Shepard, Ashley and Vega had spent a lot of time in space during their careers. This had allowed him to be used to the weightlessness they felt while freefalling. As they looked down towards the Earth below, it didn't seem like they were getting closer to the ground. Considering how high up in the air they were when they jumped, it would only be a matter of time before their perspective would allow them to see the ground approaching them. In the meantime, there was nothing they could do but fall.

As they continued to fall, Shepard began to think about the previous times he had done HALO jumps. During his career in the military, he had trained himself in a variety of military techniques past and present. He figured it always helped to have a variety of techniques to improve his odds of being able to handle any situation he might come across. Today he was proven right. HALO jumps were his favorite old military technique to learn because despite the dangers it posed, being in the air away from everyone and everything and with no noise to distract him gave him a peaceful and relaxing feeling that for the longest time was something that was hard for him to come by. He had thought about taking Ashley skydiving to show her what it felt like. Too bad it took a mission to get him to finally do it.

After a few minutes of falling, they were able to pick out the palace below them. It was also starting to get larger as the ground came closer. Shepard checked his altitude meter and saw that they were reaching the parachute deployment height. He held up his hands so that they were visible to Ashley and Vega and began a countdown.

Five…Four…Three…Two…One!

As soon as the countdown reached zero, the trio deployed their parachutes. Thanks to Shepard's crash course, Ashley and Vega were able to prepare for the sudden deceleration and keep their heads from snapping too far back. Once their deceleration stopped and they were floating down at a constant speed, the trio pulled out their pistols and began taking aim down towards the palace. Ashley and Vega would take out the two guards who were not using the anti-aircraft guns. The logic being that the foot soldiers could adjust their aim faster than the two on the guns could. Hence they had to be taken out first. The guards on the guns would be Shepard's responsibility.

The slow descent was making it hard for the trio to get a steady aim but once each person had someone in their sights, Shepard gave the order to fire. Through the night visions goggles the trio could see explosions of blood coming from three of the guards' heads below. One final shot from Shepard took out the second AA gun guard. Within a few seconds the rooftop was now completely devoid of movement. For the remainder of the descent, Shepard listened for any new sounds. Specifically he was listening for alarms, or worst case scenario gunfire. Silence was all the trio heard when they finally touched down on the roof of the palace. All signs seemed to indicate that no one inside was aware that they had landed. Shepard's plan had worked.

"Ok people," Shepard said as they took off their HALO gear, "from the lack of sounds I'd say we've had a successful landing. You two get to work on the vent cover while I give an update to the operations center. Once the vent cover's off, I'll take point going into the vents and you two will follow right behind me. Take it slow and steady."

"Those hostages might not have much longer Loco," Vega said.

"I know Vega but we'll make a lot of noise if we try to go through the vents too fast. The terrorists will hear us coming and they'll start shooting. We keep it slow, steady and quiet. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Aye-aye skipper," Ashley replied.

While Ashley and Vega proceeded to take off the vent cover, Shepard tapped his comm. to give his report to the operations center. Unfortunately the only thing he heard was static. He tried to put the call through again but still got static. It didn't make sense. Everyone had checked their comm. before they boarded the shuttle. The only other reason the comm. wouldn't be working was if the terrorists had a communications jammer. There was one thing he could try to see for sure.

Shepard tapped his comm. again and spoke in a quiet whisper, "Can you hear me Williams? Vega, do you read me?"

Ashley and Vega didn't even look up from their task. There was no doubt about it. Shepard's comm. was being jammed. But how could the Reds have smuggled a comm. jammer inside the palace. It was hard enough for Shepard to believe that they got themselves and their weapons inside but a communications jammer? Shepard could only hope that once they got a visual on the inside of the ballroom that they would get some answers.

"The vent cover is off Loco," Vega called, "we're ready to go when you are."

Vega's call had taken Shepard out of his train of thought. He nodded and proceeded inside the shaft. Vega and Ashley followed right behind him. The vent was not too big but it forced them to move in a crouched position. They took every effort to take quiet steps but occasionally a small rattle would be heard.

