Arch-Daishou here; I wanted to apologize for the long absence. That was all on me for having severe burnout. And life, of course, being life, but things have gotten so much better on my end that I've found myself back to center again.

XXX xxx XXX xxx XXX xxx XXX xxx XXX xxx XXX xxx XXX xxx XXX

"Another one dropped!" Rang Garrus as he took out a Geth Hunter on the far side of the clearing. He and his sniping rival were taking care of the lower level of the first area, which looked like a residential ruin. Though before he could drop another, it was taken out by Naruto.

The blonde grinned as he got a second quickly before it could duck into an area that looked like it went to the right side's balcony area. "That's another two! Getting slow, Garrus?!"

When the team entered the area, they were met with a patrol ship. As their shuttle went silent, not to be caught, the patrol managed to pick them up and drop a couple dozen Geth in the area to take them down. Seeing the higher level on the right, the team broke off, with the sharpshooters taking the more open area as target practice and the girls making their way to the balcony overhead.

It was a good thing, too, since a few cloaking Geth were trying to flank using that route. But not anymore, thanks to Kasumi's knowledge of such tech use. Catching them, she blasted their cloaking and hid in the shadows herself, mostly to keep from the sun that was killing her pale skin.

With a clear line of sight and a desire to get into a fight, the biotic convict roared and charged into the Geth, their guns letting loose to tear her apart. Or would, if not for the Spectre Captain's viral sabotage signal that stunned a few and overheated a few of the Geth's weapons?

Even though her Barriers were about to pop from the sun and Geth rifles, Jack still managed to get close enough to erupt with an area shockwave, blasting a few of the Geth in front of her to launch into the ceiling, and even flung one over the side balcony further ahead. "I ain't DONE with you, bastards!" Grabbing two in her biotic fields, she pulled them in close and, with both fists, struck through their mechanical chests before flinging their lifeless husks of metal as shields from the enemy fire as she got into a well-shaded area, letting the geth drop from her arms.

Being old hats at killing Geth, the Snipers were nearing done with their targets. The flung-over Geth that Jack had sent in their line of fire was greeted by a double helping of sniper fire, killing it instantly, though now the two wouldn't agree on who got the final shot. "Come on, I had that sighted before you did!" From his point of view, the Turian thought he had the advantage of seeing it first.

"Do you want to go double or nothing on the next one? HEY! Can one of you toss a Geth over again?" Naruto loaded a fresh thermal in his Viper and got himself ready.

Even as Shepard took out the shields of another three with a quick Overload, which gave her ample time to blast one flashlight head apart and Kasumi the advantage of blasting a second one's head from behind, the female trio were tearing the last of them up before they could really do that. In her yelling rage, the under-dressed woman had already jumped up above the third, stunned Geth, the last of the patrol, and crushed it under the force of her biotic power.

The girls searched for more in their shaded paradise but didn't find any. The cloaked tech expert called over the close-range communications: "Gomenasai, a little late for another target."

"We cleared the area. What do you two need another target flung from the balcony for?" Not knowing what was going on, Jack crossed her arms over her bust as she waited to move, not wanting to get into the sun again for a moment.

Emily answered her. "Those two have a bit of a game going on since they both are great snipers. 'Who can kill the most targets?' and they recently reset the counter after my brother died and came back."

"We'll agree to not count that for either of us then. Right, Garrus?"

A smirk that flared his mandibles was answer enough, but the clawed fist of the Dextro-amino friend came up. A gesture he knew well enough now as respect and agreement, one that the blonde rival reciprocated with as their fists bumped and they moved through the shadows and shaded areas to move forward. "We'll find more targets to drop soon enough. Now, let's move on. Tali's still waiting for us."

Smartly, the five-person team found some shaded paths that led forward. Haestrom's unforgiving sun still makes the traversal unbearably hot for the group, but when it came to Tali. Naruto, Emily, and Garrus would walk through hell to save her. Jack wiped off the sweat from her brow, "This place is so goddamn hot."

"Watashi wa kuroi fuku o kite imasuga, anata wa nani mo kite imasen," Kasumi retorted dryly.

Jack deadpans, "That was your choice of clothing, not mine."

They grew quiet, passing through a pathway to another open area with more safe places to walk, but also Geth hunkered down everywhere. "Well, our surprise did not last long," Garrus quipped.

They grew quiet, passing through a pathway to another open area with more safe places to walk. Since the main door forward was practically welded shut by the direct sunlight, they had to take an opened stone tunnel that looked stable. However, as they progressed, they noticed a few Geth and Quairan bodies lying around, most of the Quarians looking to have some armoring to their suits. Having seen her share of Quarians, thanks to keeping in touch with Tali, the one-armed engineer knew they were their military. "Quarian Marines. Looks like three of them fell in retreat."

Not liking the sound of their friend retreating from a large force of Geth, they picked up the pace to the next open area of commerce, which had many more shaded areas, but it also had Geth hunkered down everywhere. "Well, our surprise did not last long," Garrus quipped.

"No, look. These aren't looking for us." Naruto corrected as the Geth seemed to be trying to dig through some rubble blocking a door. Others patrolling the area were not attempting to charge them either.

"What do you think they are trying to do?" Asked their thief. "Want me to find out?" She instantly cloaked and was already going to round the area.

XXX xxx XXX

The violet eyes of Kushina stayed sharp, observing her son and his team's actions in dealing with their non-organic opponents. "This Tali important to my son and his team?"

Chakwas answered from her desk, "She helped us during our mission to pursue Saren Arterius. She is more than an ally to at least some of us. Tali is a dear friend."

Arterius... That was a name Kushina remembered well, but she shook it off. "What is she like?"

Memories flooded the senior doctor's mind, stopping her work: "When we first met her, she was just coming of age as an adult. Energetic, vibrant, and full of curiosity about anything and everything new, many in the SR-1 viewed her as a little sister of our motley crew."

Beside the redhead, Sakura declared while watching the mission with her, "I met her a few times in Flux when the others visited. She was very sweet. Asked all kinds of questions about Naruto and Emily."

