[Author's Note: First off, I'd just like to thank everyone who's followed me from the start and/or continues to read chapter after chapter of this journey of mine. Getting nearly a thousand views means more to me than can be expressed.

I'm sure all of you have a lot of questions; What's the deal with Davisson? What's the deal with Kerrin Solus? Why is Deshayla so epic? What the hell is the deal with Renar and Garrus? Well, this chapter…will probably not answer any of those (hopefully the explosions and gunfire will make up for that).

Just as an official reminder: This wonderful, amazing, incredible, imaginative, whole-ton-more-adjectives-I-can't-think-of universe and a vast majority of its inhabitants (read: those I haven't made myself) all belong to Bioware and EA Games, as does the credit for the main idea of this story (Shepard).]

"Ah yes, 'mercenaries'…"

In truth, it took them significantly less than five minutes to prepare for an engagement, mostly due to the proximity of the armory and lack of questions aimed at Garrus after his instructions. So far, it looked like his authority was holding.

They did, however, take enough time to allow Joker to close in on the battle. The Victorious looked even worse up close - several huge gaps had been rent in the hull, flames raced along the inside stations before being extinguished by space, and the engines barely had enough life left to flicker occasionally, but not enough to offer propulsion.

When they saw the Blue Suns ship, they understood why.

The dreadnought was massive, easily twice the size of the cruiser it was engaging. The mounted weaponry it sported fired charge after charge at the failing kinetic barriers of the turian vessel. The most impressive part of the entire battle was that the Victorious had managed to survive at all against that kind of firepower. But from the looks of things, it wouldn't last long.

"I'm guessing you want us to do something more than just hang around and watch." Joker prompted, bringing the Normandy closer to the fray.

"Affirmative." Garrus said shortly. "Get us in as close as possible to the dreadnought's engine room and make a hole with the Thanix. Then make a circle and try to evacuate what's left of the crew. EDI, get me a link to the lieutenant's comm line."

In short order, he heard the sounds of shouting, explosions, and general commotion from the other end. "Lieutenant!" He shouted over the noise, closing the airlock door behind him and the others. "This is Admiral Vakarian, do you copy?"

The response was filled with as much relief as Garrus felt hearing it. "Yes, sir! Our communications haven't been destroyed yet, but we can't hold much longer."

"That problem will be solved shortly. Continue evasive maneuvers as long as you can. Casualty report? Where's Commander Basilius?"

Dread filled him when there was no immediate reply, and he knew what the answer was going to be when he heard it. "He…he's dead, sir. So are Ferox and Oeneus. As best I can tell, we only have thirty survivors. And most of them are with me."

If Garrus had been holding a tangible communications device, he would have dropped it. The Victorious had a crew of more than one hundred and twenty. He found himself unconsciously going down the list of names he knew, which was all of them, trying to figure who had been most likely to die in the initial attacks. He discarded that thought; he needed to stay focused on the mission. "Congratulations on your battlefield promotion." For now, he tried to hide his horror with dry wit. It wasn't working.

"I think I'd rather just accept a posthumous medal if something doesn't go right quickly, sir." Renar, on the other hand, pulled it off marvelously. "Where are you now?"

He felt the Normandy jolt underneath him, and heard the main gun fire into the hull of the dreadnought. The outer airlock door opened in front of them to a shiny new hole near the engine deck. "Entry point's wide open." Joker said. "Good luck."

"Right now I'm on the Normandy. In five seconds I'll be on that dreadnought, saving your ass." He told Renar. "Get everyone to the closest airlock or hole for evac."

Then he jumped.

Landing wasn't the hard part. The low gravity in the surrounding area wasn't, either. Hell, even blasting through a dozen Blue Suns goons didn't give Garrus pause. By far, his greatest difficulties came from actually aiming while his hands were shaking so much. He'd kept his calm in many a situation. That was part of the job. But right now, just one minute could mean the difference between saving or losing the entirety of his crew. These mercenaries had taken the lives of almost a hundred of his men. He was not calm. His hands weren't shaking with anxiety.

They were shaking with pure rage.

None of that put off decades of combat training and experience. Every time a merc showed themselves, a new hole opened up in their skulls. He was unflinching, he was efficient, and neither his aim or his feet stopped moving. He trusted his companions to clean up after him, but there was nothing to clean up. Just a trail of bodies in his wake. He was hardly surprised to find the engine room door locked, but Tali put her omni-tool atop the opening mechanism and the engine room revealed itself with a soft hiss.

Due to size of the ship alone, the room was huge. Catwalks and stairs ran in multiple directions, up and down to several levels. The drive core and the numerous readout panels were atop a large shaft-like structure that connected to the bottom floor via a long ladder. Oh, and of course, there were the Blue Suns engineers shooting at them.

