I didn't really like how Bioware portrays Shepard in Mass Effect 2. Personally, I think they make him seem very un-human-like, in several ways.

1. Shepard comes to trust Cerberus far too quickly. He is more than aware of what sort of experiments Cerberus has done, and any normal human being would be slow to trust them (I know I would).

2. Shepard convinces Tali far too quickly. With a single sentence and a snap of the fingers *poof*, hey presto, Tali is completely certain that the strange guy in front of her is the commander. I feel that the only way Shepard should be able to convince Tali is if he tells her about the geth data he gave her back in the first game.

3. The YMIR mech is a massive killing machine specifically designed for ending lives. I don't see how the Commander, having just woken up a few hours ago, disorientated and having no idea what a mech is (They were invented after his death) can single handedly kill a machine like that. No bloody way. Not without help, anyway.

But enough of my nitpicking. Read ahead, and I hope you enjoy my story.

Note: As far as I am concerned, Shepard romanced Tali in Mass Effect 1, which I know is an imposibility in-game, but hey, who cares?

Jacob

"Freedom's progress is in sight now. We're going in." The broad shouldered man named Jacob Taylor reported to his colleague, Miranda Lawson.

"Excellent, Jacob. Now let Shepard know."

"Sure, Miranda." Jacob disappeared towards the rear of the Kodiak dropship, in which the one and only Commander Shepard sat waiting.

As Jacob opened the door, he reflected on how the great Commander Shepard had ended up in their craft. Barely three hours ago, the Commander had been resurrected, brought back from the dead in the most incredible medical procedure ever performed by mankind. Shepard had initially been distrustful of them, of Cerberus, until the Illusive man had revealed the real reason behind his resurrection. And the Illusive man had given him one more chance. One more chance to save humanity, one more chance to defeat the Reapers. Shepard had jumped at the opportunity, and here they were.

Jacob stood in the doorway and studied the man in front of him. Individually, he wasn't anything special. His face was considered relatively handsome, although now it was lined with the eerie glowing scars that were the result of his incredible return to life. His hair was going prematurely gray, the result of the many hardships the man had endured. But despite all this Jacob knew that the man in front of him possessed a talent very few had. It was the ability to lead, to convince people, to bring them through hell, safe in the knowledge that they would come back out of the flames.

Jacob reached forward to touch the Commander's shoulder.

Shepard

Shepard stared out at the deep blackness of space, studying the stars that winked at him in the distance, but his mind wasn't on the dark beauty of the sight before him, but rather, on how he had been brought back from what he had thought was his final destination. And it was all thanks to

(Cerberus)

Shepard's mind instinctively recoiled from the inherent profanity of the word. He knew that it was simply a name, a moniker for the shadow empire at the fingertips of the mysterious Illusive man, but it had been smeared, diseased, by the horrible tortures and experiments the organization had performed on other living beings, human and alien alike.

(And now I am working with them. I didn't expect this at all. Now I wish I hadn't been brought back, if I am only going to be the Illusive man's lapdog, a prize he can admire and whisper about.)

Shepard shifted on the uncomfortable seats and rested his head in his hands. The last three hours had been both tiring and disappointing. He was grateful towards the people who had rescued him, or had been, until he had seen the Cerberus emblem painted on the walls of the facility. His gratitude had died as quickly as it had lived, and Shepard could recall the sour taste at the back of his throat as he had fought alongside Jacob, knowing that he was know collaborating with Cerberus, with the enemy.

(Not for long. Just one mission. One, and then I am done with these idiots. Although I doubt the Illusive man would let me go so easily.)

And that was the crux of the matter. No matter where Shepard went, he would always have the knowledge that his second chance, the reason for his continued existence, was due to the charity of his mortal enemies.

Shepard sighed as his mind drifted into such dark thoughts. He had long ago learned that he needed to keep vigil constantly, especially at a time like this, and that dispiriting thoughts would bring his guard down. He did not even notice as Jacob set his hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly.

(Told you your guard was down.)

