Essien and Vina arrived with medi-gel, but there was so little of it, and against Irie's injuries it was almost useless. Vina spread as much over the unconscious woman's burns as she could, while Essien smeared a trace over the wound on Melara's forehead. Mel moved her head away and gave a feeble flick of her hand, as if trying to shoo a fly that had landed unwelcome.

"We've got to get her to a doctor," Mel said, far more concerned with Irie than herself.

"We'll need to move her with biotics, there's no telling what internal injuries she has," Essien said. "Our communications have been completely wiped due to that blast, but there should be some medics still at Huerta. If we can get to a working comm we can-"

Just then, they heard calls and footsteps. Mel looked over through the smoke and nodded. As she'd predicted, EDI and Pio had just arrived in their spare chassis, bringing with them several of the rakir and more than one medical kit, as well as a few anti-grav gurneys.

"Captain!"

"We've got two very badly wounded," Melara called back.

"We have already communicated to the hospital," EDI said as they came up the stairs. "They have medics on standby."

They reached Neville first, Eír and Zyara still tending to him. EDI and one of the rakir lingered there, but Pio and the others rushed over toward Melara.

Pio, despite being synthetic, had a very distinct look of alarm on its face. "Is she alive?" it asked as it got to their side.

"She's alive," Melara said. "And I have a feeling that is thanks to you- but she is badly hurt."

She looked at Essien. "I'm going to use my biotics to lift her onto the gurney. Don't wait for me or the others, get her down to Huerta as quickly as is possible."

Getting to her feet, her head spinning momentarily, she concentrated and lit up her biotics. For a moment, she was surprised to see them flare purple and white rather than the blue they had been her entire life.

Exobiotics now, she reminded herself. Hopefully, we have seen the end of biotics.

Gently, she surrounded her sister with the energy and as gingerly as if she were lifting a soap bubble that would pop at the slightest contact, she lifted Irie onto the gurney and lowered her down. Her head gave another faint lurch as she let the energy die.

"Go, take her quickly."

"You need treated too," Essien said, eyeing her.

"As do you," Melara told her, then shook her head. "I'm fine for now. We need to confirm what happened and if it worked. I'll report to Huerta as soon as I can confirm."

As they headed out of the Council Chambers, Melara moved toward EDI, Eír, and the others. Most of the group stepped away, also heading for the exit as they guided poor Neville's gurney as well. Eír and EDI, however, turned toward her, the older asari not missing a beat.

"We have no working communications in here, possibly not anywhere in most of the Citadel," she said. "I'm going to head to my ship, open coms from there and see if I can reach Blithe. If I can tell him what we've done he might at least stop the weapon long enough to confirm that it worked."

"Do it," Melara said, then looked at EDI. "We need to get to Goruba, take our own measurements, make sure this worked and see what the damage is, if any. Just looking out there I can see Earth is still in place but we don't know what casualties they may have sustained. I'd also like to get a message to Dae, let her know we're still alive at least."

It would be a while before they could actually call their ships home. They'd need verification first that the Crucible had worked and that Blithe had stopped the superweapon before they did that, but she had no desire to keep their people guessing about the situation back here.

She also wanted to make sure they were ok. They had taken precautions to ensure the energy feedback didn't pour through to the dark space relays, but there was no guarantee.

With Vina, Sihra, and Pio at her heels and EDI beside her, she headed out of the Council Chambers toward where Goruba's shuttle was docked. The rest of the rakir had either gone with the others to the hospital, or lingered behind to retrieve the damaged pair of chassis the two synthetics had previously inhabited.

By the time they reached Goruba Mel was feeling incredibly sore but much clearer. Even so, she did not object when Pio retrieved some extra medi-gel and quickly attended to her forehead. EDI had already been accessing communications the moment they left the Council Chambers, and had several reports ready by the time they got to Goruba's 'CIC'.

"There have been numerous casualties on Earth as a result of the beam's impact," she said. "We have ongoing seismic activity. It will take some time before the extent of the damage is known, but it does not appear as if any permanent damage to the planet's crust or mantle has been done, and while there are lingering energy traces in the ionosphere, there is no lingering atmospheric damage."

"What about the eezo levels in this system?"

"We are receiving data from our own as well as several other sampling sources. As of what has been gathered so far it seems that the dark energy levels in this solar system have reduced by .57 percent, and that reduction is increasing exponentially. At this rate, I predict within twelve solar hours the dark energy levels in the Sol system will be half of what they were this morning, and within a week to the levels they were 45,000 solar years ago."

