They were safe. They were on the shuttle, through the relay. They were going to be okay. He kept telling himself that over and over while he watched Catherine quietly lower herself to the floor, beaten and bloodied, crying.

Just a few hours ago, Kaidan and Garrus had landed on the asteroid, serving as the base for the project. It was empty, and quiet when they'd arrived, no one answering their hails. Upon stepping inside, Kaidan and Garrus felt an all too familiar pull, and put themselves on guard immediately, particularly as they entered the core of the facility - where the massive object was sitting.

That pull was undeniably dangerous, and Kaidan saw a glowing switch, quickly running to pull it, glad to see a mass effect field raised around the object. The pull was suddenly gone, or at least unnoticeable. Looking around, there were a few bodies, and a clear blood trail leaving the room. There had been a firefight in here, and given all the sparking consoles and dented spots on the floor, it had been a hellish one. Catherine had been here, no doubt.

"Let's follow it." Garrus suggested, both walking quietly on either side of the trail of blood. Between the two of them, hacking through doors, or terminals took no time at all, and their senses helped them keep their edge, avoiding small groups of, as they soon discovered, indoctrinated soldiers and scientists. After a few minutes of listening, they discovered that Shepard had been put under in one of the makeshift holding cells, where all the blood led to.

"Overload the computer terminal on the far side of the room. See if you can't start a fire." Kaidan said after observing the room.

"Done." Garrus said, peeking over his shoulder and pointing the omni-tool in that direction. Soon, the terminal was sparking, and the nearby terminals began to do the same, starting a small fire rather quickly, and drawing everyone's attention, allowing them to sneak past unnoticed to the holding cells.

"I'll watch the door. You go in and see if you can wake her up." Garrus motioned towards the door, while he went to the terminal to override the lock without setting off an alarm. Unfortunately, the fire alarm went up quickly, and some systems began to shut down to prevent damage. He had to work quickly if he had any hope of getting her out.

The door rushed open, and Kaidan was quick to get in, in case the door shut itself. Thankfully it didn't, and they remained unseen, but when Kaidan went to Catherine's side, she didn't look well.

"Oh no..." he muttered to himself, opening up his omni-tool to scan over her. "Don't do this to me, Catherine." he said quietly as he waited to get the readings. After a moment, he got everything he needed, sighing when he saw she was just sleeping. Not knocked out, but resting. She likely had been put under with a substance, but given her exhaustion with everything recently, her body needed rest.

"Kaidan, we need to hurry." Garrus said, peering around the corner.

"We need to wake her up, neither of us can carry her and fend off anyone effectively." Kaidan said, gently shaking her to see if she would wake. When that didn't work, he reached over to touch her bare hand with his own. He sent a pulse of biotic energy through her, having woken up other biotics this way before. It seemed to work on her, this time. She stirred, and soon her green eyes opened, looking red and tired.

"Kaidan, what are you doing here?" she asked, sitting up slowly, waking up quickly. "You need to get out of here, everyone is indoctrinated and they're going to let the Reapers come through the relay-"

"Shh... I know Catherine. We came to get you out of here." he said, grabbing his gun from the floor where he'd dropped it. "Come on, we need to hurry."

"We?"

"Garrus tagged along." he said, pulling her up. "You okay to fight?"

"I'm fine, yeah." she sighed, looking around. "Don't know how I got here, so you'll have to lead the way. And we need to find my gear."

"Sure, let's go-"

"Kaidan, wait." she grabbed his arm, face twisted in pain. "We need stop the Reapers from getting through the relay."

"I... Okay how do we do that?" he sighed, looking back to Garrus as they walked out of the room.

"Before Dr. Kenson went insane, she was telling me about their plan to stop them from coming through. They call this relay the Alpha Relay because from here... well it's only a matter of days before they can get through the systems and start the harvest." She scowled. "I think they had thrusters on the asteroid. Like the one that was headed for Terra Nova?"

"Guiding thrusters, I remember." Garrus chimed in. "We need to head back to the control room."

"No. The control room is somewhere else. It's deeper in the facility, I just don't know where." Catherine shook her head in frustration. "Let's just try to find a console with a map of this damn place so we can blow up the relay and get out."

