Shepard wrenched the Centurion over his hip and slammed him into Xenophon's deck. Sots sparking across his barrier, he brought his rifle to his shoulder and sighted on the chest of another trooper, the middle of three, and let loose an inferno grenade up the corridor. He ducked behind the junction and fired point blank into the trooper he'd just taken down in front of him. The grenade's blast wave rocketed past.

He whirled back around the corner, rifle once again raised to his shoulder. The trio of Cerberus troopers writhed as their armor turned to scalding slag, their screams audible over the sound of his rifle as he fired into them. By the time they fell to the deck, they were nothing more than smoldering corpses. A mournful klaxon echoed repeatedly through the ship. Cerberus had undone the sabotage Tali had done to the forward hatches, but so far it had only cost them lives.

Only two minutes had passed since Shepard had left Legion in the hangar deck. The first opposition he'd run into on deck three were badly injured and barely put up a fight. This last group on deck two, having more time to recover, were much more alert. It would only get tougher the further he advanced. But he made no attempt to hide, no attempt at a feint or distraction. Cerberus needed to concentrate on him, and not the geth in the hangar keeping them all alive.

The ladder at the aft end of the ship was retracted into the wall with the hatch above sealed. He clamped his rifle to his back so he could manipulate his omnitool to bypass the lock. Seconds later, his kinetic barrier flared again and the wall behind him sparked from enemy fire from the far end of the corridor. He stayed focused on the lock as the rate of fire increased. He was too close with the lock to stop now. His barrier flared and faded away. Rounds ricocheted from his armor, knocking him off balance. Then the rungs extended, leading to the open hatch above. He scrambled up the wall, sealing the hatch behind him. He pivoted around in a crouch, and seeing no targets, slid forward of the hatch so he'd be behind whoever might follow. Holding his rifle in one hand, he primed a grenade in the other.

The hatch in the deck re-opened and a helmeted figure bobbed up, trying to look over his shoulder. Shepard fired point-blank into his skull and he fell back down the ladder. Shepard's grenade followed, clanking down the hole as he re-sealed the hatch. A muffled whump sounded from below and the deck shuddered beneath his chest. He rose to a crouch for a better look at his surroundings.

A lab compartment, similar to Mordin's, stood in ruin. Scientific instruments and expensive scanning equipment covered the deck near the aft wall, smashed into fragments along with a standard issue sentry gun which lay on its side, out of commission. Next to it, another Centurion lay crumpled on the deck, his arms and legs twisted in a way no living human could withstand. The alarm system continued to wail as Shepard moved forward to the control center.

When the hatch to Xenophon's CIC opened, the situation was even more grim. Bodies were piled up against the compartment's blood-coated aft wall as if swept there by a giant broom. Many were still strapped into seats which separated from their mounts from the sudden, excessive acceleration. Unlike Normandy, the research ship was not reinforced for combat maneuvers. Without armor or kinetic barriers to protect them, the entire command crew smashed into the aft wall. Crushed skulls, broken necks and backs meant an instant death for most, but some in the pile still moaned and cried in pain.

A single crewmember sat on her knees next to them. She was in her late twenties with short black hair and athletic build, with the insignia of a sensor tech on her shoulder. Shepard might have been looking at Gabby or Kelly on his own ship, except the right side of the woman's face was covered with blood and her right eye swollen shut. Her expression went from from hope to fear at the sight of the N7 logo on his chest and the rifle in his hand, but she continued to comfort the moaning man as she cradled his head in her lap.

Shepard reached behind his back for the medical pack stuck to his armor and tossed it to her. "Do what you can," he said and turned forward. Like the Normandy, Xenophon's command deck was arranged around a large holo projector with crew stations in a ring facing outward. A long corridor lead to the bow, also lined with stations. Anyone unlucky enough to be in this part of the ship found themselves falling down a four-story elevator shaft at five gravities when the ship's engines kicked in. Red and yellow warning lights flickered as he walked forward. The corridor narrowed and ended in another hatch. Shepard touched its panel and it slid open.

Unlike Normandy, the Xenophon had a bridge, not a cockpit. The circular room was spotless, with gleaming white panels and chrome accents. A nav console with two recessed seats sat before enormous bay windows that ran from deck to ceiling, filled with white from Ma-at's corona. The captain's chair sat empty immediately behind, with another ring of outward-facing stations along its perimeter.

