Jack tried her best to hide her shock. Never, not in a thousand lifetimes, did she expect to ever see reapers again. And yet, here they were on her proverbial doorstep.

"Damn it! Where the hell did these guys come from?"

"Jack!" Kahlee called.

Jack turned to her fellow instructor.

"These kids are nowhere near ready to face monsters like this." Kahlee said.

"I agree. They don't have the stones for this. Listen, I'll hold them off and you get them to safety."

"I'm on it. Be careful, Jack." Kahlee said as she took off.

"Heh, you should tell the reapers that." Jack said as she flared her biotic aura.

Meanwhile, Krinda and her crew had just hit the mass relay. They jumped straight to the mass relay closest to the academy.

"Alright, commander. We'll be a few hours getting to the academy. So, if you wanna go get ready, I'd suggest you start now." Joker said.

"Roger that, Joker. Okay, everybody. Let's go suit up!"

Hours later, the Normandy arrived at the academy. Joker immeadiately noticed the attack and notified Krinda.

"Son of a bitch! Are you serious?" Krinda asked.

"Yeah, commander. It's just like with Sur'kesh. You pick a random place to go and when we get there, we find out that the cult's attacking them."

"Maybe we should make this our strategy from now on, Commander. It's worked by accident twice now." Devin said.

"Be quiet and get your guns ready, Devin. Joker, we obviously can't dock with the academy with the juggernaut right there. And we can't safely take off in the shuttle for the same reason."

"So what should we do, Commander?"

"Uh, distract them? Duh? Fire the thanix cannons and the javelin missiles! Target any open area. See if we can't find a chink in that things armor."

"Roger that! EDI!"

"I'm ready, Jeff."

The Normandy screamed in and began assaulting the juggernaut. While most the thanix cannon strikes and javelin missiles did little to no damage to the far larger ship, one missile found a weak spot.

"Whoa! We found something!" Joker yelled.

"What is it, Joker?" Krinda asked as she and her team boarded the shuttle.

"There's a weak spot on the cult's ship. It's the opening they drop the reapers from."

"Oh, I get it. I bet the shields are weak or maybe even open in that area."

"But that ship is obviously a hybrid of salarian and turian tech. Between the two of us, no one would allow for such a clear design oversite." Kurse said, with Sorren nodding in agreement.

"Maybe your races' scientists wouldn't, but we're not dealing with them. We're dealing with the true path alliance, an obviously crazy cult. Their first and main tactic when attacking a place is to drop hundreds of reaper creatures that they can somehow make. They obviously wouldn't want anything getting in the way of the reaper's deployment. So, they may have modified the original design for this purpose."

"But, there are confirmed salarian and turian members in the cult. Somebody has to have noticed the problem here." Sorren said.

"If they have, they clearly aren't saying anything. Maybe it's out of fear or maybe they're too crazy notice or at least care about these things. My money is on the last one. At any rate though, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Joker, target that weak point. Hit it as hard as possible, cause we might not get another chance."

"Got it. I'll keep them distracted while you board the academy with the shuttle."

"Be careful, Joker. You're gonna be the small dog in one hell of a dog fight."

"It's not about the size of the dog, commander."

"It's about the size of the fight in the dog. Amen to that. Good luck, uncle."

"Don't need it, sweetheart. Now go!"

The shuttle launched and quickly flew to the academy.

"Lock up tight and keep the biggest gun you can wield nearby, Steve. We'll be back as soon as we can." Krinda said.

"I'll be waiting, Commander. Good luck."

"I don't need luck. I've got these guys." Krinda said, gesturing to her crew.

After this, Krinda and company made their way through the academy. They came across various students and set them on their way to safety. They eventually came across a room full of computers.

"Is anyone here? I'm Commander Shepard." Krinda announced.

"Shepard?" A female voice questioned.

Kahlee Sanders emerged from behind a desk.

"Professor Sanders!" Liara called.

"Oh, Doctor T'soni. It's so good to see you again. Glad to see you brought such a formidable force with you."

"This isn't my force. Leadership of this crew is my daughter Kridna's job. She is the 'new Commander Shepard', hand chosen by the council."

"I see. Well, pleasure to have you here, Commander. Wish it was under better circumstances."

"So do I, Profssor. Listen. I've heard about some biotic tech you're building here."

"Which piece of tech exactly?"

"The one that converts biotic energy into power for any device thee tech is hooked up to."

"Ah, that one. What do you want with it?"

