Author note: Been a while I know, but here it is guys! Enjoy and please review! Plot is a coming!

"Tali! Run! Get out of the h-"

...

Wrex sat on the sofa for two, making it look like an armchair for one, the seats caving under his immense muscular weight. The huge Krogan reclined with a content sigh. As his red spherical eyes vanished beneath his leather lids, a dwarfing shadow basked over his body. One eye peeled open, the inner nictitating membrane sliding apart over his eye. The slice of black that made his sharp pupil constricted to the sight: A crossed arms Tali.

Her foot was tapping a rhythm into the wooden floorboards, the two fingers on her left hand drumming against her right upper arm. She inclined her head at him, mask barely concealing the silver slits.

"What? I'm getting old, I need my beauty sleep." he smirked at her airy laugh and shake of her head. A vibrating beep upstairs thrummed. Shepard darted up the stairs, hand grasping the banister.

"There're not enough hours in the day for your beauty sleep Wrex!" Shepard called as he vanished upstairs. Wrex cackled, grinning at Tali.

"See? That's what you should have said, you're getting squishy Tali." He guffawed at her balled fists by her wide hips. A slight twitch in one silver eye was all it took to let ice form over Wrex's mind.

"are you saying I've gotten fat?" She snarled at him. Wrex gulped.

"Uh oh, you've pissed off the Quarian." Grunt whispered from the other sofa, which he was also spread out over. She whipped her head round at him so fast her hood billowed. Grunt sunk his huge bulbous head into his boulder shoulders. Wrex snickered a laugh. Honestly, they were as bad as each other.

Tali huffed and dropped her defense. A slam sounded and she turned to see Grunt's feet on the coffee table.

"Ah! No! Feet...Down! I'll get my Shotgun!" She snapped, swatting his feet. The Krogan groaned and Wrex laughed at him. Tali felt the need to rub her brow, instead massaging the smooth glass of her mask.

Suddenly Shepard bolted back down the stairs, leaping the last two. His arms were struggling against the sleeve holes of his leather jacket, a look of shock and concern on his features.

"What? What's going on?" Tali called.

"Gerrel's been shot." Shepard said through ragged breaths, taking his Carnifex from the hallway table, along with a jingling set of Sky car keys. Wrex sat up sharply, Tali cupping her mask in shock.

"What?!" They both asked in unison, both high and low pitch tones mixing into something sounding almost Turian.

"Yeah, I need to get down there. Apparently they're taking him to hospital aboard the Rayya and Kronos is being held for questioning on the Neema." Shepard rubbed his rasping face. Tali nodded.

"Okay, well let's go-"

"No, not you. Tali, I need you to stay here, who knows how many other upset Geth are on the Neema. Wrex, you're coming with me." Shepard pointed Wrex to his Claymore lent against the wall.

"Wait, Kronos shot him?" Tali squeaked as Wrex snaked passed her. Shepard nodded with a grim eyebrow raise. Tali shook her head. "No, I-I'm coming to!"

"I need you to stay here. It's possible that Kronos has issued an assassination attempt on all Admirals. Raan's coming over in a few hours to take you up to the Rayya for safety." Shepard slipped by the huge red clad Krogan. He stood in front of Tali taking her hands. She peered from the two clasping palms at him, both their hearts beating at a terrifying rate, the organs punching through their ribs.

"I'll be fine," Shepard kissed her mask and cupped her metal cheeks, reeling back and letting his azure gaze fix on hers. It said I love you in so many ways. He stepped away and looked at Grunt. "Grunt, stay with her!"

The huge silver armored Krogan leaped up from the chair, huge ice blue eyes blaring. "Wait, what?"

"Huh?" Tali cocked her head.

"We'll see you up on the Rayya, okay? Stay safe!" Shepard said as he and Wrex slipped out the front door.

