Donnelly could only watch as the Collector raised its weapon. Right now, he felt about as dangerous as a week-old kitten. The most he could do would be to try and fall out of the way when the Collector fired. And then he'd get shot to wee bits anyway as he lay on the floor like a lump.

He wished for a great many things in the few seconds it took for the Collector to settle its rifle on its shoulder. He wished that he'd been a better son to his poor mum. He wished to see the dirty, stinking town of Glasgow for one last time. And most of all, he wished he'd gotten a chance to tell Jack just how much she meant to him...

Donnelly's bout of regret was interrupted by a banshee-like scream from behind the Collector. The drone spun, only to have the back of its head blow out with a shotgun blast. Before the Collector could fall, its twitching body was simultaneously hit with multiple different rounds of sniper fire and rife shot, finishing off with a deep BOOM which could have only come from Grunt's OMFG. That last shot cut the Collector almost in two. The body sections flopped on the ground a few meters in front of Donnelly.

The falling Collector body revealed Jack, standing in her green patterned armor with her shotgun in both hands and with her teeth bared in a snarl. The fierce look faded as she jogged forward. "That was too fucking close," She dropped to her knees beside him. Jack was breathing hard, as if she'd just run for miles. The biotic stared at him as if not believing her eyes. "Honey-Boo? Are you okay?

He took a breath to answer, and was hit by another round of coughing that made him double over. He felt Jack's hand on his back as he finally managed to get out a nod. Before he could speak, he was interrupted by Zaeed's booming voice.

"Chiefy!" Zaeed and the rest of ground team came running out of the mist.

Donnelly suddenly realized he was sitting with his legs akimbo and his knob flopping around for all and sundry to take a gander at. Donnelly casually pulled his legs together and crossed his arms over his groin to get at least a little token modesty.

He'd finally gotten his coughing under control, and looked over at Jack. "Honey-Boo?" he asked, a trifle too innocently.

The biotic achieved very brief look of embarrassment, but then pushed her face in close and glared at him. "You did not hear that from me. Got it?"

"Oh, aye, lass. Probably got too much o' this goo in my ears." He grinned at her. "So what took ya so long?" Jack rolled her eyes and shoved him in the chest. The air whoofed out of his lungs as she sprawled on top of him and mashed her mouth down on his. Donnelly could see the others from the Normandy running up around him. His relief at seeing Jack was replaced with the realization that the other captives still needed to be freed. He tried to say something, but was muffled by Jack's hungry mouth.

Donnelly heard Garrus cough from above them. "Er, Jack, we need to know about.."

The words made Jack suddenly break away from the engineer. "Shit, the others! Sorry, Assface."

Donnelly looked up and pointed behind him. "I was in that tube there. You might check around it."

The other team members were already in motion. Garrus peered into one of the nearby cylinders and gave a cry. His taloned hands jammed into the edge of the door and the turian pulled. His teeth bared and his crest flared out with emotion as the door finally creaked open. A gush of the clear liquid poured out of the crack, and Garrus gave one final titanic heave and the door flung open. Kasumi's petite and naked form tumbled out into his arms. The turian got one arm under her legs as well, and carried her over by Marcus and Jack. He set her down carefully as Kasumi hacked up the remaining fluid inside her.

Meanwhile, Miranda and Grunt had found Jacob. The former XO tried to open the cylinder's front only to be shooed aside by Grunt. The krogan drew back one huge fist and unleashed a massive punch right into the translucent front of the cylinder. The translucent material cracked into a spiderweb pattern, and the liquid inside began to seep out through the cracks. One more punch smashed the front open completely. Jacob spilled out of his prison, his bulk caught easily by the krogan. The armorer coughed weakly as Miranda gently reached up over Grunt's shoulder and wiped the gooey liquid out of his eyes.

"Found Kelly," said Zaeed from further along. He pulled a knife from his side and hammered it into the door crack with the heel of his hand. Then he began leveraging the door open.

"Kelly?" said a familiar voice, although it sounded weak. Donnelly looked back in the direction which Jack had come from and saw Shepard and Mordin supporting Samara. "Is Kelly..is she all right?" The asari pushed herself off of her supporters and stumbled forward towards Zaeed.

The mercenary gritted his teeth and pushed harder, and the door cracked open and gushed fluid out as Samara reached him. She and the mercenary got their gloved hands into the crack and pulled simultaneously, wrenching the door wide open.

Samara looked into the bottom of the cylinder, and Donnelly saw her face tremble with barely-suppressed weeping.

His heart sank. "Kelly?" he whispered. It couldn't be. She had been alive and talking right up until the base's power went out.

The asari slowly reached into the bottom of the cylinder and gathered up Kelly's body in her arms. The little redheaded yeoman didn't move as the ex-justicar stood again. There was one long, horrible moment before Kelly began coughing. Samara pressed her cheek against the yeoman's head and began to weep openly in joy.

Jack nodded with satisfaction and turned back to Donnelly. She was still straddling his lap. "It's a good thing I'm around to save all your butts, Assface. And for the record, this goop is completely disgusting."

"Well, I think clear slime is quite the fashion statement," replied Donnelly. "And I had that Collector right where I wanted him. Ya wee daft scunner."

She smiled, leaned over, and kissed him again. But more gently this time.

Shepard walked up to the pair. The Commander wasn't smiling, but his eyes were happy. "Chief Engineer, you are most definitely out of uniform."

