Authors Note: My, my I am on a roll. spectreofslytherin: If you like Cerrus you will love this. :) Mija002: I'll just have to make Cerrus your guy now since I bumped off your last one. Ipander: again, thank you, thank, thank you, for all the encouragement. I'm really glad you like this.

Thank you to everyone for the favorites and follows.

Without further ado, I give you Chapter 6: The Mako Drop

Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"

Chapter Six: The Mako Drop

The Mako vibrated as it free fell through the Rothla Debris Field. Ashley and Garrus were busy monitoring the controls as the Tank neared its target. It was a nerve racking job hoping that the Mako didn't get hit by a moonlet and make them a part of this debris field.

Sidda could hear the hull being pelted by the smaller pieces of planetary debris and hoped that the Mako's construction was all that it was cracked up to be. At one point it sounded like a hail storm and every time something hit the hull Sidda looked around praying the tank's skin would hold.

Helmet on and all Nov could sense Sidda's nerves. "You gonna be alright, Sid?" Nov asked.

"Yep. Yeah. Perfect." She replied and he chuckled, hearing the unease in her voice.

"It'll be okay." He said. "I hear they build these things tough." As he said that a loud bang was heard above them near the area of the main gun. The impact was big enough to make the entire Mako shake. Everyone fell silent and looked up and it was Nov's turn to worry. "But I could be wrong."

"Chief?" Sidda questioned.

"We're good, Skipper." She threw back quickly but kept her eyes on the HUD…it wasn't really going to do much good if something was in the way. Sure, Garrus could shoot at it but the Mako was in a freefall with nearly zero maneuverability.

"Seriously, only you would suggest a drop like this." Sidda hissed to Cerrus who rolled his eyes under the helmet.

Yes, he admitted, this was one of his crazier ideas but in his mind there wasn't much they could do about right now. "We've been through this, Shepard; the Normandy was too big and too big of a risk."

"It's still crazy." She stated.

"What do you want to do? Get out?" Cerrus fired back.

"300 meters." Garrus informed as the flying tank continued to drop like a rock. "200."

"Firing thrusters."

Liara groaned. "Oh, I hate this part." She whined.

Liara wasn't the only one who was not happy. "Oh..." Tali moaned. "me too."

The Mako felt like it hit a wall as the thrusters fired. The ride smoothed some as the tank slowed down and Ashley fired the thrusters again. "100." Garrus continued counting down.

"Brace!" Ashley announced as Garrus passed the 50 meter mark.

Everything about this Mako drop was standard with the exception of falling through a planetary debris field…that was new. Only Cerrus would be crazy enough to suggest a drop like this, honestly, the odds of not being blown to bits right now was slimmer than none.

The Mako hit the surface as it was designed to and sped forward seemingly uncontrolled until Ashley could gain control of it. The Mako careened forward for a couple hundred more feet until it came to sharp stop. Ashley took a moment and looked over at Garrus and let out a breath. Everyone in the Mako was jostled as usual but fine.

"Nice job, Chief." Sidda praised. "Damage?"

There was a pause as Ashley and Garrus checked the systems of their baby. "Minor damage to the main gun, all systems functional though." Garrus reported.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road." She stated and Ashley spun the Mako around in a tight 180 and sped toward the waypoint.

The approach to the base was as uneventful as it could have been; it was a little eerie actually. If this was a base of Saren's and he was working with the Geth there had to be Geth around here but they didn't know if this was an evil Saren base. This could be a Council base but the odds of that were pretty bad. As if on cue after Sidda's thought that this was easier than expected they stumbled onto what they had found on Therum. Geth sentry's began appearing the closer they got to the destination. It wasn't a problem for the crack Mako operation team. Ashley and Garrus may not have been best friends but they were a decent team when the Mako was involved.

The resistance was moderate but easily taken care of. The worry was that the sentries would alert the base, at least one question was answered: this wasn't a Council base unless the Council now employed Geth. Ashley didn't slow down, Garrus cleared as many Geth as he could and she kept speeding toward the base.

After another minute of driving at top speed the base came into sight along with about the five missile turrets. Ashley and Garrus cursed at the same time, one in English and a Turian curse that the translators didn't even bother to translate.

