Let No such Man be Trusted

The ride to Freedom's Progress was uncomfortable to say the least. She hardly knew either of these two Cerberus agents, she had no reason to trust them. Yet she had to if she wanted this mission to be a success. If she wanted to find out where her crew was… Where Garrus was. She did believe that Miranda had her best interest at heart however, having spent the last 2 years of her own life rebuilding her. And she had to give it to Jacob; he had been upfront with her very early on about who they were working for. During their short chat before the shuttle, she learned he was ex-Alliance. Maybe he isn't all bad. She honestly wasn't sure, but there would be time to figure that out. Right now, she had to focus on what was happening.

She had missed a lot over the last couple years. Being dead will do that to you. The Council had fallen back into their old ways, having sense written her off. The Reapers were a myth, Sovereign was a ship, Saren was the mastermind. She knew all of this was bullshit, but without her to fight their claims why would anyone believe it went any further? She could only half blame them really. I mean with her being dead and all. With no one there to actively fight it, why would anyone believe it? Half of the time she didn't even believe what her life had become those last few months. Or rather, few years.

After Miranda got her questioning out of the way, she was allowed a moment of silence to herself. Still having barely processed what was happening to her she began to think. She really had been dead. For 2 years and 12 days. Meat and tubes. Having no idea where any of her old crew was… She was alone. She may be breathing, but she was still dead for all tense and purposes. Well, at least according to everyone else. In those moments of silence she imagined what it would be like to see Garrus again. He would probably think she was some evil clone, or maybe some crazy Reaper tech… Something… Inhuman. In a way, she was inhuman now wasn't she? Before she could get too deep in thought, they begun their decent on Freedom's Progress. The human colony reminded her of Mindoir and of Eden Prime. It actually didn't really look anything like either of them; it was snowy and dark. But just knowing that humans lived there, colonies just like her own- colonies like Eden Prime… With that in mind, she couldn't help but remember. Remembering those spikes, the geth, the Battle of the Citadel… All of it.

She must be herself if she could remember all of that right? She had her memories and feelings… She was Shepard, she had to be.

Having not seen herself since being brought back, she found herself wondering what else had changed. Did she even look the same? Would anyone even recognize her if they saw her?

Looking down to her hair, she raised a hand to touch it. The length was a little past her shoulder now, definitely too long to be worn down if this were an Alliance mission. But clearly they didn't care about that kind of thin at Cerberus, Miranda's hair was down and matched her own length. It may have been different, but it was still hers. The dark fiery red was hers. She slid her eyes to her ungloved hands, they looked the same. Only none of the scars on her knuckles were there anymore. She remembered feeling her forehead back at the lab- that her scar had been missing. Raising a hand to it again, she felt the full brow. She hadn't felt her brow in one piece since Mindoir. Since before the attack… But now it was gone. Allowing herself to feel the pain of losing her family that day, and the sounds of their screams. She could hear them as loud as they had been then, but all evidence of that day had been erased from her body. She no longer had that reminder marking her forever. But she remembered it. Remembered the pain… The smell… The fear.

She was real. She was Shepard.

Moving her fingers down her face she felt new scars… They were big and deep. She could feel the gap on her finger tips, pulling them back as a small gasp left her mouth.

"You needn't worry, Shepard. The scarring is perfectly normal. I mentioned early you weren't fully healed. In time they should fix themselves. We can have the doctor look at it if you'd like a second opinion." Miranda spoke smoothly. She had to be Australian. Shepard may not have been born on Earth, but she was human and had been very well versed on earth dialects.

"Right." She let out swallowing back her worry as best she could.

"We're under direct instruction to follow your orders, Commander. You're the boss, so to say. Any orders?" Jacob spoke, a little lighter than Miranda had.

"I hope you remember that when we're out there." She nodded letting out a forced smile.

"I'd like to focus on finding survivors."

"The chance of there being survivors is highly unlikely, Commander. No one has been left before, the colonies are completely deserted." Miranda always spoke in the same slightly condescending cool tone.

"It would be nice to find somebody- anyone would be better than another ghost town." Jacob nudging Miranda with an elbow playfully.

