Author's Note: Warning for canon-typical violence, canon-typical "kill the bad guys," all that. There's also a really gross thing that happens in here involving an explosion, so... be warned.

"So you're telling me Wrex did that of his own volition," Shepard said dryly, leaning against one of the bulkheads of the cockpit.

"Technically, yes," was the pilot's answer, shooting a grin over his shoulder as he continued flying.

Shepard snorted. "And you had nothing to do with it."

Joker's grin wavered, though the humor never left his face. "Well. I don't know if I'd go that far," he said, turning back to his console and flicking a few balancing controls. "But, you know, it was fair and square! So don't point at me."

"How does he even know that song?" Shepard mused, expression half amused, half exasperated, and Joker laughed.

"Who knows. But you've got to admit, that was hilarious." Joker flicked another switch, disabling the touch input on the console, and began to tap out a rhythm. "Sweet Caaaaroline," he warbled. "Dun dun - Shepard, you're supposed to do it with me."

"No."

Joker feigned offense. "It's - it's required!" he insisted. "It's literally THE element of the song. It's traditional."

"Nope," Shepard said cheerfully, a smirk barely visible on her face. "I'll hand it to you, though, somehow getting a krogan battlemaster to karaoke Sweet Caroline, of all songs, on the ship-wide comms does break the monotony of constant doom."

"See? I was doing everyone a favor," Joker announced, poking the controls back into touch mode. "It's all doom and gloom around here. Everyone needs to lighten up a bit."

"That 'doom and gloom' is not without reason," Shepard said, reprimanding him, though she added, "but I see your point."

"I've got an idea, by the way," Joker began - then broke off as the console in front of him blared a violent shade of red. He could hardly read the alarm in time to let out a yell, and without any further warning, the ship dropped out of FTL.

Shepard was thrown forward at breakneck speed, the ship's sudden deceleration catapulting her headfirst into the side panels of the cockpit next to Joker, her body painfully hitting the front window. Joker's torso slammed into the console, and he let out a shrill yell, trying to brace himself without breaking anything - though he immediately suspected several broken ribs from the sudden contact.

Throughout the ship, screams and clattering and thuds could be heard as everyone in the ship was thrown toward the bow at a frightening speed.

Once the initial deceleration had eased up, Joker wheezed, gingerly trying to push himself back into his seat, and he immediately tapped the comms. "EDI," he yelled. "EDI, what the fuck was that?"

The response was jittery and glitched. "I was - zzt - update and it - zzt - loop."

Joker wheezed again - breathing hurt. Yeah, definitely a few broken ribs. "I can't understand you," he managed. "Get up here, okay?"

"Zzt - there in a minute."

"Shepard," Joker muttered, and turned his attention to the Commander. "Shepard. Shepard!"

An explosion had thrown her into the edge of a wall, and her breath left her in a whoosh as her suit's impact resistors failed. She bounced off the wall, the explosion's force carrying her away.

"Shepard, damn it, GET UP!"

Silence. She spun slowly as the Normandy burned behind her.

She looked around, only hearing the sound of her own breathing, and as she took a strained breath, air hissing out of her suit, she opened her eyes and saw - a mass of orange buttons.

"What?" she mumbled, trying to push herself up; the lack of gravity made that difficult, and she drifted until she collided with the ceiling. "Ouch."

"SHEPARD!" Joker bellowed, then choked off as the effort strained his ribcage.

Shepard winced. "I'm right here," she said thickly.

"You hit your head and blacked out," Joker told her flatly, breathing hard. "And I've definitely cracked more than a few ribs. And maybe my hand. I don't know. I was bracing pretty hard there."

"What happened?" she asked blankly, slowly beginning to get her bearings back, and she placed a hand on the ceiling to keep herself from drifting.

"No fucking clue," Joker snapped. "EDI's coming up here in a moment."

"Mmkay."

"Hello," came a familiar voice, and Shepard turned to see Liara approaching, carefully pushing herself along the ceiling, gripping cables and lighting fixtures to propel herself. "What happened?"

"Spontaneous deceleration," Shepard muttered. "We're not entirely sure."

"EDI'll be up here in a minute," Joker repeated, then hissed as he tried to tap open a diagnostic window. "Broken hand."

Liara winced. "Do you need assistance?"

"No." Joker used his other hand to open the window, and began trying to run diagnostics on the propulsion. "But, uh, thanks. For offering."

"Of course."

"EDI," Shepard said with relief, spotting the AI's silvery silhouette approaching, bounding from one foothold to the next with ease. "Hey. What's going on?"

"I initiated the deceleration," EDI stated immediately as she drew near, and Joker let out a growl.

"Why?"

