Kaidan scanned the letter again, then smiled before tucking it away. Liara passed the birthday wishes on, along with a small box of gourmet coffee. The coffee he'd put away, planning to save it for a special occasion. The note had only been a few lines, written on real paper. Michael's handwriting was surprisingly neat, almost elegant. The old-fashioned nature of it pleased him for reasons he couldn't quite explain.

His own mission was keeping him annoyingly incommunicado. Liara had told him that Tali's father had been killed, and he hadn't yet had a chance to offer her his condolences. Despite everything, there was still the matter that his friends were on a Cerberus ship, with a Cerberus AI, and Cerberus agents.

He stood and went to go meet up with his squad.

#

He ducked Jacob's punch, then tossed the man over his shoulder. Jacob hit the mat with a thud, then let out a low laugh. "You picked up that move from Thane."

"True." Michael nodded, then glanced at where Thane was helping Jack with her kicks. Maybe teaching her to roundhouse someone in the face wasn't the wisest idea. Then again, it had the potential for considerable amusement value and there were a few assholes wandering around with entirely too many teeth still attached to their mouths.

They were setting up for another round when Joker alerted them that they were approaching their destination. Michael frowned, then went to scan the readout again. The planet was jungle. Hot. Humid. Smelly. And apparently required seven different inoculations for the human crew. Thane would require twelve, and there was no way he was asking the drell to deal with that on behalf of Zaeed.

Jack wasn't coming either. Something about turning Zaeed inside out if his hand 'accidentally' slipped onto her ass one more time. As amusing as it might be to see if she actually could, he had technically accepted responsibility for Zaeed. If airlocking Zaeed became necessary, he'd take care of it. The man ogled Samara sometimes too, but he trusted her to not break any more of his bones than necessary.

"Take us in, Joker." He gestured at Tali, and she nodded at the destination he'd indicated. "Gear up, people." He rolled his eyes. "Miranda, armor."

#

"Squad Bravo, a shuttle landed near your location. Check it out."

Michael tried not to sigh. Flying in low and walking through the smelly jungle had clearly been a complete waste of time. If he'd been fully briefed before recruiting Zaeed, he'd likely have declined the 'honor'. Which was probably why they hadn't fully briefed him. Zaeed really hadn't lived up to his reputation thus far, and the man made him uncomfortable for some reason. He should check in with Hackett after this, at least keep the admiral somewhat in the loop.

"Here we go. Keep close." Zaeed actually tried to take the lead. Michael narrowed his eyes as they kept heading in. Bodies had been tossed haphazardly to the side of a path. Zaeed kicked one out of his way. "Shot in the back and left to rot. That's definitely Vido's style. Let's push ahead."

And the shooting started. Samara kept up a barrier on Garrus's position, letting the turian pick off the enemy leaders almost casually. Tali and Grunt were obeying his orders against the krogan-mounted quarian cavalry. So far. Michael moved under stealth with Kasumi, disabling heavier firepower of the enemy vehicles.

Once they'd knocked out the last transport, Michael slung his rifle off his shoulder and started shooting, coordinating with Garrus to herd the remaining forces into Grunt's range with crossfire. He heard the krogan give an appreciative laugh before doing an excellent imitation of a bowling ball.

"Anybody hurt?"

"One of them shot Miranda in the hair." Tali's voice was serious enough he knew she had to be grinning behind her mask.

"Mop the poor fool off your armor and get up here." Michael reached into the empty space next to him and patted Kasumi's shoulder. "Set up a position here, stay out of sight, and contact me with any unusual movements."

"Sure thing, Shep."

#

"This is Commander Santiago. If any of you retreat while the intruders are still alive, I'll kill you myself. Now, get the hell back out there." Some men just did not know how to inspire their soldiers. Michael moved up to the bridge control, then caught Zaeed's gesture.

"Vido. Sounds like he hasn't changed." Zaeed glared at the bridge.

"Sounds like he needs to get shot." Which, if he wasn't mistaken, was exactly why they were there. And shooting people was among their skill sets.

