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1 May 2183—Cargo Hold, SSV Normandy SR-1, Eden Prime, Utopia System, Exodus Cluster

Shepard pulled on his gloves and checked the seals of the rest of his armor. Next to him, Corinthia did the same. She looked completely serious, for once.

"You alright, kid?" he murmured.

"Fine," she answered shortly. "Just... concentrating."

"About damn time, if you ask me."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm perfectly capable and you know it. It's just... I don't know. This doesn't feel right. I've got a bad feeling and... How do I even explain it?"

"It's just another mission."

"No, it isn't. That's what's bugging me."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Doesn't matter what you think it is, because it's just another mission. Think about it like that and nothing's going to go wrong."

"I wish I could believe you."

"So there is a way to make you stop being perky..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," he answered quickly, reaching for his helmet. After a moment of hesitation, he leaned over to whisper, "You're one hell of a soldier, Ci-Ci. You can take whatever gets thrown at you. We've been in worse situations before. One colony under attack isn't the end of the galaxy. It's just like the Blitz, except that we've got the upper hand and big guns."

She smiled wanly. "Yeah, I guess you're right... Thanks, Shep." She patted his arm and put on her helmet.

Jenkins snickered. Alenko, nudged him. "Watch it. The Commander doesn't like people talking about him and Ci-Ci."

Jenkins raised his eyebrows. "It's kinda obvious."

"Trust me, there isn't anything there. If there was... Well, you probably wouldn't want to think of the consequences."

Shepard wasn't known for being the kindest to his teams, and that was without Torfan for a reputation. On more than one occasion, Corinthia had to sit down with a private as he/she cried their eyes out at something Shepard had snapped. Admittedly, he had gotten a little better recently, but only because, for some strange reason, he was actually trying to be nice for Corinthia's sake — more than usual, at least. She'd seen someone bump into him and, instead of snapping at the soldier, Shepard had just stepped aside and said nothing.

Shepard locked his helmet into place. His heart was racing. This was his chance to show that he was the best humanity had to offer, get away from the damned Alliance and do missions how he wanted. Frankly, he wasn't even sure why Corinthia was being considered. She'd ridden his coattails starting at Elysium. She was capable, certainly, but she wasn't Shepard.

Anderson approached. "Shepard, your mission is to secure the beacon."

"What about survivors?" Alenko asked.

"They're secondary," Anderson said, hardly betraying his actual feelings on the matter. "This beacon could be the greatest archaeological find of this century. Secure it at all costs."

"Sir," Shepard replied, saluting.

Nihlus entered the hold, readying his shotgun.

"You're coming with us, Nihlus?" Jenkins asked, the awe apparent in his voice.

"I move faster on my own," Nihlus replied, "but today Commander Corinthia is joining me."

Corinthia swallowed as Shepard clenched a fist. "Yessir," she replied, sounding all business.

Shepard glared at her. "Don't f— Mess this up," he muttered, barely swallowing his addition of for me.

"I got this, Shep," she answered, winking.

"That doesn't reassure me."

Nihlus leapt out of the Normandy. Corinthia gaped. "Seriously? You expect me to jump?"

"CORINTHIA!" Anderson snapped.

"Alright, alright! I get it!" She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and dropped out of the Normandy with a terrified squeak.

Anderson shook his head. He may have nominated Corinthia, but sometimes her quirks were completely unprofessional. Being afraid of heights? He didn't understand, especially because she was known to take bullets without flinching. Then again, he couldn't remember the last time she'd done anything that made sense.

"If being a Spectre means jumping from moving ships, count me out," she radioed Shepard. "You can have it all."

Shepard repressed a smirk. He would be more than happy to take it, even if she would probably pout about it for a few weeks. "Mind telling me how you made it through boot camp?" he answered, stepping to the edge of the hatch. Eden Prime rushed by below, the bright yellow-green of the landscape marred by blackened, fiery-edged spots where the geth had burned the place.

He dropped to the ground, Alenko and Jenkins just behind him.

Jenkins tightened his grip on his rifle. Eden Prime was his home. Or, had been. There wasn't much of anything left. Every building was burning.