XXX xxx XXX

Jack grumbled but followed orders as Naruto and Emily decided on the secret approach before bringing down the flashlight heads. This involved them getting in position to take down the synthetics, but first, Kasumi had to stealthily go over and check to see what the Geth were up to. The thief used the shaded areas to her advantage, advancing toward the synthetics while invisible.

Garrus and Naruto took up well-covered high-ground positions with their eyes on their respective scopes.

Keeping her Barrier in check, flaring her biotics, the woman with the shaved head was getting a little restless. "We don't start soon, I'll just wreck shit."

"I wouldn't." Getting her attention, Naruto was seeing otherwise from his view. "This place is crawling with Geth. I'm not sure why so many of them are here, but we even have the large ones, Primes. They seem to be searching the area, but not for us."

"You'd be correct, Senchou." Uncloaking with the other ladies nearby, she explained. "The Quarians have been setting up research equipment, and the Geth are getting Intel from it. I stopped counting at about 40, but there are demolition charges around the area. I don't think it's Geth, though. Maybe this Tali of yours was blowing things up, and it caught the attention of these things."

Naruto and Garrus glance at each other before resuming their looks through their sniper scopes. "Think we're ready to give these walking flashlights off the back of our favorite Quarian," Vakarian conveyed.

"Agreed," Emily said, preparing her weapon. Looking at Jack, she said, "You may begin to raise hell."

"Now you are talking my language, girlscout~" The primal Biotic flashed a wild grin.

Jumping out of cover, the biotic woman had her shotgun in hand when she made her way to some of the first metallic enemies. She quickly blasted their shields with one shot after another until her shotgun's thermal clip started smoking. Generating a giant anti-gravity field to lift them, she grabbed all three in her biotics and slammed them into the ground with enough force to make them explode.

Storming around the other side, quickly rolling over lumps of stone with ease, Shepard popped the shields off another Geth, charging the power of the shock to bounce to three more in the group. A single shot to one's chest cavity, as she passed, was good enough, hoping to start flanking the Primes.

Shortly after, the other two she took the shields from were missing their heads, and the double rifles were aimed at them. "Just like old times, ey Garrus?" the blonde asked as he lined another shot on a Geth being tossed by Jack.

"Trying to distract my count? Ain't going to happen. These Geth seems sort of less bothersome than a few years back, but are still a threat." Through his scope, he took another Geth out, but for a brief moment, his sight was on Emily, watching her move through the battlefield with confidence and skill. His mandibles twitched as thoughts came back from his talk with Kasumi, but he was quick to recover his thoughts to the battle ahead. Another Geth down with his heat sink popping from his rifle and a new one injecting for his next target's demise.

Kasumi used her stealth to her advantage, getting beside several Geth and taking shots at each weakest point into their armor. "Sore ni tsuite wa mōshiwakearimasen!" She chirped before moving to her next targets.

Charging herself with her biotics, Jack nearly roared, putting the barrel of her shotgun under several Synetics and blasting their heads off. "Now, this is therapeutic!" She extended a hand, unleashing a shockwave, sending several flashlight heads flying. Her eyes gleamed, seeing the crimson glow of Naruto's biotics sending more machines into the air for him and Garrus to shoot. "I'm either going to fight or fuck that man. Hell, maybe both!"

It didn't take long for the plan to move to its next phase, as the smaller and less defensible Geth units were removed around the area. However, Jack was the first to forget the others' advice, as a rather large Geth had started charging for her. With a smirk, she flared her arms with biotic power, and a shockwave of dark energy disturbed the air as it violently crashed into the thing—only to do hardly anything besides give it pause.

Having been slowed down, the Geth raised its weapon, which seemed like a rather large weapon, and fired at her. Raising her biotic bubble, the near-naked woman's barrier caught the flak of fire but burst from the intense energy of the projectile, causing her to be sent back from the blast. "GHAAAA!"

Hearing this, the blonde Commander turned to see the Geth walking towards Jack, weapon ready to end her. CHarging the Viper in his hands for extra power, he fired with a smoking thermal clip, ejecting at speed away as his shot slammed full force into the Prime unit's gun. The shot shattered the weapon, thankfully, but the Geth summoned a couple of its drones to take to the field. "Shit, COVER ME!"

Jumping down and grabbing his SMG, he fired into the hard light constructs, causing them to rip apart. As he did, the unit hunkered down, and its shields were visible and strong, protecting it. After taking care of the drones, he rushed to check on Jack, getting her from the ground and behind cover. "You alright?"

Switching to his rifle, the Turian tried to break through the shield with his Omni-tool's overloading electrical surge, which made the thing warble in a strange way. Hoping it was weaker, he pelted the thing with gunfire, which took a while before the shields finally popped.

Recovering and holding her aching head from the biotic discharge backfiring on her, Jack grumbled in irritation. "Shit, you could have warned me those things were harder to hit with biotics."

Hearing an explosion, Naruto looked over the cover to see the thing in pieces. Seeing his marksman rival and friend give a wave and turn back to sniping down range, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, now you know. Keep down when you see one, take it's shields down before getting at it with Biotics."

A moment later had his sister calling in through the comms. "All Geth down. Kasumi hacked a Prime to take out the rest of the common platforms before it self-destructed, and I ripped the last one's core out. Returning to you."

Naruto quickly ordered, "Sweep the area for any Quarian survivors. If there are, we call for the shuttle. If not, we press on!"

The group flowed through the area while trying to escape from the scorching sunlight to hit them. While Uzumaki held some hope, none was found amongst only the corpses of Tali's people. A tiny portion of him wondered if...

That voice spoke in his mind once more: "Do not become unfocused. That girl is more resourceful than to allow Geth to kill her."

'*Who the hell are you!?*'

"The closest ally you will ever have."

Naruto perked, feeling a hand on his shoulder. He glanced to see Emily, "Nobody here. We keep moving."

Coming back around, Garrus was next to the rubble, holding a device. "I think I found a comm unit... This isn't a Marine." Under the rubble was some blood, but the only part of the Quarian visible was the arm until Garrus had dug the helmet and shoulder. Sure enough, not armored.

"One of the non-combatants, then. Damn." Thankfully, it wasn't Tali either, and the blonde pushed past the thought to focus on the mission, as the voice suggested. "Is the Comm active?"