"Wait, but-" The door slammed and silence filled the living room, Tali nervously shifting her gaze to the huge Krogan teen beside her. She shrugged and nervously chuckled. Grunt sighed and trudged off into the kitchen.

"Got any food?" He called in his deep growl. Tali sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Great. Babysit the Krogan." She sighed, slouching into the Kitchen. At least this would give her something to fixate on, instead of pry about Shepard's safety. It scared her how close the Geth and Quarians were to all out war again: An assassination attempt from the Ambassador for the Geth, others possibly hunting the Admirals. To know the Geth felt this emotional sting from the loss of so many, it made them seem not only real, but damn well alive.

"No! Put that down Grunt!"

SMASH!

"Oops."

...

Shepard sat in the driver's seat, whizzing over the baking desert. In the distant sky were huge black clouds, tumbling over mountains. The rocky fingers almost seemed to squeeze the flesh of the clouds and rinse out there contents of dusty red rain. Red flashes of lightning ripples across the continents of thunderous clouds. The black clouds set against the deep blue sky of noon making it an almost perfect division of light and dark.

Wrex pumped his Claymore as they lifted over the hills towards the row of Envoy ships landed across the desert strip. "So...Not exactly how I thought we'd spend our visit." Wrex scoffed.

"No it certainly wasn't." Shepard sighed, rubbing his brow with a free hand pried from the wheel. "I mean why? Why couldn't I just move to Rannoch with my wif-

"Your wife?" Wrex raised an incredulous eyebrow. Shepard stammered, cheeks heating.

"I meant Fiancé-damn!-no, girlfriend!" he hammered into the steering wheel. He calmed. "My...girlfriend." he sighed. Wrex snorted and shook his head.

"You two amaze me." He peered out at the passing world below as patters of brown rain streaked across the windscreen, the sky slowly clogging with the thick black fog. The windscreen wipers began to churn against the now hammering torrent of dirty desert water.

"Desert dust must have mixed with the rain. Hope you don't mind getting wet and dirty Wrex." Shepard chuckled dryly as they touched down upon the Neema's landing pad. Wrex smirked as he pried the door open and stepped out onto the flooded pad. The temperature was still humid and the warm rain splashed against the huge Krogan's crest, running off the brim of his brow, rivers of dirty water trickling down his scarred features.

Shepard stepped beside him, rain hammering into his shaven head and leather Jacket. His head had sunk down into his shoulders and eyes squinted. The sky car locked and Wrex guffawed.

"What's the matter Shepard? You mind getting wet?" He smirked as the Krogan lifted his shotgun. Shepard smiled and raised his Carnifex. They both stood side by side on the pad, the metal beneath them alive with thousands of ripples from the pounding rain, a dirty tinge to the water. They stepped forward to the ramp leading within the catacombs of the Neema's hull. Wrex pat Shepard's shoulder and he peered to what the Krogan saw.

He lowered his pistol along with his jaw at the sight: The wrecked and twisted hull of a Kodiak shuttle. Wrex whistled through his leathery pursed lips. His shotgun slung over his bulky shoulder.

"Whew...whoever did that has one mean swing." Wrex chuckled. Shepard hopped off the lip of the pad and with a thud, on top of the Neema's metal hull. Wrex slid down one of the girders that held the pad up, separate from the Neema's roof. Caught and wedged between the pad and the ship, was the Kodiak wreck.

"This was the ship that was going to take Gerrel up to the Rayya." Shepard rubbed his stubbly chin as he administered his vision to the crumpled hull. "Kronos did this?" he ran a hand along the crinkled plates and torn metal.

"Apparently so." Wrex said, nudging the wreck with his shotgun barrel. Shepard stood up as the rain pattered against his scalp, a thunderous bang erupting across the sky, along with a streak of red vein electricity etching across the monstrous maelstrom above.

"Come on, let's get inside. Things are looking worse than what you told me." Wrex mumbled, hauling up onto the pad. Shepard followed suit, both entering the ship and out of the torrential downpour. Wrex shook his head and bulky back, dousing Shepard in dirty water droplets.