The left-hand navigator seat was empty, but the right was still occupied by a young woman in a Cerberus uniform and ball cap working the console. A cough made Shepard look down to where another crew member tended to an older man lying on his back with a captain's insignia on his uniform. Five other crew members lay on the ground next to each other, unconscious or dead, tended by another crewman with an emergency kit.

The man attending the captain looked up at Shepard's arrival. "Sir," he said, patting his commanding officer on his shoulder. The injured man opened his eyes.

"Captain," Shepard said, lowering his rifle. "You're ship's on a suicide course. I can stop it if you give me access to your quantum entanglement communicator."

"Go to hell, Shepard," the Captain whispered between ragged breaths.

Shepard's hands tightened around his rifle. There wasn't time to bargain or argue. But if this had been the Normandy and he were lying in the Captain's position now, would he feel any different? "You need to think of your people, sir."

"I am thinking... of my people," said the captain. He was struggling to stay conscious, but still defiant. "All of us here are. Are you?"

Shepard scanned the bridge, looking for the comm station. "I need access to the quantum entanglement communicator," he said to the surviving crew members. "The Illusive Man is trying to destroy the ship. It's the only chance any of you have got." They all stared back with hate in their eyes.

"If Shepard takes one more step," A bubble of blood popped in the Captain's mouth. "kill him."

"Captain, please..." Shepard had no time to waste. He walked port to the nearest console.

The two medics and the helmsman looked at one another then went for their pistols. Shepard raised his rifle and fired three shots along three vectors, headshots all. The three Xenophon crew crumpled to the deck, with the helmsman's ball cap tumbling from her head when she hit the ground. Shepard turned back, his rifle aimed square at the captain's head.

"Traitor," the captain murmured as consciousness left him.

Shepard lowered his rifle and reached out to seal the bridge hatch. It wouldn't lock without a command code, but at least he'd have some warning if someone tried to come in. He walked around the ring until he found the comm station. It was locked and secured. He pulled up his omnitool and started the time-consuming override process. There was no other choice. "Legion, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, Shepard-Commander. What is your status?"

"I'm on the bridge. I'll have the quantum array shut down in a minute. How're you doing?"

"Status unchanged. Self-destruct sequence is still initiated but we are still impeding its progress. Negative contact with enemy personnel."

"Good," Shepard said, still working his omnitool. "Stand by."

"Shepard," a familiar voice said from the comm console, displaying familiar face on the holo screen. Glowing blue eyes stared at him through a cloud of cigarette smoke, in a face framed by a glowing red star.

The Illusive Man leaned forward in his chair. "I'm begging you to reconsider." Shepard gave no indication that he was even listening as he worked controls outside the view of the camera. "Think about the future of humanity, what's at stake. If we control the geth, we control our destiny, no one else. Do you think that any other species would hesitate in our position? What would the asari do? Or the turians, or salarians? Or worse, someone like the batarians? Think about the geth themselves. What will they be capable of? Left to their own devices, they may one day present a threat to organic life greater than the reapers."

Shepard continued to focus on his unseen task. The Illusive Man struggled to maintain calm. If he somehow managed to convince Shepard to quit it would be a miracle, but all he really needed to do was stall for time and let Ma-at solve the Shepard issue for him. "Right now we have the power. We control the geth. There will be no question-"

The feed went blank, replaced with the words SIGNAL LOST. All telemetry from the Xenophon ended simultaneously. The quantum entanglement link that could transmit to a ship anywhere in the galaxy had been switched off.

The Illusive Man sat back in his chair and stared at the now-dead monitors, his cigarette burning between his fingers. "Eva?"

"Yes sir," said the disembodied voice.

"Alert all personnel. Begin data sanitation procedures immediately. Prepare the station for evacuation."

"Self destruct terminated," Legion said over Shepard's comm. "Subsystems disabled. No further attempts will be possible."

"Good work, Legion," Shepard glanced at the ship's status on the nav station's main screen. Power levels were beginning to fluctuate as the ship diverted more energy to its defensive screens. With the reactor running at maximum, the Xenophon would soon overheat from within even as it tried to resist the searing rays from outside. "Can you do anything with the helm?"

"AI Countermeasures have control. Attempting to override."

"Keep at it. I'll look for another way off the ship."

"Acknowledged."

So what now, Shepard thought. This close to the sun, the escape pods would be useless for all the protection they could provide. But a man like Archer might have a personal shuttle or some specially made lifeboat. He flicked through the Xenophon's deck plans. At the nose of the ship, one deck down, a sleek, elegant-looking runabout was docked.

