Hi all you wonderful readers!

Thank you for all your support! Love the reviews, that you fave this story and that you follow it so you can read the next chapter as soon as I publish it! Really, really love the love I get from you all! Thank you!

Happy to tell those who wondered about my grandparents that they're both finally home again! Hope they will stay that way and that they will get as good and healthy as they possible can despite their sickness.

Also another thing I would like to share, that makes me happy- My big brother is getting married again tomorrow, officially this time! Also we had a preview of the Summer here today in Sweden. First in forever! 23 degrees celsius, I guess that would be about 73.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Hope that will stay that way.

Well, enough of me... Now to the chapter which will be all John.

Hope you enjoy!

Escape the Fate

Chapter 16: Geth on Feros

John's POV

Feros. A planet filled with crumbling Prothean ruins of a megalopolis. Some of the ruins still stood tall over the clouds, like skyscrapers and it really showed how spectacular the Protheans had been. The outpost of Zhu's Hope had been built into one of those crumbling skyscrapers and had been heavily attacked by the geth for a while now.

John and his team had barley had the time to step a foot on the planet before they had been attacked by those damned synthetics, resulting in another colonist being killed right in front of their eyes. John already knew the situation was dire, but it was even worse than he had expected. The geth was everywhere and kill anyone they saw, no matter if they had weapons or not. They showed no mercy. And although John hadn't expected to find anyone alive, he had been both shocked and amazed at the same time when they indeed had seen the resistance the survivors had managed to make. Most of them wasn't even soldiers, yet they had picked up a gun and defended themselves. It calmed his guilt a little yet his heart told him they should have been there sooner.

It seemed the geth didn't give the colonist much rest. They had barley crossed the outpost and the fallen freighter before the geth attacked again. John and his team didn't hesitate for a second and followed the fight into the tower with its narrow hallways and many flights of stairs. Although they threw everything they had at the geth, they still kept coming strong and some even managed to get past the resistance and heading down to the outpost.

"I don't want to die. Please don't let me die," a male colonist said in both desperation and fear as they headed up another flight of stairs.

"Watch out!" John yelled as a rocket was heading their way through the doorway and he ducked behind the nearest cover.

The rocket exploded against the fallen piece of structure and removed a large piece of it, resulting in dust and stones flying at every direction. John lied on the floor and shifted to his sniper rifle. There was no way he would be able to move forwards at the moment. Because of how narrow it was, it made it hard for the team of four to mobilize and work as they normally did. It was both for the good and the bad, depending on who you were referring to.

Both John and Garrus stayed behind the large debris and placed their sniper rifles on it, while Kaidan and Quinn moved up to the door and took each a side of it. Behind it was another hall, filled with geth. They were firing at them with rocket launchers, shotguns and assault rifles which barley gave them a second to fight back. There was even some geth that actually tired to get past them and down towards the colony.

"Incoming!" Garrus warned as another rocket headed their way.

Both ducked behind cover and John pulled out his pistol while lying on the ground. Debris and dust fell on top of them and a cloud of it obstructed their vision. John rolled to the side and kept an eye at the stairs to see if any geth tried to slip by them. It didn't take long before he saw a flash of light moving down, but it kept an eye at his direction.

Another rocket kept the two pinned down to the ground, but it didn't stop John from shooting at the geth going down the stairs. But the dust and debris flying made it hard for him to get a clear shot and he missed. He was afraid it would get out of his reach, when a mass effect field stopped it from getting any further. John took a risk when he leaned out from his cover to shoot the thing in the head and it fell to the ground.

"Rocket!" Kaidan yelled.

Before John had a chance to react, he was pulled back behind cover and an blast of fire, smoke and debris fallowed. He looked at where he had just laid, and was the small hole. He turned to the turian and said grateful; "Thanks."

"That was a close on, Commander," he replied before getting up on his knees again to take a look.

John fallowed the turian's lead and got up on his knees. Kaidan was still where he had last seen him, at the door. While Quinn on the other hand, had taken the opportunity to slip by and into the open hall. Defying his orders once again, but at least it seemed like she hadn't snapped yet, like she had done the previous times they had encounter the geth. At the moment she was smashing another geth into the wall with her fist which was covered in her biotic which was boosting up her strength to an unnatural level. Up close and personal as usual. As the geth had its momentum knocked out of it, it didn't have the time to recover before Quinn shot it in its stomach with her shotgun.

Another geth was about to surprise the pirate with bashing it's butt into her back and she didn't seem to notice. And even if she did, there was no time for her to react nor for him. But fortunately, the turian next to him had already his eyes on the A.I. and before it even had the time to strike the pirate, he shot it in its optics and it fell lifeless to the ground.