"Should be intact, not sure how close anyone is, or if they are still-"

"Team four, what's your status!?" The unit lit up violently, with gunfire and Geth sounds in the background. "We got Tali'Zorah into the observatory, but we're being hammered! I only have a couple of Marines left. What's your status!? Is everyone alright!?"

The vocal tone of the Quarian was concerned, rightfully so. Taking the unit from the Turian, Naruto tuned into the frequency. "This is Commander Naruto Uzumaki. Your team at the entrance of this building is gone. I'm not sure if the inside is any better. What's your name, soldier?"

"Kal'Reegar Vas Hiechrim, Migrant Fleet Marine Corp." The signal cut for a moment from what sounded like an explosion, but one with a buffer of sound. That sound was eerily familiar to Naruto, his sister, and Garrus. Kal came back on after a moment. "Turn your Omni-tools to this frequency, and then tell me what the hell a dead human is doing in Geth space!"

The group quickly adjusted their omni-tool before Naruto declared, "Was brought back, long story. The main reason for being here is for Tali. So, we're here to help and got plenty of firepower and biotics."

"Then get your asses to my coordinates double time! Wipe out as many synthetic bastards along the way! If you find any of my men alive, patch them up, Spectre!" The comms went silent.

Naruto looked at everyone, "Well, you heard the man. Haul ass!"

XXX xxx XXX

Kushina turned her attention to Sakura, "Who trained my son?"

"The Commander served under Admiral Hackett and was part of the N7 program," Chakwas answered, now watching with the others the events down planet-side.

...Heh, good old Steven. The redhead knew she could count on her old friend to look after her son.

The pink-haired apprentice remembered when the Admiral first appeared to the Foxes after he helped save them from Marcus back in those days. "It's been a long time since Hackett got us off the streets. He put us into a military-civilian outreach program, funded our education, and gave us the chance to get on our feet as adults. Naruto made that the cost of him being drafted into military schools like Hackett asked of him."

*He takes after me, then. I had a similar situation when I had my outburst on the bus.* Remembering how she was found by military scientists and generals, with Element Zero exposure still so new to them back then.

XxX xxx XxX

With the powerful biotics under their belt, it was no time at all to free the way of the debris for the door. Naruto had also been mindful of using the rubble to compact a grave for the Quarians under it, finding another two bodies, one being a Marine only.

Heading inside, the team found the rest. A dozen organic bodies, with dozens of synthetic ones all over the place. "They were trapped... and were cornered when the Geth came from the far door there." The Dextro sniper observed the way the bodies lay.

Jack's eyes gleamed with actual respect, "I'll say these tough bastards went down fighting and took these metalheads down to hell with them."

"Nearly most of everything was damaged in the firefight in here," Kasumi muttered, typing on her omni-tool while scanning. She came to a stop, "A few of these Geth weapons are in tack."

Emily knelt beside a dead Qurian, "We can take them for study. Make certain these guys didn't die in vain."

Collecting one of the intact rifles, Garrus' scanner recorded the architecture of the building. "Aside from the stone construction, the place is solid. Looks like a center of some sort, but can't tell for security or archeological."

Naruto was looking for the way forward more than anything. Making it to the far door, he started playing with his Omni-tool to hack it open when the nearby console lit up, a call incoming. Answering it, the interface came up with the distinct patterned hood of Tali as she was engrossed in her terminal. "Tali'Zorah to base camp, come in base camp! What's going on over there?"

With a slight breath of relief that he had seen his friend alright, the blonde gave her the news: "The camp was overrun, they're dead... Sorry. I should have gotten here sooner."

"Naruto!?" Tali's voice rang out in pure shock. "You are here!?"

"Not just him, Tali." Emily and Garrus quickly came over, further causing the Qurian woman to be shocked.

"...How!? I mean, I'm not complaining, but all of you are here!?"

Garrus quickly spoke, "Well, Wrex is still stuck on Tuchunka. Otherwise, this would be way more messy."

A small snort came from Tali before shaking her head, "Are none of my men alive?"

"We've contacted one so far. He's further ahead of us," Naruto explained, with Kasumi peeking from behind him. "Kal'reegar."

"Reegar is alive... Please get to him and me as fast as you can!"

"That's the plan. I was finding a way through here when you called. Is this door the only way to get to you?"

Checking her terminal, the Quarian found the route. "Yes. Between the solar radiation and the Geth, most doors operating main streets are inaccessible. I'll upload the route for you and unlock the door from my side. Be careful, and there's a Colossus nearby. I can hear it firing at the remaining Marines outside the room I'm in."

"You lock yourself in? Won't be a problem keeping the Geth out for you, right Tali?" Shepard asked with a smile.

"Of course, adaptive algorithmic firewalls and counter-hacking. Just get here soon; the Geth can still get through if they network enough processing power."

The door opened for the team as she finished talking. "On it. See you soon, Tali." Naruto made sure his rifle had a fresh clip for the fight ahead. "Let's move, everyone!"

XXX xxx XXX

Upon leaving the room, the unit quickly made their way towards their old friend and whoever was left of her team on this hellscape of a planet. "She warned of a Colossus. But can likely guess there is more than that waiting for us." Emily concluded.

"Then we take every single last of these metal fuckers out," Jack concluded.

The group followed the path through, down the stairs to what could be a former dock for transports, with a wide open side and walkways made of stone jutting out, and a large space with giant support beams. They had little time to think about it when a drone decloaked and began to fire at them. "COVER!" the first burst of shots hammered the shields and barriers of Naruto and Garrus, but thanks to the red flare of biotic energy deploying a large bubble barrier to defend, the team could run to cover or attack.

And Jack did, utilizing her biotic prowess to send the thing flying into one of the support pillars and breaking to pieces. With the surprise attack done, the team could hear the sounds of more drones flying their way, so Garrus got behind one pillar with the one-armed Spectre.

Heir thief moved to cloak and flank, finding information, as usual, with Naruto supporting Jack moving forward to some shade, meeting face-to-face with a few drones already. Slamming two together with her biotics, the convict started warming up her projectile attacks. "Who needs a gun when I have my own ranged abilities!?"