Shepard recoiled slightly from the man's touch, from Cerberus' touch. But he knew he had a job to do, and that petty feelings could not get in the way of such things.

Shepard let out a weary sigh. "What is it, Jacob?"

"Just wanted to let you know that we will be landing at Freedom's progress in about twenty minutes."

Shepard only gave a slight nod, determined not to grace the enemy with a response. Jacob noticed Shepard's reluctance to speak, and simply shrugged and headed back to the pilot's cabin.

Alone again, Shepard could revisit his thoughts once more.

(Just one more mission. One more, and I can bide these Cerberus assholes goodbye.)

The Kodiak dropship shuddered as it began to land at the entrance of Freedom's progress. Inside, Shepard, Miranda and Jacob stood up and began checking their gear, checking that they had a ready supply of thermal clips and other equipment. Jacob gave Shepard a nod, which he did not return. Miranda then reached out and opened the side door of the Kodiak, letting in a cold blast of air, as Shepard took his first step on Freedom's progress.

The entire colony was composed of hard grey rock, and most of the houses and buildings were carved out of sheer rock cliffs. And it was immediately clear that something was wrong.

"The lights of those buildings over there are still on." said Miranda

Jacob looked mystified. "If they had left by their own accord they would have turned the lights off."

"So that clearly shows that they were taken suddenly, enough time that they couldn't even respond."

Shepard walked ahead and pushed the door release button for a building ahead of them. Inside, it was pitch black until Jacob pushed the light switch.

Miranda pointed at several ration trays on the table in front of them. "Look. Those trays are still full of food."

"Looks like everyone got up and left right in the middle of dinner."

Miranda looked worried. "What sort of weapon in the galaxy could take people away so fast and leave no trace?"

Shepard frowned. "Something way beyond our capabilities. I doubt any of the present known species are responsible for this. Even the batarians don't have this tech."

The three of them continued on toward the center of the colony, their boots crunching on the thin layer of granite underneath their feet. Everything was quiet until they came to a large steel door.

Jacob held up a hand. "Wait, this door's locked. Give me a minute." Having said that, he knelt down and activated his Omni-tool. The orange hologram flared into life around his wrist, and Jacob set to work hacking the door. While waiting for him, Shepard took the opportunity to study the surrounding area around the three of them. The colony was completely deserted. What made it even more confusing was that there was not a single sign that the colony had resisted the attackers. There were no bullet holes, no scoring on walls from rounds fired from guns, no explosion marks. Nothing. It was as though the entire colony, women and children included, had simply disappeared into thin air. Shepard felt disconcerted.

(What are we getting ourselves into here? What sort of enemy has the power to make an entire colony of people disappear without a trace?)

(One we have never heard of.)

Shepard felt uncomfortable standing in a place where so many people, fellow human beings, had once lived their lives, only to have it torn from them by a mysterious alien force, one that defied all imagination.

"Door's ready, Commander."

Shepard gathered up his assault rifle and purposefully strode through the door…

and right into a hail of gunfire. His shields flared as they took the strikes, giving him enough time to dive behind cover. Miranda and Jacob followed suit, hiding behind several crates, as the mysterious enemy continued to fire at them.

Popping his head up from behind cover, Shepard followed the tracers from the rounds, trying to ascertain who was shooting at them, until he realized it was a robot.

(What? I've never seen such robots before. Assault drones, yes. But robots? Then again I've been gone two years. Anything could have happened.)

Propping his assault rifle on the edge of the crate, he took aim at the human-shaped robot, and opened fire. Rounds from his gun struck the robot, penetrating its thin armor and destroying its circuits. Only when the robot was a sparking mass of metal did Shepard dare to relax. Holstering his weapon, he turned to Miranda and Jacob.

"What was that robot? I've never seen this model before."

Jacob looked up. "That was a LOKI mech. Pretty recent invention, so you wouldn't have heard of it. There are other models too."

"Such as?"

"Well, there's the FENRIS mech, which is a dog looking one that can stun you. And there is the YMIR mech, which is this damned big monster with some pretty heavy weaponry."

