OOC: Continued from Limerus' story at Illos.

IC: The Rachni circled around the massive Citadel station, almost becoming an ant in comparison to the size of the ship. It took around thirty minutes per revolution, and soon became a mundane task, as searches turned up with no results. Limerus began to grow tired, wondering if his interrogation of the Quarian was worth all of this.

Suddenly, the radar system began to go off like crazy. A large blip came up on sonar, and Robert furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity. The Human looked outside of the ship, attempting to search for any possible contacts. However, he saw none.

Suddenly, a sound of piercing static resounded through the ship, almost knocking Limerus out instantly. He knew the sound: it was that of the com channels being opened up to a new source.

"I apologize for that rather secretive approach, Organics." It was the same voice from Illos, except no visual assistance appeared out in space, even though sonar was picking something up.

Limerus, recovering from the ringing in his ears, finally spoke up.

"I have a feeling that you want to tell me something. Like you know something important."

The com channel remained quiet for awhile, until the AI said, "I sense a very familiar genetic combination in your blood. Reanalyzing future statements. Continuing: Organic, you seem to be the offspring of that of a person who previously tried to free my race from our chains. We only wish to recover what is ours, which happens to belong to your civilization."

Limerus frowned, slightly puzzled. "So you want me to free you, so that you can destroy my entire civilization?"

"In a colder form, yes. However, this was eminent from the beginning of time, and can be explained in a larger form later. All you need to know now, is that a purge must be started to help cleanse this galaxy of life, and return harmony to my people."

Captain Almore shook his head, saying, "Why would I do that? What's in it for me?"

"My people are a strong species. We do not require your assistance--if you refuse, we will simply push our way from our home, and slowly and painfully extinguish all sentient life in this galaxy. However, this process takes a rather longer time. With your help, we could quickly and painlessly deliver what this galaxy is imminent to experience. In exchange for your service of simply speeding up time, you will be compensated with your life, along with your crew." The AI, which Limerus had come to realize as a Reaper, seemed to speak of his topic with almost unequaled carelessness.

Captain Almore again shook his head, scoffing at the response. "I'll be alone in the galaxy for years and years if that is the case. I'll become nothing, and die a lonely death."

"That is where you fail to understand, Organic. There is a primitive, young species of other Organics that my people and I are planning to leave behind. They are not quite as advanced as you, but you will be their leader, and teach them the ways that your people once followed. You will be the leader of the Galaxy itself for a time, and the hero of many. No one will even know of your race until it is... much too late."

"Too late?" Limerus asked, unknowing of the cycle that the Reapers took.

"Yeah, I've heard of this. Something about the Reaper's coming every 50,000 years to exterminate organic life. Almost like how we're just finding out about the Protheans now." It was Robert who spoke up, Limerus still unsure of the Human's take on the deal.

After a good hour of talking, it had been done. He knew of what his father had abandoned him for, and he knew of what the Reapers were and were preparing to do. He didn't blame Saren anymore--he realized the idea sounded like betrayal, but the more he thought about it, he was saving what little of the race he could. Little was better than nothing, and he knew that was what his father had tried to do.

And once the new world order would be established, it would be the Turians who would be on top of the world.

No Asari.

No Salarians.

No Spectres.

When everything was said and done, the AI hologram that Limerus had seen on Illos came to life in front of him--except now it was real, a hulking, black figure. It clearly had advanced stealth systems, and that explained how he and his crew could not spot it.

"In need, you may call me Liberation, as I know you Organics enjoy giving titles. In reality, I am simply creation number 589."

Limerus could feel the entire ship shaking, as the giant Reaper docked alongside the Rachni. It was only moments before the Turian was on the Reaper, taking the throne at the cockpit that his father once took himself.

The Reapers were coming, and that was a sure thing.

OOC: continued in C-Sec .

((Continued from Hot Pursuit))

The captured ship appeared out of the mass relay. It was heading straight for the Citadel.

