A/N: Sorry for another delay.

The translation function of Garrus' monocle is based on a smartphone app called WordLens that seems to have been assimilated into Google's Translator app.

*** Therum: Inbound ***

A countdown appeared on Tali's HUD, and one of her VIs awakened her as the pod tilted down, hissing open as it did. She looked quickly up and down the SPC before stepping quietly out and heading aft through the Mess. Although the ship was relatively dark, computer-enhanced vision was displayed on her HUD, letting her see her environment as if it were daytime lighting. The lift opened its doors when she waved through the holograph, and took her to the hangar deck.

As the door opened, she was surprised to see the turian standing at the weapons bench. She checked her chronometer display; ship time was 05:42.

The turian's dimodulated voice carried easily across the hangar as Tali approached, "Oh. You're up early."

"And, uh…you're up earlier," Tali replied. "I thought I was going to be up before anyone else."

"Yes, and good work," he said. "I must confess I'm hardly surprised to see you – you seemed like the type to be proactive – but I thought I'd be done before you arrived. I need a few more minutes for this thing to finish burn-in, but you can start breaking down if you want." He stood, scooted the stool to the right with a foot, sat again.

"Thanks," Tali placed her shotgun and pistol on the bench and remained standing as she unlocked them with her omnitool. "What do you think about this mission?"

"Me?" Garrus stopped his work and looked up with some surprise. "If the past is any indication, we'll get there ten minutes after this asari has been found by the geth. Or shot. Or just after it's too late for us to help. But maybe Saren is here himself to get this Prothean expert, and I'll zero him in my sight." He looked back down at his assault rifle, made an adjustment to it. "But I doubt I'll be that lucky."

Tali activated a suite of weapons service apps and started them analysing her two favourites. "Well, aren't you an optimist," she teased.

The turian was too focused on his work to notice. "Yeah, well…attitude is half the battle. If I didn't think the future could be better, I'd…probably one-way into PVR."

Tali looked up with surprise. "You PVR games?"

Garrus shook his head without looking up from the bench. "Game," he corrected. "And only when I'm in the 'wait' stage of 'hurry up and wait.'"

"One game? What is it? Uh…if you don't mind me asking." She glanced at the analysis as it began to scroll out test results.

"Oh, I don't mind. It's so old, you probably haven't heard of it. It's called Satrap."

"Satrap? You can't be serious."

"Hey, I've been playing it for so long that I've got it autofarming. It throws off credits a little better if I actually manage it, so I get in and talk with some of the NPCs, pick up new quests, cycle the harem…you know."

"I also know you could do better. Have you tried Hayali? It pays better, and I have a mossk generator patch for it, and it builds its own barns with the eggs."

The turian shook his head. "Nah, I only play Satrap. Too much other stuff to do, and it reminds me of my mother; I actually inherited her game castes. I don't think I'd ever give it up, but I don't want any more, either." Normally, this fairly simple lie was enough information for people to react as Tali did: change the subject after lapsing into silence.

But before she could get to another subject, Garrus rose with a compacted weapon in each claw. "All right then, the bench is all yours; here's the seat if you want it. I'm going to go check if my other request finished. See you at breakfast?"

"Sure thing." Tali looked at the seat, and then back up at Garrus. "Um…thanks."

# # #

After acknowledging that asari are often very social, the geth had posted a sentry "to keep her company." Liara had attempted to maintain the ruse that she could not hear outside the bubble until the geth had started asking yes-or-no questions by displaying text where she could read it.

"Please go away," she said.

To her surprise, it did.

I suppose they can afford to be patient, she thought. Where can I go?

Her omnitool was still not responding to finger-gestured or spoken commands. The gauntlet did not even illuminate.

This sinking feeling is probably part anxiety, part hunger, she realized. But if my omnitool isn't working at all, the emergency supplies may not be working, either.

Eventually, she drifted into a twitching and fitful sleep.

# # #

Shepard finished his third set of exercises, took a navy shower, put the cases containing his new armor on the stateroom table and opened them. He lit his omnitool gauntlet and started following the instructions and best practices for donning the armor. Even after his experience at the Spectre Office, he knew it would take some time to get used to the very different equipment, even if it wasn't more complex.

The inner layers felt much more organic than those of the Alliance Onyx; he'd been wearing variants of that since they came out in '78, upgrading it with the regular Alliance releases. He was reluctant to just leave the reliable system for an untested one on an actual ground mission.

