Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to Bioware.
Chapter 19: Collector Ship
Year: 2185CE
Location: Normandy SR-2 Bridge
"We have a visual on the Collector ship, Commander," said Joker, frowning at the ship that resembled an elongated giant rock with a spiky metallic ring in the middle.
Shepard took a step forward and stopped right next to the pilot seat.
The weird ship looked familiar, Joker swore he had seen it before. Horizon. He recalled watching a similar Collector ship escaped the colony. Maybe the Collectors bought their ships from a buy-one-get-one-free close-out sale, Joker reasoned as he maneuvered the Normandy closer to the strange vessel. But even so, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he had seen it before Horizon.
"Very low emissions," EDI reported. "Passive infrared temperatures suggest most systems are offline. Thrusters are cold."
"That thing's massive," Joker commented. The size of the ship had become even more apparent as they approached. It could fit a hundred Normandies inside. "How the hell did the turians take it out?"
Shepard only shook her head. The commander was quiet, although it wasn't unusual before a mission like this. With the weight of the entire humanity on her shoulders, it was a miracle the pressure alone didn't kill her.
It's Aerin Freaking Shepard, Joker reminded himself. The same woman who had to take down ten thousand murderous batarians all by herself.
Working so closely with the living legend had somewhat skewed his perspective. Shepard was not just a freaking hero, not even just his boss, she had become one of his closest friends. Sometimes, he had to step back and reminded himself who she really was and what she was capable of.
"Ladar scans do not detect any hall breaches on the side facing us," said the AI. "I detect no mass effect field distortions. It appears the drive core is offline."
"The shuttle is ready, Commander," Miranda's voice came through from the comm system.
"Rendezvous in 30 seconds," said Joker. "Good luck."
Shepard gave him a customary pat on his shoulder before heading to the hanger bay. By now, he could tell her mood from a simple touch. A light slap was a playful one. A full palm press was her silent thank you. And one that ended with a gentle squeeze was the worst – it said, "I'm leaving, hopefully I'll come back alive."
And Joker had felt that squeeze just now.
Joker pulled the Normandy as close to the Collector ship as he could. His job was done. The rest was up to Shepard and her team.
Location: Korlus System, Collector Ship
"I love what they've done with the place," Garrus commented as they exited the shuttle.
"I have never seen a ship like this," said Samara, who had more experience than the team combined.
"Unusual ship design," Mordin observed, light from his omni-tool shone at the wall. "Hard to track lines, angles." The professor pause to take a breath. "Disturbing."
Shepard couldn't agree more. She tried her best to ignore everything but the path in front. This place made her skin crawl.
"Looks like a giant insect hive," said Zaeed.
"Yeah, Rachni, maybe?" Garrus suggested.
Miranda glanced up. "Are those... eggs?"
Shepard followed her XO's sight and grimaced at what she saw. "Hope not..."
"Penetrating scans have detected an access node to uplink with Collector databanks," EDI informed them. "Marking location to your hardsuit computer."
"Let's move." Shepard led the way further into the ship.
Ever the curious scientist, Mordin approached a pod along the path and examined it. "Same containers as on Horizon. Only empty."
"Small. Like my tank," said Grunt.
"Horrible." Garrus shook his head. "Trapped in these pods. Completely at the mercy of the Collectors."
"Shepard," said EDI, "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 for the turians," Shepard reasoned.
"The missing colonists might be aboard," said Garrus. "If they're still alive."
"Oh god..." Miranda pointed at the end of the path. "Up ahead, Shepard."
The team approached and found what seemed to be a pile of human remains. Heads and limps were ripped apart, broken bodies dumped haphazardly on top of each other. Thirty bodies, by Shepard's rough estimation, maybe even more.
"This looks bad..." said Garrus.
"Lots of dead meat," Grunt put it bluntly yet accurately.
The knot between Shepard's brows couldn't be tighter. She was thankful her helmet was on, she did not want to know what it smelled like around this place.
"Why would the Collectors just leave a pile of bodies lying around?" asked Miranda.
"Must have been used for testing," said Garrus. "I'd say these subjects didn't pass."
