I see a distant light,

But girl this can't be right…

Such a surreal place to see,

So how did this come to be,

Arrived too early…

-A7x, Afterlife

A week and a half later, Garrus found himself in the Normandy's shuttle bay standing beside the recently repaired Kodiak, dressed fully in his N7 red heavy armor, Geth Assault rifle magnetized to his plated back, his pistol on his hip, and his treasured Black Widow cradled in his arms. He was checking it for the seventh time, making sure the barrel was clear of debris, testing the joints and releases for any hesitation and examining the scope, making slight alterations to the elevation and windage.

He rolled his shoulders, his armor creaking ever so slightly. He had been sparring for three hours with Vega every night over the course of the last week and a half. Four nights in, Garrus had traded his civilian training gear for his much heavier and much stiffer combat attire. At first he felt the strains of the physical training, with every fiber screaming at him to stop. It didn't take long, however, for the muscle memory to come back or his body to adjust.

Aside from the drills, Garrus had also managed to apologize to the entire crew for his behavior. First to Liara, who had welled up with tears and threw her arms around him in gratitude, declaring simply, "I know."

He then had expressed his regret to Hannah, telling her Shepard would not have approved of his actions either, and would have more than likely called him a "dick", which he still didn't understand its meaning. Hannah had chuckled. He had proceeded to explain he would go to the ends of the universe to find Shepard, and that he would have traded places with her in an instant, if he could. Hannah accepted his apology with a warm smile and thanked him for caring so deeply about her daughter.

Finally, Garrus had gathered the nerve to face his father again, like the good turian he wasn't. He had found Tychus down in the drive core, watching Tali with her head in a wire box as EDI's blue orb shimmered on her omintool. Through a series of hushed whispers, both parties resolved their issues quickly, resulting in Tychus grabbing Garrus' forearm, pulling his son close and touching his son's forehead with his own. A familiar and welcomed gesture, and Garrus was relieved to have received it.

Looking up from his rifle, Garrus noticed the last of the crew members were getting off the elevator. He shouldered the Widow and acknowledged them. Taking a quick headcount, he nodded to signal to the others that he was ready.

"Cerberus has been a thorn in our side from the very beginning… To say they are a terrorist organization is putting it lightly…" Garrus strode back and forth amongst the crew as he spoke, meeting each person's gaze, reassuring them… reassuring himself. "We have no idea what happened with the Illusive Man or where he disappeared to, but this particular branch may be even worse than previously predicted.

"We need to infiltrate this base as quickly and as quietly as possible, if we're going to have any hope of saving Shepard," he breathed in. He knew they weren't going to approve of what he was about to say. This was personal, they all wanted in on retrieving Shepard. She was their commander as well. But he had a plan. "We're going to do things a bit differently this time."

Glancing towards his father, Garrus continued, "Cerberus has always been one step ahead of us, so anticipate heavy resistance. They're not going to let go of Shepard easily, especially after the amount of credits and time they have invested in her…"

"That being said…," The whispers began to spread throughout the main part of the group, just the beginning of the protests, but Garrus pressed on, "I'm sending in three extraction teams… of two…" Groans and shouts of disapproval echoed throughout the shuttle bay. Garrus ignored them and raised his voice, "I know you all want to be a part of this, but I would prefer if we do this as stealthily as possible." He shouted over them, as they awkwardly shifting in their places as their dissatisfactions died to a low hum. "You all saw the vids! Expect Shepard to be injured… incapable of walking, or even fighting. We can't have a full on battle with her in such a state, and I won't risk her getting hit needlessly."

He rose up to full heighten and repeated, "Three teams of two. Understood?"

Nearly every last one of them nodded, though not looking at all pleased with this decision; someone would be left behind. But as it stood, they all wanted to bring in Shepard safe, so they complied.

"I want those remaining onboard dressed for battle, weapons readied, and prepared to board in the event things get heated and we need back up. We'll stay in radio communications through the entire extraction.

"I've selected the teams in terms of one biotic and one soldier together, complimenting each other's strengths and weaknesses. Liara, you're with me. Wrex and Javik, you're together. And Miranda and Hannah, you'll make up the third. Alenko and Vega, I want the two of you ready to go at any given moment in the event this ends up in a firefight."