Barrages of rockets were flung at the Mako as Ashley out ran a few of them, jumped another, and took a hit on the left side. Garrus shot back immediately and the powerful gun of the Mako obliterated one of the turrets. "Four more to go."

Garrus grumbled, he could count and didn't need her to do it for him. He just kept making as precise a shot as he could with the giant gun attached to the Mako.

Nov groaned. "Where did this woman learn to drive?" he asked as Ashley spun the Mako around in a tight circle to avoid a missile.

"Believe me, Shepard's worse." Liara stated.

Sidda's glare under her helmet could have killed someone as she glowered to the Asari. "You all are still alive. One more word about it and I shoot who opened their mouth." Nov chuckled and she also heard a few other chuckles that garnered more glaring from Sidda.

"Sid, you can still talk with your mouth closed." Nov put in and Sidda thought of a dozen ways to flay him.

"Cal!" she barked but her tone was lost in the laughter from Wrex and Kaidan.

After about three more minutes of wild evasive maneuvers and shooting from Garrus they finally eliminated the turrets and Ashley stopped the Mako. Sidda got out of the seat and headed up to the front to get a look at the base. "Okay…" Ashley began. "now what?"

"Get us closer." She stated and turned to the crew. "Alright, everyone out, let's go."

Leaving out the fact that there was a base that they were about to assault Sidda looked up and found the sky the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. What was left of Rothla swirled around the lump that was left after the explosion ripped it apart. Through all the dust and debris you could see a few starts and it was actually quite beautiful. "Wow." She stated blinking a few times.

"Sid, come on." Nov called and she looked from the sky and back to him before walking toward him and the rest.

Nov looked up at the sky and saw what she was looking at as she passed him and he activated his Omni-tool quickly capturing an image of the skyline then headed toward the entrance that the turrets were protecting. "Alright, which one of you techies wants to get us into this joint?" she asked and the ones labeled 'techies' looked at each other.

"Don't everyone jump on it at once." Tali stated and stepped up to the panel. The Quarian was good at what she did, having her along was the best thing Sidda could have next to Nov. The door went from secured to unsecure within a minute of her attacking it.

"Gorgeous Quarians first." Nov flirted and Kaidan sorted.

"You don't quit do you?" Kaidan remarked causing a few others to chuckle. Tali blushed but thankfully the helmet masked it.

"No until I get what I want." Nov replied and had his eyes on Sidda when he said that but his helmet hid that. Thanks to the helmet he could look at Sidda all he wanted and no one would know. He realized how strange that sounded and knew that if Victus knew he'd probably be killed; Victus would probably kill him for half the things he was thinking anyway.

"Alright, remember, you see Saren shoot to kill otherwise gather intel and destroy the base if we c-…" Sidda said but an explosion near the Mako ended her sentence.

"More Geth!" Tali shouted but that was fairly obvious with an army of Armatures, foot soldiers, and a few Colossus' that seemed to spring up from nowhere heading toward their location.

"Oh son of a bitch." She cursed and saw the blue glow of a Colossus plasma cannon.

"Shit! Move!" Nov cursed as they dodged a plasma blast from the Colossus.

It occurred to Sidda that the Mako was between them and Geth and that was not a good thing. "If they get the Mako we're screwed, Shepard." Kaidan stated taking the thought right out of her brain.

Sidda grumbled. "Garrus, Cal, you're with me." She said. "Cerrus, Wrex, you guys go complete the mission we'll hold the Mako."

Cerrus didn't question the shake up and nodded and Wrex didn't say anything either as they lead their teams inside the base that Tali'd sprung open for them.

Another blast hit dangerously close to the Mako sending bits of rocks and debris flying. The instinctual act of shielding her face with her hands was a bit moot considering the helmet but Sidda did it anyway. The Geth foot soldiers were in a sprint heading toward them as the three of them spied the obvious glow for not one but two Colossuses. They fired and the Mako took one hit as the other was aimed at Sidda, Nov, and Garrus. They scrambled out of the way but the impact was a little closer than any of them would like.

"Oh…shit…" Sidda stated looking at the number of Geth that were closing in.

The two Turians shared the same sentiment. "Mako?" Nov questioned.

"Mako." Garrus agreed as they bolted to the tank to move it before it took too many hits and became totally useless.

