Remnants

by General Rage

From Halo's ashes, a mismatched Alliance is born. UNSC soldiers now serve alongside both Batarian deserters and shifty Jackal Space Pirates. Now Shepard and Master Chief have to keep these strange bedfellows from killing one another before they can stop an emergent new threat to the galaxy. The Next Swashbuckling Chapter of the Wormhole Chronicles.

19. Time in a Bottled Ship

Chapter 18: Time in a Bottled Ship

I'll give you a winter prediction:

It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey,

and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life.

-Phil Collins, "Groundhog Day"

If there was one thing Tali had come to understand about anything, it was that science was a great equalizer. Maybe not the equalizer, but to certain people it could bridge gaps that otherwise couldn't be. Here in the cargo hold of the Normandy that fact never more prescient. Where else would a human, a quarian, a kig-yar and an AI all find common ground but in a shared scientific experiment? One that hoped to illuminate many answers on various questions.

Halsey had placed the Forerunner Crystal in the ready position, atop the conduit junction set up in the center of the room. She then looked to Cortana, who had taken up residence in nearby cargo hold computer console. The AI gave a thumbs up in response.

"Readings are relatively normal," she answered plainly. "You know, for an alien artifact we know little about."

"Excellent, let me know if anything changes," Halsey requested.

"I think we've made it clear by now that being prompt with my thoughts on anything won't be a problem anymore, Doctor," Cortana answered, somewhat curtly.

Halsey, to her credit, nodded respectfully. Tali imagined the comment had rolled right off her back, but the quarian wasn't about to let it sit. She walked back over to Cortana, still monitoring the experiment.

"You don't need to keep sniping at her," she told the AI. "She got the message."

"Given what she put you through, unintentional as it may have been, I'm surprised you're not more mad at her," Cortana replied. "Seriously, I have every right to be snippy. Like I told her, I'm not mad, just really disappointed."

Tali had been there for Cortana's talk with Halsey over what they had done to her matrix. Cortana still wasn't mad about a piece of Tali being uploaded into her, she had made that clear. What she was mad about was how Halsey had thought she could deceive her own creation and the pressure it put on the poor quarian. She made that second part the crux of her anger, how swearing her to secrecy nearly got Tali killed. Halsey made no apologies, because of course not she was still the same old Halsey. While she had tried her best to mediate, Tali could sense it wasn't really her place to. This was a purely family affair in every respect, a stern mother and her equally stubborn daughter.

The argument of a sort had ended on peaceful terms, Cortana accepting that Halsey couldn't have known the consequences of what swearing Tali to secrecy would do. The AI wasn't really over the underestimation of her abilities by her creator though. Halsey at the very least acknowledged she had been wrong to think Cortana was unable to handle the mental load of an additional mind within her matrix. Admitting that she should've had more faith in her creations to come to grips with a new status quo so easily. After all, Cortana was based on her mind and her subconscious was more than capable of handling potential trauma in a succinct and efficient manner.

That was probably the closest Halsey would ever get to an apology and Tali was doubtful she'd ever hear her semi-mentor ever admit to being wrong about anything ever again. So the matter was more or less settled, but the animosity still remained and probably would for a while. Again, Tali suspected there was more to the argument then had been acknowledged openly by either side, but it was not her place to pry. Cortana or Halsey would explain things in time. For now, perhaps work would mend some fences, even if they had never been particularly sturdy ones.

"Just keep the experiment in mind," Tali pressed again. "It could potentially help me crack the Slipspace Drive integration problem."

"That depends on how the Crystal reacts," Cortana reminded her. "Just because we know what the Amplifier does, it doesn't guarantee we'll unlock how to use both practically."

"One led us to the other," Tali stated. "They have to be compatible somehow."

The elevator doors opened and both Chief and Shepard stepped out. Taq was with them, holding the Amplifier relic. Even with the toxic presence of the Voice gone, Tali looked at it warily. She trusted everyone when they said the so-called Chronicler entity had been purged. That still didn't take away the memories. Taq thankfully kept a wide berth from Tali while she entered the cargo hold, recognize the quarian's discomfort at the sight of the relic. She silently thanked the kig-yar for her understanding.

"How's it looking so far?" Shepard asked.

"We've gotten the Amplifier hooked up to the conduit device I constructed with the help of the Huragoks," Tali explained, pointing the podium at the center of the room. "Readings seem stable enough, but only because we haven't really done much beyond turning it on."

"I still have a few concerns myself," the Master Chief chimed in. "Are we really going to do this while the Normandy is docked with the Justice?"

"There's no danger to the fleet, Chief," Cortana assured. "The conduit device is merely here to properly gauge the energy signatures of both relics when in close proximity to each other. All it is going to do is see how the energies react and then transfer the findings to our computer systems. We're basically just running a diagnostic program to see how these two things are at all compatible."

This statement was overheard by Taq easily, who stopped herself in the middle of connection process.

"They're compatible because they're both Precursor!" She shouted over, standing next to the conduit podium. "It is so obvious at this point. If the Amplifier isn't Forerunner than the Crystal probably ain't either."

"Let's not dip into supposition," Halsey suggested rather plainly. "Just because a map to a mythical sword is contained in one and led you to the other is not evidence that the crystal isn't Forerunner. Just that they share some sort of connection."

"The Cutlass isn't mythical," Taq argued. "Both of these relics share a connection to it regardless. And if one of them isn't of Forerunner origin, then we have to make the rational hypothesis that both relics are the product of another race."

"It is likely, indeed," Halsey agreed. "Perhaps my statement of mythical was even a poor choice of words. Given my own knowledge of Forerunner technology, I suspect something like what you described could have once existed. However, we should be cautious in making final judgments. For all we know, all four relics could be of differing origins from one another. The Astral Cutlass itself a product of inter-species collaboration."

"I admit that is probable, and if one of said relics is potentially of kig-yar origin, it could explain our connection to the legend," Taq confessed. "I am still working from my current hypothesis though, that the main connection these relics have lies in that of the Precursors in someway. The presence of the Chronicler entity is all the evidence I need on that front."

"And I agree with the theory in that sense," Halsey added. "What needs to be established is the true nature of these specific relics before anything can be confirmed."

Shepard and Chief looked on a bit confused by the ongoing discussion. Cortana noticed their bemusement rather quickly, doing her best not to laugh outright. They needed to be brought up to speed.

"They've been comparing notes since Halsey let her take a look at the crystal," the AI explained. "They slip into idle shop talk every other second."

"I'm just wondering if they're arguing or not," Shepard clarified.

"For me it's just weird seeing Halsey getting along with an alien," Chief added. "I thought it would be harder for the two to integrate."

"I think Taq just appreciates talking with someone on her intellectual level," Tali theorized. "Specifically one that doesn't think the Forerunners are Gods and actually supports a lot of her findings. It's kinda fun to watch honestly. They went on for a full hour going over Forerunner Design Seeds and the implications of the technology, not mention some of the weapons that were recovered from the Crawlers."

"Well as long as they're getting along I'm fine with it," Shepard assured everyone. "I just want us to figure what's what with the Crystal. We're not going to risk something else going wrong with these things, not if we can prevent it."

Tali shared that sense of caution more than anyone for obvious reasons. It had not deterred her though, or any of her compatriots. They needed to know more about these relics, what they could do, how they were powered. Of course, each had their own personal reasons. Tali was hoping it could show her a new angle to work on, someway to better integrate their propulsion systems and get the Slipspace and Mass Effect Drives working in tandem. Halsey hoped they'd discover a means of weaponization. Cortana hoped that maybe there was a way she could integrate with the relics and ascertain their full capabilities with greater ease. She still wanted to know the full range of functions the Amplifier could be applied to. Taq was simply looking for more clues regarding the Astral Cutlass. No one could say she didn't maintain her priorities at least.

The only means to uncover any of these answers though, was to crack the secrets behind the relics. Energy scan was one thing, but Halsey and Tali had hit upon the idea that the relics likely shared a connection. It was how they had found each other, the resonance the Amplifier gave off allowed Taq to track the Crystal down. So there had to be a link between the artifacts, more than likely energy based. Conduit Podium was designed to channel the resonant energies both relics were giving off into a singular stream. How they interacted would tell them everything they needed to know about what the relics were capable of and potentially unlock the Crystal for further study through the Amplifier as well.

"Whatever that Crystal can do, we're prepared for it," Tali assured. "Cortana can shut the conduit down at any time and stop the experiment."

"I trust you guys," Shepard assured them. "Go ahead."

Tali nodded to Taq who then hooked up the the crystal to podium. Once it was in place, Cortana began running the experiment as energy soon flowed between the two relics. There was some crackling and the crystal itself began to shift colors, but nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.

"Everything appears stable," Cortana observed. "We still need to let the experiment run its course."

As Cortana said this, the elevator opened once more. Inside was Grunt, not looking at his best. He grumbled as he exited the lift, doors closing behind him. Tali was surprised to see him, as was everyone. Why was he here?

"Grunt, what's going on?" Shepard asked.

"Everything wrong is going on," Grunt complained. "Has been since I woke up to that stupid song on BBR and it won't leave my head. Worse yet some idiot spilled something in the Normandy's crew quarters and I slipped. They ran out of those meaty snacks over on the Serpent that I like. I got hit in the head with a full flagon of ichor. Someone beat my score on the shooting range. And the worst thing, someone took my Garr the Krogan Battlemaster action figure!"

Tali just sighed, placing her hand over her visor.

"Oh Keelah, here we go," she exasperatedly said.

This had not been the first time the last thing had happened. Just the first time Grunt had lost the damn thing during a really bad day it seemed. Shepard was quick to placate the krogan.

"Grunt, I'm sure you just misplaced it," Shepard said comfortingly. "You always misplace it. You have him fight your dinosaur and shark figures and he always ends up somewhere or other."

"Maybe, he's not where I usually leave him," Grunt grumbled.

"You don't have a usual place, Grunt," Tali groaned. "You just forget, okay? We've been over this. No one took him."

"We'll see," Grunt grumbled. "If he's not in here, I know he got taken."

"Just stay out of the experiment range," Shepard requested. "It could be dangerous to get to close."

Grunt looked over at the Conduit curiously.

"What are you even doing?" He asked confused. "You forging those doodads into a weapon already? Bout time."

"We're trying to see how the Amplifier and Crystal interact so we can figure out how the latter works," Tali clarified. "This is a fact finding test, we're not building a gun."

"Yet," Halsey clarified.

Grunt just huffed at it all.

"If neither can shoot or blow things up, I say who cares," he declared. "I'll stay out of your way, but it seems like a waste of time to me."

Tali shook her head, it was so sad to see Grunt ignore such interesting developments in favor of mundane interests. He probably could get a lot out of science if he bothered to apply himself a little. However her thoughts interrupted by someone else coming down the lift. Rushing outside the elevator was Zek, sporting what appeared to be a black eye. He quickly rushed up to the console and eyed Taq.

"Okay, seriously, can we talk now?" He asked.

Taq turned her head away from him.

"You can't ignore me forever, Taq," he stated. "For once I did nothing!"

"I don't care if you can't remember," she declared. "I really don't. You deserved it, now fuck off so I can work."

"Argh! You're impossible! You know that?" Zek cried out. "Im-Pos-Si-Ble!"

Shepard could only shake his head.

"What happened now?" He asked, his own exasperation showing.

"I don't know! She just fucking punched me!" Zek declared. "She won't even tell me what I said to piss her off!"

"You don't remember?" Tali asked confused.

"I may have been drinking or whatever, I don't know!" Zek answered. "She won't tell me!"

"Well can your spat wait until we're done?" Cortana asked. "We're in the middle of an experiment."

Zek finally saw said experiment for himself.

"Oh, light show," he noted. "Is this gonna find me my Cutlass?"

"Your Cutlass?!" Taq shouted in a rage. "It's our Cutlass, you greedy idiot!"

"Well I'm Shipmaster, I'm gonna be using it," Zek reminded her. "So technically it's mine."

"And you wonder why I hit you!" Taq screamed aloud in anger.

Shepard calmed them both down, raising his hands.

"Halsey, Tali and Taq are trying to figure out what the Crystal does without another incident like the one with the Amplifier," Shepard explained. "That's it. Now, Zek, if you don't have anything useful to contribute..."

"Well why is the lumbering overgrown turtle here then?" Zek asked pointing to Grunt. "Is he an egghead too?"

Grunt growled at the little bird pirate before stomping off, deciding he was not worth the effort, thankfully. Although Shepard was not very pleased.

"You know, considering how much trouble that mouth gets you into, maybe you should be more careful with it," he told the Jackal. "Unless you like reaping a ton of consequences on its behalf."

"Oh whatever, give me a break, this is not my best day," Zek stated. "The black eye has been the worst part of this fucking hangover is all. At this point, a do over would be preferable."

A small alarm sounded on the console suddenly, catching Cortana off guard.

"Uh, guys, we might have a fluctuation," she warned. "Conduit energy stream is getting all... screwy for lack of a better term."

Chief moved over to take look. Tali got a glimpse herself as the displays seemed be going off the charts concerning the influx of energy. At the same moment, the sparking energy band between the two relics became more wild and the crystal itself started to flash various colors at a faster rate. Tali didn't wait to see more.

"Shut it down," she ordered. "We can't risk-"

"I'm trying! The system is locked out!" Cortana shouted. "Chief! Pull the plug!"

The Master Chief pulled Cortana from the console. He then moved towards the wire connecting the conduit to the console and its power source. But as he did, both the Amplifier and the Crystals pulled themselves towards each other. The second they touched everything in the cargo bay shook. Suddenly, Tali felt a sense of weightlessness, as she was lifted off the ground. And she wasn't the only one either, as it seemed the gravity in their section of the Normandy had gone offline. Everyone was floating.

"The hell is going on?" Zek demanded to know, holding onto the console for dear life.

"Interesting," Halsey observed as she floated up to the ceiling. "It seems the gravity has been inverted in the immediate area. I suggest caution, it might-"

In that second, gravity reversed again and everyone slammed back down to Earth. Everything in the cargo bay, people and otherwise, crashed down. Even the Hammerhead was pulled from its mooring, smashing onto the floor. Shepard landed near the Master Chief and both made a move for the plug. They started pulling hard on it, trying to disconnect it.

"We got to shut this thing off fast!" Shepard shouted.

Tali watched as Grunt crawled out behind some boxes and Zek stumbled out into the open, trying to get to Taq, who was on the floor in a heap. Grunt stood up, thankfully unhurt, clutching something in his hand.

"Hey! I found Garr the-"

And that was when the crystal exploded in a violent display of color.

---

Wake me up before you Go Go,

Don't leave me hanging on like a Yo-Yo!

Grunt jumped up from the floor in a fright as that terribly annoying song played in his head again for the billionth time today. Its sickening cheerful tune resonating from the intercom like a screeching scavenging fowl. How could anyone stand listening to that song?

The krogan growled in anger at it and tried clutching at his Garr action figure, expecting it to be in his hand. Instead, he saw nothing. He could've sworn he had just found it, blast! Enraged, he stood up, trying to see if he had dropped it again. It was only then he realized, he was in his room.

Why was he in his room? He was in the Cargo Bay just seconds ago. Why was he back here? Hell, if he woke up anywhere, he expected it to be the infirmary. Wasn't there an explosion? He saw it, right? It had engulfed him and everyone.

He rushed out the door of his room, making a beeline for the window that looked down on the cargo bay itself. He saw the bay in pristine condition. As if nothing had happened. No scorch marks, no burns, no damage, hell he didn't even see that weird conduit thingy set up at all. He clutched at the space between his snout and eyes. Had it been just a dream? But, why had he heard that song again? It made no sense. He could've sworn he had only heard it today, not last night or anything.

