In the vast expanse of space above Thessia, the Leviathan soared like a wounded predator still circling its weaker prey, surrounded by the remnants of the batarian invasion fleet. There had never been a ship of its like: nearly as large as the Destiny Ascension, but whilst the asari flagship was practically a space-worthy military base - full of families, gardens and even a small, localised economy - the Leviathan was designed, built and operated for one thing only.

War.

Its main cannon had been devastated by the pest that was the Normandy, but its secondary and tertiary weapons were still fearsome enough that no foe dared come close. The asari fleets soared just out of range, not willing to fire upon it for fear of hitting their planet. They waited, patiently, for the inevitable moment the Leviathan had to break orbit… at which point the might of the asari navy would open up on it.

Inside the Leviathan, hot corridors lit with weak scarlet light thrived with batarian activity. Repair crews still rushed to the damaged portion of the gun. Slaves chained to their stations worked frantically, cringing when their handlers came near, stun-baton always at the ready. Orders rang loud and tinny from the loudspeakers, otherwise punctuated by the war-drum beat of the gargantuan mass effect drive at the ship's core, or the motivational anthems broadcast to inspire the free workers.

Unnoticed - a tiny pinprick on the side of a behemoth - a bright light flared on Leviathan's hull for several seconds before an explosion of pressurised air blasted out.

And in the vast expanse of space, seven miniscule figures slowly and silently jumped from their shuttle, soaring across the void and entering the ruptured corridors of the dreadnought like a virus infecting its host.


'I fucking hate doing that.'

Shepard spared a glance at Aethyta as the asari carefully wrapped her gloved hand around a torn metal pipe, and leaned out of the gaping hole in the wall. Outside, all she could see was black space, and a sea of shimmering stars. Cortez had chosen their entry point well: not only had the armour plating been weak here, but the entry point was closer to the bridge than she had expected. She made a mental note to thank the shuttle pilot: he clearly knew his trade well.

As Garrus and Vega secured the only door to the small room, Shepard brought her comm system to life, speaking in emotionless, clipped tones. 'Mission relevant chatter only, Aethyta.' The asari turned her helmeted head back towards the rest of the group, and Faith could practically see the scowl beneath the opaque glass, but the matriarch simply nodded her agreement. 'EDI, did we set off any alarms?' Faith continued.

Affirmative, Shepard,the AI's voice calmly replied, spiking a surge of adrenaline through the human's system, However, I have sufficient access to the ship's top-level security system to have suppressed internal transmission. The alarm was activated but upstream systems were not, and the crew remain ignorant of your intrusion.

Shepard resisted the urge to sigh in relief. 'EDI, please just say "no" next time. Moving on, what else can you do for us?'

Future ship-wide alerts that you will inevitably trigger can be disabled, but some local alarms are on closed circuits I cannot access. I can also operate some of the ship's automated bulkheads, or manipulate lighting.

'What about the drive core? Or life support?'

Either of those would require substantial processing power to access; they are well defended against an attack such as mine. Please specify where you believe my attention would be best directed.

Shepard raised a brow at the word "attention". She had noticed the AI was using more and more organic phrases, and wasn't quite sure if she was comfortable with that... but now wasn't the time to think about it.

'Concentrate on life support first. The batarians must have some kind of escape plan and I don't want to risk us being blown out of the air because we messed up their engines. But screwing with their air and gravity could definitely help, and see if you can set off false alarms in other areas of the ship to draw attention away from us.'

As you wish.

'Also, have Traynor hail somebody in the asari fleet. Tell them what we're doing, and that it would be appreciated if they didn't open fire on us.' There was no guarantee that the asari would listen to such a request, but it was worth trying.

I will do so. Good luck, Shepard.

'Thank you.' She replied tersely. Faith knew her plan was outrageously risky, but she had to find out what the batarians were up to, and didn't trust that the asari would share such findings… that was if they didn't simply destroy the batarians outright.

She looked to her squad, who were milling around the entrance to the room, weapons ready, looking to her for instruction. She had studied the Leviathan's schematics on the shuttle from Thessia, but the enormous dreadnought had dozens of kilometres of corridor, very few of which led directly to the bridge. A small map was projected in the lower right of her HUD; a thin red line painted over it directing the best route according to EDI's scans.

Turning to the team, she scoured her memory for the training she had received in spaceship boarding operations. 'We need to be quick and careful on the assault. This thing'll be built to take dreadnought fire, but that doesn't mean it's indestructible. No AP rounds, low yield explosives only, and watch out for biotics warping the walls. Also, be careful when shooting in the corridors. Take cover when there's fire in front or behind, and if you don't think you've got a clear shot past the others, don't risk it and let those closest deal with them. We keep moving until we've reached our objective; they know this ship a lot better than we do and can get around us if we're not fast. But we've got surprise on our side, and I'm hoping EDI can help keep the bulk of the ship's complement off our back.'

