Riding shotgun on the roller coaster of death

Coughin up blood as you falling toward the light

Pulse is slowing down your maker's in sight

Shotgun to the face send you to the sky

Chapter 25

...Is Always Through

The Spectre, SR-2 and Talon squads were about to put Shepard's plan into action. No one wanted to stick around in case more Eclipse mercenaries had been sent.

"Shepard... Markus, you don't have to do this. You can barely stand."

James had given Shepard what little medical care he could while the Talons drove the shuttles. They were cramped, smelled like a marine rec lounge the day after new years and looked like it was held together with nothing but chewing gum and wishful thinking, but it got them to the shuttle bay on K deck.

"I'll be fine Tali," Shepard reassured her. "Not the first time we've walked head first into a suicide mission is it?"

"That's my point! You told me that you could feel your luck running out. Don't push yourself like this."

"NO!"

The others looked at him surprised by the emotional outburst.

"No. I won't just walk away. I already killed a friend because I cut my losses. There was enough time, I could have gone back and saved him..." His jaw was shivering as his breaking voice drifted off. "I left Kaidan behind. It's my fault he's dead, not Saren's. And now, after we've been through ten kinds of hell in the last three years there is no way in hell that I'm gonna let some psychopath kill two more of my family."

It was Garrus' turn to comfort his friend now. "Shepard, none of us will argue the second half, but what happened with Kaidan wasn't your fault. There was no way you could have predicted another drop ship would show up so quickly. It was just... bad luck."

"The nuke detonated after five minutes. Minimum safe distance was four minutes. That left sixty seconds to go back and save them. Sixty! I should ha—it's my..." He couldn't even finish his sentence. This was something he had held in for nearly four years. Four years of outwardly blaming Saren, when he felt that it was really him who killed Kaidan.

"Listen," Bray said. "I don't mind you lot having a touchy-feely moment here, but could we get on with this before that crazy bastard blows up half of the station I live on?"

Ashley was tied to Cortez, both of them strapped with remote explosive charges around their necks, wrists and ankles. It was designed to keep them from moving quickly in an escape attempt. They had been given just enough pain killers so they could stand. She was still dizzy and Cortez's gunshot wound made him almost as unsteady.

"You know," Kirby grumbled as he paced back and forth. It drove her crazy. Every time he turned around, she thought he was going to lose it and put a bullet in each of their brains. "I'm starting to think that Shepard might not show. You think he'd be pissed if I killed you two now? I mean, I do have other jobs I need to be doing."

"I think you're a fucking nut-bag and Shepard'll slit your throat and let you bleed out on the ground." She spat back.

He sighed. "So ineloquent. Marines have no sense of poetry what so ever. There was one exception though, a crusty old bastard I knew, Zaeed I think. Now that guy could turn a phrase." The way he said it was as if he actually were disappointed in Ash's simplistic, but tenacious words.

She was about to make another rebuttal, but Cortez whispered to her asking her to stop. "Don't get him too riled," He whispered. "We need to buy Shepard as much time as we can."

"Buy him whatever time you want to. He's still gonna die few minutes after he steps in here."

"Why are you doing this?" Cortez asked.

"KIRBY!"

"Ah, the guest of honor has arrived." A sly, gleeful grin crept up Arjen's face as Shepard walked in to the shuttle bay that had been set up like an arena. The hulks of wrecked vehicles had been pushed aside to form a circle blocking all but two of the entrances. A few of the skycars still had tiny flames going inside or on them giving them the ominous glow like a torch in a dungeon. All though a sacrificial chamber was probably a more fitting description.

Shepard walked in from the far side across from Kirby and his hostages, James just behind him on his left.

"You know, I thought I told you, only one witness."

"I did. James here is the only person I brought with me."

"Aaand yet, you've got snipers lining up shots right now." He looked up to the second floor. He wasn't completely sure where they were, but anybody with half a brain cell wouldn't trust him at his word. Hell, he wouldn't. He was a sociopath who enjoyed manipulating people after all.

"You know," he said to Shepard. "I've got a double dead-man's signal connected to your lackeys. One is constantly going. If it stops, BOOM! The other is keyed to my suit's VI. If I die, a signal will be sent to the charges and, well, you know... boom. You know what that means? The snipers you have waiting in the wings are useless."

"I didn't bring anyone one else with me. And if you're seeing marksmen, then you obviously brought someone with you. I keep my word, Kirby."

