Vido Santiago took a shuttle from his cruiser and landed in the hanger of his secret Blue Sun's base in the outskirts of Nos Atra. He had a smug look on his face the whole way. This was his chance to cripple Shepard where his true strength lie...in his team, and he knew Zaeed was among them. He would finally put another bullet in his face, only this time, he would make sure he took more than just an eye.

"You're a dead man Massani!"

The door slid into the wall as it opened allowing Vido to step into his personal quarters. He had one in each of his bases in the galaxy. Though this one wasn't as luxurious as some of the others. It was more like a small office than a comfortable quarters. He walked around the desk and took his seat. A large monitor screen was attached to the wall behind him. He flipped a panel up on the desk revealing a small console and tapped a few controls then spun his chair around to look at the monitor. The dark blue face of an Asari appeared on the screen. She was young for her status. Probably in her late maiden or early matron years and had a very beautiful face. She sported black face paint that took on a pattern that looked very much like a spider web. Her armor was also black with yellow stripes running up the chest plate and side ways around her waste. A certain logo could be seen on the shoulder guard identifying her as an Eclipse veteran.

He looked her over before locking eyes with her. " Aranya... Your looking good." he said with a grin.

The Eclipse veteran rolled her eyes back and glared at him. "Skip the pleasantries, Santiago. What do you want?"

Vido crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in his chair, keeping the sly look on his face. "Well Aranya-"

"Major Aranya." She interrupted. He grumbled to himself then continued.

"Major, it just so happens we have a certain opportunity to snag."

"We?" she said quizzically.

Vido took on a more serious tone. "When you hear what I have to propose, you won't refuse cooperating with me."

The Asari tilted her head to the right but kept her eyes fixed on the Blue Suns leader. "The last time I...'cooperated' with you, you tried to kill me!"

"Come on babe. You gotta put that past us. No hard feelings, it was just busine-"

"Cut to the chase Santiago!" She exclaimed. "Your bullshit is really starting to smell on this end!"

"Well since you asked so nicely..." Vido stood up from his chair and folded his hands behind his back. "Shepard's team just happens to be on vacation in Nos Astra all held up in a hotel. I was going to let you in on the take down, but if you'd rather whine about the little incident during your previous employment..."

Aranya shook her head and signed heavily. "What did you have in mind? His grin grew even wider.

"Now your talking. I'll fill you in on the attack plan once we're ready to move. But if you want in, you better assemble your troops quickly..."

"I'll have a platoon of my best ready in under an hour." She replied.

"Good, good. Then I'll see you and your..." Vido took moment to admire her figure, "assets real soon."

"The only asset you'll see is my foot up your ass, Santiago!" she retorted.

"That's my girl." he said as he terminated the transmission. Smiling, he sat back down in his chair. He had never been so excited before. To catch not only Shepard's team, but his nemesis Massani in one skirmish seemed like a gift from God. He turned his chair around and set his feet up on the desk. With one last laugh he whispered to himself.

"Zaeed... Were I a more compassionate man, I might have given you a quick a death..."

...

Tali sat down comfortably on the couch with Shepard right next to her. For a while she had been answering questions he asked about his life. She told him about him being a Spectre, the mission to defeat Saren, the reapers, and even the Collectors.

"So... How long have we known each other?" he asked.

"Two years. Well, two years for me. For you, less than a year. I mean..." Tali took on a depressing tone. "With your death and..." Shepard was almost shocked.

"I...died?"

"Yes, the Collectors attacked the first Normandy two years ago. Almost everyone made it out. But you..." Were he able to see through her visor he would have seen the single tear slide down her cheek.

Still confused, he questioned her claims. "But how am I here now?"

"Cerberus, a human extremist organization, recovered your body and spent 2 years rebuilding you." She lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. "And I'm glad they did..." Shepard began to felt sympathy for the young quarian girl, although, he still found it hard to believe he could love a quarian. Nonetheless, she was still a person just like everybody else.

"I imagine it was hard for you." he said softly.

