PRESENT DAY

Shepard was no longer happy. Finch and the Reds had once again entered his life. This time however the Reds were holding the life of more than just a politician's daughter on the line. With his face still filled with anger, Shepard bent down and turned off the mute on the comm.

"Now that you mention it I do remember you Finch. If memory serves though, you are far from what I would call an old buddy of mine. You wanted me to help you kill the daughter of an asari politician as part of your group's anti-alien agenda."

"I have to say I really thought you were different when I first met you Shepard. You had so much potential to be a capable member of the Tenth Street Reds and join us in our crusade to protect humanity from alien influence. I've since realized I was wrong. Ever since you became the aliens' foot soldier, you've been doing more to help them rather than your own kind."

"I help everyone Finch, regardless of what species they are. Now let's stop wasting time reminiscing about the past. I want to talk about what it's going to take for you to let the hostages go."

There was an initial silence on the comm. Suddenly Finch was heard bursting into laughter. Everyone in the hut except Shepard looked at each other confused.

Eventually Finch stopped laughing, "I might have been wrong about your ideals Shepard but I didn't think I would have overestimated your intelligence. I have no intention of letting the hostages go. The Reds and I are going to put these aliens down like the animals they are. When we are done, the aliens will finally be convinced to leave humanity alone. And before you decide to send a squad in to storm the ballroom, you should probably know that we have all entrances to this room wired to blow and we have placed the human hostages next to them. If you try to burst in, they will be killed by the explosions. Now Shepard I'm only here for the aliens. Believe me when I say that I don't want to kill innocent humans. But if you try to stop me then I will have no choice."

The threat Finch issued caused everyone in the hut to mumble nervously. Shepard was the only one who didn't seem to be nervous. Unknown to everyone else in the hut, Shepard knew that asking Finch to release the hostages was not going to work. He had already concluded Finch's intention as soon as he realized he was involved. The only reason he asked was to get Finch talking about his setup in the ballroom so he could use the intel to plan his attack. Unfortunately Finch had confirmed what Vega's squad had feared when they attempted their initial counterattack. Finch was indeed using hostages as human shields. Any attempt to enter the ballroom through any of the doorways would risk causing civilian casualties.

Shepard knew this meant the roof would be the only way in that wouldn't instantly endanger anyone. True the guards and the anti-aircraft guns up there would make a shuttle approach hazardous if not impossible. But since he first arrived at the palace, Shepard had an idea that he felt might give them a safe approach through the roof. First though, he had to completely exhaust all other options. Despite knowing that it wasn't going to work, he had to try one more time to appeal to Finch to let the hostages go.

"Finch," he said, "the other races are our allies. We wouldn't have survived the war with the Reapers without their support. They've also been extremely helpful with the rebuilding process after it ended. Humanity needs them."

"You're wrong Shepard!" Finch shouted. "We didn't need them! They needed us! Humanity was the one who came up with the plans for the crucible. It was a human admiral who commanded the joint offense on Earth. And it was you, a human, who fired the crucible and ultimately destroyed the Reapers. The aliens were the ones who wouldn't have survived without us. Now listen carefully Shepard. As soon as we have our equipment set up for the broadcast, the executions will begin. Remember what I said about what will happen if you interfere. Reds out."

The line went dead after Finch finished speaking. Nobody spoke for several seconds as they all stared at Shepard waiting for him to make a decision. Even Ashley was looking at him nervously. Shepard couldn't tell if it was about the mission or if it was because of what she had just learned about him. As long as they'd known each other, Shepard had never talked about his early years on Earth. All she knew was that he grew up an orphan and learned how to look out for himself on the streets. Now she found out he had run-ins with an anti-alien gang and rescued a politician's daughter. Shepard knew he was going to have to talk about it with her when the mission was over. For now that was going to have to wait. He had a plan and it was finally time to tell everyone what it was.

With his mind made up, Shepard addressed the troops, "we have to get in there."

Everyone immediately protested. The majority of the protests were about how they couldn't get in without risking hostages. One soldier even threw out the option they should just let Finch carry out his plan saying that, although it seemed harsh, it would at least guarantee some of the hostages would live. It took a few seconds before Shepard got everyone to quiet down.

He continued, "If you will all listen I have a plan that might allow us to be able to save all the hostages. It's true that all the obvious entrances into the ballroom are guarded with human shields but there is one entrance that Finch can't guard with that strategy: the ventilation duct on the ceiling. It's possible he could rig the vents with explosives but he can't put a human shield up there as well. All we have to do is get a small squad to enter the vents from the roof and proceed to the duct that is on the ballrooms ceiling. From there the team can enter the ballroom without killing hostages and have the element of surprise."

"Respectfully Captain," a lieutenant in Vega's squad said, "how do you propose we get on the roof? The terrorists have a man watching every direction up there. They would see our shuttles coming and order the anti-air guns to shoot them down before they can land."

