Old Flame

Sophie received a warm welcome from the majority of the crew. Jack displayed her usual indifference as she disappeared down into her little hidey-hole down on Engineering Deck and Grunt was more interested in getting his next meal. Garrus, having met her before, was friendly and cracked a few jokes about having two Gardners onboard the Normandy,

"We'll see which one's really the better soldier," he quipped.

I told Joker to resume our course to the Citadel which we had had to abandon when the news on Horizon had reached us and I went to the comm room to speak with the Illusive Man.

"Good job on Horizon, Gardner," the Cerberus leader sounded ecstatic, "hopefully the Collectors will think twice about hitting another colony."

I raised a hand to stop him getting carried away,

"It wasn't a victory; the Collectors still managed to abduct half of the colony."

"That's better than the whole colony, and more than we've accomplished since the abductions began."

I decided to put all my cards on the table; I was not going to play the Illusive Man's games,

"Ashley said that the Alliance had Intel on me and Cerberus, was that you?"

The Illusive Man clearly had not expected me to make the connection, but he admitted truthfully,

"I may have let rumours slip that you were alive, and with Cerberus. There were already stories and tales of your reappearance circulating from around the galaxy from Omega, and I suspected that if the Collectors were truly working for the Reapers, then they would go after people connected to you and Sovereign's destruction. Now I know for sure."

"You lured the Collectors to Horizon?" I was shocked at his ruthlessness, "you got half of the colony abducted!"

The Illusive Man stood out of his chair,

"It was a calculated risk. If I hadn't taken the chance then the Collectors would likely have hit another colony, and taken everyone."

I saw the harsh truth in his reasoning but I still could not bring myself to agree with him,

"No more sacrifices," I told him, "what's next? Do you have any more Intel on them?"

"Less than I'd like, but Horizon made us significant gains. In the mean-time you should keep building your team. I've noticed that you've been very thorough in choosing the right people for your squad."

"Everyone whose dossiers you've sent are all great in their respective fields, but I need people who will believe in what we're doing and are loyal to more than just themselves."

Illusive Man seemed happy with my explanation and took a long draw of his cigarette,

"You know what you're doing Commander, I admire your dedication. To that end; I've sent you three more dossiers. I think you'll find all of them are exactly the kind of people you're looking for… especially the technical expert I'm recommending."

"I'll decide that, and my team is stronger now from fighting together," I assured the Illusive Man, "you concentrate on getting me everything you can on the Collectors."

The link to Cerberus was closed and after giving my weapons and armour some much needed attention and cleaning I went back to my cabin for some quiet. There were still some dossiers from previous e-mails that I had not read, but none of them impressed me enough for me to consider them. However, when I read the first of the three new ones that the Illusive Man had sent me, I was instantly drawn in. A Drell named Thane Krios, an infamous assassin that I had heard of a couple of times in my military career, was a man that had everything that I was looking for. As well as being a master with whatever weapons came to hand, fire-arms or otherwise, he was trained to the highest standards in most of the galaxy's martial arts. On top of biotic abilities, he was renowned for being one of the stealthiest and best assassins in the business.

The skills were there, but as I read on, I knew that he was definitely worth having on my team. His work had slowed down in recent years and he no longer worked for the Hanar government who had trained him from the age of six years old. Thane's targets since he had left the Hanar's service were all cruel, vindictive and monstrous people; crime-lords, corrupt officials and generally anyone who made the lives of others unbearable. Thane cared for those unable to defend themselves against the bullies in the galaxy; I hoped that our own cause just might prove worthwhile enough to him.

The next dossier contained the details of an Asari religious warrior, called a Justicar. The tales about Asari Justicars were loved and revered by the Asari, and the other species viewed them with both respect and fear in equal measure. They were bound by a strict code which compelled them to kill the unjust without mercy to protect those that lived by the law and treated others with kindness and love. Each Justicar would fight to the death to protect one innocent soul against a legion of sinners. This Samara was no different.

The Asari Matriarch was nearly one thousand years old and had, according to Cerberus' Intel, been a Justicar for at least the last six hundred. However, since Justicars rarely ever left Asari space there was very little documented about them or their actions. All that I could be certain of was that her biotic abilities would be undoubtedly unmatched by anyone else on my crew, even Jack. As I read through her dossier there was one line that caught my attention, "Justicars are known to be drawn to impossible causes; Samara is no different."

"Got that covered," I muttered to myself.