Shepard managed a slight smile. "Well, let's hope we don't encounter any of those, then."

Miranda shook her head. "More importantly, it proves that someone is still alive in this colony. If all of the people here were taken, who activated the security mechs? I am sure the colonists don't keep the mechs perpetually on."

Shepard cracked his knuckles. "Or it could mean that this survivor knows that whoever took the colonists will be coming back, and he wants to be ready for them.

Jacob nodded. "Well, I guess we had better move quickly then."

Shepard and his squad continued deeper into the colony, aiming for the administrative buildings, hoping to find some evidence of what had happened to the colony. And as they continued, they suddenly came across several destroyed mechs, and in the middle of the smoking pieces of wreckage, a single ejected thermal clip.

Shepard bent over and picked up the clip. Rolling it in his hands, he could immediately tell that it was still warm, as he could feel it through his glove.

Shepard showed them the clip. "Looks like it is still warm."

Jacob took the clip from him. "Hmm. That sure is some pretty convincing evidence that we are not alone here."

"What could it be? Some last minute resistance against the attackers?"

Miranda shook her head. "If they were resistance, they wouldn't have destroyed their own machines. And we know that whoever these attackers are, they don't use thermal clips, as we haven't found any at the other colonies. No, I'd say that this belongs to another team that landed before us."

Shepard was confused. "Who could it be? Alliance marines?"

But before Miranda could respond, Jacob held up a hand.

"Wait, hear that? Sounds like voices."

Now it was Miranda's turn to look confused. "I don't hear anything."

"But I do." Shepard walked over to a locked door. "And it's coming from in here."

The three of them walked over to the door. And sure enough, they could hear voices emanating from within. Drawing their guns, they prepared as Miranda hacked the door. As soon as it was open, Shepard charged inside and ran into a group of

(Quarians? What are they doing here?)

"Prazza! You said you would let me handle this!"

And at that moment, Shepard felt his throat lock up with shock and familiarity, as he saw a purple suited quarian walk up. He would have recognized that voice anywhere…

"Cerberus. What do you want?" the purple suited quarian pointed at them.

Shepard could not take it any longer. "Tali? Tali, is that you?"

The quarian looked at him. "How do you know my name?"

Shepard could barely speak past the lump in his throat, but he forced the words out. "Tali, it's me, Shepard! Can you remember?" He took a step towards her.

But she backed up and pointed her gun at him, and that hurt Shepard more than any wound could. "Don't lie to me, Cerberus. Shepard is dead. He died two years ago!"

Shepard pointed at his face. "I know you can no longer recognize me. But you have to believe me. I am Shepard!"

But Tali shook her head. "I don't believe you. My commander would never work for Cerberus."

Shepard was by now, close to being frantic. But he managed to calm himself down enough to play his final card. "Do you remember the geth data I gave you, Tali? Did it help you to complete your Pilgrimage?"

And then Shepard knew he had hit the spot. Tali's` resolve wavered a bit, and she lowered her gun slightly. "How do you know that?"

"Because I really am Shepard. I assure you, this is," he tapped his chest, "One hundred percent Grade-A Commander Shepard, and nothing else."

"But why are you working with Cerberus? And why can't I recognize you?"

"Because I really did die when the Normandy was destroyed, Tali. And Cerberus spent two years and billions of credits bringing me back. And as for why you can't recognize me," Shepard winced slightly and touched his face, "is because I had to go through dozens of surgeries in order to come back. But I assure you, Tali, I am not with Cerberus and I never will be. I am only going to help them figure out what is going on with our colonies. And them I am leaving them. Please believe me, Tali. I need you to."

Tali stepped up to him. "I believe you."

Shepard was stunned. "Really?"

Tali nodded.

But before they could go any further, Miranda interrupted. "Shepard, we can't waste time. We still need to figure out what is going on with this colony."

