SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE & CHARACTER PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Normandy II – Meeting Room, Secure Connection to Chronos Station
"Patching The Illusive Man through, Commander" Joker radioed.
Shepard stepped onto the lower platform, and within seconds he found himself "in" the visually striking office of the head of Cerberus.
"Shepard," The Illusive Man greeted, "we've caught a break. I intercepted a distress call from a Turian patrol. They stumbled across a Collector ship beyond the Kolrus System. The Turians were wiped out, but not before they crippled the Collector vessel. I need you to board the ship and get some hard data on the Collectors – find us a way to get to their homeworld."
"Hard to imagine a Turian patrol could take out a Collector ship" Shepard said.
"Reports indicate the hull's intact, but all systems seem to be offline. They could be making repairs as we speak. I'm not saying it won't be dangerous, but we can't let an opportunity like this slip by."
"If they had a patrol out there, why aren't the Turians sending a recon team in?"
"They will eventually. But I intercepted the transmissions. In the meantime, we're feeding them false reports. You're close enough that you can be in and out before the Turians learn the truth."
"Are you sure this information is good?"
"Information is my weapon, Shepard. It's good."
"Send me the coordinates, and we'll take care of it."
"Already sent. Once you're aboard the ship, establish an uplink with EDI. She'll mine their data for information regarding the Omega-4 Relay. Good luck, Shepard."
The connection cut, 'returning' Shepard to the meeting room.
"Coordinates punched in" Joker said over the speaker. "Let's go find us a Collector ship."
-SCENE BREAK-
Deep Space, Just Inside Kolrus System's Heliopause
"We have a visual on the Collector ship, Commander" Joker said as Shepard walked up behind him in the cockpit.
"Very low emissions" EDI said. "Passive infrared temperatures suggest most systems are offline. Thrusters are cold."
"That thing's massive…" Joker said. "How the hell did a Turian patrol take out a 900-meter dreadnaught?"
The Normandy II cautiously approached the silent Collector vessel.
"Ladar scans do not detect any hull breaches on the side facing us" EDI reported. "I detect no Mass-Effect field distortions. It appears the drive core is offline."
"Rendezvous in 30 seconds, Commander" Joker said. "Good luck."
The N2 pulled up alongside the much larger ship, scanning it with searchlights as a Kodiak shuttle emerged from its ventral hangar. The Kodiak flew inside, soon finding a spot to set down. Seven people emerged in full hazardous-environment gear – Shepard, Marie, Samara, and the four men of COG Delta Squad.
"And I thought the Locust's tunnels were creepy" Dom said.
"It kinda looks like we're in a giant insect hive" Marie said. "Makes sense when you look at a Collector, I suppose."
"Penetrating scans have detected an access node to uplink with Collector databanks" EDI radioed. "Marking location to your hardsuit computer."
The team moved forward cautiously, guns trained in every direction as they walked past honeycomb-like structures on the walls and ceiling.
"Shepard," EDI said, "I have compared the ship's EM signature to known Collector profiles. It is the vessel you encountered on Horizon."
"Maybe the defense towers softened it up for the Turians" Shepard suggested.
"The colonists might be aboard" Marcus added. "If they're still alive, that is."
As they moved on, they found a pod, open and vacant.
"Just like the ones on Horizon" Cole said. "'Cept there's nobody in 'em."
"To be trapped in these pods, helpless at the mercy of the Collectors…" Samara said. "It sounds like a horrible fate."
They continued on, and near an open doorway they found another unpleasant surprise: a mound of human corpses.
"Why would the Collectors just leave a pile of bodies lying around?" Marcus wondered.
"They were probably the control group for 'tests'," Baird replied, "thrown out when the experiment was over."
"In a way they're lucky" Shepard said. "They were just killed rather than being used as guinea pigs for God-knows-what."
"From the looks of it," Dom said, "they didn't even have the decency to make these poor people's deaths quick & painless."
The team moved on, past more pods and a few more bodies. At the next corner, there was a pair of pods with a computer terminal. Shepard activated the terminal, and the right-hand pod lit up to reveal a dead Collector.
"Were they experimenting on one of their own?" Marie wondered.
