Chapter 4 – Therum

"The Normandy's yours, Shepard. It's the perfect ship for a Spectre, fast and stealthy, and you know the crew."

"I- Thank you, sir."

The handshake was firm, and the smiles genuine, as Anderson and Shepard bid each other farewell at the stealth frigate's dock.

"If anyone can bring Saren to justice for what he did, it will be you. Good luck. I hope we meet again soon." having said all he wanted, the former Captain of the Normandy gave Jane a nod and another smile, before leaving.

Looking back at the ship, Shepard could do naught but sigh pensively, watching as the Alliance dockworkers loaded crates of supplies into the open cargo hold. There had been a slight fuss about what to do with Seven's mech, but all they really had to do was cover it up with a large tarp and make some struts out of omnigel to make it not resemble a giant, metal humanoid. Through some teamwork and with help from the robot itself, they managed, and the dockworkers were blissfully unaware of the 40-something ton war machine looming over them as they worked.

Garrus, Tali and Wrex had all opted to join the Normandy's ground team, which now numbered six, without counting the behemoth of a man that Seven was. Jane still wasn't certain as to what would happen with him: Alliance R&D or spooks would happily take him, though he'd probably never see the light of day again if that were the case. Thinking about it now, bringing him with her to the Council meeting might have been a mistake. The Councilors will surely take notice of him and his tech and try to demand it for themselves.

Speaking of which, where was he?

Stepping out of the elevator and onto the Crew Deck, Jane noticed most of her new ground team around a table: some were talking, others keeping to themselves. Tali could be seen in the medbay, scanned over and over by Doctor Chakwas. The Quarian seemed unused to this amount of attention and care and was thus fidgeting.

"Have any of you seen Seven?" Shepard asked the group, most shaking their heads or shrugging.

Sighing, the N7 went up the stairs to the top deck of the Normandy, through the CIC, and into the ship's cockpit.

"Well hello there, Commander. What brings you to my little kingdom?" Joker greeted, not even turning from the console in front of him.

"You can tell it's me?" the woman asked, curious.

Shrugging, the bearded pilot waved his hand at one of the smaller windows on his screen. "Got a feed from most of the cameras on the ship. And your steps stick out too, Commander: no one in the CIC wears full armor."

"Fair enough. So, have you seen Seven on any of those cameras?"

"Nah, but let's find out."

With a flick of his hand, Joker enlarged to small window with the camera feed and controls to encompass a big part of the display, skimming through the different cameras. Finding one in the hold, he rewound the footage until both him and Shepard could clearly see Seven, working alongside others to conceal Cray under the tarp.

After a couple of seconds, it showed most people exit the space through the elevator, except for Seven, who climbed into his mech and sealed the cockpit.

"Hmm. Why'd he do that?" Jane grunted.

"No idea." Joker replied, minimalizing the window again and going back to preparing the Normandy for departure. "But, we are ready for dust off. Anything you want to say, skipper?" he asked, glancing up at Shepard.

The redhead smiled, nodding.

"Well, the PA's yours. Go ahead, Commander."

The docking clamps detached, their clanking revibrating throughout the frigate's hull. A moment later, the Normandy's thrusters came to life, and the ship gracefully whizzed out of the dock. It approached the Relay in a smooth, controlled manner, aligning itself with the ancient Prothean structure. The thrum of the Tantalus drive core intensified, as the stealth warship was flung across space, out of the Widow system.

All the while, Shepard sat in her cabin, her head throbbing. It wasn't anything major: she had worse headaches from some of the earlier biotic implants. But, it irked her nonetheless. Different images flashed in her mind, causing her to wake up abruptly each time she tried to sleep, gasping for breath.

They formed no coherent message or clear picture: sometimes it was a cave, shifting and moving to swallow her whole. Another showed blinding-white beams of light, burning the very ground beneath her. There were more, all swirling in her mind, all robbing her of sleep.

But, there was one that stood out from all others. One of flesh being render apart, metal burned into it. Fear so overwhelming it made her shudder each time the vision repeated in her mind.