Tali launched a defense drone that was met in midair by several others, and both she and Kaidan opened fire on several mercenaries on their level. Davisson, meanwhile, joined Garrus with several pinpoint strikes aimed at the enemies above them, both snipers ruthlessly enforcing the 'one shot, one kill' doctrine.

"Davisson, Tali!" Garrus shouted over the gunfire. "Get to that drive core and shut it down, now! Take as many systems down with it as you can!"

One mercenary slid down the ladder to the aforementioned drive core controls. Davisson blinked out of sight next to Garrus and reappeared with an omni-blade lodged deep into the Batarian. Garrus was mildly impressed by the display, behind his anger. Mildly. He could have done that.

Tali was only fazed for a moment, quickly dodging through the firefight to follow the marine up the ladder. In the distance, Garrus heard the sound of cannons warming up for another volley. "Hurry!" He yelled.

Davisson reached the top first, and wasted no time in helping Tali climb the rest of the way. He took his sniper rifle back out and covered her with selective fire. Any mercenary that so much as aimed at either one died in short order. As did the sound of the dreadnought's guns.

"Done!" Tali's words were met with the sound of the drive core powering down, as well as the shields, the lights, the life support systems, and the kinetic barriers. The only thing she didn't turn off was the gravity. Spirits, but he'd missed having the quarian on hand.

"Fantastic." Davisson said. "Uh…now what?"

"We need a way to destroy th-" Kaidan was cut off by what felt like thunder in the back of the ship.

"Propulsion?" Garrus asked.

"Impossible, I turned the engines off!" Tali turned the lights back on and turned towards where the vibrations appeared to be emanating from. It felt as though whatever was causing them was getting closer.

"I swear to God, if they have a thresher maw or something, I'm calling it now. Growing a beard and moving to Omega." Davisson growled.

A crackle came off of Garrus' radio as a new channel attempted to broadcast over his omni-tool. Turian signal. He let it through and listened in, transmitting it between the rest of the team.

"Attention cruiser Victorious, this is Admiral Beran Empyreus of the capital ship Dawnstar. We have received your distress call and are engaging the hostile mercenary ship. Stand by for evacuation procedures."

All four of them stood stunned.

"Why is it whenever I'm on an enemy ship trying to help someone, they start shooting at it?" Tali asked sardonically.

"Capital ship Dawnstar!" Garrus shouted into the radio. "This is Admiral Garrus Vakarian! We are aboard the hostile vessel, I repeat, aboard the hostile vessel! Cease fire immediately!"

"Vakarian?" The rumbling was getting closer to them, and the Admiral sounded suspicious. "What are you doing on the Blue Suns ship?"

"Dammit, Empyreus, stop shooting at us or I will spacewalk over there and beat you with your own head fringe!" Garrus had been about to respond, but when Davisson cut in, he merely sputtered in shock. This, however, apparently got Empyreus' attention. The floor stopped shaking immediately.

"Davisson." The tone in which the Admiral said his name made Garrus wonder whether the turian was deciding whether to hug or shoot him. "I see you are still in the thick of things."

"Old habits die hard. Now bring-" The drive core whirred loudly as it came back online, and all of them heard the main cannons warming up again.

"There must be an auxiliary control unit on the bridge!" Tali said desperately. "I'm locked out!"

"They're charging! Resume fire!" Empyreus' voice faded slightly, as though he had turned away from the comm line to speak to someone behind him. Rumbles once again filled the ship, and Garrus shot off every curse he could think of. He made to run into the engine room for a better group position to fight off whatever might come their way next, and his head bounced off a closed door.

"What the hell…" He heard Kaidan mutter, then a strangled shout just before he lost all sense of hearing. A grenade he hadn't even noticed before then detonated under him, bouncing his body off the roof of the hall and setting all the vital signs he could still see on his HUD into the red.

He fell back to the floor ungracefully and turned around on his back with no small amount of effort. Three white-armored men were walking towards him, two of them flicking out of sight erratically. He realized that he was simply seeing triple, and also that, however concussed he might be, the Blue Suns did not wear white uniforms. He glanced at Kaidan, who appeared to be out cold, if not dead. A uniformed glove rose, bringing a pistol to bear with it. It looked so familiar, like something he vaguely remembered from the past. He heard the man say something, probably a witty one-liner before shooting him, but every sound was still distorted, except his heartbeat. That he could hear quite clearly, while it lasted.

His head fell back, and he looked bemusedly at a black codpiece from his new position. There was a flash of light, and he heard something hit the ground nearby. Slowly, his disorientation receded, and he heard Tali muttering something.

"-Locks on their doors."

"I know what you…nngh…mean." Davisson responded, hefting Garrus to his feet, then moving to check on Kaidan. "I probably could have tapped that, for Christ's sake."