"EDI," Shepard said, "I'm uploading data from this terminal. See if you can figure out what they were up to."
"Data received" EDI replied. "Analyzing… The Collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity."
"Are they looking for similarities?"
"I have no hypothesis on their motivations. All I have are the preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable: a quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one species is known to have this structure: the Protheans."
"My God…" Shepard breathed. "Not all the Protheans vanished. The ones left behind are working for the Reapers now."
"These are no longer Protheans, Shepard. Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The Reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."
"You'd think somebody would've picked up on this."
"No-one has had an opportunity to study a Collector's genetic code in such detail. I have already matched 2,000 alleles to recorded fragments. This Collector likely descends from a Prothean colony in the Styx Theta cluster. But there are signs of extreme alteration – three fewer chromosomes, reduced heterochromatin structure, elimination of superfluous 'junk' sequences."
"So the Reapers didn't wipe out the Protheans. They turned them into monsters and enslaved them. …Still, the Collectors are our enemy now. It's too late to help the Protheans they used to be. We have to stop them."
"No species should have to suffer through this…" Samara murmured.
"Let's find what we need before the Collectors come to salvage this vessel."
As they moved on, they found a weapons locker containing three powerful weapons – an M300 'Claymore' heavy shotgun, an M76 'Revenant' LMG, and an M98 'Widow' anti-materiel sniper rifle. Marcus took the Revenant, Shepard grabbed the Widow, and Marie took the Claymore (Shepard's cybernetics and Marie's chakra & mana usage would enable them to wield and fire the powerful weapons without being injured by recoil, while the Revenant – though heavy – did not have the 'arm-breaking recoil' problem of the other two). They kept moving, heading for a ramp.
"Look, on the ceiling" Cole pointed out. "More pods."
"Hundreds, at the least" Samara said. "But how many are full?"
"Too many" Shepard replied.
"I detect no signs of life in the pods, Shepard" EDI radioed. "It is probable that the victims inside died when the ship lost primary power."
They kept moving, up ramps and past/under more pods. They started heading up a larger incline.
"Commander, you gotta hear this" Joker radioed. "On a hunch, I asked EDI to run an analysis on this ship."
"I compared the EM profile against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago. They are an exact match."
"The same ship dogging me for two years?" Shepard said. "Way beyond coincidence."
"Something doesn't add up, Commander" Joke said. "Watch your back."
They kept moving passing several more pods, and finally reached the utterly gigantic central chamber of the vessel. And lining the walls…
"By the Goddess…" Samara gasped.
Pods. Hundreds of thousands – nay, millions – of empty, waiting pods. Everyone looked around in horrified awe at the numbers, the sheer scale.
"You could stick every single human from the Terminus Systems in these and still have plenty of room left" Marcus said.
"Earth" Shepard replied. "They have to be planning to go after Earth."
"Not if we stop them first" Dom replied.
Marie looked around in shock, and then decided to kill the serious mood. "Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife, and hide yo' husband, 'cause they collectin' errbody up in here!"
Cole busted up laughing.
The team moved on, towards a sunken-in platform with a glowing green control panel in the center. They stepped aboard, and Shepard approached the panel.
"EDI, I'm setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship. See if you can get anything useful from the databanks."
"Data mine in progress, Shepard" EDI replied, as on the Normandy-II's bridge screens of data appeared. Suddenly, the screens fuzzed out. Joker looked to his left, to see the holographic image of a quadrupedal Collector that, for an instant, became that of a Reaper before fuzzing out. "Uh, that can't be good" he murmured.
Back in the Collector ship, the sunken platform shook, several locking pistons coming undone as the green terminal flickered off.
"Everyone's all right in here, Joker" Shepard radioed. "What just happened?"
"Major power surge" Joker replied. "Everything went dark, but we're back up now."
"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non-critical systems" EDI chimed in. "Shepard, it was not a malfunction. This was a trap."
The platform shook, almost knocking everyone off their feet, and then began to rise up, flying straight up into the air while spinning.
"We need a little help here, EDI" Shepard said.
"I am having trouble maintaining connection. There is something – or someone – else in the system."