Still, he realized, human armor fits asari, or so I'm told. I suppose it works both ways. If so, this may have centuries of refinements and upgrades, and by one of the oldest races in the galaxy.

The Inertial layer, when not being worn, collapsed into what amounted to a puddle of yellow; as he pinched a part of it between two fingers and lifted it from the case, directional striping and other markings indicated where the arms and legs were. Shepard slipped it on with unexpected ease; he had thought it would be sticky and awkward. Though it had a fine honeycomb texture across its surface, it was loose and slippery until fully worn. His omnitool chirped its acknowledgement of interface; the Layer seemed to come subtly to life, as if gripping him in the way that a fencer holds a foil: Gently, but thoroughly.

Inertial Layer integration, said his ARO. It displayed a motion graphic for him to emulate; he squatted to the floor, wrapped his arms around his knees, then stood, stretching his arms up toward the overhead. The ARO continued to direct him as the layer adjusted its fit.

The MCP layer was next; slightly thinner than he was used to, but also heavier. It had been understood for over a hundred years that it was far more efficient to apply mechanical counterpressure where needed rather than pressurize an entire suit, and powered nanotech made it easier to move. Though the technology was over a century old, the Prothean ruins on Mars had revealed advances that made the long-sought combat biosuit a practical reality. The Alliance armor used the MCP layer to move the external platemail as needed, but it normally took training to make the most of it; best practices were often counter-intuitive.

The external sections looked like entirely conventional matte black reactive plates, but were not. They changed position and shape in response to his motions, collapsing and shifting to prevent noise and resistance even before Shepard himself was consciously aware of his own intent to move; apparently it was taking advantage of his neural implant's cognitive overclock function.

His ARO informed him that he could turn off the active mode if he wished, but advised him to leave it enabled. It does feel a little strange, he thought, but better to have it and learn to use it.

Finally dressed, he activated the room's mirror holo and inspected himself. From his gauntlet, he selected Maintenance Mode, and the suit's DCE hypervisor covered his ARO with realtime status data. He turned the image left and right, noticing the release points and potential weaknesses, and also noticed that it was more comfortable than his Onyx medium armor. Yellow highlights indicated settings that could be reset or adjusted; clearly this was meant to be worn often, used actively, and personalised.

The outer layer was capable of active camouflage, but could do so for longer than the Onyx. Using his omnitool, he switched it from black to white to see how fast it changed, and was impressed that it seemed to be almost instantaneous.

"Victor Indigo, do I need to calibrate this armor before using it?"

Use data was copied from previous Combat Suit and current PCS is actively monitoring biometrics.

His chronometer informed him he had about eleven minutes before starting to use time reserved for breakfast. He did a fourth set of exercises to get a feel for the new armor and was both surprised and pleased how it enhanced performance.

# # #

"Eggs? Eggs from a what?" Wrex had his head turned so he could look straight down at the yellow pile of food on the plate before him.

"From a chicken," Ash said, holding up her hands to show the size. "It's a kind of bird, about this big. They've got lots of protein. Eat up, they're good for you."

Wrex looked up and across the table at her. "A chicken? I don't like the implication here. Don't you humans say that 'you are what you eat'?"

"Different context," Kaidan waved a hand as if to erase the topic. "This is a food chicken, not a coward chicken. Whole different animal."

Wrex looked at the plate again, shrugged, and lifted it off the table. Pouring the contents into his mouth, he chewed carefully, as if evaluating the flavor for emotional significance.

Having been informed by one of her VIs, Tali messaged Kaidan, It looks to me like that's the same thing.

The reply came back quickly, Alliance Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko: We can't let him go hungry.

Then tell him they're eggs from a Tyrannosaurus.

Kaidan turned and looked at the quarian as he subvocalized his reply. Alliance Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko: Pretty clever. I think they are the closest living relative. But maybe he won't ask. And I'd better not mention that the full name is Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Tali glanced at the image of a T. Rex that appeared on her HUD. Sure you should. He'll love it.

"What's this? The whole ground team eating together?" As he stepped around the corner, Shepard waved an activation gesture at the food printer, but addressed two tables of the main mess. The printer had prepared the meal, and was selectively heating it for him. "I couldn't have asked for better."

"It will be if you get over here and start eating, sir," Ash indicated the empty seat opposite herself. "We waited for you with our usual self-restraint."

"Like one pig waits for another," Kaidan delivered another forkful of waffles to his mouth.

Shepard accepted the tray of warmed breakfast and walked past the rest of the team to the seat Ash had offered. As he approached, he noticed a handwritten placard on the table in front of the seat, Spectre Parking Only.

