Kal'Reeger, Migrant Fleet Marines, Quarian Combat Drop Shuttle 88-Z-Xray, Dholen, Haestrom

"Shuttles One and Three are hit, sir," Tomala'Lamala yelled over rattle and roar of the drop shuttles atmo burn. "They're shooting at us, too, by the way."

"Sterkre," Kal'Reeger cursed from his seat behind the co-pilot, Tomala, as he leaned forward as far as his drop harness would allow. "Can you get their condition?"

Tolama growled low as he worked his console before shaking his head. "Shuttle One broke up, not getting any life signs from it….."

"Fuck! What about Three?" Xera yelled forward.

"I'm not getting….Tali!" Tomala called back over his shoulder. "Can you get me a signal boost?"

"Boost?" Tali yelled back, incredulous. "I'm an engineer, not a miracle worker!"

"So...can you do it?"

Sputtering with indignation, Tali's omnitool sprang to life. "Of course I can, I'm a Zorah! And….Go!"

"Got it!" Tomala confirmed. "Shuttle Three is going down, they aren't anywhere near their objective, but it looks like they will be in an urban center, so they will be able to get refuge from the sun!"

"Great! Lakes owes me twenty credits," Xera cackled.

"Will you people shut up?!" Icen spat as he struggled with the controls. "I'm trying to fly a fireball through enemy fire onto a hostile planet that has a sun that will kill us as soon as look at us! And I probably already have a suit rupture!"

"You're doing fine, soldier," Kal reassured his pilot. "Do we have a path?"

"Oddly, yes," Tomala grunted, with a degree of surprise. "There is a vector we can take that will cut us around the heaviest fire and drop us right where we want to go!"

"Yeah, that doesn't have 'trap' written all over it…." Xera muttered.

"Yeah, suspicious," Kal agreed as he looked back at Tali. "You're mission, ma'am!"

Tali paused as she was looking over her omnitool and looked up. "Science people swore we needed this data, so we get the data. We know it's a trap, so we'll be ready for it. And stop calling me 'Ma'am!"

"No chance, ma'am," Kal laughed as he turned back to his pilots. "You heard the lady."

Jane'Shepard, Quarian Corsair Perugia

"Enemy shields are down!" Semma called out. "Starboard rails down, overheated...don't think we are getting them back!"

"Perfect," Jane snarled happily as she braced herself in her seat. "Transfer all power to front deflector screens!"

"Moving power," Lema reported. "She has all we got, Captain!"

"Heee," Jane began to laugh. "Hit 'em between the eyes my Lovelies!"

John Shepard, Korlus

John ducked back behind the stack of old plastic-steel crates he was using for cover, and cursed. "See Garrus! I told you we should have kept that Mako!"

"Yeah, that's a hard no," the turian shot back as he sighted down his scope. "Your mother took it away and said you don't get to drive anymore, and I, for one, am not going to be the one that breaks her rules."

"Pff...pussy," John muttered under his breath.

*Crack* Garrus's Mantis roared as one of those odd krogan spun around, it's blood spraying out across the ground.

"Eww," Garrus shook his head. "That was a juicy one….And what was that you said, Shepard?"

"I said great shooting, Garrus!" John laughed as he jumped his cover and stormed forward, only to duck back as withering fire rained down from above. "Oh, come on…"

"Frag out!" Zaeed called as he let sail a grenade. The orb arced an almost perfect parabola as it detonated in the air just over the Blue Suns troopers, ripping their bodies apart.

"Hey...Shep?" Kasumi spoke over the comm from...wherever she was.

"Yes, Kasumi?" John said, politely as he raised his submachine gun over his cover and sent a spray down range.

"Well, I'm two levels up, and it looks like more of those krogan are coming out of the main building there," the thief told them, matter-of-factly.

"Wonderful news…" Miranda sighed before her biotics threw a pair of Suns over the ledge. "Are they on fire as well? Maybe carrying some bees?"

"Noooo…." Kasumi drawlled with a quiet chuckle. "However, they are killing Blue Suns on their way out."

"Okay, how many sides are we dealing with now?" Garrus grunted. "I don't remember sending out invitations."

"Better that, than them organizing," Zaeed laughed. "Though this pace is beginning to piss me off."

"Aw, sorry Zaeed," Kasumi said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "I do hope we can get through before you need a cane to get around."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Zaeed grumped. "I probably banged your grandma."

