Shepard was furious. The collectors had her people, and she was damn well not going to sit on her hands while they got away with it. Her team was ready, the ship was as upgraded as she could get it, and her blood boiled with rage. It was time to hit them where it hurt.

She was so worked up in fact that Ash began to worry about her.

The trip through the relay was, while eventful yes, wasn't as bad as she'd assumed it'd be. Getting to the station on the other side however, was nerve racking. Drones, giant chunks of wreckage, the collector vessel, all of these things conspired to make her explode with annoyance.

Even after it was all over and they were 'hidden' while landed on the outer hull of the station, it took Shepard a good ten minutes before she noticed Ashley and Kelly trying to pry her away from the railing of the galaxy map. She took a deep breath and released her grip, much to the relief of her two bedmates.

The briefing that followed was tense, but a few good words from Shepard had everyone ready to finish the job they came here for. Shepard then laid out the plan. One person would head through a large vent to gain access to the controls behind two sets of doors while two teams would head down two different routs to throw the collectors off balance.

Legion was selected to go through the vent while Garrus would lead the second team. After a few more words of encouragement everybody headed out of the room and towards the air lock. After they did it was only Kelly, Tali, and Shepard left in the room. Kelly walked over to her and gave her a hug, "Be careful."

"I will." As they pulled apart Kelly held out her hand. In it were two pills, "What're these?"

"An experimental drug that's supposed to dampen PTSD attacks and keep you from loosing your shit in there."

"Wow, highly technical description there."

Kelly smiled sheepishly, "Well, that sounded better and was more to the point than the actual description. Now I know you don't want to depend on-"

Shepard pulled her close again, "Thanks. After all that's happened, I'm going to need these." And she meant it. She did want to get off of needing meds, but this wasn't the time to make that gamble. She popped them into her mouth took a drink from the canteen Kelly handed her.

After she was done, she gave Kelly a kiss on the cheek and headed out. After she left Tali sealed and sterilized the room, walked over, took off her mask, and the two shared a long and deep kiss. "When I get back, and all of this is over, how would you like to go on a vacation someplace tropical?"

Kelly smiled, "I'd like that."

For a moment, Shepard thought the doors wouldn't close in time. But thanks to Tali helping with one door while Legion worked on the other they both closed and they got a small respite. Then they saw what the collectors were taking people for.

Luckily none of the crew had been liquified but still. Tens of thousands of people, dead, and for what?! Shepard decided to put it in the back of her mind until after everyone was safe and the station was destroyed. She told Mordin to escort everyone back to the ship and had for Garrus to keep leading the second team while jack kept her team covered while they went through a corridor filled with the seeker swarms. She also had Samara and Miranda on her team so that once jack became to worn out one of them could take over.

As expected, the going was slow due to collectors flying in to attack, but luckily Miranda was able to keep Jack pumped up with whispered words of what they were going to do later. The effect was a reserve of biotic power that even Samara said she didn't think an Asari matriarch would have. When they were reaching the door however those reserves were definitely running low, but Miranda told Shepard and Samara to turn towards the door. Whatever she did next had jack releasing a biotic blast wave so big it cleared the corridor.

As Shepard turned back Miranda was obviously stuffing herself back into her suit while Jack had a stain soaking through the front of her pants from the inside, "You better make good on that!" she said to Miranda.

"Don't I always?"

"This is very unprofessional," Samara said as she walked towards the door they went through all that to reach.

"True," Miranda said, turning back towards them, "But it got the job done."

"And we aren't exactly the most orthodox group of heroes." Shepard said as the door opened and everyone rushed through.

Just as it closed though Garrus took a round in the stomach. Luckily, he was a tough old bird and he shrugged it off with a 'no big deal' grin. Also everyone had six cans of medi-gel so that helped.

After one final speech about saving humanity and this being the final stretch Shepard, Grunt, and Samara headed on while everyone else covered the rear while waiting for a signal to begin making their way back to the ship.

Shepard had no idea of what to expect, but a proto-Reaper with a human like appearance was not on the list. But luckily it was easy to destroy it's supports with the collector beam rifle she'd picked up.

She was riding high on the victory when the Illusive man called wanting to save the station, but she gave a strict hell no., "I won't let fear compromise who I am." She said as she began the self-destruct of the station.

"That's funny coming from you Shepard, seeing as how easily you let yourself be consumed by fear time and time-" Shepard ended the call before he could get to her. But just as they were about to leave the proto-Reaper was back, but except for it's constant ducking and weaving it was a cakewalk to kill.

Afterwards they booked it for the exit, barely making it out of the system before the station exploded.

After about three days of down time, during which EDI and Legion were clearing the Normandy and all it's systems of tracking devices and remote control devices Shepard was notified of an incoming call from Admiral Hackett, "Ok, I'll take it up in my chambers."

When Hackett learned that his little, simple, assignment for Shepard had ended up with her destroying a mass relay causing the destruction of a planet and three hundred and four thousand nine hundred forty two civilians,, he'd been understandably pissed. Especially when he'd learned that the woman he'd sent Shepard to rescue had died as well. But when he'd heard A) that she and her team had been Indoctrinated and B) Shepard had had a full mental breakdown, he'd made the quickest trip across the galaxy known to any species.

And boy was she a wreck when he talked to her. She was shaking, rocking back and forth like a terrified child, and clutching a stuffed snowman toy so hard he was surprised she wasn't tearing it in half.

He relieved her of duty and assigned her to a mental facility back on Earth for extensive psychological help. After that… he had all Cerberus employees taken in for questioning, her team disbanded to do whatever they wanted to do, while Ashley and Kelly both requested to stay with Shepard to aid in her rehabilitation.

Hackett agreed to their request but was surprised when the Quarrian joined them once they reached Earth. He just shook his head as he watched Shepard walk towards a waiting transport headed to the mental health hospital.