"We found them, Shepard." The Illusive man announced as soon as the connection was established.
"Where?" Shepard asked, eager to finally get the chance to fight the enemy.
"Horizon, the colony went dark ten minutes ago."
"Alright. I'll tell Joker to set a course."
"One more thing, Commander. Our Intel just confirmed that Ashley Williams is stationed there.
"Do you know why?"
"Unfortunately not." He puffed his cigarette, the ghost of a frown forming on his face. "Her files are surprisingly well classified."
"Interesting." Shepard murmured as he mulled what he heard over in his head. After a moment where neither man spoke Shepard shook his head and spoke up again. "Are there any Alliance patrols close-by enough to assist within the day."
"You expect they will assist you?" The Illusive man asked with a carefully raised eyebrow.
"Maybe." It annoyed Shepard that he actually had to ask for the man to consider getting the Alliance involved. "Send a message that the colony is under attack by slavers, the Alliance won't be able to ignore that."
"I'll see what I can do, Shepard, and forward the results to EDI once I have them. Good hunting."
It was time.
The week and a half he'd spend gathering soldiers was finally going to pay off.
He had Jacob Taylor, the ex-corsair; an experienced front-line soldier that relied on his biotics for protection and his tech-attacks to sow chaos in the enemy ranks.
He had Miranda Lawson, the perfect woman; with extensive training in combat tactics, impeccable aim and biotics trained to kill swift and efficiently.
He had Mordin Solus, the scientist; a brilliant doctor with an equally brilliant mind accompanied with deadly tech-abilities and sharp reflexes thanks to his quick metabolism.
He had Jack, subject Zero; a biotic powerhouse that would give even him pause. Her attacks are not meant to kill but to destroy and utterly annihilate the enemy.
He had Grunt, the perfect Krogan; thanks to his superior regenerative abilities he was as good as invulnerable to enemy fire and accompanied with memories from half a dozen Krogan warlords on how best to defeat your enemies he was a tank.
He had Kasumi Goto, the master thief; her abilities to hack through firewalls undetected are unmatched and her ability to move around the battlefield unheard is legendary.
He had Garrus Vakarian, the Archangel; an expert marksman with the ability to lead troops behind enemy lines and launch crippling attacks in the span of minutes before disappearing without anyone noticing.
All excellent soldiers in their own area and together they had the potential to become an unstoppable team the likes of which never seen before.
But that was the keyword; they had the potential to become that. They were nowhere near that yet. Right now his team didn't trust each other and he'd need to find a way to fix that. Unfortunately, he was running out of time.
"Listen up." He started once everyone took a place around the table in the comm. room. "Two hours ago the colony Horizon went dark. In thirty minutes the Normandy will arrive in the system where we expect to find a Collector vessel. Once we confirm whether or not the planet is simply experiencing a malfunction or if the Colony is indeed under attack by the Collectors, we will either turn around and leave or stop the Collectors from abducting the colonists." He looked each of them over before continuing, "Now I don't know about you, but I believe it's high time we meet our enemy face to face."
"EDI, bring up the hologram." The lights in the room dimmed and a 3d holographic map of the colony appeared above the table. "This is the only settlement on the planet so if the Collectors are here, they will be around this town."
"It's…small." Garrus remarked, eying the few dozen pre-fab units.
"You're right." Shepard agreed, "That's because this is one of the Alliance 'power-grab' colonies where once they find a livable planet, they plant a small settlement and say 'it's mine!' to everyone willing to listen and then never really bother with it again. This does, however, make it a lot easier to predict our enemy's movements.
"Mordin, you said you completed the counter-measures, correct?"
"Yes, yes." He nodded, "Turns out the solution was easier than expected. Seeker swarms use a form of-"
"Mordin." Shepard interrupted, "I'll gladly listen to you explain it later but right now I just need to know how to use it."
"Of course, apologies." He sniffed, "With help from Mr. Taylor have been able to create portable versions, should work once attached to armor."
"Should work?" Kasumi asked, her eyebrow raised.
"Yes, should work." Mordin confirmed, "Can't know for certain, have not run field-test yet. Am looking forwards to seeing results."
A round of groans went around the table at that save for Grunt and Shepard who were grinning. "You and me both, Mordin." Shepard said and waited for the room to quiet before continuing.
"We will split up in two teams; Shadow and Flash… Jacob, can I assume that you still remember your infiltration skills from your time as a Corsair?"
"Yes, sir" He saluted.
"Good. Garrus, you're in charge of Shadow and take Kasumi and Jacob with you. Your team will be covertly dropped off here," A green marker appeared on the outskirts of the colony, "and you will move undetected to the communications tower here," A second green marker highlighted one of the buildings, "where you will restore communications with the colony. Understood?"
"What about the colonists?" Kasumi asked.
