What Was Lost
Chapter 10 - Awakening
"Wake up, Commander!" A voice shook her out of her sleep.
She groaned, opening her eyes slowly, the light hurting her eyes.
Of course, her eyes weren't the only thing that hurt. Her body ached all over. Especially her head. She reached up, feeling unfamiliar scars on her face.
"Commander, you HAVE to get moving!" The voice yelled at her again.
She staggered of the medbed and grabbed the armor and weapon in the nearby cabinet the voice directed her to. Equipping herself, she set out to find where she was and what exactly was going on. Someone owed her answers. Where she was, where Liara was, and most definitely, why she wasn't dead.
Tali's shuttle landed a good distance outside of Freedom's Progress. Aside from an automated VI assistance program on one of the satellites, there had been no replies to their hails. Not even the ATC or emergency channels.
No lights were visible when they flew over the colony either. No movement at all. It was all very ominous. Something had gone very, very wrong here.
She left the engineers and the science team with the shuttle, and set out with Prazza and his marines. They were going to survey the colony first, see if they could figure out what happened here. Only after they were sure it was safe would she call in the rest of the squad.
They approached one of the farm buildings on the outskirts of the settlement. The marines spread out to cover the doors and windows while she and Prazza went closer for a better look. There was a light on in the home, and a faint sound coming from inside.
She crouched below one of the windows and peeked up, looking inside the home. No movement, no sign of any people. She motioned for Prazza to cover her while she called her drone out to scan the interior.
Chiktikka scanned the small dwelling rather rapidly. No sentient life detected. She hadn't really expected any, but she felt better for having checked.
The marines collapsed on the house, guarding the door while Prazza opened it and slipped inside. She followed him, checking the corners as Shepard had taught her.
Inside, the house was tranquil. No sign of a struggle, no weapon marks. It was almost as if the owners had just left. There was even food left on some plates on the dining table. A closer scan revealed that the food had been sitting there for at least three days, maybe four.
Checking the shed gave them the same results. Some tools littered the ground, as if dropped mid-use, but no signs of conflict at all.
"Keelah, what happened here?" Neeri'Kula, one of the snipers for the squad voiced the question that was on all their minds.
"I don't know, this is eerie," Tali looked around at the gathered marines. "I've never seen anything like this before, not even with Shepard."
"We should get going, commander. We're not equipped to handle this." Prazza was looking back the way they had come.
"I'm not giving up on Veetor, Prazza. We still need to know if he's here or gone or... We can't just leave him." Tali glared at him.
"Be reasonable, we need to get out of here before whatever happened here happens to us."
"I'm in charge here, Prazza, and we're not leaving without some answers." Tali checked her map - the farm must be new because it didn't appear on the display. "We'll be very careful, but I'm not abandoning anyone."
The rest of the marines nodded at that. Prazza didn't look happy with the decision, but he didn't make any further trouble right then.
Shepard slid behind the wall of the platform, shots from the rogue security mechs streaking by overhead. The soldier next to her, Jacob, had answered some of her questions, but she wasn't satisfied at all. Not even close.
"Our mechs went rogue." Duh. The first time one tried to kill her right outside the medbay, she had figured that one out pretty fast.
"I don't know where your crew is." She was a bit surprised at that one. The uniforms Jacob and the other facility employees wore didn't match any Alliance uniforms she could remember. Which meant that whoever these people were, they weren't Alliance. She thought that the Alliance, or at least Liara, would have tried to find her.
"Project Lazarus..." They had brought her back from the dead. She still wasn't sure how that was even possible. She also didn't know why they did it either.
"I can't tell you who we work for." Yeah... that one was a big danger sign. She didn't know any of these people, they wouldn't tell her where her friends were, and they expected her to just trust them? Not happening.
"It's been two years." Another shock. Why hadn't Liara come for her during all that time? Why hadn't any of her friends?
She was following Jacob as they searched for this Wilson. She might not trust him, but she didn't see any other options at the moment. Along the way, she had found more records on this Project Lazarus. The more she heard, the less she liked it. They did it for her, specifically. Why was she so damn important?
Shepard took out the last of the mechs in the room and looked around. According to Jacob, they were getting close to where Wilson was holed up. After they found him, they'd head to the shuttle bay and hope that Miranda - the voice that woke her up, apparently - could meet them there too. She really didn't like relying on him. The whole situation had far too many 'maybes' and 'I can't answer thats' for her taste.