Samara and Thane were both on the Asari colony planet Illium, but what their respective businesses were there was unknown. With Samara's unparalleled combat experience and extremely powerful biotics together with Thane's skill-at-arms and ability to become one with the shadows at will, my team would altogether possess all the fighting skills right across the entire spectrum. There would be very little indeed that could stop us, even merely slowing us down would be difficult for our enemies. When I reached for the third and last dossier, however, I knew that if we could get the tech expert onboard then the team, and I, would be complete.

"Sorry Joker but I'm sending you new coordinates," I told him when I got to the bridge.

"Yes Sir; indecisive Sir," he said back with a grin, "where we going?"

"A planet called Haestrom, in the Dholen system."

"Dholen, Dholen, Dholen…" Joker searched his brain trying to figure out where it was.

"It's in the Far Rim."

"Far Rim?" he sounded confused, "that's Geth territory, Commander."

"I know. Tali's on Haestrom and I need to try and get her on the team. There's no one out there with her technical skills and she knows exactly why the Collectors have to be beaten; why the Reapers have to be beaten."

Joker agreed,

"Good, I always liked Tali… she wasn't angry all the time like Garrus."

"Garrus is back on good form, he kicked ass down on Horizon," I said gladly.

"Well, if there's something out there needing a hole in the head, I know just who to call."

The Normandy changed direction and Joker had it glide effortlessly through the empty but beautiful dark of space. I went to see Sophie in the crew quarters where she was in a video call to mum and dad who were still back in good old Scotland. I skirted around the edge of the room to avoid being seen behind Sophie and I stood and listened to my parents' voices; the first time I had heard them since I had been brought back.

"I can't tell you where I am or what I'm doing, but I'm safe and with good people," my sister was explaining to them, "I just wanted to check in and see how things were."

"Well we've got exciting news; Carrie had her baby. A wee boy called George. The family's all been round to see him; he's the cutest little thing."

"Aye," Dad said happily, "George Senior's a proud guy. We were missing you; we know how you get when you're around babies."

"Yeah, I'm pathetic," Sophie laughed. To hear that my cousin Carrie was now a mother was odd, and I had heard that my other cousin Greg had gotten married a few months ago. I had missed my dad's fiftieth birthday and my sister's twenty-first, along with mum's fiftieth the year after that. I had missed so many important landmarks in the lives of my family.

Just when Sophie spotted me listening in on the conversation mum told her,

"We took Milly for a nice walk the other day along to Scott's memorial. Been a while since we've been along there. So is the Alliance taking good care of you?"

Sophie rolled her eyes,

"Mum; I'm fine. Please don't worry ok. Anyway, I need to go but I'll talk to you soon. Love you!"

She ended the call and closed her computer,

"You're still her little baby girl," I joked.

"Yeah, they didn't want me to join up in case I ended up… well, like you did. Every time I see her or call, she makes sure I'll be looked after and blah, blah, blah. I'm a soldier now," she winked, "I can handle myself."

"Trust me, Sophie; soldiers need just as much taking care of as anyone else, possibly more," I went and sat at her table, "mum and dad sound like they're doing good. What was that about a memorial?"

My sister laughed,

"You're a galactic hero from a small, humble town, Scott. There was a ceremony for you and a statue erected; it's the Spectre insignia. They put it up next to the World War memorials at the park. It was a tough day for us."

I felt sorry for my sister. It would have been easier if she had simply not found out about me,

"Now that I'm back the family'll probably feel betrayed or something."

"No," Sophie stopped me, "you might have to explain yourself, but you know they'd love to see you."

She was right. I smiled and said,

"I'll probably hold off on the stories; not for the faint hearted."

"Would make a great movie though," She joked.

I brought Sophie up to speed on what we were trying to do while the Illusive Man searched for information on the Collectors. I also advised her to go to the Armoury to upgrade her armour, shields and replace her standard issue rifle for a real weapon. After that I did my traditional rounds of my ship to make sure everyone was doing ok and made sure my squad was taking the time to rest up for the next mission. We were closing in on Haestrom and I was restless. I wanted to see Tali again so much, but I feared that she would have to reject me again to continue her work for the Migrant Fleet. Garrus reassured me that she would always want to come with us and the only thing stopping her were the needs of her own people.

