Chapter 4: The Familiar Din

The jolt of reentry woke her up. A quick glance reassured her that she was still on the shuttle, still with Miranda and Jacob. She didn't remember falling asleep.

"We're 2 minutes out, Commander." That was Miranda, her tone a little warmer this time. "The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?" Perhaps trying to make up for being so withdrawn? Or proving that she could make this partnership work, whatever her feelings?

"Our first priority is searching for survivors."

"No offense commander," Miranda returned in about as an offensive tone as she could manage, "but I find that unlikely."

Shepard just rolled her eyes. "I got that. But a survivor would be able to give us a full description of what happened down there. And she would be able to describe this to the Alliance so we can get some more support." And get me out of here...

Jacob chimed in, trying to keep the peace. "Understood, Commander."

They waited in silence as the shuttle made the final descent to the colony itself. Finally it set down, thrusters flaring, and the gull wing shuttle doors flipped opened. They stepped out, weapons at the ready, though they weren't surprised to see nothing moving. No one had been left behind before.

They waited for the shuttle to lift off again before moving out. Its flood lights illuminated everything nearby, but also made the more distant shadows a lot deeper, and she wanted a clear view before moving ahead. With no immediate danger, and a few moments to wait until the shuttle was clear, she allowed herself to really take in her surroundings.

It was beautiful, that much was apparent. Not in the green, harsh way that Eden Prime was beautiful, but in a softer sense. It was winter, though it was hard to feel through the layers of combat armor which were gently heating her, keeping her body temperature up. The sky was clear behind them, but a slew of dark clouds in the distance were closing in, making the approaching nightfall seem even closer than it was. Snow was falling, though just a few flakes for the moment. Not far from her position was a series of prefabricated structures, blocky gray things mass-produced and dropped onto worlds to house the first colonizers.

Nothing else popped up. "Alright, let's move." Shepard took point, her Predator leading the way, while Jacob took center with his Katana shotgun and Miranda covered the rear with her own pistol. The first prefab door's motion sensors activated as Shepard stepped close, sliding the thin door aside. The automatic lights blinked on. No danger. They poked around, though Shepard didn't have high hopes. Jacob looked through stacks of paper on the round dinner table, while Miranda stepped outside to look at the buildings exterior. Shepard looked out through the window over the grounds for incoming threats.

Jacob tossed the papers down. Nothing. "Looks like they just got up and left in the middle of dinner," he muttered, gesturing to the plates of re-hydrated vegetables spread across the table. About as nondescript as it got. The rest of the room proved just as useless. A moment later and Jacob and Shepard were outside in the road again. Miranda stepped around the buildings corner to rejoin them, her boots leaving faint prints in the snow as it started to stick. Her high-heeled boots. Unbelievable. Shepard decided now was not the best time to point them out. Fortunately Miranda hadn't seemed to notice her attention.

"Strange. No bodies. No structural damage. No signs of battle."

Shepard shrugged, and they pressed onwards. The next few houses proved just as empty, of both peoples and clues. It was as if they simply walked away from whatever they were doing. "Alright, that's enough. Let's head for the city center." The prefab structures were built in a ring of sorts around the main walled compound of the heart of the colony. Theoretically the walls were to keep out wild animals, but they saw far more frequent use out here keeping out the sentient animals looking for slaves. The scum of the lawless Terminus Systems, out here beyond Council space, were far more dangerous than any animals she'd ever run across. A brisk walk soon saw them at one of the gated entrances to the main colony. "Again," muttered Miranda, "no damage." Shepard reached out and activated the door, which slowly started to grind open.

"Hostiles detected."

The tinny, automated voice emerged from within the the compound. At once Shepard and company dove to either side of the doorway and readied their weapons as a hail of fire poured through the doors. Shepard sneaked a peak. A balcony directly across from them served as a sort of snipers nest for several Loki mechs, and a path on the right provided access for more. There were even a handful of Fenris mechs. Those were bad news. The Lokis were capable of basic combat, but when it came to crowd suppression they were hopelessly inadequate.

Fenris models were much lower to the ground and on four limbs, which allowed them to be both much faster and much harder to hit. Their main attack, once unleashed, was to charge up close and release a concentrated burst of energy, which would incapacitate a normal human, and easily take down the shields of armored soldiers.

"Miranda, covering fire, Jacob get up there behind cover and hold off those Fenris!" Even as she shouted orders Shepard exchanged her Predator for her Tempest submachine pistol. She and Miranda together peeked out from behind their cover and sprayed fire, more interested in volume than accuracy. Still, Miranda's fire managed to take out a mech while Shepard's scraped the paint off several more, making them a bit more cautious.

