"Commander Shepard we hear you have an update for us"
Shepard knew it was Admiral Hackett before he even seen him on the holo call as he entered the room due to the militarized tone that had came to the man for him many years of service.
"Yes Shepard some of the things were hearing are quite absurd"
Shepard was relieved to see Anderson since he was fighting the most devastating war anyone had to in 50,000 years,
"I have an update but i don't think you'll believe me"
There was a pause before Shepard carried on as he didn't believe himself what he was about to say"Cerberus thinks they have found a way to time travel".
After a couple of minutes silence to let the information sink in the conversation started again"What do Cerberus plan to do with this tech Shepard?" the question was asked by Hackett.
"Sir's with all due respect why are we even talking about this? I mean it's impossible!" EDI then replied before the 2 officers had a chance
"No Shepard as i have stated it is not impossible i have looked over the research many times and if their calculations are correct ,which they seem correct in theory, they will be able to pull the 6 targets from the past into our present"
"EDI what is the purpose for this experiment?" Anderson asked of the synthetic,
"It has been Cerberus' attempts to improve on the alliance L3 implants for a couple of years now and they had Shepards DNA when he was been revived by them, they studied and found an anomaly in his DNA they searched Earth trying to find individuals with the same kind of anomoly but then the Reapers attacked making it impossible to find anyone with the correct specifications on Earth the most probable planet to contain humans with the gene so they piled resources into finding others in the galaxy to no avail thats when the Illusive man started to think 'when' instead of 'where', thats when the scientists started researching the possibility of time travel"
"Does the research look authentic? I mean could he just have created this to keep our forces divided with this goose chase?"
"Admiral Anderson i believe that this threat should be taken seriously as they are about to use the device to bring the targets into our present"
The look on the Admirals faces said all that Shepard needed to know."EDI when and where is Cerberus going to attempt this?"
"The data we recovered from the research station informs that the attempt is going to be in the Exodus Cluster to begin in approximately... 2 hours".
Shepard was in deep thought and eventally asked of the android "Why 173 years and why do it at all?" The droid looked blank for a moment as if the question was a surprise and she didn't have an answer but then she replied
"The data suggests that even through history the gene has been present there were 6 documented people alive in that generation so the Illusive man has gone back to that point to bring them here equip them with unique biotics train them and unleash them on the alliance. And for his reasons behind doing this could be a number of factors you have personally raided several of his smaller operations costing him money and resourcs another possibility is that the Reapers have indoctrinated him and the Reapers want these to provide their unique genetic code there is not enough data to be 100% accurate"
"How does he plan to do this EDI?"
"As from what i can determine Ceberus plans to use Reaper technology in the form of a 'tractor beam' they have set the beam to seek out the 6 people with the gene to lock on to the people and then pull them through".
As much as he hated to admit this crazy idea he could see the Illusive man stopping at nothing to get what he wanted he could even see why the Reapers wanted them advandced tech to improve themselves if they managed to get hold of them. Remembering he was not alone he asked his crew what they made of all this.
Kaidan was the first to point out that they brought Shepard back to life after 2 years of been brain dead to which Garrus added "i guess the impossible is doable if you throw enough money at it"
Liara was troubled at the news, "Whats on your mind Liara?" Tali asked of the asari. "I was just thinking that this war has made scientific breakthroughs in all area's, not all of them should be acknoledged" Tali agreeded with Liara saying "I know the people Cerberus are targeting have done nothing but have a gene, the only reason the Illusive man wants them is to further his own gains with no thought or care to these people".
"What if they resist? What will happen to them?" asked Vega
"That won't be an issue for Cerberus, they plan to subdue them as they arrive then be fitted with the biotic plans which will include control chips so they won't have emotions or thoughts"
After EDI informed them of this there was a stunned silence in the room which was only broken by the 2 Admirals who had gained control of themselves first
"Shepard you have to go stop them, and you better step on it!"
Anderson informed them his voice was sounded urgent as if the war could hinder on these 6 people and who had their allegiance. Hackett was alot more formal with his orders
"Shepard you and your crew are to get to that station and disarm it, If you arrive too late to stop what Cerberus is doing ... destroy the base and everyone on it"
"Sir with all due respect if we arrive too late there will be 6 innocents on that station we have no idea of the circumstances if they died in our time"
"Shepard if any of those survive and get turned against us we are looking at complete annihilation destroy the base thats an order, Hackett out"
With that the video feed for Admiral Hackett went offline leaving Anderson thinking of a diffrent soloution, then Anderson did something that he never thought he would do
"Shepard i have another order that could maybe help both us and them, on your arrival to the station and your too late to stop Cerberus rescue the prisoners and we'll talk to them, tell them whats happening maybe just maybe they can help us in this war"
"Sir you know thats against regulations"Shepard reminded him
"To hell with regulations this war needs all the help we can get from every when and where we can find, i'll deal with Hackett if it comes to that"
Shepard was conflicted he had 2 diffrent orders with 2 very diffrent outcomes.
"Decide on the way Shepard, cause time is not something any of us have alot of right now, Anderson out".
Shepard was still conflicted when he raidoed Joker to head to the Exodus Cluster he needed some time to think on how to handle this.
Location: Illusive Man's Hideout (unknown)
"Whats our status on 'Redemption' Doctor?" the Illusive man asked as he lit his fourth cigarette since he started talking to the doctor 3 minutes ago.
"The project is ready to go ahead sir ... but we have some troubling news from one of our lab's. It seems Commander Shepard got a copy of most of our data and is on route to the project site to interfer with our efforts".
With this news the Illusive Man was furrious but remarkably calm as well
"Shepard he's always interferring in our plans, see to it he is unsuccessful and the project a success BEFORE Shepard arrives"
"Yes sir" the scientist picking up on his bosses bad mood quickly and made his excusses to mobilize security and stepped off the holopad.
"Shepard will be sorry the day he turned his back on me, and the Reapers will be mine soon i'll have the bait required then it's on to victory for all humans"
After saying this to himself he lit another cigarette returning to the monitors in front of him.
"Commander, we will be approaching the Exodus Cluster in 20 minutes"
Shepard replied with "Let me know when we are 10 minutes from arrival, Shepard out".
Shepard was still confused on which orders to follow so decided to leave it to see the circumstances and possible outcomes, Hacketts orders were simple if nothing could be done ... just blow it up but Andersons orders would bring an asset to the war and possibly avoid wiping out a possible major event these idividuals or their children could accomplish also he hoped they would agree to help against the Reapers but either way they must be saved.
"Sir we are about to hit coordinates provided by EDI".
"Alright Joker, were ready as we'll ever be"
A/N: Thanks for reading i hope your enjoying this (not) so short story please let me know your thoughts on the story so far what you think i can do diffrently etc i welcome all critisim :)