Upon return to my cabin, I saw myself in the glass of the fish tank and looked with hatred at my scars and unnatural eyes. I took my shirt off and looked down my body at the long, deep lines of cut flesh from which the cybernetics glowed, reminding me of a Collector. I sunk into my bed and slipped in and out of sleep for a time. EDI eventually informed me that we were on our final approach to Haestrom, where a concentrated Geth presence had been detected at an old science facility on the planet's surface.

"Warning," EDI said when I had assembled my team together for a combat drop onto Haestrom, "planetary radiation levels are dangerously high. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight will cause significant damage to weapons, shields, equipment and all organic material."

"Sounds fun! Ok, you heard her," I said to everyone as we descended down to the shuttle bay, "stay in the shade and cover each others' flanks as we head to the science facility. A Quarian strike team has been identified and the Geth are moving after them. Tali is among them and we're going to get her and her people out of there."

"The Geth have already engaged the Quarians and have inflicted casualties. The Quarians have set up a rearguard whilst Tali is being escorted to the facility's observatory," EDI stated.

I felt a chill run down my back as I ordered my team to board both of the shuttles and stepped on one myself,

"Then get us there quickly, EDI."

The shuttles flew one behind the other and hurtled towards the nearest possible landing zone. All nine of us were ready to get in and hit the Geth from behind and break through to the Quarians with the hope of rescuing them all. As soon as we touched down in a shady clearing surrounded by tall stone structures of an unfamiliar design, I took the lead and raced towards the navpoint that EDI had set for us. I could hear the gunfire and explosions as the Quarians dug in and defended their positions against waves of Geth soldiers. The stifling heat and choking atmosphere was an uncomfortable combination and before we even came within sight of the Geth, I was sweating and aching as if I had already been fighting for hours.

We arrived at a ledge that overlooked a large outdoor storage area; the crates and vehicles that we saw must have been here since before the original Quarian defeat at the hands of the rebelling Geth almost three hundred years ago. There were Geth on the move, but they were all heading away from us and towards the Quarians' outpost where they were putting up stiff resistance. The ground between where the Geth were and the outpost was very open and very exposed, but the Geth were sending in a sustained assault and had a Prime unit leading the attack with heavy weapons.

"We need to hurry!" I told my squad and I leapt down and prepared to strike at the Geths' open flank.

Just like when we had unleashed our attack on the unsuspecting Collectors back on Horizon; my allies and I sent out a hell-storm of bullets and wasted most of the Geth in our immediate proximity. Surging onwards we gunned down what units appeared to face us and raced as best we could towards the Quarians, and Tali. Trying to seek cover from incoming Geth fire while staying out of the sun at the same time became a major annoyance and hampered our progress. To my utter horror I watched as a Geth drop ship swooped down and sent a salvo from its side-mounted guns straight into the Quarian positions. The series of explosions tore the Quarians apart and left a gruesome scene of blood and limbs behind; none of the Migrant Fleet Marines survived.

I ordered the squad to hold a defensive line in front of me while I lined up a shot on the Prime with my widow. The rifle slammed back into my shoulder as the bullet zipped through the air and smashed straight into the Prime's head. The large Geth stumbled but kept walking towards us and fired its pulse weapon in our general direction. Two or three shots sailed harmlessly by but the last smashed Miranda's cover to scrap metal with intimidating force. Another shot from my Widow put the eight feet tall soldier down, the noise of the shot echoing around the stone walls and buildings, and we recommenced our advance.

Many of the Geth infantry had moved on by the time we reached the Quarians' outpost, and the few that remained were dealt with without mercy. Taking point, I led the way into the small room and did a quick sweep for any threats. It was evident that, after the drop ship had eradicated the Marines outside, the Geth had been able to breach the doors and had killed all of the remaining Quarians inside. With my heart thumping hard in my chest we searched the six dead Quarians to see if one of them was Tali, but thankfully she was not among those slaughtered by the synthetics.

"Check for any maps showing where the observatory is," I told everyone as I activated one of the computers that the Quarians had been using. There were different types of survey technology scattered around the room, half of it broken and shattered from the fighting. There were charts and readings on Dholen, Haestrom's sun, indicating that it was dying faster than naturally possible; build-up of dark energy a plausible explanation.

"What are the Quarians doing here?" Sophie asked as she checked over a discarded Geth rifle.

"Haestrom was a Quarian colony back before the Geth ousted them," Miranda explained, "they're always looking for ways to retake their worlds."

"Understandable," I said, "maybe they're there looking into whether the Geth have weaponised dark energy."

