"Arriving at Xawin in four minutes, Tali."

"Thank you, Joker," Tali said into her comm as she walked along the floor of the shuttle bay. Garrus and Liara were checking weapons over by the small armory that was still in place, making sure that they would be adequately equipped before heading out, so Tali decided to head over there first.

Tali grabbed a bandolier of spare thermal clips and slung them over her shoulder. Garrus slid his sniper rifle into the holster on his back and Liara slammed two submachine guns down at her sides. Each one of them took a handful of grenades and hooked them around their ammo belts.

The armory contained a few extra goodies that they had left behind since the war. Tali attached a black gauntlet around her left arm while Liara put on an extra suit of armor that she had worn during the Thessia campaign that had been left in storage this whole time. Garrus did not change his protection, but swapped out his eyepiece for a red-tinted tactical one. All of them now looked like they were ready to wage war.

"Just dropped out of FTL, guys," Joker's voice said through the intercom. "ETA to target area is five point three minutes. Suggest you all bundle up because it looks quite cold down there."

"Wonderful," Garrus groused. "First intergalactic mission in three years and we happen to travel to a planet that is not really conducive to turians, climate-wise. Who enjoys the cold, seriously?"

"It does make this place better hidden," Liara offered. "A nice hideout well away from a populated city, one that is dominated by inhabitants that are quite aggressive, and a deterring climate are all perfect reasons why Xawin would have been used as a base. We've been here once, Garrus, remember?"

"I didn't go," he corrected. "Shepard took you and Wrex down there because I was adamant against slogging through the snow and freezing my ass off."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that."

"We can discuss this later," Tali interrupted as she turned to face the two of them. "Right now, we need to focus on getting down to that planet quickly. The more time we waste, the more John remains in danger. We can't afford one second of hesitation, not with John in Grevel's hands!"

"Tali…" Liara began, "Don't you think that you should start to consider the possibility that everything isn't okay? I mean, what if Shepard is…is really…"

Tali's fierce gaze was hardened as if she was forged from steel. Liara was taken aback at the pure ruthlessness that those eyes fired towards her. Instead of an outburst, Tali's voice was low and quiet. "If you were this close to him, could you bring yourself to believe such a thing, Liara?"

The asari remained silent, which allowed Tali to make the next move as she tapped on a control panel for the hangar machinery. With a whirring of gears and the groaning of hydraulics, the nearby crane shifted and pulled up a huge object along with it. As soon as it positioned itself over the clear center strip, the crane released its cargo and it crashed down to the ground with a heavy thump, but the shock absorbers lessened the severe impact, causing it to bounce on its six wheels.

"Everyone get in," Tali ordered as she gestured to the Mako behind her. "I'm driving."

Immediately, Garrus let out a disbelieving laugh that sounded a lot like a punctured tire, the pitch gradually getting higher and higher. Sensing that Tali was one hundred percent serious, though, Garrus quickly strangled his laugh and straightened, but not before Tali rounded on him.

"Is something funny, Garrus?" There was no humor in her tone.

"No…it's just…" he gestured as he fruitlessly tried to find the right words but ended up admitting defeat very quickly. "I really hated riding in the Mako and I was figuring that we would take the shuttle to get there…"

Tali gave out an explosive sigh as she tilted her head upward. "Stop your whining, Garrus! Are you seriously going to argue over transport before we even get down there?"

"I just have bad memories of the experience, is all."

"You're going to have worse memories in a moment if we don't act quickly. Anything else you want to add before we get out? No more stupid comments from you?"

"You sure you don't want to take the Hammerhead instead?" Garrus said despite the danger. "It's way more comfortable than the-"

Completely indignant, Tali rushed forward gave Garrus a shove so hard that his back bounced off the far weapons rack. His foot caught on a dislodged pistol and he fell on his tailbone, bouncing on it uncomfortably. Liara opened her mouth in shock and Tali rushed forward as she now towered over the stunned turian.

"Listen, Garrus!" Tali raged, "I don't give a damn if your backside is going to hurt from sitting in that thing! All I care about is getting John out of there alive and to do that, we need to use a transport that won't blow up from less than five seconds of sustained gunfire! I know what it is we're dealing with because I lived it and we need to have all of the available firepower on our side in order to do this. No more excuses, Garrus, so all I want to see is your ass getting in that tank right now!"

Garrus' mandibles were wide in astonishment at the completely livid quarian standing over him. With a shaking hand, he gradually eased himself up and managed a slow nod as he edged around Tali and walked over to the Mako. Tali didn't watch him leave, but instead continued to stare at the wall for a few extra seconds before she leaned against the nearby desk as she suddenly felt faint.

Her arms held her upper torso up as she hung her head down for a brief moment. Tali could feel a few tears start to trickle down her cheeks and she whimpered in frustration. She was faltering at a critical time and her complete lack of control was so discouraging to her that her legs wobbled as they considered giving out right there.

However, she felt a light touch on her back as Liara stepped up to put an arm around her. "What am I doing, Liara?" she whispered helplessly. "I've been lashing out at my friends when I should have been saving it for…for Grevel. Why…why can't I control myself now?"

"It's natural, Tali," Liara soothed. "We all understand, even Garrus does too. We both know how much you're hurting for Shepard, what that desire is doing to you."

