Arius stood transfixed as a virtual image of the quarian home system materialized before him. Only a few hours ago, the quarian admiralty had convened in the Normandy's war room to share news of their recent offensive to retake their long-lost homeworld from the geth. But the operation had gone awry - the geth's networking capabilities had been inexplicably upgraded by Reaper influence, increasing their coordination and lethality. Now, the quarian flotilla was caught between a hostile geth fleet guarding the only relay out of the system and their occupied planet.

Garrus's voice crackled over the intercom, breaking Arius's reverie. "Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place."

Arius shook his head. "I'd laugh if it weren't so tense. The quarians are on the brink of annihilation."

"They picked a bad time to attack. Legion had told us the geth were against the 'Old Machines'. The surprise attack probably cornered them, and then the Reapers made them an offer they couldn't refuse."

"I don't blame them." Arius ran a hand through his hair. "Ugh, Tali's an admiral now; could they not have negotiated? I've been working on greasing these cogs for months. They were very nearly there."

"Tali begged them to reconsider the attack. You have to remember, though, she's served on the Normandy with us, with Legion. None of the other admirals have the level of understanding she has."

Arius sighed, rubbing his forehead in a moment of rare impatience. The deeper they got into the war, the higher the stakes increased, moreso for him as a final culmination of his entire life. A peace treaty between the two had seemed almost assured, only requiring the location of representative Legion and Tali to convince their respective peoples to stand down. To smooth the agreement, they could have used Shepard as a mediator, as she was respected by both sides. Now, the quarians were about to undo all that had been built. In times like these, he wished he was still the Imperator of the Empire with the power to command with a single word.

"I guess we'll see soon enough. The quarian Heavy Fleet will collapse before our eyes unless they shut down that signal soon," Arius said before picking up his coffee. As he looked down at it, he realized that the stimulant probably wasn't doing his nerves any favours, so he set it back down and made a mental note to switch to herbal tea instead.

"Hold up. The signal just stopped."

"It's about time."

"... and the dreadnought's drive core just went cold. Its weapons and barriers have just fizzled out."

Arius squinted at the changing model before him, trying to decipher what was happening. Had Shepard manually disabled the drive core? Possible but unlikely. It seemed more like a good-faith gesture from whatever controlled the dreadnought. The geth were backing down? But why?

"Garrus, I'm patching in EDI. She's down with Shepard and Tali right now, and since the core is offline, we'll have a better connection."

After making the patch, he asked, "EDI, what's happening? The dreadnought appears offline."

"Arius, Legion was found in captivity within the drive core of the geth dreadnought. The Reapers were using his platform's networking architecture to broadcast their signal to all geth simultaneously. Shepard has just now managed to free the platform from Reaper control."

"Legion?" he repeated, digesting the information. It all made sense. "Ah, another mystery solved, then. The reason we couldn't reach him earlier - he had been captured. They've been using the dreadnought as a base because its power can boost the signal long-range."

Garrus interrupted, "Uh, we might have a problem. They're not retreating."

Arius looked back to the model and saw that instead of ships retreating back out through the relay en masse, they were lining up their railguns towards the warship.

EDI's voice appeared again. "I am monitoring Tali's communications with the quarian admiralty. Due to the dropped defences, Admiral Gerrel has just made a unilateral order for the Heavy Fleet to attack the dreadnought."

"By the spirits, they're still on board!"

Arius shook his head, incredulous. "They can't possibly be that short-sighted. EDI, if it's a comms issue, order the quarians to stand down. Are they aware that you have not disembarked yet?"

"Tali has already done so. They have been unresponsive."

If Arius had felt impatience before, he now felt a burning claw squeeze his heart. "This is unacceptable. Continue hailing. Tell Joker to monitor for lifeboats or crafts launched from the dreadnought and move to intercept."

"Jeff is monitoring the situation closely, awaiting rendezvous coordinates from the Commander."

Seconds felt like hours as they waited for an update. On the model, the Heavy Fleet was decimating the colossal but defenceless dreadnought. Arius winced every time a round found purchase, knowing that even if the squad didn't get hit directly, the internal flak from the impacts was far more likely to wipe them out.

