The next couple days went by quickly for Weiss she had slept through a large portion of it as she recovered from the powers she had used, when she was awake she was down in the cargo bay with Clarissa training and getting any help she could with using her powers.
On one such day while the rest of the team were on a mission Weiss was explaining her powers, or at least what sort of one's she could have.
"So your powers come from nature?" Clarissa asked with curiosity in her voice.
Shaking her head, Weiss looked up slightly as she thought of how to explain it, "It's not so much as our powers are from nature but are uh it's hard to explain, um ok in a forest or a planet with a lot of tree's and stuff like that I can feel them but also feel around them so in a forest I would be able to feel where people are in the forest." Struggling to find a way to explain it easily.
Clarissa nodded still confused but understanding it a little bit, "So your powers are linked with nature?"
Nodding Weiss continued, "In a sense, my main power is able to use forests and nature to be able to locate people or dangers and find my way around but also as you've seen I can generate lightning or at least a bolt of electricity towards a person or a wall and so on."
Clarissa nodded, "Similar to the psyker's that we have, is there any other powers?"
Shrugging her shoulders Weiss answered, "Not really only I can enhance my speed and jump higher but you've already seen all that normally it is around twenty-five years old or a little older when powers develop more."
Clarissa understood this, as it was similar with Eldar children and the adults in general where powers develop later on or sometimes not at all, "So how old are you then?"
Smirking slightly Weiss decided to play around a little bit, "Its rude to ask a woman their age."
Clarissa blushed slightly and was about to reply before she was interrupted.
"I'm twenty-two years old so it's a bit early for my powers to come in full force." Smiling towards Clarissa to know she was joking with her.
Clarissa just nodded mutely in response as she decided to ask another question, "So who is that Sabbat person in your head?"
Weiss looked a little shocked at the question, as she didn't think Clarissa would ask.
"Well depends what you want to know, I know her story and also her interactions with me but I don't know why she's in my head although I have a theory." Weiss spoke calmly.
"Well I guess her interactions with you."
"Well I guess it started on the planet Hagia which was or rather is her home world and where she was laid to rest, when I was there it was being invaded by Chaos and our job was to beat them back, I was injured when trying to save the second in command which resulted in me ending up in the makeshift hospital which was annoying as our regiment was going to retrieve Sabbat's body." As she spoke there was a sad tone in her voice but also slight anger behind it as well.
This caused Clarissa to ask, "What makes you angry about that?"
"Other then the fact I was stuck in the hospital? My people hold the belief that when a body is laid to rest you do not disturb them which was completely ignored by high command that the priests who tend to the shrine wouldn't allow it so for all purposes it was a suicide mission especially since a large chaos fleet was on its way to the planet."
Clarissa nodded her understanding while Eldar are slightly different in beliefs of the dead where the souls of the dead are returned to the craft-world and only some are awaken to fight in defense of the craft-world in dire circumstances.
Weiss carried on her story after explaining her problems with it.
"But I guess fate had other plans as a group of us felt a sort of calling, we all saw someone from our past, be it family or lovers we each saw someone calling to us to help Sabbat and I guess the calling was so strong a group of us found a transport which was to be condemned and we chased after our regiment to help and answer the call, it was through a large open country part and a large mountain which we walked up, all was hostile territory so in hindsight wasn't our smartest move."
Smiling sadly at the events and the harsh journey, "We did make it which did cause some problems with some of the higher ups but at the end of the day they were surrounded without any support so they couldn't say no to a couple extra guns, which we happily put to good use, the mission ended well with us defending the shrine using a hidden defense programme built into the shrine where a scholar sacrificed herself to activate or so we thought."
Raising a hand to stop any questions Weiss continued,
"It wasn't till about two years later till there was another point of contact if you will, we were deployed onto a planet called Aexe Cardinal, horrible place really one of the worst places we'd been sent fought by a stupid command who don't understand the need for a different type of warfare then trenches even with Guardsmen who knew how to fight fluidly and even my regiment they stuck us in trenches when we are a light infantry/scouting regiment but enough about that, it was hellish battles."
"I was in the trenches at the early stages until our commander, Gaunt was able to get us some wiggle room as it were, parts of the regiment would scout through the forests and try to find weaknesses or some way to use that route."
"I was in a small squad sent through the woods to find a way to move tanks through safely on good ground, I think we were the furthest forward out of the scouting units but we ran into a problem, we found Blood Pact who are a regiment in the chaos army an elite one at that and been a thorn in our side for most of the crusade but anyway we ran into them in the forest and they managed to kill the rest of my squad as we were retreating." Weiss spoke sadly of the deaths of her team.
"I was able to get their dog tags but that was all I could do sadly, but I managed to retreat and avoid the Blood Pact and I ended up in this church or something I'm not sure really, but I found a blind woman tending to the building, I found the building and entered it where the woman spoke to me about Sabbat and also some information which I'd shared with no one since leaving Tanith." Pausing as she thought through the encounter and how the woman knew about her.
Shaking her head she continued, "But anyway she warned me of what was to happen next and the planet we would go to and how Sabbat would be there and as I left the church disappeared and from there I met up with another team and well the rest is history to be honest."
Stopping Weiss moved around a little to change her sitting position as she took a drink of water after talking for so long.
Clarissa looked confused for a minute when Weiss didn't continue speaking, "What happened after that then?"
Smiling Weiss stood up, stretching her limbs after sitting for so long, "That's a story for another day, would you like to train for a little bit? Or would you rather do something else?"
Instead of responding with words Clarissa just stood up drawing her sword, which caused Weiss to draw her short sword, her Daishō.
