A/N - An update! As I said, writing this story on the side to my main series but thought I should at least write a couple of chapters while I have some downtime with holidays and more.


The banging on the airlock hatch was incessant. Two crewmen were standing back from the closed hatch, assault rifles raised, ready to fire in the event of a breach. Joker continued in his attempts to contact the Commander but it was to no avail. She believed he was alive but the lack of communication was starting to become worrisome.

"Normandy to shore party. Normandy to shore party. Are you there, Commander?" Joker asked, almost pleaded, over the radio. The only response was static. "Where the hell are you, Commander?" he muttered under his breath.

Doctor Chakwas was keeping him company in the cockpit, prepared to dash out and offer medical assistance if necessary, her kit-bag sat on the floor next to the airlock. She was confident that Shepard and his team were absolutely fine. The geth were always going to be an issue, but with the level of expertise on Shepard's team, she assumed they had simply fallen out of contact due to the geth jamming their signal.

"I do wish they would stop banging on the hull. It's becoming unnerving," Joker stated.

"They won't get in, Jeff. The Normandy will be fine. Nothing to be concerned about," Chakwas replied calmly. She wasn't exactly calm inside. Any time a team fell out of contact for this long, a search party would likely be assembled and despatched. Pressly was considering such a course of action but the colonists currently banging on the hatch, for reasons they didn't understand, put any thought of a search on the back burner. Instead, Pressly simply stated the Commander was fine, only maintaining radio silence to ensure his and his teams safety.

Joker tried the radio again. "Normandy to shore party. I repeat, Normandy to shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party! Come on, Commander, talk to me!"

"Is that you, Joker? What's going on over there?"

The sense of relief that went through the ship was palpable. Chakwas let go a deep breath, unaware she had been holding it in as Joker attempted again to make contact with the Commander. She'd never been gladder to hear someone's voice. She didn't know what had occurred during their mission, but the Commander's voice gave a sense that he had been through a battle, and although weary, was relaxed with their situation for the time being.

"We're in lockdown, Commander. Something happened to the colonists. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way into the ship. They're freaking out!"

"That's a bloody understatement," one of the crew members murmured nearby.

"Don't worry too much, Joker. They can't do any real damage. We're on our way back. Just hold your position."

"It's alright for him to be calm," Joker muttered under his breath before he replied to his CO. "Uh, yeah sure, Commander. We'll just keep waiting here until you get back."

"So what do we do?" asked one of the other crew members.

"Do as the Commander requested. Keep watch. But, I guess he's right. They can't get in. Let them keep banging away," Joker replied, "Wish they'd put a stop to it, though. They're not the only ones freaking out here."

"We're fine, Jeff. Stop worrying so much," Chakwas stated, keeping an air of calm about herself that she hoped would spread through the ship.

"Joker, we're starting to intercept all sorts of communications back here," Pressly reported in, "Do you know anything about ExoGeni?"

"The name sounds familiar, but no, I don't know anything about them."

"I think they're a company that deal in colonisation. But I'm afraid it's an area outside of my expertise," Chakwas added.

"I don't like what we're hearing. They're talking about purging the colony," Pressly stated.

"What do they mean by purge?" Joker asked.

"I don't know, Joker, but it doesn't sound good."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure the Commander is currently dealing with it," Chakwas stated with confidence.

"Yeah, while he's being shot at by geth and God knows what else," Joker retorted.

The ship descended into virtual silence, only Pressly continuing to report on communications they were intercepting while also tapping into the Commander's comms to keep track of their progress. It took a minute or two for them all to realise that the incessant banging had quietened and then eventually it stopped completely. Chakwas looked at Joker, who simply shrugged his shoulders. "Guess they finally took the hint that we were not going to let them in," he stated.

One of the crew members opened the hatch, somewhat nervously, the second crew member covering him with a rifle. Chakwas noticed the docking bay was empty as she peered around the corner from her position near the cockpit. The crew member made a quick sweep of the area before he turned back to the ship, closing the hatch behind him. "Don't know where they went, but there are only the bodies of geth out there. Plus someone who took a rocket to his back. Poor bastard, whoever that was."

"Joker, you still there?"

"Still here, Commander. Don't know what's been going on, but the colonists who were banging on the ship disappeared a few minutes ago."

"There's something big going on here, Joker. Is the Doctor nearby?"

"She is, Commander."

"Can you send her to the main site? There are people here who need medical attention."

"She's on her way," Chakwas heard Joker reply as she picked up her kit-bag, opened the hatch and started walking towards Zhu's Hope. She followed the bodies of numerous geth that littered the way towards the small colony, a clear indication that the Commander and his team had been in a tremendous firefight almost from the second they departed the airlock themselves. After ascending a couple of flights of stairs and traversing a network of hallways, she finally arrived at the colony itself.

She was relieved that there were no bodies lying around to speak of. No humans anyway, though she did stop to check on the body of a creature, the likes she had never seen. So interested in her appraisal that she barely registered the presence of someone standing over her.

"We've decided to call them creepers," Ashley stated, "We believe they're the product of something below the colony called a Thorian."

"What are they exactly? Were they human?"

Ashley shrugged. "No idea. They are an absolute bitch to take down, whatever they are. We'll probably run into more of the things down below."

Chakwas stood up, taking a step away from the creeper. "So, what did the Commander require my presence for?" she asked as the pair walked to find the Commander and the rest of his squad.

"We had to use gas grenades on the local population as they had been indoctrinated by the Thorian. Unfortunately we didn't have enough grenades, so we had to… subdue the rest of them. One or two of the colonists also have bullet wounds. Nothing serious, but they will require treatment."

