The two batarians were talking, the first in great animation, striding back and forth as he spoke. His companion was still, leaning on the far wall, all four of his eyes following his friend as he listened.

They were in a very unfortunate location, a small maintenance bay that was joined by one hall to the shuttle bay, a second to a small security hub, and a third to the block where Kenson had been held.

"Fucking human terrorists," the pacer was growling. "It's bad enough we have that crazy asari lurking around the colony like a goddamn vorcha, now we got humans crawling through our asteroid belt planning to wipe us all out!"

"Blowing up a relay…you think that's even possible?" the leaner asked. "I always heard they were indestructible."

"Yeah, well…sure, but, that's not the point! They steal our space, our creds, our best trade routes…they won't be happy until every last batarian is wiped out of the stars. And what does the Council do about it?"

"Nothing," his companion agreed.

"Nothing! But we try and retaliate and suddenly we're the terrorists!"

"At least we caught their ringleader this time, right? I heard Belkik is determined to make an example out of her. Show the humans we're serious."

"He should do more than that. Get the Hegemony to tack her skin on the nosecone of their largest cruiser, and have it lead the charge right to Earth. Wipe all the vermin out at the root. That's what I would do."

Behind them, far above, the barrel of a sniper slowly eased out from the edge of a cat-walk.

"It's a nice idea, but you know as well as I that our people aren't-"

The moment the pacer stepped in line with his friend again, about to pass him, the sniper went off with a faint puff. Both men collapsed as the single shot passed through the head of the pacer, through the head of the leaner, and then lodged in the concrete wall.

"Nice shot," Kenson breathed her approval as Shepard drew the gun back again.

"Let's get moving," Shepard urged in a low voice, quickly leading the way down from the catwalk to the floor. As they reached the door that lead into the small security hub, she shipped her sniper, drawing her sword.

Gesturing at Kenson to stay put, she eased down the hall. The single guard monitoring the feeds was half-dozing. He never even glanced around before Shepard struck him in the temple hard enough with the handle of her weapon to render him instantly unconscious. Slipping him out of the chair and laying him down, she signaled Kenson and stepped aside as the woman quickly rushed in, accessing the prison systems.

The facility was small, and old, but one thing they did have was access to the planetary defense grid. If they hijacked a shuttle, the automated systems would take over and they'd be blown apart by AA guns before they even made it a thousand feet.

Shepard covered the door as Kenson quickly hacked in, disabling the guns. "We won't have long before they notice, and we'll be swarmed," she said as she rejoined the commander. "We'll have to hurry."

Quickly crossing the maintenance room again they headed toward the shuttle bay. This time, Shepard didn't bother for stealth…speed was of the essence now. She had her sniper out and set and strode in through the doors like she owned the place.

Two batarians were down before they even registered she was there. Kenson took out another as the remainder started reaching for their weapons. Shepard popped a fourth just as he reached out to hit the alarm.

"Go, move! I'll cover you!" she barked at Kenson, switching the sniper over to rapid fire and quickly corralling the final three batarians behind some storage boxes. Alarms began to ring, of course. All it took was one of them linking in to the system with their omni-tool. They had a minute, maybe two, before the whole bay would be swarmed.

Kenson got the shuttle open, turning as she made it inside and aiming her pistol. "C'mon, Commander! I've got you covered," she urged. Shepard ran up the ramp as Kenson sent a few shots toward the boxes, keeping the batarians pinned and unable to return fire until Shepard leapt inside, slamming her palm on the door control.

As it swung shut, Kenson hurried in to the small cockpit and dropped into the pilot's seat. "Hang on, this is going to be blunt."

Shepard gripped the edge of the partition as the shuttle suddenly lunged forward. Until the inertial dampeners kicked in, the frantic acceleration and initial swoop upward into open air tugged hard on her, threatening to make her stumble. Moments later, the dampeners were on and the ride notably steadied.

"We're clear," Kenson said. "In less than five we'll be completely out of range of those guns, and it'll take them at least ten to get them back online. I think we're safe, but it will be at least an hour before we get back to the Project."

