The sound of Shepard's stomach had surprised her. At the mention of food, Zeto thought it prudent to get the most prominent problem out of the way. "I can eat the same foods as your turian friend,but quarian bodies are very weak to bacteria that tends to cling to food. I have to filter the food a couple times so I don't get sick. A way to make this easier is to eat from protein tubes. I've been told its like your toothpaste, but edible. I am Sure Tali has a few in the pockets of her suit or hidden away for her own consumption." The fact that there were several alien races on the ship with no set "clean germ free" rooms such as quarian ships had made life a little more... time consuming for her. More filtering of foods and the act of cleaning things herself would make things a bit more involved. But she could get used to it. She had worked with other species before and it would be only slightly different now. "I hope you don't mind me mushing my food up and filtering it as we speak. Some find it a little... disgusting to watch."

Shepard has never thought about issues Quarians had with their nutrition. So many problems just to satisfy their most basic needs. If Shepard had to the same thing every time she wanted to have a snack, it would soon drove her crazy. Once again, she felt pity for Zeto.
"I am sure that Tali will give you some of her rations, if you ask her. And you don´t have to worry about ruining my tastes. My food will already take care of it. There are many good thing on Alliance military, but food surely isn´t one of them," Shepard sighed
It was true. Rock hard protein bars drowned in sauce that resembled oil in more than one way couldn´t be called gastronomical miracle by anyone who had better appetite than Vorcha.
There even was a well known army legend about soldier fighting in Skyllian Blitz, who sharpened edges of his protein bar so much that he could gut Batarian with it.
"But it´s still a food I suppose..." she added after a while. "I will be going now. You can meet me at cantina table, fighting with my food..." and with that, she came out of cabin.

She went to her locker and picked out small box where she kept her ration packs. Shepard was a biotic so her rations were little bit bigger, but they tasted just as terribly as normal ones.
She took one of them and prepared them on small tray, disgusted just by site of hated bars and sauce. After that she sat on a chair behind a small dining table.
At first, she wanted to wait for Zeto before eating, but the hunger soon overwhelmed her.

Xeto nodded and went out the room, stopping to talk to Dr. Chakwas. "Dr. Chakwas, do you know where I might find Tali?" The older human woman nodded. "Yes, she usually is in the engine room. You can take the elevator down and turn into it." Zeto nodded politely before doing just that. She came up to Tali and tapped on her shoulder to get her attention. "Oh Zeto. Are you alright? Need any help?" She shook her head. "I will be... fine. I will deal with it myself Tali. I actually came to speak to you about something else. I don't have a portable filter since it was... lost. The filters on my suit only go one way and that isn't enough. Do you have protean paste or a filter I can use?" Tali nodded. "I do have paste. We'll have to split it until we dock at a location where we can buy more." Tali reached into her own suit's pocket and pulled out a full tube. "I'll give you more later, okay?" Zeto nodded and accepted the tube gratefully. "Thank you Tali, you are kind."

Leaving the younger Quarian girl happier from helping her, Zeto took the lift back up to where Shepard would be. She was silent as she sat across from the already started commander and put the tube to her mouth piece. It opened somewhat and pale skinned lips were briefly able to be seen before the tub went in and she started sucking some in. After taking a bit, she pulled the tube away and her mouthpiece slid back. She was silent. It was a bit awquard talking to Shepard. Sure, she could talk to patients if they needed her to. She could explain what she was doing, comfort them, and anything else with a doctor. She had an easy time talking to her crew because they were friends. This was a human stranger she knew nothing about. As messed up as it sounded, it would be easier to talk with Shepard if she had a bullet wound.

Shepard was glad that Zeto accepted her offer to eat together. She was at half of her dish already, but she still had a lot of work before finishing it. When Zeto came, she greet her with a nod.
Shepard couldn´t help herself not to be curious about the way Quarians eat. She was always interested in alien cultures and Qurians were always a huge unknown in her books. She also hoped that she might see at least a little bit of what was hidden under Zeto´s mask, but she doubted it. With their stunted, shaky immune system, such an exposure could be almost life threatening. Knowing this, Shepard tried to hold herself, but her eyes were still squinting a little in direction of Quarian.

