Guilty Sparks

by General Rage

Fleeing from the glassing of Reach in the belly of the Pillar of the Autumn, the crew of the SR-2 Normandy find themselves stranded with their UNSC allies on a strange Forerunner constructed ring world called Halo with the Covenant hunting them. But Halo holds a secret, one deadlier than both the Covenant and Reapers combined... and it's hungry.

23. The Walls Tumble Down

Chapter 22: The Walls Tumble Down

2185, August 14th

Nel sat alone in the dark, watching the old holovision set she had dragged inside the study. She should've been asleep, but she just couldn't keep her eyes closed. So she retreated to watching anything she could find on the holo, even if most of it was garbage news stories. Although she did like seeing them replay the destruction she had caused.

Just like Heritage Fields, the double train crash was big news. The strip mall they had ended up demolishing wasn't mourned over much it seemed, but they did make a big deal about the "tragedy" of all the soldiers aboard the military train that had been killed. Narvkel's press conference concerning the wreck was being played almost on constant loop, probably so they milk his look of mournful sadness for all it was worth.

"This truly has been a very tragic week for our people," he said, putting on his best grieving face. "First we lost a national treasure and now the lives of several brave batarian soldiers and civilians in a tragic accident. We can only be grateful that it happened during the night when the mall was closed or more lives would've certainly been lost."

The official story was that the mass effect fields governing the tracks had malfunctioned, sending one of the trains flying into the other. Nel had doubted the government itself believed that. It was a hunch that proved right, as according to Vik they now suspected foul play. They weren't entirely sure if there was a connection to Heritage Fields, but they did suspect that someone had compromised the storage bunker's location and were now searching for leaks within the military. There was even talk about beefing up security for the summit as a precaution.

Nel briefly worried this meant the mission was off, but Liara seemed adamant on going through with it. In fact, the way she had smiled at it all suggested to Nel she had been hoping for this. Perhaps she wanted to add more 'Swords of Khar'sahn' soldiers to the body count. Whatever the reason, Nel didn't question it. She was just glad they were still going through with the plan.

Somewhat amusingly though, was the fact that even some members of the controlled press were a bit concerned about the crash. Whether it was paranoia after Heritage Fields, or it was them growing spines, Nel wasn't sure. She did get a kick out of watching the footage of the one reporter questioning Narvkel over the specifics of the events in question.

"Your highness," he began holding up his microphone while his camera drone hovered nearby. "If I may ask, do you suspect that this was an act of deliberate terrorism on the part of some rogue element?"

"We are looking into the possibility of escaped slaves or dissident factions," Narvkel replied rather composed. "But for now, I feel it's best if the people do not jump to wild conclusions. There is no safer place on Khar'shan than its capital of Kronshengya."

As far as Nel was concerned, that was only true so long as she wasn't there. At least they knew for certain that they weren't suspecting any of the things going on were Liara's doing. Again, they believed it was far more likely that these were, at worst, isolated terrorist attacks. An asari staging a one woman war on their planet was the furthest thing from their minds. Having a secure line to your enemy's network was very useful in regards to figuring out how wrong they were about everything.

"No one will dispute that fact, your Excellency," the reporter innocently continued. "But some are honestly wondering why a military train was on those tracks at all. Didn't we decommission most of our armoured train transports long ago out of lack of practical use? And for what reason were they using a public line in the first place?"

Narvkel looked a loss for words this time, which probably didn't happen often. He pulled on his collar a bit, hunched over slightly and gripped the podium a bit too much. Finally, he cleared his throat and answered the question.

"Well, son," he began as cheerfully as he could. "Obviously they were diverted somehow, perhaps due to construction. I can't give more exact details as to our private government train lines as that would be risking national security. I think we can all agree that we don't want breaches in our security."

Then when the camera went back to look at the reporter again, he was gone. There was one security goon where the man had previously been standing, but he quickly melted back into the crowd. Moments later, Narvkel declared "no more questions" and ended the conference. After showing that clip for the seventieth time, they finally had an answer to give as to their reporter's disappearance.

"We would like to officially announce now that field reporter Gavisk Torvumak will be taking an extended leave of, um, absence," explained the anchor as the picture returned to the studio. "He is... getting a nice long well deserved vacation as a loyal member of the press and our Emperor. He will be back... eventually. Anyway, other news of the hour, new study asks the question. Quarians, are they thieves or degenerates? The answer may surprise you. But first, turians and humans continue to conspire against our empire, fearing our growing might as a military power to rival both of them. Hear about their latest crimes against our Hegemony's mandated destiny to spread across the Galaxy, after this break."

"Well, fuck that noise," Nel grumbled, not in the mood to watch more 'Slave Escape Proof' products.

She thankfully had something better to watch instead. Her omni-tool had finally managed to download the next movie on her rental queue. Damn this slow extranet connection, she thought. At least now she was only a few quick clicks away to wirelessly connecting it to the holovision set and playing it on there. Sure, the set was old and crappy, but it was better than hunching over on the chair just to get a good look on her omni-tool's smaller screen.

Plus, how else was she gonna hold her beers? It was good of Drothan to smuggle some dextro-based alcohol in for them. Not exactly her favourite brand, but it was better than nothing. Nel took up one of the cans and poked a hole in the bottom with her talons. For some reason, less than stellar beer always tasted better to her when she was shotgunning it. The smooth taste helped to drown out the stupid batarian news from earlier. It also stopped her eyes from itching so much, as they had been all day. It was one of the things that had kept her awake.

As the opening credits for the Vid ended and the film started proper, Nel felt a sudden pain in her head. It was a striking pain, forcing her hand up to her forehead. It subsided as quickly as it came, but Nel suspected it would be back. They had been coming and going for the past few days. She wasn't sure what was bringing these random headaches on. She just hoped more beer would dull future ones.

It wasn't just headaches and itchy eyes bothering Nel and keeping her up though. Her mouth was unusually dry all the time, her throat scratchy, her muscles ached now and again, as if they had been pulled. Her joints felt sore every couple of hours and her nostrils burned something fierce. Drinking helped alleviate what pain she felt, for a time, but the symptoms were getting more frequent.

Worse still, she couldn't stand bright lights as much anymore. Only the glare of the old holovision screen was low enough to keep her from being blinded partially. When her eyes weren't hurting, objects became blurry for a time before coming into view. Her other senses were affected as well. Sounds were louder or quieter at random intervals. Her nostrils burned from the inside. Her mouth felt bitter and sour at the same time once or twice once or twice and her fingers twitched rapidly when she wasn't looking.

She wondered to herself if these were the after effects of overdosing so much. She had been hitting the juice hard after all. She didn't encounter any of this before, but maybe that was because she had been following the rules until now. They had always said she could never take more than one injection per day. Any dose higher than that and they warned of dire consequences, never explaining what those were exactly.

She inwardly laughed at that advice now, as if following it had actually helped her. She still got court-martialled regardless, she got injured badly when the juice wore off because of that same order and it didn't change how withdrawal had felt. Maybe if they made the stuff more potent she wouldn't be in this mess now.

But this wasn't drug withdrawal. She knew how that felt, she had lived it. Constant, agonizing pain, enough to make you scream, you threw up, you got a fever, you started hallucinating, your head felt like it was going to crack open, as did all your vital organs. This was nothing compared to that.

This was just her body desperately trying to get used to things. The introduction of so much of the drug in her system at one time was obviously straining. That was it. It would pass eventually, it had to. Just like body building, you got used to the strain of heavier loads. All those things those scientists and officers had said were just scare tactics to keep them from using up supplies in the field. No, she was stronger than that. She could handle it. If some other poor bastard bitched and moaned about a sore throat, then they were just weak. She was more than that, despite what anyone else claimed.

She focused on the holovision, and her beers. The vid would take her mind off the pain and the alcohol would make her forget it, along with everything else. Sadly, neither of those things could stop certain visitors from coming into the room. Her vid was already well underway by the time she heard the door creak wide open. She turned to see Vik standing there, looking down on her as she sat in her chair, shotgunning another beer. She stopped momentarily to address him.

"What do you want, Bucket?" She asked, staring blankly at the screen, clearly annoyed at his interruption.

"Your Holovision woke me up," he said, frowning at her. "Why are you awake anyway?"

"Watching a vid, what does it look like?" She replied in a frustrated tone. "Before you even start, there are no quarians in this picture to get shit on this time. Just a bunch of Separatists convicts taking over an island prison and a visiting C-Sec officer has to stop them."

Vik looked over at the holoscreen with a critical eye. For a moment, Nel thought he'd just back off and leave, but no. She should've expected that he'd find something to bitch about here too.

"So basically every other action vid you've ever seen," the quarian chided. "Honestly, do you ever get tired of watching this junk?"

"Do you ever get tired of spouting off shit about how fast food brainwashes you?" Nel responded in kind, and just as tersely. "Or how all the Sunspot Cafes that keep popping up are all fronts for STG? Or that that you're apparently so important that every shadowy government agency is out to kill you? I think I'd get bored of living in that paranoid fantasy pretty quick myself."

"I'm living in a fantasy?" Vik scoffed, sounding incredibly offended by the suggestion. "I only care about the truth, whether you believe it or not. You're the one who's eating up the propaganda of the military-industrial complex like candy! They put these vids into production to sell you the idea that authority is always right and being in the military is one big fun adventure. It's an indoctrination tool and you've fallen for it!"

"Would you still be saying that if the vids I watched were all about quarians killing geth and reclaiming your home world?" Nel asked in response, a mean look in her eyes.

Vik considered his answer careful, obviously realising the well prepared trap the turian was laying out for him.

"We don't need vids to convince us of our duty to the fleet," he explained. "We struggle with each other, argue and all sorts of things. We're not perfect, and our system of government is technically still under martial law. But we realise we need to depend on one another, because we're family, all of us. We don't pretend it's fun to be a Marine or that it's an adventure to go off and fight our enemies. We do it because if we don't work together we will fall apart. I'm not saying my people don't do a lot of questionable things to survive, but at least I accept that."

Nel's talon gripped the arm rests of her chair tightly, hoping the quarian's rant would exhaust itself in time. But he kept going, letting out all his frustrations at her at once.

"Keelah, you live in more of a bubble than we do," he claimed. "You don't realise the repercussions of any of your actions. None of its real to you, it's just a chance for you to mug for a camera that isn't there and rack up your own personal high score. Ever since you've been here you've treated it like a playground, putting us at risk and ignoring the plight of these people."

"Their lives suck, I get it!" Nel informed him.

"No, you don't!" Vik declared angrily. "They're just background characters to justify your shooting sprees! You've seen the propaganda, the lies of the politicians and the suffering of the Batarians, but you haven't learned anything! This planet is just all the terrible things in those vids taken to their extremes. Freedoms sacrificed for security, the warping of history, the elite triumphing over the lower classes, it's all in those very vids your Hierarchy pumps out. The only difference is that the vids are a lot more subtle."

Nel sighed heavily at it all. This was getting annoying beyond belief. Perhaps she wasn't learning whatever lesson Vik wanted her to, as if she even cared. She just wanted to watch a damn vid, was that so wrong now? Hopefully by placating him he'd go away.

"Does your amateur psychoanalysis have a point?" She asked him. "You want to tell me what I should and shouldn't watch then? Sounds like you want to restrict my personal freedoms there yourself."

"I'm saying you can't see past the fact that this stuff isn't real," Vik informed her pointing at the screen. "To you, this whole thing has been an excuse to go on a wild shooting spree. You don't care about the people the Hegemony has killed, the lies they've told, the suffering they've caused. Keelah, you don't even care about the goal of the upcoming attack either! You only care about re-enacting these vids, following the blind patriotic narrative that the Hierarchy has sold to you!"

Nel looked to him with an angered glare.

"Okay, you don't like me because I love the violence," Nel told him. "Are you done?"

"I don't like you because you're a selfish person who doesn't see or hear anything beyond what you want to hear," Vik corrected her. "And all you want to hear is people applauding you like Slyvestrix Stalaxian's characters. You don't care about injustice or what's right, only that you look like a hero. But you're not a hero. You're just another violent mercenary looking to gratify yourself. Except instead of money, explosions and gunfire are your payment. You think that killing bad guys and blowing stuff up is enough to make you the good guy, but it isn't. You actually have to care."

Nel stood up and moved in front of him. For a moment the quarian stepped back a bit, worried he'd be punched no doubt, but Nel stayed her hand. If he was going to rant, she was going to do it right back.

"You think you know me, but you don't," Nel told him sternly. "You have no idea why I counted the days until my mandatory military service started, why Basic Training was the best birthday gift I ever got or why I became a mercenary when the military kicked me out. You just think you do, like you think you just know everything else, but you don't. I emulate the heroes in my vids a lot, I use their lines, I'll admit it, but you know why I do it? Because you're right about one thing, heroes like those in the actions vids are rare in real life. I wanted to change that."

She looked over to the holovision briefly, moving out of the way so Vik could see the scene playing out on the screen.

"The heroes in these movies actually go out, kick ass and win the day. They change things, they stop the bad guys, they put them down and save lives," she continued adamantly and proudly. "That's why I said no slaves and no killing civies on my contract, because no hero in my vids would ever do that. If all I cared about was blowing shit up, you think I'd make that specification?"

Vik didn't answer, so Nel just kept going.

"Is it really so bad to want to emulate these people in real life?" She insistently asked him. "You may not agree with all of their values or motives or their messages, but they stand up for what they think is right! They actually do shit, they save people! They do stuff that matters! I wanted to do something that mattered! And when I got kicked out I still wanted to! Maybe I can't solve all the galaxy's problems in a neat two hours, but that doesn't mean I can't try! Maybe it's not real, but I wanted to make it real! Where the bad guys get what they deserve and the hero proves his doubters wrong! That we can stop the villain if only we have the guts to! And I have, tons of times, even before all this!"

She walked to over to grab another beer why she spoke, drinking a full swig from the can. Her mouth was getting drier and she needed to water it down. Probably not the best method, but it was all she had and she needed to keep Vik from blabbing about her condition. She couldn't have him suggesting she had some kind of cold or flu.

"I've killed separatists and taken down pirates in the military," she explained. "As a merc I protected high level VIPs, shot up drug dealers and stopped a few terror attacks from taking over government buildings in some pretty war torn places. I've saved people, so I'm a hero, and I deserve fucking recognition and respect for it! It's more than I can say for you!"

"The hell are you talking about?" Vik aggressively demanded. "I've been helping this team out even longer than you have! I've been following Liara and actually trying to be of service since they found me on Omega!"

"Yeah and where would you be if they didn't find you?" Nel asked cruelly in return. "Still stuck on Omega complaining about how terrible the galaxy is from your safe little hideaway. Bitching and moaning about how the suits or inter-galactic aliens or underground societies are running everything into the ground. But that shit you spout is all just a damn cover. If you really thought any of it was real, you'd actually try to do something about it."

Nel didn't give him a chance to respond to that. She started poking the quarian in the chest, pushing back inch by inch into the wall.

"I was actually in the shit for years, under fire, trying to actually kill some real assholes while you were in some closed off little room screaming impotently about shadows under the bed!" Nel argued as Vik was pressed into the wall by her advance. "You know, if any of the people you think are out to get you were real, they'd realise you're so damn pathetic that they wouldn't give a shit about you. Because they'd know you prefer the little security blanket you've wrapped yourself in. You're fine with them running things rather than actually trying to stop them. You're the one spreading stories about how super powerful they are after all, maybe they like the free publicity. What do you say to that?"

Nel waited for the quarian to respond to the accusation, but he said nothing. His eyes looked angered by the turian's words, but they eventually looked away. That, and the fact he hadn't pushed back once, was all Nel needed. She walked back to her chair and sat down.

"I don't need to take shit from some stupid little anarchist know-it-all who talks a big game but has no balls to get things done on his own," Nel told him crossly. "If you really cared about injustice, you'd have done more than grumble on some dumb ass conspiracy blog about it. You'll only do anything if someone tells you to, like Liara."

"It's called respecting your captain," Vik tried to explain weakly.

"No, it's called not having the balls to take the fucking initiative and gut the bitches," She replied viciously before chugging the rest of her beer can and throwing it in Vik's direction. The can nearly hit the quarian, who dodged out of the way just in time. "I at least actually did something, and nothing you can say will take that away. So don't talk to me about living in some dream bubble, it's where you'd prefer to be. Now piss off and let me watch my fucking vid already. It stars a more real hero than you'll ever be."

Vik stormed out of the room, to his credit she didn't hear him cry. As he left a pain shot up her arm and she gripped it tightly. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep these little side effects a secret. If she just lasted through the assault on Rakavekyon tower, she'd be good. That's all she needed to do.

Nothing was wrong, she told herself, you are stronger than it. Stronger than the pain, stronger than Vik, stronger than the whole damn batarian army and stronger than all the people who thought they knew what was best for her. They all thought she couldn't handle this. Told her she couldn't do all the things she had done. They kept thinking she wasn't capable, that she couldn't hold her own, that she couldn't be the person on the screen she wanted to be. But that changed with the juice, everything had changed with the juice. When the assault on the summit began she'd prove it to all of them, to the quarian, to Liara, to everyone.

Mirroring her thoughts, the villain on the screen began to speak to the Stalaxian's character over a radio link.

"There are over a thousand of us in this prison and we're all armed to the teeth now," he said. "Do you really think that you stand a chance against us when we have you so surrounded and outgunned?"

"You just don't get it pal," the hero claimed. "The fact you got me surrounded is why you're screwed, you poor dumb bastards. You were better off in your cells. Now, you've just locked yourselves in here... with me."

---

2185, August 15th

While the rain had stopped, the clouds and smog from the polluted city remained. It was the perfect cover for their approach. Liara kept herself ready as Vik continued to work on the onboard computer. They needed an assessment of what they'd be facing now. For the plan to work, they needed to be sure everything was in place for them. Vik had been very diligent in keeping up tabs on their security detail for the past few days. Even for him it seemed a little obsessive. At least he looked as determined as her to see this plan succeed.

Of course, they weren't about to launch it straight away. Liara wasn't about to pass up the opportunity that the Summit allowed. Whatever was big enough to call so many high profile people into one spot was worth checking out. They just needed a way to see inside before they launched the attack. Thankfully, they had a way.

While they didn't have access to the secure servers within that would reveal the location of the Codemaster, they could get access to Rakavekyon Tower's various security cameras. They were on the same network as every other electric government eye in the city, making acquiring their feeds all too easy.

What they didn't have, was access to Rakavekyon's automated defences, at least not yet. They were on a separate system connected to the tower itself. It was why they were keeping out of range of the anti-air that was dotted around tower's grounds. That didn't keep them from getting access to the cameras thankfully, which was what Vik was trying to better establish. They'd need persistent link if they were going to stay one step ahead of the garrison inside.

"They'll be starting their meeting soon," Liara informed Vik. "Will we be in soon?"

"Shouldn't be too long now," the quarian assured her. "I have the codes. I'm just working on establishing a connection. I'm trying to reroute the system through several communication lines so they can't trace us."

Vik wasn't in his usual custom-repair job bio-suit. None of them in fact were in their usual armour, save for Saya. Liara had requested Drothan find them some armour that would conceal their identities. Her own operatives would also be using different uniforms. She doubted that Balak would be stupid enough not to realise that this attack was her doing, but she needed to take steps. She did not want to give the Hegemony any ammunition to use against her in the future. It would be really hard to get anything accomplished if she and her crew were wanted terrorists in batarian space.

Currently, she wore completely black armour with no defining features or symbols. Her helmet was sitting off to the side. It had no open mouth piece and had a curved strip of tinted glass for her visor. She would not be recognized, no one would be able to tell if she was a human, a batarian or an asari. And by now, Nel and Wrex were no doubt in the armour they robbed from the bunker.

They were easier than the rest of the team. Saya would hopefully not be going inside, but as an STG operative he was already covered by his own government. They would deny he existed, simple as that. Kayap's armour had been augmented. Metal plates had been salvaged from extra suits of stolen armour, covering his arms and legs now. The rest had been painted black, for now, but it wasn't easy to hide the fact he was an unggoy.

It was the same issue with Vik, who had been given a smuggled quarian biosuit. It was black, had an armoured chest plate and a metallic faceplate cover for his visor with an opening in it shaped like widened V for his eyes. It would give him some extra protection as well as conceal his immediate identity as the specific quarian they were after. However, that didn't change the fact that they couldn't conceal that he was a quarian.

This was precisely why Drothan was along. He wasn't just here to be their shuttle's pilot after all. He was also in charge of monitoring the camera feeds. Liara was counting on him to erase any recorded footage containing some of their more "notable" crewmates. It wouldn't be easy, as he'd have a limited time frame, but he intended to keep track of all team members individually.

"I have four eyes," he had said. "Might as well start using them."

While Vik continued to work, Liara decided to check on things with the others. Kayap was in the corner of the shuttle, preparing his fuel rod cannon. She contacted Wrex and Nel first.

"How are we doing, ground team?" She asked.

"Ready to move on your signal," Wrex replied. "We're idling at the launch point now."

"Good, remember, once those doors open, codenames only," Liara reminded them. "No first names, no surnames, nothing. They no longer exist. You get them back when we're clear."

Liara next got a message from Saya.

'In holding pattern,' it read. 'Waiting for go.'

It looked like everything was set then. Liara looked next to Drothan as he sat in the pilot's seat.