Tali immediately reverted back to her leader mode, and Shepard was sad to see her go. "Right, Shepard. If you want to know why we are here, we are looking for a quarian here by the name of Veetor. He came here for his pilgrimage. He might have the information you are looking for. However, we have reason to believe that his suit may be punctured. He doesn't have much time left. Head through the warehouse in the center of the colony and meet us at the administrative buildings. Good luck Shepard. See you on the far side."

And then they were gone.

Shepard couldn't help but continue staring at the door through which Tali and her squad had just left, until Jacob snapped him out of it with a light tap on the shoulder.

"Come on now, Commander, let's get going."

Shepard could only manage a nod. Gathering up his rifle, he followed the both of them through another door, and continued through the colony. Along the way, they destroyed several more mechs. Shepard was particularly confused over these machines, seeing as he had never seen them before, but they still died when he shot them. And then they received one disturbing radio message.

"Shepard! Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead! I told them to wait but he wouldn't listen."

"They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!"

Miranda scowled. "We should have expected this."

Jacob shook his head. "Come on. We can still catch them."

With even more reason to hurry, Shepard and his squad fought through more mechs in an attempt to reach Veetor. As they neared the center of the colony, Shepard's radio crackled to life.

"Shepard, we are inside the loading docks."

Tali's voice turned fearful. "Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech! It's tearing Prazza's squad apart!"

Miranda smirked, but Shepard did not see her. He needed to hurry, now! As they ran, the sound of gunfire and explosions grew louder and louder, until they reached one large doorway through which the noise was the loudest.

"It's coming from in here!"

Jacob pointed at Shepard. "Get Tali on the line; see if she can open this door. In the meantime, I think we should find cover."

Shepard activated his radio. "Tali," he shouted, "the doorway is locked. Can you get it open for us?"

Tali sounded close to crying, but she could choke a response. "Sure, Shepard. Give me a minute."

After several seconds, the doorway slid open, and Shepard ran into a scene right out of hell. Quarian bodies were strewn all over the place, some riddled with bullet holes, others charred, smoking corpses; the result of missile strikes. And standing in the middle of all the carnage was

(Oh shit, is that the YMIR mech Jacob warned me about? It's bigger than I imagined!")

The YMIR mech stood in the middle, its armor stained with the dull red of quarian blood and viscera. Slowly, it rotated as its sensors picked up three new targets. Without wasting a second, it turned and opened fire on the squad, who dived into cover, but not before Shepard took several hits. Checking his shield levels, he realized that they were almost fully drained.

(Christ, what kind of gun is that?)

But Shepard wasn`t concerned about that. More importantly

(Where is Tali?)

Popping his head above the crate, he scanned the quarian bodies, but none were clad in the familiar purple of Tali's suit. Diving back down, he tried his radio.

Nothing but static.

(Shit!)

Popping his head up once more, he tried to ascertain the path of the massive killing machine. As he watched, he realized what its tactic was. It would keep them pinned down with its heavy weaponry whilst slowly advancing on them, until it was too late, and the machine was directly beside its target. Already, he could feel himself being pushed into a corner. He tried to look for Miranda and Jacob, and realized that they were hiding behind a large crate. The machine was firing on them, the crate taking multiple impacts. Shepard noticed a large word painted on the side of the crate, and tried to make out the words.

(F-R-A…)

(What?)

(G-I-L-E…)

(Fragile! The box is fragile! Get them away from there!)

But it was too late. The box crumbled under the force of the high-caliber bullets constantly striking it. Miranda and Jacob broke cover and tried to run, but not before the machine fired a missile. It struck the ground several meters from the both of them, and while the explosion wasn't lethal it was more than sufficient to knock the both of them out cold.

Shepard covered his head as a wave of hot air washed over him. Turning, he saw both Miranda and Jacob crumpled on the ground.

(Goddamit.)

Shepard opened up on the machine with his assault rifle until the thermal clip overheated. Striking the gun to eject the clip, he stared at the stats of the machine on his helmet's HUD.

(Damn. Didn't even break its shields.)

Shepard shouldered his rifle for another burst, but the machine was far too close. Shepard realized his mistake as he tried to make a break for it.