She looked across the group, all watching her intently through their full-faced helmets in eerie silence. Vega, dwarfing Kasumi at his side, was fiddling with his weapon to remove the piercing rounds as she had ordered, and she noticed Garrus hadn't even brought his sniper rifle: it would be useless in such tight quarters.

Satisfied they were ready, she continued, speaking quickly: 'Our first objective is to get out of this room into the pressurised part of the ship. When that door opens, whatever's beyond will be sucked through here, so be careful. Liara and Aethyta, go first and catch anything coming our way with your biotics. We move quickly, then Vega will pull the bulkhead shut behind us. Keep your helmets on, suits sealed and mag-boots active until your suit's VI tells you it's safe to do otherwise, it might be a little further in. Any questions?'

A chorus of shaking heads met her question, and Shepard nodded, pleased. 'Good. Vega, the door.'

The huge man stowed his weapon even as Faith pulled out her shotgun, then he grabbed the hand-wheel in the centre of the door. As he began to turn it, silent in the vacuum of their entry, the squad tensely raised their weapons. They had no way of knowing if anybody was out there, and if there was they would probably be sucked straight through, but a soldier could never be too careful. Both asari lit up with biotics, rippling blue fire crawling over their armour and sparking into the empty air surrounding them.

With a startling suddenness the door flew open and forced Vega back a step, whatever noise it should have made lost as air blasted the waiting team, sucked out into the void behind them. Aethyta strode forward, apparently knowing the careful, strong but small steps needed to correctly use the magnetic boots built into her commando armour. Liara followed, but with a little more difficulty, so Faith took up position just behind her in case she slipped.

Ahead, the matriarch lit up with blinding light and called an alien cry, raising her arm and forming a small singularity well ahead of the team. The hail of debris flying towards them was caught in the super-dense space… as was a terrified batarian dressed in mechanic's clothes as he gasped for air that was sucked from his very lungs. With a scowl, Shepard moved aside to let the others through the door, raised her shotgun and blasted him even as he tumbled helplessly in the powerful biotic field. The walls of the corridor began to crumple as Liara joined Aethyta in catching the debris flying towards them. Looking quickly back, Shepard saw all the others had made it through, and Vega was struggling with the door, the motors in his suit whirring as he tried to force the heavy bulkhead shut against the vacuum of space.

'Liara, help Vega!' Shepard snapped, the asari instantly turning around and extending a hand towards the door, wreathing it in brilliant blue and helping the man finally pull it shut. The blasting wind instantly stopped as it slammed shut, and Aethyta - recognising the damage her biotics were doing to the ship - ceased her singularity, sending a large pile of tools, scrap metal and a dead body clanging to the floor.

The team spread out in a practiced formation, weapons raised, as Shepard inspected the surroundings. The ship was clearly new: it lacked the inevitable build up of grease and rust that older ships sported, but was instead daubed in blood-red paint scrawled into intimidating patterns, glistening in the maroon light projected from spotlights in the ceiling. Crouching down by the batarian, Shepard frowned as she pushed it into its back. It was a male, but there was something… off… about it. Checking closer she could see there was significant cybernetic enhancement: one of the eyes was flickering red, and on suspicion she glanced down, seeing several fingers had been replaced by artificial tools.

Had it… he… gone through the process voluntarily? In the mess that was his destroyed skull she could see the telltale glistening of more tech - a greybox, most likely, and more.

Is that how I look underneath Cerberus' polish?

The thought came unbidden, and rocked her back onto her heels. She was well aware that her body was riddled with technological upgrades. Her bones were reinforced with a heavy lattice that made them practically unbreakable, and run through with medigel conduits that meant even severe damage could be repaired in a matter of days. Her muscles were perforated with fibers that increased her already considerable strength. Her skin was laced with a strong synthetic weave that meant Doctor Chakwas had actually broken more than one needle on her. Her blood swam with nanites that flushed out poisons, carried oxygen with greater efficiency, and delivered a powerful adrenaline rush when she needed it. But aside from a few scars that came and went with her moods, she looked as human as anybody else.

In truth, she was far more enhanced than the abomination beneath her. Cerberus had just tidied her up a bit better.

She scowled, and stood. It was dangerous to wait around in hostile territory. Turning to look at the others, she gestured down the hall. 'This way. I'll take point, Vega brings up the rear. Move fast, neutralise any batarian you see until we get to the bridge. I want some of those alive if possible.'


'They're behind us!'

Tali spun on the spot at Vega's warning, his voice ringing loud above the siren that had been pounding from the ship's PA system for what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably just a scant few minutes. Combat always made her lose track of time; hours flashing by in seconds, or brief minutes stretching over impossibly long times. As she spun around, she raised her Geth Plasma Shotgun even as the gargantuan human opened up with his enormous N7 Typhoon LMG, the air exploding with a deafening roar and a deadly hail of bullets. Behind the group, a small team of armed and armoured batarians scrambled to cover, roaring in fury at the invaders.

