A dozen pairs of eyes awaited Shepard when she stepped out of the Medbay, from the simply curious to the genuinely worried. Garrus belonged to the latter, standing as a buffer between the door and the rest of the crew behind him. Not that there was much to do during transit, but Shepard decided to send them away nonetheless.

"All right everyone, back to your posts," She said.

"Commander, what happened?" the ensign, Talitha, called. Her perfect straight cut black hair was pinned back, which made her pale features stand out. She did look somewhat worried, too.

"Nihlus isn't feeling so hot, that's all you need to know."

Her voice had gone from slightly playful to dry as a salt pan in the space of five words, and curiosity gave way to caution with her audience. Talitha's eyes opened wide in surprise, then looked down at the ground.

"I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to understand..."

Others started to file out for their post, so Shepard reached out and grabbed Talitha, pulling her gently to the side.

"Tell you what, next time we run into a prothean beacon, I'll let you know and you can jump at it," she said. Talitha looked at Shepard, and the commander just gave her a thin smile. "It's not pleasant," she added, and gestured at the medbay with her head. "Nihlus is trying to sort through it, but it's going to take some time."

Talitha looked towards the medbay, but the windows had been tinted and there was nothing they could see. So she turned to Shepard and nodded.

Shepard gave her a gentle slap on the shoulder and left her to go back to her post. It was hard to see the crew so put off, and she hadn't helped matters. Nihlus wasn't the most talkative of people, but she knew he'd gained the respect of the whole ship. He had been part of every ground mission they had undertaken, and had shown his prowess and his reliability. And he was a Spectre to boot, which carried its own aura of invincibility. Now he was in medbay, they were two hours away from another blind drop into a possible combat zone, and that was making people nervous.

With a sigh, she sat down at the mess, bringing her omni-tool up and retrieving the current inventory. She didn't much like that aspect of leadership, having to be visible and solid at all times. People looked up to her, and now Nihlus too, and it seemed like every time their moods changes, the entire ship changed with it. So she had to be there, looking confident and business as usual.

"Shepard."

She looked up to see Anderson sitting in front of her, a small sardonic smile on his face. It looked like he was thinking the exact same thing she had been, given the way he looked around at the crew.

"Captain."

"How did it go?"

"Not great," Shepard replied, closing her omni-tool. "Liara tried to help Nihlus with the beacon," she tapped the side of her head for emphasis, "but it backfired pretty spectacularly."

Anderson's face didn't change completely, but the look she gave Shepard was one she knew well. He wanted to know what she thought of the whole thing. He always did that, always looking for opinions of his crew.

He then went on to do whatever he damn well pleased, but that was the way he did things.

"She didn't do it on purpose. I have a feeling she just bit more than she could chew."

"Whose idea was it?" Anderson said.

"Hers, but Nihlus must have agreed." She smiled as she said that. "He's a big boy, he can make big boy decisions."

"That's true," Anderson said with a chuckle.

"Any news from Feros?"

"Nothing. We'll know soon enough, we are going to stop before the relay to vent heat and discharge, and do a full silent run once we jump."

"Admit it David, you like this ship."

Anderson laughed softly at that and nodded, an amused glint in his eye. It hadn't been the best assignment, she knew that much. At this stage in the game he should have been in charge of a carrier or a dreadnought, at the very least a command with more responsibility than a lone frigate, be it experimental or not. He had bitten the bullet and taken command in good part because of her, and the Spectre candidacy. Not that he would have rejected command outright, but he had enough pull to have passed the hot potato to someone else.

The door to the medbay opened again, and out came Liara, her arm in a sling. Anderson gave Shepard a look, then stood up and made for the stairs.

"Liara," Shepard called, catching the doctor's attention. They looked at each other for a moment, and then Liara looked away.

Bloody hell, she's still-

"Commander, I'm-"

"Come sit with me, will ya? This is getting silly."

She looked at her and nodded, taking short steps to get to the chair. She sat down at the edge, almost afraid of disturbing it.

"Look, Liara, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," Shepard said. She closed her eyes, pressing on the bridge of her nose. "It's... a really bad habit I have"

"I know what it must have looked like, commander."

"Just Shepard, will you? Don't start like Roy you too," she said, shaking her head and opening her eyes again. Liara was looking at her with... curiosity, maybe.