The platform's rising and spinning came to an abrupt halt, and Baird & Marie were unable to maintain their footing, though Samara and Cole quickly helped them up. After a few seconds, another platform came flying out from behind a spire in the distance, heading towards them with Collectors onboard. Everyone readied weapons, Marie activating Charon in Plasma-Beam mode.
"Connection reestablished. I need to finish the download before I can override any systems."
"Then you'd better get it done fast, EDI."
Another platform followed the first. The first connected with Team Shepard's platform, and the Collectors aboard it opened fire. Shepard fried one with an Incinerate, while Marie did the same to another with a charged Plasma-Beam shot. Delta Squad opened fire, gunning down several more, while a Warp to the head from Samara took out the last one. The second platform attached to the first, and a Scion came lumbering out, firing its acid-mortar cannon and forcing everyone into cover. Shepard pulled out his new Widow, and a single headshot took the misshapen beast down. Two more platforms, carrying another Collector squad and another Scion, came in from another angle.
"EDI, get us out of here!"
"I am simultaneously fighting Collector firewalls in over 8,000 nodes. I am tasked to capacity."
Shepard Incinerated another Collector drone, while Marie switched her Device to Power-Beam function, injected a mana cartridge, and fired a Super Missile at the Scion, badly wounding it; a few precise shots from Dom finished it off. At the same time, Samara and the others of Delta Squad used their assault rifles to cut down the rest of the Collectors. One more time the double-platform assault repeated, but this time half of the Collectors had barriers, and one of them was soon possessed by Harbinger. A Widow headshot from Shepard destroyed the Possessed Collector before it could even finish its transformation, a Warp from Samara and another Super Missile from Marie took out the Scion, and Delta Squad dealt with the Collectors.
"Shepard, you must manually reestablish my link to the command console."
Shepard headed back to the console, calling up his Omnitool and setting up the link. After a few seconds, EDI's hologram appeared from the console.
"I have regained control of the platform, Shepard" she said.
"I knew you wouldn't let us down, EDI."
"I always work at optimal capacity" she said as her hologram disappeared.
"Did you get what we needed?" Shepard asked, as the platform began to fly forward, carrying Team Shepard where they wanted to go, for a change.
"I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega-4 Relay. I have also found the Turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The Collectors were the source. It is unusual."
The platform set down at another dock on the other side of the area.
"It seems logical that they would've sent the initial message as bait" Shepard said.
"No, it is unusual because Turian emergency channels have secondary encryption. It is corrupted in the message. It is not possible that The Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."
"Why are you so sure?"
"I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols. He wrote them."
"He knew it was a trap?" Joker cut in. "Why would he send us into a trap?"
"I should've expected this" Shepard said angrily, pounding fist to palm. "The son-of-a-bitch sent us right into the Collectors' hands!"
"Considering Cerberus," Marcus said, "is it really that big of a surprise?"
"Uh, Commander? We've got another problem. The Collector ship is powering up. You need to get out before their weapons come online. I'm not losing another Normandy!"
"I do not have full control of their systems" EDI said. "I will do what I can. Sending coordinates for shuttle extraction."
The team immediately started hurrying down the nearby passage, making their way into an unlit area and through a right-hand door. As they went down a ramp and into another chamber, a squad of Collectors flew in. Team Shepard fought through them, Shepard's Incinerate module and Marcus' Revenant making short work of them. They kept moving, down another ramp and into another chamber with lots of cover, and another group of Collectors to contend with. A Possessed Collector came at them, but Samara hit it with a Warp to take down its barrier, and then a charged Plasma-Beam shot from Marie finished it off. Shepard used his Viper to help Delta Squad pick off drones, while Cole gunned down a pack of Husks that attacked from the side.