"It was a very lonely two years. I missed you..." Tali replied. "When you came back into my life on Freedom's progress, I thought I was dreaming. It was too much of a good thing to be real." Tali got up from the couch and took a few steps away from him. "And then you... you almost died again 2 days ago. I-I thought I was going to lose you again..." She began to sob quietly. "And I was right."

Shepard watched as she covered her visor with her hands, sobbing where she stood. He felt embarrassed but managed to do the most decent thing he could think of at the moment. Straining to lift himself up off the couch, he walked over to her with a slight limp and placed his hand on her shoulder, doing his best to cheer her up. "I'm...I'm sorr-" She turned around before he could finish and embraced him tightly, taking by surprise. She continued to sob into his chest making him feel more sorry for her. He slowly brought his arms around her but before he could return the embrace she pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry." She sniffled. "I shouldn't have done that. I-I know I'm still a complete stranger to you but I just didn't know what else to do-" She began to wring her hands together. "a-and holding you always makes me feel better you know? I-I mean you don't know because of your amnesia b-but...oh Keelah... I'm rambling again..." Shepard chuckled to himself. Finding her rambling to be quite cute.

"What's so funny?" Tali asked.

"N-Nothing sorry." he said reaching to scratch the back of his neck with his cheeks burning red. Tali's mood slowly began to lighten up.

"Tell me." she said innocently.

"I...I just think your...kinda cute when you do that."

She giggled. "You always knew how to cheer me up... I guess you are in there somewhere..." Shepard felt a light throbbing in his head. Something flashed in his mind but again he couldn't decipher its meaning. Tali noticed him grab both sides of his head and clench his teeth.

"What's wrong?" She grabbed both sides of his waist to keep him from collapsing but he quickly regained composure.

"I don't know. I just keep getting these...these images in my head. But I don't know what they mean." Tali thought about it for a second. It seemed that whenever she talked about the two of them his brain would try to remember something but couldn't achieve the focus it needed. This gave her an idea.

"I think I know how to make you remember!" she said excitedly.

Shepard looked at her puzzled. "How?"

...

"What do you think Doctor?" Tali asked.

"Well, emotional memories tend to be more permanent than visual ones. Stimulating them could cause a spike in his memory." Chakwas replied.

Shepard stood by the door feeling, feeling excluded from the conversation. "What exactly are we going to do?" Tali turned towards him.

"Just trust me, I'm sure this will work." She activated her comm link. "Joker?"

"What's up Tali?" Joker cheerfully replied.

"Take us to the Citadel. I think I know a way to restore Shepard's memory."

"I'd be glad to follow that order, but your not exactly in charge, Missy." Joker replied sarcastically. Tali became annoyed and returned the sarcasm.

"OK then, how about I ease the symptoms of your disease by amputating your legs with my shotgun?" There was silence for a moment.

"Uh, setting course for the Citadel... Sheesh. Better make sure your CO2 tank is clean next time you put your suit on..." Joker grumbled.

"I heard that!" she retorted.

"Yeah, yeah, you got a shotgun I get it!"

...

It was dark by the time Vido had called a meeting between his forces and the Eclipse to discuss the plan of attack on the hotel where most of the Spectre's team was staying. Aranya sat in a hover car with 3 Asari commandos; her personal guard. Blue Suns troops were already waiting for them on the skyscraper of a tall building. She stared out the window to see two squads of troops. It looked like they were being lead by a batarian. The hover car landed softly on the roof. She hoped out first with her guards following and walked over to the Blue Suns lieutenant. She stood only a few meters before him and looked over his men.

"Where's Santiago?" she asked.

"Some place where you can't touch him!" the batarian retorted.

"Figures, I knew he didn't have the balls to meet with me face to face."

The Blue suns lieutenant raised an arm and pointed at her. "That mouth of yours is gonna get you killed one of these days! If I wasn't under orders, I'd be the one to zip up your body bag!" Aranya chuckled at his hollow threats and let him continue.

"Now to business..." the Batarian motioned to one of his troops to step forward. The human trooper did so and tapped his omni-tool which drew a large holographic layout between the two groups. The batarian stepped closer to the display and traced his finger along the layout of the hotel as he spoke.

