Author's Note: Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Have a Good Day, whichever you prefer.

Chapter 7

I can't believe it. Udina just shoved the Captain aside, and gave his ship to me. I bet he'll do the same to me when I outlive my usefulness. I wonder when his ego will be satisfied? Seat on the Council? Emperor of humanity? Supreme mugwump of the goddamn universe? Ha. I don't think his ego has limits. Snorting to himself, Shepard got up from his bed and moved over to his personal terminal.

I've got a couple hours 'til we hit Feros. I have plenty of time to check my mail, see if the Alliance sent me a bonus like Anderson hinted they would. Speaking of Feros, I hope I made the right choice going there first. My priority has to be to protect human colonists. If the colony's gone dark, something bad is probably happening. As for Benezia's daughter, I'm sure she'll be fine. If she's in cahoots with her mommy, the Artemis Tau Cluster's probably a trap. Even if her and Benezia aren't really seeing eye to eye, there's no way Benezia would put her daughter in danger, right? I mean, what kind of parent would do something like that? Things will work out. I'm sure. I hope. Probably? Shepard input the necessary information, and his list of messages popped up on the display.

Figures. Nothing from the Alliance. I didn't really expect them to be quick with giving me money, but I was kinda hoping. And look. Three messages from Beth. Oh how nice, the first one's from all of two minutes after our vid-chat ended. Let's see what that one says, then work our way up from there. Shepard clicked on the first message indicator.

"Spike!

How could you hang up on me?! Don't you understand how worried I am!? I know you didn't like hearing what I had to say, but it's the truth. You've always been Alliance-first, everything else second. Two months ago you disappeared, telling me 'I'll be gone for a while, communication will be sporadic at best, but don't worry, I'll let you know when I get back and we'll get together for some R&R." A week ago, you tell me you've got some leave and we're gonna spend the whole weekend together. Then you run off, on some mission again. We're supposed to be in a relationship, Spike. That means we communicate and don't keep secrets from each other. I'm starting to wonder if you're capable of doing that.

Don't bother responding.

Bethany"

Doesn't she think I would tell her if I could? Shepard felt his temper starting to bubble to the surface again. Some of the things I find out on duty could get people in trouble, and get me thrown in prison. Forever. And does she think I had a choice about going on that mission to Eden Prime? I was ordered out. The Alliance didn't ask if I felt like going on a mission. They sent me where they needed me, my feelings be damned. She should know that, she's in the Alliance too. Soldiers do their duty first, and ask questions later. Brian understood that. Shepard's expression became sorrowful as he remembered his dead friend. Clicking on the next message, he felt his anger abate, a little.

"Spike,

I saw on the news that they made you the first human Spectre. We've shared too much for me to let it pass without at least saying something. So congratulations. I'm still not ready to talk about what happened the other night though.

Bye,

Beth"

Well that could have been worse. She could have ignored me completely. Hopefully this means she's starting to calm down a little bit. He clicked on the last message.

"My parents are dead. I just received the Alliance Next of Kin notification.

You know what? The day you met Brian at boot camp, the day you came into our lives, was a terrible day for the Lees! You've destroyed my family! First you killed Brian, and now you killed my parents. You were on Eden Prime. You could have saved them! You could have tried to help them! But you didn't! You didn't even try to check on them. In fact, I bet you never even thought of my family while you were running around that God-forsaken rock, because you were too damn busy being the same egotistical son of a bitch you've always been! The great, holier-than-thou Commander Shepard! Well congratulations, Spectre! I hope your new title, and your new job as the Council's lapdog, was worth it. Because it cost me my entire family."

Shepard was shocked. Shocked beyond words, shocked even beyond thoughts. Her accusations, and the hate and vitriol she had spewed at him, cut him to the bone. I don't- I can't- How-? I can't deal with this right now. I have a mission to prepare for. Compartmentalizing the agony in his heart, Shepard erected a thick, solid wall between the pain and his duty. Duty first, everything else second. He thought to himself, getting up to leave his office. I should go tell Garrus and Tali they're coming with me, so they can get ready. I should probably get ready too. Shoulders bowed from the effort of keeping his private life and his job separate, he made his way to the elevator.

Great. More fucking geth. How many of these metallic bastards does Saren have? I'm starting to get tired of the never-ending stream of walking toasters. And what's up with those weird jumpy ones? Goddamn crazy-ass frogs or some shit. Plus, how come I have to do everything for these people? They all just stand around, acting like they're fucking stoned or something. "Urr, our power's out, can you help?" "Duh, we have no water, can you help?" "I'm afraid of the big bad varren, can you kill it for me because I'm a giant weasel?" "There are geth everywhere, think you can take care of some of them for us?" No shit the geth are everywhere. They're here to kill your ass or something similarly terrible, not have tea and motherfucking scones.