Jacob burst from cover and charged forward. Occasional incoming fire pinged off his shields, but thanks to the covering fire he was able to slide safely behind a large crate in a forward position. Shepard's and Miranda kept up the pressure on the mechs. Whenever she had the opportunity Shepard would yank a mech up into the air with her biotics. It would drift there, helpless, until the mass effect field she'd generated faded out and dropped the mech down a story to the hard ground below. Miranda, meanwhile, was in her element. Just as she'd said, she was deadly accurate with her pistol, and her biotics were indeed formidable. They tore the mechs apart at range, and whenever a Fenris would get close she'd hear the hammer of Jacob's Katana signal the threats demise.

Once the carnage was over they regrouped. Jacob continued to glance around suspiciously. "Those mechs shouldn't have been hostile. They should have recognized us as human." Miranda, not to be outdone, chimed in as well. "Someone reprogrammed them to attack on sight." She glanced out among the darkened buildings. "We're not alone here." In the end, though, it didn't change their mission. They pressed onwards.

Several more abandoned buildings later, there was a change. The next prefab structure was not silent. Voices, distorted through the walls, seeped out to them. Shepard pointed to either side of the door. "Wait for my signal before you fire," she whispered. Then, as one, they charged through the door.

Those inside were taken completely off guard, though it didn't take them long to react. They had their M-8's up and aimed in the blink of an eye.

"Stop right there!"

Shepard paused, forcing Miranda and Jacob behind her to stop as well. As ordered, they held their fire.

At least something has gone right so far.

They were quarians, an ancient race of aliens currently outcast from Citadel Space for creating the geth, an AI network which had rebelled against them and supplanted the quarians from their home planet. They were also humanoid, and covered in full-body gray armor it was difficult to make out any obvious differences between them and humans. A few moments of observation revealed a few things, however. For starters, they had only two toes, each longer and thicker than human toes, which they balanced on. Their hands, too, were different. Instead of five digits they had only three, again each larger, and stronger than a normal human finger.

From the back came a strong, young feminine voice. "Prazza! You said you'd let me handles this." Another quarian burst through their line and grabbed assault rifles, pointing them towards the sky. She turned and towards the trio and held out her hands placatingly, only to freeze in place. "Wait... Shepard?" Her voice went from commanding to shocked in a heartbeat.

The first quarian cut back in. "I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives." The female, who definitely seemed familiar, angrily glanced over at the marine. "Put those weapons down!" He submitted, and she turned her attention back towards Shepard. "Shepard... is that... you?"

In that moment it came to her, and her eyes lit up for a moment, just as they used to. "Tali!" The quarian Shepard had picked up on the Citadel, the one that had provided the key evidence to get the Council to make her the first human Spectre, the friend who'd stuck up for her and kept the Normandy SR-1 flying: Tali nar Rayya. Well now, how exactly would she explain this?

"Cerberus rebuilt me Tali. In exchange they asked me to investigate these attacks on human colonies."

Prazza, the marine, didn't know when to stay down. "You'll pardon us for not taking you at your word, Cerberus."

Miranda had had enough. "We're well within our rights to investigate an attack on a human colony. I'd like to know what the quarians are doing here."

Wait, terrorists groups have rights?

Tali sighed, but obliged her. "One of our people was here on Pilgrimage, our right of passage to adulthood. His name was Veetor. We came to find him."

That got Shepard's attention; he might have evidence. The sooner they got it, the sooner she could get this mission done, and the sooner she could... do something. Something that wasn't this.

"If Veetor survived the attack, he might be able to tell us what happened."

Tali didn't sound optimistic. "That's... the hope. We've seen him, but he might not be in the best state to answer questions. He was injured and... ah... nervous-"

Prazza jumped in again. The man just did not shut up. At least he laid it out bluntly. "She means he was unstable. Combine that with the damage to his suits CO2 scrubbers and an infection from open-air exposure and he's likely delirious."

Ah yes, the quarians had terrible immune systems. Something about living for generations on sterile ships. Tali jumped in to finish Prazza's thoughts. "When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also reprogrammed the mechs to attack anything that moved."

Shepard managed to get a word in this time. "Veetor's the only who can tell us what happened here. We should work together to find him."

Tali nodded her head contemplative, while Prazza shook with fury. "Good idea. You'll need two teams to get past the drones anyways."

"What? Now we're working with Cerberus?"

"No Prazza, you're working for me! If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship!"

Once Prazza backed away muttering they got down to the planning, Shepard with more enthusiasm than she'd had for anything else since waking up. It was quickly decided that Tali and the Quarians would circle around to draw off as many of the mechs as they could to allow Shepard and her crew to make their way to the compounds center. All decided, they split up.

The plan lasted all of ten seconds.