Mel felt another wave of momentary dizziness that had nothing to do with her head. "Is that effect continuing?"

"Hard numbers outside the solar system are still incoming. The mass relays have been damaged and appear to have powered down. They are regaining power slowly and should make a full recovery, however it will be days before ship transmission through the local relay will be possible. What reports we do have from outside the system show a similar decrease in dark energy levels, and the beam appears to still be spreading through the relay system."

Now it was Vina's turn to blast a sigh of relief. "Then it worked."

"So far the information seems promising," EDI agreed, then tilted her head. "I have communications with the fleet waiting in dark space."

"Put me through to Daenys," Melara said, straightening.

"You have an open channel."

"Newcastle, this is Captain Melara Shepard, are you receiving?"

{Shepard, this is the Newcastle,} Daenys's relieved voice replied almost instantly. {Thank the Goddess! Are you all right?}

"Personally I have bump on my head I'll not soon forget," Melara said, her own relief in her voice. "Irie and Neville were both very badly hurt, and there are reports of casualties on Earth. The Crucible exploded and part of the station was damaged. We're still gathering data but what we've got so far looks very promising. Are you all right?"

{We are fine, not so much as a ripple in the proverbial water here. Irie and Neville-?}

Melara glanced at EDI, who nodded.

"They have reached Huerta and the doctors," Melara told her wife. "I'm not going to lie, Dae. Irie was…it's pretty bad, but she's alive."

She looked over and met Pio's eyes as she continued. "If it weren't for Pio, she wouldn't even be here. He saved her life."

Pio looked a bit bashful, but gave a faint nod of acknowledgement. Mel looked back and said, "Neville's not in good shape either."

{I am keeping both in my thoughts. They are strong, Mel. Have faith in that strength.}

"I'm trying, Dae. We'll be in contact again soon. We need confirmation that the superweapon has stopped before we're going to let any ships back through into home space. Sit tight, hopefully it won't be long."

{We will be ready when you give the signal. Daenys out.}

Melara looked back at EDI, mouth opening to ask if she could get hold of Eír, when EDI stiffened and spoke. "Captain, I have an urgent communication from Eír."

There was an instant transition, EDI not pausing before she put the older asari through.

{Mel, we have a serious problem.}

Mel felt her sore body tense up. "What is it?"

{Blithe is not responding to our pings. According to our instruments, communications are working perfectly and we are reaching the ship on the same frequency as before, but there is no response.}

"Could he just be ignoring us?"

{I doubt it. Blithe has always responded to any attempt at communication. They're as eager as we are to have a valid reason not to blow up the Milky Way. He knew we were going to try something. He would not ignore us now.}

"Keep trying him, maybe-"

"Captain, we have an additional problem," EDI said. "I have triangulated the superweapon's position using a dozen communication buoys and signal relays across the grid. It is still on direct trajectory to the Omega Four relay. If my readings are correct…the superweapon is not slowing. In fact, it is speeding up."

Mel could hear her own heartbeat ringing in her working ear. "Speeding up?"

{Confirmed,} Eír said breathlessly. {Confirmed they're…they've definitely picked up speed. At this rate, they'll reach the relay in sixty minutes. They'll be at the galactic core in two hours.}

"They don't intend to stop," Vina said grimly. "They never intended to stop."

{No, I don't believe that,} Eír said tautly. {Something's happened. Something's going on. Mel, I swear to the Goddess. I talked to Blithe. I shared his mind. He doesn't want to destroy us. None of his people on that ship do, they just feel they have no other option. This makes no sense. Something's gone wrong.}

"We have to stop that ship," Melara said. "I don't know what's happened but whatever it is, that doesn't change anything. We have to stop that ship, at any cost."

"How?" Vina asked. "The relays aren't going to be charged up again for use for days. Even if they were working and we left at FTL speeds right now, we'd never reach it in time to stop it. Not to mention it'd take more than even just Goruba to halt that monster-"

Melara's grim eyes shifted in thought a moment, the smear of medi-gel and dried blood on her swollen, bruised forehead standing out in the stark light. Then she suddenly slapped EDI on the shoulder.

"Is there an anchor on that thing?"