"They're not watching every direction. From their position they can see north, south, east and west. But they will not expect an attack from straight above them. We get a shuttle to fly high up above the palace so they can't hear or see it coming."

"It's an interesting idea Loco," Vega said, "but even if we got above them, when the shuttle starts touching down the terrorists will hear it coming and still attack."

"I wasn't planning on having the shuttle land Vega. The best chance we have of landing on the roof undetected is if we perform a HALO jump."

Everyone in the hut gasped at Shepard's suggestion. Shepard thought some of them might have stopped breathing and would faint. The jump he was referring to was short for a High Altitude – Low Opening jump. It was a military insertion method that was developed back in the 20th Century as a means of inserting troops into an area with minimal risk of the plane or troops being detected by enemy ground forces. A plane would fly as high as seventy-five thousand feet above ground to avoid enemy radar. The troops would then jump out of the plane and free-fall at terminal velocity for a period of time. Once they reached a low enough altitude, one that would be below radar and reduce the amount of time their parachutes would be exposed to be seen by ground forces, the troops would then deploy their chutes and land completing a stealthy infiltration.

However there were many risks involved with a HALO jump. These included low levels of oxygen high up in the air, severely low temperatures and the risk the parachute might not deploy properly and having little time to deploy the reserve chute. Fortunately with the right equipment and enough training, a soldier could handle the risks. The real problem was ever since the invention of shuttles and the recent addition of stealth technology to the shuttles, HALO jumps had not been used for decades. It was probably that reason that caused some of the men in the hut to gasp at the idea.

Unfortunately it even caused the lieutenant who spoke earlier to protest, "Commander Vega I can see now why you call the Captain 'Loco'. That has got to be the most insane idea I've ever heard."

"STAND DOWN SOLDIER!" Vega commanded. "If I want your opinion I'll ask for it. I don't care how crazy the idea sounds. I've known Captain Shepard long enough to know that he has a habit of making insane ideas work. So if he says we're going to do a HALO jump, then we are going to do a HALO jump."

"Thanks Vega," Shepard said, "I know HALO jumps are risky but I have confidence that it can be done. I have actually done HALO jumps before and I can easily explain to everyone how they work. Now I'm willing to lead the infiltration team. I figure I won't need more than two squadmates to accompany me. Do I have any volunteers?"

Without even spending a second to think about it, Ashley and Vega stepped forward and saluted. Shepard smiled because he knew that it would be them who would volunteer. Going back to when Ashley first joined the Normandy crew after Eden Prime, Shepard would rarely do missions without her being one of his squadmates. As for Vega, he was always anxious to go where the action was. Shepard saluted back.

"Thank you Commanders," he said, "Grab your gear while I make the arrangements for our shuttle and HALO equipment. We move out in twenty. Everyone else head back to your posts, dismissed."

When the twenty minutes were over, Shepard, Ashley and Vega sat in the shuttle as it began to lift off. In addition to their basic weapons and armor, they were equipped with everything needed for a HALO jump. This included their parachutes and breathing equipment. Ashley and Vega were also carrying equipment the trio would need to fast rope from the ballroom's ceiling vent down to the ballroom floor. Once they were in the air, Shepard went over the last minute orders for the jump. He had given all the safety instructions prior to them boarding the shuttle but now he needed to explain how they were going to land undetected on the roof of the ballroom.

The plan was simple but they knew that any mistakes could prove fatal. The shuttle would fly away from the palace and rise up to the required height of seventy-five thousand feet and turn back to head to the palace. Being that high off the ground guaranteed the terrorists would never see the shuttle approach. They would jump out of the shuttle as soon as they were above the palace and free fall for as long as possible to minimize chances of their chutes being detected from the ground. Once their chutes were deployed, they would pull out their pistols which would be equipped with enhanced laser and scope sights. With quick aim, they would be able eliminate the terrorists on the roof before any of them could have a chance to sound an alarm. From there, they would land on the roof and begin their infiltration.

No sooner had Shepard finished going over the plan that a red light lit up inside the shuttle. It was time for them to get into position because they were almost above the drop zone. The three of them put on their oxygen masks in preparation for the drop in cabin pressure that would happen once the doors opened. With the exception of the red light, the remaining lights inside the shuttle shut off rendering the inside as pitch black as the night sky would be outside. It was the perfect condition to allow the trio to safely turn on their night vision goggles. The doors opened shortly afterwards and everyone almost jumped when the temperature dropped with the cabin pressure. Shepard gave one quick glance over to Ashley and Vega who both nodded. They were ready and just needed to hear the go order. Soon the shuttle pilot's voice came over Shepard's comm. and began the final countdown.

"We'll have reached the drop zone in five…four…three…two…one…GO!"

Despite not being able to see the exact colors, Shepard could tell the light had changed from red to green. After taking one final breath, the trio hopped out into the pitch black night.