"I'm…I'm becoming a monster, Liara. Just like her…"

"Stop that, Tali," Liara said harshly. "You are nothing like Grevel. Nothing. You have lived a fuller life than that pathetic woman. You have friends and people who love you. What does she have? Just a flimsy copy of you that is incapable of matching the potential of its genetic host. You can't let her get to you, Tali. Not now…not now."

"What if…what if I can't help myself? What if I'm too scared to face her again?"

The hand slowly wrapped around Tali in a one-armed hug. Liara leaned her head on the quarian's shoulder, finding a surprisingly strong support embedded there. "You just have to think about something else, Tali. You have to focus on finding the one thing that has motivated you this whole time and you think of that one thing, no matter what! What will you think of, Tali?"

Liara could feel the muscles in Tali's arms tense as they relayed to her the status of deep thought that the quarian was going through. It didn't take long for her to come up with an answer, but her voice was so quiet that Liara barely caught it.

"John…" Tali whispered, lips trembling. "I…I want John." She turned in Liara's direction, watching her give a friendly smile as her desires caused everything else to evaporate in front of her. "I'll…I'll think of John. I l-love him, Liara."

Liara beamed as Tali slowly lifted her head back up. "And that's why you're going to succeed. Because you have a greater reason to win than she does. Grevel's doing this for nothing while you're doing this for everything. You're doing this for Shepard."

Tali was silent but it was very obvious that she was smiling now, fueled by Liara's gentle words. Tali pushed off the table so that she was standing back up, but with a slower pace that indicated her strengthened attitude and resolve.

"Thank you, Liara," Tali sighed in relief. "Just…thank you."

"Don't mention it. But, since Garrus has been waiting all this time in the Mako," Liara gestured towards the enormous tank still idling in the middle of the hangar. "What do you say that we take it out for a spin and kill that bitch once and for all?"

Tali laughed, her gaze quickly lowering in determination as her shaky voice ironed out. "You read my mind, Liara. Now, if you don't mind, I think that I'll be the one driving today."

As far as sleeping arrangements went, this had to rank up in the top ten of his life. The soft satin sheets snuggled around him as if they were all intent on smothering him with their billowiness. The contrast in temperature between the bed and the surrounding room was at just the right level that he didn't feel like getting out of bed entirely. That caused some sort of paralytic state to activate within him, perfectly content in his current position with no overwhelming desire to as so much as twitch a finger.

Shame too, because his internal clock told him that he would have to wake up in a few minutes anyway. Usually when he was coming out of a deep sleep, his alarm would dutifully broadcast its wailing note and cause him to break his mini-coma in order to deactivate the damn thing. The admiral of the Normandy always has to be punctual in order to meet the demands of the day and the alarm was the ultimate dictator.

But there was something within that told him not to let himself be controlled by a rousing noise. He was way too comfortable and too tired to let his morning be ruined at the outset. No, he would take care of this problem now and maybe work to catch at least a half an hour more of rest. Hopefully no one would notice his absence in that time.

With a groan, he reached out to brush his fingers along the alarm system on the nightstand, but he only groped at an empty surface. No matter how much he fumbled, he was unable to locate the blasted thing. It could likely go off at any moment so perhaps this was a job that required eyesight to perform properly. That was definitely an impediment towards progress overall.

Even with his blurry vision as he pried his head from the pillow, he could see that he was certainly not in his cabin. It took him a few heartbeats to realize that the unfamiliar settings strangely looked like his apartment back on the Citadel. Exactly how this came to pass was odd, for he had no recollection of getting back here in the first place. He should be on the Normandy, shouldn't he? If so, then how the hell did he even get here?

He shrugged and flopped down onto the comfy bed in relief, his conflicted thoughts vanishing suspiciously but he paid them no mind. No alarm meant that he could sleep in a little more at least. Apparently good things had the tremendous fortune to happen to good people sometimes.

About to close his eyes, he was gazing at a serene watercolor painting on the far wall when he felt the light touch of fingers gently slide across the muscles on his back. Startled, he rolled over to find the other side of the bed occupied, the individual in question sharing a sleepy smile at his confusion.

"You woke up early too?" Tali asked as she ran a hand along his scruffy cheek. "I do that a lot now."

Tali was, for some odd reason, out of her suit but the covers were pulled over her chest as they lay together in bed. It really wouldn't take a stretch of the imagination to figure out if she was wearing any additional articles underneath the covers, but that was hardly a point to focus on at the moment.

"It's a habit I haven't been able to break yet, I guess," Shepard found himself saying automatically, nonplussed but still adhering to manners by responding to her query politely.

Tali giggled at him, her features sparkling. Her hair was all bunched up, messy from tossing and turning last night. Her genuine smile seemed to feed a fire inside him because Shepard could view with absolute certainty that Tali was happy right in front of him. Her joy certainly was contagious, bless her.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" he asked out loud as he propped his head up with his hand. "There's just no explanation for how this could be possible."