Just outside a whole slew of combat drones launched themselves onto the roofs of the surrounding buildings. The trio piled back inside and got as low as they could as the first rockets came down on them. The whole building shook with the impact, and a good portion of the walls shredded immediately. Dust, pulverized concrete, and shattered steel choked the air. "Miranda, can you overload their shields?"

"Can do Commander."

Jacob and Shepard took turns firing out of the holes the first barrage of rockets left in the walls, trying to keep the drones busy while Miranda huddled further in the dark, her face lit up by the orange glow of her omni-tool. She worked feverishly, trying to hack into the drones wireless guidance network to overload their shields.

"Incoming!" That was Jacob, and both he and Shepard dove further into the building. Shepard slid farther than she intended, her path greased by debris, and ended with her head in Miranda's lap. She looked down in surprise. Shepard couldn't resist. "Just checking up on you Miranda. Any progress?" She felt almost like her old self again.

"A... almost done Commander."

Shepard returned to the fight.

The wall was almost gone. Only the main steel girders were left. She peeked her head out whenever her shields reached full strength and peppered one of the drones with fire, only to see their shields reflect her projectiles harmlessly away. She pulling on them with her biotics, but the shields managed to reflect the worst of the pull. It wobbled, but settled back onto its tripod legs. Any time now, Miranda. The drones prepared another round of rockets.

"Got it!"

Instantly Jacob and Shepard were firing as fast as they could. The drone went down quickly without their shields, but they weren't going to get them all in time, and...

Jacob dove back inside, but Shepard stayed, firing. She had just realized that death wasn't that unappealing of an option. No more pressure, no more problems... And she could do it saving her allies' lives. Not a bad way to go out. No blame, right?

Then, she got unreasonably unlucky. The first drone fired, directly at her, while she fired directly at it. From the spray of sand-sized pellets only just shaved off the ammunition block in her machine-pistol, one of the shards of molten metal actually impacted with the explosive tip of the rocket, detonating it in a massive fireball. The explosion enveloped the other drones and set them off in a chain reaction. When the smoke cleared, none remained.

"Dang, Shepard. Nice shot!" Jacob clambered to his feet, then offered a helping hand to Miranda, who looked irritated. "Weren't the quarians supposed to draw this lot off?"

As if in answer, their coms frequency came to life. "Shepard! Prazza and his squad went on ahead! I told them to wait, but they wouldn't listen. They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here."

Miranda grimaced. "We should have expected this."

Jacob, practical as ever, skipped right to the important bit. "Come on, we can still catch them."

They launched into action. The trio ran forward relentlessly, dashing over planters, leaping picnic tables, and barging through doors. A few more mechs tried to engage them, but the three biotics tossed them aside and rushed past before they could regain their feet. A few minutes later they arrived, winded, at the far side of the compound. "Hurry," Tali put in again. "Veetor's in the loading dock, but he reprogrammed a heavy mech and it's tearing Prazza's squad apart!" Jacob shook his head.

"Great. A heavy mech. That thing has heavy armor on it; the quarians never stood a chance."

The loading dock doors slid open in front of them to reveal the quarians, those that were left of them, fleeing from the hulking heavy mech. It was a beast. Based on the Loki model, the heavy was bigger and badder in every way. Its limbs, instead of undersized, were oversized to provide greater protection and stability which in turn allowed for a more powerful generator inside. All that power let the designers place a weapon in each hand; a heavy machine gun in the right and a rocket launcher in the left.

Their defenses were on the same level. Beneath a strong shield generator sat the heavy armor plating Jacob had mentioned. And once you were through that, you still had to get into the electronics enough to fry something important. Destroying them outright was almost impossible, and they were valuable enough that the designers included a self-destruct so people would have to by new ones instead of endlessly repairing the old.

"Miranda, Jacob and I will buy you some time to overload the shields. Jacob, once we get in give me some cover while I get in position, then get back here and guard Miranda. If she can't get those shields down, we're dead."

They acknowledged and jumped into action. Shepard didn't look back to watch Miranda get to work on her omnitool, but charged forwards towards the mech. They made it to cover unmolested; mech was busy finishing off most of the quarian team. Shepard cut left and Jacob opened up with his shotgun to get the things attention. While the mech slowly circled towards Jacob, Shepard slipped her machine pistol back onto her hip, pulled off the grenade launcher, and waited. The mech made its way methodically towards Jacob's position, which seemed more and more exposed by the second. At last, Miranda gave her signal and Shepard opened up.

It took more than she was expecting to bring it down. She hammered the mech with 5 high-explosive grenades before she really hit something critical. The mech slumped forward, dead, while the super-heated barrel of its heavy machine gun cooled from red hot to a more normal shade. For being dead, though, it sure was lighting up with a lot of... "Jacob get clear! It's going to blow!"

