Nate appeared shocked after seeing the woman on the screen. He was visibly disturbed by her appearance, but there was more to it than that. I just know it.

"Joker, land in the closest available clearing. SPECTRE Authorisation."

He looked up at Nate quizzically "Aye, aye Commander."

"Are you going to talk her down?" I asked.

He took a pause before answering "No… that's not part of my job."

He walked away toward the opposite end of the CIC.

"He's probably scared that he might say something that could make her kill herself. I mean, looking at his track record, he's not exactly the best at comforting or consoling people," Joker explained Nate's actions.

But the shock in his eyes wasn't that of someone horrified by what he saw, but of someone who had just seen a ghost from his past.

"No that's not it. When he saw her face… I can't really describe it, but I'd say that seeing that girl stirred something up in him."

"Since he isn't doing it I'm guessing you're going to try and talk her down."

"You know me so well Mr Moreau. I couldn't forgive myself if I stood by and let her kill herself."

"Yeah, well good luck."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I sat down in the mess alone. Everyone had gotten their breakfast and they returned to their quarters to prepare for Shore Leave. We'll be on Earth for 4 days whilst waiting for the Council to deliver more information on Saren's next move.

But all of that was inconsequential to me after seeing Talitha again for the first time 14 years. When I was first… sold, she was with me. She was smaller than me so I assumed that she was younger than me too. By how much… I don't know.

I don't even know how old I really am to be honest. I just said I was 18 all those years ago so the Alliance would let me enlist. If I had to guess I'd say I was in my late 20's, early 30's.

However, back then age didn't matter to them. So long as their… stock was excelling in their labour and the slaver's made their money. Grown men and women used us for sex, hard manual labour, as furniture, decoration and any other sick twisted need they had for humans. The aliens never showed me or any other human any compassion. In fact they revelled in our torment and the control they exercised over us.

I just don't think I could handle seeing her again. I've been having a hard enough time supressing these memories without having to relive them by speaking to her. And I doubt that her seeing someone who escaped the misery, whilst she suffered is going to make her feel better anyway.

And I honestly don't think there's anything I could do. 18 years of trauma and torture would cause anyone to lose their minds and feel like dying. If it wasn't for the REDS, then I honestly believe that I would have taken my own life all those years ago.

But would her death only put even more on my conscience than what's already there?

I found myself relieved at my current isolation. There was no one around to see me with my guard dropped. The pressure of the mission and the grim reality of the protheans extinction were beginning to dawn on him and take their toll. If Saren isn't stopped then literally every living thing in the galaxy is in danger, and I'm the person who's meant to save everyone.

Huh, it shows that the universe has a sense of humour. Who would have thought that it's the hopes of the galaxy rest on the Butcher of Torfan and a rescued slave?

Joker has just informed me that the Normandy has docked and we were cleared for exit. There were only a few people remaining for the next couple of hours to finish their last minute checks so the ship wasn't fully empty yet.

"Commander, Lt. Shepard is currently engaging with the woman from before." Joker informed.

Dammit Rylee! Couldn't you just let this go! For once in your life could you just do the selfish thing? I really shouldn't be surprised, since she's not the type to just stand aside whenever someone's life is on the line.

But neither am I!

I punched the table out of frustration, the biotics caused the material to crack and the shockwave of the impact sent everything on the table to the ground. I then dug my nails into my skull, desperately trying to regain what little sanity I may have possessed in the past few days. I wish this was all a dream.

The noise caused Liara to run out of the med-bay to check in on what was happening. Upon seeing that it was just me she stood there awkwardly. She timidly pointed back toward the med-bay before rushing toward the door. However, something inside me… didn't want her to go.

"Wait, Doctor," I called.

She stopped herself just short of the door and looked at me expectantly. We stood there in silence whilst she anticipated my next move. I wasn't sure exactly what it was I wanted to say to her, but I just wanted her here with me.

This was seriously freaking me out since I wanted to kill her a few hours ago.

"Is there anything you need, Commander?"

"Commander, this situation is getting bad. The girl has the gun aimed at her skull right now," Joker warned.

"What's going on, Commander?" Liara wondered.

"A former slave wants to kill herself after 18 years of slavery. Rylee's trying to stop her… I know her."

"From-"

"Yes from… all those years ago," I interrupted.

"Are you certain that it's her?"

"Yeah, they used to brand us with their symbol and they had-" I had to take a breath to prevent myself from being sick. "They had serial numbers tattooed on our backs, in case they ever lost their merchandise, others would know where to return us."