"Nice armor," Garrus said. "Spectre Office?"

"Yes, and thanks," Shepard pushed the placard with his tray and stepped over the bench before sitting down. "I hope it's as much of an improvement as it seems."

"Bah," Wrex put down the empty plate. "Nothing chicken about that. Not very filling, though. Not a lot of texture, either." He turned an eye toward Kaidan. "What are you eating?"

The human biotic gestured with the knife in his right hand. "Bio-juice, three-egg ham omelette, half kilo of back bacon, and a short stack of blueberry waffles."

"Looks pretty colorful. You sure none of it's toxic?"

Kaidan shrugged. "It's real Earth food. And if you think this is colorful, you should see some of the cereals I ate as a kid."

"Um, actually, no." Tali tapped her faceplate. "He sees more in the infrared than you do, so to him, all the greens and blues and purples melt into black, like everything above ultraviolet does for you." She continued to insert food pebbles into her helmet's chowlock as she spoke to Kaidan. "It's a smaller slice of spectrum, but it lets him distinguish more frequencies within it. Gives him incredible night vision."

"Well aren't you the little search engine." Though Wrex leaned away from Tali as he said it, he seemed amused.

"You don't mind, do you?"

Wrex chuckled, an air-rumbling noise that could have been mistaken for a cheerful earthquake. "Not a bit." He looked toward Kaidan, pointed at the omelette. "But is that also made from eggs?"

"The omelette? Sure is. Just prepared differently."

"Do you always eat eggs?"

"Even without the nutrient tweaking, they've got a lot of protein," Kaidan shrugged. "I depended on them in high school, so I learned lots of ways to get 'em."

"Don't let him fool you," Shepard interrupted, "Kaidan will eat anything that isn't moving too fast."

Kaidan had carved a wedge of omelette and stacked it on the waffles. "Survival of the fittest. If it's too weak or slow to get away, it's my job to cull the herd."

"That's the spirit!" Wrex guffawed, nodded approval. "The strong survive, even if they're only…" he pointed once at Kaidan's plate, "…uh…those things."

# # #

Garrus' omnitool added an update to his HUD monocle about the Therum ground team final briefing.

He sighed, tapped an acknowledgement on the icon as it hung in virtual space in front of him. Best timing in the universe, he thought. He reached for the fibrous cloth in a small alcove, constricted the proper muscles and wiped himself clean. Tossing the used cloth into the nearby receptacle, he wiped a talon through the glowing hexagon marked EVACUATE (his monocle superimposed turian characters over the human language labelling.)

It took only a few seconds for him to re-attach both sides of his waistsling, clip compression trousers to it, and get a brief notification of its operational status from his omnitool. He checked himself in the mirror, flexing his fringe. He still thought it was amusing that humans put mirrors in the same room as a toilet. As a C-Sec officer, he knew about the practice, but had never had to live with one. I guess that's just part of the price you pay for not having chitinous plates. He shook his head. Things get out of place, more stuff sticks to your outer…uh…whatever they call it.

He turned his head, intrigued to see himself in reverse, ran talons along the interplate joints to make sure they were clean, and then noticed he could inspect himself more quickly without having to spend the time to preen each joint. Of course, people who have lost a claw – or even just a talon – have said as much, but it's not quite as thorough a check, even if can be a little faster.

He skittered claws down his front, checking to be sure the various aspects of his attire were all in good form, his sidearm in place. "Once again: Best looking turian on the ship." He nodded approvingly toward the mirror.

Striding along Normandy's corridors, he noted how many design and engineering choices it shared with the turian ships he'd served aboard. Same problems, same solutions, I suppose.

The human guard nodded once as the CommCon door hissed aside. Garrus returned the nod, and stepped into the room. Seeing an empty seat, he moved to it.

Shepard noted the turian's entrance, then glanced quickly over his shoulder to be sure the hologram was still active. "All right, everyone. Thanks for getting here early. No need to wait for the top of the hour, I suppose." He waved a hand forward. "First, the bad news. LRSA took longer to obtain and compile, so we're running a couple of hours late. The good news is they figured out what was causing the problem and the new LRSA runs 20 percent faster than the old."

He rose from his seat, looking back at the view of the planet showing on the holo. "Mission parameters haven't changed, but we have better intel. We've confirmed that none of their big geth dreadnoughts are here, so that's good. If it was, I'd probably have called for backup, at least from one of the Scout fleets or Intelligence."

