Chapter 5 – Hostage Rescue

Feeling a headache mounting, Tevos sighed tiredly. Though one would think that the marking of a new Spectre to deal with the current problems would lessen the amount of said problems for the Council, it seemed that Shepard had been causing just as much worry to the bureaucrats of the Citadel as she was remedying.

"So, you know nothing about this individual?" Sparatus growled, annoyed, at the Salarian Councilor.

"All the STG has is footage from surveillance cameras on the Presidium and Wards, nothing besi-" Valern stopped mid-sentence as his omnitool buzzed once, the Salarian quickly reading through the short message. "I stand corrected. Recordings of him fighting on Eden Prime have been recovered by one of our operatives."

With a tap on his omnitool, he brought up several windows onto the display that hung in the air between the three Councilors. The first few showed what little information could be garnered about the armored giant's weapons. The last one, being the largest and most important, was what the three officials focused on.

It wasn't anything revolutionary: what was not static-filled nonsense captured by a very poor quality or damaged camera just showed the individual in question dismantling Geth platforms with surgical precision and incredible speed. Then, the feed faded to black, and a single line of text appeared.

To be continued. . .

"Goddess, so he, it, whatever it is, is also capable of hacking into a network while in combat, and just fabricate or alter security footage on the fly?" Tevos said, taking a long sip from her tea, while Sparatus glared at the looping footage and the weapon characteristics.

"Well, " the Turian replied, standing up from his seat " we're not going to learn anything from this, so I suggest we call our newest Spectre and ask some questions. That thing has been seen with her, yes?" he looked at Valern, getting a nod.

"Good. We should ask about the progress of her mission. Factoring in Relay queues, her ship should have made it around yesterday."

The Salarian Councilor didn't bother replying and pressed a few buttons on the console before him. The lights in the room dimmed, jammers and signal scramblers began their work, and the display before the three quickly changed to show a simple loading symbol as the device connected to the communications suite on Shepard's ship.

The Council would soon get their answers.

[]

Stretching, Jane stepped out of her quarters and onto the crew deck of the Normandy. The Captain's quarters, in her opinion at least, was unnecessarily big for what they contained. The bed was nice though. Making herself a cup of coffee, which was surprisingly drinkable for a ship as small as the stealth frigate she was now captain to, she sat down at one of the tables of the crew deck, scrolling through a datapad containing what few reports on the ship's condition had been made during the night shift. She was through half of her cup and most of the list when Joker's voice came over the PA.

"Commander, we've got a transmission. ID says it's from the Council and for you. Route it to the CIC?"

Opening her omnitool, she got up from the mess hall's table.

"Patch them through, Joker. I'll be there in a second."

Quickly going up the stairs, she made it onto the Normandy's top deck, and turned to the Comms room, the door opening before her with a hiss. The orange holograms of the three Councilors began flickering as the communicator warmed up, and Jane straightened her uniform, took one last sip of her coffee, and waited for the connection to stabilize.

Tevos was the first to begin, speaking calmly. "Shepard, I trust Doctor T'Soni is secure?"

"Yes, Councilors, we have secured her and have taken her onboard. My report regarding the situation down on Therum will be complete within the day and sent to you." the N7 replied.

"Good. Now, onto the matter at hand." Valern spoke next, tapping something before him which caused a picture of Seven walking along Jane, Garrus, Ashley and Alenko to appear alongside the Councilors on the communicator's display.

Pointing to the photo and the heavily armored individual standing among the small group on it, he asked:

"What is this?"

[]

Ashes of a burning and broken world floated through the air, covering the sky in great clouds and clotting his helmet's filters. The cracked, dry earth beneath him crunched under his heavy footfalls, as he slowly ascended a hill.

His armor was worn, cracked and heavy on his shoulders, his weapons old and nearly empty, weighing down his form as he continued his slow trek. They would be coming for him, sooner than later. He would not survive this battle, he would fight to his last bullet, his last blade and the last drop of the blood in his veins.

At last, he stood at the hill's peak, perched atop the ruins of a building. Silence was his only companion now, as he looked over at the dead wasteland stretching to the horizon. Though he should have seen it clearly, its appearance always eluded him. One moment, he saw a great mountain range in the distance, split down the middle and burnt to ash, the next there was a piercing blue light surrounded by a multitude of rotating rings shining on the horizon.

