W.i.t.G

Well. Here we are. 2017's here, and I honestly thought I'd have lost my passion to keep going with this story. Ah well. It seems I just can't keep away. C'est la vie.

For those of you who are returning: welcome back! I'm glad that you're here. I missed you.

For those of you who have just started reading my story: it's great to have you here!

I couldn't do this without any of your support. If it wasn't for the fact that I get the odd review, message, or notification telling me someone new has liked my work, I would have given up a long time ago.

I have been around though. If any of you have re-read the story, you might have noticed I've edited the first eleven chapters. I plan on editing some more in the future, but I thought it'd be more beneficial to actually get some content out. You know, for a change.

Any messages or feedback in general about the edited chapters would be very much appreciated!

That's enough of my babbling.

Let's get back to the story!

A powerful explosion impacted the icy road that the ground team was travelling on; Shepard struggled to keep the Grizzly on the track as he spoke on his comms, "Ash, watch out on your left! There's a Geth dropship coming in!"

There was a loud electronic crackle before the Gunny replied, "Aye aye, Skipper! I see it. They're just not giving up, are they sir?"

The commander wearily chuckled, beads of sweat dripping down his face as he continued to concentrate on the situation at hand, "No, they're not Gunny. But I'll be damned if they're gonna stop us with a few little pathetic buckets of scrap. Tell Garrus to start blasting the ships out of the sky before they can drop anymore troops off. We'll keep pushing ahead; Tali's getting pretty damn good at blowing shit up. Tell him that it looks like we've got another marksman on the team to challenge him!"

Silence reigned for a moment as Liara continued to tap away on a holographic keyboard, trying her best to reroute the tank's power to where it was needed most. Tali smirked behind her helmet, as she focused the main gun of the Grizzly onto a nearby Geth dropship, creating a large fiery explosion to appear in the sky, before being snuffed out quickly in the freezing blizzard that had buffeted the ground team's progress for the past forty minutes.

The young Quarian woman smiled softly behind her faceplate as she listened to the compliments her nehya bestowed upon her; her smile widening into a grin as another Geth dropship fell out of the sky from Garrus' fire.

Bullets and explosions ricocheted off of the ground team's lead tank, with Shepard at the helm; drawing the bulk of the enemy's fire. Tali should have been terrified, and yet she was having the time of her life.

"That's one less dropship to worry about Captain! They're just lining up for me!"

The commander barked out a laugh as he narrowly avoided a blast from a Geth Armature, "Turn them into scrap Tals! Let's show Saren and his little puppets what it means to mess with the Normandy and her crew!"

Tali beamed once more, as she looked in Liara's direction, "Liara, I need you to siphon some of the power from the non-essential systems and feed it to the main armaments. The reload time on this cannon's becoming quite infuriating, and our inability to counterattack the Geth's cyber-warfare suites are playing havoc on my systems. I'm gonna need a boost to keep the on board VI up and running; otherwise, I'm gonna be shooting blind."

Dr T'Soni continued to frantically tap away on her keyboard, her eyes constantly scanning the monitors in front of her, "I'm not going to lie Miss Zorah; I have no idea how to do that. I'm just managing to keep our shields strong enough to power through the Geth's defences, but I'm no technical savant."

A loud sigh could be heard from the gunnery position, as Shepard began to quietly snigger; already knowing what Tali's response was going to be, "Permission to assist Dr T'Soni, Captain?"

"Make it quick Tali. I can only avoid so much gunfire before we're gonna get riddled with holes."

With a nod of her head in silent acknowledgment Tali quickly made her way over to Liara's station, her three fingers quickly tapping on the holographic keyboard.

Shepard engaged his comms with the other Grizzly before giving his new orders, "Ash, I'm gonna have to drop the lead; I need you to move up whilst Tali boosts our offensive capabilities. Tell Garrus and Wrex that we're gonna be out of the fight for a little while, so you're gonna be the vanguard of the charge for a short period of time."

Chief Williams replied immediately, her voice strained, "Negative, Skipper. We've taken a serious hit to our rear axle; it's taking all I've got to stop us from veering off the cliff and plummeting to our deaths. We'll try our best to cover you, but we're gonna have to stop and make some emergency repairs soon."

The commander groaned slightly in annoyance as he briskly replied, swerving the lead Grizzly around a tight corner, "Copy that, Gunny. Just keep yourselves safe. Shepard, out."

Another ball of liquid plasma impacted the tank's shields as Shepard plowed into another row of Geth defenders, "The clock's ticking Tali! I need you to start returning fire pretty damn soon!

Liara began to pay rapt attention to what the Quarian was doing as Tali gave a quick explanation, her voice calm and collected, "Do you see these two green bars here on your left?" Tali's index finger punctuated her statement as she continued to frantically type, "I've transferred as much power as I can; these bars signify our shields and my ability to blow those freg'ing Geth out of the skies. If they start to go down rapidly, press these buttons on your right," Tali quickly looked at Liara before nodding her head reassuringly, "Just make sure those bars stay green. It's pretty easy once you break it down."

Liara smirked slightly as she began to get to work, "I think I can manage that, Miss Zorah. Thank you."

Tali smiled gently behind her mask as she rushed quickly back to her station; the lead Grizzly's cannon joined the cacophony of gunfire once again.

