Shepard pressed onward, trying her best to ignore the colonists in stasis and the groups of seeker swarms buzzing around them, oblivious to her team's presence thanks to Mordin's miracle countermeasure. There were Collectors around what felt like every corner, and always with more husks and less waist-high ground coverage. Harbinger was pulling out all the stops to make sure they could get away unscathed, even going so far as to say "Focus on Shepard!" as though the rest of her team didn't matter.

Harbinger of my destruction, my ass, she thought. More like harbinger of… my… badassery.

Aww, shit, she swore under her breath. I had something for this.

A shot whizzed by her head, shaking her out of her thoughts. She glanced behind her to see a dead Collector on the ground, a single shot in between his beady little eyes. She looked to the other side to see Garrus giving her a casual, one-fingered salute.

"Thank you, my love," she smiled at him.

"Any time, Commander," he smiled back.

Ahh, Garrus. The tough bastard had recovered miraculously quickly from a rocket to the face, but then again he'd always been the stubborn type. She could only recall one time when he had called in sick to work, despite many morning he'd woken up hungover or low on sleep. She had never dragged him home from the bar (it was always the other way around) and he'd scarcely complained about helping her out when she needed it.

Like a good little soldier. Always helping out the team.

Another shot hit the ballast next to her head. She frowned and pulled her Eviscerator rifle up to her shoulder, eyeing a small handful of Collectors as they appeared out of seemingly nowhere, one of them glowing as Harbinger assumed his form.

"Will you excuse me?" She cried over the top of her cover, swinging her rifle to aim at the approaching insectoids. "But I'm trying-" she took a shot, repositioned. "To have-" Another shot, repositioned. "A sentimental moment here!" One more shot, and there was only the annoyingly persistent form of the glowing Collector puppet before her.

Harbinger approached, and she focused all of the fire within her into her left arm. With a swing and a flick, she pulled his glowing yellow ass through the air and, once he was securely off the ground, sent a few well-placed incendiary shots his way. To her right, Zaeed let out a few rounds with his assault rifle, and back and to her left, Garrus joined suit, letting out a few well-timed cracks with his sniper rifle. She let out a bated breath when the form of Harbinger finally fell, clearing their path to the heart of the colony. She sheathed her weapon, pushing herself from her kneeling position as she did so, and checked the map on her omni-tool to make sure they were still heading in the right direction.

Zaeed joined her side, carefully scanning the distance, and Garrus approached, checking behind them to make sure they weren't being jumped. She smirked- having the ex-Blue Sun on her team was like a fangirl's wet dream. Everything about his past fascinated her, and in the short time he'd been on the ship, she'd taken to enjoying her time off in his quarters, listening to his tales of adventure and intrigue with girlish awe. Having Garrus on her team, meanwhile…

She felt her heart sink a bit as she looked at him. God, everything about him was… ugh. She woke up, to her what felt like weeks after he had basically told her Yes, I still have all of the feelings for you, and it had been two years for him. She didn't want to ask him how he felt, because frankly, she was scared to know.

"Commander?" his voice interrupted her thoughts. Ahhh, goddamn, his voice…

"Yes, Garrus?" she replied, trying to shake the part of her mind that said get him to keep talking and just finish yourself off in the corner…

"Are you all right?" he asked. "You seem to be… elsewhere."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she nervously adjusted her armour a bit. "It's just… nothing." She shook her head and glanced at her map once again, making sure they were heading toward the Starport. "This way, gentlemen, let's try and get this overwith quickly. Something tells me this is going to be an aggravating day."

/-/

It wasn't often that Lina got so angry, anymore. In the years since she'd left the Citadel, she had grown out of her admittedly childish brash and touchy behaviour and learned to manipulate her reactions to better aid her situation, snuffing the need to shoot first, ask questions later. Her hands gripped one of the laminate glass plates from the mess hall, feeling its weight before she tossed it in the air.

But when that slick-haired fucker dared to hug her, then call her a traitor? Fuck that. Fuck that sideways with a loaded handcanon. She had never been able to take jabs to her character lightly, and even less so when they were so undoubtedly untrue.

And from such greasy little… Kaidan.

She waved her arm and used her biotics to pull the plate, the glassware hovering in the air while her powers recharged. She pulled up her rifle, loaded with incendiary ammo, and fired shattering the dish on contact.

Fuuuuuuck that.

It was quite lucky that she respected the hell out of Zaeed, choosing to let him hold her back instead of elbowing him in the face as Alenko walked away, all the while the questions of if I shoot him in the spine, will I paralyze him or just injure him? running through her mind.

As she shrugged Zaeed off and turned to head back to the LZ, she spotted Garrus as he gripped his rifle, the same question likely running through his.

She reloaded her rifle, using her omni-tool to select cryo ammo, and looked at the stack of plates a few metres away from her. She focused on the top dish and waved her arm in toward herself, pulling the plate off of the pile and sending it hovering in the air. She aimed her rifle and fired off a cryo round, the dish shattered, like the first, but froze and the individual pieces again shattered as they hit the ground.

It felt good to destroy something superficial. Not quite as satisfying as snapping a spine, but it would do for now.

"You know if you miss one you could kill us all," a bored sounding voice came from behind her. "Although it would be fun to watch a bunch of Cerberus dicks get what's theirs."

"I think the ship's built to withstand more than one stray bullet, Jack," Shepard replied, checking her gun casually before slinging it over her shoulder. The young biotic sat on a stray supply crate, her chin resting on her knuckles. She stretched her shoulders, cracking her neck before glancing over at the stack of plates.

"I thought those were supposed to be unbreakable or something," she said, motioning to the dinnerware.