Donnelly grinned up at him. "Sorry, sir. Bit of a set-to on Imorkan, you know how it is. Besides, I don't wear uniforms anyway."

By now the other two captives had also been carried over. Mordin darted among them all, checking vitals. "How are you feeling, Marcus?" he chirped as he took Donnelly's pulse.

"My muscles feel sluggish, Doc," he replied. "Almost like my strength's been sucked away."

"Me too," added Kasumi. She looked over at Donnelly. "In the cylinder...that wasn't a dream was it? We were all in there, all...together." She shuddered. "And all those other voices, calling out." Garrus hugged her as she trembled again.

Jacob sat up with Miranda's assistance. "Yeah. That wasn't a dream." He looked up at Shepard. "Sir, thank you for coming."

"Well, ya know, we were in the neighborhood anyway," said the Spectre with a grin. "We thought we'd pop by and see if you needed a hand."

Mordin stood. "Appears that captives were drugged with some sort of nanomachine therapy. Has side effect of muscle weakness. Can administer drug to counter muscle effects, but we will need to do a full counter-therapy once aboard Normandy."

"Do it," replied Shepard, his face again serious.

Mordin whipped out a hypo and selected an ampule from a pouch at his hip. He gave Donnelly a quick injection into his shoulder, and the engineer felt warmth flooding his limbs. The salarian moved off to attend to the others.

Donnelly cleared his throat. "Thanks for the whole rescue thing, but, um, did anyone bring some spare pants by any chance?"

Jack smiled and stood up. "No, but Mordin made sure we had a bunch of these." She reached into a pouch of her own and pulled out a metallized space blanket. She walked behind him and draped it over his shoulders. The engineer felt strong enough to stand, and did so. Apart from a little wobble in his legs, he felt that he could walk. The space blanket helped with the chill in the air, and made him feel not quite so naked.

Shepard, meanwhile, had moved off and was checking on the other crew. Kelly was the last to get to her feet, and it looked like she was determined to hold onto Samara for the rest of her life.

The Commander gave out a relieved breath as he surveyed the four rescued crew. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you all alive. Now what about the other people here?"

Zaeed walked up. His normally impassive countenance was drawn tight with some emotion that Donnelly couldn't place. "Tali and Legion are scouting ahead and taking inventory. Thane recognizes about fifteen other people here from Imorkan Station, and Grunt's having fun gettin' them out o' those tubes."

The booming sound of a laughing krogan filled the air, mixed in with the crunch of shattering cylinders. The mercenary shook his head. "Honestly, the kid's just happy he gets to punch something."

"And the rest?" asked Shepard. "What about the colonists?"

Zaeed looked away. Donnelly suddenly recognized the emotion on the mercenary's scarred face. He looked truly disturbed. That was a ridiculous notion, though. Zaeed could be disgusted, he could be happy, he could for-sure be angry. But Donnelly had never seen him disturbed, even in the middle of describing the most horrific war injury.

"Shepard," said Zaeed. "You'd...you'd better come see this."

----------------------------------------

Shepard followed Zaeed to a cylinder about twenty meters away. "We think this is one o' the colonists," said Zaeed, pointing at the cylinder. "Probably from Ferris Fields, but that's just a guess."

The Commander steeled himself mentally and pressed his face against the cylinder's door. There was a more transparent spot in the tube, just big enough for him to make out a human face. It was that of a woman. Her eyes were closed, and her face twitched every so often as if she was dreaming. Whatever was going on in the tank had taken all of her facial hair off. There was nothing left of her hair or eyebrows. Shepard looked closer at her smooth head and could see veins outlined on her scalp. Those veins looked very dark, in stark contrast with her paler skin. It was almost like her blood had been replaced with black ink. Tiny gray particles whirled about her face, suspended in the cylinder's liquid.

Shepard felt a little surge of rage. Why hadn't Zaeed tried to get her out? He almost barked out an order to open the cylinder, but then he looked down.

Her body ended just below her sternum.

He could see some of her spine still dangling below the line where her skin ended, along with a few bits of intestine and some of her ribcage. Her hands were also gone; whatever was eating her torso was also making its way up her arms. The liquid below the remains of her body swirled with a profusion of those small gray particles, making the bottom of the cylinder look like liquid metal. Shepard had the horrifying realization that those little bits were what her body was being turned into.

As he looked back up at her face, the woman's eye twitched open and looked back out at him. There was nothing but a panicked animal pain in that eye.

Shepard stepped back, breathing heavily. "Oh Christ, she's still alive."

"We found a few others," said Zaeed. "This was the most intact colonist we found. The others, well, it gets...worse. Eventually they're all just tubes filled with gray sludge."

Shepard felt his fists clench. "Then the colonists...they're all dead, or as good as dead. Shit. We were too late." He gritted his teeth and punched the cylinder hard enough to crack it. He felt like screaming a curse into the ether to whatever diety might be listening. Wasn't Ash enough? Did more have to be torn apart and sacrificed to whatever bastard of a god was in charge of this unholy temple?

He felt Zaeed's hand on his shoulder. "We can't help 'em, Shepard. The best we can do is end their hurtin'. That means we finish this."

Shepard took in a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. Not one more. The Collectors don't get one more victim for their twisted experiments. And we make them pay for this. For all of this." He turned and paced away. He tried to think analytically, but it was hard. It could have so easily been Kaiden in one of those tubes. The Alliance officer had been on Horizon, and had only avoided capture because of Shepard's own arrival. The thought of his old comrade being slowly dissolved from the feet up...he shuddered.