But what surprised John was that the pirate didn't even bat an eye to her almost killer, nor did she even turn to see who had shot it. Instead she moved on to the next geth which came through the door. During the fight, John watched how Quinn continued to recklessly put herself in the danger and got the attention of nearly every geth. Though not all of the A.I's focused on her, she still demanded most of their attentions even if she knew there was no chance she could take them all out herself. The narrow hall restricted her from using her biotic charge and it put a huge strain on her kinetic shield and armor, yet she stayed in the open. Even if it made John anxious every time his sister put herself in that position and it annoyed him to the fullest when she didn't listen to orders, he had to admit it amazed him how little damage she actually took. That shield and armor she had was truly outstanding and nothing like what the Alliance used.

Kaidan remained behind the door and in cover as ordered. He busy himself with putting up barriers in the staircase to prevent the geth from getting down to the colonist to help the pirate. Whenever that barrier died or was taken down, he pulled as many geth he could away from the stairs with his biotic. All the while defending himself and staying in cover so that he wouldn't get hit by the rockets which kept coming at the three men standing at the top of the stairs. He even froze those that managed to get past him and John before they got out of their reach.

Garrus also stood put and behind cover. But as a sniper he didn't need to be anywhere else, but the rocket launcher made it difficult for the turian as well to put his weight in. John wanted to help his sister, but it was hard to get his hands on his rifle and be able to get out of cover long enough to use it. That and the geth which headed down the stairs and was shooting at them from another angle. The rocket launcher didn't target the pirate as it would also endanger the geth wielding it and its comrades.

"Screw it, we need to take that rocket launcher down now," Garrus said as he pushed himself off of the ground and put his eye into the scope. Although John could hear the rocket being launched, the turian stood put and a moment later, fired. "Got it!" He said as he ducked down just in time as the rocket flew over their heads and into the wall over the staircase.

The two snipers immediately got up on their knees and was now able to join the fight much more efficiently. Garrus kept his eye to the scope of his rifle and covered the pirate easily. John on the other hand, jumped between his rifle and pistol as he focused on the ones who went for the stairs.

"We're pushing them back," Kaidan said as the geth began to withdraw back through the door in the hall and where they had come from.

"Stay on them," John ordered as he stood up and jumped over the debris.

Cautiously they fallowed the geth with John taking the lead. He carefully stepped over the corpses of both human colonists and geth before walking into the next room. It was spacious and could have been some sort of auditorium fifty thousand years ago. Large parts of the roof had caved in and laid scattered all over the floor, giving them plenty of cover. The sky was looking in and he knew the geth had came through there. There was a small staircase leading up to a higher platform which followed along the left wall and further into the room. But the first though that crossed his mind as he saw the open space, was that he knew the pirate would charge as soon as she laid her eyes upon it and would let herself be taken over by whatever spell that came when she encountered the geth. So far, the narrow halls had kept her in check and not being able to move freely. But this would give her an opportunity to let go, making her careless, reckless and even dangerous to all of them.

He turned to order her to stay in cover, but the familiar biotic flash flew past him before he even got the chance to open his mouth and she had crossed the room. He was too late. Barley a second later, there was a smash against one of the walls and he threw his head back to see the large geth falling to its knees with Quinn standing not far from it, catching herself in the momentum and straighten herself up. But as she had charged, she had not considered where the rest of the quarian built A.I.'s stood. A large one was just slightly to her left and dangerously close. Then there was three more further back and they all had taken notice of her.

"Quinn, behind you!" He called to her as he took aim at the closest of the geth, but with her standing in front of it, it made it difficult to shoot its optics without the risk of hitting her instead.

Her head snapped up at the large geth as it was about to strike her. Slightly before the blow to the side of her neck, she ducked away by letting her head fall back, following with her body which resulted in a backward flip. As soon as her hands touched the floor, her biotic flared up once again and once crouching on her feet, she jumped at the geth's back and slammed her fist into it. The geth fallowed it's comrade and went straight into the wall next to the previous one which had gotten back up on its feet and was about to shot her with its assault rifle.

But that one didn't last for long as it got a few shots to its head. John turned his head to see who had taken the shot, and found Garrus standing with his sniper rifle. Again he had coved the pirate flawlessly.

"Drones!" Kaidan warned and John's eyes shot to the air where he indeed saw three drones.

The three of them barley had the time to react before they were shot with lasers and they had to back into cover again. Garrus retreated back behind the wall while both John and Kaidan headed for a large piece of the fallen roof, though leaving them quite exposed to the drones when they decided to move.