She wasn´t dissapointed in the end. Before Zeto could put her "straw" in, Shepard could see a bit of her pale lips. It wasn´t that much, but considering how much protective Quarians were, Jane probably saw more than most ever did.
She could only imagine how hard it could be, to live in those exo-suits. Yes, she spent a lot of her time locked in armour with heavy helmet covering her head, but she could still put it off whenever she pleased. She could feel the air caressing her face and ruffle her hair without fear of anything more than petty allergies. If Zeto did the same thing, it could kill her.
She just sat there locked in her thoughts, before she realized how awkward it had to look to anyone watching them. Quarian was evidently too shy, tired or shaken to speak up first and Shepard wasn´t too good at breaking the ice. It wasn´t because of shyness or anything like that, it was more like she just didn´t know how to start.
"Quarians... live on their space ships, is that right? I was always curious about it. I can´t imagine what life without solid ground under feet and sky above head must look like..." she was really bad at it.

Zeto shrugged in answer. "Well its not like we don't come to the surface of planets from time to time its just our home is unavailable to us. The Geth drove us off world and so we as a race spent a lot of time on ships, looking for a new place to live. We have not found a suitable replacement... Its the same reason we have our problem with our body's immunity. When you grow in a sterile environment like a ship, you don't develop like normal." To be honest, that immunity problem was a huge one in Zeto's eyes. With her expertise as a doctor, she had taken a huge interest in fixing it. Immune boosters were temporary and vaccines were deadly and would take far too long for any quarian to use. She had hit a wall. Right now she was working on it in her free time. Trying out random things here and there, but making no progress. She was determined to give it her all though.

She ate a little more before continuing. "The fact that you are a Spectre surprises me. Only council member races become them and its... well its a bit early for humanity to have a seat." Shepard was a bit of an oddity. Most humans she had encountered were xenophobes or at the very least uncomfortable around other races of the universe. Shepard didn't seem uncomfortable to the fact she was different. More curious than anything. Noticing her stare, she spoke up. "Besides obvious physical differences..." She gestured to her fingers and bowed legs. "Quarians look like pale sun deprived humans. Just to get that question out in the open."

Shepard felt a little bit embarrassed that Zeto noticed her curiosity. She didn´t want to make Qurian think that Shepard looked at her as on some kind of freak from funfair. She wanted to apologize for it, but from her experience smearing these things only made them worse.
Zeto´s answer didn´t really satisfied Shepard. She could now picture something in her head instead of blindly guessing, but it just made things worse. Details were like a good food, more you get, more you wanted.

Her curiosity piqued, she just eat in silence for a while, embarrassed. Then she decided to answer Quarian´s unspoken question.
"Well, we don´t have a seat in council yet, even if our ambassadors do everything they can to get us one. Truth to be told, I am specter just on paper. They gave it to me just so I can fight Saren on similar terms and I am sure Council would gladly take specter status off me, if I made wrong step..." her voice was maybe little bit too spiteful when she spoke.
"Still... it was a hell of a job to become specter, and being human only made things worse. Most of the people still look at us through their fingers. Honestly, I don´t mind them. We are a force of nature, we humans. Always opportunistic often driven by ambitions. When we want something, we are usually going to do everything we can to achieve this. That´s where our strength and weakness lay. Back in old times, before the boom and council and citadel... when we thought we are alone in universe, we considered ourselves to be lords of creation. Now, when we found that we are not alone in here, that there are more sentient species than we can count on one hand, it´s just hard to adapt... I am just afraid we are not ready on each other, we and galaxy..."

Behind her visor, Zeto's lips curled into a smirk. Every race was curious as to what quarians looked like under their suits. After all, the threat of an infection killing them all their lives pretty much got rid of any desire to give a peek. As Shepard explained her view on the human race, Zeto nodded in agreement. "That is what other races say. Yet most don't spend any real time with them. I've had a few human patients on my ship. Though half of them were xenophobic and most the rest were at the very least uncomfortable around other races, I met a few who were at the very least polite and courteous. A curious one like yourself... that is pretty rare. Only one like that was an older woman. I believe she was in her fifties, maybe her sixties. A xenobiologist in fact which man have sparked her interest."

Zeto took a bit of paste before continuing her story. "Her name was... Jeanette. I always had trouble saying her last name, but she said it was French. In any case, we found her passed out with poison in her body. Incurable, yet with medicine we could lengthen the time she had left. I opted to help her. She was depressed int he face of her imminent death, but that disappeared once it sank in fully. We took to talking during my free time. She felt like asking questions, so I obliged her. She wanted to know about me and the quarians as a species. One final mystery solved before death. So I told her all about us. Our culture, beliefs, government, life on the Flotilla, and anything else she asked. She was so curious and never asked a racist or sensitive question. Maybe it was her way of coping. We talked for so long I believe it helped her forget her fate at times. Of course, the pain grew unbearable at one point and I was the one her gave her an injection to give her peace. She was a friend commander and I did feel after her passing."