"Thank you, Lassie." Shepard rolled his eyes, raising his pistol towards the darkened halls. Wrex smirked and also raised his weapon as they took off deeper into the ship. With his trusted Krogan brother beside him, he felt invincible.

"So...wife, huh?" Wrex grinned. Shepard sighed, peering at Wrex in the corner of his eye, his lips pressed to a thin line. "What?" The Krogan recoiled.

"Why go there?"

"Well one of us has to." Wrex grumbled. Shepard stopped walking, Wrex carrying on a few more steps until he turned. Shepard shook his head.

"You...You wanna know why, why I haven't asked her to marry me, to bond with me, whatever the fuck it is?!" Shepard growled a hiss through gritted teeth, scraping like porcelain. Wrex shrugged. "Because I am scared Wrex!" Shepard huffed, strings of saliva billowing like vines in his breath.

"Why." Wrex snarled. Shepard set his azure gaze on the Krogan, a dry laugh emitting.

"Why, you're asking me why?"

"Yes, why?! Why not go for it, you've got a house together, a future, everything, so why not!"

"BECAUSE IT NEVER LASTS!" Shepard roared till his throat was dry, lips wet and teeth cold with each hissing breath. Silence echoed after Shepard's roar and his chest heaved. Wrex dropped his shotgun to his side and huffed, peering at Shepard with concern. "It...It never lasts." He calmed to a whisper, resting against the wall till his fizzing legs pulled his body down. He pressed his wrists onto his bent knees and sighed. Wrex knelt beside him, huge red crest covered in battle scars.

"What makes you think that?" Wrex softly spoke. Shepard scoffed and rubbed his face with a free hand. Shepard's mouth opened and closed several times; trying to utter the words he needed to form the sentence.

"I...I remember when I was a kid, my Mom and Dad...they'd fight a lot. I mean, Dad worked in the lumber yards, and Mom...an Admiral in the Alliance fleet; Big difference there huh?" Shepard scoffed, a hand running over his scalp, feeling the bumps of his dry scars. Wrex nodded to himself, his shotgun used as a cane in the knelt position.

"All they'd do is fight. Fight about how they never see one another, about how work takes over, I mean they'd spend their time together fighting about it!" He chuckled dryly, his pistol clattering against the metal floor. Both his hands cupped his face and he groaned loudly.

"I love Tali...so, so much. I don't want us to fall down that path...to just, fight whenever we're together." He looked up at Wrex. "I don't want to end up divorced or something...to become enemies with the woman I loved-love..." He sighed. Wrex chuckled weakly, shaking his massive head.

"Shepard, she is crazy about you. Wanna know a secret?" Wrex tilted his head. Shepard raised an eyebrow. "She wants to get married! You two are different. I've been around for seven hundred years..."

"Oh here we go." Shepard rolled his eyes.

"No, hear me out. I've been around for seven hundred years, I've had friends come and go, but none like you, or the Normandy crew. I've met couples before. And none have been like you and Tali. If anyone in this Galaxy is meant to be, it's you...and her." He prodded Shepard's chest. "She loves you, you love her. What's not to get? Man up, and give her a damn ring." Wrex growled, Shepard scoffing as he airily laughed to himself, finding the floor very interesting.

"Hey..." Wrex lifted Shepard's chin, a grin on his leathery features. "Keep ya chin up. Tell her about all this when you two get a sec." He flicked Shepard's head, making the Commander growl. "But right now, we've got a pissed off Geth to find." Wrex groaned as he stood up. Shepard's followed suit, standing from the floor.

"Thanks Wrex. Who would have thought I'd be getting all my relationship advice from an aging Krogan." He smirked. Wrex guffawed and lifted his shotgun. Shepard picked up his Carnifex and aimed down the hall sharply at a loud bang.

"Gunfire?" Wrex asked with a raised ridge. Shepard tilted his head, inkling to the latter.