Hooking her fingers under the hood of her skin-suit, Shepard peeled it back, taking the infra-goggles with it. Scrubbing her fingers through her damp hair she leaned on the partition. "You gonna tell me about this Project?" she asked. "Were those batarians telling the truth, and you're planning to blow up their mass relay?"

"It is a long story, Commander-"

"We have an hour," Shepard said sternly. "I'd like to hear-"

She broke off abruptly, snapping around. Her pistol was in her hand in the same motion, eyes narrowed as it pointed directly at the forehead of the batarian standing seven or eight feet behind her, a heavy spanner in his hand.

He paled a bit as he saw the gun, licking his lips nervously. Shepard decided to make his decision simple, revealing to him the only smart course he could take.

"Drop it."

Fingers shaking, he let the spanner thump to the ground, lifting his hands in weak surrender. He was little more than a boy, probably just old enough to finally be out on his own, working a real job. Kenson, having switched the shuttle to auto, appeared over Shepard's shoulder, her own weapon in hand.

"He must have been working in the storage area when we took off. Bad luck for him."

Lifting her free hand, Del gestured at Kenson to wait. "What's your name, kid?" she asked the batarian.

"Kelcik," he replied. Shepard pointed at the floor between the benches.

"Kelcik, have a seat," she ordered. "Move nice and slow, hands threaded behind your head, legs crossed."

As he moved to obey, Kenson murmured, "Wouldn't it be safer just to eliminate the threat?" she asked.

"I don't kill unarmed boys who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Shepard told her. Instantly she saw the reflection of something in Kenson's eyes, and felt her gut tighten. The woman said nothing, of course, but she could feel the accusation there.

Liar, it said. I remember the reports of Torfan. That is, in fact, exactly what you do.

Whether or not Kenson actually thought this was irrelevant. Whether it was her accusation or simply a reflection of Del's own regrets, it didn't really matter. The truth was, she had once shot a batarian boy, not much younger than this, while he sat unarmed on his knees. On his knees, and apologetic.

"The Project doesn't really have anything in the way of holding facilities," Kenson continued. "It's not like we can bang him in a cell-"

"A lockable closet with a guard will do just fine until we can arrange to drop him somewhere," Shepard said firmly. "I'm not shooting him. Unless he does something very stupid."

This last was directed firmly at the boy, who shook his head…though she noticed the glare had not left his eyes.

Then again, I'd probably be glaring at someone who was holding me at gunpoint, as well, she thought.

Seating herself where she had a clear view of the boy, keeping her pistol out and resting on her knee…though still fully aimed in his direction…she spoke to Kenson once again. "So…long story. You were about to tell me what's going on."

Seating herself as well, putting her weapon away, the older woman sighed. "I suppose it doesn't matter if I say anything in front of him. By the time he'll be in a position to tell anyone, things will be finished, one way or the other."

Clearing her throat she told Shepard about the Project, and what she called 'Object Rho'. It was a Reaper artifact they had discovered in the system. Astronomically old, yet still in pristine working condition. Research revealed that the Reapers used the Bahak system as a second resort should their plan at the Citadel somehow fail. On the outermost edges of the galaxy, the Reapers could enter the system directly from dark space, and use the relay…the Alpha relay…to link anywhere else in the Milky Way instantly. Before anyone could be warned, the Reapers could be at Thessia, Palaven, the Citadel, or even Earth. The attack would have begun before any defensive systems or fleets could react.

"We devised a plan," she told Del. "Drive an asteroid with enough mass and density into the relay, and it will be destroyed. We cannot stop the Reapers arriving in the Bahak system but we can slow them down, prevent them using the Alpha relay. It will take them months or even years to reach the next closest relay even at FTL speeds, during which time our defenses can be strengthened. It is the only choice we have."

"Would it work?" Shepard asked with a puzzled frown. "A relay really can be destroyed?"

"I know that everyone says they can't, but I think it's more they don't want to find out what happens when one is," Kenson told her. "Given the size of a relay's core, its destruction would likely release as much energy as a supernova-"

"Which would destroy this entire system!" Kelcik gasped. He started to lower his hands and Shepard pointed her pistol meaningfully at him. He put them back into place, but he was shaking. "You can't do that! My entire family lives on Aratoht! There are three hundred thousand colonists there…you would kill them all? I can't believe even humans would do such a thing! Women…babies-!"