He flicked a gesture at the room VI; the holo changed to a picture of one of the other humans. "For any of you who haven't seen him, this is Corporal Richard Jenkins; I've assigned him to ground crew the Mako shakedown, but we'll probably be losing him in a few days. They've asked for him back on Eden Prime." He indicated the non-humans with a wave of one hand. "And because I have the three of you, I knew it wouldn't adversely affect the ground team to lose him. So I told 'em that'd be okay. Haven't got full orders back yet, but we'll probably be asked to deliver him after we pick up this archaeologist, Doctor…uh…"

He stepped to the side of the holo, pointing into it as it switched to a view of the planet Therum and zoomed in on it. "Doctor Liara T'Soni. Based on info from the University, the part of the dig that's being explored is here, but the terrain is rocky and pointy where it isn't covered with liquid sulfur. So we'll be landing at the nearest known Approved Landing Zone, which is here." He pointed somewhere else on the map. "It's about twenty kliks away. But with an M-35, we should make good time, and Normandy can scan for more site intel as we're en route.

"Once we get there, we start looking. The university has provided an Omnitool Locator Key, so within nine or ten kliks, we should be able to get a location quickly. If we're lucky, we won't find a corpse.

"We are seeing some unknown esigs and silhouettes, but without using active sensors, it's hard to tell. I'm assuming they're geth. The fact that they're here is both good and bad; it suggests that they don't have her yet, but it means we'll probably have to engage them."

The holograph had been keeping up with his briefing; when he gestured for the next image, the new six-wheeled APC appeared in orthogonal and isometric views with looping, synchronized animations of egress, launch, landing, turret use, and safety features. "You've probably all seen the Mako APC in the hangar; we'll be using that for an LV. Alenko, you're rated in the M-35, aren't you?" (Shepard knew that he was.)

The biotic nodded. "Yes, sir, all positions."

"I also understand you have the required 30 hours of pilot time, so unless you have an objection, you're driving. I'll copilot and EIO from the right chair. Williams, you're on turret. Vakarian…uh, Wrex, and…mm…" he lingered over the quarian, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure which of your names I should use to address you; my VI is still giving me your full name."

"Just call me Tali," she answered, "But if you're introducing me to someone, you should use my full name: Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Right, then. The three of you are payload. You're also on drop detail, which means that in addition to prepping your own gear, you'll be helping get the Mako combat ready. That's at least partly so you can get a little familiarity with the Mako in case you need to operate it.

"Tali, I'm tasking you with engineering, propulsion, shields, and systems integration; you'll work with Loadmaster Kobunde. You can find him in the hangar. Wrex, you'll inspect and load weaps, armor, and stores with Williams. Officer Vakarian…I mean Garrus…you'll work with Jenkins and Gomez on avionics, DCE, and non-ordnance consumables. We're about four hours out, and none of this should take more than two hours. I recommend any discretionary time be spent going through the mission details so you're well informed."

Shepard glanced over his shoulder at the holograph, and stepped the presentation forward with a gesture. "Of course, no battle plan has ever survived contact with the enemy, so although it would be great if we can just drop in, find T'Soni and get out, I want to cover some contingencies.

"If we need to split up, the ground team will have two fireteams: Alpha will be me leading Williams and Wrex. Bravo will be Alenko leading Vakarian and…Tali. That puts a sniper and a biotic on both teams. Tali, your geth report was excellent. I suggest everyone read it for details, but the thing to keep in mind is what we covered in the other briefing: Tali will probably be able to crack geth processes. Before you take one down, watch what it's doing, try to make sure you aren't shooting at an ally."

"Oh!" The quarian leaned forward in her seat, almost jumping out of it. "I wrote a snap-on for your combat displays that monitors my hypervisor. It uses the Alliance LOSI. If I've successfully commandeered a geth platform, this snap-on will add a red highlight and an eks to it so you know not to shoot it as long as it's on our side. It's the same protocol as an IFF wave-off."

Williams snorted. "Are you serious? You just…wrote it? Or is it some open-source thing that you've modified?"

Tali seemed taken aback. She pulled her hands back to her shoulders, and then began to slowly recount the details. "I got the LOSI SDK from Roz, and when I finished, the GCI VI VRSed it and got approval from…uh…" The enviro-suited quarian looked down at her omnitool, then up at Kaidan. "You, right? Lieutenant Alenko?"

Kaidan looked to Shepard. "I thought she was just asking a coding question. I'm now the GCTO?" (He said it as "gecktoe.") He quirked an eyebrow. "Extra responsibility, no extra pay?"