The quarian fired off a single blast before ducking down, a trio of supercharged rounds splashing against the heavy support a batarian was hiding behind; flash-converting the nearby air into deadly plasma that sizzled through the structure… and the batarian's shoulder-plate, eliciting a panicked scream. As he straightened to strip away his melting armour, Vega shifted his aim and opened fire, heavy rounds tearing through the batarian, ripping an arm clean off in a spray of gore before a trio of messy craters in his chest dropped him wordlessly to the ground.

[Enemy targets marked] Legion's toneless voice sounded inside her helmet, and she cautiously poked her head out before ducking back to avoid the incoming fire. Across the HUD projected on the inside of her faceplate were four faint red bodies, ducking behind corridor supports in the tight passage.

'Take them out, we can't stop!'

Shepard's clipped words rang through her comms and Tali nodded to herself, lips forming into a scowl. She could hear gunfire, the hum of biotics and pained screams ahead, but she couldn't spare a glance as she poked her head out of her own cover beneath a corrugated metal stairway, ducking quickly back in as gunfire rained towards her, ricocheting loudly around her.

[Enemy weapons identified. Analysing fire patterns... maintain cover, Tali.]

Trusting the AI, she held her position, cowering when a stray bullet impacted just inches above her head.

'You gonna help here?!' Vega's taut cry drew her attention, despite being nearly drowned by the alarm; across the corridor she saw the man firing blindly from out of his cover, shots going wide but keeping the batarians from pressing forwards.

'Wait James, I-' she began, wondering how she was supposed to explain that her geth wanted her to stay down.

[Now.]

Without thinking she stopped talking and spun out of cover, seeing three of the four batarians struggling to fit new heatsinks into their guns, partially hidden behind their cover. The final glimmered with the telltale shine of shields, and just as she began to twitch her fingers in the sequence to activate the suitable omni-tool program, it lit up of its own volition.

[Draining shields.]

She heard a surprised grunt from Vega as an arc of lightning jumped from the batarian to the brilliant orange glow on her wrist, the batarian shouting in shock as his shields disappeared.

Neither she nor the human hesitated, dropping the startled foe to the ground in a mist of lead, plasma and blood.

[Deploy drone 3.]

A small blue arrow appeared overlaid on her vision of the dim corridor, and again she did not think as she reached back to pull a small, heavy sphere from her hip and toss it underhand in the same movement. The assault drone sparked to life with a whiny buzz as it landed just ahead of Legion's arrow, instantly arcing tiny bolts of energy to the startled batarians who had finished reloading. Surprised and angry at the pesky drone, they were forced out of cover and into the deadly welcome Tali and Vega's weapons.

As the final batarian dropped, Tali breathing heavily, she realised it had been mere seconds since Vega first alerted them to the hostile presence. Legion had given her everything: whether it was calculating the shots fired by the enemies and when they needed to reload, or activating Energy Drain when it would have taken her half a second - in the open - to do so, and finally judging the correct tactic to draw them from cover… it had effectively decided her every move.

I'm... not sure if I'm ok with that... But she had won… was that not what was important? She was a capable fighter, but Legion trimmed valuable seconds from her own combat style, its sensors picking up what she would need to see with her eyes… was she not simply relying on it as she relied on her omni-tool to deploy its combat programs?

I could fight without Legion, could I fight without my other tech? Is... that all I am? She shook her head, trying to banish the nervous thoughts as she held out her hand, the small drone returning to her and dropping into it as it powered down. It wasn't just Legion that was bothering her. EDI might not have been able to stop all of the batarians, or keep the alarms turned off for long, but the AI had managed to seal every single automatic bulkhead on the ship, meaning hundreds, maybe thousands of batarians were trapped in their quarters, or at their stations, rather than converging on them. Those few that did make it, only arrived in small teams, and were easily torn down the by the group. Was it really Shepard, Garrus and the others leading the assault? Or was it the AIs, who just happened to need a few organics to clean up what little they couldn't do themselves?

A heavy impact on her back startled her back to the present, knocking her forward a step. She turned to see the broad, scarred and friendly face of James Vega grinning down at her, large hand still on her back. 'Nice job there Sparks. Shouldn't have doubted you.' He spoke loudly over the siren blaring from above, but otherwise seemed unaffected by the piercing noise.

She smiled to herself. The big human was quite disarming despite his imposing size, though she wasn't quite sure why he called her "Sparks". Looking around his armoured bulk, she saw the others gathered around a bulkhead, waving her and Vega forward. 'Don't forget it. Let's get going, we're falling behind.'


'Faith!'

