Outside the palace, Balak and three of his men were investigating the shuttle they found at the top of some trees. The shuttle was pretty banged up but the Systems Alliance logo was still distinguishable. Balak seemed to be getting tense at the sight of the logo.

"He's here," he said.

"Who's here sir?" asked one of his men.

"Shepard. I knew I should have killed him on the Citadel when I had the chance. Now he's here to ruin my plans once again. What is taking so long finding Pazness?"

"We've searched the whole palace sir but there is no sign of him," said another soldier.

"Well that's just terrific. Do you any of you geniuses have a bright idea for what we should do now?"

Before any of the men could respond, the sound of gunfire came from inside the palace. Balak and the two men who spoke raced for the palace to investigate. The third man, the one who had been quiet the entire time, stayed behind as the others left. Once they were out of sight, the solider activated his comm. and placed a call.

"It's me," he said, "The operation is not going as planned. They can't find him anywhere."

There was a pause as the voice on the other end of the call spoke.

"Don't worry. The target will be eliminated."

After he ended the call, the soldier pulled out a Black Widow sniper rifle and ran inside the palace using an entrance different from the one Balak used.

"Williams," Shepard said over the comm. "Kasumi's in trouble. We need to get downstairs."

"On my way," Ashley replied.

Shepard gave a quick call out to Pazness telling him that he would be back. He then raced for the door but stopped when he heard footsteps. Someone was coming and they were in a hurry. This gave Shepard an idea. Waiting until the footsteps were just outside the door, Shepard pushed the button to open the door and quickly put his back to the wall next to the doorway. The terrorists on the other side quickly turned towards the office and fired their weapons. When they stopped firing and before they realized there was no one there, Shepard had pulled out his pistol and stepped out of his hiding place. He fired one shot at both terrorists' heads. Both of them were down in seconds.

Shots fired in a room down the hall got Shepard's attention. He raced towards the sound only to be greeted by a terrorist being thrown out of the room. Immediately after the terrorist hit the floor, a bullet pierced his chest. Shepard peeked into the room to see Ashley holstering her side arm. Two other terrorists lay dead on the floor near her.

"The guy in the hall tried to get fresh with me," she said with a chuckle, "so I showed him the door."

Shepard chuckled back, "remind me to never get on your bad side when we're married. We've probably taken care of all the hostiles on this floor. Let's get downstairs."

They were about to head for the stairs when a new voice came over Shepard's comm. The voice made Shepard tense up when he recognized it. Balak.

"Shepard," he said, "I know it's you that's sneaking around upstairs. I thought you might like to know that I have a member of your squad with me. She's quite a jumpy one. I came into the library to find her shooting her gun at the air and screaming. I always heard that you picked your squads better than this. Sounds like the stories about you aren't quite true."

Shepard mouthed the word "library" to Ashley. Ashley nodded to show she understood and the two of them slowly walked down the stairs heading for the library. Both had their pistols raised ready to take down anyone they came across along the way. Shepard and Williams reached the bottom of the stairs and headed towards the library's open doors. The first thing they saw when they entered was Kasumi with Balak's gun at her head. Kasumi's face was a white as a sheet and her body was shaking. Shepard figured that it wasn't because of Balak. Balak stood behind her with one arm wrapped around her neck and the other pushing his gun closer to her face. Standing on either side of them were two terrorists, each pointing their rifles at Shepard and Ashley.

"Let her go Balak," Shepard said, "it's over. You're not getting Pazness and we have backup on the way. The only thing you can do now is decide whether you want to get out of this in handcuffs or a body bag."

"You're overlooking the other option Shepard," Balak replied, "I use your squad mate as my hostage and threaten to kill her if you don't let me go. Are you getting a sense of déjà vu yet Shepard?"

Shepard knew all too well what Balak was talking about. During his hunt for rogue Spectre Saren Arterius, Shepard and his crew prevented Balak from sending a large asteroid to destroy the colony of Terra Nova. Unfortunately when Shepard tried to apprehend Balak, he found that Balak had taken the asteroid's engineering team hostage. In their cells were explosive devices that Balak would detonate if Shepard tried to stop him from escaping. Not willing to sacrifice innocent lives to stop Balak, Shepard let him go. Now Shepard found himself in an eerily similar situation. This time however, Shepard had a plan to ensure Balak would not get away.