"Bingo," he said to himself and turned to leave, but stopped. What was he thinking? He was standing in front of the ship's comm console. He powered up the system, punched in a frequency and keyed the transmitter. "Normandy, Shepard. Copy? Normandy, this is Shepard, calling from Xenophon. Do you read?" The signal indicators on the panel all remained flat.

A metallic clank sounded against the bridge hatch. He reached to the console and flipped open a physical cover which revealed one of the few physical toggle switches on the ship. He flipped the switch. "Distress beacon activated," said a calm, disembodied voice as Shepard moved to the side of the hatch and crouched low, his weapon at the ready. No one might be around to hear his SOS, or worse the wrong people might hear it, but some chance was better than none.

The bridge hatch slid open, and a split second after the room was filled with light as brilliant as the star outside the ship.

At the console in the geth hub, Gavin Archer watched the progress icon spin endlessly in place. He was telling the truth when he said he had no idea how long it would take for the geth hub to come back online. Individual, isolated ships responded more quickly as they completed their power cycles, but the hub remained inactive. It could be seconds, it could be minutes, it might be an hour for all he knew. The only certainty was that he was powerless until it happened.

He looked at Major Griggs, who paced at the other end of the room while the rest her squad looked on, her hand cupped over the side of her helmet as she waited for a response from the surface team. The chamber they occupied was dimly lit, perhaps fifteen meters deep and half again as wide. Eight columns holding four geth platforms each, one to a side, filled the center of the chamber with the console at its rear. A solid metal door as wide as the room remained shut in front of where the Major paced.

"Xenophon, come in," Griggs said into her comm. "Hazan, report. Anyone on the surface, do you read?"

"Still no contact with the ship," Archer said. "No signal."

"One of the signal relays must have gone down," suggested Takagi, one of Grigg's sergeants. "On the surface or in the corridor. Want me to take a look? Just take a second."

Archer let out a laugh. "Open the door before the geth have reactivated? Are you mad? What if the quarians are out there?"

"No way the quarians could take Hazan out," Amil, a heavy weapons trooper said.

"We need to know what's going on one way or another," Takagi said. "We're blind in here, ma'am."

Griggs shook her head. "Archer's right. The door stays closed until the geth come back online. If it's a malfunction, someone from Bravo will come down and-"

As if the walls had ears, the giant metal door began sliding open to the right. It couldn't be someone from the surface - none of them had the code key. "Cover," she shouted. She and her troopers dispersed behind the columns in the room and aimed at the door as it continued to grind open. The corridor beyond was empty.

"Farrow," Griggs said. The door was halfway open now. "Get your drone up-" A flash in the corner of her eye her made her stop. She looked back over her shoulder to see Farrow's head enveloped in light, barely revealing the faint outline of a humanoid figure darting away as the Centurion fell.

The soldier next to Farrow brought his rifle up, only to be knocked on his back as well by the invisible attacker. Griggs inhaled to give the order to fire but her head smacked into the chamber as she and the five Centurions around her tumbled through the open door, their weapons skittering away. Lying on her back in a daze, she watched a giant krogan vault overhead, followed by an asari in red armor flooding the room with blasts of biotic energy. Griggs reached for her sidearm but couldn't even draw before point-blank rifle fire ripped away her barrier. Holes erupted across her torso. As she convulsed on the deck, a woman in a Cerberus hardsuit stepped behind two human soldiers spraying the console chamber with rifle fire. The woman looked down at Griggs on the ground with a dull expression.

It wasn't the quarians after all, Griggs thought as undulating mass effect fields shredded her body, courtesy of the ex-operative standing over her. It was a small comfort to know that at least she and her team hadn't been defeated by mere quarians.

The Normandy team spread through the console chamber, making sure none of the enemy would get up to trouble them later. Grunt lead the way, shattering helmets of the downed Cerberus soldiers with blasts from his Claymore. Samara, Jacob and Zaeed followed close behind, also making sure none of the enemy would recover.

Tali rushed past them to the control station at the far end of the room. She stepped wide around the geth console, shotgun raised. Her finger tensed on the trigger when she saw a human in white vac suit hiding behind it. The man's hands were up and empty, his eyes full of fear. Unlike the others, his sleek, trim environment suit was not armored for combat. "Over here!"

Grunt leaned over the console and picked up the cowering human and slammed him against the back wall by his neck.

"Keep watch," Garrus told Jacob as he trotted to the console. Grunt's prisoner clutched at the krogan's arm, trying to pull himself up so all the weight wasn't on his neck. Garrus moved closer to look at the human's face behind his visor. "Well, well. Doctor Archer. It's been a while."

