Garrus waited with the rest of the team in CIC. Every one of them, geared and ready. He watched the eager fire in all their eyes and felt pride. How brightly they shone to him, how brilliant and beautiful they all burned. He glanced to Miranda and saw with approval how lit with passion her face was as her gaze swept over their brave men and women. He knew she was close, so close to understanding. Maybe not today, but soon, he knew the realization would hit her and her life would change, gain a new complexity.

The Armory door opened and Shepard marched into a sudden hush. Every eye was on her, every beating heart seemed to pause. Garrus saw them lean toward her slightly, as she walked through the gathering to the cockpit, her eyes a conflagration of love for them all. Garrus wordlessly signaled everyone to battle stations and he and everyone else who was needed below decks sprinted for the elevator.

Garrus heard the shipwide comms open as Joker spoke to Shepard, "Approaching the Omega-4 relay. Everyone stand by."

Shepard's sonorous, commanding voice filled the ship, "Let's make it happen."

Garrus skidded to a stop inside the battery, hands flicking over the displays on every terminal to bring all the weapon systems online. EDI stated calmly, "Reaper IFF activated. Signal acknowledged."

Jacob chimed in, "Commander, the drive core just lit up like a christmas tree."

The turian filed that away for extranet search later as he made some last minute calibrations. The Thanix cannon was online and primed.

"Drive core electrical charge at critical levels." EDI sounded alarmed there. Garrus winced, patting the bulkhead.

Joker interjected, "Rerouting..."

Then Garrus felt a powerful pull, reminiscent of the time Shepard had driven the mako through the mass effect relay on Ilos. At least the ship was shielding them from the weightless, moving/not moving feeling of that harrowing experience. It seemed the Omega-4 relay was packing some serious juice if he was feeling any of this.

EDI warned the crew, "Brace for deceleration."

He hugged his console to keep from flying over it. Joker's panicked voice filled him with dread, "Aw shit!"

A breathless moment when Garrus fully expected the ship to crash or fly apart and he slowly opened one eye as nothing happened, but some mild turbulence.

"Whew! Too close." Garrus shook his fist at the comm speakers and Joker's relieved breathless gasp. Best pilot in the Alliance my ass. But then again, they were through, alive and in one piece, in a place no one had ever been and come back to tell the tale. So there might be something to it. He reached over and tapped into the external vid feed and sucked in a breath when he saw all those broken hulls. Countless ships out there, dead. Poor luckless bastards.

"These must be all the ships that tried to make it through the Omega-4 relay. Some look...ancient." The pilot's comment filled him with a chill and he concentrated on getting the ladar up and running to scan the debris.

EDI said, "I have detected an energy signal near the edge of the accretion disk."

Garrus watched the view pan as Joker turned the cameras for a look. There was some kind of...superstructure out there, suspended in the void, surrounded by derelict vessels.

Shepard inhaled sharply, Garrus pictured her drawing herself abruptly upright, "That must be the Collector base. Take us in for a closer look. Nice and easy."

Garrus wondered what it looked like from up there, through the glass, if it was more menacing than the tiny image he could see in the battery.

A ping from the ladar drew his attention. Red dots appeared in the debris field around them. He should have known it wouldn't be as easy as walking up and ringing their doorbell. He spoke, knowing that the comms were still open on every deck, "Careful, we have company."

"Taking evasive maneuvers." Joker grunted, "They're just pissing me off."

Rear-facing guns would be nice, keep it in mind for upgrades later. He swayed with every jolt on the ship's shielding. Whatever they were packing, it had a punch. He hoped the new plating would hold. Just then there was a loud crash from belowdecks somewhere and the sirens for hull breech sounded. Aw, crap.

"It's in the cargo hold!"

Shepard shouted over the comm, "Grunt, Garrus, meet me in the hold."

Garrus scrambled for the elevator, which opened just long enough for him to jump in. Shepard gave him a tight lipped smile as she punched the button for engineering. He pulled his assault rifle out as they descended. Shepard raised her eyebrow, "What? No Widow?"

He chuckled, "I got it. Cargo hold's a bit small for the big gun though."

He turned to show her the rifle slung across his back. She whistled, "I see you got it a paint job. Matte black, the infiltrator's choice of slick color palette."

He grinned at her, "Not just, I had Jacob upgrade her for me. Got a few nice new tricks to show you."