Nov got there first and practically catapulted into the driver's seat. Sidda was next then Garrus and when she saw Nov at the controls she hovered over his shoulder. "Do you even know how to drive this thing?" she asked as he flipped a few controls.

"How hard can it be?" he answered and a plasma burst hit the Mako. "Sit down." Nov pressed the controls and the Mako lurched forward sharply. "There's plenty to shoot at out there Garrus, get on it."

"Really, I hadn't noticed." Garrus snipped in return.

Wrex was surprisingly more compliant than most Krogans Cerrus noted. He may have had an attitude with him but when it came down to it, the scarred battlemaster was a team player. That was more than he could say of any other Krogan he'd ever met. Kaidan was a good soldier as far as he'd seen and a biotic but a little more palatable than Sidda. Liara was timid but intelligent and her biotics were very impressive but her combat skills were lacking, he actually expected that from a scientist. Tali…he liked Tali. The little Quarian actually made him laugh with her shyness and awkward behavior. He'd dealt with Quarians before and found them easier to deal with than most other species in the galaxy. As for Ashley, he still didn't know what to make of her but at least he could say he firmly knew where he stood with her. She didn't like him, that much was obvious.

Cerrus took point as the two teams made their way into the base. So far it was quiet and he found that strange. They reached a T junction and it too was clear, that made all of them a little uncomfortable. Cerrus sighed and looked to Wrex. "Take your team that way. We'll go this way." He ordered and Wrex grunted a response.

Cerrus took point as his team moved through the base. To Ashley it looked like the usual hidden bases on the various planets they went to. It wasn't that big and looked like it was more of a mobile base than and permanent one. They reached a console and Tali stepped forward to check and see if it was an access point to the main computer. They paused to let her decide if it was significant but they weren't still for a minute when Cerrus caught movement and spied a Geth trooper. Cerrus leapt forward and snatched up Tali turning her away from the gunfire. A few shots hit his back but he put a lot of time and effort into his heavy armor so none of the gunfire hurt him at all.

"Chief!" he barked and Ashley was more than happy to save the Turian's ass. Cerrus held the little Quarian tight in his arms; the protector in him made sure that Tali stayed safe. Ashley stopped firing but saw more on the way. "More coming, Cerrus, get your ass up."

Cerrus ignored Ashley's tone and stood looking down at Tali. "You okay?" he asked and Tali nodded.

"Yeah…" he stated. "yeah, I'm okay, thank you."

Ashley drew down on more Geth as Cerrus and Tali moved to cover positions and began shooting their way through. "Come on you two, I can do this all by myself but I'd prefer not to."

"Chief, shut up." Cerrus snapped and joined in the shooting match.

Wrex could hear the firefight coming from somewhere else in the base, the other team must have run into trouble but so far his team hadn't. Outside he could hear the distant thunder from the Mako's main gun so obviously Sidda, Nov, and Garrus were hosting a hell of a party. They were going to run into someone eventually, that much he knew, that was the rule of the galaxy.

Wrex took the lead and followed the hallway until it dead ended at a door that read 'MEDICAL'. The fact that a base that so far had nothing but Geth on it needed a room marked 'medical' was definitely a brain builder. In fighting Saren's goons so far he seemed to have an endless supply of mercs and assassins on staff so it was possible the medical bay was for them.

Kaidan bypassed the door and it opened with ease as both Wrex and Liara were primed for anything that came through the door. It was plainly obvious that this wasn't a garden variety medical bay as soon as the door opened. It was empty too and that was a little disconcerting.

There were exam tables and the usual stuff but the unusual stuff were the enormous upright tanks that lined either side. "What are all these tanks for?" Kaidan asked as Liara stopped to examine one of the consoles.

"Ummm…I'm not sure…" Liara stated. "They look like gestation tanks."

"What do they need with gestation tanks?" Kaidan asked and Wrex grumbled. He really didn't care about that answer; he was there to complete the mission.

Liara moved over to what was obviously the medical computer and found it encrypted. "Lieutenant." She called to Kaidan. "I think we need to see what's on here. I could be very important."

Kaidan agreed and jogged over to quickly start working. Wrex kept walking and found another door. "Another door here." Wrex stated and Liara actually volunteered to help him clear it. Kaidan's Omni-tool lit up as it began to hack the computer's security. Wrex opened the door and Liara immediately flattened against the wall seeing a Krogan merc on the other side with several Geth.