Drawing her hood over her head Weiss charged first and for the next two hours the two swordswomen fought each time someone could make a killing blow they were given a point.
By the end of two hours when they were growing tired the points were 25:24 to Weiss' favor.
Over the time the two were training Shepard and her team had arrived back with a Krogan in a tube and hearing the loud banging sounds above them knew Shepard had let him out.
As the two women went to the mess hall to get some food after the intense training session Weiss' arm started to vibrate as her Omni-tool started to go off as she was getting a phone call.
Slightly confused Weiss activated her Omni-tool and saw who was calling, so quickly she answered the call.
A child's face appeared on her screen looking frightened and scared at something, acting quickly Weiss spoke "Sweetie what's wrong? Are you alright?"
The child had tears in her ears as she tried to speak, "Cathy th….there….there are bugs everywhere, people freezing, help."
Weiss realizing what was going on turned to Clarissa, who was already going to find Shepard to tell her what was happening, already knowing what planet they were on.
"Sweetie calm down, ok? Now tell me what happened and where you are." Speaking softly to try and comfort the child.
The child calmed down and started to speak fast, "A massive ship came towards the planet and then loads of bugs started to appear and they would bite people and freeze them up, mommy and daddy covered me so the bugs wouldn't hurt me but then bigger bugs came and started to take people away, I'm hiding in a cupboard that a weird woman put me in."
Confused as she tried to understand everything that was said, she got the main parts, which said Collectors were on the planet and there was a strange woman or something.
"Ok sweetie I'm going to be their soon ok? Just stay where you are and keep quiet I'll find you when it's safe ok?"
The child nodded, "Ok, hurry Cathy."
"Don't worry sweetie I will be there soon." Speaking gently again Weiss cut the call just as Shepard's voice appeared around the ship.
"All ground team members report to the briefing room immediately."
Weiss made it to the briefing room in record time and was already looking over the map of the colony Horizon with Shepard as they came up with a plan.
"Two teams each coming in from different direction means you can clear the colony quickly and then meet up in the middle and each team having a scout as well to help direct them and give advance warning about hostiles as well."
Nodding Shepard looked over the map, "That sounds good, will you be alright to do this though?"
"I will be fine Commander I understand the mission and it will not get personal I promise you." Speaking with conviction but also annoyance at being asked that question.
Before Shepard could say anymore the rest of the ground team entered the room quickly filling up the room around the table.
Shepard looked around at the faces of the team before pointing at the map, "This is Horizon a colony in the Terminus system and according to our knowledge it is being invaded by the Collectors. In front of us is a map of the colony." Indicating the map on the table.
"Weiss here is going to brief you all on the mission as the plan is hers." Stepping aside to allow Weiss to take the stage.
Walking forward Weiss marked two points on the map, "Alright I got information through about five minutes ago that Collectors were on Horizon and we are currently headed to the planet, according to the Commander we have at least an hour before we arrive so we're not sure about the state of the colony when we get there."
Pointing to the two dots on the map, "Two teams will deploy on two sides of the colony to clear it quickly and to cover all options. Each team will have a scout who will direct the team and warn them of anything. Team one's scout will be me and team two's will be Kasumi, the teams themselves I will allow the Commander to sort out the teams."
Looking around again she spoke her last bit, "I know of at least one person alive or one person not frozen but our first priority is to secure the colony before we can look for anyone alive, questions?"
Miranda was the first to ask a question quickly asking, "Who is your source for this? How do you know it's the Collector's?"
Looking to Shepard Weiss decided to answer the question, "When Clarissa and myself arrived here we were taken in by a family who were displaced because of Archangel and they went to Horizon, the child of the family contacted me scared for her life almost ten minutes ago saying of a massive ship coming towards the planet, bugs which bit people and froze them and bigger bugs taking people away all of this links in with the description of the Collector's I was given so that is my source Miss Lawson."
Miranda nodded happy with the answer and agreed that it was the Collector.
Seeing no more questions Weiss let Shepard speak again.
"Professor are the armor upgrades ready?"
The hypoactive Salarian answered, "Theoretically yes, though using them I am not sure until we actually test against large numbers of them."
There were multiply comments of how they weren't pleased hearing that but the comments were silenced by Shepard raising her hand.
"Alright then just start equipping everyone's armor with them please, teams will be as followed: Miranda, Mordin and Jack with Weiss as the scout will be team one and we will deploy here." Indicating a marker on the map.
"Team two will be lead by Garrus with Grunt, Jacob and Clarissa with Kasumi as the scout, and will deploy on the opposite side and both teams will meet in the middle here." Pointing at a large courtyard area in the centre of the colony.
"We don't have long will we arrive so I'll keep this brief, our first objective is to clear the colony of Collectors and our second objective is to find any survivors mainly a child who told us of the Collector's." Looking around the faces seeing the determination on their faces.
"This is why I've recruited all of you, to fight the Collector's, this is our first time facing them so lets try now to mess this up so everyone is dismissed go and get your gear sorted and meet at the shuttle in thirty minutes."
With that said everyone left the briefing room all heading to the armory of their room to get weapons and armor ready.
Weiss and Clarissa went into the armory to sort out ammo, which for Weiss' weapons were being recharged in the room and for Clarissa it was a pistol to use alongside her sword.
While sorting out weapons this gave the two women to speak to each other.
"Clarissa are you able to talk telepathically?" Weiss asked carefully and quietly so the others didn't overhear them.
Clarissa for a second was confused as to how Weiss knew but realized that of course she knew.
"I can speak and reply telepathically but I don't have the power to instigate the conversation."
Nodding Weiss just sighed, "Ok then, don't worry then I was hoping to try and keep in contact in case something happened."