"Once we're in I want you back in the cover of the clouds," she reminded him. "We need you as our eyes."

"I remember the plan, relax," he assured her. "Just let me know when you're done so we can get the hell outta here."

With her mind at ease, and everyone seemingly in place, she went back to Vik. The quarian was still working on the connection, but as she approached his head turned slightly to the side.

"That's odd," he said, sounding perplexed. "There was a slight spike in the communications traffic once I completed the reroute."

"Is it a problem?" Liara asked him.

"No, I'm in, doesn't look like it came from the Hegemony systems anyway," he assured her. "It was probably just the shuttle's computer adjusting to the systems link."

Vik soon had a camera link to one of the tower's upper shuttle pads. There were already several arriving, others had already landed. Walking out of them were batarians, krogan and sangheili. She could easily recognize a few. Trox was with his men, Orukuri was also present with some of his top level fellow executives. Vorsa was there as well, along with a small squad of Covenant soldiers. He was slightly behind another golden sangheili with a sweptback horned helmet.

"I'm guessing that's Fleet Master Zarvosh 'Yadromee," Liara presumed.

Kayap waddled over to give things a look for himself.

"I didn't see him much, but I bet it's him," he concluded. "Vorsa would only flank someone of superior rank."

Next to arrive was another shuttle with a Hegemony government seal on its door. It landed near the center of the pad and its doors opened to reveal a group of suited batarian agents. Vik focused on the shuttle and spotted another familiar face, Balak, saluting at the person exiting. It was Emperor Narvkel himself, as the guest manifest had said it would be.

"Can we get sound?" Liara asked.

"Laser microphones are mounted on all cameras," Vik responded plainly. "Just one second."

The camera focused in on Balak and Narvkel more and soon enough their voices filled the shuttle.

"I still believe we can handle things without your presence today, your Excellency," Balak told his Emperor. "I do not mean to insult your abilities, you are more than capable. However, you must certainly have more pressing matters and my people have been handling the talks with the Covenant for awhile now. We have a rapport."

"Nonsense, son," Narvkel replied pleasantly. "If the leader of the Covenant Forces in this dimension is here, I believe I should be as well. Besides, it's about time we met I think. Our two empires are about to enter a greater stage of our alliance, I wish to be present for that. It's only proper."

"I just feel with the events of the past few days, security is a concern," Balak tried to explain.

"You've taken the necessary precautions haven't you?" Narvkel asked, getting a nod response. "Then don't worry so much, everything is going to be fine."

Not if they had anything to say about of course, Liara thought. But the Emperor had reminded her about another issue she had to consider.

"Speaking of security," she mentioned while looking at Vik.

The quarian quickly brought up a separate window on screen, showing a full representation of the tower itself and graphics displaying a number of specialised security items. There were turret guns, mass effect lockdown fields, as well as LOKI, FENRIS and YMIR Mechs. Each one of them had been stolen by Balak and his Swords from 'Hahne-Kedar's' offsite manufacturing plants they had assaulted. Apparently, they had decided to move most of them here as soon as the call for extra security went out. They needed to fill the requested increased quota of guards somehow.

Along with the other items mentioned, the Mechs were all plugged into the same security system as the anti-air batteries. It was for simplicity sake, if they all shared the same "Friend or Foe" program they'd be easier to coordinate. That was the theory of course, but it also made them vulnerable.

However, even with the network connection that gave them control over the security cameras, the automated defences were still out of their digital reach. The best Vik could do for now was pinpoint their locations within the tower. That would change soon enough though.

"They shipped everything they could get into the building after the train crash," Vik noted. "They have a lot of firepower inside now."

"Not for long though," Liara reminded him. "Check back in on the Summit, they're probably already sitting down in the meeting room."

Vik switched to a camera overlooking a large circular table on one of the top floors. The assembled parties were already settling into their seats, while servants poured drinks for everyone in attendance. Everyone, save for the sangheili who rejected the offer with a glare and snarl.

"The Covenant has outlawed alcohol," Kayap informed Liara, as she gave him a curious look. "Even in very small amounts."

They weren't the only ones unhappy. Trox grumbled a bit as he looked at his drink.

"The hell is this swill?" He demanded to know. "I come all these light-years and you can't even get me Ryncol!"

"It is not exactly an easy beverage to acquire sir, my apologies," the waiter explained nervously.

Trox waved him off and grabbed the small glass. Apparently, he wasn't going to pass up a free drink, even if it was sub-standard by his reckoning. Before long everyone had settled in and the Summit got underway at last.

"It is good to see that we could all be here for this momentous occasion," Balak started. "Today, we settle any outstanding issues and reaffirm our commitments to one another. We shall share accomplishments, address concerns and better layout plans for pending operations. What we decide in this room will affect more than just ourselves, so we must keep that in mind. Our alliance is still new and we are still adjusting to that situation. Today I hope to put most of our unease to rest, as we move forward towards a brighter future for us all."

Balak quickly introduced everyone to each other and got down to business.

"I'd first like to address the situation concerning our newest member, VykurCorp CEO Spadivus Orukuri," Balak stated as he waved his hand towards the turian. "Through his efforts, we have made great strides in adapting and improving the technologies of our forces. And we'd like him to share his progress with us today."

"It has admittedly been slower than anticipated," Orukuri answered unassumingly. "But our work in amplifying mass effect fields to plasma based small arms has gone exceedingly well. We believe we will soon have the same success with implementing it for the needle guns, along with any other solid-projectile based weaponry. The real concern now is maintaining the field so the ammunition modifications can be retained. The cybernetics division is making great strides in personal armaments as well. I've brought with me a few schematics for us all to look at. I think you'll find we have some very interesting ideas for the future to say the least."

Orukuri's aides passed around some datapads for the assembled members to look at, but while the sangheili took them they didn't bother to read them. Vorsa then spoke up, revealing why they seemed so disinterested.

"We have been constantly assured of your speedy progress for some time now, turian," He stated. "We were informed we would have a number of the electric field implants installed in our troops before long. But we have received very few. Many more have obtained several variants of your personal wrist mounted self-defence systems, both melee and ranged varieties, but not in sufficient numbers. Fleet Master Zarvosh 'Yadromee and myself would like to know why that is."

"Many of our research and development centres have been attacked, and our main production line destroyed," Orukuri replied, sounding a bit irritated. "I believe you of all people were well aware of that."

"The point my Field Commander is attempting to make," Zarvosh cut in suddenly. "Is that we do not need more fanciful cybernetics cooked up by your scientists, especially when you fail to fully achieve sustainable levels of mass production with them. The fact you cannot protect these manufacturing facilities raises even greater concerns. I am getting tired of informing my men that they will be getting technological upgrades when none come. Several of my best units have volunteered to receive these implants and they are still waiting for them."

Orukuri shifted uncomfortably in his seat, taking a small sip of his drink before he continued.

"It is not easy to fund and carry out many of these projects," he insisted. "The fact of the matter is that my company was not prepared to covertly supply two extra armies under the table. Now, we have supplied you with turian weapons and equipment. We have expended vast resources on upgrading much of your Covenant technology. I have even offered some of our own developments in Mech technology to you, which you rejected I might add."

"Synthetic Intelligence is dangerous and should only be pursued in the direst of circumstances," Vorsa declared. "Even virtual intelligences should not replace a true soldier on the battlefield. This was a mistake that nearly undid our Gods and we shall not repeat it. In any case, we had hoped you'd have already progressed beyond small arms and into mounted weapons for our ships and ground vehicles. It seems we overestimated you."

"My scientists explained this before," Orukuri replied, sounding incredibly frustrated. "The residual heat your plasma weapons offer disrupts the mass effect fields. It was a chore just amplifying the weapons for your hulking living tanks. Maintaining a field around such a vast amount of energy for a single plasma torpedo is no easy feat. If you gave us more of these weapons for us to work with, progress would go faster."

Zarvosh leered over the table at the turian, snorting at him as he did.

"Allowing you further access to probe their weaknesses and deliver them to your associates?" He asked suspiciously, shaking his head all the while. "I think not. You have already demanded much of us in that regard and Commander Balak feels the same. Your access to our weaponry is based on the results you gain from modifying them. And you have not fully delivered on your promises. We are not here to act as arm suppliers for your little insignificant revolution."

"Insignificant?" Orukuri replied back in shock at the declaration, standing up from his seat. "Need I remind you of the importance of supplying my associates within the Separatist Movement?"

Orukuri's remarks got Liara's attention pretty quickly, as well as Vik's.

"Separatists? Why the hell is Orukuri supplying Separatists?" He asked. "I thought he wanted to reshape the Hierarchy, not break it apart."

"I suspected that there was more to Orukuri's actions than what we could see on the surface," Liara advised.

Orukuri continued walking over to one of the windows and speaking loudly. Vik tracked him as he did, making sure to keep the microphone on him.

"You can't hope to succeed in any capacity against the humans if you allow the Hierarchy to remain as it is," he explained. "My people may not be best friends with them, but they are certainly more politically tied. Those ties must be severed. Otherwise, you're going to be facing off against the most powerful military in the galaxy. And despite your confidence in facing them, you don't have the resources to fight both the turians and the humans, not to mention the rest of the Council once they are involved. Any attack on the humans will be seen as a threat to the Hierarchy unless the government is forcibly changed."

"We have supplied you with everything required to accomplish said task," Vorsa declared. "It is not our concern that you are stalling your plan's implementation. We gave you weapons and raided the salarian BioWeapons lab for you. In return, we were supposed to get significant upgrades and you've failed to consistently deliver."

"I need more time and more supplies," Orukuri argued as he returned to his seat. "Refining a biological weapon is no small feat, not when I need to cover my tracks so much."

For Liara this had gotten quite bad very quickly. If Orukuri was dealing with the Separatists, and he had a bioweapon in his possession, then this could get really bad. Especially when it seemed his designs were to use it in some scheme against his government.

"As for weapons, I have enough guns. For the operation itself to work I need vehicles, aerial and ground support," Orukuri explained, his frustrated tone giving way to a quickened pace of speech. "I need to show how weak the Hierarchy has become before I can effectively induce change. It is far too risky to just rush into things, especially in my position."

"That seems to be a common excuse among this alliance," Vorsa stated. "It has caused many of us to doubt your commitment to our cause recently."

Much of the table now began mouthing off at one another, bickering loudly amongst their fellows. Quick to act the peacekeeper and assert his power, Narvkel stood up to try and take hold of the situation. He raised his hands in a calming gesture and tried to speak over the myriad of voices.

"Gentlemen, please, this is no time for dissolution," he insisted. "I can assure the Covenant personally that we are more than committed to their cause. As I understand it, we have sent much beyond the wormhole in the form of a joint expedition force between ourselves and the Blood Pack."

"Which cost the Pack one of its best leaders mind you and a number of our brothers," Trox pointed out. "So don't go yapping about how we aren't committed here."

The sangheili seemed to back down a bit, but that didn't stop them from clarifying their grievances.

"We are most grateful for your efforts in assisting our labours back in our home dimension," Zarvosh replied. "However, I am speaking of our own plans within this universe. I have asked time and again about the progress concerning the Excavation teams you have sent out. The answer always appears the same, nothing."

"From what we understand, the expeditions you have sent out continue to turn up empty despite our very precise instructions," Vorsa continued. "What exactly is the problem?"

Balak fielded this question himself.

"The Hegemony isn't currently in the best position to fund archaeological expeditions in the far reaches of the galaxy," he explained. "We have placed most of our efforts towards strategic build up of our forces and training for the tasks ahead. This is not out of disrespect mind you, but we need to prioritize our agendas. Hunting lost relics is low on our list."

"Not for us," Zarvosh assured him with venomous glare. "We have allowed you enough time to search for the artefacts on your own. I feel it is time we stepped in."

"That is unnecessary," Balak tried to impress upon him. "We simply are unsure of where to look, Fleet Master. If you provided us with more information we could narrow down our investigation."

"But we HAVE provided specifics," Vorsa corrected him. "Evidence suggests the secret lies on the water world known to you as Khaje."

Every minute seemed to reveal a new surprise to Liara. The Covenant interested in the Hanar? Why? And what were these artefacts they spoke of? This was certainly not what she expected to hear during the summit. As an archaeologist at heart, she couldn't help but be intrigued.

"We cannot be sure if Kahje is the specific world your evidence suggests," Balak explained. "And we cannot risk open action against the Hanar at this time. They are not a military power, but they are extremely vocal in galactic space. Any operation on Kahje risks exposure, your exposure mind you. We need to assess everything before we jump into the fray."

Vorsa suddenly slammed his fist down on the table and stood up violently, pointing accusingly at nothing to his side.

"Those disgusting blaspheming sacks of gelatine are long overdue for divine justice," he shouted in a rage. "They continue to declare that our Gods' creations are the work of their pantheon of false deities! If they are truly keeping the secrets of our divine inheritance from us, then all the more reason to make an example of them! We have been provided the means to accomplish this task already when the Kercheka gave us their dormant weapon! How long must we wait before justice can be served against these creatures?"

Well, that answered part of Liara's question at least. The outburst had revealed more than just motive for the Covenant, however, it had also suggested a potential means. But that revelation had only managed to raise another question in its wake.

"Weapon? What Weapon?" Vik asked.

"It must've been what they were carting away when we invaded the Kercheka tribe's compound on Tuchanka," Liara suggested.

A weapon they had claimed had been dormant for a good while, which given Tuchanka's history suggested one weapon in particular. It was a possibility that Balak himself soon confirmed.

"We cannot risk the detonation of a weapon of such magnitude on a largely symbolic target at this time," Balak informed them grimacing. "It's too wasteful and dangerous, especially when you don't even know what you're going to be blowing up down there with it."

"We have seen the effects of these weapons against our own kind," Vorsa replied matter-of-factly. "We understand its destructive power. If we find nothing of value then we shall simply detonate the device. The mission will be a success no matter the outcome."

"Yeah, and you'd risk losing possibly the only real lead you have to finding these relics of yours," Trox pointed out sardonically. "Brilliant plan there."

Vorsa could find nothing to say to respond to that, he merely gritted his teeth at them. Zarvosh then placed his hand on Vorsa's arm and slowly pulled him back down into his seat. The golden sangheili obliged his superior officer and relented

"Vorsa's anger is born out of frustration and clouds his usually better judgement," Zarvosh claimed. "We understand the risks involved, make no mistake. We merely grow tired of waiting to press forward. The relics are of high priority, do not think otherwise. They are quite possibly the key to our victory and yours. I would suggest you double your efforts to narrow down your search."

"Of course," Narvkel seemed to agree. "But, well, I think it would be easier if we had more clues to go on. Are you sure you have nothing else to share on where these relics could be now?"

Vorsa looked to Zarvosh for a moment and they started speaking to each other in whispered tones.

"Focus in on them," Liara quickly ordered Vik.

The quarian zoomed in the camera at the two and increased the microphone frequency.

"I'm not certain if the Oracle will know, sir," Vorsa whispered to Zarvosh. "It's as unlikely as our comrades back home finding the second vessel."

"At least we have options," the Fleet Master replied to him in a just as huished voice. "What is important is that they do not discover the relics first, only a link that will lead us to them. We risk losing our leverage if they discover the truth."

To Liara, those were very intriguing statements indeed. They wanted the batarians to help them find these relics, but not actually find them. And what was this talk about a second vessel? If only they had been faster to focus in on their whispers, they'd probably have gotten more. But, it was better than nothing.

"We will attempt to further our research on the matter," Zarvosh assured the table. "But I can make no promises on it bearing fruit."

"Well, good for you guys then," Trox suddenly spoke up once more. "Really pulling for you to find your precious baubles, honest. Now, here's a good question. We're all running around doing stuff it seems, so what exactly are the 'Swords' doing? Or are my people going to have to pick up the slack again?"

For once, all the questioning and sceptical eyes were on Balak. Perhaps all the little setbacks Liara had caused really had touched upon a nerve among his superiors. To Balak's credit, however, he didn't seem at all unnerved by their gazes. He merely seemed, mildly annoyed at Trox's comments if nothing else.

"Trox," he began. "If you're disappointed in where I'm sending you, perhaps you should look for another employer. We are paying you, aren't we? The credits are good, aren't they? Your pay check is certainly larger than it was prior to our contract if I recall."

"I don't care about us not getting into glorious battles and crap, that was Kreave's thing," Trox informed him. "I'm happy with the payout we're getting. I just don't appreciate being treated like we're expendable shock troops. You have us guarding more and more of VykurCorp's off site labs, which have been under threat as of late more than usual and aren't offering any benefits to use specifically. You have more of a stake in protecting them than us."

Liara couldn't help but smile a little. It was good to know that her people were making life a little uncomfortable for the Blood Pack. Trox wouldn't be bringing this up if he didn't think that their problems had escalated.

"To be honest," Trox continued. "I'm just wondering exactly what you people are doing that's so damn important that you're willing to put our asses on the line to protect a bunch of stinking turians."

Orukuri shifted his ire towards the krogan now.

"Watch it you humpbacked barbarian, those are my employees," he warned venomously. "Their lives are worth more than any number of your savage brethren's hides any day of the year."

"You want me to stuff your fringe down your throat, turian?" Trox asked threateningly. "If not, shut up. I'm talking to the four-eyed alien who pays me credits to make me protect your sorry asses. Don't make me suddenly decide the money ain't worth it."

Orukuri sat back down reluctantly and Balak finally had a chance to speak.

"Your assignment is a temporary one, Trox," he tried to assure. "Despite the attacks on a number of VykurCorp's facilities, it is still the safest duty in our roster we can afford you for now. The Swords are working towards build-up and strategy at the moment. We are allocating resources for future attacks. You will get better details in time, Trox, trust me on that. Many of them will be alongside our own operations."

"Exactly what kind of operations are you speaking of, Balak?" One of the Hegemony Generals finally spoke up.

"Yes," added another batarian officer. "We keep hearing of you moving the Swords into a more conventional warfare role, but we have yet to see it. Nor have you shared many of your supposed strategies with us."

"Agreed," stated a Hegemony Admiral. "Considering the Emperor's presence here today, perhaps now is the time to share."

Balak looked about the table for a moment before finally nodding. He stood up from his seat and pressed a few buttons on his omni-tool.

"If you must know gentlemen," he began plainly. "I am positioning my forces towards the ultimate goal of our organization, the very reason the Swords were founded. We will be transitioning to more direct confrontation with the Systems Alliance. For awhile now, we have hit their outer colonies, smaller military outposts and disrupted their trade routes. Soon, we, along with our Covenant and Blood Pack allies, will be hitting more high value objectives."

Balak brought up a holographic image in the center of the table. Appearing over their heads were several star charts of human controlled systems. There were also a number of what appeared to be reconnaissance photos of Alliance military bases and government installations. Liara could only tell that they were by the brief glimpses of Alliance insignias within the hologram, but it was enough.

"The Swords of Khar'shan shall soon be a name whispered in fear among by all humans not already aware of us," He adamantly declared. "I have already compiled a list of potential targets whose ends will serve our cause well. And, if some of you are willing to assist us in accomplishing these goals, perhaps the Hegemony itself can alleviate its own resources to assist you more."

"An intriguing proposition, son," Narvkel stated. "Hitting the enemy where he sleeps, yes, that will show those thieving humans. How do you intend to accomplish this though?"

"The first phase will require something massive, something that will move the enemy away from their inner domain," Balak explained. "We will need to take something of theirs I think. Something they can't afford to lose. I am narrowing my strategy now, but it will nevertheless require the full attention of my forces. Our lull in current operations and lack of involvement is due to this preparation phrase. We cannot afford a distraction now. Luckily, there are currently no developments so far that require our attention."

'That's what you think,' Liara thought to herself.

Everything they had now learned was overwhelming. If a chemical weapon and an old nuclear warhead weren't bad enough, they were going to start actually going bigger. Kahje, the inner human colonies, the Hierarchy, they were all under threat. There was no way she was going to be able to handle all of these attacks on her own. She would have to get this information to the respective authorities concerned, but right now giving them the chance to prepare would have to suffice. She had heard enough, it was time. She instantly called up Wrex.

"You have a go," she ordered. "The mission is underway."

"Bout time," Wrex responded. "See you inside, Silhouette."

"You too, Barrage," she answered, calling him by his codename as well.

Now they only had to wait, it wouldn't be long. There was nothing to do now for the next few minutes but watch as the illusion of safety crumbled around Balak and his friends. She continued watching the screen, waiting for the moment to come.

"Are you so certain that there is nothing that requires greater attention than your proposed plan, Balak?" The batarian general asked curiously. "Considering the fire at Heritage Fields and the train crash..."

"While both are more than likely acts of sabotage," Balak admitted. "I see no reason for alarm. Kronshengya is the safest place on all of Khar'shan. While the other city-states squabble with one another, we remain secure. I am more than certain that the recent events are merely dissident groups beneath our concerns. They will be irrelevant in the new Galactic Order soon enough."

And that was when the camera picked up the faint distant sound of gunfire.

"The hell is that?" Trox asked out of confusion.

---

Their armoured truck bust through the gate like it was tissue paper. The guards opened fire on it as it rode in, but they might as well have been hitting them with stones. Between the shields and double-plated steel covering them, nothing was busting through to the inside. There weren't even any drivers to shoot at. The whole truck was operated remotely by Wrex in the protective confines of the back. They could keep trying, surround the truck even. All it was gonna do was get them all in one tight little place, the perfect killing ground.

