Sorry guys, I know I've been dragging my heels on this, but I'm expecting a pop quiz any day now in English and I want to be prepared. Please review. I honestly wanna know what you guys think. Also, thanks for all the support. Okay, here's chapter three!

Shepard POV

I had never met someone as frustrating as Ridley Winter. She's self-righteous, but not self-serving. She teases me every time I talk to her, and then she had the nerve to throw one of my crew off this ship! Even if she was right about her being the better choice and has one of the most impressive records I've ever seen, she was still so far out of line I couldn't even see her. But she is all of those things, so I need her. If only she wasn't so stubborn! I swear-

"Commander?" Joker piped in, his voice filling my once quiet quarters.

I ran my hands down my face, collecting myself. I'd figure out what to do about Ridley later.

"Yeah?"

"We're approaching Therum."

"I'll be right there." Here we go.

Squad selection wasn't nearly as tricky as I thought it would be. I took Garrus, an infiltrator, and Ridley, a vanguard like myself. It's strange. Her file said "Vanguard class but adaptable to any situation." What does that even mean? I decided to go with it until I picked up on what they meant by "adaptable".

After a long and seemingly unending ride in the Mako, we climbed out on to the terrain.

"So that's Alliance class transport?" Ridley asked, stretching her neck, "Even the krogan have better modes of transportation and Tuchanka is the embodiment of a shithole."

"You're right, there are some crappy shock-absorbers in there." Garrus replied, doing what I guessed was the turian equivalent of a grimace.

"We can discuss Alliance transport later. Right now, let's get a move on." There were too many geth guarding this facility for us to get careless.

As we made our way to the facility's entrance, I heard the familiar guttural sound of a geth above. What the hell is that?! Was all I could muster in my thoughts when I saw the stalker. I aimed at it, but it moved to quickly. Geth started dropping in, and the Armature hit the ground with a boom.

"Take cover!" I yelled, and my squad scattered around me. Garrus lined up his sniper shots on the surrounding geth, I aimed for the stalkers and the Armature, Ridley joining me.

Between the three of us, we knocked out most of the surrounding geth, but the Armature wasn't going down without a fight. Ridley warped the last geth, and pulled her shotgun, charging on the Armature. At first, I had no idea what she was doing, but then I realized, she's drawing the Armature's fire!

"Garrus! Cover me!" I yelled, heading to flank the damn thing. With my and Ridley's combined biotics, we successfully took down the Armature.

"Good work." I said, hoping to show my approval.

"It was?" Garrus said at the same as Ridley pushed past, saying, "Yep." Ladies and gentlemen, galactic diversity, I thought, smirking to myself.

We opened the entrance to a dank tunnel going down inside.

"Inviting," Ridley remarked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

I replied, "It's an archeological dig. What did you expect?"

"A red carpet?"

"Sure." I replied, equally sarcastic. We went inside.

The trip down was mostly uneventful except for a few geth and the elevator and ramp being partially destroyed. Huh. I consider that uneventful. When we arrived at the bottom, what we saw was not what I expected. An asari, in a force field. This day just keeps getting better.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She frantically asked, obviously frazzled.

"Me. Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy." I replied, moving closer.

"Thank goodness you're here. I thought the geth were going to kill me for sure!"

"It's okay now. Are you Liara T'Soni?"

"Yes I am."

"We've been looking for you. We'll get you out of here. If you don't mind me asking, could you disable the force field? We have to get a move on." I replied.

"I'm afraid I can't. This force field is Prothean. I thought I knew how to control it, but I must have hit something I shouldn't have, and now I'm… stuck." She said, embarrassed.

"We'll get you out of there. Any ideas how?"

"If you can find a way to get back here, the force field doesn't cover the back."

"Right."

"Wait, Commander," Garrus called out, "are we sure we can trust her? She is Benezia's daughter." He rose a good point.

"No! I am not my mother. Whatever it is she did is not my fault!" Liara yelled back, defensive. I was still unsure. What if she was faking?

"You mean you don't know anything?" I asked.

"Nothing." She replied.

Ridley stepped forward, seemingly examining Liara. "You can trust her." She confidently said.

I examined my options, deciding that mistrusting Ridley's judgment was unwise and I also shouldn't judge Liara on her mother's sins.

"Come on, let's get you out of there." Liara visibly relaxed, and Ridley wore a small smile.

After a little poking and prodding below, we found the mining laser. "Oh, yes!" Ridley said, "This could work. Garrus?"

"Big lasers. I take back all of my protesting coming down here. This thing is well worth it."

We used the laser to carve an entrance, revealing an elevator. We rode it up to Liara silently.

As soon as we arrived, Liara spoke: "How did you get in here? I didn't think there was any way past!"

"We used a mining laser." I replied.

"Wait… what?"

"Stranger things have happened," Ridley said, smirking.

I released Liara from the trap she had triggered. "Thank you so much!" She exclaimed, "I thought I'd never get out of there!"

"Any idea how we get out?" Garrus asked.

"There is an elevator back at the center of the tower. Or I think it's an elevator."

"Let's get a move on."

When we got to the elevator, Liara spoke, "I still can't believe all this. What do the geth want with me? Does it have something to do with my mother?"

"You're a Prothean expert, right? Saren probably wants you to help him find the Conduit." Garrus replied, telling a half-truth.

"The Conduit? I don't even know what-"

All of the sudden, the ground started to shake.

"What was that?" Ridley asked.

"These ruins are unstable. The mining laser must have triggered something. We have to hurry!"

I contacted the Normandy, "Joker! Lock on to my position and get here! ASAP! The ruins are caving in!"

"Yes, sir. On our way, ETA eight minutes!" Joker replied.

"He better make it here in time." Ridley said. I hoped so too.

The elevator started moving, and we were going up.

Final Report, Mission: Therum

After diplomatic relations with the krogan battlemaster and geth were unsuccessful, the battlemaster commenced a battle. In a few minutes, we overtook them with Dr. T'Soni's assistance. While we had been fighting, the condition in the area had worsened. The seismic event was reaching it's peak and the ruins were caving in at a rapid rate. We all (Dr. T'Soni included) made it out of the ruins without being harmed. The Normandy picked us up and remaining geth were trapped in the ruins.

-Report End-