Having finally reached their destination, Tali walked to the doorway and opened a terminal. "Shepard, this is the security system! We have a couple of options..." Her fingers continued to fly across the keyboard, so Shepard waited for her to continue. "I can simply disable the system, or create false alarms across the base from us." She looked to Shepard, who responded with a question. "Ok, where across the base are we talking?" "The other system is near the front entrance. It would probably call additional reserves against the frontal assault." To Shepard, that was the deciding factor. "The frontal assault already has to contend with the bulk of forces. We haven't hit anything we couldn't handle yet, so just disable what you can. We'll handle the forces inside on our own." Tali's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Done." Shepard looked at the group and they proceeded to the warehouse without a word.

Wrex blasted the door open and was immediately answered with a hail of gunfire. He charged in the door, shouting out, "two Destroyers, a Shock, and Salarians!" Shepard was surprised; "Salarians? Friend or foe?" A shotgun blast and a response, "Foe...one less!" Tali started working up an overload as Shepard ran in through the door, Liara right behind her. Garrus parked at the door, finding and sniping anything that presented itself; the Salarians were easy...unshielded, and they just ran into the open, shooting...strange for trained STG troops...and were dispatched quickly. He then concentrated fire on one of the Destroyers, chipping at its shield. Shepard ducked behind cover, suddenly realizing T'Soni had followed her when the Asari ducked behind the same crate, tucking in next to her to stay in cover. Sam glared at her, "Liara! What the hell..." She didn't even finish the question before Liara leaned out and lifted one of the Destroyers, who Wrex then promptly killed with a warp. "Tali and Garrus have the two positions by the door; I had no position to fight unless I came in..." Liara smiled as she issued her next statement. "I thought, where safer to be than by your side?" Shepard leaned out the other side of their cover and threw out her own lift, this time the Shock Trooper rose in the air. Back in cover, she glanced at Liara; still not sure what to think of this development, she simply muttered, "Shock Troop. Warp. Two o'clock. Liara grinned in triumph, leaned out, and warped the Trooper into non existence with the biotic combo. Tali finally got a line on the remaining Destroyer and overloaded its shield. The fight ended quickly after that.

Working through the maintenance area, all they found was a Juggernaut, who fell quickly to the combined fire of the five-man team, followed up with two more Salarians in a small security office. Shepard called a temporary halt to check everyone's status, but everyone was doing well, so far she was the only one to take any serious fire after that damned surprise rocket attack. She restocked her medigel from the security stores, and everyone slammed another energy drink. The team then followed a narrow stairwell down to a door labeled Cell Block A. Inside, they found two cells occupied. One had a single Salarian inside, Lt Ganto Inmess, who introduced himself as a member of the STG team and told a story of painful and mentally exhausting indoctrination experiments. As Inmess fell silent, Shepard cussed, and Wrex repeated his vow to make Saren pay. Shepard looked at Tali, "Hack the door and get him out of there," then looked back to Inmess. "Lieutenant, what about your fellow soldiers?" Inmess shook his head. "They are mostly indoctrinated, I fear. It would be safest to kill them, as we have no means to securely transport them all and there is no known cure at this point in time." Wrex positively glowered. "Indoctrinated, and no cure? You were right Shepard. This has to end. My people will not suffer this fate!" Shepard's face took on a grave expression. "Damn Saren. Leave them...we'll leave them in God's hands." Shepard was withdrawn as she walked away, moving in silence to a second stairwell on the other end of the room. A more solemn group climbed the second set of stairs...only to find another cell block, with four more indoctrinated Salarians they also chose to leave behind; with the bomb they were planting, Shepard knew it was a death sentence and it tore at her very soul.

