Collector Base or Bust

Shepard exits the elevator and walks towards the bridge. He looks around and emptiness of his ship only adds fuel to the fire burning in his heart.

"Those sons-of-bitches are going to pay for what they have done", he thought to himself.

He walks behind Joker and looks out and see the Omega-4 relay's red glow. Despite everything that was happening, seeing a mass effect relay with a red glow as opposed to its normal blue was a sight to see.

"Approaching Omega-4 relay", Joker announced. "Everyone stand by."

"Let's make it happen", Shepard replied.

"Reaper IFF activated. Signal acknowledged", EDI added.

Jacob came over the intercom and informed them that the drive core was ready to go.

EDI informed Joker that the drive core electrical charge was at critical levels.

"Rerouting!"

The ship entered the mass effect field and readied for acceleration. The ship shot like a canon. After a few moments of FTL speeds, EDI told them to brace for deceleration. The ship decelerated and they found themselves in a shit storm as debris plagued their view.

"Oh shit", Joker exclaimed.

He jerked the ship up to avoid the massive debris. Luckily, Joker missed all the debris and cleared the debris field.

"Too close", he sighed.

Shepard looked out and saw his target. It was the Collector base in all of its horrific glory. It looked like a ship graveyard as they found themselves surrounded by destroyed ships.

Joker looked out and said, "These must be all the ships that tried to make it through the Omega-4 relay. Some look… ancient."

EDI announces, "I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disk."

"Has to be the Collector base. Take us in for a closer look…Nice and easy", ordered Shepard.

They cruised through the debris field and avoided taking any unnecessary damage. Joker saw a red beam flash in front of the ship just as EDI warned them it had detected hostile signatures.

"No shit", he thought to himself. "How many do you detect?"

"I detect four hostiles."

He began to take evasive maneuvers.

"Now they are pissing me off! EDI take these bastards out!"

As they continued to evade fire, they were surprised by the sound of an explosion coming from the CIC. It was followed by a heart-wrenching scream. It was Jack! Shepard ran to the CIC and saw that the beam had ripped through the hull and hit her directly.

Shepard saw her body and screamed, "JACK! God damn it!" After taking a moment to collect himself, "Joker, Jack is dead. She took a direct hit."

"Shepard, I'm sorry."

As he walked back to Joker, he was struck with guilt. He was thinking if only he had upgraded the armor plating that maybe Jack wouldn't have died. These thoughts festered in him for a split-second before he realized that he had to stay focused or else he might endanger more lives. Just as he was about to get back, Joker told him there was a hull breach down in the cargo hold.

"I'll take a team and deal with the thing myself." He activated his communicator, "Tali, Grunt get ready! We are going to deal with an intruder. You keep the rest of them of our tail Joker."

"Aye aye", they replied.

He got on the elevator and headed down to the lower levels. It stopped on the fourth floor to let Grunt and Tali aboard and then it went down. They found themselves face to face with an Oculus. There was no way he could know for sure, but Shepard believed that this was the one that killed Jack. The rage inside Shepard grew.

"Tali, you get behind cover and hit with drones."

"Understood."

"Grunt, do what you do best."

Grunt let out his sinister laugh and replied, "You've got it Battlemaster."

Grunt unlocked his shotgun and began dumping rounds into the mechanical monster. As fast as the Oculus was, it couldn't match the surprising speed of a charging Krogan.

"If only we had an army of Grunts", Shepard thought to himself. "The Collectors wouldn't stand a chance."

He saw Tali's drone firing rockets and figured it was his turn to show this thing what a pissed off Shepard is capable of. He biotic charged into the Oculus and found himself hanging on staring right into the red eye of the Oculus.

"This is not good", he thought as he threw himself up into the air.

Both Tali and Grunt stared in amazement as, if in slow motion, Shepard unlocked his own shotgun and fired rounds into its eye. Shepard's fist glowed blue as he was about to launch his fist into its eye. Just as he was about to come down, it flew away.

Meanwhile up on the bridge, Joker continues to evade the other Oculus.

"We are sitting ducks out here, I'm going to have to try to evade the in the debris field."

He dove into the debris field. Due to the large amount of debris, Joker was unable to avoid all it.

"Our kinetic barriers aren't designed to survive impact with debris that size, Jeff", EDI announced.

"Well than I guess it's a good thing we upgraded. We're going in."

He swerved and weaved through all the debris that he could. The ship rocked as large chunks of debris bounced of the shields. Room became scarce as the Normandy began scraping against the debris.

"Come on, find some room", Joker said to himself.

"Kinetic barriers are at forty percent."

"Reroute non-critical power! This is gonna hurt!"

He dropped the ship through the smallest hole he could find and darted through it. He found a clear lane in the debris field.

"Damage Report!"

"Kinetic barriers steady at thirty percent. No significant damage."

Joker sighed in relief and replied, "Take the helm, EDI. Keep it slow. See if we can avoid any more attention."

Just as he said that the Oculus that had evaded Shepard, found its way back to the cargo hold.

"I've detected an enemy heading for the cargo hold."

"That thing again? This one is up to Shepard."

Back in the cargo hold, the Oculus fired at Shepard but missed.