There was no chance for neither Kaidan nor John to help the pirate with the geth. The thought of Jenkins came to John's mind and he remembered that the geth drones would be able to shot right through their shields if they weren't careful. Shifting from his sniper rifle to his assault rifle, he dared to catch a glimpse out of cover. The three drones flew closer all the while the other geth focused was divided between the pirate and her guardian sniper further behind him and Kaidan. The two Alliance soldiers seemed to have a much more difficult time than the other pair and nearly got a shot in. Kaidan tried to use stasis to freeze one of the drones, but missed just slightly. When that didn't work, he tried to pull at them with his biotic, but not even that seemed to work.

John tried to get one of the drones into his scope and when he thought he had it, it was either that another one decided to shot at him at that time or the drone decided to suddenly change direction. Of all the things he had ever encountered, these geth drones was on the top ten list of his most annoying encounters.

"More incoming!" Quinn yelled suddenly and John heard the sound of an incoming ship.

As he looked up, he spotted a Geth dropship approach the tower and four more geth dropped and landed on the floor with a heavy thump. They rose up from their crouched position and one of them actually had another rocket launcher. Now they had three drones, two geth with assault rifles, one with a sniper rifle, a large one with a shotgun and a large one with a rocket launcher. Their situation had rapidly turned extremely dire.

The drones still pinned John and Kaidan to their cover and barley had the chance to shoot at anything. Garrus tried to avoid the sniper all the while backing Quinn up, who was out in the open and used her biotic to charge between the two with assault rifles, the large one with the shotgun and avoid their fire. But with the rocket launcher, there was no way of telling how things would go next.

At first, John had no idea how to deal with the situation.

"What should we do? We're pinned down," Kaidan said from his right, his tone slightly alarmed .

"We need to take out the Rocket Trooper," Garrus called from where he stood. "Quinn can handle the Geth Troopers and Geth Destroyers or a little while longer.

"Rocket Trooper, Geth Trooper and Geth Destroyer?" John asked curious as he gave another shot to try to take one of the drones out.

"Easier to tell them apart, if they got a name," the turian said to justify it.

As funny as it sounded, John didn't think more of it. He had to come up with a way to even their numbers to give them more of a chance. If it continued like this, then they all would eventually be picked off one by one. As he was mentally pounding his brain for any quick ideas and keeping an eye on the drones, he actually missed one of them which flew closer.

He didn't see it coming until it was too late for him to get completely out of the way and the laser went straight through his shield and struck him on the outside of his right thigh.

"Ahhgh!" He yelled as he landed on his side out in the open.

But John ignored the pain he felt and pointed his rifle at the drone and fired. It was too close to miss and was struck immediately, exploding in the air and the pieces scattered around them.

"Commander, watch out!" Kaidan called.

John's eyes shot to the geth on the other side of the room where Quinn was and saw the geth Rocket Trooper shot a rocket straight at him, followed with the Geth Destroyer charging. He had to move out of the way or he would be blown into pieces. He tried to stand up on his leg, which was bleeding quite heavily, but the leg faltered. He desperately tried to stand once again, but the leg wouldn't let him move as quickly as he wanted. His eyes shot up at the incoming rocket and when he thought it would hit him, he instinctively launched his arm over his head to protect it, though he knew it wouldn't do much to save him.

There was an explosion, but he didn't feel the impact. Curious to what had happened, he lowered his arm slightly to inspect. There, in front of him, was a blue slightly transparent wall. It only stayed up long enough for him to get a glimpse of it before it disappeared. The heat from the fire touched his skin, but not enough to burn. But he didn't have the time to stay shocked for long. The Geth Destroyer was still charging at him and the two remaining Geth Drones was also giving him their full attention.

Although Kaidan still kept his focus on the drones and managed to freeze one of them with his stasis before he used his biotic to pull it to the ground, smashing it to pieces.

John pulled out a grenade from one of the small grenade pockets he had on his back and threw it at the Destroyer. It had no time to stop before it detonated. The whole room quiver by the strong impact, resulting in some lose or barley intact pieces of the roof falling. A large cloud of smoke filled the room, making it impossible to see what was going on, on the other side of the room.

Although they couldn't see what was going on, they could still hear it. Rapid and thundering gunfire from both sides letting them know Quinn was putting up a fight. A crushing sound which told them that the pirate had managed to take one yet another one, which followed with a loud and powerful shot.