"Oh?" It was clear she was dying to ask him more, but the doors finally opened and they pounded down the corridor to where Grunt was waiting for them. She wasted no time opening the door and they piled into the room, rolling into cover. There was a big damn floating ball making swiss cheese out of the hull. It turned a baleful red eye on them as they opened fire. It returned the favor with fervor, a boiling red line pounded the strut Shepard was hiding behind. Garrus recognized it as the same sort of weapon as Jane had found on Horizon, a particle beam cannon.

Shepard pulled out her version of it and edged around the pillar, trying to get line of sight without compromising her cover. Garrus threw an overload at it, and was rewarded with its attention. He dove behind some boxes just as the spot he'd been standing in erupted in orange fire. Then it was gone, flew out one of the holes in the ship, back out into space. Shepard stood, her face showing frustration. Then she pointed behind Garrus and shouted, bringing her weapon to bear in his direction.

Without thinking about it, he rolled and twisted, a huge red light filling his whole field of vision for just a moment as he scrambled to safety behind some crates. He watched Shepard shoot her cannon into that thing's eye and it reeled back as if in pain. Then it flitted away again. This time all three of them watched the holes warily. Joker's voice floated to them, "We're sitting ducks out here! I have to try to lose them in the debris field."

They were thrown around the hold as Joker tried to scrape off the persuit. Loud crashes and grinding noises heralded every impact. Garrus gritted his teeth against the fear that they'd be destroyed out here without ever giving the Collectors what was coming to them. Joker must be putting forth a heroic effort up there just keeping them from colliding with all those dead ships. Finally, they evened out and Garrus sighed, exchanging relieved glances with Shepard and Grunt.

They turned at a buzzing grinding sound. That damned ball was back, ripping its way into the Normandy's belly. Shepard set her weapon to her shoulder, waiting for that red eye to show itself. Garrus dodged between containers and pillars, throwing everything he had at it. Grunt stalked toward it, abandoning his cover to pump round after round into it. Might have been the end of him if the thing had not been so fixated on Shepard. She'd found a place where she was still in cover but could unload her particle beam straight into the machine's lense, burning it out from the inside.

Finally it faltered, glowing blue in cracked patterns all along its surface. The light grew brighter and Garrus had just enough time to duck when it exploded, showering them in shrapnel.

"You better get back up here, Commander." Joker said.

"We're about to clear the relay." EDI followed.

Shepard clapped them both on the shoulder and ran for the lift, Garrus close on her heels. They ran past Tali, who'd poked her head out of engineering, "What have you bosh'tets done to the cargo hold?"

They yelled back in unison, "Redecorating!"

They heaved pants as the lift climbed up a level. Shepard laughed fiercely. Garrus matched her. Swooping in for a kiss, then darting away as the doors opened, Garrus hurried back to the battery.

Miranda's voice filled the air, "There it is. The Collector base."

"See if you can find a place to land without drawing attention," replied Shepard.

"Too late." Joker said resignedly, "Looks like they're sending out an old friend to greet us."

Garrus watched on his monitors as a familiar silhouette pulled away from the giant base. It rolled to turn its cannon on them. Garrus snarled as he focused all his rage against that ship, the ship that killed Shepard, that had stolen the crew. Cruel delight filled him when he heard Shepard's voice roll over him, "Time to show our new teeth. Fire the main gun."

"With pleasure." He almost felt the energy pound out at the hated Collector ship, watched it approach the enemy with joy. Almost shouted in victory when the powerful blast tore through that hull and out the other side. His hands trembled at the controls as the crippled ship fell. Joker yelled, "How do you like that, you sons of bitches!"

Shepard's voice cut him off, "Get in close and finish them off."

"Everybody hold on. It's going to be a wild ride!" Joker spun the ship high so it could curl over the top of the collector ship, coming straight down at it's stern from above. Garrus let loose another shot, crowing as the entire aft exploded, followed by a shockwave that hit the Normandy hard, flinging him around the battery.

Miranda shouted, "Watch out!"

"The mass effect field generators are offline! EDI, gimme something!" Joker was panicking, the ship pitched and yawed crazily. Garrus hoped everyone else was secured and braced himself for anything, clinging to the console with both arms.

EDI said, "Generators unresponsive. All hands brace for impact."