XxX xxx XxX

With the team no longer on screen, under the rock constructions and buildings, the group in the med bay watching the events unfolding were a little curious about where everyone went. Then, some flashes were caught from the edge of some rock faces. "Ah, underground. Lots of shade. Can see benefits." The Salarian doctor noticed

Mordin returned to the medbay to help check up on Kushina while reviewing several blood tests he conducted. "Geth forces surprisingly heavy on the planet. Strange, considering the state of the system's sun. Would cook and short circuit their internal wiring to the point of deactivating."

"Maybe they are territorial," Sakura offered.

"Plausible, but still irregular."

Kushina listened while keeping her focus on the screen. Though she was unable to see her son and his squad due to them being inside a stone structure, and the flashing EDI thankfully noticed and indicated for view, she chose to look ahead to what was another firefight. "What's going on over here?"

When pressing the location, EDI zoomed in. It looked like a lot of Geth fighting off a few red-suited organics. "It appears some of the Quarians are still fighting the Geth ahead. Without intervention, they will likely perish, as there is not only an overwhelming number of Geth platforms but also what looks like an Armature-Class platform. Due to its size, I suspect it is a Colossus."

Chakwas was around for the first incident with the Geth and had the reports from their time hunting Saren. She was a little worried about that one. "They had Tanks for those before... They'll have trouble taking that thing on without the Hammerhead or Mako."

XxX xxx XxX

The team had pushed through the Drones, moving forward every ten or so. Breathing heavily from exertion, the biotic powerhouse of a convict was behind a pillar sweating a storm. "How many more fucks are over here?!"

"Just two!" Roared Emily as she shot two down, one with an Overload and another with her shotgun's Carnage shot. "Clear over here!"

On the other side, Naruto had taken to utilizing his biotics in another way. The Geth Super Destroyer, in his way, had chosen to use long-range projectiles with mass. When it fired, he deflected the projectile to the side as he moved up. And it moved back, with Garrus hammering its shields. The thing was HUGE and was taking a beating, it was obviously the rear guard that was keeping anything from flying into this port. "How much longer, Kasumi!?"

She was hacking into it, keeping herself hidden on its back, but the amount of programs within was keeping her out rather well. "Just keep it's attention!"

"Trust me, we pissed it off," Garrus offhandedly quipped as he kept the pressure on the oversized synthetic.

"Mōsugu sokodesu!"

Once more, Naruto deflected a large projectile. "Itsu demo!" The blond shouted back.

As the thing was charging its next shot, it started to spark as the shields blasted off it. The discharge was enough to throw Kasumi back and to the ground defenseless. But it didn't matter at that point because the red aura of biotic power from Naruto engulfed the giant synthetic platform, and he roared with exertion, his fox-like cloak coming back with a single tail.

The rest of them stared as he used his power, crushed the thing like a tin can, and threw it into the distance, over the ledges of the spaceport, to fall into a pit forever. With the fight finally over, everyone gathered around the blonde as he calmed down, his cloak sizzling away.

Not having seen the thing herself, Kasumi whistled with an impressed gaze. "I suppose the childhood group of yours was named Fox for a reason. Whiskers aside, that is."

"We were the Foxes because we were cunning... The adults that weren't trying to tear our heads off for scavenging and all had said we were little foxes running off everywhere." Shepard explained. However, she did see how the thief made the connection.

Shaking off the fatigue and moving forward, Naruto pulled the leader act together. "We can talk more when there isn't an emergency ahead. Let's go; Tali and the rest of her team won't last long."

Their pace was quick but not reckless as they pushed forward toward their objective. They came to another stop, finding more drones but, thankfully, less giant Geth and more of the regular human-sized ones. "This is a goddamn endurance run," Jack grumbled as they took cover. "Hope your girl is worth this fucking hassle."

"She is," Garrus, Emily, and Naruto chorused.

"Hitobito ga isseini hanasu no wa totemo bukimidesu." Kasumi muttered with a shiver.

The Turian of the group glanced over, "I heard a saying some people start speaking their native language when nervous."

"Fighting an entire legion of Geth on a smoldering planet in black clothes does that," The thief quipped with a huff. "I'm going to need a shower after this."

Just as they saw the door ahead open for the Geth, Reegar contacted them. "If this is the last message I send, then you better be here soon! The rest of my team just got obliterated by this Colossus! Just me now, and it looks like they are trying to flank me from the port!" The comms picked up Geth's fire to interrupt him.

The interruption was made at the same time they heard the Geth ahead start firing. Being so close, Naruto geared up and grabbed his smaller single-handed weapons in each hand, calling into Reegar. "Keep yourself alive, and we're right around the corner!" Looking at everyone, he gave his orders as some of the Geth ahead started firing at them. "Final push! Keep your head down along every wall! Keep watch for a big one!"

Popping up, he fired his SMG at one Geth, tearing through its shields quickly and giving Garrus a shot to take its head. Another was overloaded by Shepard, causing it to malfunction from the system crash. With purpose, the veteran trio of the group tore through the several Geth and drones coming from the door, leaving the lightly armored and very lightly dressed girls to look at each other with weird, questioning gazes. Neither could answer those questions, so they jumped from cover to add to the fighting.

Throwing two drones together, the psychotic biotic flared her biotics and created another barrier around herself as she charged in with her Shotgun. Ripping through another Geth and the Thief helping take down another that was about to attack her half-naked friend, Jack got behind cover to reload her shotgun.

Naruto finished tearing down the last Drone flying around to flank them and quickly ran for the door. The path was cleared to the next room, which had giant red panels and a single Geth activating a terminal just as Naruto picked it up and crushed it into the ceiling.

As Kasumi and Jack came in with the rest of the team, the windows opened, and the entire squad looked to the battlefield ahead. As they looked ahead, they saw it. The huge Colossus turned, and its glowing eyes began to glow brighter. "DUCK OUT OF THE WAY!" the red-cloaked leader screamed as he and his sister, Garrus, too, took cover behind the rocky walls.

