III: Requiem

by RedCenturionG

The Collector threat is done; and the Normandy crew survived. The Shadow Broker has eyes watching a friend of Shepard's. Loyalties will be questioned, lives put on the line. And Peta will stop at nothing to get the girl of his dreams. In this, the crew is never safe. And in the end, Marcus Shepard will have to make a decision that could cripple his resolve forever.

22. Chapter 21 Don't Say I Didn't Tell YouSo

REQUIEM

CHAPTER TWENTY-0NE:

DON'T SAY I DIDN'T TELL YOU SO

November 5, 2185

1117 hours.

The Arena, Liveship Rayya, Migrant Fleet, Enoch System, Rosetta Nebula.

Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib, Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh.

The preparations for the wedding were well underway now. When Shala had finished speaking to Marcus, her soon-to-be nephew in law, or in her case, son-in-law, she had immediately informed Gerrel and the rest of the Admiralty Board, who had then announced it to the entire Migrant Fleet. To their utter surprise, most of the fleet had reacted positively to the news, with only a small few disgusted by it, but they were mostly purist nationalists who the fleet ignored half the time anyway.

She knew Xen was definitely disgusted by it, and Koris was largely skeptical about the whole thing. Gerrel seemed ecstatic, stating that the marriage of their best Flotillan marine to the Alliance's best was a worthy much for Tali, not to mention it would boost political relations between both species, which Koris had seen the good side of.

So as Shala and the Admiralty Board walked into the Arena, they saw that it was colored brightly and full of decorations; usually, quarians would see such an extravagance as a waste of resources, but for the marriage of two galactic heroes, it was well within reason. This was a historic moment for the entire quarian species; something to be recorded.

The podium where the Admiralty Board stood had been moved around; it was now replaced by a marriage podium, with enough room for four parents, along with the two spouses. The audience seats were left as is, if only slightly rotated. Tables, donated by the Normandy crew, were set up around the room, and their cook, a Mess Sergeant Gardner, was hard at work cooking foods for both levo and dextro, but largely on the latter due to the mass amount of quarians attending the event.

As the four of them walked into the Arena, they watched as five quarian hoisted a massive banner, covered in the swirls of Clan Zorah, upon the wall behind the original Admiral's podium, symbolizing Tali's heritage. Due to Shepard not being a quarian, no banner was hoisted up for him, and its position left blank. It was quite a sight, and it made Shala smile. However, her smile soon died when Xen spoke.

"Such a trivial waste of resources," she turned to the quarian admiral, and saw she had her arms crossed under her bosom, eyes narrowed and seemingly scanning the room as she leaned on one hip. Out of the four of them, Xen was the youngest, only being 32 years old. But she had the experience that comes with rank, "Our people know better than this. This Board knows better."

Before Shala could respond to Xen's remark, Gerrel jumped in, his large, masculine frame turning to face Xen, his body easily towering over all of them, body rippling from muscle he had earned from his years in the marines. His eyes locked onto Xen's frame, eyes narrowed in a glare, "Watch your mouth, Xen or keep it shut. This Board will not entertain your futile complaints."

Xen snorted, "You'll just have to deal with it. An opinion's an opinion. Over extravagance for one selfish little girl and her fetish for a human, that's all it is. How can we even be entertaining interspecies trash like this?"

Koris, for once, took Gerrel's side, "Because marriage is about love, Xen. Something you've obviously forgotten about in your pursuit to destroy our species."

Xen shook her head, a chuckle escaping her lips, "The suit-wetter agrees. I hope you don't feel any less moralized due to my disgust of that."

Shala rolled her eyes and finally delivered her own piece of mind, "Tali has earned the right to marry who she chooses and be happy. I can't remember the last time you did anything to aid our species, Xen."

That caught the quarian offguard, but she was quick to go back on the offensive, "My experiments on the geth have brought us closer to retaking the homeworld."

"Closer to our extinction, you mean," Koris shot in, "We can't win a war against the geth, and trying to retake the Perseus Veil won't succeed. Its people like you who fail to realize this."

"Our coming war with the geth has nothing to do with this," Gerrel interjected, trying desperately not to take the side of Xen, even with his dislike of Koris and his bitter rivalry with the man, "This is about one of our people's happiness. You might as well stop complaining Xen, because noone's listening enough to care. This is a historic moment in quarian history."

Xen snorted once more before waving a dismissive hand, arms falling to her side, "I'll observe 'this historic moment' from my lab on the Moreh. Maybe I'll get some actual work done while you're out wasting resources like this," and with that, the admiral turned and left, her every step graceful and predicted, hips swaying like a woman trying to swoon every male around her. From what she heard, Xen had many suitors lining up, whether it be because of the quarian's trademark hips, or due to Xen's unique, erotic voice, but either way, Xen clearly wasn't interested in anything but her plans to to reenslave the geth species. If there was ever a mad scientist, it was Daro'Xen.

"Finally," Gerrel sighed, turning to Raan and chuckling, "I thought she'd never leave."

"Indeed," Koris stated in kind, "Her opinions ring allow here. I quite look forward to seeing this event."

Gerrel scoffed, turning to face the pacifist admiral, who was giving him a glare of distaste as the ex-marine, a massive smile hidden behind his visor, spoke in humorous tones, "Coming from the one who tried his best to villainize and exile the person who's getting married, I find that statement quite the irony."

Koris looked at him incredulously, hands never leaving their clasped position behind the quarian's back, "I did not-"

"Admirals, please!" Shala pleaded, voice loud and easily speaking over the two of them, the elderly quarian always being the mediator for the two whenever they did their 'battle of words', both of them always at each other's throats. She swore the two men hated each other, and from what Rael used to tell her, Gerrel basically despised Koris. She didn't know whether the feeling was mutual with Koris or not, "Do not start your petty rivalries here!"

"I merely want you to know that I have no personal hatred for Tali'Zorah," Koris declared, as if trying to convince the entire room, "I did what I had to do to protect the fleet. I'm glad she was able to prove her innocence, and I have wiped my hands clean of the subject. I have reconciled with General Zorah, and I hope she understands. I cannot allow petty warmongers destroy our people with foolish notions of reclaiming the homeworld."

"You'd rather have us hide like this for the rest of our lives, which you know full well we can't," Gerrel argued, "You're the kind of person that would have us sacrifice our dignity, pride and place in the galaxy just so you can make nice with soulless, murderous synthetics."

Koris scoffed, "Its not 'murder' to defend yourself. We wronged them."

Gerrel stopped walking and shoved a finger infront Koris' mask, "It is murder when that defense turns into the bombing of schools and playgrounds! It becomes murder when they bomb cities full of defenseless civilians!"

Koris was quick to shout back, "They were children! They had no idea how to differentiate between adult and child because of the simple programming we gave them!"

"That is a load of shit and you know it!" Gerrel shot back, crossing his arms, voice reaching a new tone of loud, "They had reached AI status by the time we turned on them; they knew full well what children were! They were mindless murderers then, and they still are! They should be completely wiped out! I'd be more than happy to drop the MOABs from orbit myself and watch every geth burn."

"You're a soldier," Koris stated in his same, calm tone, seemingly belittled by his fellow admiral, "All of you think the same; you get given a gun and told where to shoot and you follow those orders just like the geth do."

"Except this soldier is the one giving those soldiers the gun," Gerrel refuted, "I make the hard decisions you don't have the balls to do. You're a weak-willed suit-wetter, Koris, and I will not let your foolish ideals destroy our people's identity."

"Better that than our people themselves," Koris countered.