Perhaps it was just morning confusion, some sort of leftover programming from the tank. He'd figure it out later. He'd get breakfast first, that always set him straight. If it was just a dream, he'd probably forget about it before too long. Yet, as he rode the elevator up to the crew quarters, he couldn't help but feel like he was mistaken. Like that hadn't been a dream. That there was an explosion.

"Crazy, nonsense," he said to himself. "The cargo bay is fine. Nothing happened. Just a dream. May... maybe I heard that song somewhere else."

He kept insisting on this, or at least trying to. When the elevator reached his destination, he stepped and still kept thinking about what he had thought had happened. His memory was so vivid, the experiment, his lost action figure, Zek running in with a black eye and calling him a turtle and then the gravity going off, turning back on and boom! Everything blows up into a rainbow. If it had been a dream, it had been one very lifelike dream.

Lost in thought, Grunt kept on course for the kitchen. Again, food would set his mind at ease, then he could figure out what was going on. If he was crazy or if this was some stupid thing from the tank. But as he thought to himself, he felt his foot slide suddenly.

Oh no, was the gravity going off again? Was he still in the dream? Was this all in his head? Was-

Grunt's train of thought vanished when the back of his hump hit metal. The gravity wasn't off at all. He wasn't in a dream. He just had a terrible ache in his back now, how annoying. Some of the crewmembers rushed over to him, Hawthorne and Goldstein he believed their names were.

"Hey Grunt, you okay?" Hawthorne asked.

"Wow, you took a nasty spill there, big guy," Goldstein noted, holding out her hand to help him up.

Grunt took it and allowed himself to be lifted up, but found his foot felt wet and sticky. He had slipped on something someone spilled.

"Ah man, waste of good OJ," Hawthorne observed. "Sorry, Grunt, guess someone missed it."

Grunt heard the apology, but he was more confused than ever. First that terrible song, now the slip? This had happened before, this was how his day had started. Now, he was back at the beginning again and repeating the same events? What in the hell was going on?

---

He had hoped getting off the Normandy would ease his mind, but in the walk from there to the Serpent's docking station Grunt had only become more assured that something was incredibly wrong. On a random hunch, given what had happened when he woke up, he allowed BBR to play on his omni-tool. The broadcast was exactly the same. He was sure of it, he recognized it by fact he was playing a ton of annoying pop songs with excessively catchy tunes. If Boz was playing the same songs again that was one thing, but they were in the same order. The exact same order. The same calls came in over the line, the same requests, the same announcements from before, it was like a rerun or something.

Getting aboard the Serpent only further proved his fears. He got to the pirate ship's mess hall and found it in its usual state of disorder. A mess everywhere, food and spilled ichor all about, half the occupants had slipped into drunken comas and the other half were singing the sea shanties of their ancestors fairly badly. Technically, the same as it always was. Except when he walked down the same route he took to the counter before, the same pirate fell off the table and landed in front of him in the same spot he remembered happening last time.

Then again, his dream could've been a prophetic vision, perhaps this was all happening for the first time. Thing was, he had never had such visions before. Ever. There was no precedent for any of this nonsense. He finally reached the counter, intent on solving this mystery. He found the Serpent's bartender there, Row, currently doling out drinks.

"Hey there, Grunt," he greeted. "What brings your hunched back in here today?"

Same greeting as last time, or the first time, whatever, Grunt just knew that he remembered this happening.

"I was hoping you had more of those meat shank stickers," Grunt asked, a bit unsure if he should. "The ones with that sauce on'em."

Row instantly frowned in disappointment.

"Oh, sorry, Grunt I'm-"

"Out, there's more in storage but it will take time to prepare them right," Grunt finished for him.

"Uh, yeah," Row confessed. "How'd you-?"

"Nevermind," Grunt said, his sadness over missing his favorite snack in this whole fleet replaced by continued growing sense of dread.

Grunt's train of thought was interrupted by some shouting he thought sounded familiar. He looked behind him and watched two jackals start punching each other over a card game. Just like last time. One of them picked up a flagon and chucked it at his opponent. Just like last time. It missed the other Jackal. Again, just like last time. Someone shouted "Heads up!" Just like last time. What was different was his reaction. Grunt ducked as the flagon, still filled to the brim with Ichor, hurtled towards him. The glass missed his head and slammed into the back of the bar.

"Whoa, nice reflexes," Row congratulated.

It hadn't been last time. Grunt had been caught off guard by the fight, hadn't noticed it until it was too late. This time, he had avoided it. Because he knew it was coming. Because this had happened before. Grunt had no idea what was happening, but he knew now, for certain, that events were repeating themselves. This was either an extreme case of deja vu or he had lived this day once before.

---

Grunt got to the shooting range after wandering about in a haze of thought. He needed to think about what had happened. Why it had happened. None of this made sense. How could you live the same day twice? How could you possibly know every little thing that had happened to you ahead of time? It couldn't be just a dream or chance or luck. Something was wrong and yet he seemed to be the only one who knew anything about it. No one else seemed to be confused about their day repeating on them. Everything was normal to them, as normal as life on this makeshift fleet could be.

When he got to the shooting range that became all the more evident. The Marines, soldiers and ODSTs were all busy trying to top each other's scores. Scores that they had beaten, that Grunt knew they had beaten and were now doing so again. For him, it couldn't be more confusing and he just couldn't understand why. Nothing could be wrong with him, he was sure of it. He was pure krogan, he didn't hallucinate, he didn't imagine things.

And yet here he was reliving events he had already been through. Such as someone managing to beat his high score in the close combat area sectioned off from the rest of the shooting gallery. He saw the board change as he watched. It infuriated him all over again, that he had slipped off the board like that. Not as angry as last time though, when he had grabbed a gun and run through the course like a maniac, failing to score higher than his previous time. That had just been all the more humiliating.

The person who had beaten him was a one Corporal Travers, one of the ODSTs. Grunt thought he spotted him among the crowd, laughing it up on how he had beat the krogan's score. Probably gave him a sense of pride or something to know he beat an alien. Well, Grunt would fix that. He'd play it smarter than last time, go in like a krogan, not a rabid animal. There was a difference, no matter what some turians might say. Krogan were brutal, ruthless, powerful. They were not diseased or mad. Battle was in the blood, not an outside influence from a virus.

He took out his Claymore shotgun, intent on making a point this time. When he got to the start of the course, he prepared himself, thinking back to Shepard's lessons from the battlefield. He rushed through the starting gate when the buzzer sounded, moving swiftly through the makeshift corridors of the kill house constructed for the UNSC soldiers to train on. One by one, targets made from spare sheets of metal popped up. Grunt fired on each, refusing to stop moving for a second. Every shot required a quick reload of course, but punching or running into the target counted as a hit. When he charged the one in the doorway he moved into the next room and used the spread of his shotgun to take down three targets in close proximity. He finish off the rest of the room soon after and was in the last third of the course. He moved down the corridor but he noticed something. The timing was off.

He hadn't noticed it when he ran the course in a rage, but the targets weren't popping up like they had before. They were shifting when they appeared now, popping up from behind the sandbags at different intervals, Grunt missed the one he thought was going to pop up first, but it stayed down in favor of another. He did eventually hit all the targets but it had taken too much time. When he exited the course, he was still five seconds behind Travers. It took all his willpower not to rage in anger.

He marched over to the quartermaster, a Marine stationed to maintain the range. To his credit, the hardened human veteran wasn't phased at all by the lumbering mountain of saurian muscle coming at him. Grunt was impressed, but only in the back of his mind. He now knew the real reason he had failed the first time. In his enraged state he hadn't been paying attention, but now he knew.

"The targets, you changed the timing of the targets," he declared. "What the hell?"

"Things were getting too complacent," the quartermaster explained. "People were figuring out the positioning and the timing. The Company Commanders all agreed, it was getting too predictable. We figured changing it up would keep the squads sharp. I mean, in real combat, the bad guys don't just wait in the same spot or pop out of the same door every time you enter a house. It's not realistic."

Grunt growled, even if he understood the logic it still wasn't fair. They had changed the course, no wonder his old score was invalid, Travers had gotten a more favorable set up for his weapon.

"That's not fair," Grunt claimed. "How can I beat my old score now if the course keeps changing on me?"

"We only change it every three days," the quartermaster assured. "Trust me, your score would've been beaten eventually and then another guy would beat him and so on and so forth. This keeps you competitive. And things are more fun when they aren't predictable."

Grunt snorted, like this human knew what predictable was. Had he been living in deja vu land since he woke up today? Probably not. All Grunt knew now was that his score had been bumped down and it was because someone else got lucky. Well, he'd try again anyway, as many times as possible until he got the pattern down. And he'd used different weapons too! Yeah, like a grenade launcher! That was allowed! He'd cause a bunch of explosions, tear the targets in seconds and blow up-

That was when it hit him. Explosion, there had been an explosion of light. The experiment with the relics, the one Tali and the other smart ladies were performing. The last thing he remembered before everything started repeating was something going wrong with the experiment. Something blew up! That had to be it, something involving that explosion had caused all this! Within an instant, Grunt took off, leaving the shooting range behind. He had to get back to the Normandy, he had to stop that experiment!

---

Grunt rode the elevator down anxiously, not entirely sure what he'd find. When the doors opened, he found himself in the cargo bay and everyone looking at him. Tali, Shepard, Cortana and the Master Chief, all surprised to see him. He stepped out, eyeing the conduit device with the relics installed into it, the experiment was already underway, just like last time. Or the first time, whatever, he did not know what was going on but he knew he was going to stop it from happening again.

"Grunt, what's going on?" Shepard asked him.

"I've been having a... confusing day, Shepard," Grunt explained, his mind gravitating to the first thing he could remember doing at this moment. "Um, I can't find my Garr the Krogan Battlemaster action figure."

He quickly pointed to Tali as she groaned at the statement.

"Oh Keelah, here we go," she said, just like before.

"Grunt, I'm sure you just misplaced it," Shepard said. "You always misplace it. You-"

"Have him fight my dinosaurs and sharks and he gets lost somewhere or other," Grunt finished for him. "Yeah, you've told me."

Shepard was a bit taken aback, but not in the way Grunt had hoped.

"Uh, yeah," Shepard admitted. "Well, good to see that's finally stuck."

"No, I mean you told me this before," Grunt clarified. "We've had this conversation before, in this room, yesterday... or... today I mean."

Shepard and everyone else looked at Grunt confused, unsure of what was going on.

"Grunt, are you alright?" Shepard asked. "You're not making any sense."

The krogan had to think fast, which was not his specialty at all. He did not think all that much, he just did. The best he could do was repeat what he remembered.

"Look, you're testing to see how the crystal and Amplifying thingy work together, right?" Grunt asked. "You're not building a gun, you're seeing how they interact with each other."

Tali and Cortana looked a bit surprised to see Grunt so well informed, but their confusion gave way to a sense of pride.

"Grunt were you... did you see our notes?" Tali asked hopefully. "Are... are you interested in tech science?"

Grunt dashed her excited hopes quickly, there wasn't much time left. He had to stop this.

"No you told me what you were doing when I came down here before," he tried to explain. "When you were doing the experiment before. You told me about everything you were doing."

"Grunt we've only just started this experiment," Cortana informed him.

"No, you did it before, I was here," Grunt assured them. "There was something going wrong, the gravity failed then activated again and then everything exploded! Look, my Garr action figure is in this room over there! I know cause I found it just before everything went to white! Go see for yourself!"

Shepard looked to Chief who followed the order with a quick nod. He strode over to the corner of the room and rummaged around for a few seconds. He appeared again with the action figure in hand.

"Grunt, did you plant that here to have some fun with us?" Shepard incredulously asked. "Because this isn't funny."

"I know it's not funny," Grunt insisted. "Look something happened. Something went wrong and I saw it! Zek is going to come rushing down here any second with a black eye cause he did something to Taq a few hours ago!"

Taq perked up at that comment, torn away from her work.

"How do you know that?" She asked him.

At that moment the doors to the elevator opened and Zek rushed in. But something was different this time, he didn't look desperate or frantic, he looked utterly bewildered and the second he saw the relics on the conduit device, totally terrified. But he did have a black eye and that drew a few concerned looks from everyone.

"Oh no, Ocean no!" He screamed in horror. "It's all happening again! This is fucking real!"

That caught Grunt by surprise, the first thing someone else had done differently that wasn't a result of his own actions.

"Wait, you remember?" Grunt asked astonished, causing the pirate's head to turn towards him in a frightful manner. "The relics go haywire, gravity fails and-"

"Big fucking flash of light and the day is starting over again, yeah!" Zek confirmed. "Holy fuck, you remember! Please tell me someone else here remembers!"

Taq threw down her datapad and marched over to the console, looking furious.

"Okay, I don't know what the hell you two are pulling or how this idiot put you up to it, hunchback," she snarled. "But you're fucking with my experiment! That's my me time and you are diverting me from it for a stupid prank!"

"That is kinda bothersome, Grunt," Shepard told the krogan. "I think you've played this little game long enough, and I-"

"No, Shepard, this is real," Grunt assured them. "This all happened already! I don't know how I remember it or how he does, but it happened! I'm not lying!"

Shepard looked to Tali, a growing look of concern across his face. One shared by Tali, clear as day, even through her helmet.

"Zek I'd believe doing something this stupid," she confessed.

"Hey!" The Pirate shouted defensively.

"But Grunt... this is... pranks aren't really his thing," she reminded the Commander.

Shepard seemed to think it over for another second, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"I know," he admitted. "You're right. Grunt isn't one for mind games."

That much was right, Grunt preferred battle humor. Shepard considered it dark, but he just didn't get the point half the time. Usually when it involved knives. Heh, that was funny. Point, knives, very ironic. Wait no, wrong, Grunt shook his head, getting his train of thought back on track.

"Who cares right now," he shouted. "Shut it down! You gotta stop the experiment before-"

"Oh shit!"

Zek's shouted came as the alarm on the console sounded and Cortana started talking about fluctuations like before. The Relics went haywire, sparking like mad, the crystal shifting colors. Shepard and Chief moved to pull the plug, as before, and Grunt tried to run over to help them. Instead, the gravity shut off and he ended up flying into the air mid-run.

"Interesting," Halsey commented once more as she floated up into he air. "It would seem the gravity has-"

"Been inverted, I know!" Grunt shouted as he flailed uselessly. "I told you this would happen!"

Just as quickly the gravity came back and Grunt landed on his back. He pulled himself up, just in time to see Zek start slamming on the elevator door button.

"Come on! Come on, you bastard! Get me outta here before..."

There was sudden bright light resonating from the crystal.

"Oh fuck me!"

It was all Zek could say before the light exploded outward, enveloping them all.

---

Wake me up before you go go,

Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo!

Grunt bolted up from the floor of his room again, that same stupid song again ringing in his brain.

"No," he cried. "No! No! It's starting again!"

He rushed out of his room in a panic and stared down at the cargo bay through the window. Back to its pristine and untouched self. As if nothing had ever happened. But it had, or would happen. Whatever, all Grunt knew was that something was seriously wrong and it wasn't with him.

"EDI, where's Shepard?!" He demanded to know.

"Commander Shepard is with Operative Lawson in her office," the AI explained. "They are currently discussing duty rosters for the next shift rotation and-"

Grunt was already rushing into the elevator, slamming on the buttons. He got up to the crew quarters and ran outside. Only to slip and fall once more onto his back. Once again, Hawthorne and Goldstein were there.

"Hey Grunt, you okay?" Hawthorne asked once again.

"Wow, you took a nasty spill there, big guy," Goldstein said, stretching out her hand.