"We've setup explosives at the base of the building here, here, and here. This will cut off all exits, trapping them like caged Varren. My men and I will repel via gunship on the east side of the building onto the 21st floor where their rooms are located. You'll enter the building before we set off the explosives and wait for the go on the 20th floor. I'll have a second squad infiltrating from the roof down to the 22nd floor. They'll have no way out. Any questions?"

"Hardly a difficult concept..." she said sarcastically.

"Just make sure your ready to move when I give the order! There's no room for fuck ups on this!" One of the Blue Suns troopers walked over to the batarian lieutenant and whispered something to him that Aranya couldn't make out.

"The last them were just seen entering the building, we move now."

...

Zaeed picked up his glass and downed the liquor in one swig. He was glad that the hotel was convenient enough to have a bar on the 2nd floor. He looked around the room, watching the many patrons sharing conversation and ordering drinks. The bartender appeared to be a young female turian, something he rarely saw outside of Palaven. He watched her as she simultaneously poured a few drinks and wiped down the counter.

"Huh..." he thought curiously. He continued to observe the bar, noticing all the waitresses moving from table to table, most of which were young Asari. Hearing a loud crash, he quickly turned to the table behind him. A tray with shattered glass all over it lay on the ground. An Asari stood with an expression of shock near a table where a turian stood.

"The fuck!" The turian yelled.

"I-I'm so sorry sir! I'll get you another one right away!" The male turian, clearly drunk, rose from his seat, struggling to keep his balance.

"You think I come in here to pay good money for drinks just so a clumsy bitch like you can throw it all over the floor!" he yelled slurring his speech. He then harshly grabbed the young Asari's by the arm.

"S-Sir please! You're hurting me!" she screamed. Zaeed continued to observe hoping the bouncer would intervene but he was no where in sight and the rest of the bar seemed to ignore the situation. He sighed heavily then rose from his seat and walked over to the two.

"I believe the dame said she was sorry. I'd take your scaly hand off that delicate arm of hers if I were you." he said glaring angrily at the turian. The turian turned to him.

"And what if I'm not the in mood to let this bitch off the hook?" said the drunk turian still slurring his speech. Zaeed smiled.

"Then I'll break your arm, drag you across that table right there, kick you in the face," Zaeed pointed to a window at the back of the bar. "And throw you out that window." The turian stood silent for a moment then laughed hysterically.

"I'd like to see you tr-" His words were cut short when Zaeed grabbed the arm he used to hold the Asari by the arm and twisted it behind his back snapping the bone in two. Zaeed then used his other arm to grab him by the neck and dragged him across a long table in the center of the room then threw him on the ground, kicked him in the face as hard as he could, lifted him over his shoulder, walked over to the window and threw him straight through the glass window. Zaeed peered out the window to watch the turian land in a dumpster, cringing in pain. He had almost hoped the fall would kill the drunk but settled for a broken arm, fractured jaw, and lacerations from the glass

He wiped his hands together and then turned around to see the entire bar staring at him. For a moment the room was silent before the patrons and waitresses went back to their business. He proceeded to walk past the counter speaking to the female turian bartender as he did.

"Sorry bout' the mess love, put it on my tab." The bartender watched him walk past her and shrugged. The Asari waitress he had helped never moved from where she stood, her mouth hanging wide open.

"Um... Thank you!" She yelled to him. Before he rounded the corner to leave the bar he turned to her and smirked, bringing a smile to her face, then walked to the nearest elevator and stepped in, pushing the button for the 21st floor to return to his room. On the way up he began to think about the Asari he had just helped. Her face reminded him of an Asari girlfriend of his. That is, before she sold him out to the Blood Pack and put a sour on their relationship. He wondered what happened to her after that but above all, hoped sh had died a horrible death. He finally reached the 21st floor and walked down the hall nad into his room. Feeling a little tipsy from his drinks, hw walked over to his bed and plopped down on it without even bothering to take off his armor. Suddenly he felt the building shake and he shot up.

"What the devil?" he said to himself. He began to hear the humming of engines and turned to his window. A gunship hovered up to it and fired a missile through the glass at him. He stood motionless with his eyes nearly bulging out of his face as he watched the rocket fly at him.