I need a damn drink

This politic-ing was really getting to me. We had just been defeated at the hands of bureaucracy, and we weren't sure what to do next.

Can't go to Chora's den

Flux sucks, though. Ah well.

We stopped by a striking view of the wards as Ashley, Kaidan, Shepard and I pondered our options.

"Big place!" Kaidan broke the awkward, defeated silence with that. It was a nice view. The arms slowly spinning around the widow nebula, cities teaming with skycars and vibrant lights, the obnoxious billboard ships were the only drawback. Human corporations brought that to the citadel, much to the chagrin of the other species, and to me. Ruining the view of infinite oblivion with a flying candy ad.

God those are so ugly.

"Yeah, nothing like first comin' here for shore leave. I'm a long way from Texas." I half-heartily chuckled to myself about that, and the memory it conjured up. I wonder if Dad can see me now, somewhere out there. He joined God in eternity when I was a teenager, dead in a freak hunting accident. Always knew his only son would go see big things, poured his whole life into the family. I visit his grave whenever I can. Wonder what life would be like if fate was on my side for once.

I pondered this as I gazed blankly into the abyss, the grand arms of the citadel fading from my peripheral vision.

My father would have loved to see this.

Look at me now papa, put a good word in for me with the big man upstairs, alright?

Shepard came up behind us and brought me back out of my mind, clapping his hands together to get our attention. "Alright people, we're gonna take this bastard down one way or another, and I think I know where to start." His stance relaxed as he tapped up his omni-tool and called someone.

"Garrus, perhaps?" Ashley guessed correct when the turian voice pipped up from the omni-tool.

"Shepard? Hell of a time to call" Garrus was in a hushed, hurried tone. Sounded like he was in some sort of situation.

"Garrus, we called to see if you have any idea how to take down Saren. Council didn't bite, so we're on our own."

"You called at a hell of a fuckin' time Shepard. Come to my location, sending it now. Bring guns. It's about to get hot." Looks like fate turned, but that exchange gave me no indication which side of fate I was on.

It got our attention, each of us looking at each other in surprise. Looks like Garrus was busy.

"Got it." Shepard abruptly hung up.

"Alright, get ready guys. This could get ugly." He looked over at me with some trepidation. I think I knew exactly why.

That's when it hit me. What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm a pilot by training, not solider. I mean, I could handle myself, but my ground training stopped after basic. We started walking in the direction of Garrus' signal at the Med Clinic. On our way, I posed the question.

"Okay, soooo what should I do? I have training for ground combat, but I'm a hell of a lot more useful in a fighter than I am with my pistol."

Look, don't get me wrong, I'd love to do this mission impossible bullshit with them, but I only had my shields and was carrying a compact carry pistol. Chiappa Rhino Model 2090. One of the last powder guns before mass effect took over. .357 magnum, 6 shots, and a bullet velo that's fast enough to kill, and slow enough to ignore cheaper models of shields. The only way this antique is useful at all is the special disruptor rounds I had ordered from my local gunsmith back in Texas. In the rural areas that still exist, we still love our powder guns.

Of course, definitely not Alliance regulation.

"It might not be a good idea, Ace. You dying would be a bit of a liability." Ashley was right in a sense. I was the only fighter pilot. Grunts are a dime a dozen and they know it.

Shepard pondered for a little bit. It seemed he was actually considering taking little ol' me into a shootout. He didn't have time to give it much thought.

"Fuck it, come with if you want. Just don't die please. That'd look bad on me."

"Aye, aye sir."

Checked my revolver. Fully loaded, shield bypass AP disruptor ammo. I spun the cylinder and flicked it in battery sharply and cocked the hammer. Speed loaders in the holster.

Well, suppose I needed some target practice.

"Stack up" Shepard said in a hushed tone was we followed suit. I checked my shield generators

OVERCLOCK: 200%

Then my revolver

Six shots, 12 more on my hip. Its go time.

