As Shepard races to get to the Citadel and activate the Crucible, we look at what is going on behind the scenes onboard the Normandy. This is the end…once and for all. And it will bring about a future that many will never see.


A/N: Ah, see, I did get to use the original title after all. Apologies for the delay on this, was moving and getting settled into my new apartment, that took priority. That and work has been kicking my butt.

We're getting into more uncharted waters with this. Everything before had at least the guardrails of happening within the game's story, so I'm a bit nervous. Focusing on original content of my own making, we'll see how it plays out.

I'm also doing a bit of experimenting with this one. Needless to say, I'm a huge Metallica fan. Also needless to say, my writing style is not the most subtle in the world. So, I've come up with a solution to that problem. Instead of studying and taking writing lessons, you know, like a normal person, I'm just going to lean into it, with the help of Metallica. Why, because Metallica is awesome and the world should know. And in all honesty, these songs lyrically tie into some of the themes, ideas, and emotions I intend to discuss, so it helps to get my point across a little bit.

I wouldn't necessarily call this a "songfic" per se, as the whole thing is not centering around them, but more so to add emphasis onto certain parts. Hell I sort of started it with Chapters 1 and 7 with referring to the lyrics of "Too Far Gone" in them. You don't have to listen to the songs to get it, I will try to use them at least sparingly so they don't become annoying or take away from the actual story itself, nor will they be in every chapter.

"Spit Out The Bone": From the album Hardwired…to Self Destruct. In the words of songwriter James Hetfield: "Why would I not have the internet in my head all the time? Why do I have to worry with all these 'emotions' and stuff? Falling in love and getting your heart broken? That doesn't do anybody good. You know, the heart and blood? It's in the way of efficiency! We could be a much more efficient race if we just allow computers to help us. And yeah, they are helping us, but how far does that go? All of that craziness." A song about becoming enslaved to our devices, technology, and advancement that we lose who we are as it slowly corrupts us.


Part 1: One of Their Own

Chapter 8: A Quarian's Liberation (Spit Out The Bone)

At various points across and above Earth, battles were waged as the fight for the preservation of the galaxy unfolded. From orbit, one could see the thousands of fires that were burning across the major population centers of the planet. The brightest of which came from London, where the highest collection of armed resistance and Reaper forces were gathered. The people that were left across the globe were either too preoccupied with their own survival, or there was simply no one left to try and put them out. The latter of which was the most haunting, an entire city of people completely eradicated, the only thing that was extinguished was any semblance of life.

Even in areas where the population was more spread out, the lands that once were green had now turned a sickly gray. Scorched and battered lands that used to be forests, farmlands, and suburban towns were laid to rest. Once the Reapers had landed and began to take over Earth's cities, they had quickly sought to eliminate the governmental bodies and authoritative powers that governed these areas, effectively severing planetary communication. Had it not been for the efforts of Admiral Anderson, all hope of a united resistance effort would have been lost due to the Reapers' strategy.

Once the harvesting had begun and the planet's cities were in ruin, the Reapers then began to send troop transport and processor vessels to the other corners of the planet. Their troops were able to make quick work of the population, even with how spread out they were. Once they were all corralled together, the denizens were precipitously harvested or indoctrinated. As the resistance mainly focused on fighting back where forces were heaviest, they had turned a blind eye to the Reapers efforts in these areas, they simply did not have the manpower to stop it. Slowly but surely, it gave the Reapers a stronger foothold across Earth, and further tilted the odds in their favor.

However, the odds were finally beginning to swing back around, as planet side, Commander Shepard and his team barreled through Reaper controlled territory. Over the course of the last 3 hours, they had faced waves upon waves of enemy combatants. While the rest of Hammer was getting crushed under the weight and pressure of the Reapers, their numbers so overwhelming that they might as well have been fighting a hydra, Shepard proved to be relentless and unyielding. Despite the long shot odds, he and his squad carried the force of a small army. His actions were not only giving Earth, but the rest of the galaxy, a fighting chance. They just had to make it a little further.

Dozens of miles away from where Shepard and his team were fighting to take out a Destroyer camped near the beam to the Citadel, was the FOB. The Normandy had managed to dock itself, as per Shepard's orders. Inside the ship, however detached it physically was from the main battle, there was a different kind of zeal in the bones of everyone onboard. They were fighting a different, if not just as important, battle, as officers and crew members scurried around in chaotic organization. Traynor was leading some of the other specialists in filtering and compiling various collections of data and communications, thanks to EDI's immense processing power and capabilities. They would then forward relevant information to various ships and parties to aid them, providing whatever small edge it could give them. All contributing in some way to the fight, the knowledge that any infinitesimal error or mistake could mean life or death for who knows how many, percolated through their minds. If anything, it only seemed to spurn them on, refusing to be whittled down under the intense pressure all were surely feeling.

As a result of these efforts, Ashley and the others were receiving real-time updates on the progress of Hammer. Anything of value was being broadcasted directly over the PA system in the brig thanks to EDI. Ashley essentially had a front row seat to it all, as if she was being given a live news feed. Any order from Hackett, any request for a diversion or covering fire, any direction to launch an attack, any relevant radio communications, she was privy to. She was in the battle, without actually being there.

From the sounds of it, Shepard was cutting a swathe straight through the heart of the Reapers. As dark as everything else that was coming through her feed was, she was elated by the news that was coming from Shepard, who was fighting like a man possessed. Considering the circumstances, that might not have been too far off.

Every update of Shepard's progress caused Ashley to smile, as every advancement he made brought this horrid nightmare closer to ending. Her excitement, however, juxtaposed against the seething contempt that exuded from the brig's sole prisoner.

Along with updates from the battle, EDI had also communicated to Ashley about Shepard's order to have the Normandy rendezvous with his team on Earth. So it was no surprise to her when the ship diverted from the battle and landed on Earth, where Garrus, Liara, a rescued Cortez, and EDI (her mechanical body at least) all returned to the ship.

Upon his return, Cortez felt adrift. He had lost the Kodiak after being swarmed by harvesters, causing him to crash. He had barely managed to survive the ordeal, but refused to seek medical attention out of fear of being needed elsewhere. However, with no shuttle or anything he could fly, his contributions were, at best, paltry. It was times like this he wished he had his F-61 Trident, that way he could at least be doing something of worth. Instead, he elected to just take up his position in the armory. For whatever good that could do, it gave the illusion that he was at least value added, unlike if he was sitting in some bed in the medical clinic doing nothing. It helped him from growing anymore restless.

EDI had gone up to reunite with Joker in the cockpit, and both were working diligently to get the Normandy back in the air so they could reconvene with Sword. Landing a ship of this size on a planet was no easy feat due to its mass, especially when compared to the SR-1. But with one of the Alliance's best pilots (Joker would vainly, but compellingly, argue he was the best) and a highly effective AI, they had somehow managed it. It would take a while to generate enough power to take off again, so for now, the ship remained docked on Earth.

Garrus and Liara, meanwhile, had immediately come down to check on Tali, and to see how Ashley was handling everything. Liara had relayed to Ashley what Shepard had asked of the three of them, should he not make it back. Cynical, but pragmatic, Ashley had thought. Regardless, no matter what happened, Ashley planned to be right here at Tali's side, she didn't need Shepard's orders to do that.

Both momentarily left her alone again to check on a few things. Garrus went up to the forward battery to check the status of the Normandy's Thanix cannon, making sure it was optimally calibrated. Liara, respectfully, went back to her office to inspect any new information that might have crossed the desk of the Shadow Broker. By now, her network had been nearly depleted, it would take months, if not years, to try and rebuild it to what it once was. But it would have to do for now, she was more focused on surviving long enough to get there. Establishing a new network was a task for another day.

As for Ashley, once she was alone again, she retook her spot on the bench along the wall inside the brig. Her head was solemnly lowered, her eyes closed, and her back hunched over. Her elbows were digging into the upper portion of her legs as her fingers were interlocked tightly in front of her, her head resting on top of them. She was praying.

She did not pray for the hope of victory, she had the upmost confidence in Shepard to deliver on that. Instead, she was praying for her sister in front of her.

"Gracious and merciful God. You said that it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. You said that You have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Without fail, You save those who turn to You. The path that my friend is walking is beset with difficulties and misery. Lord, have mercy on her, and purify her heart. In Your love, lift her out of the situation. In the name of Jesus, who is with us in our suffering. Amen."

She made the sign of the cross, letting the air out of her lungs in a long sigh. It was a prayer she had been quietly reciting every day since she had learned of Tali's indoctrination. And it was one she would continue to perform until she was herself again.

"You are so clueless?" The comment had come from the other side of the cell. Ashley could see Tali staring directly back at her. Her suit's auditory receptors had picked up what Ashley had been praying. Her back rested against the wall, her legs crossed, and arms folded as she sat on the raised cot that had acted as her bed for the last week and change. Her demeanor was as apathetic as her tone, while she looked upon her former friend with disgust, judging from how her eyes were squinting behind her mask. Ashley was not as attuned as Shepard was when it came to reading her, but she didn't need to be an expert on quarian body language. Her look of admonishment was universal across all species.

"Excuse me?"

Tali, remaining hidden behind her shadowy curtain cast upon by the dim lighting provided by her cell, elaborated. "You couldn't fathom what true suffering is. You've never had to live through it every single day, ingrained across multiple generations. You pray to your God for my heart to be 'purified,' but my heart is where it has always been, with my people. Their needs ARE at the heart of everything I have done. Your actions here today will only cause us more suffering. Our struggles will continue because of the hell Shepard and the rest of his ilk have wrought."

Remove your heart, it's only good for bleeding.

Bleeding through your fragile skin.

Remove your thoughts, cause it's only for deceiving.

Deceiving thoughts destroy within.

Before Ashley could retaliate, the doors to the brig slid open, and Garrus and Liara walked in together. They had both completed their tasks, and with the war entering its waning hours, each felt the need to be with their friend. "Hey you two," Ashley acknowledged them.

"Hmph. Perfect timing," Tali bitterly muttered.