Wilson, when they finally found him, didn't inspire trust either. He also wouldn't answer any of her questions, beyond a short rant about them being betrayed and how it was probably Miranda. Shepard doubted that, mostly because this Miranda had guided her away from the mechs in the first place.
He was able to tell her a little more about this Project Lazarus. She wasn't a clone or robot or anything. It was something, although it really didn't tell her what she wanted to know. She wished he could say how exactly she was here at all. She remembered dying...
Before she could get more answers, mechs burst through the door on the far side of the room. And the time for questions was over.
Tali entered the hospital unit, cautiously following the marines. They had finally found some activity. On the edge of the main colony area, their scanners picked up movement. A few of the security mechs were active, but their friend-or-foe code was faulty. The mechs hadn't even issued a warning before shooting at them. No one had been injured, thankfully, but it added to the eerie feeling of the colony.
The hospital was quiet, at least. Once again, it looked like the doctors here had simply walked out in the middle of whatever they were doing. Medical instruments, pill bottles, bandages, and medigel tubes littered the floor. Like the other buildings they had checked, there was no damage on the walls or doors, or other signs of a struggle.
She checked the data terminals in the administration room. Just like the other buildings, the last entry by a person was 13:17 local time. Unlike the others, though, these terminals had been accessed, some time in the previous day. Whoever had hacked into them had covered their tracks too well to tell any more.
Neeri looked over her shoulder, reading the records too. She paused the playback, pointing out something that caught her eye. "Tali, look at this. Someone turned off the monitoring protocols for the automated triage units. And they did it after the colony was deserted."
"We don't know if it was a colonist who was missed or if it was whatever that took them, Neeri," Tali hated crushing their hope, but she had to be realistic.
"It could be Veetor, Tali. He was always more of a programmer than a soldier or anything. This looks like some of his work," Neeri countered. "If he's still here and alive, it might explain the mechs too. He sees the... whatever... happen, he panics and reprograms the mechs and other machines here."
"It could also be a trap left by whoever took the colonists." Prazza jumped into the argument. He was on her side? This mission was full of surprises, for sure.
"Nothing's changed. It doesn't matter right now who programmed the mechs. They're trying to kill us. We have to take them out to find Veetor. Or find what happened to him." Tali pointed to one of the residential buildings further in the main colonial area. "Let's check that one next."
Shepard kept her gun levelled on the two men. Cerberus?! Cerberus had resurrected her? What the hell? Jacob thought that telling her would make her trust them? Why would she ever trust Cerberus? They murdered Admiral Kahoku, a man she respected. They conduction horrifying experiments on people. They set traps for the Alliance soldiers.
Reluctantly, she lowered the gun. As much as she despised it, she was forced to rely on them for now. She had no idea how to get out of this facility, and, judging by the explosions rocking the place, she didn't have time to search on her own.
"I'll work with you. For now," She told the two men.
"Sorry Shepard, I thought it might help if you at least knew who we were." Jacob was over by the door, checking the next hallway for more mechs.
"Yeah, well, it doesn't. I make it a point not to work with terrorist scum if it can be avoided." Jacob didn't seem too bad, but then, she knew better than to judge a book by its cover. Something about Wilson, on the other hand, rubbed her the wrong way. She resolved to keep a close eye on him. Not that she trusted Jacob all that much either.
Shepard kept following them, keeping an eye out for an opportunity to escape on her own. Unfortunately, she hadn't spotted anything yet. The station was pretty thoroughly trashed already. The mechs had done severe damage. Plus, she did want to find Miranda. Whatever else, Miranda seemed to be the one in charge. She might have some better answers for her.
The next room, a large storage area, was guarded by a large group of mechs. After clearing it out, they found another datapad in a small alcove to the side. Shepard listened to the log impassively. More details about Lazarus.
It sickened her inside. What the hell had they done to her? All this talk about rebuilding her, repairing the damage, fixing her neural patterns... Was she still herself? Did they do other things to her, implant devices, codewords?
They left the alcove, heading to the next doorway. They had to be getting close to the docking bays. The door was sealed. Wilson entered the code, unlocking the door. As the door slid open, a gun thrust through the gap, the shot ringing out in the enclosed space...