"This was wrong." Mordin shook his head. "Inhumane. Even if Collectors needed to kill for experiments, could have ended lives painlessly."
Shepard could almost hear the agonizing screams of the victims when their limps were being ripped from the joints or when their spines were being snapped.
Her career had trained her to have a strong stomach, but even a harden soldier had her limit. Shepard was glad that she had skipped breakfast this morning. "There are worse things than death – like being a test subject for twisted aliens."
"You're probably right," said Garrus. "Doesn't feel much better, though."
"It is important to seek whatever solace we can find in the face of tragedy," Samara advised soothingly.
Solace? She had once found hers two years ago, but she'd lost it. "There's nothing else we could do here. Let's move on." Shepard turned and walked away. Her team gladly followed.
Corpses and emptied pods littered everywhere they went. But all the dead bodies were humans, none of it was Collectors.
"Where are the bodies of the Collector crew?" Garrus voiced the question Shepard had in mind.
"Something doesn't smell right," said Zaeed. "There are no Collectors around. Living or dead."
"Agree," said Miranda. "Careful, Shepard."
One of the consoles EDI had requested was up ahead with several pods next to it.
Jacob looked inside one of them. "There's a Collector in this one."
"Experimenting on one of their own?" The salarian scientist examined its body and shook his head in disapproval. "Despicable."
Shepard approached a control terminal to establish an uplink. "EDI, I'm uploading the data from this terminal. See if you can figure out what they're up to."
"Data received," said EDI. "Analyzing. The Collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity."
Mordin perked up. "Searching for similarities?"
Shepard checked out the Collector corpse. If there was any similarity between them and humans, she couldn't see it.
"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 race is known to have this structure: the Protheans."
"My god," Shepard breathed. "The Collectors are the Protheans!"
"These are no longer Protheans, Shepard," EDI corrected her. "Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The Reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."
"So the Protheans didn't vanish. They're just working for the Reapers now," Miranda concluded.
"Can't wait to see T'Soni's face when we tell her about this..." Garrus mumbled to himself.
"Fifty thousand years... You'd think somebody would have picked up on this by now," Shepard commented.
"No one has had an opportunity to study a Collector genetic code in this detail," said EDI. "I have already matched two thousand alleles to recorded fragments. This Collector likely descends from a Prothean colony in the Styx Theta cluster. But there are signs of extreme alternation. Three fewer chromosomes. Reduced heterochromatin structure. Elimination of superfluous 'junk' sequences."
"Ingenious. Yet, horrible." Mordin stroke his chin with a shake of his head.
"No species should have to suffer through that," said Garrus.
"I wouldn't want to live as some kind of mutated slave," said Shepard. "Killing a Collector is probably doing it a favor." She tossed another glance at the dead Collector. "Whatever they used to be, they're working for the Reapers now. And we have to stop them."
"They're not doing to us what they did to the Protheans," said Miranda.
"I sure as hell won't follow the Protheans to this," said Jacob.
"Damn straight!" Zaeed nodded. "They aren't doing that shit to us!"
"They won't," Shepard vowed. "Not on my watch."
There was still no sign of the Collector as they ventured deeper inside the ship. Shepard didn't like the quietness one bit.
"Look – on the ceiling," Garrus pointed out. "More of those strange pods."
"There must be hundreds of them," said Miranda.
"Wonder how many are full," Mordin pondered.
"Too many," said Shepard.
"I detect no signs of life in the pods, Shepard," said EDI. "It is probably the victims inside died when the ship lost primary power."
"Commander, you gotta hear this," said Joker. "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," said EDI. "They are an exact match."
"What the..." Shepard stopped in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed. She could feel a spark ignited within. "This is the same ship that destroyed the Normandy?"
"It's been following you for two years?" said Garrus. "They either really love you, Shepard, or really hate you."
"They killed me," Shepard replied flatly, but there was a deadly edge to her tone.
Miranda shook her head. "This can't be a coincidence."
"Something doesn't add up, Commander," said Joker. "Watch your back."