"Okay, that's just nasty," John cut in. "Let's just kill the bad guys and not bring family into this, huh?"

"Miranda?" Kasumi shifted her focus.

"Yes, Kasumi," Miranda frowned as she sat down behind her cover.

"I ate that last piece of cake."

"What!" Miranda lept to her feet, her eyes scanning the building above, while ignoring the rounds that pinged off of her biotic shield. "I was saving that!"

"I know, I know," Kasumi almost sounded sad. "So, to make it up to you…."

Them with her last words, an ear piercing squeal echoed through the giant junkyard, as what looked to be almost half of a turian light cruiser ripped itself free from what seemed to be some sort of giant lift.

The giant mass of metal slammed down onto the series of walkways and ramps that seemed to be leading to the Blue Suns base, and sheared through, ripping a large section away. A giant cloud of debris and dust billowed up clouding the entire area.

After a few minutes, the dust cloud slowly began to settle, and as it did, a glowing blue orb was uncovered. Inside the orb, Miranda stood tall, her dark hair, now whipped into a wild rats nest as sticks and pits of metal stuck into it. Her face was caked in the dust as her eyes slowly opened, the only part of the front side of her body that wasn't now dusty grey.

The chunk of star ship groaned as it settled, the top of it's bulk lined up, almost perfectly with the second level windows.

"I made you guys a ramp!" Kasumi giggled, girlishly. "Aren't I awesome?"

*keh* *keh* John coughed as he stood, shaking the dust from his own hair as he looked over Kasumi's handiwork. "Well, I'm not going to say I'm not impressed. But next time, a bit more warning, huh?"

"Hey, Lawson," Zaeed's growl seemed a bit deeper in the mess. "You okay?"

"Fine," Miranda smiled warmly.

"Oh….That's not good…." Garrus said quietly, as his mandibles tightened up to his face.

"No, no, it's fine!" Miranda reassured them. "I'm just going to rip her face off and shove it up her ass!"

Lieutenant Thomas Stutter, Alliance Corsair Marine, Haestrom

"Drop your ass!" Thomas yelled as he jerked the only quarian member on his marine detail, Poolo'Magi, to the ground. He then huddled over him as geth plasma fire racked the small building the pair had ducked into.

"Th..thanks…." Poolo stuttered as he shook his head. "Can't see too well….

Frowning darkly, Thomas helped the smaller alien to sit up then cursed. "Poolo...your visor is spiderwebbed…."

"S'okay," Poolo sighed with a weak wave of his hand. "Still holding pressure, just can't...see right."

"Yeah…" Thomas grimace slightly as he looked over his HUD. Of the ten marines that had started out, six, including himself, survived the crash. Unfortunately, those six were scattered over the small series of building their shuttle had crashed into.

"LT?" Chief Saveroy called over the comm. "I'm about a building away from you. I don't see any hostiles on my side. I'm going to move up to meet you."

"Do it," Thomas grunted as he popped up long enough to put a burst into one of the geth, dropping it, sparking, to the ground.

"'Snot buildings…." Poolo muttered quietly. "Is an estate...old trad-tradit….old style. Used to draw them all the time on the F-fleet. Wanted to build one someday…."

"Oh goddamnit," Thomas chuckled as he dropped two more geth. "Don't say that kind of stuff, that's the thing that gets you killed in the vids."

"Sorry...Lt," Poolo weakly chuckled back as he lightly swatted the human's leg. "Oh...you're bleeding…."

With a sudden crack, Saveroy half lept, half fell through one of the windows behind the pair, his hands already in the med kit strapped to his chest. "Poolo...you're mask is fucked," he said casually, as he began to spray a sealant over it."

"Yep," Poolo nodded, managing to get the sealant all over the his suit. "Took a shot to the head...roo...Heh...I mean 'too'."

"I gotta say, Poolo," Swearenger's voice added. "You are way more fun like this."

"Bet you say that to all the non humans," Poolo replied.

"Nah, only the ones with three fingers," Swearenger shot back.

"Wait a minute! Just about everybody has three fin'hers…'Cept you human weirdos!" Poolo almost angrily said, before adding, "Well….'nd Asari."

"Yeah well, Swearenger is a slut," PVFC Lakes added.