Now, however, it was different.

A roar shook the earth beneath his feet and the skies over his head. Like a great horn, its call echoed and reverberated across the landscape, as if daring anyone to try and match it. He looked up into the ash-filled sky as a shadow slowly descended from it, spreading out its tendril-like arms while a red, hateful glow broke through the thick clouds that covered the area.

"The Cycle will continue. You cannot stop it."

. . .

His one eye snapped open and he shot up from the bed, both hands up and ready to fight, already reaching for a knife or gun that wasn't there. His brain caught up to where he was and what he was doing quickly, however, and his arms both relaxed and dropped onto his lap, one with a thud while the other let out a metallic clank as one prosthetic hit another.

Moments later Chakwas was next to him, her omnitool already open and running a scan of Seven, for what little information it would give the Doctor. Switching the device off, she stayed silent for a moment, before speaking quietly.

"I would say you are in remarkably good health considering you got shot in the head, but… your sudden wakening suggests otherwise."

Getting a questioning look from the well-built man, she continued.

"Abnormal activity within the brain, which was similar to that which is associated with intense dreaming. Couple that with the fact a lot of the readings are probably underestimating the intensity of this activity because of your extremely dense bones, and I think you had quite the experience while you where unconscious."

A silent nod was all that Seven could muster as his brain worked overtime trying to absorb what it had seen moments before.

"That, and it's disconcertingly similar to what Shepard experienced when she tried to sleep in the couple of days following the attack on Eden Prime." Chakwas' eyes narrowed as she looked at the singular grey iris of Seven's lone eye.

"Both of you were affected by the Beacon, yes?" receiving a confirmation, the Normandy's medical officer turned away, quietly speaking to herself, leaving Seven alone with his thoughts in the silence of the medbay. The solitude did not last for him, however, as soon a presence entered his mind.

^How was the nap?

^…I'm not sure.

^You're not?

^No.

Knowing that words would not suffice, he brought forth the memory he had seen when he'd been unconscious. The ominous feeling of… wrongness that emanated from the entity Seven had seen was enough so keep Avei's warm presence at the back of his skull silent for a moment. After said moment, she spoke again.

^We should talk with Shepard about this.

^Yes… What was my behavior when the protocols were active?

^The usual. Silent, shredding everything once you got into combat, et cetera… How are you feeling now?

^Unsure.

^Hmm… I don't suppose you know why you suddenly went on a rampage and killed everyone in Chora's Den?

Seven wanted to give the AI an answer, but it was cut short by Dr. Chakwas speaking again as she approached the Spartan again with a datapad in hand.

"Now, young man, I have plenty of questions, but for know I think I will settle for one in particular: what do we do about your missing eye?"

For a moment, he did not answer, blinking slowly. Raising his cybernetic hand palm-up, he allowed Avei's violet form to flicker into view, the projector she used now powered by a reactor where his abdominal cavity once was. It had been slowly spooling up to full functionality after powering down when Seven was shot in the head. Now, it was up and running, filling the Spartan's many implants and three artificial limbs with energy.

The AI's avatar sprung to life, glowing softly. Forgoing her usual cheerful behavior, she simply asked the gray-haired doctor:

"What are your capabilities regarding the cloning of organs?"

Though taken slightly off-guard by the sudden appearance of an artificial construct highly illegal by Citadel law, Chakwas answered quickly, as anyone knowledgeable as she was in all matters medical would have.

"Well, I can grow you a new eye in a couple hours, or within the day at most, if have the required data. A sample of your genome would be needed too, even if to simply minimize the chance of rejection upon implanting any new organ."

"Would the new organ be inferior to the original in any way? Or decay faster?"

"No, as far as I'm aware, any cloned organ is just as capable as the original. A lot of the time, it is even better, simply due to the fact it's younger."

"Very well. Where would you want me to send you the required information?"

"… You have his genome just… saved somewhere?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Ah. Well, I'd ask that you transfer it to my omnitool." the doctor said, activating the device on her wrist, shrouding her left forearm in the orange glow of a haptic interface. Moments later, a notification popped up on the omnitool's screen, a message containing a single file. Remembering the basics of cybersecurity, she opened the antivirus on the 'tool and after a minute of navigating menus, scanned the file for any malware.