A beam of hot plasma shot at the same second, with the group barely avoiding the hit. A low groan came from Garrus, "Yeah... Definitely like old times." They kept low as they exited the room, rounding a corner to see a lone Qurian in a red enviro suit holding a rocket launcher.

"Migrant Fleet Marine Kal'Reegar," The Qurian formally introduced himself. "Never thought I'd meet someone back from the dead."

Naruto and the others knelt beside them as they ducked the plasma fire of the smaller Geth with the Colossus. Emily noticed blood around the alien soldier. "You are wounded."

"Lucky bastard caught me off guard. I was able to reseal my suit and inject antibiotics. Running on adrenaline and being pissed off!"

Jack snorted, "Tougher than you fucking look!"

"I'll take that as a compliment! Tali's in the room further in, but as you can see, these bastards showed up to raise hell."

"Have they gotten to Tali," Naruto questioned with a light flare of his Biotics.

Reegar shook his head, "Negative. But that sealed door protecting her won't last much longer. And to make matters worse, we are in the shittiest place to counter these flasheads!"

"Why do you say that?" Garrus asked the red-suited marine. Given their current situation, it was not hard to imagine why, but any information is better than none.

Another blast smacked into the rock next to them. Reegar groaned aloud in a quiet curse before pulling up his Omni-tool, showing the battlefield as he scanned it beforehand. "Here's us, here's the observatory. We got the high ground over there that will cook you in seconds if you pop out of a crouch, and the middle there has you flanked and in direct line of fire from that damned Colossus." He pointed to each section as he spoke of them. "This last path leads to cover, but the synthetic bastards are heavily fortified up that path. My remaining team is dead, and I got shot getting out of there to this position."

With their experience, Emily Shepard had a traditional plan to take the big one down: "We'll set up long-range guns on that Colossus and start pulling its attention in other directions. If we take that thing out, we'll have less to worry about with the rest of their forces."

Taking his rocket launcher, the Quarian marine shot at the Colossus again, sending a sabotage signal array to the first Geth he could spot. Getting back behind cover to reload the launcher, he shook his head at that idea. "Not happening! The standard protocol has us whittling it down bit by bit like that, but this one's some prototype. It hunkers down, hardens its shields, and repairs itself."

"Which means we have to rip it apart as quick as we can, or we're blown to bits. That's just fucking great..." Jack grimaced, wondering how they were going to get out of this one.

"Senchō," Kasumi got the attention of Naruto and Emily, "Maybe if you got me enough cover, I can hack it?"

"Anyone try that?" The blond questioned.

"We were kind of busy shooting these things for anything fancy. And Tali is our best tech. But I don't know if that could work or not! It is one hell of a gamble, Uzumaki."

Garrus picked a shot with his sniper rifle of a lone Geth out in the open before taking cover. "Better than waiting here with our hands on our asses!"

"It wouldn't work on the big one. You had trouble with that juggernaut of a platform just before we got here. You'd need to take out the others to try hacking it. But we CAN hack the others." Getting everyone's attention, the metal-armed Spectre sent each of them a program. "We hack enough, we'll turn the tide. Hack the more vulnerable platforms, push forward, and hope we still have Geth hacked on our side to help with the big one." All but Jack really had the program, as she didn't have an Omni-tool on right now. *It is a good thing I had the sub-routine running from the first Geth we faced; I figured we might need it.*

Reegar had to admit that was a great plan. "I like it, and even if we don't have any more hacked on our end, we'll be clear to overwhelm the Colossus. You got my vote."

"Okay, so can we start kicking some metal ass? I am getting sick of hiding here," Jack quipped with her fingers, tapping her shotgun.

"We do this smart, no rushing in." Naruto glanced at the woman, who rolled her eyes before giving a mock salute. "Reegar."

The Quarian looked through his visor, "I can hang back with rocket support. These bastards killed my team. I owe them."

"No heroics. We don't lose a single Quarian more. You don't need to do anything more than keep pressure on." Naruto saw Reegar about to argue and gave him no room to do so. "And if you're going to suggest you'll gladly die to complete your mission, then even if you refuse to listen to me wanting you kept alive, then follow Tali's orders, which is to keep yourself alive through the rest of this!"

"Fine, then you get my revenge for me! Keelahse'lai!" As he got ready for base support, the team took off, and he was surprised to see them work so fast. The whiskered leader raced down the way, with the Turian following closely.

The hooded woman was gone, but the other two, Shepard and her nearly-naked comrade, were sprinting for the battlefield. Hitting the first rock formation, Naruto pointed for the top read on the right to his TUrian buddy. "I'm heading up there; give me cover! I'll keep them from taking the high ground!"

The dust flew up from the ion blast of the Colossus shooting at them again, but Garrus got the message. "I'll handle keeping the middle occupied!"

"Make that the both of us!" Shepard yelled as gunfire started raining in from all directions. " Kasumi, give Jack cover going the left way!"

In addition to that order, Naruto made it clear why Jack would be perfect for it. "Colossus won't be shooting you over there! There's lots of cover. Just start throwing them around and wrecking them how you see fit! Just make sure you're only throwing the ones Kasumi hasn't hacked yet!"

Both the shaved-headed biotic and the technical thief confirmed their orders and ran for the left route. With that done, Naruto went into a dead sprint for the right ramp up to the balcony area. Switching his armor's protection from shields to barriers, he boosted the protective power with as much output as he could as the sun started bearing on his back and Geth taking shots at him.

In their positions, the technically inclined individuals started their hacking. Several Geth suddenly shook violently from the co-opting of their systems, unable to decide what to do as they were being taken over by a virus that ordered them to destroy the other platforms of their kind. With their minds turned, they started attacking their own, giving some of the organic squad breathing room to take their shots.

The plan was working like a charm, the Quarian marine was impressed watching the Geth turn on each other, and the Humans and Turian were taking out the others. Flashlights blew up from shots to the mechanical heads, several Geth flying off from the under-dressed woman's roaring, powerful biotic skills. The upper level seemed quiet in comparison, and he wondered why. *Then again, I don't see Geth coming around either. He must be a great shot.*

Crawling ahead with rifle ready, Naruto moved slowly up. He planned to get to a great flanking position without being flanked himself. And it was working well, another Geth coming into sight that was easily dispatched from a double tap to its blinding bulb eye.