"Goddamn it's good to have you back up here Tals!" Shepard spared a cheerful glance in her direction as he gave his next order, "There's a large tunnel coming up ahead; it looks like we've finally made it to Peak 15. Ash and the others are struggling, so I'm gonna need your help to make a hole. A fucking big one if we can manage it."

"I can do that. Where do you need me to fire, Captain?"

The commander, with a quick shake of his wrist, sent over the necessary navigation information to his Quarian squadmate, "Do you see that giant metal wall in front of us? It looks like it'll break if we hit it enough in the right spots. I need five volleys of high explosive rounds into each corner; where I've marked. Leave the rest to me."

Tali's eyes widened behind her mask as she suddenly realised her captain's intentions, "Please tell me you're not going to do what I think you're about to do..."

With a maniacal cackle, the lead tank began to pick up its pace, "It's going to be just like Therum again Tals! Except this time, instead of an Armature, it's going to be an entire wall meant to keep small armies out!"

"You bosh'tet!" Tali swore loudly at Shepard's antics, the Grizzly's cannon firing in quick succession as small craters started to litter the large barricade in front of the ground team's convoy.

"And here I was, thinking that we might've gotten lucky enough to have a smooth ride whilst we travelled to the peak. We were having such a nice conversation about the fleet as well. Right, Princess?" Shepard spoke loudly as he floored the accelerator of the tank, the on board VI screeching in his ear that a significant collision was imminent.

"One of these days Captain, we're going to have a long discussion on why I'm not actually royalty. If I'm lucky I might be able to squeeze some funny stories out of you, and then I can give you an embarrassing Nicholas-name!"

Liara and Chris laughed heartily as they instantly recognised the young Quarian's mistake, "It's nickname Tals. Not Nicholas-name."

"Same thing, you bosh'tet!"

Liara suddenly chimed into the conversation, addressing the commander, "Our shields are at maximum, Commander! We're as ready as we can be for whatever you've got planned."

Shepard nodded his head in acknowledgement as he activated the comms, "Ash, stick to me as close as you can! We've found our exit but it's going to be close!"

"Aye aye, Skipper. We're with you."

"Hold on everybody!" Shepard braced himself, as the Grizzly began to barrel through the Geth's defences; humanoid platforms dove wildly out of the way of the heavily armoured convoy, with dropships beginning to steadily ascend back into the blizzard, their attempts at stopping the spectre and his team having proved fruitless.

With a resounding crash of rending metal and high pitched electronic warbling, the two Grizzly's broke through the giant metal barricade, causing a large enough hole for the tanks to narrowly fit through.

The lead tank soared through the air for a short amount of time, before bouncing along the ground, like a stone skipping across a silent lake. Fresh, undisturbed snow churned wildly around the tanks as a lack of any noise became prevalent.

Once the convoy had come to an abrupt stop, Shepard spoke softly, "Is everybody okay? I need a headcount; sound off!"

"I'm okay Captain. For the record, that was probably the stupidest thing we've ever done."

Liara leant back into her seat, her hands resting on her neck, "I can't believe we made it Shepard. One of these days, I'm going to get used to your unorthodox tactics..."

The comms crackled with life, as a weary voice emanated in the crashed Grizzly, "We're okay, Skipper. The Grizzly's fucked, but we're all in one piece."

Chris breathed a shaky sigh of relief before rapping his helmet with his fist, "I'm not gonna lie: I didn't think that was going to work as well as it did."

Tali giggled quietly, her hands reaching out for the lever that would allow the team access to the snows of Noveria, "Well, it's a good thing we have confidence in your plans then. If you don't have any, then as you humans say, 'we're screwed'."

"Thanks Tals. I appreciate that." Shepard's lips split into a soft smile behind his temporary helmet, as he accompanied Tali out of the wrecked tank.

The cold winds whipped harshly around them, a fierce blizzard immediately buffeting them as soon as they stepped out of the relative safety of their vehicles.

A severe chill set itself into Shepard's bones as he helped Liara clamber out of the wreckage; the Asari took the human's hand graciously and smiled warmly at his offered assistance.

The commander looked across to his other teammates before his eyes widened.

"Everything alright Skipper? You look like you've seen a ghost." Chief Williams quickly made her way over to her superior, her assault rifle resting in her hands.

"They just don't fucking give up... Why couldn't we be fighting Batarians? They're not nearly as belligerent as these pricks."

"What do you mean sir?"

An extended finger from the commander, pointing into the heart of the blizzard, caused the chief to swear wildly.

What looked like a swarm of insects approached the ground team's position; multiple dropships and their fighter escorts moved in a single direction, with a sole purpose apparent in their movements.

"Everybody get inside! Now!" Shepard shoved Ashley towards the entrance, before quickly rushing over to Garrus and Wrex, beckoning the pair in front of him. The commander had is rifle in his hands in an instant, with Tali coming quickly to his side, her shotgun having been equipped.

The ground team hastily rushed into the dimly lit entrance of the facility; a loud thud punctuating their safety and their entrapment as the cold winds were quickly shut out.

A collective sigh of relief could be heard, with a couple of small chuckles as the team adapted to the lack of light.