"Well, I want to try to weaponize it. Turn it into a cannon. Then me and every biotic here could charge it with all that we have and then turn that power on the ship that's dropping the reapers into the academy. There's a weak point we've found that we could hit and potentially end this immeadiately. So, do you think we could do that?"

"I'd rather not weaponized it, but desperate times, desperate measures. Follow me. Let's move, everyone." Kahlee called to the other student hidden inside the room.

Just then, a loud bang rang out from down the hall.

"Find those biotics! They give the others too much of an edge." Came a deep voice.

"That sounds like a krogan." Mordin said.

"We can't let him get these students." Kahlee said.

"I couldn't agree more, Sanders." Came a voice.

Everyone looked to see Jack standing in the door way.

"Jack!" Krinda called.

"Hey, Krin. Nice to see you. Let me guess. Commander Shepard the second?" Jack asked, noting Krinda's armor.

"Hand chosen and supplied by the council as a matter of fact."

"Hmph. About time they did something worthwhile. Seriously, how do they keep their positions when they are so obviously incompetent? They must be giving somebody some fantastic hea…."

"Jack, language." Kahlee scolded.

"Seriously? Now, Sanders? Now? I should be allowed to swear at the top of my lungs right now."

"Any who. I have a plan, Jack. We'll need you and these students help." Krinda said.

"Let me guess. You wanna weaponized the biotic tech we got here?"

"You know me too well, Jack."

"Yeah, well, great minds think alike. But, we really should take out that scaly asshole."

"Ahem." Mordin grunted.

"He's the asshole. You guys are cool. Cause you can help kill him."

"Ha ha. Oh Goddess. I love the way you think, Jack." Krinda laughed.

"Actually, Krin. I have an idea." Ciala spoke up.

"What is it, lc?"

"Well, we don't know how long it will take to get the biotic cannon together and charged up. We should take every minute we can get and put it towards that. So, let me take half of our force and deal with the krogan and his bunch while you get the cannon ready."

"Well, okay. I'll take mom, Gunny, Uncle Garrus and Aunt EDI."

"Take Mordin and Grunt too. You'll need the muscle if they get passed us."

"Buy, Ci…"

"Krinda, I am the lieutenant commander of the Normandy. I think it's high time I show why."

"Ciala, I know you're stronger than you look. Everyone can tell that. You don't need to prove anything to us."

"No, but you always get to show off. Your power is always on display. Meanwhile, I keep my strength locked away for the most part. I think it's time to show myself just how powerful I really am. Now, everybody not with Krin, follow me." Ciala said, turning away.

"Ciala!" Krinda called.

"What Krin? We don't have a lot of time." Ciala asked turning back around.

Krinda rushed over and planted her lips on Ciala's.

"Sorry. I know you wanted to wait a bit more before we told everybody, but I felt like I needed to kiss you good luck."

"Oh, trust me. I think we all saw this coming." Devin said.

The rest of the gang nodded in agreement.

"Honestly, I don't know what took so long." Tali said.

"Mom, you knew?" Ciala asked.

"Like I said before, Ciala. You wear your heart on your sleeve. So it's not hard to figure you out. Also, I'm your mother. Our bond gives me insight into how that head of yours functions. So, naturally I figured out that you had a crush on Krinda a long time ago. I just let you work at your own pace."

Ciala smiled and Kurse let out a deep sigh.

"Honestly though, I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping to have a chance to sweep you both off your feet. But, if you're smitten with each other, I nobly step aside." Kurse said, with slight bow.

"Gee, thanks, Kurse." Krinda said sarcastically.

"Plenty of other fish, Kurse. The universe is a big ocean." Gunny said, trying to sound encouraging.

"Oh, then perhaps you'd like to join me for a drink once we've saved the academy, Gunny?"

"Sorry, Kurse. I'm spoken for." Gunny said, looking directly at Devin.

"Yup. She's taken. Been that way since we were last on the citadel." Devin said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, for the love of….Then in my age group, that leaves only Mord…."

Kurse looked at Mordin for a brief moment.

"Never mind. I'll look elsewhere."

"You got a problem with strong women, Froggy?" Mordin asked.

"I love strong women. Just not the kind strong enough to break me in half if they hug me too tight. And any hug from you would definitely be too tight."

"Well, come on everybody. We've got work to do. Enough standing around. Normandy crew, move out." Krinda said.

"Second squad, on my back." Ciala said, running other way.

Ciala and her group soon ran into the krogan and his cultist squad.