With slightly more confidence, Chakwas opened the file and quickly scrolled through the list of data. Her experienced mind took in the information, and, after deeming it appropriate, she closed the omnitool.

"Oh, and would you mind asking Sheapard to come down here? We need to talk to both her and you about some things."

Though giving the small figurine-like hologram a long and scrutinizing look, Chakwas nodded and went back to her desk and the terminal on it.

"Of course, no problem. We just need our esteemed Commander to finish whatever talk she's having with the Council first."

[]

God I hate bureaucrats Jane thought to herself as she exited the room that housed the Normandy's communications suite, and went down the stairs to the Crew deck. She knew politicians were the bane of every soldier's existence, but she never knew it was this infuriating to deal with them. Now and had to carefully withhold some facts about Seven from the Council, she was much more tired than she had any right to be this early in the ship's day-night cycle. Thus, the Commander made her way to the small kitchen area of the mess hell that her ship sported with the aim of making herself another mug of coffee. She was taking the first sip of the warm beverage when there was a hiss of a door opening and a voice called out from behind her.

"Commander, our guest here has woken up, I take it you wish to talk with him?"

"Yeah, I do. Be right there." the redhead called out, walking swiftly to the medbay's entrance. Crossing the threshold, she saw Seven sitting on one of the cots, blue energies swirling above his mechanical hand, his scarred torso naked for the world to see, while Avei's avatar stood atop a hockey puck-sized disk, which itself was placed on Chakwas' desk, the doctor talking with the AI animatedly as data scrolled across the display above the table.

"You mean to tell me that- Ah, Shepard. How did the talk with the Council go?"

Tearing her eyes from the Spartan with more difficulty than she would admit, Jane sipped her coffee. "'bout as well as you'd expect. Now… " glancing back at Seven, she continued after a second. "How're you doing, big guy? You look good for someone that took a sniper shot to the face."

Being s battle-hardened as she was, it made her mood fall rather than force bile into her mouth when, instead of two eyes, only one and a dark, gaping pit stared back at her when Seven's head swiveled to face her.

"I am fine, Commander. Though I will have to replace my helmet. I apologise for my lapse in awareness during extraction from the last deployment. It will not happen again."

Shepard paused for a moment, before shaking her head, her red hair splaying off to the side a bit as she did so.

"Nothing to be sorry for, just be more careful in the future."

"I could have dodged the projectile, Commander, had I simply watched my surroundings."

"You mean you can just dodge bullets?"

"Yes, he can."

Turning to face both the AI and Chakwas, Jane gave the latter a nod, while locking eyes with the former for good 10 seconds.

"What do I do with you all…" the N7 sighed to herself, swirling the mug in her hand, watching the dark liquid inside churn and twirl as she did so.

"Keep us around, use our help to get Saren and stop him from killing more people." Avei stated. "At least that's what I'd do. We're mighty useful, trust me."

"I'll keep that in mind. What about your eye, then?"

"A replacement will be ready within the day, and he'll be back to readiness the next."

Looking at the Normandy's medical officer, Shepard held her gaze for a moment. Shaking her head, she downed what remained of her coffee, before speaking again.

"That fast, huh? You sure are one though son of a bitch. Anything else you all wanted talk about?"

"There is one more thing actually." Avei responded after a silence filled the medbay for a short moment. "As I'm sure you've noticed, he's got quite the number of metal bits stuffed inside him." her avatar gestured at Seven, who said nothing, silently staring at his metal limb, power pulsing through the circuits within his remaining eye.

"Some of those metal bits are in his brain too, and there's some quite nasty programming on them. And I would like someone's help getting rid of it. Is there anybody you could recommend for the task?"

Jane blinked, silent.

Then she linked again.

"So you had a control chip in your brain this whole time?" she asked Seven quietly. He nodded, still playing with the cluster of blue light hovering above his hand.

"Shit… I'd say Tali, but it'll take some convincing for her to not freak out the moment she sees you." the redhead looked at Avei's avatar, its violet eyes staring into hers.

"Ah, whatever, I'll go talk to her. In the meantime, you try to not to get yourself hurt more than you already are." Shepard said, before making her way out of the room.