The Commander looked out over the space. "The lower floors were empty. Those colonists down there must have finished getting...processed. So then that gray liquid must get pumped through all of these tubes into the larger bundle in the center, which then goes up..." He trailed off and looked up towards the concealing mist at the top. "Towards the control center," he concluded. "What the hell are they up to?"

"Does it matter?" asked Zaeed. "We're gonna blow the base up anyway."

The response made Shepard feel a little better, as long as he didn't think too hard about what he'd just seen. He activated his comm. "Everyone, regroup back at Mordin's position."

He heard a squeak behind him. Shepard turned and saw Jack stepping back from the cylinder he'd just looked into, a look of utter horror on her face. Donnelly stood nearby. His naked and bulky form was wrapped in his space blanket. From the grim look on the engineer's face, Shepard figured he'd also had a look into the cylinder.

Jack put her hands over her face. "Fuck me with a chainsaw. What are they doing to her? To all of them?"

"Tearin' them apart," replied Donnelly. He was looking at the floor. "Just like they did to her mind. She's already gone. Just like we were almost gone." Donnelly looked up at Shepard. "It was like...they were taking apart our memories. Makin' us remember things that weren't ours. And we heard the others, the colonists...they were already being turned into one big blob." He gritted his teeth in frustration. "It's all jumbled in my head. I can't explain it better right now."

Shepard walked up and patted Donnelly on the shoulder. "That's all right, Marcus. There's plenty of time to figure it out later. Right now, we need to set this place to explode and get out of here."

Jack turned and hugged Donnelly, making his space blanket crinkle. "Too fucking right, Boss. Blow the fuck out of this place."

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They regrouped near the cylinders that had held the Normandy's captives. The other humans snatched from Imorkan were there as well. There were fifteen all told, ten women and five men. Most appeared to be unconscious, except for two of the women who were fully awake and one man who was slowly stirring.

One of the women looked up at Shepard as he walked up. The woman was young and blonde. She looked buxom and attractive, even covered in slime and wrapped in a space blanket. Shepard suspected she was a worker at one of Imorkan Station's 'establishments'. "Who are you?" she asked the Commander.

"My name's Shepard," he replied. "We're here to rescue you."

"I'm Lucy Barnes...I think." She looked stricken. "I'm not entirely sure. Where are we?" She turned to the other conscious woman. "Sheila, do you remember what happened? I remember we talked to each other...in there."

The other woman, more slender and dark-haired, shook her head. "Am I Sheila? I think I am. But I remember other names..."

Shepard knelt by them. "You were captured. Do you remember Imorkan Station?"

Sheila shuddered. "The black cloud. I couldn't move..."

The Commander patted her shoulder. "You're safe now. We're getting you out of here. Do you know any of these other people?"

Sheila and Lucy looked over the others laid out around them. "The girls worked in the brothel with us," said Lucy. "I don't recognize the men."

"I think at least a couple of them were Eclipse mercs," said Sheila. She pointed to the stirring man. "One of them, that one, was...with me, when the black cloud came. I think the one next to him was his colleague."

The man she'd pointed at finally opened his eyes. He stared in mute panic at nothing. He didn't get up or speak, but just twitched and shuddered as if still half-paralyzed. Shepard stood and walked over. He gently reached down and touched the man's shoulder.

The man jerked his eyes towards the Commander and screamed. It was the utter and complete scream of a wounded child. Shepard jerked back upright in surprise, and the screaming stopped. The man stared at Shepard in fear, as if waiting for the Spectre to attack.

Sheila crawled forward on her knees towards the man. "I think his name was...Bertie. Bertie?" The man's eyes snapped around and fixated on Sheila. She gave him a small smile. "Yes, you remember me, right? I'm Sheila. I know it's all very confusing. But it's okay, Bertie. They're here to help." She reached out a hand, only for him to scream again.

Bertie stopped screaming when she retracted her hand. At the same time, Mordin moved up behind him. The salarian selected an ampule and gave the man a shot in the shoulder. Bertie jerked around and was clearly getting ready to scream again when his eyes rolled back and his head slumped back down.

"Should keep him stable until we can get him back," said Mordin.

"What about the others that are still out cold?" asked Shepard. "If we revive them, are they going to do the same thing?"

The doctor considered it. "Possibly." He shook his head. "Sorry, Shepard. Unable to know more at present. This is result of mental trauma, not physical."

Jacob was standing nearby. He shuddered and pulled his space blanket a little tighter around his shoulders. "We almost wound up like that guy Bertie. It was so hard to keep yourself 'straight', you know? All of my memories were getting jumbled up with other people's. But the other Normandy crew in there helped. They saved me. Kasumi saved me."

"We all saved each other," replied Kasumi.

Shepard looked over his team. Jack was recovering but still clearly worn out from the barrier generation. Samara was even more exhausted, although seeing Kelly alive had clearly given her a boost of energy. Tali had a case of minor heat exhaustion that she claimed would not slow her down, and Thane's cough had cropped up again. But the drell also claimed to be fit for duty. Surprisingly, that was it as far as problems with the ground team's health. Not bad, considering how many they had fought through to get here.

