Project Gemini: Chapter 1 – "Creche"
This five-chapter story takes place during the events of Mass Effect 3, roughly between the events of Priority: Palaven and Priority: Sur'kesh. The only plot assumptions made are that:
- Commander Shepard is male with blue eyes (though feel free to mentally replace all occurrences of the word 'blue' with the color of your choice),
- Ashley Williams survived Virmire and was hospitalized after the events on Mars, and
- Shepard and Garrus survived the suicide mission against the Collector's base.
All other divergent plot decisions I leave up to you, the reader. Enjoy.
"No Reaper signatures detected, Commander." Joker's voice echoed across the CIC, causing tensed muscles to visibly relax among the crew members. Commander John Shepard continued to stand at attention before the galaxy map, his pale blue eyes moving as they scanned the information from the various ship sensors flowing across the holo-display.
"Come about and make for the third orbital ring, Joker. We'll start scanning when we reach the planet there. And keep an eye on our escape vector. We don't need another surprise like last time." The Normandy had barely escaped a Reaper ambush in the last sector. Seeking a quick escape from the system, Joker had reversed their heading, right into the grasp of another Reaper which had followed them out of FTL. Only Joker's expert flying and lightning fast reflexes had gotten them through the Mass Relay in time.
Several random FTL jumps later, the Normandy found itself in this unnamed system. Five planetoids orbited a main sequence yellow star, the third of which appeared habitable according to EDI. A scanning pulse would be risky, with the ever increasing Reaper presence throughout the galaxy, but the Normandy was critically low on resources and the credits from any salvage found would go a long way towards continuing the fight against the Reapers and Cerberus.
Here we go, Shepard thought, activating the scanner pulse. A sonar ping sounded, for the benefit of the operator rather then serving any functional purpose, as the pulse wave spread through local space. Immediately a red circle appeared on the representation of the third planet. "Sensors have detected an anomaly, Shepard" EDI announced.
"What are we looking at? Derelict ship, lost artifacts, or more wayward marines?" Shepard demanded, bringing up the scanner results on the holo-display. An image of the world appeared, covered in blue liquid with green and brown land masses scattered sporadically across it. Text along side the image indicated the liquid was mostly water, with a breathable atmosphere and signs of advanced plant life being prevalent. A blinking white dot indicated the location of the anomaly.
"Anomaly identified. There appears to be a small settlement on the primary landmass. Sensors show signs of habitation modules and cultivated land. No signs of defensive systems or air/space vehicles."
"Give me a close up of the habitation area, let's see what we're dealing with here" Shepard ordered. The image of the planet on his datapad changed to one of an aerial view of a small settlement. Shepard counted twelve standard habitation modules, designed for multiple families, and several larger communal buildings. Some of the buildings were connected, others were independent, but all of them circled a central platform. Alliance standard colonial housing, but what are they doing out here?
"Commander, zoom in on the building at two o'clock. There's a logo on the wall" Traynor chimed in from her station beside the holo-display. Shepard touched the building on the screen, zooming in and waiting for the image processors to resolve the picture. As the artifacts cleared, Shepard felt his heart drop. The logo was unmistakable. Cerberus.
"What's a Cerberus base doing way out here?" James asked, leaning against the old conference room table.
"Whatever they've found here, the Illusive Man wants it, which means it's something we don't want him to have." Garrus responded, flicking through images of the settlement on his datapad, trying to identify possible threats.
"We're going to have to send a ground team. We'll infiltrate, assess, and either repossess or destroy as appropriate. Liara, you and James are with me. Garrus, stay on the ship, see if you and EDI can re-establish contact with Admiral Hackett. I don't like how isolated we are out here. Ash, you're..." Shepard stopped, realizing once again that Ashley Williams still lay in a hospital bed on the Citadel. The rest of the crew pretended to take no notice of the mistake.
"Anyway, we'll take the shuttle down and come in low behind this ridge. From there, we'll make our way in on foot. Full loadouts people, we don't know what we're going to find here."
"Yes, Sir!" James said, snapping to attention with unrepressed vigor. He was anxious to get back into the fight after having to sit out the last couple of away missions. The rest of the crew filed out of the room more quietly to begin preparations.
The door to Shepard's cabin chimed, awaiting his approval before allowing entry to whoever waited outside. Giving approval, Shepard finished snapping his black N7 gauntlets into place before looking up to see Liara standing in the doorway, a concerned look on her pale blue face.
"I'm worried, Shepard. Something doesn't seem right about this place."
"I know; I feel it to. Why doesn't the computer have any information about it? Even EDI isn't finding anything in her Cerberus records. What was the Illusive Man trying to hide out here so badly that we don't even have a name for the planet?"
"It's more then that. In the images of that place the people look so peaceful, almost idyllic. Aren't they concerned about the Reapers?" Liara paused for a moment, biting her lower lip. "And I'm concerned about you. You're still dealing with Ashley's injury. On Palaven you put it aside to help the Turians, but I can see that it still bothers you how easily she was hurt."