"This could be a trap, Shepard," said Miranda.
The spark had turned into a fire in her belly. Shepard scowled. "I've finally found the ship that killed me. I'm not turning back." Not now. Not ever.
"That's... big," Grunt once again described it accurately as he glanced around the inner chamber so massive that it could probably fit the entire fleet inside.
"They could take every human in the Terminus Systems and still not have enough to fill these pods," said Garrus.
Miranda gasped upon sudden realization. "They're going to target Earth."
"Not if we stop them," said Shepard with steely determination.
"There – on the platform. Looks like some kind of control panel," said Garrus.
"EDI?" said Shepard. "I'm setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship. See if you can get anything useful from the data banks."
"Data-mine in progress, Shepard," said EDI.
"Uh... that can't be good," Joker mumbled.
The control panel suddenly exploded in front of her. "What the hell?" Shit, the Normandy! "Joker! Status report. Now!"
"Major power surge," the pilot reported after a few long seconds. "Everything went dark, but we're back up now."
"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non-critical systems," EDI reported.
"We are not alone," Thane warned quietly with his gun already in his hand. His head turned subtly to either side as if to hear things others couldn't hear.
Then, Shepard saw it from the corner of her eye – a shadow flashed somewhere above them. Shepard glanced up and armed within one second. But there was nothing.
"Shepard, it was not a malfunction," said EDI. "This was a trap."
The ground shook all of a sudden. Without further warning, the platform they were standing on took off, hauling them all to an unknown location.
With the control panel destroyed, there was no way Shepard could stop the platform. "We need a little help here, EDI!"
"I am having trouble maintaining connection," said EDI. "There is someone else in the system."
Another AI? The platform halted to a sudden stop. Shepard struggled to maintain balance.
"We've got company," said Miranda, looking at another platform fast approaching.
"Connection reestablished," said EDI. "I need to finish the download before I can override any systems."
"Then you'd better get it done fast, EDI," said Shepard while zooming in with her sniper rifle. Four Collectors. She pulled the trigger before it stopped. One down, three to go.
Another shot was fired from Garrus' rifle. Then from Thane's.
Now down to one.
But that was only one platform, there were more incoming.
Shepard swore under her breath.
"Finally!" said Grunt with a little laugh. "It was getting boring."
Shepard peeked out of her cover and located one of many Collectors within her scope. Trigger pulled, bullet landed between its eyes.
"And armored one!" Miranda warned and stripped it down with her biotics before Mordin set it on fire.
Shots were fired rapidly on both side, with bullets or biotics.
"Scoped and dropped!" said Garrus.
Shepard wished she could share her turian twin's enthusiasm. There were only nine of them. Nine versus an entire ship of Collectors. By the side of this ship, there could easily be tens of thousands of Collectors lurking around.
"Forty-one-percent complete," said EDI.
"Come on, EDI. Speed it up!" Shepard ordered as she vaulted over her cover and leaped onto the next platform.
"Assume control," said a voice Shepard would never forget. "Your world will be our laboratory."
"Harbinger," Shepard sneered. "Miranda, take down his barrier!"
"A little busy here!" said Miranda, firing at a drone.
"Here, Shepard." Samara launched a biotic attack Shepard had seen somewhere before.
Kaidan. Horizon. Shepard fired two consecutive headshots with incendiary bullets to take down the weakened Harbinger.
"Releasing control," said Harbinger as the Collector burned in flame.
As surgical and effective as her sniper rifle was, the Collector came in a pace too fast for her liking. Shepard switched to her assault rifle and stormed onto the enemy's platform, bringing the fight to them.
"How many goddamn platforms do they have?" asked Zaeed as he dodged to reload his rifle.
"Tired already, old man?" Grunt taunted while pumping his shotgun almost too giddy, like a kid in a candy store.
"Taking heavy fire!" Garrus shouted.
"Garrus!" Shepard immediately scanned for those who dared to shoot at her best friend then gave them a dose of their medicine with her own attack.
"Shield's holding," said Garrus, already rolled to a new location and resumed sniping.
"Assuming direct control." Harbinger took over yet another Collector.