But he knew they were pushing their luck. Now that there were quite a few rescued prisoners to get back, it would be better to get the bulk of the ground team back ASAP while they could all still fight.

"Right," he said. "Gather around, people." They lined up in front of him, an array of people with so many shapes and sizes that most would call them a 'motley crew'. Shepard knew better. This group of magnificent bastards was now the deadliest single fighting force in the galaxy. He looked over them all and felt a well of pride at the opportunity to lead them. Shepard smiled. "I don't have the words to tell you how proud I am. You've all done better than I could have dreamed. We have a substantial number of wounded and unconscious to transport, so I'm splitting the teams. The larger team will escort the rescued people back to the Normandy."

"You're really getting us out of here?" asked Lucy as she peered around Grunt's tree-trunk leg.

Shepard nodded. "Nobody's getting left behind. Especially in this fucking place. Myself and two others will form a smaller strike team and press on up to the control room. We'll set it to explode and then rejoin you. We just need to figure out where to park the Normandy..."

Shepard heard a whirring noise rising from the depths of the huge chamber. This was not the flutter of Collector wings; this sounded more mechanical.

Several hexagonal platforms rose into sight, each bearing ten Collectors. They slapped up against the ledge near the group and the Collectors began to swarm out.

"DOWN!" roared Shepard, and everyone complied...even the awake rescuees from Imorkan. He switched into accelerated mode and took down six before they could even get off of the platform. "Protect the main group!" he snapped. He took a quick look at the two nearest him. "Grunt, Garrus, on me. Leapfrog it. I'm first."

He stood and made a crouching run at the attacking Collectors, going a few meters before flopping flat on his front and opening fire again, this time concentrating on making the Collectors keep their heads down while Grunt and Garrus pounded past him and then flopped as well. Shepard got his feet under him and ran forward again.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

They advanced steadily, while all the time rounds cracked over their heads from the group behind and whittled away at the Collector mob. By the time the trio reached the platforms, the enemy number had dwindled to just five. Shepard took two of them out in an eyeblink, Garrus shot one, and Grunt just charged forward and slammed the last two's heads together. Then he pitched their unconscious bodies off of the ledge and turned back to Shepard with a toothy smile.

"Saving ammunition, Grunt?" asked Garrus.

"A true warrior becomes proficient in all methods of dispatching an enemy," replied the krogan.

They walked back to the group. Both Lucy and Sheila's eyes were huge, and they were still hugging the ground as if in disbelief that the firefight was really all over.

"Now," said Shepard. "As I was saying before being so rudely interrupted...let's figure out where to set down the Normandy. Joker, do you copy?"

"I hear you loud and clear, Commander. We're set to take off. Just let us know where to go and we'll get there."

"Stand by," he broke contact and called up his map of the complex. "What do you think, Garrus?"

The turian looked over his own map. "There's a side passage two floors down. If the exit team can get down there, it should be a short hike out to the hull. But I can't see any obvious staircases on here. We'll need to do more searching to find a way down from here."

Shepard pointed behind him. "We can use those hovering platforms. I'll take one to head up to the control room, and you can have the other two to ferry everybody down. Maybe even use them in the corridor to transport the Imorkan captives, if the platforms are small enough."

Garrus gave him a level look. "John, when you say 'you', are you speaking generally or do you mean me in particular?"

Shepard nodded at him. "I want you leading the exit team, Garrus. There's nobody I'd trust more." His eyes flicked over to Tali. "You've got some precious cargo there. Be careful with it."

"And what is that look supposed to mean?" said Tali. "I'm coming with you. You're going to need some help setting this place to explode."

Shepard gave her what he hoped was a winning smile. "When it comes to blowing shit up, I'm surprisingly competent. Don't worry, Tali, I'll be fine."

The quarian started to speak but then paused, clearly not happy with the notion but also not wanting to contradict her captain. Shepard walked over to her and spoke very quietly.

"It's a straight shot from here to the control room. And that exit route that Garrus found could have some doors that need bypassing. If Legion goes down, that means it'll be up to you to get everyone out. Okay?"

Tali finally nodded, but behind her visor her silver eyes were worried. "John, please be careful. Promise...promise me you're coming back."

Shepard smiled. "You know I keep my promises, Tali. I will always come back to you."

He touched his forehead to her visor and felt her hand squeeze his. Then he turned away and looked at the others.

"Grunt, Zaeed, you're with me. The rest of you...just make it back safely, okay?"

----------------------------------------

"Right, so we've got our coordinates for the pickup?" asked Joker. He was feeling great. The ground team had found the captured crew, alive and well. The team had also kicked ass, taken names, taken those names to the town hall to get them renamed, and then gone back and kicked the Collectors in the ass again.

"Yes, Jeff," replied EDI. "I recommend we stick close to the hull to avoid any point defense weapons. I will alert you if we are in danger of attack."

Joker admitted to himself that the thought of EDI watching his ass made him feel even better. "Oriana, we good?"

"Engines have power, Joker," replied the young woman's voice. "Just be a little careful at the start."

"Careful is my middle name," he said with a smile. He touched the controls and was gratified to feel the familiar rumble of the Normandy coming to life. Outside of the windows, the rocky side of the Collector base fell away. Joker pushed forward on the controls, and the frigate canted forward and began to move slowly up along the huge structure.

"It feels a little sluggish," said Joker. "The port thrusters aren't responding as quick as before."

There was a brief pause. "It looks okay here, Joker," said Oriana.