Yet more stairs led the team to a dead-end storage room where two more indoctrinated Salarians met an untimely end. The Salarians charged the team as soon as the door opened, and Shepard and Wrex quickly stopped the charge via shotgun. Knowing what was looming in the future, Shepard thought maybe it was the most merciful way to end their lives. The team then had to backtrack through the disheartening cell blocks, returning all the way to the first security office they had discovered shortly after entering the facility, to find an elevator they had bypassed. Initially, they had assumed the stairs and elevator would lead to the same place; however, none of the rooms they cleared had an elevator as a potential exit...so, where ever the elevator opened had yet to be explored. Team Shadow boarded the elevator and rode it up, weapons primed and biotics ready. When the door opened at its destination, it was not what they expected; the team found themselves in a lab with multiple husks in some form of stasis field generators. As the team entered the room, they realized there were also two researchers present who did not appreciate the interruption; they had found the main Genophage facility lab and they were not welcome.

The room suddenly erupted in chaos; weapons fire going every direction, the husks were released from stasis. Tali and Garrus were both out of their elements, Tali, with no synthetics to hack, pulled her shotgun, and Garrus swapped out his sniper for his seldom used assault rifle. Wrex, of course, chose to take on the Krogan, Dr Droyas, throwing a warp before charging in, shotgun blazing, yelling "You are enslaving your own people!" as he ran across the room. Shepard called her biotics, and charged one husk, finishing it with a shotgun blast. Garrus called out, "Tali and I've got the remaining husks, Shepard. Take out that damned Asari!" Liara tossed out a singularity that pulled in a few husks, before having to take cover from the unknown Asari scientist launching a warp. Shepard threw a warp at the scientist and started blasting away with her Locust SMG, then dived behind cover, swapping over to her shotgun. She and Liara tag-teamed on the scientist, keeping her off balance, until her shields finally dropped. Shepard yelled, "Lift!" and Liara immediately responded; as soon as the scientist left the ground, Shepard turned into blue lightening and charged, the resultant biotic detonation killing the scientist... and the charge put her in shotgun range to help Wrex finish off the Krogan doctor. As the echoes of the last shotgun blasts died out, the room seemed unnaturally quiet. Shepard rounded up the team and pointed to a medical station at the end of the lab. "Anyone need to refill medigel, do it now. I have a feeling things are just going to get more interesting as we go..." Tali packed some medigel away in one of her many suit storage pockets, but she was the only one. Liara had a wry smile on her face as she quipped, "interesting is not exactly the word I would use to describe... this..." Everyone waited expectantly for Shepard to lead on. The commander stretched her neck, rolled her shoulders, hefted her shotgun and stepped through the next door.

There was a short dead-end hall to the right, and a long hallway off to the left. Shepard quietly cautioned, "Barriers up. Long narrow hallway, no room to maneuver, and a blind corner at the end. Be ready!" The team then padded softly up the hall, expecting something to shoot around the corner at any time. They made it to the corner uneventfully, but when Shepard peeked around the corner, she was practically face to face with two Geth. She yelled, "Troopers!" as she released a shotgun blast. Liara quickly sealed the hall with a singularity and Tali started furiously typing on her omnitool. The first Trooper rounded the corner and got blasted by the little Quarian with an overload. Its shields fell, and it was immediately sucked into the singularity, where Wrex and Shepard finished it off with two simultaneous close-range shotgun blasts. The second Trooper had no chance when Shepard, Wrex and Liara stepped around the corner and hit it with three warps followed immediately by weapons fire.

With the Troopers out of the way, they rounded the corner and found a door. They opened it and saw an Asari scientist hiding behind a desk. She immediately popped up when they entered. "Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late!" Shepard growled at her, "Everyone in this place is trying to kill me..."

The scientist sounded on the edge of panic. "Do I look like a soldier? I'm a neurospecialist, and this job isn't worth dying for...or worse! You think indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brain too!"

Shepard, a bit confused, asks, "I thought this was a breeding facility?" The Asari answered quickly, "Not this level...we're studying Sovereign's effects on organic minds. At least that's what I assumed... Saren kept me in the dark as much as possible."

Garrus chipped in, "You helped him, and you didn't even know why?"

The scientist practically snorted her answer, "I didn't have the option of negotiating. This position is a little more...permanent than I'd expected. But I can help you. This elevator behind me goes to Saren's private lab. I can get you in!" The scientist went to the door, swiped the console and the lock indicator on the door shifted quickly from red to green. "See! Full access! All of Saren's private files. Are we good? Can I go?"

