'Everybody take your seats and strap in. We hit the Omega Four relay in one minute.'

Faith shut off the broadcast, and sat back into the co-pilot's seat in the cockpit, taking a deep breath before fastening her own harness over her armour. There was nothing more to be done. The rest of the crew were in the hangar bay, ready to go in hot if required.

She looked across as Joker, who had his full array of holographic controls and sensors laid out in front of him, fingers dancing across the keyboards.

'Whatever's waiting for us... we need to get to the Collector's main base. Fight if you have to, but don't get bogged down. Anything else is secondary, understood?'

'Aye aye, ma'am.'

This was the worst part. All she could do now was sit and wait, to trust Joker, and EDI, to get them through whatever waited on the other side of the Relay. She barely contained a shudder as she instinctively looked forwards, seeing only the heavy metal shutters across the windows. Joker did not need to see to pilot the ship; his readouts were far more reliable and useful than any limited field of vision could be. She briefly marvelled at the skill involved in his work. When she fought, she relied on her complete situational awareness, mentally mapping out the battlefield, the positions of her allies and enemies. Perhaps Joker did the same, using the data laid out in front of him?

EDI's voice rang through the ship. Without an actual co-pilot, she would be the one relaying important information as Joker focused on piloting the ship.

Hitting the relay in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Shepard's stomach lurched as they traversed, the sensation ending almost as soon as it began.

Brace for evasive maneuvers.

There was nothing more she could do. One word could distract Joker, so she closed her eyes... put herself in a familiar setting. A building, destination unknown. A target inside. No further information. As she pushed on the door, she caught a wire zipping away into the wall, and she leapt to the side, seconds before the door blew outwards. Her body, thrown around in its harness, became one blown backwards by the concussion of the blast.

Hostile forces have ambushed us. Engaging.

She didn't have time to catch her breath as faceless troops swarmed out of the building. Pushing herself to her knees with a snarl, she picked up her dropped shotgun and blew one foe off his feet before they even caught sight of her. The others turned, but she was already on her feet, charging towards them. Another blast dropped the furthest enemy, before Shepard swung her gun out and broke the face of a third.

Impact... shields holding.

She suddenly staggered as a hammer blow hit her shoulder, but there was no pain other than a brief burn as her armour absorbed the impact. Spinning around, she saw the final enemy standing, pointing a weapon towards her. Before he could fire a second shot, she directed a biotic push his way, sending the surprised man sprawling to the ground. Another roaring shotgun blast ended his life.

Further hostiles spotted. We are entering a debris field to evade.

Shepard looked into the building and saw a larger group of enemies forming. She could not fight that many at once in the open. She stormed into the building, tossing a grenade at the group, causing them to scatter as she ducked behind one of the pillars. She was in a huge hall, with pillars and benches filling the floor, like an ancient church.

The grenade detonated as the ship shook again. Not pausing to look first, she flung herself around the pillar and hopped over one of the benches. None of her foes were standing: most pushing themselves to their knees, concealed by the debris, and she could see two of them had been skewered on the splintered wood benches.

'EDI, I need to spin the ship... re-route all shields to starboard.'

Impact imminent. All hands, brace.

She opened her eyes, frowning. EDI's voice continued out of her helmet speakers only, quiet so as not to disturb Joker.

Shepard, I believe Joker plans to "bounce" the ship to manoeuvre faster than thrusters will allow. Non-lethal impact with debris is imminent. Brace.

Trusting Joker, she pressed herself firmly into her seat, and gripped the handles to the sides of the seat. Almost immediately, the ship noticeably banked, meaning a turn hard enough to override the inertion dampeners was being performed, before a great shudder tore through her, and Shepard's stomach dropped at the forces pulling from all sides. It was worse than the zero-g simulations she had to perform during her training, and she imagined some of the other crew members would be evacuating their stomachs. There was a distant clatter of unsecured objects flying around the CIC, and a harsh, terrible snapping sound just to her left.

'Fire EDI, fire!' Joker's voice called out, and she risked another glance his way. His face was twisted in pain... that impact must have injured his fragile body, but still his fingers danced across the controls.

Tracking enemies. Firing GARDIAN lasers and Javelin torpedoes.

Faith held her breath instinctively, and for several seconds it was all she could do, to just sit still, watching Joker's fingers continue their graceful dance, and see the assorted feeds dump information in front of him.

All hostiles destroyed. Damage report: Shields at 20%. Hull breaches in Starboard observation and cargo hold. Bulkheads successfully containing damage and exposure. All crew members safe and accounted for in the hangar bay.

Panting, Joker turned to her. 'Screw a medal, Commander' He coughed, face twisting as a little blood dribbled from his mouth. 'I want a damn bonus cheque for that. Maybe a holiday.'

'We ok?'

'Yeah, for now. We arrived... ngh... in the middle of a damn nightmare, and there were weird little globe things waiting for us. They're all gone now.'