Shala finally had enough. She stopped, turned towards them and activated her omni-tool, accessing their suits. She overloaded their audiotory emulators with static, and they all yelled out in pain as it assaulted their eardrums, immediately shutting them both up. She stopped the static, deactivated her omni-tool, and they both looked at her in irritation.

"Both of you are like school children!" Raan yelled, waving her hands in the air, "Grow up and act like admirals, for ancestors' sake! Gerrel!" she turned to the admiral in question, "Your niece is going to get married soon, and you take the time to argue about the geth situation?"

Gerrel looked sheepish, seemingly wanting to melt away as his hands clasped behind his back to regain some of his professionalism, "I...yes, Raan, you're correct. I apologize and realize it is not a subject worthy of this location."

"We shall talk about it later," Koris hinted, shooting a glare in Gerrel's direction before turning back to Raan, bowing his head. Shala rolled her eyes at his gesture, turning back around and heading further inside, the two admirals behind her. They really are like children, needing to be scolded. Even Xen is better than this.

The three of them arrived at the podium that would seat the parents and the spouses, which was marginally larger than the original Admiral's podium. Shala let her hand glide over it, a soft smile passing over her features. My niece...my daughter...is getting married...Keelah, I never thought I'd see the day...

She could only stand there and marvel at it. It was truly an historic moment in time.

And Shala would be there to witness it.

She shot a look at Gerrel and Koris, who looked about to rip at each other again. She sighed, rolling her eyes secretly behind her helmet. And I've just got to keep these two children in line...

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November 5, 2185

2034 hours.

Crew's Quarters, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Docked with the Rayya.

Mechanic Peta'Yala vas Normandy.

This was it.

Peta sat there on his bunk, fiddling with his omni-tool, as if trying to delay the invitable. He had finished his shift in engineering, which had been coupled with boredom and the infuriating attempts by the human engineers, Gabriella and Kenneth, to start a conversation with him, which he had reluctantly agreed to, if only to alleviate concern. And only a day ago, Shepard had announced to the crew that Liara, Miranda, Grunt and Thane were leaving the ship to go to Illium to collect information on the Shadow Broker. Peta was certain they'd never find the master information specialist, so he had no fears on that end.

On his way back from engineering, he had bumped into, literally, the new krogan, the one the crew called Wrex, and the krogan had just laughed it off and told him to watch where he was going next time. After asking 'EDI' where the krogan was headed, he learned he had been heading up to Shepard's cabin to speak with him, with destroyed his attempts then to speak with him.

But now Wrex had left, and Shepard was now alone in his cabin, with EDI stating he was now preparing to go to bed. Perfect. Peta could kill him in his sleep; quick and painlessly, of course. He cracked his knuckles as he imagined killing Shepard; should he slit his throat, or shoot him in the head? Peta couldn't decide.

Why am I even toying with those options? I'm not some sadistic psychopath! You're doing this for Tali and only for that, do not deviate from that course, Peta. Kill Shepard, but do not draw out his suffering, plain and simple! There's no need to think such...jovial thoughts!

Peta realized that this was wrong...but his mind overruled his logic, and demanded blood. Shepard's blood. It was the only way he would truly get to be with Tali. Its the only chance I have. Take it before it slips from your grip. First, conjure an excuse to see him. Peta racked his thoughts to find a satisfactory excuse, but the entire time, his original self continued to ask the same question.

Am I a monster?

Peta shook the thoughts away, not willing to let his morale crash around him on his moment of glory. After going through all the best excuses he could find, he eventually landed on the best one to tell the VI. When he was done, he took a deep breath, deactivated his omni-tool, and stood up, making sure not to disturb those sleeping in the room. As quietly as possible, he tapped the haptic interface on the door and opened it, stepping out onto the Crew Deck.

The lights in the Mess Hall were dimmed to complete darkness, with only the lights in the Med bay providing any respite. As he looked around, he noticed that the doors into the Port and Starboard Observation decks, Life Support, the Gunnery Station, the XO's Quarters and the Medical Bay were all locked. As silent as he could possibly be, he tip-toed over to the elevator, where he quietly tapped the door interface and stepped inside, immediately bringing up the catalogue and selecting Deck One. Just as the door closed behind him and locked however, the VI's voice popped up.

"We wish to access Deck One," the VI seemed to groan, "Provide a reason for this destination. Commander Shepard is currently under curfew."

Peta stood tall, desperately trying to not look suspicious and provided his carefully worded excuse, "I must speak with him...its about the crew's suspicions to me being onboard. I want to alleviate any concerns they may have by speaking to him. Do not wake him though; I'll just leave a note on his desk."

The VI seemed to process this information for a bit. Peta was sure he could feel it glaring at him, evaluating him and searching through his soul for his lie. But it couldn't; it was a simple VI, with the brain power of a pyjak. It couldn't possibly be suspicious. So what did he have to worry about?

That sent a shiver down his spine, but he didn't show it in his body language.

Finally, the VI responded, "I have processed your request. The Captain's Cabin will be unlocked for your use; you will only be permitted to leave a note, however. Waking the Commander is out of the question. He stated this explicitly, as did Miss Zorah."

Peta nodded, only realizing what the VI said when the elevator had begun its ascent to the top deck. Peta felt himself melt as he reached his epiphany. Please don't...please don't let that mean what I think it means...

The elevator was going agonizingly slow, but he didn't know whether that was his imagination or how it operated. But he didn't care; all he cared about was the fact that Shepard wasn't sleeping alone; Tali was with him. Curled up next to him. His arm around her, holding her close. Both of them naked after a long night of heated-

Those thoughts fueled a fire in Peta's veins that he didn't realize he had. The thought of Tali's moans echoing through the cabin as that...human...moved inside her disgusted him and fueled an inner rage that was itching to burst forth. It made him stand more placidly, and his hand almost grabbed for the knife right there and then.

He kept his cool and waited patiently for the elevator to arrive at his destination, but now he was fully committed. The idea of the sexual things Shepard had done to his mate infuriated him to no end, and his blood was pumping. He felt his heart race at ridiculous speeds, his lungs pumping in air faster than he could breath it in. He was going to murder Shepard right infront of Tali; make her wake up to his blood soaked form. But it was necessary. He loved her too much to not do this.

You love her so much that you'll make her scream as she wakes up to a bloodied corpse?

You truly are a monster, Peta'Yala vas...whatever you are. You're not even Peta'Yala anymore.

But those thoughts became more and more hollow as rage pushed down his more innocent side, a new side of Peta rising up to the top...a side he never thought he had...and definitely didn't want.

Love had changed him into a killer.

The door arrived and Peta practically stormed through and into the antechamber. He didn't even realize what he was doing until he was inside the actual cabin and descending down the stairs into the main part of it; his body moving like a robot, with a plotted destination and weapons locked on target. It wasn't long before he arrived at the left side of the bed, the man looking down on Shepard's slumbering form.

Activating his omni-tool, Peta unleashed his virus into the vessel's systems and made sure the VI couldn't see what he was about to do. Once done, he unsheathed the boot knife from under his veil, and brought it up. He looked upon Shepard's sleeping body one more time; taking in his features. He seemed so peaceful, snoring with a rough tone and body most likely completely naked under the sheets; muscle packed upon muscle overlaying his torso like puffs of cloud. Peta was practically bringing the knife to bear when he heard a snort from a familiar voice, and a shifting of the sheets in his peripheral vision.

He watched as a slender, pale grey-skinned, three-fingered arm wrapped itself around Shepard and stayed there, squeezing him. It was then that Peta's rage dissipated as his eyes locked onto Tali's form; and he froze in place, left in complete awe.