Because they had no clear vision, both Kaidan and Garrus had turned their attention to the two drones which was flying over them. It seemed like the drones had a bit of a difficulty in finding a target, which gave the two the opportunity to shoot them down. Then the two didn't waste any time. Garrus headed into the evaporating smoke to help the pirate, while Kaidan moved over to John.

"How deep is it?" The Staff Lieutenant also know as the field medic, asked and threw an eye to his leg and began to examine it.

Although it was bleeding quite heavily, it didn't feel like it had hit an artery nor was it too deep expose the bone. It hurt because of the burning flesh but he had had worse. "Just put some medi-gel on, already."

"Right, of course," the man said and dug into his medical pocket for the salve.

As soon as the salve touched his skin, the pain immediately subsided until it was nearly gone. The salve also pulled at the skin, sealing the wound and the flow of blood. Every time he used the salve, he couldn't help but be amazed by the spectacular product.

"This will have to do for now, but I would prefer if Dr. Chakwas had a look at it," Kaidan said and put the salve back into his pocket before he stood up and reached out a hand to his commander to help him up.

"That'll have to wait until we're done here," John said and grabbed the man's hand and let himself be pulled up to his feet. Once up, he took a look over to the other side of the room and saw Quinn and Garrus take care of the last geth. The ship above them started to buzz up and as they laid their eyes upon it, it began to move away before they got a chance to shot at it. Again, they had managed to get out of a complex situation without any serious injuries.

"That should keep Fai Dan and the others safe," Kaidan said with relief in his tone as he watched the ship fly away. "After an update we can head out for the main geth encampment."

"Hey you, Pretty-Boy, give me that damned medi-gel, would you," Quinn said as both she and Garrus walked over to them.

Kaidan looked up at her immediately, panic and worry on his face as he scanned the pirate for injuries. John too scanned his sister for wounds with his gaze, but there was only a shallow scratch along her left cheek where a bullet had grazed her.

Growing impatience from their stares and the lack of action, she reached out her hand to the Staff Lieutenant and scowled with an intensive stare; "Now!

Kaidan recovered from his stare in an instant and ducked his hand into the medical pocket once again. "Yeah - right. Here," he said a bit uneasy and gave the salve to her.

She eyed the man for a moment longer with frustration in her eyes and ignored the questioning look he gave her. She turned to the turian and said firmly; "Turn around and stand still."

Garrus looked down at the salve in her hand for a second with a hint of worry in his eyes, John guessed, before complying to her orders. She lifted up his arm and revealed a gunshot wound to the side of his back. Though Garrus had showed no indication of being shot, no pain what so ever, the shot was very real. Though it hadn't gone in too deep as they all could see the bullet quite clearly. The kinetic shield, the armor and also his tough skin, had stopped the bullet for going in deeper and do some serious damage. Yet it was still a gunshot wound and needed to be taken care of by a doctor before an infection would set. Although they had medi-gel and other basic supplies with them to take care of wounds they sustained while out on the field, they still wasn't equipped to take care of a bullet which was still imbedded into the flesh. Regretfully, John would have to tell Garrus to return to the Normandy.

"Garrus, I'm sorry-" He began, but was cut short by his sister's actions.

Quinn had examined the wound, but as soon as John had opened his mouth, she had removed her right armored glove and pushed it into John's hands before digging her fingers and nails into the turian's back, fishing for the shell. Garrus barley made any sound, but his body trembled some by the pain as he tried to resist cringing out of her hold. All the two Alliance soldiers could do, was watch in both shock and awe as the pirate tried to pull it out.

"Maybe I should take a..." Kaidan said but decided not to finish the sentence.

With her other hand, she held the much taller turian still and the other still digging into is flesh. It was gruesome and unbelievable to see.

"Got it," she announced and presented the tiny bullet to them all in her blue bloody palm. Then she removed the lid of the salve and smeared much of it, into the wound. Once done, she tossed the container to Kaidan and smacked Garrus loosely on the shoulder and said; "Not bad for being a former C-Sec prick. You barley even flinched."

With a bit of an awkward chuckle, Garrus turned to her fully while stretching his back and rolling his arm to test the already healing wound. "Well, I've had worse injuries. But this is a first, having someone's fingers into my back."

"This is how we pirates deal with wound. It's not like we can get the fancy medical care like the rest of you," she said with a slight smile. "That leaves you with a lot of scars, though. Hope you're not too self-conscious about your looks."

"With this face?" He asked quite smug. which earned him a chuckle from the pirate

John watched the exchange between the two and he was confused. And by the look on Kaidan's face, so was he. Quinn was actually genuine with Garrus and a real smile appeared on her mouth. Though not as big and bright as he had seen when they were kids, but close enough. There was no tension, anger or apprehension between them.