Once the team had made their way into the main hall of the entrance, a familiar electronic chirping sound could be heard, as the facilities emergency lighting came online, bathing everyones vision in a blood red hue.

Shepard laughed viciously as the squad prepared themselves for battle:

"Alright people! The Geth aren't obviously showing us any mercy, so we're going to return the sentiment. Liara, I want singularities littering the field; if the Geth are dug in, lift 'em up. Garrus and Ash, pick off any stragglers or snipers. Tali and Wrex, keep close to me. We're gonna carve ourselves a path."

A rocket impacted the wall next to the team, as a hail of plasma rounds rained down upon them; everybody gave their own forms of approval as the commander's rifle cut down three platforms in one burst.

"Let's get to it!"

"Why is everything trying to fucking kill us?! If it's not the Geth, then it's Krogan mercenaries. And if it's not mercs, then it's creatures from a long dead species!"

With a primal roar of anger, Shepard kicked the final rachni soldier in the room onto its back before unloading a burst of rifle fire into its chest. Amber blood spurted outwards, coating the large marine's helmet.

A loud sizzling emanated from the piece of headgear, as the toughened visor began to melt.

The commander quickly removed his piece of armour before lobbing it across the room, his hair damp with sweat.

"And it's acidic! Of course their blood's acidic! I fucking hate mother nature. That bitch's had it out for me as soon as I could walk, let alone breathe!"

Wrex grinned wildly as his face bore the scars of recent acid burns, "I never thought I would fight the enemy that the Krogan were uplifted to annihilate. These creatures have littered my people's history with numerous wars and battles; we were brought to the stars to fight. The burns from the wounds they inflict upon me are nothing in comparison to the pride that surges through me when I rid the galaxy of another blight. I was born for this."

Garrus, Shepard and Ashley laughed under their breaths, amongst themselves, as they took a moment to collect themselves; Tali and Liara were stood over a recently dispatched corpse, quietly discussing amongst themselves.

It was the Chief that spoke first, "I didn't expect to hear that from you Wrex. That was pretty damn poetic. I thought you said poetry was for the weak?"

Amber blotches on Wrex's heavy crimson armour continued to sizzle away as he regarded the young human marine, "I wasn't being poetic, human. I was stating the obvious."

Ashley shook her head playfully as Shepard clapped the large Krogan merc on the shoulder, "Don't be so defensive Wrex. It's not a bad thing to get in touch with your sensitive side from time to time."

"Shut it, Shepard."

Everybody burst out laughing at the Krogan's reply; Wrex grinned as he continued, "If you keep finding me these kind of fights Shepard, I might need to find a permanent place on the Normandy."

"I'm sure that can be arranged." The commander clapped the merc on the shoulder a final time before moving to the front of their makeshift formation:

"Alright everybody! Let's keep moving. Hopefully we'll be able to find somebody in this shithole who doesn't want to murder us immediately, and can explain what the hell's going on."

"Don't ask for too much Boss. With the luck we've been having, we'll probably be greeted by Saren in the next room."

Shepard smirked as he hefted his rifle in his hands, "I'm counting on it Garrus. If we can find that metallic Turian bastard sooner rather than later, I'll have enough energy to beat him to death with the stick he's got rammed up his arse. No offense."

"None taken, Boss." Garrus chuckled, his sub-harmonics expressing his humour as his squadmates began to share in the pair's jovial banter; the Chief spoke up from the back of the formation, "Is it true Garrus? Do Turian's have a stick up their ass? Or is it just a myth?"

Wrex barked out a laugh as the team made their way through the facility, "I've killed my fair share of Turians, and I've never seen them shit a stick out before. It's all varren dung, human."

Tali nudged Chris in the side, at the front of the formation, her voice quiet as she spoke to her nehya, "Varren Dung. That's your new Nicholas-name."

"Fuck you, Princess." Chris grinned with joy as he softly sighed, and uttered a small laugh when Tali smacked him lightly on his arm.

Liara had been quiet for a while, but spoke up when a lull in the conversation had occurred, "I've never had personal relations with a Turian before, but I have heard stories from other Asari. If some of them are to be believed, Turian male's have more than just sticks that they can use."

The group stopped in their tracks, as everybody regarded the usually meek Asari woman.

Ashley barked out a laugh, before clapping Liara on the shoulder, "Are you sure about that Doctor? You sound like you're speaking from personal experience."

Fits of laughter overtook everybody as they began to bond with one another.

Garrus eventually spoke; a bold sense of pride lacing his words, "Liara's not wrong. We Turians have plenty of reach, and flexibility in the right places."

Wrex howled with mirth as he smacked Garrus on the back, "You might be worse than a pyjack at most things Turian, but at least you have a decent sense of humour."

The C-Sec officer nodded his head in response, "Thanks, old man."

Shepard cleared his throat before addressing the squad, "Alright, cut the chatter. We're still in a hostile facility. I want everybody's eyes focused and scanning for hostiles. We can talk about Garrus' reach once we get out of here."

Everybody gave their own form of acknowledgment, as they moved toward their next destination; the hot labs and Matriarch Benezia.

"I think it's fair to say that the Normandy's elevators are actually faster than the shit we're currently riding in. I thought we were supposed to be in an enlightened age?"