I snapped it closed and adjusted my sweaty hands on its stippled grip, letting them rest firmly in ready position as Ashely and Kaidan stacked up on the opposite side of the door to Shepard. I took Shepard's six.

Shepard lifted his arm up and extended three fingers, his other hand hovering over the door switch. He counted down as he looked over at Ashley and Kaidan, their expressions tense with focus.

3…2…1…

The door opened and we swarmed into the room, guns drawn as we fanned out. We spotted around 5 gunmen holding up the doctor, and Garrus in a crouched position behind the reception desk.

Two gunmen swung their head around towards us, and one swiftly grabbed the doctor and whipped a pistol to her temple. She let out a loud scream and whimpered in petrifying fear.

"Don't fucking move, bitch." The thug yelled with a sting to his voice as the other drew his gun in our direction, their attention fixated on us. My heart was pounding, as I knew that one wrong move and her head was mush. Just, then Garrus gave us a look and swung around the corner, delivering a perfect shot to the side of the thugs head as his remains splattered on the other thug, who was startled by the suddenness.

I pulled the trigger on the second armed thug. The .357 powder charge let out a deafening blast and passed effortlessly right through his shields with a small disruptor wake flashing, and put him down as the bullet ricocheted behind him on the alloy walls.

The other two starting ringing out shots our direction as we fanned out to find cover, I took cover and started peaking around the corner of the cabinets letting off two shots. I hit one in the arm and he stumbled out from behind his wall, when Shepard put two more rounds into his chest, icing him for good.

The last thug came out of cover and started firing wildly, with no regard for his life or limb. Ashely and Kaidan easily put him down.

Then, as my panting subsided and the adrenaline went away, I started feeling something burning on my arm.

A lot.

I looked down at the sight of the pain, and saw a good 4 inch long gash in my tricep, bleeding a pretty good amount.

"Fuck! I'm hit." It was starting to hurt quite a lot as I put on my best tough guy act. Dr. Michel came scampering out of cover over to me, with a medigel application ready.

"Hold still, I got you!" She was clearly labored and quite amped up on adrenaline from the fight. As she used the applicator, my pain slowly faded away and the bleeding slowed and stopped.

"You alright, Ace?" Shepard asked me as he walked away from the now-dead thug bodies. He didn't sound too worried.

"Yeah, 'tis but a flesh wound, my lord." I was internally seething at this point. I'm not going to lie, it hurt.

"Sense of humor's still shit, I'd say you're good to go." He extended his arm to offer a helping hand. I had to genuinely put a few seconds of thought into not using my currently injured arm.

I chuckled a bit at that as I let Shepard help me up with my other arm. I shot Garrus a look, "Nice shot, by the way."

"Thanks for the assist, gave me a perfect line up."

Shepard chimed in. "What the hell kind of gun are you using, Ace?" He gestured toward my hip where it hanged on its holster.

I looked down at it, taking it out to admire it and show it off. "I guess a holdover from my dad. Promised him on his deathbed I'd take it to remember him by." I went off into a mumble as I inspected the scratches.

Garrus was over by Dr. Michel, talking to her about the circumstances of the gunmen's untimely arrival to her clinic. We decided to drop our conversation and listen in, walking over to the two.

"So gimme the short and quick, Garrus." Shepard crossed his arms in anticipation. It was high time we had a proper lead.

Garrus turned to us. "Well, it seems they were looking for a quarian, and this quarian allegedly has information that is so important that she was fleeing armed killers for the last 3 days on the citadel."

Everyone was slightly taken aback by the revelation. Everyone knew that these weren't any regular thugs. It was Saren.

"So Saren sent out these thugs to kill her, and this quarian is on the citadel somewhere?"

"Bingo. Headed to see Fist a Chora's Den. I know the place." Garrus gestured his hands to Shepard, seemingly deferring to his judgment on the next move. "So what now?"