"Of course, Shepard. As I said, you have no need to apologize."

"I do." She took a deep breath. "I really do."

A dense silence settled, disturbed only by the hum of the deep space travel. Joker was driving the ship hard, and even then, only the faint hum of harmonic resonance disturbed the peace. Any of the older frigates would also have been vibrating, trembling on every light year travelled. She was no engineer, but she knew the basics. The symmetry of the eezo core affected stability. Ships tearing themselves apart was a sadly common occurrence with the first prototypes constructed in the 50's.

The way the Normandy sailed was an absolute wonder.

"Co-Shepard," Liara said, getting her attention. "You... said it was a bad habit. What did you mean?"

"It's..." Shepard hesitated, rubbing her face with her hands as she thought. "I'm a control freak." She looked at Liara, and smiled, a twisted smile laced with pain. "I've lost too many people I shouldn't have. Lost them because of things we didn't expect. Had I known everything I needed to know about the ops, I could have... It... I just..."

It was hard to put into words. She needed to know everything. She had to know everything. It was only then that she could make plans, find ways to keep her people alive. It sounded like so much hubris, like no matter the odds she would be able to pull through, but she couldn't shake the feeling. She couldn't say it had started with Akuze, but it hadn't become an obsession until then. She knew in her head that it was stupid. Everyone who cared about her had told her time and time again how she couldn't make herself responsible for all lives she ever came across. But she couldn't stop. Even if she couldn't save everyone. Someone more could be saved. There was always more she could do.

Her thoughts were interrupted with a sudden contact. Liara grabbed her hand, and by instinct, Shepard made a start, grasping the hand hard in surprise. Liara didn't recoil, she merely grabbed her arm with her other hand.

"Shepard," she said. It was all she needed, the commander blinked a couple of times, and tried to withdraw her hand, but Liara didn't let go. "You cannot be expected to be responsible for everyone."

"What about many? Some? One? How many lives can I throw away just because it wasn't my job to know?"

"But you saved me," Liara said. "If it wasn't for you... And the people of Eden Prime, I saw the reports."

"Then why does it feel like it's never enough?"

Liara didn't answer to that. She did withdraw the hand holding her arm, but her hands clasped together. The asari's hand was as callused as her own hands. Archaeology was hard manual labour, it seemed. But they missed the harshness of Shepard's. Hands made of war and death. Even with their roughness, Liara's hands were elegant, beautiful.

"May I ask you a question?" Liara said.

"Sure."

"What happened with Roy? I... never had a chance to thank him. I would have liked to exchange notes about the mission, he was your prothean expert, and-"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Shepard replied, interrupting her. A mischievous smirk made its way onto her mouth, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I'd rather talk about you."

"I- What? Me?" Liara sounded all kinds of lost, looking around in bewilderment. When her gaze landed on their hands, she reacted in surprise by quickly withdrawing it. "You're making fun of me," she said.

"Mild teasing at best," Shepard replied, and tapped her arm gently.

"I see. I'm... not very good at interacting with humans. Or asari. I spent so much time in dig sites alone that sometimes months will pass without any contact with others."

"That can't be healthy," Shepard said. "How did you end up with that job?"

"It's... a long story."

Shepard smiled, leaning back on her chair and crossing her arms. "I've got all the time in the world. Until we get to Feros at least," she added, making Liara chuckle.

The last time Shepard had talked with someone whose life story consisted of "I just wanted to join the army, nothing dramatic" was Jenkins, and she was starting to think it had been a fluke. Liara was one more to add to the list. Sheltered daughter of a powerful asari matriarch, she had grown more and more restless as she hit the bars of her golden cage when she grew. So she tried t escape. It was when she did so that she found out exactly what a pureblood really meant for asari society. Her study of the prothean extinction was merely an extension of what she had done her entire life – find the question nobody wanted to answer, or bother to think about, and then dedicate herself to finding out why it was.

Her mother had been patient at first, thinking it was just a way for Liara to blow off steam. Most asari spent their rebellious years shaking their asses around the galaxy, committing petty crime, or simply looking for "new experiences", as far removed from what their mothers expected of them as they could muster. For Liara, her academic achievements could be considered just that. No crazy nights for her, melding with every alien she came across that gave her a look and a wink. But no social life, no expanding circles of acquaintances or business partners. No social butterfly flights or, well, politics.