Shepard ignored Liara's worried call as she charged forward into a storm of gunfire, half a dozen lights on her HUD flashing in alarm before her shield generator gave out, shattering her shimmering coat like a mirror. A round impacted her shoulder, stopped by the thick armour there, but still she ran, eyes focused on the prize at the end of the corridor: a pair of batarians guarding a bulkhead, firing wildly at the team.

Some vague part of her knew that they should have engaged at range: drawn the batarians into a firefight, or used a low-yield grenade, but they couldn't afford the delay… so she charged.

Another round hit her shin, breaking through the armour and grazing her skin. She stumbled, vaguely hearing another cry from behind, before twitching the fingers of her left hand into her palm. The gift Liara gave her - what seemed so long ago now - flickered to life, orange glow reflecting on the metallic walls.

'More behind us!' Garrus' flanging voice echoed through her comms, hushed but not lost beneath the roar of gunfire and vociferous alarms in the tight space.

'Deal with them, I've got these!' Her voice was hoarse, her throat dry, from constantly calling orders since the attack had begun but she ignored the discomfort, bringing up her omni-shield and charging towards the now panicking batarians, feet ringing as they pounded the metal grate beneath them. The batarians rushed off a few more shots - harmlessly deflected by the shield that impacted only a fraction of the bullets' force into her arm - before she was amongst them.

Ducking a wild swing from the one on the left, she killed her shield and jammed her shotgun into the others' knee, firing and messily ripping the limb off in a shower of blood and shattered bone that sprayed across her faceplate, dragging a scream from his throat.

The blood was red. Like a human's. Like her own.

As he fell, screaming and clutching the gory stump at the end of his thigh, she turned to the other one, who launched himself at her in a blind rage, grabbing her shoulders with a steel grip.

Unthinking, she snapped her head forward and felt something in his face crunch and collapse, as she was rewarded with another red smear across her vision.

He didn't let go. Nearly blind from the blood across her helmet, she drew her head back again, only to see - moments too late - his arm had lit up, shining with a brilliant orange.

She had no idea what combat program it was, but didn't need to know specifics. Batarians invariably used violent and usually illegal weapons tech, that would be deadly up close.

All she could hear were screams. From the batarian she had maimed, rolling at her feet. From behind: Garrus calling for her to get clear so he could take a shot. Liara's terrified concern. The never-ending claxon that EDI was unable to shut down, as if the ship itself was wailing at its invasion.

Acting on pure instinct, she brought her own hand up, arm bending in a painful, unnatural angle, forcing the batarian's gauntlet away-

When with brilliant blue light a sharp, sudden shock blasted her backwards, as though a hand gripped the back of her armour and yanked at the same time as a heavy foot kicked into her stomach.

Her limp body slammed against the bulkhead behind her, wind blasting from her lungs and a massive pain stabbing through her stomach as she looked up, seeing the hazy red outline of the batarian crumpled against the opposite wall, as well as several glowing silicone-carbide spikes embedded in the ceiling… that had been meant for her head. The batarian whose leg she had blown off now appeared to have been stamped into the floor of the ship, his body crushed and bleeding from a dozen wounds. Gasping for breath, she reached up to yank her helmet off, sending it clattering across the ground as Liara filled her vision, armour crawling with ice-cold fire, eyes shining with both anger and fear as she approached, and knelt down. 'Goddess, Faith, I-'

Shepard did not wait to hear what she had to say. Her eyes widened as she grabbed Liara's collar and pulled her unceremoniously to the floor, the asari's cry of pain ignored as a rotting hand grasped the air she had occupied just moments before.

Liara!

Body rushing with protective instinct, overriding her pain, Shepard leapt to her feet, ready to tear the thing apart... and looked into the face of a nightmare.

It was a batarian… or used to be. The ones she had been fighting up until now all showed assorted levels of technical implants: varying from artificial eyes to digit replacements on their hands, but this was something else. All of its eyes shimmered a pale, sickly blue, and its skin - bare all over - was crawling with wires and glowing nodes. Bulbous sacks of muscle and fat and skin bubbled across its back like a grotesque hump, rippling as it raised an arm, twisted and warped into what looked like a cannon of flesh, towards her.

Body still reeling at how close it had come to touching Liara, blood pounding through her and a red mist descending on her vision, she drew her pistol, raising it in one swift motion, ready to empty its clip into the thing's face-

No!

With a sudden realisation she wrestled the rage down, refusing toallow it to control her. Instead she closed the distance and batted its "weapon" aside, jamming a clenched fist into its face.

It staggered backwards, mouth opening unnaturally wide into a horrific roar that drowned the wailing alarm, more tech glistening inside its maw.

What the hell is that?

At the corner of her eye she saw a shimmer behind it, of Kasumi's cloak, and the flash of her blade. She called out so all the others could hear. 'No, I want it in one piece!'

She had come here for answers, and some part of her knew this was one of them. The tech running through its body was eerily similar to that used in the human husks, and if that was the case…

She needed to know more.