"Oh, god. Tell me you're not going to appeal to my humanity, forget it. This a business deal Shepard. I'm just the guy hired to kill you. And what they're paying me, oh-ho-ho-ho."

"Big check?"

"Big doesn't even cover it. Enough to buy myself half a solar system."

"Didn't think Cerberus had that kind of money anymore."

"Cerberus is defunct. Has been since you took out their headquarters almost a year ago. Doesn't mean their people aren't still alive."

"So who is the new bigwig?"

"Sorry Shepard, but I got no idea who it is." He turned to James who had been slowly moving to the side. "HEY! Don't think I don't see you, Steroids. Shame on you! Now don't you take another step."

James raised his hands and backed off.

"WRONG MOVE!"

Kirby pulled his M-3 and shot Ashley in the chest. With his injured foot, Cortez wasn't able to hold the two of them up. The pilot and marine fell to the ground in a thump.

James' armor fortification winked on, his armor glowing as he charged towards Kirby screaming a war cry that rivaled that of the most bloodthirsty krogan. Shepard charged in with him a second or two later but much quieter.

"Oh dear, the big bad marine is gonna come save the day," He said with bored sarcasm. Opening his omni-tool, he activated a pre-programed command. The floor behind James exploded sending the berserk marine flying forward. Shepard meanwhile had stepped on the plate sending him into the air, falling only a foot away or so from the initial blast point.

Skidding to a stop, Kirby slammed his armored boot across James' mouth knocking a couple teeth out then kicked his forehead. The two blows knocked James out.

"This," he said to himself more than anyone else, "is why I hate marines: no sense of eloquence. Just head-long charges. So barbaric."

Shepard shook away a bit of the dizziness. He knew going after Kirby directly would be a bad idea.

"Come now Shepard, I thought you only picked the best of the best. I mean come on. Way too easy to make this guy dance like a puppet."

Markus steadied himself as he got up off the floor. "You know, your brother would have no problem denouncing you as a bastard brother."

"Don't you dare... talk about my little brother like that! You never get to speak about him."

He wiped the blood away from his lip.

James' signal said he was unconscious but alive and stable. He had probably received a concussion from the blow, but he should make a full recovery. It would take more than a few knocks to the head to keep James down permanently.

He should have seen it coming though. Not only Kirby putting charges around the area but strapping a few to Ash and Cortez. It was so damn obvious that he could practically punch himself for not seeing it. This meant that the snipers he had set up couldn't take a single shot without risking a shot tearing through an artery. This would cause Ashley and Cortez to be killed through indirect

"Noell was a naval field medic, a healer-"

Kirby was practically frothing at the mouth as he bellowed. "I said, don't ever speak about him!"

"He chose the most dangerous assignments. Operations Fallen Traveler, Operation Pickpocket , volunteering on the more violent founding colonies in the traverse, Torfan... it's all clear what he wanted."

Kirby turned his gun on Ashley and Cortez. "You say one more word about my little brother, and I'll blow them sky high."

"I don't know what it was that killed him though, a mine or a stray round from one of the slavers, but I know how he died."

"I. Said. Be. Quiet!"

"He was only 19 when he died. He served for only ten months. In those ten months he soared to Chief Petty Officer if I remember right. But that's not the point is? He would have died of blood loss more than likely, and I'm willing to bet it was in your arms. Tell me, what were his last words? Was it 'kill them'? Is that it? Did he want you to throw it away? You see, I doubt that. Noell was, well, he was a healer." Kirby was enraged but in a complete trance. "When we served on Elysium together you said your parents died on Shanxi. That meant you went into a foster home, right? It would have been almost impossible for him to get enough money to attend a medical school, so he chose the Alliance. The deal he signed, five years of service for five years of school, right?"

"Get the hell out of my head!"

"It doesn't have to end this way. It doesn't have to end like Torfan. Not this time."

Kirby's head went slack looking at the ground, the arm holding his weapon away swaying slightly. "You-re... you're right." Kirby was crying almost beyond control as he spoke.

This was good. He was backing down. Shepard's mind was running at over a mile a second, trying to figure out how to get the explosives off of Ashley and Cortez.

"Heh heh heh heh. You really think that base level hostage negotiator crap will work? I mean come on! This is pathetic. I dealt with his death years ago."

'Oh hell...'

