So, here it is, Chapter 3! Sorry for the delay, everyone!

As always, any and all feedback is welcome!

Also, as always, Bioware owns the characters, release my own DLC that makes them do what I want. :-)

Shepard stood at his terminal in the CIC, staring at the half-finished mission report in front of him. They had gotten back from the Cerberus facility on Persius just a few hours ago, and he was less than happy with how it went. While they had ultimately accomplished their goal of securing more information regarding the program that Cerberus had run experimenting on children to increase their biotic abilities, he also had two of his teammates laid up in Medbay. Jack had a nasty wound in her side from a mercenary's pistol, while Miranda's left ankle was shattered like a china teacup.

He couldn't help but to blame himself. We were sloppy. We were overconfident, and we let our defenses down. While he and Ash had made it through with nothing more than a few more scrapes on their armor, he knew that Miranda and Jack's injuries, given their circumstances, could easily have been fatal. He knew that there would be losses in war, especially the coming war with the Reapers, but he had never understood the term "acceptable casualties." Memories of Virmire flashed through his head, as he remembered Kaiden…

He shook his head slightly, focusing back on the mission report. He decided to finish it later, after giving himself some time to clear his head. He shut down the terminal and walked into the armory. As expected, Ash and Jacob were both there, debating the pros and cons of their weapons of choice.

"Oh come on, there is no way you're telling me the E-17 is better than the Vert-93!"

"I'm telling you, the Vert-93 will fall apart in your hands if you use any sort of incendiary or toxic augmentations. The E-17 will take anything you can throw at it."

"And you'll run out of heat sinks before you can spit on the ground. Toss a thermal unit on it, and the Vert-93 is the most…"

"… flimsy piece of garbage put together and labeled an assault rifle!"

Ash flung her hands up in the air in frustration as she turned to Shepard. "Tell him that the Vert-93 is far and away the better gun!"

Shepard smiled. Sometimes, Ash and Jacob could be like two bickering siblings, especially when they started talking about weapons. They both had diametrically opposite philosophies when it came to guns: Ash would strip any weapon down to its base components, replace a few pieces here and there with different ones from different guns, and then reassemble the upgraded weapon. She would have an entire arsenal of rifles, each one custom designed for a specific type of mission.

On the other hand, Jacob preferred to upgrade weapons through the modular upgrades, such as stabilizers, grips, and barrel extenders. He always kept the same shotgun, rifle, and pistol, but would swap out the mods for each mission, depending on the circumstances. His reasoning was that the more familiar you are with a weapon, the easier it is to use, and by keeping the same weapon, it grew to be almost an extension of the user's own body.

"Well, I'm really not getting in the middle of this, but she was carrying a Vert-93 when we took down Saren."

Ash turned to Jacob, a triumphant look on her face. "Ha! There, see?"

"Of course," continued Shepard, "she had modified it so much that it was almost a completely new weapon."

Now it was Jacob's turn to gloat. "So it was less a Vert-93 and more of a Williams-93. That explains why it worked."

Ash's shoulders slumped as she turned back to Shepard. "You know, sometimes you're no help at all, Skipper. Anyways, what's up?"

Shepard walked over to the terminal and leaned against is, facing them, He ran his hands over his face. "Trying to see if I can find a reason to put off finishing a mission report. Any ideas?"

"I think that's my cue to leave you two alone for a while." Jacob started for the door to go to the CIC.

"Oh come on, Taylor, get your mind out of the gutter!"

"No, it's all right, Williams, I know how much you love the armory. Besides, I need to go to the mess anyways; your choice in weapons left a bad taste in my mouth." Jacob grinned as he left the armory.

Ash looked back over to Shepard. "Next time we get into a firefight, he's getting stuck with that piece of crap E-17 he loves, I'll have my Vert-93, and we'll see who gets more kills." Shepard chuckled. "So, what's going on? Avoiding work isn't like you."

Shepard sighed. Ash could read him like an open book. "We were sloppy, and both Jack and Miranda got hurt," he said matter-of-factly. "It could have been a lot worse than it was, but it was still too close for a quick job like that."

Ash walked over to the side of the table directly across from Shepard and leaned against it, facing him. "And you're concerned that when it comes time to the big job, we won't be ready."