Tali frowned but mimicked his movements, brushing a three fingered hand over his chest, ticking Shepard. She didn't answer verbally but gave a solemn nod in confirmation. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No," Shepard smiled as he drew Tali closer to him. The warmth that their bodies shared was the kind of heat that managed to be rejuvenating but not overbearing. The feel of her smooth skin against his certainly was an added bonus as well. "There are many worse things to dream about."

"Good," Tali whispered as she snuggled her head under Shepard's chin. "I'd hate for you to be uncomfortable, John."

"It does beat the real world," he admitted as he twitched his toes on his right foot, the memories beginning to flow back to him. "Over there I figure I'm hurting quite a bit."

"But not for long," Tali whispered, her eyes closed as she melded to Shepard, who began to rub at her scalp. "I haven't given up yet, John."

"What are you saying, Tali?"

She raised her head and tipped her lips up in the kind of smile that implied a hidden secret shared between two dear friends. "I'm saying that I'm coming for you. I'm close by as we speak."

"But how can you tell me this?" Shepard grasped as he tried to reason with the logic. "If this is really in my head, then how is it that you can be so certain of what 'you're' really doing?"

"Because," she whispered as she gently planted a kiss on Shepard's shaking lips, "we both promised a long time ago to come back to the other, no matter what. I know for a fact that 'I' will never break that promise. You'd have to kill me to ensure that that never happens."

"But that's what I'm worried about, Tali," Shepard pleaded. "If you're that willing to die for me, then how could I live with myself if you do end up getting killed? How can you rationalize potentially trading your life for nothing?"

"I tend not to think about those details too much," Tali shrugged impassively. "But you've forgotten that I've always been willing to die for you, because you are totally worth it."

Shepard gave his broadest smile as he patted Tali lightly on the cheek in pride. Tali held his hand there as she soaked up the feel of his calloused palm on her delicate skin, making a tiny moan as she closed her eyes in bliss. Opening them again, Shepard stared deep into the glowing white pools as Tali slowly wrapped her arms around him in a gently hug, exposing her bare back as the sheets slid off her body. Shepard clutched her close, feeling her ribs rise and fall with her deep breathing.

Her long hair tickling the side of his head, he could feel her breath in his ear as she gave her softest whisper yet. "Live, John. Fight for me. I'm coming back to you. Live."

"I will, Tali," he promised as his skin began to prickle with discomfort. "I will."

In a flash, the warm sensation of the bed vanished, replaced by a jutting pain as his back arched achingly on a long table. The warm glow from his bedroom was drowned out by the glaring light perched annoyingly overhead, bathing his face in white. He couldn't throw up a hand to protect his eyes because they were still cuffed down, the orange glow from the omni-cuffs denoting their strength.

The last smile of Tali engrained in his mind, she vanished from sight in the blink of an eye, replacing her warmth with a sudden chill. He thrashed on the table, looking around at the bare room that held him, trying to make sense of his bearings.

Sleep, or rather the period in which he had remained unconscious, had been so comfortable that it felt like it saved his life. He simultaneously felt rested from the reprieve but disappointed that the experience had to end so soon. Doubly disappointing was the fact that he woke up neither on the Normandy or in his apartment, but in this foreign place that reminded him of a disused hospital, the bright white walls giving an unearthly glare.

Shepard tried to move his feet but he roared out as his right leg, still broken, flared from the sudden movement, causing Shepard to nearly bite through his lip for the pain was so intense. He could feel the snapped bone grate around inside his leg, the sensation like thousands of pins and needles had been callously shoved in and shaken around so that each movement would produce feeling akin to being stabbed with a giant stake.

Willing his leg to remain still and with sweat beginning to pour down his forehead, Shepard had no choice but to look up at the drab ceiling and hope that his dreams (or hallucinations) had close ties with reality.

But, since he currently found himself lacking with anyone to interact with except his agony, all he could think to do at the moment was to lie unmoving, taking the time to curse intermittently when his leg would flicker a burst of irritation from his nerves.

Praying that mercy was near, Shepard focused his mind on Tali, replaying in his head his happiest memories of her while he waited.

Down the hall, the room was just as drab as the one Shepard was currently encased in, aside from the fact that a simple desk and chair had been set up in the middle. The first thing the trooper saw as he entered was Grevel sitting behind the desk with the quarian clone skulking at the side. He paid the quarian no mind as he focused on delivering his report to the one who cut his checks every month.

"Commander," the trooper offered as he entered. "We've picked up an unidentified object passing through the atmosphere. We're reading no HE signs but the electromagnetic sensors are showing the outline of the Normandy, Admiral Shepard's vessel."

Grevel gave a curt nod as she considered the news. "Hm, that was quick of them. Is that all?"

"It appears to be making an insertion drop. Squad Four has reported the possibility of a Mako class assault vehicle being deposited on the ground. It would be too risky for them to make the trek in a shuttle."

"So it seems they're bringing out the extra firepower while negating our anti-air defenses," Grevel mused. "Well, we can answer that call. Give orders to Squads One through Six and tell them to find that transport and disable it. Better yet, send out the Hammerhead to assist."

"Is that wise?" the clone spoke out, causing the trooper to look at her in confusion while Grevel whirled in her seat. "You're just going to leave the base relatively unprotected if you-"

"Enough," Grevel hissed, using her hand to signal a cutoff. To the trooper, she turned back, her tone low and shaking. "You have your orders, Lieutenant. Oh, and make sure you try to bring the intruders back alive. If not, make sure their corpses are reasonably presentable. I can't do much with distributed bits."