Nel was feeling a lot better now than she had been last night. The double dose she injected into herself before getting in the truck had helped ease her pain. She was a bit twitchy now, but her eyes didn't feel so itchy and her muscle spasms had stopped. Now she could focus on what really mattered, blowing this tower back down to hell.

She was just finishing the final touches on her new armour's helmet. If she was going into a fight with a suit that could handle explosions, she might as well let the bad guys know how fucked they were. She had already written stuff on it like 'You're already Dead!' on her front breast plate and 'Bite Me!' on her codpiece.

Her helmet would complete the effect, as she was painting a vicious looking turian face on it. She only added a little of her facial tattoo's colour to the sides of the face, however. She didn't wanna look barefaced after all. She was making sure not to have it cover her eyes as well. The paint was also a very light coat, so she'd be able to see through it. No sense in looking badass if it wasn't slightly functional, right?

She strapped the helmet on and picked up the plasma cannon in her arms. It was pretty heavy, as Kayap suggested it would be. Nothing she couldn't handle though, she was a turian after all. She moved over to the doors where Wrex was currently.

He already had his armour on and was giving his weapons one last look over while simultaneously keeping an eye on the controls for the truck. Then he pulled a hard right on the controls. The truck spun tightly, it's back now facing the tower. It was time.

"You ready for this, Deadlock?" He asked her as they positioned themselves at the doors.

"I was fucking born ready!" Nel declared, not hiding any of her enthusiasm for her new codename.

Wrex nodded once and kicked open the doors with his massive foot. The tower's plaza was jam packed with goons and construction equipment, meaning they were all tightly packed together. That made them perfect targets for Wrex' opening salvo. He hefted up a weapon in his hands, a Cain to be exact. There was a reason he had picked the name Barrage for this operation.

As he charged up the weapon, Nel fired plasma bolts into the assembled batarian defenders. Those who didn't keep their heads down were quickly perforated by the massive amount of fire power the plasma cannon packed. One batarian took three shots to the face and upper torso, but only one really needed to hit him. The batarian's shields were no match against the sustained plasma fire.

Soon, the Cain reached full capacity and Wrex launched the powerful shot from the heavy weapon. A twenty-five kilogram, highly explosive, slug rocketed forward though the air and landed in among the plaza's defenders with a resounding burst of light. A miniature mushroom cloud rose into the air as the shockwave from the blast obliterated anything nearby. The defenders pulled back, terrified momentarily at the sight of the explosion. Nel was only invigorated.

"Can I use it next?" She asked.

"There is a reason Silhouette gave it to me and not you," Wrex reminded her.

"It's not like it's actually nuclear," Nel disputed.

Wrex didn't argue, he just placed the Cain onto his back again and brought out a Revenant. He fired incendiary rounds from deadly assault rifle as he pushed forward. Nel followed close behind, but not before activating her omni-tool.

Along with the paint job, Nel had given one extra addition to her new suit. She attached speakers near her helmet, connected to her omni-tool and the various music tracks she had downloaded on it. Before long, the entire plaza was awash with both the sounds of gunfire and the Turian Rock soundtrack of the Cyber-Legionnaire movies.

"Rock and fucking roll, four-eyes!" She cried out, letting the plasma cannon rip into the batarians ahead of her.

Wrex could only shake his head at it all. He pressed forward, his barrage of incendiary rounds blazing through the collective batarian defenders. Between him and Nel, none of them could stick their heads up for a minute, lest they get them blown straight off. Some batarians made attempts to move around them to the side, but Wrex kept them corralled with his biotics. He tossed out shockwaves and throw attacks, making sure they didn't get on their right side.

As Nel moved past the construction equipment with Wrex, she lay down a wall of fire on the batarians rushing back to try and strengthen the lines. It was almost cute how they thought they stood a chance. Nel thought she felt a few of the rounds they were shooting hit her armour, but to no real affect. Didn't mean she'd allow them to keep hitting her, even if they weren't doing much damage. She just kept firing on the four-eyed storm troopers, leading them as they ran from cover to cover. She watched one try to stand up and move back as he fired, only for him to get a dozen or so plasma bolts in his chest.

"We're gonna paint the whole fucking tower with your damn entrails!" She brazenly shouted aloud, laughing at the retreating batarians.

Combined with her heightened "juiced up" senses and her armour, the plasma cannon proved to be completely unstoppable. Batarians did their best to move among the assorted pieces of construction materials and equipment, but it wasn't much use. Whenever Nel spotted one her eyes narrowed in on them and she fired. At some point, it just became a knee jerk reaction. The juice didn't only make your reflexes faster, it made them almost routine. On a double dose that was effect was merely heightened.

At some point, the batarians realised they couldn't keep running headlong into the approaching constant fire. Nor could they sit behind cover as the two attackers merely shrugged off their shots. They needed to fall back, which they started to. They weren't so stupid as to do so without offering a distraction of course. As they batarians fell back to the tower, a shuttle flew into range. Its doors opened to reveal batarian soldiers inside. They began laying down fire from above. One of the shots grazed Nel's helmet to no avail, only earning her ire.

"Looks like some fuckers want permission to land," she said sinisterly as she targeted the shuttle. "Granted!"

She opened up with her plasma cannon on the shuttle, burning the soldiers inside with sustained bolts of heated energy. She trailed the shots along the length of the shuttle until it destroyed one of the engines on the back. The vehicle rocked as smoke and fire erupted out of the back. Moments later, it began to fall from the sky, crashing into a construction crane as it tried to fly away.

The shuttle had given its grounded brethren a brief respite, but only brief. Wrex soon turned his attention back to their retreating defenders, as did Nel. They now closed in on the entrance to Rakavekyon, big glass doors with an upper balcony inside. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the windows as some defenders had gone above to try and offer more resistance. They began shooting Grenade Launchers, dropping explosives in their path.

Even in their armour, neither of the two attackers wanted to take a grenade to the face. Nel targeted one of the defenders with a barrage of bolts while Wrex fired a carnage shot at them. With the grenadiers riddled with energy burns or exploded into mulch, the turian and krogan were now free to accomplish their first objective.

In the corners of the entrance way plaza, not too far from the doors, were two of the tower's four primary anti-air defences. They were automated ground-to-air missile batteries with 'Friend or Foe' targeting technology. They were activated now for the purposes of the Summit, but they were vulnerable from the ground. It kept them from getting air support, but that was about to change.

Nel ran over to one of the batteries and quickly logged into the main control system. It was easy when Liara told her what to look for. She had drilled the damn instructions into her head so many times it would be a wonder if she ever forgot it.

Once logged in, she hooked an OSD file into the computer. Opening the OSD she began to upload the contents to the Anti-Air battery's systems. Said content was a prolific virus that would spread quickly into the Rakavekyon's defence system, switching their "Friend or Foe" program functions to recognize craft previous designated friendly craft as enemy. Because all the defences were connected for simplicity, every single anti-air battery would soon be working for them and not the batarians.

Nel watched the virus being uploaded, happy with what she was seeing. It looked as if everything had worked. The computer was suddenly recalibrating itself before her eyes. Nel looked up to see another batarian shuttle coming in from the opposite direction as the last one. Suddenly, the anti-air batteries turned and targeted the shuttle. One launched a missile that collided straight into the craft's cockpit, destroying it instantly. Nel's smile grew wider at the sight.

"Sometimes that quarian is good for something," she smirked. She then got on her radio. "Deadlock to Silhouette, the anti-air is ours! You can make your approach!"

"Yes, Nomad says the virus is moving slowly but effectively, good job," Liara responded. "Move into the tower and begin Phase Two. We'll handle things from our end and get you your reinforcements soon."

Good to hear, but Nel already had her own reinforcements. Wrex was too busy providing cover fire to notice her for the moment. So she quickly took out her injector again. It was time for another booster. She plugged took another double dose, moving her protective layers enough to get the needle to touch her skin. She activated it, letting the rush of adrenaline and renewed vigour wash over her. Now she was running on four doses of the juice. She put the injector away before Wrex could spot her.

"Come on, Deadlock!" The krogan shouted over his gunfire. "We're moving inside!"

Nel picked up her gear and ran after Wrex. They had gotten through the easy part, now came the tricky bit, fighting through the tower. Compared to what Liara and the others had to do though, their job simple.

She and Wrex were going to be fighting through the lower levels of what was originally planned to be a hotel. Liara's team needed to fight through the upper levels of what was now a damn military installation to steal some intel. All the real bad guys were going to be there, defending their leaders currently sitting around their big evil asshole table. Those weren't very good odds for Liara at all.

"Some people get all the fun jobs," Nel thought.

---

"Taking us in," Drothan informed everyone. "I hope you're ready."

"As we'll ever be," Liara replied.

They had four shuttles worth of armed Shadow Operatives and Urdnot Warriors flying on their wings now. They could use the shuttle pads to land, but they were overloaded with the transports for the Summit attendees. They'd need another way in, luckily Liara had already thought of it.

"Get that Fuel Rod Cannon ready, Hazard," Liara informed Kayap.

The unggoy didn't respond immediately, but his head suddenly shot up.

"Oh right, that's my codename!" He laughed a little at himself. "Um, ready to go, Leader."

Liara had hoped giving the Kayap a dangerous sounding codename would boost his confidence a little. She wasn't entirely sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot. Besides, it sorta fit considering his attire. He kind of looked like he was always wearing a hazard suit after all.

"What's happening in the Summit currently, Drothan?" Liara asked.

She had already transferred the feeds for the cameras over to Drothan's monitors in his cockpit. He was feverishly trying to keep up with everything going on best he could, but his main focus was on the summit currently.

"They're panicking a little, well, most of the suits that have never picked up a gun in their lives are anyway," he explained. "Your Covenant buddies are gearing up for a fight however, same with the Blood Pack."

"Is anyone heading to the shuttles?" Liara asked as she made her final preparations.

"No, someone must've told them about that second shuttle getting hit by their own missiles," Drothan replied. "I imagine they would be getting the hell out of here otherwise. They're taking everyone who isn't fighting to panic rooms, including the Emperor."

At least that meant some of the security detail would be out of their way, too busy protecting the high value individuals to bother with their efforts. There was still the chance they could remove some of this conspiracy's leaders as well, but that was low on the list for Liara. The Codemaster's location was all that mattered to her right now. They would have other opportunities to get Balak, Vorsa, Trox, Orukuri or any of their cronies. This was going to be their only chance to figure out where the Codemaster was.

Problem was, with the landing pads clogged with parked shuttles and such, they couldn't land there. This was why Liara was grateful they had found so many Fuel Rod Cannons when they raided the bunker. Vik opened the shuttle door, revealing that they were now flying along the left side of the tower. The four other shuttles were nearby, positioning themselves close to other floors along the upper levels of the tower.

Kayap hefted his Fuel Rod Cannon and aimed through the scope at the tower. He was aiming a little higher than he had previously, obviously still shaken about hitting that armoured train in the wrong place before. He then fired two shots at the building and the two green streaks of energy were soon joined by several others from the adjacent shuttles. In seconds, the whole upper left side of Rakavekyon Tower was awash in green flames. When the dust cleared, the towers many windows and parts of their floors were blown out.

"Silhouette to all shuttles, move in for insertion," Liara ordered.

The shuttles moved towards the holes blown into the tower. One by one, ShadowNet Operatives and Urdnot Warriors began jumping off the shuttles into the tower. When they were close enough, Liara was able to essentially hop into the building alongside Vik and Kayap. Kayap had passed his Fuel Rod Cannon to the quarian before the jump over though, as he didn't want to be too weighed down considering the other weapon he was carrying.

When they got inside they each had their weapons at the ready, but there wasn't anything to shoot at initially. There were only a few bodies on the ground, victims of the blast, scattered among the debris. Beyond that there wasn't much cover in the corridor itself, all the more reason to get moving now.

"To all teams, engage hostiles on sight," Liara ordered. "We are moving to the package for pick-up."

As they began to move up the corridor, following the map Liara had mentally made, they could hear footsteps running towards them. Liara quickly moved into a doorframe to get them into cover and moved inside just a squad of batarians arrived. They were backed up by a number of LOKI Mechs that were moving with them. They all opened fire on the asari and her team, forcing them to move to cover within the room Liara had run into. The asari sent out a singularity to force some of the Mechs and the batarians into the open, where Vik laid down a turret to finish them off.

One Mech and a batarian ended up getting hit by several rounds while they swirled about in the vortex. The batarians quickly ran for their own cover within the doorframes of other rooms or the large beams separating the rows of windows. They fired back at Liara's team, pinning them inside their room. The Mechs in the meantime kept out in the open, adding to the sustained fire.

"Nomad, how much longer will it take until your virus gets into the Mechs' systems?" Liara asked the quarian as she tried to return fire.

"It's a little harder to make the upload to them," Vik explained as he checked his omni-tool. "It's got to transition from the hard-line to the wireless signal."

"Then we need better cover until then," Liara informed him.

The quarian looked about the room they were in, which was a former hotel room now converted into a military break room. There were informative posters on the walls, some refrigerator units and a couch. Throwing up his hands, Vik grabbed one end of the sofa and began pushing it towards the door. Kayap grabbed the other end and helped him force it out into the hall. It wasn't much, but it was better than the awkward position they were currently in.

Liara moved out first, tossing a biotic throw out to send one of the Mechs back down the hallway. As she began returning fire on the batarians though, she realised they were quick learner. They began copying them, taking out pieces of furniture and desks from inside the rooms on their end and using them to create better cover. Now they were each on equal footing in terms of proper shooting positions.

It also gave Kayap a chance at a clear shot though. He brought up his Plasma Grenade Launcher and pressed down on the trigger as he looked through the scope. He quickly highlighted two batarians and released the trigger. The two plasma grenade rushed out of the launcher and zipped towards their targets. For a brief moment the batarians what had been stuck to them, then they exploded in two concurrent balls of blue flame. They, and everyone nearby, were consumed by the blast.

That still left a few batarians and their Mechs on the field though. The latter had a few missing limbs and one had its torso separated from its legs, but they were all adamant on pressing the attack despite their damage. The single mindedness of machines, a reason so many security firms seemed to prefer Mechs.

But just as said Mechs pressed the attack on Liara's team, something changed about their singled minded programming. Their heads suddenly violently shook with electrical current. Their visors flickered on and off before their eyes turned bright green. Vik pumped his fist slightly in front of him.

"Yes, the virus got through," he said with glee.

The Mechs suddenly turned from their attack on Liara's group and looked to the batarians. They caught on, but not quick enough. One of the batarians fired on the downed Mech as it crawled towards him. The other Mechs opened up on him seconds later. The machines had turned on their masters and the remaining Hegemony soldiers were soon cut down as the Mechs turned to fill them full of lead. Those that could began to retreat, firing back at the Mechs as they rushed back down the corridor. The machines followed in pursuit, while Liara looked on.

"Did we get all of them?" She asked Vik, who was looking over his omni-tool.

"My tap into their network says that all defence systems are malfunctioning," he responded happily. "I think they're ours now."

Liara needed to be sure though, so she called up Drothan.

"What's going on with the Mechs right now, Watchdog?" She asked.

"Looks like they decided to join the winning team, ma'am," he answered. "I'll give you a feed."

Liara's internal helmet HUD soon displayed footages of a number of LOKI Mechs alongside a YMIR. They were currently firing on their batarian masters. The YMIR suddenly fired a rocket from its arm, obliterating an entire squad of batarians in front of it.

"That ought to teach them to steal the Alliance's toys," Liara laughed slightly, she then turned to Vik. "Nomad, if you have remote control over the defence systems now, I want you to start sending what Mechs you can outside to defend the anti-air batteries. We can't have the Hegemony destroying them yet, not when gunships are no doubt on their way to us."

"Got it," Vik replied as he opened up a new window on his omni-tool. "I'm sure Barrage and Deadlock will appreciate the extra hands."

"I'm sure they will, not that they'll need it," Liara told him simply. "Between the two of them alone, they'll keep the Security Forces busy for a good while. Right now, we need to get to the package. Let's move."

Liara, Kayap and Vik vaulted over the couch and ran out of the corridor, making a beeline for the Tower's inner sanctum. They had a ways to go before they reached the server, but so far the mission was going rather smoothly. She only hoped they could keep it that way for a little longer.

---

Inside the lobby, Wrex and Nel had managed to blast their way past the initial defenders in their wake. However, while bleeding and battered, the Hegemony's proud soldiers were still holding strong. This was their tower and they were determined to hold it.

They had managed to hold Wrex and Nel at the reception desk, firing on them from above a pair curved stair cases in the main hall. A statue resided within the space between said stairs, it was of some important batarian of repute no doubt, but Nel didn't care. Nor did she care that the lobby's walls were covered in a mural devoted to the glories of batarian society. At this point, she had become numb to it all. At least her speakers were still blasting out turian rock music. That evened things out a little.

She pulled her Grenade Launcher off her back, setting the plasma cannon down for a moment. She then popped out from behind the reception desk and fired several explosives at the top of the stairs. She only managed to get two batarians, but she was able to blow off the head of whoever that statue was supposed to be of. That was strangely satisfying.

As she ducked back down before more shots could hit her she looked over to Wrex. He was busy reloading his assault rifle. Nel's eyes soon travelled to his back, however, where the Cain was still residing in its closed-up holstered form.

"Why don't you just blow them all to fucking hell with the Nuke Gun already?" She asked him, her eyes starting to twitch beneath her helmet.

"Remember the plan?" He asked her in kind. "We're just waiting for now."

"Fuck the plan!" Nel shouted aggressively. "Waste the four-eyed bitches already!"

The krogan turned to the turian slowly, a grave look in his eyes as they matched hers

"You are beginning to sound like my brother," he told her, a sense of quiet rage in his voice. "You do not want to start sounding like my brother in front of me."

Before Nel could say anything else though, the battle dramatically shifted. Bullets stopped hitting their position, yet the sounds of gunfire could still be heard. Moments later, the gunfire ceased altogether with the sound of an explosion tearing apart the top of the stairs. Batarians fell from on high, as metallic footsteps were heard over their screams. It was then that a YMIR Mech appeared atop the steps, followed closely after by another. As they plodded down the steps, LOKI Mechs raced down beside them, followed by FENRIS Mechs on their heels.

"See," Wrex said pointing at them. "Silhouette sent the cavalry. They'll hold the anti-air while we continue Phase Two. We just got the word, maybe if your music wasn't so loud you'd have heard it."

Nel didn't think it was the music however, it was probably the drug. She had been so focused on killing bad guys she had tuned out most everything else. She turned down her speakers a little anyway, the initial shock value was gone and it was better not to rouse the krogan's suspicion by arguing with him. She was still pissed they weren't using the Cain though. She wanted to see the glorious explosion again now that she had a bigger dose in her.

While the Mechs began moving outside to secure the anti-air, Wrex and Nel moved up the staircase their new Mechanized friends were coming down. They still had a job to do and not much time to do it in. They were on the clock here, even with the Mechs and the Anti-Air turned against their former masters, neither would last long.

Vik assured everyone they couldn't override his hack in sufficient time, but he couldn't stop the Hegemony military from overwhelming the turncoat defences. After that, they'd be easy prey for the enemy soldiers to pick off. The tower's defenders were many, but they were at least finite while the army's forces weren't. If everything went according to plan though, they'd be out of here before that happened.

Wrex pulled out a blueprint of Rakavekyon's lower floors on his omni-tool. The schematics highlighted several support columns across the hotel facade of the tower. He quickly located the ones on their floor.

"Our first charge needs to be planted here down this hallway past all the guest rooms," Wrex said pointing down one way. "There won't be much cover and we'll be in real tight corners, so we need to be careful."

"I have a plasma hose, we're fine," Nel insisted anxiously. "Just point me in the direction of the meat!"

Wrex was a bit put off by the sudden declaration, but no more so than anything else the turian had said. She just seemed a bit more aggressive than usual. She was already halfway to the hall's entranceway before Wrex could even move, eager to start the massacre again it seemed. As Nel approached the corner though, tracers shot out, hitting the turian's shoulder and chest. She quickly backed off away from the entranceway as more bullets ate away at the corner of the hall.

"Damn it," Nel screeched, trying to get her plasma cannon working. "They caught me off guard!"

Nel poked her plasma cannon out the corner and fired blindly down the hall. Wrex managed to catch up to her position and joined in on firing back. Down the hallway, Wrex could spy two potted plants the batarians were using to cover themselves as they continued to fire. They didn't have good angle on them to boot. They could find a way around, but that would take too much time.

"You think our armour can last long enough down that hallway?" Wrex asked Nel.

The turian didn't need to answer, as two powerful sniper shots ripped through part of the corner. Wrex recognized the sound and the damage marks, there were Kishock Harpoon rifles among their enemies. Their armour was good, but Wrex didn't want to test it against a round from one of those guns. They could crack through your helmet with ease. They'd need another way to get down there.

"If only we could get closer," Wrex thought aloud as he fired another burst at the enemy.

For her part, Nel started looking around for something they could use to help in accomplishing that. Perhaps a chair or desk or a vending machine, something they could use to protect them from the gunshots. She didn't find anything like that, but she did find a lonely little serving cart near them. A wave of inspiration washed over the turian and she quickly grabbed the cart.

"What the hell are you doing?" Wrex asked her as she rolled the cart over to them.