"Probably. Come on, let's hurry." Shepard ran, Wrex beside him.

...

Tali sat on the sofa, groaning to herself , her head propped on one hand, the other holding a glass of Dextro wine, straw swirling in the red liquid. Her legs were pulled up under her rear on the leather chair, staring across the lounge in silence at the huge Krogan on the other sofa. Grunt coughed quietly into his fist, still sounding incredibly loud throughout the silent house. The clock ticked in the corner, the hands plucking mechanically.

Grunt fiddled with his hands upon his huge lap. He peered up at Tali, nervously grinning his teeth. Tali sighed and peered over at the front door, hoping Shepard would return home soon. She grumbled Keelish slurs under her silver tongue and peered back at Grunt, who was busy flicking the lamp on and off. Flash of amber, then dark, another flash. On and off, on and off, the cycle continued.

"Can you please...?" Tali raised her voice accidentally, Grunt peering at her with wide eyes. She soothed her senses. "Please...stop that." She forced a smile behind the mask. Grunt huffed and turned the lamp off, then on again. Tali growled and stood up, walking into the kitchen. Grunt followed suit, the leather of the chair plumping back up from under his immense weight.

She leaned against the counter and opened a cupboard. Grunt was curious as he watched her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, raising an eyebrow plate. She ignored him, huffing as she pulled out a box of Shepard's cookies. She put them on the counter and slid them along the marble towards the Krogan youngster. His ice blue eyes illuminated, a drool sliding over his bottom lip.

"If this keeps you quiet, knock yourself out, Grunt." She shrugged, sipping a long gulp of her wine. Grunt opened the box apprehensively, eyes set on her.

"Wait, this is a trick, isn't it? My Battlemaster will be angry at me." He put the box down. Tali shook her head at his loyalty to Shepard. When he was healing after the Citadel explosion, Grunt stayed in the hospital by his side for days on end, shotgun in his lap always by Shepard's bed. Tali had to basically push the Krogan youngster out to get some time alone with her bond mate.

"He won't mind Grunt, honest." Tali smiled. Grunt nodded and opened the box, taking a handful of cookies. He wasn't hard to persuade. Tali gulped back some more wine, the burn in her throat turning to a warming sensation in her stomach. Grunt munched on the cookies and watched Tali's every move.

"So...um...err..." Grunt gulps, rubbing the back of his head, crumbs freckling his head. Tali raised an eyebrow. "How's...err...How's the...Immune system?" Grunt asked, clearing his throat. Tali groaned, hand rubbing her visor.

...

Shepard rounded the corner, following the path of destruction. Indented fists in the aluminium frames, girders bent and twisted like straws. Yet the silence was harrowing, bar the static sounding monotonous call of the distant rain.

A wall of consoles beckoned his attention, and he approached with Wrex to his side. He scratches his chin and flicks up the holographic display.

"Maybe there's some kind of security footage we can watch." Shepard shrugged. He scrolled down the page, but something in the list of numbers and letters gained his eye.

Vid message Rael: Password protected.

Shepard's interest peaked, and he clicked the file, a red flare of warning emitting. He looked at the password block of five empty letter boxes. The question above was all Shepard needed to answer this riddle: Where you began.

Shepard rubbed his chin and entered his own thesis. He typed "Space" with a shudder at the memories of his life aboard Alliance Dreadnoughts with his Admiral of a mother, away from his father forever more.

The code blared red and emptied the boxes of the letters, a warning of 'You have 1 more attempt left.'

He slapped himself mentally. Of course it wasn't for you, it's for a Quarian.

Shepard thought hard, scrubbing his face with both rasping hands. Wrex peered at the Commander with a raised ridge. Finally Shepard lifted his eyes and knew the answer.

It's for my Quarian...