Grunt screamed in anguish, pushing himself up and continuing to run towards Lawson's office. He didn't wait for the door to open, he pushed it the rest of the way himself. Miranda looked up suddenly from her computer and Shepard away from the datapad he had been staring at.

"Grunt, what the hel-?"

"You're planning an experiment with Tali and the other smart people with the relics and it's gonna explode and send me back in time and you gotta stop it before it happens again!"

Grunt had said it all so fast that neither the Commander nor Miranda had been able to fully process everything.

"Um... come again?" Shepard asked.

"Just call everyone!" The krogan demanded. "And find Zek! He remembers too!"

"Remember what?" Miranda asked, completely dumbfounded. "What is going-"

"Just call them up!" Grunt pleaded. "Seriously, do I look like I'm kidding?! Call them all into the big meeting room! Now! We have to warn them all now!"

Shepard looked cautiously at Miranda and then spoke up into the air.

"EDI, send a message to Tali and have her round up the experiment team," he requested. "Plus, Zek, I guess. I... I think we might have a problem with today's experiment."

---

Zek was sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth in fear as he looked all around him at the room. Everyone was more or less gathered in the Normandy's briefing room, including Haverson, all those involved in the experiment and Shepard himself. Grunt was currently playing BBR on the radio, insisting on them listening to it to prove his point. He had already called that the song "Step by Step" would lead into "Angel of the Morning" and he hoped his next prediction, for lack of a better word that he knew to describe this, would push things over the top.

"Now Boz gets a call from a Private Swinson who wants him to play a song about an Octopus' Garden by a bunch of bug people."

"Commander this is getting idiotic," Haverson stated. "Can we please just-"

Grunt shushed him as the song ended and Boz came on.

"Angel of the Morning, on our Ironic Songs to Play during a Firefight Showcase! Only on BBR could we be this random and totally get away with it! We're taking requests all day to mix this up, so lets see who our next caller is! Line one you're on the air! Name and request?"

"Yeah, uh, my name is Private Swinson, and if it's not too much trouble, I saw it on the list you guys sent out for every song available off of Joker's library. Can you play Octopus' Garden by the Beatles?"

"He says he remembers him and his mom singing it when he was a child," Grunt quickly said next. "She was into old English stuff."

"Weird choice, but we have it," Boz answered. "It would be pretty ironic to start killing people when that's playing in the background."

"Yeah, but I just remember it cause my mom and I sung it together when I was a little kid," Swinson explained. "She was always into old world English stuff like that."

The song soon started playing at Boz's behest, Grunt eyeing everyone in the room to make sure they understood the significance of what was happening. They all still seemed a bit skeptical. It was infuriating and he wished Zek would get up here and help him already instead of wallowing in the corner like an idiot.

"So you memorized a schedule," Haverson stated. "What does that prove?"

"I memorized hearing the same broadcast twice before and now three times," Grunt declared. "And there is no schedule to memorize, half of the songs on today are going to be requests."

"Or Zek is playing a very sick joke for some stupid reason," Haverson stated. "And has roped you into it for equally stupid reasons."

That was enough to get Zek to jump up from his corner. His fear overcome by his general dislike, if not hatred, for Haverson. He marched to the table, slamming his talons down on it.

"This is not funny! None of this is funny!" Zek screamed at him. "And as for schedules, no one gives Boz any marching orders on what songs to play on the station. He just does whatever he wants! I didn't tell him to come up with this weird ass idea for a showcase today."

Haverson didn't look convinced, but Grunt didn't care. If everyone would just listen to him it would start making more sense. It almost worked last time.

"Look, no one told me about the experiment Tali was conducting today and no one would've told Zek either," Grunt assured them.

"I know I didn't," Taq grumbled.

Zek growled back, but spoke for himself in any case.

"Look all I know is you're going to do something freaky with those relics downstairs in a few hours and everything is going to go to shit," he declared. "Resulting in whatever the fuck this is, just like the overgrown turtle says."

"I am not a turtle," Grunt snarled through his teeth.

Shepard looked to both Tali and Halsey.

"Is this at all possible?" He asked them both.

"Given we're dealing with unknown and highly advanced technology, I suppose," Halsey confessed. "But I'm not sure why any of this would happen as a result of what we were planning to do. Maybe a fault in our procedures we missed or the Amplifier could've transferred too much power. I can't be certain."

"We could do a separate analysis with the crystal beforehand," Cortana suggested, popping up from Chief's omni-tool. "Get a better understanding of its properties before we plug it into the conduit."

"If I'm being honest," Tali spoke up. "If this was just Zek I'd suspect it was a joke."

Zek looked incensed.

"Why do you keep saying that? It's the second time!" The pirate shouted in frustration.

Tali shook her head derisively.

"But Grunt being involved in this makes no sense," she concluded. "Pranks aren't his thing."

"No, they aren't," Shepard agreed.

"You said that before actually," Grunt confirmed. "Look it doesn't matter what you think. Just don't do the experiment today. Okay? If you don't do it, the explosion doesn't happen and the day won't rewind or whatever."

Shepard looked thoughtful for a moment, but Halsey quickly interjected.

"We can postpone, until all concerns are dealt with," she assured them. "If there is a threat of an explosion it would best we limit the chance."

"I can agree to that," Taq sighed. "Even if it means I have to wait on my answers for even longer."

"I'll go over the simulations with Mordin," Tali added. "Like Halsey said, maybe we missed something."

Grunt just sighed in relief, he had done it, he got them to delay the experiment. Now the explosion would never happen, the day would not rewind and he would not have to hear that stupid song again. Problem solved.

---

Grunt kept a vigil over the cargo bay, just to be sure Halsey or Taq didn't decide to go back on their word and mess up everything up. Tali wouldn't do that of course, She was krant and she trusted him. Besides, limiting a risk to the fleet was her whole thing.

Hours had passed though and the conduit had not been set up. It was all going to sort itself out in just a few minutes time. No explosion, no rewind, fine by him. Not just him either, Zek had now joined him at his side, staring down at the cargo bay.

"Nothing?" He asked.

Grunt shook his head.

"Oh good," he sighed in relief. "This got way too weird way too fast. I'm just happy it's over."

"All thanks to me of course," Grunt laughed. "Shepard knows he can trust me, that's why he believed me in the end."

Zek looked up at him rather incensed.

"Hey, I helped, I remember this day rewind thing too, ya know," he claimed.

"Yes but you're a known liar, so anything you claim is suspect," Grunt informed the kig-yar. "But my krant knows they can count on me and therefore they listened to me. I saved everyone."

"Pft, whatever, turtle," Zek grumbled.

Grunt growled at that, but the kig-yar was unmoved.

"So you gonna go down there and get your silly action figure?" He asked.

"Garr the Krogan Battlemaster is not silly," Grunt declared. "He is a proud warrior, the strongest of all krogan, with the power to crush any who dare stand against him and his krant."

"Like who?" Zek asked.

"Uh, dinosaurs mostly," Grunt claimed. "When he's not riding some into battle against the shark people."

Zek looked up at him rather bewildered.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, he's amazing," Grunt declared. "He's just like Shepard."

Zek had by now opened his omni-tool and he looked into the codex installed inside.

"Says here he's part of an action figure line as one of the villains of Captain Cosmic," the kig-yar revealed.

"That's a total lie, turian propaganda," Grunt declared, shutting down the kig-yar's tool abruptly. "He's amazing and powerful and stomps his enemies. He's the best."

Zek laughed uproariously.

"Oh Ocean, you're like a giant child!" He said.

"I am not, I just grew up in a tank," Grunt shouted. "I only got out a few months back when Shepard released me."

"Stunted mental development," Zek laughed once more. "Explains so much. You are just too precious, a little fledgling turtle thing."

Grunt grabbed the Jackal's beak and shut it tight in his grip.

"I would probably stop insulting the clearly stronger alien that could crush my head in seconds if I were you, bird brain."

Zek frantically nodded, shouting "okay okay" through his shut beak. Grunt of course released him, he wasn't worth the effort in doing more than idly threatening. As the kig-yar brushed himself off though, Zek's zeal returned.

"Ugh, just what I needed, a bigger more burly version of a sangheili aboard this fleet," he grumbled.

"I am nothing like them," Grunt declared. "I am pure krogan. I am strength and power. My kind would never willingly subject itself to the whims of anyone, let alone this race of prophets."

"Well then, maybe if you had been in those mandible faced morons' place then we could've avoided this whole stupid war to begin with," Zek claimed. "Such a shame to think on what might have been."

Before Grunt could respond to the comment, a light started coming from the cargo bay. He looked down, astonished by what he saw. Floating mid-air, merged together it seemed, was the Amplifier and the Crystal. They began sparking and resonating with insane light.

"Oh no," Grunt realized. "It's... it's still happening!"

"What? But we stopped the experiment!" Zek screeched. "They didn't do the freaky bullshit! We were done! We were out!"

EDI's voice called out over the intercom.

"Warning, all hands!" She cried. "There has been an energy resonance cascade detected in the cargo bay!"

At that moment there was a shudder and both Grunt and Zek lifted from the ground. Gravity was gone.

"Fuck! No! Shit! This isn't fair! We did everything right this time!"

"Shut up!" Grunt shouted at him, trying to swim through the air towards the elevator. "We need to get down there! We have to stop it!"

"Stop it how?!" Zek demanded to know. "The gravity is gonna switch back on any second and then-"

Both fell to the floor suddenly, signaling they were indeed out of time. Grunt stood up to get one last look at the cargo bay before an explosion erupted and the light enveloped them.

---

Wake me up before you go go,

Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo!

Grunt screamed in anger as he woke up, slamming his fist into the floor. That damn song again!

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

---

"It won't work," he told everyone in the briefing room, sounding more exasperated than ever.

"What do you mean it won't work?" Tali asked. "If we don't do the experiment-"

"It still happens," Grunt stated. "I've told you all five times already. Counting the first time, we've been through this meeting six times now. Me and Zek tried to prevent it anyway by shooting the relics when they appear or pulling them apart and slashing them with a plasma sword, nothing has worked."

Zek just groaned.

"We keep running through the same six hours, doing everything to stop that stupid explosion and nothing works!" He declared. "I don't even know why it keeps happening to us! Why us two? How come none of you people remember it? You were there when it started!"

Halsey looked thoughtful at that statement, considering their options.

"I believe they need to see Professor Solus," she claimed. "Run some tests. Perhaps the answer to this problem, if there is one, lies in our two companions here."

Grunt stepped back at that.

"Oh no! No way! Shepard, you know how I feel about medical stuff! Especially tests!" He said, pointing defiantly. "I hate tests! They always involve needles and poking and other crap!"

"Oh get over it you fucking baby," Zek snarled. "We have worse problems than some goddamn doctor's needles!"

Grunt looked about ready to charge at the idiot bird, but Shepard stopped him.

"Grunt, relax," he ordered. "Look, I know how you feel about doctors and medical tests, but we don't have time to argue. If what you say is true we only have a six hour window and we've used up enough of that already with this briefing. Who knows how long Mordin will need to find out what is wrong with you? Why this only seems to be happening to you and Zek? The sooner you go, the sooner we'll get answers, otherwise we'll all reset to the start of the day and you'll have to go through all of this again."

Grunt sighed, he knew his battlemaster was right. He had to put himself on the line for the krant. What kind of krogan could he call himself if he didn't. He needed to understand this threat in order to stop it. The only way he could do that was by giving Mordin a chance to look at him.

"Okay, fine," he relented. "Mordin can start his tests. If only because anything he does to me is going to get erased anyway."

Shepard nodded in acceptance. Grunt remained apprehensive, but what other choice did he have? Something was keeping him from forgetting like everyone else. If figuring out why had to be the key to finding out how to stop this.

---

Mordin's tests weren't entirely invasive, not everything required cutting him open at least. Grunt still winced at every needle. It wasn't even the pain, not really, it was something foreign being stuck into him. For the krogan in general, that was a sore spot, especially when it involved a salarian doing it. He did his best to handle it, but Zek was considerably worse at it. He had practically bolted out of his seat when Mordin had required a blood sample and chose to stick the needle in the pirate's ass.

At least the display had given Grunt a good chuckle. As far as results though, there had been very little. Mordin did brain scans, urine tests, cured tissue samples, ran several full body medical procedures and even x-rays. Nothing seemed to work. As far as Mordin could tell there was nothing wrong with either of them.

"Physically in good health," he listed off. "Stress levels high. Reasonable for situation. No fever. No foreign biological elements. Brainwaves normal. Very puzzling. Puzzling indeed."

"Look frog man, we're running out of time," Zek growled. "We've been here for hours. Don't you got anything?"

Mordin gave it another moment's thought.

"Relics source of problem. Possible cause as well." He concluded. "Need a moment."

Mordin went to the back of his lab and began tinkering. For several minutes, he rushed around, typing on computers or working on equipment. Eventually, after about half an hour or so, he bothered to fill them in. He held his omni-tool, activating a function that turned the resonating light green.

"Shepard ordered work on side project," he explained. "Taq needing Amplifier to find other relics problematic. Needed solution that would not put future expeditions at risk. Artifact capture by Covenant unacceptable. Working on frequency scanner for relics in future. Pick up unique energy signature."

"You had that thing the whole time?!" Zek screeched. "The fuck did you put us through all that other shit for?"

"Still needed to build it," Mordin argued. "Process data. Wasn't priority until just now. Did other tests to eliminate other possibles."

"Whatever, hurry," Grunt demanded. "What is wrong with us?"

Mordin scanned over their bodies with his omni-tool.

"Possible explosion similar to energy surge on Dauntless," the salarian claimed. "Effect on Tali'Zorah horrific. Perhaps similar situation."

"No one is talking to me in my head," Grunt assured him. "Unless you count that song about waking up and crap."

"Not the same," Mordin stated rather obviously. "Good. Second memory creature terrifying prospect. Would prefer to avoid it."

Mordin's scan stopped abruptly over Grunt's shoulder where it began flashing profusely. The salarian looked at it curiously and then enhanced the scan. A holographic image of the inside of Grunt's shoulder appeared and highlighted a small, barely visible shard embedded into him.

"The hell is that?" Grunt asked.

"Oh my."

It was all Mordin said before heading over to Zek and taking a look at him with the same scan. He found another shard of some kind. This time stuck in the pirate's forehead. Naturally Zek was freaking out.

"The fuck is that and why is it in my head?" He demanded to know.

"Fascinating," Mordin thought aloud. "Didn't show up on other scans. X-rays unable to see it. Couldn't see it."

"Why? What is it?" Grunt asked insistently.

"Part of Crystal," Mordin answered dutifully. "Somehow embedded into your bodies. Possibly caused by initial explosion. Can't explain why or how. Shard is no doubt connected to your immunity."

"Well why didn't you pick it up sooner?" Zek demanded to know, squeezing at his forehead with his talons.

"Simple. Not actually there." Mordin answered.

"The fuck you say?" Zek asked, his patience growing thing. "Then what the fuck is on that screen there?"

"Shard only appears on this scan," Mordin explained. "Shard isn't part of local space-time. Outside it. Scan located shard only because it can detect residual energy. Believe shard in some kind of flux state."

"The hell does any of that mean?" Grunt asked impatiently.

"Means shards exist within your body," Mordin stated. "But also outside space and time. It is there, but isn't. Need to do more tests. Talk to Halsey. Bring her in."

There was a rumble within the ship as alarms began blaring.

"Too late," Grunt said.

Moments later, Grunt, Zek, Mordin and everything else not tied down were floating in mid-air as another rumble shook the whole ship. Zek and Grunt slammed into the ceiling as Mordin made to grab onto the edge of a desk.

"Quick," Mordin shouted up at them both. "Imagine reset imminent?"