Tali smirked behind her mask as she leaned on a wall to her side, casually checking her omni-tool as she listened to her nehya complain, "Am I the only one who sees the irony in all of this? We live in an age where space flight from one end of the galaxy to the other is completed within the blink of an eye. There are computers that can complete processes faster than I can even imagine. And all of the lifts I can think of, are utter crap."

"It's not all bad, Skipper. At least it gives us a chance to take a breather."

Shepard grumbled to himself as his squad mates entertained themselves by either chatting to each other, or checking their pieces of equipment.

A sudden burst of static noise emanated in the lift, startling the ground team. A monotone voice filtered out of the comm system, causing the commander to grimace in annoyance, "The VI core is offline. Manuel reactivation is required. All system lock downs are in effect until the VI core is brought back online."

Silence reigned for a brief amount of time, before the commander sighed loudly, "It looks like we're gonna be fixing a VI then. It's not like we've got anything else to do..."

To punctuate the large marine's statement, the lift doors began to shakily open, allowing access to a dimly lit corridor.

The squad filed out slowly, and in formation; everybody's weapons were trained on any crevices or ventilation shafts as they slowly moved inwards to what looked like a large information bank.

As soon as they'd reached the halfway mark in the hallway, dozens of rachni workers and soldiers spilled out of numerous crevices; a plague of enemies began to rush towards the ground team's position.

Without any hesitation, Shepard quickly aimed his rifle to what looked like an explosive canister and opened fire.

Instead of a large explosion engulfing the rachni in a fiery blaze, liquid nitrogen coated their carapaces; causing the rachni to instantly freeze where they stood.

The commander raised a fist for the squad to halt, before deftly removing a fragmentation grenade from one of his bandoliers. With a grunt, the spectre lobbed the grenade into the centre of the frozen rachni, and within a few seconds it detonated. The rachni, were simply decimated. Chunks of their enemies, such as slimy thoraxes and extra limbs, like feelers and claws, were sent flying around the hallway.

With a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, the commander beckoned for the squad to move up, as he stowed his assault rifle. Wrex unceremoniously punted a large chunk of rachni, his face the picture of childish enthusiasm. Garrus merely shook his head, chuckling softly to himself.

Chris and Tali were the first ones to reach the VI's core, with a small lift waiting for them to descend even further below. Once the squad had reconvened outside of the elevator's entrance, after examining any items of interest, the commander and his Quarian squadmate journeyed below.

Once they'd reached the bottom of the data bank, Shepard became quickly overwhelmed:

'The hell is all of this shit? Why's that monitor blinking in purple, and that one's got thousands of little lights dotted across its screen?'

Without any words emanating from the spectre's mouth, Tali quickly answered, "It looks like every piece of information that's been stored in this place has been routed through here at some point. Look! That monitor's displaying how many of those rachni are being logged as active." With her index finger, Tali pointed to the large monitor with thousands of lights blinking all at once.

Chris whistled in surprise as he took a step backwards, "Fuckin' hell. That's a hell of a lot of bugs we're gonna have to fight through."

The young Quarian at his side giggled as she continued her explanation, "Don't worry, nehya. These logs haven't been updated in weeks. What's more than likely happened is: the rachni somehow managed to escape from their containment, before wreaking havoc on the facility. I'm guessing that the staff here, if any have survived, have retreated further into the complex; leaving the VI's logs untouched or updated."

A short silence reigned for a moment, before the commander inquisitively asked his next question, "And you can tell all of that from some blinking lights on a monitor? Goddamn Tals... I know you've said in the past that the Quarian's are good with tech, but you're a full blown genius!"

Tali blushed fiercely behind her helmet before quietly replying, her hands deftly tapping away on a holographic keyboard she had brought to life, "I'm just taking an educated guess, Chris. Keelah, I hope there isn't that many bugs. It's been a nightmare getting this far."

Shepard squeezed the Quarian's shoulder gently, before speaking quietly, "Don't worry about it too much, Tals. I'll make sure nothing gets to you, or the rest of the team. That's what I get paid for after all."

A cute giggle emanated from her vocaliser as she regarded the tall marine next to her, "I'm not worried for my sake, nehya. I saw your face when we first found the rachni; you looked petrified."

Shepard's face suddenly began to turn crimson as he hastily disregarded the comment, "M-Me?! Petrified?! Of bugs?! I don't think so, Princess..."

Tali noticed the sudden change in her human's face, "Oh yeah, Varren Dung. You were definitely petrified. I think I heard Wrex mutter under his breath about 'warriors not being afraid of anything'."

"I'm not scared of bugs, damn it!"

The young woman giggled to herself as she placed a small hand on her saviour's chest plate, "I'm only teasing you nehya. Don't take it to heart."

Chris' eyes went wide for a moment, as he regarded her.

He'd been beaten at his own game for the first time since they'd met.

Shepard's features softened as he quietly spoke, "You're getting better at this, Princess. There's no doubt about it."

With a final tap on the keyboard, Tali peered upwards, her head tilting with her smile, "I've learnt from the best."

The commander's face reddened once more as happiness swelled within his heart. Tali pointed to the elevator, her tone comical, "Now, shall we continue Captain? We've got a few physical repairs to make to the VI's auxiliary systems, and then we can continue through the complex. And don't worry; I'll protect you from the bugs." To punctuate her final statement Tali patted her shotgun lightly as she beckoned for Chris to walk in front of her; just like he'd done so many times on the Normandy.