"Initial scans show no survivors," Corinthia radioed. "Well, at least in the direct vicinity. Either way, it's not looking good."

Shepard drew his assault rifle. "Not like we're looking for any."

"Shepard!"

"Just stay focused," he answered. "Get that beacon."

"Aye aye, Shep."

Shepard closed the connection. Alenko shifted uneasily. "What do you think happened here, Commander?"

Shepard opened his mouth to reply, but then he saw the ship looming on the horizon. "Not a fucking clue," he breathed. Even the Destiny Ascension, the flagship of the Citadel fleet, wasn't that big, and that carried two armies inside of it. Whatever that thing was, Shepard wanted one... but he wanted it the hell out of his way. He didn't like an enemy he didn't know he could take down, and that monstrosity was NOT something he'd be able to destroy easily.

"You see that thing, Ci-Ci?"

"Yep."

"Know what the fuck it is?"

"No idea. Can't get close enough for a scan, either. Something's throwing off my readings for the entire area. I can't see anything on my omni-tool at all. Be careful: we aren't going to know what's around the corners."

"It's more fun that way," Shepard answered. "It's all about the surprise."

"That's what she said."

"Aren't you even going to pretend to try and act like you're Spectre material?"

"And pretend to be something I'm not? Yeah, sure. Like that'd work out. I'd be — Catch ya later, Shep." She cut transmission abruptly.

Jenkins repressed a snort of laughter. "She always like that?"

"Pretty much," Alenko replied. "Except we're usually here to see what shiny thing distracted her."

Shepard's brow furrowed. There had been some sort of garbled, mechanical noise, followed by an inhuman groaning, interrupting her. "Keep moving," Shepard snapped. "Kill anything that moves."

"Sir?" Jenkins asked, shocked.

"With discretion," Shepard added, more out of necessity than because he actually thought it necessary. It wasn't like Shepard was so ruthless that he'd shoot a civilian in the back (even he had limits), but he had his priorities.

Eden Prime looked exactly like Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz: buildings obliterated, nature smoking, debris falling, and bodies everywhere. The air smelled of burning flesh, wood, plastic, and rubber.

Shepard smirked: this was his kind of party.

Corinthia ducked behind a cargo crate. "Mind telling me why everything that's moving is attacking us?" she hissed to Nihlus.

"Is this a problem?" the turian answered calmly.

"No, I'm used to it, but, seriously, it gets kinda old." She didn't flinch as geth shot several shots inches from her helmet. " 'Ooh, they're Alliance. Let's shoot them. Oh, wait, I didn't see she had a gun. I didn't see that she was a she. Let's try and seduce her and see what happens.'" She snorted, turning and resting her sniper rifle over the top of the crate and deftly hitting the two attacking geth in the optics. "Yeah, right."

Nihlus raised the turian equivalent of an eyebrow. Though she talked almost incessantly, she knew what she was doing. Anderson had been right to nominate her. She was clean and efficient, though it remained to be seen if she could make the tough decisions that would eventually face every Spectre. For a moment, Nihlus thought about forcing her into a situation where she would have to make that kind of choice, but with a Prothean beacon at stake, there wasn't the time. They'd already passed the dig site, found that the beacon had been moved, and now were headed to the docks in hopes that the Prothean artifact would be there instead.

Corinthia holstered her weapon. "Oh, they're dead? That was easy..." She hopped over the crate to examine the geth. Her omni-tool was already on, screens and panels extending, opening, and closing of their own volition.

"No nononononononono!" she squeaked, sprinting to its side. "Don't wipe your memory, you useless piece of antiquated artificial idiocy!" She kicked the head in frustration, muttering something to the effect of, "can't actually kill hive-minded mechanical bastards" and slouched back to Nihlus.

"Any luck?" he asked, suppressing a smirk.

"Not really. The rest of the geth just absorbed its data. We should get moving. They could download that beacon before we even get to it..." She shrugged and flicked her fingers through her omni-tool's interface. "But what the hell do they want with it? They're... nevermind. Let's move."

