"You don't want to do this, Wrex," Lauren warned. She stared down the line of her arm past the pistol in her hand directly into the fiery eyes of the krogan battlemaster whose own gleaming pistol pointed back at her.

The camp on Virmire fell silent, everyone now staring at the human commander and the krogan locked in an armed standoff.

"You have no clue," Wrex protested with a bitter snort. "You've never looked into the eyes of a child that never lived. This could be the opportunity for the krogan to once again take their rightful place in the galaxy. The genophage has gone on long enough!" As the krogan's voice rose, Lauren gripped her pistol more tightly, readying her trigger finger.

"I don't disagree with you," her calm voice reassured. "But we don't know what Saren has done to 'cure' them. You know from your own experience that he is ruthIess and cruel. If his previous tactics are any indication, they are probably mindless killing machines, just like the geth. Is that the kind of future you want for your people?" Her eyes challenged Wrex, but her heart hoped for a better outcome.

Wrex relented. "No," he affirmed quietly, bringing his weapon down. "We're tired of being everyone's front line fodder."

Lauren felt everyone, as well as herself, heave a sigh of relief. Still, she walked confidently toward Wrex, slapping his enormous shoulder encouragingly. "Someday, Wrex," she soothed. "I don't know how, but you've lived too damn long not to see this end. Right now, we have some turian and geth ass to kick. I need to know you're with me."

"I've got your back," Wrex nodded. "But it doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to find a cure for this wretched disease."

"I don't want you to. You gotta do what's best for your people, as long as that's not killing the rest us, ok?" Lauren quirked a smile.

"No problem. For a human, you've got a quad, you know?" Wrex chuckled. "Not many have had enough to stand against me like that, and those that have are dead."

"Be ready to head out in a few, Wrex." Lauren said, resuming her commander role. As she left the krogan on the shoreline, she saw Ashley, Garrus, and a salarian named Captain Kirrahe engaged in intense conversation.

"Thank you, Commander," Kirrahe said quickly. "We were discussing battle plans, that is, until you and the krogan had your little … conflict. Everything is ok now, I assume?"

"Yes," Lauren nodded. "Wrex is a good guy. We've got no trouble with him," Lauren stated as she motioned toward her own crew, "but I'd watch your back if I were you." Her gray-blue eyes narrowed in disgust. "The genophage was a pretty shitty way to say thank you to the krogan for saving your asses from the rachni. Now, bring me up to speed on the plans."

Kirrahe blanched and cleared his throat. "Well, we were planning on a little more reinforcement than this, but we'll have to make do. It's a four-pronged approach. My men will draw three diversionary strikes around front and we want you to take in a small team, infiltrate the base from the rear and destroy it."

"Sounds reasonable," Lauren agreed. "How small of a team am I looking at?"

Tapping his face with a finger, Kirrahe replied. "Three. Yourself and two others. Can't be too big or it could draw attention. Also, I need to ask your assistance. One of my teams is a man short. Could you spare one to shore up the frontal assault? I won't lie, it's a dangerous proposition. Chances of any of us getting out of here alive are … small."

Ashley quickly stepped forward, seizing Lauren's shoulder. "Let me do it. I'll go with the salarians."

Before Lauren could answer, Garrus, who had been watching silently, piped in, "I think I would be the better choice to go. I've had more experience dealing with rowdy krogan, though I don't know that they were brainwashed." The turian smiled wryly. "It was probably just the ryncol."

Lauren inhaled deeply, pursing her lips. "Captain, I will let you know shortly who I will send with you. If you'll excuse me."

As soon as Lauren was somewhat out of earshot of the salarian, Ashley hissed into her ear. "You've got to let me do this, Skipper. This is my chance to lay some hurt on the geth for the 212."

"Is that all you want, Chief?" Lauren crossed her arms disapprovingly. "You're just looking for revenge?"

"Yeah, I thought that you of all people would understand," Ashley replied sheepishly.

"I told you before that I trusted you because you were a survivor. This …" Lauren waved her arm out toward the east where Saren's base lay. "This is a goddamn suicide mission. I learned the hard way that going into one of these with a fucking chip on your shoulder is the surest way to fuck everything up. That's worse than getting killed. If you're dead, at least they can say you served with honor. I have to live with an entire race that lives to see me dead because I thought I needed retribution. Getting revenge doesn't ease anything." Lauren stopped and stared hard at Ashley. When she spoke again, her quiet voice held an edge. "And it doesn't bring anyone back."