"Hey Ash, how're you two holding up?" Garrus asked.

"We're fine, all things considered. Nothing new to report unfortunately. Still haven't managed to get through to her," referring to Tali, "but at least I got her talking for a while."

"Well it's more than what we've gotten before, so I guess you can call that progress," Garrus glumly joked.

Tali had elected to return to her brooding silence, glaring menacingly at who she believed to be her captors. It was the first time she had been face to face with all three of them at once since she had been locked away. Cut off from the rest of the galaxy, unable to call for help, abandoned and alone like she had always been. She was the only one who could see what she saw, who understood what none of them could, or refused to, understand. She was the one who the Reapers had bequeathed this knowledge to, who they had entrusted it to, and she had failed, all because of them. The sight of these three together only served to further fuel the fire in her belly, the desire for revenge festering in her mind. The things she had planned for them once she eventually got out of here, her anger and resentment drawing up vicious ideas. It made her leer as she thought of the harm that would be inflicted on them. But until then, she was helpless to do anything, she couldn't even help herself, let alone help her people.

While Garrus and Ashley talked amongst themselves, Liara broke off from them, and approached the barrier. Contrary to the revulsion that was radiating from Tali's side of the cell, Liara only felt remorse for what had become of her. Someone that she had always respected as so loving, considerate, and benevolent, even in the worst of times, was looking back at her with the eyes of a psychopath.

Liara understood how the Reapers were able to indoctrinate her, she knew ever since Glyph had uncovered the data from her omni-tool. What she did not understand, however, was why? She had been given bits and pieces from Shepard, but not the full picture as to how this could have happened to her friend. Every person who had been indoctrinated had some motivation for their actions. Twisted motivation, but motivation nonetheless. Saren sought organics survival through servitude and allegiance to the Reapers. The Illusive Man wanted control to benefit humanity. What were the Reapers promising to Tali if she helped them? And what, despite the fact that all of them had been around Reaper artifacts at some point and had been fighting against them for years, made Tali more susceptible to their influence?

If she was talking, even just a bit, then perhaps now was her chance to get some answers.

"Hello Tali," Liara greeted her, albeit nervously.

"Bosh'tet," Tali welcomed her back.

'Garrus was right, it was at least some progress,' she thought to herself. Before, Tali would have just ignored her efforts.

"I just wanted to talk." She moved to sit on the ground, cross-legged, in front of her cell. Ashley and Garrus had stopped what they were discussing as their attention was drawn to Liara's actions, wondering what she was trying to do. "We haven't had an opportunity to do so for a while."

"Keelah, I wonder why that could be?" Tali rolled her eyes.

Liara did not match her sarcasm, she didn't so much as budge from Tali's callousness. "I know you're angry at us for what we did," she empathized, her voice steady and reassuring, "but look at it from our perspective. You had given us no choice but to do this. You had tried to kill Shepard, someone you declared to be your saera. I know enough about quarian culture to know that your people do not use that word liberally. I just want to know why you believed killing him was the right thing to do. Help us understand Tali, so that we can help you. All of us do, none of us want to see you suffer anymore." Liara was soft in her tone, her approach was gentle, as if cradling a newborn.

Ashley had to admire the patience that Liara was showing. While she had shown some decent restraint with the barbs Tali had been throwing at her over the last several days, patience had truly never been one of her strong suits, and what little she had was wearing thin. Had it not been for Liara and Garrus walking in when they did, she might have finally lost it.

Patience might have been a virtue, but she had always viewed it as a waste of time. The more patient you were, the more likely it was your opponent would gain a competitive advantage over you. Whether it was a stalemate or the heat of a firefight, it could cause a deteriorating situation to become worse. Or, more personally, it would cause her to second guess herself and go against her gut, and her gut had rarely been wrong. Every time she overthought something, it ended up biting her in the ass, like refusing to join with Shepard back on Horizon. Garrus and Tali had accepted him at his word, but she hesitated, went against what she should have known to be the truth because she overcomplicated the situation. It was that, among other reasons, why she preferred quick and decisive action, going with her primary instinct above all else. As much as she largely didn't trust them in the past, she admired the turian's strength in warfare, they were a species of action and discipline which she could respect. Patience was for the asari.

Tali, however, was not impressed. She remained in her shadows, unperturbed by Liara's figurative outstretched hand. She balefully chuckled, but elected to entertain her wishes. "Like I told her, none of you have the faintest clue as to what true suffering is."

Both Ashley and Garrus stirred behind her as they started to object, but Liara quickly reacted. She looked over her shoulder, and gave a quick shake of her head, wordlessly telling them not to interrupt. Antagonizing her would only cause her to retreat back into her solitude. Whatever the Reapers had exploited to indoctrinate her, then this information could be crucial to helping her should their efforts today be successful.

Garrus and Ashley got the message, and let Liara take the lead. She turned her focus back to Tali, her eyes inviting her to continue.

"Quarians have experienced 300 years of suffering. Of pain. Of loss. Of struggle. Fighting over scraps that the galaxy left for us, digging for resources, anything that had a small chance of keeping us going. This is what has defined quarian culture for the last three centuries. We are not seen as brilliant engineers, skilled craftsmen, valued for our resourcefulness. We are outcasts, our discrimination and ridicule are cheered by the galaxy at large, and we have no say in our own destiny because we are beholden to what little the galaxy can give to us."

Liara listened attentively, digesting every word. She wanted to give Tali a space to voice what she was feeling, to get her to open up more with them. However, this was not just meant for Tali, but Liara herself. For all the years she spent obsessing over bringing Shepard back, or planning her revenge against the Shadow Broker, she had forgotten what it was like to be amongst friends. For too long she had been a recluse, detached from the friends she had made on the Normandy, and she had convinced herself that it was for the better. Being with them all again had reminded her of how much she valued, and needed, people like them in her life. The closeness and camaraderie made even the hardest moments all the more bearable, she imagined that, deep down, Tali felt the same way.

"I'm sorry Tali," Liara genuinely sympathized, "nothing should have ever justified the way you and your people were treated." Her soft eyes matched her tone, beseeching with her to continue.

"And yet we were, and no one, not even your people, wanted to step in and help. Your people preach galactic cooperation, yet you did nothing as we were cast out. Where were your matriarchs, your Council, when we were dying? We pleaded for help, and all you did was take away our embassy and kick us off the Citadel. Whenever we tried to take our lives into our own hands, like on Ekuna, the asari and the rest of the Council threatened to have us bombarded if we didn't leave. We were desperate, we needed a place to live, and no one cared, you threatened us for no reason. We have been beholden to the wills of others for centuries, and because of that, we can have nothing for ourselves, we just have to keep giving and giving until there is nothing left of us."

As she continued to speak, Liara noted that Tali's tone had shifted, from anger to melancholy. "We have no 'weekends,' no vacations, no breaks, no retirement. Do that, people die, get hurt, or even killed. You're a waste of resources, a burden, an invalid. It's work, every day, to serve the fleet, our society revolves around this singular concept.

"The suits have always been the most visible sign of our strife, but it goes so much deeper than that. Do you know what it's like to live inside a cargo container with half a dozen others? It is so cramped that it's impossible to have any privacy. Having your own room, a bunk bed, or even a sleeping pod, is a luxury most of us have never felt.

"We declare those who can't contribute enough as exiles, dumping them on a random planet to fend for themselves. We cannot take care of our sick and elderly, lest they drain our strained resources. We force families to comply with a one child policy to control our population. Food shortages are a common threat. A broken air filter or an airborne virus can kill an entire ship, destroy families." That last one caused Tali's voice to stutter and break apart momentarily, for it had struck a particular chord with her. "That has been us for hundreds of years, and it could be again, so forgive me for not wanting to risk letting my people go back to that life."

As Tali spoke, things began to make more sense to Liara and the others. It wasn't just that she was convinced that she could somehow use the Reapers' technology to improve the quality of life for the quarians. What Tali had said were not words or thoughts that the Reapers had necessarily made her feel. These were deep rooted insecurities that they had simply managed to exploit, a pain that no doubt Tali had felt throughout her life, that they exacerbated to the point where she became susceptible to their orders. She always knew that Tali felt a strong pride in her people, but how much of this had she just been letting herself bottle up? Did Shepard even know the extent of how far this went?

"Do you finally understand why?" Tali appealed. "This is why we need the Reapers. We need them in order to help ourselves, and in return, we can give them what they want. When the rest of the galaxy already distrusts us, we need new avenues to explore. The Reapers represent progress, they can give us our independence."

Come unto me, and you will feel perfection.

Come unto me, and dedicate.

Come unto me, you'll never feel rejection.

Come unto me, and terminate.

With that, she broke contact with Liara and recentered her attention on Ashley. "Is that not something that humans, above all else, would understand?"

Ashley raised her eyebrow in bemusement. As much as she did pity how the quarians were treated, even if most of that was due to their own complacency before the geth revolt, she could feel her low levels of tolerance running dangerously thin with how she talked.

"I've read into your people's history. Many of your great thinkers and leaders talked about the importance of personal freedom, your liberties. How humanity is in a constant fight amongst themselves to secure their basic rights from oppressive forces, to find meaning and purpose. Imagine not only having and then losing them, but giving them up voluntarily. Being forced to surrender them and live without them across generations because it's for the greater good. At some point, those desires for freedom just become empty platitudes, replaced by the needs of the collective. And when someone, and something, comes along that can not only serve the common good, but achieve what we as a species have lacked, the rest of the galaxy locks you away, shuns you, just like they always have."

By now, Ashley had grown tired with the way Tali spoke. It might not have been her thoughts per se, but this incessant Reaper worship and how she was trying to justify her actions was vexing to her. She affixed her with a sour look. "Is that what you believe, or what the Reapers made you think?"

Tali clenched her fists in dissent, her anger returning and boiling over as her body became rigid. Her eyes hardened like steel at Ashley's implication. Liara desperately tried to regain control of the situation. "Ash, let me handle…"

"The Reapers are not the ones who have oppressed my people!" Tali shouted back, matching the look that Ashley was now giving her, both ignoring Liara's attempts to maintain order. "They did not discriminate against us! Disregard us! They are the ones who can give us control over our own destiny, to lead us to our perfection and ascension!"