"They're the secondary objective, help if you can but don't spend too much time on it. Your main objective is to restore communications. Once you have restored communications, contact the Normandy and Flash, led by me, will drop in hot here," A red marker appeared near a small clearing, "where we will catch their attention and distract them while you move to the colony's GARDIAN controls here," A third green marker appeared over a second building, "and see if you can get it operational."
"What if we can't get either objective operational?" Garrus asked, eyes memorizing the colony's layout.
"Abandon and regroup at my position." He answered.
Jacob asked the next question. "What if we get pinned down while making our way over to the comm. tower?"
"Signal us with a flare and we'll drop in at your position to clear the area. Once cleared we will split up and proceed with the plan."
Everyone remained quiet as they watched the map. "Any more questions?" He inquired, no response. "Good. Then grab your gear along with Mordin's counter-measures and meet me in the hangar once we have confirmed that the Collectors are involved. Dismissed."
'Why isn't he calling?' Tali wondered again, looking at her Omni-tool 'He said he would. Why doesn't he? Is something wrong? Did something happen? Doesn't he want to talk? Did I do something wrong? Maybe he-"
"Something wrong, ma'am?" Someone interrupted her thoughts. Kal'Reegar, she recalled.
"Hm?"
"I asked if there was something wrong, ma'am." He repeated.
"Oh, no." She assured quickly, "Why would you think that?"
"Because you've been glancing at your Omni-tool every twenty seconds for almost half an hour now." He clarified.
"I…" Has she? "It's nothing Kal. You don't have to worry about me."
He remained looking at her for a moment longer until he shook his head, obviously not believing her. "If you say so ma'am."
"Was there something you wished to talk about, Kal?" She asked hoping to change the subject.
"Yes," he said eventually, "Palo asked me to tell you that the scientists are having another meeting in 13 minutes, wanted to know if you'd be there."
"I," She glanced at her Omni-tool again, still no change. "I'll be there." She sighed.
When Kal turned away Tali opened her Omni-tool and wrote a message to Michael, telling him she finally had confirmation about her mission and told him to call her when he had the time.
"Huh." Garrus said as he stood in front of a woman wearing pink/white phoenix armor with black hair tied in a bun behind her.
"What's the matter?" Kasumi asked as she stopped next to him, looking at the woman with him.
"Her eyes are following me." Garrus explained, "Blink if you can hear me Ashley, or move your eyes up and down or whatever."
"You know her?" Kasumi asked while the woman blinked furiously.
"Yeah." He waved his hand at her, "This is Ashley Williams, and she was part of Shepard's crew on the old Normandy. I wonder what she's doing here."
"Should we tell Shepard?" The woman's – Ashley's – eyes hardened when the name was spoken and Kasumi wondered why.
"Yeah." Garrus answered after a while, "Once we get communications back up." He shook his head and looked at Kasumi. "Think you can lift her?" Kasumi raised her eyebrow and shook her head which made him sigh. "Sorry Ash. That means I have to carry you." Ashley's eyes flared when he spoke those words and Kasumi couldn't help but snicker. "Now where am I supposed to lift you…?"
"Shepard, what's wrong? You seem troubled." Mordin spoke in his usual quick-burst speech.
"Am I really that obvious?"
"Yes."
He sighed and rubbed his temples with the back of his hands. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's just…" Another sigh. "I have a lot on my mind, I guess."
"Understandable. Dangerous mission, no reinforcements and an enemy with superior technology. Must be taxing."
He chuckled, "Mordin, if those were the only things I'd have to worry about I'd consider myself a happy man."
"Unexpected. Was not aware you were unhappy."
"Not unhappy." He clarified, "Just worried about what will happen after this mission."
"Oh?"
"Now is not the time Mordin. But I would greatly appreciate if you manage to get some collector tissue during the mission."
"20 seconds until touchdown." The pilot announced over the PA systems as he closed in on their drop point.
"You heard the man," Shepard addressed everyone in the shuttle, "get off your lazy assess and make some noise."
'Death – betrayal – enemy within – twisted minds – always there – traitors – cannot resist'
The words kept running through his head, but he did not know why.
The last time he had such jumbled and confusing thoughts was two years ago when his mind made contact with the Prothean beacon.
It had to be the beacon that was causing these thoughts, that he knew. But why? What was the beacon trying to tell him?
He shook his head clear of thoughts and took aim with his rifle at another Collector.
"You will know pain, Shepard." The Reaper thrall spoke (again), and got his head blown off by his sniper rifle (again).
He recognized the thrall as a Reaper because he'd seen it before when Sovereign took control of Saren's cybernetics. The difference now was that there was only one Saren then while there were hundreds of Collectors now and every time he took one out, three more appeared.
"Shepard, I always survive." 'Great, another one.'