Shepard lowered his weapon. Ashley looked over at him like he was crazy. Shepard turned to Ashley and mouthed "trust me". He then turned his attention back to Balak. The first step was to get Balak and his men distracted and the best way to do it was get Balak talking.

"Okay Balak," he said, "you win. If you promise to let Kasumi go, you and what's left of your team can walk out of here."

As Shepard was speaking, he reached behind his back and started pushing some buttons on his omni-tool. In between pushes he used his hands to give some silent signals to Ashley. Using her peripheral vision, Ashley was able to see the signals and Shepard using his omni-tool. She now understood what Shepard was up to and waited for him to give the "go" signal.

"You really are predictable Shepard," Balak said with subtle cackle, "one of these days you're inability to sacrifice lives to accomplish your mission is going to be the death of you."

"Maybe but it helps me sleep at night. It reminds me that I'm not a monster like you."

Balak's face tensed up. Shepard had struck a nerve.

"I'M NOT A MONSTER!" Balak screamed.

Shepard kept his finger hovering over a button on his omni-tool. The first step of his plan was working. He just had to wait a few more seconds before he executed the final step.

"All I wanted to do was help my people. I wanted to help them regain the glory that we once had and maybe more. In spite of everything I've done for us, my people betrayed me! They said my plans for us were too extreme and would be the death of us but really they were just too afraid to do what needs to be done."

Balak's anger was boiling over. His men were now starting to get into his speech. Just a few more seconds Shepard thought.

"We may not have Pazness but this attack will show them what we are capable of. They will be willing to negotiate with us to prevent further attacks. Once I've convinced them to withdraw from the Council and take me back as Supreme Leader, then the galaxy will be at the mercy of the batarians! NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO….!"

NOW!

Shepard pushed the last button on his omni-tool and suddenly the whole room seemed to slow down around him. Balak had been so deeply involved in his speech that it took him by surprise when his gun went off. His men jumped when they heard the gun. Before either of them could figure out what happened, Ashley raised her rifle and fired two quick shots at each of the terrorists at Balak's sides. They dropped without even having a chance to raise their own weapons. Shepard was now raising his pistol. He took quick aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew past Kasumi's head and passed right through Balak's. There was a look of confusion on Balak's face before his eyes closed and he fell down dead. Within the course of three seconds, Shepard had finally brought Balak to justice.

Shepard turned to see Kasumi lying on the floor next to Balak. Ashley was already tending to her when he walked over. Kasumi was looking spooked when they first entered the library but now she was nervous wreck. She kept feeling her head expecting to feel a bullet hole. When she found out that there wasn't one, she became confused.

"I…I don't understand," she stuttered, "I…I should be…dead. Balak…he…he shot me…in the head. How am I…still alive?"

"It's ok Kasumi," said Shepard, "you're safe now. I'll explain everything after we get you back on the Normandy and the doctor has taken a look at you. Williams can you help Kasumi outside and wait for our backup?"

"You got it skipper," Ashley replied.

Ashley slowly helped Kasumi to her feet and offered her shoulder for support. Once Kasumi was stable, Ashley escorted her through the library's escape route to the outside. Shepard watched them all the way out the door. After the ladies were gone Shepard looked down at Balak's body. He was not the kind of person who took pleasure in killing anybody but he was glad that Balak was no longer going to be a threat to the galaxy. A terrorist was dead and a leader was safe. Mission: accomplished.

Before Shepard could head outside, his attention was caught once again by the terrorist's outfits. It was a bit lighter in the library than it was upstairs so the details of the clothes could be seen more clearly. What was it about the clothes that were causing warning bells to go off in Shepard's head? It wasn't until he took a look at some of the weapons that were lying by the terrorists that he realized what it was. He was going to have to call Liara to be sure but something told him that she would come to the same realization that he did and unfortunately it was not a good one.