Nihlus nodded, certainly more impressed with her now than he had been before. Still, it left him to wonder: if she was this good, how good was Shepard if every person who knew him said that he was ten times better than Corinthia?

Whenever he was on a mission where he wasn't jumping directing into a gunfight, but still knew that one was coming, Shepard could feel his pulse. The world moved in time with his breathing. Nothing existed outside himself except the rasp of his armor as he moved, the smell of charred flesh and smoke, and his blood rising. This was battle as it was meant to be: him versus everyone else.

Well, as it was, Shepard and Alenko versus everyone else. From the way Jenkins was weaving without a direct line into cover, he was going to get killed before he had a chance to fight. It was a rookie mistake that Corinthia made almost constantly, but her shields regenerated quickly and was very, very good at being in the line of fire without being hit, not to mention that she was an expert shot and hadn't been in this kind of fire-fight since Torfan.

Sure enough, they rounded a corner and several drones zoomed into view. Jenkins ran ahead, reaching for his gun, but he was down with a gurgle and yell before he'd gone five feet.

"Shit," Shepard muttered, calmly getting into cover.

Alenko raised his eyebrows. Though used to Shepard treating death casually, even that was cold for the Commander. There wasn't time to dwell on it, though, because there was a fight to be had.

Shepard carefully took aim and put a singularity right next to the drones. In less than a minute, he and Alenko had picked them off.

Alenko glanced at Shepard. "He never saw it coming."

"Death happens," Shepard muttered. "You should get used to it."

"How can you say that?" Alenko demanded. "What would Ci-Ci say?"

Shepard clenched a fist. "That's her business, not mine." He stalked off. "Jenkins made a mistake. He paid for it. We don't have time to collect the bodies of the dead, let alone take their names. Grab his tags and let's keep moving, unless you want to play target with those fliers."

"I — No, sir," Alenko answered mutinously. He put his finger to his ear. "You hear that, Ci-Ci?" No response. "Ci-Ci? Are you there?"

Shepard stopped. "Telling on me, Staff Lieutenant?"

"She's not answering, Shepard."

"Ci-Ci!" Shepard snapped. "What's your status?"

"My status is that you're shouting in my ear," she answered. "What's going on? Tell Alenko I was busy killing things."

"Nothing. We just lost Jenkins and met some fliers."

"Well, that's — WHAT? He's dead? And you're just... just..."

"Do you want to have this argument now or where you can hit me?"

"The latter, definitely."

"Then shut up and let me do my job."

"Have you seen the bodies?"

"Haven't been any to find."

"You'll see them. Then maybe you won't be so casual about it. Ci-Ci out."

Shepard should've known that talking to her would just put them in another argument. They'd been having more and more lately. She still hadn't won, but she was getting close. Hell, he might let her win once to humor her. Then again, she'd never let him live it down and expect to win constantly... That'd be bad. Really bad. Everyone would start talking, then she'd start guessing, and then he'd have to decide if he should corner her in a stairway and kiss her or treat her as coldly as he had Jenkins. Neither option was viable, so new tactics were in order.

As they moved up a hill, Shepard heard gunfire, which meant that there was a fight and hopefully a survivor that knew how to use a firearm. Alenko dispatched two more fliers, Shepard another three, before they came over the crest to see a woman in white and hot pink armor — which made Shepard cringe at the idea of it, but also identified her as the female soldier saving the camera man in the video Ci-Ci recovered from Eden Prime — running from two fliers. Shepard took them out with deft blasts of his assault rifle.

She straightened and tugged her helmet, sucking in air like she'd been choking. he had brown hair, brown eyes, and an aquiline nose. She would've been pretty with a bit of eye shadow and a non-military hairstyle. "Thank you, sir. I thought those bastards had me for sure."

Shepard took his finger off the trigger, but didn't lower his weapon. "Name and rank, soldier."

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams," she answered, saluting. "My squad—"

"I didn't ask you for details, Chief," Shepard hissed. "Are your shields back?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is your gun functional?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know where the beacon is?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then fall in and take me to it now and we might take your ass off this rock now instead of making you wait for evac," he growled.