The pilot gave a mental shrug and pushed forward a little more. "Definitely a little hesitation there," he said. "I'm holding at this speed for a bit."

The base slid by beneath them. The comm crackled with Oriana's voice. "Actually, I am picking up some kind of potential overload on the control linkages to the port thrusters. I would definitely not push it more than this."

"Damn," said Joker. His good mood was going away fast. "It's not a big deal now, but when Shepard blows this place we're gonna need to get the hell out of Dodge fast."

He could hear the tension in Oriana's voice. "Once we set down, I'll have another look at it. It could just be a fuse or two we forgot to replace."

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Jack walked alongside Donnelly as they made their way towards one of the platforms. She looked ahead of her at the trio of Shepard, Grunt, and Zaeed as they walked onto another platform. The three soldiers were talking in low tones, clearly going over some sort of strategy.

She looked down at her boots as they walked. Donnelly's hand was warm in hers. Jack had done it. She had gotten her beloved back, had reached in and pulled him right out of the mouth of hell. Now they just had a little bit of a walk, maybe (hopefully) some fighting, and then they'd be back on board.

And then what? Then they had to wait for Shepard to blow this shithole into oblivion. If he did, then that was it. Mission fucking accomplished. But if he failed...the Collectors would just repair all the damage and keep on collecting. More people would be taken, hundreds of thousands of people.

Perhaps millions? Jack remembered the half-woman in that tube of gray goop and shuddered. Whatever unholy shit the Collectors were up to, it had to be stopped. It just had to. This was Pragia all over again, but multiplied by many thousands of times. Jack looked up again at Shepard's trio.

"They don't have a biotic," she muttered.

"Are ye all right, lass?" asked Donnelly.

She stopped walking, and tugged on his hand to get him to stop. Jack looked up at his puzzled expression...at that battered face which she had come to know so well. She felt an almost physical pain at the thought of hurting him. But she had to do it. "No, I'm not all right. I'm sorry, Assface. I am so, so sorry. But we gotta stop 'em. No matter what. And Shepard might need a biotic up there."

Donnelly's expression relaxed into something like grief. But there was a proud gleam in his eyes as well. "I understand, Jack. I just want you to know that, back there, in that damned tube, you were the one and only thing I could really hold on to. And the only thing I wanted to tell you was...hell, I'll just say it. I love you."

Jack reached up and ran a gloved finger down his cheek. "And you, Assface, are the only completely good thing which has ever happened to me." She blinked, feeling her eyes burn. Damn it, she was not going to cry now. She had a reputation as a hard-ass to uphold.

His face twisted into a sad smile. "Glad to hear it, ya wee scunner. Now go on. Go save the galaxy."

She smiled and trotted away towards Shepard.

"Jack?" he called from behind her. As she turned, he grinned at her. "Don't be careful...Honey-Boo."

She grinned even wider than him, flipped him the finger, and then all but ran onto the Commander's platform.

Shepard gave her a surprised look. "Jack, you're in no condition to-"

"Fuck you, Boss," she said. Shepard just blinked in surprise, so she pressed onward. "One, you have no biotic so what the fuck will you use if you run into more seeker swarms? Harsh language? Two, yes I am tired but I can still fuck up anything in my path that you point me at. And three, last I checked I never actually swore any kind of, whaddyacall, oath to you. So your orders are really more like suggestions, you big bitch."

He looked at her for a moment. "I can't convince you to leave?"

"I'm saying, Boss, that the only way you're getting me off of this fucking platform is to throw me off."

Shepard finally just nodded. "Well. Okay, then."

Zaeed clapped her on the shoulder.

Grunt showed his teeth and smacked his fist into his other hand. "Yes!" said the krogan. "This will make an excellent krantt!"

Jack looked back at the other platforms. The exit team had loaded the other Imorkan captives onto them, and the two large hexagons were dropping down towards their exit door. Donnelly didn't look up as they left; the engineer was in the middle of conferring with Garrus. Probably getting an update on the ship's condition. Jack turned away. She felt a little bit better at the thought that, even if they never saw each other again, at least they'd had one last chance to tell each other the truth.

She looked up as Shepard activated their own platform. With a muted whirr they began to move up and forward, following the big tubes up to a tunnel that led out of the huge chamber.

Their comm crackled. "Normandy is in position," said Joker.

Shepard looked relieved. "Excellent. EDI, are you seeing these tubes? What do you make of it?"

"I am receiving your video," replied the AI. "My scans are...inconclusive. It appears that the tubes are feeding into some kind of superstructure up in the control room. The structure is emitting both organic and inorganic energy signatures. Given its readings, it must be massive."

The tunnel narrowed, leaving just enough room for their platform and the bundle of huge pipes below them. Jack looked behind and saw the huge 'processing' chamber shrink into the distance. This tunnel had to be at least a kilometer long. She looked forward again and felt a little queasy. The sheer scale of this place made made any space station she'd been on look like nothing. Jack had never seen the Citadel. During the few times the Normandy had visited the station, she had stayed aboard rather than deal with so many people at once. But now she kind of wanted to see it, just to see how it would compare.

EDI spoke again. "You should be almost at the control center. Do you see it?"

Another entrance became visible as their platform moved around a corner. The room ahead was clearly also huge; not as big across as the 'processing' chamber behind them, but still big. Jack tightened her grip on her shotgun as the opening drew closer.