Accepting the she would not get sleep anytime soon, Shepard donned her hoodie and went out to the Crew Deck. It was just before noon of the ship's day-night cycle, and Ashley and Kaiden were at a table in the mess area, chatting quietly over empty MRE plates. Jane made herself a cup of coffee, and plopped herself down next to them.

"Hello, skipper." the Gunnery Chief nodded. Shepard only muttered a reply over her mug's rim, her tired face speaking for itself.

"Did you get any sleep, Commander?" Kaiden asked, worried.

"Do I look rested to you?" Jane replied "I think that Beacon on Eden Prime did something to my brain. I keep getting nightmares for some reason. Never really had any before. I should probably go see Chakwas. Maybe she'll give me some sleeping pills or something."

"Seven got caught by that Beacon for far longer than you did, Commander." Ashley hummed in thought. "Maybe we should go ask him about it?"

"Yeah, maybe." Shepard sighed. "I'll go talk to him."

Still nursing her coffee, the redhead got up, and went to the elevator. The metal cabin was still irritatingly slow, and Jane was really thinking about taking the small emergency stairwell that ran along the elevator's shaft. After a painfully boring while, the doors before her parted and allowed her into the bottom deck of the Normandy. The cargo hold was surprisingly populated, with both Wrex and Garrus setting up their cots there (or in Wrex's case, a sleeping mat) and a couple crewmen organizing the crates of supplies the ship was stocked with on the Citadel. Both the red-crested Krogan and the late C-Sec detective were helping move the heavy crates around the hold, stacking them in neat rows.

"Morning, gentlemen. How are you all doing?" Jane asked, sipping from her mug.

"Commander." The two crewmen saluted, with the N7 responding in kind. "All the supplies are catalogued and accounted for. We have forwarded the list to you." one of them said.

"Good, thank you. And you two? I take it everything's alright?" Shepard said, turning to Wrex and Garrus, both of them having set down the last two crates in their place.

"Hmph. Yes, you can say so." Wrex grunted, before moving to his mat shortly after. Jane looked questioningly at Garrus, who just shrugged.

"I have said nothing to him. And yes, everything is fine, Shepard. I must say, this ship feels… familiar for some reason."

"Well, it was built in cooperation with the Turian Hierarchy, so I guess it might be similar to your Navy's ships." the Commander shrugged, taking another swallow of her coffee.

"I wanted to go and ask Seven about something. Anything you want me to tell him?"

"Actually, Shepard, I'll just ask him myself. We just need to find him. I haven't seen him anywhere since we left the Citadel." the Turian said, clicking his mandibles. "Is he even onboard?"

"The cameras showed he's still in his mech." Jane said, walking up to the robot, which was still covered by the tarp they had used to hide it from the dockworkers. Opening her omnitool, she scrolled through the list of contacts until she found the one labeled 'Avei'. It still felt… odd to be talking with an AI, but she pressed the 'call' button.

The AI picked up immediately, cheerful as before. "Hello there, Shepard! How are you doing?"

"Fine, thank you. Would you mind telling me why Seven is still inside the mech?"

"Well… He's in a sim. Training, I believe. To keep himself contained, so that if he does lash out again, he does not harm anyone."

"Could he come out?"

"Eh…" the happiness that was in the AI's voice was gone, as Jane waited for a response.

"I suggest waiting for a bit. The situation back in Chora's Den… It's because of his implants and what they were used for once. Some sort of control chip, which was used to force him to obey orders. At least that's what it was meant to do. The people that found us managed to override it, giving him more or less free will."

That made both Shepard and Garrus, who was standing behind her, pause for a good moment. Control chip? Who used something like that? Jane thoughts went back to what Chakwas showed her and Anderson before the Normandy docked with the Citadel. Was that the purpose of that horrid implant on his back?

"Though it looks like the override was not complete. The protocols might still be there somewhere, but I can't get to them. I know only that they exist, but am locked out of the systems that contain them. I would have to get physical access to the part of the mainframe. Could you help with that?"