Well... she really succeeded with changing Quarian´s mood, Shepard thought, from one loss to another. And this one looked even more personal. Death of her crew surely was terrible and mind breaking, but the loss of a friend was a quite different thing. She could at least blame someone for deaths on the ship. She could turn her grief into something more useful, like anger. She could turn her sadness into an edge and turn that edge against Saren and Geth.
At least Shepard did so, after Mindoir. She had never really mourned the death of her parents nor friends. It took her months just to truly admit that they are not going to return. Only thing she could think on was how to make the slavers pay, so that no other person had to ever endure things that she did.
Loosing friend in a way described by Zeto had to be a lot worse in certain ways, more torturing. Shepard lost a lot of person she knew, but it was always fast. In one second they lived and in another they didn´t. It was fast, simple.
To watch your friend die, in course of days, or weeks maybe, had to be far more painful.

Shepard didn´t really know what to say. It was hard for her, to talk about these things.
"I am sorry for your loss," she just said. It was cheap, but she didn´t find anything that would fit better.
"Sometimes, I wish that we humans lived as long as Asari do or were as resilient as Krogans are. It would be so liberating to live that long without fear of imminent death."

It was hard to lose someone like that. For a medical officer like Zeto one had to be prepared for the worse case scenario. In that case, the blow was less devastating due to the fact that there was literally nothing she could have done. Jeanette... she was a dead woman walking as soon as she was bitten. The fact that Zeto had did all she could to lengthen her life meant she had done ll she could. Her conscience was clear in that regard. But her crew... it was her decision to go down to the planet. Her call that got everyone killed. And it was way more personal because she was responsible for their lives. They had put their trust in the youngest captain in the fleet and it got them killed in one single mistake. How could she not want... no, need to get vengeance? It was pretty much her only way of making up for her mistake short of the impossible bringing them back to life.

Zeto shook her head. "No, its better humans are the way they are. Part of the way humanity acts is because of their lifespan. Humans... well they are more driven to achieve goals because of their short time. If you had more time, you'd probably procrastinate. Never get anything else done. That tendency to rush can get things done. Perhaps its my profession, but if things were done faster then we would have less dissatisfied people. At the very least, I wouldn't have to horde medicine and be extra careful with equipment while waiting for a an order I put out to be filled. Could save more lives too that way. A human would probably march up and demand the supplies immediately." Perhaps it was the fact she worked on a lot of humans, but there was no racism there in Zeto's speaking. She seemed more open to others.

Shepard was by no means offended, she knew aspects of human nature too well to be. Id played much bigger part in human personality than in personalities of other races. They used to be lords of the creation, back on Earth, and old habits were really hard to kill.
She didn´t quite agreed with Zeto in her opinions. "Rushing can get things done, yes, but there is no guarantee it will they will get done well. With age comes the wisdom and I think humanity is quite lacking it.
Look at Asari, their lifespan is a thousand years long and their culture and peacemaking politics could be an example to us.
I don´t think that humanity needs to rush right now. In past hundred years we had technologically developed more than we could in a thousand. Right now, we should slower a bit and let things settle. We are still same people, but the whole world, whole universe is different. We have to change our ways or we will soon be in dustbin of history. We are trying to conquest the universe like we conquested Earth, but I don´t believe it will work this time. And failure could be fatal..."
Shepard took another few bites of her rapidly diminishing rations before speaking again, now in more lightened voice. "Look at us. Soldier and medic having an intellectual debate worthy of philosopher or psychologist. If one more smart thing comes out of my mouth, I will start to think that military career was a bad call after all..."

Zeto scoffed a little. "Those in command can't just limit themselves to their own field. You have to expand your views and understandings. Only then can you make a good call when a choice comes up." Zeto finished her tube and tossed the drained thing in a nearby trash port. "And I'm a full doctor, not a medic. A medic has basic training and specializes in low grade medical procedures. I can perform surgeries and such and I trained myself extensively to do so. So keep that in mind." She definitely had a sassy side, that quarian. She stood herself up and nodded. "Thank you for listening Commander. Now if you'll excuse me... I have a lot of families to write personal letters to. They deserve to know what happened."

