Jack had a pretty good view of the colony while she waited to board the transport bringing her back to Alliance space. The damage one shuttle with two assholes had caused was substantial. The cafe she had visited was half rubble, she had no idea how she survived that shit. The reapers had not cleared the mess yet and from the looks of it, Jack should have died. She was impressed at the speed the debris from the cratered streets had been removed, Jack could see the reaper soldiers methodically continuing their labor to repair the settlement. She had spoken again with Kennedy and her parents, finding them shortly after her release from the hospital. Luckily, they only had some scrapes from when she had pushed them away. After a brief discussion and despite the shit they just went through, they still wanted their daughter to attend the Academy and she would be only a few days later on her arrival than Jack. They grow 'em stubborn out here.
She had been standing here, looking out the window with her arms crossed for the better part of two hours. No place better to be and the spaceport was practically untouched from the attack. She was not alone, but she didn't know how to feel about her company. The reaper that had watched her during her hospital stay had accompanied her since she signed her exit forms and left the ever-cheerful Dr. Bcaan. After she had asked it why it was still with her, it had simply stated that it wished to see her safely to her destination. Machine logic, no good arguing.
It stood beside her, standing in a military at ease position, feet apart, hands lightly clasped behind it's back. Turning her attention away from the scurrying outside to her silent gargoyle, "So, if you're Emissary, are all the soldiers here extensions of you?"
"Not so much extensions, it would be closer to a hive mind. Think of these constructs as drones. I created them to follow my orders and can take direct control of any of them as necessary. I see and hear all that these creations witness."
Jack quirked her right eyebrow, "You'd think that'd get confusing as fuck, guess being a giant computer has its perks."
"There are a few, yes." Jack did not respond, she was looking out and up at the sky, soon the transport would be here and she would be on her way back to her students and her own damned bed.
Admiral Hackett sat in his quarters aboard the Revenant leaning forward, elbows resting on his desk, fingers steepled. His attention was fully riveted to the holo before him. A recording taken by a security camera on Kuron, one of Hackett's operatives had brought this to him.
The recording was unpleasant to watch, the missiles were being fired from an older Kodiak into innocent people, families. The explosions were not just engulfing inanimate objects, but civilians, limbs and gore amid the flames and debris. Hackett's attention was drawn to a biotic field being erected, using his omni-tool to change the focus of the recording, he watched as the terrorists focused fire on the pulsating blue field. He could see a woman holding the shield, another female, a male, and a child inside the dome with her. Steve found himself impressed at the strength of the field as it took direct hit after hit after hit. The biotic holding the shield never even faltered, but he could see the ground around her being blasted away. When the woman's head shifted upward, he glanced and saw her concern, the large solid looking overhang had been hit and was beginning to fall towards her and the people she was protecting. The admiral was astonished at the control and power it took for this impressive woman to both maintain the shield and throw the three individuals a good six meters out of the way.
As the woman brought her arms over her head in a futile effort to protect herself from the collapsing concrete impacting her field, the reason for the video being brought to his office came around an adjacent street corner. A black armored reaper soldier had come running, Hackett could only assume that the soldiers were being sent to assist once they had become aware of the attack, a shame they couldn't reach the towncenter sooner. His eyes opening a little wider, Steve looked on as the reaper stopped, turning in the direction of the woman and her imploding shield. It took a slightly wider stance, hands clenching into fists as it hunched over slightly, arms curling outward, a deep purple and blue field flickering to life around it. The reaper's biotic field erupted as it hurled itself forward in short teleporting bursts, faster than the eye could follow. All Hackett could see was a stream of blue-purple light as the reaper cleared twenty meters in a blink, coming to the rescue of the woman who's field had finally collapsed. He watched as the stonework came to rest on the place where she was, kept watching as the debris settled, then started to shake, and finally explode outward in a burst of biotic power as the reaper expulsed it's protective field. Steve's mind was whirling with the implications as the reaper stepped out of the pit it had created and turning back, picked up the limp form of the woman, and carried her away.
Hackett paused the video and sat back, rubbing his hands over his face. Reapers had mutated the genetic codes of every race they assimilated. He had seen the Banshees they had created out of the Asari ardat'yahkshees, knew they could use biotic fields as personal defense and launch warp attacks. Husks were created from humans, if they could mimic the biotic signatures, why had they not seen more of the once-humans using vanguard abilities as he had just witnessed? Its fully possible they cannot mass-produce the ability, they only transformed specific asari into banshees, perhaps they can only use those individuals who already have the required levels of enzo in their system? But couldn't they just put it there? Or are they limited as we are to strictly boosting the potential and power of those who already have it? If the reapers had developed a way to manufacture biotic soldiers, it would just add more questions to what exactly they were up to. While no longer interested in wholesale slaughter and indoctrination, could they be looking for a more covert way of guiding our future despite their claims? The Admiral was giving himself a headache.
Moving his hands to the arms of his chair, Hackett looked past his desk to the patiently waiting agent who had brought him the holo-vid. "No copies of this, correct?"
"Yes, sir." The somewhat small man was nondescript, his face and appearance both quite plain. The sort of person who you would easily forget if you even noticed him in public.
"Very good." Glancing at the stilled image, "What do we know about the woman?"
"The woman was brought to the colony care center with a concussion, multiple bruises, but no serious injuries. She was released after spending three days unconscious. The reaper is said to have stayed with her the entire time. Her name is Jack, an instructor of the Grissom Academy on planet to recruit a potential student."
"Jack. No last name?"
"None that I am aware of, sir."
"If she is an instructor at the Academy, then she is alliance, we will need to send an officer to debrief her." The image was unclear, he could see the reaper carrying the unconscious woman, her head cradled, dark hair in a long pony-tail. "I want to know why they have an interest in this woman."
"About that, sir."
The Admiral looked back from his desk were his eyes had strayed during his thoughts, "You have more?"
"Admiral, she is not Alliance. She is an independent instructor who teaches high level biotics and theory. She is under no contracts as are standard for non-military personnel."
"She is not military and is not under contract. Does she work for free?" Hackett was wearing his most bemused expression.
"No, sir. She is paid a rather handsome salary and I have not found any sort of timed agreement to her position at Grissom. It would seem she is there because she wishes to be and is free to leave at any time. There is a note on her file though that you will find most interesting. It is posted by Dr. Kahlee Sanders, the Director of the institute, and states 'Recommended by Commander Shepard personally.'"
Jack had not taken to heart just what the tin can meant when it said 'destination'. Apparently that went beyond seeing her to the shuttle, shit was funny though. She had never been on a more quiet flight. Everyone knew what it was, and it was just sitting there, calm as you please. Jack had lost it though when she had said it should try and blend in a bit and the fucker picked up an inflight magazine, thumbing through the pages. She couldn't help herself, she cracked up. It was one of the most absurd things she had ever witnessed. It had looked up at her and she would swear if it had one, it would have worn an expression saying 'and?'. Fuck the sheep that flew with them, she had a great time.
Now the second leg of the trip was coming to an end, Jack could see the Academy and felt the shuttle begin the docking sequence with the station. "Hey, so, I'm home. You walking me to my door or what?"
Emissary's drone faced her, "I would like to see this Grissom, though it is an Alliance installation. I will come aboard if welcomed, otherwise I have a ride, as you say, on it's way."
Jack smirked, "A ride?" And then it clicked. "Wait. A reaper reaper is on its way here? One of those big-ass, space-lobster mother fuckers?"
The soldier nodded, another human trait it had picked up during their flight, "I am currently in FTL travel on route to this location."