"We fought a great battle, Shepard. And when you blew up the base instad of handing it to Cerberus - hah!" Grunt was bouncing more than Tali used to. The krogan grinned. It was unsettling. "Something to think about. If you killed the most dangerous thing in the galaxy, that leaves..." Grunt spread his hands. "Us."

"I see you're doing well." Michael rolled his eyes.

"Battlemaster, I have everything. Clan, kin, and enemies to fight." Grunt nodded.

He punched Grunt in the shoulder. "Glad to hear it, kid."

#

"You're shaping up to be an excellent father."

Michael stopped in his tracks, then turned to look at Samara. She glanced at the door to Grunt's room, then back at him, and gave him a pointed look. He winced, then shrugged. "Terrifying thought."

"Indeed." She paused, then smiled. "Though I will say that if I did have a son, I would have been proud to have him turn out like you."

He swallowed. "You tell anyone I said this, I may shoot you, but..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd have probably been a lot better off if I'd had a mom like you."

"Your secret is safe with me, Michael." She inclined her head toward him.

#

He checked in on all his crew. Chakwas and Kelly were the most visibly traumatized. He made a mental note to encourage both to see therapists, even if they did call him out as a hypocrite for the suggestion.

Back in his quarters, he sat down. He'd written Kaidan just moments before they'd gone through the relay, back when he'd thought there was a real chance they wouldn't make it back. Now that they had, he didn't really know what to say. Most of the conversation needed to be face to face. He was starting the letter for the third time when his communicator signaled a message.

Hackett's face filled the screen. The man's face was graver than usual. "You're still alive."

"Despite my best efforts..." Michael nodded. "Yes."

"Good." Hackett hesitated a moment, making Michael frown. "I..."

"Sir?"

"Michael, I need to ask you a favor."

#

He got out of the shuttle, for once glad they hadn't finished painting over the Cerberus logo on it. This could get ugly. Michael wiped a bit of rain off his face, then gestured for the shuttle to go. He'd had to argue with both Garrus and Jack for nearly twenty minutes before they'd agreed to let him go by himself. Then he'd had to repeat the argument with Grunt and Thane.

Michael sighed, then headed in. Hackett's feelings toward Dr. Kenson weren't a hundred percent platonic, but he still knew the geezer wouldn't have asked if it wasn't also a security matter. He activated his stealth field before moving in.

The place was run down, even for a prison. He had to deal with a few varren in the tunnels. Clearly the batarians didn't actually worry about escapees. The varren would have taken care of any of those. He hoped Kenson was mobile, or this escape wasn't going to go well.

Cutting the power on a relay got him deeper in. Now he could hear batarian voices. Michael paused to listen and heard something about slamming an asteroid into a mass relay. That would explain why Hackett wanted this dealt with quietly.

#

Kenson was being interrogated. A quick thrust of an omniblade put a stop to that. She stared at him. "Who are you? What are you doing?"

"Doctor Kenson?" He started unfastening her restraints. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to get you out."

"Commander Shepard?" She gave a relieved chuckled. "I'd heard you were alive. Hackett must have received my message."

He got the last of the restraints. "We're not safe here. Can you walk?"

"I'm fine." She staggered a bit before getting her feet under her. "Just give me a moment..."

They really didn't have a moment. "We have to go. Now."

"If we can find a console, I can hack security..." She started moving. "Make us an escape path."

That freed him to handle any resistance. He handed her a sidearm, just to be on the safe side. The next patrol would be on its way soon. "Then we'll find one. Go."

#

They had to fight their way through a lot more security than he preferred. Whatever was going on, the batarians were very set on recapturing Kenson.

"The hanger doors are hard-locked. We'll have to get those open the old-fashioned way."

"Leave that to me." Fortunately, he was very practiced at that maneuver. He didn't like doing it under fire, but that didn't slow him down much. Maybe he should have brought Grunt or Jack. If time hadn't been a factor, he might have asked Hackett to send Kaidan to help.

They got the shuttle ready just as reinforcements arrived. Michael smirked before hopping into the pilot seat and using the shuttle's thrusters to take care of said reinforcements.

#

"Engaging autopilot." Dr. Kenson let out a sigh of relief. "We should be well out of range before they get their security measures unscrambled."

"Do you think they'll come after you?" There was clearly something else going on here. He was a little worried Hackett himself didn't know the whole story. That had been a lot more resistance than Hackett had indicated he should expect.

