From Hell To Hell

by mcknight93

Set around the beginning of Mass Effect 2 timeline, the Normandy SR-2 finds the Forward Unto Dawn. How will the Mass Effect universe change when the Master Chief is involved? All chapters have been rewritten and reposted with much improvements. The awesome picture rightfully belongs to: KnytGrey on deviantart.

6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect. Halo belongs to Bungie or 343 Industries now, Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.

Chapter 6: Recruiting the Krogan

Kodiak Shuttle arriving on Blue Sun's base on the Planet Korlus of the Eagle Nebula and Imir System

The planet's surface was nearly covered in starcraft parts from the people recycling ships. The grey hulls of the vessels towered in size, nearly acting as buildings and skyscrapers for the world. Ships that reached near death were stripped of their useful parts and then dumped on the planet. Korlus truly earned the name of starcraft cemetary.

The Kodiak shuttle shook vigorously as it broke through the atmosphere and made a rapid descent onto the battlefield on Korlus' earth. The shuttle made careful and precise maneuvers to dodge any ship platforms that were in their way. The moment the hatch opened, Zaeed and Jack jumped out, their weapons drawn for any sign of danger. Shepard and Mordin followed their example, when they exited the shuttle. All four crouched down behind a pile of debris in case of a sudden oncoming attack.

Several gun shots could be heard from all around, but none were visible or headed in their direction.

Shepard looked over the pile of ship parts and was satisfied to not see any enemies ahead. He then looked back to his team.

"The dossier doesn't say if Okeer is on this planet by choice. Assume hostiles."

The team nodded their heads in acknowledgement as they got up.

The second they took two steps from out of their cover, a rather loud and commanding female voice cried out on an intercom.

"There is only one measure of success: kill or be killed! Perfection is your goal!"

The clamorous sound easily angered half the team on the spot.

"Someone shut that bitch up!" Zaeed shouted out in response.

"I already want to kill this person." Jack added.

"Stay focused people. Remember, we're looking for a Krogan warlord," Shepard reminded as he held up his katana shotgun.

The former Spectre could not help but think that the one speaking was either arrogant to the extreme, or not right in the head, or possibly both. And that is not something one wanted in an operations leader. That was when he got some good news from their proverbial eye in the sky.

"Commander, I've successfully tapped into the Blue Suns communications. I'll forward their chatter to you soon," EDI beeped through the radio.

"Being hired is merely the beginning. You must earn your place in the mighty army we are building!" The obnoxious voice yelled over the intercom again.

"Anything is better than hearing that bitch." Zaeed complained after hearing the woman over the announcer.

The Normandy commandos moved up a few steps, still with their guns ready and primed.

"Hold on," Shepard called out. He pulled up close to a corner and peered around. "Seven ahead."

True to his word, seven Blue Suns stood idly by with their assault weapons in their arms.

"Lookout position, equipped for combat," observed Mordin when he peaked around with the former Spectre.

"Jack, you and I will go up first. The rest of you assault their position. Be quick so they don't radio our presence. Everyone pick a target and get ready."

Zaeed pulled out his M-96 Mattock assault rifle.

"Smart money bets that this bloody thing won't be half as good as Jessie." The bounty hunter thought begrudgingly as he missed his old trusted avenger. Oh the missions he had with that shitty but reliable rifle.

Jack let her biotics flow through her body, getting amped and excited to finally see some combat.

"Throwing some Blue Suns around will be a good stretch." The convict thought with a wicked grin on her face, while she popped the muscles in her neck.

Mordin held his M-6 Carnifex in his hands, while he calculated several scenarios on how to kill the mercenaries ahead.

"Let's go," Shepard commanded.

Jack quickly jumped out of cover.

"Hello, dead people!"

She then unleashed a powerful biotic shockwave that slammed into all seven surprised mercenaries. All the Blue Suns flew back and landed roughly on the ground, each moaning in pain.

The three other Normandy commandos poked their heads out to see the damage Subject Zero caused. They shared a few wide eyed glances between each other.

"Reckless and ruthless. Might keep an eye on her." Mordin said.

"I know, I like her already." Zaeed added, while he laughed manically.

Both Shepard and Zaeed leapt out and started shooting the Blue Sun mercs. Two fell to the ground dead, from the Normandy teams combined gun fire while the others crawled to cover.

Out of nowhere, one of the mercs started to glow a biotic blue. The merc looked at his body with curiosity, and then suddenly flew against the wall on his right really hard. He was barely able to keep conscious, his head turning as if he had been spun vigorously, he flew once more to the other side while colliding with a merc, with both smashing into a wall.

Jack laughed at the mess she had just caused, while Mordin fired on the other unsuspecting mercs with his heavy pistol. The Salarian scientist successfully killed a merc after multiple shots into the torso.

A Blue Sun popped up and held down the trigger on his avenger, trying to gun down Mordin. The Salarian was quick enough to roll to the side and react with a incinerate. The tech attack burst the merc into flames, killing him almost instantly.

After a few moments, they stood over six dead mercs.

"We're missing one." Shepard declared as he did a quick count.

"99.99% sure I have wounded him Shepard." Mordin quickly said.

"Found the pussy's blood trail, didn't make it far from the looks of it." Jack announced as she looked at a line of red smeared across the ground.

Shepard ran up to Jack.

"I see it."

They followed the trail, and then he heard a male voice gasping in pain.

"Shit. Shit! It won't stop bleeding… I'm gonna… son of a bitch!"

Leading in with his shotgun, Shepard looked over a pile of debris to see a merc sitting on the ground, holding a deep wound on his left flank. Apparently judging by the number of wounds on him but not in vital areas, this was the one Mordin had wounded and not outright killed.

"Nice work, Mordin."

"Stand up soldier I've seen worse." Zaeed said to the injured Blue Sun. And due to his long career, there was no doubt that Zaeed had seen worse.

"He doesn't need to know that." Shepard quipped before he engaged his talk with the wounded enemy.

The merc stood up slowly as he used his free hand to wipe the blood and shrapnel from his face to see who he was dealing with.

"I knew it wasn't berserkers," he bit out threw gritted teeth. "You're mercs, or Alliance. I'm not… I'm not telling you a damn thing."

"I got a nice application of medi-gel ready for you, but if you prefer if I just keep walking..." Shepard said in a bargaining and persuasive voice.

"Son of a... I just, I don't know anything. I just shoot the overflow from the labs. The old Krogan up there, he's really been cleaning house lately." The mercenary let out between heavy breaths, but this did let Shepard know that his sale had been sold.

"We're looking for a Krogan named Okeer." Shepard prompted while holding his rifle in a non-threatening manner.

The others followed his example. Threats and intimidation were enough for this merc, especially since he was surrounded, unarmed, and injured.

The human merc looked confused.

"Who? You already know more than I do. I just kill Krogan. The old one in the lab dumps crazy ones down here all the time."

"What do you mean by 'crazy ones'?" The former Spectre asked as the mere mention of crazy and Krogan was NOT healthy. Already memories of Saren's lab on Virmire began to come back to him and what they held.

"Jedore hired him to make her an army, but the Krogan he creates are insane, so we use them for live ammo training. It's all crap; I don't get paid enough to goddamn bleed out!" the Blue Sun griped.

"Ah. Would explain why they're engaged with Krogan. Artificial with mental instabilities. Could see why they use for combat training," Mordin speculated out loud.

The team's radios crackled as they began to receive EDI's decrypted communications.

"Outpost Four? Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on that Krogan pack."

Zaeed immediately pointed his rifle at the merc, to prevent him from giving away their position. He was not alone as both Jack and Mordin were more than ready with their weapons, with Jack getting ready to unleash a Biotic attack for good measure.

"What's he talking about?" Shepard asked with an even tone.

The mercs eyes widened as he realized that they were tapped into his communications.

"How did you? Um… Jedore runs a Blue Suns outlier and she's making Krogans for an army. But they all come out crazy. Tough as hell, but just insane."

"Doesn't make sense. Breeding facilities too expensive. Not worth the cost." Mordin argued.

"He's just a grunt. He probably doesn't know anything anyway." Zaeed responded.

"Then why are talking to him and not killing him?" Jack suggested, eager for blood.

Shepard leaned in close to the Blue Sun with his omni-tool active to show that the bargain was almost over.

"I want your friends gone. Understand?"

"Uh… patrol. That last group… dispersed. Lost sight five minutes ago." The injured mercenary stammered.

"Dispersed? Jedore will be pissed. She wants a show." The merc on the other comm replied.

"You asked for a report and you got it. Dispersed." The merc responded to the man quite angrily.

"Sheesh... understood. Returning to the labs." The comms man said.

The injured Blue Sun shut off his radio.

"There, you happy? I'm helping."

"Is the lab heavily guarded?" Shepard demanded.

"There are big guns to keep ships away. We're not outfitted to fight goddamn commandos." the mercenary answered.

Zaeed snorted.

"Ain't that the damn truth." The bounty hunter said with his rifle still trained on the wounded Blue Sun.

Sounds of another firefight broke out in the distance. Shepard glanced in the direction of the sounds to judge the distance before turning back to his prisoner.

"Sounds like the fun is over there. Lets hurry this up." Jack added in.

"What is Jedore planning to do with all these Krogan?"

"Replace us probably," the merc answered bitterly. "I sure wouldn't want to see an army of them coming at me. Only she can't control them. They aren't supposed to be crazy, but they're Krogan. How smart are they to start?"

"He doesn't know anything else, let's kill him" Jack said.

The ex Spectre applied some medi-gel to the bloody wound on the Blue Sun.

"There you go. Now get out of here." Shepard coldly said.

The merc's eyes widened, surprised at the gesture. He turned away from the group, clutching his injury as tightly as he could.

"Shit. Shit!"

"Should have killed him. He knew too much." Mordin said rapidly to Shepard as the team headed to the lab.