The crash lifted him up off his feet and slammed him to the deck, dazed he realized they had stopped, the grinding shrieking noise was them coming to a halt. He picked himself back up, rubbing his sore shoulders. He wasn't hearing anything from anywhere else in the ship, hopefully that just meant his comm system shorted out. An eventuality Shepard must have planned for because his omnitool pinged, a message to meet in the conference room.

He made his way there, meeting Thane, Samara and Kasumi at the lift. They exchanged grim looks as they headed up.

The conference room was full of people when they joined them. Everyone milled as they waited. Shepard strode in, commanding their instant attention. She swept her gaze over them, locking eyes with each of them, "This isn't how we planned this mission. But this is where we're at."

"We can't worry about whether the Normandy can get us home. We came to stop the Collectors, and that means coming up with a plan to take out this station." The look in her eye said she already had some ideas on how to do just that, but ever the pragmatist she wanted her team's input. "EDI, bring up your scans."

A glowing representation of the inner workings of the base floated before them, with a triangle that denoted their current position. EDI said, "You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control systems here."

A line pointed to the location. Jacob eyed it, "That means going through the heart of the station. Right past this massive energy signature."

Garrus wondered what something that massive could be. It was unreal how much of the base it seemed to take up, throbbing there like living thing. Shepard laid her hands on the console, leaning forward, "That's the central chamber. If our crew or any of the colonists are still alive, the Collectors are probably holding them in there."

"Looks like there are two main routes. Might be a good idea to split up to keep the Collectors off-balance. Then regroup in the central chamber." Jacob looked to Shepard, who nodded in thanks for his opinion.

Miranda shook her head, pointing out parts of each route, "No good. Both routes are blocked. See these doors? The only way past is to get someone to open them from the inside."

Garrus leaned forward to poke at the map, saying, "We can send someone through this ventilation shaft."

Jacob crossed his arms, leaning back on one foot, "Practically a suicide mission. I volunteer."

Miranda shot him a look, "I appreciate the thought, Jacob, but you couldn't take down the security systems in time. We need to send a tech expert."

Shepard dropped her gaze on Tali, "Tali, you're up."

The quarian's back was straight and strong, "I won't let you down."

"The rest of us will break into two teams and fight down each passage. That should draw the Collectors' attention away from what you're doing."

Shepard turned as Miranda spoke up. Her eyes flashed as she said, "I'll lead the second fire team, Shepard. We'll meet up with you on the other side of the doors."

Jack sneered, "Not so fast, cheerleader. No one wants to take orders from you."

Garrus put his hand on her shoulder and Jack looked back at him, he shook his head at her. The bitter woman quieted down and Miranda said into the silence, "this isn't a popularity contest. Lives are at stake, Shepard. You should pick someone who can command loyalty through experience."

Even as she said it, everyone's gaze swung to him. He resisted ducking his head at the unconscious praise, catching Shepard's amused eye, "Garrus, you're in charge of the second team."

He nodded, it wasn't arrogance that had already made it a foregone conclusion. Miranda nodded in approval too, "Well, at least he knows what he's doing."

Shepard moved along the length of the table, "I won't lie to you. It's not gonna be easy, we've lost good people-"

Her fist clenched and a muscle flexed along her jaw, "-we may lose more."

Rage lit her eyes and Garrus smiled to see it echo around the room, Shepard pounded her fist on the console, "The Collectors attacked our ship, took our crew, our friends. They think we're helpless, they couldn't be more wrong.

"We don't know how many the Collectors have stolen. Thousands, hundreds of thousands. The number is not important. If they had stolen only a few, I would still be here today." Garrus felt adrenaline course through his veins as her impassioned speech uplifted them. They swayed with her words, enthralled. Shepard drew herself up, "It's time to stand. Time to shout at that beast, 'Not one more. Not a single one more.' That's what we will do. Here, today, this...outrage will end with us."

She punctuated her words with a jabbing finger in the air, "Let's go get our people back!"

Shepard led their rank and file to the airlock, pulling Thane and Miranda to her side. Garrus swept along in her wake, reaching out to ghost his hands through the tips of her hair. She turned and smiled as she leapt down to the surface of the base. He watched her team head off decisively. Tali split off and headed off to the ventilation shaft. Garrus swept his arm up to direct everyone else, it was showtime.