"We're not going to kill them," Kenson looked both horrified and scandalized. "We were going to warn them first, allow time for an evacuation…my God, we're not monsters! Even if we did nothing, Aratoht would be lost…or do you think the Reapers will simply pass it by on their way through the relay?"

"There are no such thing as Reapers," the boy spat. "It is lies, human propaganda! Crazy talk spread by crazy people!"

"Hey, calm down," Shepard told him, not unkindly. Looking at Kenson she asked. "What kind of timeframe are we looking at here?"

"We were nearly ready when I was arrested," she said. "At this point…we have just under three days until the Reapers will enter the system."

"Three days is long enough to clear the colony, but it's pushing it," Shepard said. "You're absolutely sure about the timing?"

"Positive, Commander. I have proof if you would like to see it, once we've reached the station."

Del nodded. "All right, yeah, I'll want to see that. No offense…I know Hackett trusts you and I trust Hackett…but if we're talking about risking this many lives I want to be absolutely certain of things."

My God, I sound just like the fucking Council, she groaned internally, then frowned. No. The Council wouldn't accept the proof even if it was slammed repeatedly into their various faces.

"Of course, Commander," Kenson stated. Lifting her omni-tool she activated it. "This is Dr. Kenson, are you receiving?"

"This is Project Headquarters. I can't tell you how good it is to hear your voice again, Doctor!"

"It's good to be heard," she smiled. "Listen, I'm on my way home now. We should be there within the hour. I have Commander Shepard with me and…a batarian guest. I want secure arrangements made for the batarian and…tidy up the lab, would you? Commander Shepard would like to have a look at things."

"The Commander Shep…? Uh…yes. Yes ma'am. I understand. We'll get things in line."

"Thank you. Kenson out."

Though she didn't for a second take her eyes off the prisoner, Del leaned back in her seat, her dark brows knitting as she turned this all over in her head. An entire colony to evacuate, a relay destroyed…mere days before the Reapers were out of dark space and knocking on their front door?

Three hundred thousand people, she thought. Shrive and Eír among them. If Kenson is right, this is going to be a clusterfuck wrapped in FUBAR. And the boy's attitude is not unusual…the batarians are hardly going to just take our word for it. Hopefully they'll listen to reason and evacuate but if they don't…what happens then? Do we just sacrifice all those lives in a bid to buy the rest of us some time?

A pair of armed guards were waiting for them when they docked at Project HQ, the structure built into the side of the very asteroid they intended to launch at the relay. The size of a small moon, the asteroid was a solid chunk of almost pure nickel and nearly twenty times the mass of the relay itself. The Project had chosen well.

Shepard turned Kelcik over to the guard, Kenson ordering them that the boy was not to be harmed…upon Shepard's very stern look. Then the doctor led Del deeper into the facility.

"What is this?" Shepard asked, catching sight of a holographic display shimmering on nearly every wall and over nearly every door.

"That is how much time we have left before the Reapers will have arrived," Kenson told her. "Object Rho is sending out a distinct pulse at regular, decreasing intervals. It is reacting to the proximity of the Reapers. When that clock runs out, the pulses will be constant and the Reapers will be here."

"You are absolutely convinced that's what it means?"

"Positive," Kenson told her, striding down a bustling corridor. More than one head turned to watch them go, and Shepard felt that familiar, warning crawl begin deep in her stomach. Her gut didn't like this.

"How?"

"When we first uncovered Rho it presented a vision into my mind," Kenson told her. "Much like the Prothean Beacons did to you. It showed me the Reapers arriving here."

"Uh…that's not good," Shepard gaped, slightly alarmed. "Aren't you concerned about indoctrination?"

"Very," Kenson responded. "We are taking every precaution, Commander, I assure you…and then some. We are not risking that a single person among us become indoctrinated, and I have been examined a dozen times since the vision was presented. I'm showing no signs of the process myself."

Shepard frowned, but said nothing as they cleared through one security checkpoint, and then another. Finally they arrived a set of heavy doors.

"This is the main lab facility," Kenson announced. "Our records and documentation are all within."