"I can vouch for brainy on that." Jack said.

"Waste of clips, we're going to need them if we are going to facing those Krogan he told us about. Come on. Our warlord is somewhere in Jedore's lab." Shepard answered.

The group moved ahead, wary of any mercs and insane Krogan, while Jedore's voice continued to blare overhead.

"Training is part of your contract. Failure to perform means liquidation, legal and otherwise!"

"I'm gonna kill that bitch." Jack said as they turned a corner, already her temper was on the last threads.

"Hostiles ahead. Elevated positions. Impossible to sneak past. Have no choice but to fight." Mordin declared.

Shepard saw at least nine Blue Suns standing atop makeshift catwalks and bridges.

"Damn. They probably just shoot at the Krogan and us from up there." The Blitz hero observed.

Looking further on, he spotted at least three more in the distance. None of them seemed too concerned about the gunfire in the distance.

"Zaeed, support us from back here. The rest of you, follow me. Looks like we're doing this the hard way."

"I got you covered," Zaeed assured as he pulled out his sniper rifle, a Mantis.

Shepard moved ahead slowly, keeping his eye on the mercs above. They hadn't seen them yet, so the element of surprise was still theirs. Crouching behind a fallen metal beam and waiting for the others, he started picking targets of the greatest threat as he prepared to unleash his biotics.

"Lets do it."

Okeer's lab

"Team Four, do you read? Team Four!"

Okeer, an old Krogan warlord in light green armor listened intently on the recent calls. His predator like eyes narrowed at the radio transmission. He had a feeling in all of his guts that something was different about it. He turned the volume up, and listened in on the merc's call.

"Comm, tell Jedore we have a problem. Patrols are going dark. Either the Krogan are pushing back or we're being raided!"

"Rana. Did Jedore place any surveillance outside?" Okeer asked his Asari assistant.

"Um…" Rana stalled as she turned away from their latest Krogan attempt to check. "No. Only inside the compound."

"Hmm. It makes sense I suppose. Too much trash outside for cameras to be effective…" Okeer mumbled to himself as he considered the implications.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

"I believe we have guests and they might be here for me," Okeer muttered as he continued to work.

Rana's eyes widened at the news.

"You're not worried?"

Okeer only gave her a grim smile, a normal characteristic of the Krogan species.

"I've lived long enough to understand the nature of battle. The only thing that matters now is my legacy. Hurry, we must finish these last procedures. Let the mercs and my failures deal with them."

"Ri... Right away!" Rana obeyed as she nervously typed on a terminal.

"Uhh, I just can't get a break. Why did I choose to work with Krogan again?" The Asari mentally cursed at herself as she recalled the last time she worked on recreating Krogan on Virmire with the Turian Spectre Saren Arterius.

She barely got out alive as the entire facility was blown sky high with a nuke by none other than Commander heard he had died and then heard the rumors he was alive and running with Cerberus. Why that was the case she never knew, nor bothered to find out. The last thing she wanted was a replay of Virmire.

Okeer walked up to the tank that contained all of his research. He stared at the young Krogan that slept inside.

"Soon the galaxy will know of my legacy and my ideas to rebuild our race."

"Release the others." Okeer commanded, not taking his eyes off his newest creation.

Rana paused and then looked at her Krogan boss, shocked by hearing such a bold order. She blinked twice, snapping herself back to her job.

"Uh... at once." The Asari stammered and typed away more keys on the terminal.

Back with the Normandy Commandos

"Damn it!" Shepard thought.

The Commander's shields were down from taking several rounds from the Blue Suns. He barely avoided two missiles that destroyed his previous cover, though this did earn him a headache. But all wasn't completely bad. Half of the Blue Sun group had been killed, but five remained.

"Two mercs! Right-side on high! They're heavies! Take them down!"

"I will destroy you!" Jack shouted outloud.

Subject Zero launched a powerful biotic attack that pushed the heavy mercenaries off the catwalks.

The mercs were thrown across the ground and slid off the edge, with audible screams.

Shepard climbed back up to his feet slowly behind an archway of twisted metal and looked around. Three mercs were left and armed with avenger assault rifles.

"Should burn nicely!" Mordin declared as the launched a incinerate from his omni-tool.

The merc that was hit was screaming and running, trying to put out the flames, only to fall off the catwalk and plummeted to the ground with bone-breaking impact and a loud crunch.

"Oh, shit!" A Blue sun hollered as he peeked out and watched what happened to his comrade. That proved to be a fatal mistake as Shepard pumped a round into the mercenary with his shotgun.

"Firing a concussion round!" Zaeed yelled.

The last merc found himself getting hit by a round that shoved him on the ground, knocking the breath out of him. The Blue Sun tried to get back up, but before he could sit up, his body suddenly became very cold. He brought his hands close to his helmet and was terrified to see that his hands had started to freeze like a ice-sickle.

"N..." But the merc didn't get to finish as his body was frozen over from a cryo blast.

"Should keep him down." Mordin brought up as he looked at his handiwork.

"Let's move up, we still got a warlord to recruit." Shepard ordered with the squad soon following.

The team traveled on with the objective etched in their minds, but they couldn't help to notice the area around them. Several dead Krogan were littered on the ground, each with bullet holes in them and yellow/orange fluid blood that escaped the lethal wounds.

"Bastards never stood a chance." Zaeed said in his own way for sympathy, while he stepped over one of the bodies.

"These Krogan, unorganized, not trained." Mordin inhaled a deep breath. "Mindless."

"We can stop this once we get to Okeer." Shepard said.

"This guy better be worth it." Jack mumbled under her breath.

They walked through a makeshift hole of ship parts, and rounded a corner, but then the group heard more gunshots just straight ahead. The team crouched down and slowly moved up with Shepard taking point. Weapons still readied and drawn, they carefully looked ahead.

What they saw was a lone Krogan in tan brown and red armor, armed with a shotgun, was shooting at three Blue Sun mercenaries. The mercs stood up on a catwalk like the others from before, retaliating against the single Krogan. Two Blue Suns were armed with assault rifles, while the other one in the middle had a ML-77 Missile Launcher.

The mercenary on the left stood up and fired a burst of rounds at Krogan, which nicked him in the shoulder. The Krogan was knocked back a bit, but he quickly recovered and shot a slug at Blue Sun. The merc was shot in the chest and fell off the catwalk.

"Move up! Take out the mercs!" Shepard ordered.

The Commander channeled the biotics through him, and threw out a pull. The biotic move zipped around the cover that the Blue Sun hid behind, and hit him. The mercenary floated high in the air, but not high enough to avoid getting by shotgun slugs from Shepard and the Krogan.

The last Blue Sun rose up from his cover and aimed his missile launcher the Shepard. The ex Spectre saw this and started to run backwards, but it was too late as the rocket blew up a few inches from Shepard's feet.

"Agh!" Shepard hollered in pain.

The former Spectre's shields fell, and he was knocked roughly on his back. The rest of the squad reacted and shot at the Blue Suns. In a mere second, the mercenary was riddled with holes.

Mordin came and helped Shepard back up.

"Thanks."

The former STG nodded his head with a Salarian smile, and then both of them directed their attention to the Krogan.

Feeling the effects of nearly getting blown up fade away, Shepard approached the Krogan carefully.

The Krogan himself seemed to be interested in Shepard as he tilted his helmeted head in a curious manner. Turning around to fully face the human, he walked closer to stand within inches, still holding his shotgun loosely in his hands.

Zaeed, Mordin, and Jack raised their weapons at the Krogan, but were understandably surprised when their commander raised his left hand, silently telling them to stand down.

The Krogan began sniffing Shepard's chest plate. "You… are different. New. You don't smell like this world." He stood up and took a few steps back to fully look at the human. "Seven night cycles and I have felt only the need to kill. But you… something makes me speak."

"He's only a week old?" Zaeed asked out loud.

"They must breed them full-size, ready to kill. Not much improvement over regular mercs if they need training." Shepard guessed. His eyes wandered over at the Krogan to judge his reaction or answer.

"Bred… to kill? No. I kill because my blood and bone tell me to. But it's not why I was flushed from glass mother." the Krogan corrected in deep slow, almost poetic voice.

His speech sounded simple, but more articulate than Shepard would have guessed from a week-old Krogan. He spoke haltingly, as if trying to find each word in a sentence, but clearly enough for everyone to understand.

The Tank-Grown Krogan continued his explanation.

"Survival is what I hear in my head. Against the enemy that threatens all my kind. But I failed even before waking. That is what the voice in the water said. That is why I wait here."

"Okeer's voice? Did he speak to you while you were in your tank?" Shepard asked.

"I heard the voice. Not like now, with ears. Inside," the Krogan tried to answer. "I called it 'father'. It liked that. But it was disappointed. I am not what it needs me to be."

"A breeding program. Trying to escape genophage effects?" Mordin asked the Krogan.

The Krogan turned his head to look at them, confusion coloring his body language.

"Escape? Cure? They were never whispered. Survive. Resist. Ignore."

"Ignore the genophage?" Shepard repeated and then turned to his team.

"I destroyed Saren's cure. How does Okeer expect these Krogan to ignore the genophage if not by curing it?"

"Uncertain," Mordin added. "Likely irrelevant. Appears Okeer has had no success."

The Commander turned back to their unlikely ally.

"How did you disappoint the voice?"

The Krogan shook his head.

"I don't know. It was decided before I left tank mother. I was not perfect."

"If mercenary was correct, Krogan prone to mental instability." Mordin stated.

"Then why hasn't this one shot us yet?" Jack said.

"I don't know why. But I am not perfect," the Krogan raised his hand to rub his helmeted head. "There was a scratching sound in my head and it became the voice. It taught me things I would need: walking, talking, hitting, shooting." Dropping his hand and bowing his head, he continued, "Then the voice said I was not perfect and the teaching stopped. And now I am here."

