Chapter four's online, and it keep getting longer with each upload. Anyway, this story is not dead ! I swear it upon the Golden Throne of Terra !

Crossover should start in...A few chapters. Maybe? I didn't planned this to take so long. Still, it shall be good. I know it.

As much as I would like it, I do not possess any of these characters/lores. Mass Effect belongs to Bioware. Warhammer 40k Belongs to Games Workshop.

Also, this chapter contain a shameless ripp-off. Dow II lines and voice acting are THAT awesome.

"Blah blah blah" = common speach, understandable by every character of the scene.

"Blah blah blah" = when a character speak in his own tongue, english/japanese/french/whatever for humans, khelish for Quarians and so on...

Blah blah blah = Thoughts/flashbacks

Reviews are of course much appreciated.

Aliens are odd.

These were Tali's main thoughts as she was escorted to the Presidium by the strange group. They were walking their way through the Wards, following a low pace despite their leader previous statement of being in a hurry.

They had all presented themselves to her, names and grades all mashed up together, strange sounds that she could never remember with her state of fatigue. Thus, she managed to link their names with a facial recognition program integrated within her helmet, her visor effectively displaying a name in proper Khelish each time one of them turned his face toward her.

Now that her life was threatened no longer, she tried to take a glimpse from her saviors.

Behind her the Turian officer, Vakarian, was on alert, his keen eye scanning the crowd around them for any suspicious behavior. Even if he tried to be subtle about it, Tali knew he was also watching her, making sure that the 'Quarian vagrant' was not plotting some nefarious plan. She actually was too tired to start a rant about it.

On each of her sides, the biotic and the Alliance marine were talking to each other, oblivious to her presence. Their banter was pleasant, relaxed, even though they were talking in 'In-gleesh', the Humans main language. The young pilgrim hadn't learnt this speech, and managed to understand it only thanks to her translator which was printing the translation on her mask in real-time.

She didn't paid attention to the words, but the sound of it was quite pleasant. Closing her eyes, memories of the Flotilla flooded her mind, the soft ever-present babble of the Quarian crowd strangely similar to the two Humans dialogue. For a few seconds, she was able to fool herself in believing that she was back home, making her way through the overcrowded corridors of the Rayya. She sighed soundlessly. That time was behind her.

Opening her eyes, Tali let her gaze wandered once again.

Ahead of the group, the Human clad in black armor, Shepard, was walking alongside the Krogan. They both had their rifles extended and were talking low enough to so that even her enhanced audio sensors could not pick anything. The Human was quite the specimen. His strides were confident, determined. It was as if each step was a challenge to the universe, to dare and try to stop him.

Cocky, was her first thought. Arrogance was not a well-looked upon trait, back in the Flotilla. Assurance on the other hand…

The alien was a war veteran, that was for sure. Obvious as the stars, she reflected. For a people which faces were forever hidden behind veiled-glass mask, reading body language was a second nature.

The way Shepard moved was predatory, always alert. Each of his movements was impregnated with danger. Her mind went back to their encounter, when she held him at gunpoint. At the time, she had thought that his calm was due to his smugness, that he never conceived that she could dare to open fire upon him.

Truth was, if she had decided to shoot him, he could probably have killed her before she even knew it. The young Quarian shuddered and slowed down slightly her pace, to put some distance between them. His face was an enigma to her. After all, she grew onto the Flotilla, among a faceless people that convey feelings with the smallest change of stance or inclination of the head.

She was just getting used to people sharing emotions through their faces, or even having faces at all!

Needless to say, the concept of beauty was quite alien to her. For now, if someone had asked her to describe the commander, all she could have say is "pleasantly symmetric". Not that anyone would ever bother to ask.

Humans in general were a pleasant surprise. Slightly taller than Quarians, they were almost equally proportioned. Like Asari, in a weird way. Genders added. Not to mention their far too straight legs, but that was a common trait to most alien species and she was already getting used to it.

In the end, there was only one physical trait that fascinated the young Quarian.

What's with the fur…

Of all the species she had encountered since the beginning of her Pilgrimage, Humans were the only ones to possess such an attribute. Most of them seemed to keep it short, or mid-long for the women, and Tali was somehow intrigued about the diversity between them. For some, it was looking unhealthy. For others, the long soft curves were definitely a show of beauty.

For the young pilgrim, Shepard belonged to the latters. It was…An exotic sight, to put it mildly, and despite the aura of dangerousness that surrounded the Commander, she founded herself unable to take her eyes off him.