It didn't take too long to reach shade and the rocky area where he could get a shot at the Colossus. He moved to aim towards the battlefield area to give the rest assistance. "We're getting there! Only a dozen left, I think!"

"Make it half!" Crushing six more coming her way, Jack saw another two get hacked into by the hidden thief. "We should be ready to take on the big guy soon!" Sadly, her barrier fell right as a Geth Hunter surprised her, hitting her with a shock protocol from its Omni-tool. As she fell to her knees, the Geth put its gun to her head. "Fuck..."

She heard the shot but saw the Geth fall to the ground from its head being gone. Getting to cover, she tried to get her bearings. The blonde leader called in for her. "You alright, Jack!? Fucking thing was behind cover and was cloaked, clever bastard."

"Good goddamn shot Uzumaki!"

Garrus spoke quickly on the comms, "We have a few Geth that are cloaked."

"Gee, no fucking shit," Jack got to her feet, grumbling. Her Biotics glowed as she picked up the headless Hunter and tossed it into several charging Geth, "Any more advice?"

"Tattoos are not clothes."

"And dark clothes aren't meant for sunny summers! Can we end this and get back to the ship? Kudasai, Arigatougosaimasu!" With another wave of Geth being hacked, Kasumi started moving forward in silence and shadow, cloaked and doing a much better job at not being found than the Hunter platforms.

Though the tide turned, with more Hacked than not, and the entire force of Geth humanoid platforms shutting down or breaking apart until only a handful of Hacked Geth started to path back up to help against the major threat. Seeing this, Emily Shepard reloaded a thermal clip in her shotgun. "Move up! Time to take this thing out!"

"Jack, hang behind! When I give the signal, lift it with all your might!" Their ground leader with spiked-up hair called. "Everyone else, start taking those shields down!" Coming around his cover to get his shot at the Colossus, Naruto prepped his Omni-tool.

As the Geth units were taking on their allied tank of a platform, the rest of the team started getting into place and, with their tools ready, started overloading the Things systems, causing them to fail. Though its shields stood strong, even with one of its legs compressing down, Kasumi had managed to get close to it and start hacking into the Things operation core. "This thing has got firewalls upon firewalls; it's trying to sustain its shields above all else!"

The Colossus started setting itself down from its standing position, making it an even easier target to flank. But this gave its system more freedom, and the thief caught the multitude of commands flying through the system code. Before she could warn anyone, the thing zapped itself off its shields to send out an EMP burst, electrically frying everyone's shields and electronics.

Garrus was sneaking a peak from his cover where the sun was hitting and felt his armor getting hot under the unstable radiation waves. "GAH! What did that thing do!?"

"Gave us a chance!" Naruto jumped down and started running closer to the thing as it started to power up again. "JACK, NOW!"

Getting on the other side of it, the biotic woman flared her power and grunted with effort to lift the entire tank of a platform into the air, higher and higher, until she felt it was high enough for whatever the blond wanted to do. "You're move, Uzumaki!"

With his own flaring bright red cloak activating, Naruto focused his power and held the thing, building a gravitational force just above it. "Everyone, take cover! This'll be dangerous!"

Not being seen, Kasumi wasn't noticed as being practically next to it, but she quickly ran for it. Seeing just the bit of shimmering from her cloak, Naruto knew the area was clear. With all the power he could muster, he dropped his hands down and his biotics followed. Hard.

The force of the biotic hold was so strong the Colossus hit the ground at over terminal velocity, causing the entire structure to crumble and burst apart like a can that is crushed underfoot, the power core shorting as the crater produced sunk the metal bits into the stone itself. Thankfully, the power generation was gone from the EMP, and the core didn't erupt in either electrical discharge or an explosive force from Mass Effect generators running at high capacity.

With the battlefield clear, the entire team was coming down from the excitement. Reegar was looking on from his position, glad the EMP was only short-range and didn't even reach halfway to him. "Damn. Tali wasn't kidding; these people are insane. Guess I see why she's got such a soft spot for them." He tried the comms to sound the all clear, though he knew it wasn't going to work if the EMP hit them. And they were, so he just started limping across the battlefield.

XXX xxx XXX

"Headcount!" Emily called out now with all the Geth destroyed.

Jack groaned, rubbing her eyes, "We're all alive, Girl Scout. But fuck am I going to have a goddamn headache for a while."

The blond Uzumaki did not feel much better, knowing it would be the same for him having to hold up that massive synthetic. But he shrugged it off as he joined the others to the large, thick, metal red door where Tali had barricaded herself. "The Geth have been put down, Tali," Naruto called out on his comm from his omni-tool.

"Just a second." The Quarian responded, with the door soon sliding open. The room resembled a hub with several mainframes within it. On the ground were also destroyed Geth Tali took out.

Tali herself was at a console going through several data items to save on a datapad. She sighed, glancing back and seeing not just Naruto but Emily and Garrus. The relief washing over her felt small, but it was better than nothing. "Glad to see you all." Her helmet-covered gaze noted the two others with them but focused on her old friends.

"Was this that mission you discussed when we saw each other?"

The Quarian nodded to Naruto's question, "And it was a complete disaster. I should have gone with you, but the Admirals deemed this too important. But everything went wrong the moment we got here." She had turned around and leaned back against the console with her shoulders slumped. "So damn many lives were lost here."

Holding her hand to her helmet, she thought about how she could have saved her people during this mission. Emily was first to ask, given the circumstances of the Geth reinforcements they had to fight here. "How did it get this bad, Tali?"

"How couldn't it? We're in Geth space. They've got surveillance in most areas here. We were pinged by the time we got into orbit, so we sent a distress signal, as was our order if we were found out. We thought taking our ship into the atmosphere, where there was enough radiation output to scramble tracking, would hide us until we finished getting our readings, and we could jump to another system before making a run on the Relay." Her tone suggested it did not go well, though that was obvious. "The radiation was too prolonged and shut down critical systems, we made an emergency landing, hid the ship, and tried to keep out of sight as we repaired it. The Geth found us anyway. We had to fight through heat-welded doors, crumbled tunnels and walkways, and centuries-old tech that barely worked."