Come the time they had found the planet Dr. T'Soni was on, Zeto had done all the letters and grabbed some restless sleep. When she was called, Zeto quickly got up and went to the bottom level to prepare. She went to the weapon supply and grabbed her pistol. Not the most powerful pistol, but one she modified to be accurate. One good shot could fell any target and she knew all the vital spots. For her second weapon... a sniper rifle. When she grabbed it, Garrus came over to speak. "Perhaps you'd like a sub machine gun? It has less recoil for your smaller body." Garrus thought she couldn't handle the gun. She loaded it and positioned the weapon perfectly right before him as if taking aim. She was quick and her hands were good. "I wasn't all medical. My pilgrimage forced me to learn many things very quickly." Garrus, embarrassed by his false assuming just muttered and walked off.

Shepard slightly grinned at Zeto´s sassiness. "Of course. Excuse my mistake. Next time I will refer to us as to fully trained doctor and... the first human spectre," she said with acted cockiness in her voice."I understand," she added, her voice a lot less humorous, when Zeto stood up "just don´t forget to rest a little. I want to have you fit for the mission"
Shepard herself was tired as hell. Her eyelids felt heavy and she had hold herself no to fall asleep right on the chair, especially now, when she had to eat alone. A company usually kept her awake and loss of it drained Shepard of all her energy.
Meal still gave her hard time to finish, but even so it didn´t take her even thirty minutes to finish it and get herself to the bunk where had she fallen asleep almost immediately.

In the end, Shepard had slept quite less than she needed, but a lot more than she hoped for. It wasn´t really a sleep, more like a little bit longer black out, but she still felt little bit more relaxed.
She told Joker to wake her up a hour before arrival to Knossos, so she had enough time to properly stretch and wash herself. Then she called her deployment team, Garrus and Zeto, to the bottom of the ship.
There, she prepared her gear: old and reliable N7 armour, powerful shotgun and more compact pistol, just for case.

Shepard was pretty surprised by Zeto´s choice of weapon, but it made sense she supposed. The sniper rifle was a precise tool, much like a medical scalpel. It was just fitting, that such thing belonged to the hands of someone surgically skilled.
Also, the way she burned Garrus made her smile a bit.

"We are going for an Asari archaeologist. She is a daughter of Saren´s right hand, matriarch Benezia. We hope she could answer us, why would such a prominent person of Asari politic go with Saren. I don´t expect much trouble on the way, but Saren was always one step ahead of us so far. Just be careful. Now if there aren´t any questions, we should go."

Zeto checked her pistol's thermal clip and snapped it in making sure everything was okay. When the two went up to the Mako, she stopped at the door. "There is no where to land the ship safely in the area we are going to. How will we get down on the ground in this?" Garrus chuckled. "Easy, we are gonna be dropped." Zeto just stared at at the Turian, spared a glance to see if Shepard would call on his bullshit, then looked back at Garrus. "So you are saying we are getting into a tight metal space..." "Yep." "Hundreds of miles in the air." "We might hit a thousand if Joker is feeling adventurous." "And we are driving out of the bay door to drop. "Yes." "And survive with all bones unbroken." "That is pretty much the long and short of it." Zeto sighed and rolled her eyes. "Perfect, at least it would be an interesting way to die." Zeto had always a fear of death by falling. Heights never bothered her. It was falling and the ending splat that got her. But she got into the tank and went to the systems area. She was in charge for making sure everything ran smoothly. Though a medical officer, she was still a quarian. Second to none when it came to using technology.

Shepard smiled when Qurian looked at her, but said nothing. She remembered her first "deep" deployment with Mako. She couldn´t believe that they are really going to be dropped with only thin can to protect them. She wanted to protest or to ask some questions at least, but her commanding officer just chuckled, pushed the button and sent them right to the ground. What was happening next was both, one of the most terrifying and in same time one of the most awesome thing she had ever experienced.
She loved the heights. Something always attracted her to them and falling from height like that was just making her feel so alive.

She took her place at cannon this time. She had bad feeling about this mission and after being surprised by Geths on the last one, she didn´t want to take any risks. Shepard buckled herself on the seat and asked others if they did same. Then ordered to go, when she heard affirmative response.
Mako´s motor silently hummed and the tank slowly drove off the platform it was standing on.
Shepard was suddenly pushed into her seatbelts and felt familiar pressure in her temples and ears. It wasn´t very comfortable, but Shepard still wanted to yell like a little children on a roller coaster
They were in the air just a few moments and then the landing came. Braking jets slowly turned on and slowed the speed of descending. so it won´t kill them. Another few moments passed and Mako finally landed on the ground.
"Well, that was fun. Now let´s find miss T´Soni."