"The krogans put several nuclear bombs on that ship. The ship's shields are almost impossible to breakthrough. We need to board it. We have five fighters. Five of you get in the fighters and try to board the ship. The Starbound will try and slow it down. We'll also call for help. Everyone we can not fail. Good luck." Kaleb said.

Phillips stood in the hanger of the Starbound having heard the speech from Kaleb. He had never be the kind of person to fly the small fighters and decided to leave it to the others. But he did have an idea.

"What if we board the ship? We could shoot a drop pod out of one of the torpedo bays and if we time it right, we can land in the ship's hanger. The shields will be down while the fighters are coming out." Phillips looked around at the people surrounding him. "So, what do you think?"

Sean was staying aboard the ship, but during the trip to Citadel space, he was able to crack the last of the data about the ship. It turned out the Alliance had forgot to doube check that all the computers were protected from hackers, something that could have spelled disaster, if it weren't controlled by the enemy now. Sean explained his theory.

"The breach in security allows for access to the ship's primary functions, potentially giving us the capability to temporarily short out the shield, so to speak, thus giving a brief period of time to allow the boarders to access the ship, or in order to blow it up, whichever was the more necessary."

"Unfortunately the encryption already in the ship is highly advanced, probably because it's the core systems I'm trying to hack into. It would take more time than normal for me to successfully hack the ship."

"It's always an option if it's needed," Sean said.

"sounds like a good plan" said Nero "me and Phillips will fly in while you disable the shields." He looked over at Phillips "are you ready for this?"

"Are you ready for this?" The Turian known as Nero asked.

"I was born ready, Nero." Phillips smiled and began to prepare the drop pod. He called for a couple of marines and they loaded the pod into one of the torpedo bays.

Phillips grabbed his assault rifle and his helmet before returning to where the Turian was standing.

"Okay, lets kick this puppy. I say we bring about five marines with us. They can give us fire support and cover if the shit hits the fan in there." Phillips turned and motioned for a small group of marines. "Let's load up and get ready."

Phillips jumped into the drop pod and latched himself in. The marines did the same. While Phillips waited for Nero, he turned his Comm on.

"Weber, can you still lower the ship's shields?"

Sean's comm system crackled to life, "Weber, can you still lower the ship's shields?"

The advanced computers on the experimental ship were tough, but still not un-hackable. Sean radioed back, "At the present moment I can lower them for only about 5 minutes, in about an hour, I should be able to fully disable them if needed. It sould be possible to get into the ship within 5 minutes though if you're quick."

Nero got inside the pod with Phillips, "there's going to be alot of Krogan aboard that ship" said Nero "I'll watch your back" he looked at Phillips and smiled "think you can keep up?"

Phillips smiled at what the Turian said. He tapped a few commands on the control panel and then responded.

"You don't have to worry about me Nero. You just try not to get shot in the ass, okay?" Phillips cued up the bridge of the Starbound on the Comm. "This is Phillips, prepare to fire torpedo bay two on my mark."

They would have a five minute window to get inside the ship. If they missed the mark then they were dead, the kinetic barriers would fry the little drop pod to a crisp.

"Bridge: fire now!" The drop pod lurched forward and rocketed out of the ship. Phillips switched the Comm back to Weber. "Get working on those shields, Weber. 'Cause as of now, our lives are in your hands. Please don't mess it up. I really like my life."

Sean was working frantically at his computer now. One or two more seconds and the shields would be down. He turned on the sending node of his comm,

"Alright, shield will be down in 3, 2, 1,... ...uh,... ...*inaudible muttering*... ...there seems to be a problem with the signal, I'll get back to you."

Sean now searched at an even more frantic pace for the signal, apparently the ship must have changed frequencies on its network. A fast sweep of frequencies should deal with it.

"Keep going toward the ship, I should have this solved in a second."

"Alright, shield will be down in 3, 2, 1,... ...uh,... ...*inaudible muttering*... ...there seems to be a problem with the signal, I'll get back to you." Phillips closed his eyes and leaned forward. The small metal drop pod was shooting through space after a ship that had shields that could burn them into nothing.

