-Sorry this chapter is a little short than I wanted it to be. But I was a little excited with getting the next one underway. I know I have forgotten to mention it repeatedly like most do, but BioWare owns all, of course. The next two chapters are an attempt to try and explain the events of Akuze. Feel free to comment-

Memories

Serenity. Peace. Two words that were not normally used to describe the atmosphere on the Normandy, at least since the beginning of the Eden Prime Wars. The ship and crew had been accustomed to going through hell and back, and coming out of it relatively unscathed. Saren, the Geth, Collectors, even a human reaper hybrid, had all met the same fate when they encountered the Normandy and her crew. It was no wonder why she was considered to be the best ship in the Alliance fleet. It was looked up to even more so now with the upgrades and new technologies that were provided by Cerberus and the various crew members on the ship. The Thanix Cannon was one of the favorite amongst the crew. They had all fallen in love with it when it had ripped apart the Collector vessel they had faced.

Joker was one of the few crew members that was still up this late into the night, or what was considered to be night on the Citadel. He had forgotten to run through the ship's weekly checklist when he had hobbled away to Chora's Den with Jacob and Garrus earlier in the day. When he had returned, EDI was waiting for him like a wife who thought her husband was cheating on her. Joker was glad the AI had no 'eyes' and could only imagine what kind of look she would have been given him when he boarded the ship.

"Where have you been all day?" she had asked. Joker looked at her in astonishment. She had rarely, if ever inquired about his personal dealings or ever showed what could have been explained as a true simulation of human emotion. He caught himself when he realized she had saved his ass during their struggle with the Collectors, and had shown a small hint of compassion when she asked him how he was doing.

"I went to Chora's Den with Jacob and Garrus," he replied, sliding into the pilot's seat and getting himself comfy. "I was only…Wait, why the hell do I have to explain to you where I was? I am a grown man and I can do whatever it is I want to do."

"You are indeed a grown man Jeff, but you still have things here at the ship that need to be taken care of," EDI had came back with. "Weekly calibrations need to be done and you have been skipping items on your daily checklist. This would not please the Commander at all…if I tell him."

"Come on EDI, the Commander is too busy to be dealing with things up here in the cockpit. Besides, he likes me too much. We go way back. Before you showed up and tried to take over my cockpit," Joker said back to her.

"You may be right Mr. Moreau," she said, a hint of seriousness in her voice. "But these things need to be done to make sure the Normandy is going to be kept running properly." Joker sighed and began to run through the list of things that EDI had set aside for him to do.

That was a couple of hours ago and Joker was nearing the end of his 'chores' from his 'wife'. Never would he outwardly refer to her as such but they did seem to have an awkward type of relationship. One that was a little stressful at the beginning, but now that the two of them had time to bond and work together, and now it has budded into a semi-happy coexistence. Joker would do things to try and push EDI's buttons, and EDI would threaten to let Shepard know about some of the 'movies' that Jeff would sit and watch whenever Shepard was either off ship or when it was late at night. It would have normally embarrassed Joker if anyone else would have caught him with explicit material, but EDI was the only exception to that rule.

A pair of ensigns sat at their stations for their shift of monitoring the cameras that were placed on the outside of the ship. The ensigns had only been up for a couple of hours and would not to sleep until the middle of the day tomorrow. Even though they were docked at the Citadel and the Citadel had its own defenses, Shepard thought it would still be best to keep his crew members vigilant and aware of what was going on around them. Some call it paranoia on the part of Shepard, but he preferred to say that he was always ready for anything.

Garrus stood by the galaxy map with Legion, listening to the synthetic talk about the history of the Geth and some small details that Garrus never knew. The discussion quickly turned to the Geth and Quarian war and the near destruction of the Quarian race. Legion explained to Garrus the heretics and how he and Shepard, with the surprising help of Tali, rewrote the 'Old Machines', trying to get them to not be hostile towards organics any longer and rejoin what he referred to as 'normal' Geth. Garrus loved getting all of this information from Legion. He always saw the Geth as smart and sinister killing machines, but now he knew one that actually like the other galactic races. Legion swiftly shifted and asked about the First Contact War between humans and Turians.

It took Garrus a few moments but he was able to give Legion the best explanation he could concerning the war. He discussed the Rachni, how humans were the new kids on the block and wanted to have control of everything in front of them, and how some Turians just despised mankind. Shepard, Ashley Williams, Councilor Anderson, and the late Kaiden Alenko had changed his opinion on humans. Shepard was like a brother to him now.

The rest of the crew was either asleep or getting their quickly. They were not used to having so much free time as of late and sleep just seemed like a good thing to do. When they battled the Collectors they were used to being up for several hours, trying to figure out ways to upgrade the Normandy or ways they could each individually help destroy the Collectors. Now they were getting the rest and relaxation they all rightfully deserved.