Benezia had expected her to follow on her footsteps, become involved in politics, make her own little empire. Matriarch didn't just hand over the reins of their economic powerhouses to their children. They always split them, given their children but a small portion of it so that they could make their own way. Liara never showed any interest in that. With every academic achievement, she put a new barrier between herself and her mother. Every research paper, every book. Benezia and her became more and more distant, but even then, the matriarch still showed a certain reluctant respect for her daughter's accomplishments.

Then, she had taken the study of the prothean extinction. Her academic career had taken a nosedive, and so had her strained relationship with her mother. She was asking the questions nobody was interested in knowing the answers for. Her grants dried up, and so did her jobs. Therum had been little more than a joke, there was nothing left there for them to study. Two more days and they would have packed up and left.

And so, Liara had landed in her ship. Without a place to go, or a job to do.

"I wonder if there are grants for stopping rogue Spectres bent on destroying the galaxy," Shepard said.

"The best jobs are always the underpaid ones, Shepard," Liara replied, laughing.

"Ain't that the truth, sister," Shepard replied. She saw the look Liara gave her, and laughed. "Just an expression."

"I see, I didn't think you'd look at me that way, but..."

"Nah, that'd be too kinky, even for me," Shepard said, laughing at the shock displayed on Liara's face.

Goodness, she's fun to tease.

"Shepard..."

"I told you, we all have our own brand of humor," She said. "In my case..."

They were interrupted by the whistle of the PA, calling for attention. A moment later, Anderson's voice boomed through the ship.

"We are about to undergo atmospheric reentry to discharge, twenty minutes until relay transit. All hands to their stations, prepare for stealth approach to Feros."

With that, the PA went silent. Shepard tapped Liara's arm and stood.

"Go have Chakwas look at your arm. If she says you're clear, be ready." She got a nod from Liara, and raised her omni-tool as she made for the lift. "Ground team, suit up. I want everyone in the comms room before we jump."

It didn't take that long. One by one the ground team filed in, Wrex and Garrus first of all. The Chief came in followed by Grieco and Felawa, Liara came with a clean bill of health from Chakwas, and last was Alenko. Tali waited until they were right at the relay, helping down at engineering.

Nihlus' absence was very conspicuous.

"Hitting the relay in three... two... one..."

The ship shuddered, and glances were exchanged as the transition finished.

"Drift of 1200 kay, no ships in range. Going silent," Joker announced.

It took mere seconds between the announcement and Anderson stepping into the comms room, face serious.

"Sir," Shepard said.

"All right, here's the situation," Anderson said. With a flick of his omni-tool, he brought a projection of Feros up on the screen.

"There's... nothing?" Shepard said.

"No ships in orbit, or in the system. Most comm buoys are there. But we cannot raise the surface."

"Captain," Pressly's voice came through the comms. "You'll want to see this." The projection changed, zooming into the surface. "This is a satellite image of the colony."

The surface was dotted with marks, the VI highlighting a slew of geth troops over the strange buildings. It wasn't a very clear image, and the targeting software had not managed to recognize everything.

"That's the Exogeni building," Shepard said, adding a marker of her own to the image.

"That is correct, Commander," Pressly replied. "We'll have a clearer image once we're close enough to run our own scans. We're seven minutes out."

"What's that?" Shepard said. She pointed at a strange shape attached to the side of the building.

"That's a ship," Tali said. She stood up and got closer to the screen, working the holographic interface. The image zoomed in more, and she managed to remove some of the blurriness. "It's attached to the side of the building! How... How big is this?" She worked as she talked, and the VI finally chimed in agreement to her orders. The scale showed it was eighty meters wide. "That's... that's a cruiser! How does the building not collapse?"

"Prothean buildings are very resilient," Liara said, getting everyone's attention. "Some of their military installations have been shown to be able to take several dreadnought-level hits before falling. Even civilian structures are strong. It is not surprise they can keep a ship like that attached."

"Well, that explains why there's no ships on the system. It's on the surface. Can we take it down?" Garrus said.

"No," Shepard said immediately. "We cannot risk any civilians still trapped in there."