Ashley winced at the words, but stiffened her back. "You know how important honor is to my family. Let me go and restore some to them. I know I can't bring the 212 back, but I'm a soldier and fighting is what I sure as hell can do."

Lauren studied the dark-haired woman's earnest expression. Her stony look softened. "I believe you. I was going to talk to Kaidan about this. I thought he might make the better choice to go, but …" She paused, a smile appearing. "You sure don't have to say much to be convincing."

Ashley fluttered her lashes coquettishly. "I know. It's the brown eyes. My dad said it was my super power. He had such a hard time saying no to me."

A hearty laugh erupted between the two women. As it subsided, Lauren became conscious of Virmire's warm sun shining on her, but she only sensed cold facts settling into her mind. The lush green planet seemed unaware of what was about to take place and the destruction that must come to it.

The salarian camp teemed with activity from her crew and Kirrahe's men, also seemingly unaware of the trials that lay ahead. It could have been the heat, but Lauren thought everyone looked so alive. Faces were flushed with determination. Eyes shone with confidence. Even Wrex appeared under the spell of the beautiful planet. He was helping (actually helping!) a salarian, a member of a race of sworn enemies, check guns and load ammunition. A swell of sadness engulfed Lauren as she knew this couldn't last. Time was of the essence, and Saren needed to be stopped.

x-X-x

Kaidan and Jenkins moved the bomb delicately toward what had been determined as the center of the base. Jenkins' normally smooth brow creased with anxiety. "Not exactly what I thought I'd be doing today, eh, Lieutenant?" he joked weakly. "Nuclear weapons aren't really my specialty."

Kaidan grunted as the pair lowered the heavy explosive to the ground. His mouth only opened when the bomb lay still. "No, Jenkins, me either. Never done anything quite this destructive. You go on back to the ship. Shepard should be here soon, and I'll have this set and we can get the hell out of here."

Jenkins curtly nodded and no sooner had turned when Lauren, Wrex and Garrus burst into their supposedly cleared area, trailed by a faction of geth and krogan. "Jenkins, cover me!" Kaidan yelled.

The soldier, gun already drawn, took a flank position on the charging enemy. Kaidan hated to look away from the firefight, but his task came first, at the risk of everyone including himself. Perspiration ran into his eyes as he worked furiously to get the bomb set to go off. He had nearly blocked the sound of gunfire from his mind when he heard his name being called. "L-T!"

He looked up, then realized it was his comm. "Ashley?"

"Yeah, God, we're in a shit ton of trouble here." Her breathing was heavy. "Some geth ship just flew over and we're being swarmed. Kirrahe's team made it out to the other side, but we're pinned down at the AA tower. I can't reach Skipper. Her comm is down or something. You gotta send us some help!"

Kaidan looked up to see a heavy door slam shut and stop the enemies' advance. He waved the team over. "Ashley's team is stuck. They've got geth everywhere and she's asking for help. I'm nearly done here, but …"

"We got it," interrupted Lauren. "Do you have her coordinates?"

Kaidan nodded and transferred the information.

"I don't like leaving you alone, Kaidan, but I need every man I can get. We'll shut the door behind us this time. Jenkins, you're with me," Lauren ordered, starting back toward the door they had just closed. "You guys ready?"

"I was just getting warmed up," chuckled Wrex.

"And I was just starting to have fun," said Garrus, looking at his rifle affectionately.

They reopened the door carefully, leaving it open only wide enough to get through one at a time. Weapon drawn, Wrex pushed through and out of Kaidan's sight. Garrus followed quickly with Jenkins on his tail. Kaidan knew those three were working to flank any combatants in there and Lauren was waiting for a lull to charge in at point. She leaned against the door and glanced over to Kaidan, giving him a thumbs up as she quickly spun through the opening. The door slammed shut, leaving Kaidan alone to finish the bomb's start sequence.

"Ash," Kaidan called on his comm. "Shepard's got her team. They are on their way."

The comm crackled. "Ash!" Kaidan yelled.

"Shit, L-T, you don't have to blow out my eardrum!" Ashley chastised half-heartedly. "ETA? I've lost three more men and our ammo is getting low."