"I'm not taking any chances. Batarians don't take kindly to humans who plan to destroy their mass relays."

Something told him that was the part Hackett didn't know. "So, the charges against you are true."

"Well..." She rubbed her chin. "To be fair, that's about half the story. My people and I were here investigating rumors of Reaper technology out in the fringes of this system."

That much he knows. "I guess you found something."

"We found proof that the Reapers will be arriving in this system. When they get here, they'll use its mass relay to travel throughout the galaxy." She started to pace the shuttle. "We call it the 'Alpha Relay'. From here, the Reapers can invade anywhere in the galaxy."

"So you decided to destroy it." Not the worst idea ever, though not without complications.

"Exactly. Doing that would stop the Reaper's invasion. Even at FTL speeds, it'd be months or years before they got to the next relay." She stared out the viewport. "We came up with what we just called 'the Project': a plan to launch a nearby asteroid into the relay and destroy it before the Reapers could arrive." She turned to look at him. "Of course, the resulting explosion would probably wipe out the system."

An inhabited system. A system inhabited by folks who wouldn't agree to evacuate on humanity's say-so. She confirmed that suspicion a heartbeat later. "This is a remote system, but just over three hundred thousand batarians live on the colony where they hold us. The explosion would undoubtedly kill them all."

Even considering this idea required... "I still don't see how you learned about this supposed invasion."

"The evidence came from what we call Object Rho, a Reaper artifact we discovered among the asteroids near the relay itself." She sat down. "When we get back to Arcturus Station, I'll explain everything and provide copies of all our notes on the artifact."

Copies of notes weren't enough. Not for Hackett, and not for him. "The stakes are too high. If you were willing to destroy a whole system over this, I want to see your proof." And ideally, bring Liara in to see it.

"I guess I can't argue with that." She stood and went to the shuttle controls. "Give me a moment." She touched her comm. "Kenson to Project Base."

"Good to hear your voice, Doctor. You coming home?"

"Affirmative. And I've got Commander Shepard with me."

"Shepard? Really?"

Kenson glanced back at him. "Tidy up the lab. The Commander needs to confirm the artifact."

"Right. I'll get everything set up for your arrival. Project base out."

Something about this smelled. If anyone less than Hackett had vouched for Kenson, he'd be on the comm himself, calling Garrus to bring in backup. His hand twitched for his comm, and he pulled it back. Too many of his crew had flown Cerberus colors until recently. If this was going to be a political mess, bringing them into it was not a good idea.

#

The infrastructure on the asteroid was visible as they approached. From the looks of things, they might just be able to pull off what they intended. He needed to get in touch with Hackett, and soon. Anderson as well, this was the kind of thing that was probably going to involve diplomacy.

They landed the shuttle, and he looked around the base. "Here we are, Project Base." Kenson gestured.

Above one door, numbers were counting down. "What's this?"

"That's our countdown to arrival. When that gets to zero..." Kenson gave a small shake of her head. "The Reapers will have come." She looked over at him. "Just over two days and counting. Puts things in perspective, doesn't it?"

The Batarians weren't going to have a lot of time to evacuate. "How do you know that's an accurate countdown?"

"It is. The artifact has been giving off pulses at definite intervals since we found it. The intervals have been decreasing at a steady rate." Kenson nodded. "The artifact is reacting to the Reaper's proximity. In just over forty-eight hours, the pulses will become constant, and the Reapers will be here."

Not good. "You're saying the Reapers could be at Earth in two days? There's no time to waste." They wouldn't be able to argue diplomatically about this. They'd have no choice but to simply tell the batarians what was going to happen and deal with the fallout after. He needed to confirm this in a hurry.

"Then let's show you that proof." She started walking. Michael followed. "That door exits the hanger. The artifact is in our central lab area."

#

It was hard not being just a little irritated at Admiral Hackett. Michael was alive and able to finally return to Alliance space and explain himself, and Hackett had given him an assignment. Kaidan sighed, then looked back at the vid screen. "You're sure he's -"

"Yes, Kaidan." Liara gave him an exasperated look. "Tali got in touch with me over vid just an hour ago. They are expecting to pick him up again within the next three hours."

"Pretty sure you're not even supposed to know about this mission." Kaidan leaned back in his chair.

