them as they all stood, unwilling to go forward, to initiate beyond what they had gone to. Al-Talaqani had already rejoined them, but that only left a line, spread horizontal, spread out from the doorway. As if they were subject to a firing line.

JD had taken a glance back as he tentatively moved up, gesturing Liara to get behind Mai: Gunshots had flowered from the doorway. These colonists had been busy.

The lucky colonists were always busy, because otherwise JD had found them dead back on drops.

The Turians and Krogan shared very little in their long galactic history together. Shared animosity toward Humans had been one of them. Krogans hadn't much trusted anyone, and Garrus there had stood on more of that history, but together with Wrex, they had been the ones keeping their guns at low ready.

Tali wasn't going to say anything, neither Liara or Mai.

He was once the quiet man in all of his squads, he remembered as he let the rifle drop on his sling and he put his hands up. "We're here to help."

---

Shepard had come not too long after with more Marines than the colony had hoped for. A whole platoon for what was increasingly evident had been a small AO, all things compared. Normally cities had been more the operational space, not towers for colony rescues.

JD had pointed over to Shepard as she had come in the same pathway that the rear team had come through. He had been the only one to bridge that gap, and consequently one of the colonists had done as well.

Short cut hair, utilitarian, cheek bones deeply shown and wrinkled caked with dust and debris. He looked like a colonist: Fai Dan. These types of leaders always earned their mark by hardship and he had the taint of it.

Pushing past JD before they had even shaken hands, JD had figured what type of aura he had put up: Ignorable. Fine by him.

For these types of people focus had been the line between life and death, and anything foreign was liable to kill them, which is why a good lot of the colonist which guarded the entrance to the colony still had their guns up as the Marines shifted through forward, Fai Dan meeting with Shepard.

"I'm so glad help finally came! And Commander Shepard no less!"

Her reputation preceded her, her assault rifle's barrel dripping with carbon build up. She had put on a smile as she took Fai Dan's hand to shake, but was distracted as one of her men was carried through, his arm across another. Took a shot to the gut. Armor had stopped it but the concussion remained.

The colonist had welcomed her Marines in readily, and that she was glad for at least.

"The Geth have been prodding at us for days now! We didn't want to call in an official QRF, but things just got too hot around here." Fai Dan had explained, gesturing to the smoke and fires around. "We're colonists, not fighters."

Shepard's gaze had lingered, and so did Liara's for that matter. Around the encampment, it was pretty much nothing but. Nothing out of the ordinary, no obvious signage that would bring the Geth here.

The Geth never did anything aimlessly.

"Exo-Geni funds this colony, correct?" Shepard asked, one hand before hers stealthily gesturing the rear team to move forward and up. They did at Mai and JD's lead, shuffling with the Marines into it. Fai-Dan had nodded readily.

"Most of us worked there at some point, they're set up in the connecting tower." Exo-Geni, as far as Shepard remembered, operated on the fringes for a reason. Out of sight, out of mind, the private ventures of Human endeavors she never really enjoyed. "We haven't been in contact, the Geth are doing something fierce with our comms, and, well, the bridge has an army of Geth patrolling."

Shepard had patted the man's shoulders, coaxing him into the colony. "If it were easy, you wouldn't have needed our help, yeah?" Even now she had given him a smile.

"Right. Yeah. Still, with you here we can get this colony operational again."

As the two walked in a darker woman had walked out, approaching the remaining rear group. "You two, and you, with the sniper rifle!" She had pointed at Mai and JD, followed by Garrus. "We need you on the wall we've got contact crawling up one of the support towers!" As far as command went, no soldier was intractable about who the orders came from when it was in the thick of it. "And you, Krogan! We've got a door that needs plugging on the other end of the colony!"

Wrex had belted out some amusement. As long as he fought. "Come on, Quarian." He had summoned Tali with him and she had been just as enthused.

It left Liara alone, caught up in the colony as it all moved around her, her feet on ancient metal.

In a brief moment of sanity Liara grounded herself to what she knew, looking up at a tower that went higher still. She thought of the Protheans. Only on Thessia or Ilum; planets of pure Asari might and majesty, did they come even close to the projected structures that these Protheans left behind now from their extinction. They were nothing but ants, crawling on dead bones and burnt worlds.