Zaeed chuckled a little,

"Well it did teach him to kill." The bounty hunter said as pointed his thumb to the dead Blue Sun mercs.

"Interesting. Raised, then rejected. Control group? Failed test?" Mordin speculated.

The Krogan only shook his head.

"I don't know, but I am not perfect," he repeated. Being a young Krogan, none of them were surprised that he repeated what he already said.

Decided that they'd learned all they could from the Krogan, Shepard looked around the arena they were in.

"Can you show us the laboratory? I need to speak with Okeer."

The Krogan pointed at a wall.

"The… glass mother. She is up. Past the broken parts. Behind many of you fleshy things. I will show you."

Shepard and his group followed as the Krogan walked toward a large metal plate up against the wall. They watched as he gripped the plate tightly.

"Grrrah!" the Krogan grunted as he lifted the plate off the wall and threw it to the side.

"Brute strength. Key aspect of Krogan." Mordin said appreciatively.

"Yeah, Yeah we get it. Krogan are strong." Zaeed pitched in, while not wanting the Krogan to feel cocky at his muscle.

"Rough stuff! I like it!" Jacked added in.

Shepard peered in to see a tunnel running under the Blue Suns base.

"You fleshy things are slow when big things are in your way." the Tank-Grown Krogan observed.

Shepard turned his head away from the tunnel and back towards the tank bred Krogan.

"You could have run or tried to fight your way back to the labs. Why stay here?" Shepard asked.

"I am waiting. The voice told me. If they come, I fight. But I will not run and I will not follow," he answered before turning away to leave and find more mercenaries. "I am not perfect, but I have purpose. I must wait until called. Released." he said as he left.

Letting the Krogan go, Shepard and his team turned back to the tunnel.

"Awfully cramped in here." observed Zaeed.

Leading everyone in, Shepard couldn't help, but note the dead merc near the entrance.

"Looks like someone got to him before we did." Jack said as she looked at the body.

The group cautiously made their way down the tunnel. After a few minutes of tense silence, a scream reached their ears.

"They're loose! Run for your damn life! They're all free!"

"Open fire!" commanded Shepard as two mercs ran right around the corner and into a hailstorm of bullets.

"Likely more Krogan nearby." Mordin stated.

"No shit!" Jack yelled.

Rounding the same corner the mercs ran from, Shepard saw a vast cave with a network of metal plates serving as bridges to cross from one stone platform to another. For the unwary or clumsy, a deep chasm waited with the bottom too far down to see.

All of this was noted and filed away as Shepard saw four Krogan running right at them.

"Incoming! Spread out and take'em down!"

Everyone scattered, taking different bridges and platforms as they engaged the Krogan, careful not to get each other in a crossfire or crowd themselves in a single place.

Shepard began firing at the approaching enemy as Jedore's voice echoed over the loudspeaker.

"Who authorized that Krogan release? Okeer? I will have order in my compound!"

Shepard fired three rounds from his shotgun at his Krogan berserker, but the Krogan kept coming with a counter attack with its own shotgun. The former Spectre powered up his biotic energy, and then propelled himself at the enemy with a biotic charge.

The Krogan staggered back and roared with pain and fury. The reptile came back and swung a powerful fist, only for the N7 marine step back. The Krogan, blinded by his rage, swung again but with a bit more range than before.

Shepard ducked and quickly brought his shotgun under the scaly chin of the Krogan. When he pulled the trigger, the Krogan's head erupted, with chunks of its head flying around.

"Messy, but it worked." The Blitz hero said more to himself.

Suddenly, Zaeed flew past Shepard and hit the ground with his back. He then looked ahead and saw one of the Krogans, wearing a nasty grin on it's scaly face.

"Ow! That goddamn hurt!" The bounty hunter called out.

"Needing any help?"

"Nah. Remember how I told you how I killed that one Krogan." The bounty hunter said, while he pulled out a combat knife.

Zaeed let out a battle cry and charged at the Krogan, knife tightly gripped in his hand. He jumped up and lodged the blade deep into the Krogan's skull. The Krogan howled in agony, and tried to throw the human off, but Zaeed held on like if he was holding onto a bull in a rodeo. The hunter struggled to hold on the large reptile. Zaeed twisted the blade and heard the Krogan cry even louder. He then pressed both of his feet on the Krogan's chest and pushed himself off, yanking the knife away at the same time.

The Krogan's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and crashed to the ground like a tower, with an audible thud.

Shepard smirked and tore his eyes away from the dead Krogan and towards to the bounty hunter.

Zaeed was breathing rather hard, but still had a grin on his face.

"And that's how you do it." The hired gunman said, cleaning the blade off and sheathed it.

Sweeping the cavern for the others, the Spectre saw that everything was under control. One Krogan soared through the air and over the abyss from Jack's biotics. Another Krogan was rolling around trying to put the fire out on his armor from Mordin's incinerate attack.

"Flammable or inflammable, forget which. Doesn't matter."

Shepard and Zaeed crossed bridges to regroup with everyone else.

They managed to get to Jack and Mordin just as he reignited the fire the Krogan tried to put out with another shot of incinerate, finishing it off.

"Hostiles taken out, Commander."

"Move out. They'll know we're here soon if they don't already."

"Krogan took down the grid! We're blind getting hit on all sides! Where are Jedore and her personal guard?" A Blue Sun shouted in fear over the radio.

After navigating the dark cavern and fighting off a few more Krogan and Blue Suns, the squad finally reached a locked door. One quick bypass, and they were climbing up a set of ramps, hopefully to the surface.

When they reached the top, everyone flanked the door and entered, only to find it empty. It was just a common room of a ship, but just as derelict as the ship itself. The staccato sounds of automatic rifle fire could be heard through the door opposite.

Flanking the door again, everyone prepared themselves as Zaeed opened the way and charged in. The lone merc fired with his mattock rifle on the Krogan below and then took a concussion blast directly to his back and fell over the railing. The bounty hunter took cover immediately as the mercs on the opposite side of the killing grounds saw what happened and opened fire.

"Missiles incoming!" Zaeed warned.

Shepard and Jack cleared doorway and ducked behind the railing while Mordin waited. Looking down the aisle they were on, Mordin spotted an open archway.

"Doorway ahead! Watch for incoming hostiles!"

"Zaeed, we'll hold that door! Jack and Mordin, you two take everyone else and get those heavies!" Shepard ordered.

Waiting for pause of enemy fire, Shepard ran toward the opening. Zaeed was already there, exchanging fire with whoever was inside.

"I do not pay for failure. Do your jobs, I want them dead!" Jedore shouted over the intercom.

Running to the opposite side of the doorway from Zaeed, Shepard counted at least five inside when he peeked inside.

"Jack!" Shepard yelled out.

The female biotic looked up and saw what he meant. She thrusted an arm out, and three mercs were blown back from a biotic attack courtesy of Subject Zero.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Zaeed and Shepard ran in and shot everyone before they could take cover.

Shepard sprinted inside while looking out for other targets. Ducking behind the remnants of a counter, he looked up to see another door at the far-left side of the room open, admitting four more mercs into the fray.

Suppressing a groan, Shepard called out.

"Four more incoming."

Then in an instant the four mercs were floating in air with a biotic glow around them. Shepard looked over to see that Jack had used Pull on them. She flashed an evil smile.

"Pick a target!"

Everyone got out and shot a few rounds into the floating helpless mercs. They were now floating dead corpses. Shepard's team proceeded to find Okeer.

"Concentrate on the Krogan charge or we're all dead! Who was the genius who gave them arms?" The intercom shouted out again. "What the fuck? I think we have commandos inside! Repeat! We're tracking an unidentified commando unit inside our base! Over!"

"I paid for competence! Kill the trespassers! I will deal with the traitorous Okeer!" Jedore shouted through the intercom.

"Berserkers are going down, but the outsider commandos are still incoming! Repeat, still coming!" A Blue Sun said over the radio.

Another blast of biotics sent three mercs over the railing and far below into the pits where the Krogan were stalking. The infiltration team continued their advance toward the labs, the waves of mercenaries failing to stop their charge.

"I need everyone out of the labs to fight this! Every floor, every outpost! Move!" Jedore commanded.

"Suppressing fire!" Shepard ordered.

Everyone began firing down the wide bridge holding back the flood of Blue Suns.

Mordin then used a Cryo-Blast to freeze a merc. The merc's body froze over and Mordin put a few rounds in it from his heavy pistol to finish him off.

Shepard used a biotic charge on an unfortunate Blue Sun, which sent it to its doom off the edge. Shepard was close enough to catch the last merc off guard and put a shotgun round in him, which silenced him forever.

The loudspeakers crackled to life again.

"No more! I command that they be killed! Why is that so hard to understand?"

Shepard's team waited for the subsequent explosion before rushing in to sweep for any more threats.

"What do you mean Jedore's holding the mechs? She'll lose all her toys if we don't get backup!" A Blue Sun shouted over the radio.

"This means we have to blow up mechs… good." Jack said.

"Undisciplined. Unprepared. Training wasn't very effective. Or leader is inexperienced. Or incompetent. Either way, little trouble," Mordin concurred, probably in all seriousness.

"Cut the chatter. Combat radar says there are still some hostiles left," Shepard declared.

"I think we are getting close, so expect a lot of mercs." Zaeed said.

Everyone readied themselves and took whatever munitions were lying around.

"There are four of them! Four! Anything can be killed if you do your damned jobs!" the loudspeaker blared out.

"Jedore! Damn it, someone get her off the speakers and out here!" a merc screamed into the radio.

The team saw a door and got ready to breach it.

"Go!" barked Shepard.

The four spread around the large room they were in, hiding behind whatever cover they could find and began exchanging gunfire with the mercs.

"Trespassers are topside! Tell Jedore we can't hold them and the Krogan! We're getting slaughtered!" A merc shouted.