"What does it look like?" Zek asked frantically.

"Remember then," he stated, keeping his grip firm. "Make me build scanner again. Run more tests with Doctor Halsey. Shards in you key to solution. Have to find out why and how."

The gravity returned, slamming them all back down to the ground. There was the sound of an explosive eruption next and a multicolored light filled the ship. Grunt groaned as everything went white again.

---

Wake me up before you go go,

Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo!

Grunt rose, his rage building. He smashed the intercom once and then several more times for good measure. This was becoming tiresome.

---

Zek and Grunt now sat in the Normandy's medical bay, waiting for Halsey to come back. Tali, Shepard, Chakwas and Mordin were there with them. They were staring at the images of the shards embedded in both the krogan and kig-yar's bodies. They were searching for answers, but Grunt honestly wished they'd speed it up. Six hours wasn't much time to work with and they were wasting it talking about this stuff.

"It's insane is what it is," Chakwas argued. "The Crystal exploded? But it looked intact when Halsey brought it in for further study."

"The shards are inside them," Tali reiterated. "Well, inside them but not."

"Yes, temporal anomaly," Mordin claimed. "Additional tests reveal similar energy signature to that of slipspace ruptures. Shards are clearly a warp within fabric of space-time that-"

"Oh for the love of the Ocean, we've been through this!" Zek declared. "We've already gone through this whole fucking explanation already! Can we just skip to the end?"

"Zek, you might know where this all leads, but we're in the dark," Shepard reminded him. "We don't remember the rewind."

"Well I do," Zek declared. "And I've had to sit on this damn table twice now with you all going through this whole spiel. I've had to listen to Doctor Frog here lecture on and on about this shit with possible theories that end up going nowhere and it makes my brain hurt."

"Professor," Mordin stated, sounding rather perturbed. "Title is Professor. Appreciate getting it right."

"Whatever!" Zek shouted. "I'm sick of going through these conversations constantly. The same briefing, the same astonishment, and now the same science class! Well fuck that! I bothered to record this whole part last time with my omni-tool."

Zek pressed a button on his omni-tool, looking rather smug at his brilliant scheme. However, nothing played. Zek continued smashing at the play button, growing more and more agitated as he did. As he began snarling through his beak, Tali bothered to interject.

"Zek, if the rewinds erase all progress, then whatever you recorded is gone," Tali informed him. "As in, it never existed."

Enraged, Zek pulled his omni-tool device out of its connection port and smashed it on the ground.

"Fucking piece of junk! Fuck you! Worthless!"

Grunt was not at all amused by the tantrum, especially since it just made him regret who he was stuck with in this terrible scenario even more.

"Even I could've told you that would happen, idiot," the krogan chimed in.

Zek tried to lunge at Grunt, but the big reptilian simply smacked him away. The kig-yar slammed into some medical equipment and rose to his feet in anger. Shepard, however, held him back.

"No fighting in my medical bay!" Chakwas ordered.

"Both of you, cool it," Shepard ordered. "This is not the time to be throwing punches and insults at each other, we need to solve this problem."

"I don't even know what this fucking problem is," Zek shouted in anger. "Let alone how to solve it!"

"It's called a time loop and you two are presently stuck in it."

The voice was from Doctor Halsey and she was not alone. Stepping through the medical bay doors were the Master Chief, Taq, Vice Admiral Whitcomb and Colonel Holland. In Halsey's hands was the crystal, which Zek instantly backed away from in fright.

"Keep that shit away from me!" He demanded.

"Relax, it can't harm you," Halsey assured him. "Not more than it already has anyway."

"What's with the full house, Doctor?" Shepard asked. "Did you get some results?"

"Yes, thankfully Grunt and Zek's information from their previous loop provided me with a greater understanding. Zek suggesting that I ask Taq for help made things go faster as well." Halsey replied rather astutely. "We now can definitively say we are trapped in a time loop, with Grunt and Zek the only two able to remember every detail after said loop resets. I felt it prudent to bring everyone here in order to fully explain the situation. Not that it matters, considering none of us will remember this conversation in a few hours."

"Best to just skip the pleasantries, Doctor," Whitcomb declared. "What is going on here?"

Halsey turned to the Chief, who activated his Omni-Tool, allowing Cortana to appear. She brought with her an animated holographic file of the Crystal relic. It appeared intact, just as the one in Halsey's arms. The Doctor set the crystal down on a nearby table and then proceeded to explain.

"What you think you see is an intact Crystal," Halsey began. "But it is not. It is shattered. We cannot perceive it as so because we lack the proper visual frequency. However, Taq was able to use Mordin's new device to better enhance our own scans of the relics. We now have a proper image of what the relic looks like."

Cortana then implemented the enhanced scan results onto the holographic file. What they revealed was a partially destroyed crystal, the main body all that remained of a fractured husk. Yet they could see a faint outline of where the rest of the crystal used to be, as what appeared to be smoke floated around the remains in a tight formation. One that mirrored the original crystal's size.

"The cloud or smoke you're seeing is in fact residual radiological energy," Halsey explained. "It is similar to a slipspace rupture that is just about to break through back to normal space. There are a few differences, of course, but that is the long and short of it."

"So why can't we see it with the naked eye?" Holland asked. "Why does it still look whole?"

"Near as I can tell, because from our perspective it hasn't shattered yet," Halsey explained. "We are seeing the crystal in our present reality, one where we have not yet done the experiment that broke it. However, the event has already occurred to the crystal. So it exists in a state of flux, both broken and yet not."

Schrödinger's cat in a less cuddly form," Cortana summed up rather succinctly. "The contradictory state of the relic is evidently untenable, causing a distortion in space-time. Reality itself is rejecting the reaction caused by the explosion and trying to fix it. Hence the time loop. It's our reality trying to solve the contradiction. As long as the crystal is in this state of flux, the loop will persist."

"It is now evident the Crystal can bend space-time to its will," Taq continued. "Much like a slipspace drive can, but to a greater extent than we could ever imagine possible before now. The shattering and subsequent state of flux were most likely caused when too much energy pooled from the Amplifier into the Crystal. As the Amplifier does, it increased its already insanely powerful functions two-fold. More than the Crystal could handle at any given time."

"So for once, this is all your fault!" Zek declared. "HA! Call me satisfied, especially after the black eye."

Taq sneered at him.

"We were dealing with complete unknowns here," Taq argued. "There's no precedent for any of this in any of our collective applied sciences. We couldn't have possibly foreseen this happening."

"Right now, all I care about is fixing it," Shepard stated firmly. "We know where two of the shards are, or aren't as it were. Where's the rest of the crystal?"

"I'd still like to know how having these things in us helps us remember every single loop thing," Grunt interjected.

Cortana brought up the images of the shards found in both Zek and Grunt, along with various readings alongside them.

"The shards inside you, for lack of a more accurate term, are there by complete chance," Cortana explained. "You were close enough to the initial explosion it seems for them to embed themselves in a slightly more stable capacity. When the loop initiates, you are returned to the time and place you were six hours ago, but your memory remains intact because you are in close enough proximity to the energy spike that occurs during the restart. Essentially, the Crystal sees you as part of the initial explosion. You have a direct link to the origin of this anomaly, granting you immunity from its effects."

"That's it! You both said the first time this happened you were both closer to the relics and the conduit device than any of us," Tali said, the realization creeping in. "Grunt, you had floated over to the conduit and stood up near it when you discovered your Garr action figure. And Zek, you were moving to help Taq up just as the explosion erupted. Your body shielded her from the shard that got stuck in your head."

"Oh great, so I try to show concern for the female who hit me for no good reason and this is my reward?" Zek snarled in disgust. "The universe is an asshole."

"Speak for yourself," Taq snapped back. "I'd rather be in your position. In a few hours, I'm going to forget about all this and be blissfully unaware of this insanely fascinating phenomenom."

"It is not fascinating, believe me," Zek countered. "I did you a favor."

"It doesn't matter if this is fascinating or not," Shepard frustratedly repeated. "I want it stopped. Cortana, where are the other shards?"

The AI could only shrug.

"Scattered about the fleet most likely and naked to the human eye," she suggested. "It is possible we could reconfigure Mordin's scanning protocol into a device that can locate them all. Unfortunately, given the amount of mass missing from the crystal itself, we are likely looking at hundreds, maybe thousands of shards out there that we need to collect. We'd need to bring the crystal close to one in order for it to reintegrate with the whole. That would probably solve the problem, but there are... greater concerns."

"Like what?" The Master Chief asked.

"At Halsey's behest I did an analysis concerning time stamps of certain missions," Cortana explained. "As well as what information we've recovered from the Gettysburg computers and cross-referenced it with what we salvaged from the ONI station Haverson had Zek and the ODSTs raided. I'm afraid the crystal was already active before we did anything to it."

The room went silent, unsure of what the AI was getting at. Thankfully, she soon continued before the obvious questions could pile on.

"Near as I can tell, the crystal has created a massive time distortion anomaly," she explained. "We are actually three weeks in the past, as is a very significant portion of the galaxy."

"What?" Whitcomb said, absolutely astonished. "We've gone back in time? When? How?"

"I can't say for certain when it happened, but it did," Cortana assured them. "The mission time stamps and data point entries all check out. We have gone three weeks into the past. And chances are if the Crystal is connected to that time distortion, then so is the time loop it has created as well. I can't be certain how far reaching it is, but I suspect a large portion of galaxy is currently reliving the same six hours over and over again and not even knowing it."

"My God," said Holland, voicing the shock of everyone.

Everyone but Halsey of course, who just seemed to nod her head at it all.

"Yes, I suspected as much," she concluded. "Thank you, Cortana, this puts things into a greater sense of perspective."

"If this is true, then we need to get to work on a solution, fast," Chief declared. "Cortana, what can we do?"

"We can't do anything," Cortana informed him. "In a few hours, no one here is going to remember even having this revelation. Well, almost everyone."

The AI looked over to Grunt and Zek, who both now felt extremely uncomfortable with all the attention.

"What?" Was all Grunt could muster to ask.

Tali raised her hands to her visor and groaned outwardly.

"Oh Keelah, you don't mean..."

"I'm afraid so, Tali," Cortana informed the quarian, sounding equally dismayed. "The only hope any of us have, lies in the hands of Grunt and Zek right now."

The room, more or less, filled with terrified or defeated faces. Grunt didn't like the lack of confidence in his abilities, but he couldn't exactly argue with their obvious concerns. He knew what his capabilities were more than most people and he could not pretend that he was in any way suited to solve this kind of problem. He just wasn't. Even Zek admitted as much, as he summed up everyone's thoughts rather bluntly.

"Well, we're all fucked then."

---

Altering Mordin's device to track down invisible crystal shards wasn't the difficult part. The frequency used by Halsey to reveal the true state of the Crystal just needed to be uploaded into its algorithm processes. Of course, Zek and Grunt were made to memorize the frequency modulation code. It was the only way to keep things from being reset completely and maximize their search time on every loop. This was accomplished by repeating the code over and over in their headsets.

It was annoying, boring and incredibly tedious. Something about the complex science of space-time, ancient tech and the understanding of how the brain and the subconscious mind worked. So the code was basically just a string of crap neither the krogan or space pirate could understand. Grunt only accepted it because it was slightly better than having that stupid song he kept waking up to stuck in his head.

The hard part was the actual search. By Cortana's own estimates, corroborated by both EDI and Legion, there were likely thousands of shards of varying size spread throughout the fleet. Finding them all would take time, a lot of time. Which meant, the pair needed to get started. They were more or less given free reign of the whole fleet. Thankfully every vessel within the makeshift flotilla had currently been docked with the Ascendant Justice-Gettysburg Carrier, making it easier to get around. Zek, however, maintained an insistence on checking the Serpent by himself. Grunt was hardly surprised, he imagined there were secrets the ragged bird hard no interest in sharing with the only other person aboard who could remember them.

Not that it mattered, since it would be a while before they even got to the Serpent. They had four other ships to search and one of them was essentially the size of a small city. Circumnavigating the whole place would take forever. They would've split up, but they needed the crystal to reabsorb each shard. Once they found one, they'd have to lock onto its position hold the crystal up to it for a few moments. Their own shards within them were immune for the moment as they were still in a semi-stable state. It prevented them from realigning with the relic properly. Halsey postulated they could only be returned to the crystal once enough of its original mass had been returned.

It was for the best in any case, losing said shards would only doom both of them be trapped in the loop with no memory of the events transpiring. A prospect that was even more horrifying to Zek and Grunt than being made aware of this insane situation.

The shards were found all over the place, in public and private. They were never close to one another in significantly large numbers though, as expected due the reach and power of the explosion. Halsey believed that they would not have gone too far out into space, as they would all likely retain a circumference close to their point of origin. If the tracker did lead them towards the dark void, they would need to get a shuttle or space suit on and go after it that way.

Every now and then, Grunt and Zek had to go into a private room or difficult area to get a shard. Such an example was one of the women's showers that had been set up for female personnel of the UNSC. Grunt hesitated to enter without permission. Zek almost agreed, but the kig-yar suddenly grew belligerent over the whole matter and stormed the facilities alone. The ladies inside weren't exactly pleased to see Zek in there, even though he kept insisting he wasn't a pervert, wasn't there for them and didn't find human women attractive anyway.

"I should be more insulted at your accusation that I would even think of ogling any of the fat breasts of you hairless primates!"

"Are you being sexist or racist now?" One Marine had asked.

"Right now, whatever pisses you off more, honestly!"

That had not exactly resolved the situation. By the time he had dragged himself out of there, Zek had a few more bruises to match his black eye. Grunt at least found it funny, not as funny as Taq did though when he gave a quick progress report.

"Serves the bastard right!" She had exclaimed.

Lesson learned. From then on, they decided they would ask for a woman to head inside for them or for the place to be cleared out before they checked.

Sometimes the shards were in an actually fun place to go, like the shooting range. Grunt convinced the quartermaster to pause exercises until they were done. He also tried the CQC kill house again, hoping to beat Travers' score and reclaim his pride. He had done better this time, but he still couldn't get the timing right, finishing behind Travers by two seconds. Infuriating, but Grunt would have to wait to try again. He still had a mission.

There were more misunderstandings and various encountered problems. Ripping up panels to get to shards inside the walls, going through crates upon crates to get them. One shard had ended up in a grenade. There had probably been a better way to get at it, but Zek decided "fuck it", as he usually did and tossed the thing. No one was hurt in the resulting explosion, but there was a small fire alert.

Zek was not the only reckless member of the duo though, Grunt was more than happy to bulldoze into a wall, through a door or smash computer console to get one of the shards directly. The humans on the bridge of the Gettysburg proper had not been particularly happy with that method of collection. Nor did any of the human engineers appreciate his rather inelegant means of tearing open valuable equipment to get any shards detected inside. In Grunt's mind, they were all going to get fixed anyway once things rewinded on them, so really, what did it matter if a section of the ship lost power?

When they eventually got to their first space walk, Grunt got a bit distracted with the zero-G environment and ended up dislodging himself from the ship's hull when he jumped too high. The jump pack got him back, but he ended up destroying a sensory system in the process.

The worst moment for him was when he had found a shard within the maintenance corridors, only for him to get stuck in the small space. He was unable to pull himself out, struggling to fit through. Zek just laughed, called him fat a bunch of times and laughed more when Grunt threatened to punch his skull in. Eventually Zek ran away heckling the krogan and Grunt waited out the rest of the loop trapped in that tiny corridor. Naturally, he did slam Zek into the floor next he saw him. Zek still felt it had been worth it.