"I- Yes, of course." Shepard replied, still not entirely grasping what the AI had said. "I think Chakwas will help, but I don't know squat about tech. Would you be willing to help?" the Commander turned to Garrus, who clicked his mandibles in thought.

"I don't see why I would not. But, our resident Quarian might be of more help than me." The said, scratching one of the plates on his face.

"Yeah, I'll-"

Whatever Shepard wanted to say was stopped by the PA crackling to life, and Joker's voice sounding from it.

"Commander, our ETA to Therum is one hour, I suggest you get ready."

"Shit. I think we'll have to take care of this at another time, Avei."

"Yes, one hour is not enough to deal with whatever is his head. I suggest you either leave him on the ship or inside Cray. If he snaps again, I can at least try to limit the damage he might do with Cray's help."

"Noted."

The staccato of mass accelerator guns echoed across the area, broken occasionally by the explosions of grenades or biotics. It sounded… different from what he was used to, but after a minute he began to tell apart the different weapons that the people here used: single, staggered shots, often intermixed with biotics characteristic of pistols. Powerful, booming shots of shotguns, rapid bursts of assault rifles and submachineguns, and deep, loud cracks of sniper rifles.

It all sounded so different from the whine of Covenant plasma weaponry, the report of UNSC or Militia rifles, yet it was still the characteristic sound of battle. Shouts and callouts, the screams of wounded, and the thud of bodies hitting the ground.

Opening his eyes, Seven looked down to the canyon-like area below him. The walls were made of stone brick and wood, with lush, green grass covering the ground. It had been Lastimosa's and Cooper's favorite map for the simulations. Seven could understand why: even among the din of battle, the soft trickling of streams that flowed around the map was calming.

Glitch.

An odd name, all things considered, but not an unearned one. The water flowing upwards was probably to blame. It was inspired by Harmony, or so Lastimosa told him.

He got up, and dropped down to the grass-covered surface. The mercs, or at least the representation of them, stopped fighting, and flickered out of existence. As he scrolled through a list of his weaponry, he also spawned two Atlas mechs on the map. They were nowhere close to a Titan, but it was the largest a group of mercenaries in the Terminus might have, save for a Mako.

At least Avei said so.

Seven began making his way to the largest grouping of hostiles, slowly at first. His sniper rifle, an amalgamation of parts from the SRS99 and Kraber rifles, materialized in his hands, spare magazines appearing in pouches spread across his armor. Another weapon, this one a heavily modified L-STAR attached itself to the magplates on his back with a dull thump. He decided to forgo the Smart Pistol he usually carried in a holster on his chest: with even the lowliest merc having barriers, the weapon's usefulness diminish significantly. Instead, he brought out the prototype he and Cray thought up: a large, revolver-like weapon, its cylinder made of miniaturized Charge Rifle assemblies. It had potential, but it was still doubtful if it would be useful. They did not know if the beam would be stopped by kinetic barriers. Combat footage from Eden Prime suggested it wouldn't - the Laser Shot hadn't triggered them – but they still needed to test such things in combat.

During his internal monologue, the Spartan had made it to one of the many vantage points in the area, hic cloak active, of course, and began to survey what he was up against. The two mechs he had spawned manually were, of course, among the enemy force, surrounded by a large number of Turians and Batarians, with some humans mixed in. Deploying his rifle's bipod, Seven sighted the head of one of the mech pilots, flicking on the coils lining the barrel of his weapon. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Avei's avatar walked up to him and sat down to his left.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked, tapping his shoulder.

He grunted in response, and squeezed the trigger, splaying blue gore on the inside the mech's cockpit. Switching targets, he picked off the higher-ranking mercenaries and leaders, leaving the group just a massing of confused, poorly trained troops, with just one Atlas among them. He took out the L-STAR, and dropped down, throwing out gravstars and Arc grenades as his cloak fell. The mercs noticed him, but the forming singularities quickly pulled their legs from under them, dragging their flailing forms to the black-blue spheres. Then, the Arc grenades detonated, shocking most and overloading weapons and shields.