Tali began to protest, "You can't leave me behind, Garrus. Not on this one,"

"You'll be working comms and remote hacking with Traynor and EDI. I need-" began Garrus but Tali didn't let him finish. "No! They can take care of it themselves. I'm not sitting this out!"

"Tali, listen to me." he sighed. He didn't want her to get hurt again, especially after the incident on Omega, and he wasn't sure if she was even fit for battle. The small quarian put her hands on her hips and cocked her helmeted head to the side.

"No!" she shouted as she approached him. "You listen to me! I'm coming on this mission whether you like it or not," she prodded him in the chest with her forefinger repeatedly as she spoke. "I have as much right as you to be a part of this extraction. And you can't remote hack everything… even with new technology. I'm the best there is and besides… Someone's gonna need to blast any enemies with a shotgun if they get past your sniper."

Garrus couldn't help but smile down at her. She was right, she did have every authority to be with them and he wasn't about to deny her that, especially when she was holding her shotgun.

"Fine," he said. "Tali's with me and Liara."

Tali whispered, "Thank you."

Cortez poked his head from the cockpit of the Kodiak, "She's fired up and ready to go. But we're gonna have to do this in two trips. She can't hold seven fully armored soldiers."

"Alright people," he said. "Let's bring Shepard home!"

The Admiral, Vega and Kaidan liften their guns into the air and responded in unison with a loud battle cry, "Oorah!"

Tychus stepped towards his son and said in a quiet voice, "I know we've had our differences, Garrus. But no matter what, you're still my son. Just be careful, alright?"

Garrus nodded his understanding, and with Liara and Tali in tow, clambered into the shuttle as the bay doors opened. Upon leaving the Normandy, they were able to glimpse the Cerberus outpost for the first time.

Taking a look through Kasumi's stolen files, EDI had been able to decipher that this particular station, known to Cerberus as Hyperion Station, was located in the Keplar Verge... the Newton System, to be more precise. They had been to this system barely a year ago to rescue Grace Sato from a communications hub on Ontarom that was being overrun with Cerberus forces. How they had not detected Hyperion Station was beyond anyone's guess, though it was hidden within the rings of Sesmose, the last planet in the system. Perhaps the rings or the gravitational pull of the planet had something to do with not discovering the station. On a good note, Hyperion was a bit smaller than Cronus had been, meaning they would have less ground to cover.

Approaching a service platform near the bottom of the station and pulling on his helmet, Garrus took note that there didn't seem to be much activity. The assault on Cronus had brought out every fighter ship the station could hold, but nothing coming to meet them was slightly disturbing. Garrus didn't voice his concern, not yet anyway.

Jumping from the Kodiak, Garrus and Liara swept the platform for resistance, as Tali took off toward the entrance to hack the lock. Liara signaled when she found nothing, no enemies, no anti-aircraft weapons, not even a single trigger alarm. It took Tali a few minutes to unlock the door carefully, and by the time she stood up to punch the airlock, the other two teams had arrived.

As the service door opened, and all three squads entered the station, Garrus watched as the Kodiak pulled away and the Normandy dropped beneath the station.

"Okay, Joker's parking the ship on a nearby chunk of ice, hidden from view. I'll do a sweep around the station, pick up James and Kaidan, and return here," Cortez said into Garrus' earpiece. "If things start to look hairy, hail me."

"Copy that. With any luck, we'll be in and out of here in no time," Garrus replied as the airlock doors closed shut behind him.

Glancing around, they noticed they were in a cargo bay large enough to house the Normandy. Lights ran the length of the ceiling, as well as around the base of the floor.

"Well at least the power's still on," Garrus muttered, removing his helmet.

"Were you not expecting it to be?" Javik murmured, slinking past. Arching a browplate at the prothean, Garrus turned to Tali, "Anything on that terminal?"

"Yeah, it's an information terminal. I pulled a blueprint of the entire station. Uploading it to everyone now. There's not much else here though. Some supply drops, a handful of repair and maintenance schedules. But definitely not anything else worth noting." She switched back to her omni-tool and added, "I am getting some very strange readings though. The dark energy in this system is spiked. More so than any other system I've seen." Looking at Liara, she asked, "Could this be where it's coming from?"

The asari shrugged, "Not sure, but I think we can't worry about that just yet."

"If this is true, we need to make this as fast as possible…," Tali replied, apprehension on the edge of her voice.