Ashley shot up, and had it not been for Garrus holding her back, she would have marched right up to the cell. Tali had responded in kind by getting to her feet as well, standing in front of the barrier. "The Reapers have killed countless people over how many years Tali! They don't want to help you!"

"That's enough Ash," Garrus tried to mollify her.

"You lie! They haven't because they don't know what we can do! But if we could just show them, they would know our worth!"

Plug into me, I guarantee devotion.

Plug into me, and dedicate.

Plug into me, I'll save you from emotion.

Plug into me, and terminate.

As the situation became more frenzied, Liara spoke back up. "Tali, I understand where you're coming from, but it's not that simple…"

"Of course Shepard's biggest sycophant can't see how simple it is!"

"Tali!" Garrus yelled at her, his mandibles flaring.

"You would all sacrifice a golden age for the galaxy, and the future of my people! And you question why I would try to stop that?! I'm tired of you all thinking you know what's best for me, trying to control me like everyone always has! Don't tell me it's the Reapers, this is who I've always been! What I've been raised into! Serve the needs of the collective, protect the lives of the Fleet, and if someone threatens that, then they must be dealt with!"

"How about we open that cell and see how that works…"

"ENOUGH!"

A blue light reflected across the walls of the room as Liara shouted above the noise, her biotics flaring and encasing her entire body. Everyone, including Tali, was startled by actions of the usually soft-spoken woman.

Her outburst did have the desired effect, as tensions within the room finally began to simmer, everyone coming down from high of the argument. Garrus had stopped trying to restrain Ashley as she physically relaxed and her face, which had turned blood red, returned to its normal color. The room began to darken again as Liara's biotics fizzled out.

"We cannot be at each other's throats like this," Liara had finally broken the silence, speaking as she normally would.

Garrus agreed. "She's right Ash, none of this helps anyone. Shepard would be disappointed in us if he saw this. We can't let what she says get to us like that."

"I'm standing right here," Tali angrily butted in as they talked about her like she couldn't hear them.

As she settled down, Ashley began to feel constrained by the room. "I…I need some air. Give me a minute."

Garrus nodded, and she stepped passed him. As she was about to walk past Liara, she looked at her. She offered no words, only a look of apology at letting herself get carried away like she had, before she took the final steps and exited the room and out into the hallway. As for Tali, she offered them nothing more than a harrumph, and withdrew back into her cell.

The minutes began to agonizingly tick away, the room becoming deathly silent amongst the three of them. The only thing to break it was the occasional update from EDI. Her last one had informed them that Shepard and his ground team had taken out the Destroyer parked directly in front of the beam. Which meant that the battered Hammer forces, for now, had an unobstructed path and could make it to the Citadel.

The elation from Garrus and Liara was short lived, however, as it was coupled by some less than good news. The Reapers were not about to let them take the Citadel that easily. EDI had also broadcasted Hackett's warning to them and everyone else that several Reaper Capital ships had broken off from the battle above Earth. Leading the counter was none other than Harbinger itself. Killing the Destroyer was nothing more than a pyrrhic victory, something far worse was now coming for them. The Reapers were growing desperate, perhaps even scared.

The same could very well be said for those onboard. Everyone's nerves were well beyond frayed. They knew that the next few minutes were make or break, that this was possibly their only chance to get to the Citadel. Everyone was itching to do something, to get back into the fight. So when they felt the ship's engines and thrusters begin to come back online, indicating an impending takeoff, most felt relief. In a matter of minutes, the Normandy was finally off the ground, a course plotted to regroup with Sword.

Back down in the brig, Liara had tried to resume her discussions with Tali, but after what happened with Ashley and the recent news, Tali was having none of it. She had closed herself off, as even she was beginning to feel antsy, fearing that Shepard was going to win. That they would use the Crucible, and if so, then she would have failed, again.

She had failed to protect her team on Haestrom.

She had failed to save her father, a man she now recognized she had more in common with than before. Both were people who would go to great lengths, make the necessary sacrifices, take the calculated risks, and do what needed to be done for the right cause. It was only now that she realized that his actions should not be viewed as a heinous war crime, but those of a martyr.

She failed to stop the Admirals from going to war against the geth.

And now, the failure of securing her people's safety was looming. Her people did not deserve wait decades, if not centuries, to be free of their suits, to return to their once proud standing. She could not risk their existence on a tentative peace. It was not that she didn't trust the geth, which had it not been for Legion, she never would have imagined. It was, ironically, her own people that she worried about breaking it. Xen and Gerrel were too ambitious, and they pandered to a particular crowd to drum up support for their cause. They and their followers were going to be too much of a problem, and she was the only one who was in any sort of position of power who could maybe do something about it. The only one who had her people's best interests at heart. At this point, it did not matter who she had to step on or what she had to do, she would not let her own people be subjugated to this.

"Let me out!" Tali had serendipitously cried out.

Liara had removed herself from the wall she had been leaning up against at the sudden burst from the quarian, while a befuddled Garrus had stopped his pacing to answer her. "Sorry Tali, that's not going to happen."

"Garrus, please." She was desperate, practically begging. "If I can't get the Reapers to help us, then I have to do something. The Admirals need to be stopped."

"What do you mean, what are the Admirals doing?" Liara asked confused.

"It's not what they are doing, but what they can do. I can't trust them to…"

All of a sudden, they all felt the path of the ship change, a sharp veer off course. The inertia dampeners had thankfully stifled the worst of the impact, but it was enough to make everyone off balance. As all 3 tried to restabilize themselves, and once the ship had straightened itself out again, Garrus called out, "The hell was that Joker, what's going on?" over his omni-tool.

"Change of plans Garrus. Just got a distress call from Shepard, he's requesting an emergency evac."

At the words, Liara raced over to Garrus. "Is Shepard okay?" she asked, clear panic in her voice.

Even Tali had found herself stepping forward to listen in, she was as close as she could get without the barrier zapping her. Meanwhile, downstairs in the cargo bay, an elevator with half a dozen soldiers filed out. Steve had been waiting for them, and handed them all various automatic rifles. Once they were armed and equipped, the soldiers ran towards the still closed cargo bay doors.

In response to Liara's question, EDI piped in. "Scans from Shepard's armor do not detect any critical or serious injuries. However, my readings from Javik and James' detail impact damage to their suits, including several lacerations, severe burns, and broken bones."

"Yeah, Shepard's got us flying straight into the freaking hornet's nest on this one. Everyone better hold on, shit's going to get bumpy."

Garrus and Liara both tried to stay on their feet as the Normandy bucked and twisted, trying to get to the evac point. It gave them all very painful reminders of what it was like driving in the Mako with Shepard. Eventually, they felt the ship began to settle, and they looked down to see the cargo doors beginning to open.

With their view too obstructed, they raced out into the hallway, where Ashley was watching the affair through the main windows. Tali, blocked by the cumbersome dimensions of her cell, could not see a thing.

The turian and asari each settled in a spot beside Ashley, and they observed the events below them. The soldiers were firing their weapons, preventing any Reaper ground forces from climbing onboard. They were also providing cover fire and clearing a path for what looked to be a partially armored, overly muscular human to get on. He struggled as his one good arm was wrapped around his torso and he walked with a limp. They realized that this was James, who despite how sluggish he looked, was still able to make it before the party of two travelling behind him. He turned around as they caught up to him, where Shepard handed off an even more beat up Javik. For as bad as James was, Javik clearly took the brunt of whatever hit them. His armor, which was once a bright red but had turned a crisp black, was far more torn, parts of it still peeling off and falling to the ground. Shrapnel was lodged deep into his exposed skin as blood trickled down his face and arms. The man was barely able to keep himself on his own two feet, but judging from the way he and Shepard were arguing, it seemed as though he was insisting on continuing.

As Shepard tried to convince the stubborn prothean to somehow abandon his one purpose and seek medical attention, Ashley looked out in the distance. The beam. It was so close, perhaps a few football fields away from where they were. It lit up the sky above the area around them in a bright, if not blinding, white, so much so that not much was visible behind it. However, there was one thing she could make out, something towering…no, standing…on the far side of it.

It was massive, just as big, if not bigger, than Sovereign was all those years ago. She momentarily flashed back to Eden Prime, seeing the sheer size of what she had assumed to be a geth ship rising from the planet, as red lightning strikes surrounded it. Or being on the Citadel, climbing the outside of the tower as what they had all learned to be a Reaper sat perched at the top, completely consuming it. And yet, somehow, this felt more ominous. Perhaps it was the unique features that this one had over Sovereign, the piercing set of yellow orbs, coming off as eyes, on the center of its mechanical frame. Looking directly at it sent a deathly chill up and along her skin, goosebumps prickling underneath her armor.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Harbinger," Garrus answered.

His memories of it "assuming direct control" over the Collectors and its galling taunts directed at Shepard were interrupted as Harbinger unleashed its own horn. A stinging "BWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHMMMMMMM!" assailed their ears, it was far louder than any other Reaper, and temporarily deafened the three of them.

Garrus was the first to shake it off, and looked back towards the monstrosity. It continued to fire its magnetohydrodynanmic laser at anyone and anything that got too close. However, the Normandy, parked perfectly in its line of sight, defenseless and open to attack, was not being fired on.

"Why isn't it shooting at us?"

EDI was quick to respond. "The Normandy is still equipped with the Reaper IFF acquired for our jump through the Omega-4 relay. The Reapers are also prioritizing anyone within striking distance of the beam. We are of no concern to them."

By now, Shepard had gotten both of them back onto the ship, and they were being helped by Cortez and another soldier towards the elevator. Chakwas was waiting for their arrival in the med-bay. The rest of them retreated back inside, allowing for the doors to start sealing up again and the ship to ascend.

Shepard was now all on his own, and all three watched his ever-shrinking form resume his sprint. They wanted nothing more than to go down and join his rush to the Citadel. None of them cared if they died. Even if all they could do was provide some sort of distraction, give Harbinger another target to focus on, so long as it could help Shepard, they were willing to do it.