Shepard smiled approvingly. "I've always liked how fast you catch on."

The biotic turned to Ash, and nodded. "Actually yes, she did. Must be all of nine lines long, and it uses existing Alliance libraries. It's a cute little piece of code. I'd even call it elegant."

Ash glanced at the quarian and back at Kaidan. "Well, you're the GCTO."

Shepard asked, "Is your snap-on in the Therum Landing NfoX?"

Tali nodded. "It should be. You'll have to approve the installation, but your combat security VI should vet it against the NTPM."

"Good. Make sure you all install that so we can get the most out of it." Shepard turned to the Executive Officer. "Pressly, is the stealth system capable of keeping the ship cloaked for the duration of the mission?"

The balding man looked up from his omnitool with a half-grin. "Sure, even with a synched orbit, assuming we don't get involved in a firefight. We will be coming out of the relay with the sinks engaged, but LRSA should give us enemy locations and vectors. Best practice for this is for us to modify our course to enter active sensor range out of sight of as many of the enemy as possible. Stealth will make that reliable and seamless."

Shepard leaned on one of the chair arms. "I assume that's what we did at Eden Prime."

"Yessir."

Shepard addressed the ground team again, "And just so you all know, Normandy will be holding a standard synched orbit. It'll give them excellent oversight from the LZ to OTH, and they can be down to pick us up in a maximum of fifteen minutes if we get into serious trouble."

"That won't happen," Wrex said.

Everyone looked at him.

"You have me."

A few glances were exchanged.

Tali tilted her head. "Uh…right. So you're our Good Luck Krogan?"

Garrus interrupted, "Traditionally, people who think that sort of stuff usually say you only need a krogan tooth to bring good luck," the turian waved a claw at the massive krogan. "And here you've got a whole mouthful. Maybe we'll get extra lucky." He leaned back in his chair. "But I doubt it."

# # #

Since the Council had revoked his Spectre status, Saren could not allow himself to be seen. There were simply too many cameras in too many places. For one thing, his cranial flowspikes were too distinctive, practically unique.

But Benezia was able to move freely, using the foshak headdress (normally worn during mourning) that concealed a facecloaker, for use when needed. Noveria was one of the places where she didn't, and instead dressed in a business suit. It was very flattering, allowed her to control conversations more easily, especially when she "turned on the charm," as the human expression went. ("Turning on" a behavior made it a strangely machine-like phrase, one that made Saren wonder if the humans wouldn't have done well under reaper rule. Not that it mattered; he would see to it that they were rendered extinct.)

They were still on Noveria, the turian practically quarantined aboard Invicta. It was starting to wear on Saren's patience. "We still have nothing more on the beacon message integration. Where is your daughter? She should have been delivered days ago."

Standing at the back of the cabin with a camera and holograph functioning as a mirror, Benezia adjusted the human-made business suit. "The geth tell me she is trapped in a Prothean chamber, surrounded by a barrier curtain. She cannot escape, but they have been unable to get past it, either by brute force, or by hacking."

"Not so capable as you thought?"

Tugging at the suit, Benezia refused to be baited. "Grodis would have done no better. Has done no better. But the geth have other resources. They have not been stopped, merely delayed. There is another entrance, and they will use that."

"Why didn't they use it already?"

"Their report was copied to you." She had applied makeup, making herself look as sultry as possible, and was studying the results. "It will surely take me longer to be seen by the right people at Peak 15 than it will take you to read it."

The turian scratched distractedly at the console to his right. "Do you need to go?"

"The rachni queen is still being difficult, and the BH Board needs to know that progress is being made on the façade research. I also need to prepare for Liara's arrival; we do not know how long she will be useful." The asari turned and looked at Saren, read his expression and body language. He needs me, she thought. He doesn't want me to go. She stopped at the door, put one hand on the threshold and looked back at him again. "Though I suppose I can do that from here."

They regarded each other for a long moment.

We must find a way to do better, Benezia thought.

Saren's gaze wandered across the floor.

"Still better than extinction," the turian said quietly.

Benezia looked away to the "integration," stretching like a tree root along the length of the cabin, a constant reminder of Sovereign. "Even if we must become the enemy?"

"It was you who said understanding was the Way," Saren's cybernetic eyes dimmed as he waved a claw at the research data hanging in holograph above his console. "But the more we understand, the worse it gets. The reapers…eat civilizations."

Benezia frowned, shook her head in thought. "Until we know why, we need more knowledge."