As the pair sorted out weapons and ammo they headed to their rooms to finish up getting their armor on and ten minutes later found both women by the shuttle as they waited for everyone else.
Weiss had put all her armor on and her cloak wrapped around her though for the moment her hood was down.
Clarissa was dressed in her Banshee armor, which the armor pieces were a light grey, which was highlighted by the dark purple under-armor that showed between the armor pieces.
Clarissa's war mask however was on her face, the dark grey color mixed with the blood red mane of hair on the back and impassable red eyes made for an intimidating figure.
This however didn't affect Weiss in any way as she spoke with her, "I haven't spoken with Sabbat at all since she made her presence known I think she could be resting from what she did so I can't get her help us talk telepathically sadly."
Clarissa nodded hearing the answer to her question, "Ok then, oh and I wanted to ask something is that alright?"
Looking at Clarissa curiously, "Depends on the question."
"Your war mask, you do not wear one like I do when going into combat do you?"
Smiling at the question, "No I do not, unlike you I do not need to place a mask over myself to control bloodlust or destructive impulses."
Clarissa although Weiss couldn't see it knew she had a confused look on her face due to the next question, "Why do you not wear a mask when you clearly have been fighting for a long time? Was it due to being in the Imperium?"
Smiling softly at the questions Weiss answered almost like explaining something to a child, "In part it is due to fighting for a long time I leant how to deal with the bloodlust but due to the nature we were exiled and the way we live is similar in a sense to the Exodites where we stick to small villages within nature in the case of the Exiles it was amongst the tree's of Tanith but we rarely had to fight because we had a sort of agreement with the government of Tanith."
Looking around Weiss saw no one around other then the pilot in the shuttle who was getting it ready, "We had an agreement that if we left them alone and protect anyone who enters the forest we would be allowed to exist, you might think how the hell they were able to do that but it was a very old agreement which was forgotten about quickly so they never knew of our existence for all intents and purposes."
Clarissa was confused again how they were able to do that with the Imperium's no alien policy but clearly it worked out for them that people forgot about them.
"So how do you deal with the bloodlust as a people?"
"We only ever have the problem twice in our lives where we get an almost uncontrollable bloodlust, once when we turn ten years old and again when we turn one hundred years old, our growth for some reason is accelerated so we reach adulthood around twelve years old, at ten we would be a teenager going by what humans call them."
Before Clarissa could ask Weiss how they control it the rest of the team had arrived which caused Weiss to put her mask over her face and draw her hood up.
Weiss' mask looked similar to those of a twenty-first century fighter pilot mask, at least the bottom part with the oxygen mask was the same however it was slimmed down and the top half was a black visor which was made of one way bullet proof glass which wrapped around the mask.
The mask was small and only covered the front part so if Weiss' hood was to drop then the mask would fall as well as it was attached to the hood.
After the problem onboard the prison ship where she had run the risk of not having a re-breather so with the help of Clarissa and Professor Mordin she was able to make a suitable mask with an in-build display to show a small map of the area, the amount of ammo she had and a few other pieces which would help her.
A few minutes later and Shepard had arrived, she quickly looked at her team checking they were all ready, "Alright everyone lets go."
With that everyone boarded the shuttle it took off while the people inside were standing in teams as each team leader discussed plans and how would do what.
As this was happening Weiss moved to the side in a small area that was clear.
Kneeling down Weiss placed one hand, open palm in front of her and a closed fist on her heart as she spoke quietly in a language that no one understood.
As Weiss stood up and opened her eyes she saw curious looks but offered no explanation as to what she just did although some could easily guess what it was.
A minute later the pilot spoke to everyone, "Approaching drop point one, team two get ready."
With that those of team one moved out of the way of the door to allow the others to get out of the shuttle.
Once they were all out the pilot took the shuttle up to take everyone else to where they needed to go.
Shepard once putting her helmet on checked everyone could hear her, once that was done she spoke to Weiss, "Weiss you exit first and take point you're our scout so we need you in front."
"Copy that Commander." Weiss moved to the door of the shuttle as she waited for it to open up and let them out.
She got her wish a few seconds later as the door opened as they landed, walking out the shuttle with her rifle raised scanning the area to find no Collector's in front of them.
As the rest of the team moved out of the shuttle Weiss was already walking towards the colony activating her cloaking ability to hide from any Collector's.
Moving through the open area and a couple houses she came up on a small loading area where two Collector drones were standing in the middle not doing anything.
Watching them for a few seconds she spoke to Shepard, "Commander, I have two Collector's not doing anything in front of me, orders?"
A few seconds later a reply came through, "Clear to engage."
"Copy."
With that done Weiss crouched low, drawing her short sword quietly.
As she got behind the first Collector she rose up and swung her sword across its body, the sharp blade easily cut through the body and using the momentum behind the swing, Weiss moved with the blade bringing it to bear on the other Collector before it could even move.
With both Collector's dead Weiss crouched as she waited to see if any others nearby heard that.
A few seconds later she spotted a couple more Collectors arrive around the corner and spotted Weiss causing them to open fire.
Quickly ducking behind a low wall Weiss drew her las-rifle and started to fire back, only raising from cover for a few seconds at a time to fire a couple shots towards the Collectors each bolt of energy hitting its target.
"Contact, Collector's engaging me at the small storage area." Weiss called out over her com piece to the team.
A few seconds later and another two dead Collector's found Shepard's answer, "Copy, we're thirty seconds away hold on."
Not bothering to answer except a tap on her com piece to show she understood Weiss carried on fighting.
True to her word the rest of the team arrived in thirty seconds the rest of the team arrived and easily finished off the remaining Collector drones.