"I was updating and running diagnostic checks on myself and my connection to this body," EDI said evenly. "While I was examining the engines, I noticed an error in the temperature readouts, and attempted to fix it. This, however, resulted in an uncontrolled loop which ran the risk of burning out the engines." She executed a delicate movement, pushing off, spinning feet-first as she made her way over to her usual chair and slid into it easily, tucking her feet underneath her so she was sitting on her knees - or as much as she could, given the lack of gravity. "I dropped us out of FTL, at risk of the engines overheating and melting the stern of the ship if we continued without proper readings."

"Loop?" Shepard and Liara began to speak at the same time; they each broke off, glanced at each other, and Liara gestured for Shepard to go first.

"How'd you cause a loop?"

"I am unsure," EDI said pensively, reaching forward to direct Joker's diagnostics toward the temperature monitoring of the engines; he let out a huff, but let her adjust it. "It could be a glitch in my own code that was not compatible. Code written by AIs and code written by humans tend to be difficult to mesh together, and the Alliance retrofit has introduced a lot of code written by organics."

"Why don't they mesh?" Shepard asked curiously.

"AI code tends to be very straightforward, with variables that look like nonsense to humans, and with a very different loop structure, or possibly no loops at all, so it takes up far more space, even though an AI may be able to code something far more complex than a human. Humans tend to use loops in a very different manner, and name variables in manners closer to the linguistics of their native language."

"So the loop discrepancy may have caused it," Liara concluded, gripping the doorframe to keep herself from drifting upward.

"Or a glitch," EDI noted.

"The diagnostic won't read it," Joker interjected, and EDI frowned.

"At all?" She turned to her own console and repeated the commands, only for the diagnostic window to flash an error. Immediately, she opened comms to engineering as the others peered over her shoulder. "Engineering," she called. "Report, please."

"We don't know," came Adams' voice, tight with worry. "It's like the engines just shut down for a moment."

"I did that to prevent overheating," EDI said quickly. "Please tell me what the temperature monitoring system is saying."

There was a pause. "All right. Hey!" he yelled suddenly, above the clatter of activity in the background; the crew in the cockpit winced. "Tell me the reading on that temp panel!" There was a thud. "I hate zero-g," he muttered. There was a tense moment, the only thing audible being the frenzied activity in engineering, then Adams' voice rang through the comms once more. "It's, uh… it's not showing anything."

Joker let out a strangled noise; EDI more demurely asked, "Anything at all?"

"It's flashing an error with no error code."

"Hm."

"We're flying by guesswork, then," Joker said irritably, then yelped as Shepard collided gently with the back of his chair.

"How dangerous is it to fly without temp readings?" Shepard asked calmly.

"Very." Adams' voice was firm. "If the monitor's not reading, then I don't know if any of the automatic control systems are able to work. If this thing overheats, it'll fry everyone in the ship, or melt the hull, or both."

"We can maintain slower speeds," EDI added, "though we may need to makeshift a temperature monitor manually for the current time."

"This still sounds very dangerous," Liara remarked, brow pinched.

"It's not very safe. There's supposed to be redundant systems, but…" Adams sighed. "I'm now realizing they're all sent to one point, which is the monitor system." He paused. "And suddenly, I'm reminded of Mark Watney. Okay, I'll add that to the list of things we need to change."

"Please do," Shepard replied. "Okay. EDI, I want you on that monitor system. Figure out why it's not working. Joker, how are your injuries?"

"I'm not leaving until I know we're safe," he said flatly. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? We can get you to Chakwas."

"You'd have to drag me kicking and screaming," the pilot threatened. "I can tell, nothing's so out of place it's a danger right now. The engines malfunctioning is a bigger danger."

"I don't like it," Shepard retorted. "I'm going to get Chakwas up here as soon as she can - in fact, EDI? Can you notify her? She probably already guessed, but even so." The AI nodded. "Okay. Joker? Fine," she muttered as he glared at her. "It might be best for you to not move right now, anyway. EDI, keep an eye on him. Joker, keep an eye on the ship and don't do anything rash. In fact," she said, "slow us down even more, but gently. Liara, come with me. I want to go down to engineering to see if we can get the gravity back on."

"Very well." The two nodded to Joker and EDI, who had immediately turned back to their consoles, hands flying across the controls, then carefully pushed off and sailed down the hall toward the CIC.

"Could this be Cerberus?" Liara asked quietly as they neared the elevator.

"I won't rule it out," Shepard answered grimly. "EDI still runs on a lot of their code. As does the whole Normandy, despite how much the Alliance tried to burn that out."

"It may be difficult to counter if we do not have some form of Cerberus authorization, be it an encryption key or additional code."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Shepard said firmly as they drifted into the elevator and punched a button; both quickly had to put their hands above their head as the elevator began to move separate from them in the zero-g environment, the ceiling coming perilously close to their heads. As the door slid open, they pushed off from the back and maneuvered through the hallways.