For the first time since what seemed to be weeks of relentless running, of this terrifying game of hide-and-seek she had to play since her discovery, she was finally allowed to catch her breath, to recollect herself and to ponder upon the past days of her pilgrimage. She brought her three-digits hands in front of her and stared at their shaking frame. Why was she trembling? Her gaze was stuck upon a large green stain, spread along her right forearm. When did it happen?

She was running, every single ragging breath brings so much pain she curses her body for such a trivial need as oxygen. Light footsteps are following her, closing in despite her powerful strides. She does not dare to slow down to look behind her. She must keep running. A loud sound echoes, eliciting alarmed cries among the crowd around them. Someone shouts out in pain. It takes her several agonizing breaths to realize that it was her, and that her left arm hangs lifelessly at her side, a bloody hole in the middle of her shoulder. Panic threatens to consume her. Flashes of her mother's dead body are conjured by her mind as she imagines the infections already ripping her flesh from her bones. She grits her sharp tooth in pain and tries to focus on her strides.

THERE! As the crowd finally part away, she sees it. A lone conduit pipe was emerging from a wall, at the end of this level of the Zachera Ward, twenty, maybe thirty meters away, its lock hanging open! A new energy filled her, and the sound of her pursuers started to fade away with their shouts. The last meters are crossed in a matter of seconds and she threw herself into the opening of the pipe, using her right arm to protect her mask. She landed on her left arm and bitted her lips to keep herself from screaming. Stunned by the pain, she barely noticed the feeling of a trickle of blood running along her jaw.

She tried to bring her Omnitool online but the sudden movement brought a jolt of excruciating pain through her shoulder. She did not manage to hold her scream this time, as she clutched her wound with her right hand, sobbing lowly. A sudden shout brought her back to her immediate environment and she nearly jumped out of her suit at the sight of a Salarian henchman, his face contorted in a snarl she could not decipher. She felt the alien's hand grabbing one of her feet as he tried to drag her out of the conduit. Coming back to her senses, she started kicking widely, and looked around her for anything she could grab, to no avail.

Suddenly, she remembered her departure's gift. Throwing her feet in the Salarian's head, she felt his grip loosening as he swore loudly in his sibilant tongue, allowing her to sit up and grab her shotgun with her right hand. The alien's large eyes only had time to widen before she pulled the trigger and shot him in the face at point-blank range. Green blood burst in all directions, covering her weapon and her right arm as well as a good part of her suit.

She took a few ragging breaths, contemplating what was her first living victim, before snapping back to reality. Dropping her shotgun, she used her right hand to prompt her Omnitool to life, and a few moments later the conduit's hatch closed itself. Overriding its controls, she engaged the locks and made sure that no one would be able to open it without a week of intensive hacking.

Not even a second later, she heard shouts of frustration from the other side. She was safe, for now. With a sigh, she let herself collapse onto the cold floor of the conduit.

"Miss Zorah?"

She jumped, looking around her. She was back within the odd group of aliens, her right hand still held before her visor and the human, Shepard, looking at her expectantly. Or so she guessed.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I...I mean..." The green stain on her forearm caught her gaze again and she tried to wipe it off. The blood had since long dried and the stain remained unmoved. She tried again, and again, almost hysterically and oblivious to the worried glances the aliens exchanged.

A large, armored, five fingered hand covered hers and stilled her movements. Her breathing was frantic and she couldn't get her eyes off her arm despite the human's proximity.

Another hand came to rest on her shoulder and squeezed it slightly, prompting her to tilt her head up to meet Shepard's hard gaze.

He watched her wordlessly for a mere moment before turning back to his squad.

"Let's have a break."

"Uh, I don't want to sound rude or anything Skipper," Ashley said bluntly "But shouldn't we rally the embassy as soon as humanly and alienly possible?"

"I've already contacted Udina. We have a meeting with the Council in about three Citadel hours." Shepard countered. "That's more than enough time to go to the Presidium, have a nap, make a tour and walk at an Elcor's pace."

"We're not even sure her evidence will be enough to convince them!"

"Saren was ready to alienate the Shadow Broker to get her. I'm willing to take my chances."

"Whatever you say Commander."

"I'm glad to have your approval Marine," He snarled before pointing to a shop a little further into the street that displayed large bay windows and a healthy amount of customers. "Secure a perimeter around that café. We're moving out as soon as Miss Zorah feels better."