"I imagine you tap a lot of things, Davisson." Her smirk was audible.

"Oh, ha ha. If you're hitting on me, you need to get in line. Behind the krogan."

"Something tells me that a krogan and I don't have the same type."

"The ruggedly handsome, battle-ready, talented kind?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'raging thrill-seeker with too much ego', actually."

"Eh, either or." Garrus saw a finger wave around in from of his facemask. "Okay, smack this if you're coherent."

He batted the hand away and checked his injuries. His armor was applying medi-gel, but he had several puncture wounds and his systems were spotty. He doubted he would do as well in another fight he wasn't ready for, or on the receiving end of an enormous capital ship's weapons. At least Kaidan couldn't feel anything right now. He almost fell over again when he felt another blast shaking the ship thanks to the Dawnstar's weapons. The blasts were getting closer, now.

Davisson checked his omni-tool and moved it sideways through the air, and suddenly Garrus felt less like he was riddled with holes and more like he'd just taken a bath. "That should do…" The marine muttered. "For both of you. But the Major is still out. We should probably go before we get blasted." Garrus exhaled in relief; Kaidan was still alive.

"Keelah." Tali gasped. She was kneeling next to the trooper that Davisson shot. "Look at this."

She lifted one of the soldier's shoulders, and light caught on the insignia he wore. Garrus groaned, closing his eyes. Just what he needed.

"That's a Cerberus symbol." Davisson said angrily. "What the hell are they doing back? I thought they were wiped out?"

Garrus' thoughts flashed back to the Illusive Man, his words to Shepard on the Cerberus station. Cerberus is an idea…

"Not wiped out." He said. "Hiding, maybe, but they're still out there. And I doubt they're happy to see us."

"Working with the Blue Suns?" Tali looked up. "That seems desperate, even for them."

"We know firsthand they're not above working with other races if it means they meet their goals." Garrus stepped forward and grabbed Kaidan's legs. "Colonel, help me out here."

Davisson nodded and helped him carry their unconscious 'team leader' down the corridor. Tali activated another signal broadcast and radioed in the Normandy. "Normandy, come in. We need an evac. Now."

"Uhh, yeah, you guys want me to just dodge that giant laser beam they're firing?" Joker's question was rhetorical. He couldn't get them out of there this late.

Said giant laser beam immediately ripped a massive hole past the hallway ahead of them, where the engine room's other door was. To Garrus' amazement, Davisson stopped moving. Another blast nearly deafened them, barely seventeen meters from where they stood.

"What are you doing?!" He shouted. "We need to go, now!"

"Flight Lieutenant Moreau won't be able to pick us up until the fire passes, and if Empyreus isn't stopping…ten by five…okay. Run back to the engine room on my mark!"

"You're insane!" Garrus yelled, drowned out by yet another blast, almost right in front of them this time. The heat alone drained his shields nearly to the breaking point. He dreaded the outcome of being hit directly.

"Mark!" Davisson ignored him and sprinted towards the area where the hull had just been pierced. There wasn't much of a choice now. Tali and Garrus followed with Kaidan in tow, though in that case at least he had no idea the danger they were walking in to.

Barely four seconds after they started moving, the guns hit them again. All four of them were propelled forward by the concussive force, but Davisson was right on the money - none of them were caught directly in the blast. Assuming Empyreus didn't fire backwards just to make sure, they were safe. For now.

"Well." Tali commented dryly, looking out into space. "At least we have a brand new hole to jump out of."

"How did you know when to move?" Garrus asked.

Davisson shrugged. "Ten meters up, five seconds, fire. Rhythmic, rigid, effective. Turian firing patterns are really easy to figure out, they don't deviate."

"…And just like that, the magic is gone." Garrus grumbled. "Nice work."

He got a chuckle in return. "When all you've got is a brain…" He tapped his omni-tool. "Moreau! Sending coordinates. Pick us up. You know, when you have the spare time."

"We need to get moving immediately." Garrus warned. "If the Blue Suns are attacking the Victorious in orbit here, they're bound to know Dr. Solus is on the planet's surface. They might already be there."

The Normandy rose vertically in front of them, airlock opened. Davisson tossed Kaidan inside and jumped, nodding. "You're right. No rest for the weary. Feels like the good old days."

The Normandy couldn't move immediately to drop a team on Lesuss for two reasons: First, they needed to move quickly to finish evacuating the survivors of the Victorious, and secondly, apparently Admiral Empyreus wanted to speak directly with them. Clearly a fun conversation was about to ensue.

"Empyreus!" Davisson said happily when the turian entered. He was given a 'don't push me, human' glare. Renar, Garrus and Tali were already standing around the briefing room table with him, and those three couldn't help but stand at attention. The two-and-a-third meter high turian was an impressive sight in his heavy armor, Black Widow strapped to his back and piercing blue eyes staring at them through a scarred face. His aura of command and experience was practically tangible.

