A/N: I realized after going back through some of my posted chapters that I cut out certain parts the first time I posted this chapter. Re-posting with intended bits reinstated.

"You mean to tell me you lost track of an entire battle group?"

"Not exactly sir, we lost tracking on them mid-jump, but we know where they are now. The remains came out of jump-space right on target, but as best we can determine there are no surviving personnel or functional ships left."

"So what happened? Is there something that can target ships in jump-space?"

"Sir, I checked with R&D and Intelligence, neither department thinks anything like that is possible with known tech from any species we are in contact with. We are waiting for confirmation from the fleet we dispatched for recovery operations, but indications are that they collided with something mid-jump."

"Shit, that wasn't supposed to be able to happen anymore, the new-generation drives were designed to drop out of jump if something was on collision course. What about the prototype?"

"Sorry sir, the prototype was on the centrally positioned ship, only the engineering section showed up, the cargo holds were located forward and did not emerge from the jump."

"Well, we can kiss that program goodbye. The Command Council was iffy enough on continuing given the early problems, now with no functional unit or any of the test hardware, there is no way they will continue it."

"Sir?"

"Go ahead and forward the report you just gave me, make sure to stress that the recovery fleet will be confirming damages and investigating the cause further upon arrival."

"Yes sir, right away!"

Boss, wake up!

/Dammit, can't the fucking naturals fly either?/

Dunno Boss, I don't fly.

/Yeah, I know Jim. What's your status?/

I'm greenlights Boss, my crate got a bit dinged though.

/Well hold still then, my visuals are still unscrambling. I'll give you a hand once I can see./

Boss, I'm picking up unknowns on the transponder net. I can't refine the hits till I'm out in the open.

/Alright then Jim. I still can't see, so go ahead and rev up and crack the crate. Just please go away from my transponder this time./

I know Boss, the medtechs wouldn't let me near you last time. Powerplant nominal, all systems online. I need you to override the transport lockdown on my drivetrain.

/Shit, I have to dive your systems without computer support? Seriously, who the hell designed that interface?/

Boss, you know mom made it.

/Alright, don't get defensive, it just makes this harder. Ok, that should do it. Five seconds to lockdown release./

More unknowns, lots of data chatter on multiple bandwidths. Boss, something just bumped my firewalls!

/Shit, lock down your inputs, go verbal only. Authent Charlie-Foxtrot my voice key. Crack your damn case and get visual on those unknowns, I'll back you once I can get clear./

Wilco. Authent Charlie-Foxtrot your voice key.

The last mission had been particularly brutal. Garrus had to be carried into the med-bay because he couldn't walk on his own after being blown through the air and landing awkwardly when one of the slavers had hit him with a rocket. Kaiden had exhausted himself by overusing his biotics attempting to shield the slaves they had discovered. Wrex was covered in his own blood and missing a large chunk of one arm where a high-powered slug had ripped through his cover and barriers, although he assured Shepard he would be fine given a day or two to regenerate. Shepard herself was headed for med-bay with various burns, scrapes, and minor broken bones including at least two ribs. Walking towards the elevator, she was surprised to see Tali fidgeting nervously at the entrance to the engineering section. Normally the young quarian was either assisting in engineering or in a sleeping pod, not out in the garage where Ashley or Garrus might pick on her. "Keelah Shepard! Does everyone normally look like that after your missions?" Other than the extremely wide eyes and the fidgeting, Shepard really couldn't tell what the young alien was thinking, so she opted for a simple answer. "Not usually, this one was just more intense than expected."

"I thought you said it was just a bunch of slavers with poor training? What are you going to do in a real battle?" Shepard winced at the naivete of Tali's question, but there was still a kernel of truth in what she said. "Tali, it was a real battle. Anytime you fire your weapon at someone who is firing theirs back at you it is a real battle. The fact that we were fighting slavers down there only made it complicated, because we found some live slaves as well and had to protect them. I do agree that I need to find some way to increase the combat strength of the team though, if only to resolve situations like that one quicker. The only trouble is that I don't think I can, the Alliance won't transfer anyone onto the ship and I am out of ideas for non-alliance fighters."

The normally enthusiastic quarian suddenly stopped fidgeting and looked towards the floor before slowly starting to wring her hands together. "... might...dea." Curious why Tali was mumbling, Shepard reached out and put a hand on her arm. "What was that Tali? I couldn't make it out." The quarian looked up quickly, then away again. "I said I might have an idea. When I told you how I got that geth recording, I didn't give you the whole story on how I got it." When it became apparent Shepard wasn't going to bite her head off for withholding information, Tali looked up at her again. "I said I followed a geth patrol and waited for one to be isolated from the others before I disabled it, but I lied. It was already disabled when I got to it, and I didn't do the isolating, something else did. All I could tell when I looked around the area was that a ship of some sort had crashed, and there were only two sets of tracks leading away from the wreckage. One set was from a vehicle of some sort, the tracks were pretty wide, but the other was obviously footprints. Whatever made the tracks, they fought their way through at least a platoon of geth to get away from the wreck. Whoever it was, I doubt they got off the planet since then since there weren't any settlements there and I certainly didn't give them a ride in my shuttle."

"And where did you say this was Tali?"