"I'm fine!" Snapped the Quarian, regaining some measure of her usual energy.

"Right," sneered Shepard. "Well I don't feel so good then. And as I am not supposed to let you out of my sight, you're going to sit with me. "

She seemed about to push the argument but a fierce stare from him stopped before she could get started. Wordlessly, the Quarian pulled away from him and stomped past him toward the café. Shepard exchanged an amused look with Wrex and diligently fell into step.

The café was quite a nice place, large glass bays were running across all the building length and customers were enjoying their drinks both inside and outside, separated from the Ward's crowd by a simple fence. If he didn't knew better, Shepard could have fooled himself in believing to be back to Earth. With aliens.

He caught up with the young pilgrim at the entrance of the establishment where she had been approached by an asari waitress.

"…blishment rules are clear, either you show me a credit chit proving you can pay, or you leave Quarian." The asari was wearing a mask of indifference despite her harsh words.

Bloody hypocrites Squidheads. They smile while they stab you.

"She's with me." He barked as he came to stand at Tali's side. "Want to see my creds?"

The waitress looked up at him. She considered him for a brief moment, her face unmoved. His weapons and armor caught her gaze and she offered the slightest bow.

"That won't be necessary sir. May I show you a table?"

"We'll find our way." He grumbled while gesturing to Tali to follow him inside.

"Thanks," she said once they sat at a table in the corner of the room, face to face.

"You're welcome," he mumbled absently as he took a look around. There were a dozen customers around, with his back facing the glass bay he was able to keep an eye on them all. Not that he would have the time to do anything if one of them suddenly decided to open fire on them.

"It's always like that," The Quarian said, a melancholic note in the voice that Shepard hadn't heard before. She was watching the table, her three fingered-hands fidgeting mindlessly before her. Her recent ire toward him seemed to have been replaced by a crushing sorrow. "My people is always looked down upon. They take us all for nothing but beggars and thieves. "

Shepard considered the alien in front of him for a second. At the first glance, she hadn't seemed like the complaining type.

Time to make Sarge' proud…

"Maybe that's because most of Quarians actually are." He said casually. He didn't had to look at her to know that her head suddenly snapped up, eyes narrowed, and that she most certainly glared at him fierce enough to make blink a Krogan Battlemaster.

"What?" She hissed dangerously.

He faced her with an arrogant smile. "You heard me. "

He never saw the slap coming. During a long period, all he knew was that the left side of his face felt like he had been head-butted by a Krogan and that an angry Quarian was shouting at him louder than such a petite woman should have been able to.

"Det kazuat kel'ess Fre'eg! You don't know anything about us! My people were suffering before you primates built your first steam engine! Don't you dare judge us! "

Yup. From whatever hell drill sergeant are ending up , the chief is certainly smiling at me.

Shepard waited patiently for her to finish her tirade while massaging his painful jaw. When she finally sat back, still fuming and staring at him defiantly he just grinned.

"Feeling better already?"

Taken aback, the young Quarian nervously looked around them, suddenly aware of the silent that fell on the café.

Ignoring the stares, Shepard leaned back.

"Tell me Miss Zorah, have you already been forced to steal to eat?"

Tali's temper flared again. "Still trying to jud-"

"I did," he cut her. "It is a strange feeling. To be desperate enough that you cannot see any other way to survive." Shepard's gaze started to wander into the void.

"It is a sign of strength to cry out against fate, rather than to bow one's head and succumb. When one's survival is on the balance of destiny, the will to endure is all that matters." He gazed back to her. "Quarians among Citadel space are mostly vagrants and thieves. That is a fact."

Tali gritted her tooth in anger.

"However, they are forced to be so, mostly because of peoples like this waitress. That is another fact." His face softened and lost some of his predatory look.

"Your people endure, no matter the odds. Be it living amongst a bunch of racist aliens or surviving on three hundred years old ship. That is not something to be ashamed of."

Tali was speechless. She was expecting contempt, hatred, maybe even pity. Not…respect. She remained silent for long minutes, while Shepard seemed happy to nurse his jaw in silence.

"Thank you," she muttered weakly. "I don't know what … I needed that. Thank you."

"My pleasure. Just don't hit me so hard next time, will you?"

She chuckled softly. "Not anytime soon, rest assured," She winced. "My hand is going to hurt for hours."

Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry Commander," She said jokingly. "Quarians have flexible bones. We virtually never break anything, but it can be quite painful."

"Be assured that I am most distressed to be the cause of such pain," he laughed. "Now, let's have this drink and be on our way, before the owner of the place decides that he had enough of us, shall we Miss Zorah?"

Despite herself, she grinned under her faceplate.

"I told you to call me Tali. And sterilized water will do for me."

"It's a show of respect amongst Humans to call someone by its last name", he scoffed. "And this will be on the Alliance bill, so knock yourself out."

"It's a show of respect amongst Quarians to do what you are told to do. And I don't need a fancy drink."

He sighed, feigning to be annoyed. "Fine. Let's make a deal. I'll call you by your name if you let me get you a fancy drink."

"Deal!" she laughed.

Moments later, they were both quietly enjoying their orders. Tali had fixed the tube to her mask and Shepard was sipping slowly his own drink.

After a while, Tali broke the silence.

"My last deal didn't end as well."

Shepard pondered his answer for a moment.

With an inarticulate scream of rage, the Krogan bouncer charged him through a rain of fire. Each of his steps was making the floor shake and he merely shrugged off the dozens of shots that hit him every second. Almost disdainful, Shepard kept firing at the fast approaching alien in full-auto, even when the barrel of his rifle started to glow dangerously.

Inevitably, his weapon's overheat security activated, and with a final roar the Krogan was upon him. Dropping his rifle, he rolled to the side, dodging the furious charge by a mere inch. Somehow, he managed to hear William's loud swearing over the chaotic firefight. In the background, he noticed the bone-shaking roar of Wrex alongside the regular and methodic gunshots of Vakarian's sniper.

Beside him, Alenko was unloading his own rifle on a couple of turians on the other end of the room. His face was drawn by exhaustion, the result of using too much biotics. He was in for the mother of all headaches once this was over.

Shepard took it all as he kept rolling away from the hulking alien, his system flooded by adrenalin. In a split second, he recovered his equilibrium. An another, and he was already rushing toward the stumbling Krogan which tried to lost his momentum.

Alliance Marines are not thoroughly trained to engage Krogans in a knife fight. It is an almost non-existing situ ation, which results most of the time in a gruesome death. N7 special operatives are.

The alien, a creature borne to reveal in the slaughter, was lost to the blood rage. His already formidable senses were increased tenfold by the rush of battle. He heard Shepard's mad run from afar, spun violently around and threw him a blow strong enough to behead him.

The Commander rolled under the Krogan massive arm and ended up crouch behind him. His knife slashed through his foe's knee joint and with a heavy grunt, the Krogan fell to one knee.

He tried to catch him, clawed hands swinging wildly through the air, but the human was already away. Blinded by the pain and the bloodlust, he never saw the next blow coming. Shepard's armored knee connected with the alien's face, sending a few tooth flying while the blow threw his head back. The human took a firm hold of his enemy's crest and thrust his knife to the hilt into the massive throat. It took all his strength to slice through the Krogan's tendons and muscles in one swift movement, before pulling back out of the agonizing Krogan reach.

The throat open from literally one ear to the other, even his species incredible ability to regenerate almost everything could not save the Krogan. Nonetheless, he tried to get up. Like most of his kin, he would not stay down until his very last drop of blood had left his body.

And the bastard's got a lot of it…

The alien was still struggling to get up when Shepard's feet hit him square in the chest. He lost what few balance he had left and fell backward. Before he could react, Shepard was dominating him and shoved his Predator barrel into his wide opened throat. He shot until the weapon overheated, just to be sure.

Only moments later, the fighting came to a stop.

The last thug fell silently, his sheer weigh making the floor shake in his fall. Wrex snarled at the Krogan's body, his mind still somewhat shrouded by the haze of battle.

A strange silence covered the room, disturbed only by the occasional moan of the injured mercenary and the loud breaths of the team. Garrus was the first to speak.

"C-Sec is on its way. I can't delay them much longer."

"Understood," panted Shepard, "Bring me Fist, if he is still alive." He ordered his team.

It came to pass that the thug was still breathing, despite one of his leg being reduced to a pile of gore by a shotgun volley. The interrogation was quick. The man was too shocked to hold anything back. At the very time he had what he needed to know, Shepard turned toward Wrex.

"All yours." He said, earning a vicious grin from the mercenary.

With that, he headed toward the exit, quickly followed by the rest of his team.