"Shepard," Garrus said. "That's a cruiser full of geth, the chances of finding survivors-"

"Are not zero," Shepard interrupted.

For a moment nobody said anything, all eyes on the exchange. There was more agreement on the side of the turian than on the commander's, a cruiser carried a lot of troops, and Exogeni security was still civilian. Nonetheless, Garrus simply nodded and stayed silent.

"How do you want to play it Shepard?" Anderson said.

"A drop is out of the question, those skyways are narrow and very far from the surface."

"I can hit them," Joker's voice called over the comms.

"And how would we extract after that? We jump and you catch us?" Shepard said.

"Well..."

"Joker," Anderson called, not hiding his amusement.

"Aye, aye, captain. Shutting up."

That got a few chuckles, but they were short lived. The truth is that there were a lot of geth out there, and not a lot of people on the Normandy. Worse still, they were short a Spectre too.

"Spaceport looks clear," Shepard said. "Why?

"Civilians lived in that part of the colony," Anderson said. "Think they're still alive?"

"Either that or there's nothing interesting. We'll know more once we run our own scanners," Anderson replied. "But the cruiser is a problem. If it takes off, we're going to be outgunned. The Normandy isn't going to stand up to it in a direct fight. Once we hit atmo we'll be visible."

Nobody spoke for a while, everyone looking at the images and thinking. Lots of geth, no easy way out, and a ship that was too much for the Normandy without the benefit of a stealth alpha attack. If they went at the cruiser with all they had now, they would have a chance. But that'd condemn any survivors to death.

Shepard was likely the only one with any hope of finding survivors.

"It's up to you, Shepard," Anderson said. He didn't have to explain the reason. If things turned sour, the ground team would be left holding the bag.

"We make for the spaceport. Engines hot. If the cruiser takes off after we land, the Normandy can make it out of atmo much faster than them."

The ground team exchanged grim looks, but nobody protested.

"Very well," Anderson said. He looked around, meeting the eyes of soldiers and aliens alike. "Good luck out there."

He left the room, walking off to the CIC to direct the Normandy. Shepard cast a look around, taking in the mood. They were all looking at her like she was a lifeline. Except for Wrex, the old krogan seemed quite content with the decision. It was going to be a hell of a fight. But nonetheless, it was the same weight on her shoulders as it always was. They were all looking at her to make it out alive.

"Very well. I'll be taking Liara and Wrex with me, we'll be at the front. Second team, Alenko is in charge. Take Tali and Felawa, you're in support. Third team, Chief; they're yours. Garrus and Grieco. Load for range, I want eyes on everything, and bullets on anything that looks at us wrong."

That got a few chuckles, except for Grieco.

"Em, Commander?" Grieco said.

"Yes?"

"I'm... not exactly a sniper," he said, his voice hinting at embarrassment.

"Then it's your chance to learn!" Shepard said, big smile on her face. "Chief, I want you to score him. Any less than a B+ and you have permission to shoot him." He looked at Grieco, and smirked. "A little."

"Aye aye, Commander," Ash said, her expression all business.

Grieco looked at her, at Shepard, and gulped visibly.

"All right people, get ready to kick some flashlight butt!" Shepard called.

...

It had sounded a lot better in her head.

Shepard, Wrex, and Liara all took position inside the airlock, the decon cycle already complete and waiting for the ship to dock. It took an eternity, time frozen as they waited. With a final clang, the docking clamps secured the Normandy in place, and the door opened.

It was the signal Shepard wanted. She bolted out like the ship was on fire, assault rifle up and scanning for targets. Nothing. They hadn't seen anything during their approach, but she didn't like taking chances. The place looked run down, old. Decrepit, really. The only working parts were the recently installed docking clamps. Cargo crates laid about, fallen, abandoned in a great hurry. What she couldn't really find were signs of battle. Either nobody was there during the attack, or they moved out quickly. A few pock marks from bullets, but it looked like small change.

Behind her, Wrex and Liara moved to flank her. It would be a few seconds until the rest of the team followed. Decontamination could be bypassed if necessary, but with no immediate danger it was better for the air they had just let in the airlock to be sterilized.

A noise caught her attention, and all weapons turned towards it.

"N-No! Don't shoot!"