And then, their worst fears came to pass.

As Shepard ran and zig-zagged across the battlefield, there were explosions occurring all around him. Harbinger's many lasers were decimating what was left of Hammer's ground transportation and troop count. One Mako had exploded just in front of Shepard, who tried to swipe out of the way but lost his footing while doing so. He fell to the ground in a clumsy heap.

Ashley, Liara, and Garrus all had their faces pressed up directly against the glass. Liara in particular began pounding away, screaming for Shepard to get up, as if by some miracle he could hear them, or she could will it into existence.

He stumbled, his legs like jelly as he tried to get back on his feet and press on. And then, a red light started to glow from Harbinger, located between the lower row of eyes. It made an indiscernible noise that no one could make out, as if taunting Shepard once again, and it opened fire. It carved a path directly to where Shepard was standing. He instinctively raised his hands up to shield him, and everything in the laser's path went up in billowing flames and smoke, consuming everything in its wake. It was the last thing the three saw before the doors had fully closed, and the Normandy climbed higher into the skies of Earth.

Liara's voice was as tattered as her mind felt. Once the doors had finished closing, she sagged to the ground, her knees hitting the floor like a sack of potatoes. She just stared aimlessly at the wall in front of her, arms hanging limp at her side. She didn't even try to hold back the tears after what she just saw. Her head was thundering from the lack of oxygen, she was dazed from the combined efforts of her shrill screaming and what she had just witnessed. She could not make out the thrum of the ship's drive core, which should have been easily discernible due to her proximity, because of the ringing in her ears. Whatever she had left after the fall of Thessia had crumbled to dust, she truly had nothing left.

Garrus' whole body was rendered numb, his mouth hung loosely open, completely dry. Try as hard as he could, he had no words, he was speechless. Meaningless noise replaced it, it was a garbled mess of stutters and clicks, not enough for a translator to even make sense of it. There was simply too many thoughts and feelings going through his head to make any sort of coherent thought. That in spite of his insistence that they would all make it out alive, he had just witnessed a man he considered to be his brother die for the second time.

Ashley's forehead had made an audible thump as it hit the glass in front of her. She just stood like that, her eyes shut, trying to force away the last couple of minutes. Liara was a pool of depression, Garrus was a cavalcade of emotions. She, however, was searing mad. The only thing that was stopping her from taking her gun and charging straight into this Harbinger was the sheer impracticable effect it would actually have, outside of getting her killed too. Knowing that there was nothing she could do only served to anger her further, her eyes and face crinkling like a prune, contorted into an anger that few had probably ever seen or felt. They had been so, so close.

"God…they're all gone." An unfamiliar, disembodied voice carried itself throughout the ship. Ashley had remembered that EDI was broadcasting the radio feeds as a means of providing live updates.

"Did we get anyone to the beam?" a feminine voice asked.

All hopes that someone, anyone, made it, were dashed. The man on the other end sounded as crushed as they all felt. "Negative, our entire force was decimated."

There was a brief pause, and the same masculine voice now had a sense of urgency behind it. "It's too much. We need to group. Fall back to the buildings."

"Hammer's wiped out. All forces…retreat. Pull back! Pull back!"

As much as it pained EDI to have to relay the message, it was better than leaving everyone in the dark. The assault had tragically failed. The galaxy was lost. Shepard's actions, his sacrifice, was for nothing.

Liara was still too lost to even comprehend fully what was happening. She just saw the person she loved more than anything be killed, again. What she had joked with him before leaving was now reality, there was no Illusive Man, or anyone, who could save him.

Garrus and Ashley were mutually floored by the order. Turians don't surrender, they are taught from a young age to fight until the last man, and only when that man falls can the other side declare victory. Ashley could not stand the brazen act of cowardice. This was not something where you could sit back and regroup, there was no time and not enough manpower. It was do or die, they had to keep pushing. Instead, in her eyes, they had decided to give up. She stomped her way back into the holding cells, defeated and furious.

Garrus only realized this when he heard the doors open and close. Before he followed, he turned back and looked down to the floor, where Liara was still kneeling. She had not moved a muscle, she was completely frozen.

"Liara," he whispered, his hand gently gripping her shoulder. The act launched her back, her body rocking at the contact. She blinked a few times, it did little to stop the river from her reddened eyes that flowed down her mottled cheeks. There had never been so much as a verbal sob, or a howl of turmoil, she had fallen mute. As if her emotions had still not fully caught up to recent events. "Come on…" was all Garrus could say.

He lightly grabbed her underneath her arm and slowly supported her up. Liara accepted his guidance, shakingly coming to her feet. As she did, she launched herself into Garrus and wrapped her arms around his armored body. Her face nestled into his shoulder as she let out her first sob. Garrus enveloped his friend in his arms, cradling the still relatively young asari for a few tender moments. The only sound was Liara's cries as the two began to mourn the loss of their friend.

Eventually, they both needed to reconvene with Ashley, to make some sort of plan as to what to do next. Against the Reapers, and in regard to Tali.

They entered the brig, and saw Ashley taking up a spot on the bench. She was hunched over as her face was shielded in the palms of her hands. There was no prayer this time, just anger.

"They're cowards!" her muffled voice yelled, as she ignored the immediate elephant that was literally in the room with them. "This is our chance, and they just retreat?! Give up?!"

Garrus was about to respond, but as soon as Ashley's hand slid down her face, his words rested on the tip of his tongue. Her own eyes were just as bloodshot as Liara's, and there was trace amounts of mucus running from her nose. In all the years he had known her, he had never seen the unmovable soldier like this before.

This is what the Reapers had done to them, their actions had caused this. Whatever he was going to say was replaced by what he had known in his heart. "We…we should have been there," he stammered. He knew it, every fiber of his being had told him to stay with Shepard, to ignore his final orders. He had to be there, he needed to be there, it was their fight to finish. And instead, he was stuck here. Helpless. Useless.

Liara looked to him. "Garrus, there was nothing…"

"Don't give me that crap Liara. You know damn well we could have done something. We could have protected him, helped him, been there for him. We could have…"

"If you were there, you would have all died with him." The modulated voice speaking those words from the opposite end of the room had reminded them all of Tali's presence. There was something striking about it. Not necessarily in what she said, she was still indoctrinated after all, but in how she said it. It was different then how she had acted and spoken to them and Shepard over the last week. "It's a tragedy that none of you were there."

They now realized there was a sadistic joy in her tone, it was interwoven with every word she had said. Behind her mask, for the first time in weeks, she was smiling. She had been ever since she had heard the radio feed.

None of them would rise to meet her taunts, choosing to ignore her for the time being to focus on the pressing issue. With Shepard now gone, someone had to take control of the Normandy. That responsibility would fall to the next highest-ranking member of the Alliance, meaning that the role of captain now belonged to…

"Ashley," Liara knelt in front of her so the two were at eye level. "I get it. More than you know, and we are all here to help you however you need it. But right now, with Shepard's," she swallowed hard, refusing to speak the words into existence, "absence, you're in full command of the Normandy. What are your orders?"

Ashley, the facts of the situation dawning on her, wiped away the tears and snot, taking a deep breath in. She held it for three seconds, and proceeded to slowly let it out. It was the same breathing technique she had done with Shepard after his mini episode, when Tali had declared qish'naf felz. She cleared her throat to shake the rust off. "EDI, patch me through to Joker."

EDI complied, and in a matter of seconds, Joker responded. "Hey Ash." His voice was hoarse, it lacked the jovial attitude and sarcastic energy that usually accompanied it. Ashley had honestly hated what she had viewed as his lax approach to regulations and protocol, putting up with his vanity and antics because, well, he really was one of the best pilots in the Alliance. Right now, and she couldn't believe she was thinking this, she missed it. No doubt he had seen and heard what they all had.

"I-I need to know what our current flight path is."

"Just exited the stratosphere. Trying to get back with the rest of Sword."

"Plot a course for Hackett's command ship and the Crucible. We're going to need to convene and come up with a new plan while our troops on the planet…"

"Apologies Ashley," EDI interrupted, "but a transmission was just sent out by Admiral Hackett. I believe its significance requires immediate attention."

Ashley raised an inquisitive brow. "Um, sure."

"One moment. Patching it through."

Immediately, Hackett's recorded orders started to play, not just for them, but across the whole ship. EDI had taken the initiative on that, figuring that it was worth sharing with everyone.

"Holy shit. He did it." All 3 had looked at each other, bewildered by the admiral's supposed slip of the tongue and strange impropriety. As if he realized he was on a hot mic, Hackett continued. "This is the admiral. We've got reports that someone made it to the Citadel. We need to give them time to get those arms open. All fleets: Converge on the Crucible. Protect it at all costs."

All of them refused to let the hope that had threatened to take hold consume them, lest it prove to be misplaced. Hesitancy crippled them and everyone else onboard the Normandy. Could it be…

"Damage to his armor's sensors was heavy, it is hard to maintain a constant ping, but we are receiving a faint signal. His vitals indicate he's hurt, but alive. I can confirm that Shepard has made it to the Citadel."

With those words, the dam shattered. The abated crowd, holding their breathes, felt hope restored and let loose a collective scream of unadulterated celebration. Their miserable cries replaced with raucous cheers, as if all their favorite sports teams had just won a championship. Relief was felt by all, except for one, whose momentary reprieve from her greatest nightmare had ended, sucking her back into the crushing weight of her failures.

Liara was the first of the trio to fold, as a broken sob came from her. Unlike before, this was one of joy, not loss. Her cries had covered up the dispirited groans that were coming from Tali. As her three former friends rejoiced in applause and camaraderie, she wrestled with the truth.

'Shepard is about to win. The Reapers failed. I failed. There's nothing left I can do.' Her heart rate climbed, her imagination drawing up all of the possible worst-case scenarios that could happen once Shepard won.

A lone quarian bucks the peace, prompting the geth to revolt and slaughter what's left of her race.