Son of a bitch! "Samara, the barrier!" Shepard shout.
A blindingly bright biotic attack flew by and hit Harbinger; his barrier was stripped in an instant.
"Need a hand, Shepard?" Garrus set off an explosion on Harbinger's armor before Shepard could answer.
Her bullets took care of the rest.
"Kill one and a hundred will take its place," Harbinger said his last words before the Collector collapsed.
Mentally blocking his taunts, Shepard was already shooting her next target.
"Eighty-four percent," EDI announced.
"More incoming," Thane warned.
"EDI! Get us out of here!" said Shepard.
"I am simultaneously fighting Collector firewalls in over 8,000 nodes," said the AI. "I am tasked to capacity."
Shepard swore. Dodging behind a cover, she reloaded her assault rifle and noticed her shield level was dangerously low. Although none of the shots that had been firing at her had penetrated her shield, she could feel every single one of them. But Shepard had to soldier on. If she died here, no one would fight the Collectors, every human would die. Every human, including...
Kaidan.
This war was personal.
Fueled by fear and anger, Shepard leaped out of her cover and jumped onto the next platform and continued to fight for her life.
Time blurred when she was on the battlefield flirting with death every time she dodged an attack. Shepard had lost count of how many Harbingers she had killed. In the end, it didn't matter. When one went down, the next one took its place all too soon. Same voice, same taunt, same painful attack when it hit her. There was only one way to end this, Shepard knew. She had to find that bastard and kill him once and for all. But first, she had to survive today.
When the last Collector was down, Shepard looked back and realized she was ten platforms away from the original one.
"Download completed," EDI announced. "Shepard, you must manually reestablish my link to the command console."
Shepard wouldn't allow herself a second to catch her breath. She holstered her rifle and immediately reestablished a link.
Soon enough, a familiar blue globe popped up on the console. "I have regained control of the platform."
Shepard let out a breath. "Good work. I knew you wouldn't let us down, EDI."
"I always work at optimal capacity."
"Come on!" Shepard waved at the rest of her team. "We'd better get the hell out of here before the next wave arrives."
"I thought we're going to take down every Collector in this ship," Grunt sounded disappointed.
"Hell no, I'm too old for this shit!" Zaeed grumbled.
The platform they were on detached itself from the rest and flew them away to safety.
"Did you get what we needed?" Shepard asked the AI as they were zooming across the massive chamber.
"I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 relay," said EDI. "I have also found the turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The Collectors were the source. It is unusual."
"Maybe they sent the initial message as bait," Shepard reasoned.
"No, it is unusual because turian emergency channels have secondary encryption," said the AI. "It is corrupted in the message."
Miranda frowned. "What are you suggesting?"
EDI clarified, "It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."
Shepard glanced at her XO, who was – for once – visibly disturbed. "Why are you so sure?" Shepard asked the AI.
"I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols," said EDI. "He wrote them."
GODDAMNIT!
"He knew it was a trap?" Joker's voice came through the radio. "Why would he send us into a trap?"
"That son of a bitch sent us right into Collector hands!" Shepard punched the platform in fury, leaving a dent on hard surface.
"And here I thought I'd had my betrayal and attempted murder for this year," Garrus mumbled.
"Why?" asked Grunt with the innocence of a child. "We're part of the Cerberus clan."
"You are my clan, Grunt," Shepard told him firmly. "Not Cerberus."
"No!" Miranda shook her head. "There has to be some other explanation!"
"Miranda's right," said Jacob. "This is too far, even for the Illusive Man. There's got to be an explanation."
Miranda seemed too eager to agree with Jacob. "The Illusive Man wouldn't do this to us. He... he just wouldn't!"
"He would! And he has," Shepard reminded her XO, her voice sharp like a knife. "That son of a bitch used Kaidan and the colonists on Horizon as bait, and sent us in to fight the Collectors."
Mordin nodded. "Behavior within norms for Cerberus. Not unexpected."
The platform stopped.
"Uh... Commander," said Joker, interrupting further arguments. "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!"