Suddenly another sound began to echo in the vent. It was slightly muffled but Shepard could tell what it was. It was the sound or crying hostages. The vent cover that was directly above the ballroom was just ahead. Shepard held up his hand to order Ashley and Vega to hold position. As he stepped closer to the cover, he began pulling out an optic cable. Very carefully, he slid the cable through the vent and angled it so it was directly overlooking the entire ballroom. He pulled up his omni-tool and soon the cable's video feed was displayed. For the first time since the crisis began, they had a visual on what was going inside the ballroom.

The video displayed stuff that Shepard had expected to see for the most part. Scattered around the room were all the hostages. They were seated and had their hands behind their backs. Odds were that the terrorists had restrained the hostages' hands behind them. Shepard also noticed the hostages that were positioned by the entrances and the bombs that were attached to the doors. There were at least six men walking around the ballroom with a variation of assault rifles and sub-machine guns. Unfortunately the rest of what Shepard saw was not what he expected to see.

"Vega," he whispered, "are we sure that the phone call we got from Finch came from the ballroom?"

"Of course," Vega replied, "the phone in the operations center only takes calls from one phone and I personally threw that phone into the ballroom. It hasn't come out of the room since."

"And you're sure that no one has come out of the ballroom?"

Vega was now starting to look concerned, "well they barricaded themselves in with the bombs so I don't see how anyone could leave without disabling them first."

"Then why is Finch not in the ballroom?"

Vega synced his omni-tool with Shepard's and began scanning the faces of the terrorists. There was no photo of Finch in any Alliance database so Shepard had to give Vega and Ashley Finch's physical description while they were on the shuttle. Sure enough when Vega had finished scanning the faces, he saw that Finch was not among the men in the ballroom.

"That's impossible!" Vega exclaimed barely able to keep his voice from rising. "The bombs are still set on the doors so we know he didn't disable them to leave the room."

Shepard didn't reply to Vega's comment because he was focusing on the other thing that he saw on the video that wasn't something he expected to see. The six men on patrol were dressed up as waiters and palace security. It explained how the terrorists were able to get into the ballroom and how they were able to smuggle their equipment inside without attracting attention. Palace guards would be able to carry weapons in plain sight and the waiters could use their food carts to hide their weapons and maybe the comm. jammer if it was small enough. But despite all the questions the video answered, another question was raised.

"How did terrorists get jobs as palace guards and waiters?" said Ashley who had been watching the cables feed on Vega's omni-tool. "Nobody can get a job in Buckingham Palace without a thorough background check. Somebody would have seen that they were associated with an anti-alien gang and rejected their application."

"That's exactly what I was wondering," said Shepard, "unfortunately we don't have time to speculate on that or where Finch is. We still have to rescue those hostages and take out the hostiles that are in the ballroom."

"What's the plan?" Ashley asked.

Shepard turned off the video and pulled up the electrical grid for the palace, "according to the plans we have, the electrical cables that provide power to the ballroom run parallel to this shaft. While you two set up our fast rope system, I'll use my omni-blade to cut a hole in the shaft to access the power lines. We'll then slowly get the vent cover off and hook up the rope. Once we're ready I'll cut the power and we'll fast rope down to the ground and take out two guards each. If all goes well this should be quick and have no civilian casualties."

Ashley and Vega nodded acknowledging their orders. Shepard activated his omni-blade and began cutting a circular hole into the wall of the shaft. Despite the shaft being made of metal, Shepard's omni-blade didn't have any trouble cutting through. While this was going on, Ashley and Vega were attaching a hook to the top of the shaft directly over the vent cover. They then attached one end of the rope to the hook and set the other end aside to be pushed down later when the vent cover was off and Shepard had cut the power.

"(Gasp)!"

Shepard gasped as he finished cutting the hole only to have the part he cut nearly fall down and land on the power cables. Fortunately he managed to catch it before it landed and could make a sound that would have alerted the terrorists below to their presence. He gently took the panel and carefully placed it down behind him. He turned back to Ashley and Vega who gave him the thumbs up to indicate the fast rope system was hooked up and ready to go. Shepard nodded and started scanning the wires looking for the circuit panel the palace plans told him ran the ballrooms power. Eventually he found the panel and began putting in a tap that would allow him to remotely control the power. Once he finished, everything that was needed for the attack was in place and accounted for except for one thing.