There she was, naked, and her face unveiled to the world.

He moved around the bed and sat down on the right side, eyes never leaving Tali's face. She was simply beautiful, and he loved the sound of her calm, peaceful, cute snores. He let his eyes wander; her long, raven black hair flowing over her skin, the freckles on her face, and her smooth cheeks, supported by supple lips; delicate to kiss. Her slender frame was hidden under the sheets, and she pressed herself tight against Shepard, but Peta could definitely see that her bosom was much bigger than her suit informed the world it was. He realized, with all the certainty in his heart, that she was worth murdering anyone for.

She was the most beautiful person he had ever lay eyes upon.

A sudden, suss thought entered his mind and he contemplated very much. He looked at her and wanted to...to taste her. He needed it. He wanted it. A precursor to what was to come. He sighed heavily and realized what would happen if he did this; he would get sick, he could possibly die, but at the moment, he didn't care. It seemed she was worth any risk.

Very carefully, he removed his mask, and listened to the hiss that came from his visor as it was removed. He gasped silently as the air tickled his face, but it felt fantastic on his skin. He just couldn't imagine what Tali's skin would feel like when he finally made love to her, in their own bed, on the Flotilla. He moved forward and across the bed, careful to not disturb it too much and leaned forward towards the nape of her neck.

He planted his lips firmly against her throat, and kissed it. She tasted wonderful, and that was just her throat. He grinned happily when she gave a moan of delight, a smile creasing her face as she seemed to lean into him, but he quickly retracted, not wanting her to wake up. To think, that pretty face would be covered in blood in the morning...

The thought died as he moved in for the ultimate prize. He cupped her cheek and she cupped his, subconsciously, and he closed his eyes, lips locking with hers. He moaned quietly with pure euphoria, her taste unlike anything he had ever experienced. She just tasted so fantastic, like the taste of an exotic food. He felt himself drawing out the kiss, strongly considering opening her mouth and allowing their tongues to lock and dance in each other's mouths, but he quickly dropped that thought. That would only wake her up.

He finally drew back, needing breath and he found himself smirking and the huge, satisfied smile on Tali's face, the quarian moaning in her sleep. One word rolled off her lips, and Peta just kept on smiling, hand still cupping her cheek as hers fell back to the sheets.

"Marcus..." she mumbled in her sleep, reaching for Peta, oblivious to the real man's identity.

Peta's smirk immediately died at the mention of the name, and he found himself cringing away from Tali's hands. Her smile stayed on her face as she turned over and wrapped herself back around 'Marcus', face scrunched up and pressing into the man's back as she continued to moan happily in her sleep. Peta felt his fists clench in pure, unchained anger, and found his innocent side pressed away again, hand grabbing his mask and putting it back on, picking up the knife again.

And when he looked at Tali again, all he could see was him.

When he kissed her, she only thought of him.

Who took her virginity? He did.

Who was the first to look upon her face? He was.

He had defiled her body. His disgusting...prick, had been inside her. It was tainted, he had destroyed her innocence.

Peta growled, a low, animalistic growl. Whoever this was, it was not Peta'Yala anymore.

He raised his knife, unable to control his actions. I'm going to rip him apart! That bosh'tet human will drown in a sea of his own blood!

His growl turned into a loud snarl as he charged across the bed, uncaring as to who woke up anymore. He landed on top of Shepard, turning him over in one fluid movement as he straddled the man's waist, raising the knife above his head and plunging down into the man's forehead...

Shepard's eyes shot open and a hand shot up, grabbing Peta's wrist midswing. He held it there but Peta was quick to react. His other hand punched Shepard across the face, taking him by surprise and causing him to drop his guard. Peta raised his knife again, and plunged back down, but Shepard dodged it narrowly, the blade creating a long scratch across the side of his forehead as he did. Suddenly, Peta brought the blade back around, and prepared to stab the man in the side of the head...

...only for a three-fingered hand to wrap around the knife arm and for Peta's infuriated gaze to spin towards Tali, who now was wide awake, the sheets falling off her and revealing one breast to the world, but she didn't care; all that mattered to her was defending her mate, and her protective mode had kicked in. Her eyes widened in surprise at who she saw attacking her fiancee.

"P-P-Peta?" She gasped.

Peta, no longer the man he was, didn't care who he attacked anymore, he leapt off Shepard and lunged at Tali, blade moving in an arc, but Tali was faster. Her other arm shot up and hooked Peta across the face, allowing her to twist the knife from his grip and cause it to fall harmlessly onto the side of the bed. Tali moved to strike him again, but Peta was faster, the quarian, either blinded by his animalistic vehemence or by pure stupidity, lunged his head forward, helmet smashing into Tali's forehead in a headbutt.

She was completely taken back by the attack, shocked and stunned as she cradled her forehead, a piece of glass breaking off Peta's helmet from the crack and causing a cut on her forehead, red blood leaking from the wound. By this point, the old Peta would have stopped. But this wasn't Peta anymore; and with Tali stunned and disorientated, she never saw what happened next as Peta retrieved the knife and swung down, hard.

Tali yelped and gasped at the same time as Peta's blade sunk deep into her chest, red blood gushing from the wound he had created inbetween her breasts. He twisted the blade deeper with a snarl and Tali could only look at him with wide eyes and a shocked face. Eventually, she got wind of her senses and tried to shove him off, but to no avail. Peta let go of the blade, letting it hang from Tali's chest before removing it, a gush of blood pouring from the wound as Tali rolled off the bed, falling head first onto the floor, sheets coming with her. Peta dry heaved and turned towards Shepard, who had been looking at Tali in horror, tears brimming in his eyes before he turned to Peta, a rage in his own eyes.

Oh yes. Fight me Shepard.

He lunged forward, but this time, Shepard was ready.

Like an annoying insect, Shepard merely swatted Peta's knife hand away, causing the blade to clatter harmlessly against the floor next to the bed. He clasped a hand around Peta's throat and began to tighten, absolute rage easily seen in his eyes. Without a second thought, Shepard moved to the side, and Peta's face suddenly acellerated towards the bedside table.

Shepard slammed Peta's face into the table three times; once severely cracked the mask, second destroyed the mask, shattering it, and the third time almost knocked him unconscious as Shepard then let go of his throat, tossing Peta's close-to-comatose form onto the floor as he leapt from the bed, rushing to Tali's side as he picked up his omni-tool, not caring how naked he was. Peta couldn't see what was going on as he gingerly tried to raise himself from the ground to see what had happened, but he did see the orange-glow. He could hear a sob, followed by a tone full of worry and authority.

"This is Commander Shepard to Doctor Chakwas!" He practically yelled, "Medical emergency in the Captain's Quarters! Get her ASAP! I repeat, medical emergency!"

Peta, coming to his senses, recovered from his blood rage. He didn't know what caused it, but it had happened, and everything that had been Peta had been wiped away as he transformed into that feral beast. But now he was back. Of course, he didn't remember a thing, so when he came to and examined the large bump forming on his forehead, he was obviously wandering what was going on. He remembered coming up to the Captain's Quarters, but everything blacked out after that. Then he remembered kissing Tali...but he must have dreamt it...

Well he was here now; why was he on the floor and why was there a bump on his forehead. He remembered his mission and moved to unsheathe on his knife, only to find it in his peripheral vision, discarded on the floor, the serated blade sparking with red blood that was still wet. Wait...I already it?