Kirby raised the gun up. "Sorry Shepard, but I'm about to be filthy stinking rich. All I have to do is squeeze this trigger here a few times. Honestly, how did you not see this coming? It's such a simple plan. Man, I can't believe you actually managed to survive this long being so retarded."

He was out of options. Activating his omni-blades Shepard charged forward, a second wave of adrenaline now pumping through his veins. The blade on his left side glowed a deep electric blue, the right a bright red-orange..

Tali saw everything happen through the scope of the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle 30 meters away. Shepard insisted she keep her distance from him and Kirby during all of this. He said he didn't want her near him, not with what had happened. There were two reasons she hated this. Part of it was that she didn't care for sniper rifles, but the vast majority was that she wanted to be with him. He was going on pure nerve and adrenaline right now. He was worn down physically and mentally.

Garrus and Sirilia were at two different points in the area. It was likely they were both on the second level like her. Maybe even the third level. There were a few holes in the floor where they could be poking through, but she hadn't taken the time to check.

Shepard linked his omni-tool to broadcast to the others' helmet radios. They could hear everything that was being said below.

"Aaand yet, you've got snipers lining up shots right now." Kirby said.

"Spirits!" Sirilia cursed. "Can he see us?"

"I don't think so. Shepard said he loves to prove his superiority. If he knew he would have pointed us out directly."

Shepard and Kirby did a little bantering back and forth. James meanwhile was trying to slip around behind Kirby.

"James, if you can get close enough I can piggyback on any broadcasting signals," Tali said. "If I can copy the signal I can start jamming the others, keep him from detonating it."

He couldn't send any audible or clear physical signal that he got the message. 'Kee'lah, please tell me he can get me into that signal...'

"Now don't you take another step," Kirby yelled to James.

'Did he hear her? Does he know what they're thinking?' She thought to herself. James took a slow step back to be repaid with a gunshot to Ashley. Tali's finger tightened around the trigger.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Garrus sounded panicked as he gave the order. "If we shoot now they both die."

Easing her finger out from the trigger guard, sitting it on the outside of the guard. She could just about kick herself for coming so close to killing her friends without even realizing it.

James though had taken up the initiative. She saw him charge forward followed shortly behind by Shepard. Their assault though was quickly interrupted by an explosion from beneath the deck plate below them. Shepard flew backwards while James rolled to Kirby's feet.

The psycho made a comment about stupid marines before kicking James twice in the head.

"How much longer are we just going to wait?"

"I have a reading on James' bio. He's alive," Garrus said.

"Garrus, he's going to try and kill Shepard and either way he'll kill Ashley and Cortez. We should take him out while we can!"

"Wait, you told... James..." Sirilia said unsure of the marine's name, "to scan for signals he's broadcasting?"

"Yes? So?"

"So," Garrus said. "It should still be running. Shepard, we need you to keep him as close to James as you can. We'll tell you when we've hijacked the signal."

She could hear Shepard talking to Kirby about his son. Her omni-tool was working quickly to find the wavelength that Kirby was using.

"I said, don't ever speak about him!" Kirby yelled. It was so loud that she didn't need to hear it through Shepard's radio.

She had eliminated 38% of the possible signals lengths being used. She tried willing it to go faster but to no avail.

The signals scanned through reached 73%. "Heh heh heh heh. You really think that base level hostage negotiator crap will work?"

"That's not good." Garrus said. "He's about to snap."

"Shepard, just stall him for another two or three minutes. I haven't gotten his signal yet."

Shepard's arms swung back activating his omni-blades. She had modified them to emit different tech powers. The left was a high charged overload that would paralyze if it came in contact with a person. No matter what species, it would leave them immobile from an intense charge coursing through their body's nervous system. The right was a highly flammable substance produced by his micro-fabricator, that infused it into the omni-blade. Tali had guaranteed him that it could cut through just about any material short of a silaris compound armor.

"Is he... is he going to try and fight him? This is crazy!"

"It'll work. He knows what he's doing." Garrus reassured her.

Shepard was an arm's length away when Kirby's produced a fuzzy blue glow. The bomber leaped up into the air at an unnatural height for a human, nearly eight feet in a high arc outside of Shepard's reach. As flew much of his glow disappeared as his arc became less stable.

"What's going on with his biotics?"

"They're unstable. Shepard said that even with the implants he can't do much more than the most basic manipulation of the gravity fields."