"A group mercs got the drop on two Spectres, the most powerful biotic in the history of mankind, and a woman whose hearing is two hundred percent better than the average human's."

Ash nodded as she took in Shepard's words. "I get you. And you think you're to blame?"

Shepard didn't have to say anything. The look he had on his face told Ash that she was right. "Look, things are going to happen during fights that we can't predict. You and I both know that. We can't be on edge all the time, that's how you get people like Jack running around, ready to fight if someone breathes at them wrong."

Despite himself, Shepard had to laugh at the mental picture of Jack walking down a hallway with everyone she passes holding their breath. "You're right. It's just that we have a lot at stake here, and I don't' want to lose anyone because we got careless. We're all too good for that."

At that, they heard the door from the CIC open, and Kelly peaked her head in. "Commanders? A message from someone called 'blueberry' has come over. I thought you might want to know."

"Thanks Kelly. Come on, Skipper, let's see what we got. Hopefully, it's our first good lead." The three of them walked back into the CIC, with Kelly going to her station and Shepard and Ash going to theirs. Ash brought up their mailbox, and saw Liara's message.

From: Blueberry

To:*****

I've found something that I believe may be of use to you. I know that Ilos wasn't too fruitful, but this should be. A group of Blue Suns are getting ready to complete a deal to bring in a large amount of prothean weapons and equipment into the traverse. Right now, they're massing on Kranis.

I've already arranged for you to intercept the full shipment before the buyers get there. If you leave Persius now, you should make it with plenty of time to spare. I'll setup a little surprise to delay the buyers so you won't have to worry about them for too long, but you'll still need to get in and out as quickly as possible. Attached are all the coordinates and details.

In the meantime, I've been digging into your side project, the Cerberus bases. I should have something to help you soon.

Be well.

Ash opened the attached file with the coordinates of Kranis, and plugged them into the computer. "Alright, looks like we got a good solid lead. And it's only two days away, even better." Turning to Shepard, she looked him in the eye. "Think we can handle some Blue Suns?"

Returning her gaze with the determination that had been missing just a few minutes ago, Shepard nodded. "Bring 'em on, Chief."

Ash smiled, glad to know the fire was back in Shepard. She keyed the comm. "Joker, we got a destination. Take us out!"

"Aye aye, Future-Missus-Shepard-ma'am!"

Shepard let out a loud laugh as Ash just slapped her hand to her forehead. "I swear to God I'm going to kill him one of these days."

"At least wait until after we beat the reapers, we need a good pilot."

A few days later, the whole team was gearing up in the cargo bay. Shepard and Ash had decided to take the whole team instead of just a few people, as this was looking to be a big operation, and they weren't about to take any chances on loosing the cache of prothean weapons and equipment. As the team checked their weapons and finished stocking up on ammo and medi-gel, Ash and Shepard turned from their positions next to the Kodiak to address their teammates.

"Ok, everyone, here's the plan," announced Shepard, getting everyone's attention. EDI projected a blue hologram of the layout of the Blue Suns base, a frigate just slightly largerthan the Normandy, that was grounded in a crater towards the center of a large desert. "We're dropping my team off in the Hammerhead here," as he indicated with his hand, part of the hologram changed to orange, "while Ash's team will land here," again part of the hologram changed to blue, "in the Kodiak. From what our intel tells us, they will be expecting their buyers in about an hour. Our… aide, on this, has delayed them the better part of a solar day, so we have a little less pressure, but we still need to be fast. As soon as we're all in position, the Normandy will pose as the buyer's ship, make contact, and the Blue Suns will bring the merchandise out from storage."

"Now, as soon as the Blue Suns see the Normandy," continued Ash, "They'll know it's a trap. So we want to time it so that my team starts hitting them from behind, drawing their attention, before Shepard's team hits them from the other side. They should be completely flanked and boxed in."

"Remember, we're here to secure the cargo. This is a large amount of prothean weapons and data. The smallest piece may be of great importance. We need to save everything. Losing even one crate could be disastrous. As soon as the shooting starts, the Blue Suns will be more focused on getting out alive than keeping the merchandise safe, so make sure you shoot the mercs, and not the crates." Shepard looked everyone in the eye as he said this, making sure they knew how serious he was about this.