As all this was happening, Seven was running forward, firing the plasma LMG at any in his way, burning their armor and searing their flesh with the crimson-red bolts. Soon, he was nearing the Atlas mech, which only now began to turn its heavy cannon to him. It was far too late for it to have an effect, as the Spartan fired his grapple, pulling himself to one of the mech's heavy legs. He slid under the lumbering machine, and immediately jumped upwards and onto its back. The pilot tried to pry him off, but to no avail as the heavy arms could not reach Seven, who now began to destroy the mech. Ripping off one of the many panels on the white-painted hull, he pointed the L-STAR at the now exposed circuitry, and pressed a switch.

The cooling flaps opened, and all the heat gathered in the gun was dumped into the space in front of it, which just so happened to be important-looking elements of a complex machine. The pipes and wires began to melt, their temperature still rising as Seven began to fire the LMG into the Atlas' innards. Soon, the machine collapsed, and the Spartan jumped off, holstering the L-STAR on his back. He grabbed the prototype charge-pistol, as Cray began to call it, from its magplate, and aimed it at the struggling Batarian in the cockpit of the mech he just felled. With a pull of the trigger, a yellow-orange beam of light shot out of the improvised barrel of the weapon, nailing the alien in the middle of his forehead, having easily penetrated the transparent viewing port he had been behind. Spotting more contacts on his motion sensor, Seven, pulled the gun up, and began one-tapping any and all surviving mercenaries. When the last body hit the ground, its head perforated front-to-back, a peaceful silence fell upon the area, the quiet trickle of water the only sound reaching the Spartan's ears. Then, Avei's avatar approached him again, arms crossed, with a small smile.

"Done playing?"

"Yes." he grunted. "Situation?"

"We're reaching Therum, Shepard said there might be resistance on the surface. If they get bogged down by some heavy fighting, we are to drop in and provide armor support."

"Acknowledged. Shut down simulation." Seven replied, closing his eyes.

Even though he could not see her face, he felt Avei smile, a warm presence making itself known through his implant. "Got it. Simulation shutting down in three… two… one… Shut down commencing."

His eyes shot open, admitting him to the sight of Cray's cockpit, its many buttons, switches and screens powering up, filling the small space with a blue glow.

"Welcome back, Pilot. Systems powering up and at 100% effectiveness."

Seven made no sound, giving the confirmation using his neural lace. Ports in his MJOLNIR activated, allowing him to connect with his Titan, the cold sensation of a successful link quickly fading as he took control of the Vanguard's metal limbs. The tarp covering the mech was pulled down, the servos and hydraulics of the Titan coming to life once more. Through the many cameras dispersed around Cray's hull, Seven watched as the Mako next to him rumbled to life, all of the ground team already inside. The comms suite of the Vanguard activated, and the Spartan spoke.

"Commander, we are ready for combat. Titanfall will commence on your mark, should you need our support."

"Got it, Seven. Let's hope we won't need your help down there. Shepard out."

The channel closed with a crackle, and he watched as the six-wheeled IFV rolled off the now open ramp of the Normandy's cargo hold. Therum's atmosphere could be seen through the large doors, filling the lowest deck of the stealth frigate with an orange-brown light. Then, the ramp closed, as Joker guided the ship back to low orbit, keeping watch over the ground team and the system. Minutes passed by, which Seven spent reviewing the loadout with Cray.

^I suggest the XO16A2 and a broadsword, Pilot. We will most likely encounter enemy infantry and Titan-equivalent armored vehicles.

^Noted. Change main armament accordingly. Switch Acolyte pods to MTMS, run diagnostic on: laser shot module, energy siphon module, sonar lock launcher. Check functionality: particle wall emitters, vortex shield emitters, flamer modules.

^Multi-core system is online as well, I you were wondering.

^Acknowledged, running diagnostics… All modules nominal and fully operational.

^Received. Standby for orders.

Still, nothing happened, no message from the ground team. The hold was silent, with none of the crew in sight. The hum of the Tantalus drive core was the only sound that could be heard, the large Titan still as a statue, waiting for deployment.