When they got to engineering, there was a flurry of motion as crew members pitched in to try to help.

"Hey," Adams called from where he was jammed under a console. "You two come to help?"

"If you need it," Shepard told him. "Otherwise, we'll stay out of your way. We wanted to see if we could get the artificial gravity back on."

"Terminal's over there," he replied, jerking a thumb toward the consoles to the left. "We're a bit busy making sure the engines don't overheat - figured that was more pressing than the gravity. I'd appreciate it if one of you could read off the numbers on this console above me, though."

At Shepard's gesture, Liara drifted over to the console. "The ones at the top?"

"Yeah. Start at the left, and go slowly."

Shepard floated over to the consoles Adams had pointed to as Liara began to read off numbers, and began to navigate to the gravity settings - then winced at the mess of numbers in front of her. "Do you have the brain space to walk me through this while doing… whatever you're doing?"

Adams' expression wasn't visible, but he tapped the side of the console he was working on twice. "Top three numbers are 3D positioning - do not change those. Liara, what's the next number?"

"145," the asari answered.

"Okay. A bit high, but good." Adams grunted as he adjusted something under the console. "Shepard - the middle numbers are ones you need to check. Are any of them above 0.2?"

"Nope."

"Good. Input 1.0 into the first field at the bottom, then 0.1 for both the following. Liara?"

"284," she said.

"Oh." Adams' movements under the console became faster. "Not as good. Shepard? Last thing you need to do is enter a gradient value - that's going to be the top number at the right divided by the bottom number. There's a calculator in the quick menu at the top if you need it."

Shepard poked open the calculator and entered the numbers, then typed the result into the last field. "Anything else?"

"Get on the comms and warn everybody," he said quickly. "Not something you want to surprise them with."

"Yeah," Shepard said darkly, and used her omni-tool to open a system-wide announcement. "All personnel," she said, "we are attempting to reinstate the gravity system. Please get yourself into a safe position. I will be initiating a test in two minutes." She closed the comm and nodded.

"Liara?" Adams asked.

"Hm?"

"Numbers?"

"Oh. Yes. 182."

"Okay. Better."

The two continued; Shepard entertained herself by gently bouncing from the floor to the ceiling in the corner, away from any passing crew, as she counted down two minutes. Finally, she opened the comm line again and announced, "Gravity test in ten seconds. Ten… nine… eight…" She kept counting, one hand over the enter button on the console. Finally, she stated, "Initiating gravity test." She hit the button; slowly, she felt a tug on her body as the systems began to kick in, and soon enough, she was sitting on the floor, the gravity having gradually raised up to full effect.

"Good," Liara said crisply, standing and adjusting her clothes. "That will not stress the core, will it?"

"Separate system," Adams remarked, still fiddling with the console. "Can you keep reading those numbers?"

"I've got to get back up to the bridge," Shepard noted, and Liara nodded.

"I will stay behind to assist you," Liara stated.

"Thanks." Adams grunted as he pulled at something; a wire popped out, and he quickly grabbed it and stuffed it back under the console. Shepard snorted.

"I'll keep you all updated," she said, and began walking back to the elevator.

Once back at the bridge, she turned her attention to Joker and EDI, still sitting in the cockpit. A few crew members inquired as to what happened as she passed, and with a wince, Shepard noted many were missing - likely in the medical bay with injuries. She answered the questions as well as she could, then continued on.

"How's it going?" she asked as she approached, and Joker banged a fist on the console, only to stifle a yell and cradle his hand, and let out a stream of expletives.

"He is getting very frustrated with the diagnostics program," EDI said more diplomatically.

"Frustrated, my ass," Joker snapped. "It won't respond to anything. It's like it's completely locked up."

"It appears there is a piece of misattributed code," EDI observed. "It is likely a loop discrepancy, in that case, although I do not have code to substitute."

"You can't write any?" Shepard asked.

"Not without risking another similar problem," EDI said reluctantly. "Not since the loop is already running. Trying to break it risks more engine malfunction. Currently, it appears to be that the error diagnostic within the monitor program is being run constantly, restarting before it completes the task - hence the lack of error code." She paused, then added, "In short, it knows something is wrong, but it restarts before it can figure out what."

"So it's stuck in a sort of boot-up loop," Shepard said.

"Similar enough," EDI answered.

"Okay. How do we fix it?"

"Nick a Cerberus drone and let EDI scour their network," Joker muttered.

Shepard winced and stared at him. "Are you serious? Is he serious?" She turned to EDI. "Is there some easier way?"

"That would be the most straightforward, since I could likely copy the original code from their network," EDI said speculatively. "Other ways to get the code would involve traveling to a Cerberus base, which we may not be able to do, given the engines' current state. We could also attempt to write the code ourselves, but that may take too long."