"Right." Kaidan and Garrus both glanced at each other as they headed down the hall. How they were going to blow up the relay and get back through it seemed tricky. Though, if the thrusters were guided, it would be as simple as setting a course. Though that wouldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be changed once they left.

Shortly after finding Catherine's gear thrown haphazardly onto a shelf, they ran through the facility, and shortly ran into resistance. Though with three of them, it was now quick work. Kaidan could feel how drained Catherine was when she unleashed a biotic throw on someone, and he nearly snapped at her for daring to attempt a biotic attack with such low energy. But she'd quickly back off from that once she stumbled into a wall, grunting quietly as she did. Kaidan pulled her back up, regretting not bringing any energy bars. He should have anticipated this. Regardless, they pushed forward, getting a map off one of the dead hirelings. Once they got the layout, they made a beeline to the control room, drawing attention to themselves quickly, and likely drawing the whole facility to them.

Unfortunately, that was for the best. All these people were indoctrinated, and while Kaidan knew they had come here with the best intentions, they had their minds warped, and twisted to the point of no return. Each kill was one Kaidan regretted, and he could tell it was bothering Garrus and Catherine as well. But this was all for the greater good. If some lives had to be sacrificed for the rest of the galaxy then it was worth it. No war was without casualties.

They got to the control room, and Garrus was quick to set a course, while Kaidan searched for escape pods. He found a path, but it required heading outside the facility. And it was far. He took a glance at Catherine, and saw her leaning against the wall, pale faced and barely keeping her eyes open. He wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to make it.

"Shepard, I opened up a comm channel. We can either hail the Normandy or send out a signal to warn the colonists, but we don't have much time." Garrus called back to her, the coordinates set and locked. Catherine lifted her head, and walked over, to see the red numbers flashing in her face.

Predicted casualties: 304,942

He watched as she took a few steps back, blinking and taking a few slow breaths.

"We need to make a choice." Garrus reminded her with a quiet voice.

"Warn the colonists." she said without hesitation, then glancing to Kaidan. "We can get a shuttle, right?"

"Yeah. Let's send out the signal then get the hell out of here."

All of what happened next was a blur. Kenson blocked the signal before it could get far. They went to find her, keep her from shutting down what progress they'd made. Unfortunately, that resulted in killing her, which Catherine didn't have the strength to do. In fact she could barely keep herself up, though the blood loss from her head being slammed to the floor wasn't helping any. She slumped against the wall once Garrus had made sure Kenson wouldn't be getting up, and Kaidan pulled her back up, letting her lean on him.

"Kaidan, I can't keep going. I'll only slow you down-"

"I'm not hearing it." he said sternly. "We're getting off this asteroid, and we're going to get you back to the Normandy." he paused, reaching for the helmet clipped to her waist. "Come on. Let's get this on you and head to the shuttle. We can make it."

"What about all those people?" she asked once her helmet was on, exposing just her eyes.

He'd never realized how expressive they could be until that moment. She was crying quietly, and her eyes were struggling to stay open. He could see just how badly she wanted to get all the colonists out of the system, and she'd give her own life for them if it meant they would get out safely. But god, did Kaidan need her alive. Since she'd come back, his life had been exponentially better, and he felt like he could really do things again and live life.

"They'll get out safely. We've done everything we can, and now it's time to go back home." he said, glancing over to Garrus before he scooped her up. "Watch my back for me."

"Got it." she said, still holding her pistol in both hands.

Kaidan followed Garrus' lead to the shuttles, and easily kept up even with Catherine's added weight on his shoulders. Once they got to the airlock, her threw his helmet on and secured it, just in time for the compartment to depressurize. Then the door opened.

The YMIR mech spun around, and began firing at the three of them. Kaidan barely made it to cover, his leg getting nicked just below his knee. It sent him tot he ground, off balance, but fine. Catherine fell beneath him and for a moment, they locked eyes, both surprised, and on edge. But within seconds, they were both back up, and fighting off what was left of the faculty of the project base. Garrus, lucky for them, had run ahead to start the override of the lock on the last shuttle. By the time Kaidan and Catherine had reached the platform, it was already unlocked, and Garrus was climbing in, signaling for the Normandy to come pick them up.