A ragged looking human came out from behind a crate, hands held up high. Shepard raised her fist to stop her team, lowering her weapon.

"I'm Commander Shepard, with the Systems Alliance," Shepard said. "What happened?"

"G-Geth! They came out of nowhere, you-" He stopped talking, shaking his head as if something had go into his ear. "You should speak with Fai Dan."

"Fai Dan?" Shepard said.

"He's our leader, he's at the heart of the colony. You should speak with him!" the man insisted.

Before Shepard could ask any more questions, she heard the telltalle metallic chatter of geth platforms.

"Get down!" she shouted, raising her rifle and aiming for the entrance. Geth platforms were walking in, pulse rifles up and spitting round after round.

The colonist didn't even react. He stood there, eyes lost in the distance, until he was mowed down by geth fire. Shepard made a start to try and drag him down, but even as she did, she realized the uselessness of her gesture as blood sprayed out of his body.

"Shit! Take them down!"

The first trooper got a salvo from all three of them, pieces scattering in all directions as it literally blew up right before Liara shoved it with a huge biotic push. More of them poured out of the entrance to the docks, assault rifle and krogan shotgun fire trying to keep them away. As Shepard pushed to move closer, a thin line of an energy beam fell to her position, and she was forced into cover when a sniper energy shot crossed right above her head.

"Shepard!" Liara shouted.

"Pull that fucking thing off the wall!" she shouted, swapping weapons.

As soon as she saw the flash of blue light, she came out of cover, and emptied her shotgun on the flying geth hopper, ignoring bullets pinging off her shields as she did. It fell to the ground in a splash of white hydraulic fluid and broken parts, right as her kinetic barriers broke and rounds hit the plates of her suit.

You one-eyed clanking bastards!

She threw a grenade over her cover, and jumped out to resume her attack without even waiting for her shields to recharge. There were at least a dozen geth piled up on the platform by the entrance, unable to get any further and past the roaring krogan mercilessly shooting them to pieces any time they walked any closer.

"Liara!" Shepard called, dark energy swirling around her head as the ever present pressure behind her right eye increased. "Blow it up!"

The singularity formed right above the clump of geth, sending most of them flying. Two or three managed to stay put, their return fire wild and inaccurate. Shepard fell to her bum into cover, her head swimming with the world spinning around her. She didn't see, but she heard the result of Liara hitting her singularity with her own biotic power. The resulting explosion was echoed with the sound of rent metal, and falling geth hitting the lower depths of the docking bay.

Commander...

It sounded like a faraway voice. She tried to blink the darkness away, the encroaching shadow at the edges of her vision. She didn't need balance. With her knee on the ground and her side firmly against the cargo crate, she leaned out and rose her assault rifle. The entrance to the docks had been painted wall to wall in white, small bits of metal and soft joints clinging to the hydraulic fluid.

She wobbled as she turned side to side, looking for more enemies. Her eyes stopped on the fallen form of the civilian. She never even learned her name.

Damn fucking geth, I should have-

"Commander!" The voice wasn't distant this time, and was followed by Alenko dropping to one knee next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she mumbled, pushing him away and grabbing onto the crate to haul herself to her feet. "Check the civilian."

"Commander," Kaidan said, his voice full of concern. He looked at the civilian, then at Shepard, and shook his head. "He's dead."

"Dammit all," she muttered. "Where's the rest of the team?"

"The Chief is in decon."

"Follow us as soon as she's out," Shepard said.

She finally stood up, the pounding in her eye slowly receding to leave behind a sharp, puncturing pain. She hated it, but this time, she wanted it. Pain kept her sharp, and angry. She signalled for her team to follow, and took the vanguard point as they made it out of the docks. They left white footprints on every step, a grisly remainder of what had just happened. The corridor led to a wide tower, square and empty, made of old prothean stone, and filled with a cheap prefab stair of human origin.

"This was a lift shaft," Liara said. "I wonder if the platform fell, or if it was removed. The mass effect fields on-"

"Cut the chatter," Shepard ordered, "and keep your eyes open."

"O-of course," Liara said.

Shepard led the party, moving up one step at a time with care, guns raised and seeking targets. The proximity radar was empty, as was the movement detector. More marks followed them, six green dots of friendlies.