He looked up, but noticed that the sheets had been torn from the bed and lay on the other side for some reason, and Shepard, for some reason, was on the other side of the bed, naked, leaning over something while...sobbing? What was he sobbing about?

Peta rose to his feet, ableit stunned and disoriented, and his head pounded from the blow on it, but he managed to get to his feet and look over the bed at what Shepard was leaning over. He saw that he was nude and cradling someone in his arms; she was female, had big breasts, grey skin, raven black hair, freckles, and three-fingered hands and toes, but her smooth cheeks were dried with fresh tears. It was then that he remembered who this was.

He stated this explicitly, as did Miss Zorah.

He cupped her cheek and she cupped his, subconsciously, and he closed his eyes, lips locking with hers. He moaned quietly with pure euphoria, her taste unlike anything he had ever experienced. She just tasted so fantastic, like the taste of an exotic food.

It was Tali, nude, and in all her glory, and she was beauti-

Then he noticed the stab wound inbetween in her breasts, which pumped out red blood every second. She weakly held onto Shepard, who held onto her back, the man sobbing as he desperately tried to clog the wound with his hands, which were slick with her blood. Peta felt anger as he promised punishment to those that hurt Tali, but then a new memory played in his mind. And he shuddered at it. Cringed at it. Spat at it.

Tali yelped and gasped at the same time as Peta's blade sunk deep into her chest, red blood gushing from the wound he had created inbetween her breasts. He twisted the blade deeper with a snarl and Tali could only look at him with wide eyes and a shocked face.

He had...no he couldn't have...oh keelah...

That wound was his fault. He had tried to murder Shepard, and had ended up stabbing Tali instead...he had stabbed the love of his life...

Oh Keelah, NO!

He lunged forward with tears brimming in his eyes, but a voice yelled out behind him, full of venom and anger. Peta stopped dead in his tracks, and saw Shepard looking at the entrance to his cabin, cheeks dry with streaks of shed tears. Peta spun around and saw what he saw.

There Kal'Reegar stood, Valkyrie heavy rifle out and set on stun rounds, aimed directly at Peta. Behind him was Samara, body aglow with biotics and Mordin and Lia, the former with a SMG and omni-tool active, and the latter with a medkit, accompanied by a worried Doctor Chakwas. Kal glared daggers at Peta, and his words cut deep.

"Get. The fuck. Away. From her," Kal hissed, grip tightening on his weapon. Peta gulped and held his hands in the air, trying to look for words, but finding none. It was then that he realized his face was exposed, mask having shattered. I didn't mean to. I only meant to kill Shepard...none of this was supposed to happen! Keelah, ancestors have mercy I didn't mean to...

Chakwas rushed past Reegar, with Lia and Mordin in tow, all three of them rushing past Peta, Lia giving him a rather violent shove, as they all crowded around Tali's form. She had lost alot of blood. Peta turned and watched as Shepard's body wracked with grief and worry.

Chakwas spoke, voice kindly and full of sympathy, "Shepard, please lay her down. We've got a portable bed to put her on so she can be taken to the medical bay, but I need you to lay her down. Marcus?"

"Please Karin-" Shepard pleaded, and Peta could feel the sorrow in his voice.

"I will do everything in my power to save her Marcus, but you must put her down. There's nothing more you can do," Chakwas pleaded.

"We won't let her die," Lia added, "We simply won't. And with my knowledge on my people's physiology, we can save her if we act quickly."

Mordin added his own ten cents worth, "Advanced technology. Minor stab wound. Easily healed, but loss of much blood. Have to clog or she will die."

Shepard eventually gave in, laying Tali on the ground as the three doctors got to work preparing the portable bed for Tali while Mordin began to insert medi-gel into her wound to clog it. Lia opened her medkit, and handed the professor the necessary tools he needed, while Chakwas laid out the bed. Peta turned from the scene, Shepard grabbing a pair of shorts from his couch and sliding them on.

Peta turned to see that Kal was now standing a meter away from him, Samara sharing an equal glare. Kal was about to speak, but then the door opened again, and Wrex rushed in, a look of confusion on his face.

"What the hell is-" the krogan's look lowered on Shepard, who regarded the massive krogan with a sad gaze. Wrex's look turned sympathetic, "What happened?"

Shepard looked at Peta with pure hate in his eyes, "This piece of shit infiltrated our home and attempted to murder me. When Tali tried to stop him, he stabbed her in the chest. So I rammed his head into a table."

Wrex nodded, "Good, the krogan way," the krogan then turned to Peta and walked right up to him, his face inches from the quarian's as he towered above him, "As for you pyjak, I should tear your head off and feed it to my pet Urz. Noone hurts my little quarian niece and gets away with it."

"Enough Wrex," Shepard stated, to everyone's surprise, and all looks snapped to the spectre. He shrugged, eyes still filled with hate and locked on Peta, "He won't die. No, he doesn't deserve that. I let this son of a bitch into our home; I trusted him, and he broke that trust. You guys wouldn't know what I do to traitors, because I've never had one on my crew. Well, its simple; I let them suffer. Let Peta live; we'll see how smug he is when he's put up for treason."

The whole room went silent and Wrex eyed Shepard with a dissatisfied look before shooting Peta glare before he moved off and away, moving towards the place where Tali was. He heard Mordin try to argue against it, but Wrex was having none of it as he kneeled by the quarian, and to his surprise, offering soothing words.

"You're a tough alpha female Tali," Wrex reassured her, "You're the mate of the most powerful battlemaster who ever lived, and you put down my brother all by yourself! Don't let this pyjak put you down!"

Kal moved forward and let his weapon bump against Peta's forehead, causing him to turn around. The quarian shook his head, "I will enjoy watching you get exiled, you bosh'tet. I used to remember you from school. I used to stand up for you, as did Tali. This is how you repay her? I thought you loved her?"

I do. Keelah, I do! Please, you have to-

"I'll enjoy watching you burn you son of a bitch," and before Peta could do anything, Kal rammed the butt of his rifle into Peta's face.

Darkness was all the quarian saw.

I didn't mean to...

{Loading...}

November 6, 2185

0746 hours.

Parking Lot, Dracon Trade Center, Nos Astra, Illium.

Information Broker Liara T'Soni, First Lieutenant Miranda Lawson, Soldier Urdnot Grunt, Assassin Thane Krios.

There was a loud whine as the skycar descended from Nos Astra's skyline above, homing in on the large Dracon Trade building down below. Miranda piloted the vehicle while Liara sat next to her, Thane and Grunt in the back seat; the drell assassin calmly meditating while Grunt seemed eager for battle. Liara just looked down at the Dracon Trade Center with a determined gaze, eyes filled with the excitement of finally being able to take down the Shadow Broker, once and for all.

The Dracon Trade Center was quite a tall skyscraper; easily dwarfing the smaller ones below it. The main parking lot was located near the top of the building, with six stories above it, and another eighteen below it. The Dracon insignia; a three-segmented orange triangle with three 'wires' coming out of the middle, was stamped at the top of the building, just below the roof, and just above the car park, the words 'Dracon Trade Center' in bold, white lettering, with the insignia once again stamped above it.

The main parking lot itself was extended from the main building in a bulbous T-shaped platform; two levels of parking were located on it, with staff parking being undercover, and the main parking ontop, landing lights aligned around the perimeter. The platform moved towards the building and then connected with a flight of stairs leading upwards onto the entrance platform, where stock market feed was transmitted through large holographic blue consoles, the main entrance having the words 'Entrance C' pasted over it. Many people of numerous races wandered about in extravagant dress and clothing; most of them being humans, asari, turians and salarians, the biggest being volus. There was even a en elcor, from what Miranda saw of the place.

