Shepard was overjoyed when she discovered the last dossier on the list was actually Tali. Apparently after their meeting on Freedom’s Progress Tali had decided to join back up with her old Commander once she finished her last mission and sent out a message saying so. The only problem was, the date her mission was expected to be finished had come and gone without any word from her Quarian friend.

When Shepard reached out to the Migrant Fleet about trying to get in contact with her, she was only told that Tali’s entire group had gone dark in the far rim and their last known location was on a planet called Haestrom deep in Geth controlled space.

It might have been a bit of an overreaction, and Shepard felt mildly guilty making the two week voyage to the Dholan system with no further information, but she wasn’t about to leave a friend in a bind.

“Mass Effect transition successful, Commander.” Joker dutifully reported as the Normandy decelerated. “I don’t like the looks of this place though. That star is putting out a lot of radiation. It’s actually scratching our radiation shields from here!”

Shepard looked over his shoulder at the readings on one of the control panels. Just like Joker said there was a noticeable spike in magnetic and solar emissions coming from the system’s sun.

“What do you got, EDI?”

The AI’s avatar popped up from the nearby projector. “Scans of the local star confirm that it is entering the beginning stages of erupting into a red giant, though previous scans of this system indicate this development is premature for a natural development.

“The increased solar activity is overwhelming all local communications, we will be unable to locate Tali’Zorah or her team from orbit and will need to use their initial planned landing site as a starting point.

“In addition to that, there seems to be considerable Geth activity in the system along with a potential environmental hazard on Haestrom itself.”

That didn’t sound good.

“What kind of environmental hazard?”

“It is highly likely that these levels of solar output will have overwhelmed Haestrom’s protective magnetosphere. Direct exposure will likely damage personal shields with direct exposure.”

Joker whistled. “Not the place to work on your suntan then. You sure you want to head down there, Commander?”

“Want to? No.” Shepard said easily. “But Tali’s down there somewhere and might need our help. So down we go.”

“Roger that. ETA to the landing site is one hour.”

-o-

An hour wasn’t a huge amount of time to decide who to bring with her, but Shepard was able to narrow down the list of squad members down pretty easily when she thought about the conditions they would be operating in.

Thane, Jack, and Kasumi were out because they didn’t have anything that would block out the harmful radiation from the sun if their shields failed. Miranda would be busy running the ship. Jacob and Grunt were solid backup, but didn’t offer much in an investigation. They were very much ‘point out what needs shooting and watch them go’ members of her team. So that left Mordin, Garrus, and Samara.

Mordin, while brilliant, focused more on biology than mechanics so he would have little to offer against the Geth while Garrus had fought dozens of the mechanical hive-mind soldiers alongside her before and Samara’s biotics would pair well with her own.

Choices made, Shepard had EDI notify both of them to meet her in the hangar and be ready for a mission. Even with the Normandy’s stealth systems, she didn’t trust the Geth to not respond if they noticed the ground team at some point. That meant a small easily extracted team.

Which is why it was a surprise to see Revan waiting patiently next to the shuttle as soon as the elevator doors opened.

“Revan, you…”

“I’ll be joining you planetside.” Revan interrupted. “There is something down there calling to me.”

That did nothing to set Shepard at ease. Her main three goals were to get planetside, grab Tali, and leave. Not go hunting for whatever Revan had felt.

“I wasn’t planning on two squads. We need to be quick and mobile if we want to avoid attracting attention from the Geth in the area.” She tried dissuading Revan, but the Elf waved her off.

“That’s fine. I was planning on searching alone. Whatever this thing is, it's Force related. No one else would be capable of helping me.”

Shepard probably could have argued some more, but every second wasted here was another second they weren’t looking for Tali. So she simply accepted the inevitability of the Sith following along for the ride.

“Fine, but we’re on a time limit. If we find Tali before whatever thing you’re after we pull out immediately.” She ordered, to which Revan simply nodded.

The Spectre hadn’t forgotten the fight a couple weeks ago between Revan and Samara. Since then the two made a point to never be in the same room together, and them being forced into the same small dropship just made it uncomfortable for everyone, but neither one of them did so much as glance at the other for the entire trip. Shepard felt even more awkward feeling the weight of Revan’s ‘appreciation’ gift hanging off her mag-harness despite rationally knowing Samara didn’t care about it in the least.

A week ago, Revan had given her what she called a blaster rifle as a ‘thank you’ for dealing with Samara. The Sith mentioned it was what the standard soldier in her galaxy used and rattled off a model number, but since it was the only one in this galaxy Shepard stuck to calling it just a blaster rifle.