Her people never fully re-acclimate to Rannoch, losing millions in a failed recolonization effort without the assistance of the Reapers.

Her people remain cultural and political outcasts to the rest of the galaxy. They have no economy or anything of value to barter with, nothing they can contribute, leaving them in a weakened state to fend for themselves.

An admiralty board that refuses to peacefully hand over power back to the Conclave, constantly holding onto their emergency powers, causing internal political turmoil that can turn into a civil war.

All of these possibilities would mean she'd never get to see her people achieve their greatest potential in her lifetime.

With all these potential obstacles, all these 'what if's,' she knew that she was the best hope that her people had. Her goals, her vision, would save them from enemies both external and internal, had people just been willing to listen to her, and not write her off as some indoctrinated shill. But that had been people's problem with her from the start, no one believed that she was ever enough. To others, she was just a quarian. To her own people, she was just a Zorah. It was the only reason she was given this title, but had very little actual authority. She had been a puppet for the longest of times, used by the other admirals, even by Raan. They used her while they bickered over their future in that farce of a trial, they made her an admiral because Xen and Gerrel thought she would give them what they wanted. When she didn't, they worked effortlessly to contain her, to devalue her, to control her. And the one person she thought would never treat her like that, Shepard, had turned out like the rest. He lost trust in her, betrayed her. He kicked her off missions, he tried to stop her from doing what had to be done, and he was the reason why she was still trapped in this damn cell while he was close to destroying her people's only hope.

In that moment, she contemplated taking her own life. It would be so simple. She could have her suit flood her with enough medication and antibiotics to overdose. She could remove her mask, breathe in the room's toxic air, and succumb to the infection. Regardless of what libidinous actions she and Shepard had partaken in (the reminder that she had, quite frequently, slept with him now revolted her), she was still a quarian. It would take longer, but with an unfamiliar environment, it would have the desired effect, she would get sick, and then die.

These thoughts, however, were fleeting. A migraine once again started to flare inside of her, as if punishing her for thinking like this. It made her angry as the pain burned through her head. Through the tears stinging her eyes, she saw the three of them, her former friends, oblivious to the hell she was feeling.

'Them, it's them I should be angry at.' These new thoughts helped her push through this migraine, feeling it lessen. She watched as the three cheered Shepard's efforts, it was sickening to witness. These people were celebrating over her people's inevitable destruction, dancing on their graves, and gloating right in front of her. Their words were silenced by the ringing that she had become so accustomed to over the years. Perhaps it was true, with them on the cusp of victory, she had lost her initial purpose. But now, a new one was taking root and sprouting, one of vengeance. 'When I get out, all of you will die!' And she was going to revel in it.

Accelerate, utopian solution.

Finally cure the Earth of man.

Exterminate, speeding up the evolution.

Set on course a master plan.

The happiness in the room ticked away with the minutes that passed since EDI's initial announcement. Each minute was thousands of more lives lost to the Reapers, and despite Shepard making it, the Citadel remained closed. Garrus was becoming incessantly annoying, pacing erratically around the room and routinely pestering EDI about Shepard's current condition, worrying that something had in fact happened to him. It appeared as though EDI was growing aggravated as well, as she just offered the same response each time. She detected trace vital signals, confirming that he was alive.

Of all people, Garrus should have known that what Shepard was doing was not something that would easily be done. The station was huge, and depending on where he landed, it could take him hours to even find a proper terminal to control the station's arms, and at most, it had only been about 10 minutes since Hackett's announcement. And yet, something still felt amiss, but he couldn't place it.

"Garrus, you really need to calm down." Hearing his name had jolted him out from his internal ruminations. It was Ashley who had finally spoken up, trying to placate the anxious turian but failing to hide her growing frustration with him. "He's alive, so doing…whatever that is, is not going to make him go faster. He just needs more time."

Liara had silently agreed with her, but it did next to nothing for Garrus. "You all saw what I saw. Even if he's alive, he's hurt. Hurt and alone, and none of us are there to back him up. If just one of us was with him, we could…we could…" he blabbered.

"We know Garrus. Trust me, I know. But Ashley is right. We just need to give him more time," Liara sympathized with him, not showing the same agitation that Ashley had. She understood where Garrus was coming from, but it did no one any good to be acting like this.

Garrus just shook his head. "I don't like it. Something should have happened by now. Something's wrong, I feel it in my gut." He had really come to like this human phrase.

"He'll pull through Garrus," said Liara.

"Reapers control the station. The Illusive Man is somewhere in all of this. None of this smells good."

"Are you doubting Shepard?" Ashley asked.

"No, but…"

"But nothing. Shepard's more than capable of pulling his own ass out of the fire. He did it years ago on Elysium, before he knew any of us. I'm sure he can do it again."

"Plus, he's got a pretty big reason to make it back," Liara tacked on, looking over at the still fuming Tali.

"That too. So either sit down, or take it outside, because none of us want to deal with this. Have faith, and before you know it, this nightmare will soon be over."

A loud bang echoed across the room, which was followed by a grunting yell from the back of Tali's throat. What Ashley had said had just prompted her to punch the metal wall. A bad decision, judging from the tingly vibrations through the nerves of her arms and the striking pain in her hand and wrist. Her eyes had narrowed to barely visible slits, staring daggers at the three startled faces who were looking directly at her. "I don't care what any of you might say. This nightmare isn't over. It has only begun, for me, and for you."

Before they could ask what she meant, they were once again interrupted by EDI. "Incoming message from Admiral Hackett."

"This is it everyone. The arms are opening." Outside, the Crucible was activating as it initiated docking measures. The protective physical plating of the device's large spherical chamber began to shoot off, exposing the true heart of the weapon. A smaller sphere emerged, which was meant to be the source of the machine's power, which would use the Citadel and the mass relay network to dispense this energy across the galaxy.

"Ten seconds to contact." By now, the Citadel's arms were spread out like a starfish. And yet, the Crucible inched slowly towards it, too slowly for anyone's liking. Whoever was piloting it was taking extra precautions to avoid damaging the literal priceless feat of engineering (seriously, no one wanted to even try and run the numbers on how much this would have cost to make under normal conditions). Eventually, the Crucible had landed, it's four connectors latching onto the Presidium, and its core directly with the Citadel Tower.

"That's it! The Crucible is docked!"

Another round of applause shot up through the ship. At long last, their work, their sacrifice, would pay off. Soon, the Reapers would be relinquished to the dustpan of history. Stories will be told of how a galaxy, once divided, had come together. United by one man, they battled through the unlikeliest of circumstances, and beat an enemy thousands of species had tried and failed to do. This victory was not just theirs, but it would be shared by those unknown races who had come before them. The ones who had laid the groundwork for their victory.

A victory…that was going to have to wait, because nothing was happening.

In the plethora of data that galactic scientists and engineers had accumulated and studied, not a single person could figure out one crucial thing: how to turn it on. Their hope was that, by adding the Catalyst, that final component would be revealed. That hope was now gone, and leadership was scurrying, needing to do something, and fast.

"Hey, Ashley," Joker's voice came over the radio, "I know you're super busy right now, but Alliance command is beginning to freak out. The Crucible's not firing, and no one can figure out why. We could use you up at the bridge. Shit's about to hit the fan and we need someone up here calling the shots."

Ashley looked around, both Liara and Garrus gave approving nods, recognizing that there needed to be a visible leader at the helm. "We got this, go," Garrus told her. With that, Ashley got up, and for the first time since this ordeal had started (outside of food and bathroom breaks), she had relinquished control. She got on the elevator, and headed for the CIC, leaving the two of them alone to watch over Tali in her place.

Speaking of, Liara turned towards her, and attempted one final outreach. "We're almost there Tali. It's almost over."

Tali could only laugh derisively at her foolhardiness. "Like I said, it's not over. Our nightmares have just begun."

Both of them still looked on in confusion. Realizing she was going to have to spell it out for them, she elaborated. "You've won, congratulations. When it's all over, you'll go back and rebuild what you've lost, which is but a fraction of what the quarians went through. You'll work together, your species will continue on, and we'll all return to the status quo. As for me, I will have nothing."

"You'll have a home." Liara insisted.

"Will we?!" she blasted her. "With everything that can go wrong?!" This was not like before where her voice raised out of rage, this time, it was from fear. She was growing more distraught. "It takes one person to make an attack on the geth to convince them to wipe us out. They're more capable of that now than in the Morning War. And even if we get lucky, our next generations will be spent dedicated to resettling Rannoch, we go from lifelong dedication to the fleet to lifelong dedication to rebuilding. It's time my people can't afford. They are relying on someone like me to lead us, but I'm nothing! An admiral of nothing, because the others sought to simply use me, again! Xen and Gerrel tried, and when they saw they couldn't, they treated me like I was an exile. They wanted to cause division between our people, by making the only one who actually cares about our species' longevity a target. The Admiralty is useless, the biggest threat to our existence."

"You said that before Tali, but what about Raan? She loves you like you're her child."

"And that's all she'll ever see me as, a child. Someone else who thought they could control me. She led us into this war with the geth. She used me in my own trial, just as they all used me in some way for their own gain. I won't be a part of it anymore, nor should my people be caught in the crossfires of their politicking. She is part of the problem, and I am the solution. But when I finally tried to take my life into my own hands, when I was so close to giving my people their freedom, I was thrown away in here. By the people who supposedly cared about me. But that was all a lie too."

Liara shook away the hurt that her accusation had caused. "Tali, the only reason you're in there is BECAUSE we care about you. You're not yourself. Even if you think you're fighting for a good cause, it's for the wrong reasons. You say you're tired of being controlled, treated like a puppet, but you're one for the Reapers right now. They used you to try and stop Shepard."

"You're lying!" her temper, and migraine, splayed. "I have never been…more in control of my life…then right now!" she panted. By now, the throbbing in her head was greater than it had ever been before, her brain feeling as though it would split. "You are all the problem, not me! And if the Reapers fail to kill Shepard, then I will! And when that's done, I'm coming for the rest of you!"