Though those on the two top decks of the Normandy would not hear it, minutes later a half-shout, half-screech echoed through the bottom deck of the ship, causing most of its occupants to either flinch or cover their ears in either surprise or pain.

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?!"

[]

"Normandy ground team, assemble in the hangar in 5 minutes. Ground team, hangar, 5 minutes."

Shepard's voice sounded from the speakers dotted across the frigate's decks, echoing from the smooth walls of its interior. Within those 5 minutes, all of the ground team had gathered in the middle of the hangar, standing in a loose group, their equipment still stowed in their respective lockers, the humans (barring Seven) still in their uniforms rather than armor. Shepard stepped of the elevator soon thereafter, with a shout to gather the team's attention, began the briefing.

"Okay, listen up, all of you. We got a call from Admiral Hackett, and he personally asking us to deal with a situation that's sprung up in the Farinata system. We're going there as we speak. A group of biotics has turned terrorist and taken over a Kowloon freighter as well as a hostage, one Alliance Parliament member. The freighter is making a hard burn to hide in a asteroid cluster, and if it's not caught, it'll be almost impossible to find it before the hostage is executed. Hackett has requested that, as we are on of the closest Alliance vessels ready to respond in time, we go in and get the Chairman out in one piece."

Looking over the group, she continued.

"Most of those will probably be L2s, so expect biotic Throws, Lifts, and maybe a Barrier and Stasis. We're going non-lethal, so get whatever mods you can onto your weapons and try and not kill anybody once we board. We're arriving in-system within half-hour, and will catch up to the target around 10 mikes after that. Move, people."

They all dispersed at that, going to the row of lockers that stood under on of the hangar's walls, opposite where both the Mako and Cray were. Most took care of their weapons, cleaning them and making minute tweaks, while Williams and Alenko donned their armor. Garrus went to the simple workbech that sat next to the lockers and began the task of swapping mods on both his pistol and assault rifle, leaving his precious sniper untouched and folded on his back.

He dared not change it, lest he ruin all the calibrations that he had treated it to.

Tali tapped away at her omnitool, readying the many combat programs installed on it. She had been armed by the crew with a simple pistol and assault rifle, Shepard correctly assuming the Quarian, though trained, did not have much experience handling weapons. Thus, as she di don Therum, she would most likely stay back and support the others with her impressive array of tech attacks.

Kaiden was smilarly working on his omnitool, though with less fervor. He did not rely on his omnitool as much as Tali did, being a biotic. So, he spent what time he had warming up before the fight that they would inevitably be forced to participate in. The element zero nodes in his body flared as he enveloped himself in a blue glow, lifting one of his pouches by shrouding it in a mass effect field.

Wrex, though a biotic as well, satisfied himself with merely looking over his shotgun and assault rifle. The Krogan rarely used the latter, so it was in rather pristine condition compared to the well-used shotgun that rested on his leg rather than back, his physiology allowing him to carry it like a sidearm when folded.

Ashley had joined Vakarian at the workbench soon after getting her armor on, giving her armaments a once-over to make sure they were as combat-ready as herself, and loading rubber ammunition blocks into them, leaving only the pistol loaded with actual, lethal ammunition in it. With the assault rifle, shotgun and pistol on her person, the Gunnery Chief also brought out a crate of both cryo grenades and flashbangs, passing some over to Vakarian.

Liara, obviously inexperienced and unfamiliar with the rigors of combat, was eyeing the pistol in her hand with apprehension, but stayed in place. She knew that she had been lucky to be rescued from the Geth by Shepard and her team, so the Asari was determined to both improve her capabilities and help the group, be it with her biotics or with her knowledge. This time, she would be doing the former.

Seven meanwhile, was silently debating what his armament should be. Spartans or Pilots were rarely ordered to go purely non-lethal, and even if they were, it rarely meant anything more than 'don't kill this person, everyone else can die'. Thus, he was forced to think about what his loadout should be. A shotgun was almost certainly a necessity considering the very cramped environment of a spacecraft, and the fact that a weapon too powerful would punch a hole clean through the outer hull of one and let everyone inside out into the void. So, he brought out his, admittedly ramshackle-looking, modified EVA-8 shotgun. The worn weapon had a single-stack magazine rather than the frankly ridiculous drum magazines both the IMC and Militia had taken to using, which held 10 shells. Loaded with rubber shot, they would have enough energy to incapacitate, but not kill.