Pressing forward, the thing blindly grabbed for her, but it was slow and she easily sidestepped around its horrific arms, before grabbing its head and twisting - hard - at just the right angle, a move she had used on batarians in close quarters more times than she could remember.

A sickening crack echoed through the corridor, and she let the creature fall back, its head drooping off its broken perch.

It did not stop. Again it lunged forward, neck shattered and head bobbing unnaturally but still coming strong. Original plan of capturing it neatly now abandoned, Faith's eyes narrowed as she ducked and lashed out with her foot, her strength and armour shattering its knee and sending it tumbling to the ground. Before it could right itself, she dropped down onto it, pinning it to the ground with a knee. Garrus and Kasumi leapt on it as well, taking the initiative in grabbing its flailing weapon, pointing it safely away from the team.

As the team gathered around the squirming monstrosity, the deafening alarm finally, mercifully, fell quiet. EDI's voice seemed unnaturally loud in the sudden silence.

I have disabled the audible aspect of the alarm, Shepard, but the batarians are now fully aware of both your presence and your identity. More marines are converging on your location but they have to destroy the sealed doors in their way which will take some time. Additionally, the Leviathan has begun to move, abandoning the batarians still left on the planet, but has not yet broken orbit of Thessia. The asari fleets are still unable to safely fire on it, and Specialist Traynor's hails have gone unanswered.

Faith nodded, grimacing. 'Thanks EDI.' The AI had made this assault possible with its immense hacking ability and any doubts she might have had about the cost or danger of using such a powerful AI had been quashed during the attack. Vaguely wondering what else EDI could do for them, she looked down at the creature beneath her, which was still trying to escape her grasp, moaning in anger. It did not appear to be in any pain, which worried her.

'That thing is uuuugly,' came a quip as Kasumi flickered into existence, sheathing the short sword she had planned to skewer the beast with. But the words were muted as the team gathered around the struggling beast.

'Is it what I think it is, Shepard?' Garrus asked the question most of them were thinking, cool voice not quite masking his nerves.

She nodded slowly, then looked up to Liara, feeling a pang of regret as she saw the asari's nose was bruised and bleeding. It must have happened when Faith pulled her to the ground earlier. 'Can you hold this thing in stasis?'

Liara nodded wordlessly, so Shepard carefully stood, keeping a foot planted firmly on the thing's chest, noticing its struggling was slowing. Perhaps the damage she had done to it was beginning to take effect. Liara lit up with biotics, and when Shepard, Garrus and Kasumi quickly stepped back she flicked a hand forward, neatly trapping the thing where it laid and silencing its disturbing groans.

Shepard eyed it again, then looked up at her team. 'I can't be certain, but this looks a bit like a husk. A batarian husk.' Did the Reapers have their claws into the batarians already? Or was it an advance guard, like Sovereign's geth had used on Eden Prime? That might go some way to explain the insanity of attacking Thessia, at least...

She scowled, looking at it. She had never imagined that batarians could be made worse, but this proved it was definitely possible. Then again… If this was a husk, it was a mindless creature. It committed disgusting acts because that tech running through it told it to, not because it wanted to. It simply fought and killed, unlike the living batarians who ruined lives for the demands of their sick society. As she had fought the burning anger had given way to cold, professional detachment, but now they had stopped she felt it coming back.

Faith bit it down. It was not just her own feelings that mattered here. The others were relying on her to keep her cool. 'I want to keep it, have Chakwas and Kenson take a look at it.'

With a glance down the corridor they had come through, littered with corpses and riddled with bullet holes, she sighed. 'But it's too dangerous to haul around whilst we're still in hostile territory. We'll leave it here and hope we can bring it on the way back.'

'Erm...' Vega spoke nervously, reaching up and scratching his head.

'What is it?'

'Isn't he an enemy combatant? I know you're a Spectre and don't have to stick to Citadel conventions, but it sounds like you want to bring him in for tests.'

She frowned. He was right, in a way: there were rules about that sort of thing, and even she would hesitate before bringing in a real batarian for what she had planned for the thing before her. But it wasn't a real batarian. Not any more. 'You fought the Collectors, right?'

Anger flashed through his eyes, but he nodded silently. They'd talked about it briefly, as she updated the new crew on everything she knew about the Reapers… including how the Collectors came to be. She'd learned then that he had encountered them before: something she wanted to talk to him about when they next had time to do so. 'This thing is about as batarian as a Collector is a Prothean. All of its free will is gone, everything that made it sapient… made it a person, replaced by tech.'

Mordin's words fell easily from her mouth, though she wasn't sure she believed herself. She wasn't used to calling batarians people.

'It's not pretty but it's barely even alive,' she continued, 'and we need to know how far the Reapers have infiltrated the batarians. This will help.'

'But-'

'No more questions, Vega,' she snapped, holding his angry eyes. 'If you can't handle it I'll have the Alliance send somebody who can.'