"That… is a scary thought Commander," Miranda said to the agreement of the entire team.

Tali had been writing reports on this computer at some stage or another and had left a voice recording. I played the recording, hoping to gain any more information on their mission here or if they had discovered anything important, or if she had logged away anything on the side regarding the Collectors. I heard Tali's voice and I closed my eyes, imagining that she was standing right next to me,

"Our ancestors walked these halls with uncovered heads," Tali said in wonderment, "walking through halls of stone. The sun must have been normal back then."

In my mind I could see the young Quarian looking around her and taking in the works of her people before the Geth turned on them and turned her race into homeless nomads.

"I wish my friends could see this place, it's incredible. I… I wish Scott was here."

She was still thinking about me, and I could hear the sadness in her voice as my head drooped upon hearing the pained young woman.

"I am here, Tali," I said quietly.

Across towards the far side of the room where a rear exit was located a comm unit suddenly sparkled into life and a male Quarian's voice could be heard,

"2 Squad report in… 2 Squad; it's Captain Kal'Reegar, report in."

I ran over to the console and hit the receiver button much to the Captain's relief,

"Took your time. I need a status report; has that Geth drop ship hit you?"

"Captain Reegar, this is Commander Gardner of the Normandy. I'm sorry but your entire squad's dead, the drop ship wiped out the defences and the Geth got into the outpost."

"Shit!" Reegar said, "can you provide assistance? Any organics have got to be good news out here."

"I have a full squad and we're not far from the observatory; are you near there?"

"Yup, me and about fifty Geth!"

"Is Tali safe?"

Reegar hesitated for a moment and my heart almost stopped before he came back to me,

"One of my team got her inside the observatory and they locked it behind her, but the Geth have killed everyone except me and I'm pinned too far away from her to help. Is this the dead Commander Gardner who stopped the Geth and Sovereign?"

"Yeah, we'll discuss that later. We're on our way Reegar, just do what you can to keep the Geth away from Tali!"

I had rarely run as fast as I was now. An open causeway took us along towards the heart of the facility and once we reached the checkpoint, we heard the distinctive sound of the Geth pulse rifles at work.

"It's coming from just outside, Scott," Garrus said as he clutched his rifle.

"Get the window shutters open," I told the team, "maybe we can set up a firebase here."

I quickly regretted my decision as the windows open and I looked out onto a square full of Geth, including a Colossus. The huge machine was focusing its fire on a position below our viewpoint, where I assumed Reegar was holding his own. However, its head raised up to look straight at us and the next thing I knew a shot blasted from its cannon and tore half of the wall away. My team and I picked ourselves off of the ground, Garrus muttered,

"Yep, definitely like old times."

"Get down to Kal'Reeger's position and help him out," I shouted for everyone to hear, "we'll form a plan of attack and fight our way to Tali."

We found the Quarian Marine in a precarious position, his cover being slowly chipped away and whittled down by a hail of phaser shots. My team took up positions and dished the punishment out as best they could with the Colossus blasting away entire blocks of concrete and slowly ridding us of usable protection. I knelt down beside the Captain, his gold coloured armour splattered with blood and a hole clearly visible in his shoulder,

"Captain Kal'Reegar," I got his attention, "what's the situation? Looks like your suit's been punctured."

Kal nodded and shifted himself uncomfortably out of the Geth line of fire,

"Glad to see you here, Commander. If half of what Tali's said about you is true, I think we've got a shot at surviving this," he looked at the wound on his shoulder, "one of the bastards punched a hole clean through me and I've been exposed to the open air. I'm swimming in anti-biotics though; no way I'm going to get killed by an infection in the middle of a battle, that's just damn insulting!"

He was resolute, I gave him that, but I still applied a healthy portion of medi-gel to his shoulder to help,

"What about Tali?"

"She's across the square by herself. The door to the observatory is reinforced, even the Geth will take a while to get through it, and I've been making a pain of myself," he tapped the rocket launcher by his side, "when they're bunched up at the door I've been able to take a few out, but there's no way that's going to work forever."

I glanced quickly out into the square that stretched before us and saw the dead Quarians as they lay motionless before the Geth infantry line. To the right there was a raised walkway that stretched parallel with the main path through the square heading to where Tali was trapped. It had plenty of cover and would provide an excellent vantage point for a sniper or two. Going down the centre was not an option as the Colossus had a clear shot at you the entire time, but the left-hand side offered a good flanking opportunity.