"Any dead?"

Ashley shook her head. "The Commander was explicit. No civilian casualties. It wasn't their fault that they were attacking us as they were under control of the Thorian, whatever the hell that turns out to be."

"What else have you found?" Chakwas asked as they entered the central area. Bedrolls had been laid on the ground where many colonists were now lying down to recover from their injuries or experience. She looked at the faces of the survivors. While they were safe, there was little doubt they had been through quite the ordeal.

"Apart from innumerable geth, ExoGeni are responsible for what has happened to these colonists. To say that the Commander is pissed off would be an understatement."

"What does he plan to do?"

"I'm not sure, though I think ExoGeni's days running this colony are over."

Chakwas nodded as Ashley walked away towards the Commander, the doctor approaching one of the colonists who looked in serious pain. She put her kit bag down on the ground and got down on one knee beside one of the colonists, immediately noticing the bullet wound going through his shoulder. She lifted the colonist and check if the round had gone through, which it had. She checked with her omni-tool for any major damage but the round had missed everything important. For the time being, a dose of medi-gel applied to the wound would help seal it and prevent any infection until a more permanent course of action could be found. The colonist muttered his thanks, also mentioning his thanks to the Commander and his crew for choosing not to simply shoot them all. He was very apologetic but stated that they couldn't control what they were doing.

"Ashley, you have basic medical training?" Shepard asked.

"I do."

"Good. I want you and Alenko to stay here with the doctor. Keep her and the colonists safe. Plus you can help provide basic care. Alenko, you just keep an eye out for any geth we've missed or if any of those creepers show up. The rest of us can deal with this Thorian. We'll try and keep in radio contact, but I'm not sure how deep we'll go."

Chakwas overheard and was surprised he wanted to leave two behind, but didn't mention anything. She figured he just wanted to keep everyone safe after what they'd experienced. She made her way along the line of beds, soon joined by the Chief, busy applying gel to cuts and scrapes while also simply providing an ear for one or two of the colonists to get things off their chest. One of them, a woman by the name of Lizbeth, was full of guilt about what had been happening, almost breaking down in tears as the doctor provided an ear to her confession.

"Do you think the Commander was right about Jeong, Ash?" Alenko asked.

"How do you mean, LT?"

"Shooting him how he did."

Chakwas looked up from the colonist she was currently working on in slight surprise. The Commander wouldn't have shot someone in cold blood. Would he?

"I'm not sure what else he could have done, LT. Jeong pulled a gun on him. The Commander was entitled to defend himself. Quite frankly, if he hadn't done it, I would have shot him. The guy was an asshole."

"Surely you don't mean that, Ashley?" Chakwas questioned.

"He's responsible for the condition these colonists currently find themselves in, Doc. He green-lighted the entire experiment regarding the Thorian. Then he wanted to purge the entire colony when it blew up in his face."

"We picked that up on comms back on the ship. What did they mean by purge? Just move the colonists or… something else?" Chakwas followed up.

"Not entirely sure," replied Alenko, "Didn't have time to ask him before he decided to pull his gun."

"I feel sorry about Fai Dan, though. He seemed like a good man. He cared about his people," Ashley added.

"Yeah," Alenko stated sadly, "Wish we could have done something to save him."

"We've saved everyone else, LT. I'd say we've had a pretty good day all round."

The two continued to chat between themselves, Chakwas eventually tuning it out and continuing to work on the remaining colonists in silence. She was thankful there were no major injuries and no reason for any of them to be transported to the Normandy or sent to another world for further medical care. She didn't really know what the lingering effects of the indoctrination would leave. She figured it was perhaps something Liara may want to research. The Commander and his team eventually reappeared. Shepard had the appearance of being bloodied, battered and bruised, while the rest of his team looked absolutely exhausted from whatever they had experienced down below. Alongside the Commander and his team was another asari who was offering to help the colony revive. Chakwas quickly reported in that the colonists were fine and that they had enough stock to ensure they should remain fit and healthy for the time being.

Once back on the Normandy, having departed the colony, Chakwas was writing up a report on the day's events when the Commander walked in, rubbing his temple. She looked up from her terminal with concern as he looked in quite a bit of pain. He'd already been in once before to get treatment for a number of wounds he'd received while fighting those creatures they had called creepers.

"Another headache, Commander?"

"Yeah," he replied, still rubbing his forehead, "The asari we met on Feros put… something in my head. It's a lot to deal with."

"I can give you something to relieve the pain, at least temporarily, but it may be something your mind will need to process naturally."

Shepard nodded. "How's Liara?"

"She's sleeping in her room. I still don't think she's used to the melding either."

He chuckled. "And it's meant to come naturally to an asari as well. I'll take a couple of tablets if you've got them, Doc. Temporary relief will be fine for the moment."

Chakwas walked over to one of the cabinets and retrieved a small box of tablets, almost laughing despite herself at the thought. It's the 22nd Century and we still give people tablets to solve headaches. She handed the pack to Shepard, who grinned slightly, though a flash of pain crossed his eyes. Add that to the tiredness already there, and she could only make one suggestion. "You should get some sleep, Commander. You look exhausted. It's been a long day."

"That your professional opinion, Doc? Or do I really look that bad already?"

"We need you at your best, Commander. So take your tablets and go to bed. Doctor's orders."

He laughed slightly and gave a mock salute. "Aye, aye, ma'am."

She just smiled at him as he turned and walked out of the med-bay, watching him walk across the mess towards his quarters. Satisfied he was carrying out his request to a point, as she had no doubt he'd do more work in his room, she sat down and carried on with a report of her own.