They kept moving, soon reaching another room, where the far door opened to reveal another Husk pack that Delta Squad took out. Unfortunately, another problem soon made itself known: a Praetorian, accompanied by a squad of Collectors and Husks; Delta Squad focused on the lesser enemies, while Shepard, Samara, and Marie targeted the Praetorian. Samara and Shepard hit the massive airborne enemy with Warp attacks to weaken its barrier, while Marie switched her Device to Dark-Beam mode, firing blasts of Darkness. Incinerates from Shepard started burning through the Praetorian's armor, but then it screeched and slammed down onto the ground, unleashing a shockwave and recharging its barrier. Another pair of Warps from Shepard and Samara weakened the barrier again, and then Marie charged a Dark-Beam blast and injected a mana cartridge into it, firing a 'Darkburst'. The burst impacted the Praetorian and, on contact, erupted into an unstable dark-dimensional rift, shredding into the beast's armor on a molecular level. The Praetorian screeched and wobbled in the air, disoriented and badly wounded. As soon as the rift closed itself, a last Incinerate from Shepard finished it off, and it dissolved into bluish particles.
The team moved on towards the open door… which shut in their faces.
"EDI?" Shepard said. "We've got a problem here."
"A temporary setback on Firewall 3217. Rerouting commands through Firewall 7164. I have successfully opened a door on the opposite wall. I will keep it open as long as I can."
The team hurried through the new door, and they could soon see, on the right, where they first came in. Unfortunately it was too big a drop, so they had to head left to take the long way down. As they went through the right-hand door at the end into another chamber, another squad of Collectors flew in, led by a Possessed Collector and accompanied by a few Red Husks and a Scion. Cole took the exploding Husks out with his shotgun, while Shepard and Marie killed the Possessed Collector with a Warp and a Super Missile. Another heavy shot from Marie killed the Scion, while everyone else cleared out the Collectors. They moved up and left, rushing down the next corridor.
"Uh, Commander?" Joker radioed. "Hate to rush you, but those weapons are about to come online. Might wanna double-time it – you know, so we can leave before they blow the Normandy in half."
They made a right around a blind corner and almost smacked into a large pack of Husks. Delta Squad moved up, using their Lancers to clear the way, and everyone sprinted down the ramp and to the waiting Kodiak.
"We're out of time, Commander! We have to go!"
Everyone piled in, and the Kodiak took off, flying out of the Collector ship as it lit up. The Normandy II quickly snatched up the shuttle and then rocketed off, the Collector ship coming alive and pursuing, its main gun beginning to charge. It fired, and the N2 narrowly dodged the golden beam of destruction. Shepard ran into the cockpit, standing behind Joker as he frantically commanded the ship.
"I can't dodge this guy forever, EDI!" Joker said. "Get us the hell out of here!"
"Specify a destination, Mr. Moreau."
"Anywhere that's not here!"
"Very well. Engaging Mass-Effect core."
Finally, just when the Collector ship had a lock on the Normandy II, the stealth/attack frigate jumped to FTL, escaping certain doom.
-SCENE BREAK-
Normandy II – Meeting Room, Secure Connection to Chronos Station
"Shepard" The Illusive Man started. "It looks like EDI extracted some interesting data before the Collector ship came back online."
Shepard glared. "EDI told us the distress call originated from the Collectors, and that there's no way you wouldn't have known it was fake. You betrayed us, just like I knew you would."
"We're at war. The Collectors are taking humans, and every minute we waste is one more we give the enemy to prepare."
"I know the stakes, but we're supposed to be on the same side, and I can't trust you."
"Without that information, we don't reach the Collector homeworld, and you & every other human may as well be dead. It was a trap, but I was confident in your abilities. And don't forget EDI; the Collectors couldn't have anticipated her."
"You could've told me the plan. You say I'm important, but you sure try hard to get me killed."
"I needed the Collectors to believe they had the upper hand. Telling you could've tipped them off in any number of ways. Besides, I wouldn't have sent you in if I didn't think you could succeed."
"I don't risk people. There are always alternatives."
"You may not like being on the receiving end – neither would I – but the facts are with me. As much as we try to avoid them, these decisions need to be made. But more importantly… it paid off. EDI confirmed our suspicions. The Reapers and Collector ships use an advanced identify Friend/Foe system that the Relays recognize. All we need to do is get our hands on one of those IFFs."
"I was just on a Collector ship! Why didn't you say anything about finding their IFF?"