"We gotta find her now!" Shepard kicked his initiative into high gear, storming towards the door.

"Wait, Shepard. I'm coming with you." Garrus stopped the N7 in his tracks, and he slowly tuned towards Garrus.

Garrus collected himself a bit after blurting that out. "I hate Saren as much as you do, and I'm want in if your going to hunt him down."

Sheperd was now squared up towards him. I glanced in his direction with a smirk. I gave him the "This guy gets it" look just to tide over his reservations about the jaded cop.

Shepard looked up after his brief pondering. "Alright, you're in. Welcome abord Garrus."

Garrus shook Shepard's hand and put on what I think is the turian equivalent of a smile. "Now let's go get us a Quarian."

Then a thought shot through my mind like a speeding arrow. Wait, we're going to Chora's Den?

Shepard interrupted my thinking just as I was going to voice my concerns. "Ace, don't take it personally, but you're gonna have to sit this one out. Looking like its gonna get messy and I cannot have a pilot die on the ground."

I sighed in humble resignation. Yeah, I'm not in any shape for a real boots-on-the-ground firefight. Probably need to get treated while I'm at it. "Yeah, yeah I'll sit this one out. But I got a question before I head back. How are y'all planning on doing this?"

Garrus was the first to pipe up. "Well, we were just going to walk there and be ready for anything I guess."

I knew the regulars there. And I knew the guards. 4 of the meanest Krogan you've laid eyes on. Combine that with a small space and I know that's suicide even for Mr. N7 and company.

"The guards there are no joke. You're sizing up a fight with 4 krogan mercs minimum, in a 500 square meter bar. Even y'all know that's borderline suicide." I paced around behind and around Garrus, Shepard and Ashley in hurried contemplation.

"What you need is a distraction. And I have an idea."

I pulled out my omni-tool and texted my squadrons group chat.

USERNAME: NiceShootinTex – Hey Guys, who is on the citadel right now. Meet me at my location. I want drinks at Chora's

The group chat lit up and 5 people responded that they'd come in addition to one standout quip from one of the lieutenants.

USERNAME: JackAss42 – Bruh aint you banned from there for fuckin w a Krogan dumbass

That got a chuckle out of me, and Ashley was curious as to what I was doing typing away at what was very visibly a group chat. "What the hell are you typing there" She exclaimed in a calm tone, clearly not enthused with my expert plan.

"I'm setting up a diversion."

I began typing my essay to the boys, explaining how this night out would not end well, by design.

"So, you're telling me you and your old squardon are going to start a bar fight to get us to Fist…somehow?"

Ashley was stupefied at this plan I had concocted. Look, I know I'm not a ground combat guy, but I sure as hell can be a big enough dumbass to be a massive distraction.

"It's the perfect diversion and I know they'' recognize me. I know the tender who works this shift, there's gonna be problems immediately. I got banned from this bar."

Ashley chuckled a bit at that. "How did you do that?"

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, knowing that moment wasn't my finest hour.

"I'll tell you what, we pull this off, I'll tell all of y'all about it." I gestured to Sheprad and Garrus, who were going over what I assumed were some plans for slipping into the back while I was causing mayhem.

"Can't say this is the craxiest thing you've roped me into Ace, but I'm sliding for my man" Lieutenant Jack and four of the boys from back home who were free just then rounded the corner, then greeted with the sight of 3 gun toting soldiers looking ready to storm fuckin' Torfan.

I shot them a smile as they nervously made their way into the room, greeting Jack with a handshake .

"Gentlemen, this is no night out. Let's just say you're about to participate in the most consequential barfight in galactic history."

"We read the message. Start fight at a bar you're banned from, your…new friends slip their way into the back w concealed pistols, and they finished up in time to mop up with proper guns." Jack couldn't believe the words coming out his mouth, I could tell. Doing crazy shit while we were flying or drinking was par for the course with me, but this was a whole other level to go to a bar looking for trouble. Usually trouble was just in tow with me. Now it's front and center.

