"Stealing an Alliance ship." Wrex shrugged. "Risky stuff. But I'm right behind you, Shepard. It's the least I can do."

"Everyone else thinks I'm crazy." Michael waved a hand. "They're probably right."

"Sometimes crazy is the best way to go. I just hope they don't catch us before we get our hands on Saren."

"They won't." Michael nodded. "You'll be able to use Saren's skull as a handpuppet soon enough."

"With you, anything's possible." Wrex gave something that passed as a smile.

"So long, Wrex.

"Shepard."

#

"We're fugitives on the run. Very exciting, Shepard." Tali tilted her head. "I wonder what the Council would do to us if we got caught?"

"I'm a fugitive. You're one of my hostages." He leaned on the railing.

"I'm a hostage?" Tali leaned on the railing next to him.

"Crew is following the orders of a Council Spectre, so they're clear. The rest of you are hostages." He glanced at her. "Try to look less cheerful about that."

"Can I have the Normandy now?"

"No."

#

"Commander?"

"Alenko."

Kaidan swallowed. "Can I come in?" When Shepard waved haphazardly at the other chair in the room, he entered and sat. "Are you alright?"

"Been two years since my last court-martial." Shepard shrugged. He was attempting to put a shattered electronic device back together. "Was probably due."

"Well, you won't be alone in this one, at least."

"Yeah, I'll have Anderson with me." Shepard leaned back. "Already talked it over with Hackett. The rest of you were following orders. Keep your mouths shut, and you'll be fine. Not sure about your careers, but you won't do time." He sighed. "This is the third frigate I've stolen."

He blinked. "Third?"

"First one was turian. Mostly derelict. We stole it from a pirate base, then rigged an autopilot and escape pod and crashed it back into the pirate base." He leaned forward again and started working on the pieces spread out on his desk. "Second one was batarian. We were retrieving a memory core from a pirate base and Bai elbowed me and pointed out the window and said 'that's a lot less cramped than the shuttle'. He was right, so we stole it on the way out."

"They sent you out for a memory core, and you came back with a batarian frigate?" Kaidan laughed.

"Zavala was mad they wouldn't let us keep it. It ended up part of some covert ops thing, I think. Something about Corsairs." Shepard sighed down at the device. "Fuck. Memory core is shot."

Kaidan leaned forward and recognized the device as Shepard's music player. "You can use the sound system in your computer."

"Never downloaded my music files to it, and they locked me out of my home system." Shepard shrugged. "All my ship computer has is that default volus opera that comes with the software."

"You can borrow mine, if you want." Kaidan smiled.

"Any chance you've got Sinatra?" Shepard gave him a hopeful look.

"Is that an asari band?"

The tool he had been using was tossed onto the table, and Shepard sat up, staring at him. "Sinatra." When Kaidan just shook his head, Shepard continued. "Frank Sinatra. Earth musician. Born 1915. Died 1998. Rat Pack. The Chairman of the Board."

"Sorry, Commander." He shrugged apologetically. "Not ringing a bell."

"What kind of twisted place is Canada, anyway?"

"You're a big fan?" Music from centuries ago. It seemed an odd trait for a man normally concerned about the latest tech.

"My grandfather had a couple old time music players. One played these cylinder things. One was a turntable. Phonograph. Built in 1931. He had original records of a lot of early works. Some of the first human music ever recorded." Shepard leaned back again. "Quiet afternoons, he'd set it up on the back porch, and we'd look out over the fields, watch the horses, and just listen. There's a quality to that kind of..." He shrugged. "Can't duplicate it with the modern stuff. Sinatra, Charles, Presley. Sinatra was his favorite."

"I've never heard of him." Kaidan shook his head. "He's good?"

"Classic." To his surprise, Shepard started to sing. "Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars. Let me know what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars."

It took him a second to realize he had heard the song, on a children's show he'd once enjoyed. "That's..." He chuckled. "Wow. You can sing."

"I was a choir boy once. Tell anyone..." Shepard twitched a shoulder. "I'll shoot you."

Kaidan tilted his head. Fields and horses didn't sound like... "I thought you said you were from New York." He blinked when he realized Shepard had gone completely still. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

The other man was quiet for a long moment. Then he nodded. "Tell you what..." Shepard looked up at him. "You come visit me in prison, I'll tell you the whole story."

"Deal."

#

"Uh..." Joker looked over his shoulder. "Commander? We've got company."

"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara asked.

"Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we're here."

Pressly spoke up from his position at the station behind them. "Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface."

"Take us down, Joker." Just their luck Saren got there first. "Lock in on the coordinates."

"Negative on that, Commander. The nearest landing zone's two klicks away."

"We'll never make it in time on foot." Kaidan shook his head. "Get us something closer."