Williams shuddered. "What's up his ass?" she muttered to Alenko.

"Couldn't say. Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."

"Pleasure, I'm sure," Williams answered lowly, looking Shepard up and down. "He's... Wait, is that Commander Shepard?"

"Yeah, it is."

"And I thought he looked good in the vids..."

"Not that his charming personality matches. Interested, Chief?"

"He's an asshole."

"One that can hear you," Shepard called, although not nearly as irately as he could have. "Ci-Ci, I'm approaching the dig site. Where are you?"

She opened her comm for a second before closing it, but he could hear the sounds of the geth mixed with her calm sniper's breathing. She was in a fight. His stomach lurched: He wanted to fight with her. Before the idea could take root, he forced it down. He knew where it came from and he wanted nothing to do with it. But why the fuck was it surfacing right then?

As if the geth weren't enough, there were more creepy-crawlies for Corinthia to find. Now well past the dig-site, she and Nihlus were approaching the docks when they heard the most ungodly moaning.

"What the hell?" Corinthia breathed.

Black figures slouched up over the horizon, their eyes and bodies glowing blue. From the way they moved, Corinthia thought that she'd walked into a zombie vid. She just hoped that they wouldn't eat her brains or gnaw on her dismembered corpse. Nihlus started shooting. The creatures kept coming, despite having limbs blown off and their blue, slime-like blood oozing everywhere.

Corinthia shivered, unable to believe that she'd found real zombies. "Aim for the head," she suggested, drawing her shotgun. "It's about the only way to kill something like that."

Nihlus did, quickly dispatching five of the creatures. They fell like rag dolls. Corinthia blew off a couple of their heads and then started scanning the bodies. "This is… creepy."

"We shouldn't be stopping."

"I like to know what I'm going up against," she answered calmly. Her omni-tool whirred as it worked overtime. "This isn't good. They used to be human, but now they're organic machines, if that makes any sense. Synthetics, I guess. Like they're just… husks of what they were." She narrowed her eyes. "The technology is geth-like, but still more advanced. There's something really weird about it. It's like it's been adapted to work with humans, but it wasn't meant to."

"You can tell all of that?" Nihlus murmured. "Impressive."

Corinthia smiled. "Thanks, but you're right: We should keep moving." She straightened and scanned the horizon. "The artifact is about a click north of here. There are geth all around it, and what looks like another turian. Don't ask how I know that, it'll just get complicated," she added, even though Nihlus wasn't going to say anything.

"Can you see who?"

"It would take me too long to find out, but something isn't right. They aren't attacking him or anything."

Nihlus had ample experience in the field and knew that intuition was a powerful ally. Ever since they'd hit the ground, Corinthia had acted professional and exactly like the soldier her record indicated: on task and highly adaptive with unbeatable senses. "Keep up your guard."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

"We're at the dig site," Shepard radioed.

"Yeah, we've been there already. Didn't find anything. Rendezvous at the docks," Corinthia answered.

"Why?"

"Because that's where I am? What do you think? Because it's where the geth are swarming!"

Nihlus looked at her curiously. "Do you two always interact like that?"

"Yep, pretty much." She put away her shotgun in favor of her pistol.

"Doesn't your Alliance have regulations against it?"

She shook her head. "There's nothing against regulations in what we're doing. He's my friend. You're allowed to have friends, aren't you?"

"I don't speak to them like that."

"Well, I'm weird. Everyone knows it, too." She ducked into cover as a turian passed them. For a moment, she thought it was Saren Arterius, but there were tubes plugged into the back of his head and one of his arms was geth.

"Stay here," Nihlus ordered.

She nodded, having absolutely no issue staying behind. If it was Saren, he had a reputation of being anti-human and would not take well to another human Spectre candidate (the first being Anderson). If it wasn't, then Nihlus could take care of it.

Nihlus approached the other turian, pistol drawn. If the turian military had business here, the Council needed to hear about it. Besides, the interloper didn't look right, like he'd been... altered. Whoever it was —

"Saren?" Nihlus asked, relaxing.