"As I said, EDI just confirmed it. Besides, you wouldn't have had time to find and extract it. But we have options. An Alliance science team recently determined that the "Great Rift" on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact scar from a mass-accelerator weapon. A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either the weapon or its target. They found both. The weapon was defunct from age, but it helped us plot the flight path of the intended target: a 37-million-year-old derelict Reaper. We found it badly damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf."
"Brown dwarf… That's basically a star that didn't quite make it, right?"
"Simply put, but accurate. They're massive gas giants that nonetheless don't have quite enough mass to trigger hydrogen fusion. Expect gale-force winds and extremely high temperatures. The Reaper has a Mass-Effect field that keeps it in orbit – likely an automated response to the external threats. It's stable, but I won't call it safe."
"I saw what Sovereign did to the Citadel fleet. Hard to imagine anything could stop something that powerful."
"This vessel is a relic from a battle waged around the end of the Eocene Epoch, before the 'ape' branch of primates had even come into being. There's no trace of the species that took the shot. Perhaps it was their one moment of successful defiance before being wiped out. …Also, this Reaper is slightly smaller than Sovereign – we estimate it was 2,000 meters in size when it was intact and functional, compared to the 2,500 of Sovereign. Likely, it was a less advanced and less powerful model."
"I get the feeling this isn't going to be a simple 'swing by and pick up our package' mission."
"We lost contact with Dr. Chandana's team shortly after they boarded. Initial reconnaissance revealed no clues, and it was too risky to commit resources. But now we need that IFF. I'll forward the coordinates to Joker. In the meantime… I'd suggest you tell your crew I didn't risk their lives unnecessarily. It will make things easier going forward. Also, you may wish to help your crewmates sort out any 'loose ends' in their lives while there's still time."
"EDI, tell the crew to assemble. We've got a lot to talk about."
-Mini-Break-
Meeting Room
"So The Illusive Man didn't sell us out" Jacob said. "Could've fooled me."
"Lied to us" Mordin said. "Used us. Needed access to the Collector databanks. Necessary risk."
"I hate to admit it," Shepard said, "but there really wasn't any other choice. Let's just hope this IFF works."
"My analysis is accurate, Shepard" EDI said. "I have also determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on navigational data from their vessel."
A hologram of the Milky Way appeared, and a red crosshairs moved around the hologram… settling inside the bright bulge in the middle, almost at the exact center. Everyone stared.
"…That can't be right" Miranda said.
"So they're in the galactic core?" Jacob said. "That's impossible. EDI must've missed something.
"My calculations are correct. The Collector homeworld is located within the galactic core."
"Can't be. The core is just exploding stars and a supermassive black hole. There are no habitable planets there."
"Could be artificial structure" Mordin suggested. "Space station protected by powerful Mass-Effect fields and radiation shields."
"Even the Collectors don't have that kind of tech" Miranda replied.
"The Collectors are just servants of our real enemy" Shepard said. "And we've all seen what their masters are capable of. The Reapers built the Mass Relays and the Citadel. Who's to say they can't build a space station just outside the Black Core's event horizon? No wonder nobody's ever returned from a trip through the Omega-4 Relay."
"The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the Relay" EDI said. "A region where ships can survive."
"Standard Relay transit protocols would not allow safe transport" Miranda said. "Drift of several thousand kilometers is not uncommon, and would be fatal in the galactic core."
"The Reaper IFF must trigger the Relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols" EDI replied.
"Just because we can follow the Collectors through the Relay doesn't mean we can take them out" Shepard said. "I don't want to go after them until I know we're ready."
"Sooner or later we need that IFF" Jacob replied. "I say, why wait?"
"It's a derelict Reaper" Miranda said. "What if the Collectors are waiting for us? We may want to strengthen our team before we take that kind of risk."
"The more we have on our side," Shepard said, "the better our chances of success. We need to keep strengthening the team – getting done whatever needs doing before we go on a trip we might not return from."
"It's your call, Commander" Jacob replied. "Whatever you decide, we're with you."
As the others left the room, Shepard leaned against the table.
"A base station in the Core…" he murmured. "The DDF heads are hardly gonna believe this…"
-SCENE BREAK-
Next Time: Jacob's Loyalty Mission