"I am a very good information broker." She rolled her eyes. He smiled. "What?"

"He was a bad influence on you." His smile widened.

"Come visit me as soon as he gets back." She smiled back before her image vanished.

#

"So what would it take to get the Project back up and running?"

"Everything was in place when we were arrested. It wasn't a question of 'could we', but 'should we'."

A hell of a decision. He really didn't want to be in the geezer's shoes right now. "What alternative do we have?"

"The Reapers will reach this system, regardless. But the Alpha Relay is their shortcut to the rest of the galaxy." Kenson led him through another door. "If you want to keep the Reapers at bay, this relay must be destroyed."

Great. She indicated the door to the artifact, and he shook his head as he walked to it. "We have to get the Project running again. It's probably the only chance we have."

"One sec. Let me get the door." She typed something into her omnitool. "Commander Shepard, I give you Object Rho."

The artifact... It looked like some kind of demented alien orchid. And it was glowing. That was probably not a good sign. And it was... Fuck. "You have a Reaper artifact just sitting here..." He turned to glare at her. "Out in the open."

"When we found it, it showed me a vision of the Reapers' arrival." Kenson folded her arms.

How close to indoctrinated was she? "Kenson, this is not good."

"Give it a moment, Shepard. It'll give you the proof you need." Her voice was calm.

He was opening his mouth to object when the object pulsed. Images swam through his head. Reapers swimming through the relay, spreading through the galaxy. Michael felt his body spasm and was vaguely aware he'd fallen to his knees. The Reapers moved like a school of fish, swirling and grouping before suddenly moving every which way. He started to struggle back to his feet.

"I can't let you start the Project, Shepard." Kenson was pointing a gun at him. "I can't let you stop the arrival." He could hear footsteps. Reinforcements. For her. His were on board the Normandy, too far away to do any good.

Michael twisted, knocking the gun out of her hand. He had to duck as weaponsfire came in his direction. "Take him down!" Shit. He dove into cover as Kenson fled. Alright, get rid of these guys, get a message to Hackett, easy enough.

He'd almost succeeded when the object pulsed again."

#

"...should have heard from him by now." Jack was pacing.

"Agreed." Garrus nodded to her. "The problem is if he isn't at the rendezvous point or on the planet..." He clicked his mandibles. "Then we don't know where he is to stage a rescue."

"I contacted Liara." Tali's voice came from his left as she entered. "She's checking all her data feeds to see if she can find anything."

"Be ready." Garrus looked around at the crew. He expected Miranda to object to him taking charge, but she was looking at him just like the others. "It's Shepard, so any trouble he's found is going to be big."

#

Voices. Faint but there. His vision was blurry, and it took him a few moments to be able to see his surroundings. A med bay? Not a familiar one. Where... Kenson had told them to patch him up. Her eyes had seemed to glow when she'd said they wanted him alive. Well, he was alive. Now to see to it that didn't end well for them. "...like Shepard was waking up a moment ago. But it could be a glitch in the system."

That summed him up fairly well. His armor was missing, as were his weapons and other gear. This should be fun. Horrified realization flooded the woman's face. "No glitch. The sedatives aren't working." She started to flee. "Security."

A moment later, he had a weapon. She'd activated some kind of force field to keep him in, and neither security guard had a key. She gave him a smug look. Michael looked around. Ah, look, a mech control.

#

Once out of the medical bay, his eyes fell on the countdown. Well, shit. There was no time for another option. Not with Reapers coming. Send the signal to the batarians to evacuate and blow the damn relay. It was going to be close enough that he hoped the batarians didn't waste any time arguing.

Now he just had to fight his way through a bunch of indoctrinated guards and figure out how to call in a pickup for himself. Maybe next time Hackett called he'd let his VI pick up.

#

"Welcome to Project Control."

"I want to activate the Project." He really didn't, but there wasn't another option available.

"Warning. Activating the Project will result in an estimated three hundred and five thousand casualties. Do you wish to continue?" Michael stepped back from the console as he stared at the number. He closed his eyes, then took several deep breaths. Then he nodded to himself before touching the control. The asteroid shook as the engines engaged. "Project activation in progress. Warning: Collision with mass relay is imminent. Began evacuation procedures."

The colonists needed to get moving. "Alert: All colonists living in the Bahak system: This is -"

"Shepard!" Kenson's voice interrupted him. "No. Do you have any idea what you've done? You leave me no choice. If we can't stop this asteroid, it must be destroyed." Her image vanished from the screen.