Experiencing the loops had become almost routine. It was quickly discovered that the Normandy was not the only ship to encounter its direct effects. Every time, without fail, power fluctuated, gravity failed, returned and then a bright flash of color enveloped everything. Grunt would wake up to that damn song, probably smash the intercom in frustration and repeat the process again and again and again and again. Grunt made a game of it at one point, how fast could he smash that stupid intercom so he wouldn't have to hear as much of that damn song.

Not everyone on the crew could be informed of what was happening in time, not that it would matter if they had been as they would soon forget before long. Most of the Normandy's direct crew knew, but the batarians, Jackals and most of the UNSC were unaware. So when the start of the next loop occurred a lot of people were scared out of their damn mind as to what was going on. Gravity failing and lights flickering was never a good sign of anything after all. It made Grunt painfully aware that this was not just happening to them, but to everyone trapped in this strange bubble of time. They had to fix it, for everyone's sakes.

So despite his reckless regard for personal property in the pursuit of that goal, Grunt remained committed to that mission. He could not say the same of his compatriot. On this loop, Zek never showed up. He didn't come when called to the briefing or when Mordin and Halsey gave Grunt the tracker and crystal, he was nowhere for much of the search. Eventually, fed up with waiting around, Grunt asked EDI over his comm to find the Jackal leader. Apparently, he was in the Normandy crew quarters and had arrived shortly after Grunt had left there. The stupid bird was avoiding him.

The krogan marched back, finding the scruffy avian buccaneer playing with a plate of mashed potatoes as if he were a child. Enraged, Grunt slammed his fist onto the table, earning a bored and uninterested glance from his supposed partner.

"Where the hell were you?" He demanded to know. "I was searching sector port fourteen of the hangar alone!"

"Relax, Turtle Boy," Zek grumbled. "I'm just taking this loop off, alright."

"What?" Grunt responded, almost in disbelief.

"I want a fucking break," Zek reiterated. "Okay? I want a break. Is that so hard to understand?"

Grunt was still angry, but he sat down across from the pirate, intent on hearing him out at least.

"I haven't slept since this started but I'm not tired, my body is in a constant state of alert and aware," Zek claimed. "I'm never sleepy anymore, it's like insomnia but with none of the symptoms. My body reverts to normal and normal for me right now is a fucking hangover that will not go away. Because just as it starts, rewind! Square one all over again!"

"Is that why you're being a constant annoyance every loop?" Grunt asked. "More so than you usually are."

"Aren't you fucking clever?" Zek responded derisively. He then shouted aloud to the room; "Fucking detective this one!"

Zek began sculpting something in his mashed potatoes in a frantic, almost crazed manner.

"I tell ya, Turtle," he said, his voice becoming more manic in tone as he spoke. "I can't take much more of this. Reciting that stupid code from memory, going up and down this fucking carrier, encountering the same fucking people in the same fucking halls saying the same fucking things every fucking goddamn time is enough to drive some folks up the walls."

"The banality is tiresome," Grunt had to agree.

"If I go through much more of this, then I'm not sure what I'm going to do," Zek said, laughing rather strangely at the prospect. "Except maybe go completely, utterly and irreparably WHACKO!"

Zek held up his plate of mashed potatoes, revealing a crazy face drawn into the white fluff and curds. He then dropped the whole thing back onto the table and held his head in his hands. Grunt was unimpressed.

"This is hard on both of us," Grunt informed him. "You are not the only one suffering. Hell, WE'RE not the only ones suffering."

"Oh please, they're blissfully unaware of what's going on and we're stuck in it," Zek declared accusingly. "And what's your biggest problem? You wake up to a fucking song you don't like? Is that your main concern, Turtle? Seriously?"

Grunt snorted, not appreciating Zek's tone.

"That song is infuriating," Grunt insisted. "It is stupid beyond belief and gets lodged in your head. It is an inane lyrical atrocity about some idiot who needs to be woken up to go dance frivolously with someone. It's insultingly moronic."

Zek just grinned sinisterly at the statement.

"Ah, I see, not much of a dancer are ya?" He laughed.

"It is not a thing many krogan do," Grunt argued. "We prefer our mating rituals to be more succinct, heartfelt, meaningful. Gifts mostly, full contact wrestling, the recitation of battle cries and declarations of devotion. That's what I have learned at least. What I understand."

"Well, kig-yar and dancing are a big deal," Zek claimed. "It's one of the many ways we express ourselves, how we revel in true freedom and lose ourselves to it. I used to be a great dancer myself, had the best moves you'd ever see."

Grunt didn't exactly believe it, Zek was known to exaggerate often, embellish always. The Jackal continued all the same, growing more regretful as he did.

"Last time I ever danced was on the bridge of the Serpent, years ago, with Taq," he said, his manic grin evaporating into a sneer of self-loathing. "Not long after, like a week, we were in our own private room. The best nights of my life. And I fucked it up because I was a stupid young idiot who didn't know he had the best thing he could ever hope for. And now, I'm trapped being reminded of that every six hours on a constant loop. Because every single time the world rewinds the first image I see is the one female I have ever really loved punching me in the face for some reason or another. A reason I can't remember because I'm still too drunk off my ass to recall and she refuses to tell me."

Zek glared up at Grunt as he finished speaking, his gaze growing cold.

"So don't give me shit about how you hating a stupid song is the worst thing that you could ever wake up to," he informed the young krogan. "Because it's nothing compared to what I have to go through!"

Grunt wanted to be angrier with him, but he couldn't. A part of him honestly felt sorry for the Jackal. He was clearly not having the best of times right now. Regardless though, they had a mission and they needed to get back on track. He had to think, what would Shepard say to fix this?

"Uh, look, I... get this isn't easy for you," he confessed, the Jackal still looking at him incredulously. "But it won't fix itself. The best thing we can do is keep at it as long as possible. As long as we can keep moving forward. We need to, it's all we can do. Too many people are counting on us."

"Like I said, we're all fucked then," Zek groaned.

As Zek placed his head on the table in resignation of tedium of his current existence, Hawthorne approached the duo. He was carrying a datapad, doing his own work, but he placed it down when he got close.

"Hey, shouldn't you guys be out there solving the whole time looping thing?" He asked. "It's all anyone is talking about on this boat."

"Oh no worries, it's solved," Zek said snidely. "And we discovered a side effect of it makes you extremely virile, your refractory periods have been completely eradicated."

Hawthorne looked at Grunt, who could only sigh.

"He is suffering through a hangover that is constantly repeating," Grunt explained. "He's not taking it well."

"Wow, that sucks," Hawthorne observed. "And to think, I didn't consider the downside of being able to relive the same day over and over. I was too focused on all the cool stuff."

"What cool stuff?" Zek snarled. "The constant run around and dull as fuck routine?"

"You kidding, right? I'd figure you'd have discovered an upside," Hawthorne said in disbelief. "I mean everything resets, no one remembers what you did, there's no lasting damage, you make a mistake it's undone in a few hours..."

Grunt realized what Hawthorne was saying and while he was usually slow on the uptake, looking at Zek he saw the pirate was slowly realizing it too. And the small smile growing on his face caused great concern in the krogan's mind.

"Wait, Hawthorne, no!"

But it was too late, far too late.

"I mean there are literally no consequences for anything," the human said, not skipping a beat. "I could cheat on my diet and there'd be no repercussions whatsoever."

Zek's grin turned into a full blown sinister laugh. The reality had finally hit him. His cynicism and anger replaced by jubilation at the golden opportunity before him.

"I'm free," he began to say. "I'm free forever! Ha ha! No consequences! There are no consequences! Nothing matters!"

He jumped up onto the table, grabbing his plate of mashed potatoes.

"Turtle Boy, don't you see? Nothing matters! Is it not glorious?! Everyone! Hedonism has won at last! The can of worms is shut! Anarchy reigns! WHA HA HA!"

Grunt went to grab Zek, but the crazed pirate was as slippery as ever. He dodged the krogan's lunge and was already running down the hall, right towards Starboard Observation. Grunt got there just in time to see him call out to Samara.

"Hey! Murder Cop!" He screamed.

Samara turned from her meditation, just as Zek threw his plate of Mashed Potatoes right into her face. Her blue features now coated in fluffy white root vegetable, Zek just laughed uproarious.

"Stuff that in your Code, ya Law and Order junkie!" Zek declared. "Attica! Attica!"

Zek ran from Samara, who marched after him, her biotics at full power. He got to the elevator first, but Grunt doubted that would stop the Justicar. She had scraped the potatoes off her face, revealing a murderously determined look upon it. Grunt knew it wouldn't last. The asari would chase Zek, she would hunt him down and make him pay, but only if she caught him. There was only an hour left in this loop and once it was up, Zek would be free and clear. Samara wouldn't remember this happening and Zek would play out his next forbidden desire. Grunt looked to Hawthorne, who stood there stunned.

"Uh, was it something I said?" He asked.

Grunt groaned in anguish. This whole mission just got ten times harder. Then again, considering it was Zek, that was probably an understatement.

---

Sergeant Lendon was headed to the recreational area of the carrier, intent on meeting some of the guys for a poker game. Instead, when he turned the corner, he found Zek staring him down with what appeared to be some kind of launcher of some sort near him.

"Hey, Dipshit, fancy meeting you here," he observed. "Then again, you've been taking this same route for every goddamn loop so far. Why would it change now?"

"The hell are you talking about? And what the hell is that thing?" Lendon demanded to know.

"Oh nothing," Zek assured him. "Just something I pulled out of storage. We used it to practice taking shots at little the targets it slung out. Today though, it's loaded with wadded up balls from the Serpent's mess hall garbage. You know, all the shit we eat that you already find disgusting."

Lendon sneered at the Jackal.

"When Haverson hears about this-"

"Oh what will he do? Kick me out of the fleet? Considering I've already done this with a paint sprayer, engine grease and whatever my men chucked up last night, I highly doubt that. Next time, I'm emptying the ship's waste tank!"

Zek pulled the switch on the launcher and stinking garbage began hitting Lendon. The Sergeant tried to run, but Zek kept after him.

"Run monkey shit, run!" He cried out. "Today is Zek's day! Everyday is Zek's day! HA HA HA!"

---

Kowalski ran for cover, along with the rest of his squad, as the Banshee pulled a wild turn through the hangar. It clipped one of the Pelicans and then tried to loop over. It smashed into the ceiling before scrapping across the ground, cutting across the floor as it was plow cutting through the Earth.

"The hell is wrong with that idiot!" Ellingham screamed aloud.

"I don't know!" Kowalski replied. "It's like he's gone nuts!"

Eventually the Banshee smashed into a row of Ghosts, causing them to all crash into one another. Out of the wreckage of both the land and air vehicles, Zek stumbled from the banshee's cockpit, still holding a bottle of ichor. Fires were everywhere, equipment was destroyed and vehicles were damaged beyond reasonable repair. All Zek could do was grin as he drunk it all in.

"Wooooooohooooo!" He screamed aloud over the carnage around him.

He of course hadn't killed anyone, thankfully, but Kowalski didn't understand where this had come from all of a sudden. He knew the pirate was nuts, but this was just way too far. Thankfully the Spartans arrived, Kelly and Fred, tackling him to the ground.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Kelly demanded to know.

"Learning to fly," Zek laughed. "Next time, it's going to be a Pelican!"

"There is no next time," Fred assured him. "I don't care what Chief said, you're going right to the-"

That was when the lights flickered and seconds later, Kowalski and the whole hangar began to float as gravity seemed to fail.

---

Zek sat in the mess hall within the Ascendant Justice, stuffing his face with everything on the menu. Literally everything on the menu, he had raided the entire kitchen and was now just gorging himself. He had always wanted to sample as much human food as possible, even if it was crappy military rations. There were at least a few chocolate bars and other sugary snacks he had looted from the secret stashes of some of the soldiers and Marines. He had also raided the Normandy's food stores, stealing whatever he could find that looked good. Specifically anything that had sugar in it.

Now, not only did he feel stuffed, he had a rush of energy, that made him want to eat more. The Marines gathered around in shock, as the pirate consumed as many dishes as possible.

"You're gonna have to get rid off all that one way or another buddy," Corporal Pearson spoke up. "I hope your restroom has a good toilet."

"HA! Shows what you know!" Zek laughed, shoving more cookies into his gullet. "This ain't gonna be my problem for very long. Nope, all of it has another way out."

Zek suddenly felt something twitch in his stomach. He quickly grabbed a bucket nearby, but then noticed some ODSTs heading into the hall. He suddenly had a better idea. He took a swig from his ichor and then tossed the bottle over to Pearson, who caught it nimbly.

"Hold that," he laughed as he head over to the Drop Troopers. "This is gonna be fucking hilarious! Hey, fuckwits! Wanna know what a kig-yar see food diet looks like?"

---

The ODSTs found their barracks in utter disarray. When McKay had pulled them away for a training exercise, they hadn't expected to come back and find the place totally trashed. Beds were overturned, the toilet paper from their bathrooms was practically everywhere, eggs were smashed against the walls and alongside them was graffiti of various stupid looking monkeys in ODST gear. Also, a message written in giant letters that read "Obsolete Dickhead Shitfaced Traitors!"

Private Collis looked enraged and went to collect his helmet.

"Damn vultures did this," he screamed. "That's it! We're done! I'm going right up to Holland and I'm going to demand we cut these fuckers loo-"

When he placed his helmet on, he felt something sticky in there. It also smelled bad. He took off the helmet and wretched in anger and disgust at what he found. Watching from beneath a bed, Zek stifled a laugh. He then waited for the gravity to fail any second now and for every Trooper in the room to fall up into the ceiling. Where he had stuck a bunch of wadded toilet paper of the nastiest smelling ichor (to humans, anyway) that he could find.

---

"I find this a very infantile use of my hacking skills, sir," Retz informed him. "Especially since we really shouldn't be using-"

"Blah, blah, blah, Retz just do it," Zek ordered. "We've been done this five times already and this hasn't stopped being funny yet so just do it."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Retz asked confused. "Five times?"

"Long story, you literally would not remember," Zek insisted. "Just transmit the code and watch the feed."

Retz finally relented and did as told. Zek chuckled in anticipation as the feed of the bridge of the Chorka came on. Haverson was there, apparently briefing Holland and Whitcomb further about something, possibly the time loop situation. As he did, every screen in the Corvette turned red and anyone wearing an omni-tool had it turn on and activate a vid message. On it was a badly made sock puppet bearing Haverson's likeness while obnoxious kiddie music played in the background.

"Hey kids! It's the Lieutenant Turdmuncher show! I'm Lieutenant Haverson and I love munching turds! I love it almost as much as being a whiney little shit pickle who lives in an ivory tower of self-righteous bullshit! But I'm a dumb naked monkey with my head way up my own ass, so really is that any shock to anyone? And now, I'm gonna eat these Unggoy turds! Ah the Unggoy, an entire species that is only slightly less useless than I am!"

A plate of, what one would assume were unggoy droppings, was pushed over to the sock puppet who then began eating them excessively. Words then flashed across the screen declaring "I used one of your Socks for this, asshole!" at first and then switching to "Eat Shit, Elias!" after a few seconds.

Zek was rolling on the floor in hysterics at this point as he watched Haverson order every screen turned off, the system scrubbed and even threw his own omni-tool component on the floor. Retz could only shake his head.

"Why does it always come back to toilet humor with you, Zek?" He asked.

"Oh bite me, this is fun," Zek laughed.

"It won't be when he kicks us out of the fleet," Retz informed his Shipmaster.

"Yeah, too bad," Zek laughed. "This is the kind of thing you can only do once... oh wait, no it ain't! I still got more episode ideas for this! Same time next loop buddy!"

Zek got up off the floor and took off, he still had some time before the next loop. Might as well spend it where he wouldn't have to endure getting yelled at for the rest of it.