Shepard stared her down, deciding what to do. Finally, she gave in. "I'm going to blow this place to hell and gone. If you want to make it out alive, you'd better start running now." The scientist tried to stammer out a question, then just broke and took off running.

Garrus looked at Shepard, shaking his head. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

Shepard responded with a half-hearted grin. "Maybe just a little... Let's go check out this private lab..."

Wrex grunted, "I would have killed her. You're too nice, Shepard. Someday that's going to get you killed. Unless I'm around to protect you, that is." Shepard punched him in the arm, flashed a grin, and moved on. Saren's lab was apparently empty, so the team fanned out to search for any useful data.

Suddenly Garrus called out, "Commander, look over here. It's another beacon! Like the one on Eden Prime." Without hesitation, Shepard approached the control panel and activated the beacon.

The team watched as the beacon powered up, the green aura glowing brighter until it reached out, grabbed the commander, and once more, Shepard was suspended in mid air by alien technology beyond understanding. She felt the surge of power course through her body, and now familiar images flashed through her mind, though this time it was somehow...different. Samantha realized she could actually see; the visions were no longer overwhelming; the cipher must have allowed her to actually process the images and understand them. As before, the pace accelerated until the images became a blur, too fast for her to comprehend individually, but she maintained enough awareness to realize this time there was...more. This beacon was fully functional. There would be no truncation of the message; it would be complete. Suddenly, it was over, the energy fell away and Shepard dropped to one knee on the floor, drained and shaking, a sheen of sweat on her brow. She stood, staggering slightly, and she felt steadying hands on her shoulders. Liara whispered soft concern into her ear, "Shepard, are you alright?"

Samantha turned toward the Asari and received a stabilizing direct gaze. A firm nod of her head, the commander stood balanced once again. "I'm good, thanks. Nothing like when the first beacon's explosion hit me. Let's move. We've still got a bomb to set!"

As they walked up the ramp, a holographic image appeared before them. Garrus commented, "This is not good... What is that? Some kind of VI interface?"

The ghostly figure before them started to speak. "You are not Saren...Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."

Garrus spoke quietly, "Shepard, I don't think this is a VI..."

The holo continued, "There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!"

Shepard stepped up, "Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found. It's an actual Reaper!"

Sovereign spoke, with disdain, "Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they chose to call us is irrelevant. We simply...are. Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

Shepard was defiant, refusing to believe in the inevitability of defeat. "There is an entire galaxy of races uniting and ready to face you."

In his arrogant monotone, Sovereign replied, "Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken."

As Sovereign continued, Shepard heard Liara quietly murmur, "Cycle? Goddess, I was right!"

"The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind."

Shepard was curious, this made no sense! "Why would you construct the mass relays, then leave them for someone else to find?"

"Your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays, our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."

Liara's scientific mind churning, she quickly hypothesized the purpose behind such actions. This time when she spoke, it was loud and clear. "They are harvesting us! Letting us advance to the level they need, then wiping us out..." Shepard followed up this line of thinking... "What do you want from us? Slaves? Resources?"

"My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation, independent, free of all weakness. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence."

Shepard strove to grasp just that, continuing to query the holograph, "Where did you come from? Who built you?"

The holo sounded bored, like it was speaking to group of recalcitrant students, "We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure. We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."

Still failing to even remotely understand the purpose behind such cyclical destruction, Shepard got angry. "You're not even alive! Not really...you're just a machine...and machines can be broken!"

Sovereign seemed perturbed, if not angry, as he finished, "Your words are as empty as your future. I am the vanguard of your destruction. This exchange is over."

Immediately following Sovereign's last statement, all the windows of Saren's lab exploded inward, littering Shadow with shrapnel of glass. Just then, Joker piped in, "Commander, we got trouble! That ship, Sovereign? It's moving. I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half. It's coming your way, and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up in there...fast!"

"Alright people, you heard the man! Let's get to that breeding facility. Joker can pick us up after we set the nuke!" The team hustled back to the elevator and back out through the office onto the ramp. Though they had killed two Troopers on the way in, there was now a Geth Destroyer in their place, and three Krogan warriors en route, still a bit down the path. All three biotics nailed the Destroyer, Wrex and Shepard with warps, and Liara, a fraction of a second behind, with a throw that sent the Destroyer off the elevated walkway.