"Tell the krogan to put me down," Archer yelled. "If you let me go, I'll have the geth spare you."

"I think Tali will be able to convince them for us." Garrus said.

Archer smiled. "Are you sure about that? Your quarian friend may beg to differ. "

Garrus turned to Tali. She slammed her fists against the terminal. "He's done something to the console. Encrypted the file system or something. I can't get in."

"If you start back now," Archer said, his voice brimming with confidence, "you might be able to get back to your ship before the geth reactivate. But if you kill me, they'll destroy you on sight upon awakening."

Garrus ignored the scientist, looking over Tali's shoulder. "Can you break it?"

"I can't even open a port," Tali said. She punched commands fruitlessly into her omnitool "Legion or EDI might be able to do it quickly, but I'll need more time. It's locked tight."

"Kasumi?" Garrus looked around for the thief, who appeared out of thin air next to Tali.

"However long Tali says, multiply it by two for me. This is out of my league."

Time was ticking down on more than one clock. Garrus raised his rifle, but did not aim it specifically at Archer. "We need the key, Doctor."

Archer raised his chin. "Kill me and the geth kill you. It's that simple. If you want to live, leave now, because-" His voice trailed off when another figure walked into view.

"Gavin," Miranda stepped in front of the console next to Tali and leaned with her back against it, her arms crossed in front of her. "I'd like the console unlocked, and unlocked now."

Archer paled behind his face mask and struggled to keep his voice level. "You have less than five minutes, I estimate."

"Whether we live or die is irrelevant to you compared to your own well being. If you cooperate, I guarantee you'll be unharmed. However, if you don't, I promise that you will spend the rest of your days retraining your vast intellect to spell complicated words like 'cat.' You know that's a promise I can keep, even with the limited materials I have on hand."

A drop of sweat dribbled down the side of Archer's head behind his facemask. He never took his eyes from Miranda. He finally gave a nod.

Miranda stepped aside. "Grunt, please help Doctor Archer to the console."

Lifting the puny human caused no strain for Grunt as he pivoted around and deposited Archer in front of the geth systems. He let go, then rested a massive hand on Archer's shoulder in an unfriendly fashion. "Atta way, Doc. I knew you'd want to put that big brain of yours to use instead of letting me bounce it off of the walls."

"Remember, Doctor," Garrus said, "If Tali doesn't get full access..."

"He knows what will happen," Miranda said, leaning in close to Archer. "Don't you, Gavin?"

Archer shook as he took a deep breath. It was obvious he feared the Cerberus operative next to him more than the giant krogan behind him. Standing in the middle of a circle comprised of eight of the greatest killers in the galaxy watching his every move, Archer unlocked the console without having to redo a single keystroke. "The console is open," he said. "Full admin access."

"Tali?" Miranda asked.

The quarian shifted in front of the console and worked the interface. She gave Miranda a nod, and went straight to the task of re-coding the virus.

"Well done, Gavin," Miranda said, raising her own omnitool to Archer's back. A bright white cascade of sparks arced across his body and he dropped to the ground.

"I thought you were going to let me do that," Grunt said with obvious disappointment.

"Sorry," Miranda said as she knelt over Archer's body.

"How did you convince him to change his mind so quickly?" Samara asked.

Garrus stepped next to Miranda to look at the unconscious human. "It's all about knowing their weaknesses. That was beautiful, Miranda. Is he dead?"

"Oh no," Miranda said. "I'm a woman of my word. Besides, it would be nice to have someone corroborate my deposition to C-Sec when we get back, don't you think?"

Around the circle came silent nods of approval. Garrus smiled. "Absolutely. Let's get him somewhere out of the way."

Grunt dragged the unconscious scientist to the far corner of the chamber with one hand.

Garrus turned back to Tali. "How long do you need?"

"Three, four minutes," Tali said. "I've got to alter the code for direct injection to the console instead of a platform, but it won't take until the hub itself is back online."

Miranda looked toward the corridor. "Think you'll be done before that happens?"

Tali shook her head and continued to work. "I don't know."

Not wanting to distract their only chance for survival any further, Garrus took a step back, motioning the squad to follow. "We'd better get ready then. Start in here. Take down these platforms. When that's done, move on to the the ones in the corridor."

The squad dispersed to pull down the geth platforms from their mounts. Kasumi nodded toward the opening. "Think maybe we should we close the door?"

Garrus shook his head as he yanked a geth platform from its column. "The geth will just open it again. No way we we'll be able to lock them out of their own systems."