Liara suddenly spoke up as they neared the main landing pad, "Sekat is in the Baria Frontiers offices; they occupy the third floor."

Miranda nodded and found a place for the skycar to land, bringing it down on that spot. After another second of hovering, she cut power to the engines and the skycar dropped, doors shooting open as they did. Miranda immediately motioned for her team to holster their weapons; they didn't want to walk into a trade center wielding weapons or Nos Astra police might see it as a terrorist attack; they had all learnt well from human history, especially after 2001 9/11 terrorist attack back on Earth.

Miranda holstered her SMG, followed by Thane doing the same with his pistol and Grunt reluctantly folding his claymore shotgun away. Liara hadn't even brought out her Locust SMG, the asari preferring not to arouse suspicion. They quickly exited the vehicle and made a beeline up the stairwell and straight for the entrance, all four of them wanting this mission over as quickly as possible; Grunt, preferring it to end with at least one death.

Liara took the lead, and Miranda simply lead Thane and Grunt behind her. As they moved past, many onlookers shot disturbed glances at them. The ex-Cerberus operative had to admit that a shotgun-wielding krogan and a drell assassin moving towards a building like this did look very odd and would send some eyes rolling, but she didn't care. They wouldn't be eye-rolling them when, or if, the Shadow Broker's private army turned up.

In a matter of no time, they had reached the entrance to the building, but were quickly stopped by two security officers, both of them asari, wielding battle rifles. They didn't wear any armor aside from the medium breastplate strapped to their chests. The left one approached, her skin a darker shade of purple than the usual asari blue, "Hold it," she then chanced a look at the krogan and drell behind them before looking back at Liara, "We're not about to let a krogan wander in here, and definitely not a drell assassin. Leave now."

"They're protection," Liara replied, jabbing a finger at Miranda, "I've hired them to protect me. I am Liara T'Soni, you might know me from the news feeds. I've come to talk with a Baria Frontiers executive, a man named Tau Sekat."

The asari raised an eyebrow and shared a look with her co-worker, who simply shook her head with an expressionless gaze. She nodded and turned back to Liara, "Yeah, I've heard of her, but I can't know you're her. I'll have to check in."

Liara crossed her arms, as did Miranda, both of them shooting the asari a smug grin, "Then go ahead; ask Sekat," Liara suggested, waving her along.

The asari rolled her eyes and brought up her omni-pad, bringing the glowing contrapion around her wrist up to her mouth as she spoke, "Get me Executive Sekat, please. This is Nelyna, we've got four people wanting to meet him. I just want to check through with him."

A few moments passed as Nelyna waited for a response. They all waited, the only sound being that of the silent chatter behind them and the sound of heavy traffic passing through Nos Astra's skyline. Finally, Nelyna nodded, and deactivated her omni-pad, lowering her wrist and stepping to the side, "Sekat says he'll see you in his office; third floor, Office Nine."

"Thank you," with that Liara, uncrossed her arms and moved past the two officers, palming the haptic interface and opening it as they passed through, Miranda motioning for Grunt and Thane to follow behind. They moved through a small corridor before hitting another door, which allowed them to move into the Transit Terminal of the building, which took up most of the first floor.

Above were the words 'Transit Terminal' in orange lettering, and a service desk behind tinted windows, where people from all races, almost, moved about and went about their economic buisness. To the left was an elevator leading upwards and to the right was a stairway moving upwards. In the end, they all followed Liara's lead, which was moving through the crowd, which quickly dispersed at the sight of a massive krogan in their midst, and into the elevator.

The elevator wasn't like the one on the Normandy; it had the smooth architecture and sheen that came with asari design, which was just another dot point to a list of reasons why Illium was practically the planet-bound version of the Citadel, just with no Council or any real laws to abide by. And it was alot more dirty in its criminal underworld.

As the doors closed, six options were given to them; the First Level, which was the Transit Terminal, the Second Level which was Synthetic Insights, the Third was Baria Frontiers, the Fourth was Serrice Council, who also shared some offices with ExoGeni Corporation, the Fifth was Rosenkov Materials and Binary Helix, and the Sixth belonged to Elanus Risk Control Services.

Liara immediately hit the button for Baria Frontiers, tapping her floor impatiently as the elevator began to ascend. Grunt grunted, the massive krogan feeling pretty useless at the moment. Thane found the need to speak up at that moment as Liara continued to watch the speed dial on the side of the elevator and Miranda just crossed her arms, watching the door.

"I hope this Sekat is an honest man," Thane stated, breaking the awkward silence, "I've encountered many dishonest men in my line of work, and they are not a likable group. Do you trust this man, Dr. T'Soni?"

Liara didn't seem to hear the man's words and Miranda had to practically turn around and elbow her in the side to let her know he was waiting for an answer. She gasped and quickly nodded, blushing a bit as she turned around before pushing it away, turning to face the drell, "I do. He betrayed the Shadow Broker, and is willing to help us take him down."

Thane shook his head, "A man who has betrayed once can betray again. It becomes a cycle for a man, especially a man who is a salarian. The correct answer would be that you do not trust this man; trust is a hard thing to come by, and should be reserved between friends and family, not of those who claim to be of assistance," he stopped for a second, beginning to cough, but eventually got a hold of himself, and turned back to Liara, awaiting an answer.

She rolled her eyes, "Shepard betrayed Cerberus, but you trust him, do you not?"

The drell shook his head again, a habit he was getting into when talking to the asari, "Shepard never worked for Cerberus, and neither did he trust them. It is only treachery if you have earned their trust, become their friends and served under their cause, only to turn your back on it. Shepard never believed in Cerberus' goals, neither did he share them. He was never their friend, and he didn't earn their trust, or them, his. Shepard did not betray Cerberus, but they betrayed humanity."

Liara was lost for words but before she could open her mouth to say more, the elevator stopped, pinged and opened up, allowing them access to the Baria Frontiers building. Three people with suitcases moved to get in, but stopped when Grunt passed by them, followed by Thane, Miranda and Liara, before they finally stepped into the elevator and hurriedly pressed the next level, obviously not wanting to stick around long enough to find out what a krogan would do to the place.

"I understand the need to bring me here," Grunt groaned, "But the lack of enemies to kill is starting to annoy me."

"Calm you senses, young one," Thane tamed, "Keep your urges in check. Knowing our luck, we shall find combat soon, not that I desire it."

Grunt just snorted at that and they all continued towards the specified office that the officer had listed as Office Nine. The offices were like a maze; everywhere you went, there was just office after office, people shouting across the hall at each other to do this or that, while others ran about, trying to get work done. It was a busy place; by far. Mostly asari and humans worked in the offices, but there was the occassional turian or salarian as well and, as expected, a couple of volus here and there, being the economical geniuses that they were heralded as.

They moved up the steps and eventually moved across a large glass balcony area inside the building's central area, allowing them a view of the work floor below. This area was empty, apart from two asari who seemed to be chatting each other up on a morning break, holding mugs of coffee in their hands.

They progressed across this area until they finally reached the reception desk preceeding Office Ten. Liara motioned for them to follow her forward, all of them moving towards at a faster pace. The man at reception, a turian, looked up at them and nodded, hitting a button on his terminal and waited for a few seconds, before Sekat's face then popped up.

"Yes?" Sekat asked in his usual salarian 'hurry-this-up' tone.

"T'Soni and her bodyguard are here to see you sir," the turian declared.