As Garrus and Tali came out, they both ducked down behind the wall for cover, Garrus leaning out with his sniper to dissuade the Krogan from a full charge up the path, and Tali working her omnitool to build up an overload. Shepard and Wrex combined their barriers and slowly advanced together, tossing out warps until the first Krogan's shield dropped, who Shepard then finished using a throw to send him down to join the Destroyer. In the meantime, Liara had lifted a second Krogan for Garrus and Tali to chip away at, while using her Shuriken to keep the third warrior at bay. When the overload was ready, Tali hit the third warrior, dropping his shields and Liara warped him, knocking him back. By then, Shepard had recovered enough biotic energy to charge, and readying her shotgun, blasted in for the kill, then turned, and with a second close-range shotgun blast, finished off the Krogan now floating over her head. That opened access to the next doorway, which Shepard opened from the side, then peeked in around the edge. Nothing. The way was clear. The entire team trotted up the long open hallway.

Kicking open the door at the end of the hall, the entire team stormed out, expecting resistance. All they found was a single Krogan, easily overwhelmed with the combined firepower of all five team members. As they continued up a long ramp, their next obstacle was three rocket drones, which were easily defeated by ducking in and out of cover. Each member took turns exposing themselves to draw fire, then the other four would combine fire to destroy the closest drone. Before long, all three drones were down. The team moved quickly toward a platform at the top of the ramp, and found a turret control and an elevator.

Tali went to work deactivating the AA turret control, which must have triggered some type of alarm, because as soon as the AA turret went offline, a Geth Rocket Trooper and one Shock Trooper showed up behind them from the ramp the team had just climbed. The team turned to face them, Liara launching a stasis field on the Rocket Trooper, so the team could concentrate fire on the second attacker. The Shock Troop fell quickly, and as they went to work on the Rocket Troop, the elevator behind them suddenly opened, revealing an additional Shock Trooper and two standard Geth Troopers.

Shepard called out, "Liara with me! Rest get the newbies!" With combined biotics, Shepard and Liara made relatively quick work of the Rocket Trooper then turned and joined the battle ongoing behind them. Wrex charged straight in to the newly arrived Shock Trooper, leading with warp, followed up with a head butt and close range shotgun blast, knocking the Trooper to the ground. One of the standard Troopers was busy bouncing shells off the back of Wrex's barrier, while the second was slowly advancing on Garrus and Tali. Shepard and Liara turned in time to see Wrex finish off the Shock Troop by crushing its head with an armored boot, so they concentrated fire on the Geth advancing on Garrus. Once the entire team was focused on just the two standard Geth Troopers, the battle rapidly drew to a close, and Team Shadow jumped on the elevator and took a short ride up.

Shepard glanced across all her team members, noting strain and weariness in all of their faces. We need to end this soon or someone's going to get hurt. "We're getting close. This elevator opens to the breeding grounds. We'll set the nuke and blow this taco stand." At a very puzzled look from Liara, Shepard laughed, "I'll explain later." The elevator door opened onto a short hallway, ending all discussion. The group advanced cautiously, expecting an attack as they approached the corner; they were not disappointed. Fortunately it was just a couple of those frog-like hopping things, easily suspended in a lift, and taken out by a swift bark from Garrus.

They transited the first trench and stepped out into the center courtyard. Shepard told everyone on the team to either slam a drink or eat an energy bar while the Normandy got into position. "We need to be ready to defend the site while they download the nuke..." Then she got on the comm, "Kirrahe, we're at the rendezvous point. What's your status?" A static filled response indicated the AA guns had been loaded with explosives, and the team was ready to detonate on Shepard's mark. "Do it, and I'll call in the Normandy!" A quick call to Joker and the ship began its descent as a huge explosion sounded from the opposite side of the courtyard. Once the nuke was in place, Kaidan started prepping the arming and timing mechanisms. Shepard got on the radio, "Ash, Kaidan is prepping the bomb now, you and Kirrahe need to get to the rendezvous point ASAP!"