After a similarly quiet ten minutes, Joker's voice came through the PA.

"Hey, big guy, get ready. The Geth are jamming comms, I think, and orbital imaging shows Shepard's team is pinned down by three… No, scratch that, four… God, they've got five large walkers firing on them! Looks like they just made it out of the cave system. Get ready, big guy, we're almost in position, as you requested."

"Acknowledged. Open cargo bay doors." Seven replied, as he moved Cray's chassis to the end of the hold.

"You're not gonna… Eh, whatever, just get down there and help Shepard. It looks like some of them are wounded. Be quick."

The ramp in front of the Titan lowered, and he moved to it. Standing on the edge, he could see Therum's thick clouds below him, the planet stretching out before him. Seven took a shallow breath to steady himself. Here they go again, jumping off of a perfectly fine ship.

In almost perfect unison, both Seven and Cray spoke.

"Received. Standby for Titanfall."

Dropping down, Jane hissed in pain as the wound on her arm stung with pain again. The rock and crates around them were dotted with impact marks, as the Geth fired on them, uncaring for accuracy, keeping the entire team pinned and unable to effectively retaliate.

Ashley was wounded in the leg, barely able to walk. Both Shepard and Kaiden were approaching their limits, exhaustion beginning to set in from extensive biotics use. Garrus was scratched in a couple of places, but was mostly fine. Tali had, fortunately, avoided any suit punctures, but her tech attacks were mostly ineffective against the two Colossi and three Armature that kept hammering them with heavy cannon fire. Wrex, being a Krogan, was doing comparatively well, but even he was forced to keep his head down by the sheer volume of fire the Geth sent their way.

And their objective, Doctor T'Soni, was too malnourished and tired to be of much help, and definitely not enough to turn this battle around. The dozens of Geth infantry platforms would require a sizable force of veteran marines to bring down, even without counting the walkers.

So, hidden behind the large storage crates that were scattered around the cave now collapsed cave entrance, they could do naught but listen as the heavy fire chipped away at their cover. The presence of so many large Geth platforms also meant that the synthetics could jam their comms, which made Shepard unable to call for help from the Normandy. All the N7 could hope for was that Joker would notice the battle using the frigate's sensors and drop off Seven to help them.

But, minutes ticked by and no support showed up. Jane could see it in the entire team's eyes, they were slowly losing that faint hope. She grit her teeth. She expected to die in battle someday, but not yet. If not for the severity of the situation, it would have been somewhat funny: dying on some rock on the edge of Systems Alliance space, killed by flashlight-faced robots.

She could hear the metal feet of the synthetics clank against Therum's rocky ground, closing in on their position. Soon, the Geth would be on top of them, and kill them one by one.

But then they stopped. The shelling also lessened, before subsiding. The silence was deafening after the cacophony of weapon fire that filled the air mere moments before. Shepard looked at the team. They were just as confused and clueless as her, all expecting a fight to the death to commence any moment.

Garrus was the first to move, removing the scope of his rifle from its mount, and sticking it over the rock he was taking cover behind. The optic was linked to his visor, and the turian used the fact to his advantage, peeking out safely from behind cover. His mandibles clicked in confusion, looking at Shepard.

"They all turned around! They're concentrating around some point to our south!" Vakarian shouted, not bothering with comms due to the powerful interference the Geth Colossi generated.

Then, a sonic boom sounded from up in the air, like the thunder of an approaching storm.

"What was that? A meteorite?" asked Tali, looking up from her omnitool.

"I don't know. Mayb-" Shepard began, but was cut off when the Geth resumed firing, all the discharges filling the air with such noise that they needed to shout when next to one another.

"What's going on?!" yelled Ashley, her armor dirty with blood, some of it hers.

"We don't know! Maybe reinforcements?" Kaiden answered, flexing his hand, his biotics flaring in response. Then, Shepard's omnitool buzzed from an incoming call. It was Avei.

Jane picked it up immediately, and was greeted with the ever-cheerful voice of the AI.