Feeling quite uncomfortable all of a sudden, John decided it was time to leave. "We should go," he said and turned to leave with the other three following behind.

With a worried tone, but also something else that John couldn't pin point, Kaidan asked the turian as they headed down the stairs; "Maybe you should go back to the ship? Just to make sure you're alright."

"I'm fine. The medi-gel has already stopped the bleeding," Garrus said as they headed to the stairs.

"Yeah, but still. You were shot in the back," Kaidan pushed.

"And I'm fine, Lieutenant," Garrus reassured again.

There wasn't much to be said after that. John kept an eye on the turian, but as he had said, he looked fine and the wound didn't seem to bother him. As they got back to the freighter and the leader of Zhu's Hope, they had spotted the few geth which had managed to slip past them lying dead on the floor. Fai Dan, the leader of the camp and the woman, Arcelia, if he had heard right before, spotted them and lowered their guns as the group neared, both looking relieved.

"The tower's secure-" the leader said relieved and the man's shoulder slumped a little as the weight he had been carried on his shoulders was dropped for a moment. The man looked exhausted and everything that had happened had probably aged him a few years, but John spotted hope in the man's eyes which hadn't been there before. As the group stopped by the two, the man continued with much gratitude in his voice; "-Thanks to you, Commander."

Satisfied that he had managed to give the people there hope, John accepted the gratitude with an acknowledging nod and a smile to go with it. "I'm just glad your colony is safe."

But no matter how much gratitude he got, it still didn't erase the guilt he had inside of him. He still believed they should have been there sooner and then they would probably been able to save much, much more people. Although some of the delay was his fault, he still turned and eye to the pirate who was also the blame for their delay. But contrary to him, she felt no guilt nor shame.

"You're kidding, right?" The said woman roared through clenched teeth and stepped up to the leader and stared him straight into the eyes with an angry expression. "Him?" An arm flew his way which nearly hit him, but the pirate didn't notice. "You're thanking him and only him?!"

Surprised, chocked or maybe even confused, but definitely intimidated by her outburst. The leader looked at her with his eyes jumping from one eye to another as he tried to understand where she was getting at and having an answer for her, he stammered as he thought; " I'm-I'm-I'm not sure-" But the man cut himself off as Quinn's eyes narrowed in dissatisfaction when he turned to John for help with a pleading expression. But of course that only ticked the pirate off more.

"What the fuck are we? His cheering squad?" She spoke through gritted teeth and gestured with her hand to Garrus and Kaidan, who stood behind her. Though she did not see the look the two exchanged. Instead, she continued; "No thanks to the ones who actually did something?"

The leader and the woman next to him, who had gotten her guard up again, looked at the pirate not really knowing how to proceed. The good mood she had been in a moment ago was completely gone and for a second there, John thought he had imagined it. All he could do was sigh, but when the two colonists looked at him for an explanation to why he would allow an subordinate act out like this, he knew he had to defuse the situation.

With another heavy sigh, John grabbed a hold of his sister's arm and began to pull her with him to the side and out of earshot, but was also quite surprised when she allowed herself to be pulled. But once she thought they had gotten far enough, she stopped and forcefully removed her arm from his grip.

"What?!" She demanded, her eyes staring intensively into his own.

He was really getting sick and tired of always fighting with her. "Quinn, please-" He closed his eyes and begun to rub at his temple to remove the tension which was beginning to set and let the annoyance be evident on his expression, yet he let his voice sound calm. "-for once can you try not to butt heads with everyone?" He removed his hand from his temple and opened his eyes to stare her down.

Folding her arms over her chest, she let her eyes stay on his as her expression grew more grim and voice firm. "No." Then she turned her gaze back over her shoulder to the colony leader as she continued; "It's not like I'm helping these people from the goodness of my heart. I'm only interested in what Saren sent the geth here to do. Nothing else." She turned her head back to John, looking more serious than she had done before. "Yet, I helped save this piece of shit of a colony and all the thanks I get is- none. While you-," she forcefully pushed a finger into his chest. "-who barley did anything, gets the credit?! I'm not alright with that."

Another sigh escaped him. "He didn't mean it like that and you know it," he tried to reason. "We're here to help these people. It's not about who gets the credits for it."

"You're here to help. I'm not." She pushed her finger into his chest harder, which John pushed away and she got up closer instead, standing on her toes. "When are you going to get it that I don't do charity work?"

"When you get it that I don't leave people behind to die," he said strongly, pushing his face closer to hers.

