"We need more ships."

Kaidan hadn't expected her to be so blunt. He would have laid out his reasoning first, then made a tentative request. But Shepard didn't let things like reason get in her way when she was determined to accomplish something.

And Hackett didn't seem to object. "I know. We're making good progress on the Crucible, but the scale of the thing... it's like nothing anyone's ever attempted. We'll need more reinforcements before it's done. What do you suggest?"

"I want to talk to the Quarians."

"The reports I've heard from the Far Rim indicate that they have their own problems. I don't know how much luck you'll have there." He paused. "Do it. But remember, we still need to find that Catalyst."

"I know, sir. Dr. T'Soni has given us a couple leads, but they haven't turned up anything so far. It's her top priority though."

"Good. Because if we can't finish the Crucible, everything else we're doing out there is for nothing." She hated to believe it, but she'd seen what the Reapers were doing on Palaven, on Earth; she'd seen what they'd done to the Protheans. Even with all the fleets in the galaxy, they didn't have the resources they'd need to beat them on their own.

"Understood, sir. Shepard out."

Seconds after disconnecting the transmission, she felt an arm around her waist. "Hey, you. You know, you left without waking me." Kaidan teased.

"I didn't have the heart to. Wait a minute. Were you in here this whole time?" she scolded, even as she leaned into his embrace. "What if he saw you?"

"I lowered the range on the QEC," he said, smiling. "He couldn't see more than a meter past you. Anyway, next time you should wake me." He spun her around by the shoulder to face him. "Hackett's wrong, you know."

"How is he wrong? Even with all our firepower, the Reapers are too strong..."

He touched her forehead with his own. "That's not what I meant. I still think we can win this thing, Shepard, but even if we don't, we'll have done something no one else before us could have accomplished. We'll have fought back with our full strength, made the Reapers pay for every world they ruin. Whatever else happens this cycle, they'll be weaker than they were before they started. And that's thanks to you, Shepard. That is what will mean something, no matter what happens. We're still fighting for something here, even if it's just to give someone else a better chance."

She smiled and rested her head on his chest. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Where's Shepard?" Joker mumbled through a mouth full of food as Kaidan carried his dinner into the mess hall.

Small talk. Okay, it was a start. He could do small talk. "Still trying to sweet-talk the Quarian admirals."

"And by 'sweet-talk' you mean 'chew out', right? Cause she wasn't looking too sweet when she found out they were caught up in a war with the geth while the Reapers moved in." Kaidan grunted noncommittally. "Look, is this about... you know I didn't really mean that shit, right?"

"That's it?"

"And I'm sorry. It was stupid; I was going through a lot of shit then; we all were-"

"That's not an excuse!" Kaidan responded through clenched teeth, being careful not to yell. He didn't need the whole damn ship involved in this.

"It's not supposed to be. All I'm saying is that none of us was really all there, y'know? I'm trying to apologize here; I'm not sure what else you want."

"Well you could try acknowledging that you actually did something wrong."

"Goddammit, Kaidan. I'd rather have had it never brought up again. I hate that it happened. It was stupid, I knew I was wrong even when I was saying it. But you can't even meet me halfway here. And you know what? It doesn't really matter to me. I don't need your forgiveness. I really don't give a shit what you think of me. But you know how Shepard is with the whole 'happy family' thing; I was hoping maybe you could do it for her!" Joker pushed his chair back then started to haul himself up to a standing position. Kaidan made a move to assist him. "Fuck off! I don't need your help either."

Kaidan picked up his plate and left the table, carrying his meal to the observation deck. He wouldn't bother reprimanding Joker for the outburst, but how dare he try to lay a guilt trip on him. "Do it for Shepard"? Yeah, maybe she'd appreciate it if they patched things up, but she didn't know what Joker had said, and he wasn't about to tell her. No, it was probably better this way.

Kaidan drew his pistol, aiming it at the lone geth figure as it came into view. What was she doing? The thing didn't seem capable of fighting back; best to take it out now. He felt a hand on his arm and looked over to see Tali shaking her head.

"Kaidan, don't. It's on our side."

He frowned. "The geth... are on our side?"

"Not all of them, not the ones who've been shooting at us, of course. But Legion's a friend."

"A friend? And it has a name?"

"Shepard can explain."

Shepard was still on the platform speaking with the geth. If she'd managed to find allies even among the geth... but that didn't make sense. Geth units didn't have separate consciousnesses. If the rest of the geth on this ship had been opposing them, what made this one any different?

"Okay," Shepard said, stepping down from the platform, "Legion's being shackled by the hardware blocks up there"-she motioned to a nearby catwalk-"so we'll need to take those out to get it free."

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Commander?" Kaidan asked her. "Every geth we've encountered so far on this ship has tried to kill us. In fact, that's the first geth I've ever encountered that hasn't shot at me, and for all we know it's only 'cause it's tied up."

"Legion's safe," Shepard brushed away his concern. "I trust it."

"Maybe I'd feel better about all this if I knew exactly what was going on here."