She noticed the way her two new Cerberus crew interacted, there as definitely something going on between them. Soon after the shuttle landed, they were exiting the shuttle. The cold crisp breeze stung her face as she took a deep breath in. The air was sharp, chilling her lungs and stinging her fresh scars. It felt amazing. She really had been dead for 2 years hadn't she? 2 years and 12 days... No matter. She was alive now. She was here, and she had a mission. Reminding herself once more that once she figured out what happened here, she could find out where her crew was. She could find where Garrus was.

Along their walk they were met by several assault drones, as well as hostile mechs. Jacob was sure they had been hacked, there was no reason they would be attacking humans otherwise. The three of them made their way deeper into the icy colony where they were met by a locked door. Shepard began bypassing it, she still had it. A few seconds after the mechanical of the door buzzed open, as the three of them walked in guns raised high. They had been met by several angry quarians, guns also held to match their own.

"Prazza! You said you'd let me handle th-" A small quarian started speaking stepping between the two groups. "Sh…Shepard? Is… You're alive?" She stood still, and Shepard didn't need to know what her face looked like under her mask to know she was surprised.

"I am not taking chances with Cerberus, Tali." Prazza spoke behind her with distrust in his voice.

"Enough!" Tali snapped back shutting him down, then turning to face Shepard again.

"Yeah. I'm alive, Tali. Cerberus brought me back. They asked me to check into these attacks. I figure why the hell not, they did bring me back right?" Shepard spoke softly, she didn't know how to handle any of this, but she realized maybe she shouldn't be joking at a time like this. The good news though was that she must still look like herself if Tali recognized her. That was something.

"You'll forgive us if we aren't taking your word for it, Cerberus." Prazza spat from behind Tali.

"We're well within our rights to investigate attacks on human colonies. I'm more interested in what the quarians are doing here." Miranda stepped back replying in her cold collected voice, crossing her arms.

"One of our people were here on Pilgrimage- Veetor. He's been missing for awhile now. We came here to find him." Tali spoke cautiously. She stood back a ways from Shepard. She hadn't offered a hug or any question as to how Shepard had been. Shepard could hardly blame her though, she had been dead for 2 years and now she shows up with known terrorists… It all did feel very wrong. She couldn't help but feel like she came back wrong; like Tali sensed something was off about her.

"He's not exactly stable… We saw him when we arrived. He was injured and very confused, likely due to damage to his suit. Veetor probably has a fever, and is likely very delirious right now… When he saw us landing he hid in a warehouse. He was likely the one to program the mechs as well." Tali spoke with caution.

"Veetor seems like our best bet on finding out what happened here then. We should work together to find him." Shepard replied, now was definitely not the time to be joking around.

Shepard was starting to feel more comfortable talking aloud again. Her throat had hurt ever since she woke up. I guess two years asleep would do that to you. Tali nodded in agreement but before she could speak Prazza spoke again in protest.

"Now we're working for Cerberus?"

"No. You're working for me. If you can't follow orders go wait on the ship." She said flatly.

Prazza didn't speak out again. The next few minutes had been dedicated to coming up with a plan of attack. There were a lot of drones out there, and other mechs so they needed to be prepared. Splitting up into 2 groups would be the best way to do it. Before they split up, she asked why the quarians hated Cerberus so much, and she wasn't surprised to learn they had infiltrated the flotilla, killed countless quarians, and even tried blowing up several of their ships. Definitely reason enough to be skeptical. She herself even hated Cerberus, she knew what they were capable of... But she owed them this at least didn't she?

Once Shepard got as much information as she thought she could, they parted ways. As they had expected there had been several drones ready and waiting for them. After pushing through, she heard Tali's voice ring over the com. There was an issue, her squad got impatient and untrusting and had made a break for Veetor. Needless to say going in unprepared was foolish, the were met with an atlas mech, being no match for it they were destroyed. She and her new Cerberus crew dealt with the mech, as Tali catered to her wounded promising to meet with them once they found Veetor. Once she was given the go ahead, they went in search of him again. Eventually they found him inside a locked warehouse. As expected he was very delirious, rambling incoherently about swarms. Having to hide. Monsters. How the mechs would protect him… She slowly approached making out his words carefully. Veetor had been there during the attack, and whatever he saw combined with his fever had sent him over the edge. She tried puling him from his rambling, but he was no where. Hacking the terminals he overlooked with her Omni-tool, she shut them off. This was the only thing she could think of that would break his loop. Luckily it worked.