Her eyes narrowed as they stared each other down. The blue color in her right eye was the same color he had in his, yet her eyes seemed to shine brighter than his. Or maybe that was just something he was imagining.

"Whatever," she finally said, then abruptly turned around and had her blonde ponytail intentionally slap him in the face.

Although it didn't hurt, he was surprised. Although he had won this conversation, she still always managed to win somehow. With another heavy, but frustrated sigh, he walked back to the group, with Quinn standing to the side and leaning against the large block of stone which had been used as cover from the geth.

"Is everything okay here?" Fai Dan asked as he returned and took a look at the pirate in concern.

John fallowed the man's gaze and met his sister's glare. It was a complicated question to answer. Although they had to work together, both of them knew that nothing would ever be completely okay between them. But for the moment, Quinn had accepted that things needed to be dealt with in a certain way, even if she wasn't too happy about it, it was still a step towards the right direction.

Turning his attention back to the leader, he answered rather dismissive of the subject; "Yeah. It's fine." And instead focused on the task at hand; "How's the colony?"

A tired, but appreciative smile crossed the man's face. "I appreciate your concern..." He threw the pirate a glance before continuing; "-and your efforts against the geth."

Although the dark haired woman next to him wasn't as calm as he was."They may have been slowed, but they'll be back," Arcelia spoke with a grave, but heavy tone. "They always come back."

John understood her anger. They had watched their whole colony being destroyed by the geth and many friends and loved ones had been killed. With a sympathetic look upon him, he turned his attention to her as he said; "Help us find what the geth are after and you'll all get out of here alive."

But it was Fai Dan, who spoke; "We don't know what they're after. They came, they attacked us. That's all we know." There was bitterness in his voice. "Their main base is at the ExoGeni headquarters. A good place to start looking if you want answers."

"What's ExoGeni?" It was Kaidan that asked.

"It's the company most of us worked for before the attacks," Arcelia explained, her tone had gone softer. "They fund this colony. The skyway leads directly to ExoGeni headquarters. You can't miss it."

John had never heard of ExoGeni before and got curious why a company would fund for a colony on a planet like this which looked like it had been raided so many times that even if there was something to find, it would be hidden an buried to deep into the planet that the only way of getting it was to cut the planet in half.

"What else can you tell us about ExoGeni?" he asked.

"ExoGeni funded this colony. Without them, we wouldn't be stuck here," Arcelia said and Fai Dan continued to explain.

"They specialize in colonization. In return for bankrolling the colony, we work for them. Their main goal is the retrieval of valuable artifacts or resources."

Desperation got into Arcelia's voice as she said to her leader; "Except there isn't anything here. Or if there is, we didn't find it."

Behind them, there was a scoff which drew their attention, but the pirate didn't elaborate even though she looked like there was something on her mind which was amusing her. The condescending look she had upon her wasn't missed by anyone either.

Ignoring her, John turned back to the pair and asked, his tone suspicious; "I wonder if that's what the geth are looking for?"

"Perhaps. As she said, we never found anything of value," the leader said.

"Of course, the geth could know something we don't," the woman said and looked at Fai Dan.

"There's an army of geth between here and there," said Fai Dan to his fellow colonist, but then turned to John again.

There was no doubt in his mind that the geth would have some serious defenses up and he would not like to be taken by surprise. So far they had all gotten away with some minder or less serious injuries, but for how long? The geth was picking up their game and getting tougher and it still felt like it was just the beginning.

With a serious expression, he asked; " What can you tell me about the defenses the geth have set up?"

Arcelia was the one who spoke and by the tone of her voice, he knew there was a hard fight up ahead. "They landed at least one geth ship at ExoGeni and I've seen large walking tanks on the skyway. Except a hard fight."

"I didn't expect this would be easy," John said honestly. No fight was easy and should be taken lightly. Mistakes was easy to make on the battlefield and some could cost gravely.

Although he felt like the conversation had ended and they were all pressing him on to leave for the geth, his conscience still couldn't just let him walk out of there and leave the colony without knowing that he had done all he could for it. "Tell me about your colony."

"Life is hard and often brutal, even without current problems," Fai Dan replied, a small sigh escaped him before he continued; "Affairs back on Earth told us we'd be beneath the notice of any raiders. I guess they weren't counting on the geth."

"Well that's because you don't have anything of value here," Quinn answered nonchalantly and they turned to her as she was checking over her shotgun, looking quite impatient. "Those third grade weapons you use-" she looked up and beckoned to the assault rifle the female colonist held. "-would be the most pricy thing you have on this dump-" her head tilted a little to the side, almost like she was talking to children, "-and yet I would waste more credits in finding a buyer than what I would get from selling it."Then she grew harsh. "We know about this dump and no sane raider would waste any resources on it."