She had gone to her omni, finding a place to sit within the colony, and started typing her notes.

---

Deja-vu.

Coaxed by the colonist that seemed to command the defenses, JD, Mai, and Garrus had rushed through the dusty colony, men and women were shell shocked, all looking at the odd trio be ushered to a raised railing and platform. Zhu's Hope had been situated on what felt like an open air courtyard, peering out into the clouds they were above, the nearest sky scraper connected to their current tower clearly showing a problem.

Skidding to a ready on the railing, Garrus had been more than willing to verbalize.

"You've got a Geth problem." Dry humor had been always up his alley. His audience had been less than expecting as he glanced over and saw two helmets look at him before looking at each other. It was a tough crowd, he realized, going to his visor and adjusting for what was to come.

"Spot." Mai had let out, JD had only nodded, letting down his own weapon and clicking the side of his helmet.

There was still a base zero to their HUD software, one that let JD point out targets as Mai had practiced one of the finer aspects of her skill set.

There was a sniper among the Spartans, legendary among them even. Kurt had been spoken of her during her own sniper training, and all those anecdotal stories, lessons, memories. A whisper of them were in her ear, seeing the spiders of the white Geth crawl upon in the distance.

Like spiders.

The first shot, it was a sense of security JD had known in his morbid life, living on the battlefield. To hear Mai shoot, it was of comfort and security. She had it well in hand as the first shots rang out and the outlined traces of an enemy were splattered against the rusted walls of the tower before falling down, and down, below the clouds.

In his right ear had been Mai, transitioning from target to target flawlessly, the endless stream of sporadic Geth crawlers without cover, a shooting range like she had never known.

To his left: Garrus picked up the scraps.

Like spiders.

JD couldn't stop thinking of the white Geth like them out in the distance. To him they were nothing more than the size of spiders.

Being born on Luna, he lived a relatively normal childhood, all things considered, however like all born on environments such as moons or space stations there were little things associated with how unnatural it was.

One of his father's duties as a detective had been to investigate contraband smuggled onto Luna, and into Cirsium City. Insurrectionist activity, mostly, bomb making materials or weapons; otherwise drugs or counterfeit goods. There was one case above all however that JD remembered as a child.

Mai had modified her DMR, cutting down its barrel to afford her more ergonomics if push came to shove, recrowning it on her own. However, because of that the flash of muzzle fire that emerged had been larger, and he twitched at it for a moment.

It was a fluke, really, an honest mistake: a shipment of perishables had carried on stowaways of the eight-legged kind: House spiders. Little black apparitions, barely the size of a thumb, crawling about in a sealed container and quarantined in port by the authorities. They had bred, hundreds and hundreds of spiders crawling atop each other, sealed inside a cargo container the size of a shack.

Cirsium's ecosystem (there wasn't one) did not support spiders if anyone could help it. The idea of spiders getting loose in the city had been terrible in its own right.

This was the first time JD had ever seen a real-life insect. His father had brought him to the port just for that fact.

It wasn't the spider that JD remembered though: It was how they were dealt with.

A unit of UNSC Hellbringers had been in transit in the same port that day when the spiders were found. JD knew the specifics of them after he became an ODST: siege soldiers. When positions could not be blown up, they could be burnt out. Their flamethrowers and white phosphorus had been the closest the Covenant had gotten to knowing what it felt like to be Glassed.

They were there that day, and, on the recommendation of the Port Authority, they were the solution. Something that the unit was more than happy to oblige.

A woman with a strong Hungarian accent (she had been from Reach), had, a moment before she hauled her flamethrower over to the cordoned off area of the port where that container had been, stood before JD and looked down upon him.

"Will it hurt?" A younger JD had asked her as his father held his shoulders in caution.

The woman smiled down at him. "I am merely cleaning… what is word…" she considered. "Making of purity. It hurts because must."

She turned away, her hands ready with her flamethrower as she simply slapped down her goggles and walked before that cargo container and aimed.

He remembered the flame, he remembered the heat, he remembered what it looked like when thousands of spiders were alight: burned into his memory.