"That's the plan," said Garrus, his omni-tool flashing, signaling the upload was complete.

"Any ideas where we should start?" asked Wrex looking at his map.

"This and the next level up are labeled 'LOADING' and "STORAGE'. I think we can eliminate those," Hannah said. "The next five levels include the "MAIN HANGAR', 'CAFETERIA', 'LIVING QUARTERS' and 'DORMS'."

"Unless Shepard's on maid duty, I think we can skip those levels too," Wrex said dryly. Tali snorted at the comment as Hannah and Garrus eyed the krogan disapprovingly. Liara shook her head despondently. Wrex shrugged his shoulders, "What? I thought it was funny…"

Javik rolled his eyes, "Levels eight through 15 are comprised of 'INFIRMARY', 'HOLDING CELLS' and 'LABS'."

"Javik and Wrex, I want you to take the infirmary. Hannah, you and Miranda will start with the holding cells, while me, Liara and Tali start by searching these labs," said Garrus, pointing to floors 13, 14, and 15. "If all else fails, we finalize with these top office floors, but hopefully it won't come to that."

The other teams nodded, wished one another luck and parted into different directions. Heart pounding in his chest and his stomach in knots in anticipation, Garrus motioned for Tali and Liara to follow him to the main elevator.

As the elevator took them to the first level of labs, Liara swallowed so hard that Garrus was able to hear it.

"Did you notice how it's been quiet ever since we arrived here?" she asked in a whisper, eyeing the camera in the ceiling.

"You noticed that too, huh?" said Garrus. Liara nodded and swallowed again, "It's… unsettling."

"I'm half expecting an ambush…," Tali said quietly.

"So am I... Just be on your guard," replied Garrus.

The elevator opened up into a dark lab, causing the small squad to flick on their flashlights to show them the way. The large room was filled with equipment, metal slabs with shackles and a number of consoles. It smelled all wrong… it smelled of blood and death. Garrus shivered against the feeling it left inside him, dark and ominous. Tali moved out ahead of them, searching terminal after terminal for any useful information, reporting back that a number of brutal and gruesome experiments had been conducted here, but nothing on Shepard… yet.

Nearing the end of the room, by a set of stairs leading up, Garrus tapped his earpiece. "Wrex? You guys find anything yet?"

"No, well unless you count the incinerator down here," came the krogan's disgruntled reply. Liara flinched. "What kind of place is this?" she asked.

Garrus shook his head, not wanting to know the answer, "Make your way to the third level of the labs. We just got done searching the first and moving to the second. Hannah? Miranda? Anything?"

Heavy gasping echoed in Garrus' ear. "Admiral?" he repeated.

"Yeah… There's bodies down here… in cells," she said. "Some of them looked to be changed halfway between normal and something grotesque…" Garrus' heart jumped from his chest into his throat.

"Are any of them-" he couldn't finish the question he began. Luckily Hannah quickly replied, "No…"

No sooner had Garrus breathed a sigh, did Miranda say, "Hang on a second. There's something down here…" Her voice trailed off. Liara looked back down at Garrus, halfway up the stairs to the next floor, her eyes wide with apprehension and fear.

There's a human in this cell…" Hannah said quietly.

"There's a turian in the next one," whispered Miranda. "Both female… And both alive… though just barely… but not Shepard."

Garrus closed his eyes, relief washing over him. He gathered his thoughts swiftly and said, "Alright, I want you to take both of them back to the Kodiak, get them on board the Normandy and to Dr. Chakwas. Cortez?"

"Yeah?"

"Hail Chakwas and let her know she's got two patients incoming, in dire need of medical assistance," Garrus said.

"On it,"

"Did you hear that?" Liara said, taking another slow step up the staircase.

"Hear what?" Tali and Garrus said in unison. Garrus strained his ears and heard what Liara was speaking of.

"Was that-?" Tali started, but was interrupted by the noise once more.

"That's definitely gunfire," finished Garrus, taking off up the stairs, behind Liara.

Bursting through the doors at the top of the landing, Garrus immediately spied at least a dozen mechs at the end of the room, pistols out and firing down its length toward an overturned slab.

Time seemed to slow down for him as a figure behind the slab rose from the shadows into the light of the gunfire, red hair blazing as heat sinks fell to the floor in slow, continual motions.

"Shepard?" Garrus whispered breathlessly.

Updated 6/7/14