The two colonist before him looked at the pirate stunned for a second, like they couldn't believe what she had just said. He also saw how they tried to figure out in their minds why she would know that kind of information. If the right thought had crossed their minds, there was no indication in their eyes as they looked at him for an explanation. One he didn't feel comfortable sharing, yet his sister made it hard to keep it low key.

"She's kind of an... expert in that area," he replied rather awkwardly and hoped he didn't have to elaborate.

These people was already on edge and he didn't want to add more stress to it by telling them his sister was a known pirate warlord. That they hadn't recognized her yet told him how isolated the colony had been and for the moment, he was thankful for it. But that didn't last for long. It took only a second or two more before the female colonist's face fell as she recognized the pirate.

"You're- Quinn Shepard... the pirate warlord..." The woman spoke with disbelief. "Why is she-" her eyes turned away from Quinn and back to John as she asked; "Why are you- why is the Alliance working together with a pirate?" Her tone grew accusing and harsh as her assault rifle pointed at him and his group.

John took a step back and his hands shot up as a none threatening gesture. "Woho there... easy." The gun moved between them all, but kept going back to the pirate as he guessed she was tempting the woman to shot, but he couldn't tell as he kept his eyes on Arcelia. "We're just here to help you with the geth." He shook his head slowly. "She's not here to hurt you or anything. She's here to help too."

It seemed like the woman was listening to him and contemplating what he had said. But when he heard a harsh scoff from the pirate, did he turn to give her a strict look which told her to shut the hell up. These people was already on edge, they didn't need another reason fire those guns. But the look he got from his sister was only a quite amused one. An eyebrow was risen and a small grin was also evident on her lips. When he was convinced his sister wouldn't do anything, he turned back to the apprehensive woman before him.

But it wasn't John who told her down, instead it was her fellow colonist and leader who put a hand upon her arm and lowered her gun as he said; "Arcelia, if the Commander says she's here to help us, then we need to trust that. They're our only hope to save the colony."

A quick glance was thrown his way from the woman before she reluctantly complied. Though her eyes returned to the pirate as she said harshly; "Fine. But I don't trust her."

"That's fine with me," Quinn said with a smug voice.

"How big was the original Feros colony?" John asked, trying to avert the attention elsewhere.

"We were nearly a thousand at the main site. Two hundred more at my outpost," Fai Dan replied. "When the first wave obliterated our defenses, we fell back to Zhu's Hope."

"The Normandy isn't huge, but we could airlift you out," he offered.

"The geth fighters are too dangerous. And I won't be driven off this world. It is... our home," Fai Dan said. "There is a chance for growth here that is simply not available on other worlds. There's something tranquil about this place. Unlike anything I've experienced before."

"What do you need done to get this place back on its feet?" John asked and thought about what he had overheard when they had walked into the camp. The geth had really made it hard for the survivors and he had overheard that they were in desperate need of food, water and power.

"We need those geth destroyed," Arcelia said harshly and looked back at John with an expression matching her tone before returning her gaze to the pirate.

"Arcelia is right," Fai Dan said. "There are still geth in the tunnels. We also have more mundane problems, like food, water and power. I'm not sure where we stand on those matters. You should talk to the people overseeing them."

"Oh no,-" He heard an all too familiar voice speak up and marching footsteps followed before she reappeared next to him once again, her expression filled with anger and the patience he had seen there before was now completely gone. "-I'm not doing errands for these people. Fuck no." Quinn took a stance between him and the two colonists. "I'm going to find out what the geth is fucking doing here! Nothing else. These people-" she turned to the two colonist with a condescending look. "They can fix their own damn problems!"

"These people need our help. They have no water, no food." It was Kaidan who tried to reason with her, his tone filled with sympathy that he hoped would reach her.

But of course, she couldn't care less for these people and their problems.

"So what?" She turned to the Staff Lieutenant. "If we don't kill the geth at the source, these people will still die." She rudely pointed at the colonists and spoke about them like they were nothing. "They can starve for a few more hours or go and fix their own damned, fucking problems. If they can stand up against the geth for this long, then they can damned well go and take out a few. I'm not risking my life for an errand."

"How can you be so cold?" Arcelia asked with anger in her tone. "These people aren't trained soldiers. Nobody taught us how to deal with horrors of war!"