He thought it was beautiful.

There was something else though: two pieces of a puzzle that were never intended to lock together.

This was what the Covenant thought when they Glassed planets, Glassed Humanity.

He understood now.

By God. He knew. He felt.

The two marksmen didn't particularly notice when JD had taken a knee and instead sat against the railing, his helmet disguising the blank look on his face.

What Mai did notice was Garrus however, deciding to see how exactly he had been taking the shots he did. He had been landing all of them.

Garrus hooked his left arm around, using it as a crook for his sniper rifle to lay on, stock in his shoulder. In the corner of Mai's eye she had recognized the technique. "You're not just some grunt, are you?"

Garrus had been in the middle of sucking in a breath as another shot rang out, and, appropriately, a white Geth had fallen off, down into the clouds and then, eventually, to join the rubble of Feros. He let go of it only after the shot. "If you must know, I was a sniper. Not by choice, but turned out I was just a good-" Mai had fired off a burst from her rifle. Another kill. He continued. "Shot."

Specializations. With a Spartan's uber competence in every military technique, such a concept seemed vain if applied, but still there were outliers. Like her with solo operations. Spartans who had been snipers, explosives experts, leaders and pure destruction made metal, they were something beyond compare.

"They trained you special?"

This was the most he had ever talked to Mai. It was easier than he thought, but still hard. "After the fact."

"Hm." She ground out as she put another Geth in the ground.

Tentatively, all JD could do was sit there between the Turian and the Spartan as he thought about Demons and Purity.

---

The tempo of sniper fire from outside the main prefab had been oddly reassuring to Shepard as she was run down the list of needs the colony had accrued on top of the Geth attacking.

Food, water, sewage, bare infrastructure and security.

Fai Dan had gone over this up and down as Shepard agreed with her head nodding, helmet on the main planning table and all of its holographic allure. Lost in its blues, the familiarity of what she was doing, it gave way to something over the shoulder of her mind's eye:

machineandfleshandbloodandextinctiontobereapedanddestroyedandthecyclegoesonandonandonandonandon

Words out of her mouth as Fai Dan was describing the Varren problem. "There's a reason the Geth are here, we suspect." Not suspect. She knew. If the Geth were here, Saren was interested. She knew it in her bones, her heart, her mind.

Fai Dan had been taken slightly off guard as Shepard said it, looking directly into him.

"What would that be?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Shepard had reeled back for a moment. She would never be so upfront like that usually, not to a colonist, trying to find her words. She was always at least three paragraphs ahead in a conversation. That being said she was off recently no doubt with how she slept.

"Did Exo-Geni find anything particularly anomalous in regards to the Protheans? The Geth are awfully interested in them nowadays, especially working technology."

Fai Dan had paused, working over an answer in his own head. Maybe a touch too long but the gunfire had often broken her own thoughts years ago when she was unacquainted. "It would be easy to say so, but we've found nothing here. Exo-Geni that is. No artifacts, no new technology. Nothing."

Nothing.

There was never ever nothing. Zero was an impossible number. 0% something that was in itself a paradox.

Shepard had inwardly shaken herself. She was getting too paranoid recently and it had been showing, even against someone she had hardly known and was in charge of assisting.

Metal footsteps behind her:

Fai Dan and Shepard turned over, it was Kaiden.

"Valentine is fine, he'll be up as soon as the healing agent kicks in." He reported, thumbing over to the colony's own medical prefab.

Hitman was reliable as far as fireteams went, courtesy of her mentor of course, but it meant that she could afford to stay put and lord over the situation as needed. Kaiden reporting the one injury so far, and it had been impressive that it had been only one, had settled her mind. She nodded as he approached, helmet in hand as gunfire continued, albeit quieting as it got further and further away.

"Rest of our fireteams going hunter killer?"

Kaiden had nodded at Shepard. "Up and down, giving us a cushion." Another gunshot from Garrus and his sniper rifle punctuated. "Smooth sailing, knock on wood, Commander."

"Mm." She affirmed with a nod. "Our lovely host here says we have some things to assist them with before we can sanitize the area and proceed with our prerogative in regards to our Council tasking."