"Shit, is Joker going to have enough time to get in, pick us up, and turn around?" Catherine said once the doors shut and the shuttle took off.

"We don't have time." Kaidan nearly growled, setting Catherine down on the bench, and moving quickly to help Garrus navigate. "We have to jump through the relay."

"In the shuttle?" both asked, sounding very panicked.

"This thing can handle it." he assured them. "We need to go now or we'll be stuck here."

Silence followed his comment, but between him and Garrus, they managed to navigate through the relay, no problem. As soon as they jump was made, Kaidan relaxed with a heavy sigh, looking back at Catherine.

She looked fine. For about a minute. Then she shook her head, a few tears shimmering down her cheeks as she started throwing her gauntlets to the ground, across the shuttle. He glanced to Garrus, before crawling out of the chair, and walking back to her.

"Hey hey hey," he said quietly, crouching down in front of her and grabbing her wrists as she tried shoving him off, "it's alright."

"No it's not!" she yelled, ignoring the fact they were in a small, confined space. "I just murdered over 300,000 people! I just sentenced them to the worst possible death waiting for them!"

"Catherine." he said, trying to keep himself calm, watching her fall apart. "It was the right thing to do. It was the only way to give the rest of the galaxy a fighting chance against the Reapers." She ripped her wrists from his hands, and succeeded in pushing him to the ground. He grunted, looked up at her, and sighed, letting his head fall back against the metal floor. He was too tired to fight her. She'd also been through hell how many times now? She could use a moment to be irrational.

After a fit that lasted all of five minutes, she eventually sat herself down on the floor beside him, sobbing softly. He sat himself up without a word, and scooted to sit beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. She didn't fight him this time. She only cried in silence until she was too exhausted to stay conscious, falling asleep before they exited to the other side of the relay. Kaidan half-heartedly listened to the conversation between Garrus and Joker, swapping coordinates for a pick-up. Hackett was apparently worried about Shepard's condition, and ordered that she be immediately taken to the med-bay for a quarantine, evaluation, and debrief.

"How is she?" Hackett asked when Kaidan returned from the Normandy. He was tired as hell, and just wanted to be there when Catherine woke up to make sure she was alright.

"She wasn't in the best shape when we got to her. She passed out from exhaustion and frustration once we got through the relay. But aside from that, Chakwas and I think she should be fine. She... didn't really exhibit any signs of indoctrination, as far as I could tell. But when she wakes, Chakwas did request I be there to help with a psych eval."

"A reasonable request." he nodded, sighing and showing a tired face perhaps for the first time since Kaidan had started working closer with him. "I won't lie, Alenko, if we hadn't been able to get her back... I don't know what would have happened."

"I do." he said, staring at the floor, hoping that his next words would be taken seriously. "The Reapers would have come through that relay right behind us, and I'm talking literal minutes behind us, and they would have started their harvest of the galaxy."

"Shit." The two were silent, and Kaidan finally looked up, meeting steely eyes that didn't want to believe him, but knew the truth. "You know officially I can't do anything about this."

"No, but you can start preparing. Even if it's under the table, it's going to be better than nothing."

"That's why I put you in charge of that squad. I knew we'd be fighting this fight some time or another. I need the best prepared and the moment we touch down on Earth, I want you pushing them harder, and I want you to make sure they'll be ready for what's to come." Hackett ran a hand over his face with a sigh. "Until then... I'm assigning you to keep watch over Shepard."

"Sir?"

"I need someone official to refer to, making sure that I went through proper protocol with indoctrination." he said, turning to the side a bit. "I'm going to try to convince the board to allow her back into the Alliance. But I highly doubt they'll be willing to reinstate her. Until there's a proper detachment assigned, you'll have to do." he turned his gaze, with a slight light in his eyes, his tone changing with his next words, almost as if he were trying to give Kaidan some hope. "I expect you to watch her 24/7, Alenko. I can't have an unranked, unaffiliated prisoner walking around without a proper escort."

If that wasn't clear enough, Kaidan didn't know what was. He was, effectively, getting leave to be with Catherine, until they reached Earth. He would be getting time with her. Though, that was granted she was going to wake up.

"You're dismissed, Alenko."