Kaidan kept trying to focus on what was in front of him, but he knew that once the timer was set, everyone would only have 25 minutes for a full retreat, and that included getting the Normandy launched. "I don't know, Ash. The fighting was heavy when they left."

"Lieutenant," a gruff voice spoke. Kaidan recognized Wrex. "Shepard's down. We need you. Now. We're two corridors past where you are."

Shit, Kaidan thought as he hit the last button on the bomb. The timing mechanism flickered to life and began the countdown. "I'm on my way, Wrex."

As Kaidan forced the door open, piles of dead geth and krogan littered the area, but nothing alive was left. "Ash, Shepard's down," he said as he ran through, dodging bodies. "And … the bomb is set. I don't know …" He didn't want to say it. "I don't know if we have time to get to you. Can you get out of there? Make a run for it?"

He heard Ashley breathe. "No. Anyway we'd run would be suicide. Get Skipper. You know protocol. Get the hell out of here."

As she said those words, Kaidan arrived to see Garrus, leaning over Lauren and looking more worried than he had ever seen the turian. "Not sure how, but her barrier went down and just as it did, she took a massive shot to the side. We've given her every bit of our medigel, but she won't live if we don't get her to Chakwas," Garrus explained.

"What about Ashley?" piped in Jenkins. "And the bomb?"

Kaidan looked gravely at the young soldier. "The bomb is set, we've got 22 minutes left to get on the Normandy and get as far as we can from here. Ash is another 5 minutes away. That's without fighting." He didn't have to say anymore as Jenkins' shoulders sank in realization.

Kaidan's head felt hollow as he issued quick orders. "I'll steady her neck. Jenkins, you take her feet. Garrus and Wrex, I need you to protect us in case anyone else decides to attack." Kaidan crouched and cradled Lauren's neck and shoulders in his arms. Her weight was easy enough to carry that Kaidan felt like another person was in his body, moving for him.

"Ash, we've got her," Kaidan said quietly. The comm crackled again, but no answer came. Garrus looked back and frowned knowingly.

x-X-x

Kaidan sat mindlessly sipping a cup of coffee in the mess hall. His eyes kept drifting to the medical bay doors. This was much worse than after Eden Prime. This time he knew there was a locker to clean out in the cargo bay, a family to contact. The ship was headed back to the Citadel at the Council's request. No one knew exactly what for sure. They wouldn't tell Pressly, even though he was acting XO because of Lauren's injury.

Dr. Chakwas emerged from the med bay and Kaidan rose quickly to meet her. "She's going to be fine, though she did give me a couple scares." Her crisp voice showed signs of concern. "She was hit with polonium rounds and she wasn't healing like she should when I would try to regenerate her tissue. I had to clean it out and remove all the affected tissue, creating a larger wound to heal." The doctor placed a hand on Kaidan's forearm comfortingly. "She's a strong woman. She's already awake if you want to talk to her, just keep it brief."

Inside the med bay, Lauren was sitting, propped up with pillows, looking dour. "I don't like being laid up," she said to Kaidan as he entered the room. She tried to stretch and found her side did not want to comply and she hissed in pain.

"Don't overdo it," said Kaidan, grabbing a seat next to the bed. "We still need you here." His attempt at a smile only drew an expression of doubt from Lauren. "What's wrong?" she said bluntly, crossing her arms. "Did the mission fail?"

"No," he replied, closing his eyes in sorrow. "We … we lost Ash." The regrettable words spilled from his mouth. "When you fell, I had the bomb armed. There wasn't time to save her. We had to get you out of there." Kaidan's eyes stung, but he wouldn't let anything fall.

"Oh," was Lauren's subdued reply. "There was no chance?"

"No, the Normandy wouldn't have had time to launch if we'd have gone after her." He leaned against the bed, placing his face in his hands. "We haven't told her family yet."

"That's my job," said Lauren, sitting up straighter and pulling more authority into her voice. "Just let me rest for a while."

Kaidan sighed and walked away. As the door to the med bay opened, Lauren called after him. "I know you did what you had to do, Kaidan." Her voice turned soft again. "Thank you."

As the door closed between them, Lauren turned to the side of her bed, pain wrenching her side as she crumpled into tears.

A/N: A difficult chapter to write. Thank you for everyone's follows, favorites and reviews :) Sorry for the delay. Holidays and such take up a lot of time! Hope everyone's was merry! Thank you for reading!