"And I comp all of your drinks for the weekend, just remember to invoice me." I layed the sarcasm on heavy. They're my ride-or-dies, but they're not going to start shit with Krogan bouncers without some proper compensation.

"Of course, your majesty." Jack cracked his knuckles while the others began to prep their fists and arms for the coming chaos. "So… lets fuckin' do it boys!"

I started hyping them up as we made our way to the door. I then yelled to Shepard as we neared the door, seeing them getting ready at a inconspicuous distance from us. "Shepard! Remember, once you head shit going down, then slip in the front and try to avoid the fight!"

"Gotcha Ace! Raise hell!" Shepard gave a mock salute that I retured, putting some hop in my step as I my way to the door.

The hiss of the door then precipitated a familiar voice, but not a good one, as I waltzed my way straight for the bar.

"Hey, fuckface! You're fuckin' banned get the fuck out!" I knew that face and voice. The bartender sounded and looked like one of the Sopranos from those old mob shows. And he kicked me out for good reason. And he was none too happy with seeing my dumbass with my goon squad in tow. The bartender authoritatively slammed his bottle of vodka down on the counter.

As I approached the bar he kept telling me to fuck off, now noticing that the two Krogan bouncers were now tailing us ready to throw us out. The music began to fade out of my awareness.

I looked him dead in the eye.

"That's that new Moscow select right? How much that shit cost?" I was maddogging him as I placed my hands squarely on the bar, leaning towards him every so slightly.

"The fuck's it to ya? I'm not talking to jackasses like you." He wasn't having any of my shit, and he was standing his ground.

I gave it a small look, breaking my eye contact with him.

Alright, let the party start.

"Just want to know how much I owe ya."

It was a blur. I gripped the bottle by its neck, and smashed it as hard as I could into the Krogan hovering over me, right in his eye so it'd at least hurt a little bit. He staggered at the speed of the smash and I leaped behind the bar, grappling the bartender to get down to business.

Now it's on.

My boys sprang into action with all they could muster, making sure to start fights with the weakest first. The patrons were horrified, some of the women backing away while the whole drunk brigade of men drowning themselves in liquor joined in on the mayhem.

A Krogan was trying to restrain me as I attempted to elude his grasp, making sure he never actually got a hold of me. I then saw the door slide open as Shepard, Ashley and Garrus just slipped right on by. All the bouncers were storming towards our scene we were making while bottles flew, chairs smashed and Krogans were busy trying to figure out which one of the now dozens of fighters to restrain first.

Perfect.

My last thought was until I caught the nastiest left hook I've ever taken.

Crack

And that was lights out. For now.

My head was fuckin' throbbing

Everything was a daze. I felt like I was being shaken as I stared up at vaguely neon lights in my blurred vision. Someone was yelling. Wait, yeah, Shepard was yelling

"Get the fuck up man! Come on we gotta move! You're good now." Shepard finally became intelligible to me as I looked around.

"Where's my squadron?" I slurred out as best I could.

Jack then bent down over me, looking like complete dogshit. He definitely did his part. He stretched out his bloodied hand to help me up.

"We did our fuckin' job. You just tanked a sucker punch from a Krogan bro." Jack pulled me up with some exertion as I then tried to stabilize myself. As I regained composure I noticed a lot more blood. Krogan blood from the looks of it. MY squadron mates were in a isture of laying down in exhaustion, clutching their wounds, and completely out cold.

Shepard then ushered me out the door. "We know where the quarrian is! No time to explain, we gotta go!"

I checked under my shirt for my pistol and made sure it was ready to go. The rest were outside waiting for us, and I followed as fast as I could in my current state, hobbling slightly as I was still getting my balance. I looked back at Jack

"Take care of the boys! I gotta go" My last words to jack as he waved me off to tend to the wounds of my friends.