"Nihlus," the Spectre answered, his eyes glowing oddly. Few turians had blue eyes, but Saren's didn't look right... didn't look natural.

"What are you doing here?"

"The Council thought you needed help on this one," Saren answered, putting his hand on Nihlus's shoulder.

Corinthia could see what was coming, but she couldn't move or say anything. Something about Saren, not to mention that ship looming over her, sent chills of paralysis up her spine. It was less that she was frightened and more that she didn't know what to do.

"Shep? Are you there?" she whispered, chancing a glance towards Nihlus and Saren. She squeaked as Saren put his pistol to Nihlus's head and pulled the trigger. She shut her eyes tightly, but the image was still burned into her mind. Murder... She'd seen similar things before, although they hadn't had time to really sink in or had been in context (Torfan, for example), but this?

"Shepard! Joh — Shepard? Are you there? Answer me, please!"

"Calm down!" Shepard replied. "What is it?"

Saren looked up and directly at her. "Uh-oh," she breathed.

The turian advanced on her, his finger still on the trigger.

She backed away, swallowing hard. "I suggest you find me. I'm about to get my ass handed to me."

"Kill her," Saren ordered.

She sprinted off, hearing the garbled, metallic, vibrating sounds of the geth as they followed.

"What the hell's going on?" Shepard answered irately. "Is that gunfire? What the fuck have you gotten yourself into?"

"Yeah, I've got geth on my ass and —" She grunted as she was hit in the shoulder. "Just get over here, John. Now. Please..."

The transmission went dead. Shepard tried to restart the connection. "Ci-Ci! Ci-Ci! Cassie! Answer me, damn it!"

Alenko raised an eyebrow. "What do we do now, sir?"

Shepard didn't hesitate. "We find her, that's what."

Corinthia was praying that Shepard was nearby. She had at least twenty geth chasing her and didn't have the time or cover to try and hack them. She made a mental note to add voice-command to her omni-tool and darted through the cargo docks. Every time she turned a corner, she ran into more geth. Her omni-tool kept telling her to turn around and head towards the artifact. With no other options, she took the suggested route.

The cargo docks weren't intended to be maze-like, but with all the crates of supplies and archaeological artifacts, it felt like a labyrinth. The only cleared dock was at the bottom of a series of ramps. The place was meant for larger ships, like the Normandy, to come and pick up cargo. It was the absolute worst place to make a stand, with no cover and lower than the rest of the area, but it was the only place she had left. She hated being cornered, but she knew that Shepard would come. He always did. He had to. If he didn't... She couldn't think of that. He was going to come and save her, she'd kiss him or something, and everything would be right.

She slid down the ramps and onto the dock, using the time to hack the geth and alter their targeting systems. Unfortunately, they adapted quickly, self-corrected, and continued to fire at her. Corinthia would have thought them cool if they weren't trying to kill her.

She slid behind the only cover she could find: the artifact. The Prothean beacon was a simple, silver tower with a protrusion for a green holo interface and a transmitter rod. Corinthia didn't have time to think. Her shields were failing and she could only scramble so many geth targeting interfaces at a time. If they were after the artifact, they would get it unless Shepard fought his way to her, and even then she was quickly losing hope that he'd come galloping in. Shepard was good, but not good enough to fight an army and a Spectre (assuming that Saren wasn't there to help; after all, he had killed Nihlus).

Then again, she couldn't always wait for him to come and save her. Unfortunately, she didn't have any other way out alive, at least that she could see. But, if she was going to die, she had to do something about the beacon. Corinthia gritted her teeth as shots whizzed by her head, hacked ten of the geth around her, and ordered them to shoot their peers. That would give her the time she needed to start scanning and downloading everything on the Prothean beacon, even if it meant sacrificing her targeting scrambler, shields, radio, and ability to do anything else with her omni-tool.

She'd never interacted with anything Prothean before, but she'd figure something out. Her omni-tool came to life and she pressed it against the cool metal side. Something flashed across her mind and she snapped her touch back, heart racing. Whatever she'd seen was terrible... She didn't know how to begin to describe it. Luckily, her omni-tool had used the brief connection and had started downloading whatever information was on the beacon.