"Something that is going to look really cool, trust me," Nel excitedly assured him.

Nel placed a few of her cluster grenades on the top tray, grinning at the prospect of what she was about to do. Once she placed a napkin over the grenades to conceal them, she got herself behind the cart next and rolled it forward. Wrex didn't know what she was doing, but he did her best to cover the turian. Nel pulled out her assault rifle as she got into the hall, keeping her head low as more gunfire kept whizzing by.

"Room service, fuckers!" She called out aloud. "My treat!"

With one powerful kick of her foot, the serving cart rolled on down the hall, managing to get between the batarian positions. As it arrived, Nel levelled her sights on tray, even as she began taking shots from the defenders. She fired a quick three-shot burst at the mess of cluster grenades beneath the napkin. The mess of cluster grenades exploded among the batarians, utterly obliterating their position.

"Enjoy your stay, shitheads!" She laughed as the eruption lit up the hallway, explosions of all colours dancing before her eyes.

Wrex was the only reason she stopped staring ahead in awe at her handiwork. He knocked her shoulder as he moved up to her.

"How'd you manage that shot with an assault rifle under fire?" He asked her.

The truth was that she couldn't feel pain from what few shots made it through her tough armour and her eyesight had been increased tenfold. Both effects from the juice of course, but she wasn't about to tell the krogan that. So she thought up another lie, a slightly better one than her previous demand for the Cain.

"Superior precision marksmanship," she claimed. "I'm just that damn good. Not just there of course, I got the moves in all the right places. I can show you later if you want."

Wrex seemed to brush of the obvious flirt with a grimace and walked past her.

"Not in any lifetime," he told her bluntly.

It seemed flirting was good for more than just seducing, it got people off your back too. Nel followed the krogan down the hall. As she did, she felt a brief stiffness in her shoulder and leg, which was odd because she shouldn't be feeling any of that until later. Was some of dosage running out already? She couldn't have that, not now. She'd need to another booster soon, but not in front of Wrex of course. She would have to get some space from the lumbering reptile first.

Wrex got close to the hallway corner and turned, but quickly backed off as more gunfire poured down it. Curious, Nel peeked down the hall for a second to see the batarians had created a fortified position of beds and chairs from inside one of the hotel rooms. The miniature barricade gave them even better cover than their counterparts from just a few seconds ago.

"Can we use the Cain now?" Nel asked eagerly, still wanting to see another explosion dance before her.

"No, I'm not wasting ammunition like that on three or so batarians," Wrex replied, sounding rather annoyed. "Besides, I don't want to risk firing this thing in these close quarters. It's not a very precise weapon."

"Well I can try my grenades then, but-"

"Don't bother," Wrex informed her. "I got a better idea, we'll flank them."

The krogan suddenly ran out of cover, firing his assault rifle at the enemy lines. He then bulldozed his way into one of the many doors of the rooms nearby. Nel did her best to follow after him, but Wrex was pretty damn fast for his old age. He ran towards a nearby wall within the room, firing a carnage shots at it before he hit it. With the wall cracked slightly from the explosive hit, Wrex used his massive weight and size to plough straight through it.

It was easier than he imagined, the walls were lacking a lot of studs and they weren't made out of metal either. When the Military took over construction of the place, they must've decided it was pointless to fully complete what was little more than a facade no one would be able to see. It was completed enough to be functional, but not enough to be entirely stable. It wasn't much of an obstacle to a krogan with a biotic barrier taking most of the hits for him.

Wrex continued to use his carnage shots to ease his charge through the adjacent hotel rooms. He rammed head first into the next wall, never stopping as he kept going. Nel did her best to keep up, but she felt her leg stiffening up more than she expected. How was it getting worse this fast?

As she kept running after him, bullets cut through the walls, the batarians must've been on to Wrex's tactic. It wasn't hard to hear the giant humpbacked reptile literally running through the walls of your building after all. Nel had to duck as the bullets ripped past her. She felt a pain shoot through her leg as she hit the ground.

"Fuck, I need the juice," she whispered to herself, clutching her leg tightly.

She crawled over to one of the doors and forced it open. She began firing plasma bolts on the batarian position, trying to at least keep them off Wrex. She didn't have to do that for long as the krogan burst out of one of the doors behind the batarian position and sent a powerful biotic throw towards them. Two batarians were flipped over their own cover while Wrex fired two blasts from his shotgun into the other two who remained standing. Nel quickly fired on the ones Wrex had thrown and got back to her feet. By the time she got over to Wrex again, the krogan was pulling open a door to a room labelled 'supplies.'

"The support pillar is in there," he told her. "Plant the charge and I'll cover you."

Nel obliged, quickly moving inside the supply room. It didn't take her long to spot the support column. Not wasting any more time, she strapped the explosive charge to the pillar and armed it. She was half-way done when she heard shooting from outside.

"More batarians!" Wrex called to her. "Hurry up!"

Nel was hurrying though. She just needed to do one more thing. The bomb was taken care of, but she needed her booster. Her hands trembled as she plugged the needle into her neck, injecting another double dose, bringing her up to a total of six running through her veins. The buzz reinvigorated her and she immediately felt much better. She put her injector away and ran back outside, holding her plasma cannon high. She laid down a long line of fire as she rushed out, cutting down two batarians and sending another falling back down a hallway.

"We got the fuckers on the run," she laughed. "Let's cut their legs out from under them so they can't do that no more."

Once more Nel was off, her complete attention was on the enemy once more. The only pain now was the kind she'd be dishing out on them. She just hoped it would last longer this time.

---

The Blood Pack merc blasted one LOKI Mech's head clean off before batting another way with the end of his shotgun. Meanwhile, a sangheili managed to cut out the legs from under another of the Mechs and then smashed its head in as it tried to crawl towards him. Another sangheili tossed a plasma grenade at a FENRIS Mech that was charging at him. It exploded seconds later, taking two LOKIs with it.

As much as the Mechs evened the odds for them, they were little more than distractions for the determined defenders. The YMIR were faring better though, so it wasn't a total loss. Regardless, Liara had known that it was going to have to be her own people that carried the day in the end. She wasn't counting on the Mechs. It was still disheartening to see that the enemy had rallied so quickly after the initial shock of their Mechanized pets turning on them, at least on this floor anyway.

The Blood Pack had set up a pretty decent barricade in their way, utilizing every desk, table and loose item they could find. Liara would've just avoided it if it wasn't for the fact the hall they were blocking was the fastest route to the server room. They needed to get past them now, but that was proving difficult. Between the krogan and the sangheili, they had set up a rather difficult roadblock.

Some of Liara's operatives did their best to try and push up, but a head-on assault proved suicidal. One of her men took a hit from a sangheili's plasma rifle to the chest and fell to the floor. Vik quickly commanded an YMIR Mech to move into position with the controls on his omni-tool, allowing some of the fallen operative's friends to rush over and to try and help him.

The YMIR laid down fire on the enemy position, both with machine guns and rocket attacks. He'd give them a little rest, but only for so long. The Blood Pack really began to hammer on him after the second rocket attack he threw their way. At least the war machine would thin the enemy numbers a little, Liara thought to herself. However, Drothan soon delivered more bad news.

"Silhouette, I got incoming on you," he warned. "Some big guy is pushing his way past some of our people and the Mechs."

Liara's HUD received a transmission from the camera feeds. She watched as Trox walked down a hallway, hitting one poor operative with a throw attack and then grabbing a LOKI by its head. He slammed the machine's face into a wall and tossed the remains at another operative before he could take a shot at the Krogan.

"He's got a whole pack of krogan on his tail too," Drothan warned. "You need to get out of there."

"Working on it," Liara assured him, although slightly concerned about the increasing danger in this hallway.

At that moment, the YMIR took a massive hit to the face from a plasma bolt. As it sputtered and groaned, one of the Blood Pack rushed out and tackled it to the ground. He caved in the machine's chest and smashed the sparking head. Liara quickly hit the krogan with a throw attack, sending him hurtling into a sangheili back at the barricade.

"Vik, tell me the security system has something we can use," Liara asked as she fired at the enemy position with the krogan.

"It does," the quarian promised as he worked on his omni-tool frantically. "Just give me thirty seconds!"

"You have fifteen!" Liara informed him urgently.

Liara formed a singularity among the enemy lines, pulling krogan out of their positions so some of her Operatives could hit them hard. They managed to kill one, but a second was still standing despite the terrible wounds he had taken to his torso. He opened fire with his Striker Assault Rifle, explosive rounds taking out two of the operatives and a LOKI Mech. He was joined by a sangheili and another krogan, filling the corridor with lead and plasma.

Kayap stood up in an attempt to put an end to it. He looked targeted all three of the enemy combatants as they began to advance with his Plasma Grenade Launcher. Three red targets showed up in the scope for him, painting the enemy. He released the trigger and four plasma grenades flew out and stuck themselves to their targets.

The sangheili ended up with two grenades on his chest. The krogan just looked confused at what had happened, but he tried to charge forward where he had seen the unggoy. Liara sent a throw attack that sent him backwards and the explosion took care of the rest. The two krogan were blown apart and the sangheili took another of his kin when he landed back among the barricade.

"Remind me to see about restocking that launcher of yours when we're done here," Liara told Kayap.

The praise was interrupted by more gunfire. Despite their success, there were still plenty of sangheili and krogan among the makeshift barricades. Liara wasn't sure how long they'd be able to keep this up. Thankfully, as she ducked her head low to reload once more, Vik came through with a solution.

"Yes!" He cried. "Corridor defences activated!"

Popping down from the ceiling appeared two small turrets. They targeted the sangheili and krogan within the barricades and began to unload on them. The Blood Pack mercs were perforated, their armour no match for the excessive fire. The sangheili lasted longer, but began to pull back as the gunfire rained down on them.

Seizing the advantage, Liara led her team forward. She charged after the retreating defenders, throwing biotic attacks at them while the others kept on shooting. They cleared the barricades with ease now, the road open once more to the server.

"Everyone fan out!" Liara ordered. "Hazard, Nomad and I will keep pressing to our target. The rest of you are to proceed with Phase Two."

Then, Liara's order barking was interrupted by renewed fire from behind. A bullet grazed her shields around her helmet and sent her running into cover. She turned back and saw the Blood Pack mercs Drothan had warned of had arrived. Trox was leading them of course.

"Waste every fucker in black armour, boys!" He demanded. "We have a pay check to earn!"

Vik set down a defence turret of his own and turned the ceiling turrets on the Blood Pack reinforcements. They weren't so easily beat, however, as some of them brought up energy shields similar to those of the kig-yar to defenders their fellows.

"I really hate that they keep giving everyone else all the good stuff," Kayap grumbled as he hid behind cover. "Where was this generosity when I was working for them?"

This corridor had gotten far too crowded for Liara's taste. She decided to check on her own back-up to see what was taking him.

"Obsidian, come in!" She ordered. "We could really use air support right now!"

It was then something appeared from outside the windows to their right. Rising up from the floors below, a Banshee with a black X spray painted on it appeared. It charged up its plasma coils and fired at the Blood Pack mercs further down the hallway. A bright flash of green light erupted among them, the sound shattering windows and shaking the whole floor.

The initial blast of green energy killed about three of the krogan. The others tumbled to the floor on their backs. The banshee then began opening up on the mercs with its twin plasma cannons. Energy bolts crashed through the remaining glass, cutting down the Blood Pack with ease as they had few places to run in the tight corridor. The krogan that tried to fire back ended up with scorch marks searing through their thick hides.

"Pull back!" Trox ordered "Get away from the windows!"

The Blood Pack retreated, the banshee chasing them as they ran away. Liara had to hand it to Saya, he had certainly learned the controls of the alien craft quick enough.

"Thanks for the assist, Obsidian," she congratulated the salarian through the com-link. "We're still making our way to the objective. Watch the skies, it won't be long now until their air force arrives and we can't lose air supremacy just yet."

She took off down the hallway with Vik and Kayap close-by. The server room wasn't much further from their position now. Liara just hoped it had the information they needed. They had come so far now, this couldn't be for nothing.

---

Saya backed away from the tower as the Blood Pack retreated. Liara's team was safe now, so he turned his attention to the plaza below. There was already a small garrison of Mechs within the assorted pieces of construction material and equipment below. They were a sufficient roadblock to be sure, but Liara's plan relied on speed for a reason.

If the crazy turian and the damn krogan could get past a bunch of batarian soldiers by themselves, the actual army wasn't going to take long to kill a bunch of VI driven machines. Saya would have to run interference for them, keep the Mechs alive long enough for the others to do their jobs. That meant making it difficult for the Hegemony's military to get through them. Luckily, this Banshee had sufficient firepower enough to keep the batarians at bay for a little while.

Before long, there were military transports moving down the street towards the tower. They weren't yet inside the gates and Saya had no intention of letting them get the transports into the plaza. The Mechs would be torn apart if they started firing those turrets on them. So he brought the Banshee over their heads and began to dive towards them. He armed the fuel rod cannon shot for the craft and fired it at the column.

A green plume of fire rocketed to the ground, followed by blue plasma bolts from the Banshee's twin plasma cannons. The blast hit the first two vehicles in the miniature convoy, utterly destroying them. With their lead transport's burning wreckage now blocking the path forward, the reinforcements were stalled. Next, the blue plasma bolts from the cannon cut into the other transports as they tried to move around. Saya fired off another fuel rod shot at the back of the convoy, boxing the transports in once two more vehicles were sent up in flames.

Saya pulled up and doubled back on the wrecked convoy. He fired another volley of plasma bolts down at them, cutting down a few of the soldiers who were trying to get out of the trapped vehicles. He then fired one more fuel rod shot at the center of the convoy, sending another transport up in flames. That mess would keep the army busy for a bit. They certainly wouldn't be able to get their vehicles to the plaza with the wreckage blocking the road.

However, the STG Agent soon found he had greater issues to deal with. Flying in from another direction appeared four Hegemony gunships. They sped over the tops of the skyscrapers, heading straight for the Banshee. Since he was outside the range of Rakavekyon's Anti-Air defences, Saya realised he was particularly outnumbered for the moment. He decided to make haste back to tower, before they swarmed him.

As he started to fly back to the tower though, one of the gunships fired a missile at him. Saya quickly cart-wheeled the craft to the right, letting the missile fly past his left strut. Saya fired back on the gunship and then quickly turned the banshee around. He sped towards the tower, the gunships giving chase. Gunfire whizzed by the Banshee as kept speeding towards safety, but gunships started to close in on the craft. From what Saya could see on the screens, they seemed to be trying to box him in.

He quickly pulled back on the throttle to keep that from happening, getting behind one of the gunships. Saya wasted no time in unloading plasma bolts into the batarian craft. The shots managed to hit the tail and one of the rotors on the wings. Smoke and fire billowed from the gunship and peeled off. It didn't save it, the rotor exploded moments later and the whole craft began to spin down to the ground below.

One of the gunships quickly attacked from below, firing on the banshee's stomach. Saya took a few hits, but managed to peel off before any real damage was done. The gunship flew past him on its way up and Saya followed it. He trailed plasma bolts ahead of it as they flew upwards, managing to hit his cockpit from the side. The shots eventually caused something to explode in the cockpit and it went up in flames. The gunship then began to fall right out of the sky, opening up the way back to the tower at last.

There still two more gunships on Saya's tail and they were gaining fast. Luckily, the salarian managed to reach the relative safety of the anti-air batteries' collective range. As he quickly turned and hovered in place, he saw the anti-air fire two missiles out at the incoming craft. The gunships moved to avoid the projectiles, but they weren't nearly fast enough. The missiles hit one gunship in the wing and another directly along the side. One burst into the flames while the other spun out and crashed into part of Rakavekyon's plaza wall.

Saya knew better than to think this was over though. He could already see some of the soldiers from the bombed convoy approaching up the street and more gunships were undoubtedly on their way. His banshee had already taken a little damage, but that would surely start piling up soon. He had decent piloting skills, but he was no dogfighter. One of these gunships was going to get a good hit on him eventually. He would have to stay in the range of the anti-air batteries to keep them off his back, but that meant risking the Mech defence force for the anti-air themselves.

Liara and the others would have to work fast. Otherwise, he'd be tumbling out of the sky as a flaming ball of wreckage before too long. Not a prospect he was anticipating. He just hoped that damn krogan and the psychotic turian were doing their job efficiently enough. He expected Liara to be making good time by now, but if those two screwed up somehow this whole mission was going right down the tubes.

---

While Wrex and Nel had managed to plant charges on many of their assigned support columns, they kept running into more batarians. The skirmishes were stalling them, eating up their time and ammo. Nel's Grenade Launcher had run dry and she was forced to abandon it in favour of a Firestorm Wrex had lugged with him. Despite the problems, they had managed to make their way to their targets one by one. Now they found themselves in an illustrious ballroom, with even more batarians taking shots at them.

Nel, Wrex and the batarians fought between the various small tables within the room, the dance floor acting as a proto-no man's land. Nel created a miniature machine gun nest with her plasma cannon. Her shots raked the enemy lines while Wrex fired off a number of blasts from a Concussion Rifle. Tables went flying backwards, along with anyone the shot managed to hit in the chest.

"We gotta get to that next support column!" Wrex called out Nel.

They had already tagged one of the support columns just outside, but there was another behind the batarian lines. Wrex didn't want to risk running across the ballroom floor, even with their heavy armour. The batarians were spread wider across the room and carrying better weapons. The batarian with the Revenant rifle was one danger, as were a few of the soldiers carrying Plasma Repeaters. He wasn't sure how long their armour would hold out against energy weapons, which they weren't designed for. Nel wasn't about to just give up though.

"I'll go around," she shouted out. "Just cover me!"

Wrex didn't argue and it wasn't like he could anyway. They needed to keep moving and he realised that better than anyone. He fired another shot from the Concussion Rifle and then switched to his own Revenant. He blasted it out over the heads of the batarians, forcing them down. The suppressing action gave Nel the chance she needed to run across the room to a long serving table along the left wall. It was their best shot to get behind the batarians and at the support column.

While Wrex did his best to cover her, he could only suppress so many by himself. Some of the batarians tracked the turian as she ran, firing shots ahead of her as she darted between tables. Her armour stopped some of the bullets, but it had a harder time deal with the plasma. As she made her dive for the long serving table, she felt her side take a plasma hit. The armour absorbed most of it, but she still felt the sting of it against her thigh. She fell, clutching her leg as she fought to ignore the pain.

"It's nothing," she told herself as she crawled deeper into cover. "Whatever they hit you with, it's nothing."

The fact was though that she shouldn't have been feeling a sting at all. Not because of the armour, but because the drugs should've dulled her pain receptors. Even with plasma, she should've only felt a slightly warmer patch on her plates. Instead, it was like someone had spilled some boiling water on her leg. At least she could handle a little boiling water. She didn't even want to imagine what the actual pain felt like.

She kept crawling forwards, keeping her head low as she moved towards her target. The support column was just outside the left-side exit. All she needed to do was get past the batarians. As much as she wanted to keep her mind focused on the objective though, it kept thinking back to the pain in her leg.

"They want to see something burn," she growled aloud. "I'll show them something burning."

As she got to the end of the table she readied the Firestorm. When she was so far away from the batarians it had been useless, but now she had closed the distance. She jumped up from her position and let loose on the flamethrower, sending a torrential flood of fire forward along the row of tables. The batarians not immediately caught in the wave of flames turned to fire on Nel, but they soon found themselves backing away from the inferno.

"Yeah! Suck it down you Four-Eyed bastards!" She cried. "Who's your mama? Who?! I am!"

For a brief moment, Nel could hear Wrex's voice in her ear through her comm-link telling her to stop. She didn't, and why should she? Wrex couldn't see the flames, not like she did. It had so many colours, so many moves, and it had such a wonderful smell. It danced in her eyes along with those trapped within. Why end something so beautiful?

Then suddenly, a stiffening ache crept up her arm and her head began to throb. She jerked her Firestorm around from the sudden shock of pain, spreading flames across the serving table and onto the wall. When Nel's vision became clear again she realised she had laid down a wall of fire across a portion of the room. It now blocked her most direct way back to Wrex.

"What the hell, Deadlock?!" Wrex called out over the radio. "I'm cut off from you now! Get away from the fire and I'll try and link up with you somehow."

Nel looked through the flames towards Wrex and then to the door. Her objective wasn't far, she could make it. Why wait for the Krogan when she could do it herself?

"I'll just keep moving to the support columns on this side," she declared without thinking. "You keep doing that side! I'll catch up with you later!"

"No, just circle back around and we can-"

But Wrex couldn't finish, as the remaining Batarians who had Nel's flamethrower engaged him again. Nel took off, expecting Wrex to handle himself. They could get much more done by splitting up anyway and it wasn't like they had many support columns left to hit. Besides, that sudden pain and headache had made it clear her juice wasn't lasting long enough. She could link back up with Wrex, but the more he was around the more she'd risk discovery. This wall of fire was her opportunity to get away from his prying eyes.

Nel quickly found the wall where the support column was behind. She busted the wall in with a powerful kick, revealing the large pillar behind it. She pulled out the charge and planted it on the column, as another headache hit her hard. She armed the charge and began fiddling around for her injector.

"It's nothing," she said desperately as she dug around for her vial. "I'm fucking badass. Pain is nothing to a badass. It just lets you know you're still breathing!"

Nel readied another double dose, when Liara's damn voice interrupted her.