"I am not!" Swearenger defended herself. "I am a non professional whore, thank you. Two down on the west side. Four more coming up."

"I see them," Thomas sighed. To be honest, he really tried to be the hardass lieutenant, like in the vids he loved so much as a kid, but this team, they were just too much like family. "One down, reloading."

"Okay," Poolo shook his head slightly. "I'm mostly back...I think. I only see two filthy humans now. Barely, with all the sealant you hit me with. My helmet is almost a tire now."

"And the asshole Poolo is back!" Swearenger laughed. "Kinda sad to-"

Whatever the marine was going to say was lost as her position exploded in a ball of blue plasma, stone for the building's roof pelting the one Thomas and the others had ducked in.

"Shit….I see it in my scope," Lakes cursed. "I...I don't know...It's some giant geth, for legs, big guns…"

"Armature…." Poolo said quietly. "We are in some dhi'based…."

Jane

"Damage reports! And somebody turn that damn alarm off!" Jane yelled over the klaxon. Red lights flashed here and there as sparkes from damaged consoles light up the smoke filled bridge.

"Minor hull breaches," Lema coughed out. "Already sealed themselves. Weapons are all offline."

"Shields?" Jane coughed herself, her suit's filter struggling to keep up with the smoke.

"I...Kellogs? Can you see?" Lema called out. "My systems...Kellogs? Oh….Ancestors...please, no!"

Hearing the panic in the quarina's voice, Jane looked back to the tactical station. There, Kellogs hung limp in her safety harness. Sparks from her console lit up the woman's face. Shards of the suit's shattered visor had ripped apart her the flesh, the ugly white bone of her forehead and left cheek showing through as blood dripped slowly down her chest. Burns and lacerations covered the rest of her suit, though in the dim lighting it was impossible to tell if they continued to the body beneath.

"Lema!" Jane yelled, her voice snapping the quarian's head around to her. "We need shields. If we don't have them, it won't matter if she is alive or dead!"

"Yes, captain, I...yes," Lema swallowed as she desperately began to work her console, though Jane could see her occasional looks over to Kellogs. "I patched through...Engineering says their comms are out for the moment, but the core is stable and at eighty-seven percent...shields are at twelve!"

"Thank the goddess for small miracles," Jane spat as she hefted herself out of her seat and stumbled toward Kellogs. "Garcia! You alive?"

"Fuck you, Captain!" a weak voice shouted back.

"Good! Swing us around the Relay, keep it between us that the other two geth ships," Jane ordered. "We need to buy some time to get our shields back up!"

"On it!"

Cursing to herself, Jane stumbled to tactical, where she dropped to her knee next to Kellogs. Jane's eyes widened as she saw the woman's body breathing shallow hissing breaths that foamed from her lips.

"Holy shit," Jane shook herself as she pulled the medigel from her belt and began to, nearly, cover Kellog's face with it. "I need medical! She's alive, and I want her to stay that way!"

"Ancestors," Lema whispered, relieved tears in her voice. "Thank you…"

John

"GRAAAAAA!" the krogan roared as it shrugged of the rounds chewing through it's armor. It swung is massive assault rifle around, it's butt catching Jacob chin, snapping the man's head around as he spun several yards away, crashing into a wall.

"Jacob!" Miranda cried as her bitoic fields rippled under the gun's heavy slugs.

"Incoming!" Kasumi's voice called out from almost empty space, as her form shimmered into existence, landing on top of the krogan's armored hump. "Bakemono! Shinu!" She cursed as her omniblade stabbed down into the krogan's neck, just under the helmet seam. Again, and again she struck, the krogan's blood, splattering the air around them as it struggled and spun, desperately trying to shake her off.

Then, with one last stab, the giant monster dropped to its knees before slowly dropping to the ground. With one final shudder, it was still.

"Okay….that was badass," Garrus said as he moved up on the body, his rifle ready in case it had any more kick left.

"How...how is….How is Jacob…" Kasumi panted as she struggled to her feet. She was covered almost head to toe in the krogan's hot, sticky blood, and she seemed to stagger slightly.

"Will live," Mordin assured the team as he crouched over the prone man's body. "Cracked orbital socket, concussion. Do not envy him the headache he is going to have."

"At least, thanks to Kasumi, he'll have a head to ache," John panted as he dropped to the ground, with his back to a wall. "Anybody else?"