Saren appeared on the upper causeway. His silver skin glistened in the light and his light blue eyes glittered dangerously. "So, you must be Cassiopeia Corinthia," he crooned, advancing. "I hear you're quite the shot with a rifle. Care to test your luck?"

Corinthia checked her omni-tool. She had only recovered 10% of the data. "Shepard, where the hell are you?" she breathed.

Saren reached the bottom of the ramp. He didn't like how the girl wasn't fighting back. It uneased him. Saren had heard stories about her before, although he had no idea why Nihlus had stooped to work with her. She was supposed to be a spitfire, but instead she was huddling behind the beacon. Saren smirked. "My, my, aren't you a smart girl."

She checked her omni-tool: 15%. "Why did you murder Nihlus?"

"Irrelevant. Are you ready to die?" Saren raised his pistol, took careful aim, and shot. He hit his target: her head. She slumped over, blood beginning to flow out of her helmet and onto the ground. Oddly, her omni-tool was still functioning. It was probably sending a tracking signal, which meant that the Alliance would be here soon.

So long as he got away, it didn't matter what the Alliance found. He would have time to gain what he needed. Saren stepped forward and activated the beacon.

Shepard was used to death. It had never really bothered him, even when he was a kid with the Reds. Then again, he'd never been close enough to anyone to feel a loss at their death.

When Corinthia's radio went dead, a chill ran up his spine and his stomach filled with ice. Shepard had felt fear before, but never like this and never for a person. He knew why, but there wasn't time to fight it.

He had to get to her.

Alenko holstered his pistol, gazing at Nihlus's body. "He didn't even see it coming."

"Is this your turian?" Williams asked.

"Yes." Shepard cracked his knuckles. He hadn't been fazed enough into showing his nervous tick since he enlisted. "Alenko, inform the Normandy of Nihlus's death and location of his body. Jenkins's, too. Williams, come with me."

Alenko nodded and stepped a little away from Shepard.

"Where are we going now, sir?" Williams inquired nervously. Shepard made her feel uneasy. He was gruff, no-nonsense, intimidating, and downright frightening. His eyes blazed like hellfire when he fought and his biotics were better than any Williams had ever seen. He looked at everyone like he was deciding if he was going to kill them or not, yet he had dropped almost everything to go after Ci-Ci, whoever she was. Williams didn't understand. Something didn't fit.

"Ci-Ci's by the artifact," Shepard answered. "I need you as cover."

Williams gulped. Though she knew that he meant that she was to cover him, she got the impression that he didn't care if she was a human shield or back-up, so long as he got to Ci-Ci and the Artifact. "Yes, sir."

Alenko came up. "Joker's on his way, though he says that the geth are crawling all over the docks."

"Any sign of Ci-Ci?" Shepard demanded.

"None that the Normandy can pick up. Her sensors aren't designed for something that specific."

Shepard gritted his teeth. "Alenko, scan for her. Williams, you have your orders. Move out."

Alenko and Williams fell into step behind Shepard and did as they were told. Though both felt they could do more (and that their task was near pointless, since Corinthia was probably dead and Shepard could easily fight through the geth alone), neither dared test the Commander. He had already knocked out a scientist simply because his ramblings had been annoying; who knew what Shepard would do when questioned?

After a brief skirmish with the geth (Shepard pulled them all into one area with a well-placed singularity field and turned his back to walk away, letting Alenko and Williams dispatch them), they boarded a cargo shuttle to the rest of the docks. Alenko checked his omni-tool. "Still no sign of her, Commander. Do you think she has her cloaking device on?"

That hadn't occurred to Shepard. The cold feeling in his stomach receded slightly. "Maybe," he answered, a little more harshly than he intended. She had given him the ability to see past her cloaking device, but had failed to tell him how to use it. Either way, he wasn't pleased.

Shepard opened his omni-tool and examined the map. Corinthia had uploaded the artifact's coordinates during her hasty request for aid. It pulsed oddly on his radar, like it had a heartbeat.