Chris chuckled softly as he stepped onto the small plate, squeezing Tali gently on her shoulder, "I'm glad you're here, Princess."

Nothing was said between the pair of them as they ascended from the VI's core. Light began to spill out into the hallways and corridors as they ascended upwards, and Tali couldn't help the smile she had on her face.

She was having the time of her life, with her human.

"The sensor's all patched up on my end, Boss. We had to fight off some rachni soldiers, but the Gunnery Chief dispatched them with ease while I made the repair."

The comm's were silent for a moment, before Shepard responded, "Copy that, Garrus. We've finished our repairs as well. You and Ash make your way back to the VI's core, and we'll continue from there. Shepard, out."

Garrus chuckled ebulliently as he hefted his sniper rifle in his hands, looking in Ashley's general direction, "The Commander wants us to meet him and Tali back at the VI core with the others. We should probably get moving."

The Chief dropped down from her elevated position with a grunt, before flashing a pearly white smile to Garrus, "It sounds like we can finally get moving then. That's great; I was getting bored with just waiting for more bugs to show up."

The C-Sec officer nodded his head in acknowledgement as the pair began to journey back through the winding tunnels in the complex, "I know what you mean. At least Shepard's able to adapt to whatever gets thrown at us. It makes a nice change from what I'm used to."

Ashley tilted her head to the side as she regarded her Turian squadmate, "Now I know there's a story in there somewhere. Care to share it?"

Another mirthful chuckle filled the void between the pair; Garrus' sub-harmonics trilled jovially as he replied, "I wouldn't say it's a story really. I've just never really had a commanding officer like Shepard. In the Turian military, discipline is drilled into you from day one; the same goes for standard battlefield doctrine and basic tactics. When I was working in C-Sec if I ever saw any combat it was always over before it began, if you know what I mean. Shepard's just... Different. The man'll think as quickly on his feet as if he's planned the whole scenario actually taking place. He's as ferocious as a Krogan, but as disciplined as a Turian when it comes to combat. The man makes perilous situations appear somewhat advantageous when we're fighting. He makes combat on this scale feel almost natural. "

The Chief didn't reply immediately. A small silence settled as the two continued to move to the VI core.

"I have to admit Garrus, if it wasn't for the Skipper being the way he is, I probably wouldn't even be alive. The man saved my life on Eden Prime, alongside the LT. I know exactly where you're coming from when you say he's different. In the Alliance, he's almost revered as some sort of hero. Every grunt's heard the stories about him: he's got a lot of nicknames for his accomplishments and feats. When he pushed back the Batarian invasion on Elysium nearly single-handedly, he was proclaimed to be the Alliance's lion; when the news spread that he'd been the only one to survive the horrific attack on Akuze, he was known as a survivor. And when he helped to lead the assault on Torfan... He was branded a maniac by the Alliance brass. He's the most compassionate man I've ever met, but he's also the most ruthless. Sometimes I'm terrified to fight beside him, and other times I wouldn't want to be anywhere but by his side, fighting the good fight. So yeah, Garrus; I think it's accurate to say he's different."

Garrus was simply stunned.

The C-Sec officer was at a loss for words as the pair made their way through another sliding door, admitting them entrance to the VI's core. The rest of the ground team were dotted around the room, but as soon as Garrus and Ashley arrived, everybody reconvened in the middle of the room.

Shepard smiled warmly in their direction, "What the hell took you two so long? You didn't get lost, did you?"

Garrus was about to reply before the Chief suddenly cut him off, "No Skipper, we didn't get lost. We were being cautious as we came back. I didn't want to get jumped by the bugs, you know?"

Shepard nodded his head before replying, "I hear you, Ash."

Turning to face the rest of his team, the commander motioned towards a brightly lit elevator that had been previously sealed beforehand, "Well, we can thank Tali for turning all of the lights back on and getting the VI's lockdown lifted. I've gotten as much information out of it as I can, so we might as well keep moving. This should take us to a tram station that'll grant us passage to Rift Station. Once we get there, we're practically right on top of the hot labs. So with any luck, we should be out of here in a few hours."

Sounds of acknowledgement rang out in the room as the team filed their way into the small lift.

Everybody began to chat about different subjects whilst they descended; except for Garrus.

The Turian's mind was abuzz with what he'd heard from the Chief.

Shepard was definitely different; like Garrus in some respects.

And that wasn't necessarily a bad thing...

The tram's doors opened slowly, as the ground team began to file out.

The first thing that ran through the commander's mind as he stepped out of the tram was the fact that a large amount of civilians belongings were strewn along the floor, next to the door that connected Rift Station to the tram platform.

On closer inspection, the large marine could immediately detect the stench of death, as well as large crimson and azure bloodstains.

Wordlessly, the spectre detached his rifle from the magnetic strip on his back before moving forwards, his hands motioning for the squad to follow him. As they passed through the threshold to the tram station, the source of the stench became obvious: human and asari bodies were propped up against a wall; clean bullet holes were apparent in their skulls, as if they'd been executed.

Once they'd passed through a hallway and rounded a corner, Shepard was met with another bemusing sight: three large crates had been overturned in front of the next door, with four human soldiers stood behind them.