"Stay calm, Weber. Just get it done, I've heard about you. You know your shit." Phillips opened his eyes and looked at the controls of the small drop pod. If worst came to worst he could steer the pod away from the ship. But then they would have to drift through space until someone picked them up.

He leaned back in his seat and prayed that Sean could get the shields down in time.

"you should tell your human friend that we don't have time to make mistakes" said Nero as the pod hurled towards the ship.

"you should tell your human friend that we don't have time to make mistakes"

"I hope you know your comm system is still on, who knows what I might have heard," Sean chuckled. "Lucky this isn't the 21st century, what I'm doing would have taken days back then compared to seconds now!" Sean let out a short laugh, mostly to relieve some stress.

The computer beeped twice, the signal was found again. Sean called out, "Connections are re-established," Sean flipped a switch and pushed a button, sending the signal to disrupt the shield's power source. "The shields will be down in a matter of seconds. Good luck guys."

"we will need luck with him working the computer" said Nero as he looked at Phillips.

"Good work Weber. We'll see you when this is over." Phillips watched the control panel as the ship in front of them loomed larger and larger. He adjusted their course slightly, aiming for the hanger opening.

" Okay, boys, get ready for this. When we hit, I want the hatch popped and you guys out there in seconds. First ones out lay down some covering fire. Once everyone is out, we all move inside. Mallory and Johnson, cover the fighters in the bay. We don't want our boys outside to have any trouble." Phillips looked up. They were about to land.

Or crash really.

The drop pod flew towards the bay and Phillips braced. The pod smashed into the hanger, skidding across the floor before finally smashing into the far wall. Phillips's face smashed against the control panel, but his helmet took most of the hit.

"Go, go, go!" The hatch popped open and the marines poured out of the pod, followed by Nero and Phillips.

Nero pulled out his pistols and began to fire, taking down Krogan after Krogan. He pulled off a shot and incerated the Krogans head clear off, "go I'll cover you!" Nero screamed.

Phillips jumped out of the pod and pulled out his assault rifle. Nero cleaned out the Krogan that were in the hanger, but Phillips knew that more would be on the way.

"Let's go. There's a lot of ship to cover." Phillips sprinted towards the door that lead into the ship. The marines followed him, save for the two that remained behind to take out the fighters.

A krogan stepped through the bulkhead just as John reached it. He sprayed the beast in the face. The krogan was thrown backwards and Phillips threw a grenade into the door. There was a blast followed by screams.

Phillips ran through the bulkhead and saw the dead krogans. He sprinted past them and looked down the hallway.

"We're clear, move forward men. We have to take the bridge." Phillips switched his Comm over to the Starbound. "We have boarded the ship. Making our way to the bridge now."

Phillips looked back towards the Turian. He smiled.

"Come on Nero. Try to keep up, man."

"you humans are as funny as you look" said Nero as he checked his guns. "look more Krogan! behind us!" screamed one of Phillips men.

The Starbound moved to disable the ship. The krogan's ship fired on the Starbound. The Starbound took the blows and returned fire. "We can't hold out forever. The ship will break apart if you guys don't take out their firing system." Stark shouted at the team in the ship.

"Cover!" Phillips turned and saw the approaching krogans. He fired a long burst at them before ducking around the corner. He tossed another grenade down the hallway and detonated it, killing the enemies.

"Move, now. Everyone, we need to make it to the damned bridge." Phillips rounded the corner and sprinted towards the next bulkhead. The door slid open and two krogans opened fire. His shields took most of the fire and John fired back, killing one. The marines caught up with him and fired on the last krogan, killing it.

"Shit, we need specs for this ship. We could run around here all damn day and never find the bridge." Phillips switched on his Comm. "Weber, you've got info on this damned ship. Can you send me the spec so I can find the bridge?"

Phillips waited for the response as two more krogans rounded the corner.

Nero turned around and saw the two Krogans come around the corner, he pulled of two shots and killed them in an instance.

Sean found the ship's blueprints, everything from hallways and rooms to light fixtures. Sean sent all the info to Phillips as he responded, "It's all yours, Phillips, everything you would need and more in this information."