Shepard pulled up the video from the optic cable again to check the terrorist's current positions. The terrorists were still patrolling the room but Shepard noticed something that would help them. Every so often, two of the terrorists had patrols that would bring them in close proximity to each other. If he waited for them to get in that position before he cut the power, whoever took those two down would have an easy time adjusting their aim. He turned the video towards Ashley and Vegan and pointed out the patrols and when he was planning to cut the power. Once they understood the plan, they each picked out the two terrorists they would be responsible for taking out. As soon as the plan was thought out, Ashley and Vega slowly and quietly loosened the screws on the vent cover. They picked it up and placed it behind them. Vega then picked up the rope and prepared to throw it down as soon as it was dark. Shepard watched the video and waited for the two terrorists to meet each other again. He used his omni-tool to activate the tap and waited for the opportunity to turn off the power.

The terrorists were now just a few feet apart.

Suddenly the terrorists stopped in their place and one of them moved his hand to his ear. Someone was talking to them over a comm. Shepard quickly scanned the faces of the other terrorists but saw that none of them were talking on their comm. He figured it must have been Finch calling from wherever he was using a special comm. signal that could bypass the jammer. A feeling in his gut was telling him that something was wrong. He had the optic camera zoom in on their faces. Sure enough they were looking concerned over what they were hearing. He figured that Finch must have realized that the terrorists on the roof had been taken out. If that was the case then he knew that Shepard and his team were in the palace. That meant bad news for the hostages and time was rapidly running out for Shepard and his team to commence their attack.

Ashley and Vega could see the video and were beginning to think the same thing Shepard was. This was confirmed when they saw the terrorists were beginning to pull out their weapons. They each pulled out their own pistols and waited anxiously to throw down the rope. They saw Shepard point to his headset indicating they should turn on their night vision. While the night vision was warming up, Shepard held up his hand with three fingers raised to give the final countdown before the attack.

3….2….1….NOW!

The ballroom below them blacked out when Shepard cut the power. The terrorists started panicking. Fortunately the blackout was so unexpected for them that the time they were using to process what happened was time they weren't using to kill hostages. Vega acted fast and threw the rope down into the ballroom. Shepard was the first one down the rope with Ashley and Vega following behind them. With their night vision fully warmed up, they were able to see in the dark ballroom clearly and were able to pick out their targets. Despite the fast speed of their descent, they were able to aim their shots perfectly and put two shots in each terrorist. A combined twelve shots later, all the terrorists had fallen down dead.

The sounds of the gunshots had caused the hostages to scream. Even though they weren't blindfolded, the ballroom was too dark to allow them to see anything so they had no idea who was shooting and who they were shooting at. Shepard knew he had to calm the hostages down quickly. As soon as he reached the ground he used his tap to restore the power to the ballroom. The lights turning back on helped the hostages calm down a little bit but they still were unsure of who Shepard was since he wasn't in the room before the lights went out.

"Attention everyone!" Shepard called. "I'm Captain Shepard of the Alliance Navy and Council Spectre! My team and I are here to rescue you. So please remain calm and we'll begin escorting you all safely out of the palace."

The fears on the hostages' faces quickly vanished and turned to ones of relief. Some were even looking to sky and mouthing a thank you prayer. One hostage however did not look so relieved and Shepard picked up on it right away. The hostage was a salarian and instead of being relieved at the sight of Shepard, he seemed to be nervous about something. Shepard ordered Vega to disable the explosives and Ashley to begin cutting the hostages free. While they were doing that, Shepard walked over to the nervous salarian and bent down to talk to him.

"Is everything okay sir?" he asked, "I just told you all that we're here to rescue you. I would think that would be cause to celebrate not to be nervous. What's your name?"

"Avot Yuless Captain," said the salarian, "personal bodyguard to Ambassador Rosila of the Salarian Union. I am thankful for the rescue sir but the terrorists have the Ambassador. If they find out you are here they'll kill him.

Shepard glanced around the room, "you mean they have him somewhere else in the palace?"