"I'm good," Zaeed grunted as he popped a new clip into his rifle. "Turian should be fine too, considering he hid behind me."

"What? You have got to be kidding, I mean, really?" Garrus scoffed as he looked everywhere except at Zaeed. "Shepard, can you believe that?"

"Yeah kinda," John nodded as he took a swig of water from his canteen before tossing it to Garrus. "Give that to Kasumi. She should clean up a bit."

"Yeah, that would be nice," the thief nodded as she accepted the canteen. "So you all know, krogan blood, it tastes like burned chocolate."

"Well...I'll add that to the list of 'things I never wanted to know but now I do because I hang out with Commander Shepard'," Garrus snarked, wincing slightly.

"You fight well," a deep voice rumbled as another fully armored krogan stepped into the small clearing. "My blood boils, but your valor compels me to speak."

Almost as one, the entire ground team brought up their weapons, trained on the krogan.

"Okay, how about we start with who the hell are you?" Garrus growled.

"I have no name," the krogan shook his head sadly. "I was not perfect, and because of that, glass mother sent me out here."

"And...who is glass mother?" Garrus frowned slightly as he glanced back at John.

"Gestation tank, would be my assumption," Mordin looked up from his administrations to Jacob. "Krogan all seem to be clones. Nearly mindless."

"No...we have minds," the korgan insisted. "We were not perfect. Glass mother taught us. To fight. To kill. But then the voice came. It said I was not perfect, and the learning stopped."

"Okay," John nodded as he stood up, and approached it. "And where is this, 'glass mother'?"

"She is there," the krogan pointed over the wall, to the ruins of some sort of tower behind it. "There she waits. You should go to her. Your skills are worthy."

"Aaaand, how should we do that?' Garrus asked, looking at the building. "How are we going to get to…"

With great purpose, the krogan strode forward, brushing Garrus aside. As he stood next to the wall, he struck it, his fingers sinking into the metal, tearing holes for him to grip. Then, with a mighty heave the section of wall ripped itself away, the krogan staggering back before dropping the wall to the side, with a thunderous crash.

"...Well, I suppose we could do it the easy way," Garrus shrugged.

"And what are you going to do?" John frowned at the krogan.

"I will abide here," he said. "I was not perfect. My reason is battle and it calls to my blood. I am unworthy, so will find my destiny in battle."

"Well...good luck, I guess," Garrus shrugged.

"Garrus," Miranda sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "I don't even…"

"What?" the turian asked, turning to look first at Kasumi, then John.

"Don't look at me, I'm out of evens," Kasumi sighed as she poured the last of the canteen over her head, and wiping off her face.

"I lost my last even to Joker in the poker game last week," John said lightly as he stepped up to the newly opened path. "Let's go find our krogan Warlord."

Tali

"Log," Tali said quietly, her external speaker turned off as the her squad slid through the old buildings. "The buildings here are stone. Extremely thick, but intricately carved. Back when the sun was yellow, my people walked these halls with uncovered heads….I wish Shepard were here. I want to show him so much…."

*keh* "Not going to go any farther," Icen grunted as he slowly allowed himself to drop the the ground. "Lungs are full of something, and I am slowing you down. The geth will catch up at this rate."

"Don't say that Icen," Loots, the heavy gunner encouraged. "You're always complaining about being sick."

"Right...but usually I don't have a twelve inch chunk of steel held in place by a wad of medigel and some tape."

"Hey," Xera objected softly. "I'll have you know, that is some of my finest work."

"Exactly," Icen chuckled before hissing in pain.

"Xera?" Kal gave the medic a long look before she shook her head. "Okay," he said at last, as he helped the man shift so that his back was propped against the wall, his rifle pointed toward the oncoming door.

"Thank you," Icen coughed wetly. "Nothing will get through as long as I'm here."

"I know it won't," Kal nodded. "Keelah Se'lai."

"Keelah Se'lai," Icen nodded.

"Dammit," Tali spoke quietly. "We are getting chewed apart. Whatever we were sent here for, I hope it's worth it."

In the distance, thunder echoed.

Poolo'Magi, Migrant Fleet Marine, Haestrom

"Fuck, fuck fuck," Lakes cursed. "I'm moving around the damned thing, but I'm not seeing anything soft for me to shoot!"

