Chapter 2: Freedom's Progress
The shuttle was cramped and boring, with no immediate interest from the minds of the crew members inside of it. John, Miranda, and Jacob were all sent to investigate the mysterious abductions. Jane was left on the base, not trusting this mission and Cerberus at all. John wasn't even sure if he trusted Cerberus, but felt the need to find what happened to the colonists. He thought he should do something to repay Cerberus. After all they did rebuild him. John was a magnanimous soldier, definitely not selfish.
'Shepard. What is our main priority? Should we be looking for survivors?'
'Yes. We need to find if anyone is left. That can give us hints.'
Jacob seemed content with my decision, but Miranda thought... differently.
'Shepard, we need to figure out what happened. There will be no colonists.'
'Miranda, the most important affair right now is to ensure safety of colonists, even if there is none. We have to look.'
She sighed in defeat.
'Very well, Shepard. You are the commander, after all.'
The shuttle gave a slight nudge as it touched down, indicating we were to exit.
The colony was deserted. Only nothing was wrong... Except the absence of the citizens of Freedom's Progress. Everything was left as it should be. There was no evidence of a struggle.
'This is... weird.' Was the only comment the crew members had.
Although spooked by the eerie atmosphere, they pressed on.
Each house brought almost identical setup, the tables set as if invisible people were ready to eat. They all had roughly the same food, beds, tables... the cabins were almost exactly like each other, give or take a few small things. After about ten minutes of trudging through an abandoned colony, Miranda came to a sudden realization.
'There is a strange absence of mechs also.'
'The collectors wouldn't take synthetics, would they? I thought they only wanted humans...'
'I guess we'll find out eventually.' The conversation died.
More walking and observing was all that occurred for the next several minutes, when her statement was soon proven wrong. A handful of mechs filed out of a building, and started to shoot at the team.
'Why are they shooting at us! Aren't mechs supposed to be on our side!'
'It seems like they were hacked, Jacob. We aren't alone in this colony.'
They finished killing the mechs and proceeded into the next few buildings, only to find a familiar girl in a suit awaiting with a team.
'Shepard?'
'Tali!'
They embraced for a long time.
'Shepard, I thought you were dead. I missed you so much...'
'I was. Too long to get into now. I missed you Tali.'
She giggled softly for a minute until they broke apart. Only he knew he did not have the same feelings for her now that he had before his death.
'What are you doing here,Tali?'
'A younger quarian, Veetor, was sent here on his pilgrimage a little while back. When we lost contact with the colony we came to investigate. We found it completely abandoned.'
John nodded, understanding their importance here.
'We better get moving, Tali. I'll radio you if we find anything that might be interesting to you.'
'Thanks, Shepard. We'll take the route into the warehouse, you search around, see what's outside.'
John and his crew continued forward through the door on the other side on the room, while Tali and the other quarians exited through the door on the side.
The outside of the warehouse was generally abandoned, showing no signs of anyone being back here even before the collectors arrived. A few mechs stumbled out of a door on the right, providing almost no challenge for the team. It was quiet, until a lost mech stumbled out on the left.
'I got this one boys.'
She overloaded the mech instantaneously.
'Good thing we have you, Miranda. Never would have survived a single mech.'
'You're right Shepard. It is a good thing you have me.'
She smirked while saying this, earning a guffaw on John's behalf, Tali scoffing over the radio.
They progressed up the alley, and rounded the corner, detecting movement from the walkway above. The combination of a concussive shot and an overload made the two mechs collapse.
'Uh, Shepard, we have a problem!' Tali's familiar accent rang out over the radio.
'What's the situation?'
'The rest of the quarians have gone up ahead! They're getting overwhelmed by a heavy mech! We need help! Please!'
'I'll be there in a minute, hold on Tali.'
'Hurry!'
The entrance to the warehouse was closed.
'Jacob, left. Miranda, right. I'll take the center.'
They drew their guns and readied for a fight.
'Do it, Tali.'
The door slid open, and a quarian body flew right past the commanders head.
'Its a YMIR commander!'
'Thanks Jacob, I definitely don't see a huge metal robot in the middle of the warehouse, and I definitely didn't see a QUARIAN FLY PAST ME SCREAMING IN PAIN.'
Jacob felt defeated, and silenced himself.
'Tali! Stay back. We need you alive.'
'Already on it, Shepard.'
'Miranda! Overload it as much as possible! Jacob, use your incendiary ammo when the shield are down!'
Simultaneously, they both said, 'Yes commander!'
Taking down the mech was grueling work. It took a lot of Miranda's biotic power and a lot of ammunition. Eventually, the mech was destroyed and broken apart, making sure nobody could rebuild it. Much of the quarian crew were dead.
'Shepard. Only three quarians including me are left.'
'Its okay Tali.'
They embraced once again, this time earning a scoff from Miranda.
'Lets go find Veetor.'
Tali, at a loss for words decided nodding was the best thing to do.
The colony was quickly searched for the remaining quarian since nobody wanting another mech problem. He was soon found, along with some valuable information.
'The black beings. The... the collectors were here.'
He showed us a roll of short clips, each showing at least one of the dark, humanoid figures.
'How did you survive, Veetor?' Tali asked.
'I locked myself... in this room. Watched innocent people get... taken away. It was... horrible.'
'Come on, Veetor, you're coming back to the fleet.'
Miranda looked extremely annoyed with Tali.
'Listen, quarian. You can't just assume you can have him. We need this information. He is a very valuable asset to this mission.'
'Miranda, he's been through enough.'
'We need his infor-'
The commander, fed up with the little cat fight between the two women quickly intervened.
'Tali, you can take Veetor...'
Tali was happier, but Miranda looked angry.
'... In exchange for his data on the collectors.'
This seemed to make both Miranda and Tali content, as there were no further arguments.
John and Tali said their goodbyes and the teams returned to their respective shuttles. John was heading for the Cerberus base once again.
'Good work on Freedom's Progress, Commander. We're one step closer to stopping the collectors. Right now work on assembling a team. I'll forward you some of the dossiers from my findings. Right now you should find The Archangel, The Scientist, The Convict, The Warlord, and The Mercenary. The Master Thief is already at your disposal. Good luck and keep me posted.'
Shepard turned to leave, but The Illusive Man stopped him.
'One more thing. Go to the cargo bay. We have a little surprise for you.'
And with that, he left for the elevator.