He scowled in return, then turned and shook his head, gesturing flippantly. 'Do whatever. I've said my thing.'

Her gaze burned into his back for a moment, before she cleared her mind. He would follow her, she knew… but he would make his opinion known if he didn't like something. Like Kaidan, a distant part of her mind remembered, but less polite.

Ducking to pick up her dropped shotgun, she shipped it at her back then activated her omni-blade, kneeling by the husk's side. 'Liara, let it go.'

The second the stasis was released, she carefully grabbed the thing's head, still dangling loosely from its broken neck... and hacked it off, spraying viscous blood and an unidentifiable fluid across the front of her armour. Numerous groans of distaste sounded around her as she finished decapitating the body, but she ignored them. It wasn't ideal, she thought as it finally ceased its struggling, but she'd rather it dead and damaged than risking the team's safety - and an intact head would likely be important. As the lights across its body began to fade, she dropped the severed head by its carcass, then stood. 'Move out, we're almost to the bridge. Let's shut this ship down before we get overrun.'

She didn't see Liara look sadly at the corpse before they left.


'That's… a lot of batarians, Shepard.'

The human raised a questioning brow at Garrus, as the team huddled around yet another bulkhead, glad that the batarians built their ships well. 'Really?'

A heavy thump impacted the other side of the wall, knocking them all away before she pressed herself back against it. "A lot" of batarians was an understatement. They had finally reached the bridge, or were just about to, but there was a huge room just before it that at least thirty batarians had heavily fortified, blocking off all the doors except for the one they had to enter through. Their weapons were chewing up the walls they were leaning against, but they still held… for now. She had to think of some way to get them all through the room, but nothing immediately came to mind. If she'd brought a Cain they could have cleared the place relatively easily, but such a weapon was next to useless on a ship. They couldn't risk Kasumi ducking through the hail of bullets, even cloaked, and her shield couldn't take that much firepower.

Dammit, need to do something…

'Shepard!' She looked up to the speaker. Aethyta was standing before her, flaring brightly with anger, eyes flashing with rage. She had been fighting more and more viciously as they assaulted deep into the ship, and now they had reached the very centre the asari matriarch looked truly furious. Faith remembered the first time they had met, that Aethyta had told her she was half-krogan… though Liara insisted it did not "work that way", it was very easy to see the blood-rage in her. 'We're nearly there, right?'

The human nodded, grimacing as yet another heavy explosion shook the walls. They were in the very core of the ship now: dozens, maybe hundreds of metres of solid metal in each direction, so there was no risk of exposing themselves to the vacuum. They had seen no more of those batarian husks, and the batarians themselves had been thinning out… clearly because they were preparing this "welcome" for them. 'You can do something about them?' She asked, jabbing a finger over her shoulder towards the deathtrap of a room.

The matriarch raised a hand, shimmering with biotic fire. 'Yeah. Don't plan on getting anything useful out of me when I'm done, though.'

Faith nodded. They didn't have any other option. 'Do it.'

With a shallow nod, the matriarch closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath. Watching with interest, the team all took a small, involuntary step back as she lit up with biotic fire, a brilliant aura that illuminated the dingy ship and audibly cracked into the air around her.

The floor began to shake, and not just with the explosions and gunfire coming from the batarians. The air, charged with power, jolted the hairs on her neck up, as if a storm was brewing inside the ship, and Faith was startled to see small arcs of biotic power crawl across her own armour. Holding her breath in anticipation, she fixed the matriarch with a curious gaze-

Before Aethyta' eyes snapped open, a brilliant white light shining from them. She spun around and lashed an arm through the doorway, the atmosphere suddenly clearing as if she had sucked the very essence of power from it.

Nothing happened.

For less than a heartbeat, Shepard thought whatever Aethyta did had not worked… until in the centre of the large room, biotic light flickered into existence. Expanding from nothing, a brilliant sphere flared outwards, tearing flesh from bone with sickening ease, melting armour into skin, destroying consoles in showers of sparks and wrecking metal into unnatural shapes as it grew, before collapsing into itself and detonating with a blast that shook the very foundations of the ship. Every batarian caught in the burst set off yet another mighty biotic explosion, their bodies torn apart and sprayed across the room, the energy from their deaths causing yet more shattering outbursts, their screams of pain and terror drowned by the deafening roar moments before their bodies were ripped apart.

After what seemed an eternity of explosions and screams, the biotic field collapsed in on itself again, fizzing into nothing, leaving just a silent, devastated room smeared with the remains of a small batarian platoon.

'...Fuck.'

As the weak curse escaped Aethyta's lips, her legs trembled and would have dropped her to the floor if Garrus had not awkwardly caught her, trying to position her away from his sharp claws and pointed spurs, shooting Vega a glance that led the human to easily hoist her up in his massive arms.