"Hi, Shepard." the avatar greeted, smiling. "We're here, and we've gotten the two large walkers' attention. It seems to have stopped the jamming, so now we can at least talk."

"Seven's here?"

"Yeah, Joker noticed you were pinned down and dropped us off."

"From low orbit?"

"Yep. It's standard for Titan deployments." Avei answered. "Anyway, you either need to get the hell away from here, or stay in cover. Considering some of you are wounded or too weak to run, I suggest you stay put. Cray and Seven will take care of this."

"Alright, got it."

Moments before touchdown…

^Thermal barriers holding. Landfall in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Landfall successful.

The thundering boom of the impact was loud enough to be heard inside Cray's chassis, as the Titan straightened, pulling the giant broadsword off his back. Then, dashing forward, Seven began to trample any smaller Geth in his way, quickly closing in on one of the large Colossus platforms. They, of course, were already firing, but the plasma projectiles did nothing to the heavy blade of the Titan-sized sword as Seven steered the 10-meter mech closer to one of the walkers, slashing at its 'neck'. The kinetic barriers did nothing, the melee weapon moving too slowly to trigger them, embedding itself in the armor of the Colossus. Sparks exploded outwards, the Arc energy coursing through the blade eating away at the ceramic plating. Wrenching the broadsword backwards, Seven made an overhead strike, slicing off another part of the metal 'neck', severing some wiring. The flashlight on the Colossus' 'face' flickered, before another horizontal strike completely sliced through the cords connecting it to the Geth's main body.

At this point, all the attention one could possibly have was on the Titan, both of the Geth and the ground team. Once again, the boosters on the back of Cray's chassis fired, propelling them forward. Seven steered his Titan forward, using the momentum to close in on the second Colossus, while the Acolyte pods let out a salvo of guided missiles. A dozen infantry platforms were obliterated by the anti-armor warheads, while the core buried deep inside Cray's chassis fired, sending waves of energy down the broadsword in the Titan's hand. Dragging the blade along the ground, Seven let out some of this energy in an Arc Wave, hitting the Colossus. The discharge shorted out its shields and weapons, leaving it a defenseless heap of metal and plastic, which was promptly gutted by the Titan. The Geth collapsed, leaving only the three Armatures and one blind Colossus standing against Seven and Cray.

They, of course, did not last long.

Ripping the sword out of the last walker, Seven allowed Cray to stow it on his back, while he disembarked, moving to Shepard and her team. The Titan followed, now with its chaingun in hand, scanning the horizon for threats.

"Who is wounded, Commander?"

"Ashley, got shot in the leg, though the bullet missed all blood vessels. Somehow. Other than that, I think we're mostly fine." the N7 replied.

"Negative. You are wounded as well, Commander." Seven droned. "The wound looks mostly superficial, an application of medigel should suffice." Turning away, the man walked toward the rest of the team, taking out a medkit from one of his pouches.

Sighing tiredly, Jane opened her communicator.

"Joker, do you read me?"

"Five by five, Commander. We've just picked up the Mako, ETA to you position is 2 minutes. Hang tight."

"Got it. Shepard out." closing the channel, Shepard looked back at her team. Tired and wounded, but they achieved the objective without casualties, and were about to be picked up. Aside from the fact that Ashley would not be in fighting condition for a week, they were good.

The Gunnery Chief was helped up by Kaiden and Seven, the biotic guiding her to one of the larger crates to sit, while the larger man took out one of the rifles from his back, and began to scan the horizon, just as his mech.

"Alright, people, Joker's inbound with pickup, he'll be here in about a minute and a half. Keep in cover, don't want any of you to get injured just as we leavy this damned rock." Jane shouted, herself kneeling down next to a large crate, rifle at the ready. Seconds ticked by in silence, as everyone waited for the Normandy to finally approach. When the frigate, at last, swooped in on a small plateau just under 100 meters from them, Shepard got up, and motioned the group to follow. They moved quickly, yet warily. Not one of them knew if there were any Geth still present in the area, and none were keen on finding out.