"Alright people, load up!"

Shepard led his team of Garrus, Legion, Kasumi, and Grunt to the Hammerhead, while Ash took Jacob, Tali, Thane, Zaeed, and Samara to the Kodiak. As the Normandy entered the atmosphere, the cargo bay door opened, and both vehicles started to make their way towards the force field. First to launch was the Kodiak, which would take a long sweeping route to the far end of the crater, sticking close to the ground to avoid any radar detection, and far enough away to avoid any ladar. Meanwhile, the Normandy got into position to bring the Hammerhead down, on the near side of the crater, but still far enough outside the Blue Suns' detection radius.

As Shepard hit the thrusters to stop their descent, he navigated the Hammerhead slowly over the crater wall and into a small, craggy ravine that would bring them close to the base. The space was tight, and the hammerhead kept scraping the sides, much to Kasumi's alarm. "Perhaps we should have let Ash drive," she had mentioned more than once, though Shepard wouldn't respond. As they reached the base, Shepard brought the Hammerhead slowly out of ht ravine, and approached the back of the ship, keeping as low as possible.

"Shepard, what are you doing?" Kasumi, asked, clearly worried.

"Trust me, Kasumi. I know what I'm doing."

"Could've fooled me," she mumbled, making sure Shepard couldn't hear her, but still getting a smile from Garrus.

As they slowly crept towards the ship, Shepard brought the Hammerhead up and into one of the engine wells, before securing it in park. He turned in his seat to look at Kasumi. "See, didn't I tell you I know what I'm doing?"

"Um… Shepard, in case you didn't notice, we're in an engine well," this time it was Garrus who was concerned.

"Exactly. Once the Blue Suns bring out the cargo and we spring our trap, EDI will take remote control of the Hammerhead and fire a burst down the engine well, disabling the ship and keeping it grounded, in case they try to dust off and escape. Then she'll bring it up to us in case we need additional cover."

"Ok, that much sounds great… but how do you propose we get to our positions?"

Shepard smiled as he reached beneath his seat and pulled out a length of cord, as well as a harness. "Who here likes going rock climbing?"

He was met with silence as the meaning of his words sank in. Finally, Garrus spoke up. "Can I be part of Ash' team from now on?"

In the end, the ascent from the engine well to the upper hull of the ship had been rather easy. Shepard had made sure the harnesses were all the correct sizes before stowing them on board. Once they were all geared up, they had launched a small rocket topside, where it had then deployed and anchored several magnetic studs onto the hull, each with a line coming down to the team. They had each grabbed a line, thread it through the ascenders in their harnesses, and made it to the top in just a few seconds. They were out of the harnesses and proceeding to their positions quickly, without a word being spoken. With stealth being their main concern, they couldn't risk any chatter over the comm lines, but they had arranged that as soon as they were in position, Ash and Shepard would send a quick signal trough their suits' tracking systems, so a quick light would flashing alerting the other. As soon as they both had given the all clear, the Normandy would make contact to set the rest of the plan in motion.

Shepard had sent his message over a minute ago as his team as quietly waiting on the support pylons for the shuttle platform that the Blue Suns would be bringing the cargo out on. As soon as Ash's team sprang the trap, they would be able to quickly pull themselves up and over the railing.

Right as he was starting to think that they had run into resistance, he saw the all clear signal come through. He felt a quick sensation of relief, but then tensed himself to get ready for the second half of the plan. Over his comm, he heard the Normandy hail the Blue Suns using the system that Liara had found out about. "This is the Gilson. We are coming in for our delivery. Can I get a confirmation?" He nodded at the tone in Joker's voice: causal, but tense enough to give the impression of caution.

"This is Captain Terl. You get loaded when we get payment." The mercenary that was responding was turian, and Shepard held his breath for a moment. They had known about the arrangements from Liara, but he needed the freight brought out, as they hadn't been able to get the account the credit were supposed to transfer to in order to complete their bluff. They were relying on Joker's quick thinking to get them through this part.

"You'll get the rest of the payment when I'm loaded up. I already sent you half, and seeing as you're the one landed on the planet, and I'm still in orbit with all my guns, I'm going to say we do this my way."