This entire time, with the battle outside reaching its climax, the Normandy had been flying circles around the Citadel. Their stated goal had been to defend the Crucible, which is what they were doing technically. However, both Joker and EDI had also been desperately scrambling to try and find where Shepard was. If they could figure that out, then they could come in and get him out of there. They had to get him off that station, Joker wasn't going to let him die again, not if there was something he could do about it this time.

And then, a sudden explosion came from the Citadel.

Then another.

And a third.

Large fires were breaking out at various points along the ring of the Presidium, and across the arms of the station. Something had triggered a chain reaction, but before anyone could take a moment to think about it, the Crucible began acting strange. At the spot where the Crucible and the Citadel met, there was now a small, but growing ball of energy, distinctly red in color.

It was getting ready to fire.

"All fleets! The Crucible is armed."

Joker, dread stricken over his face, looked over to the woman he loved. Her digital vizor had the same info that he had been speedily shuffling through at his own terminal. She was seeing the same spikes radiating from the station, and they had still not yet found Shepard. There was little time left, they had to hurry.

"Disengage and head to the rendezvous point."

'No, no, no! Not again!' Joker thought. Shepard was in there, somewhere. He was going to find him. His hands were dancing, tapping and swiping through the readings and screens in front of him. His mouth was dry and sweat was slipping into his eyes. Whether they burned from the salt or from refusing to blink out of fear of missing something, he did know, nor care.

There was a tap on his shoulder, he violently brushed it off him, refusing to let himself be distracted or hindered in any way. There was a pain from the jerking movement, but he ignored it. He would deal with the consequences of it later. Right now, Shepard needed him. They needed Shepard. He needed Shepard.

"I repeat: Disengage and get the hell out of here!"

'Damn it! Just give me another minute, I can do this! I won't leave him behind!'

The same hand grabbed his shoulder again, only this time, he stopped. His arms slowly lowered away from his screen, and landed on his lap. The orange interfaces that had been in front of him a moment ago began to fade away, and with that, his chance was gone.

"Joker," Ashley's voice was so light, but it hit him like a truck. She had no desire to leave him either, but what she was about to do had nothing to do with that. It was out of necessity, she knew they had to prioritize the dozens of lives on the Normandy. Whatever the Crucible was doing, she could already see it was ripping the Citadel apart. She could see one of the arms beginning to separate itself from the station as explosions were now rippling and doubling in size. If they did not get out of there soon, they could be next. "It's time to go."

Joker looked up from his seat at her. She was crestfallen, guilt gripping her like a vice. It would be a decision that would eat away at her for the rest of her life. He couldn't even accuse her of not caring, her own words had clearly broken her. There was simply no other choice she could make, she was as powerless as he was.

"Damn it." He had to leave him, again. 'If there is a God, forgive me.' A new screen popped up in front of him, and he punched in the rendezvous data points. Once done, the Normandy began to fly away from the Citadel, and away from Shepard.

The last thing anyone on the bridge saw before they made the jump to FTL was the red sphere of energy, which had been aggressively growing in size, engulf the entirety of the Citadel. And it only continued to spread further and further out. It began to consume the Reapers that were still fighting in the skies above Earth, drowning them in its field.

By the time the jump was made, they failed to see the Reapers caught in its path completely shut down.

By the time the jump was made, they failed to see Harbinger, the first Reaper, be the first one to fall. Its metal carcass floated listlessly amongst the blown-out remnants of the ship it and its forces had destroyed earlier.

By the time the jump was made, they failed to see a pulsing beam of red shoot out from the Crucible, hitting the Charon mass relay.

And by the time the jump was made, they failed to see the massive explosion that erupted from the center of the Citadel. All of its arms had been ripped apart, the wards crumbled under the tremors and sheer force of the detonations. The influx of energy was too much for it to contain, and for the poor souls who were still on the Citadel, many of them were quickly killed in the blasts. Their bodies turned to ash, remains never to be recovered, their identities lost to time.

As the energy from the Crucible was beginning to spread across the rest of the galaxy, it killed every Reaper, and geth, caught in its wake. Inside the Normandy, chaos blossomed. The drive core whined as it was pushed to its max, and then some. None of the stress tests they had ever run on it went this far, and right now, no one cared. Ken, Gabby, and Adams bustled about to try and keep it running, while Joker was doing everything he could to give them more of a boost, and relieve the pressure that was being put on his ship. The reason being was that something was chasing after them, he could see it on his sensors. He had no idea what it was, but it was hunting them down. Worse, it was getting closer.

No one in the brig knew what was happening outside of their little room. They had heard from Hackett that the Crucible was firing and his orders to vacate. Their only insight into what was happening was a nearby hull window, where they could see that the ship was in FTL. However, the roars coming from a room over told them not all was well. The Normandy was pushing itself too hot, as if it was running from something.

Tali, in the throes of her indoctrinated state, could not care less about what they were doing to her drive core. She was livid. The ship rocked, Garrus and Liara were barely able to keep themselves upright. Tali was too furious to worry about that, with the news of the Crucible working, she had nothing left to lose.

"Bosh'tets! You are all worthless, traitorous, bosh'tets!"

"This is for your own good Tali, trust us," Garrus tried to calm her.

The energy field was drawing steadily closer.

"Stop telling me what's for my own good! I told you I will not be controlled anymore!"

The energy field had cut the gap between itself and the Normandy by half.

"You've taken my best hope away from me! Our salvation, our awakening, it's gone!"

The field was now a mere 200 meters away.

"Without the Reapers, we have nothing! And the blood that follows will be on your hands, not mine!"

100 meters.

"I will not rest! I will give my people their freedom! I will stop at nothing for them! I will give everything I have for them! For my family!"

50 meters.

"And when I get out of here, I will kill every one of you! And I will finish what I started by killing Shepard!"

10 meters.

"I will secure their future…"

It was now touching the tail end of the Normandy, catching its thrusters. As soon as contact was made, they began shutting down, slowing the ship.

"…and they will be liberated!"

Long live machine.

The future supreme.

Man overthrown.

Spit out the bone.

Darkness.


The Normandy was encased in blackness, as all the lights had immediately shut off.

It was accompanied with a petrifying silence. No hums from the engine. No pulse from the drive core. No sounds from the workstations. The ship, for the time being, was an impotent, dead vessel.

The only light anywhere was a fleeting flash of red that anyone near a window saw wash over them.

Down in the brig came the sole sound onboard, where a forbidding scream complimented the blood red lighting.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


It was a momentary power outage, lasting only about 5 seconds. It did not take long for the lights to return and certain, basic operational functions to come back online. However, more complicated parts of the ship, the ones needed to keep it flying, were slower to respond, such as the drive core and thrusters. Due to this, the Normandy was thrown out of FTL, and because of the system fault, sensors could not pick up where they had ended up. Right now, one of the most important ships in the Alliance Navy was MIA, and was floating derelict through space.

The good news was that it wouldn't be like that for much longer.

The bad news was that they were about to crash.

The Normandy was thrown out dangerously close to a planet, so much so that the ship was sucked into its gravitational pull and was hurdling directly into its surface. Thankfully, it looked to be a garden world, clouds and what looked like vast oceans could be seen from orbit, as well as a pretty sizable land mass. Considering that they easily could have ended up next to a gas giant, or a star, or just nowhere, it wasn't completely unwelcome. But that was like being told you were going to be shot, and instead, you're stabbed. You're still shit out of luck either way.

For now, it was up to Joker, and Joker alone, to somehow manage to land the ship safely. And he would have to act fast, because impact was minutes away.

With power restored, alarms began blaring around the ship, emergency landing procedures had been initiated. The crew had rehearsed these drills before, and they began to strap themselves in or find somewhere safe to weather the crash.

As the Normandy picked up speed, the ship became engulfed in fire as it started to enter the unknown planet's atmosphere. Thankfully, due to the ship's Silaris heavy armor plating, the Normandy was able to withstand the heat of its rapid descent, preventing it from breaking apart and cooking everyone inside alive.

Garrus and Liara could see out the window, they saw the haze of the planet's atmosphere come into view through the flames. They could hear the alarms going off, indicating that this was not a planned landing. And yet, their main focus was not on that, but what happened when the lights went out. Tali had not just screamed, she had shrieked. It was nothing like they had ever heard before, far more terrifying than what the banshees had produced, and it was one of immense pain. When the lights came back on, Garrus was the first to notice the prone, unconscious quarian lying on the floor of her cell.

"Tali!" He rushed right up to the reactivated barrier. "Tali, can you hear me?!" There was no response, and before Garrus could think of something else to say, that was when the alarms had started.

"Mayd ~~~ ~~~ ayday!" Joker's voice was coming through, but it was scrambled through a ton of static. "Thrusters dis ~~~ ~~~ restore power ~~~ ~~~ line, repeat, EDI offline! Attem ~~~ ~~~ gency landing!"

Both pretty much got the gist, and had it been possible for turians to sweat, Garrus certainly would have been doing so. If the ship was about to crash, then they needed to act quickly.

"Open the cell!" Garrus barked.

"What?!"

"Tali's hurt! She needs medical attention!"

"But what about…" she could not finish as the turbulence rattling the whole ship was making it near impossible to stand. Both saw Tali's body, unrestrained, beginning to flail around like a rag doll because of it. Without protection, she could die.

By now, more parts of the ship were starting to slowly come back online, and Joker was doing what he could to mitigate the damage. But mitigation was all he could do, they had passed the point of no return as trees and a tall mountain range had come into view. Collision was imminent, it was just a matter of how bad it would be.

"We don't have time to argue Liara! Just do it!"

Unable to counter, she punched in the override codes into the small terminal. "Goddess protect us," she whispered as she pressed the button that lowered the kinetic barrier.

Garrus strode in as soon as it was down, and immediately knelt next to his friend. She was still breathing, judging from the slow but rhythmic rising of her chest, so she was at least alive. He looked at her mask, but could not see the shimmer of her eyes. Their glow was enough to sometimes provide a slight visibility to some of her facial features, but without it, all Garrus saw was a dark purple. He tried to jostle her awake, but she remained unresponsive.