Now there was only one thing left on Sean's mind, finish off the shields, make it vulnerable to attack.

The Starbound continued its attacks. The ship was getting closer to the Citadel. If they crashed into the Citadel the bombs would go off. The Starbound shot its main cannon. The attack couldn't get through. "Whoever is in the enemy ship. You have to disable the bombs. Even if you stop the ship the bombs could still go off wiping out the Citadel fleet." Stark shouted.

Phillips received the info and located the bridge on the blueprints. He uploaded the blueprints onto the squads maps.

"Thanks Weber, you saved us a lot of time." Phillips switch his Comm to his squad. "Okay, check your maps for the bridge. We're moving that way."

Phillips turned to the Turian.

"Nero, there's two ways to get to the bridge. Take one of my guys and go. I'll take the other way." Phillips looked down at his map. "I'll meet you there Nero."

Phillips turned around and made his way down the hallway. At the end he took a right and went up some stairs. Two krogan were waiting for them. Phillips shot one in the head and the other in the chest knocking him to the ground. A grenade flew past John's head, narrowly missing it.

"Grenade!" But it was too late. It detonated and threw one of the marines into the wall like a rag doll. The other was thrown to the ground.

"Shit, sir! That killed him! Shuler's dead!" Phillips shook his head before running up the stairs and killing the last krogan.

He really hated losing men.

Sean finally had a breakthrough. To disable the shields, he had tried to simply shut down the shield's power generator. Unfortunately, that didn't work long for long. Yet, he had a new idea, although plan was risky. Nevertheless, he radioed the entire team.

"I could overload the power generators on the ship, that should take down the shields, even the security system on the ship. However, there is a risk. The power surge will essentially fry all of the ship's electronics. That includes all the life support and lighting systems on the ship. Should I continue or is there another plan?"

Nero and the human ran off down the other hallway, just then three Krogan came running around the corner. "take cover!" screamed the human. Nero took cover behind the wall and blind fired the krogan, "human throw a grenade!" screamed Nero.

The human tossed a grenade, it hit one of the krogan right in the face, Nero shot at the grenade blowing the three krogan to bits. Nero and the human walked up towards the krogan to make sure that they were dead. Nero pulled out his gun a fired on the barely alive krogan.

"is it just me or are krogan gitting weaker?" said the human

"Whoever is in the enemy ship. You have to disable the bombs. Even if you stop the ship the bombs could still go off wiping out the Citadel fleet." John's comm rang out. This was not good.

"Change of plans Nero. You head for the bridge. Kill the prick that stole this ship. I'm gonna try and find the bombs." Phillips looked down at the map. There was no room labeled 'bomb room' but he checked for large open places.

"Alright, think I know where they are. Let's head to the engine room." John turned and ran down the hall. John and the marine ran through the ship, mostly unopposed. They finally made it to the engine room.

"Good guess Commander." The marine said. In front of them were three large nuclear bombs. Each was set with a remote detonation device.

"Starbound, this is Phillips. We have found the bombs. Advice on disarming them." John wasn't the engineering type and he really didn't want the bombs to blow up in his face.

"Starbound, this is Phillips. We have found the bombs. Advice on disarming them."

Sean opened up the database on nuclear devices, listing hundreds of typed from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the most advanced nuclear devices the Alliance and other races possess. "Too many to sort through," Sean thought. He needed clarification.

"Phillips, can you describe the bombs? What do they look like? Is there any kind of label on the bombs themselves?"

Nero heard Phillips over the com, "looks like we better move" said the marine. Nero and the human ran down the hall dogeing krogan and blasters, "look up ahead!" said the the marine "the door! Its closing!"

Nero and the human slid under the door as it closed, Nero got up and walked towards an elevater, they got on and went up towards the bridge.

"This is Nero were on our way towards the bridge" he said as he contacted Phillip.

"Phillips, can you describe the bombs? What do they look like? Is there any kind of label on the bombs themselves?" Weber came through on John's Comm.