"I don't care if you have all the guns in the system, you get loaded when we get paid!"

"Fine, I'll just blow your ship up, take what's left, and keep my credits. Been nice knowing you!"

Shepard counted the heartbeats until the merc's response. "Fine, we're bringing them out to the loading pad. But if there's any funny business, I shoot you out of the sky, and find another buyer." Four.

"Glad we could get that taken care of. That's what I like about you Blue Suns, always able to see reason."

Shepard heard the mercenary disconnect the channel, and smiled to himself. Typical Joker, but he got the job done. Shepard looked to his team, and waited for each to nod at him, showing they were ready. He heard the shuttle pad door open, and peaked over the edge to check on the situation.

Seven armed guards were coming out first, followed by another three who were driving loaders. The low, open vehicles each had a trailer with six large cargo containers on them, each one large enough for a fully armored krogan to stand upright in. The three loaders were followed by six armed guards. He couldn't see further into the cargo bay, but he thought he saw the shadow of a Ymir mech, though he couldn't be sure. Shepard looked over to his left, and saw Garrus checking the scene as well with the detached scope from his sniper rifle. As they both ducked back down, Garrus motioned to Shepard that there was a sharpshooter in each back corner of the cargo bay, and confirmed that it was a mech Shepard had seen.

Nodding, Shepard turned to address Kasumi and Legion to his right. With hand signals, he motioned to tell them how many mercs there were, and their positioning. As he finished, he looked back to Garrus and saw that he was finishing telling Grunt the same thing. He sent a quick message to Ash over his omni-tool to make sure she was aware there was a mech to take care of, then double checked his grip on the lip of the pad. They all looked from one another, just waiting for their signal.

Meanwhile, Ash's team stood ready. They had spilt up into three units once she had gotten Shepard's message. Ash and Jacob were ready to jump down and engage the Blue Suns on the pad, while Thane and Tali would rush into the cargo bay, and while Thane went after the sharpshooters, Tali would try to disable the mech before it was brought online. Samara and Zaeed would keep the high ground above the cargo bay.

Ash heard a soft rumble, and looked up. Dipping just below the cloud line was the unmistakable shape of the Normandy. She looked down at the Blue Suns on the pad, and could tell they were realizing that it wasn't their buyer who was here.

"Hit 'em!" Ash called over the comm as she leapt from her ambush point. She hit the ground and immediately fired at the closest Blue Sun, sending three rounds into the back of his helmet, dropping him. Jacob was next, taking the Blue Sun next to the one Ash had killed, hitting him in the side of the helmet as he turned. Zaeed and Samara remained over the cargo bay, taking advantage of the high ground, providing cover for Tali and Thane as they leapt down and ran into the cargo bay.

Ash and Jacob found cover behind the cargo bay doors, and she heard Shepard's team come up over the rim of the landing pad. She felt a low rumble beneath her feet as Shepard's team opened fire. That would be EDI, she thought, knowing that the Hammerhead would now have rendered the Blue Suns ship immobile on the surface.

Ash focused on taking out the Blue Suns in front of her, when all of a sudden she felt rounds bouncing off her shields from behind. Turning, she saw a sniper on a catwalk in the upper right corner of the bay taking aim at her again. She dove out of the way of his next few rounds, then saw Thane climb the stacks of cargo beneath the catwalk, leap up behind the sniper, and swiftly twist his head almost completely around. He then sprinted down the catwalk, deftly diving below the incoming fire from the other sniper as he tackled him around the knees, before pulling out a small knife that he jammed upwards under the Blue Sun's chin, lodging it deep in his skull. Not wasting a moment, he then leapt from the catwalk, landed next to Tali, who already had pulled off the Ymir's access panel, and started firing out to the pad.

Thank God he's on our side, she thought, turning back to the firefight happening outside.

"Now!" Shepard pulled himself up and over the lip of the pad, landing heavily. He fired a quick burst at the two nearest Blue Suns, who had already turned towards Ash's team. He crouched in a defensive posture, ready to sprint over to cover behind the one loader, when both Blue Suns he had fired at were dropped by dual shots from Legion and Garrus, who were lying down right at the side of the pad, taking aim at their next targets.