She shuddered at my explanation. I remember how casually the batarians treated slavery, how they never saw us as anything other than stock. We weren't living things to them. We were just merchandise to be loaned out to others and returned with minimal damage. They even charged fees for sacrifices.

"That's very disturbing."

"She was younger than me and she suffered so much more. They robbed her of any chance she had of living a happy, normal life. And they never cared, they never showed a single shred of remorse."

"How come you escaped and she didn't?"

"Captain Anderson, Major Rivera and Admiral Hackett led a ground team on the compound that I was loaned to, Talitha stayed at the main base. The Alliance rescued me and 15 other slaves and took us back to earth. I had no parents with me so I ended up in an orphanage and that's where I met Jaden," I finished.

It felt weird speaking to someone who was familiar with these names.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through any of that," she pitied me. I hate pity.

"Now I'm stuck in this position. I can't just stand by and let her kill herself… but I can't go out there and help her."

"Why not? I know it's going to be hard for you to revisit your past. But if this will weigh heavy on your conscience, then I urge you to help her Commander." She encouraged.

"You don't get it do you doctor. We're not asari," I stated simply.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she inquired.

"Do you know what 18 years is to a human? Any ideas? That's a huge part of our lives. To asari it may not sound like much, but to us it's everything. 18 years gone may as well be 200 to asari or krogan," my voice grew even more unhinged and disconcerted.

"Imagine that Liara. If you'd spent the last 100 years of your life enslaved, beaten, battered, caged and tortured by these sick aliens" I argued.

I spotted the look in her eye. It was genuine fear for her well being. Especially after our encounter in her enclosure. That look in her eye should have been something I reveled in, but I couldn't. That momentary look of fear in her eye's reminded of those of Talitha when I first met her. She looked so powerless, so prone to anything that wished her harm, so helpless. There was no way that I could relish that.

I took two deep breaths in an attempt to regain what composure I had before we spoke. "She has spent more than half of her life being enslaved and abused. How can anyone, especially me… help her."

"Commander…" Liara sighed sympathetically.

"I got away and she didn't. I got out after a couple of years and I'm a mess… she suffered for nearly 2 decades. How can I of all people… tell her everything is going to be alright?"

Liara cautiously approached my position and sat beside me. She put her hand on my arm and stayed there for a few seconds. The warmth of her palm felt strange when pressed against the goose bumps that lined my forearm. I stared into her crystalline blue eyes and I could feel something oddly soothing. Her warmth began to flow through me... calming me.

"Nate, you may be the only person in the galaxy who can help her. Look at what you have achieved since you were freed. You became an Alliance Marine, you completed a notoriously tough N7 programme, you are the first and only human SPECTRE and you are fighting an enemy that is capable of wiping out an entire civilisation. Yes you may have your demons, but most of us do, that doesn't mean that you aren't an amazing individual. You are proof that she can still live her life in spite of suffering such immense trauma."

It suddenly began to dawn on me the things that I have been able to achieve whilst being a part of the Alliance for so many years. I have been on destroyed slave rings, I have rescued politicians, brought down drug smuggling rings, rescued colonies, survived impossible odds, became an N7 and I'm now a SPECTRE. And I achieved all of that with my past weighing me down and bureaucrats holding me back because I wasn't PC or my personality would rub the media the wrong way. If I can do this then she can do anything and I'll help her in any way that I can.

But I'm not fixed and I may never be fully whole. Even with all my defects I've still managed to find some semblance of normalcy thanks to Rylee, Hannah and David. Maybe I could do for her what they did for me.

I can't let her go through with this, she still has a lot to offer the galaxy and she can't do that while she's dead. However, do I really believe that I'm the one who can convince her to not pull the trigger? There's only one way to find out.

"Come on, you're coming with me," I instructed the doctor. I led her to the airlock and stepped out into the familiar Earth atmosphere. It was winter in Vancouver, thus it was really cold.

Rylee wasn't the only one outside right now. Garrus, Wrex, Tali, Kaidan, Ashley and even Joker were out here too. Maybe they were going to resupply or try to buy specific weapons and upgrades. However, it's more likely that they were curious to see what was going on.

A man in Alliance uniform's face lit up upon seeing me. "Commander, I'm Lt. Girard. Lieutenant Shepard has been talking to her for 10 minutes now but… I don't think she's getting anywhere Commander. She's taken a few steps forward, but the woman just seems to get more anxious and angry."

"Lt. clear this area of anyone who isn't on my crew. Your men and yourself included," I ordered.

"But Co-"

"SPECTRE Authority. Do it NOW!" I growled.

He was clearly angered by my orders but he had no choice but to do it. I am a senior officer and I'm a SPECTRE. "Just don't push her too hard ok. If she seems liable to pull the trigger, take a step back or even walk away," he said before walking away.