"Geth!" she warned quickly. "And a Krogan."

Nov and the Mako did their best to occupy the Geth contingent. Garrus counted about 100 Geth of varying models running about shooting at them. Flattening the smaller ones under the six wheeled tank made things a bit easier but it was much harder to take out the Colossus and the smaller, but just as powerful, Armatures.

Despite Nov's evasive maneuvers the Mako had already been hit several times. "Hey, Vakarian, you want to actually hit something with that gun? Maybe if we get rid of some bad guys we might take less hits." Nov sniped as he pulled the Mako into a tight 180 that all three of their stomachs felt.

"If you'd keep it steady for longer than five seconds I might be able to hit something." He replied as he finally got a clear shot of the Colossus that was shooting at them.

"I hold still for the 'King of the snipers' to get the perfect shot we're going to be a crater." Nov fired back and Garrus finally was able to line up the shot on the Colossus that was pestering them. As he fired the Colossus fired also and the blast impacted the Mako's right front side. That side's armor had taken a several hits and was basically gone so when the blast hit several systems inside exploded and half the Mako went dark.

"Fuck." Nov cursed. "Primary systems took a hit, switching to back up." He announced and sped the Mako to a whatever cover he could find. "Sid!"

Sidda pressed a few buttons on the repair console and quickly deduced that this was far beyond her. "Cal, I can't fix this."

The Mako skidded to a stop behind a stand of rocks, not very big but it was enough to make the slow moving Colossuses and Armatures have to reposition.

"Fine, you drive, I'll do it." He said and they two started to switch places.

"No. Do not let her drive this thing." Garrus stated sharply. "I'll fix it."

"Oh, Garrus, not now." Sidda spit back.

"That bad of driver, huh, doesn't even want you to drive it in a pinch." Nov commented as he reset some control while Garrus shifted over to the Engineering console and Sidda took over the gunner seat.

"Cal, shut up." She snipped and the Turian chuckled.

"Last time she drove this thing she nearly broke the front axle." Garrus stated and Nov laughed.

"On a Mako, that's hard to do…even in the Turian military these things are legendary." He replied and Sidda shook her head grumbling while she kept an eye out for the bad guys. "Do you two comedians mind?"

About a minute passed as the Mako was still stationary. Garrus was working fast on bypassing the systems that got fried by the plasma blast but now even Nov was getting a little nervous. Sidda kept her eyes on the targeting screen panning the main gun around making sure they stayed clear.

"How's it looking, Sid?" Nov asked and she snorted.

"Looks like a lot of Geth, Garrus are we going to get this thing moving sometime soon?" she asked and Garrus shrugged off the nagging, he could work under pressure.

Cerrus and his team continued running into resistance, Geth were pouring out of every single nook and cranny. The volume of Geth told Cerrus that something worth protecting was back here. Ashley and Cerrus had the same work ethic when it came to a firefight; they pushed forward as soon as they found the ground. Finally the last Geth fell and they found what they were protecting. It was a midsized room that had servers lining the wall.

"Jackpot." Ashley stated and Cerrus agreed but not out loud.

"Check the room." He ordered and Ashley glowered over to him but the Chief did as asked.

Tali left Cerrus' side and bounded over to the center console, it was obviously a control center of some kind and Tali looked over the console as Cerrus and Ashley finished clearing the room they just shot their way into. "Okay, this is it. This is it. This is what we need." Tali stated and started working on it. "It's encrypted…and it's going to take some time."

The mission was collecting data so if Tali deemed this worthy then they had to stay as long as needed to capture it. "How long?" he asked looking over her shoulder.

"Umm…" she replied and Cerrus took that as an open ended question.

"Rooms clear, front and rear door." Ashley announced and Cerrus heard her but was busy with Tali's lack of answer.

He nodded sharply to her lack of answer. "Okay…" he stated and headed toward Ashley. "Chief, we hold here. Cover the front."

"Are you kidding me? We're gonna get swarmed." Ashley stated she was right they were going to attract a million Geth and Mercs.

"The mission in the information, Chief, so do it. Cover the damn door." Cerrus scolded and moved on past the human who was pissing him off. "Wrex, status?"

"We're in the middle of something right now." The Krogan responded.