She made it up to nearly the top level before the radar went haywire.

"Jamming," she called quietly over the comms. She kept her step, assault rifle high. Those freaking hoppers were the bane of her existence.

The hoppers appeared all at once, three of them. They hadn't even landed when the report from three high-powered sniper rifles filled the shaft with deafening noise. Only one of the rifles sounded again, and again, until Shepard acquired the target and took down the last hopper with a hard burst of assault rifle fire.

She watched the synthetic fall twenty metres and hit the ground next to the remains of the other two hoppers. Only then she turned to look at the sniper team. Grieco had her sniper rifle up, and everyone was looking at him.

"S-Sorry Commander, those things are fast..." he called over the radio.

There were some amused chuckles. Wrex muttered something about a pyjak, and Shepard just shook her head and moved on. They did not find any more geth until they got to the top. The lift dislodged them at an elevated plaza, almost big enough to hold the Normandy inside. Over a hundred metres per side. The centre was occupied with a downed Kowloon transport, plus several large prefabs laid in a circle around it. The place was a ruin, the signs of battle obvious.

"S-Stop!" a scared voice called from behind a barricade. Two men rose from cover, aiming at them with pistols. "Who are you?"

"Do we look like geth, pyjak?" Wrex replied, levelling his shotgun towards the two dirty young men behind the barricade and getting a squeal of fear from them. "Aim that thing somewhere else or I'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them."

"Wrex," Shepard chided, gesturing for him to lower the gun. With a grunt of annoyance, he complied. "I'm Commander Shepard."

"R-Reinforcements! I thought nobody would come! We've been trying to get word, but..." His voice trailed off, and looked confused for a moment. "You... You should speak to Fai Dan. He's our leader."

"Where are the geth coming from?" Shepard said, as she gestured for her team to move in.

"You should speak to Fai Dan," the man replied, his eyes wide open and... empty.

"Right..." Shepard said, looking around.

Shouldn't be surprised, it's just a bunch of civilians. They must be shell-shocked.

As she walked in, she saw the state the colony was in. There had to be at least a hundred people living there, but she saw no more than twenty manning the barricades. The North and West sides of the plaza were completely blocked off, closed with rubble and re-purposed metal beams. The wall was tall, and for what she had seen from the satellite, there were no ramps or accesses on that side. That left the South, where they had entered, and the Eastern side, which connected to the skyway to the Exogeni building... and the geth.

She found where the rest of the colonists were when she stepped past the entrance to the freighter. She heard the moans before she even saw them, and what she saw dismayed her.

"Captain, we've got a lot of injured people here," Shepard said over the comms.

"Want me to send Chakwas?" Anderson replied.

"I'll check with the local leader first, but at the very least some of our supplies could help."

It didn't take long to find Fai Dan. He was at what looked to be an improvised command centre, on the Eastern side of the colony. He was easy enough to find, because that's what everyone seemed to want to tell her. Go speak to Fai Dan.

"Is it me, or there's something really creepy going on here?" Ash said.

"They've just been through a geth invasion, Chief. What do you think?" Shepard answered.

Dammit, what the hell was that?

"They're just civilians, Ash, don't overthink it," Shepard added.

"Yes sir," Ash replied, her voice more subdued.

Fai Dan turned out to be a tall, haggard looking man. Tanned skin, thin, with deep lines of worry canvassing his face. He had very short dark hair, and what in other circumstances could have been considered comical ears that stuck out far too much from his head. It wasn't him who greeted them, but the woman he had been talking with. A couple of inches short of six feet, dark skinned, with a bob haircut, smooth features not even marred by the angry gesture she was wearing.

"About damn time! Aren't you a bit late?" she said, her voice acid and venomous.

"Arcelia!" Fai Dan chided her.

"Well, what can I say," Shepard replied, resting the stock of her assault rifle on her hip like she was striking a pose. "I had to wait for the right time to make a dramatic entrance."

"You call this a dramatic entrance?" Arcelia said.

"GETH!" a colonist shouted.

The Eastern archway was suddenly filled with geth, a wall of troopers marching in and firing pulse rifles in unison. Shepard didn't flinch, nor her smile wavered. She stood in the same spot, looking at Arcelia.

"No, I call this a dramatic entrance." She racked her assault rifle and pulled the sniper out. "Liara! Wrex!"