Tali ducked behind the low wall of the garden. Activating her omnitool, she deployed Chiktikka on the flank of the pair of mechs guarding the ATC office ahead. The drone's shock blast stunned the mechs, exposing them long enough for Prazza and Neeri to drop them.
"This is getting ridiculous, Tali!" Prazza shouted over to her.
"I know, Prazza." Tali recalled Chiktikka and advanced to the building. Neeri covered her approach while Prazza scanned the room inside. He shook his head - no mechs visible or on sensors. At least none that he could detect. They had already suffered a few nasty surprises. One of the marines had fallen back to their shuttle, a shoulder wound and suit puncture taking him out of the fight.
They cautiously opened the door, sending Chiktikka in first, just in case. The room was as deserted as their scans said it was. They filed in, and the marines covered her while she used her tool to access the computers.
"Yes!" Tali was elated. The security cameras for the landing pads and the storage bays were activated. The others had been shut down by whoever had altered the files in the med lab. These were the first cameras she had been able to access.
She called the others over as she allocated the cameras to the monitors on the wall. The other quarians crowded around them, everyone bumping against each other as they all tried to get a good view of the displays.
"There!" Neeri pointed to one of the docking bay monitors. It was for a camera covering the administration office for the bays. They could see a figure sitting at the control consoles for the bay. A figure wearing an exosuit. "I told you Veetor was still here!"
The relief filling the squad was palpable. Veetor was alive! The only problem was...
Tali pointed at a couple of the other screens. Security mechs were visible, patrolling the area between them and the storage bay. Worse, most of the doors in the way were sealed too. That would slow them down even more. "This won't be easy."
"Let's just fly the ship in, grab him and go," Prazza suggested.
"If we try that, the mechs could shoot it down. Worse, we'd have to run through a crossfire and sit exposed while we hack the door to that building. We're better off taking it slow and careful." Tali pulled up a detailed map of the colony, zooming in on the area they needed to cover.
"We can split into two groups. One group will sneak around the long way, taking out the recon drones as they go." She highlighted a path that circled the edge of the shipyard. "Neeri, take two other marines and cover that path."
"I should lead the other group, if we're going to split up," Prazza objected.
"Prazza, the main team is going to be taking on the majority of the mechs. We'll need your heavy support weapons to take them out easier," Tali plotted another route on the map. "We're going to have to clear the way so we can get Veetor back to the ship safely."
She looked around at the assembled team. "Be careful out there. We have no idea what other traps Veetor might have set for us in his panic."
Shepard had her gun up and pointed at the woman before the echo of the shot faded. She also called up her biotic energy, preparing it. Whoever this woman was, she had executed Wilson without a word or a chance. What the hell was going on here?
The woman lowered her gun, but Shepard kept hers aimed at the newcomer. "Okay, who are you and why the hell did you shoot him?"
"Miranda? What the hell?" Jacob looked confused too.
"Wilson betrayed us. He was going to turn on you as soon as you got to the shuttle." Miranda coldly informed them. She appeared entirely unconcerned that Shepard's gun hadn't moved from her at all.
"I'm not going anywhere with either of you until I get some answers. Starting most definitely with why you simply shot him like that. We could have restrained him and questioned him later." Shepard glared at the two Cerberus members.
"We don't have time for this now, Commander. This station is going to blow any minute now, we have to get out of here. And this," Miranda pointed at the shuttle in the bay behind her. "Is the only shuttle left. So if you want out of here, we're going as a group."
Shepard reluctantly holstered her gun and dismissed her biotics. "Fine, we'll take this shuttle and you can drop me at the nearest inhabited planet, and we'll be quit of each other." She followed the pair onto the shuttle and sat down across from them, where she could keep an eye on them. Especially Miranda. Anyone who could execute someone so easily deserved to be closely watched.
"We're heading to the nearest Cerberus base, Shepard. You said you wanted answers earlier, you can get them there."
"I don't think so. I really don't want to go with you people." She dropped her hand to her pistol, and got ready to call up her biotics.
"You don't have a choice, Commander. This is an emergency shuttle, it's programmed to only go to one place. So you might as well relax and enjoy the ride." Shepard really wanted to slap the smug superior look off her face.
Shepard sighed and sank back in the seat. She despised this whole situation. Cerberus was playing her, somehow. She just wanted out.