"Good point," Kasumi said as she pulled another Legion-look-alike from its mount.

Zaeed hammered at another geth with the butt of his rifle. "Be a goddamn death trap in here if we did, anyway, as soon as it opened. Better to have a shot at 'em as they come."

Soon the deck was littered with geth platforms collapsed in heaps, in both the chamber and the corridor outside. As the last geth shell fell, the entire compartment erupted with an angry crimson glow. Bright traces of red light shown through the grating in the deck, walls and ceilings, pulsing with energy. The entire squad looked back to Tali, still hard at work at the console.

Garrus stared down down the long corridor outside the console chamber. Bathed in red light and full of haze, they couldn't even see halfway down its length, but their tactical displays showed a different story. Data points swirled around the installation like water to a drain as the geth downloaded, but their physical platforms could only come at them from one direction. Garrus walked ahead, pointing ahead to the now empty alcoves lining the corridor. "Kasumi, Miranda, take this row, opposite sides, just before the intersection. Fry as many as you can when they come, then fall back as soon as you need to recharge. Zaeed, Jacob, in the row behind, covering. Grunt, Samara, third row. When Zaeed and Jacob have to retreat, you cover everyone and we'll fall back into the chamber together. Got that? As soon as Zaeed and Jacob pull back we all do. Grunt? Hold off on the projector until I say. Clear?"

"Got it," Grunt said, without a trace of disappointment at not being able to use his new toy.

Garrus glanced once more down the corridor as the squad settled into their firing positions. He pulled his Mantis from its mount and turned back to the console chamber. Inside, Tali didn't acknowledge him as he approached, concentrating on her work, surrounded by a ring of holo panels. Her omnitool still pulsed and flashed red as it did when they were on the surface.

Garrus clutched his rifle. There was no need to say anything about their situation. Tali knew. "We're set up outside. We'll hold them off as long as we can."

Tali's eyes never left the console. She gave him a quick nod.

Garrus trotted back to the end of the corridor and lay down on the deck, extending his weapon's bipod. His scope showed nothing but red haze. He flicked through the different enhancers until he found a wavelength that showed a maximum amount of the corridor and waited. Ahead, in their respective cubbyholes, the rest of the squad did the same.

No one talked except for muted requests for extra heat sinks or arc grenades, or for someone to verify a field of fire. Red lights pulsed in the conduits in the walls and deck grew stronger as the seconds ticked by. The squad fell silent.

Garrus kept one eye to his scope, but glanced with his other over his silent team. He didn't need to ask what they were thinking because he was thinking the same thing. Where is Shepard, and what would he be doing if he were here? Garrus had been put in command of a fire team many times through the crew's time together on the Normandy. No one batted an eye when Shepard put him charge of the distraction element during the assault on the collector station. But each time Shepard was still been in command, overseeing the entire operation, keeping everyone in line and working together.

Until now.

Garrus leaned his cheek against his rifle. If he couldn't even keep his own head straight, how would any of the others be able to keep it together? Shepard put him in command and no one had ever given the slightest indication they objected, and they had followed his every order as if they came from Shepard himself. You're their leader, he thought. Act like it. The first thing he needed to do was to get them talking again, like they always did.

"Well," he said, "now that we're all here together, I'd just like to personally thank each and every one of you for your contributions to the art exhibit on my door."

A welcome round of laughter echoed over the squad channel. Garrus went back to scanning the corridor. "Now that I've got you all in my sights, anyone care to confess? Miranda? It turns out you're quite the poet."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Miranda said with a smirk.

"Mmm-hmm. The only one with neater print on the ship is EDI. I used to do handwriting analysis. Want to know what it says about you?"

"I can't wait to hear." More laughter.

"I've prepared full profiles on all of you. Kasumi, your involvement was obvious and I've singled you out as the ring leader. Jacob, Zaeed? I'm disappointed. Neither of you are apparently bothered to research turian anatomy. And Grunt? Your shading skills are impressive, even if you have the same misconceptions as our human friends."

"That's my fault," Zaeed said. "He came to me for help."

Grunt grinned happily. "But it was a good picture though, right?"

Garrus sighed. "If anyone ever commissions a portrait of me, I'd like you to do the honors."

"I can do colors, too!"

"And Samara... I don't know what to say, except thank you for being the only one mature enough not to participate."

Samara nodded. "I was given the opportunity, but felt I lacked a certain level of... cultural awareness to contribute effectively."

"Regardless," Garrus said, "you were strong enough not to give in to peer pressure and I applaud that."