"On the superweapon? The chances that a functioning Fold anchor exists aboard that vessel are high. Pio-"

"I'm not entirely familiar with the design of the superweapon, it is not of my time," Pio said. "However, I should be able to determine if there is one, shortly."

"Do it, now," Mel said, and as Pio stepped away toward the wall, placing his hand on it, she looked at EDI again. "Any hard-suits and weapons we can scrounge up?"

"There are some in the armory, but the ship is far from stocked-"

"Anything we can get, right now. Vina, Sihra, suit up in gear that hasn't been battered by an explosion. Full shields, as many weapons on your packs as you can fit-"

"You want to open a Fold and invade the superweapon from inside?" Vina asked. Sihra grinned.

"I like this plan."

"I must advise against this plan," EDI replied. "A small strike team may be able to get aboard that ship undetected but you will be facing an unknown, and a possible hostile force of immeasurable size."

"It's our only shot," Mel said. "We'll never reach that ship with other means, and even if we do, we won't have the force needed to stop it or take it out. We need to board it, right now, and shut the goddamn thing down before it reaches the galactic core."

"There will be thousands of miles of corridors and rooms," Vina said, looking at her. Mel nodded.

"We'll take Pio with us. He should be able to interface and navigate us," she said.

"I can get the rest of the rakir back on board-"

"No. There's no time. We have to do this now. There's no telling if that ship is capable of even faster speeds. EDI, if you can get some heavier hitters or larger numbers through that Fold after us I won't complain but we cannot wait for them."

"I have confirmation on a link way to that ship," Pio said, and turned around. "We can open a fold directly on board."

"All right, get suited and armed up. You're with us. Once we're on board it'll be your job to find the best way to stop that ship and guide us where we need to be. We'll take care of the rest."

It took only a few minutes to change suits. Both Mel's and Vina's current suits had been badly damaged by the explosion and would serve them little use in combat or in a questionable atmosphere. As soon as she'd changed, she dug into the armory. It was only partly stocked- Goruba had hardly been outfitted for any kind of combat use as of yet. Still, within its stores she found a belt of grenades and an extra pair of pistols. She shipped the pistols onto her pack and fastened the belt over her shoulder and chest.

Even as she clinically set about preparing, inside her head was ringing. This was nothing short of a suicide run and she knew it. There was no telling what waited for them on that ship but the long and the short of it came to the same conclusion. That vessel had to be stopped for good, and that likely would mean destroying it. If they blew the ship up the chances of getting off of it before it went were remote.

She felt no hesitation. Like her father before her, she would gladly die to save those she loved, and she fully intended to fight until her very last breath to make sure that weapon did not reach the galactic core. She just regretted that she had no time to speak to Daenys or her family again, even to say goodbye.

Changed and armed, they rejoined EDI and Pio near Goruba's anchor. Pio had no real need for a hard-suit as the chassis was suitably armored, but he had clipped a shield generator to his belt, and put on a weapon's pack. Sihra seemed raring to go. Mel was pretty sure the rakir was grinning, though no grin could be seen around her face-mask. Vina seemed as stoic and reserved as always. If Pio were in any way hesitant he was hiding it well. Only EDI seemed concerned.

"Captain, I will send you through reinforcements as quickly as I am able," she said. "I will also keep a micro-fold open to allow for communications. I will maintain contact, and will be able to reopen the full Fold on a moment's notice for your retreat."

"Thanks EDI," Mel said, clapping her on the shoulder again. Neither of them said retreat would probably not be possible. Mel wasn't going to stop until the ship was no longer a threat, and any means toward its halting or destruction may be miles away from the Fold anchor. They would not be able to give themselves time to get back to it before detonating it, it would be far too risky.

If we can't blow it we may have to drive it into a sun, or a black hole, she thought. Whatever we have to do. If ever failure was not an option, it's today.

"I have connection," Pio said, then looked at her. "Ready to open the Fold."

"Keep it open long enough for us to get through, then close it down again," Mel said. "I want no risk of something coming off that ship onto this one."

"I will maintain all security precautions to prevent that eventuality," EDI said, and took the controls. Mel, Pio, Sihra, and Vina lined up outside the anchor as she connected the Fold, the air within swallowed in a heartbeat in black.

"Go go go!"

Weapons out and up, the four rushed through the Fold and vanished from sight. Instantly, EDI narrowed the Fold down to microscopic level, then lifted her head.