---

Zek had gotten used to swimming among the Chorka, the juveniles seemed to enjoy his company as well even though they only believed to was the first time. They were quite playful, bunting him and splashing their tails around him. There was also the benefit that they kept filling their water with their ichor secretions, meaning he was quite literally swimming in the stuff. Probably not the wisest thing to do when you were suffering a perpetual hangover, but who cares when everything is quite literally reset every time? And when the loop hit, everything floated up for a while, even the water, creating a few seconds of an swimming through the air in a giant water bubble. Now that was relaxing and made the inevitable restart a bit more bearable.

---

Zek stood in the Serpent's hangar, holding the human sniper rifle by its barrel. On the floor near his feet were a bunch of plasma grenades. Retz was close by, working on activating each one in turn as he was asked. Zek gauged the distance outside the plasma shield.

"So, there's no drag in space, right?" He asked Retz. "Meaning this could be a real long drive."

"Sir, is the best use of your time?" Retz asked

"I am immersing myself in human culture and this is one of their sports," Zek declared. "I'm just making it more exciting for me personally. Now then..."

Retz just sighed and activated one of the grenades. Zek prepared the butt of the sniper rifle and swung away.

"Five!" He declared.

The grenade went flying out the hangar and into the void of space.

"I don't think that's what you shout when-"

"Sssh, Retz," Zek said, putting up a finger. "This is the best part."

Moments later, a tiny blue explosion could be seen in the black.

"How far was that?" Zek shouted up to Varvok.

The batarian was situated at console on the upper platform above. It was connected to the Serpent's long range sensors, designed to detect any anomalies nearby. Namely, in this case, small explosions.

"About seven hundred meters," Varvok grumbled.

"Sweet! Lets got for eight hundred!" Zek declared.

"How long are we going to do this?" Varvok asked.

"I'm trying to improve my slice!" Zek insisted. "It takes time to get really good at cutting off limbs and shit! This helps with that!"

"Zek, I'm not sure that word, in reference to this game, is what you think it means," Retz warned.

"Whatever, set up another nade," Zek ordered.

---

Haverson sat across from Zek grimacing as he did while the kig-yar just beamed rather smugly. They had just finished a meeting. One the Jackal had prompted. He had called it an airing of grievances and given what Halsey had explained to him about the situation concerning the loop, the ONI agent understood why they were even having this talk in the first. As Zek pointed out, none of it mattered, but it helped that he could get this off his chest all the same.

"So you lied about why you wanted to go to that plasma weapon manufacturing plant," Haverson began to list off. "You have created a synthetic sugar compound to practice making real sugar with as a result of that raid. There is currently a whole wing in the bowels of your ship dedicated to using sugar as a drug. You are merely waiting to find some means to produce real sugar to go into full production. And when you do, you are essentially going to run a drug ring from within this fleet and corner the market on sugar as a new narcotic entirely."

"Yep," Zek said, grinning rather broadly.

"And the only reason you're telling me this is because you know the time loop will wipe away any memory of this meeting. You just want the satisfaction in seeing how badly you've tricked me and everyone for yourself without the consequences for revealing it all."

"There an echo in here?" Zek asked, chuckling as he did. "Oh and the Chorka are a part of that. I figure if I can snag a part of the bootleg ichor market, I might as well cross promote my product. Basically, I'll be producing Alcoholic Ichor Soda. Competing with Snarlbeak's virtual monopoly on the stuff will be a breeze after that."

Haverson looked annoyed, even enraged, but he maintained his cool. Barely though, Zek could still see his eye twitching.

"Well, I'll admit, I never suspected a thing," Haverson confessed. "Honestly, I felt you would've done worse to me than wound my pride when the prospect of consequences was removed from the table."

Zek just laughed at that.

"Oh believe me, I have," Zek assured him. "A lot of them were a ton of fun. Sneaking laxatives into your food or pissing in your laundry got a bit mundane though. I decided it was a lot more fun to take satisfaction in telling you off, face to face. We've already gone through this meeting a few times, actually, I spent most of it insulting you, telling you my real thoughts, I smashed up your office a little, that sort of thing."

Haverson just sighed, reaching towards one of the drawers.

"Oh getting out your scotch again? Only way you can handle knowing how powerless you are in the face of time?" Zek asked laughing.

"No," Haverson confessed, pouring out a shot for himself. "I'm just... a bit disappointed."

Zek was taken aback, that was new. He never really said anything before. Perhaps the way the conversation had gone had altered things a bit.

"I'm just surprised that juvenile pranks and other stupid mindless activities would be all you'd decide to do in a world where you have infinite retries," Haverson claimed. "You seem to delight in petty revenge on people who have slighted you or just doing whatever you want because you can. You could be trying to fix something, rather than tearing it down."

"Pft, fix what?" Zek laughed. "Anything I change is gonna get re-broken anyway."

"True, but if I was in your position, I'd be considering my regrets," Haverson informed him. "The mistakes I made, the choices I picked. Then, I'd be trying to see if I could do anything to change them, if I could change them."

Zek sat their speechless, his hand strangely going straight to his black eye. Almost by reflex in fact. It was like, he already knew what Haverson was getting at.

"You could be doing so much with the time you've been given," the ONI agent continued. "You have all the time you'll ever need for anything. Shame you're still wasting it, Zek. Real shame."

Zek's smug smile evaporated into a grimace of self-loathing. Damn this human. Damn him and his stupid insight. As the lights flickered and everything began to float, Zek knew what he'd be spending the next loop doing and every loop after that.

---

When Taq walked onto the Serpent's bridge, she suspected to find Zek there with some trivial matter concerning their current crisis. Grunt said he was involved, but the idiot never showed up for the medical briefing in the Normandy. He was tearing her away from her work and wasting her time and she intended to just leave as soon as she told him just that.

She had not expected to find a damn rock concert in full swing performing on said bridge. Nor did she expect so many people here, including humans. The kig-yar musicians on the stage, really just an elevated platform taking up the front of the room, were rocking out to a version of some Earth metal band. Everyone was drinking a ton of ichor, surfing the crowd, she believed she saw two humans making out. That was probably not standard regulation. Eventually, Zek made his presence known.

"Taq! You came! Awesome! I was getting worried for a second!"

Taq groaned at him. She almost hated to ask the obvious, but she didn't seem have any other options.

"What is all this?" She questioned, her grimace ever apparent across her beak.

"Oh just a little get together and all," Zek insisted. "I decided to be a more warm and open welcoming fellow member of the fleet. I invited all the servicemen to come aboard the ship for a party! Why not? We're all friends right? Drink some Ichor, rock out, that sort of thing. I got it all sorted quickly, like last minute, but look at the turn out."

"Uh huh, yeah, whatever," Taq glowered. "Bye."

Taq turned to leave, but Zek was quick to cut her off.

"Oh come on, you don't really want to go back to work do you?" He asked pleadingly. "I mean, look at all this? You really wanna miss out on all the fun?"

"Anything involving you is not fun," Taq informed him. "And never will be."

She then gently grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to the side. She then walked out, just as quickly as she had come in. Zek sighed as the doors closed. Another failure. Rock concert was out. As had movie night been. He really thought she'd have liked those ancient treasure hunt movies, but she stayed about just as long. He was going about this wrong. He had to impress her somehow, show her that he had really changed.

---

Taq was working in the lab with Halsey when music started playing outside.

"Oh please," Taq groaned. "Don't be what I think it is."

She opened the door to find Zek leading a crooning chorus of pirates as he played an old kig-yar mating song over his omni-tool. He was even playing a flute to go along with the tune. Taq just glared at him all the while, her disdain evident. Eventually she grabbed the flute and smashed it into the floor.

"You know it took me four consecutive loops to learn that and get kinda good at it," he declared. "A whole ton of tutorials. Non-stop. There was effort put into this. What do you want? A human piano? Would that be good?"

"How about I just explain what you're doing wrong in the most simple of matters?" Taq asked, before gesturing to the entire sordid scene. "THIS is NOT charming. You are not charming. You are an idiot who needs to learn when to quit."

"I don't have to quit!" Zek declared adamantly. "Because I got literally all the time in the world to get this right! And you won't remember the fuck ups so eventually something will fucking stick! Even if the Turtle keeps informing you guys of the loop."

"Zek, the last thing you ever did right by me was a long time ago," Taq insisted. "A very long time ago."

"What about saving you on the Hollow?" Zek reminded her incredulously. "Getting you this gig?"

"You don't get points for business related matters when I'm doing most of the work to keep them invested in my expertise!" Taq declared, shoving her talon into his chest. "And the Hollow was mostly your fault because you led them to me! So whatever you think is going to work, stop it! Just stop it! Focus on fixing this damn loop and leave me alone!"

Taq shut the door as she entered the lab again. Zek waved his hand to call the Chorus of pirates off, this was a bust. He needed a better angle. His thoughts went back to what she had said about the last thing he did right by her. It only took a few moments for him to realize the truth.

"Duh, idiot! Of course!"

---

When Taq walked onto the Serpent's bridge, she suspected to find Zek there with some trivial matter concerning their current crisis. Grunt said he was involved, but the idiot never showed up for the medical briefing in the Normandy. He was tearing her away from her work and wasting her time and she intended to just leave as soon as she told him just that.

When she got there though, she found it cleared completely. Not a soul in sight. Instead were a series of candles everywhere, lighting up the darkened space. Pictures of her and Zek were everywhere, all from back when they were partners. There were even some credit chips on the ground, a cheesy romantic kig-yar gesture found in holo-novels of a less than family-friendly nature. Her eyes were drawn to one picture in particular, her and Zek, much younger of course. Standing in front of an unearthed Forerunner temple. The looted contents strewn behind them. Zek had his foot on a dead Forerunner machine, a sentinel left behind to guard the place. Taq was grinning like an school girl, looking happier than she had honestly ever imagined being at that time.

"Some adventure that was, huh?"

Taq turned as saw Zek, not wearing his usual tattered and scratched armor with the long list of kills etched into it. He was actually wearing something pristine, semi-clean looking, with golden traces on blue leather straps. It reminded Taq of something from her studies.

"Is... is that a replica of what the old pirate lords used to wear?" She asked. "Back in the Golden Age?"

"Yep," Zek assured her. "Made it myself a while ago, had it in storage. Decided to pull it out now."

"Why?" Taq asked skeptically.

Zek walked over to the picture she had been looking at.

"You know, I remember that day," he insisted. "Hot, dusty as hell, sand in every crack. But it was the most fun I ever had, honestly. I learned so much about history that day. Stuff I didn't know about. Stuff that I think made me appreciate what I was taking from people, not just why."

"Really?" Taq asked, still sounding unconvinced.

"Absolutely," Zek insisted.

He pressed a button on his omni-tool and activated some music. An incredibly beautiful song, one only partially sung by kig-yar. The tune was in harmony with that of the Chorka's love calls, intertwined with one another in a hypnotic transitory experience. Taq remembered this song herself.

"Is... is that...?"

"Yep, the same song we danced to that night on the bridge," Zek assured her.

He reached out his hand and, without even realizing it, Taq took it. He pulled her into an embrace and they both began to dance with one another. Taq couldn't explain why, but she went along with it, let the music move her. Memories flooded back in, her mind recalling this very same dance, from so long ago. Zek had been younger, just as stupid, but she was just as so on both accounts and so easily swept away. He just seemed to take her in, without her even suspecting it, without her even knowing she wanted it. There was only one thing that was surprisingly different.

"You... you're better at this," she recognized.

"Yeah, well, it's like shooting a gun really," Zek insisted. "You never really forget."

She kept moving with him, accepting his closeness, his touch. Something gnawed at her the whole while though, something didn't feel right. Yet part of her was still very much taken in. It was so strange, her mind filled with nostalgia for the past, but also with a sense that this was wrong. With every foot and turn and dip and sway, her thoughts began to converge.

"You're really good at this," she said, her skepticism growing.

"I've had a lot of time to practice is all," Zek assured, pulling her close.

He went to nuzzle her beak. Instead, he found himself pushed away. The song stopped and the pirate captain looked shocked. Taq's complacent expression was replaced with rage, her glare burning into him with a fury she had never possessed before.

"How many times have we done this?" She demanded to know.

"Ugh fuck," Zek groaned, pressing a talon to his forehead. "Mental note, do not say or reference 'time' next round."

"Asshole, how many?!"

"Twenty! Okay! At least that many!" Zek insisted. "You have no idea how hard it is to get everything right, to remember the song, to make sure you remember where not to step..."

Taq roared in anger, stomping off towards the port side of the bridge.

"I can't believe you!"

"What? That I show effort for once?" Zek asked, rather incensed. "That I actually go out of my way to try and be what you want? That I do my damndest to make this perfect and right and everything?"

"It's fake, Zek!" Taq screeched. "It's all FAKE! You manufactured this whole damn scenario over and over again! Not based on anything real, but by how much you can forcibly recall from memory! You think just because you can guess where not to step on my foot or you get the song right finally that it all suddenly makes it okay? That it's suddenly back when we were at the start of things and nothing ever happened? This is a fucking fantasy! A stupid one!"

"It's not stupid and it's not fake!" Zek declared. "None of this is fake! Why would going through all this work make you even think for a second it's fake! I'm doing everything I can to make you realize I'm not the same bird who left you alone in that bed!"

"So what? You're the suave pirate who sweeps me off my feet?" Taq asked snarling. "As if that was any more real?"

Zek grabbed at his quills and pulled at them in frustration. He growled as he approached her, suddenly taking her hand.

"You want real? Fine!" He said, placing the hand on his heart. "This is real! I've regretted ditching you for so long! It was stupid and dumb and I hated myself for it! I thought it would be better, that ultimately it didn't matter and I was wrong! Because it did matter! Don't you understand? I am in frickin love with you! I have been since we met! But I was scared and cocky and I left because I was an idiot! There! I'm sorry! I'm sorry and I just want to fix this!"

Taq looked at him long, hard and, worst of all, unfeeling. She then tore her hand away.

"You. Can't." She said, as clear and direct as possible. "You don't get to just declare you love me and say you're sorry and just make it all return to normal. You're sorry? Fine. I don't forgive you."

"But... I'm sor-"

"No!" Taq snapped back. "Sorry is not an instant eraser for the shitty things you've done. You don't get to have an apology accepted just because you demand it. You don't get to be absolved because you really want to. That's not up to you!"

"Why not?" Zek pleaded. "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it! What's it going to take for you to forgive me and just pick off where we started?"

Taq pointed accusingly at him.

"That! That right there is why you don't get it!" She shouted at him. "You don't really want absolution. You just want everything to go back to that night like it never happened. Like I'm supposed to forget. Well guess what? This stupid time loop isn't happening on that night, it's happening now! And it's FAR too late for a do over!"

Zek turned desperate, dropping to his knees and looking up at her.

"This is because of my black eye, ain't it?" He asked. "It's all about that, why you punched me. Look, I'm sure I did something stupid to deserve it. Just tell me what it is so I can at least make that right. Please!"

"Oh you wanna know, huh?" Taq asked sardonically. "Okay, fine. You drunk yourself off your ass, came into my room and just let your true self play out for all to see."

Zek looked horrified,suddenly concerned about the truth.

"Oh no," he thought. "I didn't-"

"No," Taq assured him. "You did worse. I could've kicked your ass if you tried that shit. Instead, you played this blubbering facade you have on right now and when I told you off, you did the same to me. Every unggoy shit insult you could think off. And you know how you ended it? When I told you to fuck off because of your drunken idiocy, you blurted out how at least you could hold your ichor better than my mom ever did! Because that was, in your words, the only reason she ever even had me!"