Samara smiled behind her mask. "I stood watch while the others worked."

"Respect!" Kasumi said from her alcove.

"Team player, all the way," Jacob said from his. "That's what it's all about, isn't it Garrus?"

"You know I still haven't seen it," Miranda said. "Fleet and Flotilla."

Kasumi looked over her shoulder and grinned. "Oh, we are totally watching it when we get back."

"No doubt," Jacob said. "Set up in the mess. Pop some corn, grill up some dogs, toss back a few cans."

"Is there any action in it at all?" Grunt asked. "Or is it all... romance?"

"Let's put it this way, Grunt," Kasumi said. "Better enjoy this while you can."

"Aw, crap."

"But we get to make fun of Garrus the whole time."

"Ha! I'm in!"

"We get out of this," Garrus said, "I'll sing-along the whole way through."

That got everyone laughing. "Oh my god," Kasumi said. "We've got to pull this off now. Tali? Get busy in there! We've got things to live for!"

Garrus chuckled. Even if it was at his expense, everyone was loosening up. The situation was still tense, sure. But there was no sense of doom like before. He peered through his scope. "Just remember, no matter what happens, I've got all of your backs..."

Tali looked up briefly as laughter once again filled the squad comm channel. The dour silence was gone and the change in mood welcome but she couldn't let anything distract her from the task at hand.

She gripped the sides of the console as another segment of code took its time to compile. It wasn't the geth hardware that was at fault, but rather the exotic interface Cerberus laid on top of it. Archer may have been a gifted scientist but his understanding of geth architecture was woefully backwards in some areas. As the application stalled once again, she wondered how long it would take her to write a command line interface to replace it..

Using her omnitool helped as she was able to do some code validation there, but it provided its own distraction. Its outline pulsed red like the geth data traces on the walls and floor, but for a different reason. Her omni had switched to emergency mode upon receipt of a fleet wide emergency broadcast, just as it had done when the Rayya was destroyed. It would display the message until an all-clear signal was received. There was no way to clear it locally, either. The problem was that someone in authority had to declare the emergency over, and all but one of them was dead.

Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh's message was broadcast to any quarian in range, but it was intended for one specific person, with just one line of text:

Save your people Tali Zorah vas Neema.

The message flashed at the top of her omni regardless of which application was open. It was impossible to ignore, just like the original copy of Xen's virus which would place the geth under quarian control once and for all.

She turned to another one of the console's holo screens and conducted a search to make sure none of the remnants of Archer's code remained. The last thing she needed was for conflicting instructions to further corrupt the geth consciousness. The next consensus command they received had to be absolutely consistent, or who knows what might happen?

Save your people Tali Zorah vas Neema. Xen's message stuck in Tali's mind like its own virus. During the Normandy's mad scramble to Ma-at through an uncharted relay, Legion had asked her what she would do if the quarians succeeded in infecting the geth collective. She couldn't answer. If the quarians had control of the geth, starvation from the loss of the Rayya, factional turmoil within the fleet, keeping three-century old technology running all went away. What quarian wouldn't want to see that happen?

"Contact!" Garrus shouted over the comm. The laughter over the tactical net ceased immediately. "Geth infantry, far end of the corridor, one hundred twenty meters."

Tali looked up from the console. At the back of the corridor, Garrus was the only one of her friends in view. He lay alongside his massive rifle behind a disabled geth platform. In the vacuum of the hub, there was no report as he fired, only flashes from its barrel which lit the corridor. A second later the entire corridor flashed white like a strobe as the rest of the squad joined in and incoming rounds sparked off the walls.

She looked back at the console. The compiler reported 95% progress. In a few seconds, she could upload the virus and the assault would be over. She lifted her omnitool to prepare the virus package for upload. But which package should she inject? What of all the quarians who died protecting the Migrant Fleet in exile from their own homeworld? The countless friends, countless shipmates lost to the geth, family, her father?

What of her crew, her friends, her family who were now defending her with their lives so she'd have the chance to stop Cerberus? What would she do if Shepard were here now? Was there any question? Or Legion... the one sentient entity in the universe that risked the most to ending the war between the geth and their creators because it wanted peace more than anyone else?

Save your people Tali Zorah vas Neema.

Tali began to hyperventilate. Her suit responded by automatically adjusting the internal oxygen mix. Taking control of the geth was the only guaranteed way to preserve what was left of quarian civilization, but there was another option. What if she took control just long enough to stop the geth from counterattacking? To give the the Migrant fleet time to withdraw? She could then upload the restorative version afterward. She'd have all the time in the world to make things right.