Once it was clear they all gathered around a body of a dead Collector with Shepard asking, "I thought you took them down silently?"
Annoyed at what was implied by Shepard, "I did take them down silently, no sound at all but judging by the behavior of the two drones I took out first and then the rest arriving I believe they work as a hive mind or something." Answering harshly.
Shepard raised her hand to apologize, "Ok then, lets carry on."
Nodding Weiss turn and cloaked as she moved further into the colony, as she entered the outskirt streets leading towards the centre of the colony.
Weiss saw people frozen in the middle of the street, a brown field around them, which seemed to be what's keeping them frozen in place.
Activating her com again, "Commander I've found some colonists they seem to be frozen in place I would guess that's how the Collector's take the colonists."
"Copy that Weiss, we're just entering the street now and seeing it." The reply from Shepard came with small pieces of static.
After hearing that Weiss carried on moving through the colony until she got to a large group of Collector's taking bodies and putting them into some sort of tube or something.
Deciding it was safer to wait for support Weiss set her rifle up looking around choosing her first couple of targets.
Hearing the rest of the team start to arrive she de-cloaked and opened fire taking down a couple of the unsuspecting Collectors with her first volley.
As Weiss fired so did the rest of the team and the combined firepower quickly killed all the Collectors in the way.
Before they were all killed something seemed to be wrong with one of them as it hunched over in what seemed like pain as cracks started to appear over its body and in those cracks it looked like fire erupting from inside it.
A booming, synthetic voice echoed out, "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."
As the Collector righted itself saw it had glowing eyes and its whole body was glowing as well.
It launched what seemed to be a Biotic attack was fired towards them however they managed to avoid the attack.
Weiss was already moving forward firing at the Collector but it seemed more resistant then normal drones.
"YOUR WEAPON MEANS NOTHING, YOU CANNOT STOP THE CYCLE. I AM THE HARBRINGER OF YOUR DESTRUCTION."
Weiss ignored the voice as she fired again hitting it in the head causing it to dissolve into thin air.
"Yeah clearly it means nothing fucker." Ducking behind cover again to avoid the renewed gunfire directed towards her this gave the rest of the team the chance to finish off the remaining collector's.
Once they were all killed the team meet up together to talk about the special collector.
While Mordin was offering up theories as to why it gained those powers Weiss checked around the nearby buildings seeing if she could find the one Hitomi was hiding in.
Having no luck and hearing Shepard call for the team to move on she left the house she was currently in to help.
With Team two.
Clarissa had just pulled her sword out of the chest of a collector who decided to get in close to the Eldar, which for him it failed.
The rest of the team like Clarissa, were pinned down under the weight of firepower the collector's were bringing against them.
As Clarissa was about to rise out of cover to attack another two collector's who came into her range she heard a call come from Garrus.
"GET DOWN."
Acting on instinct Clarissa ducked down before a chain of explosions almost knocked her back if the wall she was behind didn't absorb the shockwave.
Rising up from cover Clarissa spotted a figure dressed in black, wearing almost the same outfit as Weiss was when they left the ship.
The figure she saw however didn't wear a mask and the cloak was darker then Weiss' as well which was what stopped Clarissa from calling out to the figure.
The figure just threw a detonator away before bowing towards the team before disappearing.
Confused about the figure she decided to contact the other team to tell them of the figure helping them.
Garrus was already ahead of her and was trying to contact the other team but it seemed the collector's were scrambling the com frequencies.
Further gunfire directed towards the team forced them to carry on with the mission and worry about the helper another time.
Back with team one.
The team quickly moved through the colony, the drones that were in their way didn't stand a chance against the firepower they brought with them.
The special collector's took a little longer then the drones to kill but they still made quick work of them due to Weiss' weapon.
They didn't run into any problems until they reached closer to the heart of the colony, they found collector's putting people into pods but before they could examine them they started getting attacked by the collectors.
The drones fell to the teams firepower easily however as they saw earlier the collectors had husks either with them or made them on the colony but what appeared from behind one of the colonies houses showed some sort of hybrid.
It looked like a group of husks all pushed together into a massive creature and they strapped a gun into it.
The creature fired its cannon causing everyone to scatter and move out of its line of fire while trying to fire on it and kill it as well.
The creature had heavier armor on then that of the drones so it was a struggle to try and kill the creature.
Seeing her gun not working even on its highest power setting Weiss strapped it to her back and drew both her swords calling out, "Cover me."
Rushing over the low wall she used as cover she rushed towards the creature hoping the power blades could cut the creature.
While the rest of the team fired on the creature trying to keep it distracted as Weiss charged.
Reaching the creature she ducked under a swing of the small arm of the creature and brought one blade cutting through one of the legs of the creature and using the small blade to cut upwards to hit between the legs of the creature.
The creature screeched out in pain and collapsed under its heavy weight, so while the creature was on the ground in pain she brought her two blades around and used the shorter one to stab the creature through the head and the longer blade into the massive bag next to the head.
Speaking softly that the others couldn't hear Weiss spoke to the dying creature, "May your souls rest at last and may your next life be less painful."
Pulling both blades free from the creature, she flicked the blades to clear the blood off them and return them to her scabbards.
Once on her feet again she turned to Shepard and nodded her head saying without words that the creature was dead and so the team moved on into the large courtyard, which made up the heart of the colony and thanks to the engineer from earlier they knew of the GUARDIAN defense batteries they could use.
Before being able to get to the controls of the batteries they had to face two more of those creatures were blocking their path.
Weiss already had her swords out and charging towards one of the creatures while everyone else was targeting the second one.