The door slid open and the older woman strode unhesitatingly within, Del at her heels. Only a few steps past the door, Shepard jolted to a halt, unable to believe her eyes.

That the thing dominating the center of the room was of the Reapers, she had no doubt. No one who had ever seen a Reaper or any of their technology could mistake it. There was a feel about it, a presence that was outside of simple understanding…a sensation that was unmistakable yet indescribable at the same time.

It was sitting out in the open, no barriers, no shields, no containment system of any kind. In appearance it was a strange, frozen flower bud of black metal lined with green luminescence…a luminescence that seemed to grow stronger even as the deep, unending presence grew stronger. Shepard could feel it in her skin, crawling like snakes over her scalp.

"Kenson, this is not good!" she growled, taking half a step backward…before the distinct click of a pistol halted her.

The older woman held the weapon up to the side of Shepard's head, her jaw set, a thin smile on her lips. "Give it a moment, Commander…it will provide the proof you need."

"You're indoctrinated," Shepard snarled low, eyes shifting as a few armed guards in full gear appeared from the far side of the room. "All of you."

"No, our eyes are finally opened," Kenson told her. "We will not let you stop the Reapers, Shepard. You will join us. You will see the truth, as we have, and when they arrive, you will share in their blessings the same as we…or you will die."

Those snakes on her scalp seemed to grow teeth. She could feel them prying at her skull, starting to dig in.

Fuck. This.

Whipping her hand out she caught Kenson's arm, wrenching the pistol from her fingers. Kenson's wrist gave way with a snap, and she grunted in pain as Shepard shoved her aside. Instantly, the guards opened fire and Del darted away, sending shot after them.

The door behind her was closed, of course, and no doubt sealed. Ducking behind cover, Shepard knew she had to get out of there as quickly as she could. Every moment in the presence of Rho and the chances she herself would become indoctrinated would only increase.

She'd fucking put a bullet in her brain herself if that happened.

"Argh!" Kenson groaned in pain, holding her arm as she got to her feet. "Get in here! All teams! Secure Commander Shepard! All teams!"

Fuck. Shepard was geared for an infiltration assignment…her light armor might as well be tissue paper under heavy assault fire, even with her barriers, and the weaponry she was carrying was hardly adequate for taking out fully armored commandos.

Bad, Del…this is really bad.

Warily, the troops already in the room began to circle around, trying to box her in. Lifting her sniper she popped two, dropping their barriers and then their bodies with follow-up shots to their face-plates. Spooked, the others retreated a little, affording her a bit of breathing space.

Where Kenson had gone, Del couldn't see. What she could see were more armored soldiers entering the room from the far end.

Assault fire burned over her cover and she ducked back, feeling her fingertips cooling. She was dropping into the zone, her blood-pressure easing, her heart rate actually slowing as her mind shifted gears. There was only one goal…a goal that Shepard was very, very good at reaching.

Survive.

Deadly calm had settled over her. She couldn't even feel the scratching at her scalp, the tightening fingers on her spine from the artifact. A thin, set little smile appeared on her lips.

These fuckers were going down.

"We can't keep this up forever!" One of the soldiers shouted into his radio, his voice ragged and desperate. For the last twenty minutes they had been throwing everything they had into the fight and they were losing.

Losing. Against a single woman in light armor who had no escape.

They didn't have many men left. The bitch was deadly with that sniper and the one time a man had actually managed to get near her, she'd killed him with a sword.

A goddamn sword, for fuck's sake!

Their numbers were running low, they were exhausted, and half of them had no barriers thanks to her relentless and precise strikes.

"Keep going! For crying out loud, she's one woman! How incompetent are you?" Kenson barked, making him grit his teeth.

That was all well and good, but at this rate, the crazy cunt would wipe them all out.

One woman, my ass, he thought. This bitch isn't human.

In the end it was not truly the soldiers that got her. Focusing so much on survival, on taking down her enemies and hoping for a break to open, a route to escape, Shepard barely heard the voice whispering indelibly in the back of her mind…the hushed, dry breath of the dead stirring from the grave.

She ignored the slowly grinding pain in her skull, the tripping of claws down her back. To tune into them meant losing her concentration…if she did that, she had no doubt she would be dead the second after.