"There is nowhere closer. I've looked."

Michael nodded. "Drop us in the Mako."

"You need at least a hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty."

"Twenty meters?" Kaidan sighed. "We'll never get in close enough for a drop."

"We have to try." Liara gestured.

"Find another landing zone."

"There is no other landing zone."

"The descent angle's too steep." Tali looked over the readout.

"It's our only option." Liara folded her arms.

"It's not an option. It's a suicide run. We don't -"

"I can do it." Joker's quiet voice cut Kaidan off.

"Joker?" Michael looked down at the pilot.

"I can do it." Joker nodded.

Right. "Gear up and head down to the Mako. Joker -" He nodded. "Drop us right on top of that bastard."

#

The mako came to a stop. Tali sat in the driver's seat. Slowly, she turned to look back at them. "We're alive."

"You sure?" Michael raised an eyebrow at her.

"Almost definitely." She nodded.

"Alright." He popped the hatch. "Then we've got work to do."

#

"We have to get inside this bunker before Saren finds the Conduit." Kaidan shook his head. "There's no way we're getting past that door with brute force."

"And whatever it is I need to hack to open it isn't here." Michael glared at the door.

"Saren found a way to open it." Garrus gestured. "There must be some kind of security override somewhere in this complex."

"We'll have to find some way to get it up and running again."

"Right." Michael nodded. "Wrex, protect the mako. Tali, protect Wrex. The rest of you, with me."

"50,000 years to figure this out and it's down to 25 mutineers." Kaidan shook his head as he followed. "Way to go, team Milky Way."

#

Michael glanced at the readout on his omnitool. "Nobody shoot the colossus."

"What..." Liara turned towards him. "Why -"

The colossus fired its big gun, blowing apart two of the other geth. It then turned to provide them with cover fire. "Because I hacked the repair station." Michael unslung his rifle. "Nobody tell Tali. She'll want to keep it."

"I don't know..." Garrus shrugged as the colossus blew apart another group of oncoming geth. "It is kind of cute."

#

"Come on. Saren's already got a headstart. We have to go find him before he reaches the Conduit." Garrus gestured with his rifle.

Kaidan shook his head. "Unless he's already found it. Then we're just walking into a trap."

"That's a chance we'll have to take." Garrus started walking. "Hold on..." He stopped when a console lit up. "Something's happening."

"- too late." Static garbled the message. "Unable to... invading fleets... no escape..."

"Sounds like some kind of message." Garrus shook his head. "But I don't recognize the language."

"It's probably in Prothean. This recording must be 50,000 years old. No wonder we can't understand it." Kaidan sighed.

Michael stared at them. "So..." He raised an eyebrow. "That didn't make sense to you?"

"No, Commander."

"Well, shit." He ran a hand down his face. "The message is all broken up, but I recognize some of the words. It's a warning against the Reaper invasion."

Liara almost immediately started bouncing. "The Cipher must have transferred an understanding of the Prothean language into your mind."

"... ot safe... seek refuge... side the archives..."

"What's it saying? Can you make out anything useful?"

".. Alled Reapers... the Citadel... overwhelmed... only hope... act of desperation... the Conduit... all is lost..."

"It said something about the Conduit, but it's too degraded to help. We should go." Michael sighed.

"You speak Prothean." Liara matched his pace at they started out of the chamber. "You actually speak Prothean."

"You're going to dissect me, aren't you?"

"No, don't be silly. A long term in-depth psychological study would..."

"Rule number two. No long term in-depth psychological studies of the Commander."

"That's..." Liara blinked. "Rule two?"

"Rule two is whatever your commanding officer says it is." Michael nodded. "Come on, saving the galaxy."

#

The bunker door was open. "Who votes we take the vehicle into the creepy, underground bunker?" Kaidan glanced over his shoulder.

"Good idea." Garrus nodded. "The firepower will come in handy."

"I'll man the guns." Michael climbed onto the mako.

"I'll drive." Garrus started to follow.

"The hell you will." Michael offered Tali a hand up. "Last thing we need is for you to run over another thresher maw."

"We could always sic the thresher maw on Saren." Tali headed for the driver's seat.

"Right, that's a great plan." Michael took his position. "Let's just sic a thresher maw on our enemy."

#

"And there is a barrier."

"It's a trap. Saren must have set an ambush."

"I don't think Saren's behind this." Kaidan tapped the display in front of him, which indicated a door had opened nearby. The readings were strange.

"Alright..." Shepard sighed. "Let's go see what's in the creepy beckoning room. That always works well in vids."

"Do the vids suggest any safety precautions we could take?" Garrus started climbing out of the mako.

"Well, if the classic vids are at all accurate, the only way to ensure your safety is to remain a virgin." Shepard shrugged. "So don't worry, Garrus. You'll be fine."