Sekat's eyes seemed to widened for a second before he then nodded, "Right, let them in then. Let's not keep them waiting."

The turian nodded, and turned from his terminal to look at them, "Mister Sekat will see you now."

Liara didn't even wait for the turian to finish before she dashed across the reception area, Miranda and her fireteam in tow, hitting the green haptic interface for Sekat's office door and moving inside without a second thought or hesitation.

Sekat's office was quite spacious; it had a single, steel desk in the middle, facing the door with two terminals, a vidscreen attached to the left wall, and 'Baria Frontiers' labelled on the front of his desk, with his full name on a badge ontop of said desk. A massive, three by three meter pane of glass served as the back wall for his office, allowing him to observe the Transit Terminal down below.

Sekat sat behind his desk, hands clasped ontop of it, watching them; and for a salarian, Miranda could only find this man exceptionally ugly. He wore a sickening shade of green for a business suit, and his eyes looked sunken into his face; the areas under his eyes didn't have rings, but twin streaks of reddened skin, making him look like somekind of insomniac. Even the horns that were twisted on the top of his head looked especially...wrong.

Sekat spoke, his voice gravelly and annoying as a weary smile crossed his face, "Doctor T'Soni," as they all moved into the room, the door shut behind them, allowing them some privacy. Sekat quickly pulled a data disk out from his draw and placed it ontop of his desk, eyes eerily fixed on Liara, "I assume you're here for the Broker's location?"

Miranda, being an excellent judge of character, took notice of the salarian's shaking hands, and apparently Thane did as well. Why was the salarian shaking? Something wasn't right; why did she feel like they were being watched? Was she being paranoid? She shot a look at Thane, who looked back, nodding. No, he was feeling it as well; and if the assassin could feel it, you knew something wasn't quite right.

The smile dropped from Sekat's face upon Liara's answer, "Yes, I am. Thank you Sekat," she reached for the disk, but a three-fingered hand immediately clasped over it, Liara's eyes shooting angrily to Sekat's, "What are you doing, Sekat? We had a deal!"

"I know," Sekat replied, voice shaky and sounding terrified, "But I need to know this won't be traced back to me. That your involvement...won't be traced back to me. I don't want the Broker coming after me in case you fail."

Why is he so certain we'll fail? Miranda mused, not liking where this was going in her mind.

Liara smiled meekly, her innocent eyes doing nothing to hide the fire in her eyes, "Oh, but we won't fail Sekat, I promise you that. I'm going to destroy the Shadow Broker and everything he stands for! I'm going to bring his entire network down and I'm going to save my mate!"

Sekat nodded frantically, "But just in case, will I be safe?" The man was close to skaking uncontrollably now. Miranda raised an eyebrow and quietly approached Grunt, tapping the massive krogan on the shoulder. He looked down at her with a fixed frown, with Miranda telling him to unholster his claymore. He smiled knowingly, pulling it out and letting the heavy shotgun fall into his grip, Thane following suit with his phalanx.

"You are prepared for trouble," Thane whispered to her, "I am not the only one who believes this to be a trap."

"The amount we've fallen into?" Miranda whispered back, a smile tugging at her lips, "Yeah, you bet I am."

She returned to Liara's side, letting the asari's body hide the SMG she was now drawing.

Liara nodded, standing from the desk and holding out her hand expectantly for the disk, "I assure you Sekat, you will not even be connected to me. Now, the disk?"

Sekat stood from his chair, gulping, "Good, then this exchange is over," the salarian shakily hit a button under his desk, "I'm sorry about this Liara."

"What...?" Liara was about to ask, only to be cut off as the door shot open behind them.

Four Shadow Broker mercs, clad in pitch black armor, with two salarians, a female human with a missile launcher and a turian with a Firestorm flamethrower, moved into the room and raised their weapons, not even hesitating in opening fire. Thane was easily prepared for them, his right leg arching in a cresent kick as it swatted the turian's flamethrower aside, allowing him to continue with a left hook to the side of his face, followed by a spinning hook kick with the same leg from before, hitting the turian, once again, across the face. Before he could recover, Thane aimed his phalanx pistol and fired a clean shot into the merc's skull, putting him down.

The woman with the missile launcher attempted to fire at Thane, but he was already pulsing with biotics as she did, a biotic push sending her flying into the doorway as he blocked a overhead blow from one salarian, allowing him to punch him in the mercenary's stomach, winding him.

Miranda, seeing that Thane could handle this, turned back to the desk, only to see that Sekat had picked up the data disk and was moving to flee, head turning to see that Miranda had spotted him, "Sekat! He's escaping!"

Liara spun around and attempted to hit the fleeing salarian with a biotic warp, but couldn't get an appropriate aim. But, in the end, it turned out they wouldn't need it, as a familiar war cry was heard, followed by 500 pounds of krogan ramming into Sekat, most likely breaking the salarian's right arm from the sheer impact.

But Grunt didn't even stop; and in no time, the krogan supersoldier had shoved Sekat through the window, the glass shattering on impact as Grunt fell after him, Sekat held under the krogan's sheer weight. Screaming was heard below, followed by a loud thud, and the breaking of bones echoed through the facility. Miranda nodded to Liara, who immediately leapt after Grunt, using her biotics to glide to the ground.

Miranda spun around and ran through the doorway to assist Thane, but it seemed pointless now. As she returned, she looked at the three dead bodies on the ground, followed by a fourth as the drell finished off his last target by snapping the salarian's neck. With a crack and roll of his own neck, Thane faced Miranda, cold eyes hiding the combat sense he felt.

"There will be more," the drell explained to her, turning to continue back down to the office area below, "We must make haste."

Miranda nodded to him, and aimed her SMG straight ahead, jogging behind Thane as they continued.

They reached the balcony area, where six mercenaries were currently waiting for them, two with missile launchers. They fired, streaks of blue light shooting past the two of them as they impacted walls behind them, exploding in flame as they ripped pieces of wall apart and sent people running away, screaming. The two asari from before, the ones on the morning break, now lay dead on the ground, holes drilled into their foreheads and purple blood leaking onto the ground.

Miranda's SMG barked, a shot catching a human mercenary full in the shields, causing the man to return in kind, a return bark from his Scimitar shotgun hitting Miranda's kinetic barriers full on and draining them significantly. With no cover however, she couldn't afford to find any and immediately fell back on her biotics, body glowing blue as she picked the mercenary up in a blue caccoon of light and tossed him over the balcony.

Thane was already in action, kicking one turian inbetween the thighs, which caused him to double over. He then picked the turian up and used his biotics to toss him at the first launcher wielding merc, allowing him to spin and face the other merc, a phalanx pistol shot centered dead on the barrel of the weapon; causing the ammunition inside to detonate and the wielder to disappear in a huge explosion; the heat of which boiled Miranda's skin.

The balcony groaned as a large hole was now left in it, and Thane disabled the second launcher wielder, proceeding to pistol whip the soldier across the face, followed by a biotic punch to the chest, and a final pistol shot to the skull.

In a matter of no time, they had defeated the rest of the mercs and made there way down. They encountered more mercs, but were able to defeat them and reach Liara and Grunt on the Transit Terminal floor via elevator.

People had gathered in large crowds around the area, and Miranda and Thane practically had to squeeze through to reach their comrades. Upon reaching it, they found a very gruesome sight.

Grunt stood over Sekat's pulverized body, which was almost as flat as a pancake as every bone in his dead body had been smashed to bloody bits, gore leaking over the floor. Liara stood beside the grinning krogan, who kicked Sekat's corpse with a chuckle, and looked very satisfied with herself. As they approached, and the asari turned to face them, Miranda saw why; the data disk in one hand.