Those claws, however, finally tightened their grip and in the end, it was the vision that shattered her.

Only two or three wounded, exhausted opponents were left when every muscle along her spine and skull seemed to clench at once. Reality darted away in the wake of a roaring, blaring agony that brought with it a flash of an image…the Reapers, darkening the sky, eyes alight as they bore down inexorably on the Alpha relay.

Doubtless this was the same vision Kenson had seen, a unshakable knowing of the Reapers arrival, of their plans.

Jolting in the wake of it, Shepard gasped for air, desperately clawing at consciousness, trying to tear the scene free of her mind like one might rip paper off a wall.

Grudgingly, the lab swam back into sight, but it was too late. The distraction had left her open.

It was her downfall.

She felt the punch of the first bullet through her chest as if in slow motion, the bullet gouging flames just below her collar bone and rending molten lava out her back. Even as she collapsed, arms flailing to either side in a futile effort to catch herself, another lance flashed through the side of her abdomen, flaying muscle as it drove a gouge as neat and clean as a filleting knife just over her hip.

The final shot took her in the head, the sound of it a rocketing drone echoing endlessly in her skull.

The fall was an eternity, but she had no memory of hitting the ground. Her eyes fixed to the ceiling as her body fought to process what had just happened to it, pain fading as it shut down her nerves in shock. Dark bloomed in her vision like a dozen black roses edged with red, and for a moment, she saw Kenson's face looming over hers. Her eyes were shimmering strangely, and the voice that ushered Del into darkness was that of Harbinger.

YOU BELONG TO US.

Where are you? Where are you?

"M'right here…"

Lips barely moved, the breath passing through them to form words only a soft exhalation. Voices, sounds, floated through thick fog in the company of an aching beat.

"…readings are strange…doing another….no, no see, there's a diff…looked like she was waking up…"

A thousand tiny pins pricked her sinuses, the backs of her eyelids. Grimacing, Del licked her dry lips and struggled her eyes open, trying to focus.

"…no, gave her enough sedatives to knock a krogan on its ass. Yes, I'm sure, it's just the brainwave scans seemed to spike for a moment. Looked like she was going to wake up…"

Once the fog and dark started to clear, the remainder seemed to burn away in a rush as memory returned, adrenaline to flow.

Kenson. Object Rho. She'd been shot-

Her vision snapped into focus. There was a light above her, a medical scanning arm. She was in an infirmary. Turning her head, she saw the single doctor standing to one side, her back to the bio-bed. It was not Chakwas, the surroundings unfamiliar.

I must still be at the Project base.

Taking stock as best she could, she noted only a faint ache in her chest, in her head. Testing her limbs carefully, she pushed herself into a sit.

She was in scrubs. Clearly, she'd been treated. Lifting a hand she touched her head gingerly, finding only a slightly tender bare strip from her left temple back over her ear. Bullet hadn't penetrated then, only split her scalp open.

As she got to her bare feet, the doctor suddenly turned, still speaking into her omni-tool. "No, I just wanted you to be aware. It's an anomaly, that's all. There's no way she could actually…"

She caught sight of Shepard standing there, staring at her, and went pale, even as her eyes flew almost comically huge. To her credit, she reacted fairly swiftly, immediately bolting for the door even while hollering, "She's awake!"

She was through it before Shepard could cross the room, her legs still a bit faint and numb from the sedatives. The door to the bay slammed shut and latched. Through an observation window, Del could see the doctor…now looking smug…regarding her.

Smug never lasted long when Shepard was around.

Cracking her neck audibly, Shepard looked around at her surroundings. Something as simple as a secure door was not going to stand in her way. She had no idea how much more time they had, if any…but she had to get the fuck out of here regardless.

Spotting the active console on the other side of the room, she lifted a brow, then turned her head and met the eyes of the doctor still watching her.

The doctor paled.

Shepard grinned.

His gut was a wrenching ache of pain…a gnawing, persistent pain that seemed to leach down into his limbs.

How long had passed, he didn't know. He slept on and off, more and more often falling into slumber and finding it increasingly difficult to rouse himself again. His mouth was a desert, his eyes ached in their sockets.