Cerrus could hear the gunfire over the comm and somewhere off in the distance. He sighed hiding the grumble and knew what they needed to do. He checked his Crossfire and camped at the rear door. "Tali, fast is better." He said with a sigh.

Wrex and Liara apparently happened into either a barracks or a security station or something that required a bunch of people. There were a few Geth, about a dozen mercs, and one Krogan the same size as Wrex. Kaidan left his hack to its work and moved up to help Wrex and Liara. Liara threw a grenade into the room and Wrex followed suit rather impressed with the Asari's new found military skills.

"No way we're gonna breach this." Kaidan stated as he traded places with Liara. "They're dug in."

Wrex agreed with a grunt and Kaidan thought a moment before pulling the pack of explosives that Cerrus had given him. To fulfill his promise to Sidda Cerrus brought along an explosive from Ruvvak. It looked like six skinny grenades stuck together that could either be used as one big bomb or several smaller ones that packed just as big a punch. Ruvvak called it a High Energy Fusion explosive and it meant business.

"We'll see how they like this." Kaidan stated and Wrex chuckled.

"I like it." He stated as Kaidan pulled one of the sections and armed it before tossing it into the room like he was throwing a Frisbee. The explosion that went off was bigger than Kaidan thought it would be and it shook the base itself.

All the noise around them disappeared and the area they were in fell eerily quiet. Kaidan raised his eyebrows to the explosion and looked to Wrex and then to Liara. "Wow." Liara stated.

"I'll give it to the Turian…he doesn't skimp on the explosives." Wrex stated and Kaidan agreed as Wrex rounded the corner to see the damage. Nothing was left in the room, things were burning and melted, but best of all there were no enemies around.

"Remind me to thank Capt. Cerrus." Kaidan stated as they surveyed the room.

The targeted Colossus exploded from a particularly great direct hit from the Mako's main gun. Garrus was still in the process of repairing the systems in the Mako but he'd fixed it well enough to get moving again.

"Nice shot, Sid, two big ones left." Nov stated as the Mako was hit again by a rocket from one of the destroyers.

"Direct hit to the center axle." Garrus reported. "We lost that wheel."

"Its fine, we got five more." Nov said and the Mako was hit again by the same destroyer only this time to the main gun causing some systems to explode next to her head. "Come on, Sid, will you shoot that bastard."

"There's 20 other bad guys out there, Cal, I can't hit all of them at once." She snapped back and Nov conceded to her.

"Alright, alright, alright, two Colossus I'm going right down the middle take your pick." Nov stated but Sidda was trying to track the Destroyer that kept pestering her.

"No, Cal, the Destroyer we need to get him or he's gonna pick us apart." She stated and Nov ignored it.

"Cal." She warned and he yanked the Mako into a hard 90 degree right turn.

"You ready?" he asked and she cursed.

"No." she answered.

"Yes." He replied.

"No." she barked back panning around hunting for the rocket toting Destroyer that was killing them with bug bites.

"Will you just shoot the damn Colossus, woman." He snapped and she ground her teeth.

"I'm gonna shoot you if you say that again, Callus." She hissed and lined up on the Colossus on the right.

Tali was still working on hacking the main computer but it was harder than she thought. Cerrus and Ashley were covering the two doors and just as Ashley predicted they were being swarmed by Geth. The wave that was coming at Cerrus ended and he closed the rear entrance and stuck a proximity grenade to the door to cover it and scrambled back to help Ashley. When he turned he saw Ashley get flattened by a Geth Trooper that rushed her. He fired instantly, catching it right through the light blowing its head right off its shoulder. "Tali, hurry up."

Ashley scooted backward quickly and felt a hand grab the back of her armor and pull her to her feet. Under the helmet the Geth managed to bloody her nose and mouth but she shook it off. "Get up, Chief," she heard him say and shot the Turian a look as he threw a grenade into the hall giving them a moment to collect.

"Get off me." She snarled and Cerrus was more than happy to. She was bitchy but determined.

"Almost there." Tali stated.

Cerrus didn't bother asking Ashley if she was okay, he figured that would piss her off further. "Tali, we don't have all day."

Tali nodded to that. "I know, I know. I'm working on it." She stated and tapped a few buttons as Cerrus and Ashley guarded the door. In the distance they heard a good size explosion that made Cerrus look down at Ashley.