Shepard entered the letters one by one: R-A-Y-Y-A and hit enter. It flashed green and the video unlocked for him. The message began to play after a short moment of buffering. A Male Quarian's masked face leaned towards the camera, glaring intently. He reeled back in his seat and cleared his throat, staring at the camera softly. Shepard knew this man, he'd seen his body, he'd comforted his daughter...it was Rael'Zorah Vas Alarei, his dark blue fogged mask on beige gold armor and red cloth wraps.

"If you are watching this, then I guess I'm too late, as always." He weakly chuckled, a single bob of his shoulders.

From what Shepard could see, the background behind him was a Quarian Envoy ship's interior: dark metal walls, a huge sealed door and many Geth parts and Quarian tools laced across a desk behind him.

"Truth is, I was always late. Late for your birthdays, for your achievements...for you Pilgrimage graduation. I know a man's last message to his daughter can't repair a lifetime of bad parenting, but I have to tell you all I can in these short, brief moments, Tali." Rael paused and huffed, peering down at his palms. He snapped his eyes back up at the camera. Shepard and Wrex watched intently.

"This...This was meant for Tali." Shepard breathed, Wrex nodding.

"Who is that?" Wrex asked. Shepard scoffed, shaking his head gently.

"It's her father."

"I was a poor father. I neglected you, ran tests on you..." He croaked and shook his shoulders; obvious even with a mask on that he was close to tears. "W-When you were only a child; you came to me, Raan, about Nightmares of Geth attacks in your sleep..." Rael looked at the camera with sorrowful eyes. "One of my tests was of a V.I that could control the Geth. It was in its infancy, weak and feeble, but I had to test it, to see if an Organic mind could control it, could stabilize it..."

Shepard listened with horror. Rael designed Project Overlord, not Cerberus. His entire world inverted. Everything was a lie. It explained how advanced the V.I was and how it could control Geth units: A Quarian designed it. Rael sniffled as he watched the Camera lens.

"I tested a V.I on my own Daughter!" Rael hissed, cupping his mask. "Who does that? Certainly not a good father. I know I won't be missed, and in the possibility that you are still watching, I am sorry I failed you my baby girl." He sighed, rubbing his masked brow. "My project must not see the light of day. Xen is trying to use it, for war mongering dreams, for slavery, for mass Genocide. She wants to use the Geth as an army, not an ally, not an enemy, but as a slave. It's the reason we're in this mess. Such power in her hands is something I cannot allow."

Shepard leaned forward and watched the video play on.

"I have had to fake my own demise to see to it that this V.I never sees the light of day. Cerberus are pining for me now, they want this damned project. All I ever wanted was to give you a house on the Homeworld. Now I can't even do that." He sighed, massaging his helmet temple.

Shepard reeled in horror. The man they found dead was not her father; it was a decoy, a sick decoy. While it was the cruelest of ways to leave his daughter and old life behind, it did mean that he was free to leave the Flotilla and make sure that the V.I was destroyed and out of not only Cerberus hands, but Xen's.

"I know that asking for the forgiveness of someone I've neglected their whole life is unreasonable and impossible. I'm sorry Tali, my little Tali, for so many things. Raan tells me you feel like you can't live up to my standards..." Rael stared softly at the camera, his silver eyes glimmering with wet tears.

"You have never let me down, never. Never change yourself to please me...You've already done that. You've already made me so, so proud Tali." He croaked, sniffling. The door opened behind him and white armor clad human soldiers entered, Mattock rifles trained on him. One of the soldiers enters, standing over Rael, a Cerberus insignia on his pectoral.

"The Illusive man wants what you have. Where is Project Overlord?"

"You will never have it." Rael snarled. The man punched a white knuckled fist across Rael's mask, cracking his visor.

"Give us the pass code for this computer, give us the Project!" The man roared, static buzzing over the volume. Rael stared up from his seat, straight at the camera lens, straight into the eyes of the viewer. He sighed heavily, dropping his head. Shepard saw him click a seat belt across his torso, turning to face the monitor.

