Everyone in the throne room was just barely able to hit the floor when a massive explosion came from the drawing room. The force of the explosion blew the drawing room doors several yards into the throne room. The doors were followed by a burst of flames. When the noise from the explosion ceased, Shepard glanced up from the ground to see that the entire drawing room was ablaze. He shook some debris off of him as he slowly got up from the floor. Vega and the hostages followed suit.

Finch on the other hand was nowhere to be seen.

"Vega where is Finch?" he said.

Vega scanned the room and realized that Shepard was right. It was then that he noticed that the door that he and Shepard had entered from was still open. Finch may have been handcuffed but he could have very easily slipped out the door while everyone else was on the ground. He was about to point it out to Shepard when he noticed something else. The room on the other side of the door was ablaze. This confused him because that door was not where the explosion came from. So why would it be on fire?

"He's escaped sir," Vega finally said to Shepard, "he got out through the picture gallery. He couldn't have gotten far though, not with the room being on fire."

"What?"

Shepard was about to question Vega further when a voice came over his comm., "Are you there Shepard? Vega? Come on skipper talk to me. Are you both alright?"

Shepard tapped his ear restoring his comm., "I'm fine Williams. Vega and the hostages are fine too but Finch has escaped and is running loose in the palace."

"What's going on in there Shepard?"

"There was an explosion in the green room. It knocked us down and Finch got away in the confusion. It looks like we're going to need that backup after all. Get another squad together and start searching the palace. Finch's is still handcuffed so he shouldn't be a threat."

"Negative skipper, it's too dangerous to send a squad in."

"What do you mean too dangerous? It was only one explosion in one room."

"Shepard it wasn't just one room. There were multiple explosions in multiple rooms. Now the entire palace is on fire."

"Say again?"

"The entire palace is on fire."

A grim thought then passed through Shepard's mind. He might have only noticed the explosion in the drawing room but if all the explosions happened simultaneously he could have easily mistook it for being the one bomb. And if all the fire sprinklers in the palace were dispersing gasoline, the combined explosions would have ignited the gas and caused the entire palace to practically spontaneously combust. Now Shepard understood why Vega said Finch would be slowed down by a fire.

Unfortunately it also meant Ashley was right about the backup. If the palace was on fire then it was too risky to send a squad in. Shepard and Vega were going to have to get the hostages out on their own. Shepard turned to Vega and explained what Ashley told him.

"What's going on Captain?" he asked when Shepard was finished. "Setting the entire palace on fire doesn't seem like a trustworthy escape plan. Why would Finch do it?"

"I don't think Finch is the one who's doing it. Anyway the long and short of it is we're on our own. Ashley can't send us backup and we still need to get these hostages out."

"What about Finch sir?"

"The hostages' safety come first Vega. I admit that a part of me wants to go after him but we have our priorities."

"I'll get the hostages out sir, you go after Finch."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I can handle it. You've got some unfinished business to deal with."

Shepard smiled, "thank you, be careful Vega."

Vega saluted, "you too, Loco."

After saluting back, Shepard ran out of the throne room and began his search for Finch. Vega meanwhile stayed behind and gathered the rest of the hostages together. He told them that they would move out after he made a quick call. He then activated his comm. and called Ashley.

"Williams this is Vega," he said, "I'm going to move the hostages to the audience chamber. Have rescue crews set up an emergency ramp outside a window the hostages can use to slide down to safety."

"Will do Vega," Ashley replied, "what about the captain?"

"He's going after Finch."

"What?! Is he crazy? You both need to get out of there."

"Well I don't call him Loco for nothing."

"Vega!"

"Williams you know that he can't just let Finch escape again."

Ashley sighed, "I know….but…"

"He'll be fine. Finch is still in handcuffs so he can't fight back. The captain will find Finch and be out before you know it."

"You're right. I'll have the crews get the ramps set up before you get to the audience chamber. Good luck Vega."

"Thanks Williams, Vega out."

When Vega ended the call, he signaled for the hostages to follow him. He guided them towards the door to the picture gallery and looked towards the direction of the audience chamber. Before they even set foot out of the throne room, Vega felt as though he walked into Hell itself. The majority of the picture gallery was nothing but flames. Smoke was also filling up the ceiling. Fortunately there was a still a decent sized path that Vega could guide the hostages through. He turned to face them and signaled for them to get down low so as to keep their heads below the smoke. He then took one of the hostage's hands and put it on his shoulder before telling the others to do the same. As long as they kept their hands on their shoulders, there was little chance that they could get separated.

The trek from the throne room to audience was long and treacherous. Under normal circumstance it probably would have taken Vega less than a minute to get there. With the fire it was taking about three times that. Twice the group had to stop when the fire spread out in front of their path and forced them to take a detour. Worse still some of the hostages were already starting to cough due the intense heat and smoke. Vega's helmet did have the ability to turn into a breathing mask but it wouldn't do the hostages any good. The only hope for the hostages was for Vega to get them out before they died of smoke inhalation.