The radio description was accurate. Jack would use her biotics. Mordin would use his tech. Zaeed would use his advance training and experience.

"Concentrate fire on my position! Concentrate on – Argh!"

The merc's orders were cut off by a burst from Shepard's shotgun as he sprinted from location to another, using biotics or conventional weaponry when needed.

"Squad Four? Outpost! Damn it! Have to do everything myself!" Jedore ranted.

Using pull by Jack to send a Blue Sun in the air followed by incinerate tech from Mordin secured their victory.

Everyone regrouped at the far door and prepared to enter when EDI's voice chimed in.

"Commander. According to thermal scans, the room you're about to enter carries a significant amount of heat sources, likely caused from heavy machinery. PIt's likely that you're about to enter the lab."

"Thanks EDI," Shepard said gratefully to the AI.

Turning back to the door, Shepard stepped forward and activated his omni-tool, he started to remotely rewire the lock. In the matter of seconds, the display changed from red to green.

When the door opened, the group peeked in and they saw an Asari dressed in a lab uniform looking at them in expectantly.

"Shepard, don't shoot! You know me!" the Asari shouted out when she saw him raise his shotgun.

"She does seem a bit familiar…" Shepard thought.

Everyone entered the room with weapons drawn and spread out, inspecting the laboratory in their own ways. Zaeed and Jack conducted their own sweeps to double-check for any threats, while Mordin eyed the equipment around them with some appreciation.

Shepard lowered his weapon as he approached her.

Taking that as her cue, the Asari continued talking.

"I shut down the security cams as soon as I saw it was you." Offering the Spectre a smile, "Never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad it's you shooting up the place."

Noticing that he hadn't put his weapon away, she turned serious.

"Sorry. Rana Thanoptis. You let me go when you destroyed Saren's lab on Virmire. Had to outrun a nuke in a utility pod, but it's still a second chance."

"Now I remember." Shepard said as he recalled her.

It was interesting as to finding her in another Krogan breeding facility and the fact that she was apparently working for Okeer.

"I assume you have a good reason for being at this lab."

"Don't worry! I'm not wasting the chance you gave me!" she jumped in. "My work here – strictly beneficial! Not for the mercs. Jedore's on a standard power strip. But Okeer is trying to do something good, I can tell. Even if his methods are a little… extreme." She said warily as she looked over to a human skeleton in her lab. "Everyone deserves a second chance right? And sometimes giving one pays off. I take care of my debts."

"What's Okeer trying to do here?" Shepard asked.

"It's complicated. Jedore wants a private army, but Okeer mostly ignores her. He's running the project for his own reasons. I created a mental imprint routine to educate his tank-bred, but most don't get through it. He dumps them for some reason." Rana explained as she looked at a dead Krogan on a medical bed. "He wants to help his people, but he's not looking for a genophage cure, and he's not going for numbers. That's all I know."

"Is helping me suppose to make up for working for Saren or whatever you're doing here?" Shepard asked.

"No, but it is a start, I wouldn't have had without you. So maybe I'm not the best example of moral research, but give me a little credit for trying. Now if you don't mind I am going to run like hell before you blow the place or something. I know how you work."

Rana then ran past the Normandy commandos and left the lab.

"Should have killed her. Too much knowledge without ethical boundaries." Mordin suggested in a fast sentence.

Shepard ignored it and opened the next door.

He spotted a Krogan on a terminal next to a large tank, which held a young Krogan.

"Here you are. I watched your progress. It's about time." The group turned and saw an old Krogan. "The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with those idiotic mercs."

"I take it your Okeer." Shepard stated. "You don't seem particularly caged… or grateful that I'm here."

"You may claim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change." Okeer turned to the former Spectre. "Surprised? All Krogan should know you. I'm sure Rana has already revisited your actions on Virmire." Okeer responded.

"I don't have a lot of room for finesse. If there been any other solution, I would have considered it." Shepard said as he remembered sacrificing Kaiden Alenko and setting off a nuke on Saren's Krogan facility.

"But I approve. Saren's pale horde were not true Krogan. Numbers alone are nothing. The mistake of an outsider, one that these mercs have also made."

Okeer walked to a window showing a room full of tanks, each containing a Krogan.

"I gave their leader my rejects for her army." Okeer dismissed. "But she grows impatient. It's time for you to take me out of here."

"Personal issues irrelevant. Here for the Collectors." Mordin said.

Okeer just nodded.

"I see. Yes, Collector attacks have increased. A human concern. My requests were focused elsewhere," he said as he walked toward the lone tank. "I acquired the knowledge to create one pure soldier. With that, I will inflict the greatest insult an enemy can suffer. To be ignored."

"Your research for the perfect soldier created a lot of failures. You don't care about them?" The former Spectre asked.

Okeer shook his head.

"I failed no one. My rejects are exactly what Jedore asked for. She simply lacks the ability to command. They are strong, healthy, and useless to me. I need perfection. If a few thousand are rejected, so be it. My work will purify the Krogan. We will not be restored, we will be renewed." Okeer declared with a clenched fist.

"I thought the Krogan ideal was to return to the numbers that threatened the galaxy." Shepard pointed out.

Okeer turned and faced them.

"We will not need numbers. My soldier is a template. It is a greater threat than all the phantom siblings that would have been at its flank. The galaxy still bears the scars of the horde. But it will learn to fear the lance."

"So you don't want to cure the genophage?" Shepard began to understand.

"Contrary to what survivors claim, the genophage does not produce strong Krogan – the only quality it filters is the ability to survive the genophage," the warlord answered.

"For every thousand stillborn, too many weaklings live. Every survivor is branded as precious. That's produced more coddling than your collective human teats!" Okeer said in disgust.

Okeer wasn't the only one disgusted. It was only thanks to his mask that his expression was hidden. Shepard really didn't want to know how the warlord knew so much about human anatomy and physiology.

"I say let us carry the genophage! Let a thousand die in a clutch. We will defeat it by climbing atop out dead. That is the Krogan way."

"What did you get from the Collectors? I need whatever information you know about them."

"They are strange," he described. "So isolated, yet very available when your sacrifice is big enough. I gave them many Krogan. I may have information for you, but the tech was consumed in my prototype. After I determined how to use it without killing the subjects," he added dispassionately. "Their deaths were unfortunate, but I only need one success to start the process."

Shepard then decided popped the big question.

"Your methods are extreme, but you know how to deconstruct a threat. Will you help us?"

"Perhaps I can strike a deal to secure passage." the warlord negotiated. "But my prototype is not negotiable. It is the key to my legacy."

Before Shepard could tell Okeer what he could do with his prototype, the doors to the lab suddenly closed and locked themselves.

Jedore's voice returned through the loudspeakers again.

"Attention. I have traced the Krogan release. Okeer, of course."

The Krogan stomped his way to the nearby window and looked down. Following his example, Shepard walked over and finally saw the woman behind the voice. At the bottom floor, past all the laboratory tanks, a telltale glow of tech armor revealed Jedore. She was around 5'6" with dirty-blond hair and a permanent scowl etched on her face. She was pacing around the tanks agitatedly and speaking into a headset.

"I'm calling 'blank slate' on this project. Gas these commandoes and start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks!"

Soon after her proclamation, a hissing sound filled the room. White gas could be seen coming in from various vents lining the laboratory.

"She's that weak-willed? She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve!" Turning to the former Spectre, he came up with an idea, "Shepard! You want information on the Collectors? Stop her. She'll try to access contaminants in the storage bay." Okeer growled.

"You couldn't just start over, like she plans to? What's the big deal?"

Okeer placed his hand against the glass.

"This tank is pure. It involved much trial as data. Starting over will not duplicate it. It must survive. But you'll have nothing if she poisons us all," he said with a tone of resignation. "Jedore will be with the rejected tanks. Kill her. I will… stay and do what must be done."

"Let's go," Shepard said.

They ran over to the door that led to some ramps. They followed them to find another set of ramps leading toward Jedore's floor.

"I don't care who they are, I want them dead! This is my world! I'll poison them all!" Jedore screeched.

"This bitch is going down." Jack said.

There was Jedore and a lone Krogan out. Everyone took aim and fired at the Krogan. The Krogan was dead in a few seconds after taking the hail of bullets. A second later, a missile screamed right by and impacted against the far wall.

"I have more where that came from!" Jedore yelled as she fired a rocket from her ML-77 Missile Launcher.

The missile flew and destroyed one of the fragile crates. Jedore kept firing missiles like a mad-woman not hitting anything, since she was too caught up in her anger to focus on the fight. That was both a boon and a curse, boon on the fact that her anger made her more predictable, curse that it did not lessen the danger she posed with that in her hands.

When she said that, the YMIR mech activated behind her. The heavy mech walked up and shot its mini-gun arm at the Normandy commandos, which hit Jack's shields. They all took cover and looked at each other, while Jack reported that she was fine. They all nodded their heads as if they telepathically talked to each other.

The squad rose up from their cover and all fired their weapons at the YMIR mech. After about eight seconds, the shields were down on the heavy mech.

Zaeed and Shepard switched to Incendiary ammo, while Mordin launched an incinerate and Jack kept firing her own shotgun. Zaeed and Shepard joined in on the firefight with the Incendiary ammo, which helped deplete the armor of the YMIR mech quicker than normal rounds would have.

The armor of the mech were gone, leaving it vulnerable to all attacks. Jack and Shepard both then used the biotic move pull on the machine, which caused the mech to float in the air.

Zaeed threw an Inferno grenade and Jack used her powerful biotics, which sent the YMIR across the room a little, but luckily close enough to land on top of a crazy Jedore. Mordin then used cryo-blast to freeze the mech on top of the Blue Sun commander.

Assuming it was safe, the team walked up to the Jedore with the mech on top her as it started to unfreeze.

Jedore looked to Shepard and his team and glared at them.

"Damn you!"