Both sides instantly trained their weapons on each other, as the ground team slowly inched forwards.

It was a grizzled soldier that spoke first, from the protection of his makeshift cover, "Don't come any closer! And lower your goddamn weapons! What the fuck are you doing down here?!"

Shepard kept his rifle trained on the closest soldier as he replied; a fire burned deep within him as his mind began to piece together what might have happened, "That's not going to happen. Now why don't you answer me a question: why are there numerous civilians back there with holes in their skulls? It almost looks like they've been executed..."

The grizzled human who had spoken beforehand, who Shepard presumed was the leader, spoke once more, "They were like that when we got here! We're security from Port Hanshan. Captain Matsuo sent us here to check out what had happened when the labs went dark."

The commander kept his rifle level as the ground team got close enough to the other group. The guards began to grow uneasy when they noticed they were outnumbered, "L-Look! Why don't we meet each other halfway? We'll drop our weapons, if you drop yours. You've seen it yourself: enough blood's been shed already."

Chris pondered the statement for a brief moment, before motioning for his team to lower their weapons. If he was going to get any answers, he sure as hell wasn't going to get them from some corpses. The dead aren't very receptive to questioning after all.

The leader of the disgruntled squad of humans moved forwards, with his hand outstretched, "I'm Captain Ventralis. Maeko and I had joint control of Noveria's security forces, but I left a few weeks ago with a large group of guards to find out what the hell's happened here. We eventually found out, but at too high of a cost. We're all that's left."

Shepard nodded his head slowly as he clasped his hand with the captain's, "I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance military." With a small gesture indicating his squadmates behind him, the large marine continued, "And this, is my team."

Nobody from the ground team made a move or a sound in greeting as they continued to wearily size up the guards in front of them.

Chris cocked his head to the side as he continued to clasp Ventralis' hand, "It's kinda funny really: Maeko never mentioned you. Or the fact that somebody from Port Hanshan had been sent to investigate the hot labs. Don't you find it a bit strange that she wouldn't have mentioned that?"

Ventralis laughed weakly as he struggled to release the grip the larger human had on his hand, "Heh, well, Maeko was always the forgetful kind. She wouldn't have remembered her helmet and rifle most days if I wasn't reminding her constantly."

Chris gave a weak chuckle in response as his omni-tool suddenly chimed.

Turning away from the security captain, the commander began to read the urgent message he'd been sent by Kaidan.

As Shepard began to scroll through the message, the words sinking in as quickly as he'd read them, time seemingly slowed down:

"I've only just managed to salvage some transit records from the garage, Shepard. Benezia journeyed to the hot labs a few weeks ago, but she was being accompanied by a squad of Asari commandos and Krogan mercenaries. It also looks like she brought a small squad of human mercs with her as well. Watch your back up there."

Tali looked on in confusion as her human's face changed from a state of bewilderment to silent rage.

The young woman looked on in real time as everybody's movements slowed down to a slow crawl: her human's hand began to reach for one of his sidearms on his hips; Wrex began to raise his shotgun towards a security guard, with two guards focusing their attention on him; a guard opened fire in Liara's direction, but Ashley had already begun to move the young Asari to one side with a forceful shove. But, most importantly of all: Captain Ventralis had a sidearm resting a couple of inches away from her nehya's head, his armoured finger gently grazing the trigger.

With swift and agile movements, Tali quickly unsheathed her combat knife, a gift from her human, before darting across to her saviour; with a powerful lunge, the young woman stuck her blade between Ventralis' armour plates, into his gut. The sharp metal cut through any clothing or additional protection the guard had underneath his chest plate.

Time seemed to speed up exponentially from that point as Wrex opened fire, cutting one of the guards practically in half, whilst severely injuring another. A burst of rifle fire was sent in Liara's direction, but Ashley took the brunt of the attack; her shield absorbed most of it, but a few bullets still managed to pierce her armour. Garrus rushed forth at this attack, the butt of his sniper rifle having been used as an impromptu club; the security guard wasn't fast enough as Garrus began to counterattack. The force of the Turian's blows were so powerful that the guard's visor had begun to crack, before smashing into millions of tiny pieces; the butt of his rifle quickly became drenched in human blood; a ruby shade coated his features as blood spurted outwards.

Shepard rapidly drew his sidearm, before aiming it at the treacherous captain's head.

He was too slow however.

With a grunt of exertion Tali viciously twisted her blade before ripping it to the side and outwards; the serrated edges shredded the human man's skin, causing Ventralis to slowly fall to his knees, his hands feebly clutching at the gaping wound, his guts and internal organs began to slowly spill out of the vertical slit in his gut.

Blood coated Tali's armour as a sense of shock began to wash over her.

Shepard lowered his weapon as he aimed it for the captain's head, performing a final coup de grâce; two gunshots rang in the hallway as the grizzled human fell over in a slumped heap, his brain splattered against the metal grating of the floor.

Tali's body began to shake uncontrollably as she let her blade fall from her hand; her eyes went wide in horror as she gazed at her blood soaked hands.

The young woman retched inside of her helmet as she fell to her knees.

In an instant, her saviour was there, "Tals, are you alright?! Talk to me Tali! What happened?!"