"We've got the data," Liara declared, Miranda wiping blood off her brow as Thane holstered his phalanx, "We should leave before the police arrive."

"You're not going anywhere ma'am," Nelyna, from the door, quickly approached them, her SMG aiming at the asari, "I'm taking you into custody for the murder of Tau Sekat!"

"Excuse me?" Liara laughed, pointing at Sekat's cadaver that Grunt was still playing around with, "He attacked us! We came here to retrieve some information, and the next thing we know, we're getting attacked by Shadow Broker troops! He deserved that!"

Nelyna shook her head, "You have no proof, and with your reputation, anything's possible," four more guards joined her, "Drop your weapons and put your hands behind your heads," she turned to the krogan, motioning for another man, who held a large arc projector, to aim at Grunt, "You too, krogan, or we'll shock you to death."

Grunt looked to Miranda, who in turn, looked to Liara. They couldn't just surrender now; they had to get this information back to Shepard.

Liara looked about to open her mouth before a flash sounded behind them. They all looked around and Miranda widened her eyes as she saw an explosion rip through the service desk and engulf multiple people in deathly flame. And it wasn't the only explosion; more flashes appeared all over the building, and it was all Miranda could do to shove Liara to the side as one explosion quickly engulfed Grunt, Thane and herself in fire.

In the distance, all anyone could see was a massive set of explosions tearing through the Dracon Trade Center.

{Loading...}

November 6, 2185

0721 hours.

Mess Hall, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Docked with the Rayya.

Commander Marcus Lee Shepard.

Marcus Shepard, now clad in his civilian clothing, could only glare at the medical bay doors, daring them to open, to bring him good news of some description. The events of last night had shaken him to the core, the spectre letting tears flow for the first time infront of people who weren't Tali. And right now, said quarian was fighting for her life inside that room.

Doctor Chakwas had placed Tali on the bed and sedated her, and she, Mordin and Lia had rushed her out of the cabin as fast as possible into the med bay. Marcus had wanted to stay with her, but Chakwas had quickly shooed him out, stating they needed to stabilize her condition and do surgery if necessary. She had told him to get some rest, but he had flat out rejected, instead waiting outside the med bay patiently.

And here he was, way into the early stages of the morning, still waiting, rings hidden under his eyes. He had never been as terrified as he was now, not even on Akuze when he was fleeing Thresher Maws, or even on Tuchanka during Grunt's Rite of Passage when he had to fight one. Never had been so afraid.

Just seeing Tali like that in his arms; bleeding profusely, weakly mumbling his name had set him into tears; he had felt so helpless, so powerless, so pathetic. The love of his life, bleeding out, and all he could do was wait for the cavalry to arrive. And then there was Peta...oh, that son of a bitch...

Peta. The very name made his blood boil. He should have listened to Samara's warnings, but he had shrugged them off like they were nothing. I once again screwed up, and my ignorance could cost Tali her life. Oh god, can I not do anything that doesn't involve getting people killed? First the Rayya, now this...Another tear escaped his eye at the thought, but he wiped it away, not wanting to enter a hysterical frenzy in the middle of the Mess Hall.

Oh, but that piece of shit was lucky Marcus could be merciful. At times, he didn't even know why he let the fucker live. He had killed the Cerberus operative that had boarded their ship a month ago, but when it came to Tali's wannabe murderer, he left him live? Why? So he could watch him suffer? Watch him lose everything as he was exiled from his home? Was that it?

Marcus could only reach one conclusion; yes, it was. He wanted to watch Peta put on trial for his actions, for him to be exiled and for him to lose everything he owned. He wanted him to suffer. Marcus would enjoy it. Peta had tried to take the person he loved most away from, and that was the death penalty in his books.

Kal had knocked Peta out after those events and he and Madi had dragged his unconscious form to the airlock, where he was later picked up this morning by a marine squad and arrested, the quarian now awaiting trial. Shala had rushed to the scene to find out what happened and he had informed her, the quarian bursting into tears. He had held her until she recovered, but after that, Raan had changed. She angrily stated that Peta would be exiled for this, and she would make sure of it.

Marcus had agreed to attend the trial later this afternoon, and when, if, Tali recovered in time, she would attend as well. Kasumi and Garrus, along with Kal and Madi also wanted to attend, expressing anger at his actions and wanting to see him burn just as much as him. Wrex was coming as well, constantly exclaiming that noone harmed his 'quarian niece.' Even the brutal krogan chieftain had a soft spot in his heart for family, and to him, Tali was like the niece he never had, especially since Tali's shotgun skills largely came from Wrex when he trained her two years ago on the SR-1 Normandy.

He had also apologized to Samara, who had accepted his apology humbly; everything was sorted, and Marcus was left to his thoughts outside the medical bay, eagerly waiting for any piece of news, good or bad; but he sincerely hoped it was good.

After another twenty minutes, the doors to the medical bay opened, and Marcus expected Mordin, Karin or Lia to come out, to inform him whether Tali was going to make it or not. To his surprise however, it was actually Zaeed, the grizzled mercenary limping out of the med bay, groaning as he cradled an ice pack to his forehead.

"Zaeed?" Marcus asked, his demeanour lightening up slightly at knowing the merc would be okay, "You tough son of a bitch! Nothing can take you down, can it?"

The man seemed startled as he turned to face Marcus, his left, cybernetic eye locking with his own eyes. Zaeed, after a second, let a chuckle erupt from his lips and he limped over to where the spectre sat, sliding to the ground with a loud, drawn out groan as he sat down next to him.

"Yeah," Zaeed coughed, "I've had worse."

Marcus snorted, punching the old man's shoulder, "Bullshit you have."

"You bet I fucking have," Zaeed growled, "Try having one entire leg blown completely off. I finished the job, but I had to use all the credits I earned on getting a fucking cloned limb. A complete waste of my goddam time."

Marcus whistled, "Damn Zaeed, you've been through thick and thin. But cloned limbs cost at least nine hundred thousand a piece. That's close to a million credits; what kind of contract did you get to earn that much?"

Zaeed sighed, heavily dropping the icepack from his head to reveal a thin scar across the top that crisscrossed over its previous counterpart, a testament to the one he got from Vido as well, "Some high-living cosmopolitian shithead. Approached me with a contract that involved using my team, at the time, to blow up this big ass fucking base. The catch was that it was guarded by a platoon of turian blackwatch commandos at the time; real fucking hardasses. One of the bastards called in a fighter strike; that's how I lost my fucking leg. And like every other goddam mission, I lost my entire squad."

"Turian Blackwatch?" Marcus asked incredulously, "You mean you fought turian special forces?"

"And they had two Cabals," Zaeed coughed again, "Took both their heads off with my Mantis; fucking beautiful shot. I've loved that weapon ever since. I don't think anyone has ever managed to one shot two turian cabals with a Mantis sniper rifle before. I hold the fucking record."

"Bet that pissed off some of the brass back in the Hierarchy," Marcus declared.

"You bet it did," Zaeed laughed so hard he almost choked, "I remember that bastard trying to hire me to protect him because he thought the Council had sent a spectre to kill him; turns out he was right, but they had sent two spectres, and they were both turian."

Marcus guffawed, the conversation taking his mind off of Tali for a mere moment, "Why did they send two spectres to kill one rich guy? Wouldn't you only need one?"