Not using the same method to take the creature down in case they were connected through a hive mind as well, Weiss using a small burst of power to propel herself over the head of the creature to land behind it.
Pushing both swords upwards and into the back of the creature, her longer sword was able to break through all the way through to the head of the creature and killed the creature.
Speaking the same soft words she did before she brought her blades out and turned to the second creature, which was already being worn down by the rest of the team who had found its weak spot, its head.
Bringing her short blade up she charged over sticking the blade into its head and finishing the creature off.
Speaking her blessing again to the dead creature Mordin quickly went over to work on the AA Batteries hoping to get them operational with EDI's help.
While the scientist was working on that Weiss had sat down onto the ground and was in the process of removing her gloves when Shepard came over to her.
"What was that you said when you killed the creature?"
Weiss ignored Shepard as she placed her bare hand onto the ground and closed her eyes focusing on trying to find Hitomi.
She felt the other team come along and she ignored them trying to find who she was looking for.
"Weiss, what was it that you said?" Slightly annoyed at being ignored Shepard tried again to get an answer.
Before anything more could happen Clarissa came up to the Commander, "Commander it wouldn't be wise to distract her while she's searching for someone I am sure she will answer your question when she can."
Nodding Shepard walked away just as Weiss got back onto her feet, "Commander I will tell you once we are on the ship but we have company."
As Shepard was about to ask Weiss what she meant EDI's synthetic voice spoke into her ear informing her of what Weiss just said, "We'll speak later about how you knew that."
Quickly the rest of the team prepared for the collector's while Mordin and EDI worked on the GUARDIAN batteries.
With the whole team altogether they made quick work of anything the collectors were throwing at them until another husk hybrid appeared only this one was much bigger, more armored and could fly.
The whole team opened fire on the large creature trying to find its weak points or any soft spots on its armor while staying away from the attacks the creature.
The only problem was the weapons the team currently had couldn't breach through the things armor even those that had AP ammo were having a hard time.
Calling out to Clarissa, Weiss came up with an idea after seeing how the creature wouldn't show its underbelly or would protect it.
"Clarissa, its underbelly is its soft spot, follow me under and use your sword to try and stab through."
Without waiting for a reply Weiss rushed forward moving from cover to cover as she closed in on the creature with Clarissa following her, they waited for the creature to come closer before springing out of cover.
Keeping low and sprinting towards the creature they both ended up under the creature and started to stab and slash its soft underbelly trying to find anyway they could kill it.
While under their the rest of the team spotted a figure, the same that team two had spotted earlier appear on one of the rooftops however this time instead of a detonator the figure had some sort of missile launcher and was firing upon the creature.
Shepard seeing the missiles were doing damage to the creature guessed that they were different to the missiles she had.
Turning back to the creature she saw something wrong with it and shouted out a warning, "GET DOWN."
Everyone ducked down into cover while Weiss and Clarissa were still under the creature, Weiss had heard the warning and saw the creature start to collapse in on itself, she pushed Clarissa out of the way and landed on top of her as the creature exploded trying to kill anyone with its last breath of life.
As the creature exploded the AA guns started to open fire on the Collector ship, which after enough damage was sustained it seemed the collector's decided to leave and not risk being destroyed.
At the same time as this was happening the figure had jumped off the rooftop and rushed over to Weiss whom surprisingly had no damage done to her from the explosion.
Weiss was slowly getting up off Clarissa as Shepard came over to check on them once she was sure it was clear, and she was surprised to see both of them ok and neither of them were hurt, once she was sure they were ok she turned to the strange person who helped them.
"Who are you?" Shepard asked, her hand going towards her pistol just in case.
The figure didn't say a word and just seemed to cock her head sideways in confusion, which looked strange for someone to do while wearing a hood.
Weiss once she got up and checked her back making sure it was ok and there were no injuries, she turned to the figure and froze.
Weiss recognized the outfit of the figure, being similar to the one she wore now and wore before on Tanith.
It was the outfit of the Exiles, namely the warriors that protected the community, it was simple black clothes that were stolen from the Tanith militia and changed. While each individual made the cloaks and she also knew whose cloak that was.
Not believing what she was seeing, Weiss quickly drew her short sword and pointed it at the figure in black, which caused the figure to speak.
It was a soft and sweet voice but also quiet as well, "Cathy how can you not recognized me?" Removing the hood revealed her features to those around them.
The girl herself was quite short, not even reaching five feet tall. She had short pink hair that just reached her shoulders but her eyes were what caught most of them out, one eye was blue in color while the other was colored pink.
The girl in front of them also held a blade similar to the short blade that Weiss held, confused about what was going on Shepard tried to calm Weiss down.
"Weiss just relax, she doesn't look like she's here to hurt us otherwise she would of done so already." Shepard spoke in a way that would hopefully calm Weiss down.
"Weiss? Is that the name you are going by now? What was wrong with the name Cathlena?" The girls voice spoke sweetly and Shepard thought she also heard a flirting tone of voice as well.
Weiss spoke with a deathly calm tone making her point clear, "You are not Neo, I don't know who you are or how you found out about Neo but I will find out." Putting her sword away she quickly punched the girl, Neo in the face the force of the hit caused her to turn and fall over.
Before she hit the ground however Weiss had already moved and wrapped her arm around Neo's neck pulling her up but instead of letting up Weiss put a hand over Neo's mouth and tightened her arm around her neck.
Seeing this Shepard tried to stop Weiss from killing her but couldn't but instead of breaking the girls neck like Shepard thought she let go after Neo was out cold, "Lock her up, she isn't who she says she is."
"I can't just lock someone up without knowing why." Came Shepard's quick reply.