Kirby landed, and turned on a dime. Shepard hadn't taken his eyes off him but was too slow.

"So, he can't throw a singularity field?"

"He never showed enough power to do so before, so I think he should be fine. Problem is, he really shouldn't be trying to use an omni-blade against him. Why is he?"

Kirby's body gave another momentary blue fuzzy glow. He threw Shepard sideways into a crushed pile of skycars that stood about three meters tall.

She looked to her omni-tool. "I've isolated the signal. I just need to find a repeating point in the signal."

Shepard's back slammed into the skycar wall first and the omni-blades switched off. His head hit a moment later. He could hear as Tali gave off the percentage of signals she scanned that Kirby might be using. She had found which one it was, so now all he needed to do was stall Kirby for another minute. Maybe even less. She was an absolute whiz with tech after all.

Charging the deranged ex-Alliance soldier head first was a bad idea. Under normal circumstances he would have hit Kirby with an overload, but the double-dead man's switch made that a bad plan. He also couldn't just stand still.

"Come on you prick." He goaded. "Why don't you actually fight me like the man you pretend to be."

"Me? How about you? I mean, are you even trying to hit me? Ooohhh. I get it now. The big bad undead soldier is needing his little girlfriend to hack my dead man's switch?"

"Shepard," Tali said over the wireless "I decoded the signal. It isn't his body's biosigns. Listen."

"Kill the spirit and you'll be blinded, the end is always the same." It was a song was from an archaic metal band from two full centuries ago. He listened to it in his early teens when he would work out or be tinkering with the settings on something.

The surprise was showing across Shepard's face like a signal light. He had been trained to maintain cover IDs under the most scrutiny of individuals, endure days, possibly weeks of torture and give nothing but false information, to lay perfectly prone for two days straight waiting for the perfect shot through a sniper rifle, to build a makeshift IED capable of leveling a building in under five minutes, but hearing a madman's signal that was being used to keep a vest of explosives from going off was an old song he used to listen to as a child? That was something you're never quite capable of prepping for.

"I can tell by that dipstick look on your face that you've finally deciphered my signal. So, what do you think?" Kirby's hands glowed, reaching halfway up his forearm as he ran forward. He brought his fist up, preparing to crush Shepard's scull in. He ducked at the last minute. Kirby's fist dented the metal hulk where Shepard's head was a moment ago.

Twisting sideways he slammed his knee into Kirby's stomach knocking him back. Moving with the kick he rolled forward and swept Kirby's legs. He cushioned his landing and rolled to the side sending a throw field towards Shepard.

"That it?" The madman taunted. Shepard's shoulder was caught in the throw field and was sent in a spin.

Luck was on Shepard's side. He turned his feet into the wall and leaped off from it, slamming his shoulder into Kirby's stomach. The low grade gravity generators in Alliance armor allowed them to raise or lower their mass by up to 30% for alternate environments. With it running as high as possible, Shepard's weight was less than 170 pounds. The alloys that made up his replacement limbs were a little lighter than the muscle tissue and bone. And with the strength he had, it was an easy leap.

He could hear Tali say something over the radio but couldn't distinguish what the words were. The blood lust he was feeling was too strong. The only thing he could focus on was spilling Kirby's blood all over the floor. And not just in the traditional 'I want to make him bleed' sense, but in the sense of wanting to beat the man until there wasn't anything left even for the DNA scanners to be able to identify that there even was a body.

The two former special-ops soldiers punched, kicked and parried each other almost perfectly. Each blow that one blocked was blocked by the other, each punch that Kirby took, Shepard took one as well. Not even in the most caring parts of their minds did either of them think about giving even a tenth of a millimeter.

"Dammit Shepard," Garrus' voice finally came through. "Get clear so one of us can take a shot!"

His first instinct was to do it, but his gut said otherwise. It was a split second feeling, one that just comes and goes randomly. In his line though, that feeling often saved your life more than your brain. Simply put, it was used to keeping the rest of the body alive when the time it took to consciously process was all it took for that one slip-up, for something to go wrong in just the right way.

Shepard landed another punch to Kirby's jaw. It was the third blow to his head and the eighth total he scored. But this one came at a cost. A sharp pain erupted from his side.

He stumbled back, hand reactively moving to cover it up. There was a three inch blade handle shoved into the soft part of his armor. The blade itself was likely just as long, maybe a little less. But it didn't need to be long. He looked down at the knife then back to Kirby.