"The pass code is Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya." He muttered. Suddenly, as if gravity inverted, all the Cerberus soldiers lifted off the floor and slammed into the ceiling, the bellowing whine of a dying drive core screaming behind Rael. It didn't take an Engineer to know that Rael had a voice activated fail-safe on the ship, to crash it.

"I know you will achieve wonders Tali! I know you will!" Rael shouted over the scream of turbines and Cerberus soldiers clambering behind him. One of the soldiers latched his hand onto Rael's seat, pressing frantically at the keypad on Rael's computer. "A house is merely bricks and mortar! A home is flesh and blood! Whoever you choose a home with, a path with, I will be proud no matter what!"

"Remember...Behind the Veil, lies the key!" Rael spoke proudly, even though his ship was plummeting into a planet below, evident as a massive segment of the ship tore away behind his seat, a flash of blue sky and light flooding the area behind him. Cerberus operatives screamed as they were sucked away from the ship, torn clean from its disintegrating hull. His lab dissolved behind his seat, yet he kept his eyes trained on the camera lens.

"Know this Tali...You are, and always will be...my greatest creation." Rael said with a tearful smile, his eyes being crescent moons behind the web of cracks on his mask. Finally the video ended with a bang and cut to static.

Shepard was awe struck, jaw like rubber, hanging loosely. Rael had deceived them all, but to save not only his daughter, but the entire Quarian race, maybe a part of him even wanted to save the Geth. But something dawns on him, a harrowing realization:

Now Xen has the Overlord data. But, she hasn't done anything horrible or twisted with it. She hasn't killed or tested on any Geth, and she certainly did not detonate the bomb.

Rael had designed the V.I, had perfected it by the sounds of it. So why did it devour David Archer? Sabotaged it in case Cerberus did get a hold of it, to stop them completing it to his level? Possible.

Shepard's thoughts quickly lingered to Tali. She knows nothing of this, and she needs to know. She needs to understand that her father's last words to her weren't in fact orders; they were kind dying words as his ship plummeted to its grave, all to stop Cerberus from obtaining Overlord.

But they did obtain it, which means they knew where his ship crashed. Shepard shakes his head and removed the drives from the computer, shoving them in his coat pocket.

"Tali needs to see this." Shepard nodded, Wrex agreeing completely. They turned to walk away, having learned a harrowing truth. Back to the present, Shepard raised his pistol at some clattering down the hall. They still needed to find Kronos, a Geth struggling to control the sudden data load of emotions.

...

Wrex pressed his hump against the wall, the splintered door frame to his right. Shepard pressed his back to the other side, nodding to Wrex. Clattering filled the dark room and sheets of broken metal covered the floor, the mechanism of the door still whirring in an attempt to open the nonexistent door.

Wrex tilted his crest to the door and Shepard stepped in, pistol raised. The iron sight scanned the room for any movement. Shepard's heart thumped and he turned to the corner where he found the being in question. He tapped Wrex's shoulder and pointed to the silhouette slumped in the corner.

The Geth Prime, Kronos, sat against the wall, synthetic palms covered in Quarian blood. His red optics glimmered and he peered up at Shepard.

"Geth...are new...to this...I...I..." the trio of red eyes tilted to the corner with a synthetic whir. Shepard looked over and he saw the mutilated corpses of Quarian Marines. Shepard covered his mouth with his sleeve and gagged. Wrex slumped his shoulders and mouthed an "oh shit" shaking his scalp, seeing the snapped bones, cracked masks, piecing wounds, blood leaking over the floor.

He turned on heel and looked at the sat Geth Prime. To his surprise, Kronos was still stuttering, digital clicks whirring behind each mumble.

"It was an accident...I...I felt something...something new...unknown. When we were young, we wished to feel Organic...to feel emotions...but now..." Kronos peered up at Shepard, head flaps reared. "There are so many! What do I feel?"