Commander Christian Shepard laid in his bed in the captain quarters, exhausted from his strenuous night with his bedmate and lover Miranda Lawson. The operative had fallen asleep beside of him, curled up in a small ball with her back to him. The commander laid on his back - only wearing a smile - with the blankets only covering up parts of his torso. It had only been a few days since the Council granted his reinstatement into the Alliance Military. The Alliance was also gracious enough to not demote him from the rank of Commander after his brief involvement with Cerberus, an enemy of the Alliance and the Council.

The smile soon faded away from the face of the Commander. He tossed in the bed a little bit. A scowl came across his face and sweat began to form on his brow. It was all happening to him again. He was reliving memories and moments of the past that he was certain he had forgotten. Everything inside of him screamed for him to wake up and end this hellish nightmare he was having but it was like he was in a mental stasis field. Shepard tried to force his eyes open but he was locked away, being forced to remember that dreadful day. That bloody, bloody day when he lost so many friends.

"No!" The Commander yelled aloud. He sat up in bed and looked around, finally realizing where he was at, the Normandy. Miranda shot up as well and grabbed the gun next to their bed. She pointed it towards the door and sat there for a moment, her knuckles beginning to turn white from her grip on the gun. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized that there was no one there. Miranda put the gun down and looked over at Shepard. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Miranda saw the sweat roll down his back. This was new, not from what they had been doing a few hours prior.

"Christian," she said softly, crawling across the bed close to him and gently putting her hands on his back. His body was tense and he was shivering a little bit. He obviously had a nightmare of some kind, but Miranda had no idea why he would have. Nightmares weren't something that he had ever told her that he had so she was surprised to have found this out.

"I am fine Miri," he said trying to shake himself back into a normal state. He rubbed his hands through his hair and to the back of his neck. Miranda pushed his hands away and rubbed his neck for him.

"Liar," she said softly. "And your not good at it. So just tell me the truth. What is wrong?" She moved a little closer to him, pressing herself right up against his back. Shepard could feel her heart beat. That helped calm him down and ease his tension slightly.

Shepard sighed and looked at the wall in front of him. "Akuze." He said in almost a whisper. "I was reliving that night on Akuze." A cold chill went up his spine as he thought about the horrors that he saw so many years ago. He found it a little amusing that he never had nightmares about Eden Prime, Saren, Geth or Collectors. Or even when the Collectors killed him. Sure he would sit and ponder those things but never once did he dream or have a nightmare about it. But this, this was something that had haunted him a long time. Fifty marines. Fifty! How in the hell could he have allowed something like that to have happened.

"I know what happened on Akuze," Miranda said, shifting herself to sitting next to the Commander. She grabbed more of the sheets and pulled them up to cover up her exposed bosom. "You and a group of marines were attacked by a Thresher Maw. They all died and you were the only survivor. You forget that I know more about you than you think." She said, laying her head on his shoulder. The look on his face was cold and callous.

"Toombs," Shepard said. "Corporal Toombs was the other survivor from that night. He was kidnapped by Cerberus, and believed that it was them who put the Thresher Maw on the planet to begin with. He believed it with such gusto that it made me want to believe him. Right up until he died, he swore that Cerberus was the cause."

"I never read any reports or ever heard any mentioning of it," Miranda replied, lifting her head up. "Of course I wonder how much about the inner workings of Cerberus I don't know. You know as well as I do, that Cerberus is an extremist group that will go to whatever ends they deem necessary to get the results of whatever project they are working on. I was blind by their ambition for helping humanity progress. And I let them work my emotions due to their involvement with Orianna." She paused for a moment. "Why would they intentionally put such a deadly and dangerous creature like a Thresher Maw on Akuze?"

"Maybe they were wanting to compile research or evidence of some kind. You said it yourself that they would do damn near anything to get the responses and results they wanted." Shepard replied. He shook his head. He worked with a group that master minded the massacre of fifty marines. This only reaffirmed to him that leaving the organization was the right thing to do.

"Back up for a minute, who is Corporal Toombs?" she asked. "I don't remember reading anything about him in any of your files, nor do I remember anything about him in of Cerberus's files."

"Toombs was there with me when he encountered the Maw," Shepard began to explain. "Naturally I thought he was killed eight years ago when the incident happened, but before I fought Saren, I encountered him on Ontarom." Shepard sat there for a second and remembered how shocked he was when he saw Toombs standing there with the pistol in his hand.

"What happened Christian?" she asked. He took in a deep breath and started to explain it all to her. But in order for her to understand the meeting on Ontarom, she had to know everything that happened on Akuze. This single moment in his life helped shape who he was, and how he went about things for the next couple of years…