"She isn't who she says, this person looks like someone I knew from Tanith and they are all dead and in a different universe, I'll explain more when there are no extra ears." Weiss spoke as she walked away, Clarissa following her.
Shepard was about to ask what she meant but then heard a voice from her past as well.
With Weiss and Clarissa.
Weiss was heading towards a house not far from the courtyard, as she gently opened the door she looked around and saw the oddly normal looking room, everything was how it was would be as if the people living their had just got up and walked out.
Clarissa was waiting outside while Weiss headed inside and as Weiss looked through the house she called out in a soft and reassuring voice, "Hitomi, its Cathlena its safe now I promise."
Waiting for a few seconds she heard someone moving around and turning towards the sound she saw a small child slowly climb out of a cupboard underneath the sink and as soon as she spotted Weiss she sprinted for the older woman.
Weiss crouched down to pick up the small child, who quickly wrapped her small arms around Weiss' neck and buried her face into Weiss' neck as well.
After a few seconds Weiss could feel the small child start to cry and was trying to speak but her voice was trembling but Weiss was able to gather what she was saying.
The child, Hitomi had watched her parents get frozen while they protected her and later get taken by the bugs.
Whispering soothing words to the child in her arms, Weiss headed back outside to the others; while they gave her weird looks as to why she suddenly had a child in her arms none of them said anything about it.
An hour later found Weiss leaving her room as she had finally calmed Hitomi down and the child was at the point of exhaustion that she was currently sleeping on Weiss' bed.
Once Shepard had spoken to Ashley Williams, her former companion on the hunt for Saren once they spoke and the shuttle arrived they left for the Normandy, Neo tied up and once on board the ship was locked into the AI Core room where they had an energy shield locking her into a small area with a guard watching her.
Most of the ground team were resting after the hard fight through the colony, Weiss was sure that Mordin was upstairs in his lab working on the collector bodies they had recovered but she was sure most of the crew were sleeping.
So she made her way to the mess hall to grab something to eat and then find Shepard to speak with about today.
This was made easy by the fact that when Weiss entered the mess hall Shepard was already there picking at her food and not really eating.
So grabbing her own food Weiss sat down in front of Shepard, "Commander, I believe we have a few things to discuss."
Shepard looked up at the younger woman and smiled, "Yeah just a few, and call me Skye when we aren't in front of the team, I don't even really hold the rank of Commander anymore."
Smiling Weiss drew her hood down and pulled her hair back into a ponytail revealing her pointed ears, "Well I guess call me Cathlena then as its my real name."
Cathlena started to eat some of her food but after a few bites she stopped, as she couldn't eat anymore after the day she'd had.
Shepard seeing this decided that neither of them were going to eat on this night and so decided to start, "So why did you call yourself Weiss when we met if it wasn't your real name?"
"Its complicated but I had to use a different name in order to join the Imperial Guard and because of no females living through the fall of Tanith I had to pretend to be male and a kind doctor helped me, he had known me and my people a long time and so understood me but also helped me out of his medical oath." Cathlena had closed her eyes as she remembered the events after Tanith died.
"How old were you at the time?" Shepard asked curious as to the age because of the way she spoke it seemed like a while ago.
"I was fourteen standard years old." Cathlena spoke as if it was nothing.
Shepard was shocked at first at how young she was when she started fighting, "Wait and how were you able to get away with it?"
"I spoke of the doctor, he was the reason why I was able to join, he forged documents for me and was able to get some dog tags made for me, it was all very good of him and I was able to hide my identity and due to my people's powers we are able to change out appearance for a short amount of time which helped me hide my ears and so I fought with the regiment for a number of years, about eight years."
Shepard was surprised by how calmly Cathlena could speak of all this, in this galaxy it was still weird for a sixteen year old to fight hell they would only train for two years before getting any sort of deployment to a warzone would be allowed.
"But surely you were still a child that would have been a huge clue as to the fact you weren't who you said you were?"
Cathlena shock her head, "I'm not exactly human and my people have a slightly different aging process, by the age of ten we are a fully grown adult and I also always wore a hood so I avoided any hard questions."
Shepard was confused again, even the asari weren't like that maybe the Salarians as they don't live for very long but still it didn't seem right, "Well ok then so what are you?"
Cathlena smiled at the question how it was similar to Clarissa's before, and told Shepard what she told Clarissa about her people, the Exiles and what happened between her people and the Eldar, a little about how they lived on Tanith and also spoke of her powers she had as well.
"As a people Exiles and Eldar we both sometimes get a bloodlust, due to the paths the Eldar have, the Artist, Warrior, Seer and so on they have ways to deal with it. The Exiles however don't we are peaceful unless provoked but we still have bloodlust and so in order to deal with it we do two things, one is what everyone Exile does while the second is only if the Goddesses bless us with it."
As Cathlena was speaking Shepard noticed she was looking sad as she finished speaking.
"What is it you do?" Asking hoping that if Cathlena were thinking about something else she wouldn't look sad.
Smiling slightly at the action Cathlena took her short sword off her belt, the only weapon she was still carrying.
"When we reach ten years old we are just on the edge of adulthood as you would call it, this is the first time we would get any bloodlust urges, those of the Eldar who walk the path of the Warrior have a War Mask they place on which protects them from the horrors they see but we don't."
Taking a breath she drew the blade out of its cover showing the intrigue blade.
"We forge a weapon, it takes us six months to complete and we do this six months before out tenth birthday as you call it, we spend one month preparing the metal and choosing what metal we want and the sort of blade, after that we spend three months forging the blade using the designs we have created to make it, I chose for my first blade a short sword that was slightly curved, once we have made the blade the final two months are spent polishing the blade and also creating the handle."