"And I don't plan on dying again," said Shepard, jumping off the platform with her rifle already in her hands. "EDI, give us a hand!"
"I do not have full control of their systems," said EDI. "I will do what I can. Sending coordinates for shuttle extraction. I will guide you to the exit."
"Come on. Let's move!"
"Running low on ammo!" said Grunt amidst the sound of gunshots.
"Make every shot counts," Garrus advised, sniping away one shot after another.
"Or use your head, son," said Zaeed after taking down a Collector drone.
Grunt charged and headbutted one of his enemies then smashed the face of another with the butt of his shotgun. "Heh heh heh..."
Even though she didn't voice it, Shepard was facing the same problem. Her supply was running low. Only one clip left. "We're not here to clean this place up. Our priority is to escape."
"The shuttle has arrived," said EDI. "You are near the exit, Shepard."
Finally, some good news.
"Uh, Commander?" Joker's voice came in. "Hate to rush you, but those weapons are about to come online. Might want to double-time it. You know, so we can leave before they blow the Normandy in half."
"Shit," Shepard swore under her breath. "Move, people!"
"Around the corner," EDI guided them through the maze. "Take the door on your right."
Shepard dashed ahead, but stopped dead on her tracks the moment she cleared the door.
The path was a wide gentle downward slope. And it was filled with husks.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Shepard quickly reloaded her rifle with the last clip and sprayed bullets at the incoming swarm. Ammo conservation was out of the window when she was about to be stabbed to death by the husks.
"Die!" said Grunt as he joined her and incinerated the husks with his shotgun.
Their bullets killed many but not all. The remaining ones charged onward, running over the dead bodies of the fallen husks. By a rough count, there were at least twenty of them, and Shepard was out of ammo.
Shit!
An empty gun could still be a weapon if used correctly. Shepard jammed the butt of her rifle into the face of the nearest husk, then swung her gun like a bat and smashed the head of another with enough force to almost decapitate it.
Omni-blade sprang out in a flash. Shepard slashed two husks in one sweep of her arm before stabbing another one in its chest. She then chopped off the head of one that almost sneaked up on her, and sent a spinning roundhouse kick to disable the next in line.
She could probably last all day if they were to come at her one by one. But they didn't. Five husks jumped at her, Shepard barely had enough time to sink her blade into one before she felt the attack of the others.
Suddenly, she heard Grunt's battle cry, then the husks around her stumbled onto the ground. In a moment of confusion, Shepard saw Grunt holding a dead body over his head and tossed it at another group that were rushing towards her. Just like those on the ground, the husks toppled over. Grunt leaped onto the pile of fallen husks and finished them off with his fists while Shepard quickly killed every single one by her boots with her blade before they could recover.
Between stabs and kicks, headbutts and punches, together the veteran and the young krogan cleared the horde before the rest of the team caught up with them.
Last head dropped onto the ground and rolled off the slope. Shepard kicked the freshly decapitated body away and finally lowered her blade.
"Remind me not to piss her off," Zaeed mumbled to Garrus.
Garrus replied, "And now you know why I always stay on her good side."
"That was a glorious battle, Shepard!" Grunt laughed happily.
"Good work, Grunt." Shepard patted the krogan on the shoulder then leaned onto him a bit for support, allowing herself to take a much-needed breather.
But that break didn't last more than two seconds.
Thane twisted his head slightly and concentrated. "Footsteps. Enemies incoming," the ever-alert assassin warned.
"We're out of time, Commander," Joker urged. "We have to go!"
"You heard the man!" Shepard retracted her omni-blade and ran down the slope towards the exit. The shuttle was right in front, waiting. "Everyone onto the shuttle. MOVE!"
Location: Normandy SR-2 Bridge
The shuttle had docked. Hanger bay sealed. Joker pulled the Normandy away as fast as he could.
"Strap in, people!" said Joker, his fingers danced across multiple consoles rapidly. "Gonna make them work for it this time!"
Rapid footsteps came from behind, Joker didn't need to look to know it was Shepard running to join him on the bridge. He had let his commander down two years ago, he had let his beloved SR-1 down, Joker swore he would never make the same mistake again.