He was about to try and pick her up, hoping there was enough time to fasten her to something, when Joker's voice returned. "Brace for impact!"

Without a second's hesitation, Garrus jumped onto Tali's body, wrapping his arms underneath her and pressed her into his body and armor. Disregarding his own safety and prioritizing hers, he was willing to take the full force of what came next. He closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable.

Collision.


The landing had been rocky, no question on that. However, considering the circumstances, it could have been a hell of a lot worse, had it not been for Joker's skills at the pilot seat.

Garrus hurt across most of his body, a common consequence from being thrashed and scattered around the room while the ship crashed somewhere unknown. He groaned as he tried to move his muscles and limbs, his head throbbing from the whiplash. His body was slow to recover, still aching from even the slightest of movements.

He opened his eyes, and even that was a battle. His mind kept telling him to slide back into the abyss of unconsciousness so it could recover. He fought the urge and forced his eyes to stay open. On the ground beneath him, he could see a few spots of dark blue, and as he swallowed, he could taste his own blood. How long he was out, he could not say, but judging from the taste and how fresh the clearly visible stains were, it couldn't have been very long.

He then noticed that the lighting of the room was different, the reason he had seen the spots was because it was far brighter than it was supposed to be. Unlike before, where the room's lighting was artificially provided, these lights seemed to be more natural. He looked up, and saw that the rays of a nearby sun were coating the room, and he saw what looked to be blue skies coming from the outside. There was some tropical looking foliage in the way, partially obscuring his line of sight, but he could see tree-covered mesas and large waterfalls in the distance. He could at least take solace in knowing the Normandy crashed somewhere nice.

The last thing Garrus noticed, he would embarrassingly admit to later, should have been the most obvious. He wasn't sure if his body's nerves were still trying to calm down from the adrenaline of before, but he could have sworn that the floor beneath him felt unsteady, and a bit squishy.

His eyes went wide and his body kicked into high gear as he remembered why. He immediately let go of Tali, who was still underneath him, and rolled over so that he was lying on the floor next to her, looking directly up towards the ceiling. Now fully alert and his senses coming back, he began to take note of the state of his surroundings.

His mind had heard the sounds, but had failed to register them until now. He heard sparks erupting around the room from the now damaged and faulty electrical equipment. Some of the ceiling panels above had been knocked loose, exposing the wires, cabling, and other parts of the ship's internal structure. He didn't know too much about ship mechanics (well, outside of keeping a well calibrated gun of course), but he knew that what was now exposed, should probably not be exposed. He also didn't think that they should look that mangled.

He tried to roll over onto his side and push himself up. He managed, but his body continued to push back against his efforts. He grunted from the exertion, but tried to force it down and will his body to cooperate. There would be time to heal later, but for now, he needed to get moving.

He turned his attention back onto Tali, kneeling back down to examine her, inspecting her for any possible injuries or exposures. He tried to call out for Liara, but it came out as a cough as he tried to clear the grogginess from his throat. He tried again, but it came out weakly. "Liara, you okay?"

He heard a groan come from the other side of the room, indicating that she was at least alive. Much like Garrus, she had also been struggling to maintain cognizance after the crash. She had been slipping in and out of delirium until she heard her name being called. The fact that all of them had managed to survive, while being unrestrained, was nothing short of miraculous. She was woozy, likely stemming from a concussion after her head banged into the edge of the bench, causing her to temporarily blackout. She was sure there was an unhealthy mixture of other internal and external injuries after being ricocheted like a pinball, but she didn't feel as though anything was broken, which was good. The rest would figure itself out eventually.

"I'm alright." The strain in her voice indicated otherwise as she grappled with her own struggles to stand herself up. "You?"

"Hurt, but I'll live."

As she finally stood, her legs wobbled, and her eyesight only became blurrier as she became a bit more disjointed. It took her a minute to weed through the double vision, but she could faintly make out the sight of Garrus kneeling next to something.

No, someone.

"Tali…what about her?"

"She's still breathing. No exposures or suit ruptures as far as I can tell, but she's still unconscious. Honestly, she might be fairing the best out of all of us."

Liara had slowly made her way over, almost tripping on herself once in the process. She stooped next to him to try and get a better look for herself. Garrus turned and saw various cuts and bruises along her face. Purple blood was still leaking from them, it had not yet started to even coagulate. "Liara, you need…"

"I said I'm alright. Right now, let's just focus on Tali."

Garrus acquiesced. "We'll need Chakwas to look at her to get a full diagnosis. We need to go now before she gets bogged down with the others." Hopefully she would be able to tell them what that loud screech had been about.

"We should have her come here instead. It will be safer that way, endanger less people in case she's still not herself."

"I don't think that's going to be a viable option." He pointed to the outside of the cell. When she turned, Liara finally noticed the random bursts of sparks flying from the clearly inoperable kinetic barriers. The rest of the cells were acting in a similar fashion, all were disabled. "We should be able to restrain her to one of the beds she has up there. Just until we know she's okay." They really didn't have any other options to work with, and if this was their best plan, they needed to get moving now, before Tali woke up.

Garrus struggled due to his weakened state, but he did manage to hoist Tali off the ground, carrying her in his arms. He remembered how Donnelly had once told him how Shepard had come down to engineering just before the change of shifts. He had somehow managed to sneak up behind Tali, and scooped her up in his arms, just like how he was now holding her. Donnelly had referred to it as "bridal style." Shepard had carried her like that, against her halfhearted protests to be put down, all the way to the elevator. Gabby had found it romantic, Donnelly only found amusement in it. Right now though, Garrus found himself carrying her, and it was a lot less funny.

"EDI, is the elevator still working?" Liara called out, waiting for the AI to respond.

She never did.

"Maybe she's still offline, probably just needs a reset or something." Garrus did an awful job concealing his own worry, they both knew something was clearly wrong.

Thankfully, the elevator was somehow still operational, which was good since there was no way Garrus would have been able to carry Tali through the ducts, especially not in his shape.

Upon their arrival, Deck 3 was mostly empty. Most of the crew was either up on Decks 2 or 4 at the time of the crash, as per their duties. Hopefully everyone else had been strapped in during the crash and would not require immediate medical attention. Much like the floor below them, the crew deck was pretty mangled. Chairs and other loose items were tossed and thrown around, lying at random spots across the floor. Metal frames and piping dangled irresponsibly above them. The sound of sparks and electrical faults on this floor as well was telling about the extent of the damage. It would be some time before they were able to fly again.

Garrus entered the med-bay, scanning for Dr. Chakwas. He took a quick account of its conditions and was glad to see the room had not turned out as poorly as the rest of the ship. Guess it was smart to have the medical center of the ship be one of the most protected. Most of the equipment still seemed functional and the lights were on, so it was at least something. He had heard the beeps and whistles of some of the medical equipment that was actively being used, and saw a comatose James and Javik lying in separate beds on his right side. Chakwas had thankfully made sure they were strapped in, wrapping them tightly in the beds' medical straps and other protective gear to avoid catastrophic injury. They were so sedated that they had slept through the crash, just how badly were they hurt?

"Garrus, what happened?" Chakwas finally poked her head out. She weathered a few cuts and bruises, but all in all, didn't look too bad. Like a motherly hen, she hobbled over when she saw the lifeless looking Tali in his grip, her arms hanging loosely and flopping in the wind. She began to make her own inspections, relieved to see her still breathing.

"Not sure. The lights went out, there was a flash of red, and she just screamed. She's been asleep since, we haven't been able to wake her."

Not caring whether or not she was still indoctrinated, Chakwas was only concerned in getting her whatever medical help she needed. This was another one of her own children, and one near and dear to Shepard, in need of her care. She immediately set a third bed, and Garrus carefully placed her onto it. Chakwas raised the sheets up to her shoulders, raised the bed to a slight incline, and placed a pillow underneath her head. Meanwhile, Liara and Garrus used the straps to restrain her, should a potentially violent Tali wake up and try to escape.

Chakwas opened her omni-tool and conducted some preliminary scans, collecting data on her suit's readings and matching them up with her previously compiled medical records. On the surface, and from the data, she could not see anything physically wrong with her. Mentally was another story, and that could only be answered once they could talk to her.

Not seeing any immediately concerning health risks, Chakwas made the call to avoid any further treatment, they just needed to give Tali some time to wake up. In the meantime, she took a chance to help Liara out with her injuries, recognizing that neither she nor Garrus had done anything to help themselves. Disregarding the half of her mind that told her to slap them upside the head for their foolishness, she chose to listen to the other, more reasonable, half and give Liara some medigel to treat some of her more serious injuries. She ran a couple basic tests, and determined that while she did have indeed have a concussion (evident from Liara practically turning green before her eyes, and when she vomited into a bucket that Chakwas had just managed to provide for her in the nick of time), there were no major issues. She moved over to Garrus, who had pulled up a chair and planted himself at Tali's bedside. He didn't notice the doctor, and only reacted with a raised hand of refusal when she tried to get a look at him. He would not let himself be distracted.

'Oh he's definitely getting smacked upside the head later,' the good doctor thought. For now, she placed some medigel on a nearby table for him, should he elect to take it.

He never even tried; he was too focused on Tali to care about his own wellbeing. And it was to be that way for several minutes. He could distantly hear jarbled noises that were supposed to be words of conversation behind him. Some of the crew started to trickle in, and he made out a few gasps of shock when they saw who was in the bed. Liara helped Chakwas raise a curtain so as to give them privacy. It split the room in half, with the med-bay's three unconscious patients blocked off from unwanted eyes.

The only time Garrus' attention shifted was when a patched up (but still somewhat green) Liara pulled up her own chair next to him. He felt her calming hand press against his own shoulder this time, which did a lot to steady some of his nerves. There wasn't any words that had accompanied the gesture, its action spoke enough. 'You did good.'

Garrus wasn't sure. 'I should have done more.'

The two continued to wait in silence. Neither of them was concerned with much of what was possibly going on around them. Or where they had managed to end up. Or just what the Crucible did. Their concerns were myopic, fixated on what laid before them, and the unspoken question: What happened to Shepard?

