Shepard and Tali had just arrived back on the 27th level of the Zakera ward, ready to to head back to the Normandy. Garrus met up with them outside of C-Sec.

"Hey Garrus." Tali said greeting him.

"Tali, Shepard." Garrus acknowledged.

"Did you take care of the Krogan?" she asked.

"Yeah, Bailey sent a team to pick them up earlier. They won't be going anywhere for a while. It amazes me how many counts of murder a pair of Krogan can have." the turian replied.

"And Kolyat?" Tali asked.

"He's doing better, he only has a few more days of community service and training at the C-sec academy in his off time."

"I'm sure his father will be proud to hear that." said Tali.

Garrus felt something wash over him, the same presence he felt back on the Normandy a few hours earlier. He turned to look into the crowd of people walking around the 27th level and at the very back of the crowd, he saw the same figure staring at him from the center of the crowd, Saren. He stared back as if lost in a trance.

"Garrus? Is something wrong?" she asked with concern. Garrus continued to stare.

"Tali...do you see that?" she turned in the direction of his gaze.

"See what?" she questioned. Garrus turned to her then back the crowd. Saren had vanished.

"I'm—I think I'm..." he stammered. "Forget it..." Tali shrugged and walked Shepard back to the Normandy's docking bay. Garrus followed but not before looking back into the crowd one more time only to find that there was nothing there but the same large mass of people.

...

Zaeed was wide awake in his prison cell with the only thing going through his mind being all the different ways he could kill his former lover, Aranya. She sold him to the Blood Pack mercenaries ten years ago where he endured excruciating pain for an entire week in one of their torture chambers. He hated her almost as much as he hated Vido, and he was dead set on getting his revenge on the both of them. He caught sound of the cell door somewhere in the darkness opening once again and thought for sure it was the Eclipse coming to torture him to make him spill the beans of everything he knew about Shepard and his crew. However, his expectations were not met when a familiar Asari walked over and leaned in close to him. He looked at her with malevolence in his eyes. "Come to make me squeal eh? You'll be disappointed..." Aranya had a look of confusion on her face.

"Listen Zaeed... I've been given orders to terminate you." she said.

"Then what are you waiting for?" he retorted as she leaned in closer.

"I'm here to make you a deal... I'll help you escape, but you have to do me a favor in return."

He continued to give her a piercing glare. "Then hurry up and name it so I can refuse and spit in your face."

"You want Vido Santiago dead? Well so do I." His eyes widened in shock.

"I'll take that as a yes." she said as she began to untie him from the chair. As soon as his hands were free from the binds, he shot up from his chair and slammed her against the wall with his forearm crushing her neck.

"You really expect me to let bygones be bygones after what you pulled?" he said venomously. Aranya struggled to pull his arm away as she gasped for breath while trying to speak.

"Z—Zaeed, I can—I can help y-you get Vido!" He tightened his squeeze on her throat.

"What in blazes makes you think I'd want your help?"

"B-Because he b-betrayed us both!" he clenched his teeth and squeezed harder as he watched her eyes roll back into her head. Just before she passed out all together he released her, letting her slide down the wall to the ground coughing hard and clutching her throat while trying to catch her breath. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed her by the chin, lifting her head up so that she was looking straight at him.

"As soon as Vido is dead, your next! And if you get any ideas before than..." he knew he didn't have to finish his sentence. The pleading look in her eyes told him that she knew very well what he meant.

"So..." he said. "What's your big escape plan?"

...

Tali had left Shepard to rest in his cabin, hoping that a little shuteye might help his strained memory recovery. She wanted nothing more than to join him. To take off her mask, cuddle up to next to him, feel his arms around her waist and... No, that wasn't going to happen. Besides, with his memory suppressed, it would be incredibly awkward to make 'advances' at him. She thought some time down in engineering would take her mind off things. After all, it had been a couple of days since she tuned the drive-core, and she was worried that if she left things in Kenneth or Gabby's hands too long, something would be damaged beyond repair.