"How long?"

"Code written on the fly still requires testing, so… oh, a month?" EDI replied. "Mostly for testing - the code-writing would take far less time. It largely depends on how long the engines take to cool down after each test - and the testing would be somewhat risky."

"A month?" Shepard groaned. "Okay. Hackett's got a request for us nearby, I think - I'll pull it up on the galaxy map. And Joker - Chakwas should be up here in a few minutes. I'd imagine she's a bit busy, with everyone having been thrown forward like that." She sighed and rubbed her face. "Hijack Cerberus. We can do that, right?"

"You're asking me?" Joker muttered, and Shepard kicked the back of his chair lightly.

"We can do this. I'll notify the crew."

Their travel to the adjacent star system took about a week at non-FTL speeds. The crew was used to long journeys - at 13 or so light-years per day, they could cover distances quickly, but travel between systems sometimes required traveling upwards of six days, or 80 light-years, at a time on a round-trip basis. However, the fact that they were traveling so slowly seemed to make the time tick by at a glacial pace.

For many, the main up-side to this was that, without the usual light-shift phenomenon warping what one saw through the windows into pinpoints of light, the entire Normandy was treated to a constant, breathtaking display of the Sigurd's Cradle nebula, outlined by the distant shape of stars forming the galactic arm.

"Beautiful, isn't it," Liara murmured over Shepard's shoulder; Shepard jumped. "Sorry. Did I startle you?"

"Only a little," Shepard admitted, reaching up and gripping the collar of her armor to re-settle it on her shoulders. "Are you ready?"

"Ready," was her reply. "Meet you at the airlock?"

"Sounds good." She took one last glance at the star-studded sight through the window, and followed Liara.

"Liara! Take left! Left!" Shepard's voice carried over the chaotic battle easily, and Liara threw herself to the left with a flare of biotics. "EDI! What've you got?"

"I need an individual's network access," the AI said, sounding eerily calm compared to the panting humans. "A datapad, a VI, anything with connectivity."

"I'll cover you - grab one off that body," Shepard told her sharply, swinging her rifle up and firing warning shots. EDI darted forward and dragged the body in question backwards easily.

"I will need time," EDI stated, and Shepard nodded as the AI crouched down behind a crate, riffling through the man's pockets.

"We've got it," Shepard said thickly, taking cover before leaning out and firing shots again.

"He doesn't have one," EDI said evenly after a moment, and Shepard swore.

"Liara, we need to start pushing through the room so EDI can sweep some of these other folks," she said through the comms. "Joker, keep us notified of any incoming reinforcements."

"Little busy right now," came a different - yet familiar - voice. "Karin attending. Will notify if anything changes."

"Thanks, Mordin," Shepard said through gritted teeth as bullets pinged off the surface in front of her.

Liara let out a yell. "I need cover!"

Shepard leaped up out from behind her own crate and immediately laid down a series of rapid-fire shots on the far wall, allowing Liara to run between safe spots until she was closer to the other two.

"Okay. EDI, some of those helmets should have connectivity, right?" Shepard asked; EDI nodded. "Liara and I will dart forward first and keep laying down cover fire. Liara, if you're feeling up to it, a big biotic distraction would be nice." Liara nodded, her face grim. "EDI, once we're in position, you come up behind us and see if you can grab one of those helmets from those poor saps."

"Got it," Liara said, as quiet as one could be while being shot at. EDI murmured agreement.

"Okay. On three. One… two… three!" With a shout, Shepard vaulted over the crate in front of her; Liara blasted her own crate forward with a throw of her arm, knocking over two approaching enemies. Her biotics flared, enveloping her in blue light.

Shepard leaped behind a low wall, checking her rifle's thermal clip, then leaned out and sighted her targets. One by one, they dropped.

EDI began to creep forward, grabbing one bulky downed enemy and dragging him out of sight before fiddling with his helmet. She pressed her hands to the sides, electromagnetic "feelers" prodding.

There was a loud thump behind them; Shepard ducked back into cover and spun. "EDI?" There was no answer; Shepard yelled into the comms. "EDI? Report!"

"Is she hurt?" Liara yelled, still occupied with throwing enemies left and right.

"I don't know. I'm going to check," Shepard said.

Liara distracted the Cerberus enemies with another well-placed biotic throw, several crates crashing into the far wall and shattering, forcing several agents to duck out of the way, else they be showered with shrapnel. Shepard stayed hunched over and hurried back to EDI.

Upon arriving, she took one look and cursed, then spoke two hated words: "Squadmate down."

"Visible injuries?" Liara yelled.

"Nope. Just out. Joker? Mordin?" she called into the comms.

"Yes?" The salarian's voice crackled over the channel.