"That was one of mine." He stated and Ashley agreed, no grenade was that big. "Wrex, status?"

"We're clear here." He replied and there was paused. "Had to use one of those big explosives."

"Captain, I got it. We have what we need." Tali announced.

Cerrus heard and ignored the fact that they had to use one of the explosives. "Grab everything you can, Tali." He stated and then returned his attention back to Wrex on the comm. "Wrex, we're done…let's go."

Tali uploaded all the data she could onto the OSDs as Cerrus moved around the room. "Okay, I'm done." Tali stated and headed toward Ashley to leave but Cerrus was still busy with something else.

"What are you doing?" Ashley asked as Cerrus took explosives out of the pack he had strapped to his right thigh.

"I promised Shepard a smoking crater and I aim to deliver." He stated and he planted the explosive on as many surfaces as he could find. The fusion explosives were small but more than powerful enough to bring down this entire facility. "Lt. Alenko, did you plant the explosives?" he asked over the comm.

"All set and ready, Captain." He replied and Cerrus was satisfied with that.

"Let's go, let's go." He stated and the two teams met up as they made their way back to the surface. "Commander, we're coming out, mission complete, no sign of Saren."

Sidda heard the extraction call and Nov yanked the Mako into a hard left, with all the bickering that was going on inside the tank they had done really well eliminating the endless sea of mechs that had arrived. But the team successfully took down at least four Colossus mechs and as many Armatures, the Mako also flattened a considerable number of foot soldiers including the Destroyer that'd been hell bent on destroying them with a damn rocket launcher.

"Looks like a junk yard out here." Ashley stated being the first to climb in followed by Liara, Wrex, Tali, Kaidan, and finally Cerrus. "You guys have fun?"

"Oh yeah, yep, it was a picnic." She stated as the soldier removed her helmet and saw the blood all over Ashley's face. "Are you alright?"

Ashley nodded as Kaidan tended to her wounds. Cerrus eyed Ashley before looking to Sidda, the solider took a solid pop that was hard enough to reach her under her armor and she got up and kept on going.

"Nov, 500 meters." Cerrus called and the Mako sped forward and Sidda looked to Cerrus with a curious expression hidden under her helmet but he could see it no matter what. "Commander." He said tossing her the detonator. Sidda caught it and looked down at it, Cerrus came through, as in he really came through, he collected the data and he rigged the place to explode. "As promised."

Nov piloted the Mako out to beyond the 500 meter mark that Cerrus had told him. "That's 500." He announced and tapped the Mako's comm. "Normandy, ready for pick up."

Sidda looked from Cerrus to the detonator and felt a wave of satisfaction as she pressed the button. Saren obviously wasn't there but it still felt like a victory to turn one of his bases into a smoking ruin. She looked to Cerrus with a slight nod that he returned in kind. Once again Cerrus came through, he may not have liked her but she could definitely count on him.

The Normandy materialized from nowhere as its jump was complete. The stealth system was worth its weight in gold for that mission as there was no indication at all that CDEM knew they were there…that is until the explosion on the giant moonlet's surface, but even then the ship got away without being seen. Joker piloted the hybrid vessel toward its larger counterpart the Lante, who was holding position at designated coordinates.

The Briefing Room was the site of the post mission debriefing. Sidda needed to talk to the Council but she didn't want to do that just yet. According to Kaidan, the Medical computer had been wiped but the main computer hadn't.

"Did you guys find anything else?" Sidda asked referring to the information.

"Nothing in Medical, I believe the computers were set to be deleted once they were tampered with." Liara stated.

"Why wipe the Medical computer and leave the main computer alone?" Sidda asked and Liara shrugged flustered that she didn't have an answer. "Have you gone through the data from the main computer yet?" Sidda asked shifting her attention to Tali.

"No, not yet." Tali replied and Sidda figured that would be her answer. They only just got the information and hadn't had a chance to go through it.

"Okay, you and Liara start pouring thorough it. Let me know if you find anything interesting." She stated and Joker interrupted the debriefing.

"Commander, the Council's on the line again." He stated and Sidda sighed.

"Tell them I'll call them later." She replied and Joker lingered on the comm.