Finally the group reached the audience chamber. Vega ordered the hostages to wait where they were while he searched the room. He had told Ashley to have the rescue slide set up outside a window but there was no way to know for sure which one it was under without seeing it himself. Fortunately he didn't have to check too many windows before he found the one with the ramp. He would have hostages out in no time. He quickly opened window with the ramp before calling everyone over. Getting the hostages into a single file line, Vega began helping each hostage crawl out and slide down to the safety of waiting Alliance soldiers.

As he was helping the hostages out, Vega noticed that one of the hostages, a salarian, was hesitant about climbing out the window. Vega figured that as the only salarian among the hostages, it had to be Ambassador Rosila. He walked over to the ambassador and saw that he was shaking with fear.

"Are you okay?" he asked the ambassador.

"Not really," the ambassador replied, "I'm kind of afraid of heights. I've been that way since I was a kid. I wouldn't even climb the trees in my backyard."

"I assure you Ambassador Rosila that the trip down is perfectly safe. You'll slide to the bottom quickly and there will be several soldiers there waiting to catch you."

"I guess you're right. Besides it's not like I have another…..wait a minute how do you know my name."

"We met your bodyguard Avot Yuless in the ballroom. He told us that you were here with this group."

The ambassador looked at Vega confused, "bodyguard? What are you talking about? I didn't bring any of my bodyguards with me and even if I did none of them have that name."

Now it was Vega who looked confused, "what do you mean?"

"Well I didn't think I was going to need bodyguards. I figured the palace's security forces would be adequate protection. I don't know who this Yuless person is but I can assure he is not one of my bodyguards."

Before Vega could think about the matter some more, an alarm sounded inside the audience chamber. This one was different however. Instead of making a ringing bell sound like the fire alarms, this one made a horn like sound that would be used as an intruder alarm. Vega's eyes widened as he realized what the alarm was. He turned behind him and saw that all of the hostages were already outside. Ambassador Rosila was the only hostage still inside but he didn't make any move to the window as he too was confused by the alarm. Not taking time to explain, Vega grabbed the ambassador and threw him out the window and down the ramp.

Vega had barely gotten the ambassador out when he heard a new sound coming from above. This one sounded like a hatch opening. Vega looked up just in time to see a large steel door emerge from the top of the window. The door came smashing down completely sealing the window. Even though he knew it was useless to try, Vega tried to lift the steel door. Sure enough, the door was several tons of metal and could not be lifted. Not even by someone who worked out as hard as Vega did.

Vega activated his comm., "Loco I got the hostages out but something triggered the palace's lockdown protocols."

Silence.

"Captain, do you read me? Come in Captain, are you okay?"

Finally Vega heard Shepard's voice, "Vega….I….I'm fine. Finch….Finch is dead."

Vega became concerned. Shepard was having trouble speaking. He sounded like a person who had killed someone for the first time. But Vega knew that was not possible. Between the Reaper War and the rest of his military career, Shepard had killed thousands of people. Something was wrong.

"What happened sir?"

A Few Minutes Earlier

Shepard had just reached the stairwell and was proceeding down to the first floor. He hadn't seen Finch since he left the throne room so it was initially difficult for him to determine which way to go through the palace. Then he realized that the fire was providing all the help he needed. A person could only travel in certain directions if most of place was on fire. So all Shepard had to do was stick to the spots that were not ablaze and follow the trail it created.

The trail was now taking him down to the first floor. He stepped out of the stairwell and into a hallway with his rifle raised and started scanning for Finch. Shepard figured that he had to be getting close to catching up with him. Finch still had his hands cuffed behind his back so it would be difficult for him to move from room to room with ease. His attention was soon caught by the sound of a door opening further down the hall. Throwing caution to the wind he ran towards the source of the sound. Soon the hallway intersected with another hallway and Shepard stopped to look up and down the new hallway. When he glanced to his right he was just able to make out a door closing on the left side. A quick recap of the palace plans in his head told Shepard that room would have a window facing the exterior of the palace. It was a perfect place for Finch to make his escape.

Shepard ran for the door but stopped when he heard a crash on the other side. He placed himself against the wall next to the door and listened. There wasn't any noise for a while after the sound of the crash. Then Shepard heard what sounded like pieces of glass being shuffled around. He now understood what was going on. Finch had broken the window and was now clearing away the broken glass so he could climb over the ledge and escape.

With his rifle raised again, Shepard opened the door and stepped inside. He quickly focused on the window and saw that Finch was now halfway out the window.

"FREEZE FINCH!" he shouted.

The sudden sound caused Finch to freeze and he was now sitting on the window ledge like a horseback rider. He angled his upper body towards Shepard and sighed in frustration as soon as he saw him.