While she normally preferred to get up close and personal in a fight, it had taken the Spectre less than five minutes to fall in love with the laser gun. Tough, reliable, and burning through kinetic barriers five times better than a standard assault rifle, Shepard would have appreciated the weapon no matter what. Giving it five hundred shots per clip - sorry, ‘energy pack’ - made it the single best piece of hardware she had gotten her hands on even if Revan had secured it so tightly that none of the Normandy crew could begin to figure it out without bricking the whole thing.

The Justicar had walked in on Shepard practicing with her new weapon in the weapon’s range and assured her that she had no issue with Shepard accepting the Sith’s gift, but the Commander still couldn’t help but feel like she was choosing sides between her crew.

So it was a relief when the Kodiak made landfall and the doors popped open, letting the four crewmembers out into the burning hellscape that was Haestrom. In some ways it was sad, the ruins they landed at had once been a thriving Quarian colony. Now it would never be one again. Not with the sun turning the entire planet into a death trap. In others, it was straight out of a horror vid. Tall stone buildings, bleached white from Dholen’s harmful rays, completely empty except for murderous alien machines ready to kill them all.

“Alright, our records for Tali’s group say they should be somewhere in these ruins.” Shepard said, eager to not waste time. “I’ll take point. Garrus, you’re on overwatch. Samara, watch the flanks. And Revan…” the Spectre trailed off, giving the Sith an opportunity to speak.

“I’m having trouble pinpointing the object calling to me at the moment. I’ll remain with your team for now and let you know before I break off. I’ll assist the Justicar in covering the flanks.”

Samara nodded serenely. “I’m sure you will live up to your reputation as a warrior.”

Revan didn’t respond to what Shepard was sure was a veiled insult and the Commander figured there was no time like the present to begin heading into the ruins.

Just as predicted, direct sunlight played havoc with their shields. Even a few seconds were enough to drain them considerably and the heat prevented them from recharging until they managed to find some shade.

Thankfully, shade wasn’t too hard to find in the ruins. Even before being forced to live in spaceships had wrecked the Quarians’ immune systems, the species seemed to favor cavernous designs and buildings. And they seemed to build to last. That, or the Geth made sure things were still working because their squad ran into a security gate still functioning and a station nearby.

“Stack up. There might be Geth inside, but check your fire. I don’t want us blowing out the controls by mistake.” Shepard ordered.

She and Garrus hugged either side of the door while Revan and Samara prepared to breach. After a quick count, Shepard opened the door and the two powerhouses walked through to reveal not only Geth but a Quarian as well.

Unfortunately, everything inside was already dead.

“Emergency log entry: The Geth are here. I’ve stayed to buy the others time.” A Quarian voice, identifiable by the mechanical reverb of his vocaliser, said through a nearby console. He must have recorded this just before his death. “Anyone who gets this, find Tali’Zorah. She and the data are all that matters. Keelah se’lai.”

“Poor bastard.” Garrus commented as he looked over the Quarian’s body. There was no chance he was still alive, considering the plasma burns that chewed through his torso.

“Indeed, but he confirmed your friend is here and was alive.” Samara replied. “His sacrifice was not in vain.”

There was really nothing more to say than that. So Shepard quickly triggered the gate controls and the squad moved on.

They didn’t get far before they heard the hum of a mass effect engine passing overhead.

“Incoming dropship!” Garrus called out as the insectile craft started dropping Geth all over the plaza directly in front of them. The mechanical soldiers didn’t need to worry about broken bones, so they were practically catapulted out of the ship using mass effect fields and pretty soon there were over a dozen on the ground in seconds.

Oddly, the Geth started moving away from Shepard’s squad until one unit got a lucky glance at them rushing for cover, after which every nearby unit turned around at once and opened fire.

Shepard didn’t dwell on that oddity though, she had Geth to kill.

She didn’t like her odds getting up close with the possibility that stepping out into the sun at the wrong moment risked breaking her shields, so she grabbed her blaster rifle and aimed at the closest Geth unit. She fell in love with the new gun all over again when a trio of bright red bolts blew out the trooper’s shields and scrapped the unit’s chest with one burst.

She killed two more troopers before mentally pulling back and looking over the rest of the battle.

Garrus didn’t need much prodding. He knew from previous encounters with the Geth to focus on units trying to sneak around the edges and the sight of one of the Geth’s flashlight-like heads exploding in a burst of sparks and white liquid let her know he was doing his job just fine.