"Guilt?" Shepard stuttered, looking at the dead Marines. Wrex paced behind Shepard, his teeth gritted. Kronos's optics flickered around in thought.

"N...No."

"Upset?"

"No."

"Then what, what do you feel Kronos?" Shepard spat. The red optics set on Shepard's cold as steel.

"I feel...like I failed." Kronos spoke. Shepard reeled back. The tone in his electronic voice was so real, so organic. He had never heard a Geth say "Like" before; it was unnerving, especially from a Geth who just slaughtered Quarians to get to Gerrel.

Shepard suddenly became aware of something. "Where's Han'Gerrel?" Shepard asked, pistol aimed. Kronos snapped his optics on Shepard. His head flaps lowered into a furrowed brow.

"Destroyer Gerrel, guilty of crimes against my people?!"

"We don't know that!" Shepard roared. Kronos stood up, taller than he.

"We? Do not be naive Shepard-Commander!" Kronos blared his digital roar. Wrex stood on edge, shotgun aimed at Kronos.

"He'll be put on trial, we'll find out if he's guilty-

"Put on trial by his own kind, for crimes against another? Do you not see the flaw in this ideology Shepard-Commander?" Kronos stepped forward, huge feet thumping.

"What are you-

"You are allowing his own people to decide his fate, when it should be up to the Geth! We were hurt; we should choose his punishment...his fate." Kronos clenched his bloodied fists. Shepard gulped and took a tentative step back, pistol still trained on the angered Prime. Kronos shook his head.

"You're struggling to understand and control all these new emotions. It must be scary, right?" Shepard tried to calm the flaring Geth Prime.

"Legion once spoke of you in the highest of regards, as a hero, a god...a legend. But now? It is evident that you chose peace with us to save not only your own kind, but the Creators, not the Geth!"

"No, that isn't tr-

"We were a tool, a tool you used to fight the Old machines!" Kronos stopped, flaps raised in sudden realization. "...and now that our usefulness, our functionality to your cause has expired, you wish to destroy us..." Kronos flared his three optics at Shepard. "I am new to these feelings, but I will learn to control them...to understand them."

Shepard looked at Wrex, eyes full of concern.

"We are not going to kill you Kronos, okay? Just calm down, and try to..." Shepard wanted to say 'take a deep breath', but Geth could not breathe. "...Try to take all these emotions and calm them, yeah?" Shepard's plead fell on deaf ears.

"The Geth will not die this day, or any day. Peace with the Creators, is over!" Kronos lunged at Shepard, tackling him and smashing through the wall in an explosion of concrete and metal. Wrex unloaded shells into Kronos's side, merely denting him.

In the floor below, Shepard crashed through the ceiling, his back thumping into the metal, rolling away from the kneeling Geth Prime. His diaphragm begging him to inhale some air, but his lungs kept emptying their already dry innards.

Finally he gasped a long inhale and sat up, looking at the Geth Prime across the room. Kronos lunged forward, slamming Shepard into the ground. He grappled Shepard's soft fleshy throat in his tough metal hand, his other holding Shepard's tensed arm.

Metal groaned within Kronos and Shepard gritted his teeth, muscles on fire with lactic burn.

"I will kill Gerrel."Kronos snarled, tightening his grip. "You stopped me once, you won't stop me again." Kronos roared, Shepard gritting his teeth to keep his sharp metal fingers from his chest. His pectorals heaved and his biceps burned.

"I'm getting stronger everyday!" Kronos roared as he sunk the finger tips into Shepard's chest. "We will survive."

"Stop this Kronos-Argh-Stop, I don't want...to hurt your people!" Shepard growled as Kronos sunk his fingers deeper into his muscles.

"Lies, an Organic trait!"

Shepard felt the power of his synthetic implants beginning to whir to life. He roared and tried to push the forearm of the Geth titan from his chest. Images of Tali flashed through his mind.