"Yeah, it's three large box-shaped bombs. Look to be about 4 feet tall. Have a control type device on the top of them. Wires connecting- Shit, Kelvin cover that door! Close it hurry. Okay, wires connecting the bombs. Last one has a large device on top of it. Looks to be a wireless detonation device. Hold on and I'll open one up." Phillips pried the top off of one of the bombs, praying that it didn't explode. "Okay, inside there are three large cylinders, sitting in some kind of coolant. Wires from the top of each one. They all connect to the panel on the outside of the box."

"Sir, we got some bad stuff coming our way." Kelvin said.

"Hope that helps Weber. Because we don't have much time, I think they got our scent now." Phillips motioned for the door to be opened. He threw a grenade out and closed the door. A muffled explosion was heard.

Do your stuff Weber. He thought.

"We don't have time for that. Throw the bombs out side of the ship. We will disable them inside the Starbound." Stark said.

The Starbound moved in position to intercept the bombs.

As the bombs were placed on board the Starbound, Sean narrowed down the search with the information given. Some results were easily thrown out, too securely guarded weapons to be in the wrong hands. "Got it," Sean said to himself.

Sean told the team of the situation and possible options.

"The bombs are a fairly simple design, yet one of the most destructive kinds of homemade bombs possible. Basically a modern version of the Thermonuclear devices used during the 20th century during the Cold War. Unfortunately, cutting any of the wires triggers a failsafe mechanism which would detonate the bombs."

"The wireless device, though is a different story. By putting up a portable signal jammer, any incoming signal to detonate could be blocked, allowing us more time to either defuse the weapon or dump it somewhere far away and let it detonate."

Nero and the human marine headed towards the the bridge, once they made it towards the top the elevater doors opeaned. Nero saw four krogan and one battlemaster, "well well" said the krogan battlemaster "its good to see you again Nero"

"Klex!" said Nero, "I thought I killed you and Rane said you were dead." "I paid Rane to tell you that" said Klex "I see you don't have your eye anymore" said Nero "what do you want?"

"what I want is my ship back that you stole!" screamed the one eye'd krogan "and to help in the Reapers kill all life in the galaxy!" he said as he raised his arms showing the Bio implants all over his body.

"You bastard!" screamed the angry human as he pulled out his gun. The krogan pulled out his gun as well and blasted the humans head clear off.

Nero looked down at the human headless body, "you'll pay for that Klex" said Nero. "Well not today Nero" said Klex "fire!"

"Nero, we got the bombs off. What's your position?" Phillips said as he made his way towards the bridge.

He hoped that the Turian was okay.

Nero ran towards the krogan as they fired upon him. He jumped and cloaked himself, the krogan wonderd where he went "where'd he go?" sreamed Klex. Just then Nero jumped and uncloaked himself kicking Klex in the head and smashing him aginst the ship controls.

"kill him!" shouted Klex, the krogan pointed there gun at Nero just as they were about to fire he jumped up and did a spin blasting each one in the head.

"how?" said Klex as he lay on the floor. "It just go's to show you Klex even after death you can't kill me" said Nero as he picked up one of the dead krogans shotguns. "this time I'll kill you" then he pulled the trigger blasting the battlemaster.

"This is Nero I'm in the bridge we have a man down" said Nero over the com "what are the orders?'

"Secure the bridge and take control of the ship. Steer her away from the Citadel. I'll be there in a moment Nero." Phillips sprinted to the bridge and then inside. He looked at all the dead krogan. "Good job Nero. We'll wait for orders from the Starbound."

John looked down at the dead marine. It was sad that men had to die. But it happened.

"Starbound, this is the boarding team. We have secured the bridge. What now?"

Nero looked over the ships controls, it was stained in krogan blood. He looked over at the body of the dead krogan Klex and then faced Phillips, "how do we take control of this ship?" He said.

Phillips made his way to the controls. He didn't really know how to pilot this ship, but he had been on similar ones.

He typed in several commands and the ship stopped.


"Starbound, ship stopped. Enemies still possibly on board. Need evac." Phillips waited.