"Jeff is currently in comms with the Commander. Rendezvous coordinates have been received," EDI finally reported.

He sighed, letting out a tense, held breath. Less than a minute later, the geth flagship yielded to the onslaught and exploded in a colossal ball of fusion fire.

Arius felt a forgotten rage boiling under his skin, filling his head and chest with white-hot anger. Admiral Gerrel had just destroyed one of the few dreadnoughts they possessed against the Reapers, one of the most powerful ones at that. Aside from the staggering material loss, he had nearly wiped out some of the most potent and progressive leadership the galaxy had to offer in one swoop. Tali and Legion were irreplaceable political figures within their respective people, and to have lost Shepard alongside would have been a fatal blow to their cause. He knew that there was only one enemy in this war: the Reapers. No other adversaries would be tolerated. Admiral Gerrel's decision to destroy the dreadnought, especially considering the large risk of losing such high-value players, amounted to nothing less than betrayal.

He paced back and forth in his quarters, thoughts of retribution swirling in his head. He recalled old ways of dealing with traitors, ways that involved removing their limbs one by one and giving them a choice between eating their flesh or starving. While those days were long gone, the imaginings of crushing the fool who had almost cost them everything brought him a dark, righteous pleasure.

While he stewed in his black deliberations, he received a notification that the parties were reconvening in the war room. He exited the hold with measured steps and took the elevator to the war room. When he arrived, the quarian admirals were already there, bickering among themselves. He approached the railing near the room's exit, his grip tight around it as he observed them, waiting for Shepard to arrive. Tali stood on the sidelines with crossed arms, clearly agitated by their close and unnecessary brush with death.

"Your reckless attack put us all in danger! I could charge you with treason!" Admiral Raan fumed, her anger barely contained.

"I was within my authority as admiral of the Heavy Fleet!" Admiral Gerrel shot back, defending himself.

Shepard walked in, her face grim, after completing an urgent call with Admiral Hackett. She paused at the top of the steps, scanning the room. Arius could sense the anger simmering beneath her expression. He watched intently, waiting to see what would happen next.

"And what about Shepard?" Raan demanded, gesturing towards the Commander. "And Tali'Zorah?"

Gerrel folded his arms, attempting to downplay the incident. "They escaped unharmed! Shepard, the mission parameters changed. You're military. You understand that."

Arius watched Shepard descend the steps purposefully, closing the gap between herself and Admiral Gerrel until her face was only inches from his mask. It was the wrong thing to say, and Arius could see Shepard's right hand clench tightly, ready to strike Gerrel. A part of him burned to witness her lose control, to see her exact vengeance on the man who had almost cost her everything. The feeling put his teeth on edge.

"I understand," she stated with barely restrained fury, "that you wasted your chance to withdraw safely!"

"The dreadnought was a perfect target!" he retorted.

"This is exactly the kind of shortsighted, bloodthirsty behaviour I was worried about," she scolded in return.

"If you could retake Earth with a little friendly fire, you'd do it in a heartbeat!"

To Arius' dismay, Shepard held back, but her anger was palpable in every fibre of her being. "You're lucky I need your ships, Admiral."

Gerrel dismissed himself, turning his back on Shepard. "I must return to the Heavy Fleet. Raan, we will talk later."

But the confrontation wasn't over yet. As Gerrel made his way out, he rudely bumped into Tali, shoving her aside. Arius was taken aback by the admiral's continued audacity, and his grip on the railing tightened even more. Such was the intensity on Arius' features that as Gerrel approached the exit where he was standing, he caught Arius' sanguinary expression and visibly flinched before quickly exiting. At the other end of the room, Shepard locked eyes with him, first with concern, then with an expression that conveyed her disappointment at Gerrel's actions.

With Gerrel's departure, the tense air in the room finally dissipated. Arius found himself cooling down and his grip on the rail loosening. He was glad he had not given into his urges in the clearer head that prevailed and admired Shepard's continued composure and control. As much as he wished, making any unwarranted decisions now would prove that he had not learned anything since travelling down that same path he had all those years ago on Earth. He had been so caught up by the pressures of victory at any cost that the line between his and theirs had become misplaced.

He took another deep breath, letting go of his anger and turning away to return to the task at hand.