She noted his pained expression. 'You alright, Joker?'

He scowled again, and turned back. 'A few broken ribs, and I think...' he shifted slightly, then called out. 'Agh! Yup, the pelvis is damaged. Nothing I can do... gggh... about it right now, other than not play frickin' pong with the ship in the future.'

She nodded to the shutters. 'Show me.'

Opening helm shutters.

Shepard's breath caught as she saw what was ahead of them. Instead of the deep black of space, there was the glow of hundreds of stars in brilliant hues of orange, red and blue. She instantly squinted at the bright light, before the windows automatically darkened.

'God... that's beautiful...' The very space here was twisting and contorting around the stars, closer than they could ever be in a habitable system. Pitch dark vacancies, the deadly black holes, sucked in even light around them at the edges of her vision. That they were flying here was a miracle... whatever technology was keeping the Collector Base safe must be immensely powerful.

A great sea of debris floated below them, and it took a few seconds to realise that they were the remains of ships, some familiar shapes... some not.

Scans indicate some of these ships are hundreds of thousands of years old.

'How can somewhere like this exist for so long? The galactic core shifts and expands, just like everywhere else.' she asked, half to herself. The Collectors may be Prothean... but this place had been here for longer. A Reaper outpost, no doubt.

I can only hypothesise that the Mass Relay, which is generating this safe zone, makes necessary movements and adjustments to avoid destruction.

Shepard shook her head. How could they fight an enemy with technology like that?

Liara's face floated through her mind.

She would find a way.


The rage boiled inside of him.

To be in a fight... but completely helpless... was wrong.

His enormous muscles flexed, straining against his armour, and the straps holding him into his seat, especially modified for his size, groaned as if about to snap.

He wanted to hurt the Collectors. To be hurt by them. To feel a skull collapse beneath his boot, to feel the sweet rush as a bullet tore into his flesh, causing the red mist to take over.

He bared his teeth, growling loud enough to drown out the unhappy moans of the squishy aliens to his sides.

Shepard had promised him the battle of the galaxy.

To die in this tin can before he even got to fight would be an insult to his ancestors.

Helpless, he clenched his teeth and tried to breathe.


Kasumi leaned back into her harness, slightly comforted by the fact that she was not the only one who had vomited at whatever crazy moves Joker had pulled off. Most of the ground crew were fastened in down in the hangar, ready to go as soon as they landed if need be. Only Shepard and Joker weren't present, doing whatever captain-y things they were doing in the cockpit.

Collector ship on intercept course. Engaging.

'Kuso..' she wiped her chin, hoping she was at least slightly presentable, before turning to Jacob. She was slightly disappointed that he managed to somehow hold onto his stomach contents.

Probably some soldier thing... way to look good.

'Isn't that the thing that kicked Shepard's ass last time?'

'Yeah... but this ship's stronger, faster, and has much bigger teeth than the last one. We'll be fine.' His deep voice rang out, but he remained steadfastly looking forwards.

'You do this kind of thing often?'

Smooth, Kas. Smooth.

'Waitin' in the cargo bay of a ship, completely helpless as we face technologically superior opponents?' He finally turned and looked at her, and gave a toothy grin that sent her heart fluttering.

'I'd have been a little more poetic, but sure!'

'I sat through my fair share of dogfights when I was in the Alliance. Never gets any easier.'

'Oh... there goes my next question.'

A lurch flowed through her, and she closed her eyes. This was, without a doubt, the worst experience of her life. There was absolutely nothing she could do... and her life could, if they were hit by that thing's insane gun, be wiped out without her even knowing it. She wished briefly that she had kept Keiji's greybox, it would certainly provide her with somewhere to escape to now...

But the rather pretty man beside her was nearly as good a distraction.

Evasive manoeuvres.

She clasped onto her seat, and spoke again. 'What is it about that phrase that makes me scared for my life?'

'You've been in a vehicle with Shepard driving, right?'


Arashu, caring mother, this one asks protection.

Impact. Ship integrity compromised. Brace for turbulence.

Arashu, whose embrace warms and comforts,

Arashu, grant this one your aegis,

and guide him to complete his holy quest.

Main gun firing.

Arashu, this one strives to do good,

but has the weight of many souls upon his own.

Enemy destroyed.

Give him grace to protect others, as you protect him,

as he weathers the storms of life.

Energy pulse detected... Warning: engines offline.

Protect this one, Arashu,

and keep him from the embrace of the deep, for his final fight.

Brace for emergency landing.


I try not to look at the time as I pull together the information Faith asked me to.

She will have just passed the Relay.

Helpless, to whatever she finds on the other side.

Until she can take the fight to them.

Then... not the Goddess herself could save the Collectors.


A/N: Thank you Jay8008 for beta reading.

I don't know about you, but I imagine being a passenger on a spaceship during a firefight would be absolutely terrifying.