"On it!" Liara replied.

With a flash of blue light the asari conjured a singularity, and Wrex followed it with a biotic push. The ensuing biotic explosion threw geth left and right, and Shepard finally got into action, falling in behind cover and taking aim. Three quick shots dropped three geth, not that she could miss at that range, and she swapped the sniper out for her shotgun.

Time to take point. Bitchy Exogeni security or not, she was not going to let anyone die again because she wasn't at a hundred percent.

"Dropship at the tower!" Arcelia called.

"On it!" Shepard replied. "Let's move people!"

They had enough firepower to push through the entrance to the tower without the geth having a chance to stop them, but as soon as Shepard stepped in, dozens of flashlights turned in their direction.

"Shit, take cover!"

She dove behind the nearest wall, as a veritable deluge of bullets fell in their direction. Someone shouted in pain, and her HUD flashed red under the name of one of her teammates. She didn't have time to check. She stood up and fired on the nearest geth, drawing some of the fire her way. Too close. She vaulted over her cover, bullets taking angry bites off her kinetic barriers, but she ignored it and charged the nearest geth. Point blank shotgun discharges were particularly bad for their health, and she took two down before having to duck in cover. With a quick swap, she pulled her sniper rifle, and rose to take aim at the hoppers. Damn things kept jamming the scanners.

When she got up, she found the view of a rocket coming for her face. She didn't even have time to react, but instead of exploding right on her face, it twisted on air, a blue glow around it, to end up exploding at the top of the tower's entrance.

She nailed the rocket launcher with extreme prejudice. Above them, the dropship was moving, trying to bring its guns to bear in the narrow gap between the tall walls of the tower.

"Wrex, with me!" Shepard called. "Alenko, the high ground! Cover fire, now!"

Her entire team responded to her call, nine weapons spitting tungsten death in unison. Three troopers fell to the fire, the two remaining hoppers darted out and away, and the remaining geth struggled to acquire targets, the consensus scrambling to recover from the sudden shock.

With a bellow, Wrex charged ahead, rushing straight for the destroyer in the middle of the room. It was either the right or the wrong move, because now the geth had a clear priority target, and several units turned to him. The destroyer's shotgun barked, once, twice, and on the third shot, a splatter of yellow blood erupted from his side.

It didn't stop him. He met the destroyer head on, and the sound of his headplate crushing the geth's flashlight head rose even above the rest of the battle.

Shepard herself saw the exchange only over the corner of her eye. She moved to the left side, drawing some of the fire to give Alenko and his team a chance to get to the higher ground on the left. Every move she made was preceded by a biotic attack. A push, a lift, she always had that extra second she needed to get into cover, to get that shot she needed.

When the dropship finally got into position, the team was scattered all over the battlefield, which was exactly what she had wanted. She blasted another trooper in close quarters, crushed its head with the butt of her shotgun, then blasted it again for good measure on the ground. Above her head, she saw the trails of the geth hoppers taking aim.

"Take those damn hoppers down!" she yelled at the comms.

The dropship opened fire, forcing her team on the left side to go deep into cover. She swore loudly, swapped the shotgun for the assault rifle, and rose to unload at the dropship's main gun. She kept the finger jammed on the trigger, the heat gauge steadily climbing towards overheat, and the suit's VI telling her she was not getting through the shields. It'd take several of them shooting at the same time for it to happen, but for now what she wanted was their attention.

Overhead, the hoppers' beams flashed solid, and the HUD flashed two markers. Two hits.

"Hoppers dammit!" she shouted.

Two reports of sniper rifles followed, then a third and fourth. She turned to see only Garrus and Grieco were taking shots, but Grieco had finally managed to down his hopper.

It only left the destroyer Wrex was grappling with.

*BOOM*

It only left the dropship above them.

"Take that ship down! Take it down!"

A cacophony of guns rose to her command, mass accelerated rounds buzzing through the air like a biblical plague of locusts. The kinetic barrier around the ship became alive, flashing on every impact. The dropship bobbed and turned, looking for targets, but on every salvo its targets would go to ground, hiding behind the seemingly infinitely sturdy prothean constructions. When the barrier finally broke, the dropship's gun was nailed by every single bullet Shepard's team was putting out, and spluttered to death with a pitiful explosion.