"Captain, are you reading me? Do we have communications?"

The moment they were through, Melara felt a swirling rush of vertigo, and stumbled to a halt. Dizziness swept over her and she felt her footing tremble a bit as her eyes tried to convince her she'd run right into space itself.

The sensation passed as quickly as it had come, however, and the reality of what she was seeing came into focus.

They were in a room, as large as a cruiser. The floor was highly polished, almost like glass, giving the sensation of depth beneath them. The distant walls and ceiling seemed to be the same. Filling the room was some kind of holographic projection, a replication of the swirling arms of the galaxy so realistic that if not for the floor beneath their feet, Mel would have sworn they were flying in open space.

Trying to get a handle on herself- her eyes telling her she was falling, her legs and feet telling her she was standing- she quickly swept her weapon around as the others ran through after her, all stuttering to a stunned halt and staggering as they tried to adjust.

"I do not like this," Sihra said with a low growl, planting her feet wide, her tail stuck out stiffly behind her. "What is this?"

"It is a navigational display of their star charts," Pio said, the only one who seemed unbothered by the impossible room. "I shall try and switch it off."

"Hostiles?" Mel asked, catching its shoulder before it could step past. She could see nothing living on her normal HUD nor her infrared, but this room was so big it was impossible to tell for sure. Pio shook his head.

"I am sensing no life forms beside ours in this room."

She nodded, releasing his shoulder. "Get this thing shut off and get into the computer system if you can. See if you can glean what we're dealing with and the best way to take this monster down-"

{Captain, I am attempting again. Are you reading me? Do we have communication?}

She turned her head slightly as Pio trotted off, and looked back at the anchor behind them. It now appeared to be empty, but clearly a micro-fold remained. "EDI, we read you. No hostiles as of yet. Pio is going to access the computer systems if he can."

{Very well. I had an idea Captain, and opened communications to-…stand by.}

She cut off so abruptly that Mel became concerned. "EDI? EDI, come back…"

There was a bright blink, and the feeling of dropping in her stomach. The swirling stars around them suddenly vanished. The room was still huge and blank, but she felt far more stable without eternity surrounding her. Glancing around, she spotted the dim form of Pio against the far wall.

"Pio, good job."

{I am in the systems now. They are not contemporary to me, so it will take some time for me to properly interface. I have encountered Pio but their processing language is somewhat different. Stand by.}

"Great," Mel said, and headed toward the anchor, switching channels. "EDI? EDI can you hear me? Please respond."

Nothing. Gesturing at Sihra Mel said, "See if you can locate any entrance or exit from this room. I don't want to be surprised."

Sihra grunted, then bounded off. Except possibly Pio, the rakir could move faster than the rest of them, and would most likely be able to sniff out any doorways, no matter how cleverly hidden.

Vina was by the anchor, her omni-tool lit up. She shook her head as Melara came over.

"I'm not getting a positive communication signal back home either," she said. "In fact, if my readings are right, there's no Fold activated here, micro or not. She's completely shut it down."

Mel frowned, worried. "She must have had her reasons. Right now we can't do anything about it. If she's able to re-establish she will. We can't linger here. The moment we have a door and know where we're going we need to get this monstrosity stopped. Everything else is secondary."

{I'm integrated and beginning my communication and my scan,} Pio said. {Two minutes.}

{Captain, I have found a door,} Sihra replied a second later. {It appears to be locked and sealed. Doesn't smell like it's been used in a while.}

"How long a while?"

{Hours at least, more likely days. I'm looking for any others.}

"If they haven't been in here in days, then perhaps their-" Melara began, before Vina suddenly interrupted her.

"Captain, the Fold just opened!"

Mel turned around, and her hand was already reaching for her helmet, expecting it was the micro-fold that Vina was referring to and communication had been re-established, but that wasn't the case. The entire anchor was once again swallowed in black.

Then, a form in a hard-suit ran out of it with a slightly hitching, clumsy gait. On its back it had a weapon's pack fastened on lopsided, and some kind of strap was slung over its shoulder, the pack attached to it hung in front. Its arms were protectively wound around it.

It made a panting, gasping, strained sound, as if bracing for something catastrophic. Behind it, the Fold had vanished.

Mel was staring at the hard-suited figure in bafflement, but it wasn't until it spoke that her gut seemed to seize.

"Oh good," Del Shepard said in breathless relief. "I didn't blow up."