"Yo-you're human. You're not one of them. They… They didn't find you?" He asked lightly, his voice was breaking with each word.

"What happened here, Veetor. Try to relax and remember. It's very important that we find out about the attack." She asked him softly as she stepped closer to him.

"You don't know… You weren't here… The swarms. The monsters…" Veetor turned to his console and began typing. After a second all six screens pieced together to show a larger picture. It was Freedom's Progress. He had compiled all of the security cameras into one large rendition of the events. Not knowing what she had expected to see, it sure wasn't that. She watched as these long, coffin like tubes floated in front of large, bug like creatures each with 4 eyes. The 'monsters' were dark, and thorn like. She couldn't even describe that they looked like… wrong. Whatever those things were, they were wrong.

"My god… I think it's a Collector..." Miranda spoke, and seeing the look Shepard shot her she began again. "They're a species from beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Not many have seen one in person… They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries… If they're involved with the Reapers that would explain what happened to the other colonies."

"Seeker swarms… No one can hide. The seekers find you… freeze you… Then the monsters take you away. They took them… They flew away. They will come back… No one escapes." Veetor was traumatized, rambling incoherently.

She turned to her new team exhaling as she brought her hands to rest on her hips, paging Tali over com.

"Well, we found him at least. Doesn't seem like he can really help us though." She bit her lip thinking about the new information as she wait for Tali.

"I studied them. The monsters. The swarms. I recorded them with my omni-tool, lots of readings… Electro magnetic… Dark energy." Veetor's face lit in a bright orange hue as he began clicking on his omni-tool.

"Alright, grab the quarian the Illusive Man will want to see this." Miranda seemed to order as Tali entered the warehouse.

"I don't think so. He is hurt, he needs medical attention not to be interrogated!" Tali was very clearly angry, marching up to them with force in each step.

"Tali is right. He needs to go back to the Flotilla. We can take his omni-tool. If the Illusive Man has a problem with it, he can talk to me about it." She finished looking to Tali with a light smile on her face.

Things may have been strange, but at least she had finally seen a friendly face. Tali was alive and well... She seemed to be doing great for herself even. She could only hope for the same from the rest of her squad.

"Thank you, Shepard. It's good to know that you're still the one in charge." She extended a hand placing it on Shepard shoulder.

"Could I have a moment alone with Tali." Shepard turned to face her new crew. It was more of a statement than a question and they all knew it. Reluctantly the two of them grabbed the omni-tool from Veetor, stepping outside with him as ordered. Once the mechanical noise of the door had shut, she turned back to Tali letting out a long sigh. Tali just been stood still looking at Shepard. Inspecting.

"Is it really you, Shepard?" Her voice was scared as she stepped a little closer.

"It's really me. Or at least I think. How would I really even know, Tali?" She shook her head feeling guilty for having died. Feeling foreign in her own skin.

"I can't believe they brought you back. I don't even know this was possible." Shepard watched as Tali spoke movingly a three fingered hand to her mask.

"You and me both. But, I'm here. And if things are as bad as Cerberus is making them seem… This seems like the best bet for humanity. For everyone." She finished placing a hand on her hip again.

"You're really going to work with Cerberus? After everything we saw?" This time when Tali spoke, she was concerned and maybe even a little angry.

"What do you expect me to do? The Council is pretending the Reapers don't exist. The Alliance isn't doing anything about these abductions… Something is coming, you and I both know it. And Cerberus is the only one doing a damn thing about it. I don't trust them. I will never trust them. But I can't just sit back and watch the world end, Tali. I can't. I won't." She was speaking softly.

"The real question is do you still trust me, Tali?"

"I know… You're right. I do still trust you. Of course I do." Finally Tali walked to her, hugging her tightly. "It's really good to see you again, Shepard. I missed you." She finished let her go, then walking out of the warehouse leaving Shepard to her thoughts.

Hearing Tali say that gave her hope, that maybe even with these enhancements, she was still herself. Even after being gone for that long, she could still be Jane.

For the first time since she woke a real smile left her lips.