Zeto was glad she could turn off her mouth piece. It stopped the other two from hearing the wide variety of curses she let out as they plummeted toward the ground. Turian, Krogan, Asari, Quarian, and even some Vorcha swears were mixed into there. Lets just say that her mother would have washed out her mouth five times over for using such language. The deceleration hit her like a fist to the stomach. Once they landed with a jarring stop, Zeto took a second to settle her stomach before turning on her mouthpiece again to speak. "Remind me to take something to settle my stomach next time you drag me onto this death trap for another... trip." Trying to distract herself, she began checking the systems. "No damage in the landing, shields managing to stand up to the heat. They are fully charged. It looks like we are alright to go." The position she was in now remind Zeto of her pilgrimage days...

[Initiate Flashback]

"Everything is fine with the tank except for the fact that you messed up the suspension you insufferable bosh'tet." She slid out from under the heavy gun mounted vehicle, standing up with an angry arms crossed stance. "If we would have kept going like you wanted instead of checking this we would have went over sideways and probably down the cliff." A krogan with a scarred up face marched up to her, looking mean himself. "Are you trying to call me stupid?" Zeto went up toward him, actually making him back up. "Yes I am you insufferable bosh'tet! I don't care how big a hero you are, I am not letting you kill me for your own personal glory!" She rose a finger, pointing it in his face. "Now you are gonna help me fix this by doing exactly as I say or you can drive off the cliff with your broken suspension yourself!" She waited for no answer as she slid right back under the vehicle, a hand out. "Now hand me the spare spring." Grumbling, the krogan handed the asked for part to Zeto...

[End of Flashback]

She had been in tougher situations than this. Survived worse. The day she died to Geth would be the day a vorcha came out of her back hole. As Shepard and Garrus did their jobs, she did her own.

Shepad chuckled at Zeto´s words. She still felt a little bit of adrenalin in her veins. "Don´t tell me you didn´t enjoy it! What can be more fun than a deep deployment with success rate around eighty percent!" She was just joking, it was around ninety.
Shepard doubted that fall did any damage to the vehicle, but hearing it confirmed by someone with technical expertise was still kind of relieving.
She sighed a little. Normandy dropped them pretty far from targeted location and it will take them some time to ride there. She scoped the surrounding and sighed even more. The planet was flat out boring. Just brown and red mountains everywhere with remains after mining operations of some kind. Maybe archaeologist, maybe prospectors. Shepard didn´t really cared that much.
She couldn´t really believe that Protheans actually lived there. That there were cities swarmed with people. Now it was just a ball of dust rich witch natural resources, striped of live. Fifty thousand years and there was almost nothing left to remind its previous glory. Shepard wondered if the same thing happens to humans. If they just slowly pass away and disappear like Protheans, just to be historical curiosity for future space wanderers. She hoped that humans will be little bit more louder, when they fall.
Joker´s voice interrupted Shepard from falling deeper to her thoughts. "We have a company." "Geth?" she asked in response. The question answered itself when few big objects fallen down from the sky near the Mako. Shepard zoomed in and saw three quadrapedal shooting platforms with characteristically Geth design.

"The enemy is here!" shouted on her two teammates. "Prepare for evasive manoeuvres," she added when she saw that Geths flashlight heads were turning towards the vehicle and shooting somekind of energy projectiles. It was kind of pointless order, as Garrus surely knew how to behave under fire, but she always wanted to say something like this.
When she was younger, she was quite fond of old science fiction novels that had been written before that sci-fi turned to be reality and she couldn´t help herself to use some lines from time to time.
She aimed the cannon at the closest Geth and begin with spaying it with Mako´s machine gun. It wasn´t the strongest weapon Mako had, but it was effective against shields and that was everything Shepard needed right now. When she took out most of the Geth´s shields she finished it with well aimed shot from the cannon and looked for another target.

"Fun is a night out drinking and not having to work in the morning when you recover from the hangover. Remind me to teach you what is actually fun later." Somewhat recovered from the stomach churning fall, Zeto went back to the systems. It was definitely hot due to the pools of lava around them. There was a little air conditioning to keep them cool, so the heat wouldn't kill them. Her environmental suit made it easier for her thanks to her own ventilation and cooling systems. When you lived in a suit for most your life, such things were important. In any case, Zeto had made the necessary adjustments to factor in for the heat on the shields. They wouldn't affect the instruments nor the strength of the shield if they came under fire. Which, funnily enough, happened in the form of the geth.

