The Normandy touched down at the STG base. Tali had the camera linger over the cockpit. Kaiden appeared on the pilot's video feed.

'Joker, why aren't we at the base?'

'We are, you aren't. You and Liara got dropped off, and we were summoned to the camp. They picked us up too late.'

'Alright, I'll be there shortly.'

Tali closed the feed.

"Alright crew, we don't have much time. Tali, can you hack the doors?"

"I already did."

"What!" bellowed Wrex. "All that yelling was for nothing!?"

"Calm down big guy, you're going out first. Tali, what about communications?"

"Cut them?"

Shepard nodded.

"On it."

"Okay. Once Tali is done with that, Wrex'll charge out, taking down any marines out there. Tali, you'll send out a combat drone. Garrus and I will hang back until we recover our weapons. Once we have them, it's a fight to the outside."

"One question."

"Vakarian?"

"What if Alenko arrives in the Mako?"

"The Ryncol is in the atmosphere, Tali got a call while you were sleeping. We just have to hope they get here before the Mako does. If it does, well, the Ryncol's got big guns."

Garrus nodded. Tali entered a code into her Omni-Tool, and closed it.

"All done. I'm the only one on the ship with any communications access."

"Okay. Everyone ready?"

The team nodded.

"Let's go.

Tali waved her Omni-Tool, opening the door. Wrex charged out, knocking down a guard. He caught his assault rifle, which had gone into the air, and shot down two more guards. Tali waved her Omni-Tool again, a floating, pink sphere appearing. It flew towards the group of marines in the cargo bay, shooting them down. Wrex knocked one marine adise, grabbing another by the neck, tossing him into a wall. Wrex turned, shooting down another two guards. Garrus, Tali, and Shepard all cautiously entered the cargo bay. Wrex stood over the marine's corpses, laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Freedom! I can taste it Shepard!"

"Yeah, just… don't pop a vein or anything."

The squad grabbed their weapons, and any armor they were missing. Wrex tossed the fallen marine's assault rifle aside, trading it for his shotgun. Tali had hacked into the elevator, taking it out of lockdown mode.

"It's Noveria all over again," said Garrus, checking his rifle.

"Except we have no advantages whatsoever."

"You have a Krogan, Shepard. That's all the advantage you'll ever need."

The elevator lurched upwards, eventually coming to a stop at the CIC. The doors slid open, and Wrex charged. The line of Alliance marines was broken, either being charged, shot, or blasted. Garrus and Shepard stood side by side, spraying fire across the ship. Wrex blasted away, never taking a second to breathe, knocking away marines with swipes of his arm whenever his gun overheated. Tali sent out a drone, sending off shots from her pistol whenever possible. Soon, the deck was clear.

"Nothing left now but a highly trained squad of Salarians," said Garrus.

"And a Mako."

"Lighten up. Bosh'tets."

Shepard could see movement coming from the pilot's seat.

"Don't move!"

"Hey, hey hey hey hey hey! I'm unarmed, okay? Just… I was just trying to get out."

"Don't worry, you will."

Shepard threw the pilot onto the ground. Wrex kept his shotgun trained on him. The STG squad all turned to face the team, who all had their weapons trained on them.

"What is this?!" shouted what seemed to be the squad's leader.

"This is an escape. I choose to drop the 'attempt' because our ship is right there-"

As if on cue, the Ryncol came down from the skies, landing close to Shepard.

"-and unless you plan on letting this man die, I suggest letting us board."

"You won't get away with this!"

"Too late."

Shepard grinned, quickly getting on board his ship, the rest of his team following close behind. The doors closed behind Shepard, who grinned, laughing.

"That was absolutely fantastic."

The captain walked towards the cockpit, and saw Dharos, giving as big a smile as a Batarian could.

"Good to see you Shepard."

"You too Dharos."

"You nearly gave the crew a heart attack."

"All of them? Shit, we're a hive mind now?"

"You know what I mean."

"Course I know what you mean. Set a course for the Citadel, we're all getting drinks."

Kaiden Alenko was, most definitely, not a happy man.

"Joker, can you hear me?"

"Of course I can hear you. They broke every bone in my body; the cartilage is fine."

"You aren't improving my mood."

"I'm trying my bes-ow!"

"I have to patch you up while Chakwas is recovering. Can't have you piloting with your knees broken."

"It's not like there's a pedal."

"You get my point. How did the prisoners escape, do you know?"

"Maybe it was because we used a storage closet as a prison?"

"I'm serious Joker."

"So am I. And lighten up, you weren't like this before Spectre-dom."

Kaiden looked Joker in the eye, giving him a glare, before returning to his casts. Assaulting Saren's base was going to be harder than ever.