The whole time Cathlena was speaking she showed the different parts of the blade she was talking about and showed the handle to be some sort of reinforced wood with a design of a raven carved into it.
"I have been looking at forging in this universe as I need to create a second blade when I reach the age of one hundred to control the second and final bloodlust urges and I would say our forging is similar if not the same as those of ancient Japanese sword making however ours involve more spiritual elements."
Once Cathlena spoke she put her sword back onto her waist as she waited for the questions she could see in Shepard's eyes.
"How does making a sword control these urges?" Shepard asked again curious but also slightly happy as she was learning more about her mysterious team member even Clarissa had shared with them information about herself.
"The spiritual elements when creating the blade help up channel the desire to draw blood into the swords we create so it allows us to be free from them in everyday life but when we use the sword to fight we get these urges back which is why until we are twelve years old we train to control these urges when using our swords."
While Cathlena was speaking she held a smile on her face and her voice was more carefree as she was speaking about something she loved.
Shepard didn't miss this and decided to make the most of this, "So what will happen when you turn one hundred?"
"I am not sure, it is still over seventy years away so I have enough time to work something out." Smiling at Shepard, as she was relaxed that she could find a solution in that amount of time.
Shepard decided to ask the next question going through her mind, forgetting how Cathlena seemed sad when speaking of it.
"You spoke of another method as well, what was that?"
Cathlena's smile faltered for a few seconds before coming back again, "Its not another method as we still need to forge two swords in our lives but it makes dealing with it easier, I said that we train to control the bloodlust when using out weapon for two years, that's not true for most, it usually takes about four but I was blessed by the Goddesses."
Before Shepard could ask what she meant Cathlena spoke of something else.
"Before you ask about the Goddesses I want to tell you about the girl who helped us today. Her name is Neo and she was my…um best friend on Tanith for my whole life, our parents were friends before they died defending out people but we are the same age if it might not look it, but well she's a little weird, her eye color she was born with however her hair color she wasn't, as I said before our powers can change our appearance for a short amount of time and that's what she does, only to her hair however."
Cathlena smiled at the memory of Neo from before Tanith's fall, and this look was not lost on Shepard.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul and Shepard fully believed this, especially seeing Cathlena's eyes and the look in them when talking about Neo.
"Anyway the Goddesses, we have four main Goddesses my people believe in. First if Artemis the Goddess of the Hunt we pray to her when we got to fight or to hunt for anything. The second is Athena Goddess of Wisdom and War, we pray to her when we fight as well but also to give us guidance on what to do in times of need. Nyx is the Goddess of the night and we pray to her for help at night, and when traveling through forests to help guide us."
Smiling the whole time as she explained her beliefs Cathlena left the important one till last.
"The last Goddess and the one who may or may not bless us is called Aphrodite the Goddess of Love, we pray to her to find love in our life and once we have then we pray that it continues."
"When each child is born there are some children who are bonded to another child, who will fall in love once they lay eyes on each other and the love the two have is more powerful then love found through other means."
"How do you mean bonded?" Shepard asked while Cathlena was taking a drink.
"I mean bonded where they can hear each others thoughts, and are bonded so closely together that it isn't unheard of where one dies the other would shortly follow due to them feeling incomplete."
Cathlena spoke passioninitly about bonding to Shepard that it made her curious as to why Cathlena did.
"Um do you know this personally?" Shepard asked carefully trying not to annoy or make Cathlena close up.
Cathlena's eyes were filled with pain before she was able to hide it, not fast enough for Shepard not to notice it.
"I said that those who have bonded can hear each others but that can also feel each other, so if something were to happen to the other one like getting an injury or even dying the other feels it." Cathlena's voice broke a little as she finished speaking, as she was trying not to remember.
Shepard reached over and took Cathlena's hand into her own trying to comfort her; she received a smile from Cathlena by doing it.
"It feels like a piece of you has been ripped out of you, its not something everyone can deal with which is why I said its not uncommon for the surviving person to take their own life, usually with the sword of their bond mate."
Cathlena smiled slightly remembering a few moments early on in her life with the Tanith First and Only.
"Anyway I don't believe that person in the AI Core is who she appears to be and says she is because Neo was my bond mate and when Tanith was destroyed I felt part of myself ripped out, if it wasn't for the doctor who helped me in the first place I would of taken my own life in response."
Speaking softly as she remembered the darker times of her life so far, Shepard just rubbed her thumb over Cathlena's palm to comfort her, as she was comforted when she was younger.
"How did he help you?" Asking softly Shepard was curious about this doctor who did so much for the woman in front of her.
Smiling remembering the old doctor, "His name was Doctor Tolin Dorden, he was a doctor near where my people lived and he was one of the only humans who knew that we still existed, his family were doctors as well and they have looked after my people for a number of years but he helped me out when I was going through the heart break I guess you can call it, but he helped me a lot and saved my life."
The doctor was one of the only ones who knew her whole secret while others did know she was female but not until a few years.
"Anyway when Tanith fell I felt Neo disappear which would of meant she died because I couldn't feel her anymore, so I would only that she had died, but I didn't see it." Speaking sadly again remembering what happened and why she didn't know.
Shepard was confused as well, she already knew about how Cathlena escaped her home planet but she never spoke of Neo, "Wait, how did you not know? Wasn't she with you?"
Cathlena actually blushed and looked down and away from Shepard, "When I found out about the bond when we were about seven I avoided her and didn't want to believe it was true, I've always been scared of things like love and a few other things relating to it so I rejected it or at least I tried to when the planet was being invaded I didn't care about Neo and went straight to my sister to protect her but that failed as well."