Zek's face went white. He had said that? Had he really said that? How could he? Why would he? Had it gotten that bad? Disgusted with himself, angered by his own stupid beak, he tried to plead with her.

"Taq I... I didn't... you know I-"

"When you drink, you're more honest than any kig-yar out there," she responded. "That's why I know you're not genuine, Zek. How I know you're lying right now when you claim you want to be forgiven. You haven't changed. You can't."

"If... if I could take it back I would," Zek insisted desperately. "I swear, you're not an accident, Taq. You're... you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Well, I guess it's too bad our little experiment didn't get you a few extra hours more then," Taq replied. "But that's life, Zek. Sometimes you only ever have one shot to get it right."

Taq left the bridge, leaving Zek broken and defeated on the floor. He didn't call out for her to stay. He couldn't. She was right. He had fucked it all up. As he had known all along, he had blown his chance at happiness long ago for no good reason. There was no reset on this. Never would be. He sat there in the dark, thinking about all of this, waiting for the light to come. He welcomed it when the gravity failed and colors consumed him once more.

---

A fist slammed into his eye and Zek fell to the floor with a terrible thud.

"Trust me," Taq snarled. "You deserved that."

She stomped away without another word. By the time she was gone though, Zek had found the courage to reply.

"Yeah," he relented. "I guess I do."

---

Grunt had long accepted by now that Zek was not coming on their searches anymore. He was far too involved in his general stupidity and self-indulgence. It was up to him and him alone to save the fleet. Just like Garr the Krogan Battlemaster would do. Because despite what Zek claimed Garr was NOT a villain and that's what he'd do.

He kept going after crystals, doing what he could. He took a break now and then to practice on the shooting course, always coming close to beating Travers but never quite getting it. Sometimes he just tried to eat something and get his mind off everything. As much as he hated to admit it, Zek was somewhat right about one thing. This was tedious as hell.

Grunt tried to switch it up now and then, but it wasn't easy. When every day lasted six hours and every single second of those six hours was the same, it was hard to find satisfaction in anything. You had to keep repeating a routine of sorts, just to keep things on track. Worse yet, Grunt wasn't the best at remembering everything, so once and a while he forgot something he was supposed to do to keep things on track. He had to keep memorizing the frequency code every now and again to regain the tracker for example. Although he had gotten good at avoiding that damn orange drink spill. Mainly by asking EDI to call Gardner and warn him about it so he could mop it up.

There was still that annoying song though. No matter how many time he smashed the intercom, he could never escape it. The same wake up call every time. The same music on BBR, every time. The same conversations, every time. Every six hours he had to repeat something and go through the same damn crap again and again. That was why, ultimately, contrary to what Hawthorne claimed, there was no real positive to this. Not for him.

Krogan were judged by the strength of their enemies, how much blood they were drenched in after combat. This loop was not that kind of enemy. It wasn't strong or even smarter than him. It was just annoying and stupid. There was no glory in this endless cycle of running around like an idiot and trying to memorize sciences he didn't understand. If this did not end, not only would his krant be trapped here forever, but they would never be able to face their true enemies and defeat them.

This had to stop. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like any end was in sight. He went to Cortana and Tali for a progress report while Halsey and Taq were busy with other tasks. He needed to know how well he was doing on his own and if he was any closer to being done. They asked him to try and recall how much the crystal had been broken apart before he and Zek began collecting shards. He did his best to do so, beating his own skull plate to force his mind to think already. Eventually he had a good idea and drew his best approximation onto the holographic representation of what the crystal actually looked like when seen through the proper frequency. The outline did not look promising, from the looks of it, the crystal had been only slightly repaired.

Grunt presumed it had to be a mistake. Given that he was the one who made the outline, it was decided they needed another more scientific method of determining the truth. So Cortana brought in EDI and Legion to help them with some calculations and readings. What they found they discovered only confirmed their worst fears.

"You mean it's not working?!" Grunt bellowed.

"Correction, process is working," Legion assured him. "Simply not fast enough."

"A deeper chronological reading of the crystal has given us a better idea of what you're up against," Cortana clarified. "We can say with certainly that your estimate of the extent of the original damage was more or less accurate. The shards are returning, they remain in the crystal after collected. Regardless of the reset, they aren't just flying off again. You are making progress, but it's just not enough."

"How can you be sure?" Grunt asked.

"Elements of the crystal show different signs of long term exposure to outside elements," Legion answered. "The length of time they have spent in between the folds of space, separated from the crystal proper, has been measured to a degree of certainty. It is evident you have been conducting this task for some time."

Grunt just snorted in agreement, although he felt it was something of an understatement in any case. "For some time" was hardly how'd he describe this ordeal.

"So I'm barely making a dent," Grunt growled. "How long is it going to take me to get the whole crystal fixed?"

"We can estimate you have repaired ten percent of the initial damage," EDI claimed. "However, we still cannot say for certain how many shards are left for you to retrieve. The devastation of the crystal in the original explosion evidently exceeds our original projections. It could be years at this rate, maybe longer."

"You must seek another more practical means of repair in order to complete your task," Legion stated. "It is imperative if wish to resolve the paradox in any efficient manner."

Great, so he had been wasting time from the start. Now, it was almost like he had returned to square one. Damn it all. He couldn't think of many options, he needed help on this. Which meant, he needed the only other person in the fleet who could help him.

"I need to tell Zek," he grimaced. "Ugh, he's probably doing some stupid and insane right now because consequences no longer exist. Have there been any disturbances in the fleet recently?"

"Actually, no," Tali informed him. "From what I've heard, no one has seen Zek all day. Taq was the last person who did and she won't talk about it beyond that."

Because she had punched him in the eye for something dumb he did before the loop happened. Grunt knew that, but no one else could because they hadn't seen him all day. Where the hell could he be? More importantly, what was he even doing?

---

Grunt eventually found the pirate leader in the recreational room aboard the Serpent. The place was covered in discarded wrappers and ichor bottles and various other accumulated junk food bits. Zek was sitting in his comfy chair, watching something on the holoscreen. It appeared to be an animated feature about some human woman in short-shorts and a tank top, using dual weapons to blow her way through a bowling alley or whatever. None of this was at all surprising to Grunt, it was Zek himself though who was.

He was sitting in his chair, staring blankly at the screen, not seemingly enjoying the violence like he usually did with these vids. He was stuffing his face passively every few seconds, his expression monotone and depressed. He looked broken, defeated, worse than he had when he had just be bored and angry. In the moment though, Grunt didn't care. He just stomped up in front of him, blocking his view.

"Oh. Hey Turtle," Zek responded rather plainly. "Finally tracked me down, huh?"

"We need to talk," Grunt told him. "It's about the mission. We need a new strategy."

But the kig-yar didn't seem to care, he just looked past the hulking krogan, his gaze falling onto the screen again.

"You know who that is?" He asked, pointing to the screen as the female lead in the vid was shooting up some more bad guys. "Her name is Revy, sometimes people just call her 'Two Hands' cause she goes all weapons akimbo on everyone with everything. She likes the violence, she's kind of a pirate, enjoys kicking ass and fucking people up, takes no shit from no one and best of all... doesn't care. Doesn't care about anything. Because fuck everything, you know? Just fuck everything. All that matters is what you wanna do and how you wanna do it. She's perfect."

Zek fell back into his chair and sighed.

"Why couldn't I fall in love with someone like her?" He asked in a pathetically depressing tone of melancholy. "Why, Turtle? Why'd I have to go for someone smarter than me who gives a shit? Who is everything I'm not? Who's better than me in every way? Why'd I go so outside my comfort zone? Why'd my heart pick the one female I should've known I'd be shit to? I'm a pirate, I should've just found another pirate to love. It would've been better for everyone. I guess my heart is as stupid as I am."

Grunt had no time for this pity party. Growling under his breath, he grabbed Zek's beak and made the idiot look at him.

"Stop wallowing," he demanded. "I'm not here for this nonsense. First you hate this looping, then you love it, now you hate it again. I don't care. This needs to end!"

Zek just laughed, but manically, like he was close to weeping.

"End? This is never ending, Turtle," he said. "It's over. We're trapped here. This is life. I'm gonna sit here for eternity, more or less, watching everything in Joker's media playlist. That's all I can do. All any of us can do. Accept it. We're done. Finished."

"No, we're not," Grunt insisted. "We can fix this, but we need a better plan. The search isn't working, it will take us years from our perspective. The AIs all confirmed it. We have to find another way."

"Better idea, grab a seat, watch the holo and just accept what I have," Zek stated. "This is life now. Horrible, never-ending, forever. Don't wallow you say? All we can do is wallow."

Grunt grumbled at the statement in frustration using the remote nearby to turn off the holoscreen and tossing it away. Zek got up, looking initially like he was about to fight the krogan. Instead, he just walked past him and scrounged around for the remote in the garbage.

"You just don't get it, do you?" He said, speaking in a deadpan tone as he did. "We just got to accept that we can't change this. It can't be fixed. Nothing can."

"Whatever happened to how great it was that consequences were dead?" Grunt asked. "What is wrong with you now?"

"There are still consequences, Turtle," Zek declared rather blankly. "The ones outside of our control. Outside of the loop. They're just not the ones we wanted, they're already cemented. It's like what they say about the shards in us. There, but not there."

Finally finding the remote, Zek turned on the holoscreen again, turning back to stare at Grunt grimly.

"Inside the loop, nothing is real, it's all a giant fantasy," he continued, his voice sullen and morose. "All one everlasting purgatory. A fake paradise where nothing hurts you, but nothing can ever bring you joy either. Nothing is new, so nothing can be gained. The present is locked in place and the past remains forever out of reach. Without consequences, there is nothing to be gained or lost, just repeated. There's no danger, no excitement, no real reward, just endless, unceasing punishment as we're reminded of every mistake we've made and our inability to change anything!"

Zek returned to his seat, plopping down with the clear intent to let his eyes glaze over.

"We've lost everything and gained nothing," he said with a sense of finality. "This is everything we will ever know. From now until forever. No Astral Cutlass. No climbing the criminal ladder. Never truly redeeming myself to the woman I love. Just one giant constant, forever."

"Then help me end it," Grunt ordered. "Break this loop and we can all be free."

"That's a nice sentiment," Zek sighed. "But it's not happening. Before, I could at least take comfort in the simple fact that at the very least there was a bright side. Now, there isn't. It's hopeless turtle. Absolutely hopeless. We're done."

Grunt grabbed Zek by the collar and pulled him up out of the chair.

"I am not quitting because you've decided your life is terrible or that everything is pointless," the krogan bellowed. "I refuse to do that! Not while my krant remains trapped here!"

"Don't you get it, turtle boy!" Zek screeched. "Neither of us can do this! We're the only people who have any shot at it! Everyone who is smarter and more qualified can't do shit! We got stuck with a job that is beyond us! Even working together, we are fucked! I keep saying it, so why doesn't it fucking stick? Are you just that fucking dense?! The game is over, Turtle Boy! We lost!"

"Stop calling me a turtle!" Grunt demanded. "I am krogan! And I am sick of your disrespect for me and this mission!"

"Oh you don't like being called a slow, lethargic, dumb looking reptile?" Zek mocked derisively. "Well too bad! Cause it's what you fucking are! Turtle Boy! Turtle Boy! Turtle Boy!"

Grunt threw the Jackal back into his chair, causing it to flip over. Zek stood up after struggling amongst his own feet and the volume of garbage surrounding him.

"Fuck it! There's only one way out of this!"

Zek pulled a plasma grenade from his belt and armed it. Grunt moved to stop him, to try and wrench the grenade from his hand. The next thing he knew there was an explosion.

---

Wake me up before you go go,

Don't leave hanging on like a yo-yo!

Grunt bolted awake, feeling his entire face. Nothing was burnt, he was intact, he felt no pain. It was all fixed again. But for once in a long time, he was not angry at the song anymore. His reawakening had a new target in mind.

---

Grunt marched to the Serpent's recreational room immediately. He found Zek there, looking more amazed than depressed currently. Also there was less food because it was earlier in the day. So that was good. However, upon seeing Grunt, Zek was surprisingly unafraid, even with the krogan bearing down on him.

"Huh, so we're essentially immortal now," Zek observed. "Neat. I suppose that should make things interesting for a few more loops. Maybe we'll try the airlock next."

"I should break you in two, pirate," Grunt growled at him, holding up his fist to the bird's face. "I really should... but it would be pointless and get me nowhere. Get us nowhere."

"I don't really care what you do anymore, Grunt," Zek sighed, his defeated tone once again returned..

Grunt was surprised, he hadn't called him Turtle Boy. Sensing his confusion, the kig-yar answered.

"Don't read too much into that, I just don't see the point anymore," he sighed. "I mean, if I piss you off enough to pound me into a fine paste it will be undone in a few hours. Worse, I won't get to watch how it all unfolds. So really, what's there to gain? Like you said, pointless."

"It doesn't have to be," Grunt insisted. "Look, I get it, we're not qualified for this at all. We don't fix things, that's Tali's job. I understand this pisses you off and you have a million other things you'd rather be doing."

"Instead of sitting here being worthless? Yeah," Zek admitted, "I'd love to be doing those things, but it's not happening. I'm sorry, Grunt, but I can't do this. I can't help you."

"What about Retz? And Varvok? Your crew? Taq?" Grunt asked. "They're trapped here too. Blissfully unaware of what's going on unless we tell them. Do you want them to live out their lives like that? Trapped forever like they are?"

For once, Zek's expression changed slightly. His thoughtful expression eventually eliciting a sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," he relented at last. "They all deserve a chance to live out whatever destiny they want. This purgatory chains them even more than me."

He looked back up at Grunt, his self-hatred diminished, replaced with a look abject resignation.

"But what can I do, Grunt? I told you, this isn't my thing," he insisted. "I want to help them, really, I do. I don't want them living here in this loop anymore than myself. But it will take forever to solve the problem. If the AIs can't figure this out in the six hours they have with their hyper advanced brains, what chance do we got?"

Grunt wasn't much for speeches, but being with Shepard for so long had taught him when one was needed. He didn't know if it would work, but Zek needed some kind of hope, some kind of chance in hell, if he was ever going to get out of that chair and help him.

"When the krogan went to war against the Rachni, the galaxy felt as if there was no hope," Grunt declared. "That their civilizations would crumble under their swarms, with hives erected in the place of their cities. We proved that an enemy that seemed unstoppable could be beaten. If my people could do that to an entire race of bugs, then you and I can defeat this loop together."

Zek stared up, looking rather unimpressed. Grunt looked crestfallen. Just as he thought, speeches weren't his thing.

"Your first thought on how to beat this thing was to go to the ancient war your people fought against bugs?" The Jackal asked. "Really?"

"Well, it's a... it's a good story," Grunt tried to argue.

"This isn't something you can just shoot and punch enough and hope it goes away," Zek informed him. "It's not something you can trick or talk down or outwit. It's a freaky time-space thing! This isn't our field, Grunt! What the hell can we possibly do to reverse it?"

Suddenly, a light went off in Grunt's head.

"Say that again?" He asked.

"What? About the time-space thingy?" Zek asked, a bit confused.

"No after that," Grunt demanded.

"Not our field?" Zek asked again.

"Reverse it, you said reverse it," Grunt insisted, elation in his voice. "You're right, this isn't our field, we're not good at fixing things, but we can break them! What better way to break a loop then to force it to go backwards?"

Zek was now completely lost.

"I... I don't follow you," he said. "Where's this going?"

"We gotta talk to the others," Grunt insisted. "I have an idea! We can end this, Zek! All of it! Come on!"

---

He grabbed the kig-yar hand and forced him to follow out the door. Zek couldn't even be bothered to resist, he just tried to keep up with the giant lizard. Grunt, however, was ecstatic. He had found a semblance of hope in all of this, way to win! Exactly the thing he was bred to do. Find victory through defeat.