Suddenly, there was movement, coming from the bed.

It was small, a tiny shift of the head as it gingerly turned over. The gesture caused Liara and Garrus to lurch forward, fingers and talons gripping the bedside rails, hoping for something more.

A delicate grumble soon followed. It was the kind one gives as they are stirring from their slumber.

The moment of truth.

"Tali?" both said in unison. Garrus was far more urgent, while Liara was more tempered and guarded.

A drawn out "Mmmmmmmm…" came from the bed. It was so low that Tali's voice module barely registered it as it dimly lit up. Speaking of lighting up, her eyes did not, indicating that they were still closed.

Garrus kept pushing for more. "Tali, are you there?"

This time, he got a word. "Nooooooo…" the clearly grumpy quarian groaned out.

Dread had momentarily seized them both, fearing that Shepard's efforts to save her were for naught. Until she continued…

"No John, don't – do that – in my helmet…" she slurred out as she kept sliding back into her sleep. "Just…5 more minutes."

It was the first time in years she had been able to sleep without the feeling of something gnawing at her in the back of her head. She was going to take this moment to finally relax.

Garrus was not having any of it, he needed to know. He began to shake her. "Tali! Wake up!"


She heard shouting. It sounded so far away, and yet so close at the same time. Her body was slow to react, refusing to awaken as it felt as if her eyelids were made of heavy sandbags. And yet, as if on some sort of instinct, she pried them open.

She had expected to wake up to the feeling of her saera lying next to her in their bed. To open her eyes and be welcomed by either his handsome, sleeping form, or to look up and see the millions of stars resting above her as she looked out the skylight of their cabin. To hear the calming sounds of the white noise machine that John had bought for her so that she had some noise to help her fall asleep to, even though she had grown out of that a long time ago (and found comfort in being lulled to sleep by the sound of his steady heartbeat against her auditory receptors, or some nights, her naked ears). And if she was having trouble, she could always fall upon her usual nightly reading material of…huh, she couldn't remember. That was strange.

What was also strange was what she first saw when she mustered the strength to open her eyes. The trifling glimmer of her irises was a welcome sight to both Garrus and Liara, but for Tali, she was caught off guard by what she saw. There was no infinite blackness bedazzled with distant trickles of light adorning it like freckles on a person's skin. It was not the sight of her John. Instead, she was assaulted by a blinding white light bearing down directly over her.

She also began to realize that there was no pacifying sound of a white noise maker to give her peace of mind. Beeps and whistles, reverberating all around her, was all she heard. That, and Garrus yelling at her. 'Wait, Garrus? What was he doing here?'

As the rest of her senses returned, she could feel the surface beneath her body. It was not the soft and luxurious mattress of her usual bed on the Normandy. This was thin, firm, and quite uncomfortable. The weight distribution was different too, usually she could feel the heavier form of John next to her, but right now, she felt nothing. Wherever she was, she was the bed's only occupant.

That wasn't the only thing she felt. She hurt…a lot. Her head pounding like the bass of one of those heavy metal drummers John had played for her (and that she guiltily admitted to growing a liking for). She tried to think, but her mind was in such a fog that most thoughts were lost before they could materialize into anything of substance. She tried to move her head, and all it did was cause more pain. This was nothing like the migraines she had grown accustomed to for years now, this was something worse. In fact, the only pain she didn't feel was that of a migraine, she could at least be grateful for that.

Even with the afront to her senses, she blistered her way to some semblance of cognizance, her eyes fluttering open and blinking away the exhaustion. She accompanied it with a long groan from the sheer trouble it caused, and responded the only way she could. "Stop screaming you bosh'tet. I'm up."

The strength of the light above her forced her eyes back closed but she was too awake to go back to the recesses of her dreams. She wondered how she got to, wherever the hell she was, but she would worry about that once the pain receded. She knew that she was amongst her friends, so that told her she wasn't in any immediate danger.

She now heard footsteps, they were moving from her right side to her left. Liara had now moved to stand on the opposite side of the bed from where Garrus was. Liara asked a question, her voice much softer, more soothing, than Garrus'. "Tali, how do you feel?"

"Ugh, like I have 10 hangovers at the same time. Keeeeeeeeelaaaaaaaaaah, my head."

Garrus pressed her further before Liara could get another word in. "Tali, we need you to…"

"Please…no talking…just want sleep." It was then she tried to rollover, to move her arms and pull the sheets up over her helmet to block out the noise and the burning light.

What she did not expect was resistance.

It was then a burst of adrenaline shot through her, as she realized she couldn't move at all. She could wiggle, but if she so much as tried to raise her arms or move in some way, she felt something stopping her, weighing her down.

She opened her eyes fully, lighting up her mask from within, and looked down her body. She realized that she had been resting at a small incline. What she also noticed was the straps wrapped extremely tightly over her, keeping her pinned to the bed. The constriction was not all she saw, as she took her environment in. Garrus and Liara were on each side of her, each with some facial and bodily injuries. She identified the source of the strange noises, as she saw the medical equipment that was scattered around and hooked up to…was that James and Javik? 'Keelah, they look terrible,' she thought. This was clearly the Normandy's med-bay, but what was she doing here? How did she get here? And why was she being restrained?

"Garrus? Liara? Why am I strapped to a bed? And why are we in the med-bay?"

The two stole a quick glance, hoping the other knew how to answer her questions, or at least how best to explain things to her. Liara elected to speak up, choosing to deflect for now. "Just what exactly do you remember?"

"Um, I remember not being strapped down in a bed. Can you please let me out of this?"

Tali had noticed Garrus' face twitch at her question. He looked guilty, ashamed. "I'm sorry. It's just…we can't do that. Not yet at least." Seeing the quarian's eyes contort a bit, he added on, "Just answer the question, and then we can let you out."

'What's going on? Why are they acting like this?' she thought. She should be the one asking questions, not them. However, she did not see any other option, so she played along.

She got ready to answer, a bit of snark ready to complement it, believing it wouldn't be that hard to think back a bit. But when she tried, she realized something.

She had no idea.

"I," she blinked in confusion, "I don't know." She tried thinking harder, pressing through the thick fog clouding her mind. "I think…I was out in the mess hall. It had something to do with those Leviathan things…" she trailed off as she thought more about it. As she did, she began to remember something else. "Wait, no, I was upstairs, in our cabin, doing…something?"

Both attentive parties leaned in at the mention of that. She figured that whatever they were trying to get out of her, it had to do with that. She kept trying to push harder and harder through the dense fog, looking for something pertaining to that. She closed her eyes, straining to see what was beyond it.

A flash broke the darkness of her vision. All at once, thousands of blurry, fragmented images rushed in front of her. None of them in any sort of order, they were all disjointed.

She saw a knife. Her knife. Her wielding her knife. Odd, she rarely needed it. She had it raised. Ready to strike.

Everything she saw was accompanied by some far away words, whispering directly into her unfiltered ear.

Stop breathing, and dedicate to me (dedicate to me).

She opened her eyes wide in distress, taking in a long breath of air. Her dilated pupils pirouetted across the room in freight. She saw Garrus and Liara watching her, worried by her sudden burst of energy. She closed her eyes again.

Another flash. Back on the Reaper. A terminal. Tons of information. Something useful. Something for her. Something no one else would understand. She took it. She needed it. She told no one.

Stop dreaming, and terminate for me (terminate for me).

She was panicking now, her heart rate climbing exponentially. Had Chakwas found it necessary to hook her up to one of the electrocardiogram machines, it would have been spiking, whining like crazy.

"What's wrong Tali?!" Liara asked. Tali didn't answer, she closed her eyes again, pushing further and further into the fog.

An explosion. Loud. Powerful. Enough to kill. The improvements to Chatika had worked. But he, a faceless man, was still breathing. She would fix that. She charged. Ready to kill the faceless man. The knife was above his heart. Just a bit more.

All meaning, you dedicate to me (dedicate to me).

Sweat was pooling on her forehead and along other parts of her skin. Her suit began to release some mild tranquilizers to calm her down. It failed. Whatever she was seeing, as hard as it was, she had to keep going.

Crunching. Broken glass beneath her feet. In her hand. She was ready. He was dead to rights. The faceless man. He pleaded for his life. Appealed to something. A shared past. A promising future. Love. How pathetic.

All feelings, you terminate for MEEEEEEEEEEE!

She crouched down. Glass to his throat. Blood dripping down. Ready to act.

She looked up. The faceless man. No longer faceless.

She knew him. Recognized him.

John!

"AHHHHHH!" Tali screamed, now panting for air as she overworked her deprived lungs. Chakwas had come running in when she heard it, but paused as a bystander when she saw Garrus and Liara move in to try and quell her.

Tali was in a hysterical tizzy. Thrashing around and raving like a lunatic over what she saw. It wasn't possible, she would never do that, not to her saera. She'd sooner die than hurt him. None of this was making sense. What did she do?

"Tali, calm down. We're here for you. Just try to breathe."

"Wha – What am I seeing?! What's happening?! Where's John?!"

The flesh, betrays, the flesh.

Your man has had his time.

We lay, him down, to rest.

Machine, the new divine.


A/N: And there we have it. The moment I think we've all been waiting for. But if you thought that it was going to be sunshine and rainbows from here on out, then you have no idea who I am.

This is now easily my longest chapter. As much as I wanted to cut it down, and I acknowledge that the first half is a lot of filler, it was necessary just for the sole purpose of continuity. There needed to be something there to play out while everything we know that's going on with Shepard played out on Earth and the Citadel. I hope it didn't bore you or anything. I tried to fill it with stuff that will be important to things I'm looking to do later, but even I'll admit some of it is rehashing what's in previous chapters or in A Quarian's Awakening. I just hope I made up for it a bit more in the second half of the chapter.

Here's hoping the lyric portions worked out and weren't too out of place. As always, let me know what you think and if there's something that needs fixing or correcting. See you all for the next chapter, when Tali finds out the extent of what she's done. It will also be the conclusion to Part 1 of the story.