"Commander, I'm fine with fighting geth, but krogan?" Garrus interrupted Shepard's reverie. "I don't favor our odds in one-on-one battles against krogan. That last engagement was very close."

You're telling me, man. Shepard silently agreed. If we don't kill them outright, wounding them only seems to piss them off. Aloud, he said, "What's the matter Garrus, scared of a few krogan? I thought your people neutered them once already. Aren't you just carrying on that proud tradition?"

"To be clear, Commander, the salarians created the genophage. We just helped them deploy it." Garrus said, clearly affronted.

"Oh, cheer up, you old coot. I'm just giving you a hard time. It's something I do. So get used to it." Shepard replied, playfully jabbing Garrus in the shoulder. "But look, we found what the krogan were guarding. Seems geth-ish, to me. Thoughts, Tali?"

"It appears to be a geth transmitter, Shepard." She confirmed. "Destroying it should prevent the geth from mounting organized attacks or defenses, making it easier to kill them."

"Well, I am all for making it easier to kill geth. You sound like you approve, too." Tali nodded. "How about you, Garrus? Will dumbing down the geth make up for you having to fight the big, scary krogan?" Shepard looked over at Garrus, grinning widely.

"Sounds good to me, Commander." Garrus said, grinning back at Shepard. "But won't that make our job too easy?"

"Well, yes." Shepard acknowledged, appearing to be thinking deeply about his next course of action. "But, I feel kinda lazy today, to tell the truth. So I'm gonna make my job easier. The Council didn't tell me I had to fight fair."

"You two are insane." Tali commented, shaking her head.

"The jury's out." Shepard said, smiling from ear to ear. Then he reached down to his belt and pulled up a grenade. "You two might want to find some cover. It's about to get loud."

Clicking the center of the grenade, he tossed it at the transmitter, where it started revolving around the tower like a small, very destructive moon. I should make sure this thing gets destroyed beyond repair. If one grenade is good, two must be better. Reaching down to his waist, he pulled off another grenade, activated it, and tossed it at the transmitter. Taking cover, he tapped in a command on his omni-tool, and the grenades exploded, reducing the geth tower to tiny, leaf-sized scrap.

"Wasn't two grenades overkill, Commander?" Garrus asked after the explosion had stopped echoing.

"Bitch please. No such thing as overkill, Garrus." Shepard said, shaking his head at the turian's naïveté. "There's only dead, and not dead. I like to make sure that anybody who fucks with me ends up face down in the former camp."

"Well Fai Dan, your colony's problems are solved. Water's on, power's good, and varren's back on the menu, baby. And the geth have been hamstrung. So what's the best way to get over to ExoGeni HQ?"

"Take the elevator up to the Prothean skyway. That will take you all the way to the ExoGeni offices."

"Thanks, Fai Dan. Try not to get killed by the geth while we're gone." Turning to Garrus and Tali, he motioned for them to follow him to the elevator.

"Do you have any idea what we're going to find up there?" Tali asked, worry in her voice.

"Not a clue." Shepard replied happily. "Although if I were a betting man, I'd put money on more geth."

"I'm glad I didn't take that bet against you, Commander. You would have cleaned me out." Garrus said, after blasting yet another geth into scrap using the Mako's main gun.

"Well, what can I say? When I'm right, I'm right." Shepard said with a grin, putting his foot to the floor once again.

"Contacts front-right, Commander!" Tali shouted out from her co-pilots seat, where she was keeping an eye on the radar, as well as the shields and armor status of the Mako.

"Where?" Shepard asked immediately, throwing the tank into reverse.

"They've vanished, Commander." Tali said, hurriedly tapping commands into the radar. "I don't know what happened. It's possible the radar's malfunctioning."

"No, I don't think that's it. This is a brand new Mako. First time she's been out in the field aside from testing."

"It's possible it's experiencing some sort of 'break-in' period, Commander." Garrus put his two cents in from the gunner's seat.

"First of all Garrus, this baby's a 'she,' not an 'it.'" Shepard pointed out petulantly. "Secondly, Makos don't 'break-in.' Makos have an amazing tendency to work perfectly no matter what abuse you put them through, right up until they explode. So since we're all still in one piece, she's fine."

"Do Makos explode often, Commander?" Tali was obviously nervous, given the quaver in her voice and her hands that were tangled in front of her.

"Nah." Shepard answered dismissively. "I've never had one explode on me yet." Patting her shoulder reassuringly, he gave her an encouraging smile. "And since I see what looks like a passageway into the underbelly of this highway, I'm thinking the Mako doesn't have any problems anywhere, and she was just picking up a couple of geth hiding in ambush. Who feels like ambushing the ambushers?"