Samara was proving herself to be every bit the powerful Biotic Shepard had expected as the Justicar threw out technique after technique, not only shredding the Geth with Reave fields but Pulling them into the air and hosing them down effortlessly with her SMG.

Finally, Revan. The Sith had neglected to mention her swords were capable of deflecting certain kinds of projectiles and was alternating between frying the Geth with lightning and shooting them with their own shots.

It was apparent Shepard wasn’t going to need to do anything fancy for this firefight and went back to blasting any trooper caught out of cover with her new gun.

Between the four of them, the Geth troopers barely lasted a full minute before they were wiped out and the ground team was moving forward again.

“Anyone else notice they didn’t look like they were here for us?” Garrus asked once they regrouped.

“Oh, good, not just me then.” Shepard said back. “Any chance that means our Quarian research team is nearby?”

Revan paused and tilted her head, “I can sense several sentients up ahead. Most of them are feeling fear and a few are in pain. One just died.”

Everyone stopped at that and stared at the Sith.

Shepard was tempted to ask why she hadn’t brought it up earlier, but knew this wasn’t the time for it.

“Alright, I guess we found them. Let’s get moving before the Geth get to them.” Instead she focused on going faster. There were a few more Quarian bodies on their route through the ruins that proved the research team went through this way, but that they weren’t alone or safe.

They turned a corner and wound up coming up behind a squad of Geth in the middle of a firefight. With all of the units facing the wrong direction, Shepard’s squad had the rare opportunity to blitz the entire group. Every Geth there was thrown into the far wall by the combination of Shepard and Samara’s biotics and then hosed down with more lightning.

“I’m starting to feel redundant.” Garrus quipped.

Shepard patted him on the shoulder and started moving forward again, “Don’t worry, Garrus, you’ll always be team mascot in my book.” Her smile died when she turned the corner and found the remains of a Quarian fire team on the floor in front of her. She didn’t waste time barking out orders to check them over for survivors. Sadly, two were already beyond help but one might pull through if they made it to a medbay soon and the last was only temporarily saved by Revan’s direct intervention.

“Come on, come on. Stay with me.” Shepard muttered repeatedly as she alternated between injecting medi-gel into the various holes in the Quarian’s body and trying to patch his suit with some hasty applications of omni-gel.

Halfway through, a discarded radio unit crackled to life, the sound of gunfire audible in the background over the stressed speaker’s voice. “Break-break-break. OP-1 this is Squad Leader Kal’Reegar, do you copy?!” Shepard waved Garrus to take over the Quarian’s treatment while she grabbed the unit even as Kal’Reegar kept talking. “The Geth sent a dropship towards OP-2. Tali’Zorah’s secure, but we need backup. We’re bunkered up here, can you send support?!”

“This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Two of the squad up here are in critical condition...the others didn’t make it. Can we provide assistance?”

“Damn it. Alright, patch your radio to channel 617 Theta.”

Shepard’s ground team quickly changed to the correct frequency.

“We were on a stealth mission. High risk.” Reegar continued. “We found what we were after, but the Geth found us. And they’ve got us pinned down. Can’t get back to our ship, can’t transmit data through the solar radiation.”

“What the hell is so important that brought you to the middle of Geth space?”

“You're asking the wrong person, Shepard. I just point and shoot. Something about the sun going bad faster than it should and energy problems.”

So the Quarians noticed that too. And they were actually here to find out why.

“Okay, what’s the status of your team? How many are left? And do we need to worry about Geth reinforcements on the way?”

“We were a small squad. Dozen marines plus the science team.” Reegar said sadly. “We’re down to half strength now. Made the synthetic bastards pay for it though. As for reinforcements, I don’t think so. A Geth patrol ship spotted us on a planetary sweep and its dropships started raining Geth down on us. That’s where all of them are coming from. It hasn’t lifted off again and the radiation blocks all off-world communication.”

So they only had to worry about the Geth in the area and not a frigate or something waiting overhead. Good.

Shepard watched as Samara gently lifted the injured Quarians and moved them out of the way, then turn back and motion that they had done all they could for the marines for the moment.

“How are you holding up? My team can be there in a few minutes.”

“No, take it slow and careful. We’re bunkered down at base camp across the valley. I left Tali’Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the chokepoint. Getting her out safely is our top priority. If you can extract her, we’ll keep them off you.”

Damn, it sounded like Reegar was ready to die as long as Tali made it out okay. And while Shepard respected the hell out of the marine for that and confirming Tali was safe for now, she would prefer that all of them made it off this planet.

Shepard looked over the valley and spotted where the quarians were holed up against the geth and started forming a plan.

“Okay, hold position. We’ll hit their back flanks.”