I turned to Liara and she nodded. After taking a deep breath to steady myself, I approached Rylee and tapped her on the shoulder. "Let me take it from here."

"But why?"

"Rylee, please listen to him. He knows what he is doing," Liara pleaded. The two of them exchanged looks before Rylee walked away.

"Help her Nate."

I eyed Talitha up whilst her focus was on her gun. She had grown up a lot ever since we'd last seen each other. That thought depressed me more than anything, how much she'd grown just showed how much suffering she'd experienced.

"S-Stop! What do you- What are you?"

She doesn't remember me… I guess that makes sense, I don't remember anything about my life before that. Bringing up our past right now doesn't seem like the best idea. Maybe I could get through this entire ordeal without telling her it's me.

"I'm Commander Anderson, with the Alliance. What's your name?"

"Animals don't get names. The masters put their symbol on her. Hot metal all over her back. She screams when they do it."

"You're not an animal. And I don't want to hear what those bastards called you. What was the name you were born with?"

"Talitha, they called her that. Sh… she doesn't remember the rest… Leave her alone."

"What's the last thing you remember from Mindoir?"

"The smell of burning flesh and smoke. Animals screaming as the masters cage them. As they put the metal to their backs. Put the wires in their brains. She pretends to be dead. If she's dead, she can't work. But they know. She hopes they'll leave. But they put her in the pen. She didn't fight. She was already broken when they put the wires in."

It made me boil with anger that she called herself and other humans animals. I remember back when I thought the same way. The REDS taught me to be proud to be human. But the aliens always told me that humans were gutter trash and animals, barely fit to be alive.

"You were just a child. No one blames you for hiding and hoping the monsters would go away. They were bigger than you and there were more of them, if you'd fought back they would have killed you," I assured.

"She wants to believe that, she wants to believe nothing would change. She doesn't want to be there anymore. In the pen, in the cages. Lying quiet, while they do things to her," she tried to fight back the tears.

I remember that crying could be punishable by death. But the pain in her voice was evident. She's like me, we both want to stop going back to the cages, the main difference being that she's only just escaped.

"I'm going to take a step towards you now. Okay?" I warned

She jumped and shook with fear "No! She's no good. Don't want to be handled again!" she shrieked.

I raised my hands in the air to show I was harmless. "How did you get here? Did you escape?"

"She can't escape. They have chains. Wires. Needles. You go too far they take your brains away."

"Animals like her come. Animals with guns. They make the masters explode" she shuddered, almost as if she pities the slavers. Did she… start to care for her captors?

"She tries to fix the masters. So they won't be mad at her. She puts all the reds and purples back in. But they don't move. The other animals take her."

She tried to heal the slavers after they were dead. I'm not entirely sure whether to be angry and deeply saddened at her naivety. Stockholm's Syndrome is a real bitch, when I was freed, I did nothing, I just thought that I would wake up in the morning and nothing would change. I only started to believe I was free when I was put in the orphanage.

"You're fear took over. You didn't want your masters to abuse you in case they woke up,"

"If the animals can see her, then this is real. But it can't be, the wires, the chains, the hitting." She muttered. She doesn't want any of it to be real, she doesn't want the abuse to have ever happened.

"This doesn't happen to her. It's another girl. A dirty girl. A stupid girl. She deserves it." she tried to convince herself that none of this had ever happened to her.

"I-It happens to her. Doesn't it? They see her, so it's real. She doesn't want it to be real"

To her, seeing the humans in front of her cements the fact that all the abuse wasn't a bad dream. She doesn't want that to be true. I get that, I always wish that everything that happened to us was a horrible nightmare that never really happened to us.

"I'm taking another step towards you. Okay?" I warned again.

"She doesn't want- Don't touch her!"

"What happened to your parents?"

"There's… she sees them. They're yelling. Run. Hide. They hit the masters. But the masters, they have lights and hoses. Daddy's… he's melting! Sh- she doesn't want to see that! Don't make her look! Don't look! Stupid, stupid!" she broke down. The parallel between our ways of dealing with this was disconcerting. Even after being free for 14 years I can't seem to shake this.

"Talitha, it's not your fault. The slavers killed your parents. You had nothing to do with it. And you're incredibly strong for surviving those 18 years."

"She's not strong, she's weak and stupid! All humans are! That's what the masters say. She sees them… mommy and daddy. Burning in white light. Melting, going to pieces…. They can't even say anything to her. They're dead Anderson. They tried to save her and the masters burned them…. Can she stop remembering now please!"