He almost stumbled, back but Kirby had other ideas. He knew Shepard had snipers in the area. But knowing something exists and knowing where it exists are two different things. Kirby zipped behind Shepard, moving the knife that was embedded in Shepard's kidney out and up to his throat.

"Anyone follows," Kirby yelled to the ambiguous darkness of the exposed second floor. "And I bleed him dry." Tali, Sirilia and Garrus were jumping down from their sniper perches and combat rolling onto to ground level. The dextros had their weapons trained squarely on Kirby. Or to be more accurate, at Kirby through Shepard.

"Let him go," Garrus said. "And I'll make sure the shot is clean and quick."

"Forget it." Shepard said. "Just shoot my leg and drop him with extreme prejudice."

Kirby dug the knife in a little deeper, just enough to draw blood. The blood glistened in thin lines as it trickled down his neck and rolled over the armor onto the crimson red of the dragon painted on the left side of his armor. The two reds became indistinguishable from each other. The growing stream began falling down below the dragon's neck and head, making it look as if the dragon itself were mortally wounded.

"Now, now Shepard," Kirby toyed. "While I'd love to hear the shrieks of terror and your voice gargling over your own blood, if I kill you now I get a new hole in my head. Personally, I prefer the number I have."

"So, this is it? You've got one hostage, Kirby. You kill me, they kill you. You slip up, I'll be the one who kills you. Face it, this isn't a winnable scenario."

Kirby had been pulling Shepard slowly towards the back entrance.

"So, what are you going to do?" Shepard asked.

"Man, I really wish you hadn't said anything, Shepard. You should know how volatile munitions experts become when their plans are torn apart. I tend to think up my plans after I'm neck deep in them. No pun intended of course. Well, maybe a little."

Shepard sighed, his muscles going slack. "You're right. Mind if I have a few last words?"

Tali's body was shaking slightly. "Shepard..."

"Tali, remember Despoina? How bad it ended?" He could only hope she understood what he meant.

"Yes."

"Good." He threw himself forward, allowing the knife to slash across his throat. His body went limp falling to the ground as the blood squirted out like a geyser for a few seconds. After that it began pooling quickly on the ground.

Tali and Garrus' rounds went wild as they fired their weapons. Kirby though had already rabbeted out the back. Tali ran to Shepard and fell down to her knees.

"Markus? Markus, please. Kee'lah no... no don't be... Markus!" She spoke a mile a second as she rolled him over onto her lap. Shepard had a slight grin on his face as his blood began spilling onto Tali's suit. She could hear Garrus was at the exit firing his assault rifle almost wildly and non-stop while swearing what had to be every curse in Turian. From the glimpses she saw out of the corner of her eyes, Sirilia was tending to Ashley and Cortez's injuries.

"I-I got medi-gel. Kee'lah, please don't die on me." She applied the anti-coagulant to the point it formed a second chin on his neck. An equally ample amount was applied to his gut wound.

He tried speaking but only a gargling sound came out. A second later his head fell to the side as his neck went slack.

"Markus? MARKUS?!"

Arjen was knocking people out of his way as he tried to get distance between himself and the shuttle pad. Shepard just had to go and throw a big ol' wrench in his plans, didn't he? Now his two most loyal worshipers weren't going to stop until he was hunted down and killed. But the worst part of it? Shepard may not be dead.

No, things were not good right now. He needed proof of death to get paid. And the plan he'd been given to take Shepard down had backfired terribly. He needed to contact his employer and report.

He tried opening a private line to his employer. Whoever it was, not only was a voice masker used making it sound like a computer, he couldn't even discern a possible gender from it. Not that it helped with today's technological abilities. If they wanted to they could make themselves sound like one of the Citadel Council if they wanted. The image was a darkened silhouette with an even darker background so Arjen couldn't figure out species. He knew it wasn't a salarian though. The horns would have been visible even in the bad light. And this made Arjen uneasy whenever he had dealings with them.

As his already bad luck had it, the call was responded to with a busy signal. "Rotten fuck." Arjen cursed. He needed to get to one of the safe houses. And the problem he was facing now, was the nearest one was more than two miles away and that was in a straight line. On a ship or station, straight lines were difficult at best.