“Wait! Hold back, we’ve got another dropship heading in!”

The ground team could only watch on from a distance as a geth dropship made a strafing run on the marine’s positions, blowing their cover - and the soldiers’ bodies - to shreds at the same time.

Shepard looked away when she noticed a nearby stone pillar had destabilised in the attack and was about to fall on the fallen marines. She didn’t need the image of bodies getting flattened added to her nightmares.

Oddly, there was no distant thunder of a multi-ton block of stone crashing to the ground so Shepard risked a look to find the same pillar floating harmlessly a few inches over the prone forms of the marines.

“What the-”

Everyone turned to look at Revan and saw her with one hand outstretched in a clawing grasp. Shepard quickly turned back to the valley and saw the pillar slowly set down a few feet in front of the quarians.

“Shepard, what the hell was that?!” Reegar’s voice exploded out of their comms, but the Spectre was too busy ordering her squad to move forward to answer. She wasn’t sure what she would say anyway...their local magic-space-elf lent them a hand? No way. “Nevermind, they’re coming through the side! I’ve got to fall back. Cer'Sumos get those marines inside!”

-o-

Revan was actually a bit impressed by the Geth from what she had seen so far.

Plasma weapons, shared tactical data in near real time, and a fluidity of motion she had only seen in high end droid models back home, the Geth certainly made a good first impression. They definitely lived up to the rumours and propaganda the Sith had encountered regarding them in Cerberus’s databases.

The droids were years ahead of the citadel races in terms of weaponry and without the drain of a civilian population, were fully capable of holding out against anything less than a full armada. And unless the organic races were willing to pay a very high price, the Geth would be able to recover in a matter of years with no loss in experience or troop quality.

That said, the Sith was less impressed with how poorly the Geth began to function when their numbers were cut down. The individual droids lost a good bit of tactical strength and processing speed - the downside to being a hive-mind - and the larger models were easily identifiable and subsequently targeted by their function.

An invisible infiltrator/assassin unit sounded like a great threat, but watching one get easily taken out because it’s cloak failed and it stood out so much in comparison to the common foot soldiers that both Shepard and Garrus shot it before it moved another step was disappointing.

If she could find a way to control them…

Revan shook her head to clear her thoughts.

Planning how to gain control of a droid army could wait until after Shepard found her friend and she found...whatever it was that was calling to her.

Ever since they arrived in the system there had been a gentle tug at her senses. Revan had no idea what it could be or why it was here, but she was very interested in finding out.

That would have to wait, because unless the Geth decided to suddenly leave them alone she would be unable to search for the source of her feeling in the ruin. Something she wasn’t in the best shape for at the moment. Revan had hoped to use any goodwill earned by ensuring the quarian marines survived the battle to open talks with the Migrant Fleet about potentially working together in the future but the repeated use of Force Healing had sapped her stamina more than she expected.

Which is why she stayed close to Shepard’s team. To conserve energy.

The group made it to the base camp just as more geth appeared from the ruins. Shepard snapped off a few shots while Revan covered her by reflecting anything that came close back at the approaching droids.

“Samara, get the door! Garrus, watch her back.” the Specter ordered.

A bolt of plasma got uncomfortably close to her head before Revan managed to deflect it at another geth. The droids seemed to realise shooting at the Sith was an exercise in futility for their current numbers and focused on the others. It was a good plan, but the amount of cover and the fact that none of the Normandy crew were slouches at combat meant it wasn’t a challenge to keep them all safe.

“The door’s open, I - oh, Goddess…” Samara’s tone forced Revan to turn and look inside the base.

She wasn’t surprised the Justicar lost her composure for a second. The inside of the room they had expected to find a bunch of quarians waiting for them had turned into the scene of a massacre. At some point the base must have been breached from another entrance, and while the defenders put up a fight it didn’t seem to matter in the end. Geth and Quarian both laid all over the room. All of them dead except for one very damaged geth unit crawling up to them.

The Asari recovered quickly and didn’t hesitate to finish off the droid with a burst from her SMG.

“The base was breached. I don’t think there were any survivors.” Revan informed the Commander, knowing she wouldn’t have taken her eyes off the enemies until it was safe to do so.

“Damn.” Shepard cursed. “How?”

Revan could only shrug. She hadn’t exactly gotten a good look at the base interior.

A geth wandered out of cover and had it’s head blown off by the nearby Turian sniper.

“And that’s the last of them!” he said smugly before catching the look on Shepard’s face. “What’s wrong?”

Garrus was brought up to speed and the team swept through the base looking for survivors.