The bounty hunter snorted, "You'd think so, but the Council at the time was so convinced that if this guy could hire people skillful enough to take out two Cabals and a platoon of Blackwatch commandos, then he'd hire protection good enough to protect him. So instead of sending every spectre they had, they sent two of their finest."

"Who?" Marcus asked.

"Didn't know then, but found out on the news later," Zaeed grinned at him, "One was this Nihlus Kryik and the other was none other than Saren Arterius himself. Apparently Saren killed the guards, and let Nihlus finish him off. Poor bastard."

Marcus grin dropped alittle, "They sent Saren?"

"Yeah," Zaeed looked at him, smiling, "So much for their best agent though if an infant spectre could put him down," he punched Marcus in the shoulder, "Fucking weird though; I'm pretty sure I heard news about that Arterius fuck murdering the Kryik guy. You know anything about that?"

Of course Marcus remembered, "Yeah, I served alongside Nihlus for a short time two years ago. Funnily enough, he was evaluating me to become a member of the spectres. In the short time I served alongside him, I thought he was a rude, arrogant turian, but on the battlefield...I don't know. Guess I'll never know now. The rumors you heard were true Zaeed; Saren murdered Nihlus in cold blood on Eden Prime. Saw the body myself."

"Fuck," Zaeed shook his head, "This galaxy is just too fucking small."

Both of them fell silent, Marcus' mind trailing back to other...less humorous things. He lowered his head alittle, and at this, Zaeed took notice, voice gravelly.

"I saw what happened to Tali in there Shepard," the man whistled, "She's a tough one, and I'm sure she'll pass through. But seriously; what the fuck happened? What the fuck was she doing, going into combat, topless?"

Marcus shook his head, "She wasn't in combat; we were both in bed, and Peta...he tried to kill me, but ended up stabbing Tali instead. He's being held for trial for now. He's going to be exiled."

"Peta?" Zaeed asked, confused, "Never heard of the fucking name."

"He joined our crew while you were in your coma," the spectre replied, "He's a quarian mechanic with an obsession with Tali. Seems that obsession didn't stop him from trying to kill her."

"Ah, that rings a few bells," Zaeed exhaled, "Would have killed the little cunt myself, but I guess you know your own 'revenge' system better than I do, so I'll leave you to it. Gotta say though; you found yourself a goddam beauty, Shepard. Sexy as fuck, I tell ya."

It was then that Marcus remembered Tali had been naked when they had rushed her to the medical bay. They had covered her face up with a cloth and covered her body with a blanket before leaving, but inside the bay, must have been different. Marcus almost felt himself blush.

"Yeah," he shook, "I have."

"She'll pull through I'm sure. Don't lose her though; she's worth more than any fucking asari, I can tell you that." They both entered another period of awkward silence after that, both of them not making a sound as people began to file into the Mess Hall as their curfew ended. Zaeed gave a final sigh and moved to stand up, gripping the wall to make sure he didn't fall over. When he was finally standing, he turned to Marcus with a nod, "I guess this is goodbye, Shepard."

Marcus frowned and immediately shot to his feet, facing the merc, "What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving Shepard," Zaeed announced, "Got things I need to do. You know, to prepare for the Reapers. You want your goddam army or not?"

Marcus smiled at the mercenary's attitude but quickly lost it upon realization that this was really goodbye, or at least for now, "I just didn't think you'd be leaving so soon..."

Zaeed nodded, "Neither did I, but it seems my brain finally kicked in and told me that I need to get my ass together and get ready to win this damn war. I want to be ready so we can all jump back in and be big, goddam heroes again. It'll be fucking fun. But for now, I've got Blue Suns to rally up and whip into shape. Then I'll try and see what I can do with the Eclipse and Blood Pack; being with you had better earn me some favors."

Marcus held his hand up and Zaeed took it, both of them clasping hard and slapping each other's backs in a brothers-in-arms kind of fashion, "You did good Zaeed; you helped me stop the Collectors, and I don't doubt you'll be able to get the Blue Suns ready to fight the Reapers."

"You're goddam right I will," with that, Zaeed turned to leave, "Well, I'd better get going. I'll head for the nearest colony that isn't Omega and find myself a ride back to Zorya. I've heard the new Blue Suns leader is in power and I want to see if he's worth any salt before I kill him. The Blue Suns are mine now, and noone elses. You'll have your damn army, I just hope you'll be able to lead it."

"Goodbye Zaeed," Marcus farewelled, "We'll meet again, I hope."

"Too goddam soon, I'd reckon," with one final tug of the lips, the mercenary turned and began limping, "Now, I'd better make my goddam escape before Chakwas finds out I'm up and moving. She's a fucking vulture, I'm telling you."

Marcus chuckled as he watched Zaeed's form disappear, moving into the elevator. He sighed and leaned against the wall, just in time too, as the door to the med bay shot open again, Chakwas moving out and cursing as she saw that her patient had escaped, "Bloody ingrate," Chakwas muttered, turning to face Marcus, "Did you see where Zaeed went?"

He shook his head, pretending to look innocent, "Not a clue, doc."

Chakwas rolled her eyes, "Soldiers, never willing to just lay down and heal," she shook her head one more time before turning to look at him one more time, the humor gone from his face as he looked at her, obviously desperate for news. She sighed, nodding at him, "You want news, I know. I'll send Mordin out to give the details."

Karin headed back inside and in a second, Mordin came out, omni-tool still active as he faced Marcus, door closing again.

Marcus was up in a heartbeat, "How is she, Mordin?"

The salarian nodded, a smile on his face, "Will recover. Damage not severe. Missed major arteries. Lost alot of blood. Clogged up with medi-gel. Recovery expected to take a day. Currently sleeping. Will inform you if anything else happens. Surgery successful. Ribcage undamaged. Should be fine."

He sighed in relief, leaning against the wall for support, "Thank god..." he nodded, inhaling and exhaling in deep breaths as he patted the salarian professor on the shoulder, "Thank you Mordin...thank you for saving her life."

"Not just me. Chakwas helped as well. As did assistant. Getting better. More training. Almost like me. Skills very salarian," he took a deep breath, still grinning as he finished, "Would be praised in STG. Very capable doctor."

He chuckled, smiling, "Thank you again, Mordin."

"Happy to help Shepard," and with that, the salarian bowed and reentered the med bay, door closing behind him. Marcus sighed in relief again and slid against the wall, falling back on the floor, a contented smile spread across his lips.

She was going to be alright.

And Peta would pay the price for trying to kill her.

"I could have died..."

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.

"The important thing Tali is that you didn't, and you got out fine. Besides, the very next day, we got married."

- Marcus Shepard.

"That we did. So what happened next?"

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.

"Peta's trial and the death warrant of the Shadow Broker."

- Marcus Shepard.

A/N:

Holy crap, shit just got real! What did you think of this chapter? Leave your opinion in the review section.

Yes, things are building up again. Next chapter will be Peta's trial, the aftermath of the Baria Frontiers mission, and the aftermath of the War for Omega (Aria's side of course. Remember, we won't be seeing Omega again until Holocaust).

And Zaeed has left the crew! But don't worry, he won't be forgotten by the story. He's got Blue Suns to rally up and prepare for the war with the Reapers, and we all know what Zaeed is like. He'll stop at nothing...

Also, I forgot to mention this previous chapter, but the quarian marriage ceremony system is not my idea. All credit goes to Rockycombo for the idea. If you want to read up on it, I recommend you read In Love and War. Its a fantastic read if you're into lots of fluff and suspense.

The chapter after the next one will be Tali and Marcus' wedding. Alot of the chapter will be fluff, so be prepared, naturally, so be prepared.