Garrus made a strangling gesture at him.

#

"You are not Prothean. But you are not machine, either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons." The hologram was strange, twisting in shape as if it couldn't project properly.

"Looks like some kind of VI program. Pretty badly damaged." Garrus tilted his head at the hologram.

"I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you. Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope."

"Wait a minute." Kaidan shook his head. "How come I can understand you? Why aren't you speaking the Prothean language?"

Michael let out a sigh of relief. Everyone understood this one. He didn't miss the amused look Liara sent him.

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend." The spinning of the hologram abruptly shifted directions. "My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe."

"Why did you bring us here?" Michael stared at the hologram.

"You must break a cycle that has continued for millions of years. But to stop it, you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did. The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of government. As it was with us, and as it has been with every civilization that came before us. But the Citadel is a trap. The station is actually an enormous mass relay. One that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon. When the Citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will be destroyed."

Questions came from him and his companions, but the answers made little sense. The keepers were apparently part of the problem, but the real problem appeared to be simple complacency. "The Reapers can wipe out the Council and the entire Citadel fleet in a single surprise attack."

"That was our fate. Our leaders were dead before we even realized we were under attack. The Reapers seized control of the Citadel and through it, the mass relays. Communication and transportation across our empire were crippled. Each star system was isolated, cut off from the others. Easy prey for the Reaper fleets. Over the next decades, the Reapers systematically obliterated our people. World by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out."

Holy shit. "Some of you must have managed to survive."

"Through the Citadel, the Reapers had access to our records, maps, census data. Information is power, and they knew everything about us. Their fleets advanced across every settled region of the galaxy. Some worlds were utterly destroyed. Others were conquered, their populations enslaved. These indoctrinated servants became sleeper agents under Reaper control. Taken in as refugees by other Protheans, they betrayed them to the machines. Within a few centuries, the Reapers had killed or enslaved every Prothean in the galaxy. They were relentless, brutal, and absolutely thorough."

He looked at his companions. Then he nodded and turned back to the hologram. "You said you brought me here for a reason. Tell me what I need to do." There had to be some way to kick the Reapers in the teeth.

"The Conduit is the key. Before the Reapers attacked, we Protheans were on the cusp of unlocking the mysteries behind mass relay technology. Ilos was a top secret facility. Here, researchers worked to create a small-scale version of a mass relay. One that linked directly to the Citadel: the hub of the relay network."

"The Conduit's not a weapon." Kaidan's voice came from behind him. "It's a back door onto the Citadel."

"Sneaky. I'd like it..." Michael nodded. "Except Saren's the one trying to use it. He's going to activate the Citadel mass relay."

"The keepers are controlled by the Citadel. Before each invasion, a signal is sent through the station compelling the keepers to activate the Citadel relay. After decades of feverish study, the scientists discovered a way to alter this signal. Using the Conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications. This time, when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it. The Reapers are trapped in darks space."

If the door is locked, use a window. "Saren can use the Conduit to bypass all the Citadel's external defenses."

"Correct. And once inside, he can transfer control of the station to Sovereign. Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay. And the cycle of extinction will begin again."

Like hell. "We'll take Sovereign down. Point us at his ass, and we'll kick it."

"There is a data file in my console. Take a copy when you go. When you reach the Citadel's master control unit, upload it to the station. It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocols and give you temporary control over the station. It might give you a chance against Sovereign."

"Wait." Garrus shook his head. "Where's the Citadel's master control unit? I've never heard of anything like that."

"Through the Conduit. Follow Saren. He will lead you to your destination."

"Saren's got enough of a head start." Michael gestured. 'Grab that data file and let's go."

#

"That's a lot of geth." Kaidan stared at the screen.

Michael reached for his rifle. "Wrex, get on the guns. Garrus, you're with me."

"Um..." Garrus grabbed his rifle. "Doing what?"

"Old Earth game. Cowboys and robots." Michael opened the hatch.

"I think you might be mixing your centuries, Commander." Kaidan chuckled.

#

With him and Garrus on the outside of the mako, picking off the smaller geth, Wrex was able to focus the mako's guns on the big ones. Tali never slowed the mako, even under fire. If it wasn't for the straps they'd attached to the hull, both he and Garrus would have been thrown off several times.

A geth's head exploded, and Garrus let out a whooping sound. Michael adjusted his fire for speed, and put a round into a geth holding a rocket launcher. "We're almost through. Let's get back inside cause..." He caught a glimpse of what lay ahead. "Well. Shit."

#

"You want me to drive a mako through a mass effect relay?" Tali asked.

"Yes." Michael nodded. "Preferably without letting any of those platforms down there shoot us in the process.

"Right." Tali nodded. "Might want to sit down for this." She hit the speed control.