Cathlena was glad no one was around, even though she wasn't crying she was close to and she knew how she must look and didn't want anyone to see it and question her ability after seeing her like it.
"So what do you feel now? Do you feel her again now that you are here? Or do you still not feel anything?" Shepard asked, she believed what Cathlena was saying as most of what she has been saying in the past was true so why would she start lying now?
Cathlena started to shake her head slightly, "I don't know, when we first arrived here I didn't feel anything, the same as I used to but recently and especially on Horizon I've noticed something coming back but I haven't had time to meditate and focus enough to find out what the feeling is, it could be perhaps Neo's doing and she's the real thing in their but I'm not sure."
"Is there anyway to know for sure its her?" Shepard speaking more seriously as it could affect the ship.
"Maybe question her on more personal things that she should know about me but I'm not sure." Shrugging to prove her point.
"Would you be alright to speak to her now with me to find out?" Shepard asked hopeful she would say yes.
"Yeah I guess, Hitomi should be out for a little while longer so it should be fine." Speaking of the child Cathlena had brought with her from Horizon.
Shepard knew of the history Cathlena and Clarissa held with the child and was more then happy to allow her to live on the ship until they found her parents because she had no other family to speak of.
"Alright then, lets go." Standing up to go and speak with Neo, Shepard was slightly shocked when Cathlena had pulled her back.
"Are you alright with what I told you? I've been lying to you since I came on board."
Shepard saw the hesitation and slightly worried look in Cathlena's eyes when speaking, it was clear she was scared she'd be kicked off the ship for lying, "Its fine, I understand why you did that so its fine."
Nodding Cathlena spoke seriously again, "Then I would like to reaffirm my oath the Exiles way."
Clarissa who had just came out of the med-bay after being checked for wounds she had sustained while on Horizon saw the two speaking and went over to them and when she heard Cathlena speak of oaths and the Exiles way she was curious.
"How do you take oaths?" Clarissa's almost musical voice spoke.
Cathlena just drew her sword and held it between her and Shepard, "I'll show you."
With that Cathlena drew the sharp side of the sword along her palm drawing a small amount of blood from the cut, she gestured for Shepard to do the same although with slight hesitation.
Once that was done Cathlena took Shepard's hand like a handshake but raised them between the two of them speaking softly.
"I swear on my blood and the blood of my ancestor's that flows through my body that I will help you carry out your mission, and to destroy the Reapers, I Cathlena Ravenswood swear this to Skye Shepard,"
Speaking again in another language that neither woman understood a small faint glow emitted around the clasped hands and when Cathlena finished speaking the glow was gone.
During the process Clarissa was stunned at what Cathlena was doing, using blood to make an oath and the words she was speaking were stupid.
Cathlena had noticed how Clarissa was acting and knew what was going to happen so jumped in first, "Before you say anything I know what you are going to say about using blood but there is nothing wrong with it, doctors use blood to save people's lives and nothing bad happens it is the same here, blood is not evil it is what you do with it."
Smiling Clarissa just nodded mutely and said that she was going to check on Hitomi.
Shepard looked at her palm at where she had made the cut and saw it was completely healed, she turned to Cathlena about to speak but was interrupted.
"The light you saw was my powers sealing the oath but also healing our hands as well." Smiling as Shepard nodded.
"Lets go see Neo then."
Again Shepard nodded and both walked through the med-bay to the AI Core room and when they entered the room they immediately heard Neo singing, and the song she was singing caused Cathlena to freeze up.
"I want to embrace you, I want you to tell me
That you don't think this is a mistake
I want you to kiss me; I want you to remake me
I want you to drown in this moment of captivation.
Every moment, it's harder to restrain myself
If this is love, I want to wear it on my sleeve
The strange feeling turns into an unbearable longing
I would follow you to the end of forever.
I am drawn to you like a magnet
Even if I left, we would find each other again."
Neo's soft and sweet voice normally was even softer when she was singing, and it wasn't hard for Shepard to hear the longing in the song and the feelings Neo was trying to convey.
Shepard turned to Cathlena who was standing next to her, seeing Cathlena's face she saw tears in her eyes and it seemed like a pure strength of will that they weren't falling.
As Shepard reached out to touch Cathlena, the girl who had been singing spoke up.
"Hello Cathy, do you believe me yet?"
Cathlena didn't say anything but she turned around and almost sprinted out of the room as she walked out, Shepard tried to stop her but failed to stop her.
Sighing Shepard just turned back to the prisoner, "I guess it's just me then, let's talk."
A/N
Damn that's an effort, I've had half of this written for over a week but haven't really had the motivation to really write this, but sitting down today and getting the other half of this done about six thousand words, its hard work like really really hard.
Anyway I'm not completely happy with how Horizon was done but I haven't played the game for quite a while but it's also fairly boring as well because its fairly repetitive but I hope I've done well and that you like it.
Also to address something, I know some things are cliché but its hard not to do something cliché because of the amount of books there are in the world and the amount of stuff that's been written, its pretty much all been done before in someway so yeah its hard.
Oh two side notes, firstly a lot of the back story I made up as I went along I had some ideas last night but yeah wasn't meant to go in that much detail. Secondly the song I've used is one of my favorite songs and it is the English I have used as its sung in Japanese so if some of it doesn't make much sense that's why, oh and have a guess at the song I'm curious, the name of the song is actually in the lyrics I've used because I've picked some verses that fit the story.
Oh and also as I am from the United Kingdom some spellings are different compared to the United States. (E.g. Color and Colour.)
Anyway thank you very much for reading and maybe reviewing.