A round flew past his head drawing his attention. Looking back while running was pretty much a rare thing unless you were shooting at someone yourself. Mostly that was due to the fact that you knew who it was who was shooting at you to begin with. Who the hell wanted to cap him now? As if he didn't have enough to deal with as it was. His attacker was a female quarian in a light purple suit with a pistol, and a turian in black armor carrying an assault rifle. Two of Shepard's friends.

Arjen started moving randomly through the crowds zigzagging his way through Omega's streets. A round firing every few ten seconds or so was all the evidence he needed to know they were still following him. Despite running at his top speed for nearly three minutes, they managed to run him down in the end.

Tali leaped forward grabbing Kirby's legs. The two tumbled forward nearly a foot as Kirby lost his footing.

She climbed on top of him, her Talon pistol which was set to its widest spread hovering just a few centimeters away from his face.

"Why? Why... did you... do it?" Tali asked. She had to take deep breaths between every other word.

"You mean... killing Shepard?" Kirby asked just as winded. "Simple. I was, paid to do it. It's nothing personal."

"Not personal?! You killed him! You kill dozens of people, try to kill him, just for money?"

"Hey hey hey! Easy there sweetheart. It's like I told him; I was hired to do a job. Long as they pay me, I don't care. And no offense little girl, but everything comes down to money."

"No offense here Zorah, but I've been trying to kill this guy for almost a year. Can we just get it over with?"

"No. Shepard would want information about who hired him. Now tell me who. Who hired you?"

"I don't know." He plainly said. "Sorry, but they're pretty damned paranoid about their identity. Even uses a voice and face masker. Your guess is as good as mine."

Sirilia popped a used thermal clip from her rifle. "Good enough for me." She said before putting two in Kirby's head. Some of the gray matter splattered onto Tali's suit and Sirilia's boots.

"Wha-why did you do that?"

"That bastard was directly responsible for the deaths of dozens of people. He didn't get to live. Now let's go."

The callous turian helped Tali up. "Come on. We need to get back to the Normandy. Somehow..."

May 16th, 2187

Tali hadn't moved from Shepard's body since it had been moved to the SR-2's medical bay. Chakwas let her use one of the beds next to Shepard. Ashley was sleeping across from Tali who was still recovering from her gunshot. Cortez had been released the day after he came in, Garrus and Sirilia only after a few hours combined. James was ordered to take it easy for the next several days. Despite this, he continued his rigorous daily workout in the ship's cargo hold. He did hold off though on anything that made his head move quickly.

Chakwas gave the former ship's engineer a slight shake to wake her up. "Hey kiddo, you feeling okay?"

Tali groaned as she woke from what the doctor hoped was a deep and pleasant dream. "Yeah. I guess."

"Huuurrrnnn... ferr merder bttle grr." Even Chakwas couldn't understand her former commander's sleepy wake-up talk so it was more than likely that Tali didn't either.

"Shepard!" Tali leaped from her bed over to his, hugging him like a hungry snake.

"Ow," He groggily groaned.

"Oh. I'm sorry. A-are you okay?"

"I feel like my guts are on fire, and my head's pounding like a maw hammer is coming down on it every two seconds, but yeah. I'm okay."

"That would be the medications." Chakwas explained. "Tali was a little overgenerous with the medi-gel, so I needed to use some of my more aggressive and painful medicines."

Tali started to apologize, but Shepard cut her off. "Hey, I'd prefer a lot of pain to being a corpse any day. Thank you." He pulled her in with his left hand and gave her a loving kiss on the forehead.

His tone changed to a more serious note. "There's just one thing I need to ask you, Doc. You didn't file a post-mission medical report yet did you?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Shit." Shepard grimaced as if he had been stabbed all over again. "If I'm still legally alive then whomever hired Arjen will come after me again."

"Well, I can't change a medical report I've already filed without a note being put on the file. Anyone reads them, they'll know it was altered."

"Okay then, plan B. But I'll need to call my family first. QEC. No open comms. It can be recorded or intercepted."

She could see that Tali wasn't quite sure what he planned, but Chakwas was fairly sure she knew what he had planned. "I think so Shepard. Give us a few minutes to track them down?"

"Hey, take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Go figure I decide to start writing right before midterms. I do not plan this stuff wisely. In any case, I hope you enjoyed it. Now Shepard will, as per the galaxy's cruelty, be dealt another bad hand (though it won't be too bad).

In any case, hope to hear from you all once again in 1-2 weeks.