The Collector ship's weapons were powering up. Joker's eyes narrowed.
"Not this time, you assholes. Evasive maneuver!"
The Collector ship fired, the Normandy barely escaped. The ship shook from the shockwave, almost knocking the commander off her feet.
Another attack incoming.
"You're not taking my baby again!" Joker once again dodged the attack. He knew he was good – no, he was the best freaking pilot, but a human could never be faster than an AI. "I can't dodge this guy forever, EDI," Joker conceded. "Get us the hell out of here!"
"Specify a destination, Mr. Moreau," said EDI.
You gotta be shitting me! The Normandy shook as it took a slight hit. "Anywhere that's not here!"
"EARTH!" Shepard shouted.
"Very well. Engaging mass effect core," the AI announced.
And the ship jumped.
Location: Normandy SR-2 Starboard Observation
They were heading to Earth...
Earth.
Of all places in the galaxy, why the hell did she yell Earth?
Shepard sat and stared at the stars outside the giant window. Structure weakness, she had once called that window. But now, she appreciated the beauty of it.
Her muscles were sore, her bruises hurt to touch, but Shepard could barely feel the discomfort. Her mind was fully occupied by the blue planet that had been home to both of her parents, by the horror she had witnessed on the Collector ship, and by the fear of the consequence should she fail her mission.
The stake was high, she knew all along. Humanity was at risk, it was do or die. But now she finally realized that the consequence was worse than she'd thought. Humanity would not be wiped out – no, that would be the preferable outcome. Instead, humans would the next Protheans to the Reapers. Mutated, enslaved, and without a mind of their own.
She would rather die than be a mutated slave.
"Bridge to Commander," said Joker. "Call coming in from the Illusive Man. Figure you've got a few words for him, too."
Her jaws clenched, her eyes narrowed. A few words, definitely. And if that bastard dared to have a real face-to-face meeting with her, she had a punch waiting for him as well.
Location: Normandy SR-2 Communications Room
"Shepard," the Illusive Man greeted pleasantly. "Looks like EDI extracted some interesting data before the Collector ship came back online."
"Cut the act!" Shepard snapped. "EDI told us the distress call originated from the Collectors. You set us up. You'd better have a damn good reason for it."
"We needed information on the Omega 4 relay. That required direct access to Collector data. It was too good an opportunity to pass up."
"I warned you after Horizon not to pull this kind of shit on me again!"
"I put you at risk again, yes. But without that information, we don't reach the Collector homeworld. And you and 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 have told me the plan," Shepard retorted. "I don't like surprises, especially when my ass in on the line! For all the money you've spent to revive me, you sure try hard to get me killed."
"I needed the Collector to believe they had the upper hand. Telling you could have tipped them off in any number of ways. Besides, I wouldn't have sent you in if I didn't think you could succeed."
"Never again! You hear me?"
"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."
Shepard arched an eyebrow.
"The Reapers and Collector ships use an advanced Identify Friend/Foe system that the relay recognize. All we need to do is get our hands on one of those IFFs."
The hell?! "I was just on the 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." The Illusive Man reached for his drink casually as if they were merely discussing the weather.
Scowling, Shepard folded her arms across her chest and waited.
"An Alliance science team recently determined that the 'Great Rift' on planet Klendagon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon." He took his time to finish his shot before he continued, "A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either weapon or its target. They found both. The weapon was defunct, but it helped us plot the flight path of the intended target – a 37 million year old derelict Reaper. We found it damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf."
"Another derelict ship?" Shepard was skeptical. "What took this one down?"
"This vessel is a relic from a battle waged while mammals took their first steps on Earth. There's no trace of the species that took that shot. Perhaps it was their one moment of defiance before being wiped out."
"I get the feeling that this isn't going to be a simple 'swing by and pick up our package.' So what's the catch?"
"We lost contact with Dr. Chandana's team shortly after they boarded. Initial reconnaissance revealed no clues, and it was too risky to commit more resources – but now we need that IFF. I'll forward the coordinates to Joker. In the meantime... I suggest you tell your crew I didn't risk their lives unnecessarily. It will make things easier going forward."