After a few hours, the shuttle slowed as it pulled up to a small space station orbiting an unimpressive gas giant. She could see a few scout-class ships docked with it already. She could probably steal one pretty easily...
Is it really stealing if you're taking it from a terrorist?
"Don't even think about it, Commander. We can provide you with transport, we just want you to meet someone first." Miranda was staring over at her.
"Meet one terrorist, meet them all. I think I'll just take the transport and go, thanks." Shepard really didn't want to see any more of Cerberus.
"Not how this works, Shepard. You really need to take this meeting."
Tali fired her shotgun around the corner, taking out another mech. The things seemed endless. At least the other team was keeping the majority of the drones busy. Dealing with the mechs was bad enough.
"Tali, we're going to get slaughtered if we stay out here much longer!" Prazza darted across the small garden area to take cover in a nearby doorway. "This plan isn't working."
"I know! Where did he get all these mechs?" She looked around at the buildings, picking one at random. "Regroup there, we'll take cover and signal the other team to back down for now."
Her team laid down covering fire as they ducked into the building one by one. Prazza, the last to get inside, sealed the door behind himself. "This is crazy, Tali. We're not equipped to fight a whole army of mechs by ourselves."
"We're a bit stuck, Prazza. The mechs are converging on us now. We'll have to take them out, regardless of what we choose to do." She opened her commlink on her omnitool. No reply from Neeri - they must be observing comm silence. She left a brief message detailing their current situation.
I hope Neeri gets it in time.
The marines had taken guard positions by the windows and Prazza was watching the door. He glanced over at her as she dismissed her omnitool. "Did you reach them?"
"No, I left an update for them. I hope they recieve it in time."
"Tali!" One of the marines beckoned her over to his window. "Take a look at this! A ship is landing at the main port!"
She peered out the window. A small long-range shuttle hovered over a landing pad, slowly descending before disappearing from view behind a building. "Keelah, I hope whoever is on that ship can help us..."
Shepard glared at the holo image in front of her. She didn't know how much longer she could stand here and listen to this crap. The Illusive Man was going on about how she was a 'symbol of fear for the reapers' and 'humanity needed her' and 'Cerberus isn't what you encountered before'. So much garbage.
He wouldn't tell her anything about her friends, either. Oh, Wrex had gone back to Tuchanka, but he didn't say anything about the others. He was especially careful not to reveal anything about Liara. She was apparently working for the Shadow Broker or something and 'couldn't be trusted.' Not that Shepard trusted anything he said anyway.
He was trying to keep her isolated, reliant on him and Cerberus, that much was obvious. Unfortunately, she really didn't have any better options at the moment. Short of killing a bunch of Cerberus operatives and stealing one of the scout ships.
Still, if human colonies really were disappearing, she needed to do something. And supposedly neither the Alliance nor the Council were doing anything about it. So, for now, she would play along. She kept listening with half an ear while he went on some more about 'humans solving human problems.'
"Look, I'm sure all this crap is fascinating to you, but why can't I just go back to the Alliance, reform my team, and investigate this on my own? You know, with people I actually trust." She interrupted when he paused his narcissitic ramblings.
"Shepard, a lot has changed in the past two years. After you had the Fifth Fleet rescue the Council, the Terra Firma party used the massive loss of human life to tip the balance of several key elections. Representative Saracino ordered the search for your body cancelled as soon as he could. He really doesn't like you, for some reason."
"Fine, the Alliance is out, but if you have all these contacts out there, why can't you use them to get me my team? You keep saying I'm important because I stopped Saren and Sovereign - well, I didn't do it alone. I had a lot of good people with me."
"Most of your Alliance crew were reassigned, and as for the aliens, do you really think they'll care about a purely human problem?" The Illusive Man had a small smile on his face. He obviously knew more about the matter, but wouldn't tell her unless it would help him use her.
"I think they're my friends, so yes, they would help. Plus, if these disappearances are the work of the reapers, like you suspect, then that makes it much more than a human only matter. Especially since they've all seen the true threat." Shepard was really getting mad now.
"Are they really your friends? You asked how we brought you back, but you never asked how we got your body in the first place. It's very simple - Liara T'soni sold it to us."
*Next Chapter: Shepard investigates the Freedom's Progress disappearance and meets up with Tali again.*