"EDI's down. Looks like she just keeled over," Shepard said darkly. "Can you all get any response from her?"

There was a beat of silence, then he responded, "No. Will go to server room to check."

"Be careful," Shepard said, then turned back to the battle; Liara had made quick work of many of the enemies. Raising her rifle, she coolly took down another who brashly tried to charge at her. "Liara? Leave one."

"As you wish." Liara brought down another crate over the head of an agent, then sent the crate flying sideways into another, who rammed into the wall and slid down it, groaning.

"Come on." Shepard sprinted to the Cerberus agent, pressing a forearm against his throat.

"Hey - what - urrk - " The man choked off as Shepard leaned into him.

"Is there anything unusual about your helmet VI?" Shepard asked, looming over him.

"What? It's just for targeting - OUCH!" Shepard had seized a finger with her other hand and wrenched it.

"Anything abnormal about your software. Now. Talk."

"Shepard," Liara said softly, and Shepard heard a rustle, then a click as Liara swapped thermal clips.

"Talk," Shepard intoned.

"I - I don't know, I just - look, crazy lady, I just work - " He broke off, and Shepard felt him gulp under her forearm; turning awkwardly, she saw Liara coolly aiming her pistol.

"No viruses? No malicious code?" Shepard growled, pressing harder, then leaning back slightly so he could speak as he scrabbled at her arm.

"I mean, there's security code," he managed, voice muffled by his helmet. "But it's not a virus, it just doesn't like people poking at it! Like… like a hedgehog," he said wildly.

"A… hedgehog?" Liara's brow furrowed.

"You know, little thing with spiky fur? Never mind," the man muttered quickly at her sharp look.

"Anything in it that would be a major problem for an - for a, uh, a different software?" Shepard asked. While Cerberus knew about EDI, obviously, she didn't feel like revealing a potential weakness there.

"I'm - I'm not supposed to say." The man's voice was shaky but determined.

Liara checked her pistol, then aimed it clearly at the man's head. "Then you are of no use to us," she said casually, finger lightly on the trigger.

"I'm - I'm really not supposed to say." The man seemed to shrink under both women's gazes.

Shepard shifted slightly, trying to push her weight from one leg to the other, hunched over rather uncomfortably to keep her grip on the man. "I could be persuaded to let you go." She glanced back at Liara, eyebrows raised.

"I don't think we should," Liara said flatly; instead of being offended at the disagreement, Shepard smiled, the expression quite sour. Good cop, bad cop, she thought wryly.

"He could be of use to us. I'm willing to barter," Shepard said amiably.

Liara's grip on her pistol tightened. "I vote we give him one minute to start talking. If he cannot make a decision, we shoot him."

"A minute?" squeaked the man.

"Two minutes," Shepard amended, turning her attention back to him. "Look, there's only so much we can do."

"I - I don't know," he stammered, pushing vainly at her arm. "Just… Let me think." He winced as Liara began to count under her breath. He jerked, only to be shoved back against the wall. "Do you have to count?"

"How else are you to know how long you have left?" Liara asked evenly, and the man pushed at Shepard's arm again.

"I suggest you start talking," Shepard advised with a fake, apologetic expression. "She doesn't like to leave loose ends. But she'll listen to me." Liara's eyes flicked to Shepard's, and Shepard held the gaze for a moment before turning back to the man.

He was breathing heavily. "I just… The security VI, it's just, um, it's just kind of unique - it's duplicated over and over, see, and it - "

Suddenly, there was a noise like a grenade going off; Shepard let out a yell as something very wet and somewhat sticky hit her face. She threw herself backward as Liara yelped, shielding herself with her arms.

"What…?" Liara breathed as the ringing noise left behind began to fade, staring.

Shepard gagged and spat, tasting copper. "What in the hell was that?" she said, trying to ineffectively wipe her face on her armored gloves.

"Look for yourself," Liara said grimly.

Shepard pulled herself up; what she saw nearly made her gag again. "He exploded?"

"Ah. Ocular flashbang." Mordin's voice came over the comms. Shepard grimaced; she must have forgotten to mute her end. "See Cerberus took my advice - though would have preferred lack of eavesdropping," he added distastefully. Another beat of silence. "Apologies."

More silence; then, Shepard turned and retched.

"Shepard?" Liara raised a hand, worried.

"Oh G-d," Shepard managed, doubled over. "Oh, fuck, it got in my mouth - " She choked off as her stomach rolled uncomfortably.

There was a strange noise from the comms; it almost sounded like Mordin had gagged too. Liara reached out to Shepard, resting a hand gently on her shoulder. "I assume that was intended to keep the man from talking. Mordin?"

The salarian coughed, the noise crackling over the comms like static. "Yes," came the rather hurried reply. "Yes. EDI is awake; claims she shut down body to prevent malicious code from reaching Normandy."