After fighting through everything, and how this was all a dead end, Naruto understood why they couldn't get further. "And you trapped yourself in the observatory. If we hadn't gotten here in time, you may not have made it either. I'm sorry, Tali. The cost of this mission was too high, no matter what it was for."

At that, the Quarian agreed, kicking at the ground before swearing. How he put it made her think everyone else was gone. "Damn it...I lost everyone..."

"Not everyone, ma'am," Reegar limped into the room.

"Reegar!" Tali ran over to the man, who groaned, going to a wall to lean against. "You are alright?"

"I'll be better getting off this rock and back home." Getting a little comfortable against the wall, he looked to the ground team that saved them. "Gotta admit, the praises you kept singing didn't do them justice. The Earth siblings are a hell of a force on the battlefield."

The Quarian engineer nodded and came back to the team. "Should have known you'd get to Reegar in time to save him. I take it saving us wasn't the only reason you tore through an army of Geth. You still want my help against the Collectors?"

The whiskered biotic confirmed with a nod, though he set the record straight. "Would still have helped even if I didn't want you along for the ride, you know that. But we can figure that out after we care for your team's remains."

Thankful for the thought, Tali was worried about what they would do if another Geth patrol came by. "We'll be in danger of another patrol finding us... but if we hurry, and you all can help, we can make it. We'll probably need one of the live ships to accept them for their funeral rites, but that shouldn't be an issue."

Emily walked past Tali, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll get Reegar back to your guys' ship. We'll meet there, and our shuttle can come pick us up."

"Thank you, Shepard." As her wounded comrade and the captain walked off, she turned to the team. "Let's hurry. Most of the team should be at the operations center you called me from; we should get everyone else there for pickup."

With the team going back for the dead, Kasumi was curious. "What exactly is a Quarian funeral rite? You don't exactly have solid ground to bury the dead... Unless you cremate them or something."

Tali explained as best she could. She remembered watching a human film a year ago that had a scene similar to their customs. "We don't have the space to put urns of ashes anywhere, let alone dead bodies. It would take too much space and it would be unsanitary. We hold a service to honor the dead and then launch their bodies into space, aimed to fall into a nearby sun so that they don't fall onto a random planet somewhere. It's a lot more personal than this, but a similar custom was in the movie Starship Troopers, a human video I found."

That drew a surprise look from Emily and Naruto, "You did?"

"Well, after you and Joker showed all those old vids once in a while on the old Normandy, I got curious."

Shepard could not help but smirk, "Joker is going to love hearing this."

XXX xxx XXX

Thankfully, recovering the bodies of the fallen Quarians did not take as long as Tali worried, and they were shipped with Reegar once he was patched up and ready to leave. Once he was safely off the planet, the Normandy crew followed Tali in their shuttle with them. The Quarian sat beside the blond, Emily, and Garrus, being brought up to speed on what was going on thus far with their mission.

Once the shuttle landed on SR-2 and opened its doors, Tali was the first to come out before the others. Her visored-covered eyes took in the bay of the ship, "It's bigger."

Garrus came to her side, "Advanced, but still needs upgrades. Something we're working on. You'd think Cerberus would have thought that out beforehand."

The Quarian snorted before Jack spoke. Coming out of the ship, grunting, and looking at her skin, Jack said, "I'm going to look like beef jerky for a week."

"Hanra ni naru koto de e rareru mono." Kasumi quipped beside her, walking by. "Unless you think showing that inked-up body makes up for those non-existing tits."

The former prisoner responded with a quick middle finger, "Not my type."

Emily rolls her eyes beside a groaning Naruto, who comes beside their Quarian friend. "There is still a bit more to know."

"Like your mother being alive," Tali addressed with astonishment in her tone.

As the ship's irritable biotic psycho went to find something to help with eventual blistering, Garrus shook his head in amusement. "Ever since I got on this ship, there's been one surprise after another. These two can brief you, and then I'll give you the tour."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Garrus." As he went ahead to the elevator, the team left was her, Naruto, and Emily. Kasumi seemingly vanished. "Where's the hooded one? Kasumi?"

Shepard and her brother got her to walk with them to the elevator, where Garrus waited to press the button for the command deck. "She does that... She's probably in here with us or waiting on the next free ride up. You'll have to get used to blinking, and suddenly, she's out of sight. Master thief and all that."

The elevator quickly reached the desired deck, and the team piled out, where Kelly waved at them. Some of the crew on the subsystems even turned and called out a welcome to Tali, which surprised her. "Isn't that…? Why did they join Cerberus?"

"As far as they are concerned, they are not Cerberus. They are a part of my crew," Naruto explained, walking up to the helm of the ship. Once they heard I was being brought back, they joined me here."

Tali looked at the faces of the old crew of SR-1, who gazed back warmly, "It feels good seeing old friends." She soon chuckled as the pilot chair spun around, revealing a smirking Joker. "Of course, you'd be here too."

"Your damn right. Right where we need to be."

The one-armed Spectre grinned as she popped her head from behind Tali. "Guess who got into more vids? She watched the arachnid action-horror series from the 90's. Starship Troopers."

Knowing the series well, The disabled pilot crossed his arms with a shit-eating grin himself. "Really? Just one of them, or all of them?"

Tali shook her head with an exasperated sigh. "Of course, you'd tease me. Only the first two, the second was... difficult to watch in full."

"That's Kind of the point of that one. Don't worry; it's not a series everyone can watch all the films for." The ship's CO comforted her. However, he would have to keep her calm from something other than teasing.

In his infinite wisdom, Joker chose to break the news about their other additional upgrade. "What'll be difficult is you giving EDI the time of day. You know, given the whole AI thing." The collective facepalming from everyone in earshot of that statement could be heard on the lower deck if there wasn't a solid flooring between them.

Tali, on her part, froze before turning her gaze back to the blond Uzumaki. "This Normandy has an AI..."

"EDI is shackled," Emily clarified, glaring a hole at Joker, who winced, realizing his words.

"That is supposed to make it better?"

Naruto puts his hands on the Quarian woman's shoulders, "So far, EDI is proving her worth."