Quinn turned her intensive stare at her as she said; "Die, then. As I see it, you have two options; one-," She took up a finger. "-we go and do your errands for you, the geth come back and attack you, -you're dead. Two-" a second finger, "-we go and do as I say and you either starve or fix your own problems. There you have at least a 50/50 chance of survival."

"Or we could send in a second team," Garrus suggested and they all turned to him with surprised expressions. "They go in to the tunnels, take care of the geth and fix the problems."

"Who would be in charge of that?" Kaidan asked and then turned to John.

He thought about it for a second. As much as he wanted to help the colony, he also knew they didn't have the time to fix every little problem they came across. If they wanted to catch Saren, then they had to stay on target as much as possible. And though he hated to admit it, his sister was somewhat right about what she said. They had capable people to do this who didn't need a commander to fix it and they all knew how to defend themselves.

Putting on his helmet again, he pressed on the com link to radio the Normandy. "Joker."

"Yes, Commander?" The pilot spoke almost immediately.

"Send Ashley, Wrex and Tali over here to help with a few immediate problems. Have them come and talk to Fai Dan about it."

"Roger that, sir."

"Shepard, out." John turned his gaze upon the colony leader. "My second team will be here in a few minutes. We'll head out and I'll talk to you when I learn more."

"Yes, thank you," the leader said grateful and bowed his head. "Good luck, Commander."

John turned towards the hall and found that Quinn was already walking into it, not bothering waiting for the rest. Again he released a frustrated sigh. Why couldn't she for once act like a normal subordinate? He followed his sister, with both Kaidan and Garrus behind him. It was quiet between them all as they headed up the stairs and the elevator of the tower. As they reached the top and the doors opened, they heard shooting.

"Watch out!" A colonist shouted and all four of them were already armed and headed out into of the elevator.

"Scouts. They'll be here any minute now," a second colonist said.

What they saw was a few geth drones hovering in the air and shooting at the two colonists, with one already lying dead by their feet. The two men looked tired and worn out like the rest of the colonists, but neither of them was harmed. Their friend had probably been taken by surprised and got killed for it. He also noticed the empty clips lying by their feet and guessed they were running low on ammo.

"I don't know how much more I can take," the first colonist shouted again with desperation as he took cover from the drones laser.

Even if they weren't trained soldiers, John thought they still deserved praise and honor for their courage. Although they were both scared, they still kept on fighting. As John got to the barrier they had put up, he saw the many drones and geth they had actually managed to kill. But as the two was exhausted, most of their shots missed the moving targets.

They barley acknowledged the four new people who was helping them. To focused and scared, the two men kept on shooting at the drones, miss or no miss, until they crashed against the ground. Even then they kept on shooting just to make sure the drones couldn't come back and hurt them.

"Thank you for your help," one of the men said grateful.

"You both did a good job," he said to the two men and gave an encouraging path on their shoulders. "I know it haven't been easy for you, but know that what you're doing is helping your colony to survive."

"Thank you, sir," the two men said in union.

"I'm driving!" He heard the familiar voice of his sister yell from somewhere behind him and averting his attention and thoughts from the speech he had in store for the two men.

As he turned around, he saw her sprint for the vehicle and similar model as the Mako they had upon the Normandy. "What?" John said from where he stood. "No! I'm driving!"

But the pirate didn't listen at all and stepped into it. He may be such a guy when it came to driving, but he loved it! There was no way he would let her drive or be in control of a vehicle with weapons on it.

"Please, Commander. Let her have this one," Kaidan said, his tone almost pleading.

"You know she will only complain during the whole ride," Garrus also chipped in and agreeing with the human biotic.

"Yeah. It's either her complaining, her wanting to handle the guns or her driving," Kaidan continued. "And you know her driving would be the least painful way to go, Commander."

Fussing a little, John said rather reluctantly, "Fine. She can drive."

While John sulk, he didn't notice the relief in the human and turian faces.

Thank you for reading!

Please tell me what you think and don't forget to fave and follow if it is to your liking!

Sorry but there will be no teaser this time... I have to go to sleep and get up early to watch my brother get married! =D

Which character is your favorit in the games and the one you hate the most?

What did you think of Andromeda?

I would really like to know!

And which of these choices did you make the last time you played?

1. Romanced Ashley, Kaidan or Liara?

2. Kill or save the Rachnai queen?

3. Save or kill Wrex?

4. Ashley or Kaidan dies on Virmira

5. Save or Sacrifie Council?

6. Anderson or Udina as Councilor?

My last play through;

1. Kaidan

2. Kill

3. Save

4. Kaidan - So didn't finish the romance.

5. Sacrified

6. Anderson