Shit, she'd killed the QEC. Dammit, the colonists were running out of time. He looked at the control. "Tell me where to find Doctor Amanda Kenson."

"Doctor Kenson is traveling to the reactor core module."

Her image came back up. "An eezo core meltdown should do it. Because of you, everyone on this rock will be obliterated."

At the moment, that was the least of his concerns.

#

"Don't try to stop me, Shepard. I have to do this."

"Stop, now, Kenson." Michael shook his head. "Hackett's friend or not, I will kill you."

"You're forcing my hand, Shepard." She had the nerve? She'd cost the batarians two full days of evacuation time. "You know that. There is no escape. There's no redemption for what you've done."

He'd learned to live with that a long time ago. "You can still stop, Kenson."

"I will die never having seen the Reapers' blessings. And you will just die."

"Damnit, Kenson." He needed to get to the other cooling unit.

#

"Cooling Rod B reinserted. Reactor meltdown averted. Core temperature dropping." Now how to get the damn QEC back up.

"You've done nothing, Shepard." Kenson's voice came over. "I can still override power to the engines." But she was dumb enough to tell him that. Or maybe it was some part of her fighting the indoctrination. He hoped it was the latter. "Try to stop me." It had to be the latter. He could at least tell Hackett that. She'd fought to the end.

He walked into the engine core. "Step away from the reactor."

"You've ruined everything." Her face was frantic. "I can't hear the whispers anymore.

"Turn around." He kept his weapon pointed at her. "Now."

"You've taken them away from me. I will never see the Reapers' arrival." She moved back to the console. And to his horror, she pulled out a grenade. "All you had to was stay -"

Michael shot the grenade out of her hand. It rolled far enough from the controls not to damage them with the explosion.

He, on the other hand, was within the blast radius.

#

"Warning: Collision imminent." Michael staggered back to his feet. He'd been out. "Collision imminent." He'd been out and they were about to smash into a mass relay. "Collision imminent." He'd been out and three hundred thousand people were about to die. "Collision imminent."

Michael looked at the comm. There were only minutes. The batarians wouldn't have time to evacuate more than a few people, if that. He tried to send the warning, but the QEC was still damaged. "Dammit."

"Evacuation protocols in effect. All personnel report to escape shuttles."

The shuttles would have comms. He could send the warning that way, and maybe call in Joker for a pickup. "Where can I find an escape shuttle?"

The VI responded, "Take the lift from this room to the external access. From there, proceed to the communications tower."

Communications tower. That sounded like exactly what he needed right now.

#

They were fighting him rather than running for shuttles. Indoctrination was shit. Michael sighed as he shot the last one.

There were only a few minutes left. The batarians would never be able to evacuate in time. He started to touch the comm, then sighed. Perhaps better they never saw it coming than making them spend their last few minutes in terror. "Shepard to Normandy. Joke, do you read me?"

A hologram appeared above the communication array. A Reaper hologram, one with a familiar voice. Harbinger. "Shepard. You have become an annoyance." Sounded like something he should get etched into his armor. "You fight against inevitability. Dust struggling against cosmic winds. This seems a victory to you. A star system sacrificed. But even now, your greatest civilizations are doomed to fall. Your leaders will beg to serve us."

This mission was a failure. He was killing more than three hundred thousand people. "Yes, people will die. Maybe we'll lose half the galaxy. Maybe more." The only other option was letting the Reapers take them all. "But I will do whatever it takes to rid the galaxy of the Reaper threat. However 'insignificant' we might be, we will fight, we will sacrifice, and we will find a way. That's what humans do."

"Know this as you die in vain: Your time will come. Your species will fall." The hologram blinked. "Prepare yourselves for the Arrival."

Prepare for an asteroid to the fucking face, you cockroach. He could see the mass relay getting closer. Michael was taking a deep breath when he heard Joker's voice. "Commander Shepard. Normandy inbound for pick-up."

"Roger that."

#

The display shows the destruction. He watched as the blip representing three hundred and five thousand lives was wiped off the map. Michael swallowed as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged Samara's hand off, then exhaled as she nodded.

How was he going to look Kaidan in the eye again after this?

#

"Hmm. Looks like you've recovered."