"I've got an idea," I said to Kal'Reegar, "how are you moving?"

"Not so well," he replied, hating having to admit it, "but I can still shoot."

"Ok, stay here while my team attacks and we'll signal you if we get through."

Kal was not pleased by my proposition,

"Those bastards killed the rest of my men and I swore to protect Tali'Zorah; I'm coming with you."

He stood up to take a shot with the rocket launcher; phaser shots zipped past us and took out chunks of the wall next to us. I stood up and shoved Kal back into cover,

"We don't have enough men for you to take one for the team," I told him assertively, "stand down. I need you here covering our backs in case more Geth show up. If you want to honour your team then you should be trying to survive through this, not getting killed for them."

Kal relented and ducked into his position again,

"Ok Gardner, we'll do it your way this time! Hit 'em for me; Keelah Se'Lai!"

I gave my entrenched squad their orders and they moved out. Garrus, Zaeed and Jacob were to head up onto the walkway and provide covering fire while Garrus sniped everything that was not an organic life-form. The rest of us fought our way around the left and took on the bulk of the Geth infantry. Dodging from cover to cover, shooting the synthetics down and trying to stay out of the sunlight as well as the Colossus' sights was a strenuous ordeal. More than once I had to hide from incoming Geth fire and the warning signal came on for my shields failing. The square was ablaze with phaser shots, bullets and explosions and the noise echoed all around us as the sound waves bounced off the flat, grey stone walls.

I popped up and shot a Geth as it attempted to take a shot at Mordin and then nailed another in the chest before leaping over my cover and darting forward another ten yards. Mordin overloaded the shields of a Geth that was right on the other side of the concrete block that I was sheltering behind and when it attempted to move away, I swung round and put three bullets in its back. Sophie was towards the back of our flanking attack but was showing great eagerness to fight, something I had not expected from her. With her more capable weapons, she drilled a Geth a few times in the chest as it leapt out of the way of Grunt's charge. The massive Krogan was taking great joy in getting his hands on any enemy he could and crush them into scrap. Or, if they were annoying him, his shotgun did a spectacular job of blasting them to bits.

After a gruelling fight we finally had the Geth on the back foot and only a few of the infantry remained. They gathered by the observatory door and continued trying to get it open, and the Colossus took up position to block us off.

"Ideas for the Colossus Commander?" Miranda asked as she let off bursts from her rifle at the gigantic walking tank.

"Just keep shooting," I said back, "wear down its shields and once they're gone hit it with explosives. Spread out and give it everything you've got!"

All of us let loose on the Colossus and when it fired back at one group the other group of two or three would take over and hit it from the other side. I equipped my Widow and fired a shot straight at the mechanical beast's head, but the shields that the Colossus possessed were extremely powerful and my heavy shot deflected off and blew a heavyweight chunk out of the nearby wall. The Colossus rounded on me and fired, blowing my cover and me into the air.

"Shit," I grunted, "its shields are too strong!" the Colossus fired at the supports for the walkway and brought Garrus, Zaeed and Jacob crashing to the ground below.

"Ah, its guns aren't too weak either!" Jacob complained as he dusted himself off and angrily unloaded his thermal clip at the Geth tank.

"Everyone bunker-up and fight smart," I told my squad, "I'm going back for some firepower." I fired a few shots at the Colossus and the Geth gathered by the door before turning back and sprinting back across the square. Behind me I heard clicks and clacks as small-arms fire chased after me and smacked into crates, walls and the ground around me. Fortunately, I reached Kal'Reegar, who had taken up a strong position to watch our rear, and clambered up to speak to him,

"Kal! I need your rocket launcher."

"It won't help you against the shields," he said back, "the rockets will just bounce off like bullets."

"I have a plan for the shields, but we'll need the rockets after that."

Kal heard the confidence with which I spoke and handed the bulky weapon over,

"Good luck Commander, take that thing down for me," he said and I gave him an encouraging nod before I leapt back down into the war-torn battlefield.

Once again, I headed into the oncoming tide of bullets and by some miracle, helped by the distraction my friends were causing, I made it back to the fight. I crouch-walked my way over to Miranda and got her attention,

"The next time the Colossus turns its attention on one of the other teams you follow me. We're going to run under it."