Pulling the small Asari into a hug, Shepard gave her a squeeze. "It's alright; it was just a slip of the tongue. I got an email from her just before we lost communications, she said she's beginning rehab and is anxious to get out of that bed. She'll be ready to rejoin us before you know it. It'll be just like old times."
"You mean running around the galaxy chasing Saren while dodging Geth at every turn" Liara responded with a quirk of humor on her lips.
"Yep, only this time it's Reapers instead of Geth. Makes it a bit more challenging, but hey, at least it's not dull, right?"
"Only you could say that with a straight face and mean it, Shepard." Liara said with a smile. Reluctantly leaving his embrace, Liara turned towards the door, pausing at the threshold and turning back. "Just use that charm on whatever we find down there and they'll be happy to quit Cerberus and join us."
"Well, if they don't, there's always Plan Triple-B."
"Triple-B?"
"Yep, Bombs, Bullets and Biotics"
Watching the shuttle lift off from the landing zone Shepard scanned the terrain, weapon ready, while Liara analyzed the air. Finally she looked up from her Omnitool. "No signs of contaminants in the air. Readings say it's safe to breathe." Shepard and James removed their helmets, disengaging and stowing away the breathing apparatus before putting them back on again. Liara simply removed her breathing mask and put it in her pack. The temperature was pleasant; slightly cool with a bit of a northern breeze blowing from the direction of the settlement. Motioning James to take the lead, Shepard fell in behind him, watching the sides while Liara covered their rear.
Eventually the trio arrived at the outskirts of the settlement. Pulling a spare rifle scope from his gear, Shepard scanned the buildings, once more feeling a slight shudder upon seeing the Cerberus logo so prominently displayed. People moved throughout the settlement, men in rough-edged colonial garb talking under the shade of an awning, others hoisting tools of various sorts as they walked along the central path. Something was strange about the men, but Shepard couldn't quite say what. Continuing his inspection, Shepard found several women hanging laundry around what must be a communal wash area, while other scrubbed clothes in large buckets. Shepard even saw children playing in the grass, rolling and tumbling in the green field.
What Shepard didn't see was a single weapon, not even a pistol. Even the poorest alliance colonial knew to keep a weapon handy at all times. Shepard's youth had been spent on Mindoir, a small colony that had managed to eke its way to sustainability on a far less forgiving world then this one. On Mindoir everyone had carried a weapon, though this hadn't helped when the slavers had come. What made these colonists feel so safe that they would fore go even that much protection?
Pulling back from his observation point, Shepard compared notes with James and Liara, who had also observed the settlement with binoculars and scopes from other angles. "I don't see any signs of Cerberus troops or material, other then the buildings. How about you"
"No guns, no shield generators, no barricades. It's like these people don't care if they're wiped off the map without a fight." James said, frowning.
"Something puzzles me." Liara said, working with her omnitool. "I counted thirty-two individuals: four male, twenty female, eight children. All the residents I saw appear to be around the same age. I didn't see anyone older then their late twenties and, other then the children, no one younger then their early twenties. None of the children appeared older then five. Even for a young colony, there ought to be a greater diversity in ages then that. And, especially the men, they all appear the same. The women at least vary in height and weight and build, but the men I saw all appear to be within 6 inches of each other, with same basic builds and body structures."
Looking up into Shepard's eyes, Liara looked even more troubled then back in the cabin on the Normandy. "Something doesn't feel right about this, Shepard."
"That's what we're here to find out, Liara. We'll wait for evening, see if anything else happens, then move in. For now, let's report back to the Normandy. Maybe they've found something we missed."
As the sun began to set, a group of settlers arrived, tiredly carrying tools and pulling carts loaded with produce of some sort. The men were greeted by the women with hugs and kisses, the children running out to climb on the carts. Nothing appeared out of ordinary until Liara spoke. "Sixteen men, Shepard. That brings the total population to forty-eight: twenty men, twenty women, eight children. Look at the population split. No singles; everyone has a partner of the opposite gender."
"Loco, I'm not sure about this. Maybe we glass the place from orbit and head back to the real fight, eh?" James asked, nervously.
"No, I want to know what's going on here. It's time we went in and started asking questions. Keep your weapons holstered, we're not looking to start a fight."
"Yet." James muttered, holstering his shotgun.
Shepard picked his way out of the grove of trees in which they had observed the settlement, making his way steadily towards the lights. As the party approached, people turned and whispered, pointing at them, particularly at Shepard. Women with children clutched them tightly, while others glared. The men, oddly, simply stood relaxed and smiling, though smiles turned to astonishment as Liara entered the light. Finally the group reached the central platform, upon which several of the males had gathered.
Approaching the platform, Shepard opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as one of the men stepped forward, raising his arms.
"Brother! Welcome home! It is always good to meet another member of the family."
Shepard looked up into the man's face as Liara gasped and James grunted in disbelief. Blue eyes met blue eyes as Shepard looked into the man's face and found his own.