Energy-based weapons and grenades were an obvious choice as well, so Arc-Stars, a Volt SMG and Inhibitor-Field Generators (or IFGs) were also pulled out of the pocket dimension that was connected to him through unexplainable means. To this day neither he, Avei or Cray had figured out how it worked.

Nevertheless, after the munitions were ready, Seven also got out a P2016, screwing on a suppressor and loading it with FMJ rounds. The pistol would serve as a backup if the situation ever called for it.

Looking up from the preparation of his armory, Seven watched the group finish their preparations and settle in for the short wait before action would commence. Shepard, having briefly gone up to the higher decks of the Normandy, had returned as well, and donned her aror and readied her weapons. A shotgun, assault rifle and pistol, which in combination with her biotics made her a force to b reckoned with, capable of taking Krogan head-on and come out on top.

"Alright, gather round, people! We've got 15 minutes 'til Joker gets us on that freighter. It'll all be tight spaces, so we need to coordinate so we're not in each other's line of fire. Vakarian, Williams, you're bringing up the rear. We don't know what sort of surprises they might have ready, so make sure we don't get attacked from behind when we try to clear a room. Kaiden, Liara, you and me use our biotics to protect everyone from any nasty tricks they might pull. They're all biotics, so I want you all to be careful." the N7 said, meeting everyone's eyes one by one.

Each of them gave the Commander a nod or slight smile, all ready for whatever was to come. Seeing this, Jane continued.

"Now, Tali, when we get onboard, try to get into the Kowloon's systems. Having control of doors and bulkheads will be very helpful. If you do that, stay back and you can throw tech attacks over our heads when we all go through, say, a door." Shepard then looked to the two remaining individuals of the team: Seven and Wrex, the two heaviest and biggest of them.

"Wrex, Seven, you're breachers. We'll go in after you, so try and not get angry at us when we use you as shields, okay?" she said with a smirk.

The large, red-crested Krogan gave out a chuckle, while the Spartan gave a nod, before taking out a riot shield from his extradimensional storage. It was tall, reaching two meters in height, and nearly a meter in width, though that was due to its curved rim, which widened towards the wielder. There was a small, thin slit through which one could peer through when using the shield, protected by a thick block of reinforced glass, similar to that which the UNSC made their ships' windows out of. The metal of the heavy shield was Titanium-A armor, originally a simple panel ripped off of a destroyed UNSC vessel that had crashed down onto Reach.

"Damn. You took that literally, didn't you?" Shepard remarked. "Well, we're almost there, get on the elevator, wait by the airlock."

In two groups, for the elevator simply wouldn't have been able to handle their combined weight, the team went to the top deck and gathered around the door leading to the Normandy's airlock. Time passed by in silence as they waited for Joker to confirm the successful connection of the frigate with the freighter.

"Approaching target…" the bearded pilot called out. "Aligning docking port… Aaand…" a shudder ran through the ship, then ended as the airlock's first door opened with a hiss.

"Dock successful, connection secure. You're free to go in, Commander."

Shepard gave Joker a nod, even though the man would not see it, looking ahead at the displays in front of him, and motioned for the first group to move through. As per the agreed-upon formation, Seven and Wrex went first, followed by Shepard and Kaiden. Then, after the airlock cycled, and the 'all clear' was given, the rest moved through. Moving along the silent corridor that stretched before them, their weapons pointed forward, they soon made it to the first T-shaped intersection. Shepard motioned the team split, Seven, Liara and Garrus going left while the rest under the N7 lead turned right.

"Advance at your own discretion, but notify us when you engage." she said as the two groups parted.

"Will do, Shepard. Good luck." Vakarian responded. The smaller group quickly moved, passing through a door which they closed behind themselves and disappearing from Jane's view. Rolling her shoulders, she hefted her rifle and pointed down the hallway which her group would go down.

They had a hostage to find.

[]

The silence was eerie.

It was not the pleasant kind, where one could relax and enjoy the peace, but a more sinister one: the groans of the freighter's metal frame, the thuds of their feet on the flooring and her breathing were the only sounds that Liara T'Soni could hear, and it sent her mind into a bit of a frenzy. The plastic of her pistol creaked under her grip, as she nervously glanced at the walls and ceiling the trio left behind.