"Yes sir. After the leader made his phone call, he and three other terrorists took the ambassador and a few other hostages and they left the ballroom through a door that appeared in the wall over there."

The wall Yuless pointed to was decorated with pictures of the royalty that had lived in the palace before England joined the other European nations to form a single country called the European Union. The specific spot Yuless pointed to was where a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was hung. Shepard pulled up the plans of the palace that helped him find the power control panel. As he thought, there was no mention of a hidden passage in the ballroom. He figured the passage was meant to be used as a secret escape route for high level leaders and that was why there was no mention of it in the plans. The question was how did Finch know about it and where did he take the rest of the hostages?

But before Shepard could answer that question, he needed to focus on getting the hostages they rescued out of the palace. There was no sign of the jammer in the ballroom so they couldn't disable it and call the task force to come in and extract the hostages. Thinking quickly, Shepard raced over to a nearby window and pulled the curtain. He remembered how the palace's exterior cameras still worked but because of the curtains no one could see inside. Once he had the curtain opened, he pointed his assault rifle at the window in the direction of the camera and started turning it's flashlight on and off.

"What are you doing Loco?" Vega asked.

"I'm sending a message to the Task Force using Morse code," Shepard replied.

Morse code was yet another one of many old techniques Shepard had taught himself during his career. The point of Morse code when it was first invented was sending letters using a series of sounds through a telegraph in a mix of short and long intervals. With no way to send sounds to the operations center, Shepard was turning his flashlight on and off in short and long intervals. Unfortunately Morse code had not been used for more than a century so it was highly unlikely that someone would recognize the message. Still Shepard had to try something.

The message Shepard was sending said that his team had successfully infiltrated the palace. They had taken out ten hostiles and secured the majority of the hostages. There were still an unknown number of hostages and hostiles elsewhere in the palace. He was going to send one member of his team to guide the hostages toward the exit and he wanted the task force to have a team rendezvous with them there. It took several minutes but Shepard eventually sent his message twice to ensure someone would see the whole thing.

"Ok people listen up!" Shepard called out addressing his team and the hostages. "We're going to start getting you out of here. A member of my team will escort you towards the exit where an Alliance squad will meet you and take you to safety. Williams, Vega can I have a word with you?"

As the rest of the hostages started to get up onto their feet, Ashley and Vega met with Shepard a few feet from the crowd.

"Williams," said Shepard, "I'm putting you in charge of getting these people out of here safely. Vega you'll stay with me and we'll go after Finch."

"But Shepard…," Ashley began.

Shepard held up his hand to cut her off, "Let me finish. You'll guide the hostages until you rendezvous with the squad. Make sure you check each door for anymore traps. Once you meet the squad, they'll take the hostages so you can rejoin us."

Ashley was silent for a second but then smiled and saluted, "Aye-aye skipper."

Shepard turned his attention back to the hostages, "before you guys go, I have a tough request to ask. I need a volunteer to assist Commander Williams escorting everyone. The commander will have to take point to ensure you don't meet any unexpected surprises on your way out. Whichever of you volunteers will take the rear and be the last one to exit a room thus ensuring that everyone stays together. It's a risky job and I can't force one of you to do it but I would really like a volunteer."

None of the hostages spoke. Shepard wasn't expecting anyone to but he needed to try. He was about to tell Ashley to move out when suddenly Yuless stood up.

"I volunteer Captain," he said.

"Are you sure?" Shepard asked.

"I'm sure. I'm still worried about the ambassador but even if I can't help him, at least I can help get the rest of these people out of here.

"All right, we all have our assignments. Let's move out."

While Ashley began escorting hostages out of the ballroom, Shepard and Vega made their way to the Queen Elisabeth portrait. Shepard tilted the portrait slightly and a door opened in the wall. He and Vega raised their rifles and turned on their flashlights to scan the newly revealed hallway. Convinced there were no hostiles, Shepard signaled for Vega to take point. Shepard turned around to see Yuless helping the last of the hostages out of the room. Yuless turned and gave a thumbs-up to Shepard before following everyone out. Shepard returned the thumbs-up before turning back to the secret passage and following Vega inside.