"Silhouette to Deadlock," she began commandingly. "Link back up with Barrage immediately. Nomad is sending your omni-tool the quickest route to-"

"I only got three more on this end of the hotel to do," Nel insisted as gripped the injector tightly. "I can get it done faster on my own!"

"Don't be stupid," Liara informed her. "We need to stick to the plan! We're almost at the main target now! We're ahead of schedule, we can't-"

Another sudden pain shot through Nel's head as Liara tried to keep talking. The throbbing sent the turian into a rage. A scream deafened the asari's pleas and she slammed her head into the wall three times as she tried to make the aching stop. She plugged the injector into her neck and pulled the trigger, letting her rage carry her thoughts.

"I am not stupid!" She declared loudly. "I am not weak! And I'm sick of you telling me what I can and can't fucking do like you're my fucking mother! I can kill every dipshit in this building without you, so fuck off!"

Nel flipped on her omni-tool and pounded on the command key for her comm-link with her palm, turning it off. Screw Liara, screw Wrex, screw the Bucket, Saya and that stupid gas-sucking piece of shit. She was a former Havoc Soldier from the Armiger Legion. She was the best of the best. She didn't need any of them. She never needed anyone. All she needed was her gun and her juice and every shithead in the galaxy was as good as dead.

With a new fire raging inside, her heart pounding faster than it had ever before and her eyes ablaze with bloodlust, she returned to the mission at hand. With her plasma cannon out she took off down the hallway, screaming bloody murder. She was intent now on show Liara, showing all of them, that she was strong enough. Everyone who said different was wrong.

"Come try and take me, you four eyed fucks!" She screamed. "I'm gonna make this stupid tower your damn tomb!"

---

Liara tried her best to contain her anger. Even for Nel this was crazy. Whatever had gotten into her, she wasn't about to let it endanger the mission or Wrex, especially not Wrex. She contacted Drothan over the radio next.

"Watchdog, find Deadlock on the cameras for me," she ordered. "We need can't let her endanger the mission. Keep me appraised on Barrage's position and status as well."

"Copy that," Drothan replied. "By the by, Phase Two is sixty-two percent complete so far. Everyone's double timing it to their targets. They haven't encountered any HVTs, but if I spot any nearby I'll let them know."

Liara didn't really care about killing any of the summit members at this point. She just wanted to make sure Wrex was safe. However, it was good to see Drothan was keeping tabs on things regardless. At the moment, all she could was get to the server room and get their data. They weren't too far away from it now.

They moved down the hall, following the building's layout on their omni-tools. Some of Liara's operatives had linked up with them, intending to support the attack. As they got closer to their target, they could hear more gunfire up ahead. Turning the next corner, they found a few Urdnot soldiers engaging a group of sangheili.

They were keeping themselves in cover behind a corner. One of the krogan also seemed to be hit in the leg and was nursing his wound behind the main firing line. Liara moved up slowly behind them, doing her best to keep her head low as the plasma bolts flew over her.

"What's the situation?" She asked the injured krogan.

"These guys just aren't going down is what the issue is," the krogan answered. "We keep hitting them and they just keep standing. We've managed to blow some holes in them, but they're like pinpricks or something."

Liara got a closer look at the sangheili in question. She saw as the Urdnots' shots hit them, there was a slight electrical discharge. As she suspected, more of those electrical field implants. She looked over to Vik across the hall and called over to him.

"Did you figure out a way to turn off the fail safes for the implants?" She asked.

"No, like I said they're designed to prevent that," Vik admitted. "But I did find a way to shut them off for a few minutes."

Vik called up his drone on the omni-tool and let it hover beside him for a moment.

"I've activated a modification to its self-destruct function," the quarian explained. "Instead of exploding, it sets off a specific frequency pulse that disrupts the implant's circuitry for awhile. I haven't really field tested it though and the simulations suggested it could be hazardous to our own shields. We'll need to get it closer to them."

"Then we help cut a path for it," Liara decided. "Everyone, keep their focus off the drone."

Vik sent the drone forward down the side of the wall. It stopped and hid behind a small doorframe, while Liara sent out a stasis field towards one of the sangheili. The krogan kept up their excessive fire, even though it did little. Kayap put his Plasma Grenade Launcher away to fire the Plasma Rifle he had taken as a sidearm. He fired a few blasts at the sangheili, managing to hit one in the shoulder. He quickly ducked back into cover as the offended Covie fired back.

Vik moved the drone right down the hallway quickly now, trying to take full advantage of the distraction. The sangheili kept their eyes on their attackers, not seeing as the drone got close by the second. The rolling energy ball soon got close enough that all three sangheili were in range of the pulse.

Vik activated the drone's self-destruct, activating an energy pulse that hit the Covies hard. When the wave past, there was a brief bright field around the sangheili that suddenly vanished. One of the krogan fired a shot from his rifle, hitting the Covie in the arm. This time the shot hit with full force, both the electric field and the Covie's regular shields seemingly inactive. The pulse had taken both out.

The krogan now pressed the advantage, Liara following close behind. The sangheili fell back on their regular training, moving into cover as they fired back. Liara sent a throw that managed to knock one of them into a wall, while the krogan chased after the rest of them.

One got hit in the chest with a shotgun blast. Another sangheili managed to dodge a few assault rifle shots and hit the other krogan in the upper torso. The Urdnot, enraged at the hit, charged forward, ploughing the sangheili into the wall like a battering ram. Liara then finished off the krogan she had hit with her biotics, hitting him with two well-aimed shots from her pistol as he got back up.

"There are probably more around here," one of the Urdnots suggested.

"Take their Plasma Repeaters then," Liara suggested. "They're not affected by the electrical fields. "Make your way to the lower levels, Barrage is going to need your assistance. Watchdog will give you directions."

The krogan recognized the codename of their clan leader and nodded. They picked up the fallen Covenant soldiers' weapons and followed through on the asari's advice.

"All Warriors," one of the krogan began to speak into his radio. "Our leader requires assistance. Prepare for incoming instructions."

The krogan took off down one of the hallways, leaving Liara's team to their own devices.

"You sure it's a good idea for me to coordinate all the krogan downstairs?" Drothan asked through the radio.

"They'll be of more help to him than us at this point," she assured the batarian. "Phase Two is almost done, we can reprioritize a little if need be."

They continued on their way to the server room, moving swiftly through the halls. Before long they were at the door, ready to bypass the locked door. As Vik worked on that, Drothan fed a feed of what was going on inside the server room itself. There were a few batarian engineers working frantically on some terminals, lorded over by heavily armed Hegemony soldiers.

"I said move it you idiots!" One of the soldiers barked. "Balak wants the system purged of whatever took over our defences! They're slaughtering our reinforcements outside! Those are our people our own guns are killing!"

"This isn't a normal virus, sir," the engineer tried to explain. "It's effectively switched our FoF settings! We need to do a hard system reset and reformat the drives if we're going to get them back! That takes time!"

"We don't have time!" Insisted the soldier as he shoved the engineer back. "The Emperor is here, remember? We need to take those Anti-Air batteries offline at the very least! The longer he's here the more danger he's in!"

Liara turned to Vik as her worked on the door.

"They're trying to reset and reformat the tower's whole system," she told him.

"If they do that we may lose the data on Codemaster's location," he warned. "No time to bother with the subtle approach then!"

Vik pulled out one of the explosive charges Liara had given everyone for the columns, but he had already turned it into a breaching charge. It hadn't been too hard. He just removed some of the arming caps beforehand. Now, when it detonated, it would only destroy the door and not the support column it was intended for.

He attached it to the lock and rushed away from the door once he armed it. Liara moved away to a corner as the charge detonated, shaking the whole hallway. She didn't wait for the dust to settle and moved everyone in.

Once inside, they got a good look at the damage. The blast had destroyed the door, but thankfully all the server towers seemed intact. The batarians themselves were lucky, only shaken by the tremendous blast. As they got up off the floor, they saw the intruders entering. The lead soldier got up and pointed his rifle at them all.

"Get up boys!" He cried out as he fired off his rifle, forcing Liara's team behind the server towers for cover. "Show them while we're Warrior Caste! For the Emperor!"

"Fuck your Emperor!" Vik shouted out in a rage.

Vik suddenly stepped out and fired three shots from his assault rifle. The first hit the Hegemony soldier in the chest, the second took off his head and the third mulched his body even further. The quarian then laid down a turret and let the little hovering drone rip into the batarians with wild abandon.

Liara's Shadow Operatives joined in, gunning down the batarians as they tried to get to cover or grab their guns. Kayap managed to cut down one of the engineers that tried to fire back with a shotgun, the plasma bursts from his Plasma Rifle easily taking him. Liara ended the fight when she sent a singularity into the crowd and pulled out the last batarian from behind a server. Vik's turret drone shredded him and the body soon dropped to the floor.

Vik ran up to one of the Hegemony soldiers on the floor and fired point blank into his head, twice. Before he could fire a third shot, Liara pulled him back.

"I think we got them, Nomad," she told him. "Relax."

Vik's rage suddenly subsided and he returned to his regular self, at least it seemed that way on the outside. Liara could still hear his heavy breathing as he tried to calm himself. She did her best to get him back on task.

"How long do you need to crack the servers and find the Codemaster's location?" She asked him.

"Not long," he assured her as he walked over to a terminal. "Their data dump in Heritage Fields gave me an idea how their systems work. I know where to look for it."

He plugged an OSD into the terminal and switched it on. Within seconds the system's security was being dismantled, as Vik began break into the servers. The OSD loaded a number of hacking runtimes into the computer, breaking down the security codes, firewalls and various anti-virus programs in seconds.

"Even with all this chaos they may notice a direct hack into their systems," Vik warned her.

"We'll set up defences along the doors then," Liara told him. "Just keep working, we're almost home free."

---

The defences were not going to hold much longer in this condition. True, there were only regular troops on the field currently, but a real flesh and blood soldier was ten times what a VI operated Mech would ever be. The Mech's had numbers and durability on their side, but it wasn't going to last much longer. More and more, the LOKI Mechs were dropping like flies. The FENRIS Mechs were already all dispatched, their broken metal bodies lying among the Hegemony reinforcements. The only ones holding strong were the YMIR Mechs, and that wouldn't last once heavier weapons came into play.

Saya did his best to help out from on high, strafing the batarians run after run. He managed to deplete their numbers, but more soon arrived to replace the fallen. They couldn't get their transports through the wreckage he had caused with the first convoy, but that didn't stop them from pouring inside the gates.

Saya fired Fuel Rod shots down on their lines, destroying whole squads with one blow. He always made sure to stay high above them and never hover for too long. He wasn't going to give the batarians an easy target. They weren't the only ones gunning for him though.

Just out of the range of the anti-air batteries, more Hegemony gunships lay in wait. Whenever Saya got close to the troops near the gate, missiles locked on to his Banshee and flew across the sky towards him. Each time, Saya had to pull up or pitch hard to the right to avoid the incoming fire. Some of the missiles continued on to strike the tower, blowing holes into the besieged pyramid-like tower. The rest of the projectiles flew off into the distance. Each time, they only just narrowly missed Saya.

After dodging the attacks for the third time since they arrived, Saya turned his guns on his assailants. Using the Banshee's superior manoeuvrability, Saya turned hard after banking past another incoming missile. He got around the gunships as they hovered just outside the anti-air's range and opened up on them. The twin plasma cannons raked across the formation, breaking it apart with ease. Of the six gunships, Saya managed to hit one on the very end of the formation, scoring as solid hit on the cockpit.

As that gunship tumbled to the ground, its pilot seat aflame, the other gunships tried to follow the banshee. The fired up on the alien craft as Saya tried to pitch away from their incoming rounds. Taking a few hits to his back, Saya quickly doubled over on his back, flying back towards the gunships upside down. He launched a fuel rod shot down towards them, destroying one gunship as the green ball of energy collided with its wing. The gunship spun down to the ground collapsing on the roof of a nearby building.

Despite his success, Saya knew better than to think he could win this fight. So after flying over the heads of the gunships, he made a beeline straight back for the safety of the anti-air batteries. He strafed the Hegemony soldiers as he flew over them, watching as the YMIR Mechs delivered a shared salvo of rockets towards the batarian attackers.

Saya's hope that the gunships would back off now were met with dismay however, when more gunfire sprayed at his little craft. One of the struts one the side was shot clean off, as a gunship kept up its pursuit. Saya quickly dropped low and just as quickly turned the banshee around. He came about on the gunship's belly and fired up into it. The plasma cannons made quick work of the gunship's armour and the aircraft's fuel cell exploded when it was hit. The tail separated from the Hegemony flying machine and it barrelled right into the mid section floor of Rakavekyon Tower.

That kill was his fifth, the salarian could now call himself an ace if he wanted, but he knew that glory would be fleeting. His craft was now full of holes from the gunships and he could not continue the engagement much longer. Saya kept flying upward, trying to get high above the tower. He was hoping that if the gunships kept pursuing, the anti-air would soon take care of them.

The batteries did fire, sending missiles careening up into the sky to strike two of the gunships out of the sky. One remained now, but it was all that was needed. As it climbed after Saya, it fired a stream of rounds at the fleeing Banshee, ripping more pieces of its fragile frame. Saya tried to pitch to the side, but the gunship anticipated the obvious escape method. The gunship fired a missile at the banshee, hitting it on what was left of the right strut.

The explosion didn't kill the banshee outright, but the billowing smoke in the cockpit and the small blue flames bursting around him was all Saya needed to see. This craft was dead in the sky and he could already tell it was plummeting back down to earth.

He only had one chance. He popped the canopy of the cockpit, which then flew clean off the already heavily damaged craft. Below him, Saya could see the gunship responsible for his aerial defeat. He plummeted towards it in a dive. He was an amateur at dog fighting, helped only by a superior aircraft that made up for his short comings. But outside the Banshee, he was now in his element once again.

Saya pulled out his sword as he fell, the gunship getting bigger and bigger as it approached. Using his sword, he stabbed it deep into the metal of the aircraft's wing. He pulled himself up and quickly darted across to the main fuselage where he dug his blade deep into the metal and hung for dear life.

He wondered how long he had until one of the gun batteries locked on and destroyed his new ride. Nothing happened though, which seemed odd. He soon noticed that the gunship was hovering close to the tower itself now, however. Perhaps a safety feature was built into the missile launchers that kept them from firing when the target was this close to what they were meant to protect.

Saya didn't want to wait to find out if that was the case. He rushed up to the cockpit itself and peaked down at the pilot inside. The batarian looked up in shock at the salarian in black armour staring down at him. Saya punched the glass hard before sliding down to the nose, scraping his sword along the windshield. The explosive gel oozed across the glass as Saya slammed his sword down into the nose. The batarian went for his side arm, only for Saya to activated the explosive gel and detonate the glass.

Bits of windshield showered over the batarian and Saya reached in to grab the pilot's stick. He pulled down on the trigger, firing on the tower with the machine guns. It ripped apart the glass with ease on one of the top floors and gave the STG agent his opportunity. He launched himself off the nose, towards the tower, rolling himself into a ball as he fell inside. He made it through one of the broken open windows, but soon discovered he had merely escaped one dire situation and entered another.

He found himself on top of a table in a room surrounded by glass walls. Behinds said glass walls, was a three man squad of sangheili. They turned their Plasma Repeaters towards him, forcing the salarian to react quickly. He grabbed a chair and kicked it at one of the sangheili. The seat hit the alien in the head and gave the salarian enough time to close the gap.

The Covie tried to pull out his Plasma Sword to strike, but it was already too late. Saya stabbed his sword straight into the sangheili's gut. He turned to the electrical switch for good measure, sending several hundred volts through the alien. The sangheili's grip loosened on his plasma sword and Saya was quick to grab it in his free hand. He pulled back from now dead alien and turned to his two remaining squad mates. With both swords now in his hands, he was prepared to engage them both.

The first Covie rushed forward, popping out his own Plasma Sword as he charged in. Saya had been unable to block previous sword attacks, but now armed with a weapon that could survive such an attack he was able to counter. He locked his plasma-powered blades with the alien's own and then quickly moved around to plunge his Shiakala into the sangheili's back. He didn't let that slow him down though. He took his Plasma Sword next and cut the sangheili's head clean from his body.

The final sangheili now raised his arm at the salarian, confusing Saya slightly. Then, something popped out from the top of the alien's wrist. It looked like some kind of ranged weapon, so Saya quickly moved the Plasma Sword into a blocking position. A long slender sustained red beam of energy shot out from the wrist-mounted gun and struck the energy blade. Saya wasted no time in tossing the Shiakala at the sangheili next, the sword easily cutting clean through the alien's neck. He then fell to the ground dead.

Saya rushed over to the sangheili, pulling his sword from the corpse. He gave the wrist mounted gun a closer look and found that it wasn't part of the alien's armour. It was in fact embedded into the arm itself. More of VykurCorp's cybernetics no doubt. They had wasted no time in using their new friends as willing beta testers it seemed. They had already started on the sangheili, moving up from the kig-yar.

As Saya looked over the body he heard the sound of a gunship's engine. He looked over to the window he entered from and saw the gunship that shot him down moving up into view. He quickly took out his pistol and fired at the cockpit, landing a solid hit in the center of the pilot's forehead as he pulled the trigger. Bullets sprayed into the hallway, forcing Saya to duck as the gunship spun wildly away from the tower. At least now he wasn't in immediate danger.

As Saya pulled out the Shiakala and placed it back into its scabbard, he began testing out the Plasma Sword. He fiddled with it bit, getting a feel for the grip better as well as its weight. He eventually figured out how to turn it off and on with a flick of his wrist and a press of a button.

He put the sword away and opened up his omni-tool to contact Liara. He wrote a quick message to her as he started to move.

'Banshee is down,' it read. 'Inside the building now. Will move towards server room. May require assistance.'

With his flight off this planet destroyed, he'd need to find Liara if he wanted to escape this tower. He just hoped that he could avoid any of the major fighting on his way to her position. At the very least, he had gotten out of that stuffy cockpit at last. He felt a lot less vulnerable now. He wasn't much of a dogfighter, but he could handle a proper one on one fight any day.

---

Wrex wasn't usually one for being conservative in a fight, but when there were a dozen or so batarians firing at you and you had no back-up, it made even the toughest krogan think twice. Wreav would've probably ran stupidly down the hall and gotten himself killed by now. The thought amused him for a moment, but he quickly went back to trying to figure out how he'd get out of this.

He tossed a grenade down the hallway at the batarians and watched it explode nearby. It only took out two near a potted plant. He fired his carnage shot at a batarian as he stood up from behind a small couch, but there were still more behind him. He thought about closing the gap, running to a nearby alcove in the hallway, firing his rifle at the batarians as he went. All he did was manage to kill one and get hit in his foot.

As he waited for the injury to heal he tried to take stock of his situation. He was alone. Nel was who knew where by now. He had one last support column to set for demolition. He was running low on thermal clips and he wasn't sure his armour could take much more abuse from the constant fire he had endured.

"Could really use some help now," he thought quietly to himself, grunting through his teeth.

Suddenly, as if on cue, he heard the screaming battle cry of krogan. Their footsteps charged down the opposite end of the hall. He could see by their black armour they weren't Blood Pack, and that brought a smile to his heart.

The krogan opened up with a devastating barrage of fire on the batarian positions and they soon joined him by his side down the hall. Taking the lead immediately, Wrex joined in their battle cry and charged towards the enemy positions. He unloaded his shotgun as the mass of krogan ran towards the Four-Eyed fools. The very sight of the living wave of humpbacked reptiles sent the Hegemony soldiers running in the opposite direction. They were now outnumbered and there seemed little choice, but to flee in the face of the onslaught.

The batarians stumbled over each other, as the oncoming horde of barbaric cold-blooded muscle came barrelling at them. Gunfire nipped at their heels, as Wrex tossed shockwaves to catch some unawares. He also fired after them with his shotgun, gunning down those too slow to get away or stupid enough to stop and fire back. Before long the batarians were all dead or had retreated and Wrex quickly went about his work setting up the next support column for demolition.

"We are glad to see you are alright, Clan Leader," one of the krogan told him. "We feared we'd be too late to assist you."

"Well your help was appreciated," Wrex assured them. "Nothing scares the shit out of pyjaks more than a dozen or so screaming krogan."

Wrex finished arming the charge and contacted Liara.

"Phase Two is complete for the east end of the tower down here," he said. "I've also met up with my people. Should I circle back around to Deadlock?"

"We have her on camera," Liara assured him. "More or less. She's handling herself fine. Obsidian just contacted us however, he's lost the Banshee and he's inside now. We need to get him to our position so he'll be ready to extract with us. Come back upstairs."

"But what about Deadlock?" Wrex asked her, confused as what seemed to be a command to leave someone behind.

Liara let out an exasperated sigh.

"She said she didn't need us," she answered plainly, but with an air of aggression.

"You're not just going to leave her are you?" Wrex asked, slightly concerned.

"I have the situation under control, Barrage," Liara assured him again, sounding more exasperated. "Don't worry. Just get yourself out of there. Without air support, the enemy reinforcements will be breaking through our Mechs outside soon. We can't have you all down there when they get inside."

Wrex understood the reasoning on a strategic level. It was pointless at this juncture to risk everyone going all the way to the other side of the building to recover one soldier and risk the lives of others. It just didn't seem like how they did things. They never abandoned anyone intentionally before, not even when they somewhat deserved it like Nel did. Liara didn't say she was going to do it, but she didn't sound like she wanted to help her either.