Seconds later the YMIR mech exploded killing Jedore, but not effecting the Normandy commandos.

"Well that takes care of that." Zaeed said after watching what happened before the team. Once the cacophony of battle gave way to silence however, another set of alarms started blaring.

"Commander, the lab alarms coincided with a systems failure. The remaining lab systems are unprotected and I have gained limited access." reported EDI.

"What's happening?"

"According lab scanners, the room is flooded with toxins and Okeer's personal life signs are failing rapidly. I recommend haste."

"Damn it! Let's go!" Shepard called out as he rushed to the doors and ramps that led back to the lab as an automated announcement sounded around them.

"Contamination detected. Emergency vent in progress. Contamination detected. Emergency vent in progress."

Reaching the door to the lab, they found it was locked again. Shepard knelt down and started the bypass again. Seconds later, the door opened to reveal the remaining traces of toxic gas being sucked away in the overhead vents.

Stepping inside the room, he saw Okeer's body slumped over his console. Mordin ran up and scanned the body with his omni-tool.

"Too late," he said out loud after a few seconds of scanning.

Shepard walked up to the body and noticed the console had a message address to him. Tapping the commands to play it, Okeer's face appeared on the screen.

"You gave me time, Shepard. If I knew why the Collectors wanted humans, I would tell you. But everything is in my prototype. My legacy is pure. This… one soldier, this grunt. Perfect…"As Okeer's final message played out, everyone gathered around the tank he tried desperately to protect.

"He gave his life for this one little Krogan." Zaeed stated.

Mordin shook his head.

"Delusional. Unlikely one Krogan, however strong, could have impact Okeer wanted," he said before looking at Shepard. As if realizing something he added hesitantly, "Am… almost certain. Suggest leaving it."

Shepard tilted his head at the Salarian.

"Afraid he'll make your genophage obsolete?" he asked neutrally.

"No," Mordin said in a neutral tone of his own. "But Krogan genetically dangerous. Socially dangerous as well. Have enough enemies without adding this."

"I will gladly take care of him if he tries anything." Jack said, still thirsty for blood.

"We won't know until he's out. Which is too late if there's a problem," Shepard said and then brought his hand to his radio.

"Normandy? Okeer is a no-go. But we have a package that needs retrieval. And he's a big one."

Zaeed snorted.

"He is not as big as the Spartan, probably not as tough too."

"Maybe." The former Spectre simply muttered.

On the Normandy SR-2 with Master Chief and Jacob

"This is the comm. room where Shepard holds meetings, talks with the Illusive Man, and debriefs the new recruits." Jacob informed the Spartan.

Master Chief simply stood there in silence, only making small glances around the room. He had been in the communication room a couple of times already, so he already knew where and what it was like.

The Cerberus operative started to feel a little awkward in the quiet air. He was more comfortable talking with people that actually... well talked. The Spartan was quiet as a rock and slightly intimidating.

"Anyway... let's go to the lab."

They exited the comm. room and turned right to enter the science room.

"This is the Normandy's lab. Dr. Mordin Solus mainly occupies himself here by researching on Collector technology. Some of Cerberus's state of the art technology is in this very room. A lot of money was put into here, so if you want to experiment or upgrade something, this is the place to do it. You know I bet Mordin will love to take a crack at your tech. Good luck getting him to stop talking about it though."

Master Chief looked around, while Cortana spoke inside his helmet.

"Not as high tech like Dr Halsey's labs, but it will do. I could use this lab to figure out some of the machinery of this universe like their dark energy. I have had a theory on this eezo technology. I can probably reverse engineer some our UNSC bullets and put some of the eezo in them so they can be more effective against the technology here, and I know how you miss you assault rifle." Cortana said.

"We can come up here periodically, if you want?" the super soldier replied.

"Thanks Chief. I have some other thoughts about your armor and Covenant weapons, but I need to think about them more."

"Alright." Spartan-117 said to both Cortana and Jacob.

"Come on, let me show you the armory. I got a feeling you will like it better than the lab." Jacob said as he lead the green giant to where he mainly stays.

They walked across the hall and into the armory. Guns of all types were either laid out on a table or hung up on the wall. The room was similar to an armory on a ship in the UNSC, just smaller.

"Here is where we keep our weapons that are bought from stores or given to us from Cerberus. If you need something that shoots, we probably have it. You can try some out whenever you like, it ought to be different from your guns." Jacob said while he gestured to some of the mass effect weapons.

"Maybe, but thanks."

The weapons were still quite foreign to him as they used the strange mass accelerators, but he was learning. He knew that eventually he would have to use their tech. Yes he had a large amount of UNSC and Covenant armaments, but he had no way to refill the ammunition. His guns would run dry, and he would need to adapt to survive.

"Three words, quite a mouth full for him." Jacob thought to himself.

"Well when you do, you can find me here. How about we check out the crew's quarters?"

Both of them headed to the elevator. Once inside Jacob pressed a button that triggered their descent down to the next floor, though the few seconds it took felt like hours for Jacob for it was pretty awkward for him. Standing next to a seven foot quiet killing machine was not very fitting.

The elevator door finally opened and the two exited it, with the Cerberus operative continuing the tour.

"Here is where most of the crew spend their downtime. The boy's bathroom is on the right, and the girls on the left. The sleeping quarters are on the other side of the girl's bathroom."

The two walked in the middle of the cafeteria area, where some of the Cerberus workers were eating a decent meal or chatting.

"This floor is where everyone comes to eat food cooked by Mess Sergeant Gardner or seeks medical attention from the med bay on the right. Miranda Lawson's office is on the left, but I understand you already met her. I bet she will want to talk to you again soon."

Master Chief scanned the area to see some of the Cerberus crew members give him strange looks or ignore him and carried on.

"The Main Battery room is down in the middle of the room past all the cryogenic pods. Garrus Vakarian spends most of his time there. I actually got to get some specs from him, mind tagging along?"

Operative Taylor led the Spartan down the isle of cryo-pods and towards the battery room. As Chief passed by the pods, he couldn't help but to think how small they were compared to the cryogenic pods in his universe. In apperance they seemed similar to the single Elite drop pods, but far shorter in size. He recalled several times, how the Sangheili hade tried to ambush or assassinate him through orbital insertion. He brought his focus back, and followed Mr Taylor.

The automatic door slid open to the room.

"Hey Garrus, how is the new cannon coming along?" Jacob asked when he stepped into the room.

The scarred Turian got off the terminal and faced the two humans.

"Its good to see you Jacob," His trained eyes then traveled towards the person behind the human, "...and you brought a friend. Well it should be a few more days until the Thanix cannon gets installed. Once it is, this ship should be able to punch through almost anything." Garrus stated.

"Sounds great, I can't wait to see them in action. The Collectors won't see it coming." Jacob said with a smirk and rather excitied for their progress.

Garrus then directed his attention towards Master Chief.

"I am surpised to see you down here, Chief. You did a hell of a job on Purgatory. Those mercs didn't know what hit them. Glad your on our side."

The augmented soldier simply nodded his head at the alien.

"How are your cybernetics holding up?" Jacob asked the Turian.

"They're not so bad. You know some women find facial scarring attractive. Mind you, most of those women are Krogan."

Both Jacob and Garrus chuckled at the comment.

Chief watched with curiosity at how an alien and a human could get along so well. Even in his universe where the UNSC had to team up with the Covenant Separatists, there was still an high amount of tension and grudges. Many had to refrain from killing each other, like when he almost shot the Arbiter when he crashed on Earth. He highly doubted that the relationship had lightened up much since he had been gone.

"Alright, I will let you get back to work, Garrus. See ya." Jacob said as he and the Master Chief started to leave the room.

"Nice talking to you." Garrus said before they left.

The two walked through the cryogenic pod isle again, but the Cerberus operative stopped.

"You already seen the other floor below, so I am going back up to the armory. If you have any questions you can find me there."

Chief only watched as the Cerberus operative left.

With that done, Jacob headed back to the elevator.

Cortana then spoke inside the MJOLNIR armor.

"Chief, I think now would be a good time to get your injuries check and I am not taking no for an answer."

"Cortana I thi…"

He didn't get to finish as the A.I. cut him off,

"No Chief! You still got wounds from the Ark and they need to be checked by a proper medic. Before you know it, you will be a walking corpse."

John-117 let out a sigh in defeat. Sometimes there was just no arguing with her.

"Fine."

"Thank you."

The Master Chief made his way to the door of the medical lab on the current floor. The door opened revealing an elderly woman typing on a hand held datapad. She had short greying hair, blue eyes, and a Cerberus medical officer's outfit. Spartan-117 walked up to her, but the doctor was the first to speak.

"Ah you must be the, Spartan. You have been quite the talk around the Normandy lately. I don't think we have been properly introduced. I am Dr. Chakwas, the doctor and medic of the Normandy, pleasure to meet you Master Chief."

"Likewise, ma'am."

"Now is there something you need?"

"Yes, I require medical attention."

Chakwas was put back at that, usually she had to order people coming back from missions to come to her. Or have the others bring them to her when they got back. This was the first time a soldier willingly came for medical treatment, and a large one at that.

"Really? I am surprised you sustained any injuries under all that armor. Okay, just slip out of your armor and sit on the table. I will get my equipment and a medical gown for you."

"It may take awhile for me to take off my armor." Chief informed the doctor.

"That is alright. It will be hard for me to find a gown for someone as big as a Krogan." Dr. Chakwas said who started to dig through the drawers and cabinets in the medical room.

John-117 began removing parts of his armor as Cortana helped by undoing some locks, while talking with each other.

"Do you think they will examine the armor and find you?" He asked.

"Don't worry, I will power myself down along with the suit. They won't find anything. Besides after what you have done to three of their crew members, do you really think they will want to piss off a Spartan?" Cortana answered jokingly with confidence.