"Door, front, 5 meters. End of corridor." the giant in front of her called out, still carrying the large slab of metal he used as a shield, his pistol pointed down the hallway.

"Got it. Moving front."

The reply came from Garrus, the Turian moving forward and past Seven, resting his shoulder on the door's frame. Seven holstered his pistol, still keeping his shield in front of the closed threshold, and pulled out an angular knife.

"T'Soni, hold rear."

"A-Alright." the Asari knelt near a protrusion in the corridor's wall, trying to keep a stance like the one Shepard and Ashley had showed her during her very brief introduction to the of basics weapon handling, and pointed the pistol in her hands the way the three had come.

"Five contacts inside, large room. Three spread out in the back, 10 meters from us, two to our left, around 5 meters from the door." then, a quiet ping rung out from where Seven and Garrus were standing, almost causing Liara to turn and look, but she forced herself to keep her eyes where she was sopposed to keep watch.

"Room is rectangular, mostly empty except for a wall of crates in the middle. Facing us, looks like a barricade of sorts." Seven said, before slinging the Volt SMG from his back and into his hand. Even with a one-handed grip, the gun was easily controllable for the Spartan, so short compared to his large frame that he could wield it as a rather large pistol.

"Ready stun grenade."

"Stun grenade ready." Garrus replied, his rifle raised in one hand as his left held up the small, disc-shaped device, ready to throw it inside.

"Shepard, we have hostile contact. We are still unnoticed at this time."

"Roger. Nothing on our end yet, we're moving to the engine room. You are clear to engage, I repeat, you are clear to engage. Continue to the bridge. Shepard, out."

"Acknowledged." Seven replied, tilting his head at the Turian next to him. "Grenade ready?"

"Yes."

"Good." the Spartan fell silent, now waiting as Avei quickly went through what few firewalls there were around the door's control circuit, and signaled she was ready to open it.

He gave her the green light, and the AI spoke out on the group's comms.

"Make ready, door opening on my mark. Three… Two… One… Mark."

The door slid open, to the bewilderment of the five men and women on its other side. The two closest to it let out startled yelps or shouts, followed by similar exclamations from the three as they peeked out from behind their impromptu barricade.

Beyond the door they saw a large, dark grey wall of metal, with a slit of glass near its top, standing tall and unmoving in the hallway that they saw there when the doorway was sealed.

Not much time was given for them to think, however, as an explosion of light and noise both blinded and deafened them moments later. The one that had the presence of mind to cover his ears and duck, shielding his eyes, now saw the wall of grey metal moving, a barrel of a gun peeking out from behind it, letting loose bright blue bolts into his comrades. They staggered and fell to the ground, twitching, deprived of their senses of sight and sound, unable to control their own bodies as electricity sparked through them.

He began to lift a pistol, his only weapon besides his biotics, but was stopped when a painful impact knocked the air from his lungs and pushed him back. Stumbling, he fell to the ground, the pistol slipping from his grasp as his head hit the cold plating underneath him, knocking him unconscious.

"Clear?"

"Clear."

"Acknowledged, room clear. T'Soni, move up, keep watch. Vakarian, begin restraining them."

Nodding, the former C-Sec officer stowed his rifle upon his back and took out a set of cuffs. With practiced ease, he slipped them on the wrists and feet of the incapacitated biotics, and engaged the nullifiers. With a hum, they turned on, ensuring that when any of the hostage-takers came to, they wouldn't be able to do anything but shout and struggle on the floor.

While Garrus did that, Seven began patting down the biotics for radios, omnitools, and any other device they might've used to communicate with other groups on the ship. Having stripped them of all such equipment, the Spartan once again brought out his shield and Volt SMG, as he led the way through another corridor. This one had multiple doors scattered across its length. Again, he took out his Pulse Blade, flicking it into the wall nearby. A soft ping sounded from it, and on both Seven's and Vakarian's HUDs an orange wave blossomed out from the knife. It turned out that the first few rooms were empty only the last one showing anyone inside. It just so happened that this was also the bridge of the freighter, the door positioned on the end of the short corridor, with a small, colored label beside it.