It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but given the Geth and her people, it was an issue she wasn't letting go. As much as the siblings had talked to her about AI not being as bad as the galactic whole made it out to be, she still held firm to her people's view on the subject. "I'll be making sure it doesn't try anything."

The holographic bulb of an image sprang up to the side as EDI attempted to assure the dextro crew member. "I assure you, the safety and comfort of the crew is among my highest priority commands. With my blocks, I cannot access anything beyond my cyberwarfare suites used against enemy ships and virtual or artificial intelligence. I hope to facilitate a cooperative partnership with you as I have been for the rest of the Normandy crew."

"Right..."

Getting her away from the bridge, Naruto apologized. "I was going to mention that to you a bit gentler before you got to the tour with Garrus. Sorry about that." After a visit to the armory, Naruto and Emily put their gear up and got Tali her locker set up.

Heading into the conference room, Jacob was waiting for them. "Welcome back. And welcome aboard, Tali'Zorah. Heard enough about you from Naruto to know the Cerberus reports do you no justice."

Tali stared at the man for a long moment, "You were Naruto's old partner, right."

"Yes, ma'am."

The Quarian kept her gaze on him. "You might be a good man, as Naruto defended you, but I'll never trust Cerberus."

"I understand," Jacob nodded, "If nothing else, I hope to earn your trust like Uzumaki did."

Emily leaned against the conference table, "Make yourself at home, Tali."

"If it stays as quiet as the original Normandy, it will feel like old times." Behind her visor no one could notice she smiled, remembering having to get used to such quiet. *It made me more sensitive and appreciative of the sounds on the Flotilla; I caught very bad issues when others thought the sounds were minor problems at first.*

The armory officer left them to their talk. With Jacob gone, Naruto turned to the quarian woman. "When we caught each other on Freedom's progress, you mentioned run-ins with Cerberus on the fleet. Miranda gave me the Cerberus version, but what exactly happened?"

Looking over to Shepard, Tali was surprised. "You never got around to telling him?"

"He's Been busy. Ever since he got this ship, he's been on the move, picking up crew members or taking the fight to the collectors. Downtime hasn't been as plentiful." Seeing her brother look confused, the one-armed sibling started. "I ran aftermath damage control on the issue after she got into contact with me. Even met up with Anderson's old flame, who is a teacher at Grissom Academy."

Catching the gesture to take over from there, Tali told him exactly what happened on the fleet from the reports on the Idenna and friends she knew who got into the firefight. After hearing about the entire report and reasons, with his sister giving him her report and that it was a serious Cerberus under-the-rug moment, he was nearly ready to tear the Illusive Man's head off in the next call he had with him.

Though he knew it would go nowhere. So he let it go. *Besides, he probably knows I heard all this now; he'll have some retort ready, I'm sure. There is just more ammo against them if I need to argue with anyone from Cerberus on this.* He shrugged it off as he smiled at the helmet-wearing friend. "You should probably get to Garrus for that tour. I'll come around to see you again soon. Happier subjects to talk about when I do, alright?"

That perked her up. "Sure thing. I'll probably see what I can do about Engineering."

"Fair warning, rough and old merc made his room the starboard side cargo, port side room has a tank-bred Krogan who is a little moody. Jack's on the lower level of the main engine room." Emily shared helpfully for who she'd consider neighbors on the ship.

Thankful, Tali went to leave the conference room right as Mordin came in. "Ah, the Quarian joining our crew. Happy to meet you. Mordin Solus. Scientist, former STG." Through the rapid speech, he offered his three-fingered hand to shake hers.

The Quarian found her hand rapidly shook, "Nice to meet you."

Mordin quickly passed her for Naruto. "I have a report on your mother. Her condition has stabilized, and she is fit for visitors."

Hearing those words drew everyone's attention. The blond Uzumaki the most who stood stock still, "she is." his voice nearly a whisper.

"No more than fifteen minutes at best, though. She is still processing the last several missed decades."

"R-right..."

XXX xxx XXX

Kushina stared at the datapad in her hands Chakwas gave her. Velvet-colored eyes go over several names with Sakura beside her, "Are you looking for someone specific?"

"Just seeing any old friends of mine are still around." The way the redhead spoke those words drew the elderly doctor's attention, but they said nothing before the door of the room slid open. Heads turned before a hitching gasp came to Kushina.

Naruto himself felt a knot in his throat at the sight of his mother staring wide-eyed in his direction. Chakwas was quick to get off of her chair and excuse herself and Sakura, who strolled passed the man who fully came inside the room with the door closing. "...H-Hey...Mom."

Kushina's expression was a myriad of emotions before settling on a trembling grin, "Hey..."

His steps were slow, nearing her bedside while grabbing a chair. Their eyes never left the other before he sat down close. Neither spoke; they looked at each other, taking in everything they saw. Kushina leaned forward, raising a shaky hand to her son's cheek. Her gaze focused on the whisker-like scars before looking back to her son's eyes, "You grew up."

"Yeah."

Shame glowed from Kushina, "I wasn't there."

"That was no fault of your own. Things happen." Naruto responded soothingly.

The guilt in her wasn't sated, but that was a problem to cope with later. "And a lot of things did happen; that Sakura girl had a story or two from before Hackett finally found you. If I am glad for anything, it's that you grew up with a good heart."

Not an easy feat for a young child in a ruined city with assholes like the Reds. Still, he didn't like that she was still hurting because of it. "I'd say I inherited it from you. So a part of you stuck with me through it all, I think."

Those words brought a sad, rueful grin to her lips.

"Things were tough. Very tough, but I pulled through it all. With a family, I made for myself." He rested his hand on his mother's, who gripped it tightly. "But what's important is you're here now. Alive and well."

Taking a breath to calm and collect herself, she put her other hand on his, completely covering it. "I'm going to stay that way this time. Better late than never to get used to having a mother around."

Giving her a bright smile, he tried to show her he was glad for it. "I'll gladly take that challenge."

It was bitter-sweet, though, with the smile he gave reminding her of her husband so very much. Kushina started tearing up again. *Oh, Minato... You feared he wouldn't have your smile. But his is a perfect reflection of yours.*