"We're in sight, EDI," said Shepard. "Do you have further data on that structure you mentioned?"

EDI hesitated slightly, but her voice remained smooth. "Shepard, if my scans are correct, the superstructure is...a Reaper."

The platform flew out into the control center. Jack looked down but couldn't see any floor below. But then her attention was rapidly caught up by something else in the chamber.

Suspended in the middle of the brightly-lit space hung a gleaming metallic form which was at least a hundred meters tall. From the waist up it looked...kind of like a skeletal human. At the top lay a grinning chrome skull with dull red eyes. Each eye was split into two smaller ones; at the moment all of them looked inert and lifeless. The metal pipes they'd been following ran up one wall and over the ceiling far above, then back down to attach to the thing's arms and shoulders. Those metal arms were, at the moment, twisted above the huge form in a hideous parody of a crucifix. Below its head sat a silvery ribcage filled with odd geometrical shapes which made Jack's head hurt just to look at them. From the pelvis down the metal skeleton fused into a odd trailing tail, as if its legs hadn't properly formed yet.

Shepard's voice was grim. "It's not just a Reaper, EDI. It's a human Reaper."

"That's why they're using humans?" squeaked Jack. "They're turnin' them into goop and pumping them into this fucking thing?"

"It appears so, Jack." EDI's voice was still smooth, but it was clear that the AI found it just as disturbing as she did. "The Collectors have processed tens of thousands of humans to create this...entity. Significantly more will be required to complete the Reaper."

Zaeed swallowed. Between the nastiness he'd seen below and now this, it was clear that the merc was regretting taking this job. "Damn me to hell. Why would they need to make this?"

The platform was now level with that vacantly grinning skull-face. Shepard stared impassively at it. "Somehow the Collectors need it to let the other Reapers through," he replied. "Maybe to reactivate the Citadel relay and complete Sovereign's job. It might take a Reaper-level intellect to do so."

"At this point, any motive is mere speculation," added EDI. "In any case, it is clear that the Collectors are merely pawns. They do not have the technology or ability to create this Reaper on their own. It is likely that in each Reaper cycle a different species is 'drafted' to create another Reaper. In this particular cycle, the Collectors are providing the labor."

Shepard shook his head in disgust. "And the humans are providing the raw material. How many more people would they need?"

The platform bumped up against a larger ledge that was set just below the Human-Reaper's head. Jack stared out at its dead eyes, feeling the same horrible sense of smallness that she'd felt the first time Harbinger had looked at her. She was like nothing before this. None of them mattered. They were all ants in the path of a bulldozer.

EDI's voice snapped her out of her minor freak-out. "It might require millions of humans, perhaps. I am not certain. This Reaper appears to be in a very early stage of development. An embryo in human terms."

"So it's not alive yet?" asked Shepard. He walked out onto the ledge as he spoke, scanning for trouble. "We can still stop it from being...created?

"The process can certainly be stopped," replied EDI. "But it is unclear exactly how much it has developed. I cannot, for example, tell you if it has awareness. I am detecting none right now, but it might be that..."

A nearby door leading onto the ledge slid open, and Collectors began to pour out.

"Contact left," said Shepard mildly. Jack felt the rest of her uneasiness pass as they all went to cover and got down to the business of killing. "Strategy time," the Commander continued casually as the bullets flew over hie head. "Do we just set this place to blow, or smash up the Human-Reaper first?"

"I would recommend the latter, Shepard," said EDI. "It is possible that the Reaper might survive the base's explosion. And even in its current embryonic form it is still extremely dangerous."

Jack twisted herself around while keeping behind cover to stare back at the Human-Reaper. She avoided looking at its grinning face and instead turned her eyes upwards. "It looks like those tubes and supports are all that's holding it up. If we cut those, it'll drop. That should kill it, right?"

"It should certainly help keep it inactive," replied EDI. "And disconnecting it from its power source should further disable it."

"Less talk, more killing!" yelled Grunt.

Sure enough, Ol' Harby made an appearance towards the end. "YOU WILL KNOW PAIN, SHEPARD," it called out as it began to form. It was definitely sounding pissed. By now they all knew to give the forming entity what-for before it could fully manifest, and Harbinger was quickly dispatched.

They all stood back up as Shepard looked up at the tubes holding the Reaper in its place. "There's a couple of junctions on each tube. I don't know if just rifle fire will do any good, though."

"Some PNA would come in handy right about now, eh?" said Zaeed with a rueful grin. "Maybe if we use concussive rounds it'll weaken those supports."

Shepard folded up his rifle and smiled as he put it away. "Well, we could try that. Or I can just use my new toy." He pulled the half-melted form of the Collector particle beam weapon from his back and took aim.

The white beam lanced up with an earsplitting shriek and Shepard fanned it across one of the tubes. The metal support parted with an audible groan and thick gray fluid poured out. The dully gleaming form of the Human-Reaper twitched and sagged.

Harbinger's voice reverberated through the chamber. "NO. YOU MUST NOT. THIS IS YOUR PERFECTED FORM."

Jack looked behind them and saw a shitload more Collectors swarming in. From the sheer number of them, she got the feeling that the bugs were getting really desperate and throwing everything at them. She grinned and dove back for cover along with Grunt and Zaeed.

"Keep 'em off me while I cut these." said Shepard, his voice distant with concentration.

"You got it, Boss," said Jack as her shotgun boomed.