The trooper muttered, "Commander," as he departed, leaving Grevel alone with the clone again.

"Tell me," Grevel said dangerously as she slowly began to stand up from her chair while adjusting her coat. "What possessed you to question my orders so blatantly when there were subordinates within clear earshot?"

"You just ordered almost all of the troops out of the base, leaving only a handful behind to protect this place!" the clone said in horror. "What if they fail to stop them from reaching here?"

"It's not a question of 'if,'" Grevel said evenly. "But a question of 'when.'"

The clone seemed to be rooted to the spot from the amount of confusion pressing down on her shoulders. Grevel's confident body language was not disguised in any manner and the clone could see the intonations very clearly. "You know…" she said quietly. "You know that the squads are incapable of terminating Tali'Zorah and her allies but you ordered them out anyway?"

"They will all just get in my way otherwise. But the three of them, Zorah, T'Soni, and Vakarian certainly deduced our location quite rapidly. They certainly are nothing if not tenacious. How amusing."

"You knew about Vakarian too?" the clone screamed. "I thought you had a plan to contain him back in the Archives, to make him separated from everyone else so that there would be no possibility of a rescue!"

Grevel shrugged. "If I had done that, then how would have Tali'Zorah and T'Soni have managed to escape? How else could they have freed themselves from the impenetrable prison I locked them in?"

"You…intentionally let them go?"

"I needed for them to hit a roadblock," Grevel explained. "The Archive container was strong enough to keep them occupied for a short time. I was counting on Vakarian to stumble across the open console that would release them while we made our escape. It gave us a head start to get set up in this place, but I'm impressed at how quickly they've met all of the challenges thrown at them. It was all part of the hope that I allowed them to feel. Now that they have the illusion that they are free, all of them will come here of their own accord which will serve as the backdrop to their demise."

"I just don't understand at how stupid all this sounds," the clone spat bitterly.

"What?" Grevel spoke softly, the red diodes on her mask brimming with fury, threatening to burst out of the glass.

"You had a chance to kill Zorah and T'Soni, yet you didn't. You've had Shepard in your custody for hours, yet he's still not dead. You may be using all of this as some elaborate scheme to bait everyone into fighting you but all I see is someone so obsessed with revenge that they're ignoring all the logic that has been shoved in front of their face! You just can't stand the idea of losing that you're intentionally savoring the feeling of superiority that it has gotten to your head, you idiot! Why haven't-"

The blow was delivered so quick that the clone did not even have time to blink. The quarian suddenly found herself on the floor, the taste of blood in her mouth. The side of her head hurt where the armored fist had impacted and she gingerly rubbed at the spot, feeling the indentation that the knuckles had made.

The clone noted that there were no breaches at the moment, but there was the faint hint of a crack in the lower right side of her visor, a hairline fracture. Blinking the stars out of her vision, she struggled to get back to her feet but Grevel knelt down and shoved the clone's shoulders back down to the floor.

"I never expected you to understand my reasoning," Grevel growled, the mandibles of the mask rising and falling with her words, "seeing that you've never had to withstand the trials that I endured. But the fact that you could suggest that I'm emotionally impaired, from Shepard and Tali'Zorah, is bullshit. Coming from you, it's insulting, seeing that you were designed to be emotionally impaired. You are a broken excuse for a person, no better than a bastard."

Grevel tilted her head and the mask's mandibles parted in a grin. "No," she seethed. "You don't even qualify as a bastard. You are no one's child. You are the product of test tubes, an abomination created from science. Not only that, but you are not supposed to be capable of such rebellious thoughts. You were not created to dissent with my orders, you were created to comply with them. Disagreeing with your maker is grounds for termination in my book, but you still have some use left in you. I think I'll make the most of it."

The clone struggled in Grevel's grip as she fought to rise but Grevel grabbed the quarian's head and slammed on the concrete, stunning her. "I had hoped not to use this," Grevel sighed, "but you have developed far beyond my initial parameters. If you will only continue to be argumentative and not a loyal soldier, then I believe that it's time to evoke the Eidolon Regulation."

The clone grunted as she bucked her hips but Grevel planted a knee on her stomach and drove it down forcefully, knocking the air out of the quarian's lungs.

"The Regulation is a hidden process that I convinced the Broker to implement," Grevel explained as the clone wheezed in pain. "When we have the ability to create life with our own hands, we can shape it however we like. In your state, you are merely a tool, a computer that is waiting for the next command. The product of your brainwashing will soon become apparent, I'm afraid. You will still remember events from the past, but your entire personality will essentially be wiped out. You will effectively be erased."

"No!" the clone yelled, muffled as she continued to writhe in Grevel's grip. "No, no, no!"

"ID nine-nine-five-two-five," Grevel said patiently, looking at the clone's eyes without care or mercy. "Passphrase: 'She was all I had.' Code word: BLACKBURN. Acknowledge input and reset."

The clone began to scream but it quickly died off as the quarian's voice trailed off unexpectedly. The warbling cry seemingly got lost in her throat but she did not make a sound afterward. Ceasing her struggling, Grevel smiled and allowed the clone to stand after releasing it, waiting for a chance for interaction.