"I just want to know if you're-"

"Damn it, Barrage," Liara shouted at him through the comm. "I'm not going to let you get killed because of her! Now move! I will deal with it!"

Wrex decided to comply, but reluctantly so. He could only hope that Liara would do the right thing. He had faith in his friends, Liara especially. He knew her, he had worked with her, lived with her on two ships already, but that was part of his concern. He knew how his friend acted, who she was. Liara wasn't acting like herself right now. And that scared him.

---

Liara turned away from her omni-tool, frustrated at her response to Wrex's question about Nel. But what could she do at this point? Saya was in just as much trouble as her and at least he hadn't gotten himself into it on purpose.

She hated the idea of leaving Nel behind, even after everything she had done. The fact was, however, that she had now proven that, as useful as she was, she was still as unreliable as ever. She had also made it clear to her how little she cared about working as team. Perhaps it was just simply time to cut the string. It wasn't like her hands weren't full enough already without the turian causing problems.

Batarians were trying to push through the blown open door they had made. The Shadow Operatives and Vik's turret kept them out of the server room best they could, but they couldn't keep it up forever. Liara pressured Vik to speed up his hacking and the quarian complied. They needed to get out of this server room before they were overrun, but not without the Codemaster's location in their possession.

Kayap flung a plasma grenade at one of the batarians, hitting him in the face. The alien exploded in the doorframe, taking another of his comrades with him. Liara knew the Hegemony wouldn't keep pounding them on the most obvious route inside, however. In their position, she'd find a way to flank the enemy.

There was another door at the other end of the room. She moved towards it, keeping her gun up as she contacted Drothan.

"Are they at the other door, Watchdog?" She asked him.

"Yeah, and they brought two of your Covenant friends with them," he warned. "They got some of those Concussion Rifles, watch out."

Liara knew she would need some help on this. With Vik preoccupied by the terminal, she looked over to Kayap.

"Hazard," she called. "Over here!"

Kayap looked at her and then waddled over to her position, taking up cover behind one of the server towers adjacent to hers.

"I'll need your Plasma Rifle," she told him. "Get your Launcher ready as well."

Kayap followed the instructions, tossing over the rifle to her and pulling up the Launcher onto his shoulder. Liara picked up the rifle and examined it closely. She hoped the extra kick of plasma would help in case these sangheili also had those electric fields.

"This thing only fires bursts, right?" She asked him.

"Don't hold it down too long," Kayap warned. "It overheats fast."

She pointed the gun at the door, just as it opened wide and assortment of batarians and sangheili rushed in. Liara met them with a singularity that pulled two of the batarians into its vortex. Kayap fired a few Plasma Grenades from the launcher, attaching them to a few of the stray batarians as they moved into cover. Liara then launched a pull attack at one of the batarians in the singularity. The biotic fields detonated among the tightly packed Hegemony soldiers alongside the grenades, decimating their ranks save for two.

The sangheili quickly recovered from the series of explosions. They stepped over the fallen batarians and began firing their Concussion Rifles at Liara and Kayap's positions. Liara fired her Plasma Rifle back at them, forcing them into the cover of the server towers.

She wasn't about to let them stay there though. Using her pull attack again, she sent two balls of biotic energy rocketing towards the pair. The pull attacks circled around cover and forced the sangheili out into the open.

She opened fire again, this time taking down one of the shields of the sangheili. She then tossed out a throw that sent him hurtling back outside the room. Kayap fired a plasma grenade that chased after him and he was unable to dodge it as it stuck to his foot.

His comrade, however, managed to avoid one of the grenades fired from Kayap by rolling to the side. He opened fire on the unggoy's position and forced him back into cover. He had to reload the Launcher anyway, so it was up to Liara again.

She moved out of cover, tossing another throw at the Covie. This one knocked back the sangheili slightly, but he recovered. He fired back but Liara managed to step to the side gracefully, opening fire as she moved up.

She landed two hits on the sangheili's face, where the shields were their weakest. The first plasma bolt damaged the shields, the second cut through to the alien's right eye. As the sangheili clutched in pain at his burning flesh, Liara lifted him up with her biotics. The following slam attack threw the Covie back down to the ground, where Liara quickly fired a few more bolts into him before he got back up.

"Watchdog, close those doors and seal them," Liara ordered. "Nomad will send you security access codes for the rest of the corridor. Activate every turret you can find."

"Uh, I don't think that will be necessary," Drothan warned her. "I think they've decided purging the systems of our virus is redundant."

A new video feed found its way onto Liara's HUD. It showed the on board camera for one of the Mechs outside, most likely a YMIR. It was surrounded by destroyed and damaged Mechs and was fighting voraciously against the batarians. Then a missile streaked at the camera and the video feed cut off, static was all that remained. The message was clear, their defences were crumbling.

"How many Mechs outside are left?" She asked Drothan.

"A few, but they're heavily damaged," the batarian explained. "Once they go, it won't take them much longer to shut down the missile batteries. And not by flicking the switch I might add. Some of the army reinforcements are already piling inside. Everyone else is pulling back to prepare the Summit members for extraction."

Liara looked over to Vik, who seemed to already guess at her question.

"I almost have it," he assured her. "I've located the relevant Covenant files, it will just take me a few minutes."

"Then we should get ready for evac ourselves," Liara decided. "Are the charges all primed?"

"Eighty-Two percent," Drothan answered.

"It will have to do," she replied plainly. "Order every operative not occupied with other tasks to finish up what they can and move to the main landing pad. We need to secure it if we're going to get out of here."

Knowing they couldn't remain idle, Liara looked to Kayap.

"I'm going to send my men off to link up with Barrage and locate Obsidian," she told him. "I need you to go with them."

"What? Why me?" He asked confused and a bit nervous. "We should stick together."

"They need the firepower and you still have biggest gun here," she explained. "Don't worry about me and Nomad. We'll link up near the rendezvous."

Liara tossed him back his Plasma Rifle and the unggoy accepted her orders. He took off with some of Liara's operatives, making their way to Wrex. Saya would hopefully be okay, but that still left one problem.

"What about Deadlock?" Drothan asked.

"Where is she now?" Liara questioned him in return.

"Finishing her final support column in a bar on the twelfth floor," he explained. "Should we send someone for her?"

That was the big question wasn't it, but Liara wondered if the issue was out of her hands now.

"We have no one to send," Liara reminded him.

"There are elevator shafts in the room," Drothan informed her. "The lockdown codes for them are a part of the defence systems. I can send one of the lifts down for her."

"Her comms are off," She responded, angered slightly by the reason as to why. "She won't realise that it's a way out. She may not even want to get out."

"It sounds to me like you're trying to find a reason NOT to try and save her, ma'am," Drothan said, sounding a bit confused.

Liara almost responded to that out of anger, but she couldn't deny that it sounded like that to her too. Nel was in an insubordinate, arrogant and reckless idiot. But in the end, that wasn't enough reason to let her die. For a brief moment, she wondered what Shepard would do if he were here. He'd probably take the elevator down himself. She wasn't nearly that brazen, but Nel at least deserved a chance.

"Send it down," Liara ordered.

She really hoped Nel took the chance to get out of there. As much as a pain as she was, Liara just couldn't bring herself to wish such folly on the turian. She couldn't deny the fact that Nel had sounded like she was in pain last they spoke. She could tell something was wrong. That even for her, this wasn't normal. She couldn't let someone die on her account like that, even if they weren't really friends.

But for a brief moment, she had almost done just that. She had almost cut a lifeline out of callousness and necessity. It wasn't like her, it wasn't like Shepard, and she hated herself for it.

---

Nel walked across the floor of the hotel bar and lounge, firing away at the assorted tables in front of her. Batarians who didn't duck fell to her never ending onslaught of plasma bolts. Wood and cloth was perforated with fiery shots, cutting through to the soldiers hiding behind them. Nel shrugged off the bullets flung at her in kind, seemingly unconcerned with how many hit her. She only stopped firing when the cannon overheated.

"You want more fuckers?" She demanded to know, screaming at the top of her lungs. "I've got enough for everyone!"

As the Plasma Cannon cooled, she opened up again. Her barrage only lasted for a few seconds though, as a concussive shot fired from one of the soldiers sent her tumbling backwards. Then, a Kishock Harpoon round hit the cannon proper. The energy core sparked and fizzled, Nel could already tell it wasn't good. She quickly chucked the cannon over at the batarians and backed away.

The cannon's plasma core detonated taking out a whole table and momentarily blind Nel. She quickly ran to the cover of her target, the final support pillar she needed to tag. It was nearby the actual bar counter in the center of the room. She quickly attached the charge to it and then grabbed for two other weapons she had on her, Kassa Fabrication Locusts and what was left of her cluster grenades.

"You bitches wanna play with the big birds? Okay!" She shouted out over the incoming fire. "Say hello to my little friends!"

Nel activated all her cluster grenades and tossed them into the lounge. Moments later they detonated, destroying half the tables and killing several people in a massive explosion. Nel rushed out, the remnants of the explosion still dancing before her eyes. She could see every batarian that was still breathing, knew every gun they were holding, knew precisely which ones to shoot even before she spotted them. She could smell their fear, taste it even and relished every second of it.

She raised her twin submachine guns and fired into the groups of Hegemony stooges, firing in two separate directions at once. She didn't even look at where she was shooting, she just knew where to fire. Her body was in overtime mode, even through all the injuries and all the hits it had taken, it hadn't failed her yet.

"You fucks! Look at you fucks!" She shouted almost unintelligibly. "I'm the fucking bird of fucking prey! I'm the fucking hunter! I'm the fucking Spirit of fucking War herself in the flesh! You're already fucking dead!"

She watched almost in slow motion as soldier after soldier fell like pieces of a game board. They were almost helpless before her, unable to getting a good hit on her, unable to raise their guns in anger. She was invincible, unstoppable. She couldn't help but laugh maniacally at it all, watching the bodies of her enemies fall before her power. Her eyes bulged out as she screamed in bloody murder, the smell of her spent thermal clips filling her with an almost orgasmic sensation.

Then, suddenly, another headache, worse this time. All that invincible feeling vanished in a flash, her arms stiffening and fingers clenching in pain. Her legs felt numb, her stomach suddenly weighed a thousand pounds and her heart felt like someone had stabbed it with an omni-blade. This wasn't right, this wasn't right at all. That was all her mind kept telling her.

As she clutched at herself in pain, one of the batarians took advantage. A Kishock Harppon round sliced into her shoulder and an explosive carnage shot landed in front of her. Nel was thrown back over the bar counter, her armour practically smashed inward. She eventually managed to sit herself up, even as more gunfire ripped at her cover.

"Fuck, fuck," she said over and over again.

She didn't know what was wrong, but she knew injection wasn't fixing it. She had already broken every rule the bastards had told her not to do and she still wasn't strong enough. There was only one thing left to try. They had always said never take it orally.

It was insane to be sure. No one knew what he could do when you drank the juice. But fuck them, they denied her the colours, the beauty of what happened when you were on more. They tried to keep her from becoming better. They tried to keep her down like they always did. Keep her down and blame her when things went wrong. But nothing was wrong, she was a hero, she could never screw up. They were wrong, they had always been wrong. Nel took three of her vials in hand and pulled off her helmet.

"In a world, where every dipshit thought she wasn't worth it, where everyone blamed her for every damn cock up," she said, imitating a vid trailer best she could. "One woman defied all the bullshit red tape in her way and killed every fucker by herself! Today, for one night only! Nelanax Catonis is Deadlock the Reckoning!"

Nel crushed the vials in her talons and let the juice pour into her mouth. It pooled down her throat as she slammed her helmet back on. Her pupils dilated and she felt a terrible rush of adrenaline surging through her whole body. She grabbed the Plasma Repeater she had brought with her, along with her pistol and jumped from her cover screaming the loudest war cry she could.

"You want a war? I'm your goddamn war!" She screamed. "Come and fucking get it!"

She let loose with her weapons, firing everything she had at the batarians. Plasma bolts and mass effect propelled rounds raced through the air, blasting up bad guy after bad guy in her wake. To Nel, they no longer appeared like the Hegemony. They were Separatists, they were Drug Dealers, they were mutants, zombies, faceless terrorists, krogan, even human defenders at Shanxi. In her mind's eye, the whole room was on fire, as bodies piled up en masse.

"You think you can kill me?" She asked aloud, as she walked out from behind the bar. "You bitches can't kill me!"

She blasted open a zombie's head before turning and ripping apart a Separatist as he tried to come out from behind a half destroyed table. She then looked to the right and filled three mutant experiments with fire as they rushed across the floor trying to flank her on the right. She looked over to her left and blasted a round straight through a krogan terrorist's face as he tried to fire a rocket at her. The projectile slammed into the ceiling instead, burying a few goons in terrorist gear with debris.

"You can't take me! You fuckers are gonna need a whole damn army to take me!" She boasted proudly.

Eventually her pistol ran dry and she chucked it a krogan coming at her. She fired a plasma bolt up along from his crotch to his face. As Shanxi Resistance fighter rushed up the steps using half a table as a shield, Nel pulled out her knife and flung it at him. She caught him right between the eyes and the human fell dead.

As each of her foes died, she could see their souls dancing up out of their bodies towards the sky. Each one fuelled her with even more power it seemed, the more she added to her count the more invincible she became. It was better than any buzz she had experienced before. She wasn't just a spirit of war, but a God of War. The more blood spilt, the stronger she was. There was no force that could hold her.

And then there was a shot. Something hard slammed into her back, just barely getting through the back plate of her armour. It wasn't fatal, but it hurt more than anything before. The fire inside her exploded out, covering her back and Nel fell to the floor in pain. She had been shot, she had felt being shot. That wasn't supposed to happen. The juice couldn't have worn off that fast.

But in an instant, her buzz vanished, the souls vanished and the images of her fallen foes changed back to Hegemony soldiers. She tried to look in the direction of the shot that hit her, doing her best to keep focused as her vision blurred and her mind raced with pain. A batarian stood over her, his omni-tool out and armed with sharp pointed solid-light blades.

"Looks like we didn't need an army after all," he said chuckling crassly.

Through the pain, fighting as best she could, Nel threw a kick at the batarian's arm. The solid-light blades fired into the ceiling. Screaming in agony, Nel forced her arm to grab at another of her knives and she chucked it at the batarian's neck. She stuck the alien and he fell back to the floor, clutching at the serrated edge in his collarbone. Nel turned over on her hands and knees and crawled as fast she could away from the dying enemy soldier.

She scampered to the bar, bleeding and battered. The juice was gone and she could feel every little shot she had taken over the course of the fighting. She activated medi-gel, although it hurt to even press the command key on her omni-tool. It didn't help much.

She had always activated some medi-gel after every engagement in case something like this happened and the pain returned. It usually helped, but now all she could feel was fire all over her body, every muscle, every joint, everything was inflamed. It was a chore just getting behind cover and propping herself up against it. She wasn't even sure if she could lift her gun at this point.

She could feel blood pouring from her nostrils, even as she struggled to keep conscious. Her head pounded as a biting pain pierced at her heart. Her whole body had turned completely against her. She couldn't think about anything but the pain now.

Her senses soon betrayed her as well. She looked around, seeing the dead and perforated bodies of her victims surrounding the room. All she could smell was their corpses, their freshly dead bodies surrounding her.

Even when she turned away, she kept seeing them. In her head, she could suddenly hear their screams, imagined or real she could not say. She tried to raise her hands to block the noise, but her fingers kept trembling. Then she suddenly choked back saliva into her throat. Her tongue felt bloated, her entire mouth tasted of something bitter and rotten.

"What... what is happening?" She asked herself as her voice quavered.

As she tried to make sense of what was going on, her omni-tool bleeped aloud. It was the only thing that managed to break through the imaginary screams. She looked at, reading the text message across its screen.

'Elevator to your front is coming. Get in now!'

She looked up to see a row of elevator doors in front of her. Seconds later one of them opened up wide, just as the message said. Her hearing cleared up long enough to then hear more gunshots, probably from what was left of the batarians.

With no other real options, Nel jumped up and made a dash for the open elevator. Bullet whizzed past her as she ran, what little shields her battered armour had left protecting her for a few brief seconds. When she was close enough, she dove into the open elevator lift. She slammed her head into the back wall, but her head was still throbbing in so much pain that she didn't really feel the impact. The elevators slammed shut moments later and the elevator began to rise.

Nel just sat inside, wallowing in pain. She was alive, but she couldn't even relish her escape. She wanted to scream out in agony, to let out her pain. She could not, she could only sit in silence, the blood from her wound pooling around her and inside her broken armour. She looked up blankly at the ceiling, trembling and shivering as the elevator rose higher.

"What did I do wrong?" She asked herself feebly. "What did I do wrong?"

It was all she could do to keep herself conscious as the lift carried her up.

---

Saya moved through the hallways with careful precision, keeping his cloak activated as he moved. There weren't many enemies crowding the corridors now, but he didn't want to take the risk of being spotted. He wasn't nearly as well equipped as the others on the team. Save for his sword, his newly acquired energy-based blade and his pistol, the salarian had packed light. He had assumed that he have been able to get the banshee to a landing pad and escape on a shuttle from there. A mistake to be sure, assumptions about how a mission would go were dangerous.

Even so, he had confidence that his current loadout was more than enough to get him past the enemy. He did his best to avoid potential conflict as he moved in any case. He could see a few wounded batarian soldiers limping through the corridors, carrying their wounded comrades with them. He spied one sangheili out of the corner of his eye, rushing through the halls while barking unintelligible gibberish. None of them saw him however, so he let them pass. No sense in killing some random goon at this juncture.

He soon remembered though, that there weren't only low-level minions running about this place. For as he was about to turn a corner, heard voices punctuated by footsteps walking towards him.

"Where exactly are you taking us?" Asked someone who sounded like a turian.

"One of the secondary landing pads a few floors up," the voice of what sounded like a krogan answered. "The main one we came in on has been engaged by the attackers. It isn't a viable evacuation point now."

Saya kept himself pressed to the wall as a small group of Blood Pack krogans walked past him. They were escorting three turians in suits, no doubt the VykurCorp managers Orukuri had brought with him. They had made an odd choice for an escort it seemed, considering their company's intentions. One would think a bunch of Turians-First extremists would be less inclined to trust one of the older enemies of their Hierarchy. Then again, Saya wasn't one to judge much either given his current company.

"Where the hell is Orukuri?" One of the turians asked infuriated, his eyes looking about the corridor. "I thought we'd all be going together?"

"He's already on his way to a private shuttle with Trox," explained one of the Blood Pack mercs. "Balak said he was higher priority than you. And be a bit more grateful you snivelling little pyjak, Orukuri demanded that the Pack escort you. Would you prefer heading up with one of those sangheili?"

"Spirits no," scowled one of the turians. "Those aliens are absolutely terrifying."

Saya watched as the group kept walking down the hall. While he still had to get back to Liara, he couldn't just pass up a chance to take out two of the HVTs on their list. Taking out some of Orukuri's inner circle would certainly help slow down their plans, whatever they were.

He kept in cloak as he moved up behind one of the group, his sword out and ready. He would need to make this quick. With six targets in total, he'd need to be extra fast. He closed the distance and rushed up to the first krogan at the back. He sliced the sword across the krogan's side, cutting him open. His cloak dropped as the krogan fell against the wall. Now the turians were open.

Saya made quick work of them, pulling out his newly acquired Plasma Sword to speed up his work. He slashed at the neck of one of the targets with his Shiakala while cutting down another with a swipe of the plasma blade. The last turian held up his hands as Saya brought both swords towards the target's throat in a crisscross pattern. He cut the neck open with ease and pushed the body over as he ran.

In his way was the krogan on point, aiming his shotgun at the salarian as he ran over the now dead turian's body. Saya quickly slashed the Shiakala across the overgrown reptile's mask and then delivered a kick that knocked him to the ground. As he fell, Saya could see that his slash had cut off part of the krogan's visor. Good, it would offer resistance as he stabbed his blade into the mercenary's eye. Saya rushed on top of the krogan's body ready to strike down as he had so many of their barbaric kind.

But then, he got a good look at the krogan's face within the now broken helmet. His crest was smaller and more broken up, his face slightly broader, his eyes more youthful. This wasn't some hundred year old murderous pack member like he thought. This was a child by krogan standards. He was younger, probably freshly recruited from Tuchanka. Now, he was on the ground with a salarian pointing a blade at his eye.

They stared at each other for a split second longer than it usually took for Saya to finish his prey. He hadn't been use to really seeing their faces much, let alone one so young by comparison. Why was he here with the Blood Pack? Were they going that young now? Were they that desperate for new blood? Saya tried to tell himself the usual spiel, that none of that mattered. It was just another blood soaked, war hungry barbarian, like all the rest.

But as he looked at the young krogan in that moment, he could tell it wasn't the case. The young krogan's eyes betrayed his thoughts, for he was scared, fearful. Saya had never seen that look on krogan much, save for one so very long ago. It was a look that brought up terrible memories.

It was hard to believe that any krogan could know an emotion other than blind rage. That's what they had always taught him, that's what he had always seen. But looking down at the youthful Blood Pack merc, all Saya could see now was just some dumb stupid kid from Tuchanka. A stupid kid, probably the only one of his damn brood to survive, scared that the salarian over him was about to kill him. He knew that that was what he had to do, but he just couldn't move the sword that extra inch.