Tali sat astonished in the Normandy's med bay alongside Halsey and Taq. She couldn't believe what Grunt was suggesting. More insane was how much sense it almost made.

"You want us to do the experiment... in reverse?" The quarian asked, unsure of what she was even saying.

"It came to me, it was so obvious I should've seen it," Grunt declared. "This crystal wants to reform right? That's why the shards come back to it when we get near. All we have to do is find a way to reverse the explosion and they'd all come rushing back!"

"How the hell would you reverse an explosion?" Taq asked. "That makes no sense."

"In normal circumstances, yes," Halsey agreed. "But this is not normal circumstances. The crystal itself controls time to a degree. It is theoretically possible that this can be used to our benefit actually. We just need to figure out how."

Tali brought up the holographic image of the crystal, depicting it in its damaged state, including what had been restored so far.

"Well, according to Grunt's information we can determine the unique energy signatures of the shards returned already," the quarian began to theorize. "If we use the Amplifier with the Crystal in congress with our conduit device, but this time running the processes in reverse... well, maybe the crystal will be able to lock onto the shards still out there."

"Yes," Halsey reasoned. "The crystal reverses gravity for a time according to Zek and Grunt. It has a degree of control over it. So if we simply altered the energy output, the shards would be drawn in like a black hole. Back to their original origin point."

"We'd reverse time for the Crystal," Taq continued. "The explosion never happens to it, so there's no uncertainty principle or paradox. The origin point of the loop never occurs!"

"Breaking the cycle!" Tali concluded. "Grunt, this could work!"

The krogan slammed his fists together and laughed.

"Yes!" He said jubilantly, turning to Zek. "You hear that? We can beat this thing!"

"Hold loosening the sails, big guy," Zek cautioned. "There's a catch to all this complicated science I bet."

"I'm afraid so," Halsey confessed. "Both of your shards, the ones inside you, contain the first broken pieces from the original explosion. We need to study them in order to properly determine what we need to do. Once we run their energy signatures through the crystals and the recovered shards, we'll know what calculations and procedures we need to alter in order to properly reverse the crystal's polarity, so to speak."

Grunt looked at her perplexed. Thankfully Tali explained it plainly in the next second.

"We need your shards to help us run simulations," she stated. "It's the only way we'll know how to reverse the explosion properly."

"What happens if you screw it up?" Zek asked.

"We possibly end up further back in time or thrown into the far future or we end up trapped in the folds between slipspace and regular space," Halsey informed him. "Really those are the best case scenarios. Worst thing we do is utterly annihilate the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe."

Zek and Grunt looked at each other, rather shaken.

"That uh... that sounds bad," Zek noted. "That's bad, right?"

"Extremely," Taq assured him rather bluntly.

"So we need to get this right because we probably only have one shot," Grunt confirmed. "Alright, only one thing to do then."

Zek looked at Grunt, utterly horrified.

"Oh fuck, you don't mean..."

"To save the fleet and escape this loop, it's the only way," Grunt declared, clenching his fist. "We need to stay here for as many loops as possible. So we can watch while they do their tests and work out what number stuff they need to crunch. When a loop happens, we relay what we learned to them to get them back on track."

Which ultimately could only be accomplished one way, as Grunt eloquently concluded.

"In other words... we need to learn math and science."

"Nooooooo!" Zek cried out to the heavens, dropping to his knees.

"Yes!" Tali declared in an equally opposite, joyous fashion. "I'll get all my notes and call Legion in!"

While Tali rushed out of the med bay, giddy with anticipation, Halsey opened up her omni-tool.

"Chief, bring Cortana back down here," she asked. "We have a class to conduct and we've already an hour late in starting it."

"The cure is worse than the disease," Zek cried openly. "Why does the universe hate me? Did I run over its pet or something?"

---

Grunt had not been looking forward to basically learning science or going through a ton of annoying calculations. In the end though, he figured if he could memorize a dumb frequency code, he could make this work. Surprisingly it didn't take too long to grasp what a bunch of the stuff the little egghead group was saying. It helped that Tali seemed eternally elated every time concerning the prospect of Grunt actually wanting to learn science. Zek almost fell asleep every time, but Grunt kept him awake and learning. Eventually, he managed to keep his eyes open for the whole "class" for lack of a better term.

Every loop they shared what they had learned about the science as to what they were doing and their teachers picked up where they left off. Taq's style was probably the most abrasive, Halsey's was the most professional and Tali was insistent on trying to make it fun and palatable for the both of them. So, all in all, they had a wide array of teaching methods which to reconcile with one another.

With Cortana and Legion's help, Grunt and Zek assisted best they could in formulating the various calculations to improve the simulation process. Changing variable here, a fraction there, going through the various motions until it looked like they maybe had something. They then tested the simulation through the computer and, depending on the success rate predicted, went from there.

Grunt found himself actually enjoying the science lessons more and more. Maybe not to the degree it replaced his desire to simply smash things, but it was actually cooler than he thought it was. At first it all seemed a bit crazy and unpredictable, but then he realized how it all worked. Tali helped explain it a little, anti-matter and matter, quantum stuff, wormholes, a whole host of crazy things that could potentially harm you or mess you up. It was like learning about an enemy and discerning a way to combat or conquer it. A different kind of battle, one fought in the mind as well as the field.

It was a trying process, but eventually, after several loops, they finally had something. The simulation predicted a fairly good success rate, ninety-nine percent. Halsey said there was never such a thing as one hundred percent certainty in this kind of science. There were too many variables for that. At last, they had a plan.

"It would seem the answer is clear," Halsey concurred. "All you two have to do is be in close proximity to the energy output as we run through the procedure. The crystal's time polarity will shift at the moment the loop is supposed to occur. Then we run a counter-current that reverses the original experiment's effects and forces the Crystal to resolve the paradox."

"In layman's terms, we cause the time loop origin point to rewind itself so it never happened," Tali declared.

"Yeah! Break stuff to fix it!" Grunt shouted. "Told you, pirate!"

"Whatever," Zek groaned. "So long as school is out. What do you need us to do?"

"Just stay close to conduit and those relics," Taq insisted. "The rest should take care of itself."

---

It had come down to this at last. After who knew how many loops, Zek and Grunt were back in the cargo bay. Now a part of the experiment they had accidentally stumbled into. Shepard and the Master Chief were there to monitor the situation and make sure it went according to plan.

"You ready for this, Grunt?" Shepard asked.

"Absolutely! We have an enemy to defeat," he declared. "With science this time!"

Tali seemed to beam at that.

"Just stay close to the conduit," she reiterated. "We're getting close to the reset mark."

Zek and Grunt stood on either side of the conduit, where the two relics were currently in place. Grunt showed no fear, although he could smell apprehension in Zek. Not so much because he was standing next to a bunch of ancient artifacts of immense power. More so because, well, everything that he remembered could go wrong if it went sideways.

"Activating reverse procedures... now!" Halsey called out, flipping a switch.

The power began to flow through the relics, only with an opposite energy charge this time. The Amplifier resonated with power as the Crystal seemed to fluctuate. Everything appeared to be going okay from the start. Tali spoke up as things progressed.

"Any sensation, Grunt?" She asked. "You should be feeling something where the shards are."

"Uh, a slight tingle I think," Grunt replied, holding his shoulder.

He looked to see Zek poking at his forehead as well.

"That's good," Taq said. "The Crystal is locking on. Once the Amplifier kicks in, it should read our energy process as opposite of our intended original experiment."

"Let's just hope it-"

Shepard was cut off when the lights began fluctuate, turning on and off. The floor shook next.

"Careful," Tali warned. "The simulation predicted the possibility of some alterations."

"What kind?" Chief asked curiously.

At that moment, Grunt felt himself suddenly pulled away from conduit. He ended up near the ceiling. for a brief second he floated before he began to plummet. Then he ended crashing into the wall. Not the floor, the wall. Which was weird for various reasons at this moment.

"What the-"

Energy spikes started to burst all around the room, little pockets of green, yellow, blue and red arcs of electricity, jutting from nowhere, appearing and vanishing at random. The whole cargo bay rocked and whirled like it was in some kind of maelstrom. Then, as Grunt was trying to piece together what was going on, a box next to him suddenly crashed open, revealing Zek had been inside it. He was covered in omni-gel packets that had burst open suddenly.

"The fuck? How'd I-"

Zek disappeared and suddenly reappeared next to Taq.

"Holy shit!" Taq shouted, jumping back.

"Tali! What's happening to them?" Shepard demanded to know.

"Their shards are reacting to the opposite current," she explained. "They're being thrown through time and space within the confines of the cargo bay."

"Oh this is getting stupid as fuck."

Tali looked beside her and jumped back in shock as she saw another Zek. The first one was still near Taq though.

"And I thought the hangover was bad," Zek groaned. "Now I'm literally seeing double."

"I know, I said the same thing," other Zek said. "Also, hold on tight."

"To wh-"

Zek vanished from Taq's side and ended up near the ceiling. He just barely grabbed onto the Hammerhead's strut as he fell. He eventually climbed up onto it before disappearing again.

"And we're all caught up, good," Zek said, trying to rush back to the conduit, although he seemed slower as he did.

Grunt shook his head in frustration and tried to return to his position, only to walk into a crate that wasn't there before. He had been teleported to the other side of the bay. He moved again, and found himself behind Shepard and the Master Chief.

"Tali! What's happening to them?" Shepard said, repeating what he had just spoken a few seconds ago.

Grunt decided not to speak and just tried to move again. He found himself falling flat onto his face in front of the conduit.

"Grunt! Where were you?" Shepard asked out of concern. "You disappeared for a hot second there!"

"I'm alright," he called out. "But we need to-"

Zek suddenly ran into him, speeding up all of a sudden.

"Son of a-!"

Both aliens crashed into a heap, eventually untangling themselves from each other.

"I am so sick of this freaky ass science shit!" Zek declared. "Seriously! Fucking done!"

Cortana appeared on the console with an update, at last explaining what was going on.

"Our reverse experiment seems to be counteracting the paradox," she informed them. "But the very nature of reality is still distorted. Time and space are trying to readjust to our interference in the anomaly!"

"Should we shut down?" Shepard asked.

"No, we're too close now!" Tali insisted. "If we shutdown now, it could be worse than riding it out!"

"Whatever we do, think fast!" Cortana warned. "I'm detecting a forming slipspace rupture... inside the cargo bay!"

Said rupture was already starting to form, Grunt could see it just behind them, swirling among the arching breaches in the fabric of reality.

"We have to be missing something!" Tali shouted. "Something that could stabilize the process!"

It was then Grunt realized something, touching his shoulder as he did.

"Our Shards! It's missing our shards!"

"What?!" Halsey asked, crying out across the miniature storm raging around them.

"Proximity isn't enough, that's the one percent margin of error!" Grunt shouted back. "The crystal's energy from the original blast is inside us! We need to touch the crystal to stabilize the paradox! So the Amplifier can recognize the signature of the remaining shards when you activate the counter current!"

Everyone stood in shock at the very words coming out of Grunt's mouth. Mainly because they were coming out of Grunt's mouth. As always, Zek spoke for everyone.

"The fuck you say?!" He screeched.

But Halsey suddenly nodded in concurrence.

"Yes! It's a very layman way of saying it, but yes!" She declared.

"That was laymen terms?" Shepard asked astonished.

"If the counter current hits the Amplifier while they're touching the Crystal, it will pick up on their shards and stabilize the singularity!" Halsey continued. "It will stop lashing out wildly and lock on to our intended targets, the remaing shards!"

"Grunt, you're a genius!" Tali shouted happily. "Now hurry! We don't have much time before the loop resets now!"

Grunt forced himself over to the crystal, dragging Zek along with him. They grabbed onto the crystal, even as blasts of lightning nearly took their heads off.

"See you on the other side, you Big Dumb Turtle!" Zek shouted affectionately.

"You too, ya Stinking Ugly Pigeon," Grunt laughed in return.

Zek just laughed, grasping the crystal harder. Grunt turned to Tali.

"Do it! Now!"

Tali flicked the switch and sent the counter current through. The Amplifier pulsed for several moments, like a beating heart, before a powerful green glow resonated from it and soon from the Crystal as well. All at once, several little flecks of light were drawn backwards into the crystal, emerging from the walls and racing to return to the broken relic. Gravity suddenly failed and they were lifted from the ground, as more and more shards entered the crystal itself.

"Here it comes!" Zek cried out, closing his eyes.

Then came a bright burst of light.

---

Grunt's eyes fluttered open, gazing at the ceiling above. He could smell smoke, maybe some singed metal. But even more than that, he could hear... nothing. Nothing, no song. No annoying human telling to wake him up before someone had to go go! Nothing about damn yo-yos! Silence!

Grunt jumped up from his laying position and found himself still in the cargo bay. He rushed over to a nearby corner and found Garr the Krogan Battlemaster laying there. He picked it up, hugging it slightly. Turning back to the cargo bay at large, he got a better look at everything. Zek was laying near the smoking conduit while the Amplifier and Relic lay on the ground next to each. Both were resonating, but no longer interacting with one another. Clearly, both were intact as well.

Taq suddenly rushed into view, leering over Zek.

"Idiot, hey!" She called. "You dead?"

She lightly kicked him and Zek woke up to see her staring at him. He raised his arms to try and block what he expected was an incoming fist, flinching on the floor as he did. A second later, he realized he was in the cargo bay and not on his ship.

"It... it worked?" He asked, sounding amazed.

Grunt moved over to help him up.

"We did it!" He told the kig-yar heartily. "The loop is over! We won!"

"We... we won," Zek began, almost in disbelief. "Oh Ocean's breath, we won! HA HA!"

He moved to seemingly kiss Taq, but she grabbed his beak before he could.

"No," she declared. "Just... no."

Zek laid off, just in time for Tali to come rushing up.

"Grunt! You did it! Using science even!" She shouted before happily hugging him. "I knew it! I always knew you'd come around if you just applied yourself!"

"Uhhh, thanks," Grunt said, not entirely sure why she was so elated. "But uh, I had some good teachers, really."

Tali still beamed all the same and Grunt liked the praise in any case. The quarian was right, had been from the start. Sometimes knowledge was more important than any gun. He was just happy it was over.

At least it had seemed to be. When Tali looked back to the console, expecting to see Shepard... he wasn't there. Neither was the Master Chief.

"Sh...Shepard?" Tali questioned, looking about confused. "Shepard where are you?"

Halsey clicked on the console.

"Cortana, where's John?"

There was no response.

"Cortana?" Halsey asked again, more insistent.

She briefly looked into the console herself and was shocked.

"She's... she's not here," she said, astounded and in disbelief. "She's gone too."

Tali looked to Grunt for answers, but the krogan had none.

"This... this wasn't part of the loop," Grunt assured them. "We're out of it. We're past the reset mark."

"Then where?" Tali asked. "Where's Chief? Where's Cortana? Where is Wade?!"

And for once in a long time, Grunt had no answers as to what happened next.

---

AN: I do though. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but once you see what I have in mind, you're going to love it I think. At least I hope so. I don't want to spoil anything, I just hope you enjoyed the laughs with this chapter, because it gets... not as funny next time. Highs and lows with me guys, highs and lows.

Do check out the blog of course, as there is some important information regarding Tali. I meant to post it earlier, but I forgot and, well, I'm fixing it now. You should find it illuminating along with the rest of my thoughts on this chapter. Remember to review, I always appreciate reading them and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter as I'm rather proud of it to be honest. I don't get as many opportunities for high concept stuff like this in this story as I'd like. Thank you all for your continued readership.