"No can do, Skipper! We're pinned down here and can't get to the exit!" Ashley's voice sounds resigned, "Do what you need to do, Shepard."

"No way I'm leaving without you, Ash! Joker, can you get in there and grab them?"

"Too hot, Commander! Way too much going on up there!"

Kaidan piped in, "I'm still working on the arming sequence, Shepard. Bomb won't be ready for a few minutes yet...Go get 'em!"

"Alright, let's move! Kill fast, move fast...we're on a tight schedule!" Shepard took off running, relying on the team to keep up with her... As she blasted into the trench on the opposite side of the courtyard, she jerked up short and dived to the side for cover as one of the Geth hoppers fired the first volley. Liara saw it, quickly disabled it with a lift, and Garrus dropped it with a well placed sniper shot. The trench was not going to be easy; even with the first hopper down, a second was still blasting away, and it was accompanied by two Krogan warriors and a Krogan Warlord. Tali drew her shotgun for defense and started working her omnitool for an overload to take down the Warlord's shields, just as Wrex launched a warp at him. Shepard leaned out of cover to toss a lift at the second hopper, and Garrus wasted no time removing a second threat from the scene. Only the Krogan remained in the way.

Seeing the source of the biotic lift, the Warlord charged Shepard as Wrex charged the Warlord, and the three ended up in a chaotic pile of ruthless hand-to-hand combat. Anyone who didn't know the commander would wonder how a little human could hold her own in such a conflict; such doubts plagued the Warlord... and that proved his undoing. Because of his misperception, when Wrex charged in, the Warlord changed his focus from the commander to Wrex, leaving Shepard wide open to do what she willed. That 'will' included pulling on her biotics for an explosive charge, accompanied by a shotgun butt, then blast...all to an unprotected side while the Warlord's attention was centered on Wrex.

With Shepard, Wrex and the Warlord so closely entangled, to avoid injuring one of their own, Garrus, Tali and Liara were forced to focus on the remaining two Krogan warriors. Liara tossed a lift at one, and the three concentrated weapons fire on the warrior remaining. Once his shields dropped, Liara trapped him in a singularity and focus shifted back to the other warrior who was now released from the lift. Again using concentrated fire, they delayed that Krogan long enough for Liara to recharge her biotics. She tossed a warp at the singularity, causing a biotic explosion that killed the Krogan inside it, and completely dropped the shields of the last remaining warrior.

The Warlord raged in pain at the pesky little human, who somehow dropped his shield and managed to penetrate his armor with a damned shotgun! He swung his shotgun with all his might at Shepard's head. She ducked to the side and absorbed the impact on her shoulder instead, but the force was still enough to send her sprawling across the floor with her barrier failing. Fully exposed, she saw the Warlord raising his shotgun... This is going to freaking hurt like hell!...as she tried to roll to cover. She heard the blast, but felt nothing, so quickly regained her feet and looked back. Wrex had gripped the Warlord's arm and shoved it upward...the blast she heard was from Wrex's shotgun as he planted it under the enemy Krogan's chin and removed his face. Neither one being the type to stop in the middle of a fight, they turned to see their compatriots dropping the shields of the only remaining foe. Shepard immediately tossed a lift, and Wrex quickly followed with a warp, ending the confrontation. Short on time, Team Shadow pressed forward, everyone climbing into yet another elevator at the end of the trench.

Meeting no resistance, the team rolled out of the elevator and with a quick glance, headed up a ramp on the left to an upper level of the facility. A Geth dropship roared over top, heading toward the courtyard, the nuke... and Kaidan. Shepard got on the comm, "LT, we just spotted a troop ship inbound to your location."

Kaidan replied, "It's already here, and bleeding Geth all over the bomb site."

Shepard queried, "Can you hold them off?"

The LT sounded desperate, "There's too many, Commander... I don't think we can hold 'em...there's no time! I'm activating the nuke!"

Shepard, angry, shouted, "What the hell are you doing, Alenko?"

"Making sure this bomb goes off...no matter what! It's done, Commander. Go get Ashley and get the hell out of here."

When she heard Kaidan's recommendation, Ashley vehemently protested, "The hell with that! Go back and get Alenko!"