"Commander, they are really persistent and sound really pissed." He added and Sidda snorted shaking her head.

"Tell them I will call them back." She said again and smiled while shaking her head. The Council was going to rip her a new one for this.

"I do not envy you right now, Sid." Nov stated and she scoffed.

"Gonna be the shortest stint a Spectre's ever done." She chuckled knowing that violating the CDEM, entering the Rothla Field and not telling the Council was about as bad as she could do, but she honestly couldn't wait to tell them that their star Spectre had a secret base hidden right under their nose. "Anything else?" she asked and they shook their heads.

"Not yet, but we'll let you know when we find something." Kaidan stated.

She heaved a sigh and heard the tell-tale chirp from the intercom. "Hey, Commander…they're back."

Sidda grumbled and waved for them to leave. "Go on guys, you probably don't want to be here to listen to this." She stated. "Joker, go ahead and put them through."

As expected, the Council was not happy but they really couldn't agree on what they were unhappy about. Sidda was taking this one like a champ; she did fly under the Council and violate a restricted area. Valern, Tevos, and Sparatus were all now squabbling but there was one thing they did agree on: she was in trouble.

"Look, I understand that you're pissed but-…" she began trying to get the heat off her.

"You violated restricted space, went around the quarantine, and blew up a potentially valuable source of intelligence." Sparatus barked.

"All the intel was saved and you will be given a copy but I assure you we could not take the risk." She stated. "If Saren was able to get in under the quarantine then the CDEM garrison at Rothla may be compromised."

"Commander, we will check into the Rothla garrison, and you are to notify us immediately if you uncover any information from the data you collected." Tevos stated but Sparatus was not satisfied.

"You need to remember that you work for the Council, Commander, being a Spectre does not give you the license to do whatever you want, do you understand me?" he scolded and Sidda kept her mouth shut and nodded.

"I would like to know how you came about this information, Commander." Valern stated and Sidda shrugged, she wasn't going to sell out Victus to the Council. "Acquired it from a mercenary."

"Is that so, Commander?" Valern asked sensing that she was hiding something.

"If you'll excuse me, Councilors, I have a lot of data to sort through." She stated and tapped the comm to disconnect and let out a heavy sigh once they were gone.

Victus entered the briefing room and saw Sidda leaning on the console and heard her sigh heavily. "I guess it went well?" he asked announcing himself as he walked up behind her.

"Yeah. It went well…one or two hiccups but Cerrus is a hell of a strategist." She replied with a smile and Victus noticed the change in her attitude. She seemed less angry, perhaps finally being able to strike back at Saren was enough to jog her out of the funk she was in.

"So why don't you look thrilled?" he asked looking down at the short human before him.

"Because the Council is really, really pissed at me, I got lucky and I mean extremely lucky that that wasn't a Council funded base." She stated and sighed again. "I could see Councilor Sparatus fuming from here. And they're all in a tizzy because they think Saren's got some of the CDEM…"

"Busy day for you." He stated with a chuckle making her laugh out loud. He had to admit it was better to see her like this than all pissed off and violent like she was before.

"I guess so." She chuckled. "Desala's information was good, Adrien, thank you." Sidda stated and Victus studied her. "That woman is dangerous."

Victus snorted agreeing with that, when he recruited a spy into his ranks he never imagined what a major resource she would be. "That is very true." He said and turned her back on the console she had been leaning on and pulled him in front of her.

"So you want to hang out for a while?" she asked teasing him.

"Technically I'm not supposed to be here and I gotta get back to my duties before Command notices but I'm not gonna let you go without offering some help. If you want I can let you have one of my people. At least then I know someone I trust is watching your back." Victus stated standing close to her.

"You're worried about me?" she played and Victus didn't see too much humor right now.

"Sidda, Saren's dangerous…extremely dangerous." He stated. "I don't like you going after him."

She smiled sweetly, the concern was flattering. She stroked his left mandible with her hand. "I'll be okay."

She'd fair better than most, he gave her that. "Doesn't mean I have to like it." He replied. "I still want you to take one of my guys."

Sidda nodded. "Okay." She replied. "You wanna come?" she asked, he was her first choice. Although having him onboard would distract her a bit.

Victus snorted as she took her hand away from his face. "As fun as tracking a traitor down sounds, I think Palaven Command would notice I was gone." He stated. "Shall I inform Nov that he'll be spending some time on the Normandy?"