"He sure likes hearing his own voice." Shepard mumbles before taking aim again.
"The fuck you talking 'bout?" Jack asked in her own elegant way.
"The fuck you think I'm talking about?" He fired his rifle, killing the thrall "He's been calling me by my name every single time he reappears."
She turned her head to him, her brows furrowed "He hasn't said a word, psycho. All I hear is some weird chirping."
"…What?" He looked over at her expecting to see her smirk. No such luck. He turned to Grunt who was firing at a group of husks that approached quickly.
"Shepard, submit now."
"Grunt! Did you hear the glowing Collector speak?!" He shouted over the noise of mass accelerator rounds and moaning husks.
"No!" He yelled back and stomped on a husk that got too close.
"You cannot stop us, Shepard."
"Great." Shepard muttered as he primed an incendiary grenade and tossed it into a cluster of Collectors, burning them all into a crisp. "As if the voices of a dead race weren't enough, now I have Collectors talking to me as well."
"At least I still know where my loyalties lie."
Silently he watched Ashley turn her back on him and walk away. Next to him, on his right, stood Garrus growling after Ashley as he flexed his mandibles. "I can't believe actually believes you work for Cerberus."
"She always was too focused on the smaller picture. It doesn't matter, I suppose." Shepard mused then glanced at Garrus and raised his eyebrow. "Now do you mind telling me why her whole suit is covered with your muddy hand-prints?"
Garrus looked away from him, finding something very interesting to watch in the sky. "I ah," He coughed, "I had to move her somewhere safer."
"And you decided that the best way to do that was to grab her ass?" He could no longer control the grin when Garrus flinched.
"…I couldn't get a good grip on her…"
"If you say so, pervert." He laughed and slapped him on his back. "Let's go, I've had enough of this place."
"I thought you'd be happy to finally know, Michael." Tali said, almost sounding hurt.
"I am, Tali." He sighed and cleared his head. "It was something that happened on my mission that has me distracted."
"What is it?" She asked worried.
How do you say someone you might be getting Indoctrinated? That you might be an agent that wants to destroy the galaxy without even knowing it? Saren hadn't known it; he thought he was saving the galaxy too and despite all the bad things he could say about Saren there was no denying that the Turian was very strong-willed, you had to be when you're a Spectre. So what chance did he have when the mighty Saren became a puppet for the Reapers?
He hadn't told anyone yet about the voices that he heard on Horizon – only Jack knew and he doubted she'd start telling people, or be believed by people if she did tell someone – and had Dr. Chakwas scan his brain activities for any anomalies under the pretense of the Prothean message that he'd had. The results turned up empty but it didn't have the calming effect that he wanted it to have, for all he knew the Reaper could have chosen that moment to leave him alone and therefore not show up on the scans.
Nobody understood how indoctrination worked, not even Saren and the scientists who had been studying it with him.
If he was indoctrinated… It was not something he wanted to think about. And that may very well be proof that he was indoctrinated. He remembered how Benezia and her followers described indoctrination; "A subtle whisper you can't ignore.", "A voice you obey without knowing why.", "You only think what it wants you to think."
The implications were worrying and worst of all; he was completely powerless against it. It was not a position he was often in and he most definitely did not relish being in it.
"It's nothing you have to worry about, Tali." He lied and decided to change the subject to something he knew would distract her. "I ran into Ashley who was send to spy on me and called me a traitor to the Alliance."
"That Bosh'tet!" The way she growled made him shiver, "When I get my hands on her I'll-"
"Relax Tali." He chuckled, briefly wondering if he just shortened Ashley's life significantly.
"No, I won't relax. She has no right to judge you and when I find her I'll set Chiktikka on her and…-"
He tuned the next few minutes of her ranting out and simply enjoyed her voice as she described several methods of making Ashley regret what she said, none of them sounding pleasant. He knew better than to try and stop her; once she started ranting she didn't stop until she'd had her say, that much had been obvious about her since he met her.
He didn't mind. It was fun hearing her rant.
"You will know pain, Shepard."
Liara's furrowed her brows with confusion as she listened to the recording that Jacob Taylor had forwarded to her.
"Shepard, I always survive."
Jacob and Miranda's report had both described the Reaper voice as 'a buzzing sound or bird-like chirp'.
"Shepard, submit now."
Why was she able to understand the Reaper when others couldn't?
"You cannot stop us, Shepard."
There was…one reason she could think of. But that didn't make much sense.
"You escaped us before, Shepard, not again."
Liara paused the audio file and sat back in her chair, staring at the sealing as she thought about the implications if her suspicions were correct. 'Could it really be…?'
She had to be sure. With a shake of her head she downloaded the file to her Omni-tool and locked her office behind her as she went home to her apartment.
AN: Reviews are greatly appreciated.