"Shepard, this is Seven. We have found the bridge, counting four hostiles inside. The Chairman's not here."

After a moment, the Commander's voice came through with a crackle.

"Acknowledged. We've secured the engine room, no trace of the hostage either. Secure the bridge, look through the security cameras. We'll hold position and join you once you give us a path."

"Roger, moving into the bridge." closing the connection, he spoke again, this tme to Garrus and Liara, though keeping his eyes on the door in front of them.

"Vakarian, ready another stun grenade. Liara, you're with us this time, incapacitate or disorient them so they can be apprehended."

Once more, Avei slipped through the few defenses the door's circuit had, before counting down.

Again, the Seven and Garrus rushed in, Liara following at a somewhat slower pace. The flashbang went off, stunning two of the men inside, while the rest were only deafened by the loud explosion of the grenade. One was brought down by the Volt SMG in Seven's hand, while the second fell onto his back, gasping for air as a rubber slug from Vakarian's rifle hit his torso. The remaining two whirled around, purple fire gathering in their hands as they prepared to unleash their biotic powers upon the two intruders.

Before they could release them, however, one got nailed by a burst from Seven, while the other was sailed through the air and smashed into the consoles at the front of the cockpit/bridge of the freighter, courtesy of Liara's own Throw.

"Targets incapacitated, move up and apprehend them."

They all did so, and in a minute, the four unconscious biotics were lying on the floor in the center of the room, while Vakarian went over the feeds of the cameras scattered across the ship, given unlimited access by Avei, who tore down what few cyber-defenses the terrorists managed to put up with no difficulty.

The wonders of having a cyber-warfare AI on one's side.

Having found both the hostage and a path for Shepard's group to take, the three left the bridge. The trek back was quiet, as they made their way through the monotone corridors of the freighter. Halfway to their objective, Seven dismissed his shield back to he pocket dimension he had originally pulled it from.

It had proven nearly useless, given that the group was not fired upon even once thanks to speed with which they dispatched any enemies, and it would not protect him or those behind him when biotic attacks began to fly.

Thus, he rid himself of it and took hold of his weapon with both hands. After another moment of thought, he exchanged the SMG for a X-55 Devotion LMG, the rather large weapon befitting his similarly large stature. It sat in his hands comfortably, as an assault rifle would for a normal person. The man received looks from both Liara and Garrus, but continued walking forward, and soon they joined Shepard and her group. Most looked none the worse for wear, save some pot-marking on the front of Wrex's armor, the Krogan having tanked some Warps when the team had had encountered some more harsh resistance.

"All accounted for?" Shepard was the first to speak. She received a nod from Seven as he moved to the front of the now not-so-small group, shoulder-to-shoulder with Wrex, forming a literal wall that the rest now hid behind. Closing in on the final door that would lead them to their target, the group slowed down, all weapons trained either on said door or to the rear, ensuring they would not be taken off-guard.

Seven again took out a Pulse Blade and jammed it into the paneling of a wall near the entrance they would soon be storming through. This time, the grouping of enemies was larger, just short of a dozen. The ping also revealed the kneeling figure of the hostage, surrounded by three other silhouettes, all of them looked to be holding weapons, judging by their posture.

The information was quickly transferred to all those that had a helmet or visor sporting a HUD (everybody except Wrex), showing them both enemy count and placement.

"Ready flashbangs." Shepard barked, rolling her shoulders as a corona of blue flame surrounded her. Kaiden readied his biotics as well, covering himself and Williams in barriers. Wrex cracked his neck, the shotgun in his hands clicking as he readied a shot. Garrus and Seven plucked stun grenades off their armor, readying them for a throw. Tali loaded up quickhacks on her omnitool, while Liara gathered her biotics around herself while clutching her pistol.

Seven and Wrex, being the biggest and able to tank the most hits, stood in front, Vakarian off to their side, ready to throw a flashbang through the door at moment's notice. The rest took positions behind them, barrels sticking out from behind them like a palisade out of ancient times.

"Seven, cloak and go behind the hostage and whoever's holding him at gunpoint. Neutralize them when you have the chance, but make sure they don't kill the hostage."

Nodding, he quickly engaged and disengaged his optical camouflage, and fell back into position when he was sure it was functional. Giving the ready signal, he shouldered the LMG in his hands, waiting.