Location: Normandy SR-2 Communications Room
"Really? So the Illusive Man didn't sell us out." Garrus gave her a look. "Come on, Shepard, don't tell me you buy that."
"Of course not," Shepard scoffed. "If he tried something like this again, the Collectors would be the least of his problems."
"Want me to beat him up?" Grunt offered.
Garrus whispered to the young krogan, "Don't encourage her."
"Lied to us. Used us," said Mordin. "Needed access to the Collector data banks. Necessary risk."
"There really wasn't any other choice," said Miranda. "Let's just hope this IFF works."
"My analysis is accurate," said EDI. "I have also determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on navigational data from their vessel."
A map popped up and EDI moved the cursor to the center of the galaxy.
Shepard stared at it in disbelief.
"That can't be right," said Miranda, voicing Shepard's concern.
"Better run the diagnostics, Joker," Shepard told her pilot, she knew he was listening. "Looks like our AI's got a bug in the software."
"My calculations are correct," EDI insisted. "The Collector homeworld is located within the galactic core."
"Can't be," said Jacob. "The core is just black holes and exploding suns. There are not habitable planets there."
"Could be an artificial construction," Mordin suggested. "Space station protected by powerful mass effect fields and radiation shields."
"Even the Collectors don't have that kind of technology," said Miranda.
They don't, but... "Sovereign did," Shepard pointed out. "The Collectors are just servants of our real enemy. And we've all seen what their masters are capable of. They built the mass relays and the Citadel. Who's to say they can't build a space station surrounded by black holes?"
Garrus nodded. "No wonder nobody's ever returned from a trip through the Omega 4 mass relay."
"The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay," said EDI. "A region where ships can survive. Standard relay transit protocols would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand kilometers is common, and would be fatal in the galactic core. The Reaper IFF must trigger the relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols."
"Just because we can follow the Collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out," said Thane.
"Sooner or later we need that IFF," said Jacob. "I say, why wait?"
"It's a derelict Reaper," Miranda countered pointedly. "What if the Collectors are waiting for us? We may want to build up our team before we take that kind of risk."
Shepard stared at the core of the galaxy. "We have only one shot. The more people we have on our side, the better our chances of success."
"I've just received another dossier from the Illusive Man, Commander," said Miranda. "One you might find interesting."
"We'll take care of that as soon as the ship is repaired," Shepard told her XO, then glanced at every one in her team, one by one. "You all know what you've signed up for. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. This is a suicide mission. I need every one of you to be ready and give me everything you've got. If there's some unfinished business or things you want to settle before we head through that relay, you should get it done soon. Because it might be your last chance. Dismiss."
"Bridge to Commander," said Joker. "Approaching Sol System. Where would you like to dock?"
"Anywhere that can fix our ship," Shepard replied absently. Her eyes remained on the center of the galaxy map.
"Aye, aye, Commander. Sit back and enjoy the rest ride."
A/N: When a character is so developed, sometimes they surprise you. They have minds of their own, and they might even insist on doing their own thing despite your plan. Aerin Shepard has become such character. In the canon scene, Shepard didn't have a line when they were escaping the Collector ship. But when I wrote that part, Aerin yelled. And she chose Earth.
No big deal, right? I mean, they have to go somewhere. Well, not quite.
By choosing Earth, Aerin sets off a giant butterfly effect and completely screws up my plan (I'll explain more in the next chapter). So I tried to change Earth to Illium, where she could meet up with Liara or something. But the entire sequence didn't feel right when she's yelling Illium out of nowhere in the heat of the moment. As weird as it sounds, Shepard refused to say Illium. Forcing her to do so would be out-of-character.
There's ramification to this change of course. A huge one. And I didn't like it at first. But after writing the next chapter and seeing how things unfold (sometimes scenes write themselves, in a way that it plays out all naturally inside my head like a movie and I'm just typing it out), I think Aerin makes the right choice here.
So what Shepard wants, Shepard gets. And to Earth they go...