"Ah, this is my lucky day. Here's some of the Normandy brats."

"We'll see who's lucky when this is over. Everybody, deal with the cultists. The big guy is mine." Ciala said, sounding a lot like Krinda.

"You're going to regret picking a fight with me, suit rat. My name's Qwin. I like people I'm about to kill to know my name."

"Well, isn't that polite of you. I'm…"

"I don't bother to learn the names of those I kill though. It'd be too many names for me to remember."

"Fine then. Let's go." Ciala said, drawing her shotgun.

Qwin rushed at Ciala. The young quarrian dodged the wild swing. Qwin's fist went clean through the wall. Ciala shot two shots into Qwin's side. However, the Krogan's armor absorbed the impact. Qwin grabbed Ciala with his free hand then slammed her repeatedly into the wall. Ciala tried to aim her shotgun at the krogan's head but he shook her so hard that it flew out of her hands. Qwin then slammed Ciala into the floor. He finally pulled his other hand out of the wall. He then lifted Ciala over his head and heaved her to the far side of the room. Ciala struggled to get up at this point. She started to push herself up when her strength gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

"Is that all you've got? All that talk and this is all you can do? I knew you suit rats were all fluff. You're not worth killing. Now lay there and watch how I handle your friends."

Qwin charged in and shoulder rammed Kurse out of the way. He then grabbed Sorren and Devin by the neck. Tali tried to attack the beast but he threw Sorren into her and knocked her down. He then began choking Devin, chuckling as he enjoyed slowly squeezing the life from the human.

"No…No." Ciala repeated over and over to herself.

Devin hacked loudly as his body tried desperately to find some air through the krogan's crushing grip. This caused images of Krinda crying over another lost friend to flash in Ciala's head.

"No, no, no, no!" Ciala screamed.

Ciala, now enraged, shoved herself to her feet.

"Put him down or I will slaughter you!"

"Hmm, nah. I'm enjoying the look on his face too much."

"Then I hope you're ready to die!" Ciala said as she pulled her knife and activated her drone.

"Optics, Chiktikka. Shoot his damn eyes out!"

The drone shot over to Qwin and began to shoot him repeatedly in the face and the side of the head. Ciala took this distraction to rush at Qwin. Qwin tried to punch her when she got close, but Ciala dodged it easily. She jumped up and slashed Qwin's face from mid-cheek to the jaw line. Qwin went for another wide swing at Ciala, who dodged once more. All the while, Chiktikka Sal Don continued to shoot the krogan at every available angle. The fight continued for a few more moments like this before Ciala activated her neuro-shock and paralyzed Qwin. She then switched her omni-tool into combat mode and produced an omni-blade from it. She then climbed onto Qwin's back and sunk her regular knife into the back of the krogan's thick neck. She used this as a stabilizing handle and used the omni-blade to begin cutting into the soft flesh around the crest on Qwin's head. The krogan roared in agony as Ciala's blade began to cut through into the underside of the crest.

"I'm going to rip the top of your damn head off!" Ciala yelled.

She didn't mean this as a threat. She meant it as a promise. She had every intent on effectively lobotomizing the krogan. The others on Ciala's crew, though busy with the other cultists, were still seeing enough of this to feel an incredible wave of shock. It was obvious that Ciala the meek had checked out and Ciala the berserker was in command of this battle.

"Get ready to see your own brains!" Ciala roared.

Just then, the neuro-shock finally wore off and Qwin heaved Ciala off of him. He was now bleeding profusely and was growing extremely lite-headed. There was also the fact that Ciala's crew had dwindled his team down to the point that they were outnumbered. Qwin knew he couldn't win in this state. So, he swallowed his pride and ordered a retreat.

"Hey, get back here and fight, you son of a bitch!" Devin yelled.

"Don't bother, Devin. We'll see him again. I'm sure of it." Ciala said.

"Okay, LC. By the way, um, you are our Ciala right?"

"The one and only."

"So, where the hell did all that come from?"

"That was years of bottled up aggression and frustration getting released all at once. And admittedly, it felt good to let it out. Keelah did it feel good. But it was the sight of what he was doing to you, all of you, that triggered it. I couldn't stand it. I saw images of Krinda crying and I made up my mind right then. Never again. Krinda will never cry over a lost friend again. I won't allow it. If anyone tries to kill a Normandy crew, they will meet my blades and they'll meet their maker. Now come on. Let's go join the others. This battle isn't over yet."