The clone's eyes were blank vessels behind the dark red visor and Grevel could see them poring over the room that they were standing in. The quarian held one of her arms as if she was wounded and her movements were sluggish like she had gotten roused from a long nap. Finally, the clone seemed to notice Grevel standing in front of her and fought to make her body seem as rigid as physically possible.

"Commander Grevel," the clone dipped her head politely. "I apologize for any problems I might have caused in the past. I am here to serve you, as requested. What will you have me do?"

Grevel was completely satisfied at the reactions the clone gave out and surprised at how quick it took for the change to implement itself. No backtalk, no insubordinate attitude, and no recollection of her past behavior. Just a prompt and eager query to please her master. The spoken commands had worked to perfection. I should've done this a long time ago, she thought.

"Go to Shepard's cell and guard him with your life," Grevel said, not wasting any time with formalities. "He should be conscious by now and he will be the target for the enemies currently approaching."

"Understood," the clone said without hesitation and it walked out of the room without the need for it to be prompted any further, only focused on accomplishing the task that had been set specifically for her.

Grevel just smiled, allowing the hiss of her breath out of her mask's filters to reveal her true emotional status. She turned out of the room after the clone and hastened down the hall. She had the nagging feeling that she should taunt Shepard some more before she headed out, but felt that the time was not yet right. She needed to get into position as soon as possible, so she took the opposite direction down the hall and tugged at the corners of her coat in anticipation.

Playing over all of the possible future scenarios in her head, Grevel's mood got brighter as she headed across the metal gantries to the hatch on the far side of the hallway.

The brief rush of zero gravity was familiar yet still terrifying. As soon as all six wheels rolled off the ramp and out into the open air, everyone's heart rates spiked simultaneously.

To their credit, no one made a peep the ride down, despite the fact that Garrus' jaw was clenched so tightly that his teeth seemed like they were about to crack apart. Each person was holding onto their safety straps firmly, still not being able to shake the slim possibility that the automated thrusters would fail to activate in time, thus dispersing the Mako and its passengers in a rather fiery mess on the ground. Despite having done this a dozen times in the past, the thought that their luck could run out at any moment was front and center in their mind. Experience had not been able to trump misgivings in this case.

Fortunately, the kick of the thrusters engaged after ten seconds of falling, producing a silent sigh of relief. Now that their velocity was slowing, Tali grabbed at the controls and angled the Mako so that the impact's severity could be lessened. Reading the instrumentation, she adjusted the thruster power levels until it was at the correct orientation for the level ground below.

With a series of thumps and one huge lurch, the Mako landed, its tires immediately sinking into the powdery snow as the wind blew around them.

"All right," Tali breathed out. "Good landing."

"Glad that's over with," Garrus grumbled as he maneuvered over to the turret controls. "Just find me something to shoot so that I can forget that I'm stuffed inside a tin box."

"I have it worse," Liara offered. "I'm stuck in this box with you."

That produced a round of chuckles in the Mako and even Tali laughed a bit. All of them adjusted themselves so that they were properly settled in their seats, finding the nostalgia return just as uncomfortably as before.

Tali had re-familiarized herself with the controls back on the Normandy and gingerly depressed the gas pedal, causing the tires to spin uselessly in the snow for a second until they found purchase, allowing the tank to drive off. She grasped at the steering wheel, fiddling with it for a second before she got used to the handling of the enormous vehicle.

Xawin was not exactly a good looking planet. In terms of its livability, it might even have cracked the top half of all the places in the galaxy, but that still did not mean that it was downright depressing outside. Snow covered everything in sight, dark clouds surrounded the sky, and if it weren't for the enhanced VL sensors the Mako came equipped with, the raging snowstorm outside would have rendered further progression impossible due to the intensity of the slush raining down.

Garrus peered through his instruments at the wasteland before him. "Cold and desolate," he confirmed. "It looked like a snowy rock from space and it looks like a snowy rock from the surface. Go figure."

"I will admit," Liara said, "that it looks exactly like the same place as- oof!"

"Sorry!" Tali said as the Mako lurched to the side. "Didn't know there was a rock buried underneath that snowdrift."

"As I was saying," Liara glared, "Xawin doesn't really seem to have much variation as the other part of the planet I visited with Shepard. Snow, hills, dark lighting, it all looks the same."

With fewer errors, Tali drove the Mako around the curve of a hill, preferring to keep the tank on leveler ground rather than hoof it over slopes. She had learned long ago that although the Mako was designed to tackle mountains with its vertically aligned mass effect fields, that did not necessarily mean that the occupants were designed to ride it out comfortably.

On the navigation screen, satellite courtesy of the Normandy, the marker denoting the destination of Grevel's ship lay pinpointed directly in front of them. Joker had deposited them only fifty kilometers away so if Tali maintained their speed of 100, then they should reach the place where Shepard was being held in half an hour.

Score one for Citadel mandated ship records.

"Why do you think that Grevel wanted to come here?" Tali asked Liara as she sped the Mako down a shallow hill. "Doesn't seem to be much on this planet that could entice anyone to live in this forsaken place."