Shepard groaned, unable to believe how stupid he'd been. "Damn it, Ci-Ci…"

"Sir?" Williams asked, hoping that Shepard wasn't about to get any angrier.

"She's next to the beacon," Shepard answered. "It's the only explanation."

Alenko examined his map. "I can't tell, but it's worth a shot… Are your omni-tools linked?"

Shepard didn't know. Honestly, it wouldn't have surprised him if Corinthia had done something like that for one of her more nefarious plots, but (as usual, when it came to her) he had no idea how to find out. "I'll ask her later. Let's just kick these geths' asses and get the artifact."

Williams relaxed a little. Shepard seemed less likely to kill anything that moved now that he knew exactly where Corinthia was. Williams was extremely wrong, though: Shepard did kill anything that moved (luckily, only geth were moving). He had good reason, though. The geth had set charges to destroy the docks and the beacon, which meant that Corinthia would die if he didn't do something about it. Williams disarmed each bomb while Shepard and Alenko put on quite the display of biotics by throwing geth into walls, slicing them in half on the railings, and causing them to implode in singularity fields. Shepard finished everything off by using his biotics to charge an enemy and take it down using brute force.

Finally, everything went silent. Williams could hear her own heart beating and the blood rushing in her ears as the adrenaline kick diminished. She was calming, finally, and was able to see what had happened to her home: utter annihilation. Nothing was left undamaged. The horizon was black with smoke. People came out of their hiding places as Saren's massive ship (the squid-like one) pulled away from a tower and rose into the clouds, through the atmosphere, and out into space. Shepard raised an eyebrow. The ship was so large that it appeared to be moving slowly, though it was in fact moving faster than the speed of sound. A chill ran up his spine, which only made him more determined to take it down, one day.

They reached the dock with the artifact. There were geth bodies strewn all over, as if they'd been fighting themselves. Shepard's heart raced: That was Corinthia's handiwork. She was close.

Alenko kicked one of the geth's heads angrily. "What happened here?"

Williams shrugged. "Beats me. Commander?"

"Radio the Normandy and tell them that we have the arti…" He trailed off. His gaze was fixed on the pool of blood at its base and the bright yellow and green glove resting in it. "Ci-Ci…"

He dropped his gun and sprinted forward, unable to see or think of anything else but Corinthia. When he was mere feet from her body, the beacon lit up. It pulled him away from her and into the air. He cursed and struggled, only to have the force pull his limbs apart like he was being crucified. The beacon assaulted his mind with images of an apocalypse: organic machines destroying planets, strange aliens being incinerated in the blasts, the galaxy turning dark as the stars themselves stopped shining… It was too intense for him to handle. His mind shut down and his vision went black.

Williams and Alenko watched in horror as the beacon exploded, throwing Shepard's body twenty feet away. Alenko hailed Joker while Williams ran to Shepard.

"He's alive," she said, relieved. So far, she didn't like Shepard much, but Williams wasn't ready to see anyone else die. She spotted Corinthia's body behind what was left of the beacon. Her omni-tool was still on and flashing oddly. It went out after a few seconds.

"Joker, Shepard is down. The beacon is destroyed. We're at rendezvous point alpha," Alenko said.

"Gotcha," Joker answered. "Where's Ci-Ci?"

Alenko watched as Williams went to Corinthia. "We have her body, but if she's alive, you'd better hurry: there's a lot of blood here."

"Whoa… She got shot in the head…" Williams put her fingers under Corinthia's helmet and pried it off. Blood and shrapnel fragments poured out of it. Corinthia's temple was barely intact and she was pale, but if the wound was bleeding, her heart was beating. "She's alive," Williams called. "Tell them to get here quickly. I don't think she's got long."

"She's too stubborn to die," Joker said. "At least that's what I've heard."

"You can tell her that yourself and see what happens," Alenko replied, "but I don't envy you when you get her answer."

"I take it she survived, then."

"After getting shot in the head, yes, so get your ass over here, stat."

"Yessir. ETA two minutes. Joker out."

Williams applied some medi-gel to Corinthia. "Stay with me, kid. You're gonna be alright."