They were a mere 15 meters from the entrance to the Normandy's hold, when Seven raised his weapon along with his mech, shouting.

"Contacts, south-east, 200 meters!"

"Double time it, people!" Shepard called out, wrapping herself and Tali, who happened to be the closest, with a biotic barrier. Sprinting forward, she grabbed Ashley, and together with Alenko, with some help from Tali, pulled the Gunnery Chief onto the ramp.

Wrex and Garrus were right after them, the Krogan surrounding both himself and the Turian in a barrier of his own, while the booming report of Seven's giant sniper rifle echoed across the rocky terrain surrounding the Normandy. It was joined by the roar of a Titan-sized rifle opening fire, and the clanking of its enormous shell casings against the rock below. Liara clambered onboard after them, though halfway Jane just grabbed the Asari and hauled her into the hold.

"Seven, get over here this fucking instant!" Shepard shouted into her comm.

"Affirm-"

The reply was cut short, as numerous high-powered rounds impacted Seven's head, breaking his shields. Some ricocheted off of his shields, and then his helmet when those broke, as he twisted to the side, dodging out of the rounds' trajectories. But, even with his superhuman speed, and the help of his MJOLNIR, he could not dodge all of them. One lucky shot slammed into his visor, shattering it. Most of its energy was absorbed by Seven's shields and the hardy composite of the ODST helmet's visor, but shards of it still were sent flying into his helmet along with pieces of the broken visor, cutting into skin.

Milliseconds later, Cray's particle barrier sprang to life, more rounds pinging off it, as the Titan quickly opened the cockpit hatch, scooped up his Pilot, boosted in the direction of the Normandy's cargo hold. The moment his chassis squeezed into it, the ramp began to close, and Joker's voice sounded over the PA.

"For future reference, Commander, delicate stealth frigates and bullets don't mesh well toghether. So please, don't make me fly her straight into a battlefield next time."

Ignoring the, admittedly, out of place joke, Jane turned to Kaiden.

"Get Ashley to the medbay ASAP! Chakwas will take care of her."

He nodded, and led the Gunnery Chief to the elevator, the doors closing after them with a hiss. Confident that the Alenko would get the woman to the medbay, Jane quickly walked to Seven's Titan, knocking her armored knuckles on the mech's main hatch.

"Hey, Seven, you there?" she asked, worried by the lack of an answer.

As if on cue, the hatch opened with a hiss of steam, depositing Seven on the floor with a loud CLANG of armor hitting the metal floor.

"Shit!" cursing herself for not seeing it coming, Jane ran up to Seven's side, footsteps behind her indicating someone else came too.

Just as her omnitool activated, ready for a scan, the armored man slowly lifted himself to his knees, and slid off his cracked helmet, revealing a bloodied face, with a stomach-churning mess of shrapnel, blood and shard from his helmet's destroyed visor.

"C-comman-an-ander, u-unit has s-s- *zzt* -suffer-ered e-extensive da-damage." Seven's voice was once again stuttering and glitchy, as a faulty program or damaged computer. Dark blood dripped down onto the metal floor of the hold, as Shepard swept her omnitool over his head, the quick scan making her worried even more than before. Grabbing Seven by his armor, she began to haul him to his feet.

"Wrex, Garrus, get over here! We need to get him to the medbay too!"

[]

Author's Notes:

Wahoo! Now that the last one is rewritten, I can start working on the first new chapter since September. Big thank you to the few of those who read this story, even in the sorry state it has been recently. I hope I can do well enough to justify you reading this.

That being said, I've just… I dunno. Now that I read through more stories on this website, I realized how unoriginal of me it was to just make a story where 'person joins Shepards, kicks ass and it all goes basically the same'. To make such a story truly good, I would need to be a much better writer, and probably change the Mass Effect story a bit.

I think.

Either way, I'm not good enough to make this a great story, and not nearly good enough to play around with canon.

But, that only makes me more grateful for any and all of you giving a little slice of your time and attention to this little creation of mine. You have my gratitude.

Rock and Stone, until it is done.