"Don't move a muscle," Shepard continued, "if you attempt to flee I will shoot."

Keeping his rifle focused on Finch's head, Shepard slowly approached him.

"Don't think that this is over Shepard," Finch growled, "you may have stopped me twice now but someday I will bring the Reds back to full strength and we will get all of humanity to stand with us in our campaign to repel the aliens from Earth."

"I doubt it Finch," Shepard replied as he was now inches from Finch, "how do you expect to recruit new members if you're going to be rotting in an Alliance prison?"

Finch laughed, "With the information I have, the Alliance will have no choice but to negotiate a lighter sentence."

Shepard froze where he was and slowly lowered his rifle, "What information could you possibly have that the Alliance would want.

"To be honest Shepard I wouldn't have been able to launch this operation without help. I was approached by someone who had both the credits and the access I needed. Not only that, but this person had quite a resume. They had also funded operations that nearly led to a coup and mass genocide. I should have taken the fact that those operations failed into account and turned them down but the chance to tell the galaxy our message was too good to pass up. It turned out that my initial hunch was right. The equipment I was provided hasn't worked at all like it was supposed to. I was talking to my backer when you caught me and all I was told was that there was nothing that could be done about it. Now I've apparently been abandoned and thrown to the Alliance but I will get my payback. It doesn't matter though. Once I tell the Alliance about my backer, it will be them going to prison and not me."

A chill went up Shepard's spine. He knew all too well about the operations Finch was talking about. In fact he was the one who stopped them. The attempted coup was Balak's attack on the batarian government and the attempted genocide was Dalatrass Linron's plot to wipe out a large krogan city. During the course his investigation, Shepard realized that both plans received funding from the same unknown backer. Despite using every resource at his disposal, Shepard had been unable to come up with a clue to the backer's identity.

Now it seemed that Finch too had received funding for his operation from the same mystery backer. Balak was dead and the Dalatrass had turned down countless offers for leniency in exchange for identifying the backer. Finch on the other hand was both alive and seemed anxious to talk. This was the first big break Shepard had in learning the backer's identity.

On the other hand, he didn't want to give Finch the opportunity to negotiate his way out of jail early. Between this hostage crisis and the abduction of the politician's daughter as well as any other crimes Finch and the Reds might have committed in between, Finch deserved life in prison. Shepard decided to play one card to try and get Finch to give him the name without making a deal. He didn't like the particular card but it was the only one he had that might have a chance to work. He holstered his rifle and pulled Finch from the window and put him up against the wall. He then pulled out his pistol and pointed it right at Finch's head.

"I have a better idea Finch," he growled, "you are going to give me the name of your backer and then both of you go to prison. If you don't, then I put a bullet through your head right here and now. True I would rather have the name but there's no way I'm going to let you talk your way out of doing time for all the crimes you and the Reds have committed. The choice is yours Finch. Would you rather be a dead man or a live prisoner?"

Finch just smiled, "you won't kill me Shepard. Even though you are an alien foot soldier you still have a strong paragon nature. Killing an unarmed prisoner would go against that. Now if you don't mind I would like to get out of here before we burn along with the palace."

Shepard kept his gun pointed at Finch. His hand shook as he thought about pulling the trigger. Finally after breathing a sigh of frustration, Shepard holstered his pistol. Finch was right. Finch may have been among the worst criminals Shepard had known but he would not allow himself to execute a prisoner in cold blood. He gestured towards the window indicating that Finch could climb out. The menacing chuckle Finch gave as he began to climb out nearly caused Shepard to cringe. All he could do was tell himself that getting the backer's name would make all of this worth it in the end.

Suddenly an alarm went off. Shepard thought it was the fire alarm again but quickly realized that it was making a different sound from the fire alarm he heard earlier. He and Finch froze and scanned the room trying to determine what triggered the alarm. Their attention was soon caught by a new sound coming from above. The source of the sound was instantly found when they looked up and it was not a good one.

To Shepard's horror, a large steel door had begun to drop from the top of the window. It came down so fast that there was no time for anyone to react. Finch who had only managed to get one leg out window screamed just before the heavy steel door came down on top of him. Shepard turned away from the window just before the impact. Shortly after hearing the sound of the impact, Shepard felt something wet hit his face. He used his hand to wipe some of the stuff off his face. It was a dark red liquid, Finch's blood.

Slowly Shepard turned back only to become disgusted by the new sight that greeted him. Finch, or at least half of him, was lying on the floor below the window which was now sealed by the steel door. The door itself was covered with spots of Finch's blood. It was a mess. Ironically the only thing that wasn't a mess was Finch's body. The door had sliced him clean through like a butcher slicing a piece of meat. However clean or messy the scene was, there was no two ways about it. Finch was dead.