"Admiral Vakarian." He nodded curtly to Garrus, and simply looked vaguely in Davisson's direction. Renar and Tali were barely noticed at all. "Perhaps an explanation is in order. Why were you on that Blue Suns vessel?"

"I was trying to stop the assault on the Victorious." Garrus replied sheepishly. It felt so much like his father reprimanding him that his eyes fell involuntarily.

"As opposed to staying aboard?"

"I wasn't aboard when it was engaged."

Empyreus' eyes narrowed. "Then that raises another interesting question of why you abandoned your vessel." Renar's gaze snapped on to the superior officer, and while he was wise enough to not speak out of turn, he still looked personally offended. So was Garrus.

"Trying to save the galaxy from the latest Reaper plot. You?" Not the wisest course, to snark at him, but Garrus, too, was an Admiral, and damned if he was going to be insulted like that.

Empyreus sighed. "Some might say your fascination with the Reapers wears thin."

"And what do you say?" Garrus asked.

"I say that those people would be of no great loss should they be shot." Empyreus said darkly. "I was there when Palaven burned, as you were. I still remember the threat they posed…pose, if you are correct."

"If I am correct?" Garrus began heatedly.

Empyreus held up a hand. "It s not such a small chance as it may seem. For example, clearly your judgment isn't lacking." He idly motioned to Garrus' left. He glanced at Tali, then realized the talons had flicked at Davisson. What was going on there?

"But my curiosity is not fully sated. What were you doing here?" He asked of Renar and Garrus both.

Garrus spoke first. "There's a salarian geneticist on the planet's surface, Dr. Kerrin Solus. We need his help for our mission."

"And you…?" Empyreus' words held two questions, both of which were answered.

"Lieutenant Renar, sir. We answered a distress beacon coming from the planet while on a patrol route."

"Was it this Dr. Solus?"

"No, sir…it was a turian scout ship." Garrus perked up. This was interesting; he hadn't seen any sign of another ship. "Or, we thought it was. The Blue Suns were waiting for us when we arrived. They must have sent out the distress call themselves."

"Ugh..." Tali muttered. "Is that turian distress call trick ever not going to work for Cerberus traps?"

"Cerberus?" Empyreus' mandibles clicked in agitation. Then he finally turned to speak with Davisson directly. "Did you know about this, Commander?" Wait. Commander?

"Hadn't the slightest damn clue." Davisson didn't look too pleased about the fact. "And it's just Colonel, now."

"If Cerberus is involved, then we don't have time to waste." Empyreus pointed at Garrus. "Get down to whatever medical bay this ship has, Vakarian. You look like you lost a fight with a krogan. Send a team to meet mine at Dr. Solus' location."

"Actually, we don't know where that-" Garrus began, but Tali's omni-tool beeped loudly.

She looked around. "Oh, sorry. I was busy finding the Doctor while everyone else was posturing."

Empyreus glared at her, and started to speak when Davisson intervened. "Wouldn't want to waste your time, Admiral Tali'Zorah." He looked at the turian to make sure he'd gotten the hint. Based on his rapid and humorous change in expression from 'incensed' to 'child in trouble', he had.

"Admirals," Renar said suddenly, drawing eyes to him. "If a team is being formed for a strike on the men that organized this attack, I want to be part of it."

Garrus looked apprehensive, Empyreus slightly annoyed. "Of what use could you be to them?" The latter asked.

Before Renar could respond, Davisson cut in. "Ah hell, we can always use more guns. Plus, we're going to need a replacement if Admiral Vakarian's going to be in the medical bay for the whole mission."

Empyreus shrugged, seeming placated. Probably because Davisson said it, Garrus thought grumpily. "Very well. Admiral Vakarian?"

Garrus sighed, locking eyes with the Lieutenant. "Dare I ask why?"

"They lured us into a trap, killed my brothers-in-arms, and are probably attempting to eliminate an important asset as we speak, from what you've said. Even worse, they scratched the paint on your ship." Renar's anger showed in his eyes, but not his voice. He appeared determined to keep a level head…for now. "Someone needs to make sure they are all brought to justice."

"Be careful where justice leads, Lieutenant." Garrus whispered, then nodded slowly. "You'll be of use to the team."

"Back to our old standard team of three, then?" Tali asked.

"Not necessarily, Tali." Liara leaned against the entrance to the briefing room, then motioned behind her. "I heard Garrus was going to be taking a rest in the medical bay, and I am ready for combat."

"Well, great." Davisson said. "We can always use more biotics."

Renar flared his mandibles in the turian equivalent of a grin and swirled a mass effect field around his talon. "Good to hear."