After a ten minute process of undoing the locks in his armor and removing the combat skin under the MJOLNIR armor, Chief sat on the medical table naked, but he waited patiently for Dr. Chakwas. After awhile, Master Chief felt like someone was watching him. He turned slightly to look out the windows of the medical lab to see that many Cerberus women were staring at him in some sort of trance. Some of their mouths were open while a few didn't even blink. John-117 was not sure what to do. Being stared at by others was nothing new…but this situation was very different.

In Miranda Lawson's Office

Miranda was on her computer, sending a few reports to the Illusive Man. As she was finishing her report, Mess Sergeant Gardner came through her door.

"Uh… Miss Lawson we uh… kind of got a situation in the mess hall." Gardner said nervously. Reporting bad news to someone with the name Ice Queen was not something to look forward to.

"What is it?" Miranda asked in a rather hateful tone when she tore her eyes away from her computer.

"You might want to … uh see for yourself."

Miranda sighed and got up from her chair,

"This better be good Mess Sergeant." She warned as she walked to the mess hall.

Gardner followed her while exhaling a breath of relief for just getting a mean tone from Miss Lawson. Miranda left her office and entered the mess hall and scanned the area for anything strange. She looked to see many women staring through the window of Dr. Chakwas medical lab. She stomped up to the females.

"What are you girls doing?" Miranda shouted, but did not get a reply, "Just what is so damn impor…"

Miranda didn't finish as she saw what captured their eyes. Before her was John sitting on a medical table, naked. Miranda lost her train of thought and stared at Master Chief just like the other women. Chief had a very interesting body, he was very pale just like his face, he had scars on his body that look like they came from a different variety of weapons, and he was also incredibly muscular. She stood there for a few minutes with an open mouth, but then Gardner tapped on her shoulder,

"Uh Miss Lawson, the … um situation?"

Miranda shook her head roughly, snapping her out of her trance.

"Uh... yeah, ladies! Get back to work or I will personally kick you off this ship in space with my own foot!"

The Cerberus women woke up from their own respective trances and start scrambling to their posts.

Miranda smirked at the chaos she just caused, something she usually enjoyed. But before she went back to her office, the Cerberus Officer took a second glance at the Spartan. John was looking right at her too. It seemed like Chief was trying to talk to her unfortunately she couldn't hear him, but she did read his lips. His lips said two simple words,

"Thank you."

Miranda nodded her head at him with a little small her face. She walked back to her office with heels clicking to the floor, and a small blush on her face that she did not know she had.

Back in the medical lab

Chief turned his attention back to the front of him. He was very thankful that Miranda was able to get the women away, all that staring made him feel a little strange since he was naked. The Cerberus Officer always seemed to know what she was doing and how to do it, a very unique talent he could respect.

Dr. Chakwas came back in with a large white gown in her arms.

"Here we go. It took awhile, but I think I found one that might fit. Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" the Cerberus doctor asked.

The Spartan shook his head.

Dr. Chakwas got a full look at his body before the gown was on.

"My, my, look at those scars. They say that each scar has a story behind it, and by looking at you I can tell you must have some interesting stories."

"Not much ma'am." Chief answered though his whole life had many tales.

"I trust my armor will be untouched when this is over." Chief said, changing his expression on his face, while slipping the medical gown on.

"Don't worry Spartan, nothing will happen to your belongings." Dr. Chakwas said as she applied some medi-gel to the super soldier.

Dr. Chakwas stuck an IV in his muscular arm along with a heavy dose of sedatives.

Master Chief was awake longer than a normal human would have lasted, but eventually he dozed off. The doctor was satisfied at her work, she was able to knock out a super soldier without getting a scratch on her. She laughed a little at the thought of that joke.

Suddenly a beep then came from her terminal. Dr. Chakwas went over and checked to see what was on the computer. She received a message from Miranda Lawson. On the message it said,

Send the results.

Dr. Chakwas replied where she said she will. Though Chakwas was a medic, she had orders to follow for Cerberus. The doctor brought her attention back to the unconscious Spartan and began treating his wounds.

"Wow! Plasma damage, high powered laser damage, and many other wounds, this guy has been through it all. It is amazing he is still even alive, let alone able to fight."

After fully treating his injuries, she started the examination. It took a few minutes, but she received some satisfying results.

"Oh my." Dr Chakwas said out loud, but not loud enough to wake a sleeping tank.

The Cerberus medic went back to her computer and sent the results to Miranda Lawson.

Miranda Lawson's office

Miranda Lawson was once again on her computer typing some reports. Earlier she sent the videos she downloaded of the Master Chief from Purgatory to the Illusive Man, and still awaited a reply from him. As she worked she got a message about the Spartan's body examination. She opened the message and read it.

The electrical activity in the Chief's nervous system was higher than usual. Nervous system is no longer bioelectrical. It has been almost completely replaced with some sort of superconducting fibers. It means he will have an extremely fast reaction time. Nearly five times faster than a trained soldier.

I performed some X-rays as well. His bones are extremely dense, they have some sort of metal coating. They seem impossible to break. I attempted to retrieve a sample, but it was unsuccessful. Also I will need a new drill.

There is higher blood flow in the eyes, higher visual acuity. He can see farther than any human and pretty good in the dark.

His muscle density is abnormally dense, so he is far stronger than he seems. His strength far outmatches a Krogan, though I am sure you got to see that for yourself when he threw a YMIR mech.

He has an overactive metabolism, so he does not require that much sleep. This also means his body will always stay fit.

There is something wrong with his thyroid gland, but the analysis is not complete. There are some other things, but like I said analysis is not complete.

End Report

P.S. Don't forget about the drill.

The Cerberus officer closed the message and thought deeply on the super soldier.

"So the data he sent was right, he is heavily augmented." Miranda let out a little smirk on realizing how much common ground they truly had.

"So some of those scars on his body are from his surgeries. They must have been excruciatingly painful. Oh, that body… Uh! Snap out of it! You are not some horny school girl!" She thought to herself.

Miranda got back to her computer and sent a message back to the doctor.

"Is he still need in there? I would like to have a word with him."

"No, he woke up earlier than he should of. He grabbed his things and went back to his quarters."

"Right, overactive metabolism." Miranda answered herself mentally.

"Thank you, Dr. Chakwas." Miss Lawson sent thus ending the conversation.

Miranda brought up images of the Spartan in combat aboard the Purgatory, the data he sent about his universe, and now his medical records. She couldn't deny her interest in the Master Chief. He held so much information, possessed such fascinating technology, and appeared nearly unstoppable in combat. But a small part of her couldn't believe that there was another like her, besides her sister.

She got up from her chair and walked out of her office and proceeded to the elevator.

Few minutes later

Miranda stepped into the cargo bay and saw the Master Chief, fully armored. He appeared to be tinkering with his guns, though they looked different from the ones he used on the Purgatory. They were grey and a little bulkier, almost more human like.

"I received your medical reports." Miranda said as she walked towards the Spartan.

"And?" Chief simply said.

"And you were right. You are heavily augmented, though we were able to find out what some of those augmentations were. I was also right, we do have a few things in common."

John remembered back to the talk from earlier about her life and her own augmentations,

"So, we were designed to perfect."

Miranda sat down in front of the super soldier and eyed him, though he still messed with his weaponry.

"We are not perfect, John. Both of us make mistakes, we are human."

Spartan-117 broke away from his gun and brought his gaze to Miss Lawson. She said he was human, something he did not expect from her. In his universe people, namely the ODST, would sometimes mock Spartans, calling them cyborgs, freaks, or other names. Miranda, a cold woman was one of the few to call him human. John then said two words to Miss Lawson,

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For calling me human."

"I know some of the pressure and responsibilities that being augmented comes with. Remember I've gone through the same thing." Miranda said as she recalled her own harsh childhood.

Chief stared into Miranda's eyes and saw something that he was vaguely familiar with, comfort.

Before any of them could say another word EDI's voice rang,

"Miss Lawson Shepard is done with his mission and he has brought a 'package' that will require attention. You will need to meet him in the comm. room."

"Thanks EDI." Miranda said and then looked back to the Spartan,

"We can finish this talk some other time." The officer said as she got up and exited the cargo bay.

"Yeah." Master Chief replied.

Few minutes later Normal POV

After securing the tank inside the cargo bay and interfacing the controls with EDI to prevent any mishaps, Shepard swiftly made his way to Deck 2 and the comm room.

As he reached the door, he could hear Miranda talking to Jacob.

"Bringing the Krogan aboard for study makes sense, but I still have concerns about waking it."

"Yeah, you've said that a few times now," Jacob said with a touch of exasperation.

Stepping into the room, Shepard stopped at the head of the table and leaned on it. But Miranda continued her tirade.

"A normal Krogan is dangerous. This one was created, and likely educated, by a madman."

Shepard decided to try an ease the tension.

"There's no way he is getting out unless one of us lets him out." The ex Spectre said with his arms folded across his chest.

"Or unless Okeer installed some sort of failsafe. Or a malfunction cause the tank to shutdown." Miranda pointed out.

"I'm not saying we take a crowbar to it right now, but I'm not giving up a potential resource." Shepard argued.

"It's your decision Commander. Just be careful." Miranda warned.

"Noted." Shepard quickly responded and unfolded his arms, "The cargo hold is safe enough while I decide what to do with him."

Miranda casually walked out and Jacob shrugged his shoulders and then followed.

Shepard stood there alone in the room, deep within concentration. He needed to at least see the Krogan, to make a better decision on whether to release him or not.

"Maybe I should pay this super Krogan a visit."

Down in the Port Cargo Area

"EDI, status," Shepard called out as the door closed behind him.

"The subject is stable, Commander. Integration with onboard systems was seamless," she reported.

Looking up into the tank, the former Spectre saw that the Krogan's eyes were open, but were not blinking or moving.

"Can he see anything in there? Does he know where he is?"