Rylee had somehow managed to get beside me with neither of us noticing. "I was on Mindoir. My father died in the raid and I lost my brother."

"I told you to leave, Liar. You get hit for lying. You get the buzz or the burning. Can't be there." She denied.

Rylee has never told me anything about the raid or her father. And this is the first time I'm even hearing of her having a brother.

"Liar! Why are you alive? Why are you… why aren't you like her? Broken, only fit to dig and carry"

"My brother… when he heard the batarians coming… he pushed me into a destroyed building where I could hide in the rubble before they spotted us both. I don't know whether he's dead or still enslaved. That building happened to be someone's home so there was food and a bed in the basement. I stayed there alone for 3 days until my mother found me."

"So you're brother saved you…. Maybe if she had one she would have…"

Shit she's thinking of even more what if's right now. If she goes to the wrong place in her mind she'll pull the trigger.

"Rylee, back up," I whispered.

In that moment where I turned to acknowledge Shepard, Talitha had the aimed gun at her head.

"Talitha, please let me take another step toward you"

"NO! No more steps. I'll put her to sleep now. No more bad dreams, no more masters or animals. No more of her."

I can't let her die. I refuse to let those sick bastards take her life. Here goes nothing. "It's Nate, Talitha. Do you remember Nate?"

Her face showed confusion before returning to her usual denial. "Nate? No that's impossible, Nate abandoned us a very long time ago. He stopped being there with us. Stoped taking punishments for me. Stopped holding me when I was scared. She hated Nate"

"It is me Talitha look," I removed my shirt and slowly turned my back to her, revealing the same brand on my back. I heard a gasp coming from my combat crew. Looks like it's not a secret anymore. Rylee's eyes grew as wide as saucers at this revelation and her hands started shaking. It's too late now.

She now had the gun aimed at my back, which caused my squad to aim their weapons at her "Everyone stand down… I can handle this."

"You left her to sleep in the cold on her own. You made the masters angry and slaughter the animals."

"They punished you for my rescue?" I breathed. I'd never given much thought to what happened to the slaves that remained at the compound. I was too focused on trying to forget what happened there, that I forgot about the slaves were still alive.

"The masters set us on fire…everyone else died but her… they made the dirty girl clean up the mess and scrub the cage."

"It's too late for her, Nate. Please let her die, she wants to stop going back there and killing herself would stop that," she begged as her finger quickly approached the trigger.

I looked at her and a tear started to form in my eye. I still feel that way every once in a while, that burning desire to end your life. When the nightmares get too intense and you can't help but go back there. The burning. Electrocuting. Cutting. Bleeding. Choking. I just wished to end it so I could stop dreaming. But I didn't because that would mean the aliens won. The REDS made me determined to prove the aliens wrong, that humans were strong and not gutter trash or weaklings.

"It's not too late Talitha. You still have the rest of your life ahead of you. I mean look at me. After I was saved, I ended up joining the Alliance and now I'm one of the top soldiers in the galaxy and I'm a SPECTRE… I did that even with all those nightmares and visions in my brain. This doesn't have to define you. You can push past it, but you can only do that if you're alive." I pleaded for her not to end it.

"She's not like you Nate. You always tried to protect and take care of her. She crumbled after you abandoned her… she missed you," she revealed.

"I'm sorry that you had to experience that, Talitha. I truly am. I wish that you escaped with me. But that's in the past, I can help you through to the future, but please I beg you...put the gun down. Then we'll help you... help you the way they helped me," I begged.

She slowly lowered the gun from her head until her hand was hanging lazily at her side. "She… I want to get better"

"Here are some pills, they'll make you fall asleep. I'll make sure they take you to a place where they'll make you better" I promised.

She took the pills "Will she have bad dreams?"

I approached her and took her into my arms. "This is powerful stuff. You won't dream about anything," I reassured. I know at this point that's what she needs to hear.

"She'd like that. It hurts when she- I remember me. But she wants to remember," she announced before falling unconscious. She fell into my embrace, so I lifted her bridal style.

When I turned, my entire combat crew tried their best not to let any emotion show. However, their eyes betrayed them. Kaidan and Tali refused to look me in the eye, whereas Wrex and Garrus appeared to be actively trying to look me in the eye. I can feel the atmosphere change from that of worry to that of pity. Fuck their pity! I can't stand that emotion especially when it's directed at me. I refuse to let this hold me hostage any more. I'll power through and I will become the leader that they deserve. Then I'll shove their pity down their throats.

"Tell Lt. Girard that she's asleep." I said whilst walking out of the docking bay, but not before exchanging looks with Rylee. All I saw was more of that damned pity.