"Door opening on my mark." Avei's voice sounded over the team's channel. "Three, two, one… Mark."

The hiss signifying the door's opening rang loud in the silence that followed, and time seemed to pause as both the biotic hostage-takers and Shepard's team looked at each other for what felt like both a millisecond and hour at the same time. Then, the Devotion in Seven's hands barked, letting out a bright blue bolt while he lobbed the stun grenade to the other side of the room. Garrus threw his closer to the door, effectively forcing all hostiles inside to look away and close their eyes, lest they be blinded by their detotations. With his visor polarized and engaging his cloaking, the Spartan charged ahead, the team fanning out from the doorway moments after the flashbangs' loud and bright explosion.

Rubber bullets were let out in bursts, biotic attacks threw the dazed terrorists up into the air or into the metal walls. Unprepared for the sudden entrance, they fell quickly, their forces soon reduced to a mere four, clustered around their hostage, a weapon pressed to the back of his head.

"Come any closer and I pull the trigger!"

The shout was that of the leader of the four, the shotgun in his hands resting on the base of the Chairman's skull, as both he and his hostage looked at Shepard's team surrounding them, all weapons pointed right at him and his comrades. At his threat, all present paused, standing still as statues, fingers resting on triggers, ready for a fight that would inevitably ensue.

"I suggest you let him go." It was Shepard who answered his shout, lowering her rifle slightly as she approached. "You won't gain anything except enemies if you kill him. The people have gotten the message, and I'm sure he has as well." She gestured with her head to the kneeling politician, who immediately started nodding, his voice frantic.

"Yes, I have! I see what has been done, I'll make sure that you receive the compensation!"

The terrorists' leader resolve seemed to waver slightly, before his face twisted in a frown and he pressed his shotgun into the quivering politician's neck.

"And how am I supposed to believe that, huh? You'll just forget about us the moment we let you go, and we'll get nothing!" he spat, looking up at Shepard "And you! Who're you to be so sure that he'll do anything when we let him go? You'll just throw us in a cell for the rest of our lives anyway!"

Unpolarizing the thin slit that was her visor, Jane looked at the man with a stern gaze, her green eyes almost shining in the dimmed lights of the freighter.

"Jane Margareth Shepard, Systems Alliance N7, Citadel Spectre."

The man paled visibly, his hands beginning to shake.

"W-well… Uh…" he stuttered, while his comrades, sensing his trepidation, began backing away from the redhead and her team, their resolve faltering.

The moment the terrorists' leader's finger went slack on the trigger of his shotgun, an unseen force suddenly yanked the weapon away from the Chairman, ripping it out of his hand before throwing him into the closest wall. The rest, taken off-guard, didn't do anything as biotic Throws slammed into them, sending the three sailing through the air and into the same wall their leader was thrown at.

Quickly moving up to the unconscious terrorists, Garrus and Ashley began restraining them, while Kaiden kneeled next to the Chairman and began checking him over for wounds. Seven decloaked nearby, and assured that everything was under control, went to the other limp bodies scattered across the room, restraining them. Tali did so as well, flash-forging cuffs with her omnitool.

Shepard holstered her rifle and opened a line to the Normandy, putting a hand to her helmet's side as she talked.

"Joker, this is ground team. We've secured the ship, all hostiles are neutralized and restrained. Send out a message to Hackett and any Alliance forces in the area, tell them it's safe to approach the ship. We're taking the Chairman with us, and leaving the rest to be picked up by the first Alliance vessel that gets here."

"Roger, Commander. Message sent to the Admiral, dropping a beacon broadcasting on Alliance frequencies. We're waiting for you to get back onboard. Normandy, out."

The channel shut off, and Jane took a moment to survey the situation around her. The last of the hostage-takers was being cuffed now, the main objective has been accomplished and her team was all unscathed. The Chairman they would drop off somewhere near Arcturus, even if just to make sure he wouldn't get in more trouble.

All in a day's work.

[]

Well, there you all go.

As before, I apologise for how long this took, but I re-wrote all the chapters before this one, and I'm as lazy as one can be.

But, here it is. I might get the next one out in a couple of months. If not, blame Steam games and my country's education system for over-saturating the schooling programme.

Rock and Stone!