"Unlikely. Current neural patterns indicate minimal cognition. Barring ship-wide power loss, the nutrients in the tank could sustain him for over a year."

"What can you tell me about this guy? Anything unusual?" Shepard asked, he was curious why Okeer would call this his 'perfect legacy'.

"The subject is an exceptional example of the Krogan species, with fully formed primary, secondary, and tertiary organs, where applicable. No defects of any kind, aside from the genetic markers of the genophage present in all Krogan. I cannot judge mental functioning," EDI listed off.

"So we have no idea how dangerous this guy is aside from the obvious?"

"He is a Krogan, Commander. If you are asking whether he is actively hostile, I don't have the necessary data to answer," she informed.

"Any guesses then?" Shepard asked.

"Okeer's technology could impart data, not methods of thinking. The subject may know of his views, but would not necessarily share them."

The N7 marine stood there, deep in thought, with his concentration heavily upon on the consequences of releasing the tank bred Krogan. True that most Krogan were naturally violent and could not be trusted easily. But there was also all the data the Krogan contained, and the potential for him to become a weapon to use against the Collectors.

"Very well. Stand by. I'm going to open the tank and let him out," Shepard decisively said.

"Cerberus protocol is very clear regarding untested alien technology," EDI informed.

"I'm not Cerberus, EDI," Shepard responded. "I don't care about their rules and protocols. And I won't be second guessed on my own ship, by my own ship. He's either a powerful addition to the crew or a time bomb. I'd rather deal with it now."

"Very well, Shepard," EDI complied. "The controls are online. The switch – and consequences – are yours," she warned.

The former Spectre approached the console and with two taps, the nutrient fluid inside the tank began draining. The Commander took a few steps back to better see what he was about to deal with.

The moment liquid finished draining, the pod moved slightly forward to eject its occupant as the doors opened. The Krogan blinked once before falling to his knees and coughed out some of the viscous nutrient fluid right at Shepard's feet.

Taking another step back, Shepard looks watched the Krogan in front of him that was now awake.

Krogan's POV

Taking a deep breath, his eyes finally focused in the bright light of the room he was in. He had no name. He had no identity. All he had were words and memories that he didn't care about. But he was free from the tank. Anything else could come after.

Looking down from the tank, he saw a human standing before him. The nameless Krogan blinked a few times and then made a glare with his face. Letting out a roar, he charged the human and picked him up, before slamming him against the wall and pinning the human. The human male let out a grunt, but still turned his head to meet the Krogan's unnatural blue eyes unflinchingly.

"Human. Male. Before you die, I need a name," the Krogan rumbled evenly.

"I'm Commander Shepard and I don't take threats lightly. I suggest that you relax." The human glared as he answered.

"Not your name. Mine," the tank born Krogan corrected the Commander Shepard. "I am trained, I know things, but the tank… Okeer couldn't implant connection. His words are hollow."

Words flashed through his head.

"Warlord, legacy, grunt… grunt. 'Grunt' was among the last. It has no meaning. It'll do." Holding his arm against the human's throat, "I am Grunt. If you are worthy of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me."

"You wouldn't prefer Okeer? Or Legacy?" the human asked a question or rather a preference,

"It's short. Matches the training in my blood. The other words are big things I don't feel. Maybe they fit your mouth better. I feel nothing for Okeer's clan or his enemies. I will do what I am bred to do-fight and determine the strongest- but his imprint has failed. He has failed. Without a reason that's mine, one fight is as good as any other. Might as well start with you," he growled.

"I have a good ship and a strong crew, a strong clan. You'd make it stronger." Shepard bargained.

Grunt thought about his situation and the story behind the Commander Shepard,

"If you're weak, and choose weak enemies. I'll have to kill you."

"Our enemies are worthy. No doubt about that." Shepard replied confidently.

"Hmph! That's… acceptable," Grunt said. "I'll fight for you."

He saw Shepard smile. He had negotiated with a Krogan and survived.

Normal POV

"I'm glad you saw reason," Shepard said as he pressed the barrel of his pistol on Grunt's belly.

"Hmm?" Grunt quickly looked down to see a pistol aimed at his stomach.

"Ha! Offer one hand, but arm the other," Grunt said, voicing his thoughts out loud and letting the human down.

"Wise, Shepard." Grunt almost smiled. "If I find a clan, if I find what I…" Grunt hesitated as he drew a blank. He still felt no desire beyond combat. No desires of his own. "What I want, I will be honored to eventually pit them against you," he finished.

Shepard merely nodded.

"We'll see what happens, but I'm sure it'll be interesting."

Grunt turned away and began to survey the room he was in. It was small, metallic, and clean. Similar to his tank, but bigger

Suddenly, the door slid opened with a hiss to reveal Master Chief at the doorway.

The Spartan cast his golden visor around the room, to see what caused the loud noise he'd heard from the room. His eyes instantly fell upon the gun in Shepard's hand that was aimed at the Krogan. John was quick to summarize that the alien reptile was hostile and needed to be neutralized.

Chief sprung into action as he swiftly delivered a fist to the Krogan's gut, which caused it to lose its breath. It was followed by a hefty punch to the alien reptile's hump, bringing the creature to the floor. He had hoped to finish the Krogan off, so he raised his boot to the alien's head like he had to countless Covenant species.

Only for Shepard to stop him.

"Hold on, Chief!" Shepard exclaimed and held his hands up, "He is on our side."

Confused, John-117 glanced over to the former Spectre.

"Commander I saw hi…"

"He is a Krogan that just woke up from the tube. He was only reacting, just like you did." Shepard interrupted and brought into account when they had first found the Spartan.

Master Chief looked down at the Krogan, and with hesitation let the alien get back up.

Grunt coughed a bit and wiped the blood away from his mouth, but then he started to laugh.

"If he is in your clan then no doubt our enemies are strong." Grunt faced the Master Chief, with a vicous Krogan battle smile, "You were able to take me down. You are strong like a Krogan, there is some honor in you. I am anxious to fight with you, and even more to fight against you once more."

The Spartan nodded towards Shepard, ignoring Grunt, and returned back to his room.

"Wow Chief, you really crashed the party. Well at least it wasn't as bad when you met the other three crew members." Cortana then teased in his armor. "Let's hurry and get back to the room. I wanna learn more about the omni-tools and these Krogan.

John-117 didn't reply, but merely walked back to his quarters.

A Few Moments Later in the Cargo Bay

The Master Chief sat at the table in the cargo bay, fully armored as per usual. The seat was well reinforced, where it could hold even beyond an adult Krogan's weight.

The Spartan was examining another one of the mass effect weapons. It was a Turian weapon called the Phaeston. The gun greatly reminded him of the MA5B series assault rifle from his universe. The Phaeston reassembled it in appearance and even had a large clip size like it. He missed using the UNSC weaponry, they felt more natural to him rather than the Covenant.

He was brought out of his concentration when his AI spoke up.

"These omni-tool are fascinating!" Cortana was currently looking at a model of an omni-tool as well as what it could do, "It has so many functions and abilities, we could do several things with it. We can make repairs, hack systems, it even has a flashlight, and so much more. We can definitely use one of these back in UNSC space." Cortana said with glee as she controlled the tool.

"It could be useful back home." John-117 agreed.

"Maybe you should talk with Shepard or Miranda about getting one. Speak of the devil, turn around; you got company."

Master Chief looked over his shoulder to see Commander Shepard had walked in.

Cortana hushed herself, while Chief stood up and faced the Blitz Hero.

"Commander," the super soldier simply stated.

"Chief, I was hoping to talk to you."

"Is there something you need?"

"I wanted to make sure you are comfortable with a Krogan. You didn't exactly have a good first impression."

John-117 nodded his head, earning a small smile of satisfaction from Shepard.

"That's great, we will need both of you for the Collectors."

"Understood."

Suddenly EDI's feminine voice, sounded over the intercom.

"Spartan-117, the Illusive Man would like to speak to you."

Instead of responding to the A.I, Chief looked at Shepard, who sighed in annoyance.

"I knew this was coming eventually. Perfect... just perfect." Shepard said sarcastically, while he pinched his eyes together with his fingers.

The super soldier silently glanced at the former Spectre, acknowledging Shepard's attitude towards the Cerberus leader. He had a good hunch that the Commander had some disdain towards the Illusive Man.

"Trust me, you won't like it. Let's go and get this over with," The Blitz hero continued.

Both Master Chief and Shepard left the room and walked towards the elevator.

"The Illusive Man is the head of operations with Cerberus, and this mission against the Collectors. He claims that he believes in the advancement of humanity, but he would sacrifice anyone for his twisted experiments. When I was in the Alliance, I even stopped some of his work on creating shock troops. He holds all the cards in the deck, but he hides behind smoke and mirrors. Don't underestimate him, the Illusive Man is very smart, and will use his intelligence to get under your skin."

The more Chief heard about this Illusive Man, the more he compared him to an ONI agent. Sly, smart, secretive, so far, he fit the bill perfectly for them. Still he needed to know every detail about the Cerberus leader.

"Anything else?" The super soldier asked, following the Commander into the elevator.

Shepard smirked and pressed the button for second floor.

"How about I tell you about some of his private operations I busted when I was hunting for Saren." The Blitz hero let out before the elevator doors closed.

With the Illusive Man Location: Unknown

Sitting in his chair, the Illusive Man held a fresh cigarette loosely in his right hand between his index and middle finger, with a drink in his left. Surrounding him were holographic monitors with various medical charts sent from Dr Chakwas, detailing reports written by Miranda Lawson, and video images from the prison ship, Purgatory. What all of the information had in common was that it dealt with the super soldier, Spartan-117.

He took a puff from his lit cigarette, while watching the recordings of the Master Chief catching a FENRIS mech by the throat.