Shepard dropped the grenade launcher covered here eyes, shying away from the suddenly very hot air. Tiny shards of smoking debris pinged off her armor as the blast wave hit her. Her shield took the worst of it, however, and she managed to stay on her feet.

Jacob was not so lucky.

His shield had given out much more quickly being closer to the blast, and flaming shrapnel had bombarded him across his back and legs as he dove away. "Jacob, are you all right? Jacob?" Though not overly worried about the Cerberus man, he was one of the only allies she had.

Miranda, however, seemed close to panic. At least, as close to panic as Shepard ever expected to see her. "Jacob, can you hear me? Say something Jacob!"

Shepard joined her hunched over the big former marine and together they gauged the extent of his injuries. He was bleeding in multiple places, but it seemed mostly superficial. The sheer concussive force seemed to have knocked him out, was all. Not that anyone that had ever that could really brush it off as "all" it was.

She glanced at Miranda who had apparently made the same diagnosis. Her voice certainly went back to the same controlled tone she usually used. "Jacob it's not that bad, now get up." Even as she spoke Jacob groaned and opened his eyes. Shepard watched, practically reading his thoughts, as he went through the mental checklist all soldiers go through when they take a hit. Can you move your legs? Can you move your hands? Then everything was there and nothing paralyzed. "I'm good to go Commander." He climbed to his feet, though a lot more gingerly than before.

"Alright, let's go find this quarian." Despite Jacob's wounds she felt light, almost bubbly, as she walked into the loading dock. The afterglow of seeing a friend. Seeing no danger in the room Miranda hung back with Jacob and broke open her supply of medigel, leaving her to deal with Veetor. "Alright Jacob, hold still."

Veetor sat babbling away, apparently completely crazy, to the entire wall full of viewscreens in front of him and it didn't dent her sense of euphoria. A wave of her omnitool and the screens blanked, snapping the Quarian out of it. He jumped to his feet and whirled to see them.

"You're... not one of them? You're human. They... they didn't find you?"

"Who didn't find us?"

"The... the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone."

"Veetor, you're not making sense. What do you mean?"

This, apparently, got through to Veetor, who turned towards his monitors and started fiddling with the controls. "You didn't know," he muttered to himself. "You didn't see."

Abruptly the display screened crystalized into a camera view panning slowly back and forth from a vantage point at last two stories high. A security feed. The screen was full of monsters. "What is that thing?"

Veetor was back in his own little world again, but Miranda stepped over and picked up the slack. "I think that's a collector."

"Is that some sort of alien?"

Jacob, freshly patched up, joined them looking up at the viewscreen. "They're a species from somewhere beyond the Omega 4 relay. Only a few people have ever seen one in person. The usually work through intermediaries like slavers or mercenaries. If they're involved with the reapers somehow it could explain what happened to the colonists."

Miranda, refusing to be outdone, jumped back in. "The collectors have advanced technology. They could have a weapon that disables an entire colony at once."

Veetor, though it wasn't certain he'd heard any of their conversation, broke in again. "The Seeker swarms. No one can hide. The seekers find you. Freeze you. Then the monsters take you away.

Shepard eyed him curiously. "And why didn't the seekers get you?"

"They didn't find me. Monsters didn't know I was here."

"That isn't the only explanation." Miranda was eying Veetor speculatively, though she addressed Shepard. "The Collectors aren't known for being careless. Perhaps his envirosuit protected him from their scans. Or perhaps they were using technology specifically designed to find humans. Only human colonies have been hit, after all."

Veetor broke in again. "I scanned them with my omnitool. Lots of readings. Electromagnetic. Dark energy."

At this Miranda brightened. "We need to get this data back to the Illusive Man. Grab the quarian and call for the shuttle to pick us up."

"What?"

They turned to see Tali just entering from the back of the room. "He's injured, he needs treatment, not an interrogation!"

Shepard, however, felt her happiness buckle at the thought of parting from Tali again. "You don't have to just take him and go. You could come with us, treat him wherever we go. We could work together, just like old times." She tried hard to keep the pleading out of her voice, only mostly succeeding.

Tali sighed. "I'm still trying to accept that you're still alive. And that you're with Cerberus. I can't, Shepard. It's been a long time and I have my own responsibilities now, my own missions. I can't just drop everything and run off." She sounded pained. "Not even for you."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Miranda roll her eyes.

Shepard glared at Miranda, which seemed to catch her off guard after Shepard's earlier ambivalence. "Veetor goes with Tali. Tali, could you please forward whatever you find to us?"

"Thanks Shepard. I'm glad to see you're still the one giving the orders."

Jacob, playing the peacemaker, called for pickup before Miranda could reply.