It was enough. The dropship rose, making for the Exogeni building, and leaving the organics to lick their wounds.

"Report!" Shepard shouted. She was looking at the HUD, four names reporting damage. Felawa, Wrex, Ashley, and-

Liara!

I had not had a good night.

The room I had commandeered was absolutely empty. There weren't eve windows there, it was all featureless, light grey walls with only those dim pilot lights from the corridor illuminating it. It was eerily silent, too, and altogether extremely unsettling. I had slept in bad places before, but this one was a particular brand of bad. Nevermind uncomfortable, since I was sleeping on the floor.

Sometime during the night I woke up to a panic attack. Again. I had the feeling that something was watching me. I didn't have an omni-tool, a light, or anything to illuminate the dark corners. I knew I didn't need it, I was completely alone down there, but maybe it would have helped.

Or maybe not. It was just about three minutes of hell, which I spent with my gun in my trembling hands, pointing at the darkness and waiting for something to jump out.

When night passed and Mika came to knock on my door, I was feeling like shit.

Wait a goddamn minute... Where the FUCK did that door come from?

I made my way to the entrance of the room and looked at its newest addition. Yep, it was a damn door. I hit the release in the middle, and it split in four parts, sliding on the wall sides of the hexagonal doorway.

"What in the fuck?" I said.

"Good morning to you too!" Mika replied, her eyes narrowed in amusement. She saw my face, and her eyes widened. "What?"

"This wasn't here yesterday!" I said, poking the door to close it again.

"Oi!" she shouted from the other side. I hit the release to open it again, and looked at her. "It was probably the keepers."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah! They fix things, you know, or at least try to. I don't like letting them in the sewers to fix stuff because it takes me forever to undo whatever they 'fix'," she said, even doing the air quotes around fix. "But I guess they saw you using this and made you a door."

"That's... really fucking creepy."

"It's useful! That's how I got the ladder over there," she added, and pointed at the entrance. "I put a broken piece with some omni-gel, and the next day it was all new and shiny."

"Huh."

"So, you ready?"

"Yeah, hold on, lemme go get some food first..."

I stepped into the room and grabbed a hard ration foil pack. It was all I could afford, but I had managed to buy a whole fifty of them for just twenty credits. Which left me with exactly one to my name.

And in the meantime, I kept thinking about the Normandy. I had had a whole night to sleep on it, but even now in the morning, I didn't feel like I was going to change my decision. It did present me with a dilemma, namely Virmire, and later on the Collectors.

I had an idea for the immediate one: Barla Von. The Shadow Broker could probably drop the information on Shepard about what, exactly, was going on with Virmire, and get a fleet there instead of just the Normandy and a few Salarians. If it was coming from the Shadow Broker, they might be inclined to believe it. Just had to figure out what to exchange for it as payment.

For the Collectors, well, I had no idea. At least I had a little time for that one.

With a sigh, I tore open the foil pack and grabbed one of the bars. I bet the Normandy was still moored to the Citadel, and they were having decent food and better sleep. Damn them.

Author's Notes: Quick update! It's a long weekend here in New Zealand, and felt like making some progress with this. Very odd chapter, a Self-insert mostly without the self. But with the exciting job I had procured at the Citadel, what can you expect?

Well, you can expect something soon. For now, Shepard's got to deal with a whole lotta geth and more.

Thanks for all the reviews! Over a hundred of them so far, pretty awesome.

Mizuki: Your enthusiasm is contagious! :D Yeah, Roy's probably thinking that it's a nice easy job and he's got a lot less to worry about now. Heh. Hehehehe.

Reviewer Man: Yeah, going off script at this point is not going to be easy, hopefully the ideas I have will pan out. Mika and Roy will definitely have more time soon, they were just... not really in the mood last chapter, neither of them really :) Thanks for the support!

Endrius: Hahaha, no kidding! :D

Unnamed Wanderer: Well, not sure about shipping, but... stuff will happen :)

Oyshik: Thanks! I try to update once a month minimum (both SIs at the same time), aiming for every 2-3 weeks usually.

Next time, we'll keep our eye on the Citadel, and a reunion in Feros I bet you can see coming if you think about it. Until then!