"And as long as we remain useful to it, the more knowledge we gain. There is no other course of action open to us." He also looked up at the "integration," and then rose from his seat, walked to the ship's hatch.

He stepped close to Benezia, but still out of sight from outside the hatch. He made eye contact with her, nodded subtly.

I don't dare say more aloud, he thought. And we both know it.

# # #

Shepard approached the APC from astern; already in its Ready-15 configuration, the M-35 was face forward. The other members of the ground team were already there, Tali securing a service panel on the top of the Mako and hopping down with Garrus' help. Overhead lights cast shadows in odd places, and there was clearly a lot of activity by the service team to get the Mako ready for its first launch.

Noticing the word Pengaroo hand-painted on the side, just above the Mako's unusually high "waterline," Shepard pointed at the "nose art" of a long-legged penguin, drawn so it looked like it was jumping, with its wings flapping, but comically not flying. "'Penguin kangaroo'? Who did this?"

A head popped up from the service trench centered under the Mako. Richard Jenkins was all smiles. "That would be me, sir."

Shepard tapped the Mako's armored side. "Traditionally, the pilot gets to name the craft." He waved at it, "But that's kind of cute. Maybe it'll stick." He turned to the ground team. "Okay; Tali, Wrex, Vakarian, in the back." He followed them in, pointed to the seats, "Each seat has a…oh…this is gonna be awkward." Seeing that Garrus was already seated, Shepard noted that the remaining seats and restraint systems were for humans. He pointed at one of them. "Tali, you can sit starboard comfortably, right?"

She was seated almost instantly. "Sure…and I think this will close over me." She reached up, pulled down on the padded shoulder bar, which clicked into place and adjusted itself down to accommodate her small frame. A green light appeared atop her headrest.

Shepard paused thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you ever hit the dirt in an APC?"

"No, but I took the turian fleet PVR Training." Her VI converted units for her and displayed the relevant numbers on her helmet's HUD, "I'm rated to fourteen gees."

"Outstanding," he said, visibly impressed, "Glad to hear it." He glanced at Garrus, then back at Tali. "Where did you get access to that?"

The quarian seemed briefly surprised and embarrassed. "I don't know…who got it originally. I'd guess it was someone's Gift of Passage. We…share resources on the flotilla."

"Gift of Passage?" Wrex secured his assault rifle into the overhead rack, "You have to pay to get aboard your own ships? That's not a gift, that's a bribe."

"No, no," Tali waved a hand reassuringly, "It's about passage into adulthood. Someone probably got that as payment for doing work aboard the turian fleet, and brought it back from their pilgrimage. And it's actually a few years old. It's part of the training we can get in preparing for our pilgrimages. But like I said, it's PVR, and I kind of liked it, so I did it…um…maybe...twelve times?"

That seemed a little excessive, and from the way she said it, Shepard thought there might be more to this story. He continued to look at her expectantly. "Twelve times?"

"There was a soldier who was facilitating it who I was…um…infatuated with. Kal'Reegar vas...um..." Even without his VI actively enhancing his vision, Shepard could see she was looking somewhere else. "Anyway, I wanted to be able to talk with him, so I wanted to have some idea of what it was like to be a soldier. And it turned out it was kind of fun." She gestured with her hands, "Foof! Thum! Vrrroww...!" She looked up at Shepard again. "I think you call them rocket coasters?"

"We did," Kaidan replied. "Those have been gone for years. Too many people panicked."

"What kind of landing craft was it?" Garrus asked.

"Um…a Tarjin? Torgan? I can't remember the name, but it was an LV-38." Her VI started to call up information about it; she dismissed it.

Shepard grinned. "The LV-38 Tarzan is a turian vehicle, all right, but that's the Alliance designation used during the First Contact War."

"That's the Relay 314 Incident, if you please." Garrus punctuated the sentence with a grinding noise that Shepard's ARO indicated was made by rasping the back teeth and indicated disapproval or sarcasm. "The vehicle is actually called a Jamilir, and yes, they're pretty old. But if you've trained to take fourteen gees in a crashbox like that, you should be ready for anything." He tilted his head down slightly and made a fist with his left claw, signaling his approval.

"Well…except falling out of the sky when your lander gets shot out from under you," Wrex said casually.

Garrus regarded the krogan. "Hm, interesting. How high were you?"

"Six hundred meters." Top that, he seemed to be saying.

Shepard realized Ash and Kaidan were listening…and waiting. "You'll have to tell me about that sometime," he said. "But for now, I'm not sure how to seat you. Securely." Shepard studied the krogan thoughtfully.