Zaeed smirked. "Glad to see you and I agree." The man shook his head. "I knew he was a sadistic bastard back when we started the Blue Suns. The Suns only got meaner after his little coup twenty years ago. So, yeah. We have a past." Imagine that, teaming up with a sadistic backstabber resulted in someone getting sadistically stabbed in the back. He felt an uncomfortable twinge between his own shoulder blades and made sure he could see Miranda out of the corner of his eyes. Zaeed continued ranting. Samara leaned on the railing and looked out over the river. It was kind of pretty, and he was fairly sure none of what Zaeed was saying came as a surprise to her. Miranda and Jacob were also clearly familiar.

"Twenty years is a long time to hold a grudge."

"A grudge." And apparently, he'd found one of Zaeed's buttons. "Vido turned my men against me. He paid six of them to restrain me while he put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. For twenty years, I've seen that bastard every time I closed my eyes. Every time I sighted down on a target. Every time I heard a gunshot." Someone, knowing Michael's past, had once tried bribing him to get to the geezer. A good leader wouldn't have six men on their team willing to sell them out. "Don't you call that a goddamned 'grudge'." Then again, he'd listened to some of Zaeed's missions. Even low-life mercenary scum got tired to being cannon fodder.

#

Zaeed's bright idea was to copy one of his bright ideas. That being to shoot a gas line and then ignite it.

Only when Michael had done it, it hadn't been in a civilian populated refinery full of yet more flammable fuel. He really wasn't that big a fan of fire.

Their target started running, and Zaeed started banging his rifle into a piece of fitting. That was not how you safely handled a firearm. "What the hell are you doing?"

And then there was even more fire and explosions. Zaeed had the nerve to smirk. "Opening the gate."

"Next time you're going to blow something up, I want to know about it first." That was the rule, he'd even engraved it in Tali's armor.

Zaeed continued looking smug, but out of the corner of his eye Michael noted that Garrus, Tali, and Samara all still had their hands on their weapons and were watching Michael for his reaction. "Vido was confident. Had a lot of men." Zaeed shrugged. "Now he's lost the home-field advantage." Zaeed jerked his head at the opening. "If we keep up the pressure, no way he's getting out of here alive."

Meanwhile, a lot of innocent people were now in danger and possibly the entire area was about to suffer economic collapse. Lovely. "You don't make a move unless I know about it first."

"This is MY mission." Zaeed actually took a step forward. "Remember that." The man started pacing. "I came here to kill Vido Santiago. You want my help on your mission, you better make damn sure that man dies today."

Well, this definitely wasn't going to end well for someone.

#

They hadn't made it into the next section of the refinery before someone started calling for help. Zaeed's parlor trick had trapped workers in to either roast slowly or die when the place blew. Michael's eyes narrowed.

"No time." Zaeed started to wave the man off. "Vido's probably halfway to the shuttle docks by now."

"I get why you want Vido dead." One last try for reason. Before he shot someone. "But is he really worth watching those people burn to death?" For some reason, Jacob was giving him a confused look.

"I'm not sticking aroudn to watch. We stop to help these people, and Vido gets away." Zaeed drew himself up to his full height. Michael had seen Hackett do that a few times. Zaeed may have been the same age as the geezer, but he definitely lacked the man's ubiquity. "And if he gets away, I'm blaming you."

That was fine. He was used to being blamed for things. Sometimes he even did the things he was blamed for. Michael stepped forward, caught Zaeed by the front of the armor, and used his nicely enhanced physical strength to lift the man off his feet. Zaeed went wide-eyed. "We're here to free these people. We're going in." He dropped Zaeed.

The man started to say something else, and Samara stepped casually to Michael's side. The justicar didn't say anything. Just made her presence clear. Zaeed made a growling sound. "I knew this was a mistake." His eyes looked around, as if seeking anyone that support him over Michael. "If we're going to do this, we'd better get to it."

#

Grunt used himself as a battering ram to clear a section of path. Michael started for the controls, then thought better of it and simply got out of Tali's way. She was far better at scrap-tech than he'd ever be.

A few more controls and redirecting a few pipes as Tali indicated, and it was done. The fire was mostly out, and the workers were able to escape.

They made it to the docks just in time to see Vido taking off. Zaeed actually shoved him and Garrus out of the way to rush forward, trying to shoot down the man's transport. Stupid. He or Garrus might have been able to make the shot.

And now the man was pointing a gun at him. You know, he really didn't like it when people did that. So, he pointed one back, as did... well, everyone else. Zaeed really wasn't the brightest. The man was full on ranting now. "You just cost me twenty years of my life."