Shepard realized there was no way out of this one, "It's not that easy Ash! It's not just you... it's Kirrahe and his men as well. Hold out, Chief, we're on our way! Joker, get the Normandy in the air and be ready to pick us up by the AA tower!" Shepard made the decision, "I'm sorry, Kaidan..."

The lieutenant's last response sounded resigned. "It's ok, Commander...I know it's the right choice. I'd do the same..."

Damn it! "Let's move!" Shepard bolted to the left, taking one more elevator ride to the roof. The team emerged from the elevator into a battle already in progress. Capt Kirrahe's remaining forces had whittled the Geth down to where only three Shock Troopers and two Destroyers remained. Catching them from the rear, the team quickly dismantled their defenses, with relatively quick kills. As the guns fell silent, the sound of a personal hovercraft broke the quiet and Saren arrived on site, launching biotic attacks and weapons fire from above. The team scrambled for cover as Tali sabotaged Saren's weapon; Saren cast it aside, jumping from the platform to the roof. As Saren approached, the commander, barrier up, SMG in hand, stepped out of cover to confront him. His barrier was amazingly strong, as three rounds from the submachine gun cause it to waiver but not drop.

Saren started to speak, "This has been an impressive diversion, Shepard. My Geth were utterly convinced the Salarians were the real threat." Saren tried to explain his reasoning; that the Reapers were invincible, using the Protheans as an example, that the only way to save lives was to become subservient to them, to prove useful to the Reapers so they would not kill everyone.

"Is submission not preferable to extinction?" Shepard didn't buy his argument and made her position clear. "I'd rather die than live under the rule of those machines!"

After a few more exchanges, Saren realized Shepard would not be swayed. "You would undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation, and for that, you must die!"

Saren jumped back to his hover platform and started blasting away with his biotics and rockets from the hovercraft. Shepard's barrier took a big hit, but held, as the rest of the team started hammering on Saren's barriers. Shepard advanced her position, dashing past a pile of crates to get some cover, and continued firing on Saren. She tossed a warp, finally dropping his barrier, and Saren responded with a volley of rockets, expending all the munitions remaining on his hovercraft. The resultant explosions stunned everyone on the team, knocking most of them to the ground, including Shepard. Saren took advantage of the respite and closed the distance to the commander, jumped from his platform, grabbed her, and dragged her to the edge of the roof. Saren then picked her up by the neck and suspended her over the edge, his eyes blazing in anger, his unnaturally tight grip choking her and causing her vision to blur. Shepard was beginning to gasp for breath when two thing happened; first the warning siren for the nuke started blaring, and second, the team had started to recover, and Liara got off a couple of shots with her Shuriken SMG. The first distracted Saren enough to loosen his grip and Samantha sucked in a lungful of air; the second caused him to turn toward Liara, dragging the commander away from a multistory drop and back over the firm surface of the roof. He looked back toward Shepard just in time for her fist to crash into the side of his jaw, staggering him backward and causing him to drop her. He beat a hasty retreat to his hovercraft and lifted off to return to Sovereign.

As soon as Saren departed, the Normandy flew into view and eased in close, the loading ramp directly off the edge of the roof. Shepard collected her team, all of Kirrahe's men still surviving, and boarded the Normandy. Shepard ran immediately to a window, watching Virmire fade in the distance as the nuke obliterated much more than just the breeding facility. Shepard blinked, her eyes glistening, she whispered to herself, "Goodbye, Kaidan." Ashley stood behind her, slightly off to one side so she could also see the planet vanishing behind them, tears in her eyes as she recited a verse of one of her favorite Sir Alfred Tennyson's poems, The Charge of the Light Brigade.

Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them, Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell, They that had fought so well,
Came thro' the jaws of death, Back from the mouth of Hell, All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

After a long moment of silence, Shepard turned to the Chief, eye to eye, and placed a hand on her shoulder in silent consolation. After a few seconds, Samantha closed her eyes, dropped her head, and whispered, "All that was left of them." She gently gripped Ashley's shoulder for a few seconds, then dropped her hand and walked away in silence.

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