To his right, Grunt immediately charged up his shields and rushed the mercs. "I am KROGAN!" he bellowed, throwing two of the mercs over the edge to the ground far below. So loud was Grunt that he almost didn't feel the rumble beneath his feet signifying that EDI had taken out the one engine. Between Grunt's charging and Legions and Garrus's sniping, the seven Blue Suns had quickly been whittled down to three, who were now taking cover behind the crates on the loaders along with the drivers. Ash's team only had two of their targets remaining, and he could see they had already cleared the cargo bay, though he couldn't tell if Tali had disabled the mech yet. We'll find out soon enough. He quickly focused back on the Blue Suns in front of him. They had to get them out from behind the crates

He motioned to Samara, who was still above the opening to the cargo bay. She nodded her understanding, and then let the blue biotic energy course over her body. She began picking up the crates, giving the strike team a clear shot of anyone hiding behind them, then setting them down and moving to the next. Meanwhile, Zaeed was providing cover fire for her, keeping any Blue Suns from firing at her while she worked.

Eventually, only two remained, and Shepard saw them throw their weapons down and put their hands up. "Hold you fire!" His command was simultaneous with Ash's. As the two mercenaries slowly stood up, Kasumi materialized directly in front of them, making them jump back in a panic. She just smiled, and walked back to the rest of the team.

Ash's squad and Shepard's closed in, they motioned for the mercenaries to move closer to the cargo bay. Shepard walked up to them. "How many more are inside the ship?" Neither Blue Sun answered him. With an almost blinding swiftness, Shepard pulled out his pistol and cracked it against the helmet of the mercenary to his right, then pointed it to the other mercenary. "Tell me how many more there are, or both of you are going to be hurting."

"Ok, ok, just don't shoot," the mercenary cried. "There's only four more, the Captain included. We're a small operation."

"I'm assuming this isn't the first time you've done a deal like this."

"We get hired to protect archeological digs, stage a raid to scare of the civilians, and then steal their equipment and findings."

"Where did this cargo come from?"

"I don't know."

Shepard stepped in closer, putting the pistol directly against the faceplate of the mercenary's helmet. "No games. Where is it from?"

"I don't fucking know! It's from a dozen different jobs; no one knows what the hell that crap is! The Gilson had made contact with us, asking for this stuff, so we sold it to them! Mostly, we sell mining lasers, life support equipment, shit like that!"

Shepard looked over to Ash, who nodded. She was fine with his answers. He dropped the weapon, and re-holstered it. "Alright. Should I assume that the other four are holed up inside, waiting for us to attack them?"

"Yeah, unless they're trying to take off."

Ash chuckled lightly. "Yeah, that's not happening. Think we should go in after the rest, Shepard?"

The mercenary cocked his head to the side slightly. "Shepard? As in Commander John Shepard? The guy who took out Purgatory?"

Shepard shared a quick look with Ash. Usually, when someone knew who he was, it ended with trouble. "Yeah, that's me."

The mercenary laughed. "Shit, no wonder you tore through us so fast. Every Blue Sun knows who you are. Since you were able to rescue Archangel on Omega, took out Purgatory, and shut down about a dozen operations, the whole organization's put a bounty on your head."

Shepard eyed him carefully. "You're not going to try to collect, are you?"

Again, the mercenary laughed. "Me? Shit no, I'm just glad I gave up before I ended up like the rest. Trust me, twenty million credits ain't worth dying over."

This time, it was Ash's turn to laugh. "Twenty million? Why, Shepard, if we collected the bounty on you, we could all just retire to a quiet corner of the galaxy and live in luxury for the rest of our lives."

Despite himself, Shepard smiled. "I guess I'm a real pain in the Blue Suns' ass, aren't I?"

This time, the other mercenary responded. "We've been running this scam for three years now, and no one has gotten the drop on us. You cleared us out in under a minute. If they were smart, they'd offer you that money to help us out."

"Thanks, but I have more important things to do then working as a mercenary."

While they were talking, Ash had sent a message off for the Kodiak and Hammerhead to come in to the loading platform as the rest of the team moved all of the crates to the side to make room for the shuttle. As Shepard moved the mercenaries back into the cargo bay, the Kodiak came up from beneath the landing pad and touched down. Grunt, Jacob, and Garrus started loading the crates onto the shuttle, while the others gathered near the door leading from the cargo bay to the interior of the ship. Jacob and Ash were talking while Tali worked on the door panel.