Fai Dan nodded in turn now. "I hate to ask such a thing. We're such an independent colony that it pains us to even call out for help, but please-"

Shepard rose a hand. "Say no more. You're certified bad asses for living out here on the ruins of an alien empire, you know that? Just allow us to help." It was true that Shepard had a calming effect on people who were dying, according to one tabloid piece on her. Fai Dan believed it at that moment as much as he recognized it was a childish appeal to his ego. "Go ahead on what you need again?" She thumbed the mic of her radio as Fai Dan explained.

"Water, Geth, and then Varren… that's all we need dealt with."

Fai Dan had gone down the list: what they needed and what had been happening. Clogged up water veins, rogue Varren that needed to be hunted, and, of course, the Geth down the way and their reinforcements. It wasn't anything that a seasoned Marine hadn't been familiar with, especially one on a QRF track.

On an open mic, a fireteam had opened fire into a pair of Geth, the victor apparent with the casualness that answered: "Hitman Actual, we're clearing up the Geth real easy. Hitting more points then they can take on at a time. I figure we'll have this tower locked on within the hour."

Shepard nodded, locking eyes with Kaiden.

"Hitman will largely secure this tower and then push out toward the Exo-Geni HQ. I need shooters here of course for rear security, but also to help these people out. We're not gonna be here long so we've gotta do what we can now."

Kaiden nodded promptly, hitting his radio. "Hitman. I need forward units posted, but the rest to rally back at the colony."

A procession of affirmatives came over the net, and then the gruff hum from Wrex. His channel had been opened for a moment longer than usual however, as if considering something. "Me and the Quarian, we're still doing work."

Kaiden opened his mouth to answer but Shepard raised a finger; she was going to take that. "Proceed as you will, but we need you back to organize for a proper strike mission."

Behind the radio she heard Tali's shotgun blast, only for a metal crunch fall. Tali's panting had followed before a distressed grunt from her settled.

---

"We'll be back soon enough." Was Wrex's answer after the reverb, going dark, getting busy. It was a decidedly casual conversation based on what he had been standing over: Two dead Geth in the tunnels of their tower and, more importantly, a Quarian in question.

The Covenant had gods, Tali remembered: Forerunners.

That was what the translation turned out into Quarian in her readings of the Covenant. Tali had looked upon a pair of Geth, kneeling upon that bright light as she and Wrex had rounded the doorway and looked down into a room. It was a sight unexpected, and it filled them with questions. The Covenant might've had answers to this on their own:

On Faith. On Spirits. On Life.

Does this unit have a soul?

She wasn't Covenant however.

The answer she gave the questions in her own head was of gunfire, having raised her shotgun and blowing them away.

The young Quarian had turned her head to Wrex urgently after they dropped, and her eyes were that of doubt. A doubt he understood: What am I doing?

"Good." He muttered, glancing at her smoking shotgun. "Vent."

A breath she held was let out as she realized her shotgun was overheating, the pain going through her gloves as it dropped. "Ow!"

He was young once. He made mistakes.

Wrex kneeled down and picking up the shotgun, holstering his own. Tali had reached out after dealing with the pain, however he had stopped her with a raised palm. "A bit of shotgun overheating is due to the carbon build up." He racked back her shotgun, exposing the vents and the blackened soot on its coils. Abruptly he had jerked the gun like a crank once, sending a great deal it off. "Less carbon, more time on target. Here."

He had shut the shotgun closed, handing it back to her as she was silent, taking in the answer. "Thank you." She said, almost silently amidst the hum of an ancient building.

"I don't respect mercenaries, you know kid?"

"Hm?"

Wrex nodded to himself. "They kill for other people, fight for causes not their own… I… respect my enemy if I know, at minimum, they're fighting in something they believe in." He pointed at what looked like an altar of light and the disintegrating bodies of the Geth. "That looks like belief to me. Belief in… something."

She looked back for a second. How could machines believe in something beyond empirical?

"Do people deserve to be killed for their beliefs?"

Wrex had grinded his teeth. How many bodies and how many years had he dealt with in pursuit of that question? Why hadn't he been dead yet? The answer was the same one he gave the Quarian:

"You're the one on the trigger. That's up to you to decide."