"Trust me. It ended better for you than for the other dealer." He finally sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that Fist won't make a deal anytime soon…"

There was a sharp noise, so low that Shepard barely noticed it. He almost missed the customers' alarmed gasps too but even then, he couldn't bring himself to focus on it. Everything was moving slowly, as if underwater. People, aliens and humans alike, jumping from their seats and running away, panicked shouts he couldn't hear. Somehow, his mind managed to focus back on Tali, in front of him. She was up and pointing at his chest, she was talking but he couldn't decipher what she said. He tried to ask her to speak louder, forcing his lips to move to form the words but nothing came out. Only then did he registered the pain in his chest. Looking down, all he saw was a ridiculously tiny hole in his chest plate, and from it a continuous flow of blood was pouring out, drenching him in gore.

His arms felt weak, his brain confused and wandering in the fog. He tried to get up put only managed to stumble onto the table. Tali was at his sides, hopelessly trying to support the heavy human as he threatened to slump to the floor. Finally, N7's training kicked in and Shepard's mind managed to see past the mist that tried to swallow him. He grabbed one corner of the table and flipped it down in one swift swing, so that it faced the windows. He grabbed the young Quarian by the waist and brought her down with him behind the table. He tried to take a deep breath but a sharp pain flared from his wounded chest and he coughed blood. Panic nearly overflowed him. Drowning in your own blood, as he had already witnessed, was a particularly horrible way of dying.

He mentally slapped himself and focused back to the situation.

The shot ignored both my shield and armor. That table could as well be made of paper for what it's worth.

As if to confirm his thoughts, a shot burst right between him and Tali, miraculously missing them both.

"Alenko," he called on his squad frequency as a new spike of pain stroke him, "I'm hit…Past right through the shields and armor…Sniper. Turian. Find him."

If the lieutenant responded, he didn't hear him.

Agonizing long minutes passed and Shepard could feel himself slowly slip away. All he could do was listening to Tali's increasingly desperate babble and keep a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from getting up. One after another, his senses abandoned him. At some point, he felt himself slumping to the floor and someone dragging him against the nearest wall.

Finally, after what appeared to last an eternity, footsteps drew near. Ash was the first to find them and her gaze hardened when she realized in what state was their Commander.

"We've had him Skipper." She said sternly while she knelt at his side and began pouring medi-gel into his wound. The rest of the team watched silently as Shepard tried to catch his breath.

"Alenko, Williams," he coughed painfully, droplets of blood escaping at each word he spat, "Get Zorah to the embassy, she's all that matters…"

"What? No!" the young pilgrim protested. "We've got to…"

"Right, sorry," he snorted."Get Tali to the embassy, and that's an order."

His breath went ragging for a couple of second until he straightened against the wall. "Wrex, you go with them."

The Krogan let out an irritate snarl. "Why should I? Fist is dead, I'm done with you."

"Because I fucking said so!" Shepard spat back, glaring furiously at the mercenary.

Wrex stared down at him for a few seconds and grunted, clearly satisfied.

Appeased, Shepard glanced back at the two humans.

"Go now, I'll catch up later."

"Aye, Aye, sir."

Without a word, Kaidan bend down to help Tali getting up. Ashley hesitated a moment, she saluted her commander and stood still, clearly torn up.

Shepard nodded weakly to her, doing his best to muster a smile without much success.

Focusing back to her mission, she grabbed Tali by the arm and dragged her out, quickly followed by Kaiden and Wrex.

Shepard exchanged a tired glance with an equally tired Garrus, he tried to get up but only seemed to slump a little more.

"Officer Vakarian…I might need your help."

"Right, let's ask the complacent Turian to carry the heroic human to the nearest hospital like a good little sidekick," Garrus joked as he placed one of Shepard's arm around his shoulders and helped him to get up. "Do you have any idea how heavy you mammals are?"

"Sorry'bout that," he mumbled weakly. Everything around him started to blur dangerously. "Point me in the right direction…I'll do the crawling."

Well? How was it?

I have to confess, I have one major fear: I don't want to sin with Mary Suesques characters. I want all of them to live, feel hope and despair! So please, if you think I'l doing something wrong, please, pretty please tell me!

If you have the feeling that someone's OOC, if you have any constructive criticism , please tell me!

Also, I'm still somehow defining who this Shepard is. In case that was not clear, he's not very fond of aliens. Thing is, he is not very fond of humans either.