Sidda shook her head. "No. Not him." She stated making Victus turn and look at her confused…surprised really. He was certain Nov would be her choice.

"So let me get this straight: Victus gives you the run of the ship to pick whoever you want to watch your back on this mission and you pick Cerrus?" Nov stated the surprise, shock, and confusion in his voice matched his facial expression. "I think that Beacon broke your brain on the way through."

Sidda eyed him with a sardonic smirk. "I don't need another techy, Cal, I need a tank that can plan anything." She said. "I have a feeling he's not happy."

Nov scoffed. "Ummm…remember Oriso, when you-…" he began but cut his own sentence short by the glare he received from her. "Yeah, he's angrier than that. The whole ship heard his explosion when Victus gave him his orders."

"Terrific." She replied and started to fidget a little as she fiddled with her locker. This job was hard enough without having to war with Cerrus along the way.

"Yeah, I think it came down to take the assignment or Brig time." Nov stated and Sidda could see the journey with Cerrus was not going to be fun. "I'll pretend not to be offended that you didn't invite me." He stated and she chuckled a little.

"It's not a vacation resort, Cal, I'm tracking a traitor." She laughed and he laughed as well.

"Sounds like a vacation to me." He stated as she turned away from him and he could not stop looking at her, she wore the same blue casual uniform she always wore and her hair was the same, she was the same and that's what made her perfect. She didn't change, she was beautiful. "Anywhere with you is a vacation." He added and turned away sharply kicking himself for blurting that out. "Spirits, get it together, man." He cursed to himself. He had a moment of weakness earlier and thanked his lucky stars he was interrupted by Kaidan. He glanced over seeing her cheeks brighten a little and grumbled to himself before getting it together. "I'm gonna go, let you get back to tracking your nemesis."

Sidda narrowed her eyes to him, something was up with him and he seemed like he wanted to say something to her. "Hey, Cal," she called as he turned to move away from her thinking about finding a wall to bang his head against. He turned and gave her his full attention. "before the drop…there was something you were going to say, what was it?"

Nov felt his stomach drop. "Uhh…nothing." He stated and it killed him to say that. "It's not important."

Sidda saw his lie and narrowed her eyes as the Turian turned and walked away from her, there was something going on but he wasn't telling her and she had an inkling about what it was. So far getting him to talk about it wasn't getting them anywhere and pushing him didn't work either. She let him go not really sure how to proceed after this.

It'd been about five minutes since Nov left and Sidda was sifting through her locker. "Shepard!" Cerrus' voice barked causing her to stop what she was doing and sigh.

"Oh, here we go." She stated and turned to face him. "Cerrus." She acknowledged as he crossed the rec room with a few long and pissed off strides.

"I have you to thank for this?" he hissed and stood up close to her being as intimidating as possible.

She sighed and looked up at him. "Cerrus, look, I'm sorry I know I shanghaied you-…"

Cerrus didn't have the time or the will to listen to her human slag that he didn't understand. "I don't know that that means." He growled impatiently.

"That's not the point, Cerrus, shut up." She snapped cutting him off sharply and his temper started to bubble up. He had a degree of control but when it came to her his control slipped. She knew all the buttons to push to piss him off and most of the time she didn't even try. "I need your help. That's it. I need your help. I know that this is the last place you want to be and I'm the last person you want to spend all this time with but I need your help." She explained and Cerrus looked down at her. "Saren is smart and he's dangerous but you know what…you're smarter and even more dangerous." Cerrus could honestly say he never expected to hear words like this coming from her. He knew that she respected him to a point but to pass up her bosom buddy, Nov, and ask him said a lot. "Watching Nihlus…ummm…I need you."

Cerrus took a step back from her and looked away quickly. "Okay." He stated simply and picked the bag up that he had dropped when he confronted her. He didn't wait for anything else to be said and made his way down to the cargo bay to stow his gear as he did before. He didn't want to be there but he understood the circumstances. Sidda wanted to avenge a death, something he'd wanted to do for years but had nowhere to aim that anger. She watched him collect his gear and walk away a little confused about how easily he relented but something told her that this endeavor with him was only getting started. He was going to have to deal with everyone onboard including Wrex and Ashley.