(I should not have wasted time looking for Tali. But at least I don't think she's dead. That's good enough.)

Shepard was still running when the machine swept out one of its massive arms, striking the commander in the back and throwing him against a wall. His armor took the brunt of the impact, but Shepard could feel himself come perilously close to falling unconscious.

(Don'tfallasleepDon'tfallasleepDon'tfallasleep. Get Up!)

And Shepard tried, but his legs would not obey him. He could only watch as the machine's shadow fell over him and a massive gun barrel was pointed in his face. And the only thing in his mind was a bizarre line of thought.

(Don't suppose anyone will resurrect me now, huh?)

But as Shepard watched, the machine suddenly erupted with blue electrical sparks, momentarily disabling in and destroying its shields. Shepard fervently thanked whatever god was out there as across his vision, a purple suited figure stood between him and the machine.

(Tali! Thank God, she's alive!)

Tali hurried over to the commander and began dragging him over to one of the large pre-fab buildings located around the perimeter of the warehouse.

"Come on Shepard," she shouted, "get up! The machine won't stay disabled for long!"

Shepard took that as his cue and tried to regain control of his wayward body. Using all of his strength, he finally managed to push himself up on one knee, and hobble into the building. Behind them, they could hear servos whirring as the machine began to regain control of itself.

Tali handed him an assault rifle from one of the dead quarians, and Shepard accepted it gratefully. His own rifle had been lost when the machine had struck him. Pointing at the heavy mech, Shepard yelled to Tali.

"What can you tell me about that machine?"

Tali turned to him. "It's a YMIR mech!"

Shepard rolled his eyes. "I figured. I mean, what are its weak points?"

Tali gasped. "Oh! Well, it has one at the base of its neck. That connects directly to its main power core. Disable that, and the machine will explode."

Shepard nodded and cocked his weapon. "Excellent. Let's do this."

Tali activated her combat drone and sent it towards the mech. Calling out to Shepard to move, she grabbed her own shotgun.

"Hurry, Shepard! The mech won't be distracted for long!"

Shepard ran with all his might in an attempt to flank the machine. It was currently occupied by Tali's little purple drone, and Shepard took the opportunity to run behind the mech and open fire at the base of its neck, noting with some satisfaction as to how the machine was beginning to spark as each bullet entered. Shepard fired until his thermal clip hissed; it was giving the indication that it was overheated. Shepard slapped the side of the gun, ejecting the clip, but when he looked up, he saw a horrifying sight.

The little combat drone was gone.

Shepard turned to Tali. "Get to cover! Now!"

Tali didn't hesitate, diving behind a wall made of several large crates. Shepard turned back to the machine and fired, fired until he noticed a large cluster of shotgun pellets striking the head of the mech. Turning, he saw two figures.

(Jacob and Miranda!)

firing at the mech. Turning to his left, he also saw Tali unloading clip after clip into the machine. Renewed, Shepard turned and continued firing. Under the combined assault of the four of them, the machine didn't last for more than a minute.

When the machine was finally destroyed, Tali walked over to Shepard.

"Nicely done, Shepard."

He shrugged. "Ah, well, you did most of it."

Tali smiled. "That's my Shepard, modest as ever. Now let's go find Veetor. He has to be around here somewhere."

Smiling, Shepard took her hand.

"Yes. Let's do that."

Tali

At their respective shuttles, Shepard watched as Tali helped Veetor and the remaining quarians into her shuttle. Once all were aboard, Tali walked over to Shepard.

Tracing a finger on his jaw, Tali said. "I wish I could join you right now, Shepard. But I can't. I have my own mission now."

Shepard smiled. "Don't worry, I'll get you. One way or another."

Tali laughed. Biding Shepard farewell, she boarded the shuttle, leaving Shepard behind. As she left, she could not help but shed a single tear.

She was leaving Shepard behind, again. But as she looked to the stars, she knew that that was not the end, for no matter how many times she had to leave him behind, they would always return to each other again, one more time, for nothing else mattered in the world. And for the first time in two years the pain of his loss was gone.

Shepard was back.