Words escaped her as she slowly peered upwards, staring straight into her nehya's emerald eyes; her hands continued to shake until Shepard took them within his own, three fingers interlacing with five.

The young woman's body went through a myriad of emotions at the man's touch, but her gut continued to churn in disgust at her actions. She retched again, her body beginning to shake violently, "Tals, what the fuck happened? Talk to me! I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!"

Tali eventually managed to croak out her response; her eyes were firmly shut in an effort to never see the blood that stained her hands, "I-I-I... I gutted him nehya... I-I-I've never killed someone up close before..."

Shepard immediately understood what was happening, and gently wrapped his arms around the young woman; bringing her into a tight embrace, "It's alright Tals... We've all been there. Your first's always the worst one. Nothing can ever prepare you for the sight that meets your eyes."

It felt like the two of them held each other for an eternity, before Shepard eventually released his grip of her. Tears slowly streamed down her silvery cheeks as she began to struggle to get to her feet. Her saviour held out an outstretched hand, which she gratefully took.

In the background, Wrex began to pilfer through the dead guards pockets; sometimes finding worthless sentimental junk like pictures of loved ones, and sometimes he found fresh credit chits. Garrus sat on a crate as he began to clean his rifle of its stains, a bloodied piece of cloth wiping over the same area as he stared off into the distance. Liara was sat tending to Ashley's wounds: the Chief had taken a few rounds to her side that were causing her immense pain. Luckily, the bullets had passed cleanly through, and so Liara had taken it upon herself to apply the necessary aid Ashley required. Human curses filled the hallway as Liara gently applied a generous dosage of medi-gel to wounds that were meant for her.

Tali looked somewhat incredulously around, as Shepard quietly spoke to her, and only her, "It could have been a lot worse if you hadn't acted as quickly as you had."

The young woman's eyes fell to her hands, as she continued to stare at the stains. In the blink of an eye, Chris was unscrewing the lid on a container of sorts, before pouring out a clear liquid over her hands, "It's only water. Nothing serious."

She nodded her head numbly as the blood began to wash out of her gloves, "It doesn't get any easier Tals. I'll be the first to admit that. But eventually, your body gets used to it. As mad as it sounds, it gets used to it. You eventually stop getting the shakes; your gut stops churning everytime you see another enemy fall, and you begin to steel yourself for the inevitable."

"T-The inevitable?"

A short sigh emanated from her human's lips, as he softly answered her question, "We're all going to die at some point or another Tals. We can't fight it. That's just life. What we can fight, however, is how and when we're accepted to Death's embrace. If that means I delay the inevitable by gutting some treacherous bastard, then I can live with that."

The flow of water began to cease, and Tali could only look on in surprise as the stains on her gloves disappeared.

Once the commander had placed his water container back onto the belt around his waist, he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before continuing, "I don't know how you knew they weren't guards, but I'm not going to complain. You've saved my life again, Princess. We should really get a tally going."

A snotty laugh could be heard between the two as she weakly slapped his armoured shoulder, "Don't start that again, Varren Dung..."

With a warm smile, Shepard turned to his other squad members before briskly speaking, "Status report?"

"They had some decent stuff on them, Shepard. To say they were guards, they were carrying a lot of credits." Wrex rolled his shoulders; his shotgun resting in his meaty hands.

Garrus shook himself out of his battlefield stupor before addressing his superior, "I'm alright, Boss. I just didn't expect to be beating someone to death with my rifle is all..."

Wrex laughed happily as he clapped the Turian on the shoulder, "You should have seen it Shepard! The Turian might have a quad after all..."

"I-I'm ready to keep fighting Skip... I won't be able to move very fast, but my aim should be fine." Ashley grimaced slightly at the end of her statement as her hand shot to her injured side, clamping down around the wound. Shepard gave the marine a concerned look before turning to face Liara:

Liara adjusted the sights on her pistol for the final time, "I've treated the Gunnery Chief as well as I can, Commander. She's going to need further aid once we're aboard the Normandy, but for now, she's stable."

"See? The doc's cleared me, Skipper. Let's get going."

Shepard chuckled softly as he motioned for the squad to move out, "She's not a doctor of medicine, Chief. She's an archeologist."

Ashley shrugged her shoulders slightly before wincing in pain, "It's all the same, Skipper. We ground pounders can't tell the difference. If you've got a pretty face and medi-gel, you're a doctor to me."

Chris barked out a hearty laugh as he raised his rifle to scan for hostiles, "I couldn't agree more, Gunny. I couldn't agree more..."

"You must believe me, Little Wing... I would never hurt you. Saren... Saren is but a puppet. Sovereign controls his every move; it sent me here to ascertain the location of the Mu Relay from the rachni queen... I'm afraid, Sovereign has the information it requires."

Liara's electric blue eyes were wide in shock and grief as she cradled her dying mother's head in her lap; tears streamed down her cheek and landed gently onto Benezia's face.

With a violent cough, causing purple blood to escape from the corner of her lips, Benezia continued weakly, "Do you remember the days when we would spend hours in the local park, outside our home, digging up small plots of land in an effort to find some treasure or remarkable discovery about the Protheans? Do you remember the laughter we shared as we raced home, underneath Thessia's setting suns? I want those to be your memories of me Little Wing. Don't remember me as I am now: weak and frail; a shell of my former self. When you remember me, I want you to think of the times we shared together."