Miranda looked at me as if I had lost my mind,

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Remember that heavy mech on Freedom's Progress?" I said to her, "a direct application of an overload charge completely disabled it; maybe we'll be able to take its shields down like that. Then you get to cover and I ram a rocket right up its proverbial arse."

"You are crazy," Miranda responded, but I knew she trusted me.

The opportunity arose when Zaeed, Jacob, Garrus and Sophie all threw a couple of grenades at the troublesome Geth walker and attracted the attention of its main gun. I tapped Miranda on the shoulder and ran straight towards the Colossus, rocket launcher primed in my hands. Miranda readied the overload charge and reached up as high as she could as we ran under the hulk. She slapped the body and both of us threw ourselves to the ground as the overload worked to maximum effect and the shield generator inside the Colossus exploded. The explosion was small, but enough to halt the tank for a moment. I scrambled along the ground and aimed with the rocket launcher. The Colossus' head spun back around and looked straight at me and I saw in horror that the main gun was charging up. My finger squeezed the trigger and the rocket zoomed through the air, catching the enemy right down its gun-barrel.

The top half of the Colossus was eviscerated and when the legs gave way the body toppled forward and almost crushed me. My squad rushed forward and began gunning at the Geth infantry that were at the door.

"Commander!" Zaeed yelled, "they're inside!"

That got my blood flowing. I threw away the launcher and drew my Mattock rifle. Zaeed was right; the door had been opened and I heard gunfire from inside. My leg muscles ached as I ran for all I was worth, overtaking most of the squad as I went. A pile of Geth corpses lay strewn about on the outside of the door, some killed by my team and some by the Quarians beforehand. On the inside of the door, I saw three Geth on the ground and heard a scared yell from the very back of the room. When I entered, I aimed for the last remaining Geth, but could not pull the trigger. It had reached and disarmed Tali and now had her held up by the throat against the wall with its one remaining good arm, the other having been sheared off by a shot from Tali's shotgun. Without hesitation I armed my Omni blade and with all my force split the Geth right up the middle of its back.

The Geth released Tali, but remained standing in its pose, as if turned into a statue. Only when I severed its head from its body did it drop to the ground and die. I crouched by Tali's side as she lay on the ground,

"Tali! Tali, are you ok?" I said to her, overflowing with worry, "It's Scott; I'm here."

Tali was breathing heavily, desperate for oxygen. When she looked around at me, I offered my hand, and she took it. I lifted her gently to her feet and held her steady,

"Everything's going to be ok, Tali."

"I thought…" she stuttered, interrupted by tears, "I thought that was it. I thought I was dead."

"Not on my watch. I'd never let that happen," I told her. She looked at me, her hands clutching mine,

"I can't believe it's you. I'm not complaining but you show up at the strangest times… What are you doing here?"

I smiled, hoping to lift her spirits,

"I was in the neighbourhood; thought I'd check in."

Tali managed a little laugh before she went silent again, looking around at the corpses that filled the room and square,

"So much death; all for data about stars blowing up," she said bitterly.

"Was it worth all these lives?"

"It had better be! Some of these men were my friends; all of them were good at their jobs."

She turned back to me, and I could tell that she was on the edge of tears again,

"Tali…" I started, fearing that she would refuse what I was about to ask, "I need you on the Normandy. I… need you. We're really up against it with the Collectors…"

Tali walked back over to the terminal that she had been at and scrolled through the data before filing it all into one folder and transferring it to an OSD. She came back over to me, holding the OSD,

"I can send the data to the fleet and come with you," she said, "and if the Admiralty has a problem with it, they can go to hell. I just watched the rest of my team die."

A figure appeared at the doorway, he was holding his shoulder and walking as if in pain,

"Maybe not your whole team, Ma'am," the figure said.

"Kal!" Tali sounded delighted, "you made it."

"Your old Commander's as good as you said," he chuckled laboriously, "damn Colossus never stood a chance."

"How you holding up Reegar?" I asked, looking at his shoulder, "we can get you out of here on the Normandy if you want."

"I'll be alright. The Geth didn't find our ship, we'll make it back."

Tali went over to the Captain,

"I won't be going with you; I'm going with Commander Gardner."

Kal'Reegar seemed a little confused as he looked from Tali to me and back again,

"Ok," he said, "so long as it's your choice. I'll report back to the Admiralty and tell them what happened."

When I went over to him, he put a hand on my shoulder and said,

"Take care of her Commander, she's… important to our people."

I nodded and told him,

"I will Captain; she's important to me."