Or would she? Xen's virus placed the Admiralty Board in control of the geth, meaning Xen herself. Was Xen even still alive? If she was, and had control of the geth, she'd never let go of them. The steps she'd taken on the Anba proved how far she was willing to go to keep them.

If the last Admiral was dead, who would they follow? Would the geth defer to Tali or any other quarian? Would they stop their attack on their own? If the quarians took control of the geth, would they ever release them? Or would Tali be responsible for enslaving the entire collective again? Would that be so bad, if it meant that the quarians would survive?

Was it worth risking the future of her people find out otherwise?

"Geth prime! First intersection, on the right!" Miranda yelled.

"On him!" Kasumi responded. "They're coming up the left hand corridor, too!"

"Grenades!" Garrus shouted. "At the intersection! One at a time! Keep a steady stream!"

Artificial lightning from the arc grenades produced dazzling, jagged patterns of light on the corridor walls. Particle beams and a hail of projectiles streaked back forming a haze of particulate glowed white. The compiler reached 99%. "Oh gods, come on," Tali pleaded. She huddled over the console, her omnitool out, ready to upload, Xen's message flashing before her eyes.

"I'm out!" Kasumi's call over the comm crackled with static.

"Front rank, fall back!" Garrus shouted. There was a scream. "Kasumi's down!"

"Cover me!" Miranda shouted.

Zaeed yelled as he fired. "Move it, Lawson!"

Tali stared at the frozen progress meter, her heart pounding, both sets of code loaded into her omnitool. Save your people. The geth wanted peace. They initiated contact and the quarians used it as bait for a trap. Then the Rayya was destroyed and the rest of the galaxy was going to nothing while the quarians starved... and the geth came back to help. She'd asked Blue, and effectively the entire collective, why they changed their minds. What did their creators have that the geth wanted? Blue replied with a single word. Forgiveness.

"They're right on top of us!"

Garrus dropped his Mantis and rose to a crouch, pitching his last arc grenades down the corridor before switching to his Vindicator, firing quick bursts. "Pull back! Pull back! Grunt, do it!"

"Go," Grunt's shout was punctuated by static and the entire corridor flared white, now completely filled with smoke, silhouetting her friends as they spilled into the control chamber, firing as they came through. Miranda staggered through first carrying Kasumi over her shoulders, their armor cracked and smoldering. Then Samara came through, carrying Zaeed with one of his arms around her shoulder. The mercenary kept firing the entire way, letting go just as he reached the corner where he propped himself up to maintain fire. Samara stood next to him, eyes glowing blue as she hurled one mass effect field after another around the corner. Jacob and Garrus back-peddled in, their rifles spitting out heat sinks as fast as they could be replaced.

The progress bar on the console stayed frozen at 99%. Tali searched for the door control. With the squad retreating, there was no harm in trying. The huge metal door began to slide shut, then stopped. The geth weren't going to allow it.

"Grunt!" Garrus yelled. "Fall back! Grunt!"

The big krogan dove through the opening, his armor scorched on every surface and coated with white conductive fluid. The remaining squad found what protection they could behind corners and columns and emptied their weapons into the smog.

Compilation complete, read the console.

Tali stared at both copies of the virus on her omnitool. There was only one right choice. She injected her revised code into the console from her omnitool and pressed 'execute.' The holo screen replied operation complete. What happened next, for everyone, would be up to the geth. She leaped through the holographic screen, over the console itself, shotgun in hand. Before she'd taken two steps, Chikktika rezzed in next to her as she charged to the firing line. She slammed back against the column where Garrus had taken cover when all of the sudden, the firing stopped.

"Anybody have a target?" Garrus asked. From behind the column, he could only see a few meters up the corridor.

"Negative," Jacob said from the next column over.

"Nothing but piles of junk," Zaeed said from the corner. "Can't see shit because through this smoke."

Garrus checked his tactical display. There was no movement anywhere within range. He looked at Tali, who gave him a quick nod. "Reload, gather up what you can, just in case. Miranda, check Kasumi!"

"Right," the ex-Ceberus operative knelt next to the unconscious thief, her medkit in hand.

"Everybody stay put," Garrus said. He stepped over to Zaeed and poked his head around the corner. A wall of smashed geth platforms lay on the floor, sparking and spraying clouds of vapor into the corridor, adding to the haze. As the particulate settled, the haze dissipated, revealing a field of blinking yellow lights suspended in the air.