"Most likely she's using a Broker base," Liara guessed. "The old Broker was clever enough not to put everything he knew on electronic databases. I surmise that he took a bunch of secrets to the grave as he probably set aside plans that he didn't want anyone else to interfere with."

"Meaning you."

"Probably," Liara agreed. "But Xawin was probably chosen because of the climate being a deterrent, but also there are several cobalt and copper veins that could provide a healthy source of income for any prospecting individuals in the area. So it has the resources to keep a potential base operating here."

"Lucky us," Garrus grumbled as he jolted in his seat. "Because we're about to see what that income has bought close up. I've spotted at least five tango squads setting up emplacements on the ridge above us. Twenty degrees at eleven!"

Tali angled the Mako so that the forward cameras could pick up what Garrus was referring to. Sure enough, on the display screen, around twenty individuals were placing down turrets and maneuvering themselves into foxholes that had already been dug. Using the high ground to their advantage, the mercenaries began to open fire, unloading their weapons on the machine a quarter of a mile down the hill.

"We're taking fire," Tali said calmly, instinctively glancing at the shield readout. It barely registered the small arms fire and the armor had not registered any breaches. So far, so good. "Garrus, can you hit any of them from this angle?"

Garrus swiveled the turret and pulled the trigger but the machine gun only raked the edge of the cliff, unable to hit the soldiers after they had backed out of eyesight. Puffs of snow and bits of dirt flew in the air, gently tumbling down the slope to rest in the powder.

"That's a solid 'no' on that, Tali," Garrus sighed. "Won't be able to get them from our position."

"Topography shows a gentler incline on the opposite side of the ridge," Liara indicated on the map. "If you want to engage, we'll stand a better chance if we go around that way."

"No point in being suicidal yet," Tali grimaced as she yanked the wheel to the left, turning the axle in the indicated direction. Tires squealing, the Mako jumped at full speed, racing across the snow and leaving huge gouges in the ground from her aggressive driving.

"Got heavies lining the ridge," Garrus warned. A moment later a thump echoed through the cabin, nothing too debilitating but noticeable nonetheless. "They're firing rockets at us."

"I noticed," Tali said dryly as she swerved to avoid another volley.

Red streaks passed them by, angled steep from the difference in elevation. One rocket found the ground in front of them and detonated, sending up a plume of smoke. Determined, Tali did not slow her charge and the Mako leapt through the smoking crater unharmed.

"You sure you can't do something about them?" she yelled toward Garrus.

"Working on it," he answered. Garrus steadied his hands as the reticle hovered over an individual. Easier said than done, especially when the attached gun was moving in a perpendicular direction relative to the target. Regardless, Garrus breathed in and squeezed the trigger.

The heavy on the ridge exploded in a cloud of blood, torn apart from the heavy rounds. Quickly, Garrus swerved the turret to the right, hoping to catch his cohorts before they dove back to cover. The bullets continued to hit their mark as another was bisected from the fire and a final soldier's leg was blown clean off as a low round passed through his body. To add insult to injury, the new amputee lost his balance and toppled the wrong way down the cliff. Blood and pieces of armor were flung into the air as he tumbled helplessly down the slope, finally coming to rest ten seconds later, albeit knocked unconscious and bleeding to death.

"Heavies are taken care of," Garrus reported.

"Time to go on the offensive," Tali growled as she yanked the steering to the right, roaring the Mako up the slope. It tackled the increased gradient with ease and most of the troops on top of the ridge had not properly relocated in time to meet the new challenger, allowing the vehicle's journey to go on unmolested.

With a screaming of tires, the velocity of the Mako propelled it into the air as it reached the lip, momentarily airborne. Following the laws of gravity to the letter (despite the gravity being lesser than normal on Xawin) the Mako crashed down hard and one of its tires smashed into a foxhole, crushing the three soldiers who had taken refuge there into a paste.

"Now we're talking!" Garrus crowed as he went to town with the guns. Now that he had more room to play with, Garrus switched to the 155 mm cannon and fired on the nearest grouping of enemies. A crater formed on the hill from the force of the explosion and five bodies vanished in a burst of flame, disintegrated from the blast.

Gleeful and oblivious to danger, Garrus rotated the turret as Tali kept the vehicle moving to lessen their chances of getting hit. He fired again and more bodies were ripped apart from the intense shockwave, spraying the pristine white snow with red. While the cannon was reloading, Garrus used the machine gun in the interim, watching as a man jerked from the ten slugs tearing their way through his body. Carnage and the stink of blood erupted on all sides, but the occupants inhabiting the Mako carried on impassively, desensitized to the violence.

Tali was driving like a madman. She swerved around a grenade a soldier had thrown in the Mako's direction, using the new diversion to run him over casually. The enormous tires crushed the man's bones, snapping him beyond repair. She did this to the other soldiers that Garrus was not able to hit with the turret, either running them down or hitting them with the jutting bumper. At her speed, even a light hit resulted in something being broken and in no time, the hill was quiet.

The peace would not last for very long, though. "Got a new target!" Liara shouted. "Approaching fast, definitely a vehicle."