When he had first glanced at the large bulky armor, he guessed that he was looking at a new model of a mech. He nearly coughed up his scotch when the information told him otherwise. Saying that he was intrigued by the augmented man would be an understatement. Earlier he thought that Shepard was the best hope for humanity, a hero. But now... now there was the Spartan. True, that Shepard was a symbol, but the Spartan was a soldier. He thought there was one man, Shepard, who might be what stands between humanity and the greatest threat of their brief existence, the Reapers. And now there might be two.

The Illusive Man pushed aside an image of Chief standing over six dead bodies of Blue Sun Turians, impaled with yellow spikes. He got a sick enjoyment at seeing the species that brought him so much pain in the past, now dead on the floor and killed by a human. To him, it was a form of justice.

This Master Chief was the perfect example of what humanity could achieve. It was something that Cerberus strived for in their endless pursuit of advancing the human race. There was so much that he could accomplish with the super soldier in his ranks.

He saved the footage of Chief ramming a Batarian and a Turian, sending their mangled bodies flying. He wanted to analyze every intel personally, such data will be invaluable in future research.

The Spartan was living proof of how powerful a human could become physically. A solution to outmatch even a Krogan in strength or a Drell in speed.

TIM smirked at the visual of the green goliath smashing a Turian's skull with the strange blue curved gun. To see a weapon that appeared so delicate, and then to watch the Spartan crack a skull with it was very interesting. All the more reason to obtain the advanced technology.

The super soldier was the tool they needed to combat any alien menace, and ursup man's power. The large step they needed to overpower the Citadel races.

He treasured the video of Master Chief killing a Batarian with his bizarre rifle. To see such an extraordinary equipment that could vaporize an enemy so easily was astounding. The soldier's arsenal had to be added within Cerberus' armory. With those weapons, even the Geth would be put to shame.

The Spartan was the symbol humans needed to gain their place in the galaxy. The epitome of his paramilitary group's dreams and desire.

The Illusive Man studied the recording of Chief wrestling with the YMIR mech. It was his favorite out of all of them. To see a man to go toe-to-toe with a hulking machine, and then beat it was absolutely fascinating. Something no sentient species has managed until now.

TIM took a sip from his scotch, while deep in thought. He spent a vast amount of Cerberus' funds and resources on the Lazarus Project to revive Shepard. Spending such wealth on the Citadel hero, had put his organization back by a few years, but it was well worth it. And now he had found the ultimate super soldier in cryosleep aboard a derelict vessel floating randomly in deep space. He didn't even spend a quarter of the money on finding the Spartan, than he did with Shepard. It seemed that Lady Luck has smiled in his favor.

It was then that a low whistle sang, signalling that his communication projection was activating. The Illusive Man took the bud of his cigarette in his mouth, with a strong inhale, enjoying the bitter taste of the tobacco.

A flickering holographic image began to materialise, starting with the knees and ending with the tip of the helmet, revealing the person he has been observing.

The Cerberus leader lifted the cigarette from his mouth, knowing that he would have to greet his guest.

"Master Chief," he said plainly, exhaling his smoke.

"Illusive Man," the augmented soldier parroted him, standing still like a stone statue.

As soon as the light reached past his eyes, the Spartan no longer saw the communications room. Instead John-117 saw a very large dark room with tall foreboding shadows created by the star directly in front of him.

Immediately drawing his attention, however was the figure sitting in front of him.

The head of Cerberus: The Illusive Man.

Chief studied the Illusive Man and the room, trying to gain what information he could. The second he laid his eyes on the elderly man, his gut stirred uncomfortably in his stomach, telling him to watch out for the Cerberus leader.

The room was dark, almost pitch black, but there was a light that illuminated from a star behind the Illusive Man. The star burned with a beautiful, yet prophetic glow of an angry red surrounded by a serene blue, each vying for dominance. Unfortunately it also created a rather powerful shadow that obscured most of the Cerberus CEO's physical details.

The Spartan could still make out details such as the silver hair that dominated the Illusive Man's head and he was immaculately dressed in an expensive designer suit. What really caught his attention was the strange blue glowing patterns within the man's unnatural eyes. He could guess that they were implants of some variation.

The Illusive Man tapped his cigarette into the ash tray on the left side of his chair,

"I've waited a long time to meet with you. I'm glad we finally got the opportunity." he said while his facial features were calm, cool, and clinical.

Instead of replying, Chief stood there in a hushed demeanor.

The mute response, irked the Cerberus leader somewhat, but he expected his stoic attitude after reading the reports from Miss Lawson.

"Miranda told me you were a strong silent type," he took another puff from his smoke and then continued, "But I believe your actions speak louder than words. I've seen what you did on Purgatory, it was very impressive. We could use someone of your talents at Cerberus."

Finally, he got a reaction from the Spartan, but it was not a pleasant one.

"I will never work for your organization. I was trained to hunt terrorists like you."

The Illusive Man kept his emotionless and business like expression and replied.

"Terrorist? No doubt that Shepard has talked with you. Cerberus isn't as evil as you believe. You and I are on the same side; we just have different methods."

"Your 'methods' are what I have a problem with. You captured and experimented on innocent humans and killed Alliance marines."

The Cerberus leader summed up that Shepard must had told him about the time he foiled some of Cerberus activities on creating shock troopers from creepers and rachni. No doubt that the Spartan will make it very difficult for him to join his organization, but he couldn't help but to respect the Master Chief's resistance. He took another sip from his scotch, and explained his past actions.

"All were necessary sacrifices. I don't expect you to understand, but they were all used for a common goal that we both believe in; the advancement and preservation of humanity."

Unfortunatley, the Master Chief knew all too well what he meant. In fact it was what his entire life was about. From being captured as a child, and then augmented to become what he was today, a super soldier for the human race. Suddenly, he was brought out of his thoughts when the Illusive Man continued.

"I suppose I'll just have to find a way to change your mind." he said, grinning wickedly.

With those parting words, the Illusive Man ended any further comments with the press of a button.

Just like that, the link was cut and John saw that he was back in the Normandy's comm room. The cylindrical scanner retracted into the floor and the table rose back up in its place in front of the Spartan. His thoughts drifted to what the Cerberus leader said on trying to change his mind.

"And people say I've got a big head. Be careful Chief, I wouldn't trust that megalomaniac even for a minute." Cortana brought inside the MJOLNIR armor.

"Were you able to get a fix on his location?"

"Negative, there was some strange interference, which I assume it's from that star. I picked up on some faint transmissions and broadcasts, but they were pretty quiet. I'm guessing the Illusive Man doesn't want to be found."

"Any ideas?"

"If we got a lot closer to their base or even knew anything about that star, I could track him. I think we should take care of the Collectors first, one problem at a time."

Master Chief turned and left the comm room, only to find Shepard leaning against the wall on the other side, arms folded across his chest.

"How did it go?" the ex-Spectre asked.

"The Illusive Man tried to convince me to join Cerberus; I said no."

A small smile tugged on Shepard's face, and then picked himself off the wall. He was very glad that the Master Chief denied the Illusive Man's offer. He didn't want to eventually fight against the Spartan, if he didn't make the Cerberus CEO happy.

"Nice job, Chief, I'm glad to hear that. Just be careful around the Illusive Man, you can never trust him."

"Affirmative," John-117 nodded his head.

The Master Chief then turned and made his way back to the elevator.

Meanwhile, the former Spectre let out a long waited sigh of relief.

"That went better than I expected," He said more to himself.

Shepard wasn't very sure what Chief had said when he met the Cerberus leader, but since nobody in particular is disowned or dying, it must haven't been that bad. What he did know was that the Illusive Man had certain ways of informing him, and one of them was by email.

The Commander strolled near the galaxy map, where Yeoman Kelly Chambers was stationed. Despite not being an actual fighter like his squadmates, Miss Chambers had a very important role aboard the Normandy for keeping Shepard's head on his shoulders.

"Hey, Kelly," he greeted casually.

"Hello, Commander," she replied in her usual optimism.

"Is there anything I should know?"

"You have unread messages at your private terminal."

"Thanks," he answered in appreciation.

Shepard walked to his terminal, right next to the galaxy map. He clicked open his account and scrolled through his emails patiently. He didn't find any that mentioned of the conversation yet, but it was in fact very recent; he may have to wait longer. He did however find one that caught his eye, it mentioned recruiting another person at the Citadel.

"Commander," he tore his eyes away from his terminal and redirected them to the ships unofficial psychologist, "I don't know what to feel about Grunt. My psych reports were for Okeer. We have no guarantees that Grunt is mentally stable. I get the feeling he just doesn't care about anything, including who lives or dies."

True that the young Krogan was an unexpected replacement to the crew, as well as a loose cannon, but he felt confident enough that he could keep him in check. He did have some first hand experience with a Krogan teammate with Wrex after all.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him. Plus look at this way, this will be your chance to get a profile on a young Krogan," he reassured.

Kelly brought her thumb up to her lip and thought what her commanding officer said. He had a very good point as hardly anybody could learn from an adolescent Krogan, because of the genophage.

"Hmmm, I haven't thought about that way. Thanks, Commander! Will there be anything else you need?"

"That will be all for now," Shepard confirmed.

He turned on his heel and walked away, but not before he heard the yeoman say,

"I'll be here if you need me."

At the moment, he was heading towards the bridge to tell Joker and EDI where to go next to recruit another potential squad member. From what he read on her, she had stealth and infiltration skills that would prove vital to the Collector mission.

As soon as Shepard was behind the pilot's chair, Joker spun around to face him automatically. Either Joker heard the former Spectre walk up behind him, or he had grown use to the Commander chatting with him after every mission.

"You collect stray cats as a kid? Because we really needed a mega-Krogan, so thanks for dragging him home." Joker jibbed.

Shepard brushed the comment off and got down to business, with the most recent dossier in mind.

"EDI, set a course for the Citadel. We have a master thief to recruit."

End of chapter