Michael sat up, then blinked. It wasn't a comm. Hackett was standing there, in the Normandy's infirmary. "Admiral Hackett."

"Sounds like you went through hell down there?" Hackett's sharp eyes looked him over. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." He exhaled. "No more visions, if that's what you mean." He twitched a shoulder. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"You went out there as a favor to me." Hackett nodded. "I decided to debrief you in person." As though that were going to make explaining things any easier. Killing people in a war zone was one thing. Hackett clasped his hands behind his back. "That was before the mass relay exploded and destroyed an entire batarian system." Hackett took a deep breath. "What the hell happened out there, son?"

For a moment, he felt like he had the first time he'd ever woken to find Hackett at his bedside. He couldn't bring himself to meet the old man's eyes. "Have you received any intel about what happened?"

"All I know is that I sent you out there to break Amanda Kenson out of prison and now an entire system is destroyed." Hackett's eyes didn't leave his face. "I hope you could fill in the leap of logic between those two events."

He got off the hospital bed and stood, walking a few steps until he and Hackett were face to face. "Kenson said the Reapers were the galaxy's salvation. Then she captured and sedated me and held me against my will. She wasn't willing to stop the invasion." He squared his shoulders. "So I did what had to be done."

For a moment, Hackett was silent. Then he nodded. "Sounds like Amanda was indoctrinated. Well. That's..." Several expressions crossed Hackett's face. "A damn shame." Hackett exhaled, then paced the room before turning back to him. "And you believe the Reaper invasion really was a threat?"

"No doubt about it. We literally had minutes to spare."

"I'm sure all the details are in your report." Hackett took another deep breath. "I won't lie to you, Commander: the batarians will want blood, and there's just enough evidence for a witch hunt. And we don't want war with the batarians." He shook his head. "Not with the Reapers at the galaxy's edge."

Michael took a step back. "What are you saying?"

"You did what you did for the best of reasons, but..." Hackett sighed. "There were more than three hundred thousand batarians in that system. All dead." And there was Torfan. It had been a while since anyone had called him The Butcher, but there was still Torfan. No one would ever believe he'd tried to send a warning.

It didn't matter. If nothing else, he could always go back to Tuchanka and join Wrex's clan. "Any sacrifice is worth stopping a Reaper invasion."

"I happen to agree with you." Hackett's face was calm. "I'm sorry those batarians lost their lives, but someone has to make the difficult decisions that get people killed." He was still talking to Hackett, the man who had all too often been the one making the decisions that had sent Michael out to kill. "Unfortunately, not everyone will see it that way."

"You do, sir." Michael's voice was quiet. He didn't realize he'd said the words aloud until Hackett nodded. The first person in the universe whose approval had actually mattered. He did a bit of pacing of his own. "So what do you suggest?"

"Evidence against you is shoddy, at best. But at some point, you'll have to go to Earth and face the music. I can't stop it..." He saw the old man gearing up for a fight. "But I can and will make them fight for it."

He smiled. "I didn't expect to see you aboard a Cerberus vessel."

"I don't like Cerberus or the way they do things." Hackett looked around the ship. "But they brought you back to life and gave you the chance to do something about the state of the galaxy." Hackett's eyes looked over Michael's clothes. It wasn't an alliance uniform, but the cut was similar. And Cerberus's logo was nowhere to be found. "Besides, I'm not so sure this is a Cerberus ship anymore. Right?"

"It's my ship, sir." He nodded. "And I'll gladly stand trial once this mission is done."

"Glad to see working with Cerberus hasn't stripped away your sense of honor." Hackett smiled. "Do whatever you have to do out here, Commander. But when Earth calls, you make sure you're there with your dress blues on, ready to take the hit." Hackett nodded before handing Michael back the data pad with the report. "In the meantime, you keep this. I don't need to see your report to know you did the right thing."

"Thank you." He set the datapad down. "Sir, I..." He exhaled. He had no idea what to say.

"Formalities aside..." Hackett's eyes went to his face. "You look like shit."

"Thank you, sir." Michael rolled his eyes.

"Here." Hackett offered him a data chit. When Michael blinked, Hackett shrugged. "New musical group doing fusion of asari music and some old earth classics. Picked you up their cover of Sinatra." When Michael took the chit from him. "You're a goddamn pain in the ass, son. But you're my goddamn pain in the ass. You be there, in your dress blues." He nodded. "And I'll be right there with you."