I checked my pocket for my stim I brought as a backup. I pulled the cap and shot it into my arm. It was like I kicked my nervous system into overdrive, and my senses lit up with input.

Now I feel like a million bucks.

I rushed to catch up with the rest, still bleeding from the injection since I failed to actuate the cauterizer properly in my dazed rush to regain functionality.

We made our way to this alley door and stacked up.

Let's go get her

We opened the door as Shepard ground to a halt right in front of us, shooting his hand up.

"Quiet! She's right there! Let's make this quick and clean." Shepard was whispering as we moved into crates just out of sight of a few thug looking guys. Few turians, few salarians. All scumbags at first sight.

I got between a few crates with a perfect view of this quarian. She was twiddling her hands as the turian approached her, his eyes looking around for any witnesses.

"Did you bring it?"

The quarian's head jolted up quickly at the turian's question, looking around the room as if something wasn't right.

"Where's the shadow broker, where's fist?"

"They're be here. Where's the evidence." The turian stroked his hand down the side of the quarians body slowly, feeling her up in all the wrong ways.

Fuckin' A plus model citizen this guy

I trained my sights on him.

The quarian then slapped his hand away and stepped back slightly. "No way, the deal's off."

The turian clearly didn't like that. He slowly waltzed back while I saw a few of his cronies draw weapons slowly. I shot a look at Shepard, waiting for his signal.

Then, the quarian threw a grenade as the two gunmen's feet as she bounced away into a crate nearby, throwing herself to the wall near it.

Boom.

The concussion from the blast shook the air in the whole room as the salarians were violently thrown back into the wall.

I squeezed the trigger and let of my first shot at the turian. The shot shook the air too, slightly less than the grenade. I hit him in the side, staggering him slightly as Garrus put a new hole in his head, sending him to the floor in a splat of the contents of his skull.

"Forward, now!" Shepard launched out of cover and began lighting up the room with gunfire. We all followed suit.

I swung out and fired off my whole cylinder into the salarians friend, each bang followed by the sharp wub of the shields warping around the bullet. The cacophony of gunfire drowned out every thought, each gunshot putting me into instinct mode further and further. I struck him in the chest 4 times before he toppled over motionless. Garrus followed me as I saw the last thug stagger back as 3 shots entered his chest and legs.

We all stood silent as we set security around the area, making sure we finished the job. I was panting my lungs out, and the rest were too, spare Shepard, who casually waltzed around like this was Tuesday for him.

Hell, this is probably a vacation for this fuckin' guy

"Clear!" I yelled as I looked for our girl, which I has just remember was the reason why we shot up this joint in the first place.

Adrenaline is a hell of a drug

I saw her in the corner between a crate and a crook in the wall. She was holding a small, elaborate looking knife in a shaking death grip, her body sprawled out in complete astonishment, no doubt from our timely rescue efforts. She quickly made herself known, loudly.

"Who are you!? Back off bosh'tets!" The Quarian's voice was quivering, well, as much as I could tell with the vocal distortion from her purple tinted helmet. She was staggering her way up the wall, trying to regain her footing.

I decided to keep her calm. "woah woah woah we aren't hear to hurt you miss." I put out my hand as I slowly inched closer. "My name's Bruce, Alliance Navy"

She wasn't budging, now had firm footing under her feet. I was well within "getting my throat slit" distance.

"Look, we just shot these guys for y…"

Shepard cut me off. "You've got evidence that proves Saren Arterius is a Traitor to the Council. We're here to protect you. What's your name."

She relaxed her shoulders after a short pause, and put her knife back in her boot…holster? I'm not even sure that was the right word. Her breathing was getting deeper but slower. No more getting my throat slit after all.

"My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya."

Okay, well, I'm back. Let's just say a lot happened to me between my latest entry and now. But I'm so happy to get the ball rolling again.

Next stop, Tali talks to Bruce and the team, a certain Krogan has a bone to pick with Shepard, and the Normandy sets sail.

Till next time!