Liara's warning almost came too late for the laser detection array squealed an alarm, indicating that something had locked onto them. With a curse, Tali rammed her foot down on the gas and shot the Mako off the far cliff into the valley below. An instant later, an explosion shook the space the tank had just occupied seconds before, causing warmth to bloom in the frozen desert.

"Where is he?!" Tali shouted as she remained fixated on the path in front of her. She made tiny adjustments to the steering wheel, accounting for enemy fire to be upon them at any second.

"Behind us at two hundred meters! Garrus, do you see him?"

"No! I can't see crap in this- wait, I've got him on thermals! Hammerhead on fast approach! He's opening fire!"

The Hammerhead was one of the many attack vehicles favored by military personnel across the galaxy. Lightly armored but devilishly quick, the Hammerhead could make a formidable foe for the sluggish Mako. Add to the fact that it was equipped with a homing missile system, then that made the Mako's chance at a victory dwindle on the spot.

To corroborate with the turian's warning, a hissing sound of a nearby rocket screamed past, impacting on the cliff wall on Tali's side. She swore under her breath and glanced at the map in confirmation.

"Liara," she got out, "there's no exit out of this valley except for a canyon ahead. We'll be an easy target if we go that way because we won't be able to maneuver!"

"Well, we can't exactly go back," Liara said. "That Hammerhead will chew us up if we attack it head on!"

"If we go into the canyon, we'll be killed! We can't-"

"No, Tali!" Garrus shouted. "The canyon is our best option. We can beat this thing."

Tali couldn't turn her head around to look at the turian but her trembling voice spoke volumes. "Are you sure, Garrus?"

"Yes! Trust me, I have a plan."

There was something about his genuine tone, but whatever it was, it did assuage Tali a bit. "Ancestors," she prayed silently, "let me see this day through. Fly me the strength to get to John." Opening her eyes, she took a big breath and then expelled it as she increased the throttle to maximum, sending the Mako speeding through the small opening.

The canyon was a straight shot, eroded into its shape from the whistling winds. It became gradually narrower and narrower as the Mako proceeded, but the tiny hole in the distance sparked white: the exit. Fueled by the notion of escape, Tali's arms froze on the wheel, not moving it an inch for a slight deviation could result in a crash with potentially fatal consequences.

"Hammerhead on our six," Garrus called out. "Still out of range of its missiles."

That didn't necessarily mean that it could still fire, but since the Mako was outside of its five hundred meter range for it to lock on to their heat signature, the pilot of the Hammerhead resorted to firing the missiles blind. Fortunately, the missiles without the laser guidance were notoriously inaccurate and many simply hit the canyon's walls, none of them even getting close to the Mako.

"Do you have a shot, Garrus?" Liara asked, worried.

"Going to try for one," he said grimly before he fired. The enormous round sailed straight and true but the Hammerhead saw the shot coming and quickly fired its vertical thrusters, passing almost lazily over the explosion.

"Damn!" Garrus spat. "It's too quick for the cannon and too far out for the machine gun. It's also gaining."

"We're almost there!" Tali cried as she concentrated on the lone speck in the distance, willing the machine to use every single horsepower that it had embedded in the engine. She leaned forward in her seat as if her displaced weight could cause the distribution of power to function better.

The odd shaped craft behind them straightened out and fired its boosters, rapidly closing the gap behind them. In seconds, it had met the ideal distance and slowed down to avoid getting shot to ribbons from the Mako's machine gun. Pausing a beat, the Hammerhead adjusted its orientation before its turret swiveled in place. With a racking of ammunition, the cannon fired.

The laser detection array once again blared caution and Garrus shouted, "It locked on!" Tali, on the other hand, felt only ice water running through her veins as she glanced at the rear camera. Quickly moving her hand to the control panel on the median and timing it with the missile's velocity, she tapped a button and held it, already prepared for the nauseating lurch as the Mako's ground thrusters fired, lifting it up into the air several meters.

Liara cried out, certain that Tali's maneuver had been performed too early. The Hammerhead also matched the Mako's move in anticipation, lifting itself up so that it could avoid any potential fire. The missile, detecting the Mako moving upward, angled its trajectory so that it was now travelling up as well, seconds away from impact.

Suddenly, Tali slammed her hand down on another button and the Mako's top thrusters fired, forcing it back down to the ground. The missile detected the move too late and tried to propel itself back down but its proximity sensors registered contact anyway and it detonated in midair. The force from the blast helped thrust the Mako down at a faster rate, causing the axle to snap as it was bent horribly out of shape when it impacted.

Rattled from the collision with the ground but quickly gaining back his composure, Garrus looked through the turret display to see the Hammerhead still lazily floating back down, its thrusters glowing red hot despite the surrounding cold.

"You just used all of your thruster power, pal," Garrus smirked as he pulled the trigger one final time. The heavy round punched through the Hammerhead's outer shell like it was tin foil, a burning hole visible for a nanosecond before the breached element zero core erupted in a flash of blue and orange. A rolling cloud of fire pushed itself out of the canyon and metal parts sprayed the interior.

Everyone in the Mako cheered as Garrus whooped his victory, but their joy was short-lived the second the tank burst out into the open. Hitting the ground at a bad angle, the tortured chassis finally gave out as the right front wheel snapped off completely, ripping open the undercarriage at the same time.