"Ah," Liara said. "Wise, if somewhat alarming."

Shepard stood, wiping her mouth, then leaned down again and ripped the fabric covering off of a downed enemy's uniform, using it to wipe her face. "That is disgusting," she muttered.

"Quite," Liara agreed quietly.

"Be advised - reinforcements arriving," Mordin said suddenly.

"Get to EDI," Shepard said immediately, and the two broke into a run. "Mordin, any idea how to boot EDI's body back up?"

"Restart button on chassis at back, under plate. Usually requires magnetic tools to remove."

"Well, I don't have magnetic tools," Shepard grunted as they skidded to a stop near EDI's body.

"Can substitute with angled blow from middle of shoulder blades."

Shepard paused. "You want me to just smack her really hard until something pops off," she clarified. Liara covered a slight smirk.

"Inelegant phrasing," Mordin said haughtily. "Angled blow at approximately 30 degrees."

"Fine," Shepard said, making the decision in a split second as the roar of a dropship approached. "Just with my hand?"

"Yes. Slide hand downward with blow."

Shepard rolled her eyes and, with effort, rolled EDI's body over, then angled her hand and smacked the robot between the shoulder blades. It didn't budge, so she tried again; it ended up taking several tries, but finally, a crack in the plates showed, and Shepard quickly wedged a fingernail under it and began to pry it up.

"Shepard," Liara said warningly as shouts drew nearer.

"I'm trying," Shepard said sourly, wrestling with the plate. "It's caught on something."

"They are getting closer," Liara said, shifting from foot to foot. "We need to go!"

"I can't… Liara!" Shepard yelped as the plate suddenly jumped off the back of EDI's body as if fired from a cannon; it bounced off the wall and clattered onto the floor. Liara looked only slightly remorseful as the blue light of her biotics faded. "Be careful with that!" Shepard scrambled after the plate, grabbing it out of the way as the first sounds of gunfire reached them.

Liara crouched, then without hesitation, jammed her finger onto the restart button. There was a pitiful whine as the body twitched, and Shepard quickly jammed the plate back into place.

"Shep - Shep - Shep - " EDI began to say; Shepard and Liara exchanged glances.

"Shep - Shepard," she finally managed, speaking facedown into the floor. "Shepard. Hello."

"Welcome back," Shepard said hesitantly, reaching out; EDI rolled over with the grace of a fish on land, arms flopping in a rather rubbery fashion.

"Thank you," the AI said smoothly, at odds with the rather uncoordinated movement, then flexed her hands, her elbows, her shoulders, all the way to her toes, before sitting up. "Shall we?"

"If you interface with that again, is it going to shut you down again?" Shepard asked warily, clicking a new thermal clip into her rifle. "Are you okay to keep going?"

"I am in optimal condition. My reboot time is precisely three-point-five-two seconds," EDI announced rather proudly, picking up her own pistol. "I apologize for that delay."

"Not your fault." Shepard ducked behind the wall EDI had tucked herself near; Liara followed suit. "Okay. How do we go from here?"

"Same strategy," EDI suggested, "although this time, we bring a helmet back to the ship so I may interface with it directly instead of through this." She gestured to the body, then gestured to the limp Cerberus agent. "I cannot use this one's helmet. I may have broken the interface ability."

"Is that safe?" Liara wondered, peeking over the wall and ducking back down as a series of gunfire rang out.

"On the Normandy, I can overwhelm the defenses far more easily and delicately," EDI noted, "not to mention I cannot dismantle complex electronics on a battlefield. It is far safer than interstellar travel with a potentially broken drive core."

"Point taken," Shepard muttered. "Okay. Liara? Are you up for some more biotics?" The asari looked tired, but blue flared in response, and Shepard nodded. "Do not overwork yourself, though. Take out as many as you can, but focus on keeping their fire away from us."

"Understood." Liara maneuvered around the other two, then pulled a stack of crates toward her, ran across the room in the confusion, and threw them at the doors, effectively barricading them, if only temporarily.

"EDI? Find a helmet," Shepard ordered. "Wait until I'm ahead, same as we just did."

EDI nodded, crouched and ready to spring forward. Shepard took advantage of the barricaded doors and sprinted ahead, taking cover behind another wall leading to stairs, then popped up over it, setting her elbows down for stability.

EDI quickly darted forward, grabbing another's helmet and trying to wrest it off.

"EDI?" Shepard shouted as she shot down a man who stuck his head through a gap in the crates.

"It won't come off," she said, her tone still perfectly even despite her frantic movements. "I need more time."

"Well, we're running out of it!" Shepard snapped. "Get into cover!"

The AI nodded hurriedly and dragged her target behind the same wall Shepard was taking cover, then began pulling at various clasps and buckles.