Shepard started up the ladder, Kaidan immediately behind her. "It turns out Saren's geth were as rogue as he was. They were infected, by a Reaper virus. Most of the geth, what they call the 'true geth', stayed behind the Veil. The infected ones, well, I thought I'd removed the threat. We blew them up. But I guess when it came down to the geth fighting for their survival, they turned to the Reapers."

"And that- is it wearing your armor?"

She nodded. "Legion had been following me ever since Eden Prime. It found that armor on Alchera, used it for a repair job. I don't know why; it couldn't tell me. But Legion's safe. Once we have it unshackled this ship'll be dead in the water."

Shepard motioned to Tali as they reached the console. The young Quarian's fingers flew over the console, entering the commands to disable the hardware blocks. "There," she said as she finished. With a hiss, the cables confining Legion began to pull free, one by one, dropping the geth to the deck.

"Shepard-Commander," it announced, "I have disabled the dreadnought's barriers and weapon system. But there are more geth units headed our way."

"You know, just once I wish someone would stop after the good news," she muttered, drawing her shotgun. The bayonet attachment she'd equipped it with shimmered in the low light. She gathered a field of biotic energy around her and used it to propel herself into the first group of geth troopers, taking out any that remained with a blast of energy from her Barrier. As much as it scared him when she did that, he had to admit it was an impressive maneuver. The upgraded amp really seemed to be working well for her.

He turned his attention to the other entrances; geth were pouring in from all sides. He activated his omni-tool, working to overload the shields and other circuitry on as many as he could, mopping up the rest with bursts of fire from his assault rifle. Meanwhile, Tali's little combat drone was a force of it's own, nimbly moving among the geth units, distracting them and even scoring a few kills of its own.

"Prime!" shouted Tali from behind him. He peered around the beam he was pressed against to see one of the huge geth units approaching his position. Quickly he sent a signal through his omni-tool, eliminating the Prime's shields with a crackle of electricity. The thick armor plating covering it was going to be more tricky, however. Kaidan had never quite had the knack for a proper warp field, but he had picked up a fair substitute. Reinforcing his barrier, he sent a gravity wave toward the Prime, latching onto the armor's structure and shredding it to pieces. Though he could see the armor failing, the Prime continued to advance. Dropping the rifle to the ground, he drew his sidearm, its weight comfortable in his hand, and fired three shots into the geth's chest. Finally it stopped moving and dropped to the ground.

Kaidan barely had time to retrieve his rifle and catch his breath before Shepard raced to his position, Tali and Legion close behind. "Come on, we gotta MOVE!"

"What?" He'd been so focused on the prime that he'd lost track of his surroundings.

"The fleet's about to open fire. Bastards don't plan on waiting for us. Legion, what's the quickest way out from here?"

"There is a fighter bay through the corridor on the left. The interior of one of the fighters is spacious enough to accommodate all of us."

"All right!" Shepard set off at a run again. "Let's get to that fighter."

It had all been going smooth until the Reaper showed up. He made a point to keep Shepard ahead of him as they made their escape, Tali glancing back at him knowingly as she caught up with his position. He knew they were both thinking the same thing; that Shepard would want to stay, to try to fight the thing, if they let her.

Not that boarding the car made much difference. Shepard immediately positioned herself on the gun turret at the rear of the vehicle, pelting the Reaper with machine gun fire.

"You know, you're only going to make it mad," Tali said, trying to diffuse Shepard's temper.

"Good! It should know how the rest of us feel. In fact," she thumbed on her comm, "EDI, can you link the rest of the fleet into the targeting laser?" Shepard paused for the response. "Good. Do it. Legion, stop the car."

Is she...?

Shepard leaped from the car almost before it had stopped moving, targeting laser in hand.

Dear God, she is. "Shepard, are you crazy?" She was of course. She was beautiful, and kind, and brave, and determined, but she was also utterly insane. He prepared to exit the vehicle himself, but Tali's arm across his chest stopped him.

"I know how you feel, but you'll only distract her."

Shepard's voice rang over his comm then, but she was broadcasting to everyone. "I've seen what the Reapers do to the worlds they take. We all have. A million worlds before our time, scrubbed clean, empty, lifeless. Well they're not getting this one!"

Kaidan could only watch, heart in his throat, as Shepard held the laser on her shoulder, standing fast in the face of the Reaper's charging laser... then made a quick dodge to the side as the laser reached her position. Racing to the other side of the cliff, she re-aimed as the Reaper weapon charged again, only to be cut off by the combined fire of the Normandy and the Quarian ships. The Reaper crumpled to the ground, defeated. Kaidan did the same out of relief. She'd done it, of course. She'd done the Shepard thing and pulled off something ridiculous, something he never could have imagined. And she'd survived.

Kaidan looked up to see Tali and Legion hurrying to reach Shepard's side. He wanted to follow. He wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that she'd done a stupid thing. A stupid, amazing thing. But when he looked to where Shepard was standing, he saw that the Reaper wasn't quite dead yet. It was speaking to her. And as Tali and Legion arrived beside her, he knew that whatever was going on right now, with the Quarians and the geth and the Reaper, it was bigger than the two of them. He could wait until later. And then he would take the time to show her how amazing she truly was.