"Only one way to test that," Shepard leaned on the crate next to her and aimed her rifle again. She fired a shot, taking out one of the middle plates and sending the rest flying off the box they rested on. "Looks to me it's 'or something'."

"Don't we need to eat off of those?"

Shepard smirked. "Cerberus can buy more."

Jack chortled. "Yeah, after they implant mind control chips in us all to keep it from happening again."

Placing her rifle at her feet, Shepard stifled a small yawn. The day had taken a toll on her, fighting Collectors, watching an entire colony get kidnapped and all that nonsense. She glanced over at her squad mate and crossed her arms. Earlier conversations with Jack had proved difficult- the young biotic was terse and extremely circumspect. It was painful to try to get anything out of her that didn't end in a biting response. Really, she was like…

Well, she was like a young Lina Shepard.

"What's going on, Jack?"

"Getting away from the bickering of the engineering crew," she snorted a response. "You'd be surprised how the sound carries into my room- those two are like gossipy old women."

"It is kind of peaceful down here," Shepard scanned the docking bay, taking in the gleam of light off the shuttle and the hum of the ship engines. Despite the lower level housing many of the private crew quarters as well as the exercise facilities, the spacious, wide open bay was usually empty. "I don't think many people come down, other than to maintain the shuttle."

Jack shook her head "Nah, too bright."

"There's always something," the CO pushed herself up from the crate and grabbed her rifle again. She felt a small shudder run down her spine at the cool air suddenly started to affect her. Rolling her shoulders, she decided to call it a night.

"You going to need any of these plates?"

Jack shook her head no and Shepard walked to where the remaining dishes lay on the ground. She fired at two, shattering them where they lay, and grabbed the third, hurling it against the far wall, where it struck and fell to the ground, unbroken. Shepard popped the spent heat sink from her rifle and walked over to the errant plate.

"This one has gumption," she said as she plucked it from the ground. She turned back to Jack. "It can live."

Jack shook her hands in the air with a sarcastic flair.

"Good night, Jack," said the Commander.

"Good night, boss lady," said Jack.

Her footsteps echoed in the hall of the crew deck as she exited the lift. She walked a little softer, not wanting to wake the sleeping blue shift crew, and carefully put the one remaining plate back in the cupboard. The med bay was dark, though she took comfort in knowing that Chakwas was always on call and ready for anything, and Miranda's door was locked, the entry panel glowing red. A glance down the hallway, past the sleeper pods to the Main Battery, told her that somebody was still on duty on this deck, the door an inviting green.

"EDI," she called quietly. "Is the main battery occupied right now?"

"Yes, Commander," the AI replied. "Officer Vakarian is compiling code for a-"

"Thanks, EDI," Shepard cut it off.

"Would you like me to call him for you?" the AI asked.

"No, I'll leave him to his work," she replied.

The island counter was cold, but she leaned against it anyway. The skeleton crew on amber shift had eaten hours ago, not long before Shepard had grabbed the plates to dabble in a little target practice. She glanced at her omni-tool, checking the ship's time- there were about four hours until blue shift was to start, and she was expected to be on duty at that time. With a sigh she pushed herself from the counter and pressed her hands to her lower back, stretching it out as she moved to head back to the elevator. A telltale swish of the pneumatic doors opening made her pause, and she turned to see a very tired-looking turian exit the main battery, empty coffee mug in hand.

"And what are you doing up so late?" she asked in a teasing tone as he approached the mess.

"Sorry, Commander," his voice was flat, the distinct flange unable to hide his exhaustion. "The workstation in the main battery is a mess, I've been trying to make sense of the horrible programming Cerberus put into it."

"I think it's time to get some sleep," Shepard took the mug from his hand and set it in the sink. "For both of us. I expect you'll be up in time for your shift in the morning?"

"You know me," he scratched at the back of his neck. "Never miss work if I can help it."

She gave a laugh and smiled, recalling all the times he'd dragged himself out of bed to get ready for work, despite how late they'd been up the night before. It was a true example of his everyday dilemma- he couldn't say no to her… but he also couldn't skip work. In the lift they pressed separate buttons, and it chose to head up to the loft first. The doors whooshed open and Garrus poked his head out, taking in the small landing.

"So this is where you live now?" he clicked his tongue. "Bit cramped for a Commanding officer isn't it?"

"Nobody thinks you're funny," Shepard shot back, stepping into the doorway of the elevator. She paused, then turned back to him. "Hey, if after shift tomorrow-"

"Today."

"- today, you're not too tired, come on up," she shrugged. "We haven't really had one of those… proper-"

He air quoted with his fingers.

"- personnel debriefings."

"You mean get drunk and catch up, don't you?" he asked.

"If that's the way you want to put it."

He shrugged. "I'll be there."

"Only if you aren't too tired."

"I'll be there," he pressed. "Good night."

"You too," she stepped out of the doorway. "Sleep well."

"You know if you put some throw rugs in there it might be downright comfy…"

"Nobody thinks you're funny!" she yelled into the closing door.

As she pulled off her uniform and crawled into bed she realized that they really hadn't been able to catch up. The hectic nature of their mission and his recovery had kept them from being together for more than a few minutes at a time. And although he tried to stay casual, to act as though this whole Cerberus nonsense was beneath him, she could tell in those odd moments of silence and stiffness that he wasn't really sure what to think of her being alive.

She rolled over in bed, stuffing one arm beneath her pillow and curling her legs together.

It isn't worth it, she thought, to dwell on these things, not with humanity at stake. But deep inside her she knew that she would give up all of the colonies in the galaxy if it meant getting him back.