Shepard let out a series of shots intended to discourage anyone else from moving the crates, then had to duck as there was a round of return fire. "EDI?"

"Helmet acquired," EDI announced.

"FALL BACK!" Shepard bellowed. "Get to the landing pad!"

A blast to the left drowned out Liara's affirmation; she sent a bolt of blue energy at the agent who had thrown the grenade, sending him flying. Shepard and EDI darted to the back of the room, where they ducked out the door amidst bullets pinging off shields with an electric buzzing.

Once through the door, they sprinted up the stairs, intending to circle around the complex and arrive at the landing pad from the opposite side; weapons at the ready, they crept forward, with Shepard taking point. As each room was cleared, she gestured forward, and they slipped from room to room as quietly as possible.

A shot rang out as they reached a lab; Shepard let out a curse as a bullet hole appeared a few inches to the left of her head, and she ducked, her companions following suit. All three peeked over the railing, spotting Cerberus agents filtering in from below.

"I don't know if we can take on this many," Shepard said grimly. "Not in this tight a space, and not with us being tired, plus you carrying a helmet."

"I can knock them out of the way," Liara suggested, her brow knitted together with concern. "Our shields should handle whatever they throw our way in the confusion."

"EDI? What do you think?" Shepard asked.

"I believe it is wise to do as Liara suggests," she said primly. "We may be able to charge past them if we keep the element of surprise."

"Then let's do this fast. Liara? Count us down."

"One… two… three!" Liara burst from behind the banister, leaping over it and sweeping the Cerberus agents to either side; Shepard took the stairs three at a time, EDI hot on her heels; Shepard felt the telltale staticky feeling as a few bullets managed to land on her shields, then a white-hot pain lanced through the side of her thigh; she yelled, but didn't stop, and they skidded outside to the landing pad.

"Vega! Where are you?" Shepard yelled into the comms, frantically feeling for her thigh; there was no break in the armor, though there was a dent pressing uncomfortably into her muscle, so she figured it must have been a heavy impact.

"I had to duck out when the agents arrived," James Vega said sourly over the comm channel. "I'll be there soon. ETA two minutes."

"Damn it," Shepard growled. "Liara, get those crates onto the landing pad for cover. EDI, stick with me. Liara, you've got free reign of the battlefield, but mind where you jump. I don't want to accidentally shoot you."

The asari wobbled slightly, clutching the back of her head, but regained her balance quickly and chucked a singularity onto the landing pad, sucking a few crates toward it haphazardly. "Very well."

"Your biotics are a good wild card," Shepard explained with a shrug. "Wait - " She paused, eyeing Liara suspiciously. "Did you get hurt?"

"It is manageable," Liara said stiffly.

"Where'd you get hurt? I've got medi-gel."

"No time," she responded flatly. "It is not life-threatening." She spun as the clatter of footsteps echoed throughout the hangar. "I advise we take cover."

Shepard cursed. "EDI! Cover! Now!"

Liara charged forward with a yell, throwing two of the approaching agents backwards with such force that they collided with the folks behind them, who collided with the folks behind them, and so on; then, she darted behind a few larger shipping crates as Shepard began picking off enemies at the front.

It worked like that for some time, with Liara bottleneck-ing the approaching Cerberus agents and Shepard picking off ones that got through. Soon enough, the roar of the shuttle echoed off the small hangar's walls, and Shepard gave the order to fall back. With a burst of covering fire, they leaped onto the shuttle one by one.

Once on the shuttle, as bullets pinged off the outer hull, the three exchanged glances; Shepard ordered an inventory of injuries. The dent in her thigh was still pressing painfully, and she guessed she'd have a nice bruise. When Shepard turned to Liara, she paled significantly, swore colorfully, pulled the asari into a seat, and turned her to look at the back of her head.

Liara's shields had apparently failed mid-shot, resulting in a very-slowed-down bullet lodging itself under a tendril at the back of her head.

"You almost got shot in the head," Shepard snapped, examining the back of her head, "and you say that's not life-threatening?"

"It is merely uncomfortable," Liara said, trying to reassure her. "But - ow! - please do not try to remove or dislodge it," she said hurriedly as Shepard poked her head. "I will go to the medical bay immediately."

"You better," Shepard muttered. "I don't see much blood, so that's good. Take it easy, though. Stay in your seat."

Liara complied. "It is merely uncomfortable. It has not actually penetrated even the skin - it is merely wedged in quite firmly and scraped the tissues." She folded her hands in her lap.

"That's still borderline emergency level," Shepard said irritably, concern making her snappish. "Liara, you could've died."

"I know," the asari said quietly, and Shepard relented.

"I'm sorry. I just… I worry about you, okay?" she said, settling a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Next time your shields are that low, tell me, okay?"