"Goddamn," Zaeed murmured as the fog continued to thin.

Garrus let his rifle fall to his side. Tali walked up next to him, still holding her shotgun and peered around the corner. The entire corridor from side to side was filled with geth platforms; unarmed maintenance dones,cargo loaders, a squat looking model on treads with a giant mining drill... Mixed in were the combat platforms; shock troopers, rocket platforms and giant red prime models which towered above the rest, carrying weapons usually found on armored vehicles. Behind them, a pair of armatures crouched on their spindle legs to fit in the corridor. Every single geth platform was frozen in its tracks. Their main apertures, glowing red during the attack, now all blinked soft yellow. The flashing lights faded in the distance into the depths of the haze as far back as any of the Normandy squad could see.

"Jesus," Jacob said, joining the group at the corner. "Gotta be hundreds of them."

"Maybe a thousand," Zaeed said, sounding as astonished as anyone had ever heard.

Garrus looked at Tali. "What happened to them?"

"I don't know," Tali whispered. In all her years of researching geth, she'd never seen anything like it. "Warm boot, maybe."

"Doesn't matter," Garrus said. "We've got to get back to the Xenophon."

"Keelah," Tali squeezed the grip of her shotgun. Her heart began to pound again. "Shepard and Legion!"

Jacob gestured toward the geth with his rifle. "Think we can make it to the Kodiak while they're asleep?"

Garrus shook his head. "I don't know if we can get through all of that. But we've got to try. Grunt?"

"Yeah?"

"Start clearing us a path. Miranda? How's Kasumi?"

"Bad," Miranda said, still kneeling over her wounded shipmate. "Shot through the back, multiple penetrations. I've stopped the bleeding, but she'll need help soon."

"She's not the only one," Jacob tapped Zaeed on the back and pointed to his leg where gas spewed from a crack. "You're venting, man."

Zaeed looked down at himself. His armor showed impact marks from head to toe, but his left leg showed definite penetration. "Shit!"

"We all are," Samara said. True to her words, small plumes jetted from fractures and seals from just about everyone in the squad.

"Let's get ready to move," Garrus said. "We'll make repairs on the shuttle. Miranda, stay with Kasumi. Tali-"

In unison, the field of flashing yellow lights stopped, then turned bright blue-white. The geth platforms stabilized themselves, while ones that had fallen over picked themselves up.

"Cover!" Garrus shouted, and the squad scrambled behind the columns to take aim at the corner of the corridor, ready to fire. But no targets presented themselves. Seconds passed.

A familiar mechanical voice broadcast over the squad net. "Allied squad, cease fire. Request permission to approach."

Garrus lowered his rifle. If the geth were truly friendly once more, there was only one way to find out. He motioned for his friends to stay still and took a step toward the corridor. If this were some kind of trick, it wouldn't matter. They wouldn't survive another assault. He stood with his rifle at his side and found himself staring into a sea of blue-white camera eyes, all looking back at him.

A single geth platform, similar to Legion, stepped forward from the mechanical army. Garrus tensed when it reached out for him. An omnitool appeared around its wrist and it set about repairing a crack in the shoulder of Garrus's armor.

"Alert," the geth voice said over their comms. "Multiple injuries sustained by allied squad. Pressure integrity compromised. Condition of Goto-Kasumi critical. Request permission to assist."

"Permission granted," Garrus said, relieved. "Go!"

A wave of platforms spilled into the console chamber, patching holes in the squad's armor and huddling over Kasumi to stabilize her as best as they could. The heavy platforms, including the combat models, began to clear the corridor of debris.

"Let's get ready to move," Garrus said. He paused, not knowing how to address the machines. "Uh, geth? Help us get Kasumi to the shuttle."

"Wait!" Tali shouted. Garrus didn't seem to realize it, nor did anyone else because they weren't used to thinking like the geth, but their greatest chance of saving their friends was standing right in front of them. She grabbed the nearest platform in arm's reach and spun it toward her. Such action wasn't necessary in the least as all she had to do was talk, but as an organic, it was instinct to establish eye contact to convey the importance of verbal communication.

And, as an organic, Tali couldn't keep the tears from building in her eyes as she leaned in close to the bright white aperture in front of her. "Help Shepard!"

A/N: It's funny but the alternate ending to FTWD is turning out to be longer than the original ending, but I wanted it to be an actual full-fledged alternate ending with a different result stemming from a specific plot conditon rather than just changing the first ending to where Tali wakes up and everyone is still alive. Expect at least two more chapters, and as usual, thanks for reading!