The Matriarch rested her hand on her daughter's cheek, wiping away some of her tears before softly speaking for the final time, "Just know that I'll always love you, Little Wing. I couldn't have asked for a better child. You were the only thing that's kept me going these many years. You... You are what I leave behind. I'll... I'll..."

"I'll always love you..."

Liara began to choke on her words as tears flowed freely now, her body racking violently with her sobs; Matriarch Benezia, was dead.

Liara's mother, was dead.

Shepard placed a gentle hand on Liara's shoulder, before slowly embracing the grieving young woman. The Asari sobbed wildly and uncontrollably; snot dribbled down her nose as she buried her face into Chris' neck.

Tali's heart felt a pang of despair for the Asari as she looked on knowingly: she'd lost her mother, the same as Liara had just lost hers.

Chris held the young woman for a long period of time; occasionally offering his condolences as well as reassuring her, his hand rubbing gently up and down the length of her back.

After what felt like an age, Liara began to compose herself, before scrambling to her feet with the commander. The two quickly and quietly came to a mutual agreement in relation to Benezia's body; Liara would say a small prayer before letting the VI's nuclear purge of the facility cremate her mother and the commandos who had accompanied her to the frozen rock.

As Liara set about her prayers, Shepard slowly walked back towards the rest of the ground team. Nothing was said at first, before the commander let out a long sigh, "How are you holding up, Chief? I tried to take as many blows as I could for you, but it looks like you still got a fair share..."

Ashley winced in agony as she lied through gritted teeth, "I-I'm fine Skip... Really. Those commandos got a couple of lucky shots in, but I'm still standing and they're not."

Shepard smiled softly in agreement as he looked at the rest of the squad, "How's everybody else doing? They threw a hell of a lot at us there, and I'm impressed to see that we're all still standing."

Wrex grunted in approval as he felt a deep gouge in his armour, next to his hump, "It's a good thing we found some more armour back in those offices in Port Hashan. This set I've got on is only fit for the scrap heap now."

Garrus smirked in amusement, "How do you even know if that stuff will fit Wrex? You're bigger than most of the other Krogan I've seen."

"I'll fit. Don't worry about me, Turian."

Tali simply cocked her head to one side, as she expressed her smile through the look her nehya had established, "I'm fine, Captain. I've delayed the inevitable."

Shepard shook his head softly as he turned to regard a large container that was suspended from the ceiling, "The better question is: what the hell are we supposed to do with her?"

Everybody's eyes veered upwards as they regarded the rachni queen.

"I say we gas it. We can't trust the rachni, Shepard. They nearly wiped the galaxy out once, who's to say they won't try it again?" Wrex grunted at the end of his statement, before spitting a glob of blood onto the floor unceremoniously.

The C-Sec officer seemingly agreed with the mercenary, "The rachni wars were devastating, Boss. If it gets out and breeds, we could be facing a whole new threat once the reapers are taken care of."

Shepard began to weigh up the arguments in his head, before Tali finally chipped in, "I vote to spare it, Captain. It's true: the rachni caused billions of deaths across the galaxy when they attacked, but if this queen is to be judged from the actions that have occurred in the past, then what's to say that the Quarians shouldn't be wiped out as well for creating the Geth?"

Wrex grunted once more in disapproval, as he began to wander off. Garrus nodded his head in respect to his commanding officer, before moving swiftly over to Liara.

Ash gave her two cents as well, "We don't get to play God, Skipper. We can't choose whether or not to cause a species to go extinct. Only divine judgement can do that. But Tali's got a point: we shouldn't condemn one individual because of their species' history." With a haphazard salute, the Chief began to slowly hobble towards the exit, Wrex having moved to accompany her out of the room.

The commander's mind was suddenly made up as he moved towards a holographic control panel. The spectre spoke loudly as he addressed the captive queen, "Don't make me regret this decision. If we ever encounter again, I might not be as merciful..."

A sweet, melodious song played within the human's mind as the queen began to speak, "Your trust in us has been well placed, warrior-singer. We will leave peacefully, and my children shall hear the songs of your mercy and wise judgement."

"I'd get out of here quickly if I was you. A nuclear purge is going to go off in about fifteen minutes."

In what could only be described as a sense of panic, the rachni queen hastily scuttled away out of the exit the commander had provided for her.

Chris rolled his shoulders to try and relieve some of the tension in his body; a loud sigh emanated from his lips as Tali moved to his side, a smile on her lips.

Liara and Garrus eventually made their way over to the pair; only once Liara had paid her respects and given her final farewell.

The group of four quickly joined up with Wrex and Ashley, before the team left the secure lab and journeyed back towards the tram station.

As the tram began to speed away from the hot labs, back towards the relative safety of the entrance to Peak 15, a deafening explosion could be heard behind them, as the VI's final protocol activated, sweeping the hot labs in a fiery blaze.

Everybody relaxed into their seats as their mission was practically over.

Liara, however, silently wept.

Little Wing didn't stop the tears that streamed down her face as her mind lingered on the image of her mother's broken and twisted body resting in her lap.

Dead.

Uhh... Yeah. So. That was a thing.

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Till the next time!

Lazy writer, out.