Another fire. This one started by Zaeed's own cast-off heat sink. Michael made a mental note to run a firearm safety refresher course for the entire crew. Especially for Garrus. Michael dodged a bit of debris and noted Zaeed hadn't been as quick. He waved the rest of the crew back and headed over to where the man was pinned. "Son of a bitch." Zaeed was still cussing. "Argh."

"You started this fire, Zaeed." Michael shrugged as he approached. "Makes sense that you'll burn in it."

"Yeah?" Zaeed glared. "Screw you." He shook his head. "Now come on, get me out of this shithole."

Some people just didn't know how to ask nicely. Michael crouched next to him, meeting his eyes. "You put your revenge ahead of the mission. How can I trust that you'll be there when we need you?"

"I'll do what I was goddamn paid to do, Shepard. Just don't expect any more than that." The man kept glaring. "Now stop screwing around. Let's go."

"You're not a member of my crew." He bent, then lifted the debris and unceremoniously yanked Zaeed out from under it. "You're not a member of my team." He pulled Zaeed to his feet. "And I don't care what the Indulgent Man is paying you." Michael shook his head. "I don't want you on my ship." Then he turned and started walking. "Find your own damn ride home."

#

Garrus watched Shepard head back to the shuttle. Samara was watching him with a small smile on her face. Next to him, he heard Tali let out a contented sigh. "Tali?"

"Hmm?" She turned towards him.

"I miss something?"

"Oh, nothing." She shook her head, and then turned to Jacob. "Just so you're aware..." She glanced back toward the shuttle. "You just met Commander Shepard."

"I see." Jacob nodded.

#

Compared to the last mission, assisting Kasumi was almost like a walk down memory lane. With a few more gunships, but that just made it fun. She did know how to plan a heist. If he'd partnered up with someone like her a decade or so ago, well... Probably better that the geezer had found him first.

He sat quietly, watching her look over the greybox. Casually, he flipped the credit he'd found in Hock's room through his fingers. It was a trick he hadn't managed to teach Tali. She simply didn't have enough fingers. Kasumi's plan had nearly gotten them through without having to kill anyone. He should invite her into the planning sessions more often.

She came out of the watching the images playing. He didn't say anything, just gave her some space. Then he took a deep breath. "Is there any way we can just destroy the information?"

"No." Kasumi's face held a dozen expressions at once. "Keiji's a master at encrypting files. He laced the information into his memories. You can't get one without experiencing the other."

Michael closed his eyes. There were a lot of memories he'd happily throw away. And a few he'd kill to protect. The tinny sounds of an old record playing over a porch. His grandfather's face was fuzzy in his memories. Half the time the man looked more like Hackett than anyone else. He opened his eyes again. He couldn't ask her to throw that away. And despite the fact that she was quite possibly the best thief in the galaxy, he trusted her. "If it's that important to you, keep it. Just make sure you're ready to live with the consequences."

"Yeah, I am." She smiled at him. "I'll stay off the grid. No one will know I exist." She sat down across from him. "I think I want this. Thanks, Shepard."

#

"Aye, but in the right hands, it can taste like mighty fine ass."

Michael rolled his eyes at his engineers, then glanced at Tali. "Just say the word, and the airlock is waiting."

Before she could respond, the entire ship started shaking. Once glance at the engineers let him know the ship itself wasn't a problem, and he immediately headed to the cockpit. "What's with all the chop, Joker?" He could see the destination The Ignorant Milquetoast had given them just ahead. A dead reaper.

"Doing my best. The wind's gusting up to 500 kph." Joker gestured at one of the controls. "There's a second ship alongside the Reaper. It's not transmitting any IFF, but the ladar paints its silhouette as geth." Lovely, it had been, like, a week since they'd been attacked by geth.

"I guess we know why the science team stopped reporting in." As abruptly as the shaking had started, it stopped. "What just happened?"

"The Reaper's mass effect fields are still active. We just passed inside their envelope." Joker took a deep breath before focusing on the controls. "Eye of the hurricane, huh?"

"Alright, people." They were one gun short, but when he did the math that put them ahead. "Time to play virus."

"Does that metaphor even work, considering it's already dead?" Garrus clicked his mandibles.

"EDI, that's two demerits to Vakarian for making fun of the commander's metaphors."

"Yes, Commander."