"See what I mean? Vert-93: twelve shots, five kills."

"Only because I damn near broker my ankle jumping off that roof. If I hadn't had to limp over to cover…"

"… you'd still have been shooting with a crappy gun. Face it, I'm right."

"I'll face it when you actually are right, Lieutenant."

Shepard walked over to the two. "Taylor, if there's one thing I've learned since meeting Ash, it's that she's always right."

"She's got you trained well, Commander."

"Damn straight. Twelve shots, five kills… I don't want to piss her off."

This garnered Shepard a punch in the shoulder from his fiancée. Turning his attention to Tali, he asked "how's the door coming?"

"Stupid piece of junk keeps shorting. This is older than some of the ships in the fleet."

"Can you just seal it? Make sure that no one can open the door from the inside?" Ash looked over to Shepard. "If we can't go in, might as well make sure no one can come out."

Tali nodded, thoughtfully. "Sure, I can do that. It'll just take a second."

Before anyone could say anything, she picked up her pistol, jammed it into the open panel, and fired.

"There, done!"

Shepard and Ash looked at each other. Shepard shrugged his shoulders, while Ash just shook her head. "Alright, then. Let's get these loaded and get out of here."

The whole team finished loading the Kodiak and the Hammerhead. They left the two mercenaries tied up in the cargo bay, both thankful to have survived their encounter with Commander Shepard.

Once they got back to the Normandy, Shepard stopped at his terminal to signal the Alliance to inform them of the disable Blue Sun craft on the surface. He finally made his way up the cabin, where Ash had already started the shower. She was just getting ready to strip off her bodysuit that went under her armor when he walked in. He started slowly shedding pieces of his own armor as he walked towards the bed.

Sighing heavily, he sat on the bed, lightly pinching the bridge of his nose. Ash, noticing him, came and sat beside him.

"What's wrong, John?"

He thought for a moment. Using his first name was her way to let him know she was serious, but still his fiancée, not fellow soldier. And right now, he needed to talk to his fiancée.

"Blue Suns mercs, rogue Cerberus projects, heretic geth… I feel like nothing's changed. We're supposed to be finding a way to stop the reapers, but we're still stuck with little support, and less knowledge of how to do it. I feel like the reapers are going to show up and we'll have no way to fight them."

She put her hand on his shoulder. She felt much the same way. "I know. I'm getting nervous about that too. But the best that we can do right now is keep hitting the targets that our intelligence people tell us are the best options. Don't forget, the improvements you made to the Normandy are being applied to fleets across the galaxy. Not just the Alliance, but the Turian, Salarian, and Asari fleets as well. Pretty soon, every fighting ship will have a thanix cannon installed, and that will give us a fighting chance."

Shepard dropped his hand. She had a point. While they may not have found the reaper's weak spot yet, they certainly had helped preparations to get the fleets into fighting shape.

"Yeah, I guess I should stop beating myself up about it. After all, we do have Liara and all of her contacts looking into it. And Admiral Hackett also has his own research he's doing." He put his hand on Ash's thigh, giving it a squeeze. "You always know how to cheer me up."

She smiled as she leaned into him. "And I didn't even have to resort to sex. I'm getting good at this whole 'talking about our feelings' thing."

Shepard laughed. "Yeah, I guess we both are. Now, we both need to finish getting out of our armor and into the shower."

She laughed as she stood and finished stripping out of her bodysuit. "Oh, I get it. Talk, THEN sex. Most men would say you have your priorities backwards, there, Skipper."

Shepard stood and finished getting his armor and body suit off, and followed Ash into the shower. "Well, Chief, the talk is less exhausting. You once told me you were a hellcat... you were underselling yourself."

As the shower door slid behind closed behind then, Ash wrapped her arms around Shepard's neck. "it's a good thing we have that bench in here, because right now, I can think of only one thing I want under myself."

I know, bad pun at the end. But hey, that's what happens.

Coming up next time: hidden control rooms, dead protheans, and... a good-bye.