This time they didn’t find any.

What they did find was a damaged console and a call coming from Shepard’s friend Tali’Zorah. It quickly became apparent that despite being considered essential by the rest of her team, Tali didn’t know much more than Kal’Reegar did, but she did acquire the data they were so desperate to retrieve. While those two talked, Revan started moving back the way they came.

“Going somewhere, Sith?” Samara questioned mildly.

“The injured quarians we left behind, I was going to move them here.” She replied. “Obviously it isn’t completely safe, but moving them to the base camp would be better than just leaving them out in the open.”

“I see. You don’t mind if I assist you?”

“I don’t.”

Annoyingly, Samara didn’t say another word as she shadowed Revan back up to where they had left the unconscious marines. Content to just watch as Revan checked their vitals. She did help by using her biotics to assist moving the second quarian back while Revan focused on the first.

Revan was going to need a shower after this mission. She could practically feel the self-righteousness wafting off the Asari Justicar.

She wasn’t going to be the one to break first though. Let the Justicar examine every action of hers through that Code. Revan would laugh when something popped up it didn’t cover and the asari would be forced to attempt thinking for herself.

The two made it back to the base with no incident just in time for them to see the rear door unlock and Tali’Zorah’s image disappear from the monitor.

Shepard turned to the others, “Okay, we should hurry. No telling how long the quarians can hold out for. And Revan, Samara, thanks for grabbing those two. We don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

The group moved ahead in the same formation as before, but Revan found herself growing distracted as the pull from the Force slowly grew stronger the more they went forward. Apparently the object calling her was close by, and she was getting closer.

The Force suddenly blared in warning and Revan’s lightsabers ignited to deflect several shots from a small hovering drone that had hidden out of sight. Several more of the hovering droids soon popped out from behind various walls. Clearly they had walked into an ambush.

“I’ll take care of the drones!” Revan called out as her blades wove intricate patterns around her, preventing any of the geth’s shots from hitting those around her and redirecting them back into the flying swarm.

“We’ll take care of the Prime!” Shepard called back.

Revan was surprised that there was another threat - especially one twice as tall and much more heavily armored than most of the Geth they had come across - that had slipped past her senses. She mentally upped the priority of figuring out how to bring the Geth under her command or finding a way to neutralise them. She had forgotten how annoying droids could be. Virtually unnoticeable in the Force unless she was paying close attention or they were a direct threat to her. Not a threat she wanted to leave open for exploitation.

The droids quickly stopped firing at the Sith Lord once they realised that she was using their own shots against them, but if anything it only sped up their destruction as Revan either fried them with Force Lightning or crushed them directly with telekinesis. The Prime, and another one coming up from behind, similarly didn't last long under the undivided attention of Shepard’s fireteam. While Garrus’ and Samara’s weapons swiftly chewed through their shields, they were nothing compared to the chunks Shepard’s blaster rifle tore out of the frames.

“Spirits! I’ve got to say, Shepard, I’m a little jealous.” Garrus turned to Revan. “Any chance you have another one of those things laying around?”

“Not a complete one.”

“How much to make it complete?”

Revan was tempted to say more than the Turian could pay, but stopped herself.

The conversation with Shepard on Illium replayed in her mind. How she needed to start trusting people again without being in total control over them.

The Spectre didn’t mean it that way but Revan knew that’s what she needed to do. The problem was, she was so used to thinking that way she barely noticed anymore.

Saving the injured quarians? Just a way to meet with their leadership under favorable conditions.

Gaining control of the Geth? An army she could force into absolute obedience with the right programming and hardware. Or a threat to be removed if she couldn’t.

Despite being on the Normandy for almost three months Revan had yet to truly attempt to bond with the crew, preferring to remain aloof because they weren’t under her command.

The Sith smiled wryly under her visor.

It seemed she still retained a few bad habits from her time as a Jedi, some that were reinforced by leading an empire.

“We can discuss a price later, after the mission.” She said to everyone’s surprise.

“Wait, you’re going to willingly hand out your tech? Did you hit your head somewhere?” Shepard asked incredulously to Revan’s amusement.

“Just doing my part for the larger mission, Commander.” She replied mildly. “I don’t have the contacts to acquire upgrades to the Normandy like some of the others are looking into, but increasing the team’s personal firepower is well within my capabilities.”

Shepard didn’t miss how Revan had included herself in the team going by the smile that broke across her face.

“Well in that case we better save Tali fast, because she isn’t going to want to miss out on that offer!” She cried as she deactivated the security checkpoint keeping them from Kal’Reegar’s last known position.