The distant, odd pelting of thunder woke him this time. He resisted it at first, not wanting to return to the aching head, the misery spreading through his being…a feeling that instinctually registered on his brain as dying though he swiped the word away from his conscious mind.

Blinking, unfocused a moment, he forced himself up to his feet. A roil of nausea immediately wrenched his stomach. His legs trembled weakly, and he pressed a shaking hand to the wall, bracing himself as he tried to listen.

The thunder repeated twice more, closer each time, before he finally processed what it was.

Gunfire.

Just then, the loudest report sounded just outside the door. Stumbling back from it, he dropped into a sit, scooting into the corner and blinking madly as the portal suddenly slipped open. The light that spilled in was white-hot agony and he defensively lifted a hand against it.

"Cao!" someone declared, before a form drew close, crouching in front of him. His wrist was taken, lowered. He blinked stupidly at the human as his eyes focused.

"Leave me alone," he heard himself mumble miserably. "You did this…does it make you happy? Just let me die…"

Shepard had discovered her belongings not too far from the infirmary. After taking care of the door and the doctor -with some creative use of security mechs- she had looked up the location of her gear and tracked it to a locker. Her light-suit was gone, of course…they had cut it off of her to tend her wounds. Her sniper, pistol, dog-tags, katana, and boot-dagger were there, and she swiftly armed up.

Even with the weapons, however, she was in trouble. Thin scrubs were even less protection against bullets than light armor was. The first person she came upon that had an assault rifle would cut her in half, if she wasn't careful.

Fortunately, luck seemed to be on her side for once. The first guard she came to was a woman, not that much taller than she was. It took some doing to get her out of the picture but just minutes later Del was fully suited, helmeted, and ready to cause some serious damage.

The scrolling countdown still prevalent nearly everywhere she looked showed she had been unconscious for over two days. Less than two hours remained on the clock before the Arrival, and Miranda and Joker were probably going crazy on the Normandy.

They had no idea what her mission was or what was at stake, only that she had ordered them to remain in hidden solar orbit until she contacted them. With no timeframe given they would do as bid, though Del had no doubt that in another solar day, if that, Miranda would begin to look for her…orders be damned.

Right now, however, Shepard's priorities were clear. The Project may be ready to launch but Kenson and the staff here…now indoctrinated from their contact with Object Rho…would never initialize it. They wanted the Reapers to succeed, and they'd do everything they could to re-detain Shepard and make certain that happened.

Shepard had to get this rock moving. If the Reapers arrived and the relay was still whole, there would be no hope for the rest of the galaxy. As for Aratoht, there was still time to warn the colony if she could get a communications uplink…she doubted everyone could evacuate in time but at least a great deal of them could be saved.

If they listened.

Don't think like that. You have to try.

Almost forcibly shoving the lives at stake into the back of her head, Shepard started through the station. It did not take long before its occupants were aware she was awake and loose, though she had eliminated a great deal of their defenses already before she'd been taken down the first time. Still, she was battling for every hall, every room she passed through. Kenson's frantic orders and demands through the comm system were not helping matters.

When she saw the single guard outside a broom closet, of all things, she remembered the batarian boy they had brought along. Taking the guard out was easy, but when she opened the closet the sight that greeted her only furthered her fury.

Kelcik had visibly lost weight. His face seemed sunken, his skin ashen. His lips were dry and cracked, his eyes glazed. They hadn't bothered to give him any food or water since he'd been tossed into the tiny space, that much was clear. The furnace in her chest only stoked the hotter as she cursed and crouched down in front of him, taking his wrist and drawing it downward.

"Leave me alone," he mumbled miserably. "You did this…does it make you happy? Just let me die…"

"You're not dying today," she told him in a low, urgent voice. "I'm not leaving you here, Kelcik. On your feet."

Not leaving the boy a choice she bodily hauled him up, steadying him. He was weak, sick. If nothing else, she had to find some water for him soon.

He was a civvie, he was a batarian…he was ill and disoriented and probably didn't even know how to fire a gun. He would do nothing but slow her down, but Shepard was not going to leave him to die. She already had the blood of two young boys on her hands, she was not adding a third.

Let Kenson and her indoctrinated coterie throw all the flames of hell at them…Shepard would burn herself before she let Kelcik fall.