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Tali glanced behind her to check on the team's progress. They had managed to fit one of the floating platforms into the exit corridor, and right now the platform was stacked with the unconscious forms of the rescuees from Imorkan. Jacob and Donnelly had offered to push the thing along. Both of thosee big humans had also resorted to wrapping their space blankets around their waists, making what Donnelly had called 'proper kilts'. Whatever those were.

She trotted on ahead. Legion was ahead of her, peering around the next bend. "See anything?" she asked the geth.

"No hostiles detected, but large door blocking exit path."

"Damn." Tali got on the comm to Garrus. "Garrus, hold up. We've got a door in our way. We'll comm you when it's open."

"Got it," replied the turian's voice.

Legion flowed forward like smoke as Tali took his place at the corner. The door ahead was massive, almost as big as the blast doors in the antechamber far below. They sure as ancestors weren't going to be blasting their way through it anytime soon. The corridor was quiet, but Tali knew there could be anything on the other side. She activated her combat drone using her omni-tool, and made ready to send it out if need be.

"Legion, when you've unlocked it come back to cover before opening it," she said.

The synthetic nodded and touched the door's control. A glowing pattern appeared on the door and the geth began gesturing with quick, sure fingers. Tali could barely follow it, it was moving so fast.

The door must have been set to open automatically, because as soon as Legion finished unlocking it the massive portal began to grind open with surprising speed. Tali just had time to see a forest of Collector legs become visible under the opening door.

The geth was caught out right in the open, facing a bunch of Collector drones. The only thing that saved it from being shot to bits was the sudden chiming appearance of Tali's drone behind the drones. "MOVE, Legion!" she yelled as her drone began zipping behind the Collectors. It shocked a few of them and gave them something else to shoot at.

"You get 'em, Chikkita!" she muttered, then got back on the comm. "Garrus, ten to twelve enemies, we need some backup!"

Legion scrambled back towards her as Tali gave him covering fire. One of the Collectors got a lucky shot off that managed to hit the geth's leg. It made an odd electronic squawk and tumbled to the floor just short of Tali's position. Bullets smacked into the ground around the fallen geth. She saw a few more strike home.

"Oh, Keelah," she muttered. If she tried to reach out and get Legion, she'd be shot as well. She began firing wildly around the corner, hoping to make the Collectors go for cover themselves so she could make the grab. The incoming fire slacked off but didn't stop. Tali nerved herself as she got ready to reach out and try to get Legion's arm.

She was so going to get shot doing this. And then she'd get sepsis, and maybe die...but she had to try.

There was somebody behind her., an armored figure wielding two machine pistols. The newcomer gestured around the corner, and a Collector solider went sailing by them encased in a blue glow. The drone smacked with crunching finality into the far wall as the figure began firing both machine pistols around the corner, adding a significant amount of firepower to Tali's shotgun. The incoming fire now stopped, and the figure made another gesture. Tali couldn't see what happened, but there was more crunching noises and screams from the Collectors' position.

She didn't waste time looking. Tali crouched down, reached out, and grabbed both of Legion's arms. She towed the geth back to safety. "Legion? Are you okay?"

"Some loss of functionality, but this platform's core programs are still running...thank you, Creator Tali'Zorah."

"Don't mention it." Tali looked up at the armored figure, who had pushed its visor back to reveal Miranda's face. "And thank you, Miranda."

The Cerberus officer gave a smile that looked embarrassed. "Don't mention it."

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A big mass of Collectors, at least twenty of them, were still pushing towards Jack's position. She kept hearing the shriek of Shepard's particle beam behind her as the Commander cut the tubes and supports on the Human-Reaper. The chamber was filled with a weird organic-metallic smell almost like burning circuitry. Jack figured it was coming from all the gray glop pouring out of the severed tubes. She tried not to think about what that gray glop really was.

Zaeed and Grunt were off on the other side of the ledge, taking care of yet another appearance by Harbinger. They hadn't stopped it from forming in time. The jackass kept blathering on about evolutionary destiny and ascendance and all sorts of other horseshit while throwing plasma around.

"Jack?" asked Shepard. "How are we doing?"

"Just fine, Boss." But the Collectors had learned to spread out to make her shockwaves less effective, and try as she might she couldn't keep them from advancing.

A vague thought came in her head, and she dismissed it. The last time she'd tried it, she had wound up all but passed out. That could be deadly here.

But she was a lot stronger now. Maybe she could get away with it. Another push by the Collectors made her decide to go for it. She holstered her shotgun and shook her hands to limber them up.

Jack slapped her hands together, and with her mind aimed for a point in space right above the center of her attackers. The energy flow running through her body made her grit her teeth. A dark blue sphere appeared at her chosen location and grew in size. The bugs underneath suddenly seemed to recognize their predicament just as most of them lost contact with the ground.

One was drawn into the singularity's center and let out a scream as it was crunched into an origami-like shape. Jack kept her palms pressed together to keep the singularity going. The pain was almost bad enough to remind her of Pragia. But she didn't ignore the sensations of fatigue and pain coursing through her. As Samara had taught her, she just let them be. She let both the pain and the power flow through her.

Finally, the last Collector's spine crunched in half and she dropped her arms. They now felt heavy as lead. The blue sphere dissipated as she flopped around to look behind her, towards Shepard.