A thin trickle of violet blood dripped from the matriarch's nose, but she managed a lecherous grin even as she closed her eyes. 'Totally… worth it…'

Faith simply stood, astounded at the carnage wrought by the asari. She had just single handedly slaughtered dozens of batarians, with her mind. It had clearly taken the last of her reserves, but… what power!

Liara spoke quietly as the team took in the full extent of Aethyta's attack. 'Are you alright? Was that a… Flare?'

'Yeah... kiddo,' Aethyta confirmed with a quiet groan leaning heavily into Vega's body. 'Ain't done that in… forty years. Or more, can't really remember.' Cracking one eye open to peer up at the human holding her, she smirked. 'Might dust it off a little more often. Perks 'r nice...' Her head lolled to the side, slitted eyes meeting Shepard's for a moment. 'Can I keep him?'

'Ahh… ha…' the man flushed pink at that, then looked questioningly at Shepard.

As the team chuckled, even Faith allowed herself a small grin. 'Stay with her until she can walk, Vega. We'll continue to the bridge.'

'Owe you one… Shepard...' the matriarch's final words slurred, eyes slipping shut, but Vega quickly confirmed she was still breathing steadily.

Nodding to herself, Faith tapped the comm to life. 'EDI, we're about to storm the bridge, anything we should know? What's happening in the battle?'

The Leviathan appears to be powering up its FTL engines, and has lightened its mass considerably. I believe it is preparing to make the jump whilst still in orbit of Thessia. The asari have managed to lure several more ships from the batarian fleet away and destroyed them, and intercepted comm traffic suggests they are debating letting the dreadnought escape, so they can later track it away from their planet.

Shepard nodded to herself. 'Let's hit the bridge. The asari can decide what to do with whoever's left once we've got what we came here for.'

'Is it safe to jump to FTL from a planet's orbit?' Liara's voice sounded nervous: understandable, considering what she had seen a ship's cannon do from orbit.

Faith shot her a reassuring glance. 'It's not generally done, especially with such a big ship. It could cause some atmospheric disturbance but it's not going to scorch the surface or anything. I don't intend to give them the opportunity to try, though.'

The asari nodded as the five remaining fighters made their way across the room, carefully stepping around the corpses - some little more than shattered skeletons with flesh hanging off in torn strips - that used to be batarian warriors. Flare… Shepard made a mental note to ask either Liara or Aethyta about it: she had never heard of such a power. And judging by the carnage the matriarch had wrought, it was likely that there was a good reason for its secrecy.

As Kasumi set to decoding the electronic lock sealing the bulkhead shut, the others all took position. She had no way of knowing how many were on the bridge, but she wanted somebody in command alive, to tell her why they wanted her, to answer for what they had done to Thessia, to tell her about the husk… to pay.

'Door's ready to go, Shep,' Kasumi quipped quietly as she hopped backwards, letting the heavier fighters take point.

The Spectre nodded, and again clicked her omni-shield to life. 'Ok. I'll go in first. Everyone else follow on my command, hit them hard and heavy if they fight back, but leave them alive if they don't.'

The team gestured their understanding, though Shepard did not fail to notice the concern in Liara's eyes. She was charging in again, putting herself in danger… but that was her life. She had never pretended otherwise, though this was the first time she had truly seen the consequences of that. Liara was constantly worried for her… and when that husk had nearly grabbed the asari, Faith's own protective surge had driven rational thought from her brain for several seconds, until she managed to recover enough of herself to realise she needed to keep the thing intact.

She was confident she could still operate efficiently with Liara's presence… but still made a mental note to talk to her about it after the mission. If their feelings put each other… put the rest of the team… in danger, that was unacceptable.

'Ok, get-'

Without warning, the bottom dropped out of her stomach, the ship shuddering violently around them. They've jumped to FTL, comms with the Normandy will be down now… damn!

'Now!'

Garrus pulled the door open and Shepard, heart pounding, charged forward with her shield raised, pistol in the other…

But the bridge was empty.

The massive control room was full of terminals, flickering displays and vacant seats, a vast circle that surrounded a huge projected map of the Parnitha system, a glowing speck indicating the Leviathan was speeding away from Thessia… in the opposite direction of the relay. The layout indicated the ship was trying to leave the system via FTL, leaving the asari fleets behind.

The team spread out, weapons raised and steps cautious, as they progressed through the eerily silent bridge. Who was directing the ship? They had left the engines untouched so those actually able to make the dreadnought move could still do so, but without direction what could they expect to do?

'They said you would come.'

A disembodied voice echoed through the room, and the whole team snapped to attention, guns raised, fingers hovering over triggers. Eyes narrow, Faith edged forwards to what could only be described as a throne at the far end of the bridge, sitting before a bank of dozens of monitors feeding status reports across the ship.