"After Gerrel, all Creators will answer for their crimes against the Geth!" Kronos roared. Shepard flared his eyes and his arms tightened and bulged as the muscles worked harder and harder, veins pumping faster and thicker.

Kronos's fingers began to slide out of his chest muscle, Shepard's arm trembling under the weight of the immense Geth Prime. The red optics inches from his face widened in surprise.

"You won't hurt anyone!" Shepard snarled pulling his arm up and away. Suddenly a loud gunshot rang out and Kronos wailed, head arching back. The Geth Prime sat up off of Shepard to address the new threat and another gunshot rang out, blowing Kronos's head apart. The Prime fell back with a thud beside Shepard, oozing hydraulic fluid running down his metal spine. Shepard sighed with a mix of relief and despair.

On one hand, he'd stopped the threat, but on the other, he'd destroyed the emotion conflicted Geth ambassador. He sat up and pressed a palm over his wound, gritting his teeth at the agony.

"Thanks Wre..." Shepard never finished the word when he saw the shooter. Gerrel stood before him, Carnifex in hand and a thick blood clotted bandage tied around his torso. His mask was cracked and his shawl torn.

"Shepard..." He groaned as Wrex ran over from behind, out of breath. Shepard stood up on weak jingly legs.

"So...Gerrel...Now what..." Shepard breathed heavily. They all looked at the lifeless Prime corpse.

"Kronos isn't dead Shepard; he'll have sent his data load back to the Consensus." Gerrel walked past Shepard and stood over the Prime's body. "No, this is just the start of this madness."

"He's not evil, just struggling. Imagine it, getting all those new emotions all at once? Suddenly being alive? Crazy." Shepard sighed. Gerrel nodded, tapping his boot against the Geth Prime corpse.

"Why'd you do it? The bomb?" Shepard gritted his teeth. Gerrel sighed and turned, facing him.

"I didn't. Xen did. I'm innocent Shepard."

"You blew up a Dreadnought I was on!" He snarled.

"During the war to save our world, do you think I don't regret doing that to my niece, my best friend's daughter aboard? I lay awake far too often contemplating all my decisions. I did what I had to do at the time, but I'd never do something like this, especially in peace time."

"How can I believe you?" Shepard scoffed. Gerrel turned to the Marine corpses and took one look then turned back.

"Gak'Noorel, Qet'Sevet, Kol'Neegan and Fiv'Tervous. All good men with families, all good men that served under me. I take one look and I know them. I don't take pleasure in war Shepard; I hate my job, what actions it makes me take. So many looking at you to act, then judge you for those actions no matter the outcome." Gerrel sighed, Shepard looking down from him. Gerrel stepped closer, fists clenched.

"You don't think that it's seared into my brain, every decision I've ever made? That I don't regret? Well, I do Shepard...I regret a lot. But I will never regret what I did during the war; because in the long run it worked...it got us our home world back."

"Whatever good that is now. We've got a conflicted Geth on the loose looking to kill you, and this one's the Ambassador for the Geth!" Shepard snapped. Gerrel sighed, rubbing his mask brow. Shepard huffed and peered down at Gerrel's wound.

"We need to get you up to the Rayya for your trial, they'll heal you there." Shepard said, gesturing to the doorway.

"What's the point? Everyone's already made up their minds." Gerrel sighed, looking at the floor with a defeated slump. Shepard looked at Wrex and the Krogan just shrugged, helpfully.

"Look Gerrel, if you don't attend the trial, it's gonna look a lot worse." Shepard said to him. Gerrel scoffed and looked back at the floor. It was at this precise moment, that Shepard felt a pang. A pang that maybe Gerrel was innocent. He did whatever it took to free Rannoch during the war. What would this man gain from attacking the Geth during peace time? He suddenly pieced together how odd and out of character it sounded. He didn't know Gerrel well, but damn it all he knew how loyal he was to the Quarian people.

"Gerrel..." Shepard said, making him look up. "I believe you."