Groaning, the front side collapsed and the Mako dug itself into the snow as it slid for a hundred meters. The deceleration was relatively uneventful and by the time the friction had stopped the vehicle completely, no one inside was unharmed. Shaken, but unharmed.

After checking herself over for injuries, Tali tapped at the Mako's systems, shutting them down one by one. Everyone began unstrapping themselves and gradually gravitated towards the hold where they could stretch out for a bit prior to their next move.

"Well, the good news is that we're within walking distance of the base," Liara said as she checked her mini-map on her omni-tool. "Bad news…is that we actually have to walk. There seem to be two entrances to the facility, if I'm reading these images correctly. There's the main base, but there seems to be an access hatch about two hundred meters northwest of us. Not sure what the advantages are to both, seeing as I don't have the blueprints to the facility."

"Then I guess that means we're splitting up," Tali said. She looked at Garrus and Liara and watched their breath begin to fog as the Mako's interior temperature steadily dropped. She lifted her hands in acceptance and continued with no hesitation in her voice. "I'll be the one to check out the access hatch while you guys take the main entrance."

"You sure, Tali?" Liara asked. It wasn't a protest for her not to go, but a genuine question to make sure that she knew what she was doing.

Tali nodded as she stood up. "I'll be fine on my own. We can cover more ground if we split up."

"You sure you don't want me to come with you? What if you run into Grevel by yourself?"

"And what if you come with me and Garrus runs into Grevel by himself? It's just going to run in an endless circle of debate if we continue to stall ourselves here. Liara, I'll be fine. I won't give her the chance to kill me, if that's what you're worried about."

Liara got to her feet to match Tali and gave her a quick hug. The quarian returned the gesture and when they broke apart, she could see the asari's eyes shine a little bit.

"Liara, are you crying?"

She nodded but gave a weak smile in return. "Just promise that you'll be safe, for my sake…and Shepard's too."

Tali grinned. "I give you my word." She started up the small ladder and released the locks to the hatch, whipping it open to let the chilling airs blow inside. "Don't look so sad, guys," she assured. "We're all going to make it out of this just fine."

"Good luck, Tali," Liara whispered.

"See you on the other side," Garrus added.

"Good luck, Liara. Be well, Garrus. I'll see you again very soon." Tali gave her friends one final, sad smile before she raised herself up and out of the Mako, gasping as the cold assaulted her frail body. Taking a few cautious steps, she edged over to the side of the tank and hopped off with a tiny squeak. As she landed, the snow sunk up to her calves, firmly sticking her in place. With gradual force, Tali managed to extricate herself and proceeded to trudge in the direction of the faintly glowing light in the distance, almost waist-deep in slush.

Even with the synthetic heat weave embedded in her suit, Tali still felt the icy fingers on her body. She shivered, freezing, as she took one agonizing step after another. The cold felt like it was penetrating her skin, wriggling under her muscle and shattering her bones. She rubbed at her arms, wishing that she had the foresight to have brought a thermal coat from the Normandy.

She reasoned that it didn't matter, because the light from the hatch was very close now. Even with the cold slush whipping at her suit and soaking her hood, there was nothing that could extinguish the fire in her heart and the rage that burned within. She let her eyes remain fixated on that lone point, willing her body to continue on before she slowed and froze to death.

Tali wondered if Liara and Garrus were facing the same difficulties as she was at the moment. She wondered if she had made a mistake by not going with them and sticking together as a group but quickly quashed that thought. She had made her choice, she was committed, and she had to see it through to the end.

I'm here, John. It won't be much longer now. Please be alive. I'm here…I'm here…

Her foot caught on something and she stumbled. Tali threw out an arm to arrest her fall but it simply sunk through the snow and ended at her shoulder. Grunting, Tali stood back up and shook the sludge off of her, her fingers already starting to feel numb. Alarmed at the tingling sensation in her extremities, Tali tried to increase her pace through the deep snow but quickly exhausted herself, beginning to think that the light in the middle of the storm was nothing but a myth, a phantom that she was fruitlessly chasing in the hopes that her prize lay just beyond.

With a wrenching cry, Tali took another step but halted as her foot noticeably felt ground a few inches higher. She looked down to find that the snow was more solid here and that she could proceed at a greater velocity in this area. Thanking her good fortune, she fiercely smiled as she took a few more steps onto the harder surface. Its consistency was a more icy mix, but it still made for easier traveling. Tali almost leaped for joy until she saw a dark shape through the cloud ahead, pushing aside the snow with its mere presence.

As she cautiously proceeded forward, the storm parted enough for her to see the snow-streaked hatch just a few meters away. With the wind billowing at her frame, Tali held herself close as the hatch clanged shut, allowing a figure from outside to walk straight out, the cold seemingly having no effect on them.

Tali's teeth began to chatter but she was not entirely sure that it was the cold doing that to her. Trembling on the spot, she could only stand as the mist dissipated to let Grevel through, the mandibles of her mask parted in an evil smile.

It was an expression of complete and utter satisfaction.

A/N: Ah, finally. Slogged through these last few chapters to get to the point where we are now so it was all worth it.

I'm going to enjoy writing this next part.

Are you all ready?