'I'm here to end this!' She called out in return, voice echoing from the high ceiling and wide walls. Confirming her suspicion, the high-backed throne moved in answer. She waved her team forwards, indicating she wanted it surrounded. 'Tell me why you attacked Thessia!'

'For you, of course.'

The voice rang without emotion, and the massive chair finally spun around, revealing the speaker. A batarian sat in a smart uniform, looking undisturbed at the team of five deadly warriors, coated in the blood of his comrades, all pointing their weapons at him. His voice was cool as he spoke without the usual undercurrent of rage that batarians usually carried. 'I'm impressed you actually attacked us, I wondered why they were interested in the Butcher, but now...'

'Who's interested?' Shepard demanded, despite already knowing the answer, a sinking feeling working down her gut. The batarians had all been acting unnatural as they fought through, attacking with a ferocity that was beyond even the worst of the pirates she had destroyed in the past. And him… he was too calm. There was something very, very, wrong.

With a detached smile, the batarian commander flicked a hand - to the team's immediate suspicion - that shut down all of the monitors… and revealed behind them a huge, shimmering artefact embedded into the wall. Ebony metal laced with shining blue lights and crawling with wires, Faith needed to see no more. 'Reaper tech! Everyone move back!' She snapped, eyes wide. How much Reaper tech was throughout the ship? Were the horrific tendrils of indoctrination already worming their way into her teams' minds?

Eyes slipping around the room, her heart began to pound as she saw the stuff was everywhere. Built into the terminals, mounted on the walls, everywhere!

The squad immediately broke for the door, but not before Shepard grabbed the unresisting batarian, who seemed unperturbed as she dragged him towards the door. Mind racing, she lit up her comm. 'EDI, can you hear us?'

Silence.

Dammit!

As the rest of the team filed out, she grabbed the batarian by the shoulders and shook him. 'Tell your engine crews to take us out of FTL!'

The smug smirk that crossed his features told her all she needed to know. Anger pounding through her, Shepard thrust the body at Garrus - who roughly manhandled the batarian to the floor with an ugly turian grimace - and gestured Tali over. She spoke quietly at the quarian. 'Tali, Legion, we need to get this ship out of FTL, if we wait until we get to the engine room it'll be too late.' Faith glanced back into the bridge. At the Reaper tech, ominous and ever-present. She had the disturbing sensation that it was looking right back at her, however ridiculous the notion was. 'Do you think you could remotely shut them down from here?'

The quarian nervously clasped her hands together, and looked past the human into the room. 'I think so, but Shepard, that…'

'I'll come with you Tali, I won't put you at any more risk than I would myself.'

She looked to the ground, then back up, silver eyes shimmering through her opaque visor. 'O… ok. With Legion's help I think I can do it quickly.'

Faith nodded, then turned to the rest of the team, noting the bubbling anger masking the fear in their eyes. Together, they were a fighting force that had just fought an enemy dreadnought to a standstill. But against indoctrination, there was nothing they could do but flee… and they hated it. 'Stay out here. I don't want to put anybody at risk unless I have to. Tali, let's-'

Liara's angry voice interrupted. 'I will come too.'

Faith shot the asari a curious look. What is she thinking? She shook her head harshly. 'No. It's dangerous enough that me and Tali are going.'

'And you would put yourself in danger rather than let us share it?'

'What? Dammit, we don't have time for this!' Shepard urged, feeling the ship rattle under her feet; each second they wasted putting hundreds of thousands of kilometres between them and the Normandy. 'Stay here.'

'Faith-'

The human's look turned to incredulity. The asari stood with her arms crossed, face still a mess of ugly bruises and dried purple blood but expression determined. Was Liara arguing with her, about something this dangerous, in the middle of a damned mission in hostile territory? 'I'm not asking, Liara!'

The asari's brow furrowed, before she turned and stormed away without a word, over to Aethyta and Vega, sitting together on the floor. Faith looked after her, eyes wide in surprise. What the hell just happened? She half-made a motion to reach after the retreating form, opening her mouth wordlessly, before dropping her hand to her side and shaking her head. She would talk to Liara later; it was just a misunderstanding, surely? As she turned back to the bridge, the batarian on the floor spoke up again, in that terrifyingly detached tone. 'You won't win. There has always been resistance, always been a Champion. There always will be. You won't win.'

'Champion? What are you talking about?' Faith rounded on him, feeling the tension with Liara dig up all of the anger she had been burying throughout the assault. At the batarians for attacking Thessia, at the soldiers hampering their every step, at the Reapers, for being here, now.

His reply was another grin that stabbed red hot fury through her thoughts. What was his game? How much of his mind was left, untainted by the whispers of the Reapers?

In the end, what did it matter?

Her expression curled into an ugly grimace as he simply looked up at her, pointed teeth bared in a defiant smirk. This time she didn't bother to wrestle back the surge of rage, and with relish, she slammed her boot into his face in a shower of teeth and a fine mist of blood.