The krogan turned sideways, studying Shepard with his left eye, and the seats with his right. "I'll bet you think this is funny," he said good-naturedly, "And it probably would be if I weren't used to it." He turned slightly, straddled the two middle seats, reached both hands up and grabbed the shoulder bars, pulling one down on each of his massive shoulders.

Shepard lit his omnitool, connected to the Mako's network, adjusted the cabin settings. "This isn't designed for krogan passengers…" he started.

"Oh…you think?" Wrex agreed.

"…but I think I can make your clever little kludge an approved landing configuration."

Kaidan leaned around his seat to look back at the krogan, "You're gonna need to sign a waiver."

Shepard knew this was technically correct under Alliance regs, and Kaidan had seemed completely nonchalant when he said it, but a tiny voice in his head said, You can't be seriously saying this.

"For what…so I can't go whining to a human lawyer if I get hurt?" Wrex growled. "I've been making planetary combat drops since before your species knew how to fly, junior. You put a waiver in front of me, I'll feed it to you."

The mischevious grin that had been slowly forming on Kaidan's face only got bigger as Ash climbed past him into the Fire Control Seat.

"Krogan are pretty tough," Ash noted. "If you've got the Loadmaster VI to accept it, I don't think it'll be a problem."

Shepard nodded approvingly, turned to Garrus. The turian was in the portside seat, which had somehow acquired a modified shoulder bar. His weapons were secured within reach, and he looked smugly confident. Shepard gestured towards the shoulder bar. "You install that?"

The turian glanced down. "There's a restraint crossbar for turians that was already in the Mako's onboard fabber library. I asked…uh…your Requisition Officer, I think you call them MFOs, if he could make it for me, and here it is, rated to eighteen gees." A talon clicked on the gray metal.

Shepard nodded, thumping a fist on the restraint. "Nice work." He paused, glancing around the cramped cabin. "All right; lookin' good there, team. Let's get on the ground." He turned and started to clamber forward. "Pilot, payload is secure," he said for the flight recorder. He put two fingers to his ear, signaling the comm, "All stations, secure for launch." He mashed the DOOR SECURE button and the hatch they had just come through hissed closed, clanked bolts into place. Shepard stepped over the center console and into the right seat, started strapping himself in as the cabin thoomped its pressure test.

"Mako, Air Boss. We'll be over the drop zone in…aaa...about ten minutes," came the slightly distorted reply over the comm, "Begin final checks. I am disconnecting you from the mains." Two or three motors and pumps began to whir softly; the lighting winked once.

"Linacs are secure, stores are full," said Ash, double-checking the list on her HUD against the displays and settings at her board, "ECM is SOTA and enabled, Shield function 100%, ultracaps fully charged. FCO declares Go For Drop." Internal lights flickered as Kaidan began to run the sequential check on the motors and backups in each wheel hub.

Shepard was secure in the right seat, reading from the checklist on his ARO. "Cabin pressurized, recycler at 12%, comm is all greens," he read from his board, "IFF and transponder are active and muted for operation. CorpNav protocol in effect. EIO declares Go For Drop."

"Switchover to internals is good," Kaidan answered, "Power at 230MWh, Nav is up, Booster is charged and fully fuelled. Mako declares GO for drop."

The Loadmaster, now functioning as Air Boss, waved at them through the Mako's Virtual Windshield as he moved out of the way. "Outstanding. You are cleared for drop, Mako." As he spoke over the comm, he reached out and patted the Mako's leading edge firmly enough that it could be heard by those aboard. It was an old tradition. "Transferring you to bridge control."

"Acknowledged." Kaidan clicked the PA, alerting the landing team of his intent to speak internally. "By the way, if you guys get scared on the way down…just do what I do and close your eyes."

There was a stunned silence.

"All due respect, sir," Ash reached her left foot out of the gunnery cage and kicked the pilot's chair awkwardly.

"Yeah, really," Shepard agreed quietly, "Give him one for me."

Ash's foot came out and whacked the pilot's chair again.

"As long as you're handing 'em out…" Wrex started.

"Yeah!" Tali said playfully.

Two more thumps.

"Okay, okay, I can take a hint," Kaidan laughed; he held his hands up in surrender.

The Mako's electronic and mechanical sounds filled the brief silence.

"I like you, Lieutenant," said Garrus.

"Well, you are a turian," Wrex shrugged, as if that explained the problem.

"Mako, flight," said Joker's voice over the comm, "Are you live?"