Zeto saw the energy projectiles and knew the concentrated blast would majorly drain their shields if it was allowed to hit. She went fast on the controls, calling out. "Boost jumping the tank to avoid blast." The jets fired and shot the tank up in a hop, clearing the energy blast like a kid playing dodge-ball. The geth were blasted by the main gun and broke apart, leaving nothing but burnt scrap. Zeto scanned the enemy for more enemies. "Nothing on the scanner in the immeadiete area, but I'd prepare for a fight ahead. That dropship definitely has more forces on board and they definitely do not want us going any further ahead. I think that is better than a hand written invitation.

Zeto was right, there was definitely more enemies ahead. The platform she just shot was deployed just to test the water to. Geth just wanted to see what is Mako really capable of Shepard gave them a good show. She was sure that Geth will be much more prepared on them.
Shepard was angry on herself. She was riding right into jaws of hell itself she didn´t even have a decent intel on her enemy. Numbers, exact specifications of Geth weaponry or Geth themselves… Information like this could be always useful and in situations like this, they could be even vital.

They were riding blind into unknown waters and Shepard never liked surprises. She had enjoyed a way more than a fair amount of them and they were never pleasant.
Like that time when that wild thresher maw appeared out of the ground right under Shepard´s squad and slaughtered them. With experiences like that, she was already sick of surprises and feared what things could be Geth hiding behind the next rock.
A thought stroke her mind. “Zeto, how many Geth can fit into that drop ship? What weapons can they carry, is there something that could just flat out wipe us?” She didn´t need to thoroughly search Alliance or Citadel archives, she had much more reliable source information right on the next seat.

Zeto shook her head at the questions. "The best I can give you are educated guess... and that is exaggerated. The geth have been beyond the Perseus Viel for a while. This is the first time they had showed up in... I believe around a hundred years. The geth could have upgraded themselves and their equipment in a countless amount of ways in that time. What I do know is that they could fold their legs against their bodies and take less space... so they could be packed in tight... but the target could suggest otherwise. Dr. T'Soni is not a soldier first an foremost and therefore could not warrant too large a force to obtain her. If I were Saren, I'd figure out how much to send, then double it. Just in case something went wrong. From what I have observed, our capabilities and theirs in regard to weapons are wore or less equal... if you look at it gun by gun. We are ridiculously outgunned obviously."

Zeto thought for a little taking a few seconds before speaking. With the force as big as it is, we have three options. Either pick them off at a distance to weaken them intellectually, spread them out and start engaging them since the distance will hurt their neural network, or rush in there with the tank and blast anything that fires at us. The main problem is the neural network. As the geth gather in numbers, their systems combine to run their necessary functions, freeing their processes for non-essential processes. In a nutshell, the more there are in one place, the smarter they become. Thinning their numbers serve to make them easier to fight. It was our way of building them without technically breaking the laws for building illegal A.I."

Shepard felt disappointed. She hoped that Zeto could give her a little bit more information. She didn´t say anything that Shepard did not already knew. She sighed again, only one Shepard could be angry on was herself. It was only her mistake that they rode blindly into action, but it will be her team who will pay for it.
“Thinning their numbers would be an obvious choice in an every situation but this, I am afraid. We are here to rescue Miss T´Soni, not to fight the Geth. And Geth are here for same purpose. We are just a minor obstacle. If they kill us, good for them, but their goal is to get the Asari, not us. We don’t have enough time to utilize the hit and run tactic, we must rush to the excavation site and get her before they will.
She waited a while before giving the final order, maybe waiting for opinions of her team, still calculating an outcome of every possible move they could make, but she could think just about one viable thing to do, a very stupid thing. “Let´s keep moving. Be fast, but careful. The road is going to get very bumpy…”

The way led them to a small sort of valley. An excellent spot for a trap, Shepard thought and didn´t forgot to remind her teammates to be careful. If Geth planned to attack them, she would bet they will do it here. The Mako had a little space to manoeuvre and possible Geth platforms would have an easy time lining their shots from heightened place. Shepard just hold her teeth together and hoped that Geth would miss this opportunity to make her life more difficult.
Unfortunately they didn´t. It wasn´t even few moments and she could see the lights of the Geth on the cliffs and feel the first shots that hit the vehicle´s shield. “Bumpy road indeed…” she whispered silently and returned fire.