In that moment of hesitation one of the krogan came at Saya from behind. The salarian took the full brunt of the Blood Pack's ramming charge. He was thrown to the ground, away from his intended target. He bounced across the floor, sliding to a stop a few moments later. His whole body ached as he tried to get himself righted. Before he could, a large foot flicked him over onto his back. The young krogan now had him in his sights, and he was prepared to step on his would be assailant.

Saya felt a fearful sense of self-preservation as the foot closed on his head at rapid speed. To him it was in slow motion, but he reacted without thinking even the slightest. He slashed his sword against the leg of the young krogan merc. It threw off the krogan's foot, allowing Saya to move his head out of the way. That should've been enough. He should've gotten up and run. He had killed his targets, he could just disappear.

But while his mind said one thing, his body did another. He jabbed his sword hard into the krogan's gut and turned on the electrical current. The krogan screamed in agony as Saya dug the Shiakala deeper into the young merc's gut. The salarian watched as death took the krogan and his now lifeless face hung over his head, his last breath exhaled into his face.

Saya laid there, the massive alien propped up on his sword over him. He could hear gunfire from the two remaining krogan, firing on his position. The corpse protected him, shuttering with every shot. Then suddenly there was an explosion followed by a powerful biotic blast. One of the krogan was thrown into a wall by biotic energy. Wrex then suddenly appeared, pushing the krogan into the wall before firing a shotgun into the Blood Pack merc's gut.

Wrex quickly rushed over to Saya, pushing the dead krogan off him at last. The salarian got a good look at the third krogan and saw that he had been mulched by one of Kayap's plasma grenades. The little unggoy just stood there look at him as Wrex pulled the STG agent up.

"Looks like we got here just in time," the Urdnot leader said. "You good to go, Obsidian?"

The salarian eventually nodded meekly and Wrex gave him a small tap on the shoulder.

"Good to hear," Wrex said, a slight laugh in his voice as he recognized the irony in such a statement. "Let's get moving then."

Wrex started moving back down the way they came. Saya took one last look at the dead krogan that he had hesitated and then viciously cut down. He could see his tongue hanging open, his eyes still wide with fear. Saya pulled his sword out and took one moment to close the creature's eyes. He didn't know why he did it, only that it didn't feel right leaving it like that.

Wrex called him again and he quickly picked up his sword and ran after him, still shaken by what he had done. In a brief moment, the barbarian he hated and despised became the victim... and he had been the monster clawing at him for basic survival. He didn't regret doing what was necessary to survive, but there were a million ways he could've left that fight. He chose the bloodiest path, and it sickened him.

---

Drothan reported in that Saya was safe, as was Nel. He was with Wrex and on their way to the rally point. Nel, however, sounded like she was in some real trouble. As expected, she had bitten off more than she could chew. At least it hadn't gotten her killed, not for lack of trying of course. She was going to need some help getting to the rendezvous. Since everyone else was busy with other things that was going to have to fall to her and Vik. As soon as they were done here they'd head to the elevators and locate her.

"How are the defences holding, Watchdog?" Liara asked.

"Final YMIR Mech is on its last legs," Drothan answered. "It's holding the front door. They've already gotten some engineers to the Anti-Air batteries. I think they're trying to fix it first before blowing it up. They still have the two on the other side of the building they need to reach, but we don't have a lot of time before they're down and they send the air cavalry in."

"What's the status on the Summit members?" Liara asked next, not wanting to miss a beat.

"When our people took the main landing area with all their rides, their evac routes were put into disarray," Drothan explained. "They're scattered all over the building now. Save for one, Emperor Narvkel is still in his private room a floor or so up from your position. He's waiting on his private shuttle to get clearance to land and then he's taking off. We still got some Operatives left along with some of the Mechs on that level. You want me to pay him a visit?"

A tempting offer, Narvkel probably deserved whatever came to him. However, he had never been a prime target. His death wouldn't hinder or advance Balak's plans. At worst it would embolden him to find his leader's killer. Narvkel himself seemed too far removed from the actual planning and operations of the Swords to bother trying to take out. To Liara, he simply wasn't worth the bullet and they weren't here to kill Emperors anyway.

"No, send the Operatives to the landing pad and keep the Mechs on station to cover their route," Liara ordered Drothan. "I've already done the same with my men here. The Emperor isn't our concern anymore, getting out is."

Liara looked over to Vik as she ended the conversation, hoping he had gotten what they needed. When she turned, he appeared hunched over the terminal, glowering at the screen. His knuckles were clenched as he stared forward. Not thinking much about his strange posture, Liara moved up to get a look at the screen for herself.

"Did you find it?" She asked him frantically.

"Yes," Vik answered rather monotone. "I have. It's downloading now."

Liara looked elated at the screen and saw what they were looking for. The Codemaster's location, just as Vik and Drothan said. The quarian moved out of the way as she gave the data better once over. The Codemaster was on some kind of space station in orbit around a small planet in the Armstrong Cluster.

Liara remembered that place well. It was where they had encountered those Geth outposts they put out of commission two years ago. Apparently, there were even more secret operations going on there. The place didn't look very well defended. They could probably overwhelm it with ease, given the right plan.

She'd figure out the details later, what was important was they now knew where to go. At last, she was one step closer to actually contacting Shepard. She quickly downloaded the data onto her own omni-tool and grabbed the OSD drive herself, connecting it to her omni-tool.

"Silhouette to all units," she declared elatedly. "The package is secure! Extraction is a go, proceed to rally point and prepare for departure! Watchdog, I'm sending the most pertinent data to you just in case. I'm not risking this intel getting shot to pieces before we get out."

"Copy that," Drothan replied.

Once Liara finished the upload, she pocketed the OSD drive for safe keeping and turned towards Vik.

"Alright, Nomad," she began. "We need to get to Deadlock and then meet up with the others. Then we can finally get off this-"

But as Liara turned, Vik was nowhere to be seen. She frantically looked about the server room, but could see nothing. The quarian was just gone, vanished into thin air. She had been so preoccupied with their prize that he must've slipped out with nary a trace. But to where?

"Watchdog," she said contacting the only person who could find her missing team mate. "Where is Nomad?"

"I don't know," Drothan replied. "He was there a second ago. I mean how- Wait."

"Did you find him?" Liara asked, worried that she would not like the answer.

She was right.

"The Mechs we have left upstairs have just been repurposed," Drothan answered. "They're not attacking our men, but they're moving away from the escape routes. It's not an issue, the operatives have already made their way to the landing pads, but I'm locked out. I can't regain control of them."

There was only one person on mission currently that that could do that besides Drothan. That person had just gone AWOL... and was about to do something really reckless. She wished she had never asked her previous question now.

"Where are they headed, Watchdog?" She asked of Drothan fearfully, but she already knew their destination.

---

The Summit had turned from a quiet meeting into a firefight faster than he would've ever suspected. Part of him wondered if Balak had been right to tell him not to come here today. Luckily, he was away from all the fighting. In his day he would've been able to scrap with the best of them, but it was better to let the Warrior caste of the present deal with this now. That was what they were born for after all.

They had gotten him to his private room in the building pretty fast. His meeting table was here, his lounge set where he talk with city-state dignitaries in comfort, there was the security monitor room where they could keep track of what was going on, the small kitchen and his work desk near the window where he had a beautiful view of his capital.

The camera feeds were a bit difficult to view now though, so that advantage was gone. They didn't know what was going on save for the audio. All they got for picture was static. At least the doors were firmly locked so whatever had infected the security system hadn't been able to get to them. They were safe, for the moment.

Narvkel just hoped the private shuttle would soon be permitted to land. He needed to get out of here as fast as possible. How would the Hegemony function if its leader were to die in what was supposed to be a long-overdue construction project? There would be questions, lots of them, and he'd hate to see his son try to answer them. He wasn't very good with crowds, no sense of showmanship. Plus he needed to exercise more the fat lazy slob.

"Once the anti-air is down we'll call the shuttle in, sir," one of his personal guards informed him. "They only need a few more minutes."

"Oh excellent, my boy," he told him in response. "Let's hope Commander Balak is giving those intruders a taste of good old fashioned batarian hospitality. We may even have some bodies to present to the press when this is over. That ought to strike fear in the hearts of the dissenters and put an end to all this pointless violence. Any idea who they are by the way?"

"There's no need to worry yourself over that, sir," the guard assured him. "We're safe in here. That's all that matters."

Suddenly there were several terribly loud gunshots from just outside the door. The guards in the room immediately moved into position around the entrance, their guns trained on the doorway the whole time. Everyone else move around Narvkel, pulling him away from the door.

"Outer perimeter, status report!" Shouted the lead guard over the radio. "What is happening?"

There was no response, only more gunshots and pained screaming. There was even an explosion that rocked the room a little. All that came over the radio was static. Narvkel grew a bit more concerned as he saw his protectors begin to sweat.

"We may be in trouble here," the lead guard said aloud to everyone. "Move the Emperor to checkpoint-"

The door suddenly burst open with a wild explosion, sending several of the guards flying back. Before the smoke even cleared, a little drone flew into the room. It fired a rocket from within its ball of energy, striking two of the guards as they tried to get up. Three LOKI Mechs rushed in next, firing wildly at the guards around them. The batarians fought back, blasting off one of the Mech's heads and another's arm before a torrent of bullets shredded them,

"Safe room compromised!" The lead guard shouted, firing at the assembled group of synthetics. "We need back-up assistance now! Now damn it! Now!"

A turret popped up into the room, floating above the ground as it targeted nearby Imperial Guards. It launched a stream of fire that roasted the batarians alive before they could land enough hits on it. The remaining guards moved back to the Emperor and grabbed him.

"We need to get you to the landing pad!" The lead shouted at Narvkel over the gunfire.

As they moved him back towards a large table for cover, a YMIR Mech plodded into the room. It opened up on the retreating guards who turned to fire, but they only found themselves riddled with holes. The drone also followed them, blocking their escape and letting off a burst of energy at one of the guards. He threw the Emperor back, taking the brunt of the blast before the drone self-destructed and sent him flying.

The explosion of energy forced the other guards to pile on top of the Emperor to protect him. It cost them their lives, save for the lead guard who pulled the Emperor up, his pistol raised.

"Stay behind me, sir!" He ordered. "I'm getting you out-"

The guard took a hit to his leg and fell, ushering Narvkel to get behind cover as he fired off the last few rounds in his pistol. Narvkel ran to the table, the symbol of his people's flag etched onto it. He watched as the lead guard emptied his magazine at the assembled Mechs. He opened up his comm. as he dragged himself towards the Emperor.

"Pillar is toppled, I repeat, pillar is toppled," he cried out. "All teams to-Argh!"

There was a piercing screech from the comm-link, something had blocked the transmission. Then, stepping into view from among the Mechs, came something unexpected. Narvkel had never seen a quarian before himself, not in the flesh at least and especially not one dressed in black. The Lead Guard tossed his gun at the suited up alien, who took the hit in stride and kept walking. The lead then armed his omni-tool's ballistic blades and pointed them at the quarian.

"Fuck you, Suit Ra-"

The lead's head was blown off before he could even finish the insult. The quarian stepped over his body and moved towards Narvkel now. He grabbed the Hegemony Leader by the collar and slammed him into the table. He then got his shotgun back out and pointed it in Narvkel's face.

"Keelah Se'lai, Emperor Narvkel," the quarian said menacingly. "Sorry for dropping in unannounced. Now then, let's talk. Shall we?"

---

Nel stared up at the ceiling, the lights in the elevator lift flickering in her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was an electrical issue or her going in and out of consciousness. Admittedly it could've been both. She was in far too much pain to be able to tell either way. She couldn't even tell how long the elevator had been stopped for or if she was even at the top of the tower.

She didn't care anyway. With any luck all her blood would drain out and she wouldn't have to suffer the cruel lectures of Liara and the others. She had never felt so beaten in her life. Her body had turned against her, her strength failed when she most needed it.

The assholes who gave her the damn juice, she should've listened to their stupid warnings. The juice burned out her body too fast. It couldn't keep up with the constant use and abuse. In the end, her body just couldn't pump out any more adrenaline. At least, that was she thought had happened. What else could it be but a total burnout? It was how she felt.

She had been so damn stupid. Taking that stuff orally hadn't helped a bit. Every other rule had seemed worthless, why not that one? She could hear everyone now, telling her how she screwed up again, how she wasn't good enough, that this was why they had discharged her.

It wasn't fair, she didn't ask for this. She didn't go into the army expecting to find the Juice waiting for her. They gave her the damn stuff and just kicked her out when things went wrong. She was a scapegoat. That was all she was to anybody. Whether it be Liara or the military or... whoever.

But no, she may have gotten over her head, but she had been driven to this point. It was out of desperation, out of the need to play catch up. She had to stay strong, she had to keep juicing. It was the only way. She couldn't let them take that away.

That was why she had stolen the vials in the first place, why she had tried cooking her own. They left her no damn choice. She needed the juice, plain and simple. She bended some rules, sure, but it was her only recourse after everything that happened.

She could fix this though, just like before. She'd stop the double doses. She'd never drink the stuff again that was for sure. She could control this, she was in control. She could be strong again. In her mind she prayed for the spirits to give her guidance, to let her find that strength again so she could fix it like before. She didn't pray often, but sitting in a slowly growing pool of your own blood was highly motivating to be frank.

The doors were suddenly forced open and Nel worried for a moment that someone was coming to finish her off. However, as her vision refocused, she realised it was a bit worse than that.

"Nel!" The concerned voice of a familiar asari shouted.

She forgot her codename for a second there. She must've looked really bad to shock Liara like that. The genuine concern didn't make Nel feel much better though. At least the enemy would've just killed her. She fully expected an earful from her again and with that armour on Nel couldn't even really see her breasts this time around. That was usually the one bright spot to getting told off.

To Nel's surprise though, Liara wasn't really concerned with lecturing at the moment. She instead rushed over and began pulling off the turian's heavy armour. In its state it was useless at this point, now it was only slowing her down. Liara eventually pulled off the broken helmet and got a good look at Nel's face.

"Goddess, what happened to you?" She asked.

"The shit got kicked out of me," Nel spoke up weakly.

"No, I mean your nostrils... and your eyes," Liara elaborated quickly. "They're bleeding."

Nel reached up to see if Liara was right. Sure enough, her blue neon blood was pouring down her face. She hadn't even noticed, everything else had been hurting so much she hadn't been able to tell. The overdosing had hurt her even more than she thought.

"You need medi-gel," Liara said as she prepared her omni-tool. "You've lost a lot of blood."

Liara applied the medi-gel through her omni-tool, not really making Nel feel better, but at least she wouldn't bleed out now. Once that was done, Liara took off the rest of her heavy armour, revealing her lighter under armour beneath. She then began to pull Nel by her arm, placing it on her shoulder.

"Lean on me," she said as she got ready to lift.

"Can I put my head on your chest?" Nel dimly asked.

"I'm just going to assume that's just you being delirious this time," Liara dryly told her. "Now up."

But as Liara pulled Nel up, there was a clattering sound. Nel looked to where it came from, as did Liara. Lying on the elevator's floor was the injector, still with a little bit of the juice oozing from the needle. Liara eyed it curiously and Nel couldn't even think of a quick denial.

And really, would any have worked? Liara propped Nel up against the wall and reached down to pick up the injector. When she brought the turian back onto her shoulder proper she stuck the device in her face.

"What is this?" Liara asked her frowning.

"I can't even feel my feet right now," Nel said feebly. "Can this wait?"

"Is this why your eyes are bleeding?" Liara demanded to know. "Is this why you ran off?"

"Are you getting in practice for when you eventually have little blue children?" Nel asked, desperately trying to keep her eyes open, digging her head more into Liara's shoulder.

The asari grunted at the turian inability to explain herself. There were bigger issues to deal with right now. She hobbled Nel out of the elevator, almost dragging her as she did. As they were about to turn a corner though, they found themselves staring at a group of batarians. Looking among the crowd, she spotted a few of the military officers who had been at the summit.

"Shit, enemies!" One of the military escorts shouted.

"Take them out," the batarian general ordered. "The Emperor needs us now!"

The soldiers opened fire on Liara, forcing her to rush back into cover lest she risk Nel getting shot. She placed the turian down and turned back to the small group of batarians staring her down. She would need to get rid of them if she had any hope of getting Nel out of here. Worse, they had confirmed her fears about Vik completely. Nel she expected to go off the handle, but this was so unexpected of the quarian.

She put the thought out of her mind and fired back on the batarian squad with her submachine gun. Bullets raked across two of the forward gunners, killing them instantly. A batarian general grabbed his falling soldier's weapon and continued to fire.

"Our Emperor is counting on us, boys!" He declared. "No prisoners! Rush their asses!"

The batarians began charging up the corridor and firing everything they had in an effort to suppress Liara. She was undeterred, keeping her barriers up as she returned fire and then shot a singularity among their ranks. It picked up a few of their soldiers and left them open to a following warp attack. The devastating biotic detonation decimated the escort group, killing the officers and a few of the batarian escorts at the epicentre. The rest were merely wounded from the blast.

Liara rushed back and picked Nel and hurried down the opposite corridor. She'd have to double back to reach the others. It was seemed like it would be a long walk, especially with Nel half-awake mumblings. However, she found Wrex sooner than expected. As she went down one of the adjacent corridors, she found him with the others standing there.

"I thought we were going to meet closer to the landing pad," Liara asked as she hobbled her and Nel over to them.

"You sounded like you needed help so we changed the plan a bit," Wrex explained. "Deadlock okay?"

"She needs medical attention," Liara explained as she passed the turian over to Wrex to lean on. "Not to mention a talk about a few things. Just get her to the landing pad for now, I'll be there soon."

Wrex was barely able to say a word before Liara took off.

"Where are you going now?" He asked as she ran down the hall.

"To stop Nomad from doing something really stupid!" She shouted back as she broke into a run.

---

He had sent the Mechs back out into the corridors to keep the potential reinforcements away. He hadn't been able to block the distress signal in time, but at least he stopped the lead guard from giving out an exact location.

Still, it wouldn't take long for these little fascists to figure out where he likely was now. There were only a few places that they'd take a high value target like the Emperor and they'd rule out where he wasn't rather quickly. At least he had some time.

Vik kept his gun trained over Narvkel's head, staring the old man down. He seemed afraid, if only because there was a gun pointed at him. That would be enough to freak anyone out. Vik knew that better than most.

"You don't look much different from the regular batarian," he told the Emperor casually. "Four eyes, a mouth, bunch of little ridges along the forehead. It amazes me how your government so casually divides people into categories when the only difference between you all is how much money and property you own."

"The differences are in the blood," Narvkel gruffly replied. "Some are suited to rule, some are suited to serve."

"So I've been told, many times, by someone just as corrupt and tyrannical as you are," Vik responded viciously. "He loved hearing himself talk too. I think it's time for an experiment then."

Vik suddenly punched the old man in the nose, making him squeal and clutch at his face. When Vik forced the hands away blood was dripping down his nose.

"Hmm, doesn't look much different from slave blood on first glance," Vik noted with nonchalant shrug. "I guess if I want to see if fascism really runs in the veins of you high caste bosh'tets I'm going to need a microscope."

"If you've come to torture me for state secrets, you should know I'll never betray my country," Narvkel warned. "I was chosen for a divine purpose, to serve the people and no alien will ever-"

"You don't serve the people, you serve yourself," Vik venomously interrupted him. "You do whatever is necessary to hold onto your damn power and acquire more! You'd step on and then over any of your own citizens to accomplish that. The biggest threat to your species isn't humanity or the Council. It's you and the government you run that are the problem! A government they never chose!"

Narvkel was unmoved by the comments, even as Vik pushed the shotgun's barrel deeper into the side of his head.

"You're only proving why aliens with only two eyes are less intelligent," he claimed. "The Hegemony creates order on Khar'shan for the entire batarian race. Through it, we're able to control the competing nation-states and manage the population. Without us, chaos would reign across the systems, disorder, madness. Those are not preferable. Not everyone can live with freedom. That is what you aliens have never understood. If you were more like us, maybe you quarians never would've lost your home."

Vik brought his arm down hard on Narvkel's neck, causing him to choke violently and squirm about like the little worm he was.

"You don't know anything about quarians or our history," Vik told him. "We lost our home because we became arrogant and prideful, things you bosh'tets cling to. You don't know anything, whereas I've lived in the squalor and filth you force your people into. I know all I need to know, this your trial, not mine."

Vik pulled his arm off of Narvkel's neck and then grabbed him by his suit collar. He dragged the aging batarian over to one of the large pane glass windows and slammed him into it. He then pointed out towards the slums, while keeping his shotgun pinned into his back.

"That's where you make the poor live, the people who are just above slavery," Vik angrily spat at him. "You sit in your oversized towers looking down on them like insects while they scurry about in the mud! You treat slaves even worse, like expendable objects to be bought, sold or thrown away! And why? Because they're not born into privilege like you were?"

"Slavery is fundamental, a symbol of social status and authority," Narvkel explained. "We give them purpose beyond their regular standing, shelter and food. They're better off than the workers who are free in fact. Without us, they'd be wasting their lives away under the influence of crime. They're happier."

Vik suddenly grabbed Narvkel's head at the back and slammed it right into the glass, causing it to crack.