Liara glanced up, then nodded.

Shepard turned her attention to EDI. "You okay?"

"The plate at her back may need to be checked for damage," the AI informed her. "Apart from that, I am functioning well."

Eventually, they made their way to the Normandy, and Shepard insisted on accompanying Liara to the medical bay. Immediately, she was whisked away by Mordin, who had relinquished the position at the helm as soon as they were back through the airlock. Dr. Chakwas was nearby, attending to other crew members, injuries ranging from bruises to a couple of broken bones and, Shepard noticed, a couple of broken noses. Once satisfied, the other two continued on to the server room, and Shepard made a mental note to check up on Liara and the injured crew members.

"So this won't fry anything," Shepard commented as EDI began dismantling the helmet.

"No," EDI replied confidently. "Their security system is quite unique, though. I may have to look into that technique."

"What's so unusual about it?" Shepard asked curiously.

"It involves a single entity - in this case, a VI - multiplied numerous times so each is able to oversee an element of the security system." She took a helmet panel off, revealing a mess of circuitboard and wiring.

"What's so special about that?" Shepard asked blankly.

"It works akin to an organic being's immune system," EDI explained. "In order to hack the security system, you must corrupt or destabilize at least one of the entities - however, the entities have regular checks, so the erring entity will be detected quickly, then quarantined and analyzed, and the entire system updated so it knows to look out for that type of corruption again. It can then dispose of the threat in an even faster fashion. It is roughly similar to how an immune system identifies pathogens and develops immunity to it."

"Huh." Shepard leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, watching EDI work on the helmet. "So… what are you going to do? Hack all of them at once?"

"That would be highly difficult, as there are likely thousands or millions of entities," EDI remarked. "I will be pretending I am one of these entities."

"And that's safe, right?" Shepard asked warily.

"I would not be doing this if it were not safe enough a risk," EDI said, her tone a slight reprimand, and Shepard sighed.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess not."

"One moment." EDI tapped the helmet, then went still.

Shepard watched her cautiously. "EDI?" The AI didn't respond; Shepard took a careful step forward. "EDI?"

"What's going on?" Joker's voice came over the comms, staticky with background noise - Shepard assumed he was in the medical bay. "I'm trying to keep an eye on the ship and the engines just lit up like a lightbulb."

"Are they safe?" Shepard asked immediately, and Joker made a disgruntled noise.

"Yeah, they just - they just sort of, well, I don't know, all the systems suddenly flared on. Not doing anything, just… like stepping on the gas of a car when it's parked."

"EDI's trying something," Shepard said slowly. "I think." The AI twitched, and Shepard jumped. "EDI?"

Once again, Shepard found herself thrown suddenly into a wall as the ship changed speeds; this time, she was thrown toward the stern as the ship abruptly charged forward. She distantly heard indignant yells and thudding as the ship was jostled about.

Amidst the noise and chaos, she heard, "Nicely done, Shepard."

Shepard flailed, trying to get her bearings, and pushed off the wall; at least the gravity hadn't failed that time. "What?"

"What?" EDI blinked, then looked at the helmet in her hands. "Ah. Inertia dampeners." Shepard heard a mechanical revving that soon petered out; the ship's travel became far smoother.

"What? I heard you say 'nicely done, Shepard,' right in the middle of all of that." Shepard pulled herself into a standing position and stumbled forward. "Are you okay?"

"Strange," EDI said, examining the disassembled helmet, her expression concerned. "I do not recall saying that."

Shepard paused. "Were you hacked?"

EDI drew herself up, as if the suggestion was ridiculous. "Of course not," she stated. "I initiated a systems restart to patch the new code in. My connectivity to the Cerberus network was minimal and would not have been detected. While we are still in range of their node on the planet nearby, the connection is not enough to have uploaded any malicious code. It was merely enough to allow me to copy the required code."

"If you're sure," Shepard said doubtfully. "Still. Just - just run diagnostics anyway, okay? You've kind of been through a lot lately."

EDI paused, then nodded, reached forward, and removed a small element from the circuit board and crushed it. "Connectivity adapter," she explained at Shepard's inquiring glance. "It is inert now."

"'Kay. Uh - be careful, and contact me immediately if you find something wrong." She winced. "Not that I don't trust you, but it may be safer if you and Joker both keep an eye on each other for the time being."

"Of course, Shepard."

Author's Note: Disclaimer that it has been years since I've played ME3. Hopefully I didn't forget anything crucial, haha.

There's a little message, though - if I remember correctly - where it states a Cerberus agent's face sorta... exploded. And I remembered Mordin making an aside remark in the previous game about ocular nerve flashbangs being harder to disarm than whatever tooth thing Cerberus had previously. Put two and two together, Cerberus probably eavesdropped on him despite him removing all the surveillance bugs.