She stood at her usual station, scrolling through code after code and regulating any systems that seemed to be even the slightest bit inconsistent. She sighed trying to distract herself but her mind was on too many things at once. At least she had managed to help Shepard recall the day they met. Maybe there was still hope that he could be the old Shepard again. She dove into this chain of thought and let her nimble three-digit hands rest on the sides of the console as she stared down at the floor, wishing that everything would be back to the way it was before the whole Grunt business when something strange began to overcome her as the room fell silent. She turned to look over at Kenneth and Gabby who had vanished into thin air. She heard muffled footsteps that sounded more like deep drums to her ears and turned in the direction the sound was coming from; the hallway. She slowly exited engineering and stepped into the hallway to find that the footsteps suddenly stopped and turned towards the Port side cargo room door to see nothing. She then turned toward Zaeed's room as they had come to call it and suddenly felt her breathing quicken as she stared at the figure standing in front of starboard cargo.

"M...Mother?" A quarian women in a full enviro-suit watched her from the starboard cargo doors. She wore identical purple cloth around her suit with the exception of a slightly different swirl pattern.

"Mother!" she called out but her mother seemed to ignore her words and then turned and passed straight through the door.

"Mother wait!" She sprinted to the door and ran her hand across the holographic display letting her step through the door. But something was amiss. The room had changed. It was as if she had stepped into another ship. She looked around the room and recognized it as the infirmary of the Rayya where her mother had passed away from illness. She turned around and noticed that the door she walked through was gone, then turned back to the bed that was once empty. She saw her mother lying in it, her breathing was ragged and she was wheezing horribly. She knelt down beside the bed and held her mother's hand as she stared into her visor with tears forming on her face. She was re-living the day of her mother's death.

"Mother, it's alright, I'm here now..." Tali began to sob lightly as her mother lifted her head to look into her eyes then let it fall limp on the bed as she passed away.

"No, no, no! Mother you...y-you can't leave me again..." She squeezed her mother's hand tightly before suddenly she suddenly disappeared from the bed. Tali shot up and began to panic.

"Mother!" She looked around the room and finally found a door. She walked over to it and swung it open but what she saw next frightened her beyond reason. She gasped at the sight of Rael'Zorah, her father, who was standing in the middle of a large room that appeared to be the inside of a Flotilla vessel.

"Father?" He ignored her as she watched him activate his omni-tool and begin to speak. His word's echoed throughout the room.

"Tali if you are listening...then I am dead...the Geth have gone active, I don't have much time. The main hub will be on the bridge, you will need to destroy it to stop their VI processes from forming new neural links...Make sure Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen see the data...they must-" She watched silently in horror as two Geth burst through the door on the far side of the room.

"Father look out!" Rael turned to run as they began to fire on him and shook violently as the lasers pierced through his suit; his blood spraying from his wounds as his body fell limp to ground. The Geth vanished from sight and she ran over to her father's body; her eyes watering with tears as she did. She dropped to her knees over his body and sobbed heavily.

"No! Not again!" She placed her hand on his chest as she continued to cry. The remorse was unbearable. If death took her at that moment, she probably would have welcomed it. She suddenly noticed a glow coming from his wounds and his suit glowed with cracks of molten magma.

"HE...IS MINE!" A deep dark voice echoed through the room as she threw herself back and rose to her feet. The body of her father stood up; his suit becoming a charred color and his eyes glowing a bright yellow through his visor. The horrid form moved slowly towards her as she backed away.

"No...get away from me!" The figure grabbed her by the arms and began to shake her violently.

"YOU ARE ALL...MINE!" She closed her eyes and screamed in terror at the top of her lungs.

"Tali, Tali! Snap out of it!" She opened her eyes and found herself being held by her arms by a certain turian in blue armor. "Tali?" Garrus said with deep concern. She turned to the left and right a few times, gathering her surroundings as her nerves slowly calmed.

"G...Garrus?"

"Tali what's wrong? I came looking for you when I heard screaming." She stared at him blankly, trying to regain her composure.

"B-but mother, a-and father..." she stammered. Garrus suddenly had a realization.

"Tali...did you see something that wasn't there?" she looked down at the floor and then slowly back up at him as he looked around the room.

"Me, Joker, and now you?" he mumbled.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" she questioned. Garrus released his hold on her and stared at her with a fearful look.

"EDI...what's the status on that data?" he asked. EDI's holographic display lit up behind him.

"The Cerberus firewalls have been removed and the data is ready for viewing." the AI said in it's ever so emotionless voice.

"Upload it to the CIC, I'm on my way. Come on Tali."

"Garrus, what's wrong?" He was already calling the elevator when she spoke.

"Maybe nothing, maybe everything..."