"Your ass is mine", Shepard exclaimed. "Tali, hit it with your drone. I'm going to need that thing distracted. And Grunt, keep running around and hitting with your shotgun."

As Tali and Grunt kept hitting it with pot-shots, Shepard began to circle around waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When the Oculus hit the middle of the room, Shepard knew it was now or never. He launched himself right into the eye, and shot it a couple of times with his shotgun. It was staggered as Shepard charged in for the final blow. He jumped on top of one of the cargo crates, and leaped fist first into the Oculus. He fist once again glowed blue as he unleashed a massive Nova strike into its eye. His fist tore through its metal armor and pierced it to the ground.

Shepard stood up and took a deep breath before contacting Joker, "That thing he dead and gone."

"Good, better get back up here."

Miranda came on the intercom, "We are about to clear the debris field."

Shepard ran back up and met up with Joker and Miranda. He looked out and got yet another view of his final destination.

"There it is", Miranda announced, "the Collector base."

"See if you can find us a place to land without drawing any attention."

"Too late", Joker regretfully replied. "It looks like they are sending out an old friend to greet us."

Shepard looked out and saw the Collector ship that had been the bane of his existence for the last two years. It fired up and was heading right for them. It fired its main weapon, but Joker evaded it.

"It's time to show this thing our new teeth. Fire the main gun."

Joker fired and it was a direct hit.

"How do you like that, you sons-of-bitches!?"

"Get in close and finish them off!"

"Everyone hold on. It is gonna be a wild ride!"

They continued to evade the Collector weapon and until they got close enough to hit. Joker fired and it was another direct hit. The Collector ship began to come apart and was about to explode.

As the ship exploded, Miranda shouted, "Look out!"

Joker turned to Shepard, "You know maybe getting danger close wasn't a good idea."

"Yeah, well hindsight is great thing to have… too bad it usually only shows itself after the fact."

The explosion ring hit the Normandy causing systems to go down.

"Mass effect field generators are offline! EDI, give me something!"

"Generators are unresponsive. All hands brace for impact."

"Well this sucks…"

The Normandy was a dead stick as one of the wings hit an obstruction and eventually crashed and burned on the outer frame of the ship. It continued to drag across the base until it eventually came to a stop.

"Joker are you alright", asked Shepard.

"Ungh…think I broke a rib. All of them."

EDI added to the bad news as it announced, "Multiple core systems overloaded during the crash. Restoring operation will take time."

Miranda continued to add to the depressing mood, "We all knew this would be a one way trip."

Shepard tired of all the negativity replied, "I plan to defeat the Collectors, but I plan to live to tell the story."

Joker turned and replied, "Well I'm glad you're in charge. What's next?"

"How long will it take for the Collectors to find this landing zone?"

EDI replied, "I do not detect an internal security network. It is possible the Collectors did not expect anyone to reach the base."

Joker added, "If we are lucky, their external sensors were hit like we were. They probably don't even know we are alive."

Shepard got on the intercom, "All squad mates, meet me in the conference room. We need to decide on our plan of action."

Shepard and Miranda were the first to arrive. They waited for everyone else so show up. Once everyone was there, it was time to plan out the attack. Shepard got in front of everybody and prepared to deliver one of his famous speeches.

"This isn't how we planned this mission, but this is where we're at. We can't worry about the whether or not the Normandy can get us home. We came to stop the Collectors, and that means coming up with a plan to take out this station. EDI, bring up your scans."

"You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control center here."

Jacob interrupted, "That means going through the heart of the station. Right past this massive energy signature."

"That's the central chamber", Shepard replied. "If our crew or any of the colonists are still alive, the Collectors are probably holding them in there."

"Looks like there are two main roots, it might be a good idea to split up to throw of the Collectors and then regroup in the central chamber."

"Sorry Jacob," Miranda replies, "but that won't work. Both looks are blocked… the only way to get past these blast doors is for someone to open them from the other side."

"It's not a fortress, there's got to be something. Here, maybe we can send someone in through this ventilation shaft."

"Practically a suicide mission, I volunteer and there is nothing none of you can say to change my mind."

"I'm not going argue with you because you are obviously going to this regardless of what I say so I guess you're up."

Miranda turned to him, "Be safe, Jacob."

Shepard continued, "The rest of us will break up into two teams and fight down each passage. That should draw the Collectors' attention away from what you're doing."

"I'll lead the second fire team, Shepard. We'll meet up with you on the other side of the doors", Miranda volunteered.

"Well as my XO, you are probably the best candidate for the job."

"I won't let you down, Shepard."

"I don't know what we are going to find in there, but I won't lie to you. It's not going to be easy. We've lost good people and we may lose more. We don't know how many the Collectors have stolen – thousands, hundreds of thousands. It's not important. What matters is that there will be that no one else is subjected to the Collectors wrath. That is what we can do, here, today. It ends with us. They want to see what we are made of? I say let's show them, on our terms! Let's bring our people home and eliminate these bastards once and for all!

"Who's going with who Shepard", Miranda asked.

"Garrus and Tali will come with me. You take everyone else."

"Understood Shepard."

"Let's move out!"

Be sure to stay tuned for next chapter in this exciting tell. Be sure to author alert, not story alert, because I update through new stories. I hope you enjoyed and be sure to tell what you think of the story.