"Happy!?" Vik screamed. "You think they're happy?"

Vik threw Narvkel over onto the ground, rushing over to kick him in the stomach. As the Emperor flopped onto his back, Vik jabbed the butt of his shotgun into Narvkel's stomach.

"How many lies do you honestly tell yourself to justify this?" He demanded to know. "Selling your own people like cattle is one thing. But with all the slave revolts and escape attempts, the fact you think they're happy is insane!"

The quarian slammed his foot down onto Narvkel's hand, making the old dictator scream a little more.

"And you didn't even stop with your own people!" Vik continued angrily. "You inflicted this injustice on the whole galaxy! You funded slavers to snatch up colonists and unwitting victims! You take them away from their loved ones and turn them into animals! You spread your little tentacles all over the galaxy, stealing children from their parents, mothers from their babies! You abuse them, rape them, punish them and kill them when they're useless! How is that better?"

"It's teaching the aliens the order of things," Narvkel argued simply. "The humans are unruly savages, representing the greatest evil that has ever been allowed to spread with their supposed freedoms. The other races must learn that those who weigh civilization down must be brought to heel. The methods may be harsh, but the medicine must be taken one way or another. The rest of the galaxy will soon learn the importance of that when we return to the prominence we deserve."

Vik placed his foot down on Narvkel's head, pushing it into the floor.

"That's how the slaves feel every day, your Imperial Highness," Vik said, his voiced filled with rage. "Tell me? Do you feel happier now? Do you feel your life has greater purpose propping up my body weight? No, you feel weak and helpless, for the first time in forever I imagine. This is what you do, to every slave, batarian or otherwise, every day. This is what you people did to her!"

Vik realised too late that he said too much, let it get too personal. But he didn't care. It reminded him why he was here and what he had to do, both now and in the future. But it also allowed Narvkel the chance to try and appeal to him.

"I'm not sure who you're talking about," Narvkel grunted through his teeth as the foot kept pushing down. "But whatever this is about, I'm not part of it."

"Your government lets it happen," Vik reminded him.

"I'm just the Emperor, I can't control every slave owner's actions," Narvkel tried to argue. "I assure you, I treat mine with respect."

"And that makes it right?" Vik continued, still pressing his foot into his skull.

"Just listen to me for a second here, son-"

That word was the last straw. Vik took his foot off, only to deliver a punch right to the batarian's upper left eye. He then picked him up and threw him head first into a wall, where Vik was quick to rush over and grab him by the collar as he sat up. He then kept punching him into the wall in a blind fury.

"I'm! Not! Your! Son!" He declared, punctuating each word with a hit. "My father is an agriculturalist! He grows food for the Fleet! He provides for others! HE serves the people! He's a good man! You're nothing like him! He wouldn't steal a poor little girl from her colony! He wouldn't force a woman into his bed on threat of physical harm! He wouldn't whip his own people for hours until they couldn't stand anymore!"

"I never-"

"It doesn't matter," Vik said as he stood up and pointed the shotgun at his head. "You're just like him! You're like all of them! You're a monster! I just needed to be sure! Now I am! And I can't feel guilty about killing a monster!"

Vik readied himself to fire, to finally end this whole thing. But before he could, a voice rang out across the hall.

"Nomad stop!"

Vik turned around to see Liara standing just a few feet away from him, her hands up and her eyes looking right at him through her helmet's visor. He had hoped to avoid this, but in the back of his mind he knew this was going to happen. But it wasn't going to stop him.

"Put the gun down," Liara said as she slowly approached. "You don't have to do this."

"No, I do," the quarian replied furiously. "Don't you see? All I've been doing is standing by while the bosh'tets kept winning. I thought spreading the truth would be enough, but it wasn't. They still run the galaxy, ruining peoples' lives. I never changed anything. The Vid Trailer was right, I was complacent! The only way the galaxy is going to get fixed is if we cut down the tyrants who keep us caged! Starting with him!"

Liara stepped a little closer and Vik placed his shotgun's barrel right into Narvkel's temple.

"I understand you're angry and frustrated," she told him calmly. "But this won't solve anything."

"It will get rid of him, it's a start," he answered. "And don't tell me some bullshit life lesson that I'll become just like him if I do it or that killing isn't the answer or whatever afterschool propaganda crap I've heard before. There are just some people who don't deserve mercy. If I don't kill him now, he'll never answer for his crimes."

"No listen to her," Narvkel piped up meekly. "I mean, would the friend you mentioned want this?"

Vik turned his shotgun to Narvkel and butted him in the face with it for the remark.

"You stop talking right now or the next one breaks your jaw," he threatened the emperor.

Narvkel slunk back into the wall, while Liara kept trying to reach the quarian. To Vik's surprise, her response was unexpected.

"He does deserve it," she admitted. "He's a dictator who makes his people suffer while claiming he's doing them a favour. And I won't tell you that killing him is wrong given everything I've ever done out of necessity and survival. But that doesn't change the fact this will only make things worse."

"How could killing him make it worse?" Vik asked confused, as he stifled back a laugh. "One less slaving despotic bosh'tet in the world won't be so bad from where I'm standing."

"It won't end the Hegemony, you know that," Liara informed him. "His son will just replace him and conduct the same policies as before. Nothing will have changed save for the face on the flags and t-shirts and who the people watch when they turn on the Holo. Worse, you'll make us an even greater target. The batarians will have enough reason to hate us when this is over, killing their leader will just embolden them even more. How do you think Balak will respond? He'll already be vengeful after this. Killing Narvkel will just give him an even greater motive than before."

Vik tried to search for a counter, but couldn't find a very sufficient one.

"We were going to get on the hit list one way or another," he tried to suggest.

"But with his Emperor dead he'll have a martyr this time," Liara told him. "He wouldn't hold back and they wouldn't want him to."

Vik's anger softened then, Liara's words forcing him to reconsider if nothing else. A martyr, he'd be making Narvkel a martyr? He hadn't thought about that. That wasn't what he wanted at all.

"What do you mean martyr?" Vik asked her inquisitively.

"Think about it," she began pleadingly. "It's what they did to the slaves in 1957 but reversed. They'll turn his death into a rallying cry to push their plans forward. He'll die a hero defending his nation from enemy aliens attacking a symbol of batarian power. They'll spin a story that will make him a man of the people. It won't matter if you punish him for his crimes. All anyone will remember is a leader who died fighting alien invaders or any myth they create out of this. You know that."

He did, he knew that was going to be what happened. Whatever he did, whatever crime he executed him for, it would be for nothing. No one would know. He'd just create another name to be praised in some stupid propaganda theme park. He didn't want that, he wanted the monster dead and reviled. Instead, he'd be making him immortal.

"Then what's the point?" Vik sadly asked her. "Why try to achieve any kind of justice when the lie will always win?"

"We can expose them, Nomad," Liara confidently assured him. "We can ruin them. We don't need to kill them to do that. You know how we can do that. You can still change things."

Vik had to admit on that fact Liara was right. They had connected to the Hegemony network. They had seen the shit they were doing. They could dismantle their conspiracy. They didn't have to let them get away with it.

"But if you kill him today, like this, then it won't matter," Liara warned, her voice earnest and composed. "They'll make up whatever story they want to save face when this is done. They'll still be humiliated. Everyone will see this as the day the Hegemony lost their biggest monument and piece of propaganda. Kill their Emperor, and all anyone will remember of today is his lie. The quarian I know wouldn't want to help them do that."

Vik turned back to Narvkel, his weapon still trained on the batarian's head. He looked at the snivelling little Hegemony leader, one of his most hated individuals. His life was in his hands. But when killing him made him stronger, that power seemed feeble. He lowered his gun and backed away.

"You're not worth it," he coldly informed the batarian.

Vik stepped back towards Liara, keeping his eyes trained on the Emperor as he did. He didn't want to see the idiot try anything stupid. Luckily, Narvkel liked life too much to attack either of them. In the end, seeing the Emperor of the Hegemony cower in his corner was satisfying enough.

"I'm sorry for taking off," Vik tried to apologise for Liara. "I just... I thought..."

"We'll talk about it later," Liara assured him, her voice returning to a more even and staunch tone. "Right now we need to get out of here."

They found they wouldn't be going far though. As they turned to get out of the room, they saw another high ranking leader standing in their way, but he was no old man. It was Fleet Master Zarvosh 'Yadromee, carrying a plasma sword as he strode into the room. He looked over to Narvkel and laughed.

"You've left him alive, foolish of you," he declared. "Were I you, I'd have killed my enemies by now. Such weakness is not tolerated by the sangheili."

Narvkel took off a second later, rushing up to the landing pad above him. Zarvosh started to advance on Liara and Vik, his blade out and ready.

"I don't suppose we're going to leave him alive too?" Vik asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Killing the experienced military Commander of the Covenant Fleet is more strategically viable." Liara answered. "Also, it doesn't look like he'll give us much of a choice in the matter."

"Just checking," Vik said quickly, before he threw out a turret towards the Fleet Master.

The turret spat out a stream of fire, but it couldn't break through the sangheili's shields fast enough. He cut the drone in half with a single swing of his sword and then raised his arm at the two.

"Time to test if the turian's upgrades hold up in combat," he said.

Something popped out of the top of sangheili's gauntlet. It was a slender looking coil of some knd housed in a protective metal shielding. Zarvosh grasped a trigger Mechanism that popped out alongside it in his palm and squeezed his fist. A sustained red beam shot out from the wrist mounted coil and Vik and Liara ducked to avoid the shot as it cut through the window behind them.

"I hate VykurCorp more and more every day!" Vik screamed aloud as activated a Combat Drone.

The drone fired rockets at the sangheili. The Covenant leader rolled away from two of the shots and then fired his beam weapon at the drone. The drone self-destructed after a few sustained moments, but the blast momentarily blinded the Fleet Master. That gave Liara the chance to send a throw attack at the alien. He was sent hurtling a few feet but he righted himself and began firing on the asari. Liara ducked the shot and fired back, rushing to the cover of the large central table in the room.

"You fools,"he mocked them. "You don't honestly think you can defeat me do you? There is a reason I command so many ships. I earned it through the fire of battle."

As the beam zapped her cover, Liara sent the table flying at Zarvosh with her biotics. The sangheili cut the table in half as it approached him, only for a shotgun round to hit his shields hard. He turned to see Vik firing on from behind a small sofa along the left side of the room. Zarvosh turned to shoot at him while Liara ran to the cover of the large desk near the window.

"Watchdog," she shouted into her radio. "We need assistance in the Emperor's private quarters!"

"I know," Drothan answered. "Shuttles have extracted pretty much everyone. We're on our way to you now."

A red beam cut into the desk and Liara jumped back to avoid it. She stuck her head up just as Vik fired an overload at the sangheili, shorting out some of his shields. fired his beam back at him in annoyance forcing his head back down.

"You wait your turn sickly one," he ordered. "Your Commander shall be first. You are no real threat."

"Neither are you when your shields are gone," Vik shouted back.

Suddenly, hitting from the back with a rocket was a newly restored Combat Drone. Vik had used the sangheili's already split focus to their advantage and managed to land a shot on him. Liara wouldn't let the opportunity go to waste. She jumped up hit the Covie with a warp. Zarvosh gasp in agony for a brief moment and then ran at Liara's cover. She was forced to abandon the desk before the sangheili's sword tore it in two. He stopped himself before he crashed through the window unfortunately and stared the asari down.

"It was stupid to come here on this day," he said as he cocked his neck side to side. "The Hegemony's soldiers rush up from below and gunships shall soon swarm these skies. My men have no doubt dealt with your Mech distractions I so easily bypassed in the halls by now. You will die here, accomplishing nothing."

"I've already accomplished something, Fleet Master," Liara replied. "I've hit your Alliance where it felt safest. If I could track you down here, in the heart of Hegemony space, where are you safe?"

"Bold words for a heathen who is about to die," Zarvosh succinctly declared as he pointed his wrist weapon and fired.

Liara rolled to the side and fired off two shots from her pistol. They hit the Sangheili in his arm, keeping him from properly aiming the weapon, while Vik activated a sabotage attack on his omni-tool and opened up with shotgun again. The next time he tried to fire his weapon the beam backfired and injured the alien's arm greatly. He rushed at Liara sword raised only to be thrown to the side by a biotic pull. He bounced across the floor one before righting himself, pulling out his reserved Plasma Rifle in response.

"I always carry more than one or two weapons," he stated as he opened fire on Liara.

Liara took a few shots to her shield, but managed to get behind a small support pillar near the window.

"And I always have more than one or two friends to back me up," she responded.

At that moment, Drothan's shuttle rose into view behind the glass. The doors opened wide to reveal Wrex standing there with Revenant in hand and Kayap armed with a Fuel Rod Cannon. Zarvosh turned to fire on them, but the krogan and unggoy opened up on him. They fired a full clip and two Fuel Rod shots at the Covie leader respectively.

The windows fell to pieces as the floor was torn up by bullet holes. Zarvosh tried to desperately move away from the incoming carnage. But it was to no avail, as the bullets cut into the sangheili and the incoming Fuel Rod shots finished the job in two quick explosions. In seconds, the Fleet Master lay dead on the ground.

"About time you showed up," Liara pretended to criticise the shuttle team. "I wasn't sure how much longer we'd be able to stall him for."

"It sounded like you were having fun bad mouthing the bad guy for once," Wrex explained. "We didn't want to ruin it for you."

"Can we get the hell out of here please?" Drothan asked them nervously. "We got gunships on scope, ETA five minutes. We gotta get gone."

The shuttle came close to the now blown open window and Liara and Vik jumped inside. As they did, more Sangheili rushed into the room firing their weapons at the shuttle. Vorsa was leading them at the very head of the pack. Kayap and Wrex covered their escape as the shuttle pulled away, plasma bolts chasing after them. Bullets and Fuel Rod blasts took out a few of the Covies, but Vorsa was able to skilfully avoid the attacks.

The last good view of Vorsa they had was of him finding Zarvosh's body and rushing over to it. In a rage he fired at the shuttle as flew away from the area. Liara shut the door as bolts came dangerously close to getting inside.

As they sped away they could see more shuttles leaving the building. Even more were coming in low on the landing pad at the top. What looked to be Vorsa's men rushed up to pile into them, probably in an attempt to chase after them. Drothan quickly informed Liara of another reason though.

"Radio traffic suggests the Army found some of our charges," he explained to her. "They're ordering everyone to evacuate the building before they attempt to remove them. All our people are out, all that's left inside are bad guys."

"Then there's only one thing left to do," Liara decreed. "Phase Four, no evidence."

"Hell yeah, goodbye eyesore!" Drothan declared. "I've already erased most of the attack footage, you can take care of the rest any time you want."

He put up a visual on one of the shuttle's monitors, showing a good view of Rakavekyon Tower. Liara brought up her omni-tool and pressed down on a command. Seconds later, a series of explosion erupted up from the bottom to the top of the massive pyramid tower. Glass shattered, walls bent inward and the entire structure began to fall in on itself. Stone and glass crumbled to the ground sending up a wall of dust that blanketed the area. When it settled, there was nothing left of Rakavekyon but a dead broken shell.

"And the walls come tumbling down, Wrex chuckled.

"Never thought I'd leave this shit pile like that," Drothan added. "Good note to go out on I guess."

Liara looked to the rest of the crew. The whole team was there of course, for better and worse. Wrex and Kayap seemed more or less fine; the latter was even jubilant at their success. The unggoy cheered a little at the screen as he watched the tower crumble. The mission had given back the little guy his confidence, which was reassuring.

Saya was hunched in a corner however, which wouldn't have been unusual save for the fact his sword was out and he kept staring at strangely. There was a streak of orange blood across it. That was strange for Saya the professional soldier, who always kept his weapons clean.

Nel was lying on a bench that had been folded out from the wall. She was groaning in pain, still in dire need of a doctor. Liara knew though that was just one issue to clear up with her. That injector had answered some things and raised questions of others. There was going to be a reckoning there.

Vik was the only one who had his eyes glued to the screen incessantly, not in jubilation though. Liara couldn't tell what the quarian was feeling, and not just because of his suit. Despite rebellious nature, Liara had never thought Vik would go off on his own like this. Something had stirred in him and while she suspected Nel partly had a hand in it, considering what Vik had said, there was something else going on within.

"Someday someone will tear it all down," the quarian said in a vicious whisper.

As Liara looked upon her team, Wrex walked up to her.

"Lucen is in low orbit about to pick us up," he told her. "We get what we came for?"

"Definitely," Liara assured him. "We know where the Codemaster is now. All we have to do is get to him and we'll have our access code to the Interdimensional Relay Hub."

"And we got a few of the pyjaks at the Summit too," Wrex added. "Including that Fleet Master of theirs, that's gotta do some damage."

Liara looked over to Kayap to find out exactly how much damage precisely.

"How will the Covenant respond to his death?" She asked.

"Vorsa will more than likely take command," he explained. "Thankfully, the duties of a Fleet Master should keep him out of the field for the most part. So we won't have to face him for awhile. He'll have to put others in charge of carrying out some of his plans. The Fleet itself will be in disarray for awhile as it adjusts to the transition."

"That won't last," Wrex figured. "He'll probably reorganize things to his liking before too long."

"Probably refocusing the Fleet's efforts, actively pushing them towards finding those relics he was so interested in," Liara presumed. "That may cause some tension with the Hegemony, especially without Zarvosh to keep him in check like he did during the Summit. We'll need to keep a look out for more information on these artefacts, they seem incredibly important to the Covenant."

That wasn't the only thing they'd need to keep their ears open for. The day had certainly been one of many revelations. Not all good of course.

"So, we chalk this one up for a win then?" Wrex asked.

Liara looked back on the crew in general. They had accomplished all their objectives, set out what they needed to do and kept casualties to a minimum. In all respects, they had won. But Liara felt like the mission wasn't really over yet. Despite how far they had come, Khar'shan had shed light on some darker corners. Even Liara knew she hadn't been spared.

"For now, it's a win," she finally answered. She then looked to the cockpit. "Drothan, full speed to the Lucen, I've had enough of this planet."

Narvkel watched as one of greatest piece of batarian architecture crumbled to the ground. He shook his head. It had been such a stable of the skyline for so long, and now it was gone. At least he had gotten out and his injuries were minor.

"There will be a press conference at the Palace in an hour, sir," one of his aides explained. "They're going to be asking a lot of questions. We already have our people coming up with a cover story and we'll make sure your injuries are healed up. No one will know you were there."

"Good," Narvkel nodded. "Ugh, this day has gone absolutely terrible and now I have to answer a bunch of damn questions about it. This week can't get any worse."

"Well, the good news we have some reports from our scientists in the field," the aide told him. "Here are the files. I meant to give them to you after the Summit, but..."

Narvkel took the data pad and gave it a look. It was actually good news, they had secured more scientists to the project and they were already making new discoveries. Placing more manpower on that excavation and research mission had been a boon to their ongoing plans.

"Excellent," he said nodding. "Before long we'll have something that rivals any weapon in the Galaxy. May take awhile though, not everything is in place."

"This excavation surely is a treasure trove of knowledge, sir," the aide agreed. "What should I tell the researchers?"

"Tell them I'll visit the site again in time," he informed him. "I have so much more to learn and see. The Leviathan of Dis is the key to the Hegemony's victory and return to glory. We're on the cusp of history in the making. The Hegemony is about to enter a new age and I, for one, will welcome it with open arms."

There was the hint of a blue light in the Emperor's eyes as he spoke and whispers only he could hear as he stared at the picture of the Leviathan. Its giant black form and long tendrils stretched out of the rocks, beautiful in its splendour. Glory was coming to Khar'shan, to the batarian people. They'd be great again. They promised that. Their deliverance, their ascension, was close at hand.

---

AN: Oh Noes! Zombie Emperor! Heh, I couldn't resist the foreshadowing. We all know its coming and how it happens, why ignore it? I mean, didn't you notice all his reforms and plans seemed to make his people even more vulnerable to the coming Reapers? Take a look at them again, see for yourself.

Well, this chapter certainly turned out longer than expected, but that has been the norm for this arc. I guess when you plan so much to happen it's a bit naive to think you can get it done quickly. Ah well. Since so much happened, I'll just leave the majority of my thoughts in my profile as usual.

Also, before I go, I'm dedicating this arc, if not the entire story, to my Uncle. He's still fresh in my mind and I think about him a lot and I wasn't sure what to do to handle it for awhile. I'm not good with this. So I decided that I'd dedicate this arc to him as well as the story. I just feel like I needed to do something show my respects, because I do miss him. Even if I didn't see him every day, I miss him a lot. He was a good man and always did right by me. For whatever faults he had, I was happy to have known him. I'm not sure if this is good enough or if I'm even doing this right, but whatever. Better to try and fail than do nothing at all.

Here's to you Uncle Yogi, you were a good man and the world is a lesser place without you. I'm not sure if wherever you are that you can read this, but I just wanted you to know that I'm happy that I knew you. I only wish you hadn't left so soon. I'm not sure if this is your kind of story, but you're in my thoughts as I write and that's all I really wanted to say.

So, thank you all for reading, I hope that wasn't too much of downer just then, but it needed to be said. If only so I didn't feel like I had done nothing, which kept eating at me to be frank. Next time, we return to Halo and at long last we get down to the real meat of this story. Eat, drink and be merry kids, for next chapter the dam breaks... and a Flood will follow.