"There isn't any, Focus on the humanoid platforms" Thomas grunted as he unloaded a long stream out the small building's window. "We are supposed to fight those things with tanks. Or a Shepard."

"Which Shepard?" Saverov snorted.

"At this point, I'll take any of them," Lakes said, as her rifle boomed twice. "Two down. Besides, I hear the youngest one is adorable, in that kinda scary asari that could probably crush this Armature with her mind kinda way."

"Then that's the one we need," Saverov said darkly.

"Heh," Poolo felt himself laugh. He had never really accepted the humans. The strange aliens, taking from his people. Using them for their own gain, surely. Just like everybody else.

But...over time, he saw the way the humans acted. The way they fought. The way the talked. Ate. Joked. Laughed.

Humans, he had come to realize, were more like quarians than anybody had realized. He had found himself….caring. He worried, and talked, and laughed. Together. Now, they were going to die together.

"Well," Poolo chuckled. "If I'm going to die, I might as well do it with you primates."

"Oh, ho," Saverov smirked as he dropped a pair of advancing geth. "Somebody's cracking."

"Shut up, Ivan," Poolo shifted uncomfortably as he fired his pistol. "I'm just saying. Since we are here and all."

Then a shadow fell over the small, riddled building, as the geth Armature broke it's way into the courtyard the team had turned into their killing zone.

"Aaaand, we're fucked," Saverov deadpanned.

"Not yet," Thomas shook his head slightly as he dropped his rifle into Poolo's lap. "Here, hold this for me."

"Gee, thanks, I'll treasure it for the next thirty seconds," Poolo said with a small laugh.

"You have any biotics left?" Thomas asked, staring at the Armature.

"It's not like a fuel cell," Poolo frowned at he looked up at the human Lieutenant. "I'm kinda wiped, but I can pull something together, why?"

"Alright," Thomas nodded as he pulled Poolo's grenades from his belt. "I want you to wrap the strongest field you can around you and Saverov."

"What? I can't hold off a shot from that thing!" Poolo objected.

"Hopefully, you won't have to," Thomas shifted, grabbing the edge of the window. "I'll tell the Ancestors you said 'Hi'."

"What?" Poolo blinked confused for a moment before realization struck him. "No! Stop!" He lunged at the human, but with a heave, Thomas threw himself over the wall. Poolo watched in horror as the man he had, reluctantly, at first, called his lieutenant, hit the ground running.

Two steps forward, Thomas twisted left as plasma rounds dropped around him, throwing up dust.

Two more and shots hit his right shoulder, staggering him. But he didn't fall.

Three more and the Armature's leg slammed down, it's shockwave tumbling the man to the ground in a roll that brought him back to his feet.

Another plasma round struck the back of his armor, and Poolo could see the slag burning.

Twisting around again, thomas slid underneath the machine's main body as he reached back and threw his grenade pack with every ounce of strength that he had left.

And it wasn't enough.

The pack arced up, missing the beast's body, and bouncing off the inside of the front leg that had tried to crush him a moment before.

"Tag, you're it," Thomas coughed out his last breath as a geth Prime fired it's rifle into the man.

"Fuck you," Lake spat as her Mantis sniper rifle barked once. It's incendiary round hitting its target. The small pack, dangling from the Armature's leg frame.

Poolo's eyes widened as the pack erupted in an explosion that ripped the leg from the Armature's main body, and throwing it to one side.

Surprise turned to horror as Poolo saw the Armature, still on fire, and squealing some high pitched crackled began to fall toward the building he was in. With Saverov. He was there too.

With a grunt of effort, Poolo shoved himself forward and wrapped his arms around Saverov, dragging the large, shaggy human to the ground as they rolled under an ancient stone table.

"Not doing this because I like you," Poolo grunted. "It's only because the LT told me too."

"Love you too, you teddy bear," Saverov cackled madly as Poolo's biotic field flared around them.

Then, darkness.

Turian Lexicon

Sterkre- Turian for a piece of shit.

Quarian Lexicon

Dhi'based: A bitter nut native to Rannoch. Ingestion causes uncontrollable bowel movements and crippling cramps. Has become a generalized curse word. Equivalent to saying 'shit'.

AN: Yes, this chapter is a bit chaotic. That's on purpose. Combat is chaotic and messy and confusing.

Also, its three in the morning and I've that John Williams' Superman theme in my head the whole time I was writing this.