"Flight, Mako. We are GO for drop," answered Kaidan.

"I have launch control," Joker answered, "Uh, Commander, the Approved Landing Zone is about twenty kliks from where you said you wanted to start looking, but I've got 500 meters of nice, straight service road that's a lot closer. But it's not officially approved. I can drop you there and save you about an hour in traffic, but it means I'll drop you a little early. You're green on my board, though."

Shepard's ARO showed him what Joker was seeing. He nodded once. "Sierra Hotel, Joker. Anyone going to make an angry face at us doing so?"

"Pfff…doubt it…this place is mostly automated strip mining." He sounded somehow annoyed at this.

"Take us in, Joker."

"Beginning final approach." The hangar door thumped and started to open. Their first sight of the planet could have been a picture postcard: Normandy was descending toward a scenic view of sunlit, fluffy clouds and distant mountain peaks.

As the ramp reached its Launch Mode, it stopped, flat with the deck. Something clanked heavily, seemingly from everywhere. "Wheel locks are retracted," Kaidan noted for the "civilians" who might be disconcerted by the sound, "That means the catapult is the only thing holding us in." They descended into the clouds and everything outside was suddenly gray and rainy. It made the yellowish lights on the overhead seem bright.

"Catapult?" Wrex sounded confused, "Aren't we going fast enough?" As if answering, Normandy shook through the boundary turbulence. The noise was heavy and mechanical inside the Mako as the chassis squeaked, loose items rattled noisily.

Kaidan spoke over his shoulder, still watching the instruments, "We have to make sure we drop far enough ahead of–"

"Mako, Flight. Launching in ten seconds," Joker's filtered voice interrupted, "Stand by."

"Flight, Mako. Ready for launch." Kaidan tightened his grip on the control sticks. "Okay, here we go."

*** Glossary ***

AO: Area of Operations (or Arena of Operations, depending on your dialect)

APC: Armored Personnel Carrier

BH Board: Binary Helix Board of Directors

DCE: Distributed Computing Environment

ECM: Electronic Countermeasures; devices and software that increase the ability of a vehicle to hide from another vehicles sensors, as well as sensors and software that increase the ability of a vehicle to detect enemy vehicles

EIO: Electronics Intelligence Officer

eks: the letter X

esig: electromagnetic signature

FCO: Fire Control Officer

FTL: Faster Than Light

GCI: Ground Combat Interface

GCTO: Ground Combat Technology Officer ("GECK-toe")

IFF: Identification Friend or Foe; technology for differentiating the two

kliks: slang for kilometers

LOSI: Line-of-Sight Intersuit. A telecom protocol used by the Alliance to allow fireteams to communicate with each other over short distances without having to worry about interception. Primary mode of data exchange is optical, but the fallback radio component is also scrambled

LRSA: Long Range Scan and Analysis

LV: Landing Vehicle

LZ: Landing Zone

MCP: Mechanical Counter Pressure. A spacesuit technology first developed in the 1960s to actively apply pressure against the skin of the wearer rather than pressurizing an entire suit. Made practical only in the 2030s, but added to EVA combat gear just before the discovery of the Prothean ruins on Mars.

NfoX: Information Exchange; a technology/protocol used by research organizations and universities for scientific research data collection and dissemination. Pioneered on Thessia, popularized in the Alliance by Husseinomica (which built and sold them as linkable modules following its semi-merger with the Venus Project 2.0) after the Prothean discovery on Mars, acquired by Alphabet (Google) in 2173.

NTPM: Network Trusted Platform Module. A device-dependent security protocol that secures an entire network and checks the status of local TPMs as well

One-way: PVR users occasionally find virtualized life better than real life, and set up infrastructure so they don't have to leave it. While they will respond to emails, vidcalls and so on, they do not interact meaningfully with the real world anymore; this practice is variously called, "one-waying," "final dive," "invisible retirement," and others.

OTH: Over the Horizon

PCS: Personal Combat System; a general term for everything from a DCE-equipped camouflaged flexivest to 4-tonne powered-exoskeleton battlesuits, the only common element being its design intent to protect or enhance a single user on the field of battle.

PET: Portable Extranet Terminal

RFT: Request For Transfer

SAR: Search and Rescue

SDK: Software Developer Kit

Sierra Hotel: A compliment issued for exceptionally good work. Stands for Super Hot (or something lke that.)

SOTA: State Of The Art; ECM and other in-use software systems are continually updated by the Alliance; keeping them up-to-the-minute is important. Almost always spoken as "so'-tah".