No one spoke. Unabashed, Shepard got up from his seat and exited the Mako. Shaking his head, Garrus followed him out. Tali brought up the rear with a sigh. Nonplussed by their lack of enthusiasm, Shepard rubbed his hands together then pulled out his pistol. Checking his teammates, he saw that Garrus had his AR in his hands, and Tali was clutching her shotgun. Putting his right index finger up, he made a circling motion with his hand and started to head towards the doorway.

"Um, Shepard?" Tali whispered into the comms.

"What is it Tali?" Shepard answered, casting a look back over his shoulder at his motionless teammates.

"What does this-" she put up her own finger and swirled her hand around "-mean?"

Crap. Shepard cursed. Tali's not military, she's not gonna understand military hand signals. Or is it a species thing? "Garrus, do you know?"

"Not really." The turian replied with a shrug. "I thought maybe you were telling us to jump up and down a couple of times."

"Sarcasm. Nice." Shepard answered, with some sarcasm of his own. "I thought turians were supposed to respect their superiors."

"You're my commanding officer, Commander. You haven't showed me that you're superior." Garrus replied with a smirk.

"And again. You and I will be having a little chat when we get back onboard the Normandy, Mr. Vakarian." Shepard was pleased to see the turian's smirk turn into a worried grimace. Ha. Two can play that game, Skully. Hmm. Not a bad nickname for Garrus. Might have to think about it some more, at a calmer time. Try saying it a few times. That's definitely better left for later though. Don't want to tell the geth who's coming to kick their ass now do we? Turning back to Tali, he said aloud, "It means follow me. Because we're moving out?" She nodded. "I'll get everybody together back when we get back to the ship and go over some standard human nonverbal comm signals. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, though."

Tali got a warm feeling under her suit. I'm glad he didn't yell at me. He even gave me a compliment! I think. But I feel bad for Garrus. I didn't mean to get him in trouble.

"Let's go." Shepard said. "The poor geth are probably wondering what's taking us so long to walk into their trap."

Moving forward, the trio stepped into the darkened corridor. Almost immediately, geth pulse rifles opened up from the other end of the hallway, peppering their shields.

"Take cover!" Shepard shouted, racing forward and diving behind a crate. "Everybody good?"

"I'm fine, Commander." Garrus answered.

"I'm okay, Shepard." Tali replied.

"Good. Tali, see if you can hack one of them, preferably one of the ones in the back, without taking too many hits. If your shields start to fail, take cover immediately. Garrus, we're gonna overload the shields on the front two geth. On my mark." Readying his omni-tool, Shepard paused to give Garrus time to do the same. "3, 2, 1, go!" Shepard leaned out from his cover, and Garrus poked his head over his own cover. Two brilliant blue spheres of electricity crackled over two of the geth, dropping their shields. Opening fire with his pistol, Shepard pulled the trigger until one of the geth's heads exploded in a shower of sparks. In his peripheral vision, he saw Garrus's geth fall to the ground with a messy hole through its chestplate, before a hail of bullets from the other three geth forced him back into cover.

Suddenly the rounds stopped striking his cover, but the sounds of firing didn't stop. Chancing another quick look, he saw that the three geth were shooting each other. "Nice work, Tali! Let's finish them off!" The three-man team all began firing at once, decisively ending the battle.

After the last geth fell, the three left their covers and advanced, looking around with weapons still drawn to ensure they didn't miss any geth. Confirming the lack of hostiles, all three shipped their weapons. "Quick and dirty. Just the way I like it." Shepard said, turning to walk back to the Mako. "Nice job with that hacking, Tali. That trick sure makes my life easier."

"Thank you, Commander." She responded, grinning widely underneath her helmet. "It's a good thing we killed them quickly, though. I don't think my hacking skills can keep a geth confused for long."

"That's ok." Shepard said with a shrug. "Something tells me you'll get more than enough practice if you keep hanging around me. And Garrus, perfect timing on that overload. I think those two idiots were close enough that our attacks overlapped, totally frying their systems. Perfect!"

Garrus only nodded. I'm sure he's trying to soften the blow from having to reprimand me, but he was right. He's my commanding officer, and I'm supposed to show him the proper respect. Father would disapprove. As soon as we're back to the ship, I'll present myself to him and apologize.

Getting back in the Mako, the team continued to move relentlessly towards the other end of the skyway. They stopped twice more to clear out subterranean geth, both times working quickly and efficiently. Shepard directed their fire and tech attacks, and the other two executed his directions to the letter.