The proto-Reaper was now hanging by only one tube still attached to its elbow. It looked like a discarded marionette. Shepard took aim at the last support. Jack half expected that huge skull of a head to raise up and look at them with a snarl, but it didn't do anything other than dangle as Shepard made his final cut.

The giant form unceremoniously plummeted with a huge squeal of rending metal, banging into the side of the ledge and nearly knocking Shepard over. There was another series of loud crashes as it kept falling into the depths of the base.

Shepard took a glance over the edge, shrugged, and turned away. "Huh. That was easier than I expected."

Zaeed and Grunt came trotting up. "I think it's safe to say there are no more Collectors up in this part o' the base," said Zaeed. "Jack took 'em all out."

Shepard knelt by her. "Jack? Are you..."

She interrupted him by flipping him the bird with one heavy hand. Then she slowly dug out a nutrient bar. Jack took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "These things taste like fucking cardboard. After this, Boss, you're takin' me 'n my Assface to the Citadel. To the fanciest goddamn restaurant they have."

Shepard chuckled. "I will, that's a promise." He became more serious. "But really, are you okay?"

"Just gimme a moment." Jack got one foot under her and groaned as she got to her feet. "All that trainin' with Blue did pay off, I guess. I didn't go flat on my face this time."

The Commander looked a little more relieved to see her upright. "Good. EDI, I see a console in the center of this ledge. Is this where we can set up the overload?"

"Yes, Shepard. I am uploading the detailed instructions to your omni-tool."

"Great. What's the status of the exit team?"

"They're getting some resistance from the Collectors, but nothing major so far. The team is approximately two-thirds of the way here."

Shepard slung his weapon onto his back and rolled his neck. "Lovely. Let me know when they arrive. I'll set the reactor to blow and we'll get out of here."

The AI's voice sounded a little worried. "Er, Shepard, we may need to hold off on that.""

"What? Why?" He looked worried, and Jack didn't blame him. This sounded like something had gone south.

The AI paused before replying. "There is a little bit of a problem."

"Problem?" Shepard sounded unamused. "EDI, what do you mean?"

"It involves the port thrusters. We don't have full combat power available, which we will need for an effective escape."

"Fuck." Shepard looked around. "Okay. How long until it's fixed?"

"Unknown. Oriana is working on it presently, but is unable to get to the source of the problem. I am assisting as much as possible, given that I am currently still fighting off a few cyberattacks."

The Commander rubbed the back of his neck. "Understood. Let me know ASAP when the Normandy's ready, and when the exit team's back."

"Of course, Shepard."

They all waited an uncomfortable few minutes. Jack was actually glad for the breather, and managed to choke down another nutrient bar while they waited. Shepard paced in front of the console, clearly itching to just set it and get going. Grunt stared out into the now-empty chamber. The krogan was surprisingly placid, apparently waiting for word from his Battlemaster and not being all antsy like the human.

Zaeed suddenly looked up. "Hey, Shepard, shouldn't we plan our own route out of here? In's always easy, but out's always a right bitch. I don't think we're gonna be able to backtrack and follow the exit team."

The Commander nodded, his face still tense. "Yeah, good thinking." He called up his map and pointed behind him. "Let's see now...past that door there's a corridor which winds up and around. That gets us near the hull, but I can't tell if there's an actual opening. The Normandy might have to shoot a hole for us to get out. I don't see anything better, do you?"

"Well, maybe we could..." Whatever Zaeed was going to say was cut off by a sharp shock which rumbled through the ledge. It almost felt like something big had slammed into the side of the base.

"Normandy, report!" snapped Shepard. "What was that?"

"Unknown, Shepard," replied EDI. "Exit team reports nothing. They are almost back at the ship."

There followed another jolt under their feet, this time accompanied by a screech of scraping metal from somewhere far below them.

The four looked around. Jack was beginning to feel just a little panic, which wasn't helped by another, bigger shock which nearly made her fall to her knees. "Guys? What the fuck?"

"EDI, can you pick up anything at all?" Shepard looked back towards the edge and snatched the particle beam weapon off of his back. There was no response. "EDI? Respond!"

The AI's voice was now a whisper. "Oh no."

"EDI? Damn it, talk to me!" Shepard shouldered the gun, now fully facing the ledge.

They all got weapons ready. The chamber was quiet enough to hear the AI's whispered response.

"Shepard...It's awake."

A huge metal hand rose over the ledge and clamped onto the lip with a deafening crunch. The Human-Reaper hauled its grinning skull-head above the edge as they all scrambled for cover.

"FUCK!" Zaeed actually sounded scared for once, and Jack couldn't blame him. The Human-Reaper's eyes were now brightly lit and glowed with a red malevolence. Its gaze swept over the small forms facing it.

"What do we do, Boss? yelled Jack.

For once, Shepard looked to be at a loss. After a moment's pause, he just shrugged. "Go for the eyes, people! We can at least blind the fucker!"

Jack cocked her shotgun and made ready to take a shot. She saw Grunt pop up and give the thing a round from the OMFG, which it ignored.

"Damn it Grunt, be careful!" Jack saw Shepard blur with accelerated speed as he rose and aimed. She decided this would be a good opportunity for her as well. At least the horrible thing would have more than one target to attack. As the biotic also rose, the Human-Reaper's mouth gaped wide as if in a silent scream. A hideous blue light shone from its throat.

Four figures were driven into the floor by a single mental command from an embryonic god.

JOIN.